1) The invisible cloak: The invisible cloak is getting closer to reality.  Scientists at the University of Texas in Austin have demonstrated making a 3D object in free space invisible by using the plasmonic technique.  To read more about this research click on the following link - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16726609

2) Driverless car: Google, GM, BMW and Toyota are already testing out their versions of autonomous vehicles and Nevada in the US became the first state to authorize driverless vehicles. Click on the following link to read more - http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10460103-nevada-first-state-to-authorize-driverless-cars

3) Stem cells to grow organs like heart, lungs & liver:  A lot of work is being done to grow organs using stem cells.  Read about some of this work by clicking on the following link - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213185441.htm

4) Waterproof clothing: Imagine wearing clothes that do not get wet in the rain. Ross Nanotechnology Corp.  has demonstrated their product ‘NeverWet’ .  Read more about it here - http://z6mag.com/science/waterproof-iphone-waterproof-clothing-neverwet-makes-it-real-163096.html

5) Robotics:  Great progress has been achieved in the field of robotics.  The latest robots can mimic human behaviour.  To find out more click on this link - http://physicsinventions.com/index.php/human-like-robots-to-mimic-human-facial-expressions/

6) Dynamic Architecture:  Have you seen buildings in motion that can change their shape.  The rotating tower – a  revolutionary architecture by Dr. David Fischer allows the building to adjust to the sun, wind, weather and views by rotating each floor separately. Click on the following link to read more - http://unusual-architecture.com/rotating-tower-dubai-uae/

7) Bionic Hand: A bionic hand  has motors on each finger and can mimic to a great extent our actual movement and grip.  Read more about this technology by clicking the following link - http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/01/12/minn-man-1st-u-s-civilian-to-get-new-bionic-hand/

The sail rises and falls
As a strong wind blows
Tossing our boat
On the stormy sea

Dark clouds hover above
Casting a shadow over
Shimmering blue waters
Like a grey and dark monster

The reefs and rocks endure
The wrath of the sea
Like faith they stand witness
To the raging, stormy sea

The surging waves resound
Like a restless teenager
And like his temper tantrums
The wind cries reach a crescendo

Finally the storm abates
And a calm descends
Like a tired son falling sleep
On hearing mothers lullaby

Our hearts sing prayers of gratitude
As we make a final dash to shore
Clinging on hope and faith
And heroic stories to relate

© copyright skm, 7th February 2012

The sparrow flies
Gingerly holding the straw
That shines like gold
in the morning sunlight

She flies again
In search of straw
Binds them together
Into a beautiful nest

She watches over her young ones
Eyes reflecting tender care
Like a mother standing at the porch
Her baby clinging to her apron

A plethora of words
Thoughts, images and ideas
spin  timeless in my head
Experiences, insights, discoveries

Scribblings on blank paper
Musings from the soul
Create a tangled web
Of poetry and verse

© copyright skm, 23rd Jan, 2012

Holding twilight in your hands
You wake me up
To a new dawn
Of beauty and wonder

You watched me grow
Like a ray of hope
And put me to sleep
With divine kisses

Caring eyes reflect
Sacrifice and concern
Words unspoken
Convey everything

O Mother! O Angel!
From the kingdom of love
Showering grace upon me
O Star!  in the sky

© copyright skm, 21st Jan 2012

Resolute and firm you stood your ground
As summer, winter and rain
Crossed your  path
And  autumn stripped you bare

Stolid and majestic
Your proud branches
Spread high into the sky
Seeking to embrace the clouds

As daylight breaks
You welcome the sun
With dew drops strewn like pearls
On  fresh green leaves

At noon the sun high above
Brings weary travellers to your feet
You shower a blanket of shade above
Like a mother hugs a child in her bosom

At nightfall
Moonlight shines through you
Like a bride’s silhouette
Adorned in sparkling jewels

© copyright skm, 20th Jan, 2012

Books and speaking
Exercise and violin
Waking up early
Setting the course for the day

Going  on short trips
The family reunion
Blogging and tweetjng
Doing my bit for charity

Of all these – my best moment
Was that feeling unexplained
As I waited for a moments glimpse
Of your pure, striking beauty

You spring sudden surprises
Turn my belief into faith
Seeing your glory unfold
Is my  best gift every year

Fireworks and lights
Herald a new year
My heartfelt prayer this year is that peace prevails
And for a world without strife and hunger

© copyright skm, January 7th, 2012

Travelling by train in India is a memorable experience.  It is remarkable how people get to know each other and enjoy so much on the journey that it is great fun.  I remember travelling by train during my school  holidays when we would go to Kerala.

