Education – Page 82 – Take off with Natarajan

What made this couple leave Google Mountain View to return to India….

September 9, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

In March 2015, when Flipkart announced the high-profile hiring of Punit Soni, a former VP of Motorola as their Chief Product Officer, it opened the gates of opportunities for many senior level management from Silicon Valley to explore opportunities in Indian startups. Soon, Peeyush Jain (Flipkart), Ambarish Kenghe (Myntra), Namita Gupta (Zomato) and others followed the party.

On one hand, Indian startup ecosystem shows great potential for growth while on the other our unicorns are matching the compensation of senior hires as well. While talking to YourStory earlier, Punit had mentioned that

The next world-class technology company will come out of India.

I met a couple from Google Mountain View who has recently shifted to Bengaluru. While Neena Budhiraja has joined Ola as Director of Product Management, her better half Himanshu Batra is working on his startup in the education space along with two other Googlers (from Mountain View) and a few interns. In the following conversation with YourStory, the duo spoke about their journey to Google and back to India, what triggered them to take this path and why now.

Yamunanagar meets Dubai in United States of America

Hailing from Yamunanagar in Haryana, Himanshu did exceedingly well in his bachelors of engineering in Computer Science at Kurukshetra University to get into University of Illinois at Chicago for his masters. Neena was born and brought up in Dubai to expat parents. She moved to Delhi for her high school studies and subsequently moved to Punjab University for Bachelors in Computer Science. Neena got her MBA from Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University. Her internship at Google led her to her full time job as well at the Internet giant in 2009 where Himanshu was working as Project Manager since 2008.

Himanshu recalls,

When I landed in Chicago in 2005, the city was nowhere close to what Silicon Valley was. In Chicago, companies were trying to go online and tech was getting popular. Now, the situation has changed and almost every five hours a startup is born there.

G for growth

Neena started her dream job at Google as a financial analyst setting portals but was soon appointed as Displays Ads Chief of Staff, thanks to the growth spurt era of the company. She was managing annual strategies, including planning for others and later took over as the Product Manager for the brand display ads, essentially being a key member in direct response advertisement division of Google, a $100M entity. Owing to her interest and support from seniors, Neena became the m-commerce lead of Google Express in 2014. She overlooked the mobile app development and enabled shopping on the go. She says,

We witnessed a 50-60% increase in traffic, worked on monetization, and taking care of drop out points.

It was then that she wanted to put her eight years of experience to make an impact. As a part of the Google Reach programme which connects Googlers with non-profit organizations in developing countries, she came to India on a sabbatical to work for Azad Foundation. Through her stint at one of the initiatives of the organization Sakha Cabs, she explored the transportation industry in India, its working and monetization.

Himanshu traveled across the length and breadth of the country as a part of Jagriti Yatra meeting Narayana Murthy, Anshu Gupta, and many more change-makers. For the first time, he could sense not just the rising trend of starting up and product development but also the interest of the youth in changing things in India for good.

According to Neena, the following features from her days at Google contributed to her growth the most:

Ability to wear multiple hats to figure out what you’re best at.

Caliber of colleagues around.

New challenges every day.

Instead of head count, they facilitated the thought process to tap the networks.

Salient work culture where managers are looking out for you as a person and not as ‘work-ass’.

Neena landed in Silicon Valley in 2009, just after the economy had gone bust. She recalls,

India taught me persistence and never to take no.

Where work life balance is not a myth

Himanshu believes that Google promotes a perfect work life balance among its employees. His day in Mountain View started at 8 am. Describing a typical day, he says after working a few hours, one can go for lunch or soccer, then work for another three-four hours followed by soccer or a dance class or a massage session etc and then go home. He believes that disconnecting frequently is important to rejuvenate and 16-17 hours of work is not required to ensure high productivity. He says,

Only a happy person is the most productive person. When people are dying they would never say, ‘I wished I could have worked more’.

