Pallikkutam : January

MAGAZINE ON EDUCATIONVOLUME 1 ISSUE 8 JANUARY 2014

Managing EditorDr. Varghese Panthalookaran CMI

EditorJames Paul

Associate Editor

Dr. Prasanth Palackappilly CMI

ColumnsK L MohanavarmaDr. K.N. RaghavanA.G. MenonSajit MalliyoorSebastian Menacherry

Marketing ManagerVarghese Kachappilly CMI

ArtSajo Joseph

Contact:Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley P.O,Kakkanad, Kochi-39.Phone : 0484 2428249, 39 Extn : 232Mob: +91 9497711010Mail : [email protected]

FROM EDITOR’S DESK

Merits and demerits of onlinelearningThe availability of massive open and online learning resources has beenrapidly changing the global academic landscape, making education andlearning more relevant and accessible to society. But while the MassiveOpen Online Courses (MOOCs) are an interesting tool to aid highereducation, it can never be a substitute for classroom learning or conventionaluniversity education, especially in India, where issues of the quality oflearning and level of skills acquired through open university and distanceeducation were already being questioned

Academicians and eminent faculties from various global centres of highereducation, who debated over the future prospects of MOOCs at therecently-concluded three-day international workshop on transnationaleducation in Thiruvananthapuram, seemed to agree that MOOCs will haveto go a long way beyond mere delivery of high-value content – mayintroduce new pedagogic models, teaching practices, delivery mechanismsand primarily bring in an international framework of quality andaccreditation— before taking over higher education.

MOOCs are the biggest upcoming trend in the current education scenario.Simkins Scott, Director, Academy for Teaching and Learning, North CarolinaA & T University, U.S., said that a lot of discussion was going on in the U.S.about the future of MOOCs.

“What is the purpose of college education; whether MOOCs can bring in theoverall transformation in a student the way a university education does;whether education can be marginalised… are questions that are being hotlydebated. But MOOCs could take over if the faculty in universities continueto regurgitate content and resist pedagogic changes. When high qualitycontent is being made freely accessible round the clock, the value added inclassrooms would have to go much beyond mere content,” Dr. Scott said.

In future, MOOCs could offer a formal degree or credit to a student whomay already have considerable knowledge and skills in the subject; or itcould become just another open, free educational resource, which is part of auniversity course so that the students may at least have occasionalinteraction with the academia in classrooms, he felt.

Muralee Thummarukudy, Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction, UNEnvironment Programme, Geneva, felt that the time for MOOCs had indeedcome in Kerala, particularly because students were increasingly seeking toearn credentials from globally acclaimed universities and also because of thecurrent job markets which called for skills and knowledge of internationalaccreditation.

He noted that MOOCs could provide the answer to one of the most vexingproblems faced by may academic institutions in Kerala – the shortage ofwell-qualified and knowledgeable faculty to teach niche subjects likeGeographic Drawing for engineering courses.

But while MOOCs have opened up possibilities for the creation, deliveryand reception of content far beyond the confines of academicestablishments—a terrifying prospect for academic institutions– qualitycontrol is an issue that it will have to come to terms with.

CONTENTS

11 COVER STORY

Can HMT regain its past glory?HMT was once an industry which did Kerala proud. Itsdecline is an obvious example of lack of vision andprudence at the political and bureaucratic levels.

The teenage girl whois back to life after akidnap

02 Pallikkutam | January 2014

STORIES OF LIFE15

Rose was abducted by somemen in a taxi car and was let offin the far end of the city.

EXPERT COUNSEL

Dr. K.N. Raghavan

Keepsociety andrule of lawabove self

17

HHEALTHHEALTHWATCHH WATCH

Six guidelines forlifelong healthyeating

49

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PEDAGOGY

Students’learnedhelplessnessin writing

25

Sajit Malliyoor

Love at theexpense ofcharacter

27 PERSONAL

Dr. Jos Cletus Plackal

HEALTH WATCH

Weight-loss winners tend toeat in the morning.

CONTENTS

03Pallikkutam | January 2014

29 37

39

51

RESEARCH

Dr. George Athappilly

The real change is thechange in the brain

BOOK REVIEW

Author : OrhanPamuk

Translator:Maureen Freely

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POLICY WATCH

Sebastian Menacherry

ASPECTS

Dr. Augustine Thottakara

Self Control-Generosity-Mercy

54

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INTERVIEW35

Interview witheminent physicistNathan Cohen

Distil the Mind offNegatives

STUDENTS’ CLUB

NEWS

Cusat yet to renew NAACaccreditation

The Cochin University of Science andTechnology (Cusat) may lose out on

financial assistance from the UniversityGrants Commission (UGC) as it has notrenewed its accreditation issued by theNational Assessment and AccreditationCouncil (NAAC).

As per clause 7.1 of its 2012 regulations,UGC has notified that financial assistancewill be given to institutions of highereducation which have undergoneassessment and accreditation process.Accordingly, in its meeting on November29 it was decided that all universities andinstitutions must apply for NAACaccreditation by June 2014, failure ofwhich would lead to discontinuation offinancial assistance by UGC from April2015.

Cusat lost its NAAC accreditation sixyears ago but is yet to renew it. According

3lakh NaukriApp downloads

in a monthTerming its new Android mobile App as

a major development in the Indian jobportal sector, Naukri.com Tuesday claimedto have record more than 2.9 lakhdownloads of the App within a month ofits launch.

According to the company this mobile Appis available for free at the Google App storeand is currently ranked 134 with a rating of4.4 stars.

Vibhore Sharma, CTO-Naukri said, “Morethan two lakh downloads was an importantmilestone for us. Now it clearlydemonstrates that this App has filled theneed of job seekers.”

When asked to highlight some of thereasons behind the record number of Appdownloads, Sharma said that a lot of

companies in the present era have aprohibition on recruitment sites in theiroffices. This App overcomes this problemby letting job seekers obtain access to jobsthrough their mobile phones.

“23% of our job seekers visit Naukri.comfrom mobile phones. Job seekers’ responseto the android app has been overwhelming.With over 4 lakh detailed job descriptionviews , 43,000 searches and more than50,000 applies a day - Naukri’s AdroidApp has made significant inroads into themobile phones of job seekers,” he said.

Executive Vice President Naukri Vivek Jainsaid Product and Analytics of the companysaid this mobile Android is the mostextensively used platforms and therefore itwas a natural choice for the company tolaunch an App catering to Android devices.

“Through this App we want to broaden ouruser base by engaging more with Androidusers” Vivek said.

to university sources, the delay has beendue to the confusion about Cusat gettingIndian Institute of Engineering Science andTechnology (IIEST) status. “Once, Cusatgets IIEST status we need not apply toNAAC. Also, another reason for the delay

is Cusat’s grave financial situation,” said anofficial.

The accreditation process is based ondifferent criteria, including curricularaspects, teaching-learning and evaluation,research, consultancy and extension,infrastructure and learning resources,student support and progression,governance, leadership and managementand innovations and best practices.

With over 45% vacancies in facultypositions, the university could lose out onpoints on that ground, sources say.

25% EWS seats in KVsAll 1,100 Kendriya Vidyalayas will

start their admission process forClass I (entry level) from February 15.The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan willshortly bring out the admission notifica-tion as well as guidelines.

Over one lakh students will be admittedin Class I across all KVs, includingaround 20,000 students in 80 KVs in thenational capital region. Delhi alone has60 Kendriya Vidyalayas.

As per Supreme Court guidelines, 25%seats will be reserved for the economi-

cally weaker section category. If thenumber of applications surpassescapacity, a lottery system will befollowed in each category.

“There will not be any major changes inadmission guidelines from last year.Minor changes can be notified ifnecessary to bring more clarity withincategories. The admission process will beas per RTE Actguidelines with 25% seatsreserved for EWS and a neighbourhoodpolicy,” commissioner of KVS AvinashDikshit said.


NEWS

Top Indian, Aus varsities to offer newscholarship programme

Top Indian universities including IITKanpur and IIT Madras have now

partnered with University of Melbourne inAustralia to offer a new joint PhDscholarship programme from 2014.

The multimillion-dollar scholarshipprogramme was launched in India onMonday to provide the next generationof researchers, innovators andentrepreneurs in Melbourne and Indiawith world-leading academicsupervision and support.

According to an official statement, theMelbourne-India PostgraduateProgramme (MIPP) will link theUniversity of Melbourne with some ofthe leading research institutes in India,the Indian Institute of Science inBangalore (IISc), the Indian Institute ofTechnology Kanpur (IIT-K) and the IndianInstitute of Technology Madras (IIT-M).

A joint initiative of the four institutionsis an AUD 3 million programme which willprovide 16 PhD scholarships andassociated support for research exchangesover the next three years.

Speaking ahead of the launch, MelbourneUniversity Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davissaid the new programme was a valuableaddition to Melbourne’s already extensivescholarship offerings.

“By enabling students from India andAustralia to undertake jointly developedresearch of the highest quality, we’reconfident the programme will addressshared global challenges in areas ofenvironmental, societal and technologicalneed.”

“We’re excited that the program will givestudents the opportunity to contribute tothe development of education, cultural andindustry links between both countries,”Davis said.

The programme will officiallycommence in 2014 and will be open toPhD students enrolled at the UniversityOf Melbourne, to be co-supervised bystaff at IIT-K, IIT-M or IISC.

Alternatively, students enrolled in oneof the three Indian institutions will haveaccess to co-supervision withMelbourne academics.

IIT-K Director Professor IndranilManna said the initiative would bringleading institutions together.

“Australian and Indian communitieshold immense respect for each other andthis is yet another opportunity that wouldcontribute to the strengthening of culturalties between the two great nations,” hesaid.

UGC to bring New Technical Education Norms forDegree Institutions Only

HRD ministry and University GrantsCommission (UGC) on 30 December

informed that the new regulations beingframed for technical education institutionsis going to be implemented only for thecolleges that are offering graduate degrees.According to the statement of a seniorofficial, the draft regulations will leave outinstitutions offering all diploma courses.

After the UGC proposed the newregulations a large number of managementinstitutions reported complaint and are ontheir course to appeal at the SupremeCourt (SC) against the proposed UGCdirectives. Their petition will be againstthe new regulation of UGC which shalldelay the process of admission that isalready going on.

UGC had to seek this matter after theSupreme Court (SC) in early 2013 declaredthat permission of the All India Council forTechnical Education (AICTE) is not

needed to be obtained by the privatecolleges to receive consent for runningMBA courses in their private institutions,

because AICTE does not fall under thedefinition of technical education.

The SC had also stated that AICTE’s rolevis-a-vis universities is “only advisory,recommendatory and one of providingguidance and has no authority empoweringit to issue or enforce any sanctions by

itself.” Instead, the apex court had saidregulatory function is with the UGC or theuniversity.

Sources from Ministry told thatManagement institutions failed to perceivethe Supreme Court judgment as it does notaffect diploma courses by non-affiliatedinstitutions. However, the regulations havenot been confirmed as yet and some moretime will be taken to know the exact.

To implement SC judgment, UGC cameinto the scene. Formerly, UGC wrote touniversities who have affiliated collegesunder it that no new courses should bepermitted by them.

A senior UGC official told that regulationsneed to be brought before the 2014-15admission session activates. On the otherside, AICTE officials are still expecting oftheir regulatory function to return eitherby amendment or through ordinance.


NEWS

Only 10% of students have access tohigher education in country

Access to education beyond highersecondary schooling is a mere 10%

among the university-age population inIndia. This is the finding of a report“Intergenerational and RegionalDifferentials in Higher Education in India”authored by development economist,Abusaleh Shariff of the Delhi-based Centrefor Research and Debates in DevelopmentPolicy and Amit Sharma, research analystof the National Council of AppliedEconomic Research.

The report says that a huge disparityexists — as far as access to highereducation is concerned —across gender, socio-economic religious groupsand geographical regions.The skew is most markedacross regions. Thus, adalit or Muslim in southIndia, though from themost disadvantagedamong communities,would have better accessto higher education thaneven upper caste Hindusin many other regions.Interestingly, peopleliving in Bihar, UttarPradesh and West Bengal— designated as the northcentral region — andthose in northeast Indiahave the worst access tohigher education. Those in southern Indiaand in the northern region — consisting ofJammu & Kashmir, Punjab, HimachalPradesh, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh,Haryana and Delhi — are relatively betterplaced in this regard.

In the age group 22-35 years, over 15% inthe northern region and 13% in thesouthern region have access to highereducation. In the north-central region, thenumber is just 10% for men and 6% forwomen whereas in the northeast, only 8%men and 4% women have access to highereducation.

The report, brought out by the US-IndiaPolicy Institute in Washington, is based ondata from the 64th round of NSSO survey2007-08. It throws up quite a few other

interesting facts. For instance, amongcommunities, tribals and dalits fare worstwith just 1.8% of them having any highereducation. Muslims are almost as badlyoff, with just 2.1% able to go for furtherlearning. Similarly, just 2% of the ruralpopulation is educated beyond highersecondary level, compared to 12% of theurban population and just 3% of womengot a college education compared to 6% ofmen.

South India offers the best opportunitiesfor socially inclusive access to highereducation including technical education and

education in English medium. For instance,the share of Hindu SC/ST in technicaleducation in south India is about 22%, andthe share of Muslims 25%.

These were the lowest shares among allcommunities in south India. But this washigher than the share of most communitiesincluding Hindu OBCs and upper casteHindus in most other regions. South Indiaalso has the highest proportion of highereducation in the private sector at about42%, followed by western India where it is22%. The northeast has the leastprivatized higher education sector and isalmost entirely dependent on government-run or aided institutions.

Not surprisingly, government institutionsare the cheapest places to study at, with

annual expenditures ranging from less thanRs 1,000 to around Rs 1,500, except innorth and south India, where the average isabove Rs 2,000. Both private andprivateaided institutions are quite costly,making them difficult to access for thepoor. With little regulation of the qualityof education and cost differentials, thepoor and deprived are often trapped inlow quality education, the report pointsout. It adds that although free education isprovided at school level, it is almost non-existent at higher levels.

The report also compares India’s low 10%access to highereducation withChina’s 22%enrolment and the28% enrolment inthe US. Since theearly 1990s,China’s post-secondaryenrolments grewfrom 5 million to27 million, whileIndia’s expandedfrom 5 million tojust 13 million,says the report,while emphasisingthat highereducation has thepotential toenhance

productivity and economic value both atthe individual and national levels.

“The government has to urgently addressthe geographical skew in the availability ofhigher education facilities in the tworegions of north-east and north-central,”says Shariff. “The central region,comprising Chhattisgarh, MP, Rajasthan,Jharkhand and Odisha, too needsattention. There is so much talk about aHarvard in India. I say, give two hoots toHarvard. What we need are thousands ofcommunity colleges that can offerprofessional courses so that youngsterscan improve their skills and becomeemployable.”


NEWS

Rooting for reforms in education

system, Telecom Minister Kapil

Sibal on Thursday said reforms need to be

child centric so that children can pursue

their own dreams and aspirations.

Referring to India’s first mission to

Mars, Sibal said: “When we talk

about launching a satellite on to

Mars, we have more than 220

million satellites in the country,

our children and each satellite has

its own trajectory. We should help

them in finding their orbit and

shine.”

Sibal has previously held HRD and

Science & Technology Ministries.

Speaking here on the occasion of the two-

day CII global university-industry

congress, the Minister said that education

needs to concentrate on the child and not

the curriculum. Its efforts should be to

bring out the brilliance in the child.

He also propagated a 10-year vision to

create a road map to facilitate reforms in

education to ensure that India comes to the

forefront of world’s education scene.

Commenting on the plight of

education, Sibal said that ironically, while,

satellite (Mars Mission) is being guided,

“many institutions under the AICTE,

engineering institutions, are closing down

in India.

“They are winding up because of lack of

quality and a feeling among students that

these institutions lack on individual

structure and other things,” he said.

He further said: “We have a level of

excellence that we have achieved which

is symbolized by the launch (Mars

mission) and you have the lack of

excellence that is staring us in the face

and that is the irony of India.”

He emphasized on the need to make

education compatible to leverage

technological advancements like cloud

computing and low cost access devices.

