From: rgopu@cs.tamu.edu (Rangarathnam Gopu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: WE DO MAKE FIGHTER JETS - or at least ...
Date: 7 Apr 92 15:52:55 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, Texas A&M University

I remember reading a report long long ago, at least six years back I think,
in the Tuesday Open Page supplement in the Hindu, written by a foreigner, whose
name i have forgotten. This gentleman was surprised and astounded by the 
extent of cynicism in the Indian public, about the achievements of their
fellow Indians. 

"A country that did not make safety pins before Independence has exploded
an atomic bomb, launched rockets and satellites, established a scientific
manpower base of amazing proportions and is probably the most advanced third
world country in the world today. Yet there are so many people who belittle
its achievements. Most of them Indians!"

No, we have not made as much progress as we could have. No we have lagged
behind countries with far fewer resources and far fewer people. Our economy
 industry, technological capabilities are nothing to be proud of. But dammit,
they're nothing to be ashamed of either. 

Just to illustrate some of the successes and lift the big pall of gloomy 
garbage, I'll list a few examples.

India bought Mig 29s from the then USSR. But their tires posed an unexpected
problem. They were designed for landing on much colder airports, probably
better laid out runways, longer too. Indian runways were hot, short and hence
the brakes had to exert more force to bring the planes to a halt quicker.
Apparently, brake linings and tires both started wearing out quicker. And those
things are costly to make or replace. So the IAF guys went to the then PM,
Indira Gandhi and asked her to request the USSR to manufacture brakes for the
Indian situation. Indira Gandhi did, but balked at the prices the Soviets
quoted and asked the IAF to try and develop the brakes themselves. After some
reluctance, the IAF did - it was a whomping success. So good, that the USSR's
Air Force became intersted in the technology and imported the Indian brakes
from India !!

Indian meteorologists, like any other of their species, use weather balloons,
and as some these specialised balloons undergo the stress of extreme 
temperatures - they are at great heights, where its very hot in the day and
very cold at night, the heat levels causing the gas in the balloons to
expand or contract, thus varying the height of the balloon to extreme
height differences. The meteorologists wanted to get some kind of plastic or
whatever it is the balloons are made of, a particular specialised variety, that
was manufactured in the US and used in similar weather balloons here. For
some security reasons(??!!), the US was unwilling to transfer the technology, 
and our guys were stymied. But only for the moment. They borrowed a fundamental
principle of physics, and painted the balloon black, so it would absorb the
heat during the day, and release it during the night. The balloon's height
would still vary, but the variation was within the limits of tolerance. This
apparently shook up the American meteorologists quite a bit, but that's
another story. Talk of cheap technology.	  


(Seems
to me that this is very funda stuff, should be the first think they would
think of, and surely they employ such ideas for their other less specialised
balloons. Maybe some meteorologist on the net will through light on the matter).

The above two are my summaries of articles I read in the Hindu, at least 2 yearsago. They are etched in my mind. I have no proof of their truth, except that
the Hindu reported them both. The following article is much more recent, an
extract from the Times of India dt March 6 or 25, 1992, I'm not sure which.

A doctor in Manipal, Karnataka in the Kasturba Hospital recently installed
an artificial leg on a calf (yes the offspring of a cow). The benign bovian
even posed for a photograph published in the Times. :-) Apparently the animal
is as comfortable with the implant as with its original leg. It has no problem
standing, sitting, or bending. The doctor has also devised a method by which
he replaced one of the fingers of some guy, where his thumb used to be. The
new "thumb" has all the functionality of a normal one. I dont know if these
are pathbreaking technologies. But to me they are wonders and something to be
saluted.

Cheer up :-) :-) :-)

Mera jhoota..... Hum dil mein hai Hindustani(Hindi)
Sorgame enralum athu nammoora pola varuma?(Tamil)

Gopu
rgopu@cs.tamu.edu