Space colonies, the earlier the better

   It's a part of common household talk to discuss about rains at any time of the year, summers breaking records each year of high temperatures, many cyclones, less crop productivity per square metre of land, unbreathable air in almost all major cities. I don't think that there's any need to put statistics to show that our environment is out of balance and no matter what we do now, we have crossed the point of no return. 

   The false dreams of EVs and other such means are more of marketing gimmicks than that of real impact on environment. Let's accept this thay the chain reaction started by human race in 19th century, won't be stopped no matter what efforts we put. So let's accept the fact that Earth won't be a sustainable habitable planet in near future, which presents the existential threat to humanity and all other species. While efforts to slow down the negative impacts on environment are in progress, it's time to work aggressively on increasing footprint of humanity to other parts of the Solar system and later outside of it. 

   Yes, it sounds like a part of science fiction novel but from submarine to smartphones, many things have been imagined before they have been invented. 

    To create a new colony is something which being thought as far from our capabilities currently. We first need to identify the planets/moons, then to send the resources we need powerful, economical and high capacity spacecrafts, before large colonies rhose rocks need to be made habitable. Apart from scientific challenges big problems will come from the fronts of social and political ideologies, that will be highly challenging. Psychological impact will be a big thing as well. 

    The problems are many but human race has to find the solutions soon, we need an alternate to the Earth as we have exploited this beautiful planet beyond limits. We now have two options, either we focus on space frontier or to be wiped out from existence. 

    The universe is so vast and we have not just reached to the next planet, I wish someday humans will be able to explore the galaxies, to see what universe has kept hidden from us, apart from us who are there in this galaxy and beyond. 

   I hope someday we can visit various galaxies and grand parents start the storked with the famous line of Star Wars movies, 'in the galaxy far far away' in real life. 

   This is my last post of 2023, will come back with some new perspective in 2024, till then whenever you look at the sky, just imagine that there's a lot to explore and we need to go to those places one day. 

The non independent colony

 After reading the title one may think about some distant African land or some small island that is even hard to find on the map, but no this is about a place that preaches to everyone else about inclusivity, giving rights to natives, and many good things but how they came into existence is something not known to many, call it their smart narrative building or something else but this dark truth kept under the wraps for the common people across the globe. As per many estimations before Europeans reached the shores of the American continent, there were 55-75 million natives living there so Columbus found America was nothing more than to establish the narrative that Europe was superior, and natives were not humans. This number came down to just approx. 5 million by the year 1900. So what caused this? Why the natives being hunted like that? There are many reasons:

1. Conflict of religions, as the worship methods were different and that was a time when European religion found its way to new places and its so-called leaders decided to enforce the new rules with force, resulting in civilizational conflicts.

2. Greed for grabbing resources from others is why many parts of the world have been colonized. They wanted to loot others to become rich themselves, causing deaths and slavery for many innocents.

3. Feeling superior to others, racism and non-acceptance of others is also one of the reasons for colonization. Europe has thought of others as inferiors and savages even though most civilizations were far ahead of them regarding knowledge and wisdom. Just a small example is personal hygiene, while brushing the teeth, and having a bath were not known to Europe, people in India had such systems in place.

There are many other reasons yet they just call it a hunger to find new lands, which is again a doubtful narrative as those places already have civilizations so those parts were known to humans. So what did they do after finding an already civilized land? When they felt that in the direct conflicts, they had started very inhuman means to wipe out those people. Natives have been given blankets infected with some deadly viruses which caused mass deaths, Colonizers used to burn the villages of natives at night, they caused so many deaths that the world has observed a small ice age due to a reduction in CO2 emissions and reduced farming. Such atrocities are not being discussed in the open now, no one speaks about the rights of American native tribes on global forums or in articles in their media. So next time anyone from the West starts preaching about how one should care for native people, ask them what they are doing for the rights of natives of the American continent as their land is still occupied and there's no visible sign of their freedom.

Indian history: Time to learn who we are

Who are we? Descendants of Gandhi who just know non-violence and never think about attacking enemies? or descendants of the like of King Bappa Rawal who defeated Qasim and expanded his kingdom to Persia? We have seen many taking pride being labelled as followers of Mughals and other such invaders, in reality they are the ones whose ancestors have faced much of cruelty which led for their change in faith so instead of celebrating they should be someone who should be fighting them. So why this has happened, for a simple reason that we have been told that no Indian king was successful against invaders and we have just accepted the defeats, while the history is different. Samrat Kalbhoj who is also known as Bappa Rawal has not just defeated Bin Qasim who is highly celebrated by a section of people in the subcontinent. Time for us to learn that Gandhian values are as useless as pager in current times. The offensive of Bappa Rawal not just defended country for one time but for coming centuries. Instead of waiting for enemy to attack and then just to react won't help us for long, we have missed opportunities in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999 as well, everytime after the war we have shown desperation to extend the friendship, what it has given to us, well answer we all know, more blood and more deaths of our soldiers and citizens. Just imagine if we have followed footsteps of Bappa Rawal and pushed the enemy to the point of extinction, how developed and peaceful our nation would have been! Also to note that Rawalpindi was named after him, so ask Pakistani friends that their famous Pindi is named after a warrior King who kicked out those invaders whom they consider their heroes. Root cause of such apologetic approach lies in our educational system which is filled with Gandhian and Nehruvian narratives and smartly ignoring the real history of India, forget government, time for us to take matters in our hands, let's take pledge that first we will read and learn our history and will spread it to atleast 10 young students. Just imagine the impact it will create in our society, our new generation instead of feeling sad will feel proud of such a glorious history which will lead to strong and proud next generation. Time for us to bring the change instead of waiting for someone else to do this, I have started doing it and I am sure you all will do this too. 

