The Varanasi Sojourn

"Banares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." ~ Mark Twain

The Call of the Ganges

This week I had one of the most memorable experiences of my life. There in the Mahanagari Express, I could hardly guess what the holy city of Banaras had in store for me over the next few days of my stay there. I had caught a very bad cold in the train and was cursing the AC vent over my Upper Berth. The journey to Varanasi was to take about 29 hours. On top of that, when we were just about 20 km from Varanasi City, the engine of our train caught fire and we were stalled outside the city for over three hours before the railway guys fetched another engine that would lug us to the city.

Sarnath

We were already behind schedule as we had to leave for Sarnath soon after breakfast. We did manage to reach our hotel, unpack and board our bus to Sarnath, but not before the soon-to-be-eclipsed Sun was high over our heads. Roasted to the last layer of our skins, we got inside the Sarnath Museum, and Suraj Sir and his teacher provided us with a wonderful description of the history of the place, explaining each detail of the carvings of the stone statuettes that were excavated at Sarnath. It was great to learn something about Buddhist culture in India, as my interest in Buddhism had been stirred by my visit to Namdroling Monastery near Madikeri, Karnataka, during MTTS-2008. We got to see the Capital of the Ashoka Pillar kept in the museum, from which our National Emblem has been adopted. The polish on the Capital has not gone even after more than 2000 years, which in itself is a testimony to Mauryan Art and Technology. Photographs inside the museum are not allowed, and I respected that. One advice to everyone who might visit it; please do not touch the panels or the figures, we need to make every effort we can to preserve this wonderful heritage.

The Sarnath Park was also great, but we had to roam in the scorching Sun, which for me took a lot of effort as I was feeling very ill, but I carried on, as the visit to the museum had already made me feel better. It was great to trace Buddha's journey to Sarnath, as explained by Suraj Sir's teacher, and though it was in Marathi, to my surprise, I could follow a lot of it. The Stupa at Sarnath presented an impressive figure, towering high above our heads. One could see a lot of tourists from many South-East Asian counties, coming here on specially arranged Buddhist sites tours. My sis has been on one too, which took her to Varanasi, Gaya and Lumbini and even Agra to watch the Taj Mahal! I slept after we came back to the hotel. Some of the others went to watch the Ganga Ghats in the evening. I was quite exhausted to go, and hence quite irritated with myself for not having had the chance to see the illuminated banks of the Ganga in the evening, which do look quite spectacular, according to my sis.

Fossilized, but eager to be Eclipsed

The next day we went to visit a tree fossil in the Fossil Park, in Sonbhadra District of Uttar Pradesh, which is quite close to the Bihar border. I cannot really say that the nine hour to-and-back journey was worth it though. Vinita, Sushrut and I spent the night with Sirish Sir in our room, testing our equipment and cameras. After all, it was a study tour and we wanted to take readings of the changes in certain parameters during an eclipse such as pressure, density, temperature, light intensity, wind velocity besides others. The data we were going to collect would be collated and added to the database of similar data collected from different places where the eclipse was visible and made available for further study. There is no conclusive explanation about why wind velocities change erratically during an eclipse and the occurrence of shadow bands. We did not manage to capture any shadow bands though; in the excitement, everyone forgot to look at the ground just before totality.

It is all about Location...

Our observation site, selected by Apte Sir, could not have been more perfect. The National Highway 2 that joins Delhi to Calcutta crosses the Ganga, and our observation spot was right on the highest point of the bridge. With the mighty Ganga flowing gently below us, the setting could not be holier. The river was not its usual self. Due to the fact that rains have been deficient in those parts, the river was only half as wide when it is in full flow and glory. There were a lot of clouds during the previous evening and there was some rain too. Everyone was glum and the gloomy atmosphere did dampen some spirits. We were still hopeful that Kashi Vishwanath would heed our prayers for a clear sky the next morning. And boy, did he!

We have Visual!!!

On July 22, even after the time of the first contact, the clouds hid the Sun, we were really disappointed that the trip was going to be washed away. But suddenly across the bridge from where we had first set up our equipment, someone spotted a ray of the rising Sun. We gathered our stuff and rushed to the other side; and the heavens began to part. Quickly putting on our solar goggles, we saw the Sun's disc being encroached upon by the Moon. The eclipse had begun. The clouds moved aside, but surrounded the Sun; we started clicking away our first shots of the disappearing Sun. Vini and I were assigned the Lux Meter that measures light intensity, and we were taking readings diligently. We missed second contact due to cloud cover, but Vini's parents did manage to see it from our hotel. But when the cloud drifted away, for a second nobody, absolutely nobody on the bridge moved or uttered a word. There was deafening silence as an eerie calm descended over the city. There was Venus high in the sky, and Jupiter was setting in the West, and Sirius began to sparkle. Then suddenly there was only screaming and howling. I went berserk, on the middle of the road, as what had just happened, sunk in. It was totality!

