Punjabi Poem - ਵਾਰਤਾਲਾਪ (Vartalaap)

The poem is given below in roman script for those who don't read gurmukhi. At the end of the poem every line's meaning is also provided. The gurmukhi script version is at the fag end (ignore spell errors as I am writing in gurmukhi for the first time in my life).

Saade Bhabhajee dee yaad vich Kavita - 'Vartalaap'.


Important :  ° stand for pronouncing the preceding alphabet by half. Eg : n° - stands for half 'n'.


'VARTALAAP'


[KANI]

Badlon udari jo mein° maari; vich tuffanan° kani mein° pbhaaree.

Hawa lapete, akhan° jujan; asmani-athroo kad thalle pun°jan.


Dooor-daraze bohrd mein° paya; vada chourda haraa see jaya.

Vich madanan° kharda see mallah; saab kujh suljhiya, ohda palla


[Bhord]

Chiron° bhaven° kharda mein° kalla; Rutan° ne nachiyan° val sawala.

Dariyaa vee see kolon° tappa; neer diyan° gunjalan° jinj baani japaan°.

Lukan-michi khediyan° see laheran°; vichon° kadiyan° punj-punj nahiran°.

Nahiran° chon° naale te bhole jehe sooe; saare dekhe aapne muhe.

Tu we aaja kole bhehja; dassan° tennu gallan° sehjiyan°.


[Kani]

Edda chaurda, rookh see lamba; jardan° see feliyan° daari vanga.

Naale, Sooe gheri bohrdan°; neer noo chooman usdiyan° doran°.

Mein° keha tane te deegan° uhde; lai lavan° sikhiya bhaven° jo de.


Mundiyan° akhan°, dhup, te vehrda; taan° mein° poochchiya saach hai kehrda? [Kani]

Dasin° pattiyan° kithe dekhin° ? [Bohrd]

Kuj hari see tapiyan°, anant peelee letin° [Kani]

Ah lae kuj saach parakh ke dekhin°; baaki ja ke dhanron° sametin° [Bohrd]


[Kani]

Solan° kadam vich mein° kuj gijiya; doran° lipta te bohrd we bhijiya.

Inj risde-risde thalle aa gaye; kuj paatte chuke te naaleyan° sama gaye.

Kudde tappe bhajje nahiran°; par bohrd na labha pinda shahiran°.

Gian dhan jo bohrdon° paya; sooe nu ohee darshaya.

Dhan bohrd jo meinu dhahiya; kalli kani nu samandaron° milaya.

___________________

Meaning of each line below.


'VARTALAAP'


[KANI]

Badlon udari jo mein° maari; vich tuffanan° kani mein° pbhaaree.


Meaning: I am a rain drop who fell from skies.


Hawa lapete, akhan° jujan; asmani-athroo kad thalle pun°jan.


Meaning: My (rain drop's) longing to reach my destination through trying times.


Dooor-daraze bohrd mein° paya; vada chourda haraa see jaya.


Meaning: i saw a green banyan tree (good old lovable grandfather of my wife) from above the skies.


Vich madanan° kharda see mallah; saab kujh suljhiya, ohda palla


Meaning: The banyan (grandpa) tree seemed like the boatsman (in ancient greek philosophy - the man who transports the dead to heavens. In my context the person who shows light of knowledge, rowing me to the other side of awakening)


[Bhord]

Chiron° bhaven° kharda mein° kalla; Rutan° ne nachiyan° val sawala.


Meaning: Banyan says, "although I seem standing alone since long, but in reality I have seen a lot - all seasons (ups and downs of life).


Dariyaa vee see kolon° tappa; neer diyan° gunjalan° jinj baani japaan°.


Meaning: The river (grandpa's beloved - grandma) of beauty also flowed by my side, who had her beautiful whirls (like water whirls in rivers), which talked to me (attracted me) like the water whirls make beautiful sounds when peacfully listened to, sitting by the side of the flowing river.


Lukan-michi khediyan° see laheran°; vichon° kadiyan° punj-punj nahiran°.


Meaning: Affectionate playfulness and love delivered five chidren - they are my wife's father and his brother and three sisters. They personify canals.


