This particular article may be a bit lengthy(may not fit in one page) since I need to explain almost everything.  If I write like this: “We went to Rameswaram, saw the annular eclipse, it was wonderful, it was a life time event, amazing!”, then it won’t reveal how I really enjoyed the episode.  So, I’m writing in detail here:

1. Plan:

When I called my Physics Professor.  Ananthan on 1st Jan 2010 at 00:00 hrs (since 1992 I’m greeting him every year like this), he told me that he had planned to go to either Kanyakumari or Rameswaram on 15-Jan-2010 to watch the Annular Solar Eclipse (which will not happen again in our life time).  I expressed my interest to join him.

2. Travel:

Mr. Badri Seshardi, one of the promoters of New Horizon Media, booked the train tickets to Rameswaram (since tickets to Kanyakumari were not available even in ‘Tatkal’) and Hotel rooms in Ramanathapuram – 60 kms before Rameswaram.  The train reached Ramanathapuram on 14th Jan 2010 at 3:30 am and it was a pleasant journey. The Hotel was just 3 minutes drive from the railway station in an auto rickshaw.

3: Stay:

I never imagined that such a good hotel will be available in a small town in Tamil Nadu.  It was an amazing hotel named “Hotel Garish Park”  [ neat rooms, luxurious look, clean bathroom (very important) and with TV, split AC & backup power supply].  The only drawback was, they didn’t accept credit/debit card for payment.  We had food in near by restaurants which was quite good and reasonably priced. We didn’t get a room in Rameswaram itself because the Governors of TamilNadu and Puducherry were there those days ( not to watch the eclipse, but for some religious reasons, I guess).

4: Observation Location

The day before the eclipse, we went to Rameswaram to decide about our observation location.  Initially we thought of going to Dhanushkodi - a ruined city at the edge of Rameswaram (about 6 kms from it).  But later we decided to watch it from Rameswaram itself (on the roof of a Guest House Building) as there were many other scientific groups.

5. Expected things that happened:

A few things happened as I expected during the Annular Solar Eclipse:

a) During the eclipse I expected the ocean waves to rise higher. It happened.

b) During the eclipse I expected that the birds and animals might get confused about day & night.  It happened (many eagles that were flying there returned to their nest during eclipse time).

6. Unexpected things that happened:

Few unexpected things that thrilled me are:

a) I was thinking that the Sun may not be visible during eclipse and only a thin ring would be visible.  But without a cooling filter, the Sun looked normal with less intensity.  i.e. if you looked at the Sun during eclipse with your bare eyes, then it would have appeared normal to you.

b) Before the eclipse, the temperature at our location was about 34 degree Celsius.  After that, within 2 hours, the temperature decreased to around 26 degree Celsius. i.e. 8 degrees change.  It was amazing.

c) My shadow on the ground changed.  During eclipse, the shadow of my hand became blurred as I moved away from the wall.

d) I went there with my simple 5 mega pixel digital camera.  I never thought that, using a simple filter, I could capture the annular eclipse in my own camera.  It was really a great surprise for me. SEE THE VIDEO here –>  http://tr.im/ase15jan2010

e) An young boy from “Sky Watchers Association of North Bengal” taught me how to adjust my digital camera settings to capture the photo.  So far, I was using only the “Click button”, “ON button” “Zoom button”, “View mode”  and “Delete button” of my camera.  I never bothered to learn how to set the camera for different exposures (though they were available in the camera).  I felt ashamed. I never expected that my ignorance would hinder me taking pictures during eclipse.

7. Conclusion

I witnessed once in a life-time event on 15th Jan 2010 with my Physics Professor Ananthan at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu India.  When I saw people from other parts of the country there to watch the event, I was happy that “scientific temper still exists in our country”. I’m grateful to my Physics Professor Ananthan and Publisher Mr. Badri who helped me watch this event live.

Photo Album:

Annular_Solar_Eclipse_15Jan2010_at_Rameswaram_Trip

In this article below, Prof. R Ananthan, Founder of The Physics Society, reveals the reason for him to start the society by honestly analyzing the present Education System.

The need to start “The Physics Society”

A question that arises quite naturally is the need for this kind of a Society. Aren’t there many colleges of repute in the city? Aren’t there many centers of research in the city? What new has the Society got to offer?

These questions surely require an honest response. But one must understand that an honest response may sometimes, more often than not, be a bitter pill to swallow. And this is one of the more often kind.

The Physics Society does not believe in mincing of words while expressing its views. A few of the observations and thoughts on the present-day education system in our country are presented below:

1. It is a known fact that our Educational System is purely examination-oriented. There is nothing wrong in getting trained for an examination, but unfortunately, it turns out that our examination system has been established in such a way that students find it extremely easy to pass creditably, even without understanding concepts! This statement is bound to bring about different, mostly opposing, opinions. But the Society remains convinced, after much thought and after- thought that such an examination does not foster creativity in our students.

2. In a highly memory-based examination system, learning, unfortunately, is not given the required priority. The primary focus is on obtaining the maximum securable marks, degrees and medals. Moreover, education has become a means of livelihood. As a result, students read because they ‘have to’ and not because they ‘want to’. The joy of learning is naturally lost!

3. Such an unsound examination system has serious repercussions for the society, for it is this very same system that delivers our teachers. It is a known fact that quality teachers are rare finds, these days.

4. Another important aspect is that it is only ‘coaching’ that is expected out of those few good teachers and not ‘teaching’. All that is required from a teacher is a way to train the students ‘successfully’ pass examinations with ‘flying colors’.

For those who continue to insist that all is well with this system, a few questions await their answers.

Every year, we produce lakhs of graduates and post-graduates and, at least a few thousand doctorates. Then why, in 58 years of independent India, have we not produced a Nobel Laureate? Almost every year we see an American or a German or a Japanese wins the Nobel Prize, but not a single Indian has made it so far. Well, we are a nation more bothered about winning an Oscar for a film rather than the Nobel. Not that it is wrong to bother about winning the Oscar, but is it not more important to be bothered about winning the Nobel Prize? One is reminded of a senior Cabinet Minister consoling a filmmaker for having lost out on the Oscar. What about our scientists? Well, scientists don’t get votes!

Why is there a mad rush for professional courses, while there are very few takers for pure sciences and humanities? Why does there exist such hype over Engineering and Medical admissions, while not many seem to bother about arts and sciences. In fact, a few colleges have even stopped offering courses in the pure sciences. Is it that arts and sciences are, in any way, inferior?

Why do talented youngsters not take up the teaching profession, if it is as ‘noble’ as it is claimed to be? One obvious reason is the discouraging pay scale that is dwarfed by those offered by software giants.

This article is from the website: http://www.physicssociety.com/?page_id=2