Freezing Thoughts

India's impressive World Cup victory is the result of a thoroughly professional approach from a team, which is blessed with a wonderful captain and an amazingly committed coach. M.S.Dhoni and Gary Kirsten started plotting 'Operation World Cup' about 18 months ago, making sure that the right players for different roles were identified, carefully groomed and exposed them to some good cricket so that they are ready for the big stage. Everything went as per the plan, India started as favorites to win the cup, played very good cricket and won it in style. Strictly from a sport point of view, there is nothing more to say. But in India, cricket is not just a sport. Indian cricket team is an alter ego of every Indian fan. We all wish we were the captain, the coach, the selector and every Indian player playing there in the middle. When we see Sachin play a creamy cover drive or Sehwag nonchalantly stroke the ball around, we feel the same sense of achievement the batsman experiences...

During the winter of 2009, when M.S.Dhoni was asked about some curious team selections that were made then, he replied, "We have the World Cup in one year, we want to have a squad of players who have an experience of 50-plus ODIs, so that we can pick a suitable playing eleven from them." The fact that India has marched into the finals of World Cup is not surprising, it is no miracle or an overnight transformation. It is the result of some carefully planned strategies and team selection. It is great to see all that effort paying off and Indian team lifting the game (when it really mattered !) with some disciplined cricket. Having the world's best batting line up, a score of 260 in a not-so-bad pitch in Mohali was not something an Indian fan would have expected. It is true that India finished 20-30 runs short of a competitive total, but then from 205 for 6 in 42 overs, it was Raina's cool head and uncomplicated cricket that made 260 possible. The bowlers had a tough job...

Yesterday's Pacific tsunami and Indonesian volcanic activity has made 'Supermoon' a hot topic. On 19th Match 2011, the moon will make its closest approach to Earth (called lunar perigee) in 18 years. A new or full moon at 90% or greater of its closest perigee to Earth is called a 'SuperMoon'. An 'Extreme SuperMoon' (the one we are going to have on 19th) is when the moon is full or new as well as at its 100% greater mean perigee (closest) distance to earth. The effect of moon on earth and earthlings is nothing new. Ever wondered about the word 'lunatic' ? It refers to abnormal mental activity due to the impact of lunar cycle (different phases of moon). For example, on full moon and new moon days, the effect of moon's gravitation on earth is more than normal. This causes mood swings and mentally unstable people tend to be more sensitive and prone to aggressiveness. Apart from gravitational force, there is also the effect of moon's wave energy o...

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the 13th zodiac sign Ophiuchus; whether it should be included into the current system, whether it changes everything someone has been believing (or ridiculing) all these days and importantly, is it going to change something. As a person with a lot of curiosity in astrophysics, I will attempt to answer some of these questions. Earth's elliptical orbit around the sun can be divided into 12 different energy zones. People born under the influence of one particular energy zone tend to have similar characteristics and behavioral aspects. To distinguish the different set of personalities, they were identified with the constellation that portrayed their characteristics. For example, people born under the 7th energy level were mostly observed to be very diplomatic, these people keep a good balance in whatever they do in life. So they are identified by the constellation 'Libra' (The Scales). Each constellation is just a portrayal of a set o...

Happy New Year everyone. My hearty wishes and prayers for the coming days to bring us the best of everything. It was fun time at New Year midnight in Stockholm, standing in the city-centre in spite of a heavy snowfall and watching the fireworks with friends. After all that fun, it was an amazing experience to walk home on fresh snow with stray fireworks illuminating the sky at random. I noticed the very distinct footprints I left on snow and started thinking: 'Nice. Ooh, are my tracks straight ? Perhaps too straight for someone to think an army person walked by ? Ok, should I make it a bit zig-zag so that it appears natural ? No, people may think these are a drunken guy's tracks. Lemme stop and look back how my tracks are. Aargh, it shows that I stopped here and turned back. Damn, people will think I carefully orchestred my tracks....' Why was I so concerned about my foot-prints on snow ? Come another snowfall, those tracks will vanish. But how about impressions that last f...

Legolas, our cool and smart autonomous rescue robot. This mobile robot is designed to explore an unknown environment and rescue victims. Golf balls simulate victims and green cylinders simulate bombs (which should be avoided). Each victim has a priority which is specified by the number of black stripes adjacent to the victim. In this video, Legolas explores an unknown maze, makes a map as it explores, finds victims, reads the priority, picks them up in ascending order of priority and exits the maze.

Teacher's Day (5th September, the birthday of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan) is a gala time in Kendriya Vidyalayas all over India. The 12th standard students stand-in as teachers that one day and its fun time all day! Looking back at those days, I realize how important the tradition was in making us understand the importance of teachers and appreciate their efforts. They are there right through the important phases of a kid's life; the character shaping primary school, unstable teenage times of secondary school and life defining final years. Teachers guide us safely through all these phases and make sure we become someone in life. Apart from teachers, we learn something or the other from almost everyone we interact with. The books we read, movies we watch and the music we listen to, they all teach us a lot. Learning is one continuous process that goes hand-in-hand with growing as a person and becoming a better human being. Robin Sharma said, ' There are no mistakes in life...