Colonel Guru Prasad Das - The inventor of Vacuum Brake on trains

 In the earliest days of railways, trains were slowed or stopped manually. There were no brakes to stop a running train until 1930. In this year a scientist who left school in class VIII standard, who hailed from a very backward place invented vacuum brake for trains which had nomenclature as "Seamless Coil Brake" later. Interestingly I feel very proud to say that this person and me shares the same locality. So my dear readers, lets talk about this personality today, lets put some limelight on the unknown facts about the inventor of GP Brake - Guru Prasad Das. 

       In the year 1905 Guru Prasad Das was born at Bilartarihati of Barpeta. His father was Rama Prasad Das. After finishing his elementary education he took admission in Barpeta Govt High School. But he was very indifferent to his studies. When he was in class VII he became interested to business. In class VIII he took some clothes of silk from an owner of a shop named Ojha Store and without informing anyone he left for Calcutta to set up his own business.Thus for some couple of  months he passed an aimless life. But later he realized that he should work somewhere to live in and very soon he started working in a motor-car garage and came to get in touch with some persevering nonresident Assamese like Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaruah, passionate entrepreneurs Bholanath Baruah and Kameswar Das and which was an epoch making episode of the British period in India. For his assiduous character got a chance to work as mechanic helper in the motor garage of Bholanath Baruah and passed metric from there and took training of motor vehicle repairing from there. One day, a business person from a steel industry named Thompson & Co. came with his vehicle and was very pleased by his work. He gave him a work in his company and admitted Das in Calcutta Technical School where he got his diploma in mechanical engineering. Not only that he represented Thompson & Co. in a national level workshop which was held in Eden Garden. The British officials were very much amazed at his work. He could draw the attention of a British gentleman and Bilton Bell, the governor of Assam of that time and they sent him England for higher training at Institute of Mechanical Engineering after realizing his technical expertise in 1927. During his training period he made significant improvement in his technical skill and got the opportunity to do research for brakes. For his excellence British government gave him the opportunity to take the degree of Mechanical Engineering and thus he successfully became the first ever Mechanical Engineer of Assam. After completing his degree he was appointed to British Navy and thus he was the first mechanical engineer to work in submarine. Later he went to Germany and invented "Heat Meter". Coming back from Germany he joined Imperial Railway Service and after a period of five years relentless work in the field of brakes he was able to invent a vacuum brake for trains which is popularly known as GP Brake making the "Warne & Co." world famous in the year 1930. His achievement nominated him as Associate Member of Mechanical Engineers by the British Government. He was the first Indian Railway Service (IRS) and joined as the Assistant Superintendent of Howrah station of Calcutta under British rule in the year 1931. Later he resigned Indian Railways and joined Burma Oil Company. He also served as a workshop manager and Mayor of Calcutta Municipality. During the World War II he was appointed as a high official at Defense at Kanpur and retired in the year 1970 as Colonel. He was not only the inventor of GP Brake and Heat Meter but also he invented two other important inventions like "Cut off Control Gauge" and "Boiler Safety Valve". He was one of the worthy personalities that Barpeta had ever produced. This great Assamese scientist cum inventor Colonel Guru Prasad Das breathed his last on 26 March,1982 leaving behind his two sons and his wife Chancala Das.

             Now lets go for a quick review of the bitter parts of today's situation here. Obviously, we feel very proud saying that he was a "Barpeita Engineer" but how many of we know about the fact that the brakes in trains was actually invented by a Assamese people? How many of we heard his name or know about him? Ok lets forget the history, the big question is that brakes in trains was invented by a engineer of  Barpeta but "DO WE HAVE A TRAIN STATION Yet" ?? And the main tragic part is that after Guru Prasad Das undoubtedly many engineers are produced from this land but how many of them are really good in their works with the demand of advance technology?? How many of them are interested in kinda things like innovation ??  Or they are only interested in making fun of each other and robbing public money to build their own empire........ 

Seetha Amman Temple...The place where Sita was held captive..

