Why Am I sad today?

Today, 'bhai' got bail from the Bombay High Court. After running away from law for 13 years, he was finally served justice 2 days back. Securing a bail in a record-of-sorts 2hours, he has now obtained an extension of bail and a suspension of sentence from the High Court. Next date of hearing is in June. Could have been June 2057 as well, who cares? Anyway, the money for now is secure. I mean the Rs. 30,000 bail money, not the hundred crore Bollywood investment. Who knows how much record will his next classical create.

FYI, it should be clear how the judiciary works. A higher court does not hear the arguments for or against the case. Once a lower court has convicted a person, it cannot be overturned. UNLESS..... Rest assured, the investigation and questioning of witnesses does not take place again. The facts of the case already established do not change. What can change (and will likely change) is the opinion of the judge arrived at. The higher court, oops.. the HONORABLE court looks at the facts from new angles, and can even look at some 'obvious facts' overlooked or missed by the lower court. Now it's their turn to pronounce a judgement. The lawyers have already applied for overturning of conviction in this case. Let's wait for the verdict, out soon in 2063.

Now few things sadden me today.

First is this 'net-non-neutral' judicial system. It violates the principles of neutrality in two ways:-

a. It works at a differential speed depending on monetary and muscle power of the accused.

b. It works at a differential speed depending on stage of trail of the accused.

While lakhs languish in our jails awaiting a trail (2/3 of total 4Lakh inmates according to Government), a convict is let off with a bail bond because of 48 hours of 'good-behavior'. BULL SHIT. Picture this YOUR HONORS - a postman in UP was held innocent 29 years after allegedly pocketing Rs. 57.

Second is the reaction from the society, especially youth.

For once I would sympathize with those people who are not aware of current developments - those guys from random poll videos like TVFs republic day. But it is the youth that is justifying his innocence based on some perceptual humanitarian work he has done which saddens me most. Seriously guys? So you are saying that if I murder someone and open a multi-crore apparel chain with a weird-made-to-sound-philanthropic name and donate some (even entire) amount to charity, I will be free from my sin? Is philanthropy a new form of dip in Ganga? Even the Yo!-so-cool AIB guys used it to justify their roast show. So what if an entire industry, especially the like of his brothers Sohail and Arbaaz are dependent on him for employment? Can't resist this joke here - If 'bhai' was not 'bhai', the ones on that pavement could very well be Sohail and Arbaaz. Anyway, bhai's team is busy tracking who else to provide employment to once this 'drama' is over. Eagerly waiting for Abhijeet's next album by Sohail Khan productions.

As for Bollywood morons, well, they are morons. I am surprised that people actually had some expectations from them.

Third thing that saddens me is the lawyers. If this is what goes in form of professional ethics, then Rajniji save this country from lawyers. Just as we thought Ram Jethmalani was doing something good for black money, some else seems to have taken his place. Harish Salve rejected the post of Attorney General for the government in 2014 so that he could be Attorney General in the parallel government - of Mr. Ambani. That says it all. Sir,  please justify your stand with your humanitarian PIL work.

The now famous politician, Baba Siddique running to his aide and expressing trust in Judicial system was the final nail in the coffin. How so non-ironic.

If ever there was a better time for those 'I don't want to live in this world' memes, it is today.

Indian Monsoon

..this post is under construction...

Monsoon is coming and along with it comes all the baggage of unpredictability and way-off-the-mark forecasts. Why is it that even with so advanced technology and simulation models at our disposal we just can't get the prediction right? How do Americans or Europeans get the forecasts in their country right, while we, with so much progress in 'rocket science' are not able to? In this blog post I'll help to deconstruct Monsoon. The complexity of this still-to-be completely understood phenomenon will answer our questions. 

Monsoon (from Arabic Mausim meaning season) refers to seasonal reversal in direction of winds. It is said that Al-Beruni coined this term while he was on Gujarat coast. To understand this reversal, we must know about the Global Pressure Belt system. 

