Abe & Friends! A grown up imaginng the universe with his planet friends!

In the midst of the 2020 pandemic, a time when curiosity and imagination were needed more than ever, I embarked on a creative journey to bring joy and wonder to children aged 6 to 12. Through an interactive story-driven presentation, I introduced them to the vastness of the universe and the captivating characters that inhabit it. This blog post recounts the heartfelt experience of creating a unique adventure with Little Abe and his planetary friends, where every slide became a gateway to new stories and exciting discoveries.

1. The Genesis of Little Abe's Cosmic Adventure: It all began in mid-May 2020, as the world grappled with uncertainty and isolation. I felt a deep desire to uplift the spirits of young children by engaging their imaginations and fostering a love for learning. With the help of technology, I crafted a visually stunning presentation that would transport them beyond the confines of their homes and into the mysteries of space.

2. Introducing Little Abe and the Planetary Pals: In this interactive presentation, Little Abe, a curious and adventurous character, invites the children to join him on a remarkable journey through the solar system. Each slide showcases a different planet, brought to life by colorful characters representing their unique features and qualities. From the fiery temperament of Mars to the serene beauty of Neptune, every corner of the universe has a new story waiting to be explored.

3. Unveiling the Wonders of the Universe: As the children embark on this cosmic adventure, they encounter a multitude of enchanting elements. Along the way, they meet asteroids, rovers, and even witness the mesmerizing sight of diamonds in the Neptune sky. With each slide, a captivating story unfolds, capturing their attention and igniting their imagination. The presentation becomes a portal to a world where knowledge is intertwined with excitement and curiosity.

4. Nurturing Little Curious Questions and Smiles: The true reward of creating this interactive experience lies in witnessing the sparkle of curiosity and the smiles that adorn the faces of the children. As they immerse themselves in the tales of distant planets and cosmic wonders, their minds blossom with questions. They eagerly explore the unknown and develop a thirst for knowledge, laying the foundation for a lifelong love of learning.

5. The Transformative Power of Imagination: Imagination has the power to transport us beyond our current circumstances and inspire us to dream big. Through Little Abe's cosmic adventure, children discover that the universe is a vast canvas of possibilities. They realize that the limitations imposed by the pandemic cannot confine their dreams and aspirations. They are reminded that their imaginations hold the key to endless exploration and discovery.

Creating an interactive story-driven presentation for children between the ages of 6 and 12 during the pandemic was a labor of love. Little Abe and his planetary friends became the catalysts for transforming their curiosity into a profound appreciation for the universe. Through this imaginative journey, I was able to witness the joy in their eyes, the eager questions on their lips, and the radiant smiles that emerged on their faces. This experience has reaffirmed the incredible impact that storytelling and imagination can have on the hearts and minds of young learners, even in the face of adversity.

 Edit - I went on to do 37 episodes with lots of interesting facts do check them out in the link below.

Full Playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL14KRBi2a5InGRFyRbEfATHvxAJmCTbc6

COVID-19: Effects on Human Behaviour and the start of Virtual Habits

COVID-19 has come in the time of extreme difficulty to our Indian economy and to our society. We are on the verge of breaking out from the ever growing systematic mandate issues (forced lockdowns and mandatory permissions to use public roads and transports for essential goods) that were quite common to us in the last couple of weeks.

For example, following social distancing and making changes to our daily diet that in some regards have made one’s to be careful of their immune system. Soon, we will be forced to understand that we are not islands living in separate places and marooned by thoughts and hunger, but a society which wishes to come out of this successfully in the next coming months. But, as a thought experiment let us see India in the coming few months from now. July 2020.

Imagine its 27th July 2020. Things are back to normal. We can meet face to face. Travel is possible. Marriage functions are virtual or having large absenteeism. Fandom for movie stars with First Day First Show (FDFS) is easy to buy. But things have changed. COVID-19 has forever changed the experience of being a customer, employee, citizen and human.

What will have changed in the way we think? How will that affect the way we design, communicate, build and run the experiences that people need and want? The answers to these questions will lie in the way people react and how individuals, families and social groups respond to the situation happening now.

Indian behaviours that are shaping our future

An essential first step is to understand the likely implications of COVID-19 on Indian behaviours then start to respond, today on 27th July 2020.

