Bonala Kondal

1 January 2010

HARGOBIND KHORANA

1.How Hargobind Khorana scaled heights in life?
Hargobind Khorana was born in a Hindu family in a little village called Raipur in Punjab in British India. The village is now part of West Pakistan. He is the youngest of a family consisting of one daughter and four sons. His father was a ‘patwari’. ‘patwari’ was a village agricultural taxation clerk in the British Indian system of government. Although poor, his father was determined to educate his children and they were actually the only literate family in their village inhabited by about 100 people.
Hargobind Khorana went to the D.A.V. High School in Multan. Ratan Lal, who was one of his teachers, influenced him greatly during that period. Later, Hargobind studied at the Punjab University in Lahore where he obtained a M.Sc. degree. Here Mr. Mahan Singh influenced him greatly.
Khorana lived in India until 1945, when the award of a Government of Indian Fellowship threw an opportunity and made it possible for him to go to England. In England, he studied for a Ph.D degree at the University of Liverpool. Roger J.S. Beer not only supervised him but looked after him affectionately. Later Khorana spent a year 1948-49 at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich with Professor Vladimir Prelog for doing postdoctoral work. This association with Professor Prelog further moulded immensely his thought and philosophy towards science, work and effort. Later on Khorana obtained fellowship with Dr.G. W.Kenner and Professor A.R.Todd. He stayed in Cambridge from 1950 till 1952. He began research on nucleic acids during this fellowship at the University of Cambridge under Sir Alexander Todd. His interest in both proteins and nucleic acids got strengthened at that time. After that Hargobind went to Vancouver after Dr.Gordon M.Shrum of British Columbia offered him a job in 1952. The British Columbia Research Council gave a great amount of freedom to do whatever researcher liked to do. Dr. Shrum’s inspiration, encouragement and frequent help, scientific counsel from Dr. Jack Campbell, a group began to work in the field of biologically interesting phosphate esters and nucleic acids. Among the many devoted and loyal colleagues of this period, there was one Dr. Gordon M.Tener, who contributed positively to the spiritual and intellectual make up of the group.
Hargobind later held fellowships and professorships in Switzerland at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Universities of British Columbia and Wisconsin. In 1960 Khorana joined the Institute of Enzyme Research at the University of Wisonsin. In 1960 Khorana corroborated Nirenberg findings that the way the four different types of nucleotides are arranged on the spiral “staircase” of the DNA molecule determines the chemical composition and function of a new cell.

2. Give an account of Hargobind Khorana’s academic education?
Hargobind Khorana is from poor family. He is the youngest of a family consisting of one daughter and four sons. His father was a ‘patwari’. ‘patwari’ was a village agricultural taxation clerk in the British Indian system of government. Although poor, his father was determined to educate his children. Hargobind Khorana went to the D.A.V. High School in Multan. Ratan Lal, who was one of his teachers, influenced him greatly during that period. Later, Hargobind studied at the Punjab University in Lahore where he obtained a M.Sc. degree. Here Mr. Mahan Singh influenced him greatly.
Khorana lived in India until 1945, when the award of a Government of Indian Fellowship threw an opportunity and made it possible for him to go to England. In England, he studied for a Ph.D degree at the University of Liverpool. Roger J.S. Beer not only supervised him but looked after him affectionately. He got fellowship from Cambridge Univeristy and stayed untill 1950 till 1952.
Hargobind later held fellowships and professorships in Switzerland at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Universities of British Columbia and Wisconsin.

3. Who did Khorana share the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine with and with what was their work concerned?
Khorana shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1968 with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for research that helped to show how the genetic components of the cell nucleus control the synthesis of proteins. In other words the research helped to show how the nucleotides in nucleic acids, which carry the genetic code of the cell, control the cell’s synthesis of proteins. Thus the three scientists received the 1968 Nobel Prize for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis. Khorana’s role was to design the methods that led to the synthesis of well defined nucleic acids, ultimately leading to the solution of the genetic code. Dr. Khorana and his team had established that the mother of all codes, the biological language common to all living organisms, is spelled out in three-letter words: each set of three nucleotides codes for a specific amino acid, in their Nobel lecture delivered on December 12, 1968.

