"I would have felt sorry for the Lord."

I quote from this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324743704578444913060125542.html

U.S. NEWS Wall Street Journal
Updated April 25, 2013, 7:28 p.m. ET
Theory of Einstein's Proved Right—Again
By GAUTAM NAIK

Scientists have subjected Albert Einstein's famous theory of gravity to its toughest real-world test so far—and it has prevailed.

The theory, which was published nearly a century ago, had already passed every test it was subjected to. But scientists have been trying to pin down precisely at what point Einstein's theory breaks down, and where an alternative explanation would have to be devised.

Einstein's framework for his theory of gravity, for example, is incompatible with quantum theory, which explains how nature works at an atomic and subatomic level.

Consider that for a black hole, Einstein's theory "predicts infinitely strong gravitational fields and density. That's nonsensical," said Paulo Freire, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy in Germany and co-author of the study, which appears in the journal Science.

And so scientists are testing the general theory not because they think it is wrong but because they are certain it can't be the final explanation—just as Isaac Newton's notion of gravitational force was superseded by Einstein's.

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that objects with mass cause a curvature in space-time, which we perceive as gravity. Space-time, according to Einstein's theories of relativity, is a four-dimensional fabric woven together by space and time.

For example, a bowling ball causes a dent in a mattress, and that dent changes the otherwise straight motion of a nearby marble on the same mattress. Similarly, the mass of the sun distorts the space-time around it. A body with less mass, like the earth, travels along one path in that distorted space, which we call its orbit.

Dr. Freire and his colleagues put Einstein to the test in a cosmic laboratory 7,000 light years from earth, where two exotic stars are circling each other. One, known as a white dwarf, is the cooling remnant of a much lighter star. Its companion is a pulsar, which spins 25 times every second. Though the pulsar is just 12 miles across, it weighs twice as much as the sun.

"When you have such a big mass in such a small space you have extremely high gravity," said Charles Wang, a theoretical physicist at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, who wasn't involved in the study.

The gravity on the pulsar's surface is 300 billion times as great as the gravity on Earth. The conditions there approach the relentless, overwhelming power of a black hole, which swallows even light.

"We're testing Einstein's theory in a region where it has never been tested before," said Dr. Freire.

The pulsar and white dwarf pair emit gravitational waves and the binary star system gradually loses energy. As a result, the stars will move closer to each other and orbit faster. Einstein's theory suggests the stars' orbital periods—the time they take to go around each other—ought to shrink by about eight-millionths of a second per year.

Dr. Freire's and his colleagues used several telescopes to take precise measurements of the two-star system. Their results perfectly matched the Einstein-based prediction.

Though Einstein's framework remains intact so far, "the study is significant for the way observations by astronomers are helping to identify new, extreme cases" to test his general theory of gravity, said Dr. Wang.

Einstein's theory was first—and dramatically—confirmed during a solar eclipse within four years of its publication, making him an instant celebrity. When asked how he would have felt if he had been proven wrong, Einstein replied: "I would have felt sorry for the Lord. The theory is correct."

Photo: http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-XF813_0425ei_G_20130425153714.jpg

Inventive India

Whenever I heard people talk about how India gave everything to the world- yes, everything including salt, pepper, zero, OM, yoga, pranayama, planetary motion theory, rocketry, boson, yes, everything- I laughed. I said to myself, what kind of people are we who must constantly need to stress that we are better than everyone else and we invented everything the world has seen. Well. Let me tell you, I just discovered today - somewhere near Trinity Circle during a bumpy auto ride - that I was wrong and India was INDEED THE MOST INVENTIVE NATION ON EARTH.

When India came back from Montreal Olympics with zero medals, someone had joked: INDIA GAVE THE WORLD ZERO AND THE WORLD GAVE IT BACK.

Jaggi the Sadhguru often jokes that we are free with zeroes when we tell mythology stories because we after all invented zero -Dasharatha ruled for 60000 years - and he gives a big cinematic chuckle.

But let me give you JUST four examples to prove the point that Indians have been in fact the MOST inventive. If you have questions after this, come back and I will give you more examples.

WHY INDIA INVENTED ZERO
To start with, whatever number of things you have, say 'n', this number is bound to change over time. Sooner or later, you will encounter a number called ZERO. Zero means nothing. Like zero rate of growth etc. Like zero down payment, zero interest rate etc. So it is better to be acquainted with zero. We invented it therefore. By the way we also invented INFINITY - 'ananta'.

WHY INDIA INVENTED YOGA
Try squeezing into a railway berth. Or a peak hour train in Bombay. Or a school kids-ferrying auto. Or one of our cheap-fare plane seats. Or some public utility places. You will understand the need for developing a skill to contort your body. Our ancient seers foresaw that we would far exceed a billion population quickly and we would then need to have a way to squeeze ourselves into the available space of the land. So they invented YOGA. When you see a yogi doing an impossible twisted pose, you will understand that he or she will be able to negotiate any kind of space in India.

WHY INDIA INVENTED OM
We Indians often brag, in the International Arrivals hall to our overseas guests, that India has hundreds of languages and dozens of scripts. They begin to wonder whether we are a nation of mad people, speaking so many languages and hence barely understanding one another. Take the simple word Shiva. They say Shiv in the North, Shibo in East, Shiva in the west, Siva in the South. We can never get to agree on any name or word nationwide. So they invented a mystic syllable which would be hard to corrupt with spellings and accents : OM. They said whatever word you start with, you end up with Om. And also, since we Indians are so fond of eating sweets, they made all sweets round so that we can say Om and pop in a nice gulab jamun, rossa gulla, laddu or gol gappa in the mouth. What a great idea sir-ji!

