16th February 2016

India’s well-planned fictional town

Malgudi was envisioned by R. K. Narayan, the eminent writer, for his numerous books. Located somewhere in South India during the British times, the fictional town had the Mempi Hills as the backdrop with tigers and bamboo forests. The town had a college called Albert Mission College, and a cinema hall called the Palace Talkies. Along the market road were Dr Pal’s Tourist Bureau, and the offices of the Daily Messenger. The statue of a former British governor, Sir Frederick Lawley, after whom the Lawley Extension housing project was named, stood imposing at the market.

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16th February 2016

Know the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) by your wristwatch

Say it is 7.10 p.m. (IST) by your watch. IST is India Standard Time, which is 5 hrs 30 min ahead of GMT. So GMT would be 1.40 p.m. You turn your watch by 180° so that the minute hand is at the position of ‘8’ and the hour hand between ‘1’ and ‘2’. You may have to conceive the position of the hour hand very slightly ahead of where it actually stands. So there you are! The time is 1.40. It holds for any time. Make sure that your wristwatch has the hands, it should not be digital.

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16th February 2016

In memory of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, a man of civil eminence

Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy was a doctor and a freedom fighter who went on to become the second chief minister of West Bengal in 1948 at Gandhiji’s behest. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy was a philanthropist and took major interest in the social, cultural and industrial development of West Bengal. He was awarded Bharat Ratna for his exemplary service in 1961. He died when he was exactly 80 years old, on the same day he was born, i.e. 1 July.

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16th February 2016

Dennis Overbye and his atypical view on the laws of thermodynamics

Dennis Overbye is a science correspondent for the New York Times. He presented a humorous summary of the three principal laws of thermodynamics in his book Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The Scientific Quest for the Secret  of the Universe published in 1991. The crux of the three laws of thermodynamics are simply stated as follows:

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