Exploring ecotourism in Chhattisgarh of India

Chhattisgarh state of India has emerged from ocean floor

==========================================

pic credit: AFP
a new island appeared on a Pakistani coastal town of Gwadar

Geologist believe that Chhattisgarh state of India was part of the ocean floor some 280,000,000 years ago. 

Earhquake and some other geological disturbances must have raised this portion up creating this land mass (report appeared in Bhaskar/13th October 2013 Sunday/pp3), just like in September 2013 a new island has emerged near Pakistan. Seismic activity appears to have sparked this unusual land formation, (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-24272552).

Sonhat block of Koriya district in Chhattisgarh state of India does have remains which could easily be seen, fossilized molluscs (Seepi) are so abundantly scattered. Geological Survey of India has marked this region for the Ecotourism, which belongs to period between Eocene to Pliocene epoch.

These fossils date back to millions of years, are scattered in between Hasdeo river and Halia Nala, almost in one kilometer of area.

bhaskar/13t october 2013

This is the reason that plains of Raipur (state capital) is full of Lime stones below it's earth crust; declared reserved area by Geological Survey of India, naming it 'Marine Gondwana Fossils'.

Geological structure of Chhattisgarh state of India varies from most ancient to most recent rock types, which contains vivid mineral deposits in abundance.

*author extends thanks to Ms Padmavati Pandey for her valuable input and meaningful discussions during the preparation of this post.
#Globally seismic monitor link in real time:
http://www.iris.edu/hq/sis/data/seismon
#Globally lightning monitor site in real time:
http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime
#Sun movement and sunlight phases during the given day at the given location.
suncalc.net

Indian geological history based on rock types

Himalayan range emerged from the Tethys ocean
Alps, Carpathian in Europe, Hindukush in Afganistan to the west of Himalaya 
and mountains of Burma in the east,----millions of years ago it all were part of a great ocean Tethys. 

The Sea floor of the Tethys ocean was raised up by the collision to for the Himalayas. That is why you can find sea shell fossils on the top of Mount Everest! This is a destructive plate margin.

Continent to north to Tethys was Northern Pangea (Laurasia/Angaraland) 
and continent to south was Southern Pangea (Gondwanaland).

Various geological factors caused Tethys ocean to come up above the water level. 
This water scattered in the lower part of Gondwanaland. 
Gondwanaland looked fragmented in parts 
and so Indian Ocean came in existence.

At one time, the Indian craton was a segment of the Pangaea supercontinent. During that period, it was linked with Southern Africa and Madagascar on the southwestern shore and Australia beside the eastern shore. During the Jurassic era, at approximately 160 Ma (ICS 2004), fissuring led Pangaea to split into two supercontinents i.e. Laurasia (in the north) and Gondwana (in the south). However, the Indian craton stayed linked to Gondwana till the supercontinent started to split into pieces approximately in the beginning phase of the Cretaceous era around 125 Ma (ICS 2004). The tectonic plate of India started moving to the north in the direction of the Eurasian plate. This geological process, which is going on at present, is associated with the sealing of the Tethys Ocean. The Tethys Ocean’s sealing had resulted in formation of the Caucasian Mountain Range in West Asia and the Alps in Europe. It also formed the Tibetan highland in South Asia and the Himalayan Mountain Ranges.
pic courtesy: http://science.taskermilward.org.uk/mod1/KS4Chemistry/AQA/Module2/10_2_15.htm

#reference for classification of Indian rocks:http://www.thecsatupsc.com/2013/04/classification-of-indian-rocks.html


Geological history of India based on rock types
The Geological History of India began with the geographical transformation of other parts of the earth, to be precise, 4.57 Ga (billion years back). 
India is famous for its varied geological features. 
Various parts of India are made up of rocks of all categories of several geologic periods. 
A few of the rocks are poorly malformed and metamorphosed. 
At the same time, other types of rocks are newly silted alluvial soils that are still to go through chemical and physical changes. 
Source of minerals of significant diversity is seen in the subcontinent area in substantial amount.(text courtesy:http://www.mapsofindia.com/500-things-to-know-about-india/geological-history-of-india/)

Map of chronostratigraphic divisions of India

There are three types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. The first two are formed under conditions of extreme heat and pressure.