Totality...

The totality I witnessed is now permanently etched in my memory. I cannot imagine a more beautiful sight. It gave all of us who were on the bridge an indescribable feeling, an other-worldly state of being there, that cannot be put in words. The three minutes and four seconds did not feel that long. My mind was numb. I was not thinking of anything or anyone during that time, just marvelling at the grandeur of the event. I just did not want it to end. You get a surreal feeling as totality approaches, a feeling you cannot get anywhere else. The temperature drops rapidly, the pressure and density of the air drops, the wind direction changes abruptly. It sends cool shivers down your spine. I cannot describe how lucky I feel to have been there to see the longest eclipse of the century, in Varanasi, with the Ganga flowing under my feet. I have never screamed with joy for so long before and probably never will. For the first time, I felt contentment.

Hungry for More!

I was disappointed with the fact that my camera was the worst of the lot put in service to capture pics of the eclipse. But I was very happy to see the terrific pictures others including, Vini, Sushrut, Sirish Sir and Sachin Dada clicked. In all, it was an out-of-the-world experience for me and it has converted me into a devout eclipse chaser. Now I realise why some people spend obscene amounts of money to watch eclipses. It is an outrageous hobby to pursue, and it has me hooked! The next eclipse to be seen from India will be from its Southern Tip including Kanaykumari and Rameswaram. And I am already making plans to be there to watch it.

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* Tailpiece *

This post describes my Varanasi experience and the pics show Sarnath and the Sonbhadra Fossil Park. The previous post, Eclipsed in Varanasi, carries some of the photos of the eclipse that I clicked. I feel very sad about not having had the chance to explore the city. But I am definitely going back to Banaras. I am going to ask my classmates in IITB, Govind and Yogendra who are alumni of Banaras Hindu University, to take me back to the highly polluted but nevertheless holy Ganga. The Ghats beckon.

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Eclipsed in Varanasi

Here is a slideshow of photographs of the Total Solar Eclipse on July 22, 2009, captured by me with a Nikon Coolpix S51c, in Varanasi.

A huge THANKS-A-LOT goes out to Abhishek, who lent me his camera tripod, without which the photographs of the eclipse would not have been possible.

City: Varanasi, India
Co-ordinates: 25° 15' 19" N, 83° 1' 37" E
Location: NH-2 Bridge Cross over the River Ganga
Date: 22/07/2009
Time: 0520hrs to 0735hrs
Camera: Nikon Coolpix S51c
ISO: 1600
Exposure Compensation: -2.0

Here's a link that shows the position of our observation site on Google Maps. The visit was a study tour organized by teachers of Bombay University. I'll write about the Varanasi experience in my next post.
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Warming Up to Emission Cuts...

Well, the recent G-8 summit concluded in L'Aquila in Italy amidst growing realisation of its irrelevance. With many of the current Group of 8 nations no longer being able call the shots in the new world order, many are questioning the effectiveness of keeping the membership restricted to just eight, with the demand for expanding the membership to 14, to include, among others, India and China, gaining momentum. It is important for any forum to gain respectability that it takes into account India and China's concerns. At every international meet, Asia's fastest growing economies champion the cause of developing nations, so that the so-called advanced nations do not get over-bearing in their dealings with the developing world. One of the hotly debated issues at the G8 summit was that of global warming, which always is.

The fresh talks over emission cuts did little to move the nations to commit to emission cuts. As they always do, the advanced nations accused India and China of running away from their responsibility of partaking in cutting emissions. Let's look at what makes emission cuts such a contentious issue at such high level parleys, and how the losing side is always our planet.

Hot and Happening...

Unless you have been living in a cave, and have come out only because you heard of this blog and wanted to check it out, you would probably know the two buzzwords - 'global warming' and 'climate change'. Global warming causes climate change. But it is not the only thing that causes climate change. Without going into the details, I'll just link a site where you can read all about global warming. Global warming is changing weather patterns and crop cycles, melting glaciers, causing droughts and famines in some parts and excessive rainfall in others, and even snow in Dubai. But every theory has its share of naysayers, and so does global warming. Some say that global warming is not causing climate change. Scientists are busy verifying contesting arguments for climate change, such as solar activity. People are saying temperatures are decreasing rather than increasing. But global warming or not, climate change does seem real and we must make efforts to reduce pollution and emissions into the atmosphere and use cleaner technologies, for the only reason that we have to make our home a better place to live in.