According to both Neena and Himanshu, facetime (number of hours of physical presence at work) concept of a job is worrisome in an organization. They further believe that the people they came across at Google are more passionate, intelligent, and humble.

Beginning of India Chapter-2

Before leaving India, Neena got in touch with Bhavish Agarwal of Ola. In San Francisco, her director put her in touch with the Uber team. Neena met a lot of her friends in India who include who’s who of the Indian startup ecosystem. She zeroed down on Ola as the sector excites her most and it made more sense to take a true Indian product to the next level. She summarizes her decision based on the feeling she got when she walked out of the office,

‘I can do’ vs. ‘these guys are doing great stuff’.

At Google, she has seen desktop dominating India and has also seen the mobile growth. She believes that the next phase of growth is going to come from the billion plus Indians and, says, “it felt silly (as an Indian) to sit in Mountain View and not be a part of the change here.”

For Himanshu, hiring and getting the right clients seems to be a bit challenging at the moment for his stealth mode startup. He talks about his startup,

All I can tell you right now is that my product will make life of a university and a student studying in the university a little easier. Unless we blend education with technology, we won’t go far ahead. I personally feel education is “the” way we can solve most of India’s problems.

He further emphasized that they (Neena and he) returned because of their will to bring in change in India using technology.

Say Ola to the new Director of growth platform

Neena believes that venture capitalists are bearing the burden of customer acquisition and retention of Internet businesses at the moment. She says,

It’s important to understand if users know and understand your service. Why should a mother open a mobile app for ordering a fridge? The incentive has to be financial and burning through cash is one way. In the next phase, we have to think how to make it sustainable for the next two-three years.

In her last stint, Google Express reached phase-2 where users understood the service and the team was focusing on how to make sure that they keep getting this service for free.

Talking of her new role at Ola, Neena says,

Ola is at a very exciting stage of its lifecycle. With its penetration in more than 100 cities, we’ve come a long way from being an idea in Bhavish’s head. We are now gearing for the next phase of growth: Understanding our users, when and why they commute, and how to seamlessly fit into their fabric of life.

She understands that she is responsible for a micro problem rather than everything which she is keen to own and work on.

A touch of Silicon Valley

Through their experience at Google, Neena and Himanshu are going to implement the following learning in their upcoming journey at Indian startups:

At Google, thinking always started from the user, even for B2B businesses like ads. User-centricity is extremely critical as we evolve from being an end service (take me to X) to being a means to an end (I want to watch a movie).

Bringing the Valley culture to Bengaluru — from abstracting ourselves from day to day details to think big picture, to ensuring our team is eating healthy and working out, our goal is to make our companies one of the best places to work at.

Neena says,

After all, who defines the culture of a college? It’s the students and not the other elements of the institute. Similarly, only founders and employees of startups are responsible for defining the culture of companies and paint the overall picture of Indian startup ecosystem. Let’s do so.

Source….Alok Soni ….www.yourstory.com

Natarajan

Fascinating Facts about our Ocean….

September 9, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The ocean is full of life. Even more than land. Unlike land, though, there are still huge parts of the ocean we’ve never seen. In fact, we know our moon better than we know our oceans. But we have learned a lot about this cradle of humanity.

The life giving ocean is full of amazing discoveries, so let me share some of them with you…

Source…..www.ba-bamail.com

Natarajan

Test your skills on this mind-bending riddle that only 2% of the world can solve ….

September 8, 2015September 8, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The following riddle is claimed to have been written by Einstein as a boy.

It’s also sometimes attributed to Lewis Carrol, although there’s no evidence that either of them actually wrote it.

Either way, it’s fiendishly clever and is popularly called “Einstein’s riddle”. It’s rumored that only 2% of the world can solve it.

See if you can figure it out:

There are five houses in five different colors in a row. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. The five owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar and keep a certain pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage. Other facts:

1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the immediate left of the white house.
5. The green house’s owner drinks coffee.