Igneous rocks are formed when magma cools into solid form. This can happen on the surface with volcanic discharge, but primarily takes place beneath the earth’s crust. A majority — about 90% — of igneous rocks are silicate minerals, which are rich in silicon and oxygen. Quartz is among the most familiar and abundant of this type; clays and feldspar are other examples.

 Metamorphic rocks are formed when a preexisting rock, called a protolith, is under conditions of high heat and pressure, causing it to metamorphose chemically, structurally, or both. The protolith might be an igneous, sedimentary, or another metamorphic rock. Slate, marble, and quartzite are some examples of this type.

Sedimentary rocks are less abundant than the other two varieties, composing only 5% or so of the earth’s crust. This type of rock is formed over long periods of time as tiny grains of material are pressed against each other and join loosely. The process by which sedimentary rocks are formed is delicate enough that fossils can be preserved within them. Common examples include sandstone, chalk, and limestone.

picture credit:http://en.wikipedia.org

text credit:http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-the-different-types-of-rocks.htm

Geology and major structures of Himalayas
picture credit:http://www.geo.arizona.edu/geo5xx/geo527/Himalayas/geology.html

Three clear regions of India based on rock types
The geological history of India, it ranges from most archaic to most newly formed rock types.

As rocks date back to Pre Archaen and Pre Cambrian period, their age could well be compared with the age of India itself. 

The latest rocks of Quarternary period are found in alluvial deposits (in the form of layer after layer deposits).

The three divisions based on rock types are as follows:

1. A substantial territory of peninsular India, which is also known as the Indian Shield, comprises schists and Archean gneisses and these are the earliest forms of rocks seen in India. These are 'original' rocks, made by cooling of the Earth from molten phase. This is part of the Gondwanaland.

2. Rocks of Himalayan mountain and newly formed other moulded related mountain range which are formed later to the rocks of peninsular India, is called Tertiary rocks. Such rocks were formed of the deposits from the base of the ocean.

3.  Indo-Gangetic basin , which were formed later to Himalayan mountain range, are Quarternary rocks formed by the alluvial deposits of alluvial soil. This soil is worn down from the Himalayas by rivers originating from Himalayan mountain range.

Above three physical regions of India  were formed gradually one after other.

Rock type reserve
Archaic Archean rocks are best for Iron and Gold reserve while rocks of Carboniferous period are known for Coal reserve. 
There are more chances of finding mineral oil in rocks formed by the precipitates of ocean. 

Himalayan rivers are older than Himalayas

There are two major river systems in India based on the origin:

1.Himalayan Rivers: These rivers are again subdi­vided into two groups. Trans Himalayan and Hima­layan. The Trans-Himalayan Rivers originate beyond the Great Himalayas. These are the Indus, the Sutlej and the Brahmaputra rivers. Himalayan rivers are those which originate in the Himalayas and flow through the Northern Plains, e.g., the Ganga, the Yamuna and their tributaries. These rivers are useful for irrigation and navigation and the lowlands drained by them have fertile alluvial deposits. 

The main Himalayan river systems are the Ganga, the Indus and the Brahmaputra river systems. The Himalayan rivers form large basins. Many rivers pass through the Himalayas. These deep valleys with steep rock sides were formed by the down - cutting of the river during the period of the Himalayan uplift. They perform intense erosional activity up the streams and carry huge load of sand and silt. In the plains, they form large meanders, and a variety of depositional features like flood plains, river cliffs and levees.

These rivers are perennial as they get water from the rainfall as well as the melting of ice. Nearly all of them create huge plains and are navigable over long distances of their course. These rivers are also harnessed in their upstream catchment area to generate hydroelectricity.

2.Peninsular rivers: The main peninsular river systems include the Narmada, the Tapti, the Godavari, the Krishna, the Kaveri and the Mahanadi river systems. The Peninsular rivers flow through shallow valleys. A large number of them are seasonal as their flow is dependent on rainfall. The intensity of erosional activities is also comparatively low because of the gentler slope. The hard rock bed and lack of silt and sand does not allow any significant meandering. Many rivers therefore have straight and linear courses. These rivers provide huge opportunities for hydro-electric power.

Image Courtesy : gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/122/3-4/336/F1.large.jpg

Pic courtesy: http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/geographical.htm

source: www.wikimedia.org

*author extends thanks to Ms Padmavati Pandey for her valuable input and meaningful discussions during the preparation of this post.
#Find out where an earthquake has occurred today !!
http://www.iris.edu/hq/sis/data/seismon 

#reference for Indian rivers in nutshell: http://www.winentrance.com/general_knowledge/geography/rivers.html

Human: a curious case of symbiont body and parasitic brain

Science believe that humans have evolved through organic evolution,

and our distant ancestors were Amoeba like one cell organism.

