Finding Happiness!

Amongst several goals of human life or rather at the bottom of all of them, we all strive to find happiness. I tried imagining moments which bring smiles on people's faces, those which make them forget everything and they in real terms live those moments. It is for those few seconds and that sense of achievement later - that eternal satisfaction, that we direct our energies wishfully towards our objective. 

Perhaps my description of happiness is different from what people perceive, it might not be the end result of toiling for long and then some sudden profound achievement, it might not also be a journey to success. Some people do not always achieve what they wish for. 

A one year old child playing with his toys is also happy. He is too young to think of any goal, a journey or some toiling. He derives his amusement from his life-less toys and his relentless imagination. He is happy because he is absorbed.

People in space station derive their happiness from several sources. They make calls back to their home, imagine their family's life on earth, share their experiences, perform their tasks, they move out to space walk and they also try to sleep amongst all this. Is it happiness or is it happiness out of duty? Imagine expressions of same astronauts when they light a candle in their space station. It is necessity when we are in dark on earth but its a fun there. There is no gravity, no convectional movement of air around the flame - which are responsible for the way we see flame on earth. It is a tiny blue spherical ball around the wick which goes off by itself in a few seconds. They enjoy the unexpected, though explainable phenomenon. Their happiness is sensory.

A maulvi's happiness lies in admiration of his folks when they kneel down to Allah in submission. He believes that his people will be the best of all someday when they will be true to themselves and to God.

A small girl is happy when she holds her father's finger and walks with him. A young boy is happy when his girl first responds to him. An old man sitting alone on a park bench is happy when he finds a company. Security, warmth and companionship is happiness for them.

It is not always the view from mountain top, nor the arduous journey one needs to reach there. It probably lies in sitting at milestones, adoring the beauty around, experimenting, taking care of people around, being warm, filling voids and reaching out. Happiness is in moments we look into.

21 Jan 2014

No Rocket Science!

http://theviewspaper.net/no-rocket-science/

How many times in a day do we come across this phrase 'No Rocket Science!' blowing out of proportions the simplicity of a process, the way things are done. From teachers to politicians the usage of phrase is phenomenal. The moment I hear someone saying this I try to imagine what made that person say it. Is he really aware of Rocket Science? Can he actually weigh the simplicity/complexity of a situation vis-a-vis Rocket Science? Does the person in question has in any way some scientific aspect of looking at things?

A blunt remark by a news-maker these days has made me think even more. Solution to water woes, power woes is no Rocket Science. Solution to good governance is no Rocket Science. May God prove you right, but I sincerely wonder if these things were so easy the way you are making people believe, delivering promise after promise of your manifesto, costing exchequer, it might actually turn out to be a Rocket Science for you few months later, when summers will start and water and power demand will shoot high.  Dear sir, you are roaming around in a coal mine with a fire baton - careful that your clothes don't get dirty and you come out clean, there is equal possibility of finding diamonds or hitting a gas damp.

Coming back to Rocket Science,  my sudden interest in it is because of recent space activities by ISRO and news articles covering it. Last month I read about Mangalyaan, our Mars Orbit-er Mission (MOM),  which was launched on 5th of November and how ISRO conducted several orbit raising manoeuvres before it could leave earth's orbit. I got more interested in understanding how these manoeuvres are performed. Basically when a spacecraft is launched and is once placed in an orbit revolving around the earth, to make it shift to a distant orbit two impulses are required - one to off track it from its current orbit and other to place it back in  its new orbit. A little understanding of vectors can make one visualize it well. It is scientifically termed as Hohmann Transfer Orbit. Several such manoeuvres were undertaken before MOM moved to Mars Transfer Orbit, a trajectory that will help it in its arrival on Mars. Signal transmission time is increasing day by day and we should keep our fingers crossed that we become 4th Space Agency to reach Mars by 2014 end.

India is progressing. Politics and Science - hand in hand.

Currently two countdowns are going on. One for GSLV D-5 launch carrying a massive 2 tonne satellite payload, other is for Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) government to deliver on its promises in Delhi. We don't want any of them to fail but both are vulnerable.

What makes GSLV D-5 launch interesting is that we are using indigenous cryogenic engine to power upper stage of launch. Cryogenic engine uses fuel (Liquid Hydrogen) and oxidizer(Liquid Oxygen) stored at extremely low temperatures. Having suffered two failures in past and a last minute mission abort ISRO has tried hard this time to make it a success.

AAP has never suffered a failure, it is too new for that. They are the safest players in the game. Only time will write their testimony. Mango people are the best weapon of their arsenal. They have chosen Lal Bahadur Shastri to learn politics from, clearly stepping aside of Gandhian-Nehru parlance. Sardar Patel was already chosen by Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP).

Everyone wants prime time coverage. Lalu, Ramdev, Kiran Reddy, Yogendra Yadav all are trying hard. Suddenly entire political stage has come alive with equal lightening on all entities. All appear same.

Writing at 2 a.m. in the night I wonder Is it too difficult to take stand? Is it too difficult to accept truth, reward and innovate? Is it too difficult to develop a model, progress and sell? When ISRO can target deep space market for worldwide missions.. Can't our politicians also deliver?

(No Rocket Science, huh!!)

05 Jan 2014