Temple..It is a house of worship in Hinduism.It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together.Not only the Hindus,for Christian they have Church and Mosque for the Muslims also.The symbolism and structure of a Hindu temple are rooted in Vedic traditions.A Hindu temple reflects a synthesis of arts,the ideals of dharma,beliefs,values,culture and a life style in Hinduism.Temple is a link between man,deities and the Universal Param Brahma in a sacred space.In Hinduism we have around 33crores of gods.It is our tradition or a strong cultural belief to visit temples and to worship our family deity or Kuladevata in holy days.But,today I am not going to write about all of them rather I want to go to the age of Ramayana,to the time of Treta yuga.I want to tell you about a special temple of Sri Lanka.A temple which portrayed the epitome of female purity and virtue.A temple of the daughter of Mother Earth i.e. Sita.

            Nuwara Eliya is a city in the hill country of the Central Province,Sri Lanka.The city was founded by Samuel Baker the discoverer of Lake Albert and the explorer of the Nile in 1846.The name of the city means "city on the plain" or "city of light".But this city beyond the Indian seashore is somehow connected to the million hearts of the Indian people.All of us must have a basic and a thin knowledge about the Ramayana as I had come to know about it from my grandma.We know how Ravana appears in the disguise of an ascetic requesting Sita's hospitality and tricked her into leaving the Lakshmana Rekha and is then forcibly carried away by the evil Ravana.At Lanka,Sita was kept under the heavy guard of Rakshasis in "Ashok Batika".However with the help of Hanuman and Sugriva,Rama was able to find out Sita and by defeating Ravana they came back together to Ayodhya.That Ashok Batika is today's Seetha Amma temple.It is now in the district of Nuwara Eliya.It is located 1km away from Hakgala Botanical Garden in a small village called Seetha Eliya or Sita Eliya.According to he myth,this is the place where Sita,the another form of Godess Lakshmi was held captive and where she prayed daily for Rama to come and rescue her.This temple has grown in terms of the traffic of visitors as it is the "only temple of Sita in the world".It is constructed beside a clear stream of the countryside in a pattern of modern south Indian temple.Along with the temple there is a temple of Pavana Putra Hanuman who is considered as the Monkey God who played an important role in rescuing Sita and who destroyed entire Lanka of Ravana with his long tail.The south Indian style of entrance can be seen at the entrance of Seetha temple.Realising the tourism potential of the temple the Sri Lankan Ministry of Tourism makes a plan to grow it as a center of sacred site and pilgrim complex.A forest of Ashoka trees can be seen by the side of the temple.According to the workers of the temple these Ashoka trees are a indication of her coming to the site centuries back.G.T.Pravakaran the in-charge of the temple said,"There is a rock on the opposite bank where Sita sat and mediated.Also this Ashoka forest is a clear indication that she came here when she was brought to Lanka." There is a particular point in the stream where water has no taste,this point is believed to be the spot she cursed.About a century ago the discovery of three idols one of which was Sita is a strong belief among the devotees of occuring of those incidents of Ramayana.There are several strong evidences like the spot where Sita bathed,the stone she sat on and she prayed that can convince us as well as the devotees that the episodes of the Ramayana epic did indeed took place here.

Those 3 Fundamental Needs!!!

