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Arnab Bhattacharya hopes to get Mumbaikars chatty about science

A taste of science from the organisers of Chai & Why, a monthly forum starting in the city on Sunday to act as a bridge between scientists and the common man.

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The garden outside the Nehru Science Centre in Mumbai looks like any other at first glance. But a closer look will reveal some differences. The swings are of different lengths, and so are the two sides of the seesaw. “The swings demonstrate that the frequency of oscillation depends on the length of the pendulum. And the see-saw, with its fulcrum to one side instead of the centre, demonstrates the lever mechanism. A see-saw can usually be enjoyed only if the two people are of equal weight, but here a child and parent can play together,” says AN Manekar, the centre director.

Compare this to a textbook definition: A lever is a straight object placed on a pivot. It can be used to lift a heavy object. The force placed on one end will transfer to lift the load. The longer the lever, the greater the distance the force has to travel and the heavier the load that can be lifted.

A precise definition perhaps, but also a terribly boring one. Some in the scientific community believe such explanations turn people off science. Science is all around us, so why restrict its learning to textbooks, they ask.

That’s the idea behind Chai & Why, a monthly forum starting today to discuss science over a cup of tea. Organised by the outreach department of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and Prithvi Theatre, the forum will bring scientists down to an informal setting to talk about things like Laser, global warming, and nanotechnology, which are usually considered ‘too technical’. Explains Arnab Bhattacharya of TIFR: “Today, there is so much information coming our way that in order to make rational judgments, a bit of scientific thinking is a must. For example, is keeping a mobile phone in your pocket bad for you? Does that mosquito repellent really work? Does Ganesha drink milk?”

What’s new?
Attempts to popularise science are by no means new. Programmes on All India Radio and science museums, science magazines and even science fiction have been aimed at both children and adults.

But Chai & Why aims to do things a little differently, as Sameera Iyengar of Prithvi explains: “We were inspired by an MIT professor who came here and talked about creativity in science. For us, Chai & Why is a celebration of creativity. It’s about keeping curiosity alive.”

Experts say the schooling system and parents in general do not encourage curiosity. Science is treated as a set of definitions to be learnt and reproduced in exams.

Subba Rao, editor of Dimdima, a children’s monthly, who has co-produced textbooks for CBSE and ICSE, remembers an incident at a science workshop. “A Class 6 girl talked about an activity where you hold a piece of thick paper over the mouth of a glass filled with water and turn it upside down. Even after you remove your hand, the paper won’t fall down and water doesn’t spill. The reason as she rightly mentioned is that the upward pressure of air on the paper will hold it in place.”

The girl however had a shock when Rao suggested that she actually try the experiment out. “She just refused to do it. After a lot of cajoling, she hesitantly turned the glass upside down. And to her disbelief when she removed her hand the paper stayed in place. There was awe on her face,” said Rao. “Science is being taught as a body of fact, and not as a process of discovery that it really is,” he added.

Parvish Pandya, a Reader in Zoology at Bhavan’s College, Andheri, who also conducts nature trails, couldn’t agree more. “When I discuss subjects like evolution in the classroom, students come up with questions which I have never thought of. It is only by applying logic that we manage to come up with an answer. Teachers should be able to say ‘I don’t know the answer. Let’s find it out together’.”

Apathy to popularisation
Experts agree that apart from tackling problems in the education system, the scientific community needs to do more to reach out to people.

Bal Phondke, who quit as a scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Reseach Centre (BARC) to become the editor of a monthly magazine Science Today, feels that there is an air of mystery about science because it remains in the hands of a few people. “Practising scientists look down on people who popularise science. My own colleagues felt I was committing a scientific hara kiri when I left BARC.”

Science Today grew to a circulation of 80,000, before the management decided to shut it down as it was not profitable. On TV too, there are hardly any programmes now devoted to popular science. It is also telling that there is no major website from India dedicated to science. “The websites of Indian science organisations leave much to be desired. Even ISRO and the observatories have done little. No observatory in India posts the images of heavenly objects taken by them on their websites. Two observatories that I do not wish to name even failed to supply the pictures of their facilities (buildings, telescopes etc) on a request I made two years back,” says Piyush Pandey, director, Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai.

Arvind Gupta, who has worked for 30 years to make science popular, pins his hope on the Indian community’s inherent interest in science. “Indians have always been eager to know pure science despite lack of resources.” Gupta has put up 1,500 science-related books on his website arvindguptatoys.com which users can download free of cost.

Arnab Bhattacharya, who is getting ready for his first session of Chai & Why, remains sanguine about it. “As a scientist, I am an experimenter. It will be interesting to see how the audience will react.” Go and check it out for yourself now.

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