6. The owner who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The owner living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The owner who keeps the horse lives next to the one who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who drinks water.

The question is: who owns the fish?

There are no tricks, all it requires is simple logic. Those that haven’t the patience to work it out can watch PoETheeds’ video, which takes you through the process of solving it step by step.

Give up? Here’s a tutorial on YouTube about how to solve the riddle:

Source……www.businessinsider.com

Natarajan

Coimbatore Auto Driver’s Journey From Prison To The Venice Film Festival Is Inspiring…

September 8, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

A class 10 dropout, ran away from home, did time in prison, became an auto driver, started writing novels while waiting for passengers, and now a part of the Venice Film Festival for the screening of a film that is based on his first novel.

This is Combaitore’s auto driver M.Chandrakumar’s journey in a nutshell.

Chadrakumar alias ‘Auto’ Chandran, a novelist in his spare time, penned a novel in 2006 narrating the brutality he suffered in a police lock-up in Andhra Pradesh. Little did he realise that 9 years later his work will take him to one of the best-known film festivals of the world.

What made him run away from home?

Due to a conflict with his family, he ran away from home. He slept on pavements, at bus stops, did odd jobs to earn a living. He travelled to Chennai, Madurai, Tuticorin, but it was the train journey to Hyderabad that changed his life.

“The train stopped at Vijayawada. That was the first time I clapped eyes on a river as vast as the Krishna. Smitten, I just hopped off the train to dive in.”

Apparently, he landed up in a prison for a ‘case of doubt’.

He started working as a hotel server in a village 42 km from Guntur, Andra Pradesh. In a cruel twist of fate, just when his life was sorted, he along with 3 of his friends were illegally detained by the police for nearly 13 days for a crime that he did not commit.

The horrifying 13-day experience inside the police lock-up influenced him to write his first novel ‘Lock Up’ after he was released.

Life in prison exposed Chandran to a whole new world. The 160-page novel described the atrocities meted out by the police on the prisoners.

He returned to Coimbatore in 1984 and published the novel in 2006. Few months later, the book received the ‘Best Document of Human Rights’ by a Human Rights Body headed by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer.

Produced by Dhanush, his novel inspired Tamil director Vetrimaaran to make a movie ‘Visaranai’ and it will be premiered at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.

Not only is ‘Visaranai’ the only Tamil film among the 20 movies selected from a total of 2000 movies from 120 countries worldwide, but also it is the first Tamil film to be ever premiered at the reputed film festival.

On the other hand, Chandrakumar does what he does best. He writes.

If you ever bump into his auto-rickshaw, you will find a bag. A bag stuffed with books and manuscripts behind his seat.

Source…Shuvro Ghoshal …www.storypick.com

Natarajan

An 80 Year Old Teacher Goes from Park to Park Conducting Classes for Deprived Kids ….

September 8, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Vimla started teaching underprivileged kids after retirement. It’s been 20 years now and 80-year-old Vimla still faces her students with the same enthusiasm. Know all about her journey.

Twenty years ago, sitting at home and not doing anything after retirement was never an option for Vimla Kaul and her husband. A visit to a village called Madanpur Khadar in Delhi was enough to give her the motivation to do something to improve the lives of the people living there.

She started with teaching kids who could not attend school and, since then, the couple has never looked back.

For 20 years, Vimla has been spending her time, energy and money to provide quality education to these underprivileged kids.

Vimla started teaching the kids after retirement.

Photo: Youtube

“When I first went to the village, I saw kids roaming around and wasting their time. So I gathered five students who were interested in learning and started my first class in 1995 at a chaupal in the village,” she recalls.

Vimla hired a local teacher to make sure the children’s studies did not get affected when she wasn’t in the village. But when the teacher left the village, Vimla decided to bring the students to nearby Sarita Vihar in the city of Delhi, where she moved from one park to another to conduct classes.