The colonial strand still alive in Indian society

 

It has been many years since our independence from European colonialism, but have we been liberated from colonial thinking? Think about the answer to this question, here are a few examples to help you get the answer.

 1. In a reputed restaurant in Rajkot, we often go to dine with friends and family, according to their rules, the staff there pays proper attention. Surprisingly, when I took a European dignitary with me, half of the hotel staff and manager gathered around the table and started asking for food and the ambiance of the restaurant, offered some free complimentary dishes, and acted like someone VVIP is paying a visit. I don't understand that for them all people are customers, so isn't it a slavish mentality to entertain someone differently in this way?

 2. No one can answer a question today if you want to go to a meeting, why is it mandatory to wear a blazer? Even in the scorching heat of summer here, people don't understand what they want to show by wearing a blazer! Maybe I didn't get the freedom to think of pleasing the British Babu. Today the wearer of ordinary clothes is considered rude. For no reason are the people trying to show themselves as members of the British Empire?

 3. I don't have any problem with the English language; I also use it a lot. But in general, I do not hesitate to use Gujarati and Hindi as a medium of communication. But laughter comes when some of our so-called superstars who have proven poverty in a common-sense show an inability to speak a language other than English. After all, do people find it difficult to speak in their language? The protest here is not about language, it is about mentality. Knowing only English is opposed to hollow behavior.

 4. Wearing a tie is shown as a sign of proper attire but if you go with Tilak on the forehead, the Indians of British mentality will start making fun of you and start calling believers of outdated thinking, non-modern people, and many more such tags. Living inside India, a Hindu majority country and yet we call going to temple and putting Tilak on the forehead outdated thinking shows how much strong the roots of colonialism are.

5. In the so-called Indian film industry, all functions, and shows happen in English, they speak English only, and being asked in Hindi or the local language, they pretend like they don't understand the language. Such a state of mind that elitism comes with looking like a westner and speaking their language is the biggest issue with them and with the people who get influenced by them.

 It is important to mention a few of these examples that I have experienced, but it is also important to note that there are very few writers in the Gujarati language today whom we can read. At the same time, there are fewer and fewer thinkers who teach innovative work using native languages

As long as we are not proud of the fact that we are Indians, we will remain as part of the British colony in our minds. Today we need to connect with our roots and strengthen the future. Whether it is art or science, we move in a new direction, blind imitation of someone will not take the offering anywhere. To walk with the world, one needs to have knowledge of many languages ​​and many cultures, but to be like someone is a sign of stupidity.

We must feel proud of our country and its colorful culture. Let’s try to make the country move forward and people around the world copy us. Need to say what you think about this.

American Superheroes, Hypocrisy and Lesson to Indian cinema

 Names like Captain America, Wonder woman, Batman, Superman, Ironman, etc. are very famous indeed in Indian households now. Cinematic universes are being created which has released many successful movies and series', even many more are in pipeline. The whole American culture being spread through such comic books earlier then it was all converted into animation series' and now multi million franchise' of live action movies, series and animation and much more. Even just for sake of entertainment I also watch these movies and series' and as it's work of fiction, at first it has nothing to do with anything around us. So why this question of hypocrisy? Have you watched Captain America or Wonder woman? Let's go in little detail: They have shown that Captain America is savior of world and started his journey as superhero by fighting against tyranny of Nazis and imaginary group called Hydra. It is shown that Steve Rogers is epitome of humanity, questioned some big weapons developed by SHIELD but same fellow wearing stars and stripes have nowhere utters a word against use of nuclear weapons against Japan by his home country! Wonder woman finds a British spy, falls in love with him and fight against axis forces and supporting Britain, yes the same Britain which captured many nations and treated people of these nations as slaves and yet no word against it? This is how subtle white washing works. American comics and their new avatars are being glorified as protectors of humanity while many of fictional characters being shown as fighting Nazis or Russians kept mum about British slavery, Vietnam war atrocities and Nuclear attack on Japan. This is how from childhood children becomes sure of whom to call hero and whom to call evil. This is one of the reason for American influence over the life of many youngsters as for them Nazi means evil while war being fought in dirty way by both side and no one was hero indeed. Hitler who killed many innocents in gas chambers rightly labelled as evil but Churchill and Elizabeth who caused famine in India as they took everything to fight war and let millions of Indians die been given clean chit by history and by such fictional writers too. These so called heroes created by their writers works on the agenda to build an image and they have done it successfully, on the other hand Indian cinema never miss a chance to malign the nation. While in West they never miss a chance to show Hitler as evil, Indian cinema always try to paint Pakistani war criminals as not so bad. If we continue like this in India, there will be a day when these people in India may call Jinnah as real Hero and Netaji Bose in bad light! Time for Indians to come out of guilt trap and learn that we too faced tyranny of West and we fought against evil leaders of Pakistan.