01 Decision making and resolution of though



We Indians are known to be huggers for every occasion. We have never said no to hug. We show affection and we can never force someone to distance themselves from a friendly or fond hug is something like a misnomer in our society. Indian films have shown enough embraces between a girl and a boy but when it comes to parents and elders hugging a relative, it becomes only dramatic when it is shown with guitar, violin music or successful tears.

But, It is July 2020, We have made changes to gathering in the public spaces. Malls are no longer crowded due to fear of viral contraction. Marriages are simple these days. Hand Sanitizers are a common thing found in the people’s vicinity. Even astrologers are not much looked upon to see the venue and time for marriages it is now based on the app data of infectious cluster (in google maps as it is a default feature soon to be added in May 2020) and recent info on the people’s travel history (Both Apple and Google are working together to make this as norm on every phone). People have made sure to be updated by the changes. In fact, the average age of Indian society is 29. This makes India the most announced and informed society compared to the other countries in the world. Many purchases are being postponed. All of this will make risk less tolerable and the familiar more valuable.

The erosion of confidence will make trust way more important than ever before. This will necessitate a “trust multiplier”—action that, to be effective, rebuilds trust quickly and credibly. Focus will be on confidence-building through every channel. Justifiable optimism will sell well. All of this may change the nature of what we regard as premium products and services.


02 Games and Activities

Information Technology (IT) has been with us since the great computer revolution that gripped the 29 year young Indian Society. Of all the top millennials and the 90s Kid in the block, the words “system” or “games” mean only things done virtually.

IT corridor and IT Expressway have been synonymous with the enforced shift during the worst of the pandemic to virtual working, consuming and socializing (in further distance) which will fuel a massive and further shift to virtual activity for anything and EVERYTHING.

It will affect ways of communicating across learning, working, transacting and consuming. This will impact on EVERYONE.

Adoption of digital by those yet to do so will be accelerated and a reduction of the obstacles to going virtual for any sort of experience will be required. Winners will be those who test and explore all of the associated creative possibilities. Anything that can be done virtually will be.

03 Health care and Vitamin-M

Imagine the amount of time, we Indians have used the general medical apps in the Play Store and App Store to find recommendations for quick health check-up for our parents and our little ones.( Not a single one of you reading this would have gone to check number of apps in medical use in your smartphone, since you know the answer is already none) Or even the “family Doctor” who somehow is related to us for the last 4 generations either due to him/her being our next door neighbour or the doctor having the track record of never having seen any fatality in their known peers. Highly Unlikely, right!!??

We People are concluding now that Indian system (Grandma’s recipe) is far better to counteract with the little ailment in the society long gone like common cold, fever and flu. We as of July 2020, no longer believe that they cannot rely on existing health structures but, nonetheless, want all the help they can get, in every aspect of their lives. Health experiences will be in demand and, vice versa, health should be considered in every experience. There is also a new trend for e-Health.

Vitamin-M is Vitamin-Money. We have become accustomed to forego alcohol consumption in the last 3 months that the lockdown has given a major influx of withdrawal effects in the regular boozers. Money gets invested in essential healthcare and the norm of the society becomes “earning is the best remedy” to the time invested to the money invested in creating new and meaningful experiences rather than imagining the booze in hand and wasting time on it.




04 Social Distancing and connected by Internet Age

Self-Isolation is something not so common to us,Indians. We have never lived in mountains or river valleys in the last half century. We are known to be living in the most crowded and densely populated cities in the world like Delhi,Mumbai,Chennai. In fact the density index or people per square kilometre is highest when it comes to India. Mumbai has the highest in some off-beat slum areas close to 2,70,000 people in Dharavi.

Everyone being told to self-isolate means a return to home as the epicenter of life and experience. At the height of the crisis, many social workers have known to have less sanitation and free space to co-exist. After, this pattern will endure with meaningfulness and comfort carrying a price premium beyond the understanding of the elite migration workers such as 90s Kids and Metro boomers who came into existence some 30 years back and they pride themselves as Delhiwala, Mumbaikars and Chennaiates. Just imagine all the 3 metros mentioned here were fishing villages or king’s dharbar some few centuries back.