4. What were the Khorana’s achievements in during the 1970’s?
Dr.Khorana made a contribution to genetics in 1970, when he and his research team were able to synthesize the first artificial copy of the yeast gene. Later, in 1971 Khorana joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as Alfred P.Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry. He also subsequently became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
In 1976 Khorana led the team that first synthesized a biologically active gene. His work provides much of the basis for gene therapy and biotechnology. Dr Khorana was also the pioneering scientist to synthesize oligonucleotides, that is, strings of nucleotides. These customized pieces of artificial genes are widely used in biology labs for sequencing, cloning and engineering new plants and animals. Dr. khorana’s invention of oligonucleotides has become indispensable tools in biotechnology. In response oto this demand, Dr. Khorana’s invention has become mechanized and commercialized to such an extent that no one can fax a genetic sequence of choice to one of many mail order companies, and synthetic gene is shipped in return mail.
Hargobin Khorana is seen as a biologist with a vision. This recipient of Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology, who along with Marshall Nirenberg and Robert Holley cracked the genetic code, is a person with an extraordinary sense of perseverance and uncommon vision. He is unique among scientists of this golden period. Khorana’s later research areas include Strudture-Functionin Rhodopsin and Protein-Protein Interactions in Amplification and Adaptation among other topics. Khorana is one of those scientists who do not rest on past glory and achievements. He currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States serving as MIT’s Alfred P.Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry, Emeritus.

5. What kind of a role did Khorana’s wife Esther Elizabeth Sibler play in his career.
Dr. Khorana got married in 1952 to Esther Elizabeth Sibler, who is of Swiss origin. Esther greatly strengthened Khorana’s sense of purpose. This is especially true in his life during the time when, after six years; absence from country of his birth, Khorana felt out of place everywhere and at home nowhere.

6. Write a short note on Hargobind Khorana as a biologist with a vision.
From the beginning Khorana was interested in biological studies and nucleic acids. He did research o nucleic acids during his fellowship at the University of Cambridge under Sir Alexander Todd. His interest in both proteins and nucleic acids. At the British Columbia Research Council he worked in the field of biologically interesting phosphate esters and nucleic acids. In 1960 he joined the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin. He supported the findings of Nirenberg on cell biology. Khorana did extensive work on amino acids and nucleotide code. He did research with Nirenberg and Holley on the interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis in 1970

Some points to remember

1. Khorana was born in a little village Raipur, part of West Pakistan, in British India.

2. Khorana’s date of birth is unknown but official documents show it as 9th Jan, 1922.

3. Khorana’s fathes was a Patwari, avillage agricultural taxation clerk.

4. Khorana completed his schooling in D.A.V.High Schol, Multan (now in Pakistan).

5. Ratan Lal was one of his inspiring teachers who influenced him greatly during his schooling.

6. Khorana obtained his M.Sc. from Panjab University.

7. Mr. Mahan Singh was Khorana’s great teacher, accurate experimentalist, and his supervisor in Panjab University.

8. Khorana studied his Ph.D from the University of Liverpool, England.

9. ROGER J. S. Beer was Khorana’s supervisor in his Ph.D.

10. Khorana spent a year at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich with Professor Vladmir Prelog for doing postdoctoral work.

11. Khorana stayed in Cambridge from 1950 till 1952.

12. He started his research on nucleic acids during the fellowship at the university.

13. Khorana was offered a job by Dr.Gordon M. Shrum of British Columbia in 1952.

14. Hargobind later held fellowships and professorships in Switzerland at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Universities of British Columbia and Wisconsin.

15. Khorana joined the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin In 1960.

16. Khorana corroborated Nirenberg’s findings in 1960’s.

17. Khorana shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1968.

18. Khorana shared the Nobel Prize with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley.

19. The three scientists received the Nobel prize in 1968 for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis.

20. They delivered their Nobel lecture on Dec, 12, 1968.

21. Khorana made his contribution to genetics in 1970.

22. Hargobind Khorana got married in 1952 to Esther Elizabeth Sibler who is of Swiss origin.

23. Khorana and his team developed the first artificial copy of a yeast gene.

24. Khorana joined as the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States as Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Biology and chemistry, Emeritus in 1971.

25. In 1976 Khorana led the team first synthesized a biologically active gene.

26. Dr. Khorana’s invention of oligo nucleotides has become indispensable tools in biotechnology.

27. Khorana showed that some of the codons prompt the cell to start or stop the manufacture of proteins.

28. Khorana currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States as Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Biology and chemistry, Emeritus.

Heaven's Gate

Pico Iyer is one of the most revered and respected travel writers today. He was born in England in 1957, raised in California, and educated at Eton, Oxford, and Harvard, currently lives in Japan. His books include Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk, Cuba and the Night, Falling off the Map, Tropical Classical, and The Global Soul.
1. How does the author consider Ladakh as Heaven’s Gate?

