“We’re already late by an hour” Rennick told me. I looked at my watch, it was still 5:45 PM and we had another 15 minutes more.
“Are you still drunk?” I mockingly asked him; he didn’t talk gibberish earlier in the day.
“Today is the last Sunday of March…” that was some fact he was telling me, so he’s not completely knocked out, I thought, but still could not figure out how does the last Sunday have an impact on us getting late, when we are 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
“Daylight saving Sourav… we moved ahead by one hour last night”.
“Daylight saving?” I thought to myself, yes that is something I had heard about, but what is it? Rather why do we do it? Is it enough to move the hour hand by one? Not to be bogged down by some phenomenon, I had decided to spend some time to understand this, as I got into the bus.
My quest took me not only to medieval times, but made me read a bit about the earth’s revolution around the sun and the impact that it has on the changing times. Having been in India which is quite close to the equator than other European nations, I never had undergone a need for the daylight saving. But as the latitudes increase, the reason becomes more and more resilient as to why the concept of daylight saving came into existence. The culprit is the earth’s axis.
As kids we had been taught that the earth’s axis has a slight tilt. Due to this the far regions away from the equator will have an impact on the duration for how long the sunlight is available; more during summer and less during winter for the countries close to the North Pole and the vice-versa for countries close to the South Pole. The deviation in the sunlight availability is quite high and this requires for adjustment in our time as well. For the regions closer to the Equator there would be equal day and night hours all year around.
Daylight saving is not new. In the ancient times, a water clock with a series of gears rotated a cylinder to display hour lengths appropriately for each day. Our ancient civilizations adjusted daily schedules to the sun more flexibly than modern Daylight Saving Time does, often dividing daylight into twelve equal hours regardless of day-length, so that each daylight hour was longer during summer than during winter. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal; so civil time no longer did vary by the season.
It was Benjamin Franklin, who had suggested that Parisians [citizens of Paris] economize on candles by rising earlier to use morning sunlight. Later in the year 1905 Daylight Saving Time was invented by William Willett during one of his pre-breakfast rides when he observed how many Londoners [citizens of London] slept through the best part of a summer day. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk. His solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later.
Willett’s 1907 proposal argued that DST increases opportunity for outdoor leisure activities during afternoon sunlight hours. Obviously it does not change the length of the day; the longer days nearer the summer solstice in high altitudes merely offer more room to shift apparent daylight from morning to evening so that early morning daylight is not wasted.
There is a saying that wealth is the root cause of all changes. An earlier goal of DST was to reduce evening usage of incandescent lighting, formerly a primary use of electricity and thereby utilize the energy judiciously. This would only be possible if the evening reduction would outweigh the morning increase, as in high-latitude summer where most people wake up well after sunrise. Moreover the retailers, sporting goods makers and other businesses benefit from the extra afternoon sunlight, as it induces customers to shop and participate in outdoor afternoon sports. Conversely, DST can adversely affect farmers and others whose hours are set by the sun. For example, grain harvesting is best done after dew evaporates, so when field hands arrive and leave earlier in summer their labor is less valuable.
I would not be going into the depths to explain how it is done, since different countries have different times of doing it and not all nations do it together. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October across the European Union.
In reality we don’t lose an hour in March and gain an extra one in October, rather we tweak the clock to make life more enjoyable. That was a short description on how I found my peace of mind back after coming in terms with the lost one hour. The change in the schedule is so systematic that you just go ahead as if that hour was non existent. But for me… well, I’m waiting for October to gain my lost hour.
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
The Easter Bunny
Barely a week into office and one fine morning I find a pretty young lady moving from desk to desk distributing what seemed to be a gold paper wrapped in the shape of a hare or rabbit.In the last few days that I had been out, I saw many such gold shaped rabbits being sold in the shopping stores. Like everybody else’s, even my table was a proud owner of the Goldhase [German for gold hare]. I read to find that it was from Lindt. Being naïve about this I waited for my boss to inform me what it was all about.