There will be a rise in home spending, on the home and made at home as people will stay more local at their long distant community in the coming years such as 2021 and 2022. Desire for distancing from metro cities, along with opportunities for those with creative strategies to enable it, will move centre-stage like content creators and digital artists. Winners will be those who zero their sights on the home with garden and peacock dancing in the backyards will soon become reality at their native places far from the once bustling city..

The Internet will also play a huge role in this. We are almost 90% covered by Electricity in India. Based on Statistics, our internet consumption has also quadrupled in the last 5 years. How cool it will be to have a retreat in the office time to just have online meetings every few days and doing the work in leisure at home. 5G can be a technology term but imagine homes with people around you. Forget the crowded metro platforms and imagine having the cool wind, non-polluted air in the face.


Final Thoughts

We have now come to the stage that Americans may have the money but they have the incompetent president, who doesn’t know how to pronounce half the medical terms like Hydroxy-Chloroquine. (to be deleted)

where we Indians have become dependent on experts and strong government recommendation—plus executive powers to start resolving the pandemic backed by citizen compliance, which lends real weight to central authority of Indian Constitution. Countries like Italy, England, Spain and many countries have been eroded recently in popular culture and the containment of COVID-19 infection among the community transfer have become questionable. If Indian government gets their handling of the crisis broadly right, expect top-down control to be back in fashion; if not, the reverse towards the economy.

A reinvention of authority is likely after the effect of travel limitations, self-isolation and lockdown officially mandated by state and central governments. Greater acceptance for the role of government and companies in society, and the importance of collective behaviour, may occur.

Along with that, India will become a societal change as a superpower in the next foreseeable future. I truly believe that one man’s dream of the future India is near and becoming a dream come true. His words have resonated in the thought of every Indian in the last decade due to his sheer commitment to imparting knowledge to the children and he alone became the supreme leader of the masses in eloquently seeing the future India. It is now 5 years since he left the dream of India. It was 27th July 2015, the last day Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, had his last day of speech in front of all the students. Exactly 5 years before which we started this thought experiment in this blog post on living through this crisis.

On 27th July 2015, Kalam travelled to Shillong to deliver a lecture on "Creating a Livable Planet Earth" at the Indian Institute of Management,Shillong. While climbing a flight of stairs, he experienced some discomfort, but was able to enter the auditorium after a brief rest. At around 6:35 p.m. IST, only five minutes into his lecture, he collapsed. He was rushed to the nearby Bethany Hospital in a critical condition; upon arrival, he lacked a pulse or any other signs of life. Despite being placed in the intensive care unit, Kalam was confirmed dead of a sudden cardiac arrest at 7:45 p.m IST.

Mahishmati - An alternate reality

Baahubali , A trend setting movie which had created a massive fan following around the world. I need to also mention the amount of detail which has gone in to production value and character scripting in the entire story!

Right from the detail of how the unanswered questions in the part 1 were given a detailed thought and answer in the second one. Like how Anushka`s(Devasena) brother looks while heading the revolt as the older bearded man in the first part and meeting him as the elder brother to a much younger and beautiful Anushka again in the second part. I could go on and on about it. But I am a science guy,dude! What I take from the movie is realism which it could reflect in real life 21st century world.

Like my favourite martian explorer, Dr. Mark Watney said, " I am going to science the shit out of it!"

Born and raised in India, one can relate to the ways in which the movie depicts the kingdom of Mahishmati, baren waste lands that surround a serene beautiful landscape that is stricken with water scarcity in the middle zone of the kingdom in which the Elder Bahubali treads to the place and helps with his engineering skills to water it and create opportunity for agriculture and live stock management.

In a parallel note, before the destruction of the Kuntala Kingdom, by the greedy and the serpentine grasp of the Mahishmati then emperor, Balladeva by stopping the cause for the young widow Devasena to recapture the throne by revolt!

One must remember that the Kuntala Kingdom use to be the Green valley of the entire expanse of the imaginary kingdoms of Baahubali. ( I remember that the Kingdom even rejected the wealth of the Mahishmati during the alliance request of Devasena by herself)

I think it might be due to the reason that Mahishmati is a Trade adverted Kingdom, this is because if you remember when Sivagami asks the young to-be-crowned king,Baahubali to travel and understand the complex nature of the bordering kingdoms while Devasena is helping her kingdom by hunting wild boars that trouble the farmers in cultivation. (See, even the economy can be debated in the Baahubali universe)

Another thing which I certainly cannot deny is the fact that 3 generations of strong off-springs, from the father to son, in the Baahubali family clan of Mahishmati. They must have some genetic trait unique to be the reason for super human strength but wait....

