GIBBS BOSON & HIGGS PARADOX

Every other man on the street spoke of the God particle. Even the normally discreet ones minced no words when the talk was centered on the new sensation, lest they be mistaken for fossils. As always, the village tea shop and the barbar shop were the hub of discussion dissecting the God particle threadbare. Many a time I felt like telling these scholars, "Thou shall not dissect what God has composed". Even priests talked on the issue from the pulpit during the Sunday mass. With the 'God' epithet they could not but talk. None asked anyone else regarding the new find as everyone was very sure about it with little doubt. Though the ideas propounded by individuals differed violently, that did not result in any violence as each one considered oneself right and others mad. Don't say that this is the first symptom of madness.

Turning  to myself, I remained silent not because I was an atheist disinterested in anything that was even remotely Godly. I was afraid to talk. I knew that Higgs Boson was far from what was being talked about. I knew that like any other particle Higgs Boson too was a mathematical object. But since the mathematics of it was far beyond me, I decided to live happily in a world sans Higgs Boson.

One of my friends educated me on how the God particle can be used to prove the existence of God.  The next day I found the poor man shattered as someone proved to him that the very same particle can disprove God !!! Now I had this friend talking about the 'Gibbs Boson'. As he kept repeating 'Gibbs' I tried to correct him. He was a cricket buff and a die hard fan of the cricketing great Lance Gibbs and it was that ghost creating the tongue twist. He was not prepared to concede defeat. He continued educating me; "See, Gibbs or Higgs, we should be more concerned about Boson. Prof Boson was an Indian scientist you know?? Bewildered, I wanted to tell him that the great Indian was not Boson but Bose. But I refrained as I felt that scholars should not be disappointed. If Gibbs Boson comes can Higgs paradox be far behind? I wait. One thing is certain. Never before in human history, so much of people talked so much over an issue with so little understanding. (smelt a Winston Churchill ??)

Long back Einstein made the following statement when too much of people talked with authority on the photon ( like quantum of energy, packet of energy etc).

  "All the fifty years of conscious brooding have brought me no closer to answer the question - What are light quanta?  Of course today every rascal thinks he knows the answer, but he is deluding himself"

Today, will someone, may be Peter Higgs himself come out with a similar statement?..............

.....................for the God particle's sake???

......................because what is being done to the Higgs Boson is far more diabolic than what was once done to the light quanta.                                                                  

IN SEARCH OF A LOST LINK

This story has always been very disturbing for me. It instills in me a sense of helplessness. "Creating history", "writing history" etc sound meaningless cliches. This story drives me to believe that history creates individuals or society or even nations. When the drama called history unfolds humans remain hapless faceless players acting to the dictates of the incomprehensible reality called fate.

My maternal grand father's sister was called Ammini. Ammini is a low profile name if names mean anything. But my Ammani Ammachi (AA) was a lady of the highest profile. During the nineteen thirties she joined the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana as a medical student and eventually she became a doctor. But the years she spent there changed her life for ever.

I never saw her. But from the descriptions  by her nieces and nephews and some others of her generation, I could learn that she was very beautiful. These descriptions kindled in me a sort of respectful love for AA whom I never saw. For long she remained the queen of my childhood fantasies.  Those were the days when girls passing the fourth standard were treated as "over qualified". At Ludhiana AA fell in love with her class mate, an aristocratic north Indian Brahmin. She married him incurring the wrath of her father (my great grand father), a feudal lord by all standards. In the typical Zamindari tradition  this feudal lord lost no time in issuing a decree by which the number of his children stood reduced by one!

Now she starts her life with the man of her choice. He hailed from a princely family owning thousands of hectares of land in the now Pakistan part of united India. Life might have been exhilarating for AA as the new "Bahu" in that aristocracy. Soon she was to become the mother of two cute little girls. Yet she might have had an occasional sob at the thought of Mavelikkara and her beloved ones. None at Mavelikkara had any contact with AA. With no contacts and no efforts to rebuild a ruptured relation AA would have been lost for ever. But then, strange are the ways of fate.

With the struggle for independence reaching a crescendo the whole of India was in turmoil. Order gave way to chaos. Tensions were mounting. Even as India was united in its resolve against British Imperialism, the most unfortunate episode in the history of India was unfolding - an almost irreversible communal divide in the Indian mind or conscience.This resulted in the volcanic eruption of communal violence with Hindus and Muslims fighting each other. Lakhs of human beings were butchered. Lahore and Rawalpindi were burning the way most North Indian cities were.

Poor AA. She might have run for safety or hidden somewhere with the two little kids close to her chest. The aftermath of this unabated violence was the greatest exodus in human history. With east bound Hindus and west bound Muslims, it was an ocean of human beings migrating to safety leaving behind all the valuables and their place of birth. I was in tears when I read the description of these scenes in the book "Freedom at midnight". Because I knew that one drop in this ocean was my AA tired and exhausted. In a huge sea of humans, none is any special. Anybody is just faceless.

