A Tale of The Champions

Men's Tennis has been both a kingdom ruled by the legends as well as fierce battleground for the Kingship. Much of it is spoken about the open era in tennis when professionals were once again welcomed into playing the championships but I started following the tour only in the early 90's and for me, the tale began in the summer of 1993.

McEnroe, Becker and Edberg were in the last days of their professional life and there were gossips about who could be the next emperor. I was particularly fascinated by a young American tennis player who never cared for the critics commenting on his two-finger-wipe of the sweat off his forehead before he served or his tongue that hung loose beyond his lower lip during most of the time he spent on-court. Pete Sampras was clearly my favourite and my best pick - a dedicated professional, strict serve-and-volleyer and a slam-dunker!

Even amidst tough competitors like Goran Ivanisevic on grass; Andre Agassi on fast courts and hard courts, by 1995, Sampras entrenched his rule in the kingdom of men's tennis. His matches against Ivanisevic were particularly interesting. The big serving Croat offered tremendous resistance to take a point in his service game. Sampras too played an almost perfect game on his service games and most of the times the set would end up in a tie-break. The guys were so perfect with their service games that, all they needed was ONE BREAK on the opponent's serve - and they would definitely close the set! I haven't seen such games after their era, I doubt if I ever would!!



Another notable rivalry was Sampras - the perfect server Vs Agassi - the all-time best returner of serves. It was simply a connoisseur's delight! It was Sampras who lead the head-to-head but in the end, it little mattered who won. In the summer of 2000, Sampras won his 7th Wimbledon title, his 13th Grandslam trophy and went into the history books. Sampras wasn't satisfied, may be he didn't want to stop at the unlucky "13."

It indeed proved unlucky because he went into a title-draught for the next 24 months. His signature-serve no longer worked and the giant who topped the ATP men's ranking for 286 consecutive weeks succumbed to every Tom, Dick and Harry on tour. By this time, the technology had improved and young players with powerful light-weight titanium racquets stood fearlessly against his thunderbolt - a heavy Wilson Prostaff 6.1 graphite racquet. Little did he care for the critics who strongly felt he should consider retirement and entered the US Open of 2002 with a ranking as low as 17! The 4 time champion in New York was no longer among the favourites for the betting. It was then that he put all his experience and hard work into play. Two weeks later, Sampras ended the event with his 14th Grandslam win and celebrated by kissing his heavily pregnant wife in the stands of the Arthur Ashe Stadium.



His absence from the tour for most of the 2003 had clearly sent his unspoken words of retirement into air. That summer, Sampras bid a tearful farewell to the crowd at the Arthur Ashe Stadium as he walked out of the court with his son and wife. The kingdom, by this time, was without a ruler and every American teenage kid with a tennis racquet in hand felt he could be the next king! Between 2002 and 2003 there were 8 different Grandslam champions.

The grasses at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club changed their direction and their blades would now face the net instead of the baseline. This prevented the balls from sliding and slowed the pace of the game. The tennis balls were being opened three weeks before the start of the tournament and this would help them absorb some moisture. The heavy balls started bouncing high and favoured the hard-hitting base-liners. Serve-and-volley was a thing of the past and top-spin was the new Mantra at the spiritual home of tennis - the Championships Wimbledon. It was then that the Swiss express rushed to the barren land and ended the speculation of Andy Roddick being the hope of continuing the American reign on the kingdom. Although not a strict serve-and-volleyer, Roger Federer mixed his baseline shots to rush to the net and finish-off the rallies with crisp volleys.

I was not happy with Federer's arrival just because of one silly reason - he seemed like breaking every other record set by my all-time favourite, Pete Sampras. Except that, it was always a pleasure to watch his intelligent construction of the rallies and he almost flawlessly finished the weak returns off his opponents' racquets. Although Federer looked docile on the French clay [even Sampras was!], his game spared a room for improvement and gave a hope to his fans that he would one day complete his career-slam, something that Sampras failed to achieve! During the latter half of the 2004 tour, Federer occupied the throne left vacant by Sampras. Ranked no. 1 in the world, he seemed mighty as the 2005 season opened. Though he lost a 5-set-thriller at the semifinals of the Australian Open to the eventual Champion Marat Safin, he looked confident of winning the other three and finishing his career-slam that year.

When every other player stood nervous across the net against Federer, an 18-yr old boy from Majorca dared to carry the Spanish torch at the Roland Garros. Playing his first French Open, Rafael Nadal was seeded fourth in the tournament. Dressed in a green sleeveless shirt, white knee-length shorts and a white head-band to keep his shoulder length hair out of sight, Nadal entered the Philippe-Chatrier court to take on the top-seed Roger Federer in the semifinals. He counted on his stamina and stretched Federer's patience beyond limits and earned a match point in the fourth set. Unable to face the heavy top-spin off the Nadal-backhand, Federer sent the ball long and Nadal celebrated his 19th birthday rolling joyously over the French clay! Later that week, Nadal pocketed his first Grandslam trophy and posed a real threat to Federer's dream of a career slam.