“We could not afford a school building so we would sit in the open and learn. We kept moving from one park to another because we would not be allowed to teach in many of them. Finally, we moved to MGD park where we taught for 15 years,” she says.

Starting with just 5 kids, Vimla reaches out to 110 students now with the help of four teachers.

Today, Vimla reaches out to 110 students with the help of 4 teachers. –

Photo: youtube

At one point, when Vimla’s classes were in danger of being shut down again because they were held in the park, the Malviya Trust contacted her and offered to help.

Thanks to their support, Vimla’s school now has a building with four rooms where she teaches students up to Class 2.

All the services provided to the students are free of cost and Vimla, along with her husband, has managed to sustain the school with help from donations from friends and family.

“It was so difficult. We were a retired couple. We had no money. But we didn’t want to stop doing what we were doing just because of lack of finances. We kept managing somehow and, thankfully, we now have an organization supporting us,” she says.

Thanks to Vimla’s intervention, there has been a remarkable change in the attitude of the kids. They are more active and confident now. They also participate in summer camps and extra curricular activities like dance.

For children who had never even seen a school and had no hope of getting an education, Vimla’s efforts are no less than a blessing.

In the future, Vimla wants to reach out to more students and construct a school building to cater to the needs of students of higher classes as well.

“These children are very talented. They just need support and guidance. If they are given the same opportunities and facilities like mainstream kids, they too can do wonders,” she says.

Vimla is 80 now and her determination to make a difference in her environment is still as strong as it was 20 years ago. If you want to support her cause, you can either help financially or volunteer at her school.

To know more, contact her at – hari.vimla.kaul@gmail.com

Source…….Shreya Pareek…www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

Origin of the Phrase …” Run Amok “….

September 8, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

If like me, you ever found yourself using the phrase “run amok” and began wondering, “What’s an ‘amok’?” look no further, because here’s your answer.

For those not familiar, today the phrase “run amok” (also spelled “amuck”) is often used to describe such things as children making a mess while they run around and play or the like. Classically, though, it more resembled the modern phrase “going postal” or someone who just snaps for various reasons and goes on a murderous rampage, very similar to what is depicted in the Michael Douglas’ film, Falling Down.

One false etymology of “run amok” derives from sailors running a ship aground, literally running the ship into “muck”. This isn’t where the word came from. The English word most directly comes from the Malay “amuck” (also spelled amuk, and amuco) more or less meaning “attacking furiously” or “attacking with uncontrollable rage” or more aptly “homicidal mania”.

Some theorize this Malay word may have Indian origins or be from the name of a group of professional assassins in Malabar, the “Amuco”. Others theorize that it came from the Malay word “amar”, meaning “fight”, specifically via “Amar-khan”, which was a certain type of warrior. Yet another theory is that the Malay “amuck” ultimately comes from the Sanskrit “amokshya”, meaning “that cannot be loosed”.

Whatever the case, “amok” first popped up in English around the 16th century, associated with the people of Malaysia and Java, first described in the 1516 text The Book of Duarte Barbosa: An Account of the Countries Bordering on the Indian Ocean and Their Inhabitants]:

There are some of them [the Javanese] who go out into the streets, and kill as many persons as they meet. These are called Amuco.

The phrase “run amok” was partially popularized by Captain James Cook in 1772. From Cook’s book:

To run amock is to get drunk with opium… to sally forth from the house, kill the person or persons supposed to have injured the Amock, and any other person that attempts to impede his passage… indiscriminately killing and maiming villagers and animals in a frenzied attack.

In the Malay culture at the time, some believed the state of amok was caused by an evil spirit, “hantu belia”, entering the body of a person, who would then run amok, attacking and attempting to kill anyone they came across, only to recover later and return to normal, if they weren’t killed first. Because it was thought an evil spirit caused this, rather than the person doing it of their own free will, punishments for someone who ran amok and survived were typically light or even non-existent, with the person sometimes getting off scot-free.

