International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day, the 8th of March is a day celebrated worldwide to recognize the achievements and accomplishments of the fairer gender.

Was there really a necessity for such a day? Well, I wasn’t born during the humble makings of history but am sure anything historical is always chronicled.

History had witnessed the woes of women: women who fought for their rights; women who fought the unwarranted discrimination of gender; women who asked for a berth and esteem of their own and women who wanted to be economically independent.

What made the woman step out of the threshold of her home? She might have evolved to take the share of responsibilities of a home and that’s how she ventured out. It could have been out of dire necessity or a deep desire to prove her mettle.

A woman symbolizes Prakriti (nature) and nature cannot be suppressed; it only can be tamed, but, how long? Decades of tolerance and getting tamed seemingly bore heavy on the woman and she decided to call it a day.

But who helped her? Obviously without a second thought, “a man” .Yes, it was men who oppressed the woman and it was men who helped her step out , see the world, know herself, her strengths ,take a breath of fresh air and carve a new life. In fact, this day is an ode to all the men who supported the fairer gender, loved her, understood her, allowed her to dream and respected her existence. And so the spirit of the woman soared high and said, ‘I exist, therefore I am..’ .

The Genesis of International Women’s Day (IWD)

Year 1908 saw the ’Bread and Roses‘ rally by thousands of women garment workers in NYC protesting against inhumane working conditions and low wages. They demanded shorter working hours, better wages and voting rights. It was on the 28th of Feb(last Sunday of the month),1909 that the first National Women’s’ day was granted to be celebrated in honour of the women workers who protested in 1908 by the Socialist Party of America.

At a meeting held at Copenhagen in 1910, attended by representatives of 17 countries, a lady German Official named Clara Zetkin came out with the proposal of a day in the calendar which every country would celebrate as Women’s’ Day . In 1911, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland honored IWD on 19th March. More than five lacs of men and women attended IWD rallies and campaigned for women’s’ rights to vote and hold public office. But a tragic fire event which claimed the lives of 140 women garment workers in NYC because of lack of safety measures shifted the focus back to working conditions of women at later IWD events.

Years 1913-1914 saw peaceful protests against World War-I by Russian women, as part of their first IWD celebration on the last Sunday of February. In 1917, Russian women began a strike ‘Bread and Peace’ in light of the death of thousands of Russian soldiers in World War-I. The women remained unfazed in spite of opposition from political leaders and all attempts to disburse the women went in vain. Finally after four days of relentless strike, the Czar was forced to give up and women were granted promise of a better economic condition and the right to vote. This was a historical achievement. The day the strike commenced was Sunday, the 23rd of February as per Julian Calendar but this day elsewhere as per Gregorian Calendar was the 8th of March and thus 8th of March became the day of women.

The United Nations officially declared 8th of March as International Women’s Day in 1975. Interestingly, 2011 marks the centenaryof IWD celebrations since 1911.The UN theme for this year is “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women”.

Hope the small good that comes out of such celebrations will make great changes in the future where a girl can feel secured about her future and a woman will feel empowered and emancipated to take her life in control and say, ’I exist , therefore , I am..’. And so the world and mankind will enjoy the fruits of an educated - mother, sister, friend, girlfriend and wife…

Happy Women’s Day !!

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS & LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA

War movies usually propagate some kind of political agenda, to justify the needs of such a war, or to glorify the countries on one side of the war and depict the enemy as ‘heartless monsters’.

The ‘Battle of Iwo Jima’ between the United States and Imperial Japan was a turning point in the World War II. US forces aimed to seize the island of Iwo Jima which was near to the main land of Japan, so that they could use the island as a base camp to start the invasion. The Imperial Japanese Army tried to prevent it from falling into American hands. Finally the strong US forces succeeded in taking over Iwo Jima after a gory battle.

In 2006, well known Hollywood actor and Film maker Clint Eastwood came out with two films telling the story of this violent battle from both US and Japanese perspectives.

‘Flags of Our Fathers’ is an English film which tells the life stories of the three US Marines who raised the US flag on the top of Mount Suribachi, at the end of the Battle. The US government projected the three men as heroes of war to raise funds for WW-II. The film pictures the emotional difficulties faced by this trio to digest the heroic image and to escape from the haunting memories of their mates. The film is narrated through the memories of one of those heroes.

‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ is made in Japanese language with popular Japanese actor Ken Watanabe in lead role. The film opens with a scene in which archeologists excavate a bundle from a cave in Mount Suribachi in 2005. The bundle contain the letters written by a General Kuribayashi and a soldier Saigo to their wives, during the Battle. The film is narrated through these letters, which gives a good glimpse at the lives of the soldiers during the War.