Nevertheless, Federer confidently walked around the AELTC and Flushing Meadows through rest of the summer and finished the season with Wimbledon and US Open titles. Like most French open winners, Nadal fared lousy on other surfaces and there's was no one to pose even a slight threat to the Fedex. The American hope, Andy Roddick started failing consistantly against the Swiss ace and even Jimmy Connors could not tame the big server to control his erratic ground-strokes.

Towards the beginning of 2006, Australian open witnessed a young Cypriot Marcos Bhagdatis (don't ask me where he is now!!) who dismantled Andy Roddick and David Nalbandian on his way to the finals. It was too much to hope for a magical run to continue past the Swiss master and Bhagdatis finally woke up from his dreams when Federer won his second Australian Open. As if dormant through the winter, Nadal sprung back to life with the beginning of that summer. Federer faced Nadal in the finals of the French Open and Federer's fans were on a high when he won the first set 6-0 against the young Spaniard. Nadal shrugged off his languid attitude and bounced back in the second set and continued it till he won the match. Grandslam no. 2 for Nadal and another disappointment for Federer.

But what surprised everyone was, they both met again in the finals of the Wimbledon. Traditionally, those who won in Paris never stayed in London beyond the first week of the tournament. Whatever, it was time for Roger Federer to take revenge against Nadal and he just did that, although in four sets. Federer carried the momentum from London to New York and won his third successive US Open title.

Australian Open 2007 had another surprise finalist, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who ousted Nadal in the semifinals. Like Bhagdatis, he could not run past Federer in the finals and Federer won his third Australian Open trophy. Nadal's fortune bloomed with the onset of summer and he continued his clay court reign. Again, Federer was tested when he faced Nadal in the finals. Nadal consistantly hit those heavy top-spin forehands to Federer's single-handed backhand. Federer could not swallow the bounce as he either committed unforced errors or returned them weakly. Nadal would simply punish him for his weak returns. Grandslam no. 3 for Nadal and another disappointment for the Swiss' fans.

Federer looked forward to Wimbledon to take his revenge. And they met again on the second Sunday of the tournament. Surprisingly, Nadal levelled the match at two-sets all. Federer used his experience and played a brilliant fifth set. In the eighth game of the deciding set, at match-point, Federer was handed a high ball at the net which he smashed effortlessly before rolling over the broken grasses!



With a fifth straight title at the AELTC, Federer went to New York with greater confidence in his sports kit. By this time, a young Serb was doing well on the hard courts. Although he managed to reach the finals of US Open, Novak Djokovic was too inexperienced for a big challenge and handed a fourth consecutive trophy to the Swiss entrepreneur.

Australian Open 2008 maintained its tradition of unfurling another surprise finalist, this time a 6'2", 93 Kg heavy-weight Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who proved too much for Nadal in the semifinals. Unlike before, the other semifinal also saw an upset when Novak Djokovic derailed the Fedex train in three straight sets! Djokovic's victory over the surprise finalist won him his first grandslam but it was not at all a clear threat to Federer, as he was still recovering from Infectious Mononucleosis (don't ask me who he got it from!).

Nadal continued his tradition of clay court dominance as the summer blossomed. This time, he got even better and hardly put out any sweat. Roger Federer was handed was completely dominated and Nadal, even after winning his fourth consecutive title in the French capital, controlled his urge to roll on the clay, as a mark of respect to the reigning emperor. But he maintained his tradition of biting his trophy as he posed in front of the photographers!

Federer flew to Germany to warm up for Wimbledon. Nadal chose to warm up at the Queen's club and he sent a clear warning to Federer by winning the tournament. Federer, little affected by that, continued to religiously sacrifice all those who fell into the top half of the draw. The crowd at the South West London witnessed one of the finest matches in the history of Wimbledon as Federer and Nadal contested in a four hour 48 minutes battle in the finals. With rain interuppting twice in the match, the contest went on till quarter past 9 in the evening, when the five-time defending champion netted a forehand at the match point. As if it was a lightening, cameras around the stadium flashed and lighted the 22 year old Spaniard, as he fell to the ground in ecstasy.



The emperor's reign was further challenged when Nadal went on to Beijing, to win a Gold for Spain in the Olympics. That summer, Nadal ended the Swiss's four-and-a-half year reign at the ATP rankings. With no major victory throughout the season, Roger Federer came to New York to seek solace. Top-seed Rafael Nadal failed again to pass his semifinal examination. The playing conditions were tough, given the rain interruption and heavy winds at the Louis Armstrong stadium, but it should not have theoritically bothered the then World No. 1, as he fell in four sets to the British hope Andy Murray. Murray was another easy opponent and Federer ended his title draught of the season - a fifth straight title at the Flushing Meadows for Federer!

Traditionally, the 2009 tour began with Australian Open and this time, Nadal was fighting another potential surprise-finalist, Fernando Verdasco. The Nadal-Verdasco semifinal was one of the finest matches of the tournament and Nadal lighted up the center court with a stunning running forehand down-the-line - the ball went past the sideline but once it crossed the net, it curved inwards and landed within the court! The crowd rose to their feet and Verdasco stood wondering what else he could do.