Gradually in long course of time, 

cell grouped to form tissues, then tissue system, organ, organ system 

and the result is here, 

 Homo sapiens

the last and latest biological creation of nature.

http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2012/01/biological-classification-kingdom.html

Multicellularity in organic evolution: a new perspective

1. Symbiont body:

Actually our cell, cell organelle and even chromosomes are other organisms, embedded in.

It appears that we humans are the 'symbiotic probability', a mechanism of 'living in group' (multicellularity) found best by mother nature, to survive on earthly environment.

So at a given space and time, we are not one, we are many in full potential, behaving as one for the greater benefit of each participant in this trillion of individuals working jointly in the body of ours.
http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2012/02/cell-multicellularity-in-new.html

1.Cyanoebacteria with incipient nucleus are the flag bearers of life. Life moved onward on evolutionary path with these simpler non nucleated structures, then came the Amoeba like one cell organism with true nucleus. Then on, evolutionary journey up to the appearance of human is a long course of history in organic evolution.

But are not these Cyanoebacteria still with us, within our body, in each cell of every plant and animal of today as their cell organelle, namely Mitochondria and Plastids, secretly hidden, playing pivotal role in our existential physiology?
http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2013/02/mitochondrion-cell-organelle-symbiotic.html
http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2013/02/chloroplast-cell-organelle-symbiotic.html

2.Each cell of our body among it's trillions fraternity, is a group of potential organism in itself capable of living an individual life of their own; have discarded their individuality just for the sake of combine symbiotic existence for the greater benefit. When even a single cell choose to lose this self abiding contract of sacrifice and becomes unruly in a way, then whole human body as an organization is at loss and have to die.
http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2013/12/cancer-cell-behaving-as-organism.html

So in a way we are the assemblage of trillion of individual capable animals, who have forgotten their individuality just for the sake of 'evolutionary code of conduct learned & stored in DNA'.
http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2014/05/multicellularity-programmed-cell-death.html

3.Viruses which are proven cellular organisms (http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2013/03/viruses-are-cellular-organisms.html) lie hidden in our chromosomes as endogenous retroviruses in thousands. http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2014/03/100000-viruses-hid-in-human-genes.html

4.Human body as collection of organisms:
http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2014/03/human-body-and-theseus-paradox.html
Many a time our single cell have shown their individuality and capabilities of their own, which amazes the physiologist.
http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2013/04/red-blood-corpuscle-enucleation-and-in.html 


#And apart from that, the 'parasitic play in the body', is another angle, which alternates our thinking, even much before we perceive that long interplay.
2. Parasitic brain:
We normally presume that the animals are in control of their own actions, that they are in charge of their bodies. And that is often not the case.
https://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_suicidal_wasps_zombie_roaches_and_other_tales_of_parasites

As Ed Yong the science writer and Ted speaker (https://www.ted.com/speakers/ed_yong) talks about how parasites turn our thinking sideways.

In an example of Artemia, parasitic tapeworm hijacks their brains and their bodies, turning them into vehicles for getting itself into a flamingo. Ed Yong has given many examples of parasitic manipulation.
https://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_suicidal_wasps_zombie_roaches_and_other_tales_of_parasites/transcript 

Ed Yong says, we place such a premium on our free will and our independence that the prospect of losing those qualities to forces unseen informs many of our deepest societal fears. Orwellian dystopias and shadowy cabals and mind-controlling supervillains -- these are tropes that fill our darkest fiction, but in nature, they happen all the time. 

Ed Yong 

Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Humans, of course, are no stranger to manipulation. We take drugs to shift the chemistries of our brains and to change our moods, and what are arguments or advertising or big ideas if not an attempt to influence someone else's mind? But our attempts at doing this are crude and blundering compared to the fine-grained specificity of the parasites.