Sibal advocated providing students

with low-cost devices that can

facilitate access to educational material

and global information anytime, anywhere.

The Minister added that investment in

education will suffer in absence of

legislation saying it could create chaos and

uncertainty.

President urges IITs to attract students for PGPresident Pranab Mukherjee on

Saturday pressed upon the IITs todevise strategies to attract under- graduatestudents towards post graduateprogrammes and research activities,saying lack of enthusiasm to pursuehigher studies does not auger well for thecountry.

“IITs have so far not been very successfulin attracting undergraduate students topost graduate education and research. IITshould devise some strategy to attractunder graduate to post graduateprogrammes,” he said while addressingthe 44th convocation of IIT-Delhi.

“I understand that very few IIT graduatesare pursuing specialised education leadingto PhD or higher degrees. In the long term,this will deprive the country of talentedspecialised personnel who are mostimportant assets in a knowledgeeconomy,” he said.

The President said as against the studentstrength of 71,000 in National Institute ofTechnology (NITs), there are about 4,000

PhD students. Similarly, in IITs, as againstthe strength of 60,000 students, there arearound 3,000 PhD students.

“This indicates that bright students aremoving away from research and

innovation. This does not speak well forour research facilities,” he said.

Asserting that the present day economy isknowledge- driven, he said IIT-Delhi needsto take a giant leap as a contributor ofknowledge. This can happen only byfurther strengthening and enhancing postgraduate education and research in IITs, hesaid.

India is also far behind in creation ofintangible assets and creation ofownership. Hence, the time has come torecover this trend through research infrontier areas of technology, engineeringand science, Mukherjee said.

As IIT system has seen an increase of newinstitutes and increase in number of seats,he asked the established and old IITs toprovide the same kind of support andhand-holding to the new IITs which theyreceived when they were set up byfriendly countries.


Education should be child centric: Kapil Sibal

INSIGHTS

Sleepboosts braindevelopmentAccording to a new study reported

online in the journal Brain Science,the connections between the left andright hemispheres of the brain in youngchildren develop rapidly during a goodnights’ sleep. Such connections areessential for brain functions to mature.The research team under the leadershipof Dr. Salome Kurth at the University ofColorado Boulder in USA came to thisconclusion after elaborate studies usingelectroencephalograms (EEGs), whichmeasures brain activity. They observedthat during peaceful sleep, theconnections within hemispheres weaken,while those between hemispheres gotstrengthened.

It is known to the scientists that thebrain functions change dramaticallyduring early childhood. New brainconnections are developed; some othersare removed during this period of life. Afatty layer called “myelin” forms aroundthe nerve fiber in the brain. Thisstrengthens the connections by speedingup the transfer of information.

Maturation of the nerve fibers is foundto improve skills such as language,attention and impulse control. However,it is for the first time the influence ofsleep on brain development isrecognized.

Researchers found strong indications ofcorrelation between sleep and brainmaturation during their experiments.They found that the strength of theconnections between the left and righthemispheres increased by as much as 20percent over a night’s sleep.

Remove anxiety withmeditation

Scientists and monks alike have suggested for years that meditation can cure anxiety.How this cure takes place has been proven by scientists at Wake Forest Baptist

Medical Center. They have identified the brain functions involved in the process in areport published in the journal SocialCognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Theyhave identified the areas of the brain activatedduring meditation-related anxiety relief programs.

In the test, healthy volunteers with normallevels of day-to-day anxiety were allowedto practice an anxiety- reducing meditationpractice, “mindfulness meditation”. Herepeople are taught to focus on breath and bodysensations and to evaluate distracting thoughtsand emotions non-judgmentally. The brain activities of the candidates are evaluatedboth before and after meditation training using a sophisticated brain imaging technique -arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging, which is proven technique to imagebrain processes during meditation.

The anxiety levels were measured both before and after brain scanning suggests that theparticipants decrease in anxiety during meditation by as much as 39 percent. Thisshowed that a few minutes of mindfulness meditation is powerful to reduce normaleveryday anxiety.

The brain imaging has shown that during meditation, the anterior cingulated cortex andventromedial prefrontal cortex were activated. These are the areas of brain responsiblefor executive-level functions. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which controlsworrying, is found to have increased in activity during meditation. Similarly, theanterior cingulated cortex, which governs thinking and emotion, is also found activated.Both these activations seem to decrease anxiety.

The neuro-imaging experiments during meditation thus identify the brain mechanismsassociated with meditation-related anxiety relief in healthy people, complementing tothe wealth of information correlating meditation and anxiety reduction.

There is a popular contention thatlearning with “stronger peers”

boosts performance of the weakerstudents. However, a new studyapparently contradicts thisconclusion. Michigan StateUniversity’s Scott Imberman andcolleagues found that this is notalways true. “Just because you havestronger peers doesn’t necessarilymean you are going to perform better”said Imberman, associate professor ofeconomics and education.

The study was based on studentsparticipating in “Gifted and talentedprogram”, which has grown popularity

New study on weak students

in USA. The research team analyzedthe standardized test scores in math,science, reading, social studies andlanguage arts of the studentsparticipating in the program to reachtheir conclusions.


Exercise improves brain functionShort bouts of physical exercises is

found to boost higher brain functionslike, memory, concentration, planning,decision-making, etc. It is also found toboost self-control. These facts are revealedthrough a review of 24 relevant studies onthe theme reported up to April 2012.

Physical exercises are particularlyimportant for children and teens, whodevelop their higher brain functions duringthese periods. Physical exercises areimportant for them to ensure academicachievement and to improve other aspectsof their lives. The physical exercises arefound to enhance inhibition/interferencecontrol, which are crucial for success indaily life. Inhibition is essential for

regulation of behavior and emotions insocial, academic, and sport settings.

The review speculates that short bouts ofexercise boost the cerebral blood flow to

Meditate to attain emotional controlMeditation training has been shown to

affect enduring emotional processingin the brain, according to a new studyreported in the November issue ofFrontiers in Human Neuroscience.According to the researchers the partof brain, known for decades to beimportant for emotion, is modifiedslightly after meditational practices.

Many previous studies havesuggested the hypothesis thatmeditation improves thepractitioners’ emotional regulation.The current study reports reductionin the activation of amygdale-astructure at the base of the brain thatis known to have role in processingmemory and emotion.

The current research venture to testthe hypothesis: “Meditation trainingcould also produce a generalizedreduction in amygdala response toemotional stimuli”. The brainfunctions during meditation weremeasurable by functional magneticresonance imaging (fMRI). Two types ofmeditation techniques were put to test,namely “Mindful Attention Meditation”,which is propagated for developingattention and awareness of breathing,

thoughts and emotions and “CompassionMeditation”, which includes methods todevelop loving kindness and compassionfor oneself and for others.

The fMRI images of the brains of theparticipants were taken at the MartinosCenter’ state-of-art imaging facilities. Theparticipants in the “Mindful AttentionMeditation” showed a decrease in

activation in the right amygdale inresponse to all images, supporting thehypothesis that meditation can improveemotional stability and response to stress.In the “Compassion Meditation” group,

right amygdale activity was found todecrease in response to positive andneutral images. However, goodpractitioners of “CompassionMeditation” developed rightamygdale activity in response ofnegative images depicting humansuffering.

The researchers conclude that twoforms of meditation cultivatedifferent aspects of mind.“Compassion Meditation” enhancescompassionate feelings. Increasedamygdale activation in this groupwas also correlated to reduceddepression scores in the compassionmeditation group, which suggeststhat having more compassiontowards others may also bebeneficial to oneself.

The research supports the hypothesis thatmeditation may result in enduring,beneficial changes in brain function,especially in the area of emotionalprocessing.

the pre-frontal areas of the brain,responsible for higher executivefunctions.

The review also suggests that physicalexercise also might help repair impairedhigher brain functions, such as attentionhyperactivity deficit disorder (ADHD)and autism. Similarly it might also delaythe ravages of dementia.

Modern times are characterized by moresedentary lifestyle, worldwide aging andthe increasing prevalence of dementia.The results of the review highlightimportance of regular physical exercisefor general population to counter the badeffects of modern life-style.


INSIGHTS

No test to detect cognitiveabilities

A new study from MITneuroscientists working with

education researchers at HarvardUniversity and Brown Universitysuggests that even high performingschools don’t influence their students’

abstract reasoning abilities. Such schoolsusually equip students to be successful instandardized qualifying tests. Such testsare designed to measure the knowledgeand skills that students have acquired inschool- the so called “crystallizedintelligence”. However, when it comes tothe “fluid intelligence”, such schoolstypically fail.

“Fluid intelligence” consists in the abilityto analyze abstract problems and to thinklogically.

The researchers asked themselves thequestion: If you have a school that’seffectively helping kids from lowersocioeconomic environments by movingup their scores and improving their

chances to go to college, then are thosechanges accompanied by gains inadditional cognitive skills?” They foundthat educational practices designed toraise knowledge and boost test scores donot improve fluid intelligence.

The study does not find fault withschools who design their curriculum toboost test scores of students. It does notrubbish crystallized abilities studentsacquire in such systems. Rather, it pointsout to educational policy makers of theneed to add practices that enhancecognitive skills into the curriculum. Suchskills are seldom explicitly taught.

Many studies have already concluded thateducational programs that focus onimproving memory, attention, executivefunction, and inductive reasoning canboost fluid intelligence. However, there isno agreement over the programs that areconsistently effective for the purpose.

NonverbalLearningDisability

Does your child perform excellentlywell in language skills and yet lag

behind in mathematics? It may be due toso called Non Verbal Learning Disability.NVLD is characterized by significantdiscrepancy between higher verbal skillsand lower motor, visuo-spatial, andsocial skills. The affected children willdevelop deficits in perception,coordination, socialization, non-verbalproblem-solving, understanding humor,and memorization.

NVLD usually coexists with otherdisorders like attention deficithyperactivity disorder (ADHD) andhence remain indistinguishable.However, distinguishing a disorder is thekey to its treatment. The findings ofMichigan State University researcherspublished in Child Neuropsychology,help distinguish NVLD with otherlearning disorders.

The research shows that the childrendiagnosed with NVLD had smallerspleniums than children with otherlearning disorders like Asperger’s andADHD, and children who had nolearning disorders. The splenium is partof the corpus callosum, a thick band offibers in the brain that connects the leftand right hemispheres and facilitatescommunication between the two sides.This posterior part of the corpuscallosum serves the areas of the brainrelated to visual and spatial functioning.

This possibly suggest that NVLD is aunique learning disorder in the family oflearning disorders.

Childhood music trainingimproves brain functions

Brain functions associated withlistening and the complex processing

of sound get critical enhancement from themusic training in the childhood, suggests anew study from Northwestern University.The study reports that adults with one tofive years of musical training as childrenpossessed improved brain responses tocomplex sounds, making them moreeffective at recognizing the fundamentalfrequency of the sound signal.

Musical training also makes children betterlisteners later in life, the study observes.Thus even a short-term music lessons may

enhance lifelong listening and learning.This insight is useful not just for thosestudents who later on pursue professionalmusical career. It applies to the generalpublic of students. Hence, the musictraining needs to get adequate attention ofeducational policy makers and curriculumdevelopers.

These insights will be shortly published inthe paper “A Little Goes a Long Way:How the Adult Brain is Shaped byMusical Training in Childhood” in theJournal of Neuroscience.


INSIGHTS

Can HMT regain its past glory?

COVER STORY


COVER STORY

The Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT)compound at Kalamessery, Kochi, now

bears a deserted look. HMT was once anindustry which did Kerala proud. Its declineis an obvious example of lack of vision andprudence at the political and bureaucraticlevels. In its glorious days two decades ago,HMT had about 3,500 employees workingin three shifts. Now its employee strengthis less than 400. The arrival of HMT’sKalamassery unit has had a defining impacton the way Kerala’s industrial history hasunfolded over the past 50 years.

As part of an engineering behemoth, whichPrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called the‘jewel of the nation’, its appearance onKerala’s shores with the 10 storied building(the tallest in Ernakulam those days) couldnot but be taken notice of. The aim of theambitious HMT enterprise as a whole was“to manufacture mother machines to buildmodern industrial India”. A brief on the initial

years of the company in the 1960s is inglowing terms. The success in those years intechnology absorption and in productioncompetence ahead of the time schedule

prompted the company management tolaunch diversification and expansion drives,resulting in the duplication of the Bangaloreunit. Units at Pinjore, Kalamassery and

Hyderabad were the results of this optimismand vision.

The setting up of the HMT unit had acascading effect. A whole lot of newbusinesses imbibed strength from theconcept of advanced engineering and rapidlygrew around the HMT unit since itsinauguration in 1966. The most prominentbus stop on National Highway 47 afterErnakulam used to be HMT Junction. Thereputation remains intact to this day despitethe travails of the unit and the fact that thenew generation may hardly be aware of thegreat drama that unfolded on the State’sindustrial stage on account of its arrival here.

The decline in the unit’s fortunes has beenquite dramatic too. The decline in theemployee strength apart, “constant shortageof working capital is the most seriousproblem confronting the unit”, according toK K Balachandran, the unit chief and GeneralManager.

HMT was once an industry which did Kerala proud. Its decline is an obviousexample of lack of vision and prudence at the political and bureaucratic levels.In its glorious days two decades ago, HMT had about 3,500 employees working

in three shifts. Now its employee strength is less than 400.

COVER STORY

A group of employees, under the banner ofHMT Employees’ Union, has been on a relayhunger strike from January 1, 2010,demanding the induction of professionalmanagement, revision of salaries and wagesand raising of the pension age to 60 from thecurrent 58 years.

The present conditions can changesignificantly at Kalamassery if there issufficient working capital, saysBalachandran. The Kalamassery had beenmarked by high skill levels of employees andcommitment on their part.

Kalamassery HMT to be independent

A high-level committee convened by UnionMinisters Praful Patel and K V Thomas hasdecided to make Kalamassery HMT anindependent company. Among the six HMTMachine Tools units across the country, theKalamassery unit alone has been makingsome profits. This has been so for the last

five years. The gross profit was Rs 6.25 Croreand net profit Rs 2.26 Crore in the last fiscalyear. With the unit becoming an autonomousentity, the company can initiate jointundertakings with PSUs like CochinShipyard, FACT, Kochi Metro, KochiRefineries and LNG Terminal. The decisiontaken by the Centre to make the Kalamasseryunit an independent company is expected tomop up its capital position and talent pool,apart from enhancing emoluments of theexisting employees. The loss-making statusof the HMT Machine Tools entities as awhole was depriving the employees of theKalamassery unit also of salary increases.The pay scale in the unit is now at a levelwhich was revised in 1992; despite the factthat the unit was making profits. When theunit is made independent, it will be possibleto offer better compensation package to thestaff, says Balachandran. The increasedoperational freedom that the new decisionextends to the company will also enhance its

prospects of launching joint ventures withother public sector entities. It will alsoprovide the enabling environment toincreased talent acquisition to the companywhich with its 350-odd personnel is facingsevere manpower shortage, he said.

BRPSE has recommended total revival forthe company. It has also mooted allotmentof working capital of Rs 75 crore for 2013-14. The Union Ministry of Heavy Industriesand Public Sector Enterprises has decided toappoint a commission to study theproposal. The report is expected to besubmitted within two months. BRPSE hasalso recommended an increase in retirementage from 58 to 60.

