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In Mumbai, Taxis Are Transforming Into Works of Art….

October 13, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The Taxi Fabric project gives local designers a new vehicle to show off their work.

The bright pink interior of this taxi, by artist Pranita Kocharekar, reflects the diversity of Mumbai.(Taxi Fabric)

When you hop into a taxi, there isn’t usually much to look at except out the window. But one graphic designer wants to change that by turning cabs in Mumbai into canvasses for emerging artists.

Sanket Avlani is the founder of Taxi Fabric, a project that has already turned seven of the city’s 50,000-plus taxicabs into works of arts. The interior of each taxi, from the ceiling and doors to the seats, has been specially designed by local Mumbai designers, and the designs themselves are inspired by India’s most populous city.

Take the latest taxi to get Taxi Fabric’s special treatment—the design, by 25-year-old typographer and designer Pavithra Dikshit, features jasmine flowers, peppers, and lemons against an eye-popping green background. Called “Urban Garden,” it’s Dikshit’s way of paying homage to Mumbai’s disappearing green space.

“As a fast-growing metropolis, it has building and buildings coming up in every space,” says Dikshit. “The green color is shrinking, so I wanted my taxi to show to all the green things around you.”

Other designs were inspired the daily life of a Mumbaikar—the different people you meet on the streets, from businessmen to children to vegetable vendors; and the personal stories of the cab drivers themselves.

Mumbai has a relatively small design community and an even smaller appreciation for the profession, says Avlani, who grew up in Mumbai and now works in London. “The design world is very small there, and most of the designers know each other,” he says. “If you wish to study design in India, not many people would understand or encourage it as much as they would in Europe or the United States.”

His hope is that the project will help spark conversation about the designs between taxi drivers and passengers. For Avlani, the iconic black-and-yellow taxis are the perfect medium because they’re everywhere.

”It’s so easy for people taking those taxis to react to those designs if the stories they tell are those that they recognize,” Avlani says. “If even the driver gets excited about it, it’s a win-win for everybody.”

As funding continues to trickle in from Taxi Fabric’s Kickstarter campaign, which runs until August 10, Avlani and his team hope to give at least 20 more cabs a special makeover by the end of the year.

Young designers and students who want to participate can submit a portfolioto the Taxi Fabric team, who will then select artists to work with. “We gauge if the designer can handle a project like this and if they can bring something new, and if the have their own style,” he says. Once accepted, artists will work with the team and, in some cases, cab drivers who want to be part of the program, to come up with a unique design.

The concept itself isn’t entirely new. It’s common for taxi drivers in Mumbai to customized their cars with colorful seat covers, eye-popping window decorations, lights, and little trinkets on the dashboard. “The taxi is like a desk at work. They spend their whole day in it so for them, it has to look interesting,”says Dikshit. “They don’t think that it attracts extra customers or anything, but it makes themselves feel good about spending [time] in it daily.”

But the bright pink, vibrant blue, and lively green colors that Taxi Fabric designers bring to cabs are a big step up from what drivers typically choose for their interior. Many drivers, Dikshit says, just go with fabric that’s already available at textile markets. “They’re very dull in color, like brown and maroon,” she says. “That’s how it’s always been, and nobody has the time to think about, ‘What if [the seat] is yellow?’”

Boring fabric doesn’t generate conversation, which Dikshit sees as a missed opportunity. “The drivers have their own stories, and they’re happy to discuss everything from politics to religion to traffic, to who they are as people,” she says. “You can almost consider them an extended part of the city landscape.”

A design by Taxi Fabric creator Sanket Avlani pays homage to “dawaballas,” who deliver hundreds of thousands of hot lunches across the city every day. (Taxi Fabric)

Artist Lokesh Karekar went for a minimalist design inspired by the 1980s. (Taxi Fabric)

Guarav Ogale wanted his design to reflect the life of the taxi’s driver. (Taxi Fabric)

Source…..Linda Poon ….www.citylab.com

Natarajan

China Rolls Out the ‘World’s First Driverless Bus’…….

