When we were in schools, we studied that our solar system had nine planets- Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto. However, somewhere down the line, Astrophysicists decided that Pluto was not a planet and since the year 1999, we have only 8 planets. This immediately brings to our mind a recent development in our Country with number of states reducing from 29 to 28 and number of Union Territories increasing from 7 to 9 consequent to status change of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two UTs – Kashmir and Ladakh. I distinctly remember that in our Chemistry classes in High School, we studied that periodic table had 104 elements, a number that has gone up to 118 today.

Kashmir is a fairly recent big disruption, the news is probably on everybody’s mind. Chemistry is no longer being studied by me and I am really not in a circle comprising many chemists. Therefore, periodic table related information is really not very important except from the point of general knowledge. This means, changes are happening in a dynamic world- some affect us and we are abreast of them while a few others do not reach our radar unless specifically looked for. However, de recognition of Pluto as a planet in 1999 was really a very momentous and emotional occasion as I gathered from some of the material I recently got exposed to. Monday, May 24, 1999 was a night of revised cosmic map. The night Pluto fell from grace. The astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was at the centre of the Pluto controversy, brainstorming on the definition of planet with his scientific brethren, recounts playfully and poignantly the history and transition of Pluto from the jubilant discovery to its classification wobble to its redemption in this dossier of a book titled “Pluto Files”.

As the book reads, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto’s at Percival Lowell Observatory in 1930, the third and the last person ever to discover a planet in our solar system, initially earmarked as Planet X by the astronomers who conjectured the presence of an interfering planet to explain the perturbations of Neptune. The name Pluto was first suggested by Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford.

The farthest planet Pluto composed of rock and ice inspired poetry and aroused curiosity among the observers who peered at the tiny blip of the wanderer, so distant and so clandestine that it merely grazes above us withholding its tantalising secrets. But one secret that it protected for years was its identity. What is that tiny disk even doing in that farscape? That secret was busted with the discovery of similar iceballs in the frontier of our solar system, very pluto looking, but what are they? As more iceballs, the size and separation of Pluto were discovered rapidly, the fate of Pluto swung precariously in the altercation and voting of the plutophiles and pluto demoters, with the Rose Center for Earth and Space sounding the death knell to Pluto’s planetary rights when it opened its door to the public on a Saturday morning in the year 2000 with Pluto removed from the planetary exhibits and shoved among the newly discovered objects in Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud.

The book recounts the events leading up to the critical decision and the aftermath and the backlash from public supporters who decried that the unarmed and defenseless Pluto floating as a shirt-tail relative of the otherwise well-formed family was unceremoniously kicked out of the planetary alliance. Pluto lost its patrician status and given the mundane citizenship of kuiper belt object. Further in 2006, owing to immense public fallout and scientific review, Pluto was slightly uplifted and officially designated as “dwarf planet” with newspapers either rallying or condemning this revision as seen in this rhyme published in Oregonian:

𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘗𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘰,

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥

𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘥

𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶

𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘺, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘥.

The public outcry ranged from the plea of a 59-year old who has lived his supervised life under the auspices of nine planets to an ultimatum from a 6-year old who petitioned affixing the poll result of his fellow six-year-old scouts who all unanimously agreed that Pluto, their favourite planet, should be reinstated without much brouhaha as their collective knowledge decreed that Pluto was a REGULAR REAL PLANET, just colder than the rest which you cannot hold against it.

The book captures the protests, letters, recordings, debates and online mobilisation to protect the dignity of Pluto inquiring whether it could be considered as an exceptional planet for sentimental and historical reasons with one loyalist claiming that stripping Pluto of its planethood was like stripping George Washington of his citizenship because the US wasn’t really a country when he was born. The judgement to demote Pluto by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in the August of 2006 had little or no effect on steadfast states like New Mexico and California which continued to ennoble Pluto in its undiminished respect declaring March 13 as “Pluto Planet Day”, since 2007, to uphold its entitlement in planetary confederacy.

Pluto achieved something unparalleled in clamour and distinction that no planet in living memory has ever been able to provoke, with American Dialect Society announcing the word ‘pluto’ as their 17th annual ‘word of the year’ in 2006.

𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘰/𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘦𝘥: 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨

Wonder, if Pluto in its itinerant 248-year orbit would snicker at us, or be grateful to us, shrug unobvious, or show defiance in our havering to typify it as a planet vs belt object, proclaiming itself to be the self-styled: I am the small yet mighty Pluto! Don’t mess with me.