Business opportunities

Lots of new initiatives are in pipelineto regain HMT’s lost glory. HMTKalamassery has bagged orders worthCrores of rupees with BEL, at the behest

The decline in the unit’s fortunes has been quite dramatic too. The decline inthe employee strength apart, constant shortage of working capital is the most

serious problem confronting the unit.


of Naval Physical OceanographicLaboratory (NPOL), Thrikkakkara, forsupply of components. The deal, worthCrores of rupees could help improve theturnover of the machine tools unit, which isplanning a large-scale expansion. While thedeal would boost the prospects of the unit,it would help the Kochi-based DefenseResearch & Development Organization(DRDO) unit to have some of theimportant orders executed locally. The tie-up with NPOL will be an important step inits march towards progress. The machine

HMT Kalamassery:ManufacturingFacilitiesCan handle machining of componentsweighing up to 10 tons

Captive foundry of capacity2500 MT per annum – Sizeof Grey Cast Iron casting upto 9.5 MT & S.G. Iron up to2 MT

A range of CNC machinesfor manufacturing smallparts and heavy parts

Pattern shop

Tool room with latestfacilities

In-house heat treatmentplant

Experienced in-house design team with CADfacility

Online production monitoring and materialmanagement system

Best application engineering

Major ProjectsExecutedFirst in the country to manufactureCNC Slant Bed Turning Center throughin-house development

First in the country to develop flexibleturning cells

Design, development, manufacture andcommissioning of fully automatedflexible turning system to manufacture

Lots of new initiatives are in pipeline to regain HMT’s lost glory. A high-levelcommittee convened by Union Ministers Praful Patel and K V Thomas has

decided to make Kalamassery HMT an independent company. Among the sixHMT Machine Tools units across the country, the Kalamassery unit alone has

been making some profits.

heavy armour penetrator for StragegicSector

Heavy duty CNC Turning Machines withgantry load/unload systems

Machines exported to Europe, America

and Middle East Countries

Awards ofExcellenceFIE Foundation Award forExcellence in Design atIMTEX 1975 (FC 25)

FIE Foundation Award forExcellence in Design atIMTEX 1979 (SBC 35)

CMTI-PMT FoundationAward for Excellence inDesign (SBCNC 35) atIMTEX 1979

Vasvik Award (STC 25)

PRINTEK’90 Technology Award (SOM125)

FIE Foundation Award for Excellence inDesign at IMTEX 2001 (STALLION HS)

tools unit is also keen to partner withKochi Metro Rail Limited.

The HMT unit has more than 300 acresof land at Kalamassery, which could beused for the expansion project. The HMTunit at Kalamassery is keen to enter intoan agreement with Kochi Metro RailLimited for manufacture of metro railcomponents and discussions are inprogress. While the pact with the metrorail company might take more time, thenod for the defense facility could comesoon.


COVER STORY

STORIES OF LIFE

The teenage girl who is backto life after a kidnap

Rose ,18 years, a first year nursingstudent was brought to the clinic by

her parents along with a host of herrelatives. They all looked worried, helplessand confused. The parents painfullynarrated what had happened to their deardaughter. One day on her way to collegeRose was abducted by some men in a taxicar and was let off in the far end of thecity. Rose told her parents that she couldidentify her abductors. The parents wereextremely worried and perplexed, yet attimes expressed doubts about theirdaughter’s version of the dramatic eventsas she vividly narrated. The family foundher walking aimlessly in a remote part of

the city. Rose spoke in

earnest to convince them that she reallywas abducted and that this whole thingwas so frightening, she didn’t want to talkabout it.

Rose’s background was equally confusingand entangled. She is a tall, slim, beautifulgirl interested in becoming a medicalprofessional. Rose got admitted in thedegree course in a public college and wasearnest to achieve her great ambition.Unfortunately She caught jaundice andmissed a month’s classes. She hails from alow income family and her father is a semi-skilled worker. Rose has a sister who istwo years younger and “very snobbish andsilly”. Obviously the older one does notget along well with the younger one, andvice versa!

Rose’s mother is very loving and gentle.Although the father loves the older

daughter very much, she doesn’treciprocate that love. He is an

alcoholic and every day he picks up aquarrel with mom, ending up in physicalabuse and mental torture. Ever since shewas a child, she has been forced to witnessto these horrible scenes. No wounder Roseis so shy and different, has very fewfriends. Though lately Rose has beenjumping into the family fray, she accusesher father of destroying the peace of thefamily. Father’s counter-accusation is thatshe is the puppet of her mother.

To make things worse, Rose has developeda habit of fainting at frequent intervals.This made it impossible for her to continueher college education.

An in-depth interview with the familybrought the following facts to light:

1. Rose was under tremendousstress, both at home and incollege.

2. She was physically weak andhad very low blood pressure,resulting in fainting at slightestprovocation.

One day on her way to college Rose was abducted by some men in a taxi carand was let off in the far end of the city. Rose told her parents that she could

identify her abductors.

Dr. Jos Cletus Plackal


STORIES OF LIFE

3. Her father was not a source ofstrength due to his alcoholism.She loves and hates him. She hasfelt deep sense of insecurity andfear.

4. The day she was ‘abducted’ shewas supposed to appear for aclass test for which she had notprepared a thing.

5. Rose has started identifying withher negative role model- shorttempered, quarrelsome etc.

6. As she missed out a month’sclasses, she didn’t understandmuch of what was taught in theclass.

7. Rose had suicidal ideation andverbalization with one attemptto cut her veins.

8. Rose is quiet a determined younglady yet was unable to reach hergoal. This made her moremiserable, confused andanguished.

Therapeutic strategy and intervention

Immediate attention wentto

dissociating the exaggerate anxiety aboutthe studies and the phobia and shameassociated with the abduction episode. Forthis, Brain Wave Therapy wasadministered. She was advised todiscontinue her college classes for the timebeing. Rose also received attention abouther tendency to faint. The frequency offainting attacks was brought under control.

Long restructuring of the personality,improving the coping skills, familydynamics separation and individuation etc.were attempted. Since Rose’s father isvery loving but disruptive, this issue hadto be tackled. Fortunately he cooperated.She was given training in separation,individuation from the family’s emotionalego-mess. She was given motivationalinputs such as her determination tobecome a medical professional was fargreater than her fear of exams, disruptionat home etc. She was advised to take upless work load and she complied.

Therapeutic outcome

After four days ofcontinuous

counseling and therapy, Rose becamealmost symptoms-free. No more fainting,reduced rivalry with sister, no moredepressive spells, no suicidal ideation andverbalization etc. In the follow- upsessions, She was helped to sharpen herdetermination to achieve her goal ofbecoming a medical professional. For thisshe had to separate and individuate fromthe enmeshing, disruptive familydynamics and had to work for emotionalempowerment.

After one year Rose was successful inregaining admission in a Governmentcollege and completed a semester withoutevents. She is earnest in her professionalstudies and enjoys all activities. At thisrate Rose is sure to attain her goal ofbecoming a medical professional as well asan integrated caring person.

After four days of continuous counseling and therapy, Rose became almostsymptoms-free. She was helped to sharpen her determination to achieve her

goal of becoming a medical professional.

The author is licensed clinical psychologist(HRT), Jeevas Centre Aluva.


EXPERT COUNSEL

Dr. K.N. Raghavan

Keep society and rule oflaw above self

Corruption can be curbed only if each citizen takes upon himself the taskof placing society and rule of law above self. Punishments and tougher

laws might act as a deterrent in the short run and may also be successfulin masking the symptoms, but without curing the malaise.

The success of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recently concludedelections to the Delhi state legislature hasshaken the political classthoroughly for a number ofreasons. AAP has been uniquein many ways- as the firstpolitical organization to fightelections after being born as anoff shoot of an anti corruptionmovement; for making it loudand clear that the party and itsleading lights would not playby the rules that had hithertobound politicians and politicalparties and for ensuring that thecandidates put up by themwere new faces who had notfought elections before. Thecommitment and zeal of itscadres along with a forceful andwell planned campaign helpedto convert the novelty andadmiration into ballots, thusensuring a stunning electoralperformance which has thepotential to be a game changerin the history of parliamentarydemocracy in India.

This event has served to bringthe enactment of Lokpal Bill,which is aimed at curbingcorruption in public life, intosharp public focus once again.There cannot be any twoopinions about the adverseimpact that corruption has on theeconomic health of the nation besides itscapacity for imperilling the moral structureof the polity. In the six and a half decadessince independence, corruption has

unfortunately increased, developingtentacles that have engulfed all sections ofthe society. Thus there is an urgent need

to tacklethis menace head on with the intention ofrooting it out and the verdict of Delhielections highlights the angst and anxietythat the common man has in this regard.

However before deciding on how toeradicate corruption we should analysewhy it happens in the first place. I will

begin this by recounting a couple ofinstances when I was forced toshell out bribes. The firstinstance took place in 1987when I and some friends of minefrom Medical College had goneon a tour which took us toKathmandu. While leavingIndian borders we were asked byCustoms officers whether wehad anything to declarewhereupon we informed that wehad with us only cloths andarticles for personal use andsome sarees bought fromBenares during the course of ourtour. We were told that theywere not required to be declaredat the point of leaving thecountry. But when we returnedwe saw a different face of thesame department and the officerwho was on duty said that wewould not be allowed to proceedunless we paid a hefty sum asduty. Our fervent pleas that wehad carried these goods out ofIndia fell on deaf ears and theofficer became more adamant.Finally a tout who was loiteringin the background approached usand told us to settle the matterby paying a bribe. We wereaghast as we had not brought

anything from abroad nor done anythingwrong. However we also realized thatthere was precious little we could do aswe were in an unknown part of the


country without any access to help andassistance. So we pooled together somemoney and paid the bribe after intensenegotiations. This incident continues torankle me as it made me painfully awareof the helplessness that a personexperiences when confronted withmisused authority.

The next instance happenedwhen I was umpiring my firstever Ranji Trophy match atRanchi in December 1992. Thematch was to get over on 7December but Bihar sooutplayed Tripura that thegame got over one day earlier.As we were completing thepost match formalities, mycousin, who was working inRanchi, came over and told methat there were reports of sometroubles in Ayodhya and henceit was better to leave at theearliest since curfew is declaredin the city at the smallest ofprovocations. So I finished mywork and went with him torailway station, where I boughta second class ordinary ticketfrom Ranchi to Kochi. Mycousin, who was meanwhiletalking to another railwayofficer, called me and told me tohand over a small amount to theofficer, which I did. Then hetook me away and told me that thepayment was for getting a reserved berthin the train. I was sceptical whether thebribe would work but when the train cameto the platform I saw my name printed inthe chart against a reserved berth. Thus Imanaged to leave Ranchi before troublesbroke out in the city while my fellowumpire who refused to change his ticketthe way I did was forced to spend another15 days there on account of the curfewthat was imposed.

If the first incident had angered me, thesecond one had pleased me and I used to

narrate this before many audiences. But astime progressed I started wondering aboutthe correctness of my action. In the courseof first incident I (and my friends) hadbeen threatened by a rogue officer whomanaged to extort money from us bythreats. The best that we could have donewas to complain to his superiors which wedid not do. In the second instance I stood

guilty of encouraging a practice which notonly denied Indian Railways a fair share ofits revenue but further deprived apassenger the reserved berth that he waseligible for.

So by any standards my actions at Ranchiabout which I had felt happy were moredetrimental to the public as a whole. Butmy thought process, which was totallyfocussed on my personal interests, mademe angry with an unscrupulous officer atthe Indo Nepal border while making mefeel grateful to another corrupt official atRanchi.

The most crucial reason for the growth of corruption, which can be termed asan unholy urge to promote one’s own interests unmindful of the damage it

causes to the society at large. Corruption can thrive only in a society wherethere exist persons willing to pay as well as to accept bribes.

The author is the Commissioner of Customsin Kochi.

EXPERT COUNSEL


This brings one to the most crucial reasonfor the growth of corruption, which can betermed as an unholy urge to promote one’sown interests unmindful of the damage itcauses to the society at large. Corruptioncan thrive only in a society where thereexist persons willing to pay as well as toaccept bribes. While the former part withmoney for short circuiting the system with

the intention of promoting hisnarrow, selfish interests, thelatter does so solely forenriching himself. This is thereason why law enforcingauthorities have traditionallyplaced the bribe givers on parwith bribe takers. Howeverthe existence of rogue officers,like the one I encountered atIndo Nepal border, bring out astrong case for protecting theordinary citizens through proactive measures such assupporting whistle blowersetc to weed out suchelements.

In the final analysis,corruption can be curbed onlyif each citizen takes uponhimself the task of placingsociety and rule of law aboveself. Punishments and tougherlaws might act as a deterrentin the short run and may alsobe successful in masking the

symptoms, but without curing the malaise.AAP is a good beginning; its success hasmade the citizens aware of their rights andprivileges in a democracy. But theorganisation would be able to reach itsgoals only if it is able to reach out to thepopulation with the message that rights arerequired to be balanced withresponsibilities and personal interestsshould never override national andcommon goals.

NOTES ON CREATIVITY

Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran CMI

Hone your fluentthinking skills

High intelligence quotient (IQ) may not suffice to ensure success in life. It isnot sufficient when it comes to creative contributions, which usually bench-marks successful lives. We need to develop high values of creative intelli-

gence quotient, to ensure successful career and entrepreneurship.

Effortlessly flow a river from the hilltopto the valley. It gently responds to the

inherent gravity pulls and exhibitsmesmerizing spontaneity as they fall. Ajoyous experience to an onlooker! So is aperson gushing out incessant stream ofpowerful thoughts! People love to listento such speakers with awe and reverence.Great artists, philosophers, statesmen, andall creative thinkers repeated the same featin the past. The prolific ideas and fluentthoughts characterized them as a class.

As a teacher, I have observed many socalled “dull” students. Let free, they loveto occupy the last benches – the so called“last benchers”. They pay attention to youwith great difficulty and often undercoercion. They get easily distracted.However, at times they may surprise youwith their stunningly creative ideas! Theyare damn creative! Their eyes glitter inresponse to your creative suggestions.These “back benchers” are often foundsuccessful in the life-after-school. Theystand the test of time. Being baptized infire of failures, they do not wither away in

the scorching sun of life. I have seen manyof them becoming entrepreneurscontributing significantly towards thewelfare of the society. They become highlysuccessful in business, the arts, science,education, politics, and more. They evencontribute much better than thoseintelligent “front benchers”, who often endup with lacklustre careers!

This warrants careful distinction betweentwo types of intelligence: ordinaryintelligence and creative intelligence.Ordinary intelligence is something thatcould be measured using intelligencequotient (IQ). It signifies the power ofyour brain to think clearly and distinctly.The output of ordinary intelligence islogical conclusions, the right answers, andwell-founded inferences. Creativeintelligence rather posits large number ofcreative options. Ordinary intelligence andcreative intelligence are two sides of thesame coin, called success in life.

It was Joy Paul Guilford (1897-1987) whofirst distinguished between two forms of

thinking: Divergent and convergent (J.P.Guilford, “Traits of creativity” in H.H.Anderson (ed.), Creativity and itsCultivation, Harper, 1959, pp 142-61).Divergent thinking “diverges” in that it isnot linear. It is rather lateral, not directedto the only best solution. It seeks multipleviable solutions. Convergent thinking, onthe other hand, seeks the logical solution,which is at the same time the “bestanswer”. True intelligence is “multiple-intelligence”, equipped for both convergentand divergent thinking.

Therefore, high intelligence quotient (IQ)may not suffice to ensure success in life. Itis not sufficient when it comes to creativecontributions, which usually benchmarkssuccessful lives. We need to develop highvalues of creative intelligence quotient, toensure successful career andentrepreneurship.

It is high time that we train the newgeneration students in creative thinkingtoo, to ensure that they are successful intheir globalized work place. They should


NOTES ON CREATIVITY

The very first measure of creative thinking skills in both these schemes isbut “fluency of thinking”. Both Guilford and Torrance consider fluent think-

ing as a stepping stone to creativity.imbibe the principles of creative thinkingalong with the logical thinking.

The popular assignment of logical thinkingto the left hemisphere of the brain andcreative thinking to the right hemispheremay not be accurate. However, studentsshould learn to integrate both the logicaland creative functions of their brain.Education is complete only if we equipstudents for creative contributions.

How to measure creative thinkingskills?

There are many standard methods ofmeasuring intelligence quotient (IQ) of anindividual. One may wonder how we couldever measure creative thinking skills. Thereare, in fact, many attempts in this regardfrom the part of educational psychology.

It was J.P. Guilford, who gave one of thefirst schemes for measuring creativethinking skills. He suggested that creativethinking could be measured based on thescales of fluency, flexibility, originalityand elaboration. He developed a “goldstandard” for estimating creative thinkingskills based on them.

Dr. Ellis Paul Torrance (1915 – 2003) builton Guilford’s research, gave suitablemodifications and popularized this methodof measuring creative thinking skills. It waslater on known as Torrance Tests ofCreative Thinking (TTCT). Manyconsider E.P. Torrance as the “father ofcreativity research” because of this widely-

accepted measure of creativity madepopular in his name.

