Saturday, September 27, 2014




On November, 5th 2013 ISRO launched its first orbiter to Mars which made every Indian proud on Wednesday, the 24th of September, 2014. It took more than 10 months of hard work and continuous tracking and positioning by a team of more than 100 ISRO’s top scientists led by Shri V. KesavaRaju, Mission Director. Mr. Raju has accredited this success in such a short time and at the most cost effective way to the young team and the meticulous care at every stage from spacecraft’s conceptualization to the realization.

ISRO built first of its kind, Long distance communication with the space craft in addition to the autonomy to the aircraft for taking decisions on its own in case of any contingency. ISRO targeted a periapsis (closest approach to mars) of 423 km and an apoapsis (farthest distance) of 80,000 km and successfully achieved 427 km and 78,500 km respectively. It was required to keep reducing the speed of aircraft by 1.1 km per second to get into Martian orbit which was successfully done by the team.

In words of Project Director, Shri S. Arunan, “It is the ability to walk into a fear that makes the project a success”. He expressed his confidence in ISRO’s ability to accurately predict the possible contingencies in the deep-space travel. The success of the mission is a result of ISRO’s ability to communicate at a distance of 400 million km, while the requirement for the mission was that of 224 million km.

In practical terms the mission is set to chalk a way to conduct science experiments about the atmosphere, mineralogy, presence of methane – an indicator of possible microbial life on Mars. The data is expected to give scientists a clearer understanding of the evolution of Mars from observations of its geological and biogenic processes. The cameras, spectrometer, photometer and a radiometer would help in exploring Mars’ morphology.

Technically the target was very tough and the stakes were high. Almost 300 long days of waiting, tracking and worrying for contingencies has paid really well. Our PM Shri Narendra Modi calls the mission as true success as the technology was purely build indigenously in a record less time and in a highly cost efficient manner. It is noteworthy that India is the first Asian country to successfully accomplish mission to Mars. China’s only attempt to reach Mars in 2011 was a failure.

India launched its first space rocket in 1963 and its first satellite in 1975. Concentrating its efforts on socio-economic development of the country ISRO has shown its renewed interest, efforts and results in this mission. Mars mission is a natural progression in the quest for its deep space exploration.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Engineers Day


One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word.
Who is this other man? This other man is the engineer. We cannot expect the continuation, existence and growth of civilization without the pivotal role of engineers. Observe closely and you will find that a man by birth is an engineer. Even a one-year old kid is more interested to break open his toy car and see how it works rather than just play with it. Human’s with to question, the appetite for knowledge, the hunger for seeking logic in every magic makes every human being as an engineer.

With the passage of time and with the more structural growth of civilization, the role of engineering has become even more relevant. The engineers have now come up as better solution providers. It has been observed and is evident that the engineers can handle, simulate and solve the problems more methodically than the others. It’s evident in the upsurge of the career as a Manager for engineers. We can witness that the IIMs and other top B-schools have a considerable number of engineering graduates in their intakes.

When clubbed with professional management studies the professionally trained engineers tend to add better value to their employer organizations, they have an understanding of the production machinery in technical terms and they are more empathetic to the people they are leading since they have exact feel of the work.

In the words of Edwin Powell Hubble, a great Astronomer, Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.

Man by nature is inquisitive, he asks questions for everything he sees and lives in. Man wants to know the reason behind everything. This is the main reason for the growth of our race as compared to other species. We do not just live in it rather we also have a conquest for learning and knowing, “Why it happens?” We may get enthralled by magic and illusions but internally we want to know the logic and science behind. Engineering is the creator of these illusions and engineering is the answer to all questions on illusions.

For the growth of humanity and making the world a better place we need more and more people to take up the role of solution providers and come up as engineers, we need more engineers and even more who can add value to human lives by taking up the roles of educationists, managers, politicians, social leaders and what not. The society must have and mechanism to let everyone be an engineer.

On this day I thank all the engineers who have ever chosen this role, in time and history and all those who will be the future of engineering for making the world more connected, more understandable and more interesting.

Happy Engineers Day!

All the best!

Friday, September 5, 2014


We were humans, Teachers made us a civilization

Anyone who is wise and doesn't keep the wisdom restricted to himself and spreads it across is a teacher.  So if we look upon our lives very closely we will see that at one point or other there is many people who have played a teacher’s role. In addition, we have also played teacher in many lives. When wisdom is not kept safe in a lock and it is let flow and learned by others, a chain reaction of wisdom happens and a civilization takes birth. No system, economy, governance, sport or anything can ever be imagined to exist without civilization.

On this auspicious day I take the opportunity to salute all my teachers, all the teachers across the time and geography and all the people who have ever played roles of teachers in whatever small or big form.
I believe that as a human we should regard the role of a teacher with highest dignity. Confucius, the great philosopher has said,” If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.

When we take up being teacher as a profession, then the means and ends of life become intelligence and knowledge. A true teacher is one who:
1.       Let’s the students wonder
2.       Let’s them question whatever comes to their minds
3.       Let’s them to criticize
4.       Let’s them write and share
People say it’s a noble profession. I’ve witnessed many of my colleague teachers studying till late night and preparing for their classes although having rich experience in their fields. I salute their appetite for learning and their commitment towards making the coming generations more efficient.

There are moments we get stopped in our lives. We do not know what to do and where to go. Just think of a teacher whom you admired the most. Magically, his voice speaks from within and the solution is there. I have tried it and it works. Now that we live in the well-connected age of social networking, we must ensure that we keep in touch with our beloved teacher’s throughout our lives.

The great management guru Peter Drucker says, “Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the 'naturals,' the ones who somehow know how to teach.

Whenever the opportunity comes be a teacher, enrich others, lead a generation. It’s not only a profession, it’s a mission. It’s a journey that leads many journeys, all in different directions and to different distances, yet connected. It’s like taking the entire civilization to the next level of intelligence. Humans have evolved just because there have always been some of them who choose to be teachers.
A teacher is a leader, a preacher, a manager, a friend, a philosopher, a critic, a social engineer and whatever we could ever imagine.

A grand salute to the Teachers

Wish you a very Happy Teachers Day!!!