My First Comment - Inkless Printing with Colorless Color

If you have patience, read the complete article in Spectrum Magazine.
Zink: Inkless Printing With Colorless Color

Else, continue reading this :)
Currently, Printers use Ink for printing on White Paper.
However Researchers have found a way to enable Inkless Printing. They coated Paper with Organic Compounds which are colorless in crystalline state, but take different colors on melting. This color is retained on cooling. Any color can be obtained by a combination of yellow, magenta and blue. So they took 3 different Organic Compounds which turn yellow (1) at 200°C, magenta (2) at 150°C and blue (3) at 100°C respectively.

But the interesting part lies ahead.

How do they heat Compound1 to 200°C without allowing Compound3 to reach 100°C?
They use something called Fried Ice Cream Approach - If you roll Ice Cream in a dough and throw in hot oil for a short duration, dough gets fried without melting Ice Cream because you're hitting the shell with a high temperature, but the heat doesn't get to the Ice Cream.

Finally the Paper had 3 Coatings.
Compound1 which gives Yellow on melting at 200°C is at the top,
Compound2 which gives Magenta on melting at 150°C is at the center and
Compound3 which gives Blue on melting at 100°C is at the bottom.
So to get Yellow, Heat the Paper to 200°C for a shorter duration.
To get Magenta, Heat it to 150°C for a duration which is long enough to melt Compound2 but short enough to prevent melting of Compound3.
To get Blue, Heat it to 100°C for a longer duration since Heat has to cross Compound1, Compound2 to reach Compound3.

Doesn't this kindle something in our minds?
Isn't this principle used in making of several Indian dishes like Paratha, Ariselu, Boorelu?

What's my Comment?
Any Problem has a Solution. It might be in front of us or in unlikely of places. The only thing that's stopping us is determination to find it.

What's your Comment?

My First Book - A,B,C of Telugu Calendar

Everything has a start point.

One day, I was reading about Diwali. I came across this.

“Naraka Chaturdasi is celebrated on Chaturdasi, Krishna Paksha of Asvayuja Month. Diwali is celebrated next day.”

Chaturdasi ? Krishna Paksha ? Asvayuja Month ?

I heard each of them some day or other. But What do they mean? I knew nothing. I felt bad that day. Thats when a desire for understanding Telugu Calendar has born. As it always happens, its not going to be easy.

I started searching web for information on Telugu Calendar. Most of them (not all) don't arise any curiosity in you. Let me give an example.
There are 30 tithis in each Lunar Month. Tithi is the duration for the distance between Sun and Moon to increase by 12°. They are Prathama, Dvitiya, Tritiya...

How does it matter if the distance between Sun and Moon is 60° or 72°?
Why should I consider positions of Sun and Moon?
Why did they chose units like Tithi and not something else?
I do not blame them. Its just that I am looking for different information than provided by them. So I decided to explore further in this direction, add my ideas and write a book. Most of it is already known. I just tried to look at them in a new perspective.

Initially, I was thinking of completing the book and then placing it in my blog. However, I realized that its going to take time. I was losing interest as days pass. So I decided to document as I explore. However this might result in several errors and corrections!

Why did I call this A,B,C of Telugu Calendar?
This is not going to be comprehensive covering entire spectrum of topics related to Telugu Calendar. I left out letters D to Z in the title to signify that there are many things unexplored :)

How did I structure this?
We shall start with Basics of Astronomy covering the background necessary to appreciate Calendar units like Tithi, Nakshatra. Later, we shall explore the qualities desired in a Calendar unit. This way we shall try to understand how various Calendar units could have come into existence! Then we shall actually try to understand each Calendar unit.

This is my first attempt to present the things researched already in a new perspective.
Hope that I accept the errors that creep in!
Hope that I am as enthusiastic as now till the end!

My First Translation - TED Talks

'TED Talks - Ideas worth spreading'
This sums up the whole concept of TED Talks.

Recently they started a massive Translation project that aims to translate each TED Talk into languages other than English. I got attracted instantaneously and volunteered for a translation. I signed up for translation of TED Talk on Sixth Sense.

If you are not following TED Talks, its worth checking it out once. Start with Sixth Sense. If you do like it, register yourself as a Volunteer and start translating. (However I should warn you that Telugu Subtitles are still not being rendered properly by any of the Video Players, I have seen)

I started looking for tools required for translation.

• Telugu-English Dictionary - It is funny, but I find it difficulty to recall the exact word immediately.
• Google Transliteration Bookmarklet - This transliterates input entered in any text box to Telugu.
• DotSub Interface - This provides the necessary interface by allowing you to translate line by line with the help of English Subtitle.
• Best of all, I have room mates who can help me out if i am stuck somewhere.
  

