I am a big fan of Titan watch advertisements. Every time, they have a new model, they come up with equally beautiful and fantastic concept to promote it. Most recent entry by the Titans in the market is of model edge ceramic. One of the slimmest watch model available. The concept ad, brought in to promote edge ceramic, is nothing, but beautiful. A quick, concise, hardly running for 36 seconds ad. But it is melodious. Making use of an Indian percussion instrument called "Jaltarang", the sound produced is just sweet to ears. Use of Jaltarang also make sense here. Because, Jaltarang instruments consist of bowls containing water, with bowls basically made of ceramics.
The background is fantastic. Just concentrating at the instrument with rest of surrounding all dark. Even the player is just a small part of the ad, with major attention only on the instrument, which ultimately directs us to the watch.
I really enjoyed watching this advertisement and felt compelled to share it with all here. Thanks to Titan watches channel on youtube, it is available for all to watch this watch ad.
Many a times, we forget, that sea is an integral part of Mumbai. There is so much going within the city, that we act oblivious to the presence of such a huge waterbody, just next to us. Last week, we decided to have a rendezvous with it at the Juhu beach. Our first meeting was in the evening. Planned a Sunset timing. But, this is Mumbai. A route, barely of 45 minutes run including regular traffic, ended up extended to double the time. By the time we arrived at the venue, the Sun had reached another country. What we had not realized before planning was the improper selection of the day for the meet. It was Sunday evening. I guess, it is a crime to visit public places like Gateway of India or any of the beaches in Mumbai, on a Sunday evening. You can easily find more than thousands of heads enjoying in the very same place. During out visit too, it was low tide and the Arabian sea had shrunk in by atleast 300 meters. Even this extra place created was completely occupied by visitors, pheriwalas, photographers and all. So, our meeting got cut short, after fulfilling the minimal formality of eating Bhel.
Once we returned and shared our experience with few people around, we were informed that the best time to visit this beach is morning. Luckily, this Sunday, we had a guest at home. And we thought to try out the new timing for the meeting. Being early Sunday, experienced minimal traffic. Car parking is possible just at the junction of the road and the beach. And, the population density drastically reduced as compared to earlier experience. That too, the public around were all enthusiasts of exercise, except a few, who plan to play cricket on the beach with tennis ball and hit it all around, as if they are no less than Dhoni.
Anyway, this experience was much better than previous one. Got a chance to take a free walk on the beach, in the water too a bit. Had direct access to Vitamin D generator. In addition, got an opportunity to play a game of identifying the plane belonging to different airlines, just, by judging the visible logos on plane, flying at very low heights over the beach. It sure makes a good game, as here, you find one new flight at every 4-5 minutes time interval.
I could not resist, clicking some snaps of the early morning, little less populated Juhu beach. Sharing a few it with you here. The one at the top is a panoramic view of the whole beach, including me as a shadow.
I posted some still shots of the hourglass in motion, which usually is lying on my office table. Mostly unnoticed, except for that moment of urge to flip it. One fine day, I felt, it looks interesting and worth sharing. So, I tool some snaps and posted them here. It caught attention of a lot many people and some interesting queries also came up.
So, then I decided to post its complete video. Here it is:
Now, a normal or an original hourglass has sand as the real constituent for the measurement of time. To begin with, there are two connected glass bulbs carrying sand, and small hole through which the sand can swiftly pass from one glass bulb to another. The amount of time required for complete transfer of sand from one bulb to another, will be a measure of time. Usually, it comprise of sand, which counts upto an hour for its complete transfer. There is a big history related to the hourglass and can be found here.
Now, the hourglass, lying on my table is not that ancient one. Infact, recently bought from a streetshop located on an island hill of Elephanta caves. (More on that later.) It is a constructed showpiece, the size of which vary with the amount you are ready to shell out. In my case, more than the size, I got fascinated with the color, and so this hourglass is not actually a hourglass, but, just one minute and ~ 30 seconds glass.
There is no sand inside the glass. Instead, a mixture of two immiscible liquids. Immiscible means, the two liquids which will not at all, mix with each other. Example, Oil and water. Depending on the density, one of the liquid will always tend to be at the bottom. And this tendency of the heavy liquid will initiate the process into the motion. So, as the hourglass is flipped, the heavy liquid goes at the top. Because of its heavy nature, it will tend to move downwards. Since liquids have high degree of freedom, they can replace other liquid component from its place. So, the heavy liquid, moves through the small towards the bottom. And at the same time, replaces the light liquid from its position, compelling it move into the upper glass. The small hole assures that a very small volume is transferred at a time. And as the liquids are immiscible, these small volumes end up getting separated in form small liquid drops. This makes the view even more fascinating.
There are some nice observations to make here. The downward flow of drops is accompanied by an upward flow of drops too. This shows an equal exchange of liquids occupying each others space.
Second and more interesting thing is, check video around 1.10 minutes. You can see a bubble form appearing in the upper glass. From where is this bubble appearing? After all, it is composed of only two liquids and no air!
The thing is, as the transfer of liquid is getting over, there is very small amount of dense liquid remaining in upper glass. As more and more of light liquid rising up, at some point, the dense liquid assumes a layer form, pushed up by the upcoming light liquid. The dense liquid remain in layer form, failing to escape the upper glass. Slowly, this layer surrounds the upcoming light liquid, giving a feel of a bubble. This layer can resist the upthrust of light liquid to an extent and then it brakes away into tiny liquid drops which can now escape the upper glass. This point, where the liquid brakes away from its thin layer form into tiny liquid drops can give a measure of interfacial tension which exist between the two liquids.
Just related to this, do you know why the liquid always take form of spherical drops? Why don't we ever see squarish or pyramidal kind of water drops. The reason is again the interfacial tension. Lesser is the surface area, lesser is the tension. And we know, sphere has the minimum surface area.
One more query, out of the two liquids seen in this hourglass, which one do you think is water?
INS Viraat, which served Indian Navy for a long period of 30 years, will be decommissioned by the end of the day in a special ceremony. This giant ship, British built, way back in 1959, earlier served in Royal Navy, under the name HMS Hermes. After serving for long 27 years, it was decommissioned there and India bought it in 1987. Since then, it became an integral part of Indian Navy with a new name INS Viraat. After serving for a total long period of 57 years, it is finally retiring. Now, probably it will be made use as Hotels, or museum, or some way to keep itself alive. I guess, it still possibly has some more time to go the way of INS Vikrant, when it will be totally dismantled. INS Vikrant once dismantled, has not been converted in to many small Vikrants, now cruising not on water, but on roads, as Baja V ( V for Vikrant)
Unfortunately, we don't get to hear many stories of the heroics of such giants ships during the wars. Not much is written about INS Viraat except that it provided protection to the country during many tense situations. Probably with time these stories will be revealed. Just like, how a recently released movie "The Gazi attack" is actually associated with INS Vikrant. The aim of Gazi attack was the destruction of INS Vikrant. But Indian Navy, learnt about it in advance, and played tactics to trap Gazi submarine near Vishakhapattanam. Taking advantage of conditions in there, with the help of INS Rajput and INS Akshay, a successful plot was made to destroy Gazi. The movie shown apparently drift far away from reality except for the fact that Gazi started its journey to destroy INS Vikrant, but Indian Navy destroyed it. A beautiful article giving details of all the strategy is published in Maharashtra Times. ( Unfortunately, it will be understood to only Marathi readers.).
So, lets salute this really huge or in real words Viraat Ship that served India for a long period of 30 years and kept our coasts clear of any dangerous situations. I am hoping to hear some real good and inspiring stories about INS Viraat in coming days. You should too.