I also came up to read extensively about the ways in which a river valley and civilizations thrive in the expanse of the 6000 years of human existence, case in point being noted in bullet points as follows,

• Indus valley, building the agricultural community in river valley basin of Indus river
• Mayan civilization, building the high reaching civic culture in the reserves of Machu Pichu
• Nile valley, Egypt.. need I say more about the cultural expanse

Genetics is a trait that is something prominent in study for any living creature and genetic evolution of the same is something which is deciphered much in point of human evolution and agriculture as well, because the food chain is ending at last to the plants and where do you grow plants from?? Bio-chamber? or barren lands?

Farmers are big way to nourish our food nutrition value. They are the cooks who play the vital reason to enrich our food with nutrients. Case in point,potassium, calcium, so and on were first added with natural manure to the crops.. but now... Introducing new hero to the old ways, GMO

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) gives you the advantage of skipping so many steps of manuring, enriching and pest controlling all in one go.

They are also debated to the point that humans have become better mules in the corporate world of food industry conglomerate such as the FDA approved and FSSAI certified foods which are in turn just playing coy to build your taste bud strive for more food rather than healthy food.



Now coming back to the Baahubali's Super human strength scenes which are sprinkled across the movie,

1. Lifting a massive Linga( God Shiva ) statue and barely cracking and panting for breath 
2. Endurance of mountaineering day and night to meet his mistress in top of the waterfall
3. Lifting a 125 ft statue of pure solid gold by hand and shouldering it in just the nick of time before it crushes many people underneath it.( I just googled the statue fact)
4. Throwing the battle ram thrown by the kalakeyas with much ease
5. Pushing the temple car and ramming it on the elephant
6. Destructing the dam in the Kuntala Kingdom with sickle shaped anchor.
7. Pulling the wayward water through the small boat and a bendable tree stalk to fill a water body for the people to use for daily needs.
8. Breaking the base of the 125ft statue of Balladeva with bare hand knock out punch.
9. Younger Baahubali and Older Balladeva fighting out in strength combat at the end.

Also to be mentioned are the strengths shown in equal or varied proportion with other members of the family such as Balladeva conquering and tossing a charged bull,  his father breaking a pillar with one hand.

So, to have this amazing strength one must be highly nutritious enough to amaze such a physique and strength. Or is it so that something else is in play???

My point is, either the Baahubali and the king's dynasty had developed a genetic trait to make them powerful than the common man or the entire population is consuming malnutrition food for them to be weak and meek than everyone they ever knew or all together it is same.

Facts to understand better,

• Weaker people can be so frail and fragile that they build structures which are not made to last  and they usually fail over buckling load
• Structures they make could be described as,
• The pillar and flooring in the palace that cracks to the weight of the hero's might
• The Temple car made of wood and stone, to construct & pulled by one man's strength ( Baahubali which I meant)
• 125 ft solid gold statue which calculated with specific density of Gold and actuated to cylindrical mass calculation that 1 foot of human measure would relate to 20 sq ft of the statue base would result in 21522145 Kg which is 21522 Tons ( Assumptions as a cylinder with base of 20 ft and length of 125 ft)

The case can be further discussed if we could somehow know the Mahishmati's daily food intake and nutrition supplement, I guess if someone showed us what the King's food is actually like. So,we could know what is that we miss or gain in our everyday life of 21st century ( Maybe Baahubali had special mix of food? not Complan and Horlicks as us!!)

Now, the science guy in me wants to say, "We need to eat right and know what is right from what the taste buds want "

P.S: I know people would draw parallels to the discussion here to how 23Pulikesi found his Kollan ( the blacksmith and weapon smith ) in the dungeon where he is captured and pulls the chains to show his might of wasting his time and energy getting sunk in torture treatment.

Well, I got the thought only after writing this article and incidentally lot of thought process went in to the understanding of malnutrition and proportions of good food in this writing.

To all those foodie people out there, Eat well!!

Wonderous World of IFs and BUTs!

The World as we know is a very big thing!

