Mama Test

The seven deadly sins according to Mahatma Gandhi are:

1>Wealth without work
2>Pleasure without Conscience
3>Knowledge without Character
4>Commerce without Morality
5>Science without Humanity
6>Religion without Sacrifice
7>Politics without Principle

Each of these perversions reflects a lack of values.

How do you put your value system to the test. I believe there are two tests which are effective. Of these, the ultimate test is the "Mama Test".

Whatever you do at home or at work, alone or with someone- if values are in question-Ask yourself, "If my Mama were to see me doing this, would she be proud of me or would she hang her head in shame. Another test which is similar to this is called "Baba Test". In this test ask yourself "If my children were to see me doing what I am doing, would I want them to see it or would I be embarrassed.

I wonder how long these tests will continue to be effective

Cricket Ka Bukhar

Three reasons why I celebrate the defeat of Indian Cricket Team in big matches.Firstly, after the defeat, the coverage of Cricket news in electronic and print media is reduced considerably thereby giving space for other news to appear. Secondly, the popularity of highly overrated cricket players is waned. Thirdly, the craze of cricket in India gets diminished with each defeat. The so called Cricket ka Bukhar has reached a dangerous level. Only successive defeats can diminish the craze from the minds of Indian public. Other sports in India are suffering on account of this madness. Even Gold medalists of the like of Abhinav Bindra are not facilitated as much as our so called cricket Gods and demi Gods. Perhaps there is no other country in the world which is as much Cricket crazy as India is. Even in the popularity chart, the most popular sport in the world is football and not cricket. India’s own hockey which was ruling the world in the past several years, and which is considered it’s national sport has been relegated to the background thanks to Cricket. Hockey is slowing dying here and so are other sports. Sports ministry is doing nothing to promote other sports including gymnastics. India’s dismal record in Olympics is the proof of sheer madness towards one single sport. Forget other sports. Even in Cricket, Indian team’s record is not good considering number of wins and losses against each country. You can check back the statistics. Players like Tendulkar and Gavaskar have scored maximum number of centuries in ODI and Test Cricket. Yet, when it comes to winning the match, their records are not very impressive. What ultimately counts is whether the team wins or loses the match not how many centuries X,Y or Z in the team has scored. Another point to be noted is whenever there is a defeat, it is always the bowlers who are the prime targets. It looks like as if cricket is all about batting only. All our cricket icons are batsmen. Pakistan wins the match on the strength of bowling. New Zealand wins the match on the strength of fielding. Fielding and Bowling are the other departments which also contribute a lot in winning a match. Cricket matches are not won by analyzing treadbare in which position Gautam Gambhir or Sahwag should come to bat but by rigorous match practice and hard work by the players on the ground backed by sound strategy. Our batsmen are more interested in learning Bollywood dances, participating in reality shows rather than sweating on the field.

Space exploration

India’s Chandrayan-1 has achieved a major milestone in space science, discovery of water on the moon. There are no lakes or oceans on the moon. Only water molecules are found in moon's soil.It is a matter of great pride for all Indians. Presence of water on a celestial body other than earth is a clear indication that life in some form may exist in other planets in the universe. Water can remain in liquid form between 1 degree and 100 degree farenheight. If the planet is too hot, water will be vapourised, if it is too cold, water will be frozen into ice. U.S has launched a satellite in space to explore the planets in universe which supports life. There are billions of stars in our galaxy. Like our milky way, there are billions of galaxies in the universe. Even if it is proven that life supporting planets exist in universe, the distance between our earth and these planets would be so great that it will be humanly impossible to get in touch with civilisations living in such planets. Science has made tremendous progress in the last 50 years. Today, we have built very powerful telescopes which can detect even small planets circling a distant star. Yet, we are still far behind when it comes to inter planetary space travel. Inter planetary space travel is possible only if we have techinque through which we can travel at the speed of light. There is no physical object which can travel at the speed of light. Vastness of space can be gauged from the fact that some of the stars are thousands of light years away from earth which means even radio signals will take thousands of years to reach a distant star. Nearest star is one light year away from earth.Hypothetically, if human being could transform himself into energy and then travel space in energy form at the speed of light, it is possible to reach a life supporting planet circling the nearest star in one year. Will it be possible in future, it is difficult to say.