October 13, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Not sure why there’s a driver right there, though.!!!

Notice anything odd about this bus tooling along a highway in China’s Henan Province?

Yutong

Look again. The dude behind the wheel is stretching his arms up like he’s dunking on someone—perhaps the execs at Google and Apple, as this thing is the “world’s first driverless bus,” according to manufacturer Yutong.

While tech companies in America have focused on personal automated cars, China has gone big with what could be the beginning of mass, unmanned bus transit. The spacious vehicle, unveiled at the end of August after three years of development, recently managed a 20-mile trip through the crowded city of Zhengzhou without crashing into other motorists or bursting into flames. That same driver stayed behind the wheel, true, but maybe as technology progresses he’ll be replaced with a Johnny-Cab robot.

The bus maneuvers with the help of cameras, laser radars, and a master controller that tells it to go faster and stop at signals. Yutong says in a press release it masterfully handled the road during one of its test drives:

With a distance of 32.6 km, the intercity road from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng has 26 traffic lights in total. Despite this and busy traffic, Yutong driverless bus successfully completed a series of highly complex driving acts, such as automatic lane change, overtake, and responding traffic lights. Without any human assistance, the bus arrived at its destination with its highest speed reaching 68 km/h (42 mph). According to some experts, the much improved active safety standard is the biggest advantage of unmanned vehicles as they are very likely to eliminate all kinds of traffic accidents.

The manufacturer also says the bus has an efficient driving style—one “that can only be attained by years of experience of an attentive and careful driver”—that will reduce energy waste and thus make the ride environmentally friendly. The company plans to put it through more tests, including running it on race lanes, before proceeding with real-world applications.

A reporting crew with RT took a spin on the bus last week. Have a look at the view from the front seat:

Source….

JOHN METCALFE in
http://www.citylab.com

Natarajan

India’s tech capital is being accosted by toxic foam….

October 13, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Strange, puffy, dense clouds are descending on the streets of Bangalore, India’s technology capital. While whimsical-looking, they are actually puffs of a toxic foam inundating the city.

Documentary photographer Debasish Ghosh has captured images of the clouds floating around the city and overrunning the roads. The foam comes from Bellandur, a 1.4-square-mile lake that for years has been polluted by chemical and sewage waste. Every time it rains, the lake rises and wind lifts the froth up and carries it into the city.

A pedestrian walks among clouds of toxic foam in Bangalore, India.

The toxic foam gets in the way of pedestrians and cars, creating awful traffic jams. It carries a stench so strong that it burns the nose. And if it comes into contact with your skin, you’ll get an itchy rash.

“It causes a nuisance,” Ghosh says.

Making matters worse, the froth is flammable. In May and June, the entire lake caught fire, leaving a 56-year-old man who was standing on a bridge above the lake with a ruptured cornea.

The froth has come every summer for more more than a decade now, but Ghosh says that this year is particularly bad. He’s been documenting the pollution since May, making sure to immediately clean his arms, hands, and face any time he gets too close.

Debasish Ghosh When it rains, the froth rises up and gets carried into the city by winds.

Officials try to “hose” down the lake, using water to keep the foam from rising.

Residents in the area have filed numerous complaints to the city, according to Ghosh, but the government has done little to remedy the situation. Ghosh says since his photos were firstpublished by the BBC, the government has paid a bit more attention, but still not enough. For now, city officials try to keep the foam down whenever it rains by pumping water into the lake. “What happens is the water [mixes with] the foam at a high speed, and it disintegrates and doesn’t rise up,” says Ghosh. “That’s how they are controlling it at this point in time, so it doesn’t fall on people.”

Actually cleaning up Bellandur and other polluted lakes won’t be easy. Once known for being the home of nearly a thousand lakes, Bangalore has become known as the “land of a thousand sewage tanks,” instead. Today, after years of urbanization, only about 150 lakes still exist, according to the Deccan Herald.The rest are either used as garbage dumps or, when they dry up, filled in and put up for grabs.