Finally, I received a mail saying that your request has been accepted and you have around one month to complete it, I wondered why would it take such a long time for translating a 8 minute talk.

I started with full enthusiasm as it always happens. But no sooner did I translate 2 lines, I got stuck. For example, consider this line.
'TED is the best networking place of this year'
How do I say it in Telugu? ee yeti goppa kalusukune chotu. This looks comical to me. How about the person viewing it?He may think that he is better off using English Subtitles.
or
Should I leave it just as Networking which destroys the purpose of Translation itself.

However I did complete it after one month or so. You can check it out here.
After review (It looks like not many volunteered for translation to Telugu Language), it will soon be on TED Talks.

I realised that translation requires much more than mere understanding of two languages. And some of the words look quite difficult. That explains why one would still get only C.P.Brown English-Telugu Dictionary when you google or for that matter bing internet. For your info, this is written around end of 19th Century.

But I am surprised that this doesn't stop people from developing wikipedia, wikitionary in Telugu. They deserve real appreciation from us for this.
Similary, I wonder how people wrote telugu blogs until now. If you don't believe me, check out Jalleda.

But after this, I can feel the excitement when you start writing in Telugu. If you don't believe me, read the racchabanda section of wikipedia or any Telugu Blog. You can immediately feel the warmth in it.

My First Initiative - Plan Your Career

If you ask a group of 100 children what do they want to become when they grow up, they have very diverse views - Journalist, Scientist, Astronaut, Cricketer, Historian and soon. But why then 45% of them choose medical and engineering streams?

Most likely the reasons are wrong notions like

• Job prospects are good for engineers.

• Salary is higher than many other professions.

• Peer pressure - When most of your friends join engineering stream, you tend to join it too.

• Lack of awareness among parents and students.

But the main culprit according to us is lack of awareness among parents and students about what to do after completing 10th and 12th according to their aspirations.

Result could be seen now. Mushrooming engineering colleges, IIT coaching from 6th standard being offered by schools and worst of all loss of innocent childhood for thousands of children. Though we don't have any solution for this, one step forward could be providing information to parents and letting them help their children in achieving their aim. Most websites offer admission notifications and jobs search which can never be useful for someone coming out of 10th or 12th. What they need to know is whether the next step they are taking is in according to their vision.

This is where www.planyourcareer.in comes in.

We alone cannot unilaterally make this as we have little or no idea of other careers. This is where you come into picture. If each one of you chooses a career and get hold of someone already in that career, it would be really helpful to us.

Why do you need to help us?

• You are not satisfied with prevailing scenario.

• You are one of its victims.

• You don't want another person suffer due to lack of information.

• You want some website which can offer comprehensive information on diverse career options.

What are we trying to offer?

• Path to be taken for achieving one's career vision.

• Career prospects like Financial benefits, Job satisfaction, Social Outlook, Career growth

• Experiences of a person pursuing that career.

A sample page is created for Lawyer - http://www.planyourcareer.in/career-options/lawyer
It may not look good. But we hope, its a step in the right direction. What do you say?
Feedback can be directed to planyourcareer.in@gmail.com

My First Experience - Is India Changing?

BBMP – Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Pallike
ECI – Election Commission of India
EPIC – Electoral Photo Identity Card
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
RTI – Right To Information
VFC – Voter Facilitation Center
Form 6 – Application for inclusion of a person in electoral roll

Everything has a beginning. This story too has one!

An election official came to our house in Vijayawada for voters list updation. When he went through the names of voters registered in our address, it had names like Yellamma, Venkatayya. Luckily among those 6 voters in our house according to ECI, my mom and dad are also there. I could have easily got a Voter Id then. But when he asked me,“Do you stay here?”, of all words it could think of, my stupid brain answered,“No, I just completed my B. Tech in NIT Trichy and will be working in Bangalore”. An opportunity was lost. That was when I decided to become a voter. But I did nothing until someone sent me a mail of Jaago Re movement. I almost deleted it ( one of my stupid habits ), though due to some reason decided to check it out. Its slogan “One billion votes” is really inspiring. It has all the election related rules in FAQ format. I shall tell you the two sentences which caught my attention.

Six months of stay at any place makes you eligible to be in electoral roll of that constituency. All you require is an Id proof (Passport) and Address Proof (Telephone Bill or Rental Agreement).

I started doing the calculation mentally. I joined TI on July 7. So I need to wait until Jan 7. After Jan 7, I filled out Form 6 available on the site. Believe it or not, Jaago Re website mailed the pdf of filled out Form 6 and Name, Address, Phone numbers of Electoral Registration Officer of my constituency.