The author visited Leh, which is the capital of Ladakh on the longest day of the year(21 June). He was much fascinated with this place. He narrates this place very beautifully.
This place was named as ‘the highest motorable pass of the world’. When he crosses Nubra Valley, he finds marmots, wild asses and kiang. Behind them appeared the most pristine and surreal landscape. He says he has seen such fascinated place after his 25 years of travel. A huge flat plain extended toward snowscaps on everyside and dry riverbeds bisected the emptiness like tears. In a few places, fortress like, two story white buildings were clustered together in patches of green, apricot trees and willows Two-humped Bactrian camels looking for food in the heap of sand. The sky was so blue it almost hurt to look at it. The temple, Diskit Gompa rose high to reach to the heavens. The aromatic Buddhist city on hill was great with smell of centuries of melted yak butter. It was an endless stretch of noiceless valley.
The Ladakh is high, dry region and is often called ‘the world’s last Shangri-La’. It is one of the planets great centers of the Himalayan Buddhism. People have been living since centuries ago, in whitewashed houses. They irrigate barley and wheat by snowmelt, the life style was very simple. The ladakh is treated as ‘land of high passes. The land of blue-skied purity was also one of the most cosmopolitan trading posts in the Himalayas. Ladakh was found to be a mixture of otherworldly, highly magical place and secret treasure.
Ladakh is said to be a test case of what good as well as bad. Some people of Ladakh are trying to retain their Ladhaki culture, food, tradition etc.
At last Pico Iyer says that Ladakh is a way to retrieve something lost, sustaining within us that, which once experience, comes to seem as contemporary, as invigorating, as tomorrow.

2. Write about the Ladhaki people? And justify the statement – Both good and bad exist here?

When the author visits Ladakh, he finds the place is very paradoxical. Both good things and bad things happen here. It is both tradition and modern.
The author finds that almost half its population is Islamic. The main bazaar road was very crowded and noisy. Women were sitting quietly along the road selling vegetables. He finds people speaking languages like Lhasa, Heret and Smarkand. At the mosque he saw Muslim elders some of whom were Indo-Iranians having blue and green eyes. They hail from Alexander the great.
As the author visited the real settlement in the entire region there were a few dusty and mud-coloured buildings, an abandoned palace and a few temples on boulders and hillside. There were two trade routes. But workers in the best hotels boast of ’24 hrs, cold water’. There were no street lights. In every corner there were Internet café but they do not work promptly.
The other worldly and highly magical Ladakh has its secret treasures that are very paradoxical to modern civilization. The traditional temples built on steep hills, the small Buddhist stupas, and the tree-lined walks out of Leh are things of beauty. Apart from all these wonders, civilization has brought a new restlessness to the people of Ladakh. This civilization is now filling Leh’s narrow street, with construction cranes and revving suzukis. The native people of Ladakh may have to abandon their past as a result of civilization.
Choegyal Jigmed Wangchuk Namgyal is the king, he resides in his elegant apartment in Stock Palace. Inspite of the king there is no plan and development. It’s very chaotic and confusion.
The author attends Tse-Chu festival. It was one of the great events of the Ladakhi calendar. He finds the whole settlement set up around the temple with good looking men and girls selling necklaces and statues of the Buddha, mystical scrolls and CDs. This is how traditional culture flourished. These things are for tourists. Many of Ladakh’s festivals have been shifted to summer for the enjoyment of foreign tourists. Indeed, foreign tourists bring both good and evil to ladakh sometimes foreigners like Helena Norberg-Hodge make an effort to protect the traditional world of Ladakh.
The author considers Ladakh a beautiful and unfallen place. He welcomes Leh’s He and She shops, the prayer wheel, the sign outside a pizza shop that says, “thanks for the visit God bless you Take care, Bye-Bye” and the markers “Way 2 Palace”. A visit to the Desert Rain Coffee house reveals that Ladakh’s teenagers are fashion-conscious. A little away from here, the author finds people working in the fields or walking to the temples.
Thus, Ladakh’s capital, Leh, is a bundle of paradoxes consisting of good things as well as bad things.

3. What are the efforts made by Helena Norberg-Hodge?

Helena Norberg-Hodge is one of the first Europeans to settle in Leh. She arrived in Leh in 1975, set up ecology center, a women’s alliance and a number of other organizations. She is trying to protect what is unique in Ladakh. The women’s alliance started a restaurant where only the traditional local food was served although lock items were costlier than imported food item. As a result of the efforts of people like Helena Norberg-Hodge, the people understood what was good for them. Therefore everywhere one could see sign boards with the inscription, “Say No to Polythene” and pamphlets asking people to avoid buying products from multinational corporate since they would destroy local economies. Foreigners were asked to follow ‘mindful’ tourism. At the women’s alliance discussions were held everyday on development and profection of Ladakh’s indigenous culture. Thus Helena Norberg-Hodge and other foreign tourists rendered great services to profect the unique culture of Ladakh.

4. What animals and trees did the writer find in the Nubra Valley?

The author visits Leh, which is the capital of Ladakh on the longest day of the year where he experiences strange things around him. When he moves to the Nubra Valley, he finds marmots scramble across the path and there were wild asses, or kiang, in the distance. He finds very flourishing, unreal landscape, where he has never come across in his 25 years of travel. A huge flat palin extended towards snowcaps on everyside, and dry riverbeds bisected the emptiness like tears. In a few places, fortress like, two-story white buildings were clustered together in patches of green, silent amit apricot trees and willows. Two-humped Bactrian camels are looking for food in the heap of sand. The sky was so blue it almost hurt to look at it.
These are the things the author experienced when he visited leh.

