Sunday, September 2, 2007

zero

There is nothing called 0 BC. 1 AD comes after 1 BC. I believe that when the modern calender was conceptualised, the Indians were not involved.

While the great greeks were still confused that "how can nothing be something", Indians had already assigned a symbol to zero in 5th Century BC. Pingala is the mathematician referred with the symbol known as 'shunya'. Before the world could comprehend the importance of zero, Aryabhatta had already proposed the decimel system in 4th Century AD.

The thought process that inspired me to write this blog came from my bhaiya. He was referring to a skit he played where the first lines spoken were the part of following song.

जब जीरो दिया मेरे भारत ने,

भारत ने मेरे भारत ने, दुनिया को तब गिनती आयी,
तारों कि भाषा भारत ने, दुनिया को पहले सिखलायी ,
देता ना दशमलव भारत तो, यूं चांद पे जाना मुश्किल था,
धरती और चांद कि दूरी का, अंदाजा लगाना मुश्किल था,

सभ्यता यहाँ पहले आयी,

सभ्यता जहाँ पहले आयी, पहले जन्मी है जहाँ पे कला,
अपना भारत वोह भारत है, जिसके पीछे संसार चला,
संसार चला और आगे बढ़ा, आगे बढ़ा बढ़ता ही गया,
भगवान् करे ये और बढ़े, बढ़ता ही रहे और फूले फले.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

the productive genius

There are actually only three kind of people in this world. Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who say "What happened?" Lets talk about the first two and leave other on their fate.

Those who make things happen have one thing in common - boldness. It takes courage to reach for the unknown or sometimes even the unknowable. These few people create what we call history. As Winston Churchill once said - "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

Those who watch things happen are the easiest of the lot. They do what they are told to do. Konosuke Matshushita, the father of Japanese management, had a firm belief that if you trust someone with a job, the person would execute it for the sake of the fact that someone believes in him.

In India, the number of people who make things happen is huge. From the panwaala to the founder of a retail chain, each one is an entrepreneur. It can all be attributed to the lack of education system. Education is supposed to create the second level. I think that is the reason that even in west the most productive genius are college dropouts.