Shaving - A Socially Retarded Custom

Do you really feel you got the job ‘coz you shaved the best out of all the other candidates? Why should we shave in the first place?

“Bhai, tere se pehle shave kar lu, date pe jana hai”. I had been waiting for my haircut at the salon for over half an hour when this gentleman pleaded to take my turn on the barber’s hot seat. I nodded an aye. Well his fifteen minutes on the chair seemed like an era while he was blabbering about his Valentine’s Day plans with the barber, till he accidently got a nick and was advised to STFU. I couldn’t help The-Sheldon-Cooper smirk [sic] on my face.

I wonder who was the Father of the socially retarded custom of Shaving! Why do we need to shave?

Men have always had the beard since prehistoric times, then a necessity but even after the advent of the razor, men continue to sport their facial hair with pride. However, the earliest popular figurine depicting a man with the clean shaven look was that of Alexander the Great. It is said that he had ordered his men to chop off their manly locks and shave so that they could avoid "dangerous beard-grabbing in combat". Though his conquests are said to have been halted by the Indian King Porus (Puru) who had the beard and Alexander mourned the death of Hephaestion, his closest friend, confidante and controversially his bi-sexual lover for the remaining days of his life. (Not generalizing otherwise, but why are most queer men clean shaven?)

Shaving was made compulsory among US troops during WWI due to the chemical warfare employed on the battlefield, the soldiers had to use gas masks. In order for a gas mask to fit properly, you need to be clean-shaven. Necessity gave way to this anti-economical and unnatural fashion. Well, Saddam has been hanged and I feel there no immediate threat to us as of now. Then why?

Bearded men have always seen as wise, mature and intellectual. The iconic image of Jesus with his shiny full beard, undoubtedly will always look cool. Ain’t it? Brahma, the Hindu god who is revered as the Creator of the Universe is portrayed with a flowing ivory beard. Some religions have a stringent approach which forbids men from shaving. Such individuals have been targeted in so called western countries with constant humiliation and even physical assault only because of their religious practice. Do we expect everyone with a beard hold a placard saying “I have a beard, and I’m not a terrorist!”

Leaving religion aside, how does ones appearance correlate to ones character? Some men may say clean shaven men look well groomed. In that case, women with long hair aren’t well groomed? Some say, it increases your self-confidence. Really? So, that’s the reason God endowed you with facial hair and women were spared.
Our visual media is bombarding us with images of metrosexuality for increasing the sale of their male cosmetic brands. Girls, I ask you. You really think that deodorant or the masculine soap increases his testosterone levels? A well groomed man is one who doesn’t pick his nose or embarrasses you by farting in public. A well groomed man will leave the mirror for you to put on your mascara. A well groomed man is one who wouldn’t waste the fifteen minutes on shaving but spend those precious fifteen minute, looking into your eyes and compliment you, and the money spent to buy you your favourite flowers. If you have found that man, he is a taker!

Happy Valentine’s Day folks.

Don’t forget to “Like” the post & do “Share” if you agree.

© Gaurav Ghosh (2014). Please do not reproduce without prior permission.

Digital “Feku” Age

Posting fake pictures as your Facebook display pic is fine, but how far can one go in this digital “feku” era just for the sake of “likes”.

A few days ago, one of my friend happened to post about the fake images of the Adlabs Imagica accident which took place on the 5th of February where 2 visitors sustained major injuries but some rumor mongers were spreading the news with images of 38 (some 49!) people dying at the ride. Factually it was only occupied by 8 people when the incident took place. Whether it’s a case of business rivalry or just some idle brain at work, fake images have seen regularly cropping up on social networking sites creating unnecessary controversies on the internet.

One of the first images I do remember seeing on the internet was the “Three-Headed King Cobra” found at some highway along the Western Ghats in India had left me flabbergasted. Some months after the image began circulating, yet another image appeared online, this time featuring the same Cobra with seven heads rather than just three. The new version used the same original image, but of course, is as equally fake as its predecessor.

However, shameful as I would say, some self righteous individual posted the fake image of the Nirbhaya Rape Case victim within hours of the incident coming into news. Even if we belief his intentions were right, he totally forgot about the girl whose images he actually posted. Facebook had got this photo removed on orders of the police department but the damage had already been done.