“There’s so much pollution that it will take lots of time and lots of investment to bring this lake back to normal,” he says. “To what it was maybe two decades ago, when people say there would still be migratory birds in there.”

Source….

LINDA POON in http://www.citylab.com

http://www.businessinsider.com

Natarajan

Term of the Day….’Pervasive ‘…..

October 12, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

TERM OF THE DAY

“PERVASIVE”

Widespread, literally or figuratively. For example, agile software development has become pervasive in the technology industry, and a school of thought can be pervasive amongst agroup of people.

Use pervasive in a sentence

The power of money has become pervasive in today’s business world, which can unfortunately contribute to unethical decisions.\
The use of performance enhancing drugs in Mixed Martial Arts is pervasive, almost every club has a fighter getting busted for it in tests.
The knowledge that health and nutrition are closely linked has become pervasive; consequently people are eating healthier and enjoying better physical and mental health.
Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com

Source…..www.businessdictionary.com

Natarajan

Indian Bus Conductor Abasaheb Gaikwad Wins 3 Gold Medals at Australian Master Games….

October 12, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Abasaheb Gaikwad won three gold medals at the Australian Master Games in discus throw, hammer throw and shot put events. Here’s how he reached this stage of success.

35-year-old Abasaheb Gaikwad, a bus conductor from Shetjale village in Sangli, Maharashtra, has made India proud by winning three gold medals at the Australian Master Games, which were held in Adelaide.

Abasaheb broke his own records from the past, and bagged three gold medals in different games – discus throw, hammer throw and shot put.

Source: Facebook

He had participated in the 30-35 age group category, and won by beating players from at least seven countries.

But success for Abasaheb did not come in one day. He prepared for the the games while working full time, and training himself without any coach. He has been able to reach this stage because of a lot of hard work, dedication, and the help of many people associated with him.

As the cost of the tour is very high, his employers at Maharashtra State Regional Transport Corporation (MSRTC), friends, family members and well-wishers, pitched in and helped him in gathering funds. Back home, when he was preparing for the games, his senior officials from MSRTC shifted him to internal duty and used to send him to trips only when they were close to the depot, so he could make time for practice. Because of the lack of sports facilities in Sangli, his friends also helped him during practice sessions.

“Before embarking on the trip Down Under, I had to go through a qualifying round in Mumbai, where I performed outstandingly and got chosen for the tour…My friends and colleagues helped me a lot, both in terms of gathering funds and preparing for the tournament. The cost of the tour is huge. Everyone collected a sum of Rs 2.5 lakh” he told The Pune Mirror.

Australian Masters Games is a biennial, multi-sport event. It covers more than 50 sports, and sportsmen aged over 30 years are allowed to participate from across the world. The 15th Australian Masters Games took place from October 3-10, 2015.

After participating in many district, state and national level championships, this self-taught athlete had also won two gold medals in javelin and discus throw at the Torino International Masters Games, held in Turin, Italy, in 2013.

Source….Tanaya Singh….www.thebetterindia.com

Natarajan

Why Did Late President APJ Abdul Kalam Call Siddharth a Friend…?

October 12, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Siddharth GJ is a motivational speaker, a father, a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist, and a friend of the late President APJ Abdul Kalam. He also has cerebral palsy. Siddharth’s journey has been, expectedly, full of challenges, but is nothing short of inspirational given all that he has achieved because of his determination and strong will.

How often does it happen that the President of India calls you his friend? That he can spot you in a crowd of thousands of people and talks about you in his many motivational speeches. This may be a dream for most of us but for Siddharth GJ it was a proud moment when the late President referred to him as a friend.

Siddharth has cerebral palsy. But he never let this come in the way of his succeeding at whatever he set his mind to. He excelled academically, found an intellectually challenging job, and also became a motivational speaker delivering over a hundred talks.

Kalam and Siddharth shared a great bond after their first meeting at Chennai airport. –

President Kalam read an article on Siddharth on an online portal that talked about Siddharth’s medical condition and how he overcame all the challenges to succeed in his life. Impressed by Siddharth’s resolve and perseverance, the President wrote to him and expressed a desire to meet him. They finally met at Chennai airport in December 2005.