5. How did the writer’s observations match descriptions he had read of the way people live in Ladakh?

The author had known before visiting Ladakh – it is the high, dry region in northern India that borders Tibet and is often called ‘the world’s last Shangri-la’ - that he feels that it is one of the planet’s great centers of Himalayan Buddhism Before naming it as Tibet Buddhism was prevailing.
He read from Andrew Harvey’s radiant ‘Journey in Ladakh that people have been living in the same condition since several centuries ago, in whitewashed houses amid fields of barley and wheat irrigated by snowmelt. Ladakh is called as “the land of high passes” where they see that traditional culture was still prevailing.

6. What do you think the writer means when he says, ‘I saw faces that spoke of Lhasa, heart, even Smarkant?

The author narrating his experience of visiting Ladakh, where his first day happens to visit main bazaar road, as the town’s crowded, noisy little central drag is called, and among the women sitting quietly along the sidewalk selling vegetables. He finds people speaking other languages like Lhasa, herat, even Samarkand. Author intends to say that a few other languages, cultures, heritage people reside in Ladakh. Some of the people not far from the large mosque down the street were skullcapped Muslims and some were Indo-Iranians, and a few of them relates to the kingdom of the Alexander the Great.

Some points to remember

1. Who brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet? Padmasambhava

2. The Indian reformer Padmasambhava belonged to the eighteenth century.

3. Ladakh capital is Leh.

4. Animals in Nubra valley are Marmots, Kiang or wild asses and two humped Bactrian camels.

5. Ladakh is called the highest motorable pass in the world.

6. Ladakh borders both Tibet and Pakistan.

7. Tibet is called ‘the world’s last Shangri-La’.

8. The book, ‘Journey in Ladhakh’ is written by Andrew Harvey.

9. Ladakh is known as ‘land of high passes’.

10. Lhasa, Heart and Samarkand languages are used to converse in Ladakh.

11. Choegyal Jigmed Wangchuk Namgyal is the son of the last King of Ladakh.

12. Tse-Chu festival is one of the great events in Ladakhi calendar.

13. Helena Norberg-Hodge, first European settled in Leh.

14. Norberg set up an ecology center in 1975.

15. Ladakh has been one of the most cosmopolitan posts in the Himalayas for centuries. And through which traders used to transport Silk, Indigo, Gold and Opium.

16. Tsewang Dorje is a young, urbane travel agency manager, whom the author met in Ladakh.

17. Lamp post of Leh says “say no to polythene “

18. Ladakh’s fashion conscious teenagers are all fluent in every verse of ‘Hotel California’

19. One day, the author found musicians sitting on the ground among the poplars.

20. Pico Iyer said ‘Ladakh is a way to retrieve something lost, sustaining within us that, which once experienced, comes to seem as contemporary, as invigorating, as tomorrow’.

Synonyms

a. Impromptu - done or said without earlier planning or preparation

b. b. pristine - fresh, in a very good condition

c. surreal - like a dream

d. forage - to go from place to place searching for food

e. dramatic - very sudden or full of excitement

f. clamber - to climb somewhere with difficulty, using hands and feet

g. aromatic - having a pleasant smell

h. romance - a feeling of excitement or mystery

i. paradox- a situation that seems impossible with two opposite facts

j. abandoning - leaving someone or something forever

k. flourish- to grow well

l. juggernaut - a large powerful force that cannot be stopped

m. chic - stylish and fashionable

n. retrieve - to find and bring back something

o. Contemporary - existing or happening now

p. drag - the biggest or longest street that goes through a town

Dozen facts...why we need TELANGANA.

Dozen facts...why we need TELANGANA.

1) All the state govt offices in Hyderabad filled with 90% of non-Telangana employees, inspite of the fact that Hyderabad being in Telangana. These guys don’t make any project proposals for Telangana, don’t support development projects there and don’t release funds.

2) Two major rivers pass through Telangana, no major irrigation project in Telangana. Total irrigated area in entire 10 districts of Telangana in less than what is there in Guntur dist.

3) Coastal CMs ruled for 24 years, Rayalaseema CMs for 23 years, Telangana CM for 6 years. In this 6 years 3 CMs were used as temporary CMs while changing other region CMs. This makes BIGGER difference as you can see from Telangana discrimination in last 50 years.

4) While merging Andhra with Telangana in 1956, Telangana people consent was not taken. It was Central Govt. which took the decision. Now the same govt is creating Telangana.

5) Hyderabad was 5th largest city then, now also. Without spending a PAISA for Hyderabad, Andhra merged with Telangana state.

