DO YOU KNOW

 What are brown dwarfs?

     Brown dwarfs are celestial objects that are too large to be called planets and too small to be called stars. They have a mass less than 0.075 that of the sun, which is around 75 times the mass of Jupiter. Like stars, brown dwarfs are believed to form from a collapsing cloud of gas and dust. But as the cloud collapses, it does not form an object dense enough at its core to trigger a nuclear fusion. 

     In the case of a star, hydrogen is converted into helium by nuclear fusion. This is what fuels a star and causes it to shine. 

     Brown dwarfs, on the other hand, are not massive enough to ignite fusion. Hence, they are also called 'failed stars'.

     Dimmer and cooler than stars, brown dwarfs are elusive and hard to find. Infra red sky surveys and other techniques have however, helped scientists detect hundreds of them. They are believed to be as common as stars in the universe. Some of them are companions to stars and many are isolated objects.

     First discovered in 1995, brown dwarfs were hypothesised in 1663 by American astronomer Shiv Kumar.

     Despite their name, brown dwarfs are not brown. They appear from deep red to magenta, depending on their temperature.

BATTLE THAT CHANGED HISTORY

 Battle of Pavankhind

     The Adilshah of Bijapur was vexed. A young Maratha named Shivaji had grabbed many of his forts. To make matters worse, he had killed one of his most experienced generals, Afzal Khan, and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Bijapur army at Kolhapur. 

Thirteenth of July: In 1660, the Adilshah sent a force under the command of Siddi Jauhar to recover the fort of Panhala from Shivaji. Siddi Jauhar laid siege to the fort. For five months, Shivaji and his men resisted, but their provisions were running out. They had no choice but to find a way to escape. 

     Shivaji fled the fort under the cover of darkness on 13 July, 1660. Accompanied by a fleet-footed band of hardy soldiers, he hastened towards Vishalgad, about 65 km away across the ghats. As soon as the enemy camp got wind of the escape, they set off in hot pursuit. They caught up with the fleeing Marathas and captured Shivaji. But he turned out to be an imposter – a brave barber, Shiva Kashid, who had volunteered to disguise himself as Shivaji to buy him some time.

     Siddi Jauhar sent his son-in-law Siddi Masood after them again. By this time, the Marathas had reached Ghodkhind, a mountain gorge so narrow that only fews oldiers could pass at a time. Shivaji’s commander Baji Prabhu Deshpande decided to take a last stand against the enemy while the leader made it to the safety of Vishalgad fort.

Unto the last: It was an unequal battle. 300 Maratha soldiers fought tooth and nail until their last breaths to prevent the mightier Bijapuri army from advancing further. Baji Prabhu waited to hear canon fire from Vishalgad —sign of Shivaji having reached the fort safely— before breathing his last. Siddi Masood and his men scrambled through the pass and attacked Vishalgad fort, but they were repulsed by a young officer named Rango Narayan. 

Aftermath: Shivaji honoured Baji Prabhu’s sacrifice by renaming the pass as Pavankhind (Sacred Pass). Rango Narayan was also rewarded for his loyalty. The battle of Pavankhind was the last major face-off between the Marathas and the Adilshahi Sultanate. It became clear that the Sultan could do little to check the rise of the Marathas. Soon Shivaji came to the notice of Aurangzeb who regarded him with mounting unease. 

Legacy: The legend of Baji Prabhu’s bravery inspires adventurous youths to relive history by trekking from Panhala to Vishalgad in July during the monsoon. A memorial is dedicated to Baji Prabhu at Panhala fort while another pays homage to the fallen heroes at Pavankhind.

LOOKING AT THE BETTER PART OF LIFE

 Positives in negatives

     A young woman was sitting at her dining table, worried about taxes to be paid, house-work to be done and to top it all, her extended family was coming over for festival lunch the next day. She was therefore not feeling very thankful at that time. 

     As she turned her gaze sideways, she noticed her young daughter scribbling furiously into her notebook.

     “My teacher asked us to write a paragraph on ‘Negative Thanksgiving’ for homework today,” said the daughter. 

     “She asked us to write down things that we are thankful for; things that make us feel not so good in the beginning, but turnout to be good after all.” 