AA and her group finally reached Delhi inching through the desserts of Rajasthan braving all odds. A new life was started at the refugee camp. I can't imagine how AA and her family members might have reconciled with the tragic fall from an aristocratic, princely life to the life of refugees. At the height of her sufferings and in the abyss of an all-lost feeling, AA finally wrote to her father detailing her unfathomed agony.  From what followed one has to say that even for feudal lords, blood is thicker than water. AA's father immediately sent his men to Delhi to bring home his daughter and her husband and children whom he was to see for the first time.

For AA, she was back home. But for her husband he was uprooted from his place of birth. The children were yet to be "citizens" of any land. I have heard that the man from the north was most interested in watching people climb the coconut tree. He spent all the time in the coconut farms watching this "hop up and climb" in disbelief.

During this time the government of India was engaged in the herculien task of rehabilitating those who have fled Pakistan (by now Pakistan was formed) and who were toiling in the refugee camps in India. AA and her family went back and settled some where in North India and resumed their life from scratch. They started a clinic which, I was told, flourished well. Once the trauma of  one of the most unfortunate incidents in history was overcome, people stopped worrying about each other. Relations were not maintained. Decades later one morning, Mavelikkara woke up to a shocking news. The Malayala Manorama daily carried the front page news of the death of AA and her son-in-law in a road accident in the US. And that was the end of a turbulent life which was full of unexpected and unbelievable turns and twists.

Years later, in 1987 to be precise, I got news that AA's grand son,ie, my second cousin Vikas Khitta was at the College of Engineering, Trivandrum as a student of Mechanical Engineering. I wrote a letter to him and he replied addressing me "dear cousin". I cannot describe the emotions that overpowered me on reading that letter. Very soon Vikas came to Mavelikkara accompanied by his mother Remani. We all had an emotion packed rendezvous. A good number of us had assembled to receive someone who had left that place as an infant and is now back as the mother of a teen aged son. For the feudal lord I mentioned in the beginning Vikas belonged to the fourth generation. There were sobs, hugs and none could speak a word. We all stood on the lawns of the centuries old ancestral house which had a long veranda.The changing expressions on the face of the elders assembled there reflected the fleeting memories in their mind. All of us felt as if being in a world of fantasy. The silence that was becoming unbearable was broken by Remani when she suddenly recognized a small little stone grinder left abandoned at one end of the long veranda. It was in this stone grinder that she used to grind arec- nut and tobacco for her grand father (AA's father).Vikas told me that they had settled in Bereli in UP. He told us that his grand father (AA's husband) was still alive. I felt sad. If I had known this earlier I would definitely have visited my AA's man. I was in Agra as a student for three years and Bereli was not too far. Now I am even more sad. I can blame only myself for not maintaining my contacts with Vikas.

I wish someone reading this knew my cousin.

I wish Vikas himself read this story and got back to me.

I remain hopeful.

I do not know the correct spell for Khitta. Some people say it is Kitha or Khitha.

THERE IS SO MUCH IN A NAME. I AM VERY SURE, ONE DAY I WILL GET A MAIL FROM THE RIGHT SPELLED. MY COUSIN CANNOT BE WRONGLY SPELLED. FAR REMOVED THOUGH, IN SPACE AND TIME, THE GENETIC LINK THAT EXTENDS FROM INFINITE PAST AND THAT FLOWS INTO THE INFINITE FUTURES IS THE GREATEST REALITY AND MARVELL OF NATURE AND HE AND I ARE SOMEWHERE THERE SO CLOSE YET SO FAR..... LONGING TO MEET AGAIN.

THE WAIT WILL NOT BE TOO LONG..... IT CANNOT BE...............

MASALA DOSA

The very name "Masala Dosa" is hugely evocative for me. It takes me back to my childhood days when a rare visit to a vegetarian hotel along with my parents or uncles, was the most I could have asked for. These days, when children frequent the Pizza Hut or KFC or Chicking hangouts  or Baskin Robins I stand in awe. I also wonder how one can prefer all these over my Masala Dosa (MD). I remember having the most tasty MD at the Unni's hotel at Mavelikara.( less than 100 mts towards the west of the Mitchel junction - no more there). This hotel didn't have a board, yet MD lovers flocked there. The proprietor Mr Unni was a Nair with aristocratic looks. After all these years I can confidently say that MD  at the Unni's were the best I ever have had .

Masala Dosa is one food item that has been cruelly experimented with by unscrupulous chefs.The filling in Unni's MD was simple, with potato ,onion, a little ginger and nothing else. The moment green peas or carrot were added MD lost its chaste taste. MD ceased to be MD. Intrusions did not stop there. Even cauliflower (of all the things in the world) got into the recipe. The sad result is that Unni's MD is a thing of the past. My mind craves for the simple yet mouth watering MD.