This is only curtain raiser of what certainly seems to be an interesting read. There’s something in these planets and their configuration or placement may or may not decide our fate or destiny, but whether it’s the names of the days kept after them or the afore stated love for Pluto, the relationship with mankind is special.

I was born in 1962 that makes JNU about 7 years younger to me. But it’s very much part of my childhood, which was mostly spent in the serene surrounding of the well-laid out and planned government colony RK Puram, JNU being at one end of it, not too distant from another pioneering institute, IIT, Delhi. In a sense that area became like an institutional area with sprawling campuses of IIT and JNU!

JNU quickly gained in reputation and stature and for students pursuing certain faculties mainly economics, political sciences and languages, admission to JNU became aspirational. It soon started attracting talent not only from other states, but also internationally. It boasts of alumni such as Noble Laureate Abhijit Banerjee, PM of Libya Ali Zeidan, PM of Nepal Baburam Bhattarai and several politicians, diplomats, artists, academicians and scientists. In fact, I am a proud alumnus of this prestigious institution myself by virtue of having completed 1 year part time course called certificate of proficiency in Russian language.

Controversies are not new to JNU, though with a right-of-centre government in power, the ideological bent of ” left-of-centre” of the campus politics have brought out rifts quite blatantly. In April 2000, an Urdu mushaira, in which Pakistani poets also participated became a hot controversy when two army officers attending the same were beaten by students when they objected to certain contents. In 2010, a meeting was organised to oppose “Operation Green Hunt” to celebrate killing of 76 CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh, demonstrating a clear bias in favour of Maoist thinking. In 2015, efforts to create courses on Indian culture were opposed on the basis that these were aimed to saffronise Indian culture. Of course, the worst was a cultural evening organised against the execution of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat and for Kashmir’s right to self-determination. Police arrested Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid on the charges of sedition.

It’s unfortunate that an institution that was aimed at dispensing quality education of international standards and that indeed produced so many bright alumni has today become hotbed of politics that has rotted from harmless issue based student politics to controversial politics following certain ideology to such an extreme that appears like sedition! While it’s stand on LGBT, freedom, communal unity, economic equality etc are praiseworthy, the overaged students with controversial linkages and habits using the university’s privileges and infrastructure to pursue a particular political ideology is deplorable. Contrarian view need not hinge on sedition, issues of national importance need not always attract contrarian view and if the youth of this nation does not form view on merits but go the beaten path of fixed ideologies of right and left, then it certainly is a problem. Where’s pure left today? China is the largest capitalist market and Russia has all but shifted to centre! Where’s pure right today? Hitler is history! JNU should uphold its academic excellence; politics can be pursued outside its precincts.

And here I am not even talking about the world but our very own country and two other megapolis cities that I happened to travel over the last two weeks – our national capital New Delhi and the city of joy Kolkata.

Well New Delhi is a relatively newer city and parts of it, especially Lutyen’s Delhi, are very well planned and lush green. Plus it can now boast of an absolutely widespread and world class Metro network. But what surprised me this time was absolutely well laid out , layered , long and world class flyovers that could take you from one end of the city to another bypassing all intersections! As my itinerary included going from North-West Delhi to extreme south-East part (Noida) to central part ( Karol Bagh) to Airport to catch flight back home, I was a worried man. But I could do all these legs in virtually no time and that too in spite of my driver driving the car at a moderate speed in view of strict speed limit restrictions! Of course, Delhi’s Airport is amongst the best and the busiest in the world.

Kolkata used to be notorious for traffic jams and wayward driving. However, during my this visit, Airport to Salt Lake to the city centre ( Shakespeare Sarani) to back to Airport was absolutely smooth and glitch free through a combination of long flyovers, strict compliance with the traffic rules and one way traffic management. The city that boasted of the underground metro in the country is also further bolstering its metro network that’s clearly evident from large scale infrastructure development currently in progress.

On returning to our beloved city Mumbai, I was greeted by delayed arrival, thanks to the main runway that’s under repair till April, potholes ridden roads, indisciplined traffic clogging the entry points of all flyovers and frequent disruption in its infrastructure projects thanks to environmental and other issues.

Once the crown of the country, our beloved city badly needs a visionary ; Devendra Fadnavis came quite close to resolving these issues, but political ground realities have brought an abrupt end to his tenure. Let’s hope whosever heads the new Maharashtra government, he or she will rise above narrow politics to carry forward good work by Fadnavis.