The Awakening...

The pressure from the Green lobby led to the 'Kyoto Protocol' which has since been ratified by 183 countries. It talks about reduction of emissions by certain countries such as the United States, Japan, the European Union from their 1990 levels, by about 5.2% by 2012. That does not seem to be happening. In fact, emissions by the world's largest polluter, the United States, has increased. The US has not ratified Kyoto. There is no definite commitment from the developed world about reducing emissions and the Kyoto Protocol is not going to meet its objectives. The developed countries are instead pushing the developing countries to adopt cleaner technologies and reduce their emissions which are far less than the developed world in terms of per-capita emissions. Kyoto does not use per-capita emissions as a basis for reduction targets. The developing countries argue that adoption of cleaner technologies is still expensive and the cost factor and the need for economic progress outweighs the need to cut emissions as the per-capita emissions are still low. So they should be allowed to develop without the emission constraints which would otherwise hamper economic progress. They demand that the developed world should own up to the responsibility of reducing emissions, as much of the climate change being witnessed is due to the emissions caused by advanced nations over the last few decades. The developing countries had far less emissions in those years than they have today. The two sides are always at loggerheads over this issue and never seem to make any headway in negotiations, leaving planet Earth in the lurch.

Carbon Credit Escapism

The emphasis on Emissions Trading in Kyoto spawned the market of carbon credits. Companies in countries trying to limit emissions buy carbon credits from companies that have accumulated carbon credits by using cleaner technology, usually in developing countries. Companies manage to cap emissions are able to bundle the cut in emissions as carbon credits and sell them to other companies. Companies in the developed countries also sponsor clean technologies in developing countries in order to reduce their global carbon footprint. Whether the so-called clean technology has reduced emissions, is found out by checking its claim using the Clean Development Mechanism(CDM), again part of the Kyoto Protocol. Though trading in carbon credits has become a huge market, criticism rages on about its effectiveness, as the developed countries as a whole have not seen significant reduction in emissions. At the heart of the criticism is the CDM itself, as actual benefits do not seem to match benefits validated under CDM. Expansion of commercial establishments from the developed world into the developing world means no real reduction in carbon footprint as the expansion adds to emissions anyway. Many clean development projects are taken up with an eye on bottom-lines rather than the urge to reduce emissions. Adoption of cheaper, cleaner technologies in the developing world not only earns carbon credits but also helps companies to have an 'environment-friendly' image in the public eye, which in turn makes good business sense.

What the developing world can do...

Though the developing world may spar with the developed world over emissions cuts, it is in the national interest of every country to reduce emissions, if not in the planet's interest. Adoption of cleaner fuels will reduce emissions which is good for the local environment. For example, use of biogas across villages will reduce emissions due to burning of wood, and a steady supply of gas will improve cooking methods which will further reduce emissions. Lighting of streets by solar energy and indoor lighting by CFC lights or even LED lights will save thousands of watts of energy in every state. So even for developing countries it is absolutely necessary that they move towards cleaner technology and emission reductions in whichever way they can. The growth of companies selling clean technology will also create new jobs. It is necessary that the Indian government promotes use of cleaner technologies aggressively. Like the way we accuse the developed world now, we would not like to see India accused of being a major polluter by some fast developing African economies in the near future, do we?
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* Tailpiece *

The above photo, called The Blue Marble, is a famous pic of Earth taken on December 7, 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17. It will be 40 years, since the first Apollo landing, on July 20, 2009. The entire space science establishment, the world over, has lined up a series of events, to commemorate the historic event of the 'One Giant Leap for Mankind', all this week.

I am reading a book, Bhabha and his Magnificent Obsessions in the 'Vignettes in Physics' series by Dr. G Venkatraman. I have read his Raman and His Effect, which I received as a prize in a science competition many years ago. The books in the series are very well written and I hope to complete the series.
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No Country for Tigers(contd...)

In this post I continue from where I left off in No Country for Tigers. Though reports of tiger deaths were flying around, nobody really took them seriously, and lax attitude prevailed among those in the wildlife department in the Government. Critics of the tiger conservation efforts knew it was only a matter of time before we wake up to the horrifying reality of mounting tiger deaths and vanishing tigers.