6) Migrated Non-Telangana people compare with few lazy people locally and say Telanganites are lazy. I can show equal number in their area. Usually hardworking people migrate. Even in Movies they make derogatory remarks about Telangana people and culture. They need to respect people.

7) Telangana generates 55% revenue/tax for AP and gets in return lessthan 10% spending.

8)Hyderabad is the capital of Telangana for last 400 years. Surrounded on all sides by Telangana. It is built using the resources of Telangana water, land, electricity. Who built Assembly? High Court? Hussain Sagar? Osmania Hospital/Univ. Begumpet Airport? All this before 1956.

9) Some Businesses built by Non-Telangana people in Hyderabad are for their own profit, not for developing Telangana. Nothing would happen to these businesses if Telangana is created.

10) Few Non-Telangana politicians for their Real estate business interests, XYZ hills being built on illegal lands and other personal gains, opposing Telangana state.

11) Lots of Telugus live in Bangalore, do business there, and invested much more money in Bangalore than in Hyderabad is it justified to ask for Bangalore in AP?

12) Naxalism is just a reason for the other area leaders to oppose Telangana. Telangana will have more benefits even with Naxalism if separate state is created, we would have more funds, projects, jobs and respect for Talangana people.

JAI TELANGANA..........
JAI TELANGANA..........
JAI JAI TELANGANA..........
TILL THE BREATH ENDS............

10 April 2009

Wings of Fire - chapter 20-24

Wings of Fire
1. Was the launch of Prithvi smooth? What was the response of the west to launch of Prithvi?

The surface to surface weapon system became Prithvi(Earth). Col.V.J.Sundaram was selected as leader for Prithvi, who belonged to the EME corps of the Indian Army.

He had an extraordinary capability to evaluate alternative ways of operation. He would suggest moving forward in new terrains

In 1988, work on Prithvi was completed. They setup special facilities at SHAR for the launch of Prithvi. They are launch pad, Black house, Control consoles and mobile telemetry stations. Kalam worked with the director of SHAR, MR Kurup.

Prithvi was launched on 25 February 1988. It was an epoch-making event in the history of rocketry in the country.

The launch Prithvi sent shock waves across the neighboring countries the response of the west shock and anger. A seven-nation technology embargo was clamped. The emergence of India as a self-reliant country in the field of guide missiles upset all the developed nations of the world.

2.What were the set backs in the successful launch of Agni?

Kalam’s long cherished dream of REX, gave the name Agni [Fire].

R.N.Agrawal, an alumnus of MIT, with brilliant academic record, selected as a leader of Agni.

Agni had more than 500 scientists and may organizations.

The launch had been scheduled for 20April 1989. Unlike space launch vehicles, a missile launch involves wide-ranging safety hazards.

All activists preparing to the launch went according to the schedule. They decided to move the people from nearby village’s to safety areas. This led to media controversies.

Besides, foreign pressure was exerted to abandon the flight trial.

They were at T-14 seconds when the computer warned that one of the instruments was functioning erratically. That was rectified immediately. After sometime down-range station asked for a ‘hold’, another few seconds, multiple holds were necessitated. They had to abort the launch.

After a detailed analysis it was decided that the missile was ready for launch on 1st may 1989. But due to technical problems it was postponed.

Kalam spoke to the DRDL-RCI community, at a gathering of more than 2000 people. He promised to the gathering that they will be back after successful launching of Agni before the end of the May 1989.

It was amazing to know that hundreds of scientists and staff worked continuously and completed the system readiness with acceptance tests in just 10 days. This time, it was the weather that posed as obstacle. There was a cyclone threat.

Finally, the launch was scheduled for 22nd May 1989. The Defence Minister KC Pant asked Kalam that how would he like to celebrate Agni’s success. Kalam replied that “We need 1 00000 saplings of plants at RCI”.

3. What was the mood in India during the Gulf War of 1991? How did the successful testing of the missiles assuage the situation?

On 23rd may Agni took off at 0710 hours it was a perfect launch. The missile followed textbook trajectory. All flight parameters were met. They had achieved success after five years of continuous work. They had survived pressure from everywhere to stop the programme. And it was a great success at last.

India celebrated the nation’s forty-fourth Independence Day with the test firing of Akash. This was an important step in ground based air defence.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Agni a major achievement in our efforts to safeguard our Independence and security is self-reliant means.

President R.Venkataraman saw in the Agni success, the fulfillment of his dream. He congratulated Kalam and said that it was a tribute to his dedication, hardwork and talent.

In today’s world technological backward means a threat to our freedom and it was impossible to compromise on security and integrity of our nation.

The launch of Nag and Agni took us in an area of competence where there was little competition.