Wait, its not over yet. Its easy filling out a form on-line. Anyone could do it. But submitting and following it up is the most difficult task. I called up after thinking for two to three days what to ask? First phone number gave no response. Second phone number asked me to contact third phone number. Third phone number asked me to contact second phone number! Yes, I am stuck here. This is how it would have ended.

Suddenly things started happening. I read an advertisement in The Hindu about 14 VFCs being opened in Bangalore alone. “What if VFCs are opened, their timings will be different from ours”, thats what I thought. Thanks to Google Search, I found website named ceokarnataka.nic.in which contains the addresses of VFCs! Could you believe it? They are open on weekends too and timings are 4pm to 8pm! One VFC is near our area. I noted down the address and started searching for it. What surprised me was, I met around 5 people also searching for it. Finally after one hour, I found it. I could have said “Eureka!”. Sadly it was past 8pm by then. So I came next day and started searching for some official to submit my form. Finally I could find one. He asked me to take a xerox of it and come tomorrow. I immediately replied “No, I will bring now itself”. Thoughts suddenly started pouring into my mind. “He is one of those corrupt officials. He will make me come repeatedly for silly things and I may finally need to bribe him”. When I took the xerox and gave it to him, he checked it and asked me to collect EPIC after 10 days. He explained that pending address verification is the reason for the delay.

After two weeks, I went to VFC, showed the receipt and asked for status. He told me that there was no date of acceptance of application on the receipt. So he has to search the entire database. It is time consuming and since there was heavy rush, he asked me to come tomorrow. When I went the next day, he asked me to come in the afternoon. Again those corrupt thoughts started entering my mind. When I went in the afternoon, he searched for my name and issued the EPIC!

Many applicants were angry about the delay. But the officials were cool, willing to listen and explain the reasons for the delay. Best of all, they were prepared to stay beyond mandated working hours.

P.S –

Motivation for writing this is to thank everything that helped me become a voter.
Person who sent me the mail of Jaago Re movement
Jaago Re website sponsored by Tata Tea and Janaagraha ( If you drink tea, then drink Tata :) )
ECI and BBMP for opening VFCs
The Hindu for creating awareness about VFCs Google Search for directing me to ceokarnataka.nic.in
Yahoo Maps for helping me find the address of VFC
Texas Instruments for transport and printouts
VFC Officials for their dedication
NIT Trichy for helping me in getting passport – Id proof and
My room mates who asked me what am I doing to change the status quo during that discussion on Income Tax which encouraged me to become a voter.

Motivation for sharing this
I thought Government Officials are lazy and corrupt. I blame them for everything. For example, I never applied for a gas connection. My thinking is that even if I do apply, I will never get it.

But this entire episode presents a different picture. They are young, dynamic and willing to improve the system. They are people like us. They are changing. Why not we?And now we have tools which are absent previously – RTI and Internet for example.

A new young generation is replacing the old guard. Yes, India is changing. Whether its for good or bad is in our hands now. Success or failure, blame is entirely on us.

I would be most happy if this inspires any one of you to become a voter. Hope, this isn't too late. And remember, you can't blame the government now. Its working harder to get us enrolled as voters than we actually do!

My First Article - Is 4 percent cut in Cenvat on Cars justified?

We know that recently the government effected 4 percent cut in Cenvat which brings down the prices of cars. I wanted to put forth my view that this is bad for everyone (Government, People and even auto-mobile companies) in long run.

First, hardly months back, international oil prices skyrocketed to $150 per barrel resulting in huge subsidy burden on oil exploration companies like ONGC, oil processing and marketing companies like HPCL, IOCL and government. Prices were artificially administered to low levels because of huge dependence of everyone on petrol and diesel. So bringing down the prices of cars is like an incentive to further increase that dependence. Though the prices have nose dived now to $50 per barrel which may be attributed to recession in developed economies, we must keep in mind that once world economy starts growing, prices may even go beyond $150 per barrel. This is a certainty in future if not now. Even conservative estimates predict that at current levels of consumption, oil reserves don't last beyond this century.

Secondly, many cities are unable to cope up even current traffic levels. Add to this, the huge number of vehicles that get added every month under normal conditions without any incentives from government. So best way forward is to encourage mass transportation projects like BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System), Metro Rail. Speaking fairly, steps have already been taken in this direction by several governments. But these are getting delayed due to land acquisition problems, shortage of funds or in some cases, lack of willingness on part of authorities. Also, Mass transportation stands better environmentally than individual transportation.

