Operation Black Tornado

Date: 26th November, 2008.
Location: 8th Block, Manipal.
Time: 11.00 PM


Me and my friends were preparing for our Sessional exams, when I received a call from a friend of mine, saying terrorists had attacked Mumbai. We all thought it was one of those Sessional rumours which we call RSS (Random Sessional S***) feeds, but as more and more inputs came in we realised it would be the blackest day for any Indian.

We stormed to the TV room at the top floor, where the Anna was watching some Kannada movie, flipped through the channels to CNN-IBN and looked at the horrifying Breaking News bar at the bottom of the screen. 'Mumbai Under Siege', 'Mumbai Attacked', 'Terrorists hold Mumbai hostage' flashed frequently. We were utterly shocked and speechless. None of us were uttering a single word.

As news kept coming in, on the locations of attacks, the number of terrorists and police forces trying to provide security, we started calling our dear ones in Mumbai. I called up my brother, and asked him where he was, who convinced me that he was safe and that the locations of attacks were far from his residence. One of my friend, whose family stays just beside the Taj, was relieved to hear his parents were safe, but were hearing constant gunshots and explosions.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, one of the busiest railway terminals in India, was one of the scene of ruthless attacks amongst, Leopold Cafe, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Cama Hospital (a women and children's hospital), Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College. Two of the ten terrorists who came through the waters into Mumbai, were at CST, and they indiscriminately opened firing at the passenger hall, killing more that 50 people. As it was the night time, long distance trains were scheduled to depart, and the station was full of people leaving and people who had come to see-off their relatives. One of the terrorist Ajmal Kasab, was captured on CCTV as well as on camera, who was later caught in an ambush by police personnel. Kasab and Khan were responsible for the death of police chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and ACP Ashok Kamte.

The Leopold Cafe famous for foreign tourists was one of the first sites to be attacked, where 10 people were killed. Two explosions in taxis killed 5 people. The Taj Mahal Hotel and Oberoi Trident,



both 5 star luxurious hotels, a place of noted dignitaries and known as the Gateway to India, was taken hostage by terrorists who fired random bombs and bullets indiscriminately. It was an uphill task for Black Cat Commandos, as they proceeded with Operation Black Tornado.

The Nariman House, is a Jewish center in Colaba where the terrorists had taken hostage a Jewish Couple, who were later murdered along with four others. The grandfather and the son of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg were rescued by a maid working there. Sensational images and videos kept pouring into through the news channels, which the terrorists used to their full advantage. NSG Commandos stormed through the building air-dropped into the roof and eliminated the
remaining terrorists with powerful explosions and snipers. A radio transmission from the handler to the attackers picked up this: "The life of a Jew is 50 times the worth a non-Jew".

By 27th Oberoi Trident and Nariman House had been cleared while the operation at the Taj continued till the morning of 28th, when the final three attackers were killed, and one of who was thrown out of the hotel.

Videos and images of this tragic attack at the most diverse city of this country were condemned and fury raged among each and every Indian. Everyone was feeling the same. It does leaves goosebumps even today, almost 2 years since the attack. Some lost their loved ones, some were relieved at the well being of their relatives.

When I went to Mumbai just three weeks after the attacks with my parents, we were moved and surprised by the indomitable spirit shown by Mumbaikars. I visited the Taj and Oberoi, which are now symbols of Mumbai's resilence, saw the shattered panes, looked at the immovable spirit of the crowd that goes into and comes out of CST and I just wondered, did the terrorists attack on our heritage or did they self-stab their own hearts.

26/11 has been one of the most tragic incidents in India. The aftermath of 26/11 produced "Force One", an anti-terror force and weaponry of Mumbai police have been upgraded. Security has been at an unprecedented high, but what the people of Mumbai showed was absolutely amazing. Mumbaikars came out in large numbers, formed a massive human chain symbolizing their fight against terrorism, the nation observed a 2 minutes silence, thousands of commuters rushing to their offices halted at CST for 2 minutes to pay respect to those affected by 26/11. We wore black bands to our college in memory of those who sacrificed for our country.