However, usually the person would be killed while running amok and some speculate this was generally the point of doing this as people who ran amok were and are often those who suddenly experience great trauma in their life, like the death of several loved ones or the loss of the ability to provide for themselves or their family. So basically, the person wants to die, but doesn’t want to commit suicide directly, so goes on a murderous rampage until someone kills them. Even today, this sort of thing can be seen in the news practically every day where someone is really just attempting “death by cop”, going on a rampage until the police manage to kill them.

Source….www.todayifoundout.com

Natarajan

Message for the Day… ” Truth is Divine and Eternal…”

September 8, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

To every being born on earth, Truth is the visible manifestation of God. The entire cosmos composed of moving and immovable objects has emerged from Truth, is sustained by Truth and merges in Truth. Truth is Divine and eternal (Sathyam-Jnanam-Anantham Brahma). Hence everyone must revere Truth. Sathya and Dharma (truth and righteousness) will not submit to anyone. Every kind of strength, physical or otherwise, will have to come under their sway. Success follows Sathya and Dharma. Whatever be your scholarship or position, you have to cultivate respect for human values. ProtectSathya and Dharma always. What students and people must safeguard is not merely nations, but Sathya and Dharma. In turn these values will protect the Universe. Educated persons, who in the name of countries are giving up truth and right conduct, are actually undermining the human civilization. It is more vital to cultivate virtues than go after scholarship or other worldly riches and possessions of transient nature.

Why a Government School in Rural Chhattisgarh Can Change the Way Schools Are Run All over India…

September 7, 2015September 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Anusuya Jain, the highly dedicated 51-year old headmistress of Government Primary School in Motwada, Chhattisgarh has introduced some great ideas to ensure higher participation and lower lower drop out rates in the school. Here’s more on the success story.

As far as schools go, the Government Primary School in Motwada village in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, is innovative, unusual, progressive, and inclusive. That’s a whole lot of adjectives to describe a learning institution located in the otherwise violence-affected and poverty-ridden North Bastar region but then the amazing work being done here by Headmistress Anusuya Jain, 51, and two other committed women teachers simply cannot go unnoticed.

From the impeccable, landscaped grounds to the neat and clean building to the cheerful classrooms, the school has indeed created a reputation for being a model institution.

$The Government Primary School in Motwada village in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, brings a wave of fresh change as women teachers and a committed headmistress make learning fun for students here. (Credit: Purusottam Singh Thakur\WFS)$

The Government Primary School in Motwada village in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, brings a wave of fresh change as women teachers and a committed headmistress make learning fun for students here. (Credit: Purusottam Singh Thakur\WFS) –

“And not just the facilities, but the informal environment and interactive lessons encourage local children to come to school regularly, which is a definite change from the usual absenteeism and high drop out rates among government run institutions,” points out Jain proudly.

At the Government Primary School in Motwada, classroom learning certainly takes on a whole new meaning. Instead of the customary chairs and tables, students and teachers sit together on the floor, interact with each other as equals and there is a concerted effort towards making lessons fun and informative for the young ones.

Besides the classes, the modest campus, too, is lively and filled with creative artwork, alphabets, numbers and stories painted on the walls.

“We apply the Multi Grade Multi Level (MGML) teaching method here, which enables children to enjoy their class work and also develop confidence in their abilities. These are small children from the village and to engage directly with them and make them comfortable we sit with them on the floor like their parents do at home,” she explains.

It was in 2007-08 that MGML was introduced on a pilot basis in select government schools in the district with an idea to improve the quality of education and the learning abilities of the children.

$Instead of the customary chairs and tables, students and teachers at the Government Primary School in Motwada, sit together on the floor, interact with each other as equals and there is a concerted effort towards making lessons fun and informative for the young ones. (Credit: Purusottam Singh Thakur\WFS)$

Instead of the customary chairs and tables, students and teachers at the Government Primary School in Motwada, sit together on the floor, interact with each other as equals and there is a concerted effort towards making lessons fun and informative for the young ones. (Credit: Purusottam Singh Thakur\WFS) –

Under the MGML method, student groups are created as per their existing knowledge and learning capacities and then they are promoted once they master a level.