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Last week, the Huffington Post of New York included MD in a list of ten food items "one must eat before one dies". I felt happy and proud. I do not  know which MD they have selected. Unni's or the chef-shattered  modern ones? Whatever, let us rejoice over the MD's new found position.

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This recognition for MD brings certain thoughts to the fore. Kerala has a long list of native foods to showcase. But our hotels and restaurants try to woo the  tourists (from within India and abroad) with Chinese and Continental dishes. I wonder why foreign tourists should visit India for Chinese delicacies. Why can't Kerala promote food items that are so uniquely its? Dosa, Iddli or Vada may be common to all of South India. But Appam, Palappam, Idiappam, Puttu etc are of Kerala origin. I am sure that if our children get a chance to have these items home made, they will not go after the unhealthy junk foods that are deceptively tasty. Which potato chips marketed by multinational companies can match our "Chakka Upperi" or "Kaya Varuthathu"? Achappam and Kuzhalappam are on the verge of extinction. In fact they are extinct. what we get from the shops are an apology for the old ones.

I wish the Keralites in the hospitality business in a big way, took the lead to promote the food items that so uniquely belong to this place. In that process there shall be no experimentation with Avial or Sambar. Do that only if anyone can suggest an improvement to the Adapradhaman.

Ragam Haripriya

Hari and Priya were declared husband and wife the moment the nuptial knot was tied.this morning (July 11th 2012). Susan and I were present at the Geedham auditorium, Adoor. I think I was unusually happy being there. As always on occasions like this I withdrew into myself and spend some time praying for the newly wed. While being in the sublime state of prayer I realized that my prayers for other students were not any less or lesser. I realized that a prayer is something that happens and is not of ones creation. Yet, during or immediately after the prayer I had this feeling. Their life is going to be "Haripriya Ragam". I have heard of Shanmughapriya, Kharaharapryia and so on. Haripriya, I have never heard but it occurred to me in a flash.
I believe, this Haripriya will be  vivacious like a Hamsadwani,  mellifluous like a Hindolam and  romantic like a Mohanam. I am sure, this Haripriya will be an Amrithavarshini....."Showers of blessings"

Radio Mango 91.9 - Nattilengum Pattai

Some 40 years back a radio was a luxury. Huge sized radios working on vacuum tube technology occupied a place of pride in the living rooms of the rich. Slowly these got replaced by transistor based radios, small in size and costing less too. Tea shops in even remote villages had a transistor radio. These were the "windows"   to the outer world for the villagers. There was a uniformity in the tea-shop-operation of these radios. They switched on the radio in the morning with the signature music of AIR played on the violin by Yehudi Menuhin and switched it off only when it was shutters at the AIR station. It was during the late seventies or early eighties that Doordarshan TV fever spread all over India like an epidemic. In this onslaught, the poor radio got eclipsed. They acquired the dubious distinction of becoming the first e-waste in India. Radios were to be found only in tea shops and barber shops. For over two decades these poor fellows remained in hibernation hoping for a "sapamoksham" which ultimately happened in the form of FM broadcasting.

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Post retirement, I am confronted with people asking the same question: "what do you do"? when I tell them that I do nothing, the second question: "Future plans"? When I tell them that I seriously plan to do nothing, some look at me in disbelief while some look with sympathy and those with no expression might be telling themselves, "Rascal is lying, something is in the offing"!

How can I tell people that my mornings are busy with Radio Mango 91.9 and its power packed jockey Ms Neetha? For a slow speaker like me, her tides of words are incredible. How can one speak so fast and sensibly too.....with grammar and beauty of language well intact??

Every morning she comes up with something new and relevant too. Sandwiched lavishly with humour, her words provide me with a lot of food for thought. It suffices to say that there were mornings when I forgot to read "The Hindu", something I have been doing with religious sincerity for decades now. She asks people specific questions over the phone. Needless to say that most answers are funny, crazy and far from the right one. We like to hear someone else publicly airing non sense and cutting a foolish figure for oneself. I definitely like that. Yet, two answers on a recent morning show rocked me. Neetha's questions were to students who just passed their higher secondary examination and were seeking admission for higher education.

The question was: "What is electoral college"?

The first boy  soon to join the B Tech course replied: "...er...electoral college....is it connected with elections..."? I was a little relieved to hear this. If the boy had given one of those answers I hear over the morning show, I would have been hugely  concerned about the bridges and buildings this boy would construct in the future.

Now Neetha confronts another boy with the same question:"what is electoral college"?

This boy smart and sure wasted no time in giving the answer:

"Electric college?? It must be related to KSEB (Kerala State Electricity Board)"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My good Heavens! I was frozen. But Neetha could still joke. That's why she is the darling of the ever increasing FM audience.

Now tell me, should I go for any job, post retirement, leaving these wonderful mornings with Neetha, Big B and Muruken??