The spirit shown by Mumbaikars was simply unbelievable and unimaginably amazing. We must remember, but we must move on undeterred too. Perhaps the extraordinary story of 'Goli' may epitomize the spirit in which Mumbai and India observes this 26/11 anniversary.

The whole nation stopped for a moment, the whole nation was united for once, the whole nation prayed together for once, the whole nation shouted for once : "We will not go quietly into the night, we will not vanish without a fight, we are going to survive, we are going to live on, this day onwards we pledge to make India a real might, where might will reflect the strong undeterrable culture of humanity and sheer determinance to ward off the evil forces that try to penetrate into my motherland, Bharat."

Jai Hind.

TEDxManipal

TEDx Manipal, an independently organized TED event, was hosted by MIT on the 21st of September, 2010. Though it's been more than 2 months since, I'll try to brush up, whatever I remember from the event.

This year's inagural TEDx event featured eminent personalities such as Rashmi Bansal (founder of youth magazine JAM and author of Stay Hungry Stay Foolish), Rajiv Misra (chief security office at the Indian Railways) and Nakul Shenoy (a 'mentalist') among others.

The TEDxManipal was inspired by TED videos across the globe, and its licence was acquired by Rajeev Agarwal, Anshul Agarwal and Gaurav Dhir, current final year students at MIT, Manipal, thus the conference based on the theme inspired by the very own motto of Manipal University, 'Inspired by Life'.

I got a pass to attend Session III of TEDxManipal, and after hearing from others who attended the morning and afternoon session, it was sure to be a very eventful and productive evening in store. Nevertheless, the four speakers for this session were, Sundar Sarukkai, Somen Dawn, Prakash Shesh and Nakul Shenoy.

The event kicked off with the most viewed TED Video across the globe, as it had for other sessions. Then we were introduced to our first speaker, Mr. Sundar Sarukkai, who spoke on how Science and Religion is interconnected in this world. His belief was that the best way to understand science was to implement the basic nature of philosophy. Though his speech drew attention and provided to be beneficial, it did turn off the crowd momentarily, who then shouted and cheered (even whistled) at the next speaker, who hailed to be from MIT once upon a time, Somen Dawn.

After a brightful start to his speech, Dawn explained to us the motto behind the $35 Sakshat tablet, which is a project under Kapil Sibal, Union Minister HRD. He explains how this had been inspired by OLPC in the USA. After his innovative speech came the, perhaps, most humorous speeches of the day, by Mr. Prakash Shesh, who talked about how supersitions affect us in the real life, how the silliest of ideas are pre-inserted into our minds, thinking to believe if anything goes out of track is a symbol of bad luck. His powerful, yet humorous speech left us bewildered. He rhetorically put forward the notion that why we go clockwise round the temple, why never anticlockwise, why as college students, we hang on to that one 'lucky' pen, why we eat something sweet before going for an exam and many such examples. To be frank it was one of the best TED speeches I have heard till date!


After his amazing speech which lasted 18 minutes, not more or less, otherwise would have superstitously gone bad, came the 'mentalist' Mr. Nakul Shenoy. The magician performed a couple of tricks, one on-TEDx, one off-TEDx to demonstrate the power of magic. He called upon a couple of students from the crowd, and asked one of them to put a Rs 500 note in one of the three envelopes labelled 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Then he asked his friend to speak out a number and burnt the other two envelopes revealing the Rs 500 note within the last one. The crowd was almost at its feet, attentively noting each and every move of the magician. It was mind boggling.

The off-TEDx magic was when one the magician wrote down a place and a nickname, a couple of friends were thinking just by calling them to the stage and noting their facial reaction. It was awesome ! Post event, we had the informal interactive session, where I got a chance to meet, Rahul Roushan, editor of Faking News. I heard his speech was also amazing, and I just hope the videos of TEDxManipal are out soon and TEDxManipal 2.0 is not far away!

