Archives October 2012

Indira Gandhi was one of the greatest women of India. Her childhood name was Priyadarshini. She was born at Allahabad on l9th November, 1917. She was the illustrious daughter of an illustrious father', Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. She was born with patriotic feelings, her grandfather, Motilal Nehru and father Jawaharlal Nehru both being great patriots. She was greatly impressed by Gandhiji when she visited the Sabarmati Ashram. She got her early education at home. She did her matriculation from Pune and later joined the Shantiniketan started by Rabindra Nath Tagore. Later she studied in Switzerland and England. Her mother, Kamala Nehru died in 1937. It was a big shock to her. Now, she undertook looking after her father. Later, she married Feroze Gandhi, a Parsi in 1941, in the teeth of opposition from conservative Hindus. After Jawaharlal Nehru became the Prime Minister of India as more...

Two mighty streams flow through India—the spiritual and the technological. They converge at Bangalore. When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited India, his first stop was not the political capital New Delhi but the IT super-hub Bangalore. He was following in the footsteps of his predecessor Zhu Rongji who, in his 2002 trip to India, made a point to visit the Bangalore headquarters of Infosys, one of the world's most successful software companies. Addressing a crowd of 4,000 IT professionals, Zhu delighted those present by promoting d new era in Sino-Indian co-operation. "You are No 1 in software. We are No 3 in hardware," he said. "If we put these together, we are the world's No I." Zhu was given a standing ovation. This statement encapsulates the emergence of India as a software power in the 21st century. Today, the Americans feel threatened with the Indian Brains taking up leading positions more...

Sarojini Naidu was a distinguished poet, renowned freedom fighter and one of the great orators of her time. She was famously known as Bharata Kokila (The Nightingale of India). Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the governor of a state in India. Sarojini Naidu was born on February 13, 1879. Her father Aghoranath Chattopadhyaya was a scientist and philosopher. He was the founder of the Nizam College, Hyderabad. Sarojini Naidu's mother Barada Sundari Devi was a poetess and used to write poetry in Bengali. Sarojini Naidu was the eldest among the eight siblings. One of her brothers Birendranath was a revolutionary and her other brother Harindranath was a poet, dramatist, and actor. Sarojini Naidu was a brilliant student. She was proficient in Urdu, Telugu, English, Bengali, and Persian. At the age of twelve, Sarojini more...

For some people, cellphones are a wonderful convenience of modern life; for others, they are irritating contraptions that should be banned from public areas. A mobile phone or cell phone is an electronic telecommunication device with the same basic capability as a conventional fixed-line telephone, but which is also entirely portable and is not required to be connected with a wire to the telephone network. Most current mobile phones connect instead to the network using a wireless radio wave transmission technology. The mobile phone communicates via a cellular network of base stations, also known as cell sites, which are in turn linked to the conventional telephone networks. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, a mobile phone can support many additional services such as SMS tor text messaging, packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving photos and videos. In less than more...

The full name of Sardar Patel was Vallabhbhai Patel. The title 'Sardar' was, given to him by Mahatma Gandhi. Sardar Patel was one of the most illustrious sons of India. He was one of the greatest freedom fighters of our country. After Independence, he became the Deputy Prime Minister of India. He is generally called the "Iron Man of India". It is mainly because of his strong will and firm determination in the service of his motherland. He was born in Karamsad village in Gujarat one October, 21, 1875. The name of his father was Jhaver Bhai Patel who was a brave, patriotic man, having fought in the army of Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi against the British in 1857. Sardar Patel got his early education in his village. Later, he went to Nadiad and then to Baroda to get higher education. His father was a poor peasant. Still, Sardar more...

Gone is the age of steam. We are now in the age of hydrogen bombs and electricity. The most fantastic dreams of H.G. Wells in his novel the Dream have come true. Thus, in this space age, where the wonders of science excel the wonders of nature, science affects our day-to-day life. Science has surpassed the old cobwebs of mythology and yesterday's faith has proved to be toddy's superstition in the crucible of science. Yet the problem is whether science is a boon or bane to society. Science is truth, truth is beauty and beauty is God. Science nurtures intelligence but leaves the will and emotions uncared for. It is said that knowledge comes but wisdom lingers. Science triumphs in automating processes but now it reigns over man. Automation is the order of the day. The spectre of war and destruction haunts , the world and nobody is safe. Controlling more...

Raja Ram Roy was born in Radhanagar village in Bengal's Hooghly district on May 22, 1772, to conservative Bengali Brahmin parents. Ram Mohans' parents, Ramakanta Roy and Tarini Mukherjee, were devout Hindus. His father was a worshipper of Lord Vishnu. Ram Mohan showed a religious disposition from an early age. At the age of 14 he wanted to be a "sanyasi" hermit, but his mother persuaded him otherwise. Another example of his devoutness was his habit of not even having water each morning until he had recited a chapter from the Bhagvata Purana. Ram Mohan was reputed to have a "tenacious memory", and showed signs of intelligence at an early age. He learnt Bengali at school first. He also went to Tibet to learn about Buddhism. He learnt persian, which was the court language. This gave him the ability to read the mystic poetry and philosophy of the Persian Sufis. more...

Dr. Norman Ernest Borlaug developed a new dwarf variety of wheat seed while he was in-charge of The Wheat Development Programme in Mexico in the 1950s. Even in the late forties, he along with Dr. Hassan had worked on the breeding programmes to find out the best genes of wheat in the world. Thus by 1956, Mexico became self-sufficient in food. In 1961, another breakthrough appeared when Japanese wheat variety NORIN-10 was crossed with the improved Mexican one. Such findings heralded the Green Revolution in wheat, which was also caught by rice due to great work by International Rice Research Institute (1RR1), Manila. Thus began the great Green Revolution in the early 50s in Mexico which became a worldwide revolution, gradually. Yet the term 'Green Revolution' was first used by William S. Gand on March 8, 1968 in Washington D.C. while he was addressing the society for International Development. In more...

Mira Bai was born in 1450 (?), Kudaki, India and died 1547(?), Dwarka, Gujarat, India. Hindu mystic and poet whose lyrical songs of devotion to the god Krishna are widely popular in northern India. Mira Bai was a Rajput princess, the only child of Ratan Singh, younger brother of the ruler of Merta. Her royal education included music and religion as well as instruction in politics and government. An image of Krishna given her during childhood by a holy man began a lifetime of devotion to Krishna, whom she worshipped as her Divine Lover. Mira Bai was married in 1516 to BhojRaj, crown prince of Mewar. Her husband died in 1521, probably of battle wounds, and thereafter she was the victim of much persecution and intrigue at the hands of her brother-in-law, Ratan Singh, when he ascended the throne, and by his successor, Vikram Singh. Mira Bai was something of more...

An earthquake is defined as 'a movement of the ground surface which can range from a quaint, negligible tremor to a wild shaking capable of great destruction.' Geographically, it can be understood as 'a form of energy wave motion transmitted through the surface layer of earth in widening circles from a point of sudden energy release called the focus'. The intensity or the magnitude of the earthquake is measured on the Richter Scale. The world's most intensive earthquake measured until now has been 9.5 on the Richter Scale. As said earlier, the place of the origin or the place of the energy release is called the focus which is usually below the surface. The place perpendicular to the focus on the ground surface is called the epicenter. The seismic waves move away from the epicenter. Hence, an instrument to record the seismic waves is called seismograph. The main reason behind more...