Nahiran° chon° naale, te bhole jehe sooe; saare dekhe aapne muhe.


Meaning: From the canals were born rivelets (my wife's brothers, sisters and cousins) and from them our children who are great grand children of grandpa.


Tu we aaja kole bhehja; dassan° tennu gallan° sehjiyan°.


Meaning: Banyan invited the raindrop to fall on itself. Wife's Grandpa invited me too to come and listen to his enlightened teachings.


[Kani]

Edda chaurda, rookh see lamba; jardan° see feliyan° daari vanga.


Meaning: I, the raindrop thought to myself - what a huge old and high banyan tree whose roots are hanging outside like beard of the tree. grey flowing beard in our culture stands for wisdom).



Naale, Sooe gheri bohrdan°; neer noo chooman usdiyan° doran°.


Meaning: Rivelets and channels surrounded the Banyan tree, while its hanging thin branches were kissing (dipping) in the waters. My wife's generation and our children surrounded grandpa listening to his stories and philosophies, a process through which they unknowingly were being touched/dipped and imprinted with morals and lessons of life. This also signifies my observation - I was brought up in a nuclear family. I had observed that the old and senior in families around were often excluded from conversation with visiting friends. They were considered old fashioned and outright embarrasing by youngsters (relative - folks in 30s). Old people were expected to fade away. The phenomena is a self inflicted emotional and mental injury because the youngsters did exclude the old but were also conscious and guilty of their actions). The blame of this phenomena was squarely laid on the doors of the youngsters.


But in my wife's family where I had my first experience of grandparents. I saw something exceptional - everything revolved around grandparents. It was only with time I realized that the cause of this social phenomena is not so one sided. If senior family members are inspiring, intelligent, selfless and loving in earnest, this will never happen.


Mein° keha tane te deegan° uhde; lai lavan° sikhiya bhaven° jo de.


Meaning: the raindrop (me) decides to fall on the trunk of the banyan tree - symbolizes my readiness to absorb what he said and  taught.


Mundiyan° akhan°, dhup, te vehrda; taan° mein° poochchiya saach hai kehrda? [Kani]


Meaning : The shadow under banyan tree on a sunny day on a huge plain - signifies grandpa, who I often visited at noon in winters when he would go to terrace to warm up and when he talked or listened attentively his eyes would shut, to focus. And I asked him what is absolute truth?


Dasin° pattiyan° kithe dekhin° ? [Bohrd]


Meaning:  Banyan (grandpa) counter questioned the trickling rain drop (me) as to where all do you see leaves?


Kuj hari see tapiyan°, anant peelee letin° [Kani]


Meaning: Raindrop replies I just passed by a few green leaves and there countless yellow ones which had fallen on the ground. The green leaves signify fresh phenomena, ideas and inventions and knowledge that is fresh and discovered, while the leafshed on ground represent ocean of phenomena, ideas and knowledge that has existed since long.


Ah lae kuj saach parakh ke dekhin°; baaki ja ke dhanron° sametin° [Bohrd]


Meaning: Banyan tree let the raindrops experience and trickle over many green leaves on the journey down. It signifies that he gave me some knowledge and understanding that he had and told me to make it a lif's mission to collect more ideas and truths of life from amongst the countless already out there, to discover.


[Kani]

Solan° kadam vich mein° kuj gijiya; doran° lipta te bohrd we bhijiya.


Meaning: The raindrop trickled sixteen steps down through which it got baked (concentrated by evaporation), hugged  the hanging thin branches, and wet the banyan tree. I knew grandpa for sixteen years through which I matured with knowledge he imparted (baked), while hugging his thin branches signified that I too loved him. And our philosophical discussion and my views too effected him. Thin branches signify affection.


Inj risde-risde thalle aa gaye; kuj paatte chuke te naaleyan° sama gaye.


Meaning: The raindrop kept on trickling down the tree and reached the ground. Then rainwater picks a few more leaves (washes away) into the rivelet. The symbolism here is that on way to developing an understanding and creating a union of minds, I learnt many more ideas and knowledge as grandpa had advised.