Playing his first finals at the Flinder's park, Nadal fought Federer in another five-set thriller that lasted four hour 23 minutes and Nadal became the first Spaniard to win the trophy in Melbourne. As he received his runner-up trophy, Federer broke out in tears, "God, it's killing me." Nadal collected his trophy and went straight to Federer, put his arm around his shoulders and comforted him. Once the match was over, they were good friends again!

Three months later, things changed. Federer changed his game strategy as his took on Nadal in the Madrid clay. Federer mixed his game with surprise rush to the net and forced Nadal to give short balls on the return. Federer convincingly beat the clay court king in the Roland Garros warm up event. Federer was sure to give a shock to Nadal if they were to meet again in Paris but Nadal was given a shock before that. In the fourth round, Nadal faced a 6'4" Swede, Robin Soderling who was little affected by the top spin Nadal manufactured. He took advantage of his height and started attacking the balls staying closer to the baseline. Nadal was forced to step back and this created ample room for Soderling to close out the rally. After a four-set loss, the Spanaiard revealed his knee-injury that further disappointed his fans. Soderling eventually reached the finals. Federer, though struggled to reach the finals, played confidently against the Swede. He wasn't playing Nadal in the finals, so he made sure he won it! Equalling Sampras' record of 14 Grandslams, Federer also completed his career-slam and joined the elite club of four others to have won all the four major events on the tour.

Nadal's injury made it clear that there would not be a Federer-Nadal finals at the Wimbledon. Federer breathed the comfort air in London as he sailed to the finals to face the fastest server in the world, Andy Roddick. Though he won the first set, Roddick made the biggest mistake of his life in the tie breaker of the second set. Leading 6-2 in the tie break, he wasted 3 of the 4 set points. At 6-5, Roddick had a set point on his serve, hit a hard serve, got a weak return, pushed it to the Federer's forehand corner, Federer handed him a easy backhand volley at the net, Federer's backhand-court wide open, Roddick had all the time and space in the court but he chose to send it 3 feet wide!! If I were Roddick, I would have quit playing tennis at that moment itself. Anyways, Federer won his 15th Grandslam with a 16-14 victory in the fifth set of that match.





Also that summer, Federer regained his World No.1 spot. Meanwhile, Nadal announced his recovery from the knee injury and fared well at the hard court warm up tournaments for the US Open. At the start of the open, we were hoping for another Federer-Nadal thriller in New York, but destiny had its own choice. Nadal was handed a tough draw and he had to work out his way through the rain interrupted second week of the tournament. Nadal faced another tall guy, 6'6" Juan Martin Del Potro in the semifinals. Though an abdomenal injury bothered him in the earlier matches, it was clearly not the reason why he lost the tall Argentine. Once again, his top-spin proved inefficient against the tall guy. As if the Argentine had thoroughly revised the book chapter, "How Soderling defeated Nadal," Del Potro exactly did the same - took advantage of his height, attacked the top-spin early and sent the injured Spaniard running for balls! Federer continued his tradition of making it to the finals of US Open and Del Potro seemed an easy opponent.

Del Potro, who lacked experience at 20 years of age, surely had the energy to mount a fight-till-death attack. In the first set, Federer was comfortable with his strategy of pushing the tall guy away from the baseline. In the second set, he had a couple of chances of taking a 2-0 lead but Federer relaxed. May be, he thought he would have a couple more opportunities but Del Potro held on to his momentum. During the later half of the match, I don't why Federer chose to drag him side-to-side, it was blessing in disguise for the tall Argentine. He ran effortlessly chasing the balls and experimented with new angles on the court. Federer was completely dominated in the fifth and Juan Martin Del Potro announced the arrival of a new contender to the emperor's throne!

Where does Nadal go from here? Troublesome injuries, worst defeats at the Grandslam, once again failed his semifinal exam at the US Open and what's worse, a new opponent has emerged. His 3200 rpm top-spin is not working anymore. It's time to do some homework, Nadal, you have to change your strategy. Where does Federer go? Straight into the history books, with bold and big-font prints! He's already achieved so much, whatever he wins will be icing the cake. My guess is, he could win another 3 Wimbledons before he bids adieu to the kingdom! The American tennis has no hopes as of now. The Spaniard needs to recover from his injuries and change his strategy, Del Potro has to gain some more experience, Andy Roddick needs to improve his return of serves, and Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are yet to find out a strategy and stick on to it, rather than playing impulsively. The Quest for Perfection continues - who's next??

T h e L o v e S h e T a u g h t

It was just another busy day at work. I came home, prepared some coffee and as I began to sip, I got a call from my cousin. It seemed Bhanavi, his 5 yr old daughter, had a question for me. “Hello, why are we here on Earth? And what would have happened if we were not to be on Earth?” I kept my coffee mug down and almost instantaneously broke into laughter.

I have already told you in one of my previous blogs (Funny Bone) how smart Bhanavi (not Bhavani) is. Of late, I was into reading some Neurobiology and so I was able to better appreciate her pranks. What's more, she effortlessly puts her subjective experiences into words and hence, for someone interested in Neurobiology, Bhanavi is an open book – ready to read!

[Click here for a comprehensive outlook of the brain.]