Inspiration is all around us, we just need to have the grasping abilities. An opportunity lost is never an opportunity wasted. It comes back always in some other form. We just need to open the right door at the right time. It is only then, when we are 'Inspired by Life' !

"You are the World Champion"

A champion is not one who leads throughout the race, but is the one who moves like a turtle and at the last moment leapfrogs at the finish to take victory. That's what the young German F1 driver Sebastian Vettel proved this season of racing. Vettel is at the moment, the youngest world champion, the sport has ever seen.

"You are the World Champion. Enjoy it. You are the man.", blurted out Christian Horner over the team radio, at Seb becoming the World Champion at the Yas Marina International Circuit.

Sebastian Vettel started off the Formula 1 2010 Season in a grand style, securing pole position at the first GP at Bahrain. However, a spark-plug failure dropped him down to the fourth place. Vettel had a similar fate in Australia where he spun off the track, after leading from pole. Things, finally turned around for him, when he secured the first position at the next race in Malaysia, where Red Bull finished 1-2.

Red Bull maintained a perfect record to the season with four out of four poles till then, when Vettel stormed to the pole position at China. But incessant rains, forced a change of strategy from the Red Bull pit garage, which led him to finish 6th on the grid.

Hamilton crashed at the penultimate lap, to handover a third place finish for Vettel at Spain, whose last laps were marred by brake problems.

The most awaited race Monaco had a 1-2 finish for the Red Bull, when Mark Webber finished ahead of Vettel. The Turkish Grand Prix was marred by a devastating move on teammate Webber, which eventually put him out of the race. Montreal saw him finish fourth, whereas the European Grand Prix was a consolatory finish to half the season when he led from pole to finish.

Silverstone brought in a controversial move by Red Bull, putting Webber's front wing on Vettel's car. But luck betrayed the young German, as he encountered a tyre puncture, and eventually finished 7th. The German Grand Prix was one of the closest poles where he qualified by 0.002 seconds faster, eventually finishing 3rd and third place at Hungary, due to a drive through penalty.


Belgium saw him out of the race after colliding with Button's car. He finished 4th at Monza after a similar problems likewise in Spain. The night race saw Seb finish second, while he stormed to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix. The inagural Korean GP was devastating for him, as he had to retire with an engine failure. At Brazil, Vettel took the lead ath the Senna S, and stormed to
victory. The last race was a flawless and perfect race at Abu Dhabi, where Sebastian Vettel was crowned the World Champion.

Vettel is often compared the legendary Michael Schumacher because of their same nationality and similar life backgrounds. His childhood heroes included the three Michael's : Michael Schumacher, Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan.

Never did Vettel lead the Driver's Championship this season, but came up with a stunning last race performance to gallop his way up the Hall Of Fame. A hero is born. Perhaps a new Michael Schumacher is born, but brace for it ...

... when Vettel shows his might at the Indian Grand Prix in October, 2011 !

Like it or not, Sebastian Vettel, is the Formula 1 World Champion 2010.

Red Bull : Gives you wings !!!

A Birthday Celebration

Birthdays, the one day of the year, you always want to cherish, forgetting all sorts of complications and difficulties we face in our day to day interaction with the universe. Birthdays become more special, when it coincides with another chronological event in history, which directly or indirectly influences us.

It’s always a transition period, be it from a kid to a teen, or from the teens to the 20s. For kids, birthdays are the time, when they get lovely gifts (usually an Amitabh Bachchan signed Parker Pen), and lots and lots of blessings from every elder across the world. For elders, well, not much of gifts, but surely lots of “Happy birthday” messages from family and friends.

We, at college, especially those living in hostels, have a unique style of celebrating our friends’ birthdays! The buzz of b’day starts a week in advance (in some cases a month), and friends go full out threatening anything and everything possible to maximise the chance of “scaring” b’day boys! Delicious birthday cakes are sneaked into the hostel, and all sorts of arrangements are made to literally vandalise the birthday boy!