Although, unfortunately, due to the lack of teaching materials and proper training, this programme has now been discontinued, the school in Motwada, which was one of the first ones to be chosen for the experiment, has been able to continue the good work.

When Jain, a mother of two grown-up sons, had come to Motwada five years back, things were being done quite differently. “Whereas children were coming to school, it was not the inviting and stimulating place it should be. Moreover, there was no involvement of the parents in either the running of the school or what was being taught to their children. A School Management Committee (SMC) was in place but it was inactive,” she recalls.

For starters, Jain decided to do a small survey of the village to gather data, like the number of families, what they did for a living, the educational qualification of the parents, and so on. With the assistance of her colleagues and a few members of the SMC she embarked upon this mission to better understand the mindset of the parents as well as their living conditions.

Her findings were definitely enlightening – no one in the village had studied beyond Class 10 and most of the teenagers and elders were employed as daily wage farm labourers.

But while their day-to-day life was tough, most harboured dreams of a better life for their children. “That attitude and hope is what has brought about the transformation. Right at the onset, I called a meeting of the parents and told them: ‘Do you want your children to become labourers? If not, then you have to pay attention to what your children are doing and play a part in the working of the village school’. The revival of the SMC has given a great boost to our work,” shares Jain.

Truly, the 16-member SMC, of which 14 are women, is functioning in tandem with the school authorities. It’s not uncommon for Committee President Godavari Yadav and her deputy, Sabita Yadav, to drop by the campus to discuss the progress of the children, get an honest feedback from the teachers and even talk about any pertinent administrative issues that may need to be addressed.

Elaborates Godavari, “We have learnt a lot by interacting with Anusuya didi. We have understood the value of good quality education and also know that as parents we need to be involved in the functioning of the school. After all, our cooperation can facilitate the teachers to give our children a better learning experience.”

Apart from that, these days, most mothers, including Godavari and Sabita, are keen on sitting with their children as they do their home assignments.

$Headmistress Anusuya Jain has generously shared her time and tapped into years of experience to ensure that the school delivers on the promise of quality learning and also make Motwada a better place to live. (Credit: Purusottam Singh Thakur\WFS)$

Headmistress Anusuya Jain has generously shared her time and tapped into years of experience to ensure that the school delivers on the promise of quality learning and also make Motwada a better place to live. (Credit: Purusottam Singh Thakur\WFS) –

On their part, villagers like Ramkumar Kuldeep are quick to acknowledge her contribution, “Madam has transformed the school and has even enthused our children to work hard and do well. Her dedicated approach is appreciated by everyone in the village.”

“Anusuya didi has motivated us to sit with our kids while they are reading and doing their studies. Even if we don’t really understand what they are saying or writing, our attention eggs them to perform better and we, in turn, learn something new,” says Godavari.

Of course, the synergy between the school and the villagers has gone beyond dealing with matters of education. The SMC and the panchayat members seek Jain’s opinion and advice on tackling other issues as well.

Ramkumar Kuldeep, who is a member of the SMC, reveals, “Everyone is of the unanimous view that Anusuya madam and the other teachers are our well wishers and can provide sound guidance on a variety of issues. Just recently, when there was a proposal before the panchayat to merge Motwada into the Kanker Municipality, we were not sure what this would mean for our the village, whether it was a beneficial move. After we came together and consulted with her we decided to reject the proposal and went confidently to the District Collector. Anusuya madam is always ready to talk to us and share her personal point of view. We can take our personal problems to her, too.”

Be it information on maintaining good health and hygiene or how to support children in their education or learning the right social etiquette, Jain is at hand to show them the way. She vividly recalls how she patiently taught her students the value of cleanliness and the merits of keeping the school grounds neat – something that has had a ripple effect in the entire village.