1. Fake photo of Nirbhaya. 2. Photo of the girl used to fake. 3. Fake video of Riots

People forget about the moral rights of the person involved in such cases, even if the pictures were true Section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code makes disclosure of identity of a victim in sexual assault cases a punishable offence, which restricts the media from making public the name or photograph of the rape victim.

Another ghastly incident was when one fake video ‘killing of Hindu youths by Muslim mob while they were protecting the honor of their sister’ was circulated through mobile phones and internet. The horrific video showed men in beards and traditional Muslim attire killing two youths mercilessly.

That disgusting video is originally from Pakistan of infamous 2010 killing of two brothers in Sialkot Punjab province by lynching mob who misidentified them as dacoits.

The video spread like wildfire and shared by many people, shockingly including local MLA from the region shared the video on his Facebook profile asking people to ‘see what is going on in Muzaffarnagar’, 500 local right wingers distributed it immediately (removed it now after a case was filed by the UP police) and fuelled the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar which claimed 43 lives and injured hundreds and countless people were forced to flee their homes.

This brings us to the actual underlining fact, are we really living in a technologically advanced era or simply on the verge of collapsing over any digital hoax. I would urge each person who reads this to think logically whenever they come across such “Photoshop-ed” news and “share” only what they think is right.

Do “share” this post and don’t forget to “like” if you agree.

Sources: wikipedia.org, hoax-slayer.com, dnaindia.com and other websites.
© Gaurav Ghosh (2014). Please do not reproduce without prior permission.

“Inferior, Tardior, Infirmior” for Olympics

Photo: (left) German athelete at Sochi 2014, (right) Indian luger Shiva Kheshvan at the Winter Olympics, Vancouver 2010

 “Inferior, Tardior, Infirmior” or “Lower, Slower, Weaker”. Well, this should aptly be the Indian Olympic Committee’s Moto. As the XXII Olympic Winter Games begin at Sochi, Russia; 21 countries from the Asia-Pacific region including Pakistan are among the 88 nations participating in this year's Winter Olympics. Sadly, there would be no Indian Tricolor at Sochi 2014.

The IOC (Indian Olympic Association) was suspended for electing officials who faced corruption charges - a violation of the Olympic charter in December 2012. The International Olympic Committee suspended on the basis of corruption, government interference, and not following guidelines of the IOC following the arrest of Suresh Kalmadi; the then President of the Committee. Since then, the Committee hasn’t been able to hold its elections until which it cannot participate as a Nation in any of the International Olympic events. Although 13 months have passed the fate of the committee is yet uncertain with the elections scheduled two days after the opening ceremony, which would not provide enough time for the suspension to be lifted.

Consider the apathy of the three Indian athletes who had to walk under the International Olympic Committee banner, rather than the Indian flag, as independent athletes, behind all the other nations. But respite of this walk of shame, this hasn’t dampened the spirits of these athletes. Shiva Keshvan, the “iceman” of India who has been India’s prominent winter olympian since the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan where he was the youngest ever luge olympian (men's category) at the age of 16 and also the sole Indian representative. This will be his 5^th appearance at the prestigious event. He has already set Asia's new track record of 49.590 seconds at the 2012 Asia Cup in Nagano, Japan is hopeful for a podium finish. The other two athletes from India at Sochi 2014 are Himanshu Thakur for Alpine skiing [Men's Giant Slalom] and Nadeem Iqbal for Cross-country skiing [Men's 15 km classical].

India in the past has never won any medals at the Winter Olympics but the Summer Olympics has been dominated by Men's Field Hockey team, winning eleven medals in twelve Olympics between 1928 and 1980. The run included six successive gold medals from 1928–1956. Let’s hope India does well at the games and all the matters of the IOC are solved before the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games and future athletes bring back the past glory of Indian sports.

Eye-popping facts about Indians at Olympic Games:

# India’s hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand captained India's 8-1 victory over Germany in the 1936 Olympic final in Berlin. The one goal conceded was the only one in their entire Olympic tournament. [Hitler happened to be so impressed with his skills that he offered him German Nationality and the post of Colonel in his army, to which he is said to have declined with a smile].