There is a popular statement in Neurobiology regarding memory - “Neurons which fire together wire together.” Let me explain. Neurons are basically the nerve cells, the building blocks of our brain. Neurobiologists wonder how we can go on to build our memory while the no. of neurons in our brain remain fairly constant throughout our life. The accepted theory is that when two neurons are stimulated (fired) together they develop more synaptic connections between them (wire together), especially in the Hippocampal area of the brain which is concerned with learning and memory [Click here for the animation]. For example, as toddlers, when we were shown a cat and were told “cat” every time we saw the animal, the “sight of the cat” - that is, one set of neurons processing the “image of the cat” - gets wired with the word “cat” - that is, another set of neurons processing the phonemes and pronunciation of the word “cat.” So, after repeated exercise, when we hear the word “cat,” we begin to instantly recall the animal in our imagination or when we see the animal, we begin to say “cat.”

As I watched Bhanavi build her memory, I noticed something interesting. Bhanavi had seen in her books, the cow being associated with milk and the chicken with eggs. Bhanavi understood that the cow gave us milk and so, the chicken gave us the eggs. But she didn't stop there; she extended her observation and hypothesized that the monkey gave us the banana and the rabbit gave us the carrot!! Careful she was, not to associate monkey with the carrot or the rabbit with the banana. However, it was hard to convince her that monkeys actually ate the bananas and didn't give them to us. After that incident, I understood that there's something more to memory than just wiring up of the neurons. It involves complex interaction between various areas of the brain including higher order association areas of the Neocortex which were beginning to develop in Bhanavi.

There are scads of things that I observed in Bhanavi and I can't go on explaining them in detail (if you are interested, you can mail me for detailed discussions). Just to mention – if you see all her drawings till date, there is a striking improvement in the quality of her sketches and as I watched her crayon-strokes I could appreciate the orchestrated firing of the Purkinje cells in her Cerebellum which went on improving their rhythm over time.

Like Bhanavi, there are many kids among my relatives with whom I have spent some time. I have had some interesting experiences with them. The other day, I was observing my 2-yr old niece, Sharanya, who is very good at picking up nouns. With a little prompt, she used to fluently pronounce everyone's names. When it came to 'me' she would say, “I wont tell you!” I initially thought she was having some stranger-anxiety. That wasn't the case. She was consciously suppressing her impulse to speak out, “Chethan.” She was clearly demonstrating the maturity of her Orbitofrontal cortex!

Now, this Orbitofrontal cortex is an area of the brain that has got to do with our social behavior, impulse control and decision-making abilities. Often, I like to call it - The Lying Cortex! Let me illustrate. Let's say someone whom you don't want to talk to rings your doorbell. You send a kid to answer the door and ask him to tell the person that you are not at home. If the kid's Orbitofrontal cortex isn't matured, it is most likely that it will say, “Papa said, he is not at home!” When your friend invites you for a movie or a dinner, this Orbitofrontal cortex analyses the situation. If the person is your favorite or if it's a weekend, it will give a positive response. Or else, it immediately scans its database for some lame excuse and executes the best one!

This Orbitofrontal cortex is a part of the frontal lobe of our brain. Frontal lobe has many different areas and this is where many higher order functions including abstract thinking and problem solving skills happen. Bhanavi's frontal lobe was particularly interesting to me because in the process of solving problems she used to create problems as well! The other day she asked me, “How do planets fly? Why are they up in the sky?” Even as I wondered she had another question, “Why are we made up of bones?” I replied, “We are made up of bones because we can be strong!” I don't know what neurotransmitter got released in her frontal lobe, she asked me back, “Why then, the thigh bone is the strongest of all the bones?”

Most of her questions are difficult to explain even though we know the answer. But this question, “Why are we here on Earth?” was a complete bouncer. We told her that we are here because God wanted us to be here. Somehow, she wasn't convinced. For once, she shifted my thinking from Neurobiology to Philosophy and I could faintly recollect a related story from the Upanishads. I told her, “We are here to enjoy, to be happy.” She showed some signs of relief and retired to bed. But I myself wasn't convinced with the answer and I had to revert back to my spiritual teacher. I had a lengthy discussion with him (mail me if you are interested in the details) and we were confused as to how to explain all that to this 5 yr old brain. The final equation was, “We are here to help others, to love and not to hurt anyone, be happy and make others happy.”

I don't know how Bhanavi analyzes me but she likes asking me questions. I too welcome her questions though I am sure I will not be able to answer. We switch-on Skype and have a video chat on the weekends. She asks me some questions, she shows me her sketches, teaches me some nursery rhymes and together we do at least one stupid thing every time we connect. Whenever she did those naughty things she seemed to release some Dopamine and endorphins in her endogenous reward system.

The endogenous reward system consists mainly of Nucleus Accumbens Septi, Ventral Tegmentum and their vast connections that form a loop. When the Ventral Tegmental area releases Dopamine (a biogenic amine molecule) in the Nucleus Accumbens Septi, it kicks up a series of circuits involving the endogenous reward system that we subjectively feel as an “elated mood” and an overall sense of well-being. Also the release of endorphins (naturally occuring molecules in our brain similar in structure and function to those of Morphine and other opioids) appears to relieve our physical pain and even the emotional stress. All these things naturally reinforce the original stimulus, so that we feel good. I wondered, how a simple rhyme like “Twinkle twinkle little star” or a simple game like Peek-a-boo which once released that dopamine in our endogenous reward system can no longer do so? Why it now requires sophisticated electronic gadgets and high-end luxury automobiles to release the same dopamine there?