In Mumbai, I travelled by crowded suburban trains from Vasai to Churchgate.  Even in this crowded train there was so much of activity going on that you almost forgot you were travelling in such a crowd.  People playing card games, antakshari going on in the train, ladies cutting vegetables for dinner, people offering seats, keeping briefcases on the rack..

Recently on my India trip, we travelled from Bangalore to Alwaye by train – The Intercity Express.  It was a great experience travelling by train in India after a long long time

The intercity express crosses 3 states – Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala.  It starts at Bangalore Cantonment and passes through Carmelaram, Hosur, Dharmapuri, Salem Junction, Sankaridurg, Erode Junction, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Palakkad, Thrissur, Alwaye and Ernakulam. (I remember when young – we would play the game of guessing the next station).  The ticket collector comes in to check our tickets.  The advantage of travelling by train is that you can stretch your legs once a while.

People were reading, playing with their iphones , ipads and laptops.  I like to stand at the door to drink in the sights and sounds of the stations that we pass.  I also get to take some pictures of the landscape (see the two pictures above).

There is just a 2-3 minute stop at the station and you have to be ready to load/unload all your luggage in this time when boarding/alighting.

Another  wonderful  joy of travelling by train is the nasal calls of the vendors – chaiiii, kapi, param-pori, vadai, veg biryani, cutlet, sambaram, tomato soup etc.  One is tempted to try out the food.

We talk to people on the journey and when it is time to alight we can make some good friends.

I am reminded of the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson – “ Life is a journey not a destination”.

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Kerala was a visit to Munnar . Munnar  is a hill station in Kerala and in southern India. Munnar is located on the Western Ghats, situated in the Idukki district.

The name Munnar is believed to be derived from Malayalam words Munu (three) and aaru (river), referring to the town’s strategic location at the confluence of the Madhurapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundaly rivers.

Some of the attractions at Munnar are: Mattupetty Lake and Dam, Rajamala, Echo Point, Eravikulam National park & Anamudi Peak, Top station, Spice garden and flower gardens

The weather is cool and it will be wise to carry winter clothing on this trip.

The ride up to Munnar offers sights of lush green tree cultivation, women working in the tea gardens, fruit-sellers ,monkeys and varities of eucalyptus trees.  We stayed at the Abad Copper Castle resort which offered a scenic birds-eye view of Munnar.  The service and food was was good.

The best part of the landscape were the clouds that you can see at Top point.  The  clouds float down from the mountain tops covering everything and appear to come to meet you.  This sight is unique and breathtakingly beautiful.

Another wonderful sight are the stretches of tea garden cultivation bordered by eucalyptus trees.

The route is lined with shops selling varities of tea like ginger, masala, kannan devan tea, corn, fruits like pineapples, oranges, passionfruits, oranges and pomegranates.

Mattupetty lake offers 30 minute pedal boat rides and row boat rides.

We also enjoyed a horse ride near the lake. The horses have names like Shah Rukh khan, Sunfire, Don Samsa & Anushka Sharma

At the Eravikulam national park you can see the endangered Nilgiri Thar.

For the two days of our stay there, I was transported to another world.  I will always cherish the memories of the cool weather, scenic landscapes of tea gardens, clouds and eucalyptus trees.

My point is today, people are so obsessed with looks that they even resort to cosmetic surgery to change the way they look – they do surgery on their nose, chin, eyebrows, ears.. they go for silicone, collagen implants and to look trim they go for liposuction.

Cosmetic  surgeries cause chronic pain, allergy, blindness and even death.  And people are still willing  to take such risks.

A case in point is Michael Jackson.  There is a world of difference in how  he looked like in 1977 and how he looked years later in 2006. Recently, a 22 year girl from Russia  had 100 silicone injections because she wanted the worlds biggest lips in the hope of resembling her favourite heroine Jessica Rabbit. And in Singapore,on Dec 30^th, 2009 Franklin Heng, property management tycoon died due to multiple holes in his intestines and stomach in a liposuction surgery gone wrong .