Time travel: Myth, Reality or A Dream?

 

Humans are yet to learn many answers of unsolved mysteries like: Why universe exists? How it came into existence? How big universe is? Are we alone? Can we travel through dimension of time? Well these many questions and there are few theories surfaces every now and then but there is no answer on it. Time travel is one of the most fascinating concept used in books and movies extensively, which even attracted many of us and gave us some real thrill. From books of H.G. Wells to Avengers End Game and Tenet, we have been mesmerized by concept of time travel. For at least once in our lifetime many of us wanted to experience time travel, many of us wants to see future and many of us wants to go back in time to see dinosaurs roaming on earth, Chanakya giving lessons to Chandragupta Maurya, many desires but this is just a dream. So what time is? Let's follow what Einstein says, just like distance time is one of the dimension. My location is not just point where I am now but when I am there too. In such case one can say that all of our actions are happening not just with reference to place but with time too. Now the question is what is time travel? Just to define it simply we can say that to defy the flow of time and to move within it physically. What if I say that daily we are experiencing time travel? Sounds unbelievable? Well it's not, very significant star in northern sky is Pole star, which is around 433 light years away from us, meaning that the image we are capturing of Pole star in our eyes is 433 years old. With this we can say that we are looking at past or travelling back in time! Sounds fascinating but I consider it as time travel as it falls under basic definition of it. Our night sky is filled with ancient history what we are observing is not of now but of past of thousands and even million year old history. Point here is the more we try to know about universe, the more puzzles comes in front of us. Whether you believe in the theory I have presented or not one thing we all know that there are many questions which will remain unanswered forever. So just enjoy the view from millions of years ago and feel happy that you are able to observe the marvelous creation called universe.

Innovation and India: An Idea for bridging the gap

 While Indian society and social media mostly focus on lifestyle, glamour, politics and defense upto certain extent there's a void for debates and discussion over state of science and technology. Recent data of innovation index shows that we have climbed up 4 numbers and entered into top 50. South Korea leads the chart followed by Singapore and Switzerland while our all weather competitor China ranked 16th. Second most populated nation and has ancient history of many innovations why such struggle today? It's understandable that during constant invasions we have struggled a lot but even after transfer of power from British to Indian parliament why there's no change? For me biggest reason is making science as taboo and labelling it as very tough subject while reality is that our British made education system and continuation of it took all interest away from science and made it a boring subject. Science is nothing but matter of learning nature. This leads to less people opting for it and even those who are studying it gets either too much difficult or over simplified. The essence of making changes and creating something new gets away in this process. When the kid comes out of the college the target being given is to earn more and more no matter what you have studied, well this part can not be ignored as in reality it's tough to maintain a good life in India if you are born in lower middle class hence you have to spend your life in maintaining that balance and many bright minds gets rusty there. At workplaces the approach is simple, just follow what you are being told, in some cases 'jugaads' are hailed as biggest achievements and there's nothing to think beyond it. So collective approach of society, education and industries have not promoted innovation. This is the problem and cause, now what about solution? Shall we just keep repeating this ranting and wait for someone to come up with idea? Well I do have an idea which I don't know when will be implemented. We are out of government and systems so most we can do to education is to write to government about changing syllabus so let's not talk more about it. We don't have multi million dollar organization which can hire scientists and create a research lab on our own so one thing left with enthusiasts like me which is partnered labs. Institutes, Industries and science enthusiasts can come together and develop small labs which will provide basic facilities and small funds for initial phases for any research. While industries can invest money, institutes can help with books, some apparatus from their labs and volunteers can co-ordinate, guide and help researchers to get those resources and knowledge they need. From cellphones to weapon systems we are fully dependent on other countries which is not at all in our favor, if India want to become a global leader it must first establish itself in domain of innovation and technology. Let's not wait for something big to happen, let's do our bit. This is our nation and our society, I dream to see India in top 25 by 2030 and in top 10 by 2047. It sounds very crazy but it is achievable. I request people to join hands for this and let's come together to establish such innovation labs. Let's have first few labs for innovation on transportation and agriculture.