Jai Maharashtra! Long live Mumbai!

Our first Prime Minister post independence, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was born on this day. Though lately much has been talked about his lineage, his decisions and his thought process, the fact remains that he was the architect of Modern India and notwithstanding this orchestrated campaign against him, he continues to be popular amongst masses. Because he used to love children who used to call him Chacha Nehru, his birthday became Children’s Day, celebrated each year with much gay and joy. For me it would always remain a children day for another reason for my daughter, Ankita being born on that day. I have always been fond of children, making children’s day special, the same becoming extra special being birthday of my daughter.

I was reading somewhere that while Europe is already middle aged and would soon become an “old continent”, India is going to be the youngest nation with the current median age being 26.8 years. This has been one of the positive fall outs of population growth and reduction in infant mortality rate and though it by no means supports the concept of population explosion and we must take steps to control it, the nation is on the threshold of reaping the benefits of its youth power!

Let’s celebrate this day as a day to boost the future flag bearers of this nation – children and youth of today! I additionally celebrate as my child’s birthday!

On her birthday on 12th November, my wife Veena, who is currently in Singapore, will not be celebrating the occasion with me. However, a special person deserves special wishes and I wish Veena a very happy birthday through this poem, which has come straight from my heart 💔. It reads:

तुम पास रहती हो तो

दिलोदिमाग़ पर छा जाती हो।

तुम दूर जाती हो तो

मेरा दिल और दिमाग़ साथ ले जाती हो।

समझ में नहीं आता तुम्हारा क्या करूँ?

तुम्हें याद करूँ य तुम्हारी याद में मरूँ!

तुम हंसती हो, हंसाती हो,

सारे जहान में ख़ुशियाँ बिखराती हो!

घर में तुम्हीं से रौनक़ है

तुम नहीं तो सब बेरौनक़ है।

जीवन के कितने ही सावन बीत गए,

पर मुझे याद है वो पल अतीत के

जैसी सुंदर तब थीं

उससे कुछ ज़्यादा अब भी !

हमेशा ख़ुशियों में सराबोर रहो

मुम्बई चाहे सिंगापुर रहो!

Happy birthday Veena. Stay happy, healthy, gorgeous, beautiful, petite, innocent and much more!

Supreme Court gave much awaited verdict on Ayodhya case. There was palpable tension all around. Government left nothing to chance. Police bandobast left no room for error, peace committees of multiple religious groups were formed, people were advised neither to celebrate victory nor to lament the loss and everyone, including our PM spoke the right language, leveraged around tolerance, brotherhood, unity and magnanimity.

Then came the D day. While the verdict was delivered on the expected lines, the communities showed marvellous restrain and maturity. Hindus embraced Muslims, calling it a legal decision based on the facts presented by the two sides. Muslims on their part decided to take the verdict in their stride, without any bitterness or malice. Sunni Wakf Board has already decided not to challenge the court’s decision.

Not that there have been no voices of dissent! Owaisi called it a victory of faith over facts, though 5 member bench headed by CJ himself made it amply clear that decision was based on the facts and evidences provided by two sides. He also said that Muslims didn’t require Government’s charity of 5 acres land parcel, as ordered by the hon’ble Supreme Court, for constructing a mosque. But by and far the dissent has been muted and isolated.

The moot point is who is you in the title of this blog? You is no individual or agency! It’s all of us – the Honourable Supreme Court, Ranjan Gogoi, the incumbent Chief Justice of India, whose untiring efforts to complete hearing and pronouncing judgment before his retirement, would be viewed with gratitude by nation, four other judges on the bench for unanimous verdict, lawyers who fought tooth and nail but without acrimony, Hindu and Muslim religious leaders, PM Modi, opposition, law keeping agencies but above all, the people of this country, including you and me, who once again chose to stand united against any adversity !! India emerges stronger and communal bonhomie much deeper and a hope takes birth that all our issues can be resolved within the ambit of constitution through dialogue and amiability.

This is a period of an unexpected bliss- not only one but two cats in my life are away at the same time and this mouse is getting so overwhelmed, not knowing how to celebrate! Agreed, wife is a great companion ( lifelong) and friend! In my case, my boss is also a friend of more than 30 years! I share great rapport with my domestic as well as office bosses. Having said so, a boss is a boss, a big fat cat, friendly but it’s basic nature is feral.