What boss told couldn’t have made me less pleased on the prospect:
(a) The hare shaped thing was all chocolate; a Easter gift from the company
(b) Lindt is supposed to be the best chocolate manufacturer in the world.
But that was not enough for me… Why hare? Why during Easter? My quest took me to a few websites whose information I’ve collaborated and presented here.
The Easter bunny has its origin to the fertility lore in the pre-Christian era. The hare and the rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the spring season. Eggs are also fertility symbols of extreme antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.
Rabbits and hares are both prolific breeders. The females can conceive a second litter of off-springs while still pregnant with the first. The two litters are born separately. This phenomenon is known as superfetation. Lagomorphs mature sexually at an early age and can give birth to several litters a year and hence the sayings- “to breed like bunnies” or “multiply like rabbits”. It is therefore not surprising that rabbits and hares should become fertility symbols, or that their springtime mating antics should enter into Easter folklore. So much so for history.
Seeing the chocolate hare in the fridge and not eating it was one of the greatest tests of patience I had undergone. The fast lasted for barely a couple of weeks where in it was executed in less than an hour. Needless to say the chocolate tasted YUMMM!!!After having satiated my chocolate hunger with a couple of mouthful of chocolates, I decided to take it back into the fridge from my prying eyes. But the “one last piece” never ended and the chocolate was only the gold paper. I savored my chocolate –and there is one more of my room mate in the fridge. Though it’s out of sight, every time I open the fridge one thought does run in that direction, till I pull the string back.
While savoring the chocolate... a few questions had poped into my head... Why does chocolate make me feel like this..? I again logged into the internet to find some more info about the same. What I found was a bit of past and a bit of present.
The world "chocolate" comes from the Aztecs of South America and is derived from the Nahuatl word "xocolli" which means "bitter" and "atl" which means "water". The Aztecs associated chocolate with Xochiquetzal- The goddess of fertility. Chocolate is also associated to the Mayan god of fertility.
That's about the past. Now about how it makes me feel... and why the "one last bite" never ends till the chocolate is no more. Ask yourself- How does it feel when I place a piece of chocolate in my mouth? The pleasure, however hard I try cannot be penned down... somehting that only consuming it can describe. Part of the pleasure of eating chocolate is due to the fact that its melting point is slightly below human body tempreture: it melts in the mouth. A study report by the BBC indicated that melting a chocolate in ones mouth produces an increase in brain activity and heart rate that is more intense than that associated with a passionate kiss, and also lasts four times as long after the activity has ended.
Chocolates are good for health too, provided consumed in the right quantity. Dark chocolates benefit the circulatory system. Chocolates is also a good anticancer, brain stimulator and cough preventer. That's all towards the health impact of chocolate.
If ever blessed with an opportunity of being offered Lindt chocolates- let go of the outer self, let go of the moral values taught, let go of the hypocrisy , let go of everything that might hold you back from taking as much as you can and please be kind to offer me a few if I happen to be near. Be rest assured, even if I have more than a bagful of the same, you will never find it out, unless of course you check the waste basket under my table.
Monday, 24 March 2008
The seven stamps...
I’ve always felt that pursuing a hobby gives a greater sense of personal fulfillment in our lives. Time just seems to fly when we’ve dedicated our heart and mind to a passion. Having a personally accomplished life ensures that our vision towards professional goals are focused. There is a goal why the individual is living, and the sense of satisfaction… which needs to be felt.
