Fundamatics

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  • The Six Intelligent Men at Kitzbuhel

    The Six Intelligent Men at Kitzbuhel

    Six world leaders hold an emergency summit at the Austrian Ski town to tackle an imminent economic meltdown.

    Six world leaders hold an emergency summit at the Austrian ski town, Kitzbuhel, to discuss how the ISIS crisis, oil, commodities and China’s slowdown could drown the world in 2016 unless they jointly did something. They ended up merely sharing some data to justify what each one was up to. The Indian PM Modi, on his way back gets his advisor to explain to journalists on board his aircraft, what all that data that he got at the summit, really means for the world and to India in particular. 2016 will be a tough and volatile year, in which oil prices will drop further. At some point however, oil price will creep up. Some parts of the world would be worse off than last year, especially OPEC, Russia, etc. Disturbances would affect Latin America. The ME could be a tinderbox that could send oil prices up again. China will be in transition, not likely to lose its global market share but some domestic market ‘explosions’ will keep China in the news and the global stock markets on tenterhooks. This will affect India’s bourses as well despite the Indian economy pulling upwards because FDI starts finally kicking in, inflation remains under control and fortunately, decent monsoons and low oil prices help Modi to keep the GDP a little above the 2015 rate despite fall in exports. Who will the winners and losers be? Will speculators exploit the vulnerability of the situation to trigger a crisis? Read on for more.caricature-of-6wise-men (more…)

  • English Vinglish

    English Vinglish

    I am Bankim Biswas and what I write is a lot of bunkum and wishwash.

    Once upon a time, there was a language named English language. It was an intellectual property of, and therefore under the ownership of the British Empire. The fact that the intellectual property and ownership words did not belong to the English language and were later day embellishments, inserted by takeover tycoons is another matter and the subject matter of this article, more on that later down the page. If you’re on the same page, that is. (more…)

  • CHEMPLAY – The Play-way Method to Introduce Chemistry

    Figure 1
    Figure 1

    Chemistry is one of the fundamental subjects introduced in Secondary and Higher Secondary School curriculum. The traditional way of teaching chemistry involves theoretical and visual tools. The experimental kits available focus more on the observations or the effects which at times fail to address the fundamentals. Moreover, unfortunately, the course content in standard texts is not well connected. High school students consider chemistry as one of the dry subjects which requires lot of cramming and memorizing. A play-way approach works best not only to address the fundamentals but to make the subject more interesting. Use of innovative, cost effective tools like board and card games can make the subject more interesting and easy to understand. Tata Centre for Technology and Design (TCTD), IIT Bombay, under the domain of ‘Education’ is working on a compendium of board and card games to make the teaching-learning process for Chemistry meaningful, well connected, and fascinating. The objective is not to replace the traditional teaching pedagogy but to complement it. The present focus is on standards VII and VIII where chemistry is introduced. A part of this compendium is a card game CHEMPLAY which addresses two important aspects of chemistry viz.: introduction to first twenty elements and formation of simple compounds. (more…)

  • Syria: What the Forest Tells Us

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    Image source: unsplash.com

    The situation in Syria is very complex and difficult to comprehend. An analysis of the country, region and global factors (beyond usual suspects of oil and arms industry) could help in drawing some lessons. For this, it would be useful to step back from the trees and observe the bigger picture of the forest. The resulting analysis is not prescriptive or critical, and given the complexities of the subject, no analysis can be comprehensive. (more…)

  • It Wasn’t Too Long Ago…

    It Wasn’t Too Long Ago…

    It wasn’t too long ago…
    That we met on a bright, sunny afternoon by the sea,
    Those beautiful lips breaking into ever-widening smiles,
    Those deep brown eyes drowning me in their merriment,
    The silence conveying more than any voice ever could… (more…)

  • Trek to Kuari Pass (The Curzon Trail)

    Trek to Kuari Pass (The Curzon Trail)

    September 21, 2002, Mumbai – New Delhi {The Journey}

    The twelve of us left by the Golden Temple Mail (10:20 pm, Mumbai Central). A group of climbers, attempting to scale the Kedar dome, were also on board. We intersected till Haridwar, where they took the high road.

    September 22, 2002

    The train journey took us through surprisingly verdant Rajasthan. Past Mathura, was fortunate enough to spot a pair of Sarus cranes (playing hookey from Bharatpur?), their maroon collars in sharp contrast to an otherwise grey plumage. The wire squatters – doves, rollers, drongos, etcetera, were visible throughout. As we neared Delhi, peacocks and peahens could be easily sighted. (more…)

  • I am a Positive Person

    man-under-smiley-tree-illustration-by-frits-ahlefeldt
    Image Source: Hiking Artist

    Our dining table was getting old, so my wife went and bought a new dining table. It was very nice. It had a very shiny, glossy surface and I would get immense pleasure just by looking at it. (more…)

  • A Day in the Kitchen

    Image Source: unsplash.com

    Once upon a time (I am told that if one begins a story with these words it becomes an instant success. I will test this hypothesis here) a young Bhatia family came to the U.S. in search of greener pastures. The time goes so far back that there were neither Indian restaurants nor any Indian grocery stores anywhere within 50 miles of where they lived. So, if they ever wanted to eat any Indian delicacies like samosas, Batata Vadas or pakoras, they had to be made at home by the people themselves. (more…)

  • JuNUun & RoSeS

    JuNUun & RoSeS

    Once upon a time, there was a universe called JuNUun. That’s because its inhabitants wreaked their junoon on anyone who was right. In the view of the JuNUunites, right was wrong and left was right. It was a sprawling green campus, though the inhabitants were mostly red. Most colours were permitted in this universe, but saffron and khakhi were a strict no-no. The red Kanhaiahs and the evergreen kanyas that abounded in this universe were poets of sorts. (more…)

  • Trek to Roopkund

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    Roopkund has an air of mystery associated with it. Many a folklore and tale are told about this glacial tarn which lies at 5020m, hidden below a ridge on the periphery of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in the Chamoli District of the Garhwal Himalayas. The lake is frozen almost throughout the year. In the lake lie some 300 corpses, well preserved due to the cold and clearly visible when the lake thaws. The bones have been dated to the 14th century AD.

    (more…)