The ingredients of birthday bash usually consists of shampoo, toothpastes, oils, detergent powders, talcum powder, relief sprays, rotten bananas, shaving cream, boiling water (in warm season) or cold water (in the winters) and sometimes eggs. In every birthday, there has to be a villain or two, who gets the maximum share of beating the b’day boy! And he is usually the one, who gets beaten up badly by others on his b’day. Some are the quiet ones, who just stay behind and chant “oooh-aaah” but never physically threaten the b’day boy. The initial beating starts at 11.55pm when the b’day boy is kicked and kicked and kicked hard. By 12.05 he is fully drenched with water containing the mixture of all the ingredients, and his face is painted by toothpastes and head by shampoo! The clever ones usually strike the death knell by pouring the contents of the garbage bin on the b’day boy, thus making him realise his worth of being born! With the b’day boy fully drenched, it’s time for the villains to showcase their talents. One kick hard, other slap on the back. Ouch!!! This process continues recursively till their heart’s content.

Then comes the birthday cake, with the popular nicknames written on it! Usually the cakes are slapped onto the face almost instantly out of the box, but sometimes, mutual agreement wins and the cake is deliciously shared by all! Yeah, the leftover is always smashed onto the b’day boy’s face. After a hearty photo session, it’s time for the b’day boy to take a nice shower, and then attend to all his calls and msgs, throughout the day and go on the dance floor with his friends!

To be frank, I don’t know about girls’ b’days, but if someone would like to add please do comment!

The Channel Tunnel

The Tunnels:

The Channel Tunnel is the longest undersea tunnel in the world. The section under the sea is 38km long. The three tunnels, each 50km long, were bored at an average 40m below the sea bed, and link Folkestone in Kent to Coquelles in Pas-de-Calais.

Eurotunnel shuttles, Eurostar and national freight trains run in the two single track and single direction tunnels. These are connected to a central service tunnel by cross-passages situated every 375m. The service tunnel allows access to maintenance and emergency rescue teams and serves as a safe haven if passengers need to be evacuated in an incident. The service tunnel is
a road tunnel used by electric and diesel-powered vehicles. Air pressure is higher in the service tunnel to prevent the ingress of smoke in case of a fire in one of the rail tunnels.


The two rail tunnels are 7.6m in diameter and 30m apart. Each rail tunnel has a single track, overhead line equipment (catenary) and two walkways (one for maintenance purposes and the other for use in the event of an emergency evacuation and on the side nearest the service tunnel). The walkways are also designed to maintain a shuttle upright and in a straight line of
travel in the unlikely event of a derailment.

Rail Control Centres:

The entire Eurotunnel transport system is controlled from the RCC (Rail Control Centre). There are two centres, one on each terminal, and each can take turns to take over control of the system. The RCC manages all rail traffic (trains and shuttles) in the tunnels and on the terminals.


The system is in two parts, the Rail Traffic Management (RTM), which controls the rail traffic system, and the Engineering Management System (EMS) which controls the fixed equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power for the catenary, etc.

Although the transport system is automated, controllers are in attendance 24 hours a day, ready to take manual control in the event of technical failure.

The Signalling System:

The signalling system in the Channel Tunnel is known as TVM 430: it functions by means of data transmission from track to train and is almost identical to the system used on the high-speed TGV Nord-Europe. Instructions and data are transmitted along the track and then to the locomotive driver by indicator lights in the cab.

All Eurotunnel trains are fitted with vigilance devices and full automatic train protection which minimises the risk of collision in the event of a human error.

After travelling through the tunnel, the through-trains operated by the railway companies then continue their journey on the UK or French rail networks, which are connected to the tunnel tracks at Dollands Moor and Frethun, respectively.

The shuttles operated by Eurotunnel remain within the Eurotunnel system: they travel on a rail loop between the Folkestone and Coquelles terminals, using the south tunnel when going from France to the UK and the north tunnel when going from the UK to France.