Yong is particularly taken by parasites’ “capacity to subvert our thinking about the world… They invite us to look at the world sideways. And this makes them as wonderful and charismatic and wonderful as any panda, butterfly, or dolphin.”
http://blog.ted.com/2014/03/20/how-parasites-turn-our-thinking-sideways-ed-yong-at-ted2014/
http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014/10/31/catching-zombies-in-the-act-how-to-picture-parasites/#.VFzLVHO1qGE.twitter

Periodic Table of Dmitri Mendeleev and Sanskrit grammar

Grammar of elements 
Who would have thought that there is some connection between Sanskrit alphabet and the periodic table?

Periodic Table
The periodic table is a two-dimensional display of Chemical elements arranged according to their atomic numbers. The rows are called periods, and when you move from left to right the atomic numbers increase. There are gaps in some rows to ensure that Chemical elements with similar properties stay in the same column.(http://vishal12.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/sankrit-in-the-periodic-table/)

Dmitri Mendeleev
When the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev published his periodic table of elements in 1869, there were just fifty-nine entries on it. The table grouped those elements

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev

8 February 1834 – 2 February 1907

pic credit:http://www.rsc.org/education/

teachers/resources/periodictable/pre16/

develop/mendeleev.htm

The table also contained thirty-three empty spaces that implied that there were elements still to be discovered. He gave these still-hypothetical elements names like  ekasilicon, ekaaluminium and ekaboron (germanium, gallium and scandium, respectively). “Eka-” is a Sanskrit prefix meaning “one,” so you can think of the names as silicon 1, aluminum 1, and so on. For his predicted eight elements, he used the prefixes of eka, dvi, and tri (Sanskrit one, two, three) in their naming. By year 1939, all of Mendeleev’s boxes had been filled in; the last one was “ekacesium,” now called francium.

Numerals in Sanskrit
Mendeleev chose Sanskrit names (now-superseded) for eight elements in the periodic table. His chosen names are given as follows for eight elements which he predicted but were not discovered in his days.


Eka-aluminium —– Gallium
Eka-boron —– Scandium
Eka-silicon —– Germanium
Eka-manganese —– Technetium
Tri-manganese —– Rhenium
Dvi-tellurium —– Polonium
Dvi-caesium —– Francium
Eka-tantalum —– Protactinium
(http://www.boiledbeans.net/2008/04/13/eek-do-teen/)

It appears that Mendeleev was inspired by the two-dimensional arrangement of Sanskrit sounds, which he indirectly acknowledged in his naming scheme of chemical elements. Also, Eka which is the Sanskrit for one or first, is a prefix which was applied to the first undiscovered element in a group of the periodic system

What Mendeleev couldn’t have imagined was that scientists would one day begin creating elements not found naturally.(http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/08/unumpentium-the-new-artificial-element.html)

Dmitri Mendeleev and Sanskrit 

By giving Sanskrit names to his "missing" elements, Mendeleev showed his appreciation and debt to the Sanskrit grammarians of ancient India, who had created sophisticated theories of language based on their discovery of the two-dimensional patterns in basic sounds. According to Professor Paul Kiparsky of Stanford University, Mendeleev was a friend and colleague of the Sanskritist Böhtlingk, who was preparing the second edition of his book on Pāṇini at about this time, and Mendeleev wished to honor Pāṇini with his nomenclature. Noting that there are striking similarities between the periodic table and the introductory Śiva Sūtras in Pāṇini's grammar, Prof. Kiparsky says:

[T]he analogies between the two systems are striking. Just as Panini found that the phonological patterning of sounds in the language is a function of their articulatory properties, so Mendeleev found that the chemical properties of elements are a function of their atomic weights. Like Panini, Mendeleev arrived at his discovery through a search for the "grammar" of the elements...(share courtesy:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev)

Notes for further study:

Max Muller, the great Indologist, Sanskrit pundit and an authority on Veda. sums up his version, of Sanskrit language and it's contribution to the rest of the Europen language in following lines: "the Sanskrit, by it's most ancient literary documents, the Vedas, it can teach us lessons which nothing else can teach, as to the origin of our own language, the first formation of our own concepts, and the true natural gems of all that is comprehended under the name of civilization, at least the civilization of the Aryan race, that race to which we and all the greatest nations of the world - the Hindus, the Persians, the Greeks and Romans, the Slaves, the Celts, and last, not least, the Teutons belong.

(India-What can it teach us by F.Max Muller, page:107, penguin books publication, year 2000)

It is interesting to note that in above studies, Max Muller has given many examples of the mentioned all 7 races, there are still many Sanskrit root words, which still exits with the same meanings.