The year 1991, 15th January, the Gulf War broken out between Iraq and Allied forces led by the USA. India had satellites by that time, the rockets and missiles were captured by television. People started discussing about scud and patriots. People often wondered if the Prithvi and Agni were equal to scud and patriots. When Kalam said that ‘Yes’ their faces would light up with pride and satisfaction.

Iraq was fighting with by and large vintage weapons of sixties and seventies the worked was now exercising superiority through technology. If you deprive opponent of the latest technology then you can dictate your terms. Electronic warfare and not guerrilla combat had come to dominate politics of war in the 21st century.

5. why, according to the author, should the culture of working for material possessions be discarded?

In 1991, Kalam decided to write his memories. He wanted to express his observations and opinions on certain issues.

The biggest problems, today’s youth faced is the lack of clarity of vision, a lack of direction. It was then that Kalam decided to write about his life. He did not want the poor or underprivileged to feel disheartened. Problems are a part of life suffering is the essence of success.

He quotes saying:

God has not promised

Skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways

All our life through

God has not promised

Sun without rain,

Joy with sorrow

Peace without pain

But God had promised

Strength for the day,

Rest for the labour

Light for the way

He wanted his life to be a model for any child who is living in an obscure place, who is underprivileged. It could perhaps help any child liberate themselves from the bondage of their backwardness and hopelessness. They should be aware that God is with them and nothing can go against them. He had come across many people and organizations, which he had to deal with who were so full of limitation that they could not prove their worth.

Technology is a group activity. It is based on interacting intelligence of many. The biggest success of IGMDP is what a few superb teams of scientists and engineers created. He pins down his success to a team of young people who created and put their heart and soul to the creation.

A Service of Love

HUMAN INTEREST

A SERVICE OF LOVE

- O. Henry

O Henry is the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter. Porter’s 400 short stories are known for their wit, word play, characterization and the clever use of twist endings. O Henry stories are famous for their surprise endings, to the point that such an ending is often referred as an “O Henry ending”.

A service of Love is based on one’s love (one loves one’s Art no services seems too hard) for his best love story.

Joe Larrabee came from the Middle West. He was a genius in painting. When he was six years old child, he drew a picture of the town pump with an important person passing in a hurry. At twenty with a small amount of money, he left for New York to learn painting.

Delia Caruthers came from the South. She was a promising singer. Her relatives colleted a small amount for Delia to go to New York and to music.

Joe and Delia met at a studio, they fell in love and in a short time they were married. They began to live in a flat and were very happy as they had their art.

Joe was painting in the class of the great Magister and Delia was studying under Rosenstock, a famous musician. Their aims were clear. Joe would learn to paint old gentle man with side whiskers and thick purses. Delia was going to master the piano and fell concert halls all over the country.

After a while art became weak. They had spent all their money. They did not pay the fees to Mr Magister and Mr Rosenstock. Delia felt that she must give music lessons to buy their food. One evening she came with high hopes. She had found a pupil General A.B.Pikney’s daughter, Clementia. She is eighteen years old. Delia had to give three lessons a week. For that she would get fifteen dollars per week. Joe did not happy with it. He wanted to earn some money. But Delia insisted that Joe should not give up his studies.

During all the next week Joe had an early breakfast. Joe was very must interested in morning-effect sketches. He was doing in the central park. Delia lived at 7’O clock and he would return at 7’O clock in the evening.

At the end of the week, Delia proudly threw five-dollar bills on the center table. She complained about Clementia, trying her patience. She commented on their house, their drawing room and the rugs that covered the floor. And they Joe, with pride, drew forth a ten a five, a two and one dollar and laid them beside Delia’s earnings. He said Delia that he had sold one of his paintings and had ordered another an oil sketch of Lackwanna goods yard. Both of them were very happy that they had thirty two dollars on hand.

On next Saturday evening Joe reached home first. He washed his hands which had a great deal of paint .Half an Hour later, Delia arrived her right hand tied up in a shapeless bundle of wraps and bandages. Joe was concerned.

Delia told the story of Clementia who wanted Welsh rabbit at five in the afternoon. The general had the dish prepared. Clementia was so nervous that she poured it hot on Delia’s hands and wrist. But general Pinkney was concerned and sent someone out a drugstore for some oil and things to bind it up with.

Joe pulled out some white threads beneath the bandages and asked what this is?

Delia replied that the bandage had some oil on it. Joe asked what time in the afternoon had she been burn. Delia said five o’clock. Joe drew her to the sofa, sat beside her and put his arm across her shoulders. He asked her “what have you been doing for the last two weeks. She could not lie any longer. She put her head down and started crying. She said that she worked at a place where ironing shirts in twenty four street laundry. But she was happy that at least Joe could sell his paintings.

Delia asked him that what made him suspect that she wasn’t giving music lessons to Clementina. Joe replied that he did not suspect till that night. It was he who had sent up cotton waste and oil from the Engine-room that afternoon to a girl who had her hand burned with an iron. Joe had been working the Engine in that laundry for the last two weeks.