The very first measure of creative thinkingskills in both these schemes is but“fluency of thinking”. Both Guilford andTorrance consider fluent thinking as astepping stone to creativity. Those whomaster the skill of fluent thinking,according to them, will be naturallyinitiated to creative thinking, creativeproblem solving, creative decision making,and to creative living. Equipped withfluent thinking, a student may undertakecreative assignments; an adult may developa piece of art or write a book; a parent mayidentify alternate ways of executing aboring task; a home-maker may becomeresourceful to rightly choose vacationprograms for children. Fluent thinkingskills can change the locus of your life forbetter.

Fluent Thinking Skills

Fluency of thinking, according to Torrance,consists in generating great number of ideasand alternate solutions to a given problem.Quantity of ideas, not their quality, is theprimary concern of the first phase ofcreative thinking. Ideas should flow freelyand quickly. They should occur fluentlyand in plenty. This is just the stepping-stone to skills of creative thinking. Thequality of the ideas generated is simplyunimportant at this juncture.

Fluent thinking can be distinguished fromthe so called “brain storming”. Thinking

fluently requires that one think aboutrelated topics. It is a correlated thinking.On the other hand, in brain-storming ideaspop up just like a popping corn in apopcorn machine. Unrelated ideas pop upduring a brain-storming session. In afluent-thinking session, on the other hand,related ideas emerge. It is more comparableto a stream flowing incessantly from thetop of a hill. It gushes out and flows downas an incessant torrent. It coordinatesdifferent elements of truth, and makes it awhole. Fluent thinkers often access theirlong-term memory and get in touch withtheir foundational life experience. Thisallows them to present a total picture ofthings in many facets. Thinking fluently ismore or less an individual activity, whichmay be at times done in a group. On theother hand, brain-storming is primarily agroup activity, which is at times done atindividual level. Free and effortless flow ofrelated ideas characterizes fluent thinking;whereas diversity of ideas determinessuccess of a brain-storming session.

In order to develop the skill of fluentthinking, one should learn the skills tocompare, convert, invert, associate, adapt,define, illustrate, explain, identify, label,list, match, outline, paraphrase, predict,summarize, etc. the ideas at hand. Itrequires much more intellectual prowess,much more than just memorizing ideas asin rote learning. Higher order learning skillsare the necessary pre-requisite of fluentthinking.


NOTES ON CREATIVITY

Do not allow your inhibitions to obstruct that flow. It is your inner freedomthat counts, which will be reflected in your fluent thinking. If your mind is

sufficiently free, your thoughts will follow your mind.Fluency of thinking can express itself inmany different ways: Word fluencyconsists in the ability to use largervocabulary of words to express preciselywhat one want to describe; associationalfluency consists in fluently usingsynonyms for a given word; expressionalfluency consists in easily writing well-formed sentences with a specified content;ideational/imaginational fluencyconsists in easily developing concepts tomeet the challenges of a given task.

How to develop fluent thinking skills?

The fascinating aspect of the fluentthinking skills is that they can be honed.With adequate practice one couldsystematically open up to the world ofcreative thinking. Given below are someexercises that would help students to trainin fluent thinking skills:

• List different things that share a commonproperty. E.g. Red Colour: Blood, Red Sea,Chinese flag, setting sun, Apple, etc.

• Categorize things into groups: E.g. Listfood items corresponding to all letters ofthe English alphabet.

• Pool different types of things sharingsimilar names: E.g. Round table, Watertable, Table of contents, Table land, etc.

• Learn the art of comparison: E.g. A bookis like a machine gun, it shoots out ideas.

• Exercise conversion techniques: E.g.Convert a “Lion” into “Dear”: Lion-Loir-Liar-Lear-Dear.

• Invert words to generate differentmeaning. E.g. A word could become aSword if you add your “Yes” in front of it.

• Associate an idea with another one tobring about a different sense. E.g. World isround, when it is surrounded.

• Adapt an idea to communicate differentsenses. E.g. Sky is blue-Sky looks blue-Sky appears blue.

• Define a common thing in numerousways. E.g. To smile is a way to show yourappreciation to somebody; To smile is tomove your muscles in a coordinated wayso as to please others; To smile is your“yes” to go extra-mile; To smile is to smellnitrous oxide; To smile is to imitateMonalisa.

• Illustrate things differently: It rainsclouds weep; It rains as the cloud chuckles;It rains as the clouds pisses; It rains as thecloud wellspring, etc.

• Explain things differently. E.g. Explaindifferent ways to touch your nose with

your right hand.

• Label same thing differently. E.g. Givedifferent captions to the same photo.

• Match one thing to many other things toproduce different senses.

• Outline the same event to evokedifferent feelings in the hearers.

• Narrate the same story differently so asto bring them to different climaxes.

• Emulate a well-known rhyme withdifferent melody.

• Predict different outcomes for the samecourse of action.

• Summarize a text in many different ways

• Write a poem in different physicalformats.

In all these exercises, make sure that youallow your ideas to flow freely. Do notallow your inhibitions to obstruct thatflow. It is your inner freedom that counts,which will be reflected in your fluentthinking. If your mind is sufficiently free,your thoughts will follow your mind. Itmakes you creative. Your inhibitions, onthe other hand, will chock your ideas.Inner freedom is the true locus of bothfluent thinking and creativity.


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Jose K. C.

PEDAGOGY

Students’ learned helplessness in writing

Vijay Krishnan, class X, in an Ernakulamsuburban school is “hopeless” in

writing essays. The “hopelessness”comprises poverty of ideas, looseorganization, incoherence, ill-defined topicsentences and – much to the teachers’ chagrin– the failure to belong. His essays, in thepedagogic jargon, evades the classification –argumentative, expository, narrative and youname it…”My God, they just don’t belong,”something in the fashion of O’Neill’s TheHairy Ape (1922).

Such ‘Vijayean hopelessness”, theseasoned teaching fraternity admits, is afrequent stone in the otherwise deliciouscurry of teaching English. Highly

recommended remedies from within andwithout the country have been tried – writingportfolio, writers’ workshop, relay writing,peer editing and so on. Despite theseremedies, many of our Vijay’s still write sub-standard. The teacher’s label “hopeless”sticks and sinks and the Vijay’s continue tobe such even in tertiary institutes oncesneaked in.

I may be allowed to call this writinghandicap ‘learned helplessness.’ For, oncewhen Vijay was still in Class X, I chanced toread a pretty long love letter Vijay had meantfor his girl-friend, Shruti Balan. Head overheels in love with Shruti for a month then,Vijay had struggled hard to clear a

misunderstanding that had so mischievouslycrept into her head. But the struggle was invain. Shruti was not convinced. So, Vijaysat down; his sorrow and helplessness satdown with him. So did his undiluted passionfor Shruti, his do-or-die pining heart. Andthey together wrote that wonderful piece.It’s Vijay, his heart, soul, brain, self, image,esteem – a multitude – that wrote it. “I amlarge; I contain multitudes,” as Whitmansang. A Whitmanesque charm his love letterhad indeed.

It had marvelous richness of ideas,cogent argumentation and silky persuasion,coherent presentation and bull’s eye-hittingquotes. A wave of exhilaration ran down my

Can we let our students love what they write?

Let not the high sounding jargons of academic writing distract them.

Academic writing then will become a piece of hot cake and a cup of

welcome tea to our students.


hardly interfered with its irresistiblecommunication.

Vijay’s is an interesting case study.He is “hopeless” in a typical classroomacademic writing but superb (at least to me)in one of his personal writings. When hewrites to Shruti, he is not worried about thehierarchy of the ‘process of writing’; he isnot in the least bothered about the topicsentences in each paragraph; never does“coherence” distract his flow. He just doesnot know which sub-genre his essay belongsto. But still, his finished product shows allof them.

Then, what was the big motiveforce, the great enabling factor when hewrote? He was passionate; he targeted a100% persuasion of Shruti – his audiencewas concrete. Vijay’s inability for academicwriting was learned helplessness. Histeacher with good intentions taught him thechemistry of writing, the philosophy of theaudience, tone and coherence and at last thetaxonomy of the genre, essay. He lost hisway in this academic jungle and hedeveloped a belief in his inability to write awell-knit essay; he thought he did notbelong.

Can we let our students love whatthey write? Let them have before them aconcrete audience. Let not the high soundingjargons of academic writing distract them.Academic writing then will become a pieceof hot cake and a cup of welcome tea to ourstudents. Let them belong, unlike O’Neill’sYank.

Epilogue

A father tells his son, “Dear son,Shruti is a nice girl. I like her. Why don’tyou marry her?” The son obliges, out offilial duty. Before long, their marriage sailsin rough waters.

It had marvelous richness of ideas, cogent argumentation and silkypersuasion, coherent presentation and bull’s eye-hitting quotes. A wave of

exhilaration ran down my spine as I read it.. The composition wasimmaculate except for some jarring grammar slips, which hardly interfered

with its irresistible communication.

The author is lecturer in English,College of education, Samtse, Bhutan


PEDAGOGY

PERSONAL

Sajit Malliyoor

Love at the expense ofcharacter

Building character strength is not an academic activity, in fact, much of thetraining should happen at the family setting. In our attempt to provide our

children with whatever they want, we love them probably at the expense oftheir character.

Working as a teacher in an upscalemetropolitan school for more than 9 yearsgives me certain insights into the life ofchildren in urban middle class families ofKerala. My school prides in our ability toinculcate higher values of life in our pupilsand to equip them for a successful life,going forward. However, I’ve beenrepeatedly observing this phenomenon inmany of our students. I may not beexpressing it clearly, but I feel, they aresomehow appearing ‘brittle’ in theirapproach to difficult situations. Here is anexample: Last week, after the class tests,when the mark sheets are distributed, I hadto face a mini melt down in the class. Manystudents were not happy with the marksthey received and kept arguing with me torevise their scores. When I finally put myfoot down and told, enough is enough; atleast half a dozen of them went into cryingspells. It leaves me really worried abouttheir ability to face the adversities. I toldthem several stories about the need to facelife as it comes etc, but I feel, we teachersrequire some professional guidance inhandling similar situations. Kindly adviceus on how to build strength in them.

In the year 2010, a documentaryfilm, ‘Race to Nowhere’ made a kind ofripples in several wealthy suburbs acrossthe country of United States of America.The movie deals with the stressors facedby the privileged American high schoolstudents. It is the story of a high achievingadolescent girl who faces increasingpressure to succeed both at class andhome, which finally ends up in taking herown life. What the film really helped wasin bringing about a movement ofpsychologists and educators who arguedthat the present practices and methodsemployed to raise and educate the kids inaffluent families are actually devastatingthem. In her book “The price ofprivilege”, Psychologist Dr MadelineLevin who is a key figure in the movement,sites several studies and surveys to backup her argument that children of affluentparents now exhibit “unexpectedly highrates of emotional problems beginning injunior high schools”. She attribute it to theprevailing practices of child rearing in thewealthy families where the parents arelikely to remain emotionally distant fromtheir children and at the same time insist

on high achievement, which createsintense feelings of shame and hopelessnessin children.

The scenario is not exclusive to the USA,and Kerala is definitely not lagging farbehind. Often we come across reports onstudents taking extreme steps in responseto failures. It leaves one wondering what isgoing wrong with the kids. I am happy tosee that a teacher perceives the problemfrom the perspective of building strength,but a comprehensive answer to your queryis beyond the scope of this column. HenceI’ll focus here exclusively on characterstrength as a remedy to the malady.

Discussions on academic achievementusually hover around IQ as the predictorof success. But we also know that IQalone is not sufficient to conquer thescholastic heights. Learning is hard! Thosewho excel are the ones with exceptionalcharacter strengths- the essential traits ofminds and habits- like optimism,persistence and social intelligence. Thosewho succeed are the ones, who can recoverfrom a bad grade and resolve to do betternext time; who resist the urge to go out for


The characters more relevant tothe problems here are the ‘perfor-mance characters’ which include

values like perseverance, selfcontrol, diligence etc. This sce-

nario presents you with a uniqueopportunity to be the champion of

character strength training!a movie and stay home and study instead. Psychologistshave been researching on the character strengths that bringabout better chances of enduring success and happiness inlife. Dr Martin Seligman and Dr Christopher Peterson intheir book, ‘Character strength and Virtues’ comes up witha list of 24 character strengths common to all cultures anderas. A more manageable list of 7 strengths their researchfound to be especially likely to predict life satisfaction andhigh achievement are the following: Zest, Grit, Self-Control, Social Intelligence, Gratitude, Optimism, andCuriosity.

Like many other traits, character is also half nature, andhalf nurture. Unfortunately, not much public discourse ishappening in our part of the world on nurturing thecharacter strengths. Value and character education is widelyadopted in our schools but these programmes mostly focuson the ‘moral character’ values like integrity, fairness,generosity etc. The characters more relevant to theproblems here are the ‘performance characters’ whichinclude values like perseverance, self control, diligence etc.This scenario presents you with a unique opportunity tobe the champion of character strength training! You couldbegin by compiling a list of ‘indicators’ for the abovementioned character strengths. Assess the children on theircharacters using these indicators and then communicatewith students about their strengths and the areas wherethey need improvement. You may also seek the help ofcompetent Psychologists in the training programme.

Building character strength is not an academic activity, infact, much of the training should happen at the familysetting. There is a word of caution to the parents. In ourattempt to provide our children with whatever they want,to protect them from the dangers and discomforts; we lovethem probably at the expense of their character. Byindulging them and overzealously protecting them from thehardships, we may be depriving them of the kind ofexperiences that can lead to character growth. Characterslike Grit and Self-control are built through the repeatedcycles of failures and fight backs. Children can do with alittle hardship, some challenge, some deprivation that theycan overcome, even if just to prove to themselves that theycan. We all want our children to succeed, but it is just thatin order to do so, they first need to learn how to fail!

Please send your queries to [email protected]


PERSONAL

RESEARCH

Distil the Mind off Negatives

Scientists have discovered a system that drainswaste products from the brain. The finding

may reveal new ways to treatneurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s

disease.

Our bodies remove dead blood cells and otherwaste through a network of vessels called thelymphatic system. The brain, however, has a

different method of keeping clean. Cerebrospi-nal fluid cleanses brain tissue. But how the

fluid moves through the brain and clears wastewasn't well understood. Until now, scientistscould only study brain tissue in animals that

were already dead. They thought nutrients andwaste were transported through the slow

process of diffusion.

RESEARCH


A basket ball coaching was conducted. Half of the players, say group A,

were given coaching as usual in a court,with all the physical exercises andtechniques. But the other half, say B wastrained only inside a hall, not given a ballor taking any exercise. They were givenonly visuals of the actual exercises andtechniques. After seeing the exercises, theywere asked to visualise them as if theywere doing it. A sort of mediation! For 3weeks this happened. At the end of it,there was an on court test of the abilitiesof both the groups A and B. Surprisingly,both the groups had almost same score inthe test! This means the actual changehappening is in the mind. In studies too, a

lot of mechanical, impersonal readings willnot make any good. The moment wepersonalise the concepts, they make adifference, whether academic or spiritual.Here is a big difference between thelearning/living of academic or spiritualthings. Every study should be anassimilation of concepts and change in thebrain: not just bye-hearting of the letters!

If there is device with just an ON or OFFpossibility, it can represent 2 possibilities.If two such devices are there, together theycan represent 4 different possibilities. Ifthere are 16 such devices, together theycan represent 65536 possibilities. Thenhow much of possibilities can be

represented by 100 such ON/OFFdevices? In our brain, there are trillions ofsuch devices called synapses. Even if only1 % of them are properly working, howgreat is the power of a human brain? Butwe fail to train it, tame it and tap it! Inrelation to what is in front of you, what isat the back of you and what is around youand above you, what is inside you, has nocomparison.

Brain and so the mind is plastic. On anaverage, there are billions of neurons andtrillions of connections in a brain. Braincan make or break a connection in thebrain. This phenomenon is dependent onthe activity undertaken by the brain.

The real change is the changein the brain

Dr. George Athappilly

Brain and so the mind is plastic. On an average, there are billions of neuronsand trillions of connections in a brain. Brain can make or break a connection in

the brain. This phenomenon is dependent on the activity undertaken by thebrain.