All of us are born, attain youth, old age and eventually we have to die.  There is no eternal youth whatsoever and ageing is a natural process.  So, why are we trying to create a mask and hide what we truly are?.

We are born with flaws and each of us has our own unique looks, strange mannerisms and behaviours.  That is what makes us stand out from the crowd.  That is the beauty in us.  So, let us celebrate our imperfections.  Let us seek to be imperfectly perfect.

Cosmetic surgery does not make you a different person.  Very often our external appearance is more a reflection of how we feel.  And if you feel great inside you will natural exude a radiant charm.

Cosmetic surgery distorts appearances that we are born with.  It enables us to alter the bodies and come up with something different.

Magazines, music videos and television are also responsible for creating this disgusting obsession with beauty and perfection.  We have slimming advertisements and beauty pageants.  Cosmetically enhanced celebrities are redefining the concepts of beauty and fans are blindly aping them.

Beauty is not skin deep.  I think that putting on those layers of makeup do not make you a beautiful person – although many of you ladies may disagree to that.

After seeing the dangerous results of cosmetic surgery, some Hollywood stars like Kate Winslet and Emma Thomson are now crusading against cosmetic surgery.

Now then what do I consider as true beauty.  It is the beauty in people like Mother Theresa who served selflessly and tirelessly. She was small in stature but rocklike in faith. She started orphanages, schools, hospices and homes.  Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor and destitute in Calcutta won her the Nobel Peace Prize.

Let us find that beauty in the values that we hold, in the work that we do.  The glow in you when you touch someones heart – when you make a change in someones life is true beauty that is everlasing, that is forever.  So, I urge you to find a cause be it only once a month or once in 3 months or atleast once a year  to do something for which you expect nothing in return – not a cent.  Just go and spend some time to plant a community garden, help children at reading, help at an old age home or with the intellectually disabled.  We have to stop always thinkiing from the selfish confines of only our family to include our neighbours, our community and the world at large  We can sow small seeds of change by pitching ourselves for such a higher cause .

Volunteering connects you to others.  It helps you to make new friends and increase your relationship skills.   It can bring fun and fulfilment to your life.  It increases your self-confidence, fights depression and helps you stay physically healthy.

I think the need of the hour is to take a good look within – to do an inner surgery – to find that peace, that happiness, that beauty that we were born with and is always within us. True beauty is that invisible essence that binds all of us in a universal chain of brotherhood.  True beauty is your inner nature and does not require any makeup.

Abhi  na jaon chodkar ke dil abhi bara nahin  –    An evergreen, charismatic  actor Dev Anand (26^th Sept 1923 – 3^rd Dec 2011) had an indefatigable spirit and was full of the zest for life. He has left a void in the Hindi film world that cannot be filled.

I remember seeing  Dev Anand movies as a kid.  They were shown in my colony on a make shift screen in the evening using a projector and all of us would sit down in the open and watch these hits like Guide, Hum Dono, Jewel Thief, CID, Johnny Mera Naam, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Paying Guest, Nao do Gyarah , Kala Paani etc.   Guide became a classic hit and was an adaptation of R K Narayan’s novel in collaboration with Nobel laureate Pearl S Buck.

The songs and music in each of these movies are so memorable that they are so fresh in my memory even today.  Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hain, Hum bekhudi mein tumko pukare, Hum hain rahin pyar ke, Khoya khoya chand, Rimjim ke tarane leke, Gata rahe mera dil, Dil dhal jaye, Aaj phir jeene ki  tamanna hai, Waha kaun hai tera, , Dil pukaare aare aare, Main jindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya, Mana janab ne pukara nahin and so on the list goes on.

Dev Anand is often called the Gregory Peck of Bollywood.. because he exuded such a charm on screen and he had a unique drawl, speech and gait which was imitated by many artists.  He was versatile and acted in romantic movies, action, suspense and various genre of films.   He acted opposite heroines like Suraiya, Waheeda Rehman, Saira Banu, Zeenat Aman, Mumtaz, Nutan, Vyajantimala, Meena Kumari, Kalpana Kartik, Hema Malini etc.

His career spanned more than 65 years and Dev Anand acted in 114 Hindi films of which 110 have him play the main lead hero. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2002 for his contribution to Indian cinema in September 2007, Dev’s own autobiography “Romancing with Life” was released at a birthday party with the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.