I also observed a couple of other things that I could not explain with our current understanding of this wonderful organ system. Why is it that I continue to associate the feelings of love and trust with my heart even after discovering that they are the functions of my brain? Why is that, whenever I spend time with Bhanavi or any other kid, I exchange with them only love, hope, kindness, strength and humility? Why do I never get negative feelings like fear, anger, lust, greed, pride or jealousy? Perhaps thats what kids are meant for – to make our lives so very beautiful! When kids are around, unknowingly we release more and more of Oxytocin into our Limbic System.

There are particular areas in our brain which process a range of emotions, play a vital role in our behavior, learning and memory, and collectively these areas are called Limbic System. It is this wonderful limbic system that helps us engage with the world around us and associate persons with one or many emotions. Release of Oxytocin (a chemical and a neurotransmitter) in our brain activates the areas concerned with the feeling of Love and Trust. And this Oxytocin is pure and unconditional unless interrupted by other areas of the brain!

The other day Siya, my another niece asked us a question, “Why don't animals speak?” I went back to my neurology resources to analyze how she could come up with such question. It was all because Siya's right-half of the brain was simply doing its job. This right side of the brain engages us with the present world and everything in the world that is “right” - right here, right now. It sort of unifies us with the energy of the world. [Click here for a wonderful video demonstration – a must view!] But why don't we feel that? It is because we also have a left-side to our brain, that separates us from the world. To everything we see, the left-half attaches something from the past experience or probable experience in the future and separates it. When someone does you a favor, your right brain is all thankful and wants you to release some Oxytocin for that person, but then your left brain takes into account the person's appearence, caste, race, status, personal details and modifies the way you thank that person! Fortunately, Siya's left side of the brain hasn't yet matured. She feels one with everyone, including plants and animals, she's one with the energy of the nature and that's why she's so cheerful all the time!

We, the so-called grown ups, also love. But we aren't as blissful as Bhanavi or Siya because we have a so-called matured left-brain that brings in a “reason” to love. Have you noticed a child playing with a currency note? It's of no value to the child except for its attractive colors. It is we, the grown-ups, who pollute its left lobe with the idea of money. Haven't you seen people loving their parents only because they in turn would get some pocket-money or what's worse, their parents haven't written a “Will” yet? I can feel their Oxytocins being contaminated with some deadly neurotoxins. In the words of Shakespeare, “Love has no reason, if it has, it's not love.”

Though many chapters in neurobiology and philosophy are yet to be thoroughly understood, one thing is clear. Why do you think Bhanavi loves me? She has but one reason – she loves me because she loves to love me. And that is the love she taught me.

How many Karkares do we need to sacrifice?

I hate to write on politics. The recent developments in the global politics using religion for some selfish motives has long influenced me to stay away from them. Many youngsters opt to stay away from politics and that has only helped the politicians to continue their dirty game. 

The November-26th-Mumbai-Mayhem bears a testimony to the negligent attitude of our politicians. As if that wasn't enough, politicians have spelt it out clearly in their press meet that immediately followed the worst ever terror attack on the Independent India. Mr. R.R.Patil, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra openly displayed his irresponsible attitude that forced him to his resignation. He said, “In a big city such as Mumbai, incidents likes these keep happening.” What a shame on our democracy!

On 13th May 2008 a series of nine blasts rocked Jaipur claiming 63 innocent lives and leaving more than 200 people injured. Two days after the incident, Mr. Shivraj Patil, the Home Minister of the Republic of India visits the places and remarks, "The nefarious designs of terrorists will be thwarted boldly and their attempts will be foiled," Mr. Patil said, falsely assuring the public that India was ready to tackle the acts of terrorism of any magnitude. Just see what happened over the next six months. There were serial blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, two separate blasts in Delhi, high intensity blasts in Assam and now the Mumbai Massacre. India is not ready to face terrorism; only her politicians are ready to give the same statements after each blast. Here are some examples.

After the Delhi blasts on 29th October 2005, here's how the Prime Minister reacted. "We are resolute in our commitment to fighting terror in all forms. I am confident that the people of India have the will, capacity and resolution to win the war against terrorism."

Over 200 people were killed and more than 700 were injured in the Mumbai train bombings carried out on 11th July 2006 and this is how the Prime Minister reacted. "No-one can make India kneel. The wheels of our economy will move on. India will continue to walk tall, and with confidence. Mumbai, stands tall once again as the symbol of a united India. An inclusive India. We will win this war against terror. Nothing will break our resolve."

Ahmedabad witnessed a series of 21 bomb blasts on 26th July 2008 that killed 56 people and injured more than 200. Here's how the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil reacted. "This is a time when we should not feel frightened and we should assess the situation correctly and try to help the people, who have suffered and plan to see that these things do not happen afterwards." Mr. Patil, what plan did you do to see that it would not repeat?