# Neville Stephen J. D'Souza, Indian footballer stiker, was the first Asian player to score a hat-trick at Olympic Games also making India the first Asian team to reach the Olympic semi-finals at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. [Although India lost the semi finals and the 3^rd place match to finish 4^th]

# Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav was independent India's first individual Olympic medalist when he won the freestyle wrestling bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Games. It was the only Individual Olympic medal between 1900 to 1996, a period of 96 years! [He is the only sportsperson among all India’s Olympic medalists not to have been conferred with any of the Padma Awards]

Sources: wikipedia.org, olympics.org and other websites.

© Gaurav Ghosh (2014). Please do not reproduce without prior permission.

Happy Republic Day. Vande Mataram!

On the occasion of our 65th Republic Day, Pledge to "VOTE" for the right people for the bright future of India. Happy Republic Day. Vande Mataram!

“Going Doolally” Over Deolali [Part – II]

Photo : Prof. D. N. Kaprekar (1905 - 1986)

Odd Numbers, Even Numbers, Prime Numbers... but did you know there are “Devlali Numbers” too!!!    If you have read the Part – I, Then you’ll surely find this more interesting.

“Devlali Numbers” or Self Numbers were first described in 1963 by Prof. D. N. Kaprekar, a school teacher by profession but also an well known mathematician of his time.

It states that, integers that cannot be generated by taking some other number and adding its own digits to it. For example, 21 is not a self number, since it can be generated from 15 i.e. 15 + 1 + 5 = 21. But 20 is a self number, since it cannot be generated from any other integer. He also gave a test for verifying this property in any number. These are sometimes referred to as Devlali numbers (after the town where he lived).

Kaprekar, born in Dahanu (Thane) received his secondary school education in Thane and studied at Fergusson College in Pune. In 1927 he won the Wrangler R. P. Paranjpe Mathematical Prize for an original piece of work in mathematics.

He attended the University of Mumbai, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1929. Having never received any formal postgraduate training, for his entire career (1930–1962) he was a schoolteacher at Devlali, Nashik a town in Maharashtra, India. He published extensively, writing about such topics as recurring decimals, magic squares, and integers with special properties. He also known as "Ganitanand" (गणितानंद); which literally translates into “lover of mathematics”.

His most famous discovered works include :

•          Kaprekar constant (named after him)
•          Devlali numbers
•          Harshad numbers
•          Demlo numbers

Initially his ideas were not taken seriously by Indian mathematicians, and his results were published largely in low-level mathematics journals or privately published. Today his name is well-known and many other mathematicians have pursued the study of the properties he discovered.

Sources: wikipedia.org and other websites.
 © Gaurav Ghosh (2014). Please do not reproduce without prior permission.

“Going Doolally” Over Deolali [Part – I]

Photo : A British Soldier (by the name Smith) sent this
 photograph home on new year. (Deolali, 1/1/1937)

Doolally. Pronunciation: [DU-lah-lee]. 
Function: adjective.
Meaning : Crazy or at least very eccentric or like in our case completely deranged!

All the beer lovers of Pune must have heard about the “Doolally Handcrafted Beers” on the NIBM Annexe, South Pune, Pune. This place claims to be the first microbrewery in the town. But little do we know about the origin of the word “Doolally”

Deolali is a town situated about 10 km from the neighboring city of Nashik, which was once served as a transit camp for British troops in India, notorious for its unpleasant environment, boredom, and the psychological problems of soldiers that passed through it.
Its name is the origin of the phrase "gone doolally" or "doolally tap", a phrase meaning to 'lose one's mind'. 'Tap' may refer to the Urdu/Marathi word “tap”, meaning fever. This arbitrariness is due to it being an Anglicized version of an Indian place name rather than any English word.

The term is British Army slang, from the Deolali sanatorium, Maharashtra, India and is first cited in Fraser & Gibbons', Soldier & Sailor Words, 1925:
"Deolali tap (otherwise doolally tap), mad, off one's head. Old Army."