     With curiosity, the mother peeked into the book. This is what her daughter wrote: “I’m thankful for final exams, because that means school is almost over. I’m thankful for bad-tasting medicine, because it helps me feel better. I’m thankful for waking up to alarm clocks, because it means I’m still alive.” 

     It then dawned on the mother, that she had a lot of things to be thankful for! She thought again... She had to pay taxes, but that meant she was fortunate to be employed. She had house-work to do, but that meant she had a shelter to live in. She had to cook lunch for her many family members, but that meant she had a family with whom she could celebrate. 

     What is the positive in your negatives? Look at the better part of life today and make your every day a great day.

THE WORLD'S ONLY FLOATING NATIONAL PARK

The Keibul Lamjao National Park

     The Loktak Lake, a large natural freshwater lake in the Bishnupur district of Manipur, has a unique feature – it contains the world’s only floating national park, the Keibul Lamjao National Park. Considering the ecological status and its biodiversity values, the Loktak Lake was designated as a wetland site of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on March 23, 1990. The lake, with a surface area varying from 250 sq km to 500 sq km during the monsoon, is located in Moirang, a small town about 45 km south of the state capital, Imphal. It is fed by the Manipur river and several tributaries. 

     The surface of the Loktak is dotted with thousands of floating islands, known in the local language as phumdis, which are actually circular landmasses made of vegetation, soil, and organic matter (at different stages of decomposition) that have thickened into solid form over the years. Thousands of fishermen live in bamboo huts built on these phumdis. The largest phumdi, spanning an area of 40 sq km and located at the southeastern end of the lake, is home to the Keibul Lamjao National Park, which is the last refuge of Manipur’s state animal – the endangered brow-antlered deer or Eld’s deer, locally known as Sangai. 

     The reserve area was designated a national park in 1966 specifically to preserve these deer, which were on the verge of extinction. The sangai’s hooves have adapted to the island’s spongy ground. The distinctive nature of the park is that it is too deep to be a marsh and too shallow to be a lake. It is grounded to the lake bed during the dry season, but gets submerged for a few days during the monsoon. During this period, the animals in the park move to higher hilly areas. It emerges and floats to the surface fully a few days later. About twenty percent of its thickness floats on the lake, above the surface, which supports the weight of large animals. Apart from the sangai, other animal species found on the park include the hog deer, common otter, wild boar, jungle cat, musk shrew, and sambar. 

     The Loktak is a bird-watcher’s paradise, with numerous birds such as the ruddy shell duck, black kite, northern hill myna, lesser skylark, East Himalayan pied kingfisher, blue-winged teal, and sarus crane, among others, being commonly sighted in the region. 

     For the local people, the Loktak is no mere lake but their lifeline, providing not only water for drinking, power generation, and irrigation, but also edible plants, roots and fruits growing on the phumdi for food. 

     Revered as Loktak Lairembi(Goddess Loktak) and Ema(mother), the lake represents the fountainhead of Manipuri culture. However, the lake and its surrounding areas are today facing serious problems caused by pollution, deforestation, and soil erosion, which in turn is threatening the survival of the sangai deer.

STORY OF SURYA AND VAYU

Calm Over Might

     In the following story, two Hindu gods, Vayu and Surya argue about their strengths. The story criticises the tendency of humans to triumph by might and force rather than a more balanced and thoughtful approach to life.

     One day, the Sun God (Surya) and the Wind God (Vayu) had an argument about who is greater. Each argued that he is mightier than the other. While they were arguing, they happened to notice a traveller walking in the forest on Earth. As was customary at that time, he was wearing an upper cloth to cover his body. They decided to use the traveller as a subject to show their prowess and came to an agreement that whosoever can make him remove his upper cloth would win. 

     Vayu decided to try first. Surya accepted and disappeared behind the clouds to give way to Vayu.Vayu started blowing strongly, with fierce force. He also summoned his friend, the Rain God Varuna, to his aid and they started gathering the clouds and making rumbling noises. The traveller got scared of the strong winds and started to shiver as it was getting wet and cold. The more Vayu tried to blow the cloth out by force, the closer the traveller held the cloth to his body in an attempt to protect himself from the wind and cold. 