One reason behind 4 percent cut in Cenvat could be saving the automobile industry and thus millions of jobs associated with it. Lets not make the mistake what the Americans made earlier. They are suffering the consequences now. With no economical mass transportation available, every American was forced to buy a car. This made them heavily dependent on oil. Many even allege that America went to war against Iraq only for oil! This helped in growth of auto-mobile giants like Ford, General Motors generating millions of jobs. But this approach is not viable in long run. As soon as oil prices rise, demand for auto-mobiles slackens. Even if the automobile sector is bailed out now by the government, same situation arises later. Its like postponing the inevitable. Thus its better to think of alternative solutions for this problem.

This can be solved by ensuring creation of millions of new jobs in viable industries. First, electric cars have to be encouraged. This can be done by giving incentives to automobile companies to invest in development of electric cars. One may point out that Indian power basket contains 75% power produced using coal, which is another natural resource available in limited quantity and also biggest polluter of environment. Also one may ask why not cars that run on liquid hydrogen. As researchers are still unable to zoom in on a suitable non-conventional energy source, it might be wise to go for electric cars. When suitable non-conventional energy source is found, just produce electricity using it and connect to the power grid. This turns the electric cars into a greener option. It also avoids designing cars that run specifically on a particular non-conventional energy source like liquid hydrogen.

Secondly, even electric cars use similar components like those that run on petrol or diesel. Hence, automobile industry needn't die down. Instead, it gets a new lease of life. Also, it is environmentally viable!

Next step could be huge investments in mass transportation in Tier-II cities. Just imagine, if every Tier-II city in India embarks on a public transportation pro gramme, it will not only be a huge asset later but also spur the growth of economy. Huge investment required could be the hurdle. But innovative solutions to this problem are possible given the vast amount of talent India has.

Has someone already found it?

My First Discussion - Are you paying Income Tax?

Yes, its that time of the year when everyone is worried about tax. As first time tax-payers, we (until recently students) are also worried about the amount of tax that needs to be paid. We had a good discussion on this which I want to share here.

Ravi: Hi guys. Do you know that I need not pay a single rupee as tax this year?

Sunny: You are joking, Aren't you?. You are earning 3.5lakhs this year. So even after 1 lakh exemption under section 80C, you need to pay tax on remaining 1 lakh.

Ravi: HRA and Medical reimbursements are also exempted from tax. Since I am declaring rent of Rs10,000 per month, my income falls below 1.5 lakh limit.

Sunny: Rent is only around Rs2,500. Isn't it?

Ravi: But I can get rent receipts declaring that I am paying a rent of Rs10,000 . Come on, its quite common these days. Its a public secret that people supplying fake medical bills, rent receipts are in good demand.

Sunny: Aren't you encouraging such persons? You are justifying tax evasion since it is rampant. Is that what you are trying to say?

Ravi: Whats the purpose of paying tax? It goes into politician pockets. If you pay hundred rupees, hardly fifty rupees is put to proper usage. So I can instead give it to a charitable trust and actually do more good.

Sunny: Government has started several innovative projects like NREGP, JNNURM, NRHM, Golden Quadrilateral which no trust does. Many of them are getting curtailed due to shortage of funds. This situation is forcing the government to increase revenue through surcharges and widening the tax net. I agree that there is a lot of scope for improvement. We should help the government by plugging loopholes rather than trying to make unfair use of them. One can't be sure that trusts make proper use of money. Also how many tax evaders actually are donating money to trusts. And how many of them are just giving it as an excuse for tax evasion. If this form of government is inefficient, then the blame lies with us. How many of us got registered as voters? How many of them are voting? And how many of them are actually exercising it properly by going through candidates background and parties manifestoes?

Ravi: We cant change this system in short term. As long as the system is inefficient, there is no use paying tax. I don't know what other tax evaders do. But this is what I want to do. I shall give the money to a needful person, mentor him and free him from depending on government's assistance.

Sunny: What if someone loots you and justifies it by saying that the money looted is distributed to the poor. What if a corrupt official says that he is only using the money to improve someone's lives. Tax evasion is also similar to that. At least we benefited from the government by way of lower fees, jobs due to tax concessions to IT and Electronics industries. We are earning far higher salaries than national average. We have sufficient financial capacity to actually pay the tax and also spare some amount to help someone. By the way, we are so called educated citizens of India.

Ravi: Truly speaking, I realize now that I am only trying to find some reasons for justifying tax evasion. I didn't realize how severe a problem it is. Since everyone is doing it, it didn't appear to me as such a big scam.

Sunny: We might have done several mistakes until now or even doing still. But lets not do a mistake knowingly. Then, there is no difference between us and fraudsters.

(End of Conversation)

After Mumbai attacks, many started justifying tax evasion on the pretext that the government wasn't able to protect them. But they don't realize the difficulties in running a government considering its vast responsibilities. Yes, there are several problems plaguing it. There are also several solutions. One needs to carefully chose the proper one which improves existing one rather than trying to destroy it.