The Sariska Murders

In the period when the Sariska Tiger Reserve was open in 2004-05, not a single tiger was spotted. This sent alarm bells ringing when a WWF team confirmed it. A massive search was launched for the missing tigers. But none was found. There was an outcry among conservationists, calling on the government to get its act together to save the big cats. The government at first even refused to accept the disappearance of tigers in Sariska and there seemed to be an attempt to fudge the numbers. The government then conceded that tigers were gone from Sariska, quite possibly due to poaching, with connivance of forest officials that may have been bought off for a mere few thousand rupees. Read this page for the events that unfolded during those times through the articles published in The Indian Express. IE also received an award for its investigation into the disappearance of Sariska's tigers. More than a dozen tigers vanished from Sariska in just over a year. Read this bone-chilling two-page article published in The Times of India.


So what was done?

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took to the task personally and constituted a 'Tiger Task Force' to look into the tiger deaths and suggest ways to improve the situation unfolding in the tiger reserves and the task force, with noted conservationist Valmik Thapar on board, submitted a report. There was disagreement within the task force on how to handle the situation, and Valmik Thapar also wrote a piece criticising some of the recommendations of the task force. The report actually kick-started more debates than provide concrete solutions. Here is a page that gives some of the highlights of the report. It says many things that you would expect, improving surveillance, harsher punishment to poachers, more vigilance over the trade in tiger parts, involving local communities in tiger conservation and lays down the road-map for long term efforts. A Wildlife Crime Control Bureau was also set up. Tigers were also released into Sariska to give the park a new start. It may be important to note that a similar 'task force' set up in the seventies mooted the idea of 'Project Tiger'.


Any hope for our Tigers?

Every tiger needs to be monitored constantly with cellular homing devices or at least RF ID tags. This will also help tourism as forest guides will know the location of every tiger so tourists get to see tigers, and more tourists are attracted to the park. Also it will help forest officials keep a check on the health of the tigers. I read on some page that at least Rs. 200,000 are available per tiger per year under Project Tiger but almost nothing has been spent. When will this under-spending stop? And poachers should be shot at sight. Unless every remaining tiger is cared for, I see little hope for conservation efforts to taste success. All we can do is pray that India's tigers roam free and without fear in our jungles. If tigers are wiped out, it will be one of the saddest days in our country's history.

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*Tailpiece*

Just like Project Tiger, we also have Project Elephant in our country. Now how many us knew this? Read this editorial about it, published in The Times of India.

As an after-thought, if cloning takes off and becomes commonplace, tigers could be cloned and raised for their skin, fur and parts. This will take the demand away from tigers in the jungles and wipe out poaching instead of tigers and other endangered animals. I do not know if this thought is scary or reassuring.

The above two pics show tigers in Sariska taken from the park's website. Sadly, none of them can be found today.
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Not in My DNA!

Now everyone who's anyone knows the grip that The Times of India has over Bombay. With the readership of the newspaper far greater than even all the other English language dailies combined, it is no surprise that the wannabes(read: DNA, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express; no wait! DO NOT read DNA, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express!) are always keen on trying to get a piece of the readership that The Times commands in Bombay. Continuing its efforts to harp about its status as the 'second largest and fastest growing newspaper in Bombay', the paper carried an amusing ad(click the image to see it enlarged) that had me roll my eyes at the desperation in the DNA camp to dethrone The Times in Bombay(as if that is ever going to happen!) Are they trying to tell us that 31% of DNA readers do not read DNA? It sure was hilarious!

But just how can The Times be dethroned? The Times of India sure isn't what it used to be. A glance at it and one can hardly say that it is living up to its 170-year old legacy of being 'The Masthead of India'. Hopefully the guys at The Hindu are planning to launch the Bombay edition of the acclaimed newspaper. We want The Hindu in Bombay, 'coz that is the only newspaper worth giving The Times a run for its money, which in turn will hopefully make it pull up its socks and work harder on the journalism front and not just live by content presentation. And I'll get to read another classy newspaper.
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* Tailpiece *

For those keen to know how DNA became the 'second largest and fastest growing newspaper in Bombay', here is my theory. At the time of its launch the newspaper was offered at a subscription rate of Rs. 199 per year. People calculated that the amount of raddi(waste paper sold for recycling) a year's supply of DNA would generate more money than Rs. 199, and so DNA was in vogue! I do not have any other explanation. Of course, The Times won the 'waste paper for free' war years earlier when they started offering Mumbai Mirror free with every copy of The Times.

Well, they also try and say that the DNA Money supplement is the second largest read financial daily(!) or something like that, in Bombay, behind The Economic Times! Can you dig that?!
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