RESEARCH


Greater the connections, more powerfulthe brain becomes. Thus we can make orbreak ourselves. It can get changed byexternal influences before birth, after birthand from within the person too.

Brain can accommodate changes

A lorry driver, on seeing a big snake lyingacross the road, stopped the vehicle. Butas more and more vehicles queued up onboth sides he finally had to take the

drastic step of running over the big snake.He did it. But later he got a child, and thatchild was having scales on his body!

The children he had before the incidentwere normal and one more child he hadafter the incident also had scales on hisbody. This is news I read about 40 yearsbefore in the newspaper.

The pregnant mothers are to meditate ongood faces and good children, so that theycan have good faced good children. Eventhe parents are to think of good things anddo good things, much before they go forprocreation, if they want worthy children.During the prenatal stage, what parents doand what the mother eat... influence thechild in the mind and body

Abhimanue of Mahabharata is supposedto have learned the skill of piercing the

chakra vyuha, when he was in the wombof his mother. John the Baptist could sensethe joy of the presence of Mother ofJESUS, while in the womb. If Sachin’schild becomes another cricket prodigy it isquite understandable.

After the birth, the brain’s thinking can begreatly influenced by the others. Just by

the suggestion of the doctor a patient cangain strength or lose all strength. Becauseof an encouragement, a positive stroke, onecan grow to heights or in the opposite ofit, can get completely dejected and lost

By one’s own effort, one can change thecourse of brain or its way of thinking andacting. Many ordinary people have comeup in life, just by the sheer power ofdetermination. Michael Faraday, ThomasAlva Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. A P J

Abdul Kalam and the like are proofs tothis. A prepared mind gets the answer.Many scientists have come to an answerafter years of effort and thinking. Thebrain gets formed and the properconnections are taking place to get morecomplete picture of the issue. Brain can getanswers due to its plasticity like this.

A prepared mind gets the answer. Many scientists have come to an answerafter years of effort and thinking. The brain gets formed and the proper

connections are taking place to get more complete picture of the issue. Braincan get answers due to its plasticity like this.

RESEARCH


The Egyptian magicians and Indian rishisdeveloped great powers of mind, due tothe strenuous efforts. They have trainedtheir minds/brains with disciplinedpractice. Your dream can lead you tosleepless days filled with work to realisethe dream. In spite of the dejections, somehave come up in life, taking it as achallenge. This is possible because themind is able to control itself and the body.It is able to drive the body and ourthinking. Mind can change the course ofaction of anyone. Merlin Monroe,Amitabh Bachan, John Keats and so on aresome examples.

Mind can take over the matter. In theevolution it is clearly seen. From a sameprominence state, of mouth, stomach,heart and genitals intellect gets a primaryand highest post with the erect posture ofman. Head is held high. So is the thinkingin relation to anything else. So brain is torule the humans, nothing else.

Control your mind to produce energy

Control develops energy. The waterflowing through a river does not provideenergy. But when it is controlled andreleased, it creates energy. Light, whenoscillates in every plane in any phase, isnot powerful. But when controlled tovibrate in one plane and in phase, can makelasers, which can cut even metals! Themind when controlled can create lots ofenergy which can work wonders

A non-trained, non-controlled mind falls onitself like a creeper onto itself. But with a

scaffold it can gain/scale heights. Fallenonto itself is fallen apart. Controlled byitself is winning oneself, and in turn,winning everyone. Win one is win all.Winning oneself is winning everyone. Selfvictory is the greatest victory, which evenAlexander the great would subscribe. Eventhis great Alexander became so, because ofthe strict control, training and taming of hismind by the able guide Aristotle the great!Is it not this principle preached by Jesuswhen He taught, ‘enter by the narrowdoor’?

The ancient yogis of India had identifiedthis and so introduced the concept of yoga.Yoga is the stopping or controlling of theactivity of the mind. The dissipation isarrested and focussing of mind is achieved.Yoga is not just twisting and flexing of thebody, but keeping the mind serene, calmand focussed. This collects a lot of energyof the mind.

A set of people, who called themselves asthe illuminated, had strained, trained,tamed their mind and brought forth greatdiscoveries, inventions and principles.Scientists like Newton belonged to thatgroup. The strenuous exercises they did totrain their mind, are described to a greatextent in the famous novel, ‘Da VinciCode’. The energy they collected by thesemethods, helped them find out great truthsof science.

The rishis of India, the magicians of Egypt,Moses from the wilderness, many spiritualgurus all have tapped this great energy ofmind and worked wonders. Even the

Illuminati of the Europe have brought outgreat powers of mind and discovered manyscientific wonders. Control over the mindis possible in different planes. Before ourbirth, our brain is formed or deformed dueto the genes inherited from the parents.

Tips to induce changes in mind

When the Pond is still, the image isclear: Mind augers well when it isfocussed and sharpened. As the pond getsstill, without turbulence on the surface, thereflection in the pond becomes clear. Soalso as the mind becomes still, the pictureinside it, the concepts inside it becomesclearer. When the bigger picture is clear, thesmall picture does not assume so muchsignificance. In the beginning the mindcould be shapeless and order less. But outof that, we can make shapes and order. Wejust will have to will or say meaning it,“Let there be ...” and it will be. That is thegreat power of mind and brain. No wonderman is created in the image and likeness ofGod.

Say and it is done: We need just tell themind, “Be calm”. And it will be. It can be:if we have faith, if we have control. Jesussaid, to the roaring sea. “Be calm” and itbecame calm. Same is the case with ourmind. When we make our mind calm, still alot of power can be distilled out of it.

Forgiveness: This distils one’s mind offthe burden of hatred at the same timegiving the power out of controlling it towin over that emotion. So burden lightened

The ancient yogis of India had identified this and so introduced the concept ofyoga. Yoga is the stopping or controlling of the activity of the mind.

RESEARCH


and power heightened. Burden decreasedand power increased!

Helping others: This helps the brain toget involved in other matters than one’sown brooding issues. When the othermind is happy, it will reflect thathappiness, which will induce in us a joy,which none can take away from us and itwill teach the basics of mind too.Knowing the working of another mind,helps us understand our own mind. Thisin turn pacifies and strengthens it. Closeinteraction with animals also is good. Thisin turn will help us understand anothersimple mind, giving the A B Cs of our ownmind. The one who does not knowanother mind, does not know one’s ownmind.

Self assertions & Auto-suggestions:Self assertions like ‘I can do that’, ‘I amgood’ will in turn help the brain to workbetter. Brain gets feedback from the mindas well as from all over the environment.The input from the mind will help thebrain reclaim itself, re-align itself, adjustitself and work better.

Mantras & Rituals: These will help themind attain a still state. Anythingrepetitive will set the mind to a convolutepath and put it in a still state. That is whyas we repeat anything, we feel likesleeping. It is keeping the mind attain astill state. No wonder yogis continuesaying mantras. Importance need not bethe words said, but the sheer act ofrepetition does the trick. In that case, if weare repeating something good, some good

concepts... it will act in two differentways to calm the brain.

Faith: The mind gets a lot of strength themoment another big force is with it. Heretoo, it is not the actual visible strength ofthe god which is important, but the faiththat, this god can do it for me. “Your faithhas healed you”. The very feeling that,someone or many are there to help me,help one release a lot of brain/mind’senergy out.

Conclusion

Man is a mind. “Manushyan orumanassanu”. “The reality is the idea”,says Plato. The reality of man is the mindwhich could be flexed as one likes! We reapwhat we sow!

The author is Asst. Prof., RamanujanComputing Centre, Anna University,Chennai. His PhD is in Computer Scienceand Brain, under the guidance of Dr. A P JAbdul Kalam.

Win one is win all. Winning oneself is winning everyone. Self victory is thegreatest victory, which even Alexander the great would subscribe.

RESEARCH


Invisibility cloaks: theirfuture possibilities

Nathan Cohen is a physicist, radioastronomer and innovator/inventor,

with a broad scope of knowledge provenand applied across many fields. Thisfoundation has provided the perfectopportunity for him to gain an insight intothe application of fractals toantennas and electronics. Cohen haspublished over 90 technical andscientific papers and two books(Gravity’s Lens and Mysteries of theMilky Way (w/D Goldsmith)). Heholds 28 US patents on ultrasoundand medical devices, real-timedeconvolution, compression, imageprocessing, antennas and fractalengineering.

He is the inventor of the ‘invisiblecloak’.

Students of Rajagiri got anopportunity to talk to this greatpersonality during the InternationalConference on Fractals and Wavelets(ICFW), which was organized by thecollege. Here are excerpts from aninterview with him:

Can you tell us about theapplications of fractals andwavelets in fractal antennas?

Fractals and wavelets help to makethe antennas smaller and morecompact, and these antennas finduses in wireless remotes, airplanesand televisions and also in helpingmachines talk to machines.

Why are fractal antennas better?

Well, fractal antennas involve a newconcept and it overcomes the variousdrawbacks and they are much smaller dueto their shape. Fractal antennas also have awider frequency range.

Invisibility cloaks are the major stapleof science fiction. Did that play a keyrole in the formulation of the idea?

Science fiction is very inspiring. We knowthat it sounds like it is real; no, it’s

visionary rather than innovative. It kicksup your brain cells and gets them to startexploring all the possibilities and it didplay a pivotal role in creating the idea of aninvisibility cloak back in modern-dayantennas. They require no additional partslike separators.

Do you have a message for youngstersof today to go ahead?

I have one very important thing to say:Don’t look to the US as your role model.The US is someone who succeeded in thepast but it is backing out now and India isyet in its prime and has a huge store ofpotential. But the employable youngsters

have to stay in India if the potentialhas to be realized. India should bemore technology-oriented, andautomatically salaries will go up.America is that one nation which hasgone to the moon and never goneback, but India must not stop

marching ahead and establish herselfas a superpower.

What are the future possibilitiesof invisibility cloaks?

The problem with being an innovatoris that it is an experiment of people.The innovator might know how touse it but the public doesn’t. Theinvisibility cloak has an immensearray of future possibilities. It can beused in cloaking so that radio wavescan go around the objects. They alsofind applications in the field ofdefence, but then problems arisewhen the cloak is misused. There areloads of moral implications whichhave to be tackled but I will try toprevent its misuse and until my timeis up, I will make sure that it doesn’tfall into wrong hands.

You have held many publicdemonstrations in various places. Whatwas the response you got?

Utter shock and amazement!! People havenever seen such a concept in real life andeach time a demo is given, people stillcontinue to be flabbergasted.

America is that one nation which has gone to the moon and nevergone back, but India must not stop marching ahead and establish

herself as a superpower.

INTERVIEW


Students these days prefer to go forprofessional degrees rather thandelving into science and research.What do you have to say to them?

The US started from scratch. Peoplewanted to start afresh in the new worldand had a huge need to make thingshappen. All that we need is an idea, butits execution is hard. People do have a lotof ideas bottled up in their minds andIndia has started to take the lead. Peopleare going into management consultancyand young budding entrepreneurs arestriving hard to establish themselves. Myown son, a graduate of the prestigiousVanderbilt, has many friends who aregiving up science and getting a PhD sayingthat they can always get into science and

then deviate if needed because you canalways come back.

What are your future prospects in termsof Fractals and Wavelets?

As a family man, it was hard for me todecide whether I should work with fractalsand wavelets as it was a relatively newconcept in the 1980s and I did have to fendfor my family too. In spite of that I jumpedinto this and found that many applicationshave been conceived but they weren’t beingused. In the US, the golf ball manufacturingcompany refuses to sell fractal golf ballsout of the fear that the competition mighttake up this idea. So to maintain thisdominant market share they go into‘hibervation’ which is basically hibernation.

If this is not stopped then newtechnologies will never be used and theapplications of fractals can’t be realized.

How was your stay in India? Anyexperiences you would like to share?

What I liked about India is that the peopleare motivated; there are no lazy people inIndia. They are all approachable andfriendly. In the US everybody is hostilebut the same behaviour in India wouldmake people think that you are crazy.

What would you like to take back fromIndia?

A sense of vibrancy, community and theurge to push ahead in the face of adversity.

The invisibility cloak has an immense array of future possibilities. It can beused in cloaking so that radio waves can go around the objects.

INTERVIEW


BOOK REVIEW

Ferit Orhan Pamuk (generally known asOrhan Pamuk; born 7 June 1952) is a

Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academicand recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize inLiterature. One of Turkey’s mostprominent novelists,[1] his work has soldover eleven million books in sixtylanguages,[2] making him the country’sbest-selling writer.[3]

Born in Istanbul, Pamuk is Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities atColumbia University, where he teachescomparative literature and writing.[4] Hisnovels include The White Castle, TheBlack Book, The New Life, My Name IsRed and Snow.

As well as the Nobel Prize in Literature(the first Nobel Prize to be awarded to aTurkish citizen), Pamuk is the recipient ofnumerous other literary awards. My NameIs Red won the 2002 Prix du MeilleurLivre Étranger, 2002 Premio GrinzaneCavour and 2003 International IMPACDublin Literary Award.

In Turkey, Pamuk is the equivalent of rockstar, guru, diagnostic specialist andpolitical pundit: the Turkish public readshis novels as if taking its own pulse. He isalso highly esteemed in Europe.

This seventh novel from Orhan Pamuk isnot only an engrossing feat of tale-spinning, but essential reading for ourtimes.

Like Pamuk’s other novels, ‘’Snow’’ is anin-depth tour of the divided, hopeful,desolate, mystifying Turkish soul. It’s thestory of Ka, a gloomy but appealing poet

Author : Orhan Pamuk

Original title : Kar

Translator : Maureen Freely

Pages : 436

Snow

who hasn’t written anything in years. ButKa is not his own narrator: by the time ofthe telling he has been assassinated, and histale is pieced together by an ‘’old friend’’of his who just happens to be namedOrhan.

Summery

Ka, a poet and a turkish political exile,returns to Turkey from Germany after 12years. Upon a friend’s advice he decides toundertake a life changing journey to Kars, asleepy little town on the eastern border,posing as a journalist. A suicide epidemichas broken out among th young girls ofKars and a municipal election is on the

cards. The story is being told in thirdperson by a close friend of Ka’s long afterthe events have actually taken place.

The girls of Kars are forbidden fromwearing headscarves in the university andthis along with other forms of ill treatmentmeted out to them has led to the epidemic.A snow blizzard engulfs the city andbreaks all modes of communication andtransport from the rest of the world. Kahimself is reunited with an old crush fromcollege, Ipek, and falls in love with her. Hersister, Kadife, is the leader of the headscarfgirls, who refuse to give up thier right toreligion. Kadife is also in love with an(alleged) Islamist terrorist called Blue.

Ka and Ipek witness the murder of theeducation director of the local university,the man behind the ban on headscarves.Blue’s involment in the murder is widelyrumoured and Ka finds himself surroundedby political controversies. Also a writersblock that he has been suffering fromsuddenly gets lifted and several beautifulpoems start ‘coming’ to him. The lovebetween Ka and Ipek develops further andhe starts harbouring dreams of a happy lifeahead with Ipek back in Germany. Thoughhe is a long time atheist, newly found love,the politico-cultural unrest and the ‘divine’poems confuse him and he starts lookingfor answers in religion. A buddingfriendship with a religious student Necip(who interestingly is bending towardsatheism himself) also helps.

A revolutionary theatre group has alsoarrived in the city and they stage a playwhich becomes a front for a military coup


In Turkey, Pamuk is the equivalent of rock star, guru, diagnostic specialist andpolitical pundit: the Turkish public reads his novels as if taking its own pulse.

He is also highly esteemed in Europe.

BOOK REVIEW

and an army takeover of Kars to preventan Islamist victory in the forthcomingelections. Necip is killed in the coup.Many religious students are arrested andtortured. In the courseof events, Blue isarrested as well and issentenced to death bythe new regime.

