Mystery behind Subhash Chandra Bose's disappearance

 Those were the days when anyone belonging to the German Nazi party was either captured or killed by the allied forces and their supporters. Even the ones who were with other countries that fought alongside Germany in the World War II were not spared. Subhash Chandra Bose had nothing to do with either the Nazi party of Adolf Hitler or the Axis powers in the Second World War. His only goal was to secure India's independence. 

 

Because British belonged to the Allied forces, Subhash Chandra Bose has decided to take the help of some country that was fighting against the British. That was the probable reason behind his alignment with Japan. Officially the Indian National Congress supported the British and the allied forces in the Second World War as the fight was against the Axis powers which were fascist in nature. Subhash Chandra Bose was then not part of the Indian National Congress and was heading the Forward Bloc. The Axis powers were fighting a losing battle in 1945 when the Japanese radio announced the death of Subhash Chandra Bose in a flight crash. The then British Indian Government rejected the claim of his death. They dismissed the report saying that the actual meaning of the announcement was that he went underground. After that there were many stories in the media regarding the mystery, but no story was sufficient to solve the mystery. Four different commissions of inquiry were appointed by different Governments, but there appeared gaps in the findings of each of those. The Mukherjee commission was the latest one to have submitted the report as late as in 2006. It stated that Subhash Chandra Bose's death in flight crash was probably a cover up for his escape to USSR but also stated that it could not find any evidence of his presence in USSR. The central Government rejected the report.

Considering that there is really a cover up on the story of Bose's death, one wonders what the motive could be behind such a cover up. India after all achieved independence in 1947 and Bose should have come back to the country to be part of active politics.

 

The following are the most possible scenarios that could have happened.

 

Scenario 1: The USSR, USA, UK were all part of the allied forces in the Second World War. They ensured all the leaders on the side of the axis powers were either captured or killed. Once it was clear that the allied forces were winning the war, the announcement through the Japanese radio might have been influenced by the other friendly leaders of Indian National Congress to save one of India's greatest leaders of the times from being captured by the allied forces. Probably he might have returned to India. The Indian Government might have kept him in hiding to escape controversies. If it is revealed, what is the guarantee that the allied forces will not ask for the head of Bose? How can a newly formed India create enemies among the big powers of the world? There were some revelations that the Special Operations team was asked by the British Intelligence to assassinate Bose when they realized that he was trying to forge an alliance with the Axis powers.

 

Scenario 2: Bose might have been captured by the USSR and kept in as a captive. The USSR of those days used to be secretive in all its activities. Right from the start of the regime of Stalin, millions were murdered ruthlessly inthe country. Even if some outsiders are held either captive or killed, the USSR never used to reveal the news to the outside world. Any news used to come out only through its official news agency. May be even the Indian Government was not aware of the whereabouts of Bose if USSR captured him. In this scenario, Bose might have spent the rest of his life in jail or might have been executed.

 

Scenario 3: Bose might have been captured by the USSR and the Indian Government might have known it. The USSR probably was not interested to release him in order to investigate his role in the Second World War. India being dependent on Soviet Union during the initial years after independence, the Indian Government would have probably thought of not pressing for his release. At the same time, the Government might have kept the news under the carpet to prevent emotional uprising in India. Any emotional uprising in those days would have been tragic for the country as that would have meant curtains for Indo-Soviet friendship.

 

Scenario 4: As Bose did not take the line of Indian National Congress during the World War, the leaders of the congress party themselves might have allowed Bose's capture or execution outside India in some allied country to prevent any political competition in independent India. Bose returning back would have ensured competition for the Indian National Congress from day one.

 

After reading all the above scenarios, one may wonder why the central Government is not releasing the documents related to Subhash Chandra Bose even through the RTI channel. Well, the Government refused to release such documents saying that it will have a negative impact on India's relations with some foreign nations. What does that mean? It means there is some mystery surrounding his death. That is now clear. If the Congress Government alone has something to hide, why have the other non congress Governments that ruled India though for brief periods kept quite? If it is only a problem for the Congress party in internal politics, other political parties ruling the country would have by now made the news public. But it did not happen. Hence there is something in the classified documents that really will impact India's relations with some countries.

 

Following are some possible scenarios of what's there in the classified documents.