Imagine that you were once the smallest thing in the planet.

That is very quick to imagine, so let us go further back. Before the times that even this word imagine could not have been coined yet.

Enter the mind of the first being, a BEING as I might call because for sure it had to be someone who might have missed their marbles or their thought in to creating something remarkable and unique as the vast expanse of COSMOS.

The very first atom of thought that would have gone in to the thinking. What could the BEING though of then?? Hmmm..

Perhaps the BEING had some kind of boredom to succumb to, or could it be that boredom was never even there yet.

Okay! so something had to have happened.

Hydrogen!

More Hydrogen!

So, It was pretty lonely at times for the BEING to play with one thing,, let me add a new character over it!!

Gravity!

More Gravity!

Keep on squeezing the same until it becomes a different thing!

So, to let it move in the thing of Void, the being had a new thought, What IF?

what IF? I make it so small.. will it burst out to become huge!!!
what IF? I do not come to see it after it becomes huge!!
what IF? It forgets my presence and starts coining me new things!!
what IF? It never tried contacting me again ever from its world
What IF? I could never overcome this feeling of lost!!

"Would it be so the world would never knew of me??" , the BEING spoke to itself

"But, there is some piece of Atom(Breadcrumb) that I leave behind, for which my creations could find it's true meaning."

Spec of Marvelous Dust to the VOICE!!

"Wait! Does that mean the time of the BEING vastly outnumber our time of existence", the CREATIONS(Hydrogen , gravity and so on!!) ask.

"Well, for which to be answered you need to outlive my time of existence" , the BEING replied

A voice over looking all these things from afar said , "The World as we know is a small spec of dust  and yet it rummages on petty things of war and existence!!", along with a beaming smile.

Beach Sand Magnified 250 Times!!

When I use to walk lanes after lanes in Summer (Life in Chennai!)

It has been Ten years now, the first time I moved to Chennai was in April of 2005. Right after I finished my school and came here to write Entrance after Entrance exams as City of Chennai was my preferred location then. BITs Pilani had its Goa campus started 2 years before that and I was the very first few to take the online exam of BITs then. Somewhere in Mandaveli was the center to take part the exam. I was thrilled. Given that maximum technology I was exposed to was OCR (Optical Character Recognition) in Computer exam on 12th grade stateboard exams.

The IIT-Madras campus to write the AIEEE exam, that is when I realized man, I though college was always all about buildings and cool architecture with curves and stuff, was mesmerized to see a Battery van take me through the campus. Deers running through the campus. The best part is the massive amount of super Nerdy people.

It gives me fond memories to look back to, taking notes( heaps and mounds of them just to clear a few 0.001 mark of some ), countless hours of sleep deprivation to hearing audio recordings of some math genius guy ( I don't intent to lie here but I did skip a few part to hear then latest songs I smuggled from my cousins)

Oh! The best part is seeing the city in whole new dimension with my 18 year young eyes. Lot of new Flyovers were coming up. First time to see the Adyar flyover which would later become infamous in Kamal's movie Vettayadu Vilayadu. Lot more to tell from little over a decade back.

The city did see it's truly remarkable change.All those people I met have grown to become famous and humble people over this past decade. But, the city I grew fond of (loving it every time I say that), has somehow shrunk in its beauty.

By whining and grinding the turmoil of heat over the few years, social media and news mentioning the worst in climate that has become and everybody planning on some summer getaways from the city! Let me tell you what happened to this wonderful city over the years.

OVER EXPLOITATION!

Imagine the time, I use to come to city when I was a little kid for vacation in summer. Mom use to jog me up to all crash courses, computer class, music class, drawing class. (Well not much did enter my grey cells then, except Adyar bakery Puffs and Samosa)

The lane after lane of streets I use to wander over the times on side walks have now become filled with Garbage dumps and Car parks. I remember taking the MRTs to just get to the Marina Beach from the city outskirts of Avadi to get a cool breeze.

I am not a newbee to say all this to people who love city more than me ever but imagination is little to lost when I talk to the younger people than me. All they ever talk about is Hot Summer, Come On!

How do you expect to get a fresh air, when all you worry about is raised buildings and car parks rather than green cover and animal lovers!