The mastermindbehind this coup,Sunay Zaim, is aforgotten theatrepersonality who hasideas of his own. Hedecides to stageanother play andbroadcast it on localtelevision and wantsKadife to remove herheadsacrf in it as apolitical statement. Inreturn he is ready torelease Blue. Hechooses Ka to act asan arbitrator in thisdeal and threatens himwith arrest if he doesnot comply. Scared oflosing his new foundhappiness, Ka falls inwith the plan.Eventually he brokersa deal and Blue isreleased and he hidesat a secret location.Now however Bluechanges his mind andsends for Ka onceagain. He tells Ka thathe no longer wantsKadife to bare herhead.

When Ka is on hisway back from Blue’ssecret hideout thesecret police ofTurkey, The MIT, takes him in andinterrogates him on the whereabouts ofBlue. When Ka feigns ignorance they tellKa that Ipek was in a relationship withBlue and is still in touch. They then release

him. Heartbroken, he returns to his hotelwhere he asks Ipek if what the MIT hastold him is true. Ipek concedes that she

was once in love with him but denies anycontact now whatsoever.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway forthe play and Ipek and her father pleadwith Ka to go and stop Kadife from

performing in it. Ka agrees and tries topersuade Kadife but she decides that shewill bare her head after all. Ka makes hisway back to the hotel but is apprehended

by the army on theway. The blizzardbeing over, thetransport links haveopened again and thearmy decide to sendKa away for good. Kasends word to Ipek toreach the railwaystation directly. Ipekrecieves the messageand beginspreparations forleaving. Then sherecieves a message thatBlue has been foundout and murderd bythe secret police.Convinced that Ka hasgiven him away out ofjealousy, Ipek decidesto stay and Ka has toleave without her. Hespends the rest of hislife in Germany adejected man. Fouryears later he isassasinated by aTurkish Islamist groupwhich holds himresponsible for Blue’sfate.

Orhan (probably theauthor himself), thenarrator, decides tofind out the ‘divine’poems that Ka wrotewhile in Kars and alsofind out whether Kahad really sold Blueout. He visitsFrankfurt and thenKars. He is unable to

find the poems but discovers that Ka hadindeed been the person because of whomBlue died. As a farewell to his friend,Orhan decides to write a book on hisjourney to Kars.


‘’Snow’’ is an in-depth tour of the divided, hopeful, desolate, mystifyingTurkish soul. It’s the story of Ka, a gloomy but appealing poet who hasn’t

written anything in years.

In the offing - a new IndustrialRevolution

Jerin Shaji Mathew

We cannot think of a world withoutmachines, electricity or the present

communication facilities. Theseinnovations have changed our lives to suchan extent that life without them seemsimpossible.

These changes didn’t happen in afortnight. It all began with the invention ofthe wheel. The Industrial Revolution thatfollowed started around 1760. It was atransition to new manufacturing processesfrom hand production and can be said tohave occurred in four phases.

The first phase began with theintroduction of steam engines. Animalpower/slave power was replaced withmachine power, which was moreconsistent and cheaper. Production wentup and so did the income of industries.Mechanization of processes was the mainchange that took place during this period,especially in printing and communication

technology. Industrial Revolution 1.0 wasa mechanical revolution.

Industrial Revolution 2.0, also known astechnological revolution, started during thelatter half of the 19th century and lasted tillthe First World War, primarily in Britain,Germany and the United States.Electricity, internal combustion engines,telegraph etc were the areas around whichthis phase was centred. Electrification wasthe most important feature of this period.The manufacturing sector adopted serialproduction methods. Henry Ford madesignificant contributions to this revolution.Industrial Revolution 2.0 can be consideredas an electrical revolution.

The third phase began in the 1940s as aresult of massive development ofelectronics especially the advent of themicroprocessor, which was a breakthroughin computing. The communication phase,or the digital revolution, grew enormously.

This led to the change from analogue, andmechanical and electronic technology todigital technology with the adoption ofdigital computers and digital recordkeeping that continues till today. To beprecise, it is the use of electronic and ITsystems to automate production and is thefoundation of automation.

Industrial Revolution 3.0 is an informationand communication technology (ICT)revolution.

And now, it is Industrial Revolution 4.0.The whole process of manufacturing willbe automated completely, ie from scratchtill the final product. Any changesnecessary will be identified automaticallyby the system and will be executed. Directhuman involvement will be reduced to aminimum. This is done through the use ofcyber physical systems. This phase isexpected to reach its full potential in thenext 30 years. It is believed that internet

STUDENTS’ CLUB

The Industrial Revolution that followed started around 1760. It was atransition to new manufacturing processes from hand production and can be

said to have occurred in four phases.


STUDENTS’ CLUB

technology is about to change themanufacturing industries crucially. It willalso give an extra push towards moreefficiency, security and resourceprotection in manufacturing and logistics,ie by the birth of cyber physical systemsto be simple, creating direct and real-timeinterface between the virtual and physicalworld.

What will be some of the importantfeatures of the emerging IndustrialRevolution 4.0? In simple words,automation will be made smarter. Forexample, we may use an iPhone to changethe parameter of production in a factory.This could possibly mean cheaper andsmarter factories. Presently thetechnology is not fully developed. It isnot fully ripe.

Advancements in artificial intelligence,especially in the areas of speechrecognition and decision-making, areencouraging. Announcements on theadoption of more and more robots in theindustries also give us the signs of thecoming industrial revolution. Last year wesaw the popularization of 3-D printersthough the idea has been on for the last 30

years. They help in rapid prototyping andalso cheaper production of smallquantities. They are known for their fastproduction and easy recast. The cloudcomputing technology helps to organize

events all around the globe, that too in real-time. Devices with properties of existingcomputing including artificial intelligenceare termed smart devices. These deviceswith NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc help tocoordinate and control a number ofdevices. These are the technologies thatmake us wait for the revolution.

At Hannover Messe, the world’s largesttechnology fair, last April, the concept ofintegrated industry was proposed. Siemenshas already demonstrated an electronics

factory in Amberg, Germany, with muchadvancement in digitalization. Just as theUSB allows us to connect a number ofdevices to a computer, they havedeveloped a totally integrated automationportal which can play a significant role inthe interaction between various machines.The German Government has announcedfunds for upgrading its factories sensingthe wave and positive feedback is receivedfrom all over the world. Othergovernments keenly follow thedevelopment of Industrial Revolution 4.0.

The automation and coordination of thecyber physical systems which could alterthemselves for the changes required in the

products is at the heart of IndustrialRevolution 4.0. It reminds one of theRichie Rich cartoon in which ProfessorKeenbean makes a machine which ‘inventsnew inventions’. That day is certainly notfar off.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, especially in the areas of speechrecognition and decision-making, are encouraging. Announcements on the

adoption of more and more robots in the industries also give us the signs of thecoming industrial revolution.

Jerin Shaji Mathew is a MechanicalEngineering student at Rajagiri School OfEngineering And Technology, Kakkanad.


STUDENTS’ CLUB

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STUDENTS’ CLUB

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STUDENTS’ CLUB

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STUDENTS’ CLUB

INNOVATION

Rudder in brain identifiedA University of British Columbia study

published in Nature Neurosciencereports how one of the smallest parts ofthe brain, lateral habenula, which isconsidered asone of theoldest regionsof the brainevolution wise,plays a crucialrole in decisionmaking. LateralHabenula isearlieridentified as aregion of brainlinked todepression andavoidancebehavior. It is involved in the importantdecisions that we make on a daily basis,like choosing between job offers ordecisions to buy a car or a house.

Enzymes canregulate moodAn enzyme called Rines, which

regulates brain proteins, is also foundto control emotions and mood, giving cluehow to treat diseases associated withemotions such as depression. The geneMonoamine oxidase (MAO-A), nicknamedthe “warrior gene” plays a crucial role ininfluencing emotions and mood. It is oftenassociated with increased risk of violentand anti-social behavior. A research teamheaded by Jun Aruga at the RIKEN BrainScience Institute has shown for the firsttime that a ligase named Rines regulates thelevel of MAO-A in the brain.

The study is published in the Journal ofNeuroscience. The research presents apromising new avenue for analyzing therole of MAO-A in brain function. Thispromises insights into the treatment ofanxiety, stress-related disorders andimpaired social functions.

Underlying circuit architectureof brain uncovered

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutesand the

Salk Institutehavediscovered away tountangle thecomplexneuralnetworks inthe brain. Thepower ofbrains isdeterminedby itstrillions ofintercellularconnections,calledsynapses.Thesesynapsestogether form complex the circuitarchitecture of the brain. Using an

In experiments with lab rats, it was foundthat once lateral habenula was inactivated,rats could not choose to avoid risk and getbetter reward, which they could do with

an active lateralhabenula. Theyrather chose atrandom.

This givesinsights into thetreatment ofdepression. It isobserved that adeep brainstimulation,which couldinactivate the

lateral habenula, could be used toimprove depressive symptoms in humans.This may be because they simply do notcare as much about what is making themfeel depressed.

innovative brain-tracing technique the

scientists could produce high resolutionmapping of brain. To realize it, they used a

sophisticated tracing system andassembled brain-wide maps ofneurons thatconnect withbasal ganglia, aregion of thebrain that isinvolved inmovement anddecision-making.

Developing abetterunderstanding ofthis region isconsideredimportant as itcould provideinsights into thedisordersaffecting basal

ganglia dysfunction including Parkinson’sdisease and Huntington’s disease.


INNOVATION

Brain has asay on whatyou eatIt is often said that what one eats could

influent what and how one thinks.However, according to a review studypresented at Neuroscience 2012, theannual meeting of the Society forNeuroscience, what and how you thinkdetermines what you eat. The studyreveals the neurological component ofdietary disorders. According to the study,the brain’s biological mechanism maycontribute to public health menacesincluding, obesity, diabetes, and thefascination towards high-calorie meal.

The study suggests that being obeseseemingly affect cognitive functions.Obese people tend to require more effortto complete a complex decision-makingtask. The study further suggests that theeffect of skipping breakfast as a measureof diet control is minimal. This is because,on skipping a breakfast, the pleasure-seeking part of the brain is activated bypictures of high-calorie food, suggestingthat skipping breakfast may lead toincreased food consumption at lunch.

Eggs essential for braindevelopment

Researchers at the University ofMontreal have found that the amino

acid, asparagines found in foods like meat,eggs, anddairyproducts,is essentialfor normalbraindevelopment,thoughnon-essentialfor otherorgans.Theyfound thatasparagineis not welltransported to the brain via blood-brainbarrier. Hence brain cells resort to localsynthesis of asparagine to functionproperly.

In the brain of healthy persons, the level ofasparagine synthetase, the enzymeresponsible for synthesizing the aminoacid asparagines, is sufficient to supplyneurons. It is found that in individuals

with gene affected by mutation code forasparagine synthetase, the enzyme is not

produced insufficientquantity,resulting inthe depletionofasparagines,which affectstheproliferationand survivalof cells duringbraindevelopment.

Children withthis genemutation

suffer from variety of symptoms,including intellectual disability and cerebralatrophy, which can lead to death. Theresearchers are an effort to developsuitable treatments for this disease. Theythink of asparagines supplement given toinfants to ensure an adequate level ofasparagines in the brain to ensure itsnormal development.

Brain smarter than eyesAccording to a new research published

in Psychological Science, the brainprocesses visual inputseffectively, even if youare not consciouslyperceive that input. Thisconclusion challenges thecurrently acceptedmodels of processing ofvisual information bybrain.

The research was led byJay Sanguinetti of theUniversity of Arizona,who showed studyparticipants a series ofblack silhouettes, some ofwhich contained recognizable, real-worldobjects in the white spaces on theoutsides. On analyzing the subjects’brainwaves using an electroencephalogram

(EEG), it is found that even when theparticipants have not consciously seen the

object, the brain hasalready processed theinformation regarding it.

It suggests that ourbrains have seeminglyevolved to sift throughthe stream of visualinput in our eyes andidentify things that aremost important to usto consciouslyperceive, such as athreat or resources suchas food, etc. It indicatesthat as we walk down a

street, our eyes perceive and our brainsrecognize meaningful objects, even withoutour conscious awareness of it.

Memoryboosting herbsidentifiedExtracts made from unique antioxidants

found in spearmint and rosemary isfound to improve learning and memory,according to a study reported from SaintLouis University, USA. Based onexperiments on animals, the researchersfound that this herbal preparation reducesdeficits caused by mild cognitiveimpairment caused, for example, by earlystages of Alzheimer’s disease.

This could probably mean that eatingspearmint and rosemary is good for brainhealth. However, the researchers do notsuggest more than chewing them in gums,since the effects of these herbs in humansis not yet well-studied.


INNOVATION

Drug causes permanentchanges in brain

Researchers of NorthwesternMedicine® have identified abnormal

changes in the brain structures related toworking memory in teens, who usemarijuana regularly for about three years.

Workingmemory is theability toremember andprocessinformation inthe moment andtransfer it tolong-termmemory. A poorworkingmemory usuallycauses pooracademicperformance andpoor overallfunctioning of the brain. Brainabnormalities and memory problems wereobserved in drug users even after two yearsafter they have stopped taking it. Thiscould indicate long-term effects of chronicuse of drugs.

The memory-related structures of the drugusers’ brain is found to shrink and collapseinward, possibly reflecting a decrease inneurons. The study also shows thatmarijuana-related brain abnormalities could

becorrelatedwith thatassociatedwithschizophrenia-related brainabnormalities.Theyounger theindividualswere whenthey startedchronicallyusingmarijuana,

the more abnormally their brain regionswere shaped, the study reports.

The study gives insights for policy-makersdealing with substance abuse. The resultsare published in the journal SchizophreniaBulletin.

Story ofpsychopathic

criminalsOffenders diagnosed with psychopathy

are more likely to harm otherindividuals and to do so again after beingreleased. According to a brain imagingstudy in the Netherlands, individuals withpsychopathy have reduced empathy whilewitnessing the pains of others.

However, when asked to empathize, theycan activate empathy. This explains whypsychopaths look callous and sociallycunning at the same time.

It is observed that individuals withpsychopathy typically demonstratereduced empathy. Hence it is easy forthem to hurt other people. The reason liesin the lack of spontaneity in psychopathicpersons to respond to the pain of others,not the lack of it.

The researchers suggest a change of coursein the treatment of psychopathy. Insteadof attempting to create capacity forempathy, therapies may need to focus on

making the existing capacity moreautomatic to prevent them from furtherharming others.

The study is published in the JournalBrain.

Poverty can influence braindevelopment of children

Researchers from the University ofWisconsin-Madison suggest that

poverty could directly affect the earlystages of development of brain of poorchildren. It isfound that thegray matter of thebrain in the brainof poor childrengrows atsignificantly lowrate for childrenliving underpoverty limits.Grain matter isthe brain tissue critical for processing ofinformation and execution of actions.

Poverty can really get under the skin, thestudy suggests. Poverty and biology haveimportant links between them. Children in

poor families lagged behind in thedevelopment of the parietal and frontalregions of the brain. These deficits helpexplain behavioural, learning and attention

problemscommonlyencountered indisadvantagedchildren. Theparietal lobe,which is one ofthe last parts ofthe brain todevelop, worksas the network

hub of the brain connecting disparate partsto make use of stored or incominginformation.

The research is published in the journalPLOS ONE.


47Pallikkutam | September 2013

Four foods that harm

HEALTH WATCH

Counting kilojoules can be depressing.Even worse is trying to count grams

of fat or grams of carbohydrates or tryingto add up the kilojoules in the foods youeat, as so many dietplans insist youshould do.Instead, dowhat your commonsense tells you: eat alittle less and move alittle more. Do thatevery day and you’lllose weight. Forsteady, healthy,lasting weight loss,there’s no better way.And the best foodsfor a healthy heart areexactly the ones youneed to eat most offor a healthy weight.Here are some simpleguidelines for making the change to lifelonghealthy eating.

Six guidelines for lifelong healthy eating

beverages are often loaded with sugar – andthe US FDA has received numerous

reports linking certain energy drinks topossible heart attacks, convulsion and evendeath.

1. Smoked and cured meats

From fancy charcuterie to complex

canapes, pass oncured meats in anyform – they’ve beenlinked to cancer,cardiovasculardisease, high bloodpressure andmigraines.

Plus, they’re packedwith artery-clogginggrease: as an example,most shop-boughtsausages contain 20%fat!

