MYSTICSPICE

The following article was published in WSJ, Nov 16th, 2012 issue. It talks about how interaction enriches our minds and improves our overall learning process. It defies the 'neuromyths' that 1.Individuals use only 10% of their brains, 2. Our mind develops when we listen to more classical music or read about 'brainiacs' like Einstein and 3. Individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred style.  The authors say that in our bodies organs are always functioning and no organ has evolved to function below 90%. For arguments (2 and 3), the authors say that these factors can be conducive to learning but an individual is more likely to become dull in an impoverished and in a locked up environment. Happy Reading!! Using just 10% of your brain? Think Again Pop quiz: Which of these statements is false? 1. We use only 10% of our brain. 2. Environments rich in stimuli improve the brains of preschool children. 3. Individuals learn better w...

Two city-bred, upper-class aspiring entrepreneurs from Bangalore embarked on a mission: learn more about India, by subsisting for a month on what the average Indian does – just 100 rupees ($2.04) a day. So far, Tushar Vashisht and Mathew Cherian, both 26, have lost nine pounds and four pounds, respectively, and complained of dizziness and depression from a lack of food. Milk is a treat, traveling more than five kilometers (3.1 miles) a day can blow their budget and saving money is incredibly difficult. They say they miss dental floss, deodorant and toilet paper. “This has been a humbling experience,” said Mr. Vashisht, a former investment banker with Deutsche Bank in San Francisco and Singapore, who says his banker lifestyle now seems “unreal.” He said he plans to live on the average  Indian’s income one day a week for the rest of his life. Mr. Vashisht and Mr. Cherian, a computer science graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have been tracking their “l...

I attended this conference in March 2012 and wrote this summary for my funding agency... Planet under pressure, was a conference on solutions that explored how science can identify and limit risks in the face of increasing human impacts on the Earth. There was a focus on boosting science education and interdisciplinary inquiry and maintaining investments in systems and agencies devoted to comprehending change. The plenary sessions of the conference and sessions altogether was a very good mix of people and presentations from diverse fields that offered unique perspective on different environmental problems and ways to solve them. Following is the compilation of points from some of the illuminating discussions and presentations   at the conference. Continued functioning of the earth system is at risk and urgent action is required to avoid ‘intensifying risks of economic, ecological and social crises, creating potential for a humanitarian emergency on a global scale’. The e...

It was  an unusual day today, I was supposed to go for a Van Panchayat meeting to Peoda and it was Talla Peoda not Malla Peoda. Malla Peoda was further away than Malla Peoda. I have observed that there are certain villages that have two regions-Talla and Malla for eg. Ramgarh. The concept is that Malla part of  the village is on the elevation and Talla is on a depression. Wish it was the other way round, it would've made more sense. Anyways we walked from Orakhan all the way to Peora Malla which is more than 5 kms and then from there we called up the contact person to find out where exactly where we were supposed to go. I missed that just five minutes before we got the call, we thought we were lost and were praying that we didn't had to go back. After the call came it was clear where we had to go but it was not at all clear how we should go about getting there! No kidding! There was a road that we were able to see from Malla but in between Talla and that road there was this...

Sat with 154 chickens today, for the first time in my life I saw so many baby hens and roosters together. These were just 48hrs old, I saw them yesterday too when they were merely 24hrs old. When I heard about these chickens for the first time I got really excited thinking how cute they would look together but when I saw them for real, more than cute they appeared funny to me. Yesterday when i saw them they were running around, climb or pecking each other but today they looked tired and lazy, most of them lying flat as if they were dead (thankfully there were alive), but that was a strange sight for me to see how chickens sleep. The chicken that posed for me :) Interesting experience for sure:)

Sharing one of the most inspiring poems by a great poet, Rudyard Kipling. The poem offers a basis for contemplating and finding meaning in life...it is wisdom, it is GOLD, it's a lifetime keeper! Read on: If- Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of a...