“I still remember the day. It was December 2, 2005. My life changed after that. I made him a small presentation on issues faced by people with disabilities. He even talked about that at a conference, which gave me huge recognition. I will never forget my meeting with him. I was mesmerized by his presence,” Siddharth recalls.

President Kalam was so bowled over by Siddharth’s work that he talked about him at the inaugural speech of the First International and the Ninth Annual Conference of the Indian Academy of Cerebral Palsy.

Their bond grew stronger and they kept in touch and met a few more times. Siddharth recalls another incident when he had gone to attend a talk by President Kalam in Chennai. The President recognised his ‘friend’ from the stage and broke protocol to come and meet Siddharth in the crowd.

“I loved meeting him because he did not make me feel that I was different. He treated me like a regular person. Often, people confuse cerebral palsy with mental illness. Which is so untrue because it is just a condition where the body and mind do not coordinate with each other. This affects the body posture and the way I behave. It has nothing to do with my intelligence,” says Siddharth.

Siddharth had jaundice when he was just three months old. His parents, who were simple villagers, did not realize the seriousness of the disease. The delay in treatment left Siddharth with the condition which makes him ‘different’ from others.

Siddharth (R) has always found a happier way to fight challenges

“The news shattered everyone in the family but they were so supportive. They never let me feel that I was any less. They would treat me exactly the way they would treat my sister. If she got a scolding, so would I,” he recalls.

The couple knew that Siddharth might not be as well co-ordinated as other kids of his age but he was as intelligent as any ‘normal’ child.

“It was not until I turned eight that I stepped into a school. Then, gradually, teachers saw my capabilities and gave me double promotions. I excelled in my studies and cleared my 12^th exam with 90 percent marks in spite of having a scribe who barely knew English. I had to work very hard to explain to him what I wanted to convey. I could not score more because my scribe was not allowed to do the practical exam and draw diagrams,” says Siddharth.

He then finished his Master’s in Economics and excelled in that as well. He was now eager to enter a new world where he could work and become financially independent.

But this was just the start of the struggle Siddharth had to face because he encountered challenges and rejections at every step.

Many companies dismissed his job applications in spite of his incredible academic background. “They thought I would not be able to perform well under pressure. They just judged my abilities without even testing me. I was hurt and disappointed,” says Siddharth.

The rejections continued for several years and then a positive change came into his life when he got his first job in 2005 with ABN AMRO Central Enterprises Services Pvt. Ltd., as an officer trainee in the bank’s document checking section.

“That moment I felt that all my tears and hard work have paid off. All the pain and struggle were a thing of the past and I was full of new energy, hope and passion. I was proud because I got a job due to my capabilities and on my terms,” he recalls.

But this wasn’t the end of his journey. It was, rather, a new beginning. His life took a complete turn when he became a Tedx speaker in Chennai and, since then, he has never looked back.

“I spoke in front of an audience of over 250 people and they gave me a standing ovation. It felt so great to share my experiences and, since then, I have been giving many motivational talks at various platforms and inspiring people to live a more positive life,” he says.

He currently works with IndusInd Bank Ltd., as manager. In fact, he is the first person in the country with cerebral palsy to be a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist. –

A Certified Documentary Credit Specialist is a professional who demonstrates a high level of practical knowledge and understanding of the complex issues associated with documentary credit practice, which is a set of rules on the issuance and use of letters of credit (a document from a bank guaranteeing that a seller will receive payment in full as long as certain delivery conditions have been met).

He met a beautiful girl and says he experienced “love at first sight.” He is happily married to her and has a toddler boy. “I see myself in my son. He runs around the house and I live my childhood through him as I could not do so,” he says.

“I can’t thank my mother and my sister enough for their support. Sometimes, after continuous rejection, I would be very rude to them but they always supported me and showed me the right path. They would go out of their way to make me feel loved and accepted. The day when I came out of denial, I became a calmer person and pursued my life in a better way,” he says.