2. Energy drinksStick to a cup of coffee for your afternoonboost. Seemingly harmless caffeinated

LET PORTIONS BE YOUR GUIDE

Using the perfect portion size guide onpage 101, keep track of serving sizes. Youmay find you’re eating more fruit and

vegetables than you thought (which isgood), or you may be underestimating how

much pasta, ice-cream or snack foods youeat, and consuming more kilojoules thanyou realised.

START WITHBREAKFAST

Skipping a morningmeal leaves you sohungry that you canjustify eating anythinglater on. Weight-losswinners tend to eat inthe morning.

DON’T MISSLUNCH ORDINNER

The main reason fornight-time binges isnot eating enoughduring the day. Try

filling up on the slimming parts of yourmeal - salad, vegetables and stock-based

Skipping a morning meal leaves you so hungry that you canjustify eating anything later on. Weight-loss winners tend to

eat in the morning.

3. White riceSkip the refined grains and go for whole: a

17% higher risk ofdiabetes is associated witheating five or moreservings of white rice perweek, compared witheating white rice less thanonce a month.

4. Low-fat peanutbutterWhen companies take outthe fat, they have to addsomething back in to makepeanut butter tastedelicious. In this case, it’sextra sugar – and who

wants that? Instead, spread regular, naturalpeanut butter on your sandwich for moreof the good fats and protein without fakesweetness.


Processed foods get a bad rap, whichmany of them deserve. They can be

unnecessarily high in sodium and sugar, andladen with unrecognisable ingredients.Reducing your reliance on preparedand packaged foods is a positivestep for your health.

However, if you are selective, youcan find processed foods that arenutritionally sound, and theconvenience makes it easier to eatwell. Canned fruit retains many ofthe nutrients found in fresh fruitand it’s a low-cost alternative,especially varieties canned in fruitjuice. And frozen berries are an easy– and healthy – dessert. Cannedlentils and beans are quicker to usethan dried beans, while frozenvegetables are a no-chop alternativeto fresh vegies. As they’re snap-frozen soon after harvest, they canretain more nutrients than “fresh”vegetables that have been left for aweek in the bottom of the fridge.

You can also find breakfast cereals thatdon’t contain too much sodium and sugar.There are also a number of good,prepared soups available from the fridgesection at local supermarkets. Eat fresh

Are all processed foods bad?foods and cook from scratch as often asyou can, but don’t worry about having afew of these time-saving processed foodsin the pantry and freezer.

soups. Eat high-kilojoule meats and starches last so youneed a little less of them.

DRINK WATER, UNSWEETENED TEAOR DIET DRINKS

Cutting out one sweetened drink a day -whether a soft drink or sweetened tea -

could help you tolose just over 11 kilograms over thecourse of a year.

KEEP A FOOD DIARY FOR A WEEK

It will reveal what you’re really eating andhelp you to spot the times of day whenyou’re skimping or overdoing it.

DON’T BE ANISLAND

Join a weight-losssupport group onlineor locally. Enlist thesupport of familyand friends. Plentyof research showsthat dieting with afriend helps both ofyou to stick with it,especially in the toughfirst few weeks.

Don’t eat out ofboredom, stress or

habit. It’s amazing howmany people do. We tend

to nibble while watchingTV, while at the computer or

just when we need to take abreak.

Find healthier ways to take breaks or dealwith the stresses of everyday life. Thebest choice is a short walk followed by aglass of water or a cup of hot tea or coffee.


HEALTH WATCH

Common Core National Standardsbenchmarks for quality education

Building on the excellent foundation of standards the states have laid down,

CCSS are the first step in providing young people

with a high-quality education

Sebastian Menacherry

Now that the common man has takenup cudgels for essential social and

political reforms, it should serve as awake-up call for all those concerned withrevamping and strengthening our educa-tional system in the light of principles ofequity and quality. It is important for allthose engaged in this field - parents,students, teachers and the community - totake a call on this and make painstakingefforts to shake off the dead habits of rolelearning and score-oriented education andreplace it with realistic and holistictransformation of every child. It is in thiscontext that we have to realize the needfor and the importance of Common CoreNational Standards ( CCNS).

In our previous issues we had discussedhow some of the countries achievedconsiderable success in revolutionizingtheir education system and could standout in global competitions. Those

countries, such as Finland and Singapore,gave top priority to the revamping ofeducation at the national level, and todaythe world looks upon them as benchmarksfor education. While considering theimportant reasons for the success of thosereforms in those countries, two uniquefeatures stand out: 1) the consensus of allmajor political parties on supporting thenational educational reform policies; 2) therigorous quality insistence on the selection,retention and empowerment of teachers,which are the sine qua non for any reformmeasures in our country too. Anotherimportant initiative to be taken by theCentral and State Governments would bethe decision to work in tandem in order todesign and implement a national curriculumfor schools, incorporating regionalrequirements and at the same time laying astrong framework of core national contentwith quality standards and parameters for

schools all over India.

The basis for an initiative on functionalpolicies may, perhaps, call for morecontrol by the Central Government andnational agencies like NCERT and NUEPA(National University of EducationalPlanning and Administration), assertingand establishing their firmly adequatespace in the present ambiguous concurrentlist, in which education lies at present.Concurrent list consists of areas where theCentral Government and states shareresponsibilities for policies, budgeting andimplementation. Education was shiftedfrom the state list to the concurrent list in1976 during the Emergency imposed byIndira Gandhi.

The prototype for such national corestandards can be found in the recentlyintroduced CCSS (Common Core StateStandards) in the US. This step has been


POLICY WATCH

In our country, till recently, different kinds of syllabi had beendesigned and implemented by state/regional governments, but

interestingly, of late, there have been more and more demands fora central/national or even global curriculum.

adopted after the failure of the schemecalled NCLB (No Child Left Behind)which was introduced by the previousregime. The mission statement of CCSSstates that “it provides a consistent, clearunderstanding of what students areexpected to learn, so teachers and parentsknow what theyneed to do tohelp them. Thestandards aredesigned to berobust andrelevant to thereal world,reflecting theknowledgeand skills thatour youngpeople needfor success incollege andcareers”.

The responseto the CCSSinitiative inthe US hasbeen over-whelming.Forty-fivestates, thedistrict ofColumbia, fourterritories (USVirgin Islands,Puerto Rico,Guam and AmericanSamoa) and the Department of DefenceEducation Activity have adopted CCSS,which proves the high acceptance of theinitiative.

Building on the excellent foundation ofstandards the states have laid down, CCSSare the first step in providing youngpeople with a high-quality education. Itshould be clear to every student, parentand teacher what the standards of successare in every school.

In our country, till recently, different kindsof syllabi had been designed and imple-mented by state/regional governments, butinterestingly, of late, there have been moreand more demands for a central/national oreven global curriculum. The enlightenedparents are keen to prepare their children

f o r na-tional or even global competition. Widermobility of people, advance of technologyin media and IT have enhanced thisparadigm shift. As a result, today there isincreasing demand for national curriculasuch as CBSE, CBSE-i, ICSE and Interna-tional O and A Levels, IB etc in ourcountry. Parents look for more acceptabil-ity of the educational stream and, moreimportantly, a system that can bring outthe best in the child and her/his overall

development.

Our educational planners have to takeserious note of these changing trends andshift of interest while planning our futureeducation. A national summit for educa-t i o n - alists from Central and State

Governments andcorporates thatare involved ineducationalactivitiesshould initiatea productivedialogue withall stakeholdersand arrive at aconsensus onan effectiveCCNS scheme.

In the US, thecore standardsare mostly setfor two mainsubjects,English andMathematics.In India, we canperhaps havesuch standardsfor Sciencesubjects too.Initially, if westart with thesecore subjects,we can move onafter studying

the feedback fromall those at stake. In view of the emergingmobility, it is the need of the hour toconsider such CCNS.

Sebastian Menacherry is formerchairman, Council of CBSE Schools inthe Gulf, and former Director ofGoverment Model Schools, Rivers State,Nigeria.


POLICY WATCH


Dr. Augustine Thottakara

Dama-Dana-DayaSelf Control-Generosity-Mercy

Brhadaranyaka Upanisad narrates aninteresting story. Prajapati, the first

born of the supreme Being, had three sons,who were also at the same time hisstudents. The three sons/students were:one god (deva), one human being(manusya) and one demon (asura). Theywere not three separate species,but three types of people, withthree specific characteristics anddistinctive features. They stayedwith Prajapati for twelve yearsand learned the Vedas, Vedangas,Upavedas, Itihasas, Puranas,Dharma-sastras, and alsophilosophical disciplines likeNyaya, Vaisesika, Yoga,Mimamsa, etc. After this longperiod of formation and trainingPrajapati, the preceptor, decidedto conclude their period ofstudentship (brahmacarya), andto send them back home to enterinto the next stage of life, namely,household-life (garhasthya).They have to go home, wheretheir fathers would perform thesamavartana samskara (homecoming ritual), and arrange theirmarriage.

Therefore, Prajapati asked hisdisciples to take the ritual bath(diksanta-snana) and come beforehim for the final instructions.This bath is important. Thesebrahmacarins are pervaded and permeatedby the divine power and grace, by thedivine lustre and by the energy of theVedic word. They are all personificationof divinity and supra-mundane godliness;they are almost like celestial beings. Ifthey go to the world like that, the contacts

with the world and worldliness, contactswith material realities, and earthly entitiesmay cause them harm. They need to washaway some of the sacredness, godlinessand divine nature, wash away the divinelustre, and render themselves ‘normal’

human beings before they enter into thearena of normal human life in the world.

The god, that is, the student with thecharacteristics of a god, took the ritualbath, came before Prajapati, prostratedbefore him, and said: ‘Revered Sir, speak’.

The preceptor looked at him and solemnlypronounced just one letter “da”. He thenasked the student: “Did you understand?”The student, that is god, said: “Iunderstand you perfectly Sir. You aretelling me damyata, ‘control yourself’.My problem is that I do not have any

control in my thoughts, wordsand deeds; I am unbridled inmy dealings with persons,events and things; I say and dothings without maturedeliberations and prudence.This is my cardinal vice, andyou are telling me that I shouldtake care of this in my futurestages of life, away from yourcare and protection. ReveredSir, I shall control myself”.Prajapati said: “You haveunderstood what I said, you goand do accordingly”.

Then the man, that is, thestudent with the characteristicsof a human being, took theritual bath, came beforePrajapati, prostrated beforehim, and said: ‘Revered Sir,speak’. The preceptorsolemnly pronounced the sameone letter “da”. He then askedthe student: “Did youunderstand?” The student,that is man, said: “I understandyou perfectly Sir. You are

telling me datta, ‘give, be generous’. Myproblem is that I am very selfish, verymuch ego-centred; I am not at all generous.Selfishness is my cardinal vice, and you aretelling me that I should take care of thisflaw in my character in my future stages oflife, away from your care and protection.

The verbal root “da” has all these three meaning: damyati,meaning to control, dadati, meaning to give, and dayate, meaning

to be kind and merciful.


ASPECTS

ASPECTS

Revered Sir, I shall give my being and myhavings to others; I shall be generous”.Prajapati said: “You have understood whatI said, you go and do accordingly”.

Then the third student, the demon, that is,the student with the characteristics of anasura, took the ritual bath, came beforePrajapati, prostrated before him, and said:‘Revered Sir, speak’. The preceptorsolemnly pronounced again the same letter“da”. He then asked the student: “Didyou understand?” The student, that isdemon, said: “I understand you perfectlySir. You are telling me dayadhvam, ‘bemerciful’. My problem is that I do notcare for others, I am cruel to others, I donot show any consideration and care forthe well-being and feelings of others; I hurtothers in my thoughts, words and deeds; Isay and do things without mercy. This ismy cardinal vice, and you are telling methat I should take care of this in my futurestages of life, away from your care andprotection. Revered Sir, I shall be mercifuland kind to others”. Prajapati said: “Youhave understood what I said, you go anddo accordingly”.

This is the shortest Convocation Addressever delivered in the world: just one letter“da”, with three connotations. This is notjust a fanciful and whimsical way of givingmeaning to the letter “da”, without anylogical reason behind it; it is not thecreation of imagination. The verbal root“da” has all these three meaning: damyati,meaning to control, dadati, meaning to

give, and dayate, meaning to be kind andmerciful.

The Upanisad further says that this one-letter instruction of the teacher was

ratified by the heavenly voice. As thepreceptor gave his last one-letter advice tothe demon, the clouds in the skythundered ‘da, da, da’, indicating that theteacher has rightly interpreted and helpedhis disciples to interpret the inherentmeaning and application of this verbalroot.

T.S. Eliot refers to this Upanisadicpassage in his Epic Poem “The WasteLand”. T.S. Eliot undoubtedly is the mostfamous and greatest poet of Englishlanguage of the nineteenth century. TheWaste Land is written in the wake of FirstWorld War. He laments that Europe hasbecome a waste land. He is not referringto the material destructions that the warhas caused. The destructions wereenormous: great monuments, celebratedCathedrals, eminent churches, notablehistoric buildings, important commercial

complexes, bridges, roads – all these weredestroyed. But in the poetry he grievesover the moral degradation and deprivationthat has happened in the personal andsocietal life of people. People have becomevery self-centred and unkind. Love,sympathy, empathy, compassion, etc. werevalues and virtues which were conspicuousby their absence in the lives of individualand society at large. Exploitation of theweak, absence of the concern for commongood, untruthfulness and cheating ininterpersonal relationships and businessdealings, cruelty meted out to otherswithout any remorse, lack of moralintegrity in politics, unethical meansemployed to secure wealth, etc. wererampant. He is immensely pained by thissad state of affairs.

In the last chapter of his book, he suggeststhe means to overcome this debilitatingmalaise of the Europe. The fifth and lastchapter of The Waste Land is entitled as“What the Clouds Said”. It refers to thethree “da” of the BrhadaranyakaUpanisad, which stand for self control,generosity and mercy - damyata, datta,dayadhvam. Individuals, families andsociety at large should practise these valuesand virtues; changes will definitely ensuefrom a life tuned to the ethos of thesevalues. Let the people strive to controltheir body, senses, mind, passions,thoughts, words and deeds; let the peoplelearn to be generous and munificent; let thepeople practise maitri (loving friendship)and karuna (mercy and kindness) - thingswill take a turn for the better.

Let the people strive to control their body, senses, mind, passions, thoughts,words and deeds; let the people learn to be generous and munificent; let thepeople practise maitri (loving friendship) and karuna (mercy and kindness) -

things will take a turn for the better.


INFO TECH

What metros searched for in 2013Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore,

Hyderabad and Chennai haveemerged as the top five metro cities thatsearched online in 2013 and mobilephones followed by apparel, PC andtablets, home and kitchen andbooks were the top five searchedcategories, says a survey.

Traffic from tier-2 cities and minitowns such as Pune, Gurgaon,Noida and Chandigarh alsoincreased by over two-fold year-on-year, according to findings ofJunglee.com’s ‘Online ShoppingSearch Trends Report 2013’.

The report analyses key consumeronline shopping search trends in2013, based on customer searcheson Junglee.com.

Delhiites searched the most for homeappliances in 2013, while consumers inKolkata searched the most forentertainment products like books,music, movies, video games, accountingfor 62 per cent of searches in this

Govt to launch internet spy system ‘Netra’ soon.I Beware! Use of words like “attack”,

“bomb”, “blast” or “kill” in tweets,

status updates, emails or blogs may bringyou under surveillance of security agenciesas the government will soon launch

category. However, video games were mostsearched by consumers in Hyderabad, itsaid.

In Chennai and Bangalore, consumerssearched the most for mobile phone and

apparel accounting for more than 60 percent of the overall searches.

Consumers in Mumbai searched forfootwear accounting for 15 per cent ofsearches in this category, the surveyrevealed.

The survey further said consumers alsosearched for global products on the site,such as Google Nexus range of phonesand tablets as well as the newPlayStation 4 during Q1, Q2 and Q3 of

2013, were searched for when theseproducts were launched in the USmarket.

“Customers in the country areincreasingly adapting to onlineshopping. One in four onlineshoppers now visits a comparisonshopping site before completing apurchase on a seller website. We arenot only witnessing an increase intraffic from the top six cities butfrom mini towns as well,”Junglee.com General ManagerMahendra Nerurkar said.