‘Flags of Our Fathers’ got 2 Oscar nominations and ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ got 4 Oscar nominations including the ‘Nomination for Best Picture’ in 2007. These 2 films honestly portraits the true emotions of a war- courage, honour, fear, pain, horror. Clint Eastwood conveys the message that there’s really no good guys or bad guys when it comes to war. And war is always futile.

CRICKET, WORLD CUP & INDIA

Come 17th and all the roads for the cricket fans across the world will lead to Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh where the opening ceremony of cricket’s biggest carnival, the ICC Cricket World Cup, will be held. The tenth edition of the cricket extravaganza co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will kick-start on 19th with the first match being played between India and Bangladesh. A total of 14 countries will battle it out on the cricketing pitch for the cricket’s most coveted cup that consists of a golden globe held by three silver columns and weighs around 11Kg. But only one team that will play hard, gives consistent performance throughout and keeps their nerve under pressure will deservingly lift the trophy on April 2nd.

In India, cricket is nothing less than a religion that is followed by one and all and a cricket world cup is a grand festival for us. The fact that India is co-host of the tournament and will be hosting 29 of the total 49 matches including the final, pulls up the crescendo of the excitement. Every match, especially those involving Indian team, will be followed ball-by-ball. Each stroke played and every ball bowled will be closely analyzed by millions of Indians. Every bowling or fielding change will kick-off wide debates in stadiums, drawing rooms, cafes, and outside TV showrooms. New talents will be unearthed. New heroes will rise. But at end of the day it will be every Indian’s wish that it should be the team India that wins the world champions crown.

Team India’s performance has been noteworthy in the recent past. A number 2 ranking in one day internationals speak volumes of efforts that the current Indian team has been putting in for last few years. Under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and watchful eyes of the coach Gary Kirsten Indian team has been growing steadily in all the three departments of the game. As the team starts its world cup campaign, lets us have a sneak preview of our probable playing XI.

Batting has been our strength always. In Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag we have one of the best opening pair of the world. Any words about Sachin do not completely represent his cricketing greats. He is above all the available cricketing jargons. Watching him play is a treat in itself and our eyes never get tired of watching him play those drives, cuts and sweeps.

Viru, when on song, is most destructive batsman in the world. His merciless attacks on the bowler dents the confidence of the even best bowlers of opposition. Gautam Ghambir, being actually an opener, is ideal for the number 3 slot. He can continue the momentum if India gets good start and can also step in to provide a good start when one of the openers falters.

India’s middle order is rich comprising of likes of Kohli, Yuvraj and the captain himself. Virat Kohli has been in form of his life hitting runs consistently at home and away. No surprise, he was the only player from the old squad retained by his IPL franchisee. Yuvi is one of the most experienced batsman of the team having played previous two world cups. He is more of an all-rounder having the capability of taking wickets with his slow left-arm spin bowling. He is also one of the cleanest hitters of the game and lofting a ball for six is his favourite shot.

The Indian captain is the core around which the whole team is build. His cricketing acumen is well known. He is appreciated more for keeping his cool even in intense pressure situations. One of the hardest hitters of the game he also keeps the score board ticking by running hard. He has safest hands behind stumps as well.

Yusuf Pathan’s recent heroics had cemented his place as lower middle order batsman. A batsman of caliber of Yusuf is very important for India’s scheme of things both when it is batting first or when chasing a target. He is the another all-rounder in the side with ability to bowl good off-spin.

India’s bowling attack will be comprised of 4 regular bowlers with the Yusuf, Yuvi, Sehwag and Kohli filling the spot of fifth bowler with their part-time spin. In all probability a 3 pacer and a lone specialist spinner will make the bowling attack of the team considering the availability of part time spinners. India’s bowling attack will be led by the gusty Zaheer and fiery Harbhajan. A very few bowlers in the world cricket have the ability to swing both the old and new ball and no one does it better than Zaheer on the Indian wickets. This is one bowler who has been consistently delivering for the team taking wickets regularly and bowling a tight line in death overs. He is a handy batsman as well and can play big shots when required.

Harbhajan will be the automatic choice of the lone specialist spinner. He is most successful off-spinner of India having a good economy rate in ODIs. A leading wicket taker for the team, the ‘doosra’ is his secret weapon. He can also swing his bat to gather few useful runs.

Among the other bowlers, Ashish Nehra will be the preferred choice for the second seamer because of the variation and accuracy in his bowling. Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel will fight for the third seamer slot and kind of the opposition will decide who gets to bowl in that match. If a second specialist spinner is required Ashwin will be the captain’s choice considering his ability to bowl tight spells giving few runs and also to provide breakthroughs at regular intervals. Suresh Raina and Piyush Chawla may get their chance in case of injuries.

