Last of the Jews in Cochin

I had no plan of doing anything wonderful today other than to enjoy the magnificient view that FORT KOCHI offered.We visited the oldest Synagogue(a jewish church) in Kerala.It was simply great.

Jew Street

Synagogue-Jewish Church

Her name.. Reema Salem..one of the last jews in Kerala

But all our plans changed when my friend Dhruv Nambiar put forward his wish of visiting the last jews of Jew Town(It was only then i came to know that the number of jews in Cochin were depleting).Well,we were all a bit reluctant to meet them after we heard from the local people that they were rude and didn't like anyone meeting them.But it was my friend Jackson Thomas who took the first step.He stood outside their door for some time which seem'd like ages to me.Then some one came out asking.."What do you want?".We expressed our interest.He went inside and came out with an old lady.She was a very fair........a jew,indeed.I first had a small doubt about the language we had to adopt to converse with her.......english perhaps.But my doubt melted away when i heard her speak pure malayalam..........much better than me!!!She spoke about her ancestors who came all the way from Israel and about her sons and daughters who are now settled in Canada.Her attitude towards us was so contradictory to what the local people said.She was so happy in her 80s......even allowed us to take a photograph with her which she used to refuse even journalists.

End of a day-Fort Kochi Beach 

Todays trip really was extremely refreshing........

Electronic Skin Tattooing!!!!!

I couldn't believe when I first read it........I woke up early and read the newspaper that which was unusual ofcourse.I couldn't help noticing the "Fact of the Day" coloumn. It was about  Electronic Skin. Then i thought........that surely is a wonderful innovation.I browsed the internet for the topic and voila.....it was der..."ELECTRONIC SKIN TATTOOING".It would be cool if people could tattoo something that would read their heart rate,brain waves,temperature.The tattoo is supposed to be temporary and can be removed.

So, there is a flexible electronic circuit which moves with the skin and stay in place without any adhesive. The existing semiconductor technology is used to imprint integrated circuits onto a thin, flexible silicon film that can be applied directly on the skin. The wireless electronic tattoo is a 50-nanometer-thick silicon membrane which is highly flexible and does not required any irritating adhesive gel or tape.

The ultra-flexible patches were made via transfer printing (or “inking and printing”), in which the chips are assembled on two silicon layers and then transferred onto the elastomer polymer base material, which is designed to conform to the skin.

I saw this video on youtube which shows how this stuff works......

This thing is huge possibility in biomedical field as you thought.But it is not really clear that how easily this device can be used to track,spy and monitor peoples activity.This surely can have a lot of controversial issues in fields apart from medical.

Independent India

I was woken up by my seniors today at my hostel,"Come quick.It'll start soon".Well then I remembered......Yes today was the day.....the day which is being celebrated every year in order to remember that glorious day when Britishers gave up all hope of keeping India under its control.

                           The flag is being hoisted! I felt a wave of patriotism within me.To be honest the same feeling comes only twice in a year,one during the independence day and other ,republic day and more often when you see a bollywood patriotic movie.

                       

                          This photo was taken by my friend Jishnu V Nair and he commented on the photo,"Technology isn't reaching its peak due to corruption" .It took a few seconds for me to click that  what he meant by technology was the electric tower.On the second thought I really felt that our largely ignorant and reticent population needs to wake up and take charge. We invariably choose compromise over collaboration when it comes to countering community problems.  No wonder, whether sport, medicine, commerce or academics, our success emanates largely from exceptional individual brilliance, not strong-willed team work.  Whatever our field, whichever the profession, larger issues like matters like civic sense and national pride remain the same. As the tri-colour unfurls in its full splendor on the 15th day of this August, let’s introspect on to how we can together make a positive difference for the nation - whether through Eco-friendly practices, energy-efficient measures, community service participation, financial contribution, fighting corruption or cost-effective innovation.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!