The report also revealed that pricingplayed an important role in 2013.

As compared to 2012, consumerpreferences in mobiles and tabletscategory gravitated towards the higherpriced models this year, it added.

“Netra”, an internet spy system capable ofdetecting mala fide messages.

The home ministry is giving finishingtouches to ‘Netra’, which will be deployed

by all security agencies to capture anydubious voice traffic passing through

software like Skype or Google Talk,besides write-ups in tweets, statusupdates, emails, instant messaging


INFO TECH

Infosys mulling double-digitsalary hike

Infosys is considering double-digit payraises as chairman NR Narayana

Murthy looks to keep the workforce of1.5 lakh motivated, people aware ofdiscussions in the company said.

Although growth is showing signs ofpicking up, several senior executives haveleft the Bangalore-based company inrecent months, making it imperative forattractive pay raises to keep employeemorale high.

“Not only have they decided to hand outbigger pay increases, there will also bemore promotions,” said a senior industryexecutive on condition of anonymity.“Hikes could fall in the 8-12% range tomotivate employees,” the person said.

Infosys usually announces pay increasesin June. A spokeswoman for the companydeclined to comment. Last year, Infosysraised salaries for staff in India by 8% onaverage, shortly after founder Murthyreturned to lead the company as executivechairman in June.

“I think Murthy’s going to offer higherwage hikes because a combination of hikesand other factors will be critical to

retaining people,” said Ajit Isaac, managingdirector and chief executive of IkyaHuman Capital Solutions, a staffingcompany that serves the Indian IT sector.

Analysts said the decision to offer higherpay hikes is a welcome one although itcould impact the company’s margins. “Atthis point, improving employee sentimentmatters more than worrying about dip inmargins,” an analyst with a foreignbrokerage firm said on condition of

anonymity as he is not authorized tospeak to the media.

Attrition at Infosys was 17.3% at the endof the September quarter, the highestamong the tier-1 Indian IT providers,illustrating that the company had becomefertile poaching ground for rivals, asdemand picked up for the $108 billionoutsourcing industry.

In comparison, Tata Consultancy Services,which had announced a 5-10% payincrease in April, had an attrition of 10.9%at the end of second quarter.

Last June, Wipro said it was raisingsalaries by 6-8% for its employees.

transcripts, internet calls, blogs andforums.

The “Netra” internet spy system has beendeveloped by Centre for ArtificialIntelligence and Robotics (CAIR), a labunder Defence Research and DevelopmentOrganization (DRDO).

“The specifications of the ‘Netra’ systemcan be taken as frozen following tests bythe Intelligence Bureau and CabinetSecretariat, and can be considered forproviding multiple user access to securityagencies,” a Home Ministry note on Netrasays.

An inter-ministerial group, comprisingofficials of the Cabinet secretariat, homeministry, DRDO, CAIR, IntelligenceBureau, C-DoT and Computer EmergencyResponse Team ( CERT-In) recently havediscussed the deployment strategy of“Netra”.

The group also chalked-out a strategy onhow to deal with computer securityincidents, track system vulnerabilities andpromote effective IT security practicesacross the country.

“When Netra is operationalized, securityagencies will get a big handle on monitoringactivities of dubious people andorganisations which use internet to carryout their nefarious designs,” a governmentofficial said.

The inter-ministerial group favouredallocation of 300 GB of storage space to amaximum of three security agencies,including the Intelligence Bureau andCabinet Secretariat, for intercepted internettraffic and an extra 100 GB would beassigned to the remaining law enforcementagencies.


INFO TECH

Google ties up with auto majors forAndroid OS to cars

Google has entered into a partnership with the leading carmakers and a chip-

making firm in order to bring its Androidoperating system into vehicles in 2014.Open Auto Alliance (OAA), an auto-techgroup, also announced on Monday, theopening day for CES 2014, that they willsupport the OS’ widespread use withcertain tweaks.

Some of the carmakers involved in thepartnership are General Motors, Audi,Honda and Hyundai whereas Nvidia willbe also giving its support under-the-hood.

“The OAA is dedicated to a commonplatform that will drive innovation, andmake technology in the car safer and moreintuitive for everyone” the groupannounced. “Its open development modeland common platform will allowautomakers to more easily bring cutting-edge technology to their drivers, and createnew opportunities for developers todeliver powerful experiences for driversand passengers in a safe and scalable way.”

Although the details are being keptundercover, the OAA added that Google’sAndroid OS will arrive with certain car-specific features.

The Android-Audi tie-up came into newslast month itself, reports CNET, as it was

revealed that the popular carmaker wouldinclude entertainment and informationsystems-based on the Google’s OS.However, the Android-General Motorsagreement is considered to be much biggeras GM is the largest automaker around the

globe. The firm is said to pair itself withthe mobile OS via its native OnStarcommunications technology.

The OAA partnership is also considered astarting point for the implementation ofthe much-anticipated self-driving cartechnology, providing a platform forstandardised computing and services. Theself-driving car technology’s biggestdrawback is fear for driver and road safety,and to reassure consumers, the alliancesaid: “We have been in contact withgovernment agencies like the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA). Our goal is to build anexperience that helps drivers get whatthey’re looking for without disruptingtheir focus on the road.”

As a competition to Android, Apple’s iOSis also working on car electronics. Ford isalso said to have a close partnership withMicrosoft regarding its Sync technology.

Facebook has acquired Bangalore-basedstartup Little Eye Labs making it the

social networking giant’s first acquisitionin India. Little Eye is a tool that helpsAndroid app developers to measure,analyze and optimize their apps.

It helps visualize the app’s behaviour andestimates the app’s power, memory andnetwork data consumption trends. Theentire LittleEye Labs team will move toFacebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park,California, where they would leverage thesocial networking giant’s infrastructure toimprove the performance of their apps.“Little Eye Labs will join forces withFacebook to take its mobile developmentto the next level! This is Facebook’s firstacquisition of an Indian company, and weare happy to become part of suchan incredibleteam,” the company said in anote on their website.

The Bangalore-based startup was foundedin May last year by four programme

analysis geeks — Giridhar Murthy, whoworked at Apple earlier, KumarRangarajan, who has worked at IBM andHP, Satyam Kandula, an IIT Kharagpuralumnus and ex IBMer LakshmanKakkirala.

This has been a fun and exciting journey.We’re eager to be working alongsidethe incredible team at Facebook andtogether, we’ll continue on our mission ofbuilding awesome analysis tools to aide inthe development of brilliant apps,” said

Rangarajan, the CEO of Little Eye. Thecompany has raised seed funding fromfrom GSF Superangels and Venture EastFund. Rajesh Sawhney, founder of GSFAccelerator, added, “Acquisition of LittleEye Labs by Facebook is a transformativedeal for not only the Indian startupecosystem but also for the whole of theemerging world. This validates GSF’s coretenet that Indian product startups arenow ready for a global play.”

Subbu Subramanian, engineering managerin Facebook said, “I’m excited toannounce that we’re acquiring Little EyeLabs.This is an opportunity to welcomesome of the industry’s most- talentedengineers to our team in Menlo Park,California. At Facebook, we remainfocused on producing useful and engagingmobile apps. The Little Eye Labstechnology will help us to continueimproving our Android codebase to makemore efficient, higher-performing apps.”

Facebook acquires Indian startup


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GUEST COLUMN

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GUEST COLUMN

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A Guide to English Style and Usage- 9A.G. Menon

BETTER ENGLISH

F

Generation X (Gen X) is used to refer to people born inthe 1960s and 1970s. Those born in the 1980s and

1990s belong to Generation Y.

In front of means ‘close to the front part of something’Opposite means ‘on the other side.

food The word is generally an uncountableone. It becomes countable only when it refersto a particular kind of food: baby foods,health foods.

foot One goes to a place on foot and by car/by bicycle or by bike.

for To explain why one does something,you should use a to-infinitive, not for: Hewent to the US to join an MBA course (insteadof He went to the US for joining an MBAcourse).

Use for to say ‘how long’: He worked forthe newspaper for 30 years; He has not seena film for the last 12 years.

Use over/during/in to say ‘when’: Thecountry has witnessed a significant increasein terrorist activities over the last few years.

Use the present perfect tense for actionsand situations which began in the past andcontinue up to the moment of speaking: Ihave been waiting here for the last 45 minutes;We have not contacted each other for thepast eight years.

forbidYou can forbid somebody fromdoing or forbid somebody to dosomething:Her parents have forbidden herto talk to anybody over the phone after 10pm; The authorities have forbidden peoplefrom trespassing.

foreverandfor everThere is some differencebetween the two words. Forever means

‘continually’; ‘all the time’: He is foreverdemanding money from me. For evermeans‘for always’: She tells me she will rememberme for ever.

from and since Use from...to... when youmean ‘from one time in the past to another’:I was (I lived) in Kolkata from 2003 to 2006.Use since when you mean ‘from a time inthe past until now’: I have been waiting heresince 10 o’clock.

front Please note the difference between infront of and opposite. In front of means‘close to the front part of something’: Thereis enough space in front of the building forparking. Opposite means ‘on the other side(of the street, room etc) facing’: The rationshop is opposite the homeo college.

fruitin general is an uncountable noun: Webuy lots of fruit; Would you like a piece offruit?Fruits in the sense of particular typesof fruit is seldom used in British English.

fryThe word, used with ‘small’ before it, ie‘small fry’, means ‘unimportant people orthings’: They may be leaders in this smallarea but are small fry outside their territory.It is an uncountable noun. It is incorrect tosay ‘small fries’ or ‘a small fry’.

fulfilIn British English it is fulfil and inAmerican English fulfill.

full In full means ‘without any part missingor removed’: My article was published in

full;You will get the amount in full. Fullymeans ‘completely’: The flat is fullyfurnished; He has fully recovered from hisillness.

furnitureis an uncountable noun: TheJohnson family brought Italian furniture whenthey returned home from that country; Thenew showroom has stocks of office furniture.

future In future means ‘from now on’:You should be more careful in future. In thefuture means ‘at some time in the future’:In the future we will be using a much moresophisticated computer system.

GGain support, knowledge; earn your salary

gain The sentences She gains a monthlysalary of Rs 50,000 and Without working youcan’t gain money are wrong. They should bechanged to: She earns a monthly salary ofRs 50,000 and Without working you can’tearn (or get/make) money.

You gain something whether you deserve itor not . You may also gain strength,knowledge, support, respect, popularity etc:The Congress has gained considerablesupport in the southern districts.You earn/get/make money by doing work,byinvesting your money in banks, bonds etc:He earns/gets/makes Rs 3,000 a week.


BETTER ENGLISH

You gain something whether you deserve it or not. You may also gainstrength, knowledge, support, respect, popularity etc

-gate This suffix is derived from Watergate.It refers to a political scandal in the UnitedStates during President Richard Nixon’selection campaign in 1972 when Republicanagents were caught breaking into theheadquarters of the Democratic Party inWashington, called the Watergate building.The subsequent attempts to cover up thebreak-in led to Nixon’s resignation in 1974.Afterwards the suffix gate was added towords relating to scandals, mostly to sexualscandals.

gay The word has now come to be acceptedfor ‘homosexual’: He became gay when hewas in the eighth standard. Though the termcan be applied both to men and women it ismore applied to the former. Thecorresponding word for women is lesbian.Originally gay meant ‘happy’, ‘merry’ etc:We felt gay as the dance progressed.

general and generic These two adjectivesare related in meanings but are notsynonymous.

General means ‘as a whole’, ‘overall’,‘widespread’ etc: The book gives you ageneral idea of the rules of grammar; I’vegot a general idea of how my new houseshould look; In general, girls score highermarks than boys; There is general concernabout the increasing prices of essentialcommodities.

Generic means ‘of or relating to a group orclass’: a generic label/name/term;“Paracetamol’ is the generic name/term usedto describe the medicine which reduces fever,inflammation and pain.

generation The term Generation X (GenX) is used to refer to people born in the1960s and 1970s. Those born in the 1980sand 1990s belong to Generation Y (GenY). Generation Next (Gen Next) peopleare new. Some people also refer to thisgeneration as Generation Z (Gen Z). Theseterms, however, are seldom used now.

get Don’t say He got promoted to seniormanager in 2012; say He was promoted tosenior manager in 2012.

get in(to) You get in(to) and out of a car,taxi or boat: As soon as I got into my car Ireceived the manager’s phone call.

get off/on You get off and get on a train,plane, bus, ship, motorcycle or horse: Theygot off the train by 5.30 pm and hired a taxito reach home; After visiting the sight we goton the wrong bus back to our hotel.

girl A girl is ‘a female child or adolescent’.However, it is seen very often applied to ayoung woman or even to a woman of anyage: His wife told him she was going out withthe neighbourhood girls. But many, includingwomen, object to such use.

go begging not go abegging which is old-fashioned. If something goes begging, it isavailable easily. Radio sets are going beggingnowadays.

good The word is an adjective and cannotbe used in the following way: My daughterdoesn’t speak English very good. Say Mydaughter doesn’t speaak English very well;My son is a good singer; My son speaks verygood English;I hope to fare well (NOT good)in tomorrow’sexamination. Say good at(doing) something(NOT in): My nephew isgood atmaths; Our neighbour’s daughter isvery good at painting; The child is very goodat making dolls. It’s no good/use means ‘it’spointless’: It’s no good/use spending moneyon it; it can’t be repaired; It’s no good/useadvising him; he won’t listen.

grow and grow up The first word means‘to develop or get bigger as part of anatural process or to cause plants etc to dothis’: Tomy’s daughter has grown tallernow; Oranges never grow in our climate;We have started growing vegetables on theterrace; The country’s GDP is growing ata fast rate. Grow up means ‘pass fromchildhood into maturity’: Many of thechildren in that country grow up in themidst of poverty; What do you want to bewhen you grow up?


Printed and Published by Fr.Varghese Panthalookaran CMI on behalf of Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley PO, Kakkanad, Kochi-39Ph: 0484-2428249. Printed at Anaswara Printers, Elamakara, Kochi. Editor: James Paul

What is your idea of happiness?

A state of mind when one feels calm, engaged in themoment and not wanting to change a thing.

What is your greatest fear?

To lose my health, family, motivation towork.

If you could change one thing aboutyourself, what would it be?

Work out more and be less sensitive.

If you could change one thingabout your family, what would itbe?

I would make them more engaged inmy work, though I realise they havetheir own lives.

What do you consider yourgreatest achievement?

To be able to live my passion andbe recognized for it.

If you were to die and comeback as a person or thing,what do you think it wouldbe?

I think I would come back as thesame person.

If you could choose what to comeback as, what would it be?

I have had a good life. Would not mindan encore.

What is your idea of misery?

Lack of health, money and goodrelationships.

Where would you like to live?

I live where I want to live -Mumbai

What is your favouriteoccupation?

Being a writer, of course.

What is your most markedcharacteristic?

My casual manner

What is the quality you most like in the opposite sex?

Intelligence and a zest for life.

What do you most appreciate in your friends?

A sense of empathy

Who are your favourite authors?

Too many to name here.

Who is your favourite hero offiction?

Howard Roark in theFountainhead.

Who are your heroes in reallife?

Steve Jobs. Barack Obama. AnnaHazare.

What are your favouritenames?

All of Krishna’s names - whichbecome the names of protagonists in

my books.

What is your present state of mind?

Relaxed, slightly nervous about theworkload to the book launch.

How would you like to die?

In peace, without pain and notleaving any hassles for people

behind me.

What is your favourite motto?

Don’t be serious, be sincere.

Chetan Bhagat , is an author,columnist, and speaker. Bhagat is theauthor of bestselling novels, FivePoint Someone, One Night @ theCall Center, The 3 Mistakes of MyLife, 2 States, Revolution 2020 , andWhat Young India Wants . All thebooks have remained bestsellers since

their release and three have inspiredBollywood films (including the hit

films 3 Idiots and Kai Po Che!). In2008, The New York Times called Bhagat

“the biggest selling English languagenovelist in India’s history”. Bhagat, an alumnus of IndianInstitute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Indian Institute ofManagement Ahmedabad, is seen more as a youth icon thanas an author. Time magazine named him as one of the 100Most Influential People in the World.

ConfessionsChetan Bhagat

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