 

Scenario 1: The Governments in India might have hidden Bose in some secret destination to save him from the allied forces and that would have been reported in the secret documents.

 

Scenario 2: During the freedom movement, though the Indian National Congress and its leaders have taken a decision to support the allied forces against the axis powers, they probably thought of having a back up in case the axis powers defeat the allied powers in the world war. Then India's relationship with Japan would have helped a long way. May be the Indian freedom fighters have consciously taken a decision to have a friendship with the other group as well. If such information exists in the secret documents, then it would open lot of debates in the countries and communities that were victims of the German's Nazi party. India's position will then become uncomfortable in international scenario. That's why probably the documents were not released.

 

There can be many more such view points. Many more will continue to emerge until the secrets are some day revealed by some Indian Government.

 

 

SOURCE

Smart-Watch war is ON: Samsung Galaxy-Gear Patented!

The smart-watch war seems to be gaining momentum. With the successful Kick-starter campaign to Apple's iWatch, everyone is eying on the next gen wearable gadget and so is Samsung. It was recently revealed that Samsung has been awarded the patent for a smart-watch named GALAXY Gear. The patent documents reveal a touch based wearable device with flexible display.

If rumours are to be believed, Samsung will be unveiling the smart watch along with the GALAXY Note III at an event in Berlin on 4th September. This is definitely a preemptive strike from Samsung to get its device first into the market before Apple because the iPhone-maker has been reported to be still hiring engineers for the development of its iWatch. The GALAXY Gear's concept design show it to have a microphone, speaker, USB port, and Back/Menu buttons. Being a concept design, we cannot be sure that all these features will be available in the final product as there may be certain additions and subtractions.

If the smart-watch does come to the market before Apple's iWatch, Samsung will have a distinct advantage as was the case with Apple when it launched the iPad and exercised virtual monopoly in this segment for a long time. Google is also said to be in the race but is likely to bring out its version of smart-watch (obviously running Android) after the two electronics giants. Given that the smart-watch is from Samsung, we can surely expect the device to pair with its line-up of GALAXY series but it is not known if it will be compatible with other Android handsets or mobile phones with other platforms.

Source: TECHTREE

Indians were 500 years ahead of Pythagoras!

Pythagoras theorem is used by everyone at some point of their lives. But how many of us actually know that the same theorem was discovered by an Indian 500 years before Pythagoras?

Pythagoras Theorem

Yes, Indian priest and mathematician, Baudhayana stated this theorem in his book called 'Baudhāyana Śulbasûtra' around 800 BC.

Referring the 'Baudhāyana Śulbasûtra', we get the following statement:

"A rope stretched along the length of the diagonal produces an area which the vertical and horizontal sides make together." 

In other words:

The diagonal of a rectangle produces by itself both (the areas) produced separately by its two sides.

Baudhayana

This is the earliest explanation to what we familiarly refer to as the Pythagoras theorem. Though this discovery was made atleast 500 years before Pythagoras, the world still refers to this important mathematical axiom as the "Pythagorean" theorem rather than Baudhayana's theorem.

FDI - not about pros and cons. Its about the impact!

For most of us FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in retail is an outdated topic. Few support FDI and few don’t as FDI has many positives and negatives to list out. For a moment keeping aside the pros and cons of FDI and let us think about the impact that FDI has on our economy.

I will try to project this in a different perspective. Let’s go back a couple of centuries in Indian history as we all know history is the greatest teacher. The purpose of East India Company was BUSINESS. There is no denying that East India Company brought money, say FDI or FII (Foreign Institutional Investor). They certainly provided better employment; farmers were paid better; competition and service quality increased and as a negative there were few people who lost their jobs. But what was the ultimate result? THEY RULED OUR COUNTRY.

OK, since we consider ourselves as more intelligent than our ancestors and we know our history let us forget about being ruled again.

What was the major impact other than being ruled? It was the change of our lifestyle! Our production, consumption and education pattern changed completely. A country which was self-sufficient with its own resources and style of living started to mimic other’s living pattern. In the pages of history, for a country which was defined by its wealth and lifestyle, the current economic scenario itself is a proof that foreign investment strategies did not work well.