In another studies based on genetics and Indo Europen language relationship:

Genetics of Indo-Europen populations: The past, the future

by: Balanovsky, Oleg, Utevska, Olga, Balanovska Elena

Journal of Language Relationship, No. 9,2013 - p 23-3

We describe our experience of comparing genetic and linguistic data in relation to the Indo-European problem. Our recent comparison of the genetic variation with lexicostatistical data on North Caucasian populations identified the parallel evolution of genes and languages; one can say that history of the populations was reflected in the linguistic and the genetic mirrors. For other linguistic families one can also expect this similarity, though it could be blurred by elite dominance and other events affecting gene and lexical pools differently. Indeed, for Indo-European populations of Europe, in contrast with the Caucasus case, the partial correlation indicates a more important role of geography (r = 0.32) rather than language (r = 0.21) in structuring the gene pool; though high pair correlation (r = 0.67) between genetics and linguistics distances allows using the lexicostatistical data as good predictors of genetic similarity between populations. The similarity between genetics and linguistics was identified for both Y­chromosomal data (populations are clustered according to their language) and mitochondrial DNA (populations are clustered according to their language group). In general, we believe that there is no single genetic marker definitively linked with the expansion of Indo-European populations. Instead, we are starting a new research project aiming to identify a set of markers partially linked with separate Indo-European groups, thus allowing partial reconstructions of the multi-layer mosaic of Indo-European movements.(http://www.jolr.ru/)

some related blog post of the author:

http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2014/06/relation-of-caste-religion-language.html

http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2014/06/human-history-through-genetics.html

Sanskrit affinity:
http://creative.sulekha.com/why-sanskrit-is-the-mother-of-all-indo-european-languages-and-how-the-europeans-concealed-it_523229_blog

An interactive Periodic Table link:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chemistry-the-elements-revealed-interactive-periodic-table/

Science and dreams

Learn to dream, achieve your vision !!

pic credit:http://www.whats-your-sign.com/

dream-meaning-common.html

Psychology and science of dreams has been much studied, 

theorized and understood with perspectives variable.

Away from all those technical theories, it is so commonly known that,
sleep provides rest, invigorating for next phase of awakened activity.

Often one who is hemmed in thought for days in and out, 
here brain plays tricks with this dream outlet, 
as sub conscious mind remains active 
during those consciously inactive or sleep period, 
and the moment a solution of the problem is cracked, it is revealed through the dreams.

This has had happened to many, 
as many have found their problems cracked in their dreams:

Your dreams could be the key to achieving your vision.

Mendeleev 


"I saw in a dream a table where all elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper, only in one place did a correction later seem necessary."
(as quoted by Inostrantzev) 






Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz (Dreamed 1858 and 1865)
He described in a speech given at the Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft (German Chemical Society):
He discovered the tetravalent nature of carbon, the foundation of structural organic chemistry.

pic credit:http://itrustican.blogspot.in/2010

/12/power-your-vision-with-dreams.html

"I fell into a reverie, and lo, the atoms were gamboling before my eyes! Whenever, hitherto, these diminutive beings had appeared to me, they had always been in motion; but up to that time, I had never been able to discern the nature of their motion. Now, however, I saw how, frequently, two smaller atoms united to form a pair; how a larger one embraced the two smaller ones; how still larger ones kept hold of three or even four of the smaller; whilst the whole kept whirling in a giddy dance. I saw how the larger ones formed a chain, dragging the smaller ones after them, but only at the ends of the chain. . . The cry of the conductor: "Clapham Road," awakened me from my dreaming; but I spent part of the night in putting on paper at least sketches of these dream forms. This was the origin of the Structural Theory."

Seven years later, the more famous incident occurred: a dream in which he realized that the benzene molecule had a circular structure, not a linear one like other organic compounds known at the time.

"...I was sitting writing on my textbook, but the work did not progress; my thoughts were elsewhere. I turned my chair to the fire and dozed. Again the atoms were gamboling before my eyes. This time the smaller groups kept modestly in the background. My mental eye, rendered more acute by the repeated visions of the kind, could now distinguish larger structures of manifold conformation; long rows sometimes more closely fitted together all twining and twisting in snake-like motion. But look! What was that? One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail, and the form whirled mockingly before my eyes. As if by a flash of lightning I awoke; and this time also I spent the rest of the night in working out the consequences of the hypothesis."