Joe’s buyer from Peoria and Delia’s General Pinkney were both the creations of the same art. They were creations of imaginations.

Both of them began to laugh and said when one loves ones art no service seems too hard-when one loves.

Comprehension

1.How did Delia earn the fifteen dollars that she threw on the table at the end of the week?

Delia earned the fifteen dollars by ironing shirts in a laundry.

2.How did Joe earn his eighteen dollars?

Joe earned his eighteen dollars by working in the engine room in the same laundry.

3.Why did Joe need to wash his hands so hard before Delia returned?

Joe needed to wash his hands so hard to wash off the grease and dirt from the engine he worked.

4.At what point in the story did Delia and Joe guess the truth about the other?

When the day Delia came home with a burnt hand tied up in bandages.

5.Why was Delia’s laughter not very joyous when she tried to explain the fact that her hand was in a bandage?

Delia’s laughter is not very joyous, because she was in pain and in a situation where she could not tell Joe the truth.

6.Is this a story about great art or great love?

It is a story about great love between two people who think nothing of making sacrifices for the sake of each other’s happiness.

Meanings

Human interest – in newspaper articles or broadcast ect. reference to people lives and their emotions

Genius - someone who has outstanding creative or intellectual ability

Promising – talented

Hung about –to move things slowly

Praised the sky – praised a lot

Side whiskers – the lines of short hair growing down in front of each of a man's ears

Concert halls - a musical performance given before an audience by singers or players.

Mistress – controlling position

Wearily – make some one very tired

Oysters – a large sea fish

Champagne – a white wine made in France

Welsh rabbit - dish consisting of melted cheese, usually with butter, ale and seasoning mixed in, served on toast

Awfully – extremely bad or unpleasant

Tenderly – gentle, caring or sympathetic

19 February 2009

Value of one additional mark

What is the value of one additional mark?

If a student achieves success in competition, then an additional mark may not be very valuable. But if that additional one mark will turn failure into success, then it is worth a lot.

Here are two cases:

First, the student tries again and succeeds the next year. So he looses the salary for one year. That also means that he may be working one year less before he retires. He will lose the salary for the final year of his career and that salary could be 50,000, 2 lakhs or even more per month.

Second, a student does not succeed. For example, if someone fails for the third time in ICS/IAS, he will not get another chance. That means getting a smaller salary. If you add the difference in the earnings for a lifetime, it may add up to many lakhs of rupees.

But money is not all. There are other important advantages of success such as better job, pride of achievement, more respect, more self-confidence, more satisfaction, greater security, etc.

This shows that one additional mark in a competition may be worth a lot because it can make the difference between success and failure. And you should do whatever possible to get each additional mark.

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Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla

INSPIRATION

Reaching For The Stars

Kalpana Chawla

India’s first woman astronaut, Kalpana Chawla, was born on 1st of July 1961 at Karnal in Haryana. Her parents were Banarasi Lal Chawla and Sanjyoti. She was the youngest of the four children. She was fondly called as Montu at home. She grew up on accounts of the remarkable hard work and perseverance. She brought up in Karnal, which was full of social restrictions. Banarasi Lal Chawla’s family gave importance to academic excellence to all their children.

Kalpana went to a school, the Tagore Bal Niketan. Her childhood life was similar to those of hundreds of other children growing up in India. She was a shy, but cheerful girl with boundless energy and a strong inclination for adventure. She impressed all with her determination and commitment to work. She was an introvert, fun-loving. She enjoy organizing picnics and outings with her friends. She learnt to drive a car when she was only fourteen years old. As a child, Kalpana was fascinated by aircraft. She loved making models of aircraft. As she slept on hot summer nights on the open on coir cot; she would lose herself in the endless dark sky scattered with twinkling stars/

By the time Kalpana left school, she had an impressive academic record. She joined Punjab Engineering College (PEC) in Chandigarh. By then she decided that she will be a flight engineer and design aircraft. So, she took up aeronautical engineering. Then she was the only girl student. Every time she had to make a choice she selected the more challenging one. At college, she was very enthusiastic, pleasant and unassuming who could take to everybody. She spent most of her time in the classroom, the library or the laboratory.

After completion of her undergraduate course, she decided to continue her studies in the United States of America. She decided to attend the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), in 1982, she left her small home town to travel to Texas.

Once in Arlington, Kalpana plunged into the tightly packed routine of the American MS programme.

In December 1983, Kalpana married French-American Jean-Pierre Harrison.

After completing her mater’s programme, Kalpana moved with her husband to Colorado, where she completed her Ph.D. Programme.

In 1988, Kalpana joined the NASA Ames Research Center in California. She also applied to NASA Space Center to become an astronaut. In 1993, she was given a job as vice president and research scientist with Overset Methods, Inc. in the Silicon Valley. She was put in charge of development and implementing techniques for aerodynamic optimization.