Coming back to FDI in retail, many foreign companies will come to India and establish their foundations. They will surely provide us better jobs, better pay and of course few will have the negative impact. But the biggest question is ‘what impact this will have on our living pattern?’ Is India ready for this change over again? Is it really necessary for us following some plan designed for us by foreign nations? Or should our own entrepreneurs and government device a plan which is better suited for our living and economic pattern?

I would like to share a picture and a video with this article. Though these are not 100% related to this article, the picture might help us understand how the changed pattern affected us in the history. The video may be helpful in enlightening us about how much wealth is being extracted from poor countries in the name of trade and help.

Here is the video:

Mike : The headless chicken!

When you drive a hatchet through the neck of a chicken, rendering it decapitated, it tends to thrash about here or there for a little while before it dies. Generally one won’t live eighteen more months, only to die on some corn lodged in its exposed esophagus in a hotel room in Arizona. Such is why the story of Mike the Headless Chicken is arguably the most recounted chicken decapitation story in America.

There’s really no wrong way to tell this story: Mike was an unnamed, anonymous 2.5-lb. bird living in Fruita, Colorado when he was chosen to die by farmer Lloyd Olsen who planned on eating him one evening in September 1948. After the hatchet was dropped and the rooster’s head severed from his body, Mike went through the usual indignant rigmarole over the abuse, flopping about and flapping his wings and the like. After a moment, however, he got over the affront and went back to the usual chicken pastimes like pecking for food. Except without a head.

After they realized that Mike didn’t plan on succumbing to death anytime soon, and being humane and soulful people, Farmer Olsen and his wife chose to sustain the rooster’s life by feeding and watering him with the aid of an eyedropper. They also used the dropper to clear debris from his esophagus and didn’t have it with them in that hotel in Arizona, which is why Mike died.

The Olsens were also curious people and they took Mike to the University of Utah, where 1940s scientists looked around his neck cavity and determined that Farmer Olsen had lopped off Mike’s head above the brain stem. This is the most primitive part of any brain, responsible for the most basic bodily functions. Which means chickens apparently operate normally on the same level as a brain dead human who retains the ability to urinate in a hospital bed and whose pupils may still dilate. The scientists concluded that Mike had no real problem with losing his head, aside from the loss of sensory input from the tongue and eyes. The farmer had missed an ear as well as the brain stem, so Mike could still hear, though not so good as he used to.

Being the 1940s, there wasn’t much to do, so people in major cities around the country paid a quarter to gawk at Mike and his head, which the Olsens carried around with them to appearances. The life of a star sat well with the rooster. Over the course of the eighteen months that occurred between Mike’s loss of his head and his death, he gained five pounds. As we’ve seen, he also died in the manner of a star, choking to death in a hotel room.

These days in Fruita, the town holds the Mike the Headless Chicken Day the first week of every May. It’s not so much in the spirit of the freak show gawkers who came out to see Mike fifty years ago, but in the spirit of the Olsens who recognized and honored Mike the Headless Chicken’s indomitable will to live, or at least the continued functioning of his brain stem.

SOURCE

Who invented the electrical light bulb?

Who invented the electrical light bulb? Most of us need no time to say Thomas Alva Edison. Very few amongst us actually know Edison didn’t invent electrical light or even the light bulb. He did, in fact, experiment widely with filaments and light bulb construction to help produce one of the first economically viable light bulbs. The accolade for inventing the first electric bulb is reserved for English scientist Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829).

Here are few main events in the history because of which today's light bulbs glow years:

1809 - Humphry Davy, an English chemist, invented the first electric light. Davy connected two wires to a battery and attached a charcoal strip between the other ends of the wires. The charged carbon glowed making the first arc lamp. The illumination was extremely bright and impractical for residential application. The original demonstration was more a proof of concept demonstration than anything else as the arc lamp quickly drained the battery it was attached to.

Humphry Davy

1878 - Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914), an English physicist, was the first person to invent a practical and longer-lasting electric light bulb (13.5 hours). Swan used a carbon fiber filament derived from cotton.

Joseph Wilson Swan

1879 - The inventor Thomas Alva Edison (in the USA) experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long-lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1200 hours.

Thomas Alva Edison

1991 - Philips invented a light bulb that lasts 60,000 hours. The bulb uses magnetic induction.