We all have hobbies. If someone tells me that they have none then probably they haven’t yet explored much on their personal front or have lost their hopes of pursuing them. Reasons may be many to abandon ones hobbies; one of the most common is “no time after work”. Though there is no set time when to start a hobby, but generally it seems we decide our hobbies during the growing years of our lives: the school and college days. Being a lazy bum, I realized some of my hobbies after I got into work :)
Yes, even I have a few hobbies and have made it a point to dedicate a certain period every month or week in pursuing them; some of them started way back in school. That’s the reason why, as an 11 year old kid when Sam came to me and showed me his stamps, I was not surprised. I realized that Sam had set forth in defining who he is and what he’d be in the coming years, through these little steps. Sometimes I was skeptic whether he’d show enough perseverance in this new found love of his. Frankly speaking, I never expected Sam, an ardent cricket fan, to have the flair and tenacity of a philatelist.
I came to know that one of his neighbors had given him seven stamps and had promised a few more if Sam kept these stamps for more than a year. Having seen Sam grow up in front of my eyes, I knew that come one month and these stamps would be history. A couple of weeks later Sam showed me a new stamp that he got from those Maggi noodles packs; I had completely forgotten about his collection spree then. But Sam was going strong… even I had been asked to supply him the stamps that I’d get from letters…
It seemed that Sam picked up this collection thing after having been a spectator to one of the stamp exchange sessions during recess in school. He’d tell me about the beautiful stamps that his friends had, courtesy relatives living abroad and that he could never have a collection like them. I knew it was true and instead asked him to focus on stamps of India. Probably his friends won’t be able to appreciate it but if he got a sizable number then he could exchange them by writing to the Philatelic society. Every evening after his cricket practice he’d make a short visit to my house and collect the stamps that’d have arrived from post.
Early in the journey, Sam started showing signs of being articulate. He had a neat envelope where he used to keep his stamps. After a few weeks he explained to me what a “damaged” stamp meant and how to remove the stamp from an envelope without damaging it. He also told me that a damaged stamp has no value in the exchange table. I knew he was picking these from school. He also had a magnifying glass to check the writings on the stamps and I realized Sam might pull this through… Sam might stick to this for more than a year.
As we had discussed, I saw that Sam’s Indian stamps packet was bulging against the other packets. Sam had also gone against one of the most important principle of stamp collection and had exchanged stamps for which he didn’t have doubles. He was told by his neighbor not to exchange stamps for which he didn’t have doubles. But I saw that his collection of stamps was becoming diverse and he focused more on wildlife and history. Though he had violated the unwritten rule, atleast he was moving ahead. He also told me that stamps of Russia, South Africa and Czechoslovakia were in demand due to the fact that newer nations were emerging and hence there would not be many stamps of the erstwhile nations.
After six months or so, Sam’s count on India stamps had crossed 500 while others were at a paltry 25-30 or so. Sam used to be very excited whenever I’d give him stamps of foreign countries which I’d receive from mails. Sam had started pushing me for the Indian Philatelic Society address and in-turn I had to depend on my friends for the same. Those days in the early 90s’ computers and net-connections were not that common and finding information took time and patience. That was Sam’s testing time and I wanted to see how long he could hold onto this.
One Sunday Sam didn’t come to my house and I realized that probably I’ll have to find the address soon or a hobby might die;
I could see him loosing interest in stamps. Luckily my friend was able to trace a Philatelic Society in Baroda and I had decided to enroll Sam into the society. The next Sunday Sam came to my house late in the morning, all smiles with a small bag which I knew carried stamps. What he showed me was nothing less than a goldmine of stamps. A week back a friend of his dad from office had come from New Zealand and on his way back taken all his Indian stamps and brought a similar number of stamps from there. He had lots of doubles now.
Stamps with animals, birds were galore. We arranged all the stamps together and it seemed that space was not enough. Sam had a grin etched on his face which was already glowing. I knew that it was a jackpot what Sam had now. But he could easily flounder away these if not guided properly. I took the role of the mentor again and Sam promised that he’d obey the rules now. There were about 250 odd doubles which had to be exchanged but at the same time exchanging too many of them might not give him a good return. He had been good in getting two for one stamp that he gives but at the same time not compromising on the quality of stamps. We decided that we’ll release the stamps gradually and not together. He had to be persistent for the stamps that he wants but also not be too lenient in letting go of his multiple doubles. We had listed down the countries of which he didn’t have stamps or stamps that he had seen with his friends which he’d want to own. We had a strategy in place now. Sam had to control his excitement while dealing with the exchanges.