Three months later, Assam was attacked and death toll rose to 84, with injury toll close to 500. Mr. Shivraj Patil was ready with a statement this time also. "We shall nab the culprits involved in the blasts. Investigations are on and we should be able to come out with something concrete."

And to top it all, R.R.Patil made that nasty remark on the Mumbai attack. Mr. Patil, have seen on TV or the Internet how bad the situation was? If not, Click here to see some of the pictures [Warning: Some of the images are disturbing] and ask your conscience, if at all you have one. Don't make it another forgotten terror attack. Every life counts. To all you politicians, I shall quote my Swamiji's words. "Death of a million is but statistics, unless one of them is your relative!" -Swami Atmashraddhananda. [Swami Atmashraddhananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and is currently serving as the Editor of the Vedanta Kesari, a spiritual monthly magazine published from Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai]. 

Even before terrorism influenced the Indian Democracy, even before Hiroshima and Nagasaki witnessed the most powerful bombs on Earth, even before London was stunned with the 7/7 tube train blasts, even before the World Wars I and II were fought, exactly 108 years before the 9/11 blasts, one Indian wished to prevent all the bloodshed. Yes, it was Swami Vivekanada, who made an impressive remark at the World Parliament of Religions on 11th September 1893 at Chicago. "Sectarianism, bigotry, and it's horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful Earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.

"But their time has come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal."

Yes, friends, the time has come to toll another bell and begin the fight against terrorism. Surely, our politicians won't ring that bell. It needs brave men like Hemanth Karkare, Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Gajendra Singh and other brave commandos who risked their lives to liberate Mumbai from the most atrocious terror attack. We need another movement, a second freedom struggle, this time against terrorism. But the question is, how many Karkares do we need to sacrifice?

JobeeHive.com – by the employees, for the employees

There were times when gold, land and other property were a man's treasure. Today, the competition has grown to such an extent that just those things aren't enough. Information is wealth today.

The official websites give us all the formal details. But the surfers are not satisfied just with that. They want to know the intricate details – details, that even the officials themselves do not know. This cannot be possible without involving as many people as possible. Social networking provides a platform for the surfers to contribute their understanding and share it among other surfers. Social networking has changed our lives just as much as Internet, that did a decade ago.

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On A Scientist Par Excellence

P R E L U D E

Let me begin with a famous Indian fable - “Six blind men and an elephant,” because a lot of concepts involved herein are better understood with this analogy. There were six blind men who wanted to know what an elephant was. They were hence taken to an elephant itself and given an opportunity to feel it for themselves. Each one touched the elephant and got an idea how it was. When they were asked to describe how an elephant looked like, the first blind man said, “The elephant is like a snake.” That was because he had only touched its trunk! The second blind man having touched only its tusk, described it as a sharp, stout and a weapon-like thing. The third one, having touched only its legs, described it as a hard pillar-like substance and the fourth man, having touched its belly said, “The elephant is a hard spherical mass like a rock.” The fifth one touched its ears and described it as a thick, leaf-like animal and the last blind man, having touched only its tail, concluded that the elephant was a long, worm-like animal! There were serious fights among the six men as to who was correct. Then, they were told that everyone was ‘partially’ right because they had only touched a ‘part’ of the elephant and that putting them all together forms the real picture of the elephant.

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The nineteenth century witnessed some of the greatest scientific discoveries and technological advances. While the discoveries in the fields of Physics and Chemistry were readily accepted and appreciated, the advances in the field of Biology were condemned. The single most important reason was it confronted religious beliefs. There were widespread oppositions from the religious leaders and fanatics. Even though a British natural historian, Charles Darwin came up with a revolutionary idea, he waited almost two decades collecting sufficient evidences to stand the test of the religious opposition.

The situation was not new to the western religions. Scientists like Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei were ridiculed and punished for challenging the geocentric descriptions (that the Earth was the centre of the Universe and the Sun and other celestial bodies revolved around it) found in the Christian Biblical works like Psalm. Therefore, in the year 1859, when Charles Darwin published his book, “On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection,” religious fanatics turned red-hot.

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution refuted the Biblical belief of God’s creation of life on Earth and Human Beings in six days and that occurred 10,000 years ago. For Darwin’s theory of evolution to be true it was essential to prove three things. One, the Earth was much older than 10,000 years to have allowed sufficient time for evolution; two, the complex species that exist today had descended from one or a few simpler and common ancestors; and three, the driving force for species to evolve. Even if one of them was disproved, his theory would simply collapse.

The creationists have attacked these assumptions time and again but the judgement has been going in favour of evolutionists at most times. Darwin’s speculation that the Earth is older in the order of millions of years is strongly supported by the radiometric dating by the geologists. They estimate that the Earth is at least 3.56 Billion years old! Darwin was right in his first assumption.

The assumption of common ancestors is now supported by fossil records. Radiometric dating of the fossils now reveals that the simpler fossils were older than the more complex fossils. This supports the origin of more complex organisms from simpler ancestors.

