August edition
Foreword
Curiously Enough
Dear children, On the occasion of Independence Day, here’s an extract from Ramji Raghavan’s podcast, Learning From The Mavericks, on a great national leader: Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Jane Mooney went to see the former president of the Ahmedabad municipality and said, “You’ve led a great and interesting life. Why don’t you write a book about it?” and Sardar Patel, now independent India’s first Deputy Prime Minister, who along with Gandhi and Nehru had led India to her independence smiled and said, “We do not write history. We make history.” These words so inspired me that when we produced the first brochure for Agastya Foundation in the early 2000s — a lovely blue brochure with an orange A on its cover — the back cover carried the Sardar’s quote: We do not write history. We make history. People call Patel Sardar, or chief, and India’s Iron Man. Patel had made a stupendous commitment to serve his country, to help it win its independence from a great power. Julius Caesar famously said of his great rival Pompeii, “Pompeii has merely done something. I stand for something.” Patel stood for his people and their independence from colonial rule. As Patel said, “our delight is in doing service to people.” Patel had a genius for detail. He got information from on the front lines and often from walking on the streets and villages. This helped him build his intuition and his feeling for a situation. He could see something at the smallest level and imaogine what it might become, and take actions to preempt a problem or seize an opportunity. We hope you take inspiration from this patriotic stalwart and focus on serving the people of our nation, even in small ways. Until then, go Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha! Ramji Raghavan
Did you know that scientists used potatoes to help increase Wi-Fi signals in aeroplanes?! That’s right, simple potatoes were used in a highly evolved technological space to test weak spots in wireless signals. Humans and potatoes have quite a few genetic similarities. Because of their water content and chemistry, potatoes absorb and reflect radio wave signals the same way humans do. Thus more than 9000 kilograms of potatoes were used as test subjects on a Boeing aircraft. This allowed the company to create a proprietary system that has allowed them to fine-tune signals and ensure they don't interfere with the plane's navigation and communications equipment.