Anil Sekhar

[Israel in India @IsraelinIndia]

From Israel to India, warm wishes on the joyous occasion of Onam! 🌼

May this beautiful festival bring peace, prosperity and happiness to all 🇮🇱❤️🇮🇳
Onam Ashamsakal 🌾✨

[Sann @san_x_m]

On 27th November 1981, a scientist at IBM brought his leftover Thanksgiving turkey to the laboratory and shot it with a laser.

More than 40 million people can see without glasses because of what happened next.

His name is Rangaswamy Srinivasan.

He was born on 28th February 1929 in Madras. He took his bachelor's and master's degrees in science from the University of Madras in 1949 and 1950.

In 1953 he went to America for graduate school, and finished a doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of Southern California in 1956. In 1961 he joined the IBM research centre at Yorktown Heights in New York, where he stayed for 30 years.

His work was on what ultraviolet light does to organic matter.

In 1981, using a new kind of laser called an excimer laser, he found he could etch fine designs into plastics.

Then he and 2 colleagues, James Wynne and Samuel Blum, asked a question. Human tissue has some properties in common with plastic. Could the same laser cut flesh.

At the time, lasers were already used in surgery. The problem was that they worked by burning. They left heat damage and scarring on everything around the cut.

They needed something to test on. The day after Thanksgiving, Srinivasan brought in cartilage from his family's turkey leg.

They fired the laser at it.

The cut was clean. Microscopically fine. No burning, no charring, no damage to the tissue underneath.

He named the effect ablative photodecomposition. The laser was not burning the tissue. It was breaking the molecular bonds and lifting off one thin layer at a time.

In 1983 an eye surgeon named Stephen Trokel came to the IBM laboratory to work with him on whether this could be used on the cornea.

It could.

That is the foundation of PRK and LASIK, the surgery that reshapes the front of the eye and removes the need for glasses.

More than 40 million people around the world have now had it.

He published over 130 scientific papers and holds at least 22 American patents. He was inducted into the United States National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2013 President Barack Obama gave him the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

He is 97 years old.

A man from Madras worked out how to cut a human eye without burning it, using a piece of turkey left over from a holiday he did not grow up with.

[Israel ישראל @Israel]

🙏🏽

[Vivian Balakrishnan @VivianBala]

Known @DrSJaishankar for almost 2 decades. Deeply value his friendship.

Through the India- Singapore Ministerial Roundtable, we can work on more together, develop new growth industries and create more opportunities for trade and investment in both Singapore and India. 🇸🇬🇮🇳

[Anil Sekhar @superlit]

Good choice, Kovai is! I fondly remember visiting Coimbatore back in the eighties while on a family road trip from Kochi to Ooty during the summer school break. Overnight hotel stay in Coimbatore with breakfast at Annapurna and onwards to Udhagamandalam to spend a week with the extended family settled there. I have vivid memories of visiting the Rose Show and the Botanical Gardens, and the TN Governor's Summer Residence not too far from the lake.

[Sankrant Sanu सानु संक्रान्त ਸੰਕ੍ਰਾਂਤ ਸਾਨੁ @sankrant]

The text of Wikipedia literally twists itself in pretzels to not mention the Indian origin of the Place Value System and the "Arabic" numbers. Even though, the picture itself is very clear.

@Wikipedia is a crime scene.

[Anil Sekhar @superlit]

@KesariDhwaj I'm an NRI in my fiftiesand you described me and many others I know, perfectly. I do still have close ties to India and invest in the building out of the public infrastructure.

[VatsRohit @KesariDhwaj]

As someone who's seen India change from what it was in 80s and 90s, I see a shift happening in the Indian society.

The focus of our parent's generation born in 40s and 50s was the proverbial 'Roti, Kapda aur Makaan'. With 'English Education' added to the mix. This generation in most cases was the first one to build assets like a house.

