Micro-post of the week, in which I wonder why the “Popular Book Shop”, located inside the Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum had a loud “Mulberry Bush” nursery rhyme playing in the background, “..This is the way we go to Church, go to Church, go to Church…”.
And find it odd (and saddening) that Acharya  J C Bose barely finds a small mention…(not to forget Sir C V Raman).  No photograph of Wing Cmdr Rakesh Sharma either. And no trace or mention of our own achievements in Science and Technology from ancient …

Start this weekend reading about “Maccha Yantra” – which might have been the precursor to the mariner’s compass of today…
Next, read former Governor of J&K, Jagmohan’s account of  his trek to Amarnath…
…and finally, ponder over Chandan Mitra’s provocative piece on the purpose of history
Excerpts from all the three articles below, as always.

Many of you must have read a report in The Hindu from a few weeks ago by unnamed “Eminent Historians” titled, “From ‘India Shining’ to ‘India was Shining’“. The report (dt. 3rd May) appeared to be an amateurish attempt at trashing some of the claims made in the BJP’s manifesto regarding India’s past and heritage.
It had excerpts from the BJP’s manifesto and brief counter-points dismissing the claims and assertions. Curiously – in spite of being authored by “Eminent Historians” – it was surprisingly light on references and historical sources.
Dr. …

From a recent article in VC Circle:
Global warming, air pollution and other problems related to the emission of Co2 (carbon dioxide) may partially get solved as a group of five scientists from four institutes have discovered a low cost method of converting carbon dioxide into calcium carbonate (CaCo3), a useful building material.
…The scientists have discovered naturally occurring bacteria that can be used to convert Co2 into CaCo3, that can be used in cement or limestone aggregate for building roads. When used as an enzyme, biomolecules that speed up the chemical …

At first glance, Nandan Nilekani’s “Imagining India” is daunting.
500+ pages, densely packed with statistics, policy prescriptions and anecdotes do not make for easy bedtime reading…yet I found it highly engaging and written in a very readable style. If there was ever a book you wished that reflected a bird’s eye of what ails India, “Imagining India” would come pretty close to it.
On the very first page, in the preface, Nandan Nilekani recalls a conversation with a visitor in which he was asked:
“Why don’t people like you get into politics?”
Nilekani’s …

A few hours ago, ISRO put “Chandrayaan-I”  into transfer orbit around the earth, heralding its “Mission to Moon”.
This is a proud moment for the team at ISRO working tirelessly for the last several months, sometimes right through the night.
It is also a proud moment for India’s indigenous space research programme and more broadly, India’s indigenous R&D efforts - the seeds of which were planted barely a few decades ago.
But questions are being asked…and doubts are being raised.
“Was this the best use of the country’s limited resources?”, “What will this mission really achieve?”, “Will it have any impact on …