“Natural Selection” – one of the most breathtaking ideas ever – provided the answer for the driving force in nature that causes the species to evolve. Just as a farmer prefers the crops with better yield to the low-yielders for further cultivation, Darwin proposed that the nature selects the individuals with favourable traits to pass them on to their next generation. For example, among the deer’s it is more likely for a deer with faster legs to survive the attack of predators than a normal deer. This is how nature selects the faster deer. There are thousands of such examples.

While the physical evidences were going in favour of Evolution, and against the western religious beliefs, the first serious threat to Darwinism came not by fundamental Christians but by scientists themselves. Towards the end of 19^th century scientists challenged the long term effects of these favourable variations. Their argument was, of course the faster deer was more likely to survive but when it has to mate, it is more likely to mate with a normal deer and so the offspring would be a blend of the two characteristics – a half-faster deer! And when that half-faster deer mates with a normal deer, the offspring would only be a quarter-faster deer! Therefore the argument focussed on successive dilution of the variations which brings the equation back to where it started! Natural Selection was pushed to dark…

The blend of the characteristics into a “half-faster” progeny was merely a hypothesis. None of the scientists who argued on successive dilution of the variations really tested it seriously because it just ‘sounded’ logical. In 1865, when an Austrian Monk called Gregor Johann Mendel presented a paper on the ‘Experiments on Plant Hybridization,’ he confronted the belief of the ‘blend of characteristics’ but nobody paid enough attention to it. Next year the paper was published in ‘Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Brunn’ but it was criticised and discarded. Darwin passed away in 1882 and Mendel died two years later. Thus, by the end of the 19^th century, the ‘Theory of Evolution’ was written a scientific obituary!

If you consider these theories to be some person, I put it this way – the guy went into Cardiac Arrest! Cardiac arrest is not death, after all. In 1900, two scientists – Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns – understood the ‘Experiments on Plant Hybridization’ like never-before and the theory was given a successful Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), so to say! All of a sudden it sprung back to life and became popularly known as “Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance.” With the ‘Laws of Inheritance’ accounting for the passage of the variations down the generation, Darwinism came back to the scientific front with vengeance!

Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance provided tremendous insight into one’s “Vehicles of Heredity” or “Genes.” The 20^th century made enormous progress on the path shown by Mendel. More and more interesting facts were discovered – the chromosomes, the genes, De-oxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA) and its ‘twisted-ladder’ structure and the molecular techniques of comparing the DNA of different samples like Nucleic Acid Hybridisation etc…

These technological advances were at once used to test Darwin’s hypothesis and Bingo! The more it was explored the louder was the judgement in favour of Evolution! Here are some important findings. All living creatures use the same set of 20 amino acids to build their proteins. The DNA code for these amino acids is same in all of them. For e.g., ‘UUU’ codes for the amino acid, Phenyl alanine in bacteria, in fungi, in plants, in crustaceans, in fish, in mammals and name-it-any species! This clearly demonstrates that the blueprint for all the living creatures was derived from one or few common ancestors. It doesn’t stop there. Analysing the DNA samples from different species shows direct relationship between the extent of the resemblance and the proximity of their relationship in the evolution. For e.g., Human DNA is 96% similar to that of the Chimpanzees, 75% similar to that of the Dogs and 33% similar to that of the Daffodils! This clearly shows that we are more closely related to Chimpanzees than Dogs or Daffodils. Darwin was more than right again!

Through most of the 20^th century Darwinism grew exponentially. The sad thing about this is it inculcated ‘Materialism’ into one’s thinking and seemed to support atheism, which it should not have. There were revolts and judicial proceedings on whether Darwin’s theory of Evolution should be taught in high school biology. The intention was not to disprove evolution but to prevent the growing atheism. Judgements seemed to fluctuate between the two ends and the topic remained a mystery for decades until the next big threat to Darwinism came with the proposal of the ‘Theory of Intelligent Design’ by Philip E. Johnson.

This theory wasn’t totally different from the biblical description of creation according to Genesis. It just scientifically altered the theory to sound more logical. It brought into an ‘Intelligent Designer’ who crafted the life deftly and intentionally and opposed the crude undirected ‘Natural Selection’ as the driving force for evolution. Biochemist Michael Behe joined Johnson’s ‘Intelligent Design’ with the concept of ‘Irreducible Complexity.’ Irreducible complexity means, some of the structures like the ‘eye’ in most species and ‘flagella’ of the bacteria are so complex that they cannot be reduced to their components which can function independently. The lens of the eye cannot function independently of the retina and nor can the retina function without lens. His argument implied that the lens and the retina didn’t evolve independently but were designed ‘intelligently!’

William Dembsky’s mathematical calculation to prove that the chances of evolution of Humans from bacteria are so less that such an event is not just ‘improbable’ but ‘impossible,’ became another nail in the coffin for Evolution. Also the evolution could not account for the development of ‘Intelligence’ and ‘Awareness,’ which could be explained by the ‘Intelligent Design.’ The Evolutionists are working on the challenges of propellers of ‘Intelligent Design’ and are successful to some extent but by and large, the tug-of-war between Evolutionists and Creationists has been 50-50 with no clear outcome as of now. Only four out of ten Americans today believe in Evolution, the rest voting for Creationism!