This Indian team looks a formidable side with right mix of youth and experience. They have been beating the best sides of the world for last 2 years and there is no reason they cannot do it this time as well. They will be well supported by the cricket frenzy fans of India throughout the tournament. However, the fans deserves nothing less than a world cup win from the men in blue and achieving this feat on Indian soil will be the perfect tribute to an average Indian. Let us all wish our team the best for the mega event and hope that it will be the team India that will lift the trophy at the Wankhede stadium, Mumbai on April 2nd. Lets us hope that this long cherished dream of Sachin Tendulkar, that has been eluding him for past 5 world cups, comes true this time.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST) confirms the discovery of the permanent Lunar OH atmosphere by the CHACE experiment in Chandrayaan-1

Reported by: Tirtha Pratim Das, Space Physics Laboratory, VSSC

Observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have confirmed the discovery of the water and hydroxyl atmosphere in the lunar environment made by the CHACE payload in Chandrayaan 1/MIP mission. When it is said ‘water atmosphere’ or ‘hydroxyl atmosphere’ in scientific jargon, it really means the presence of water molecules or hydroxyl molecules making their independent (non-interacting) respective atmospheres in the lunar environment without any inter-particle collision.

Moon’s atmosphere is so tenuous that there is hardly any collision between the gaseous species. Such an atmosphere where collisions are very rare is called exosphere. In the absence of any collision, it is said that different types of gaseous species simultaneously occupy the same volume of space without any interaction among themselves. It is described as the interaction-less coexistence of independent atmospheres (like the Argon atmosphere, Helium atmosphere, etc.) which are dictated by individual source and sink processes.

The CHACE (Chandra’s Altitudinal Composition Explorer) experiment onboard the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) in Chandrayaan 1 mission made the first successful measurement on the lunar day-side atmosphere on 14th November, 2008. It also revealed the presence of the lunar H2O and OH (due to dissociation of H2O to OH) atmospheres (say, exospheres). It meant the presence of H2O and OH molecules in gaseous form in the lunar exosphere which condense at the higher lunar latitudes to form polar water-ice. The analysis of CHACE data revealed the presence of H2O and OH molecules in significant amount at all the latitudes maximising near 700S (CHACE observations were more in the Southern hemisphere of the moon).

If such a significant H2O and OH exosphere is there at moon as discovered by CHACE, it must be amenable to detection by other means as well. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), from Low Earth Orbit, has detected a persistent emission of 283 nm emission from the moon before, during and after the impact of the LCROSS module of the LRO mission. This emission was from the OH, which, researchers believe (Storrs et.al., 2011), may indicate the confirmation of a permanent lunar OH exosphere as reported by Sridharan et al (2010a), rather than OH produced by photolysis of water liberated by the impact event. This observation was published during the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Meeting in January, 2011 and the CHACE observations were referred.

References:

1. R. Sridharan, S.M. Ahmed, Tirtha Pratim Das, P. Sreelatha, P. Pradeepkumar, Neha Naik and Gogulapati Supriya (2010a): “`Direct’ evidence for water (H2O) in the sunlit lunar ambience fromCHACE on MIP of Chandrayaan I”, Planetary and Space Science Volume 58, Issue 6, May 2010, Pages 947-950

2. Storrs, Alex; Guillou, L.; O’Hara, A. (2011): The Impact Of The Lcross Satellite With The Moon As Seen By The Hubble Space Telescope; American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #156.07

Voyage formula for 2011

Earth has completed one more round about Sun and is presenting us with an opportunity to make fresh resolutions. Are you the kind of person who makes a New Year resolution, gets bored of it and forgets it? If yes, you should read on. The very fact that you make New Year resolutions, irrespective of whether you follow it through, is a good sign;you are someone who is interested in improving yourself. Voyage shares with you some simple and easy to remember thoughts on self improvement, so that you may choose what you like, and throw it when you get bored and choose another when you like.

What is like to be successful in life? Well, we too don’t know precisely, because most of us are inexperienced and it is too early to say what success in life tastes like. Most people link success to material gains, better life style etc. But is it what success really is? The definition of success might vary from person to person. Nevertheless, any successful man would converge to the idea that finding success is finding harmony between personal life and official life.

Robert Holden and Ben Renshaw, in a book suggests a 3 pronged strategy to Success. According to them “The S3 formula will help you consider the key factors in a work life balance. The first S stands for ‘Success’- begin to form criteria of what success means to you. The second S stands for ‘Strategy’-start to form a workable plan to achieve a balance between work and life. The third S denotes ‘Synergy’- make sure you focus on relationships and creative co-operation with those around you.”

Often we hear that the competition is getting stiffer. Ever wondered against whom we should compete? Darwin’s idea of competition and survival is applicable in all most all aspects of life. Say, you are competing against a colleague

covertly. You see him daily, you smile, you greet

but in the bottom of your heart you compete against him. You compete against him and you succeed in getting ahead; you compete against many and then you come first; now you don’t know against whom you have to compete. In the process of competing with others knowingly or unknowingly we are improving ourselves. So why not we improve ourselves without competing with others. In short why shall not we knowingly compete with ourselves? Judge what you were yesterday and foresee what you will become tomorrow.