Some more dreams
Agassiz's dream correctly predicting the structure of a fossil fish, Loewi's dream of an experiment to prove nerve impulses propagate chemically, Howe's dream leading to the modern sewing machine, Einstein's dream of sledding near the speed of light, Ramanujan's mathematical dreams, Parkinson's dream of the M9 fire-controller that turned the tide against the Luftwaffe--all these and more show dreams to be just as useful in hard science and technology as they unquestionably are in the arts, humanities, and soft sciences.

(source:http://www.worlddreambank.org/K/KEKULE.HTM)

pic credit:http://www.whats-your-sign.com/
dream-meaning-common.html

  


"Let us learn to dream!!"
---Kekulé---

DNA secret revealed

We're all equal, it's simply true, that is science

James Watson, discovered DNA structure  (born April 6, 1928) along with his partner Francis Crick in 1953.
The nobel prize winning (1962) American molecular biologist, is also known for his critical remark, in which he has said that Africans are less intelligent.

"We're not all equal, 

it's simply not true,

that isn't science." he said.

Photo: ADAM NADEL

He was suspended over racial remarks.
Watson was embroiled in an extraordinary row. 
He retired as chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory near New York City, for which he was Chancellor for continuous 39 years.

What an irony; in his own DNA genetic test in December 2007, it was found that 16 of his genes are likely to have come from a black ancestor; while in European community such gene is found not more than 1 in number. 
It means something like as if his great grand father was African.

DNA model by Watson

Vian Joseph from Louisiana is a black American.
He has written articles in famous magazine News Week, on the problems of blacks.
He believed that he is 70% African and 30% some other race
due to hybridization of generations of his mother and father.
But when he got his DNA genetic test done for ethnicity, he was told that he is 57% Indo-European, 39% American Indian and 41% East Asian.
He did not had African blood at all. 
(reference courtesy:gyanendra mishra, science reporter/february 2014)

These are the example that our own phenotype is not our right identification.

If we are identified on the basis of generations of our mother and father

and if we go back in time some 200,000 years ago,

then almost all scientist believe that 
the whole human community is a member of one family.

Modern human (Homo sapiens) originated in African continent

and their ancestors are still there, 

as South African San and Vianca pygmy of Central Africa.

We are their direct descendants, 
who are still there living gracefully....!!

links of some related post:

http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2014/04/human-history-and-genetics.html

http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2014/06/human-history-through-genetics.html

http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2014/04/caste-system-in-india-is-not-archaic-as.html

http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2014/06/age-of-human-civilization.html

http://throughpicture.blogspot.in/2014/06/living-harmony-with-nature.html

Age of 'human-civilization'

Epic journey of modern human 

(Homo sapiens) 

began about 50,000-80,000 years ago from Africa to Asia.

courtesy:http://www.politicalforum.com/current-events/
206817-hints-earlier-human-exit-africa.html

Toba super-eruption and Indian subcontinent, scientists from India, Britain, USA and Australia in an article in Science of 6 June 2007* have given evidence of modern human (Homo sapiens) presence in south India.

courtesy:http://www.sciencemag.org/
content/317/5834/114/suppl/DC1

They have studied ash buried in India 74,000 years ago, from the Toba super volcanic eruption of Indonesia. Their study site is a place Jwalapuram in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Eruption ashes flew from Indonesia and buried over a wider area of India, 2.5 meters in thickness in Jwalapuram. Age of the deposits were detected from the quartz particles there in. Age of the down most layer of ash deposit is about 77,000 years. This site in southern India shows that local human populations persisted through the cataclysmic Toba volcanic eruption 77,000 years ago.

courtesy:http://www.sciencemag.org/
content/317/5834/114/suppl/DC1

The stone artifacts found in this layer and upper layer, are having similarities. That means, prior and after the Toba Eruption, there is technical similarities in stone artifacts. Apart from that these technicalities are more near to  to the stone artifacts of Africa than the Eurasia. Scientists firmly believe that these evidences are the final proof that modern humans (Homo sapiens) were living in India at the time of Toba eruption and they were so capable that they could withstand this large scale environmental catastrophe and survived there after.

Human existence
Big bang occurred 14,000,000,000 years ago.
Out of 4,500,000,000 years of earth age, we humans have footprints on earth since last 200,000 of years.