Just visit a nearby park. NO butterflies, NO chirping birds, NO uncles to ward you off from saying that the park has closing time. I was sitting in a park recently at around 8 pm. Hoping to catch some fresh air. Not a soul was im sight. Summer heat was ofcourse settling on me. Night time temperature was around 29 degree celcius. The guard who was stationed at the entrance was hearing a song in his mobile phone ( must be in his 50s). I was about to leave at around 9 pm. Just so I could ask him when does the park close. He replied me back, "It's usually closed by 8 pm but today I am going to close it 9:30 pm. Since you are the only one enjoying it"

It striked me then, people have got bitten by the heat bug that they refuse to leave their homes for natural air. It maybe an analogy to compare it to Flipkart or Amazon making people stay home and buy stuff. But seriously!  what I contemplate in few years is only big events could draw people out to enjoy out and open air. I am not saying galas and festivals. Something like tremor or storm. Galas and festivals are already hijacked by TVs and Movies. Let me just hope that the world becomes a better place and be responsible enough to say that the wind and air we breathe is all because of what we put out as trees and non-polluting stuff that mother nature can take to her heart!

Happy Mother's day to everyone! I hope Mother nature becomes happy too and not toil us in her wrath in the coming years..

Technology! Reviews!

There is always a never ending opinion and reviews about something in this world.

People have all sorts of needs these day
I want to buy a Smartphone , read a review about it in Gsmarena or TheVerge or Cnet..
I want to buy a car, better yet a luxury car! read reviews at TopGear..

and the list goes on..

Travel reviews.. You have it..
Food reviews.. Yes, you have it...

It goes on and on and on..

Then I realize where does people get these idea to review things.

The answer might be so simple, people like to be socialized and told what to do.. the human gene is built that way.

Let us take a step far back in time.. soooooo.. far back...

Cave men with Lots of stories and REVIEWS of the outside world

Consider the cave man of ancient time, the world`s first reviewer. He gets the opportunity to explore new stuff.
A new beast to tame, a new tool to build, a frontier enemy to defeat and so on. Each time he accounts a new experience he is bombarded with information that is so much significant in sustaining his tribe and humanity.

So, he does what is best for the current time. He makes a scribe in the wall with his tools, possibly knowing the geology of the rock to mix the right amount of water and pigments from the nature to create the world`s first ink and Wall Post! Sounds cool to write it even though every term I use is now trademark or branded by facebook or google in the sense of what actually a WALL POST is!

In exploring these facts, came across the Bhimbetka Caves in Central India which has stories of ancient humans inscribed by some geeky guy 3500 or even more years ago.

Bhimbetka caves 3500 year old cave paintings, Central India

These reviews and information have stood the record of time in helping us know what people use to love and what people see themselves to do once they step out of their cave.

But, imagine 2016 A.D, the year in which I am writing this blog..

Are we in the time where the wealth of information is of use? Some say it is.. some would say it isn`t.. well let's just skip the argument sake and actually see the facts.

Reviews: The blah-blah stuff of one guys fascination to experience stuff the first time. So, you are the early bird to have something new and therefore you have been given the opportunity to share the world how you actually felt in owning it. People get so carried by the fandom and wishful thought that sooner things of good value end up in trash.

This reminds me of a social experiment that I read long back, before I reveal it, let me tell you what the word of mouth can result in.. it can dethrone an empire, make a lie the truth, make a rumor a miracle and so on.

Assuming that the technology of knowing things is enough to make you the versatile enough to write and document reviews, it is not that everyone has to take it with the right spirit. on and on you can make stuff up.. 10,000 hour principle of mastering stuff by Malcom Gladwell - Outliers (http://www.amazon.in/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017930) is enough to make you wise.

I believe that it is true! I also believe that not everything can be learned in this human life span of 100 years( let me be greedy on my lifespan). Everything we do now is just another experiment or experience waiting to be reviewed by someone else, all that it counts is to make it the best or the modesty to let someone else make it awesome from the best you already had.

The social experiment that I though of was the 5 Monkey and Ladder.. I leave it to you to understand what the generations of humans and our digital reviews is going to leave as expression on our future race. I mean the future us, in case the world had a Solar Storm and everything that is just Digital got wiped out ;-p Just kidding, although I do wish it would happen one day so that people value people more than stuff that has expiry date to be reviewed upon.