There is a person who stands upside down for few seconds when he gets into the swimming pool. Unable to contain curiosity, he was asked why he does so. The answer was simple, he said, he was experimenting! Now too it is not understood what his experiment was but he was living crazy, and experimenting with a calculated risk. Extend this principle to life and experience the results of these experiments. According to a web site “Doing unique, random, different, and ridiculous things is a good way to exercise the mind and promote new ways of thinking about the world around us”

How important is it to smile? Recently in a casual talk a person narrated a successful experiment he did in life. He learnt to get things done fast. Wonder how? All he had to was to smile when he approached someone. It is hardwired in humans and it is hard to look at a smiling face and not to return a smile, unless you have curbed it for such a long time. Smile works wonders and that explains the popularity of Smileys.

A person with constricted mind is like a cup which is full:a full cup overflows when more water is poured into it. A constricted mind can never imbibe new ideas and thoughts and can never accommodate others. Have an open mind and be receptive to new ideas.

Einstein was someone who enjoyed classical music and was a decent violin performer. Sir Issac Newton was a person who didn’t enjoy any form of art. But he had two passions other than physics : Alchemy and Astronomy. Having a hobby helps to shift your focus from the daily chores and reinvigorate yourself. Learn a new skill and challenge yourself; learn swimming and eliminate the possibility of drowning in 4 feet deep water, learn singing and eliminate the possibility of being mocked as a poor singer,or even try making parenting your hobby, be a better parent; the possibilities are numerous.

Having told about being successful, lets now think about failures. Success and failures are interlinked. Success is not the absence of failures but the courage and will to overcome failures. During tough times, it is difficult to fend the criticisms and stay focused. With this realisation, revisiting our driving principles and introspection any failure can be overturned into success. When put in the right perspective, failures are, as the age old adage says, stepping stone to success.

Voyage sincerely hopes that its readers get benefited from these thoughts and support us in this ‘voyage’ of self exploration and self improvement.

Last summer of La Boyita

Latin American Films were always the highlight of International Film Festival of Kerala. This time, in the 15^th edition of IFFK, the movie which bragged the Rajata Chakoram (silver pheasant)award was “Last summer of La Boyita”. Last Summer of La Boyita is an Argentinan movie, directed by Julia Solomonoff. The movie portrays certain facts which are often considered as stigma by mainstream film industry.

Nature always treats men and women in different manner. When women always have milestones in the various transitions of life, men never have it. Men often slip into their adolescence without knowing when exactly they became an adult. What if the symptoms of transitions started appearing on a boy?

This movie traverses through the life of two people – a boy (Mario) and a girl (Luciana), who are in their early days of adolescence. The transitions that adolescence makes in their lives are viewed through the viewpoint of the younger sister (Jorgelina) of Luciana.

Jorgelina realises that Luciana no more considers her as a playmate and she is being treated as a nuisance. Annoyed by the treatment meted out to her, she decided to take a break and moves out with her father to his farm in the Argnetinan countryside to spend the summer. Here, she befriends the boy – Mario. Mario is often too busy with his daily chores – assisting his aging father, training for his horse racing premiere- that he has little time for childish recreation.

As the story advances, Jorgelina comes across a fact in Mario’s personal life that his parents always had preferred to deny. Mario shares with her the secret that he's been raised as a boy, but he appears to have the sex organs of both a male and a female, and he's not sure what he is and what he should do about it.

The Last Summer of La Boyita is an intimate and emotional tale that delightfully unravels the mysteries of sexuality amongst youth. It’s a visually stunning movie and the young actors have given brilliant performances.

Treading On

The dark landscape, ahead, loom,

warning me of the impending doom.

I pause, unsure, fearing the fall

and tread lightly, in steps small.

The moon, behind rainclouds, hid

casting shadows onto the mid

of the black expanse that lay before,

like the sea in some alien shore

My feet search for a firm ground

my ears strain for the slightest sound,

my eyes try to pierce through the dark,

while I, on this journey, embark.

I move on, oblivious to the time,

through paths filled with dust and grime,

till red shot through the sky’s mien,

like blood from a severed vein.

And soon the sun rose, spilling its charm

on a new day, serene and calm

and I behold the beauty ahead

that was hidden by the night dead.

The stream, like silver, winding along,

sprawling green meadows, wide and long,

green trees and flowers in full bloom

raise my mind from fear and gloom.

I tread on, my face in smiles,

journeying through sunlit miles,

drinking in the beauties blend,

happy, till my journey’s end.