An initiative to develop a common repository of algal taxonomic literature for budding algal taxonomists of India

Dear Prof. Baruah and learned Phycologist,

Thank you for your initiative to start the repository of the Algal taxonomic literature of India. It is a nice idea and a much-needed requirement to save algal research in India. 

I will try my best whatever possible to contribute. From Prof. Adhikary I received his cyanobacterial cultures and voucher specimens collected during the AICOPTAX project maintaining it in the Visva-Bharati Culture Collection of Algae. But most of the taxonomic literature is with Dr. Sudipta Kumar Das and Dr. Mrutynjay Jena.  But whatever taxonomic literature of Indian Algae with me I can share with you.

In this initiative, I have a suggestion.  Let's make this literature digital. We can collect the literature to make an Endnote database and put it in a dropbox accessible to all the psychologists of India. If you need any help I can help with this. Since many of the literature are old and not available anywhere it is very much essential to preserve them in the digital platform and if we keep this valuable resource in cloud-like Dropbox it will be easy to accessible to all at the time of need and help students. There will be also new publications from the taxonomic account of algae so we also need to keep windows open for that. So if we make it open in a cloud whoever has a new publication can upload and update it instantly.  Since it is a voluminous work once the platform is ready each one of us can add the literature which we have. 

I have also another suggestion. In this WhatsApp, age why not make a WhatsApp Group of Indian Phycologists but strictly no forwarding messages, Good morning messages etc Just on developments on Indian Algae. So if someone gets a new publication on Algae of India can just WhatsApp in the Group. Thanks to you for collecting the e-mail Id of many of the phycologists of India, we can also keep an Excel sheet in dropbox to include contact details of all phycologists and their specialization, mobile numbers, etc for better coordination and development in this field. 

The legendary Phycologists have a great contribution and we need to carry forward that to the next generation of phycologists. So far we are not well coordinated and because of that loosing also the Algal names our legendary phycologists established in India. For example, the young researches of India use the latest monographs of Komarek for identification of but in that, we don't have many Indian species included. Manual of Prof Desikachary is not available and the student follows Komarek's manual and many Indian species of cyanobacteria now wrongly Identified.

I really appreciate your Initiatives and now in this digital age lets make a digital repository of Algal literature accessible to all.

With my Best Regards

Jnanendra

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Dr. Jnanendra Rath 

Raman, NIH Fellow (USA)

Assistant Professor (Stage-III)
Department of Botany
Institute of Science
Visva-Bharati (A Central University)

FACTORS THAT DETERMINE OUR ATTITUDE

Are we born with attitudes or do we develop them as we mature? What are the factors
that form our attitudes?
If you have a negative outlook on life because of your environment, can you change your
attitude? Most of our attitude is shaped during our formative years.
There are primarily three factors that determine our attitude. They are:
1. environment
2. experience
3. education

These are called the triple Es of attitude. Let's evaluate each of the factors individually.
1. Environment
Environment consists of the following:
¨  Home: positive or negative influences
¨  School: peer pressure
¨  Work: supportive or over critical supervisor
¨  Media: television, newspapers, magazines, radio, movies
¨  Cultural background
¨  Religious background
¨  Traditions and beliefs
¨  Social environment
¨  Political environment

All of these environments create a culture. Every place be it a home, organization or a
country has a culture.

Have you noticed that sometimes you go to a store and you find the salesperson polite,
the supervisor, manager and owner polite as well? Yet you go to another shop and you
find everyone rude and discourteous.
You go to a home and you find the kids and parents well-behaved, courteous and
considerate. You go to another home where everyone is fighting like cats and dogs.
In countries where the government and political environment is honest, generally you will
find that the people are honest, law abiding and helpful. And the reverse is true too. In a
corrupt environment, an honest person has a tough time. Whereas in an honest
environment, the corrupt one has a tough time.

In a positive environment, a marginal performer's output goes up. In a negative
environment, a good performer's output goes down.
Culture in any place always goes top down, never bottom up. We need to step back and
look at what kind of environment we have created for ourselves and those around us. It is
tough to expect positive behavior in a negative environment. Where lawlessness
becomes the law, honest citizens become cheats, crooks and thieves.
Isn't it time to evaluate the environment that we are in or we have created for others?

2. Experiences
Our behavior changes according to our experiences with people and events in our life. If
we have a positive experience with a person, our attitude toward him becomes positive
and vice versa.

3. Education
I refer to both formal and informal education, not just academic qualifications. Knowledge
strategically applied translates into wisdom, ensuring success. I talk of education in the
broader sense. It makes the role of the ; educator vital. A teacher affects eternity. The
ripple effect is immeasurable.

We are drowning in information but starving for knowledge and wisdom. Education ought
to teach us not only how to make a living but also how to live.

