Dangerous Dosti... .

Main ghar late aaya to Dad ne
poochha:"kaha the janab?".
Maine kaha:"Friend ke ghar tha...".
...
Dad ne mere hi saamne mere 10
friends ko call ki?.
4 ne kaha:"Haan Uncle, yahin par
tha...";).
2 ne kaha:"Abhi just nikla hai...":-|.
3 ne kaha:"Yahin hai Uncle, parh
raha hai, phone dun kya?":p.
1 kamine ne toh hadd hi kar di,
kaha:"Haan Papa bolo kya
hua...!!!":O
Dost zindabaad!!!!!!

India shodhyatra: Mapping creative techno minds

Thousands of students belonging to arts, commerce, science and technology must be planning an engagement with their dreams in the summer of 2011.

I hope I can persuade some of them to take a week or two out if not months to understand the creative spirit in the rural and urban informal sector as well as among the MSME. Some of the industrial clusters have invited students for summer industrial shodhyatra.

Technical universities in Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan have taken lot of interest in joining hands with techpedia.in, a SRISTI initiative to bring students, faculty and micro and small industries as well as informal enterprises closer.Let me share my expectations about what we can accomplish during the shodhyatras.

Shodhyatra is a serious effort to embark upon internal and external journeys. We know the date of beginning and ending of any external journey. But, do we know these dates of the inner journey?

The journey within is no less important. Each traveller or seeker of authentic knowledge has to determine oneself what questions to ask and how deep to go to seek their answers.

The parameters of authenticity in any life journey can't be different, whether for urban or rural areas. It would not be prudent to trivialise such a quest or a journey.

Let us assume that 500 students in groups of 50 each or less want to embark upon a shodhyatra in 10 different clusters. These could be clusters of small scale manufacturers, fabricators, weavers, leather workers, chemical formulators or garment manufacturers.

Depending upon each location, the nature and distribution of clusters will vary. A small group ought to contact the units or entrepreneurs in advance and seek their consent for visiting them in group to learn from them and their workers.

Homework should be done to know national and international benchmarks whether with respect to energy use or waste production or efficiency or innovations in respective sector or sub-sectors.

On the appointed day, students can begin the journey with a humble spirit, deep curiosity and a strong desire to listen and observe.

They can go on bicycles or on foot as they prefer. The idea is not to just go from one unit to another but also observe things on the way. Naturally, the waste disposal in the manner that it is, is bound to attract their attention.

They might collect samples of some of the items to take back to their colleges to do research on what can be done with these materials.


In each unit, students may seek the knowledge about current level of productivity, per unit energy intensity, waste production per lot, any innovation in design of machines, manufacturing process or even layout, the problems being faced, and anything else which entrepreneur wishes to share.

Sometimes, a practice of one unit might appear to be innovative for another unit. With the permission of the provider, whether the interesting practice can be shared with others, students can become honeybees and start doing cross-pollination.

If hundreds of thousands of students every summer go out into the hinterland, industrial clusters and villages, there is no way the mindset which promotes inertia, mediocrity and inefficiency can survive in India. The time to connect has come.

Creativity, collaboration and compassion will follow.

National Innovation Council: An Introduction

PM of India has constituted a National Innovation Council with distinguished members from various fields.

The NInC will seek to create a strategy for fostering innovations at the National, State and sectoral levels by focusing on five key parameters: Platform, Inclusion, Eco-system, Drivers and Discourse.

The aim will be to re-define innovations to go beyond formal R&D parameters; facilitate innovative solutions that lead to inclusive growth for the people and by the people; foster an innovation eco-system across domains and sectors to strengthen entrepreneurship; focus on key drivers to ensure sustainability, durability and quality and expand the space for dialogue and discourse on innovation.

NInC will also be involved in facilitating State level and sectoral innovations.

This will create an eco-system to boost innovation performance in the country.

Symptoms and signs of heart attack?

Symptoms and signs of heart attack may include the following:

Chest pain or discomfort that is crushing, like a heavy weight; or squeezing, like a tight band around the chest; or an ache in the center of the chest. The pain may radiate to the neck, jaw, shoulders, arms (especially the left arm), back, abdomen, face or teeth. The pain is persistent (longer than 15 minutes), and does not ease with rest. The pain is sometimes mistaken for indigestion.

Note that in some cases, heart attacks are painless:

Profuse sweating

Difficulty breathing

Feeling dizzy or light-headed

Nausea

Pale, clammy skin

The pulse may be fast or irregular

The person may suddenly collapse and lose consciousness

 

First aid for heart attack:

Encourage the person to sit still, with knees bent to ease strain on the heart.

Talk to him calmly and reassuringly, and loosen any tight clothing.

Monitor any changes in condition.

The person should take one aspirin with water (Unless he is allergic to or unable to take aspirin). Aspirin helps to prevent blood clotting.