Kudde tappe bhajje nahiran°; par bohrd na labha pinda shahiran°.


Meaning: The raindrop after joining rivelets and then canals saw that while waters were splashing around  and flowing through villages and towns it never found the banyan tree again. As flow of life took parents and my wife's generation away (signifies death of relationship with grandpa owing to his death) I, raindrop maintaining my separate identity (that is why I saw the river waters in 3rd person) saw the waters of rivelets and canals (my wife and the generation of her parents) restlessly trying to find grandpa, somehow. But he was never to be found.


Gian dhan jo bohrdon° paya; sooe nu ohee darshaya.


Meaning: The raindrop encoded with all information gathered during interaction with banyan tree passed it on to branching out channels closer to delta. This signifies that we taught our children those values which we received from grandpa.


Dhan bohrd jo meinu dhahiya; kalli kani nu samandaron° milaya.


Meaning: Thanks to the banyan tree which let me trickle on it and then drop me under it as that led to the raindrop flowing through and becoming a part of an ocean. It signifies that I learnt a lot from grandpa and it was he to whom my wife talked and agreed with him to let us marry. So partly owing to him we could end into  union of hearts and mind.


Deepak Loomba.

Technology is not the just the enabler but the medium of social change

Precession cycle of Earth is 1(one) year, not 25771.50 years.

Hello friends.
The below mentioned link provides an Audio-Visual demonstration of my discovery, which you should watch. I have through the demo explained how science has incorrectly considered 25771.50 years as the length of precession cycle of earth, vis-a-vis the true length - which is approximately 1 year.

https://youtu.be/dT1XPphsmbc

Do share this link to dessiminate this information amongst family and friends.