We moved from Africa and landed somewhere in Indian sub continent some 77,000 years ago, before adopting different routes for Asia, Europe and America with an average speed of 3 kilomwters per years, setting human colonies at various places.

Since then, ocean has risen up with 100 meters, hardly left are any clues of our movement along the sea coast we traveled by.

Where are those 77,000 years we spent in times past ?

And what is the age of any civilization ?

Where are those 'cultural communities' or 'ages of development' or civilizations
This question most often comes to our mind.
Record of longevity of any known/unknown civilization hardly goes to few hundred or at the most 5 thousand years, with constructing and imaginative links we have to add to with archaeological findings.
Every civilization does have a life span of it's own.
And civilizations come to an end at some point, due some reason, gradually or abruptly.

'Human civilization' 
a new perspective
'Universality' is the new phenomenon of this century, more profoundly added to our vocabulary..a new tool for the perspective of all and everything we preserve dear to human, including values; ..a common and only reliable cause for our peaceful existence on this planet we call earth, ..our home !!

A look back to earth by Apollo 11 astronaut, changed our concept as 'earth became our home without borders'.

In this ever expanding (due to Dark Energy) infinite cosmos against the forces of attraction and gravity, our earth is like a particle of dust.

A  look at the 'Pale Blue Dot' by Voyager 1 launched in 1977 changed our concept once again, made us more humble, we come to know the universe beyond heliosphere, which is very big, cool and dark

Unseen cosmos is 10 times bigger than the seen cosmos of 'Dark Matter', which is a vital force affecting the movement of even distant stars of the Milky Way.

Other civilizations, beyond our 'human civilization'....

courtesy:http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html

 Voyager 1 has taken voices and information from earth for the other civilizations of the beyond worlds.
Self life of Voyager 1 is 1,000,000,000 years.

Who knows, by that time we are lost in the vast darkness of the universe, as we were not here 1,000,000,000 years earlier and earth was not hospitable to our existence then.

Civilizations are lost due to,
1. Supernova i.e. death of a star, once in a billion years of time, harming cosmic rays.
2. Volcanic eruptions, causing volcanic winter (the one like Toba of Indonesiaof of 6–10 years and possibly a 1,000-year-long cooling episode; in which we survived)
3. Asteroid hit, happens only once in 1,000,000 years
4. Pathogens, Columbus took virus which was the reason of many mortality among Red Indians.
5. Eco system changes, which is hard to predict for times deep in future.
6. The one example of Iraq, where crop irrigation system caused the salt deposition in fertile soil gradually, causing to lose it's fertility in due course of time, and human colony deserted the place.

Our Potent protection,
Our intelligence is the only potent weapon of ours to protect this human species from the possible onslaught of any natural or human induced calamity or threat to our existence.

We the travelers,
Sometimes not an answer..
but a silence,
aboriginals saying,
a look at the night sky is all there;
to reward us with the inner peace..
as we need to comprehend the super designs of the higher reaches !!

pic credit:Kristina Buceatchi

 As an Australian Aboriginal proverb says;

“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home.”

And as per our astronomical understandings;

"All matter is made of atoms that were originally created in the center of stars, so our eyes are actually looking back in time at the very things that created them in the first place when we look up at the night sky."..

We the sons and daughters of star....
There is no annihilation,
We turn in to light,
And light turns in to matter !!
(http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/can-we-manufacture-matter.htm)

*Science 6 July 2007

Vol. 317 no. 5834 pp. 114-116

(http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5834.toc)

Report

Middle Paleolithic Assemblages from the Indian Subcontinent Before and After the Toba Super Eruption

Michael Petraglia, Ravi Korisettar, Nicole Boivin, Christopher Clarkson, Peter Ditchfield, Sacha Jones, Jinu Koshy, Marta Mirazón Lahr, Clive Oppenheimer, David Pyle, Richard Roberts, Jean-Luc Schwenninger,Lee Arnold, Kevin White

Abstract

The Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) eruption, which occurred in Indonesia 74,000 years ago, is one of Earth's largest known volcanic events. The effect of the YTT eruption on existing populations of humans, and accordingly on the course of human evolution, is debated. Here we associate the YTT with archaeological assemblages at Jwalapuram, in the Jurreru River valley of southern India. Broad continuity of Middle Paleolithic technology across the YTT event suggests that hominins persisted regionally across this major eruptive event.(http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5834/114.abstract)

# for pdf download  http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5834/114/suppl/DC1