WHY WE INVENTED PRANAYAMA
Try taking a walk on any street for more than five minutes. You will have to close your nostrils to some indescribable smell. I will not say it is stench. In fact I once read that we create these bad smells in street corners to ward off evil spirits. Surely these smells will ward off any kind of life or after-life. So how do you deal with this?
We invented special methods of holding your breath, called PRANAYAMA. The result? We can manage any kind of air quality or smell. In any kind of location from fish markets to Bangalore streets. I heard that when Bhopal had the gas tragedy, people did pranayama and survived with no bad effects! What a brilliant solution to a global problem!!!!!

Come on. You have to agree we are the most inventive nation on earth.

A gated lizard

When I went to my sister's Jhargram ashram, I found lots of big lizards on their walls.  At almost every gathering, they would add insightful 'tctch tctch' sounds of comments.  I asked why they wouldn't do something to reduce their burgeoning  lizard population.  I was then told that to ward off 'tick tickie's as they are called by Bengalis, the best thing would be to put peacock  feathers on the wall! Perhaps the lovely peacocks are fed a steady diet, by doting mother hens, of lizards to improve their voice culture!

I found some humongous lizards roaming freely on Sri Lanka's roads. They looked like dinosaurs broken free from a Spielberg set. I asked my local friends if they didn't harm people. They told me not normally, except on occasion they would go and eat up a baby in the cradle!

Lizards come where there's cockroaches and such. So they ought to be common in Indiranagar with its greenery, bad sewage, and farmland soil.  But ever since we painted our house a couple of years ago, there is a big drop in cockroaches  at home.  Once we netted our windows,  even mosquitoes are rare visitors. But my folks announced the other day that they had spotted a giant lizard at home.  I did see him too, every morning basking in the early morning northeasterly light and breeze in the window.  Perhaps he was missing the wide open spaces?

I decided to open the window and let him go.  And when I did,  I found that the doesn't want to go out! He loves our gated community - plenty of nibbles, IPL matches and Carnatic music.Apart from fascinating gossip on occasion. But unlike Bengali lizards, he doesn't join the adda conversations.

Well, no traffic hassles or carbon pollution for our gated lizard. So here I am, writing this from my couch and let me share his XpZ portrait too. Like any good couch potato or gated lizard, he poses well for photos.

Dolls of Distinction

No surprise here: Barbie Dolls outfitted for more fancy careers cost a lot more!

Read the Economist: http://econ.st/152qXao

Sorry, no hot chillies.

The world is, let us face it, not doing so well. Ok, Modi is making some great speeches. Gayle is hitting some great sixes. Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir are having a decent spat. But is that enough?

Don't you see SRK is tired of all his flop shows? Don't you know Apple has lost billions in market cap? Don't you see that newspapers are full of stories of infanticide, patricide, scam after scam and Wikileaks? Even that an Indian lady earns a top legal post in America is not unadulterated good news, as Obama is faulted for a sexist gaffe.

History knows that in such uncertain or depressing times, man resorts to food and drink as escape. Binge eating and drinking is known to be a remedy. Every big festival in India at least means a feast. Elsewhere at least it is an occasion for drinking.
 
Yesterday, we celebrated Ugadi.  It is the beginning of the Hindu new year. This year has the name Vijaya which means victory or success. So everyone is happy.

Lots of people yesterday ate a lot of obbattus.  If you don't know what obbattu means, it is a fine Kannada sweet delicacy - a pancake made of lentil, flour and sugar or Jaggery. 
Not only are you supposed to stuff yourself with lots of obbattus (add ghee, fine sugar and milk to taste!), but you are supposed to brag about how good and how many obbattus you ate.

Bad news now. No obbattus for me yesterday. Worse news. The worst ever. The chillies, which I love so much,  have lost their 'hotness'. They are a bit like Manmohan speeches.
If chillies lose their flavour, it means God has become clueless as to how to fix the world. That we will have a bumper mango crop this season looks to me to be an empty promise.

India and USA - some numbers

From World Wiki iPhone app:
India vs. USA has 11 times higher population density. India has more water as % of land mass. But since we have relatively 50% more water densjtybbut 1100% more people density, sorry, we remain relatively thirsty.

Lost Kingdom

When I was living in Sydney, Australia, I was tickled to find that every suburb and town had streets named George Street,  Oxford Street and on.  It was as if the English immigrants had all missed their old home so much that they tried to create the me-too towns and streets that gave them restored pride and comfort.
America is full of places like New York and New Hampshire and New England. All harking back to a lost kingdom in their minds perhaps?

I find something similar in India too. Many pilgrimage centres in south India are called Dakshina Kashi, Dakshina Badari, Dakshina Dwaraka and so on. Is it that these places reminded pilgrims from the north who came and settled down here in the south, of their old homes? Is it that some religious leaders were telling local people that one needn't anymore travel up north to seek spiritual merit?  Or is it that saints found similar vibrations in these places?

I for one always go for the original. Give me a place and a temple which has its own history,  merit, and attractiveness. Me-too doesn't interest me.

Tiarella? at Bilekahalli

Sony Xperia Z