Social, economic & opportunity inequities, not dissent, are treason in India

Read an article by Maj. Gen. Mrinal Sharma titled “Why does India breed so many traitors?”, I received on Whatsapp (I have enclosed it at the end of my response in trail, if you desire read it). Worthy thoughts of a gallant soldier. Highlights his pain and predicament. I have penned my earnest views in a response to his article.
Major General, I pay my respects to you, an Indian Soldier, because you pledge to contract a deal of supreme sacrifice for us, the Nation. Men in uniform are a source of inspiration because we look at you as the last undefeated bastion of honesty & pride. Are all men in uniform honest? I doubt, there have been a fair share of scandals & corruption, yet my faith & admiration for the forces is uncontested by my heart & mind. Because Army for me are scores of disciplined & honest soldiers and not those few, who contaminate the pristine waters. Raison d’etre of saying aforementioned is to showcase that people & nations cannot be judged in averages.
Sir, it would have really helped had you defined, what is meant from the word ‘traitor’, which is the bedrock of your article. Treason is meant to be betrayal. Betrayal of what? of State, Government, people, or truth, or righteousness, or liberty or equity or constitution.
People might grossly differ in how they define treason. As an example, for me, evasion of taxes, throwing filth on roads, fleecing money from patients, selling justice, promoting inequity are more serious than shouting unpleasant slogans on the streets. Indeed, I bracket the former in Pakistan’s “bleed by thousand cuts” strategy. Patriotism does not need to manifest only as a habitual rise as soon as our ears smell the rhymes of Tagore’s work, floating in air. Who do we desire to pay our respects to, when we stand up in attention? You quoted National Pride and Identity. But both of these are intangibles of social imagination (I understand this might not exactly coincide with the nurturing a soldier gets, but notwithstanding, I stand by it). Often the intensity of emotion completely rids us from the logical query of finding the sink of our emotional exploits. Emotions seem to have become an end in themselves, rather than being a medium to reach their beneficiary. Who is the subject-noun of this respect we pay? I regard ‘Nation’ as a plausible answer. In absence of live discourse, I further assume that a Nation is primarily its people, along with the geography, culture, heritage, history etc. When one bows to the flag of India, he is bowing to its people. So, logically proceeding, through the Anthem, we pay respect to our fellow countrymen, both living and departed, through 52 seconds. What do most of us do for the rest of the 23 hours 59 minutes and 8 seconds? We divide these very people into castes, religions and creeds, use separate utensils for each other, sit at different levels from ground, fleece money from those who have little, pluck opportunity from those able but hapless, evade tax under the false pretext of their misappropriation by politicians. We are fundamentally not wanting to do or pay our share. This for me is 23hrs, 59min, 8sec of treason vis-à-vis 52 seconds of respect. By no means am I, metaphorical. It’s important to remember & equate such treason as “inflicting to ourselves a thousand cuts”. And I regard this as not just a treason vis-à-vis Governments (which are often of dubitable repute themselves), but a betrayal of those, who like Lajpat Rai or Bhagat Singh made supreme sacrifice not fighting like the army does – with arms of equal strength, but by accepting painful body blows. This is the gravest treason – that of the constitution of India and the idea of India! Getting up for the anthem is the easiest thing to do (not that I anyway condone any disrespect). Paying taxes and not throwing trash on the road is the tougher one. That for me this is a more serious betrayal. Therefore, by my rationale, we conclude that the number of traitors are much more than those few, who are verbose against the Government or its policies. All such traitors are amongst us. Indeed statistically, we are them!
Another important matter that I desire to bring to notice in connection with comparisons of Paris attack and Batla encounter, without casting aspersions on either its righteousness or falsehood is (a) the apparent disparity - one is an act of terrorism against innocent unaware people & other is an encounter; (b) the western world considers a State enduring vehement dissent as a mark of its maturity, not vice-versa. Democracy is the writ of majority, the dissenting voices ensure the balance of liberty & are like the grand pause in between loud musical notes that render an amazing reverberation touching the soul. As much as every student protest need not be eulogized, similarly every other does not deserve vilification. Having said that I am fully with you, that any act of negation of anything (incl. a nation’s existence) with no aim of protesting for the needy & downtrodden should be made to look heroic. No one including media should drop the bar so low. Indeed, such incidents needn’t even be given any importance. In a large nation that we are, we will always have all colours and hues.
About the media you have written better than I could ever have, hence nothing to add.
Enfin, your statement, "Every victory of the foreign invaders was facilitated by the local collaborators who betrayed their kings for some devious reward or to settle personal scores". Bulls eye! Yes, "settling scores". But is this the vice of likes of Mir Zafar only? I have two highlights. (i) A strong nation with dedicated & aware people, need not fear traitors, such people can at best dent, not wear away a nation of its shield. It is the people, who gnaw a nation from inside, create circumstances that enable betrayal of one overturn a kingdom or a Nation. Pakistan’s current situation is an excellent example, while India is saved only by a whisker. By no means am I condoning treason, but highlighting that the true culprit is not the one who nailed the coffin (the verbose traitor), but the one who lay the nation in it, silently inflicting a thousand cuts. (ii) My second highlight – is settling scores a vice of the few? To this question I have no lucid answer. I feel there is a cultural streak in us of settling scores. Indeed, it starts in our epics, tales and folklore and is rampant in our lives. So I leave you with this thought & query.
I too have often asked myself this question - Why are we dishonest and sometimes outright gutless? Part-truth, that I understood for myself is elucidated below, though surely there are other competing and complementing truths.
We are an old civilization, ‘almost’ in continuum. Willy-nilly we carry a baggage of wisdom and experience. While being proud of celebrating festivals for thousands of years, we forget that this came at a cost – that of loss of naivete and romanticism with world. We value individual survival more than collective sacrifice. Loyalty, sacrifice, pride are inventions of human society, which are of little effect to spontaneity of nature. Nature is discriminate; that which withstands a cyclone lives, rest perishes. Civilizational & cultural memes behave like spontaneous natural phenomena. We are, what we learnt and how we reacted to various circumstances through centuries preceding this day. Those learnings directed us on the path of extreme individualism. Most of us are great team players but in one-man teams. Other civilizations, which had a break in between, suffered less from their past as they could break from it and start afresh. We have been carrying all the knowledge & information of thousands of years along and are buried under its gravity. Nation-state in itself is an idea introduced recently to us. Probably we are still happening as a Nation.
In conclusion, your thought-provoking & discerning article merits my earnest appreciation for dealing with a sensitive subject of treason with eloquence. But then would my ideas of treason find favour with you; you will have to reconsider defining treason, while excluding earnest dissent from it. Your article of proposing that we are cursed by more than fair share of traitors in itself is a dissent against what we think of ourselves... Deepak Loomba



Article as received by me through a chain of whatsapp messages (I do not guarantee the authenticity of this article as it is not know to me, but since I liked the piece for the thought it presented and the eloquence with which the writer did it, I am reproducing it here):

Why does India breed so many traitors? By _Major General Mrinal Suman_

While studying Indian history in school days, one was repeatedly told that the foreign invaders resorted to ‘divide and rule’ policy to gain control over India. They were painted as unscrupulous schemers who exploited the simple, trusting and gullible Indians. It is only at a much later stage that one realised the hollowness of the above assertion. The truth is that we are adept at producing hordes of traitors who revel in India’s ruin.

Dear To begin with its important to define

Every victory of the foreign invaders was facilitated by the local collaborators who betrayed their kings for some devious reward or to settle personal scores. No fort was ever conquered without the infidelity of a trusted minister/commander. Unfortunately, centuries of slavery has taught us nothing. We carry on spawning throngs of people who can stoop down to any level (even imperil national security) for their petty gains.

2. Our leaders, media and intellectuals appear to have a single point agenda: how to generate innovative issues to keep the nation divided and embroiled in petty bickering and internal dissentions; and thereby impede progress and bring a bad name to the country. They abhor India’s rise. Let me elucidate. First, the leaders: they are the fountainhead of all fissiparous tendencies. For them, vote bank politics take precedence over everything else. One does not have to be a visionary to predict the danger of abetting illegal migration from Bangladesh for garnering votes. But unscrupulous political leaders carry on unconcerned. One hangs one’s head in shame when political leaders extend their support to a delinquent student leader who seeks destruction of India. Comparing him with martyr Bhagat Singh is by far the most perfidious act. Perhaps, India is the only country that has an ignominious track record of producing Home Ministers who revelled in shaming the country. One concocted theories of saffron terrorism to please his party bosses. In so doing, he presented a convenient propaganda tool to Pakistan. Another Home Minister did the unthinkable. He declared a terrorist to be innocent in an affidavit to the court. The aim was to ensnare the opposition leaders in a false case. Sadly, India’s intelligence gathering apparatus suffered immense damage in the process. When a leader declares ‘it's safer to be a cow than to be a Muslim in India today’, he puts the whole country to shame. The world media flashes such headlines with sinister pleasure. India’s image takes a terrible beating. Just to score a brownie point against the government, he presents a convenient propaganda handle to the hostile forces. How low can a leader stoop! Recently, a renowned advocate and a former law minister told a TV channel that shouting slogans for the destruction of the country is not debarred in the constitution. According to him, freedom of expression was of paramount importance. Even demand for secession (azadi) was justified. As the interview progressed, one was not only amazed by his perverted reasoning but also shocked to see the brazenness with which he was arguing. Survival of India appeared to be of no concern to him. One wondered if one was watching an Indian or a Pakistani channel. Secondly, the media personnel: the less said the better. From their conduct, it appears that many of them are foreign plants and India means little to them. When a leading media house invited a vicious and remorseless enemy like General Pervez Musharraf and groveled before him, it marked the lowest depths of shamelessness to which journalism could sink. Instead of castigating him for the Kargil war, he was treated as a peace loving guest. *** Both the electronic and the print media never report ‘positives’ about the country. Ugly India sells (a la ‘Slumdog Millionaire’); and not progressive India. Remember how a TV reporter failed to digest the popularity of Modi in the US and tried to incite the crowd with provocative remarks. But then they get paid to demean India, and not to extol it. Immense damage is also being inflicted on the unity of the country by the media through its Machiavellian and skewed reporting. Every news item is deliberately reported with a religious, caste or creed slant – ‘a dalit girl molested in a Delhi bus’ (as if other women are not molested in Delhi buses) or church guard killed’ (in reality an argument between two security guards had turned violent) or Muslim driver runs over a boy’ (as if his being a Muslim is of anyrelevance). Recently, in a case