Over the next couple of months, Sam was able to able to disperse a lot of New Zealand stamps among his friends and also enrich his collection with one of the best stamps. In all the collection and exchange spree, what I liked in Sam was that he was still focused towards collecting Indian stamps… he knew where he came from, and he still valued it. Within the next five to six months, Sam’s collection was enriched with stamps of Queen Victoria’s series from half penny to forty penny and a lot of other sets of stamps. He had also dedicated one album for all the Indian stamps; a lot of them were new even to me. Sam was prosperous now and had a collection of more than 700 stamps from different parts of the world. He still had a month or so for one year to go since he started.
Sam’s stint had mellowed down in the next couple of years till he was in college and was handed over an old collection from his landlord. The new set of stamps had not seen the light of the day for more than 20 years and had to be very carefully handled; a lot of them were “damaged”. After his college I didn’t hear him talk much about his stamp collections. He had grown out of the hobby by then. Though he had the stamps with him, he was not actively into the art of exchanging and studying them.
I knew like all of us, his hobby had taken a backseat. I was not unhappy though; Sam had shown the perseverance to keep track of them for quite a long time… much more than I had expected. It’s not only that his interest had died, but the onset of emails has also driven us away from writing letters; though the latest news from him gives me a glimmer of hope.
Sam had been sent abroad for an assignment and he’s managed to collect a few local stamps from there. Co-incidentally the number of stamps that he’s starting with is again seven. I hope the passion holds enough heat to be called a second innings with his hobby.
We all have hobbies. If someone tells me that they have none then probably they haven’t yet explored much on their personal front or have lost their hopes of pursuing them. Reasons may be many to abandon ones hobbies; one of the most common is “no time after work”. Though there is no set time when to start a hobby, but generally it seems we decide our hobbies during the growing years of our lives: the school and college days. Being a lazy bum, I realized some of my hobbies after I got into work :)
Yes, even I have a few hobbies and have made it a point to dedicate a certain period every month or week in pursuing them; some of them started way back in school. That’s the reason why, as an 11 year old kid when Sam came to me and showed me his stamps, I was not surprised. I realized that Sam had set forth in defining who he is and what he’d be in the coming years, through these little steps. Sometimes I was skeptic whether he’d show enough perseverance in this new found love of his. Frankly speaking, I never expected Sam, an ardent cricket fan, to have the flair and tenacity of a philatelist.
I came to know that one of his neighbors had given him seven stamps and had promised a few more if Sam kept these stamps for more than a year. Having seen Sam grow up in front of my eyes, I knew that come one month and these stamps would be history. A couple of weeks later Sam showed me a new stamp that he got from those Maggi noodles packs; I had completely forgotten about his collection spree then. But Sam was going strong… even I had been asked to supply him the stamps that I’d get from letters…
It seemed that Sam picked up this collection thing after having been a spectator to one of the stamp exchange sessions during recess in school. He’d tell me about the beautiful stamps that his friends had, courtesy relatives living abroad and that he could never have a collection like them. I knew it was true and instead asked him to focus on stamps of India. Probably his friends won’t be able to appreciate it but if he got a sizable number then he could exchange them by writing to the Philatelic society. Every evening after his cricket practice he’d make a short visit to my house and collect the stamps that’d have arrived from post.
Early in the journey, Sam started showing signs of being articulate. He had a neat envelope where he used to keep his stamps. After a few weeks he explained to me what a “damaged” stamp meant and how to remove the stamp from an envelope without damaging it. He also told me that a damaged stamp has no value in the exchange table. I knew he was picking these from school. He also had a magnifying glass to check the writings on the stamps and I realized Sam might pull this through… Sam might stick to this for more than a year.