Finally, Kalpana was informed by NASA that she was to appear for an interview and medical evaluation that could lead her to the job of an astronaut. She was chosen from a total of 2962 applications. She had worked hard for interview. Eventually she was one of the nineteen candidates to be selected by NASA’s fifteenth batch of astronauts. It was an honour beyond her wildest dreams. The young woman was a pride to the nation and her family.

In March 1995, Kalpana moved to Houston with her husband, to begin her tough journey. She had to spend months in high-fidelity simulators and under zero-gravity conditions.

In November 1997, Kalpana was given a chance, which she had dreamed all her life. She was one of the six crew members on board the Columbia Shuttle’s STS – 87 Mission. She was assigned the job of the prime robotic arm operator. Being mission specialist, she had to monitor experiments conducted on board and perform Extra-Vehicular Activities.

Kalpana was never to forget her first sight of the earth from the shuttle thousands of miles in space. She realized that our planet is really only a very small part of the vast universe. She was a nature enthusiast and never missed a chance to speak about the urgent need to take care of our habitat.

In spite of her hectic schedule at NASA and the pressures of her life, she never forgot her friends or the institutions, she had been associated with. She was a loyal friend who believed in lasting relationships. She stood by her people in different times of her life. She got involved with a programme allowing two students from her school, the Tagore Bal Niketan, to visit the NASA facilities every year. Before her last journey, she had made careful plans to sponsor a young student to a University in South Africa.

She was once again selected as a crew member for the STS-107 launch. The purpose of the 16-day mission was mainly to conduct research on micro-gravity. It was a perfect launch; the members began the work that had been assigned to them. Kalpana conducted a lot of experiments on earth sciences. She even heard to her favourite music CD’s.

On February 2003, Columbia was ready to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere. Kalpana’s family and friends were watching at Cape Canaveral where the shuttle was to land. Suddenly all communication with the Columbia snapped. When it was at a height of 207,135 feet in the sky. The Columbia burst leaving no survivors.

Kalpana was a truly remarkable woman with a rare combination of brilliant mind and intensely humane spirit. She had left behind a legacy of faith in the ability of human beings. She will remain a part of the world’s heritage for the extraordinary will power and daring that she showed in her attempt to reach for the stars.

Questions

1. How did Kalpana Chawla’s family background contribute to the shaping of her personality?

Kalpana Chawla had heard accounts of the problems faced by her immigrant parents, of their courage and hard work, learnt that it is important to believe in one’s dreams and to realize them through grit and determination.

2. What was the first barrier that Kalpana as a child came up against?

She came up with low value attached to education for girls.

3. Write a brief not on early indications in Kalpana’s life of the future that awaited her.

Her immense energy and enthusiastic response to adventure, her determination and commitment to work, fascination for aircraft, her favourite pastime of watching the star-strewn sky.

4. What lasting effect did the view of the earth from space have on Kalpana?

Kalpana struck by the thought that our planet is only a small part of the universe, realised that the earth is vulnerable to destruction unless we take care of our environment and conserve our natural resources.

5. According to those who knew her, when faced with options, Kalpana always chose the more difficult and challenging one. Give two instances from her life to substantiate this option.

Kalpana gave up a comfortable and well- paid job in the Silicon Valley to become an astronaut, after her first voyage aboard the Columbia shuttle, could have chosen to be ground crew instead of deciding to go into space a second time.

6. Kalpana Chawla was 'a rare combination of a brilliant mind and an intensely humane spirit '. Discuss.

Kalpana maintained an impressive academic record right from her school days. She did not ever shy away from challenges and hard work, proved herself as a student and later as a scientist and researcher in the Silicon Valley as well as in the NASA, fine human being as well – a loyal friend. She always willing to listen to others and respect them for themselves, longed to pay back what she saw as her debts to her school and society able to convince any unpleasantness, showed humility rare in one so accomplished, ect.

Meanings

Inspiration - supposed power which stimulates the mind

Reach for the stars – achieving something even though it’s difficult to achieve

Astronaut – a person’s job involves traveling and working in a spacecraft

Perseverance – the quality of continuing to try to achieve an aim in spite of difficulties

Inclination – tendency to do some thing

Adventure – an unusual, exciting or dangerous experience

Outing – a trip that you go on for pleasure or education

Picnic – when people pack a meal and take it to eat outdoors

Fascinated – very interested

Scattered – spread for apart over a wide area for a long time

Twinkling – to shine with light

Plunged – to move up and down suddenly and violently

Legacy – money or property that is given to you by somebody when they die

Snap – lose control or to break something with a sharp noise

Other Great Personalities include

For Lal bahadur-shastri

For Jawaharlal Nehru

For Albert Einstein

For Kalpana Chawla

For Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya