Skip to content

Business

Grapevine

We are not talking about the vines of grapes. But the grapevine which means to heard a thing through unofficial channels rather than the official one’s. You must have heard someone saying “I heard it from the grapevine”. Grapevine has its origins in the telegraph system invented by Samuel Morse for communication. It was initially used mostly by Army. This communication method required miles and miles of wire between the source and destination. These wires had to be supported on the poles erected at specific spaces. The wires hanging on resembled the wires for supporting the grape vines. And hence… Read More »Grapevine

Sitting Forlorn

It was yesterday evening past nine o’clock. I was sitting on a bench which stood near the bus stop opposite the shopping arcade. As it was the time when most of the people reach after a long journey to Mumbai. So at this point of time time, very few people were roaming out. There was no movement in the air. The leaves were not stirring at all. The background looked like a still photo, static not dynamic with only some activity at the bottom of the picture. One fellow was trundling home with a small bag of some eatables, he… Read More »Sitting Forlorn

View from Window

The view from from window of my room at 4 O’clock in the Evening: It is 4 O’clock in the evening. The sunshine is becoming pale at the approach of the evening. The mornings, evenings and nights are becoming cooler. Sky is still clear. Sitting in the same room of my home on the third floor, I am looking at the scene out side from the window. The outline of trees looks like the drawing of a child making lines with a pencil which are not straight but serrated. The shadows and lights are playing exclusive games in the branches… Read More »View from Window

Fascination to Color their World

“Thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of twisted linen, and blue and purple and scarlet…(Exodus 26:1)” These lines from Holy book “Bible” show the humans obsession for colors. Humans have been always been fascinated with color. The competitors of our forefather “homo sapiens”, prepared their dead for burial by coating their bodies with red ochre, which is actually Ferric oxide. After them, Cro-Magnon made cave paintings using for colors yellow and red iron oxides, black manganese dioxide and white clays. These are natural materials available as rocks and salts for tens of thousands of years. This continued until… Read More »Fascination to Color their World

Darkness

Darkness I said. But you may say light only acquires meaning thanks to darkness. Contrary to my expectations, it has turned out to be the opposite. The things which shone from afar turned out to be dark. Darkness was hidden behind the light, lies sugar coated with sweet talk were forced down my gullet.From the great distance, things looked prettier like they say that grass looks greener on the other side of the fence. I don’t blame the ones who gave me wrong impressions. what was the need to do that? Guided by this wrong impression, I came. From the… Read More »Darkness

Animals cannot digest Cellulose

Most plants synthesize cellulose which they use to give strength to their bodies and make them withstand the vagaries of storms. It gives the shape to the trees and branches then expand the tree. Cellulose becomes the wood when trees become mature. Furniture is made of this material. It is obvious that cellulose is insoluble in water otherwise no one will use it in construction and furniture. Cellulose and starch and other carbohydrates consist of glucose molecules which are arranged in chains of different styles. In starch, two chains are intertwined. These chains get separated on boiling the starch in… Read More »Animals cannot digest Cellulose

Chitosan: A multi utility chemical

There are many chemical products which find use in different unconnected areas. For example Carboxy Methyl Cellulose (CMC) which is used in ice creams as well as viscosifier in drilling fluids. Similarly Linseed oils are used in Drilling fluids as well as ice cream. In this article we are talking of another multiutility chemical which has found uses in diverse fields. It is a versatile chemical and called Chitosan. It is derived from Chitin which is obtained from the shells of prawns. Many groups of amide are reduced selectively to amine groups to tailor made the required chemical. Application of… Read More »Chitosan: A multi utility chemical

Concept of pH in Chemistry

Although the pH of a lake or polluted stream is seldom reported in the media, the people who are monitoring the health of the lake water record it daily religiously. But pH is quite an important physical property of water. pH of a stream gives an indication about the salts and other soluble matter present in the water. These soluble salts affect the organisms living in the water. Also changing pH in a stream can be an indicator of increasing pollution or some other environmental factor. As we know life on our planet is based on the water. Water is… Read More »Concept of pH in Chemistry

What is Happening?

When someone asked the humorist writer Mark Twain which investment shall bring in the maximum profit, he had said “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore”. As always how true he was. The demand for land is rising and rising relentlessly. Our health quotient is improved day by day resulting in increased life expectancy. More people, more wealth they generate and with more wealth, everybody wants to live a life of comfort. Three basic needs: house, food and clothing are putting extreme pressure on our planet. Even though Sun is helping us in the synthesis of food, the area under… Read More »What is Happening?

The life is slipping like sand through palms

The hour glass shows the sand slowly slipping from the upper globe through a narrow passage to the lower globe. Various devices to mimic the passage of time. You can always flip the hour glass and the cycle can restart. But that is not so with the real life. The hour glass of the real life cannot be flipped. Whatever has passed the passage cannot be reloaded in the upper globe. The life now is slipping like the sand through the sands: freely flowing. It never relents for a moment and every bit of the allotted hours are leaking away.… Read More »The life is slipping like sand through palms

%d bloggers like this: