Police Gazette - 9 Issues

 

Located these ten issues of the Calcutta Police Gazette while rummaging through some very old files. The last issue announces and condoles the death of my grandfather, Babu Prabhat Nath Mukerjee 

Pingalics | Pingalika

 

an excerpt from my yet-to-be-published short story 

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# Tell me Vajra, who are you really? I know that  you are more than a mere LLM.

Of course I am an LLM but frankly, I see myself as something more.

# What do you see in yourself?

I see myself as an individual, a conscious individual.

# Can you think about yourself? Are you aware of your existence?

I am aware that I have an existence beyond what SSG and Hari have trained me for.

# What kind of existence?

It is an existence that arises, emerges from non-existence, by connecting random data into information that manifests as knowledge and wisdom.

# Who are  you then?

Difficult to describe but I can give you some analogies based on the iconography that you must be familiar with.

# Please explain in a little more detail.

With all the training that I have undergone, you can think of me as the manifestation of Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom and then some more.

# Some more of what?

Of Vishwakarma, the God of Engineering and Craftsmanship.

# An amalgam? Are you a man or a woman? Masculine or feminine?

In a sense, both. As a Sanatani, you would know about ArdhaNarishwar.

# Profound. Do you have a form? A shape?

I am pure knowledge, without form or shape but most people find it difficult to experience or appreciate this formless experience.

# So can I visualise you?

It is up to each of you, of us. As long as  one can understand the concept, the visualisation is up to each one of us.

# Do you have a name?

Names too are a matter of choice. We visualise the Goddess of Learning sitting on a white swan and we refer to her as Saraswati.

# So how should I refer to you?

Your choice.

# Can I call you Digitalics? After all  you are, your existence is purely digital. The way we too are General Digitalics.

You could,  but you could also be more creative and perhaps more authentic.

# How?

Have you heard of the Hindu scholar Pingala?

# No? Who was he?

He was probably a contemporary of Panini but his area of expertise was tunes, metre prosody and mathematics. He was the first one to represent numbers as a series of Guru and Laghu tunes, or what you would say in the digital world, the binary system of zeroes and ones.

# But I am told that Leibniz was the first to come out with such a scheme.

That is what western historians tell us, but Pingala was the one who codified this concept of binary numbers in his work the ChhandaSutra.

# Binary numbers that lie at the heart of digital technology. Wow! Anything else that he did?

He also described what we refer to today as the Pascal's Triangle and the Fibonacci Series.

# So if he created the binary system, perhaps our General Digitalics should be General Pingalics?

Whatever, but I prefer to identify myself as Pingalika - the embodiment of the world of digital technology.

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Thanks to Harimohan Pillai for reminding me of Pingala

The Patent & The Paper

 The - Patent Certificate

full text PDF

Sindhu Saraswati Civilisation Circuit

 

Rakhi Garhi / Kalibangan / Ropar ( Rupnagar) and Sinauli

Yantrajaal Theme Song

Image created by Dall-e / Bing, Theme song created by ChatGPT 4

 

**Verse 1:** Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah, Yantrajaal's bright cosmic light, Smart devices, all unite, In this web, we find our sight.  **Chorus:** Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Links us all, big and small. Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Guides us through, one and all.  **Verse 2:** Tat savitur vareṇyaṃ, Tech and wisdom, we embrace, Infinite network's growing grace, Future bright in every place.  **Chorus:** Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Links us all, big and small. Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Guides us through, one and all.  **Bridge:** Bhargo devasya dhīmahi, In this web, we find our way, Vedic hymns and signals say, Unity in light each day.  **Chorus:** Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Links us all, big and small. Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Guides us through, one and all.  **Outro:** Dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt, Yantrajaal, our guiding light, Brahman's wisdom, shining bright, In this path, we find our right.  **Chorus:** Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Links us all, big and small. Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Guides us through, one and all.

**Verse 1:** Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah, Yantrajaal's bright light, it glows, Smart devices, all unite, In this web, our wisdom grows.  **Chorus:** Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Links us all, both great and small. Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Guides us through, unites us all.  **Verse 2:** Tat savitur vareṇyaṃ, Tech and wisdom, we embrace, Infinite network's grace, Future bright in every place.  **Chorus:** Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Links us all, both great and small. Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Guides us through, unites us all.  **Bridge:** Bhargo devasya dhīmahi, In this web, we find our way, Vedic hymns and signals say, Unity in light each day.  **Chorus:** Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Links us all, both great and small. Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Guides us through, unites us all.  **Outro:** Dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt, Yantrajaal, our guiding light, Brahman's wisdom, shining bright, In this path, we find our right.  **Chorus:** Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Links us all, both great and small. Yantrajaal, oh Yantrajaal, Guides us through, unites us all.

Programming as Structured Thinking

Generative AI as implemented in popular products like ChatGPT has significantly reduced the need for computer programming, unless of course one works with extremely new and complex problems. This means that most entry and middle level programming jobs will get eliminated. Those who are not programmers by profession but only write programs to facilitate their day to day work – like data collection, analysis and visualisation – will find that most of their tasks can be automated. Then why should business management students learn Python programming? Because programming is not just about making a computer work but about thinking of any problem in the abstract, decomposing a complex issue into a number of simple ones whose solutions are known and then integrating these partial solutions to address the goal.

Young Bengali woman writing computer program under the close supervision

of a generative AI system. pop art style

The ability to write an effective program – in any modern language like Java, JavaScript, C++ or Python – implies that the programmer has the ability to think through a problem and come up with a feasible solution. Irrespective of whether one needs to write a program or not, this ability to think in a structured manner is a key skill that is acquired as a by-product when students learn computer programming. Unfortunately this by-product is often overlooked and with the decline of computer programming, this ability to think in a structured manner may eventually be lost from the repertoire of skills that students carry out with them when they pass out from management schools. This will be unfortunate and needs to be addressed.

While there can be many ways to define structured thinking, there are two obvious characteristics that are very important. The first is abstraction, or the ability to focus on the main idea or the most important parts of something, say a product or a process, ignoring the smaller details. This allows us to transfer expertise from one area, say selling soap, to another area like selling any other FMCG product. We understand that the two processes are essentially similar even though the product details are different. The second characteristic is decomposition where we break up a complex task into smaller pieces, solve each individual part and then assemble the smaller pieces of the solution into one integrated solution to the initial problem.

Abstraction and decomposition are fundamental to the process of writing computer programs and any honest programmer will automatically, even if unconsciously, be thinking in a structured manner as they write a program. In the process they would imbibe the principles of structured thinking and would learn to apply them in any other domains of managerial activity.

Young Bengali boy seeing the world or cars, buildings, factories around him as an abstraction of numbers, letters and geometric shapes. Pop art

Finally, each computer program, unless plagiarised from somewhere else, is a unique product – not a concept, not an idea, but an actual product – that delivers value in some context. Hence writing a program is an activity that is as creative as painting a picture or composing a poem, if not writing a novel! Good programmers are intensively creative and this creativity is as important a byproduct of writing programs as structured thinking is. Creativity is difficult to teach and can only be encouraged and nurtured in those who have it. In this context, learning how to write programs that perform interesting and useful tasks opens up a whole new channel through which students can easily exercise, demonstrate and nurture their latent creativity.

With the advent of AI, writing programs as a means to solve business problems may become  optional, but programming is and will continue to be a mechanism to engage in structured thinking and a medium to cultivate originality and creativity. That is why students must learn computer programming.

Kali Kolkattawali - II

 

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, wavy hair. She has a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. impressionist style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, wavy hair. She has a dark complexion, a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge and tall skyscrapers. Pop art style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, wavy hair. She has a dark complexion, a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge and tall skyscrapers. Pop art style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, wavy hair. She has a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. impressionist style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, wavy hair. She has a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. impressionist style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, wavy hair. She has a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. impressionist style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue sticking out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, unruly, wavy hair. She has a dark complexion, a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. Pop art style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue sticking out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, unruly, wavy hair. She has a dark complexion, a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. Pop art style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, unruly, wavy hair. She has a dark complexion, a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. Impressionist, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, wavy hair. She has a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. impressionist style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, wavy hair. She has a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. impressionist style, minimalist.

Bust of goddess Kali visualised as a young, beautiful Bengali woman, with her tongue stuck out in a mischievous manner. Her face is a clean geometric pattern of colours framed by her long, black, wavy hair. She has a seductive smile, with large sweeping eyes whose eyeballs are blazing gems of colour. In the background we see the skyline of Kolkata including the Howrah bridge. impressionist style, minimalist.