Fundamental !! Well..it sounds something strong primary or core.When the word "fundamental" combines with "basic" then it leads us to our day today emotions.Even a children of UKG knows, what are the basic human needs?or what are the fundamental needs?If you ask them they will shout out in a chorus, "Food,Shelter & Cloth".But we people are no longer child,right?We must go depth of the topic.
    In these days of sci-techs it seems that we all have these basic needs.Obviously we have.But don't dare to say "we all have" and if you do so then certainly I have to put you to those class of fellows who enjoys laughing at the needy ones.There are still millions of people who lack these fundamental needs.Let it be a beggar who spent their whole life on the footpaths or a ragpicker from the slums or a refugee from any corner of this violent world.But I am not going to talk about them today.UNICEF and some other NGOs have spotted out such pity persons who lack their basic needs and currenty working on to improve their livelihood .You can find pageful of articles describing their livelihood.Instead, today I am interest to tell you about those so-called rich inhumans.Yes ! A topic on those beasts.
     At first let's talk about food.It will be the foolish thing if I start now to give you a lecture on how food is important to us.Similarly people eating rotten breads from a grabage dump will find easy to answer the question than the people eating "chicken lolipop or tendori kabab" in an AC resturant.Our world is quite interesting where someone is busy to save their lives from starvation and nearly 16,000 children die per day due to malnutrition and on the other hand those animals dwelling in big buildings wasting trillions of food per year.Americans waste about 33 millions food per year.It is just an example,calculate for the entire world figure will not be less than trillions.But what about those hungry people who merely can afford their stomach a rotten piece of bread?There is more fruits in a rich man's shampoo than in a poor man's plate.When we are enjoying taking a bite in a tandori lolipop at the same time a child cries untill it dies out of starvation.21st centuries world doesn't let us to share anything.So why should we share it to the needy ones?We have enough money if we don't need we will throw it to the dustbin.We enjoy wasting while sharing hurts our ego.Let them die,let those children cry,don't share.But will you do us a favour?If you feel horrible to share food than buy only what you need.Don't buy in excess amount.Love food not waste.Buy only what you need.Don't buy to waste.
      Again,you will find the same discrimination for clothes and shelter too.You can see a Burj Khalifa against every slum areas.Whether let it be a slum of Mumbai of India,Cairo of Brazil or Caracas of Venezuela.And if you are really living in this globe than further I have no need to add some extra points for clothes.Sarcastically,what I found similar is only the dirt and mud covered clothes of the poor and the skirts of the rich having holes on their jeans !!
       World is progressing but the progress should not be defined only on the basis of smart cities around the world.We want a uniform progress.Our fundamental needs are our basic rights.Don't deprive the poor from their basic rights.If you have enough than leave the rest part for the needy ones too.Remember,you are not only the persons living in this green globe.Let others live a happy and prosperous life too !!!

Akshayam..The First Step

In Mahabharata once Dushashana tried to strip the cloths of Draupadi. But as Krishna was her brother she remembered him at once uttering the word "Akshayam" and Lord Krishna saved her dignity. The magical word "Akshayam" carries the meaning Unlimited or a thing that never can be ceased. So you may be have the idea why I have chosen the name "Akshayam Shruta". 

In the pursuit of boundless intellectual vistas, I found myself grappling with the whimsical quandaries that accompany the genesis of a blog. Questions, both amusing and perplexing, besieged my contemplative mind: What shall be inscribed upon the digital parchment? How ought I christen this reservoir of thoughts? In this cognitive conundrum, an epiphany dawned upon me - an open canvas for an unbridled intellectual expedition.

Forsooth, open domains, be they realms of cognition or matters of the heart, possess an allure that surpasses all. Openness, the cardinal virtue of unrestricted expanses, beckons like an inviting field ripe for exploration.

A peculiar penchant has, since my nascent days, propelled me towards the extraordinary. A fervor for the avant-garde, an inclination for the "hattke," as it were, has coursed through the corridors of my being. Fueled by the joy derived from the craft of prose and the allure of quizzes, I embarked upon this odyssey of a blog, harboring the anticipation that it would serve as an elixir, bestowing upon me the surplus energy derived from the inexhaustible fount of knowledge.

Pray, allow me to elucidate upon the boundless expanse of knowledge—an ocean from which a mere droplet, plucked with intention, brings forth negligible alteration. Verily, one drop procured from the font of sagacity shan't quench the insatiable thirst for enlightenment. The pursuit of learning, my dear interlocutor, is an unending odyssey that persists until the very curtain of mortality descends. 

I beg your indulgence in two preliminary caveats: firstly, an admission of my impoverished grasp of the English language bereft of any fanciful expressions, and secondly, a forewarning that my narratives shall traverse the spectrum from lengthy tales to succinct anecdotes, from erudite articles to concise informational vignettes, and from pensive musings to intellectual quizzes. 

Alas, my humble offering must forego the lyrical allure of poetry, as it eludes my grasp. Pray, endure my verbosity, for it is in the crucible of diverse forms that I aspire to mold my ruminations into articles of some aesthetic merit. No luminary, be it Einstein or Newton, sprang forth from the womb with innate genius. Rather, it is the crucible of thought and unquenchable curiosity that forges great minds. In this contemporary epoch, three facets must not be undervalued: knowledge, curiosity, and, most importantly, self. Let us not diminish the profound significance of these tripartite elements in navigating the labyrinth of the 21st-century world.