of cattle stealing, a leading newspaper could not resist the temptation to add that one of the five thieves is learnt to have had connections with a cow protection group in the past’. How cunningly, a simply case of robbery was given a communal taint. Petty vandals are given the coverage befitting a mass leader. It was obnoxious to see two TV channels airing their interviews with a student leader charged with sedition. The worst was the indulgent demeanour of the TV anchors; as if a national hero was being eulogised. The interviews were repeatedly telecast at prime time. Did these channels think of interviewing war heroes or martyrs’ families? Forget it; that would have been a pro-India act and that is an act of sacrilege for them. Thirdly, the self-proclaimed secular intelligentsia: it has done the maximum damage to India’s prestige and standing. Some of them appear to be fifth columnists masquerading as progressive intellectuals. In which country of the world would the intelligentsia write to the US government not to receive their Prime Minister? Honestly, it is simply loathsome: duly elected representative of 1.25 billion Indians being subjected to indignities by a shameless bunch of foreign-educated and foreign-paid anti-national elements. Unfortunately, their protests get huge publicity abroad, thereby undermining all efforts to raise India’s standing in the world forum. It can be said with certainty that the well-orchestrated campaign of intolerance was totally malicious in intent. The sole objective was to stall all progressive reforms by tarnishing the image of the government. How else can anti-nationalism be defined? As expected, having dented India’s reputation, sold-out media chose to ignore the true facts as they emerged subsequently. Hundreds of Christians, led by the church leaders, marched in protest on the roads of Delhi against the *alleged vandalism of churches and a theft in a Christian school. Routine cases of petty crimes were cited to suggest an anti-minority conspiracy.*** They ensured extensive coverage of their protests by the foreign and Indian media, thereby damaging India’s secular image. Foreign channels are only too eager to shame India. Unwisely, even Obama got carried away with his uncalled for advice, losing considerable goodwill in India. Reportedly, he said so on the prodding of an Indian leader. Soldiers and the national symbols: the national flag, the national anthem and the national salutations are representative of a country’s national identity and pride. They symbolise ancient heritage, current challenges and future aspirations. For soldiers, their sanctity is incontestable. Thousands of soldiers have sacrificed their lives to plant our tricolour on the enemy strongholds, thereby earning the ultimate honour of having their bodies draped in the national flag. Notes of the national anthem make every soldier get goose pimples. The response is instantaneous and the effect is electrifying. Even in their homes, they stand up with their families when the national anthem is played on TV during Independence/Republic Day ceremonies. Similarly, national salutations like ‘Hindustan Zindabad’, ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ ( now beinng alleged as having SAFFRON overtones) make adrenalin surge through their bodies. The salutations act as a rallying call to inspire the soldiers for the ultimate sacrifice. All military functions conclude with full-throated renditions of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. Therefore, the current controversy regarding national salutations is highly painful to the soldiers. They fail to understand as to how an Indian can have difficulty in hailing the country. How can ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ be assigned religious overtones. Finally: history stands testimony to the fact that a nation infested with the virus of treachery, deceitfulness and perfidy has always been an easy prey for foreign subjugation. No one knows this bitter truth better than India. Yet, our leaders, media and intelligentsia keep discrediting and harming the country through their seditious utterances and activities. Under the garb of freedom of speech, they support those felonious speakers who vow not to rest till India is destroyed. When Paris was hit by the terrorist attacks, the whole country gave a unified response. Compare it with our Batla House encounter against Indian Mujahdeen where two terrorists were killed and two arrested. A brave police officer lost his life. Yet, many seditious elements had the impudence to term the encounter to be ‘fake’. Therefore, the mystery remains unsolved. Why does India continue to produce so many Jaichand and Mir Jafars? Is India a cursed nation or is treachery a part of our DNA? One wonders.**

 

How to distinguish boiled eggs from those raw?