Service Tunnel Vehicles:

A vehicle was specifically designed for travel in the service tunnel. It is multi-functional and is used for maintenance operations and in case of incidents, with the aim of reaching the scene of an incident in minimum time.

The Bugatti Veyron

Not just a super car that carries on the name of racing driver Pierre Veyron, who, while racing for the original Bugatti car manufacturer, won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939, Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is the fastest car in the world and the most powerful, it can easily pass as a super hero's car like Batman. It has the fastest acceleration speed, reaching 100 kph in 2.5 seconds.

Endowed with W16 engine-16 cylinders in 4 banks of 4 cylinders fed by four turbochargers, a dual-clutch DSG computer-controlled manual transmission, the Veyron has a length is 4462 mm (175.8 in) a wide of 1998 mm (78.7 in) and height of 1206 mm (47.5 in). Counting a sum of 10 radiators, for the engine cooling system, for transmission oil, a heat exchanger for the air to liquid intercoolers, for engine oil etc., the car has a power to weight ratio of 529 bhp/tonne.


If we talk about performance we are dazzled by this supercar's power to reach 200 and 300 km/h (124 and 186 mph) in 7.3 and respectively 16.7 seconds, wining for herself the name of the quickest-accelerating production car in history. If we count the fact that the top speed of Bugatti Veyron is 253.2 miles per hour (407.5 km/h), a speed limited electronically to prevent tire damage (it can run even faster) we can understand why this spectacular car must consume 40.4 L/100 km (4.82 mpg) when it's running at top speed and in city driving 24.1 L/100 km.


Bugatti storms into India :

Bugatti launched the fastest and most powerful full production car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron in India. The Veyron is also the most expensive street-legal full production car in the world. The distributor for the Veyron is Exclusive Motors, located in New Delhi. Exclusive motors is also a dealer for Bentley and Lamborghini cars in India.

The Veyron Grand Sport’s body structure is made up of a carbon fibre monocoque suspended via an aluminum frame at the front and carbon fibre/ stainless steel frame in the rear.

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand sport is an even more lighter weight version of the existing Veyron. The B-pillars have been cross-stiffened using a carbon fibre support, and a central carbon plate has been positioned beneath the transmission tunnel to ensure the vehicle suffers from less torsional flexing than any other roadster. The model has been modified and the special
feature added to this Bugatti is the removable roof. Bugatti Veyron 16.4 grand sport can reach a speed of 360 km/h with the roof off. In case it rains, an innovative folding roof stored in the luggage compartment can be opened up like an umbrella at any time. When this folding roof is in place, the car can travel at up to 130 km/h.

The doors of the new Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport are made of carbon fibre, and house an integrated longitudinal beam. In the event of an accident, this transfers the load from the A to the B-pillar, thereby dissipating impact energy. Furthermore, the two redesigned air intakes for the 16-cylinder mid-engine now feature 10-centimetre wide carbon-fibre elements to offer protection in the event of a roll. There are a host of new features added to the Grand Sport including a reversing camera with 2.7-inch monitor integrated in the rear-view-mirror and the “Puccini” sound system with digital signal processor.

Assembled by hand, at the company’s headquarters in Molsheim, Alsace, it will be limited to maximum 150 units; with the first 40 of these have gone exclusively to registered Bugatti customers.

The Veyron is priced at just Rs 16 crores in India. When are you buying yours ?

Touch Screen

Ever wondered, how just by touching a surface can tech-gadgets respond ? Touch screen technology can be mysterious if you ever stop to wonder what really makes a screen recognize your finger, pen, or stylus.

As technology advances, touch screens are becoming more popular because they make the user interface more exciting and intuitive for people new to modern tech gadgetry. There are three basic systems used in screens to recognize your touch and at the writing of this article, infrared technology is making its way as the fourth system as well as others in development for different scale products.