Siddharth’s story is one of struggle but also of love and support from the family helping him defeat hardships. He has not just overcome hurdles in his own life but is also, with his inspirational talks, helping others with disabilities live a more positive life today.

Here’s one of his most inspirational talks –

All pics: siddharthjayakumar.com

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

Natarajan

“Aachi” Manorama’s Last Speech at a public Function….Watch this Video Clip…

October 12, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Source….www.youtube.com

Natarajan

Message for the Day…” Reflect over your entity well and discover who “You “are …”

October 11, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The same person is king to his subjects, son to his parents, enemy to his enemies, husband to his wife, and father to his son. He plays many roles. Yet, if you ask him who he is, he would be wrong if he gave any of these relationships as his distinctive mark, for these marks pertain to physical relationship or activities. They denote physical kinships or professional relationships; they are names attached to temporary statuses. Nor can he reply that he is the head, the feet, the hands, etc., for they are but the limbs of the physical form. He is more real than all the limbs, and is infact beyond all names and forms which are falsities that hide the basic Brahman; he is known as ‘I’. Reflect over that entity well and discover who that ‘I’ really is. When it is so hard to analyse and understand your own entity, how can you pronounce judgement on other entities with any definiteness?

Ever Wondered How Astronauts Get Into Their Spacesuits….?

October 11, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

photo credit: brownpau/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

It turns out it’s even harder to get into a spacesuit than getting into a pair of skinny jeans after a few drinks.

NASA has released a video of astronaut Peggy Whitson putting on her spacesuit before an underwater training session. The video was filmed earlier this summer at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It’s fairly understandable that it’s a bit of a pain to put on when you appreciate the amount of equipment it has to hold. Essentially acting as a one-man spaceship, it has multiple layers of insulation, oxygen supplies, a power supply, communication equipment, and even an emergency propulsion system.

Source….www.iflscience.com

Natarajan

NASA Release Six Incredible Images From Their Chandra Archives….

October 11, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

photo credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory awaiting deployment from the Space Shuttle Columbia. NASA

In celebration of American Archive Month, NASA has released six mind-blowing images from the Chandra archive.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched and deployed from Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999. Since then, it has collected data on thousands of cosmic objects such as pulsars, supernovae, interstellar gas clouds, and galaxies. NASA hopes that by releasing these images to the public and scientific community, it will inspire new perspectives and serve as inspiration for future exploration.

The images can take hours, and in some instances days, to capture. They are imaged using a combination of light waves, X-rays, and radio waves.

Below is W44, also known as G34.7-0.4, which is an expanding supernova remnant that is interacting with the dense cosmic material surrounding it.

^{Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Georgia/R.Shelton & NASA/CXC/GSFC/R.Petre; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech}

Next is SN 1987A, the brightest and nearest supernova to Earth in the last century. This image shows the result of the supernova explosion, which occurs when a star runs out of fuel and then hurls layers of itself out into space.

^{Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PUS/E.Helder et al; Optical: NASA/STScI}

Below is Kesteven 79, another remnant of a supernova explosion. This one, however, occurred thousands of years ago.

^{Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/F.Seward et al, Optical: DSS}

Next is MS 0735.6+7421, a galaxy cluster where one of the most powerful eruptions ever observed by humanity was seen.

^{Image credit: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Waterloo/A.Vantyghem et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NRAO/VLA}

Here, we see the galaxy cluster 3C295. The pink area is superheated gas and the yellow regions are individual galaxies. Galaxy clusters like this contain huge amounts of dark matter, which hold the hot gas (pink) and galaxies (yellow) together.

^{Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Cambridge/S.Allen et al; Optical: NASA/STScI}

Last but not least is the “Guitar Nebula,” containing a pulsar officially called B2224+65. This pulsar is traveling at an extremely high speed of approximately 800 kilometers (500 miles) per second.

^{Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/S.Johnson et al, Optical: NASA/STScI & Palomar Observatory 5-m Hale Telescope}

Check out NASA’s website for more details on each image.

Source….Tom Hale in http://www.iflscience.com and http://www.businessinsider.com.au

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