ACRES OF DIAMONDS

There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he
was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him
and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The
wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own
city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own
country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy
and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent
because he was unhappy.
The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and
went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all
through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally,
physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the
Barcelona River and committed suicide.
Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream
that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and
made it sparkle like a rainbow. He thought it would look good on the mantle piece. He
picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoon the wise man came and
saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?" The new owner said, "No, why do
you ask?" The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see
one." The man said, no, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show
you. There are many more." They went and picked some samples and sent them for
analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed
covered with acres and acres of diamonds.

Inspirational

There was a man who made a living selling balloons at a fair. He had all colors of
balloons, including red, yellow, blue, and green. Whenever business was slow, he would
release a helium-filled balloon into the air and when the children saw it go up, they all
wanted to buy one. They would come up to him, buy a balloon, and his sales would go up
again. He continued this process all day. One day, he felt someone tugging at his jacket.
He turned around and saw a little boy who asked, "If you release a black balloon, would
that also fly?" Moved by the boy's concern, the man replied with empathy, "Son, it is not
the color of the balloon, it is what is inside that makes it go up."

Students often ask me if they should become entrepreneurs.

My advice is very similar to what Socrates gave about marriage!

“By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you will be happy. If you get a bad one, you will be a philosopher.”

“By all means, become an entrepreneur . If you do well, you will get rich. And if you do badly, you will learn a lot about the world - and yourself! "

DR VISHNU KIRAN MANAM

A doctorate in Applied Microbiology - Botany with specialization in Nanotechnology from the University of Madras, his field of study and expertise include Nano-biotechnology, Algal Research, Aquaculture, Vaccine Research, Bioremediation, and Drug Discovery Services. He has rich experience in Research & Development and Academics for more than a decade, He has also practical experience in Marketing & Corporate Communications, Human resources, and Project Management for more than 5 yrs. He has been certified with Six Sigma [Yellow Belt, Green Belt & Black Belt]. He has bagged the BEST SCIENTIST AWARD –IARDO, YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD – ELSEVIER SSRN, RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AWRAD – RES, and BEST RESEARCHER AWARD - ISCAW – ESM for the year 2021. He has 38 patents to his credit so far. He has also various research publications and book chapters both internationally and nationally to his credit. He has been a book editor [12 Books] in various disciplines such as Nanotechnology, Chemical Sciences, Aquaculture, etc. He has actively taken part in various research programs conducted nationally and internationally. He has been a part of the editorial board member in various international journals and a member of various research forums.

He has successfully steered the responsibilities including resources alignment, technology strategies, and evolution of the innovation management focus areas to achieve the strategic goals during his stint in the senior management role. His skills in enhancing the process operations, optimizing resources & capacity utilization, and augmenting productivity & operational efficiencies while curtailing costs & expenses are highly commendable. High integrity & energetic leader is known for the capability to envision and create SLA, SOP & manuals as well as recruit and train successful multi-cultural teams with the latest knowledge & modern skills in R&D and product development fields to develop quality services. An enterprising leader with proven skills in directing personnel towards the accomplishment of a common goal. Last but not least he is a Philanthropist and a simple human being.

 

Amitabh Bachchan: Passion for acting helped me rise from bankruptcy

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has seen highs and lows in his journey from being Bollywood's "angry young man" to its "Shahenshah". The actor says his determination and focus helped him emerge from the brink of bankruptcy. 

For the actor, things didn't turn out as expected with his Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd. (ABCL) landing him into financial mess. 

"It was a difficult time. ABCL went into debt. I was bankrupt. The people who expressed desire to work with me at the peak of my career came and hurled abuses at me," Amitabh said at a session of Agenda Aaj Tak here on Saturday. 

The 72-year-old, who has consistently proved his mettle with films like "Agneepath", "Don", "Black", "Paa" and "Cheeni Kum", says his focus and passion for acting helped him overcome that phase. 

"When you are in such a problem, you don't sleep at night. On one such night, I asked myself 'Who I am' and realised that I came here to act and should stick to it," he said. 

"Next morning, I went to (late filmmaker) Yash Chopra and explained my problem and told him that I neither have money nor work. It was then he gave me a role in 'Mohabbatein' and then I started again from that point," he added.

Amitabh played the role of a strict father and professor, who doesn't believe in love, in the musical romantic drama, which released in 2000. 

At the session, he also recited his late father Harivanshrai Bachchan's poem "Madhushala" and reminisced about his father. The actor says his lessons are his driving force. 

"My father was in a government job and he went for another job at night due to which he came home late. When I opened the door for him, I often asked him 'Why is he so late?' and to which he replied 'Paisa badi mushkil se milta hai' (You don't get money easily)." 

"So, when I entered show business, I used to do two to three shifts and reached home late. Then my father asked me the same question and complained about my late arrival. My answer was the same: 'Paisa badi mushkil se milta hai, babuji'. This is one of the many teachings that helps me in my life," he said. 

Meanwhile, the actor has wrapped up shooting for "Piku" and is currently busy with "Wazir".