I was off lately asked this question by a scientist friend Andrey Kuzmin from Kiev.
I discovered 10 different ways to do this job:

1) Break the two eggs - apparent
2) Spin - boiled spins faster
3) Shake close to ear, the liquid is felt moving in raw egg.
4) strike softly with a spoon the raw one sounds different from boiled
5) press one side if a lying egg, the boiled one will pendulate better
6) put raw & boiled egg in one container with water & start stirring salt into it, boiled will float first
7) if both are rotated at very high angular velocity, the raw will succumb to centrifugal force first for lack of bonding between proteins
8) churn (rotate) each egg between hands, applying little (soft) pressure, the boiled egg will start cracking with small cracks vis-a-vis raw
9) light reflects differently from boiled vis a vis raw in a dark room
10) Roll the first egg with velocity 'V' towards other second one which is stationary, then strike the second one at velocity 'V' towards the first one. Velocity remains exactly same in both cases. The one that traverses lesser when momentum is transferred, is the raw egg.

Superficial thoughts on free will

Superficial Thoughts on Free Will

Friends, let's assume that free will is the capability to choose. Choice in return is limited by knowledge and knowledge is limited by the brain. Hence, one's own brain is the limit of free will ? This doesn't  seem like free will. 

Let's take another assumption to reach a different hypothesis - free will is the right to varied experiences. To understand this let's look at some additional aspects of free will - I think one can highlight at  least 4  levels/layers of brain activity. It is important to note that all the four layers of the brain work 'simultaneously'. 

The lower layer is that which ensures consciousness. This layer provides no choices - its critical job is to ensure survival.

The second layer is that which stores information and experience for guidance in future. 

The third layer is that of predisposition, it is guided by body chemistry which is further guided by genetic material to understand likings (the colour you like, the taste you hate etc.). 

Fourth layer is that which does not work for survival and provides the possibility of doing something with time at hand (this is still not free will).

Now remember that all four layers are simultaneously working. So the first three layers will guide one to ensure survival, provide experiential data and explain pre-dispositions, thereby taking away some part of scope of what can be done. The left off area/scope is the action area. 

Now in this left off scope there are two types of actions one can take - (a) re-experience that which is known to provide good feeling (from layers 2 & 3) or (b) experience something new. 

Could this choice be free will?

This choice too has patterns - the tendency of most humans is to reduce new experiences with age. As a child one wants to learn and experience more and more. But as one grows one gathers enough experience to survive in the world. So some decide just to survive, use the free time to re-experience what already is known to provide positive experience (hence be 'happy') while others (few) keep on risking time to have newer experiences (which may or may not be positive).

So what's good about the latter - they keep on expanding their knowledge with newer experiences. Now the earlier first deduction of choices comes into play - the more the knowledge the more are choices.

Therefore, I hypothesize  - Free will is the choice of a human being to either re-experience known phenomena or risk experiencing newer phenomena so as to increase the variety of choices and hence increase the scope of free will.

1979339339 - The largest prime number which when reduced by omitting the last digit, one by one, till last one digit, retains its primality

Supported by my nephew and my niece Simar (16 years) and Simran (13) we solved an interesting maths problem, which might be unique as investigated by us on internet. We found the largest Prime Numbers which when shortened by deleting the last digit retains its primality. Example 37337999 is a number which when deleted by last number retains its primality, that is- 37337999, 3733799, 373379, 37337, 3733, 373, 37, 3.

Probed on internet. Seems, both the problem and the solution are unique.

We solved the problem to make some interesting discoveries.

First - the largest such number is 1979339339. All numbers

1979339339, 197933933, 19793393, 1979339, 197933, 19793, 1979, 197, 19, 1

The other largest such numbers starting with 2, 3, 5 & 7 are: 

29399999, 37337999, 59393339, 7393933 (four)

The other very interesting observation is following - the number of possible cases (possible numbers ending with 1, 3, 7 & 9) turned out to be disproportionately large in case of those numbers that start with '1' vis a vis all other possible first digits - that is 2, 3, 5, & 7.

In all the five largest such numbers starting with 1, 2, 3, 5 & 7; 1, 2 & 5 appear only once, 7 appears 6 times, 3 appears 14 times and 9 is the most recurring 15 times.