As we had discussed, I saw that Sam’s Indian stamps packet was bulging against the other packets. Sam had also gone against one of the most important principle of stamp collection and had exchanged stamps for which he didn’t have doubles. He was told by his neighbor not to exchange stamps for which he didn’t have doubles. But I saw that his collection of stamps was becoming diverse and he focused more on wildlife and history. Though he had violated the unwritten rule, atleast he was moving ahead. He also told me that stamps of Russia, South Africa and Czechoslovakia were in demand due to the fact that newer nations were emerging and hence there would not be many stamps of the erstwhile nations. After six months or so, Sam’s count on India stamps had crossed 500 while others were at a paltry 25-30 or so. Sam used to be very excited whenever I’d give him stamps of foreign countries which I’d receive from mails. Sam had started pushing me for the Indian Philatelic Society address and in-turn I had to depend on my friends for the same. Those days in the early 90s’ computers and net-connections were not that common and finding information took time and patience. That was Sam’s testing time and I wanted to see how long he could hold onto this.
One Sunday Sam didn’t come to my house and I realized that probably I’ll have to find the address soon or a hobby might die;
I could see him loosing interest in stamps. Luckily my friend was able to trace a Philatelic Society in Baroda and I had decided to enroll Sam into the society. The next Sunday Sam came to my house late in the morning, all smiles with a small bag which I knew carried stamps. What he showed me was nothing less than a goldmine of stamps. A week back a friend of his dad from office had come from New Zealand and on his way back taken all his Indian stamps and brought a similar number of stamps from there. He had lots of doubles now.Stamps with animals, birds were galore. We arranged all the stamps together and it seemed that space was not enough. Sam had a grin etched on his face which was already glowing. I knew that it was a jackpot what Sam had now. But he could easily flounder away these if not guided properly. I took the role of the mentor again and Sam promised that he’d obey the rules now. There were about 250 odd doubles which had to be exchanged but at the same time exchanging too many of them might not give him a good return. He had been good in getting two for one stamp that he gives but at the same time not compromising on the quality of stamps. We decided that we’ll release the stamps gradually and not together. He had to be persistent for the stamps that he wants but also not be too lenient in letting go of his multiple doubles. We had listed down the countries of which he didn’t have stamps or stamps that he had seen with his friends which he’d want to own. We had a strategy in place now. Sam had to control his excitement while dealing with the exchanges.
Over the next couple of months, Sam was able to able to disperse a lot of New Zealand stamps among his friends and also enrich his collection with one of the best stamps. In all the collection and exchange spree, what I liked in Sam was that he was still focused towards collecting Indian stamps… he knew where he came from, and he still valued it. Within the next five to six months, Sam’s collection was enriched with stamps of Queen Victoria’s series from half penny to forty penny and a lot of other sets of stamps. He had also dedicated one album for all the Indian stamps; a lot of them were new even to me. Sam was prosperous now and had a collection of more than 700 stamps from different parts of the world. He still had a month or so for one year to go since he started.Sam’s stint had mellowed down in the next couple of years till he was in college and was handed over an old collection from his landlord. The new set of stamps had not seen the light of the day for more than 20 years and had to be very carefully handled; a lot of them were “damaged”. After his college I didn’t hear him talk much about his stamp collections. He had grown out of the hobby by then. Though he had the stamps with him, he was not actively into the art of exchanging and studying them.
I knew like all of us, his hobby had taken a backseat. I was not unhappy though; Sam had shown the perseverance to keep track of them for quite a long time… much more than I had expected. It’s not only that his interest had died, but the onset of emails has also driven us away from writing letters; though the latest news from him gives me a glimmer of hope.Sam had been sent abroad for an assignment and he’s managed to collect a few local stamps from there. Co-incidentally the number of stamps that he’s starting with is again seven. I hope the passion holds enough heat to be called a second innings with his hobby.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)