Is Media misguiding us or Is Media getting misguided?

As I was following the news on the current scarcity of fertilizers in Karnataka, the above question arose in my mind. It was just twenty one days before B S Yediurappa took is oath as CM of Karnataka after the people of Karnataka gave BJP a clear mandate to form the government along with the independents. Although Yediurappa became the first CM to take oath in the name of the farmer, the recent scarcity of fertilizers for farmers in Karnataka has become a serious problem which is facing Yediurappa’s government.

After the JD(S) – BJP coalition government fell, the governor’s rule was brought in Karnataka. During this tenure only 11% of required fertilizer stock was sent to Karnataka [click here]. This scarcity of fertilizers did hit the farmers of the state as soon as the new government took its office. It started of with agitation by farmers in various districts of Karnataka. The issue became more serious when a farmer was shot dead at Haveri. The government sent a request letter to send more stocks of fertilizers to the state to solve the problem [click here].

Meanwhile the media has been printing headlines everyday about the death of farmers through out Karnataka. Well although 1 or 2 died because they had to pay huge amounts for the banks where they had borrowed loans (because of lack of considerable returns in their agriculture), the other farmers had died to family issues. The media in spite of knowing these reasons behind the death are projecting these deaths as an act of mismanagement by the state government. This seems to be an act by the media to create a bad image for the new government just to show that this government is inefficient to govern the state.

Media being a responsible medium to uphold the democracy of the country has to carefully analyze the issues and effects of the information they present. They should not indulge in writing articles that will disturb peace. They should also be neutral in their approach of presenting information rather than being biased towards political parties just for the sake of publicity or money. Although this is not the only time the media has misguided people but there are many such scenarios where media has indulged in such activity.

Some of the newspapers like Kesari and Maratha started by Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak (July 23, 1856 - August 1, 1920), who was an Indian nationalist, social reformer and independence fighter, should be a inspiration for the present media. Their editorials gave a vivid picture of the people's sufferings and of actual happenings. Tilak used to say to his colleagues that the media should imagine that they are talking to a villager and not to a university student. They should be sure of each and every fact. He used to expect each word to be clear as day light. He made his newspaper a medium to make his dream of “Swaraj India” a reality.

Probably the present media should rethink about their role in the society and should work hard in making Vision-2020 possible rather than concentrating towards making their media a business just to make name and fame.

The Rocket boys who made the ‘October Sky’ a ‘November Sky’

Well it is not the rocket boys of Coalwood but the rocket boys of Bangalore. Although people won’t call us that way we have called ourselves ‘Rocket Boys’ after our rocket was successfully launched on the auspicious day of Deepavali. The festival of lights stood as a witness for this launch and what better day could we have chosen for this.

Being a science enthusiast, I like experimenting and playing with science. Along with me Adithya, Kiran, Sathya and the most important of all, my uncle Murali Mohan (I call him Murali Chikappa) joined together to execute the experiment which I thought of doing. Well since younger days I was interested in rockets and wanted to experiment with one. Others who joined me were equally interested in this experiment.

People while referring to any easy work say ‘it is no rocket science!’ but does that mean rocket science is that difficult? But if it is challenging and exciting then who cares if it is difficult. I was browsing the web for help regarding making rockets. I found an interesting link which said Water bottle rockets. What else does one need to start of with when you want to build a low budget rocket? As I browsed through the link, I came to know there was a whole community behind it. In the west it is an undergraduate level science project where groups of students demonstrate their rockets by launching it. Lot of enthusiasts like us, have experimented with these rockets and there is a lot of information about it on the web. Well when I came to know about the building of the rocket, I discussed about it with my group. We started designing the rocket and its launch pad. As the name itself suggests, a water bottle is needed for the rocket. We also needed a parachute to recover the launched rocket and a launch pad to launch it.

We picked a big cool drink bottle which was sturdy and which could withstand the crash during fall in case the parachute fails. Murali Chikappa had brought special material to make the fins and nose of the rocket. The fins were attached to the inverted bottle and a nose was designed to create enough lung space to house the parachute. The nose was tied to the bottle and placed over the bottom of the inverted bottle. We prepared a nice big parachute of 32 inches and with the help of strings tied it to the bottle and placed it in the area below the nose cone (pay load area). The rocket was ready to some extent and now we had to prepare the launch pad. The design was finalized and Murali chikappa who was indeed our chief architect had asked a plumber to prepare it. Ah! When did plumbers get involved in rocket making? Don’t get surprised after all it is a water bottle rocket and who else can prepare the launch pad for it. Ya the lauch pad was made out of PVC pipes. They were arranged in an H-Shape framework in order to provide a firm base for the launch. The plumber got the launch pad ready in a couple of days and all we had to do was to fix some accessories to it to help the launch.

Provision for fixing a cycle pump to the launch pad was made, and clamps and other necessary accessories were mounted on the launch pad. Now it was time for some testing. We threw the rocket from top of the house and tested whether the parachute was opening. Adithya really helped us out in this testing. After a number of trials we fixed various defects in the parachute. The final touches were made to the apparatus before the launch.

The first test launch was exciting. We were nervous because all the work we had done before was theoretical. This was our first practical experience of flying our own rocket. The apparatus was assembled on top of our house. The bottle was filled with water till the half mark. The bottle was inverted over the launch pad and fixed tightly using the clamps so that the water inside should not leak. Air was pumped into the bottle using the cycle pump. This increased the pressure inside the bottle. After the pressure inside the bottle reached an optimum pressure (which we came to know from a meter attached to the pump) we stopped pumping air inside the bottle. Then we pulled the clamp that was holding the bottle. The water gushed out of the bottle opening, and drenched me completely. In no time the rocket was around 30 feet above our head. Wow it was an achievement. We jubilated with excitement and happiness. The first test launch was a real success and it was a source of inspiration for the rest of the launches we made. Well after this launch we celebrated a pollution free deepavali by launching our rocket as many times as it excited us.

This was not the end… The rocket went on for its display at two science exhibitions. While it became an inauguration event at the science exhibition in Sri Vani Education Institute, Subramanyanagara it won an award at the other science exhibition. We had named the rocket AZAD and it proved to its name. It was a colorful and wonderful November Sky for us when our hard work turned into reality when the rocket had kissed the sky. I would like to thank and congratulate all the team members who made the rocket a big success.