Photo : British soldiers; George Jacobs & Unknown
with Indian kids (Camp Deolali, India. 9 March 1943)

Frank Richards, (Francis Philip Woodruff) was a soldier in the First World War and wrote a classic account of it in Old Soldiers Never Die. Richards was also a veteran of the Indian campaign, which he wrote about in in Old Soldier Sahib, 1936:

"Time-expired men sent to Deolalie from their different units might have to wait for months before a troop-ship fetched them home... The well-known saying among soldiers when speaking of a man who does queer things, ‘Oh, he's got the Doo-lally tap,’ originated, I think, in the peculiar way men behaved owing to the boredom of that camp."

The phrase is quite archaic now, even in its 'go Dolally' form. The tap is now rarely heard, but hasn't quite died out of everyday use.

Sources: wikipedia.org, warren421.home.comcast.net and other websites.

© Gaurav Ghosh (2014). Please do not reproduce without prior permission.

Trams in Nasik – Truth or Hoax???

Photo: Bathing Ghat, Godavari River (Nasik – 1924)

 I happened to visit my home town Kolkata last year and any journey without a tram ride would be incomplete. Few days ago when I was recollecting on Kolkata tram ride, the nostalgia grew on me and I began to research more about the history of trams in India. I typed the words “Trams in India” on Google and what I discovered left me shocked.

Did You Know: Our own city Nasik had a tramway till the 1930’s!!!

The British occupied Nasik towards the second decade of 19 century. In 1818, the Nasik district area completely came under British rule. Nasik was given the status of a town and municipal council was established in 1865. Even in this period Nasik continued to be a religious centre. Brahmin community of Nasik was very influential. The British administration on many occasions had to bow to the wishes of Brahmin community. Construction of Railway line joining Mumbai was the most significant development of the 19-century. But Brahmins opposed its entry into Nasik city on religious grounds. Finally the railway line was realigned to a distance of 10 km from city and the station was named as Nasik Road (1865). The stretch between Nasik and Nasik Road was covered with dense jungle; the only mode of transport from the station to the city was by horse-drawn carriage.

Photo: The first horse-drawn tram (Kolkata – 1880)

Everard Richard Calthrop (1857 –1927) was a British railway engineer and inventor. Calthrop was a notable promoter and builder of narrow gauge railways, especially of 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge. In 1882 he went to India to join the Great Indian Peninsula Railway as a locomotive inspector. Once in India, Calthrop came to see narrow gauge railways as a way to help develop the country.

Calthrop requested leave in 1886 to investigate proposals for independent branch lines. He identified two schemes of particular interest, a 5-mile (8.0 km) tramway connecting the Hindu religious centre of Nasik with the railway, and a 21-mile (34 km) branch line to the town of Barsi.

Photo :  Early horse-drawn trams in India (similar to Nasik)

The Great Indian Peninsula Railway approved both schemes, and Calthrop undertook a survey of both lines. In 1887 he registered the Indian Railways Feeder Lines Company in London to promote the construction of feeders to the railway. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway suggested that he either returned to his duties as a locomotive inspector, or, with their support, resign to further promote branch lines. His health was failing, and so in 1889 Calthrop resigned from the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Working as a consultant he then supervised the construction of the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge horse-powered Nasik Tram.

This tramway was constructed in 1889 with a capital of 1 lakh rupees. Originally, the tramway used two carriages pulled by four horses.  It originated from what is now the Old Municipal Corporation building located on Main Road, and terminated at the Nasik Road railway station (a distance of around 8–10 km). It is said to pass through areas of Ganjamal (the now defunct bus stop was earlier a tram stop) and behind the Fame Multiplex. Brady’s; a private company funded the project and later introduced India’s first petrol engine driven tram under the aegis of Nasik Tramway Co. The tramway closed down in around 1933 owing to the successive years of famine and plague, it had run into heavy losses.

Photo : Tram passing through a residential area. (Year Unknown) 

Other Indian cities which had tram services:

 Kolkata          (24 February 1873-present)

 Mumbai          (9 May 1874 - 31 March 1964)

 Delhi               (6 March 1908 - 1963)

 Chennai           (7 May 1895 - 12 April 1953)

 Kanpur            (June 1907 - 16 May 1933)

 & Patna           (unknown – 1903)

Sources: wikipedia.org and other websites.