I was wondering which way to go. I asked myself what my heart felt like. I could not find a clear-cut answer. Being an Indian, I decided to explore how the religious India reacted to the theory of Evolution, and was that any similar to that of the western religious society. I found a very convincing answer provided by an Indian Scientist way back in 19^th century itself – so much so that I could close the Evolution-Creation debate with concrete evidence and total conviction!

19^th January 1896, New York

A 33 year old Indian Scientist was addressing an American gathering on the topic, “The Macrocosm.” Mind you, this was a pre-genetic era when Darwinism and the theory of Evolution were still shaky. But the answer was already there with this Scientist!

The lecture opened with some of the basic questions that have crossed almost every sane mind at some point or the other. “What is the Universe made up of? Whence is this?” The scientist continues, “Millions of attempts have been made to answer it, yet millions of times it will have to be answered again. It is not that each answer was a failure; every answer to this question contained a part of truth, and this truth gathers strength as time rolls on. I will try to present before you the outline of the answer that I have gathered from the ancient philosophers of India, in harmony with modern knowledge.”

He began his explanation with some of the subtle observations in the Nature. He observed that some things in Nature though seemingly different were actually a part of the spectrum of a bigger thing. For example, a seed and a tree. Though seemingly different, they are a part of the bigger spectrum of the plant life, each one leading to the other. The seed is a finer form of the plant and over a period of time it develops into a grosser form, i.e., a tree. The tree in turn dies out leaving behind a finer form, the seed. Same is the case with a chicken and an egg. They aren’t two different things to argue which one came first. They are one and the same. Man and his germ cells are no exception to this phenomenon.

“So is the case with everything in nature by which we are surrounded. We know that the huge mountains are being worked upon by glaciers and rivers, which slowly but surely pounding them and pulverising them into sand, that drift away into the ocean where it settles down on its bed, layer after layer, becoming hard as rocks, once more to be heaped up into mountains of a future generation. From sand rise these mountains, unto sand they go,” explained the scientist.

With these analogies, the scientist derives the equation, “Destruction means going back to the cause.” He continues, “Therefore we learn that the effect is the same as the cause, not different. It is only in another form.” Next, the scientist applies this law to the Universe taken as a whole, because of its uniformity. “This universe must be resolved into its causes; the sun, moon, stars, and earth, the body and mind, and everything in this universe must return to their finer causes, disappear, be destroyed as it were. But they will live in the causes as fine forms. Out of these fine forms they will emerge again as new earths, suns, moons and stars.”

With this new understanding, the creationists and evolutionists seemed to me like those blind men trying to understand a huge elephant called Universe. Both of them were right in their own way but they were only ‘partially’ right. They seemed to me like the components of a jig-saw puzzle – though the individual components seemed to be complete, they lack something. When the components are properly arranged, they merge into one another, revealing a bigger complete picture, of which they are only a part!

The bigger picture was nothing but the finer cosmic energy – call it God or whatever – getting evolved firstly into the earth, sun, moon etc and secondly into the living cell and the organisms which later Darwin explained how they evolved into man. The whole thing was one process. As if man developed from his first cell, the zygote – growing into the blastula, which later on develops into foetus, then comes out the womb as a baby, grows up into an infant, a child and then finally into an adult. If you observe carefully, Man didn’t just ‘evolve’ from the zygote; he was ‘involved’ in it! The young scientist put this concept into words, “No rational man can possibly quarrel with these evolutionists. But we have to learn one thing more. We have to go one step further, and what is that? That every evolution is preceded by an involution.”

He also appealed for peace from the evolutionists, “The whole of this universe was present in the cosmic fine universe. The little cell which becomes afterwards the man, was simply the involved man and becomes evolved as a man. If this is clear, we have no quarrel with the evolutionists, for we see that if they admit this step, instead of their destroying religion, they will be the greatest supporters of it!”

Let me close this discussion with another quote of this scientist, “If that is so, take this whole evolutionary series, from the protoplasm at one end to the perfect man at the other, and this whole series is one life. In the end we find the perfect man, so in the beginning it must have been the same. Therefore, the protoplasm was the involution of the highest intelligence. You may not see it, but that involved intelligence is what is uncoiling itself until it becomes manifested in the most perfect man. It, therefore, follows absolutely that the perfect man, the free man, the God-man, who has gone beyond the laws of nature, and transcended everything, who has no more to go through this process of evolution, through birth and death, that man called the “Christ-man” by the Christians, the “Buddha-man” by the Buddhists, and the “Free” by the Yogis – that perfect man who is at one end of the chain of evolution was involved in the cell of the protoplasm, which is at the other end of the same chain.”

Breath-taking, isn’t it? I am sure, by now, you have guessed who this scientist is. Who else can it be other than the dynamic Swami Vivekananda? He is no politician to make blind statements. It is with logical proof that he derived his famous equation, “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these - and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.”

Now please excuse me, I not only run short of words to describe his life and works but also I have no authority to do so. I just happened to share with you whatever little I understood of his lecture, on “The Macrocosm.” Considering only this lecture to explain him makes me just another blind man explaining the elephant, but given my ambit that is all I can do. No matter what the elephant looks like, one thing is sure, it’s gigantic. No matter what Swami Vivekananda looks to you, to me he is a Scientist par Excellence!