“Today, our campus is green and we have planted a variety of colourful flowers and plants. No one plucks flowers or litters in the garden. Earlier, this was not the case. Parents used to ask their children to pick flowers to offer in the temple. So I decided to tell students to take saplings and plant them at home. Once they had their own flowers they stopped plucking. One has to think of easy, workable solutions instead of dwelling on the problems,” smiles Jain.

The first one to come everyday and the last one to leave, Jain has generously shared her time and tapped into years of experience to ensure that the school delivers on the promise of quality learning and also make Motwada a better place to live.

It was a decade ago that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) had created a revised National Curriculum Framework (NCF) with the express idea of building a schooling system that would reduce children’s burden and, at the same time, facilitate learning. The Government Primary School in Motwada is among the few schools that have been able to realise this goal.

Written by Purusottam Singh Thakur for Women’s Feature Service (WFS) and republished here in arrangement with WFS

Source….www.thebetterindia.com

Natarajan

Image of the Day….NIght Sky Over Tibet….

September 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Night skies over Tibet

High above sea level – and far from light pollution – Tibet offers one of the most breathtaking night skies in the world. A collection of photos by Jeff Dai.

Riding the roof of the world. A lone motorcycle approaches Mount Everest’s Base Camp from the Chinese side. Above the snow- and ice-flanked Himalayas, the yellow-red star Antares at the Scorpion’s heart rises at left; to its right the stars of Centaurus shine their blue light over the top of the world. Photo by Jeff Dai. View larger and read more.

Jeff Dai wrote to EarthSky from Tibet:

When I first visited the Tibetan Himalayas last year, the stunning night sky and fantastic experience deeply attracted me. So I decide to live in Lhasa [Tibet’s capital city], and have a plan to capture all the Himalayas including Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan … at night.

Lake Manasarovar at night. Looking south across the lake, an unusual moon pillar that dominates the right part of the image. On the left is a flash of lighting appears over Mount Gurla Mandhata (7,694 meters, or 25,000 feet) in the far distance. Just above this pink lightning is the bright central bulge of the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius and Scorpius. Photo by Jeff Dai. View larger and read more.

Bottom line: High above sea level – and far from light pollution – Tibet offers one of the most breathtaking night skies in the world. A collection of photos by Jeff Dai.

Visit Jeff Dai on Facebook

Source….www.earhsky.org

Natarajan

This 12-Year-Old Indian Origin Girl Scored More than Einstein and Hawking in IQ Test …..

September 6, 2015September 6, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Lydia Sebastian is just 12, but she has already achieved something that hardly one percent of the people in the world can get. She has scored the highest possible points in the famous Mensa IQ test and has beaten the scores of geniuses like Einstein and Hawking.

When it comes to IQ and intelligence, we cannot skip talking about Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. But would you believe if we told you that a 12-year-old girl has beaten their IQ test scores?

Meet Lydia Sebastian, a 12-year-old Indian-origin girl from Langham, United Kingdom. She has attained a score of 162 points in the renowned mental agility test conducted by Mensa, the largest and oldest society for people with high IQs.

This is the highest score possible in the test. With this achievement, Lydia has beaten geniuses like Einstein and Hawking who had scored 160 points.

Photo: Twitter

Hailing from Kerala in India, Lydia had an interest in reading since a very young age and has always been a quick learner. When she was just a few years old, she started reading books that were meant for children several years older than her. She also started talking when she was just six months old. Not only this, she started playing violin since a tender age of four.

A student of Colchester County High School, Lydia took a year to prepare for the test and called it “easy”.

Her incredible score has put her in the top one percent of people with such high IQs. She is now applying for the membership of Mensa which is restricted to only those people whose IQ test scores are within the top two percent of all the tests.

Source……Shreya Pareek…….www.thebetterindia.com

Natarajan