India (South Asia) lies south of 30^oN latitude. As seen in the figure, this region lies in the zone of North Easterly Trade Winds (winds are named from the direction they flow, rather than to the direction they are going). Since solar insolation at Equator is maximum, there is high temperature and low pressure. Air in this region rises up and air from tropics (30^oN and 30^oS) rushes here. Now, shouldn't the arrows in the diagram then be straight rather than curving, i.e. the wind should come from absolute North or South rather than from North-East or South-West? This is because of an apparent force, Coriolis force. Suffice to say that according to it, things moving in Northern Hemisphere are deflected towards right and in Southern Hemisphere towards left of their direction of motion. This apparent force is nil at the equator and increases as we move towards poles.

These pressure belts are not static, i.e. they largely follow the Sun's apparent movement over earth. This is because of rotational motion of earth on its inclined axis (23.5^o). When the sun is in Northern Hemisphere (i.e. summer season in North), these pressure belts also tend to migrate northwards. Since Sun is now directly above northern tropical latitudes, they receive maximum insolation, and hence are the areas of low pressure. For a very crude understanding, Monsoon can be thought of as winds flow into this low pressure from South. But that leaves the following questions:-

1. Where are these winds originating from?
2. What drives these winds and gives them energy? What is the source of rainfall?
3. Why don't the winds from North come into this low pressure region?
4. When do the winds strike (or technically, Monsoon breaks)?
5. Till how long will these continue to flow over the subcontinent?

The thermal concept is a very old concept that cannot answer these questions. In fact, Monsoon is a much more complex phenomenon than the thermal concept makes it look.
Let's get into details.

In the diagram above, there is ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) at the Equator. It is the zone where trade winds from Northern and Southern Hemisphere converge. Now this zone is characterised with a central westerly air flow, called equatorial westerlies in some parts. With the shift of sun northwards, the ITCZ also migrates northwards. The northern region, N-ITCZ, is now the zone where south-east trade winds after crossing the equator, reach and rise. At this point, it's technically wrong to call it a convergence zone as no convergence occurs here (as there is nothing coming from the North).

The low pressure areas that develop over the sub-continent are not stationary and may change their position suddenly depending on upper air circulations. This proves the fact that these areas are not merely thermally induced. Moreover, high temperatures grip the areas, especially north-western part starting mid-April, reaching maximum in May. However, monsoon does not even reach the southern coast until first week of June. Further, monsoonal rainfall is not wholly orographic (meaning mountain induced, where moist winds are forced to rise over mountain slopes and saturate in process, giving precipitation), rather they are convectional as well as cyclonic.

The questions above have been answered to a large extent by the recent concepts proposed after MONEX (Monsoon Expedition) and subsequently refined with satellite observations. In brief, there are two phenomenon - Jet Streams and Tibetan Plateau heating- which EFFECT the monsoon along with shifting of ITCZ; and there are several phenomenon, like El-nino and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) which AFFECT the monsoon.

In summers, Tibetan plateau, a huge granitic barren landmass, 4000m high undergoes immense heating, receiving 2-3^oC more insolation than neighbouring areas. It acts as a barrier as well as a heat source. As a heat source, immense heating leads to rising of air. This warm air collects in upper troposphere and upper air anti-cyclonic conditions (high pressure conditions, imagine massive amount of air collecting at a point) are formed. Anti-cyclones being clockwise in Northern Hemisphere (remember ANC - Anti-Cyclones North Clockwise), the air circulating at the southern end would be from east to west (easterly). A distinct branch of this anti-cyclonic flow lies over India, extending from North-East to South-West. On intensification, this arm extends up to Indian Ocean and intensifies the already existing High Pressure cell, so as to finally move as South-West Monsoon. Thus, in essence, its role is to strengthen the winds crossing the equator so that they reach the Indian shores.

As a barrier, Tibetan plateau's role is related to jet streams.