The first is a resistive system that uses a conductive and resistive metallic sheet to cover a glass panel. The two layers are held apart by spacers with electrical currents running through both layers when the screen is on. There is also a scratch protection layer that covers the metallic layer to keep the screen from being destroyed too easily. When the user touches the screen, the two layers are forced to touch each other at that spot. There is a change in the electrical field when the contact is made and the coordinates of the point of contact are fed to a computer which calculates where that is on the screen and in turn tells the operating system which determines what a touch on that particular spot means.


The capacitive system is built with a layer that holds an electrical charge right on top of the glass panel. When a finger touches the screen, some of the charge escapes into the finger. The decrease in charge is measured in circuits which are usually located at the corners of the screen. And from the relative change in charge at each corner the computer can calculate what the point of contact was with the finger that released some of the charge.

The surface acoustic wave system uses a pair of transducers along the sides of the glass plate. And reflectors are placed in the glass plate to reflect the electrical signal that is sent from one sending transducer to one receiving transducer. When a finger touches the screen, the electrical signal is disturbed and using two axes the computer can calculate the precise area of contact.

Because the surface acoustic system does not use a metallic plate, it allows 100 percent of light from the monitor through for perfect clarity. As opposed to the resistive system which transmits about 75 percent of the monitors light and the capacitive system which transmits about 90 percent for improved image quality over the resistive system.

So now you actually know, what happens when you operate your Touch Phone or your Touch Screen Monitors !!

A Trip to Remember...

It seldom does so happen, that parents as far away as 2300 kms travel almost the 'V' of India through the Eastern Ghats as well as the Western Ghats to visit their sons studying at colleges !

Yet, this October it did happen. It is always a fantastic feeling spending time with our parents! The occasion being 'Vijay Dashmi' or as we popularly know as 'Dussera', the celebration of the triumph of the good over evil.

It was unfortunate that me and my brother couldn't make it home this time, due to our exams and assignments. Nevertheless, our parents decided to turn up for the occasion. Even tough we were missing the awesome Puja Pandals in the City of Joy, being with parents is something which cannot be more awesome than !

Visiting the Krishna Temple, in Udupi, in heavy rain after a great lunch at Saiba and then catching a hot soup at Dollops was a perfect start to the trip. No matter what, the campuses at TAPMI and MIT, and the newly constructed Marena does rope in admiration. Even the hostels do.


We decided to book a car and leave on a 2-day trip to Coorg, not far away from Manipal, a place known for its monastery, the waterfalls and the panoramic scenery. It's a 6 hour journey from Manipal, as the road twists and turns through the Western Ghats.

Kodagu (or Coorg as it is known) is a district near the Udupi District, where Manipal resides. Madikeri is its headquarters, and is a definite tourist attraction. We left at 8AM in the morning, and reached Coorg by about 2PM. After resting for an hour, we left for Abbey Falls, not far away from the main town. The weather, as told by locals, remains the same chilly throughout the year. And slight drizzle near the falls, makes it extremely pleasant. Abbey Falls is a fantastic tourist destination, and it simply takes your breath away.

We then made our way to the Omkareshwara temple, situated in the main town, which has in its middle, a temple tank. Then we reached Raja Seat, where supposedly the Rajas sat and discussed with their courtiers. The view from this park is stunning. You can just look at the valley and wonder how far the world reaches out to ! Clouds beneath you, sunset at the horizon, it was indeed so picturesque !

The next day, we visited to the Buddhist Monastery located some 60 kms from the main town. The roads are amazing, and you can easily cruise at 100kph. The Monastery is nothing less than truly beautiful. It houses the Buddhist monks and students, who are imparted knowledge in the Main Hall. There were more than 400 students in the hall, and learning and reciting. It was truly inspiring.


After our short stay there, we left for the Deer and Elephant park, which has a tree-house and lots of monkeys too. Elephants weren't present there as they had been taken to Mysore for the festival, and the monkeys and deers roam about almost freely !


On our way back, we made a short stop at the Kaup beach, famous for its lighthouse. After a few quick snaps, we then headed back to Manipal, where rest finally awaited !! Though the trip was short, it was indeed memorable, and leaves sharp memories instilled forever.