Life doesn’t become any easier in the absence of bosses. Home boss’s absence makes food, house cleaning and laundry big headaches; office boss’s absence lays down additional responsibilities and removal of the protective layer, shielding you from even bigger bosses!

But all said and done, the very feeling of the brief boss-less existence is exhilarating. For once you are your own boss, able to play unrestrictedly as the big fat cat is away! Only one thought is the spoilsport- would the big cat come back hungrier, fatter and more feral ? And this fortnight of freedom already seems exhausted anticipating the return of dragon(s) – or did I call them cat?

Poetry is not necessarily an outcome of romanticism, though love ballads are supposedly the best poems. Poetry is also a powerful medium to pay obeisance to an awesome personality and therefore, instead of verbose prose, I have tried to compose a few rhyming lines for Shyamashree, a person I admire a lot. It’s called An ode to Shyamashree:

An ode to Shyamashree

God has created men and women,

But is really female a lesser gender?

Not if you know Shyamashree,

She’s so headstrong & yet so tender!

She’s what all a person can be,

A scholar, professional and a teacher;

Besides being a loving wife & an affectionate daughter,

And above all a doting mother!

Her heart is generous,

As she doles out empathy, love and knowledge;

To each and everyone without exception,

Whether you are in office, school or college!

Lucky are those who know her closely,

But not only husband, children, father& mother;

But even those who know her from distance,

An outsider like me and million others!!!

Happy birthday Shyama, stay blessed; achieve all your aspirations and help make this world a happy place!

There are problems galore around though it’s also the truth that 99% of them may not be touching us personally. It’s one thing to worry about these issues as an alert, law abiding and concerned citizens and another to become obsessed with these issues, paint everything gloomy and await doomsday!

Sitting here in Mumbai, it’s alright to sympathise with our brethren in Delhi for it having been declared most polluted, unliveable city in the world or be anguished at police lawyers clashes, but these have absolutely no impact on Mumbai. Similarly, Delhiites should not worry about political stalemate in Mumbai beyond a point as we have seen such political games on so many occasions in the past. Kashmir is tense but all that’s required to be done there is being done and when such large decisions are taken, one shouldn’t expect everything to be hunky dory immediately. Pakistan may be flexing its nuclear muscles, but we know India is capable of giving that nation a befitting reply. Auto sales are down, people are getting impacted by developments in certain cooperative banks, unemployment is rising, GDP growth projections look gloomy, even the best corporate like Infosys are grappling with whistleblower menace, untimely rains are playing havoc with agricultural production in certain parts of the country and the list is endless. But in a country of our size and complexity, such a scenario cannot be altogether ruled out and 1% of the population at any point of time may be affected by this or that! Instead of worrying, spreading panic and doomsaying, we should rather join hands in helping the affected people overcome the tragedy!

However, our nation will be put to litmus test when SC delivers its verdict on Ramjanmabhoomi- Babri Masjid suit. Whether Hindus and Muslims will show maturity by moving on after accepting the verdict or get panicky is something to be seen though being a hopelessly optimistic person, I think we shouldn’t be unduly worried as people of this nation seem to have risen above all this!

Let’s train our minds through meditation and yoga, keep the negativity at bay, hope for the best and enjoy this beautiful life the almighty has gifted us with to enjoy the best of this world.

What’s happening to Delhi? It shreds your heart when you read that your birthplace is the most polluted city in the world, 16 times more polluted than the next worst, Lahore. And come November, this disaster of Smog engulfing the city starts each year and continues to hold the city in its vice like grip till February.

Delhi of yore was not like that. In fact, it had beautiful autumn and once winters used to set in, we would experience fresh mist and fog that was very different from smog. Farmers used to burn their waste crops even then! And mind you, Delhi was one of the earliest adopter of CNG and had made it mandatory for public buses to run on CNG. It also boasts of one of the most elaborate network of metro that has eased the strain on road transport. Notwithstanding population explosion, it continues to be more green than many other metropolitan cities. While we cannot fight with the nature, I am sure if IIT or some other accredited agency does a root cause analysis, something can be done.

I read somewhere that China had recently addressed this issue of smog and pollution through technology ( drones spraying water etc). This shows that if there is will there’s way. Delhi definitely deserves much better than being christened the most polluted city in the world. If we cannot be Best, we should avoid being worst at least. Wake up Government, scientists, accredited agencies and intelligentsia of this country and do something about this issue that is bringing shame to us.