     Vayu’s efforts appeared fruitless, so Surya came out of the clouds and started to shine to drive the cold away. As he shone, the atmosphere became hotter and hotter. The traveller started to perspire and tried to take cover under some trees. Finally, he could not bear the heat and took away the cloth from his body to cool off for a bit. 

     In life, many people try to get their work done by being loud and aggressive. This behaviour is similar to that of Vayu, who tried to force his way by showing his muscle power, but that didn’t have the desired effect. Surya, on the other hand, stayed calm and used the power within him to get the desired effect. It is not necessary to achieve things by using force or might. Instead, one needs to use his/her mind to attain one’s goals in a calm manner.

INDIA'S FIRST WOMAN IPS OFFICER

 Kiran Bedi

     Kiran Bedi was born on June 9, 1949 in Amritsar, Punjab. A national-level tennis champion while in college, she did her BA (Honours) in English and MA in Political Science, after which she worked as a college lecturer for two years. In 1972, she cleared the Civil Services exam and joined the Indian Police Service. After her police training, she was posted as the Sub-Divisional Police Officer at the Chanakyapuri Police Station in New Delhi. In 1975, she became the first woman to lead the all-male contingent of the Delhi Police at the Republic Day Parade.

     On one occasion in 1978, Kiran's platoon was deployed to curb a protest demonstration at India Gate. Armed with only a cane, she charged the protestors. One of them ran towards her with a naked sword. Heedless of her personal safety, she charged him and others with the crane and eventually chased him away, preventing a riot. For this incident, she was awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry the following year. 

     Kiran proved her mettle in 1981 when, posted as DCP (Traffic) in Delhi when the city was in total disarray with construction works in full swing in preparation for the forthcoming Asian Games, she regularised the traffic, pulled up offenders, and got wrongly parked cars --- including, on one memorable occasion, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's car --- immediately towed away by cranes. This gutsy move, which showed Delhi residents that no one was above the law, earned her the nickname 'Crane Bedi'.

     Even while working, Kiran continued her education and went on to do her LLB from Delhi University and Ph.D. from IIt, Delhi. In 1987, she founded an NGO named Navjyoti India Foundation, aimed at de-addiction and rehabilitation of drug addicts. In 1993, posted as inspector General, Delhi Prisons, Kiran started a reform programme at Tihar Jail that won her worldwide acclaim and earned her the Ramon Magsaysay Award the following year. 

     In 2003, she became first Indian and first woman to be appointed as head of United Nations Police and Police Advisor in UN Department of Peace Operations. She resigned in 2007, to focus on social activism and writing.

She wrote several books and runs India Vision Foundation. Her books include Demand for Swaraj, It's Always Possible: One Woman's Transformation of Tihar Prison, As I see, Leadership & Governance, Dare to Do, for the New Generation.

During 2008–11, she hosted TV court show Aap Ki Kachehri. She was part of 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement and joined Bharatiya Janata Party in January 2015. She unsuccessfully contested 2015 Delhi Assembly election as the party's Chief Ministerial candidate. In 2016, she was appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry and removed on 16 February 2021.

Today on 9th of June, wishing this "lady of steel" on her birthday a happy and healthy life.

ZEN TALE

 Useful Wood

     There once lived a farmer who was very old and could no longer work on the fields. Most of his days were spent sitting or sleeping at home while his son toiled. 

     "The old man does nothing! He is of no use at all!" thought the son grumpily. Over time, the annoyance grew to anger, making the son frustrated. 

     One day, the son built a wooden coffin and dragged it to a porch where his father was lying down. He rudely shook his father awake and pointing to the coffin, he ordered, "Get in!"

     The old man said not a word. He got up and lay down inside the coffin. The son closed the lid and hauled the box to the edge of a high cliff. Just then, he heard a light tapping sound from inside the box. He opened the lid.

     The old man looked up at his son and said, "I know what you want to do. But let me give you a word of advice before I go. Throw me over the cliff if you like. But preserve this coffin."

     "Why?" asked his son, surprised.

     "It is a good wooden coffin. Your children may need to use it for the same purpose when you grow old."