Then came our generation - The economic growth post 1991 had a big positive impact on our generation as it expanded opportunities and the 'English Education' that our parents had invested in with so much effort paid off. Our generation built a good life for themselves but there was an issue - our lives were like gated societies which are spic and span inside with all amenities but situated amongst larger broken governance and infrastructure on the outside.

What we're witnessing now is loosely akin to Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Our generation is in 40s and 50s with younger ones still in their 30s. Most of us have put in about 20+ years of work behind us. We've built the life that we wanted to.

But now, we as a whole have reached a stage where people are now finally asking for improvement in things outside of the controlled environment of their gated societies. More so, the younger lot after us who has grown up in an India which is at its best since independence.

After roti, kapda, makaan, people are now questioning about roads, electricity, cleanliness, administration and government accountability etc. The overton window has shifted. People's aspiration is now more than mere survival. And in a world connected through cheap internet, people see good things in foreign countries and then question why the same can't be done in India.

Overall, this is a very good development. If politicians feel their seats are dependent upon ensuring proper municipal funtionality, you will see it happening.

[Erik Solheim @ErikSolheim]

If you wish to seek wisdom - go to Nalanda in India 🇮🇳!

For hundreds of years Nalanda University in Bihar was the intellectual center of the world. This weekend I visited both the old Nalanda and the brand new University opened by Prime Minister Modi, showcasing modern India.

In the 630s the Chinese monk Xuanzang embarked upon a trip to Nalanda. He left Xian, by far the biggest city in the world at the time with a milion or more people. The journey to India took 17 years. It was an incredible dangerous travel - wars, criminals, diseases, natural catastrophes.

Bu he left for one reason we should all emulate today - he wanted to find the truth. He was a seeker. He believed the ultimate wisdom was to be found in India, at Nalanda.

Today a lot of what we know about Nalanda is thanks to his writings after returning to China. He claimed there were 10 000 students and 2 000 monks and scholars at Nalanda. It may have been up to 9 million books. After returning Xuanzang was offered the highest positions in the state by the emperor but said no thanks. He wanted to spend the rest of his life translating the Indian Buddhist wisdom into Chinese.

In a world which sometimes rejects wisdom and where some leaders prefer stupidity to common sense - we can do much worse than to follow the example of Xuanzang and look for wisdom and truth.

[Prime Minister of Israel @IsraeliPM]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

🇮🇳🇮🇱 Congratulations to India and to my dear friend @PMOIndia @narendramodi on your 80th Independence Day.

India and Israel achieved independence one year apart. We are two ancient nations that seize the future together to bring a better life for our people.
Our innovation and friendship are boundless.
The best is yet to come!

[Israel in Chicago @IsraelinChicago]

Happy 80th Independence Day, India! 🇮🇳🎉

From innovation and culture to a friendship that continues to grow stronger, Israel is proud to celebrate alongside the people of India today. 🇮🇱🤝🇮🇳

May the partnership between our two nations continue to deepen for generations to come.

[The Jerusalem Post @Jerusalem_Post]

Opinion: From independence in 1947 to becoming a global economic and technological power, India’s journey has been extraordinary.
https://t.co/oYtRyDgHv3

[Runtime @RuntimeBRT]

🚨 Bhubaneswar-based Serendipity Space (@serendipityind) has successfully tested India’s first autonomous pharma factory, Alchemy, on a near-space mission.

It crystallized drug compounds and preserved them during recovery, testing key tech for future microgravity manufacturing.

[יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog @Isaac_Herzog]

On behalf of the State of Israel, I warmly congratulate President @rashtrapatibhvn, Prime Minister @narendramodi, and the wonderful people of India on your 80th Independence Day!

May we continue to strengthen the beautiful friendship between Israel and India. 🇮🇱🇮🇳

[Alexander Koch @alexkoch_ai]

You can now book two humanoids for our cleaning service in SF. One humanoid for 60 minutes is $30, two are $60.

You can book a cleaning at https://t.co/Brl42KyISx. If you don’t have an invite code yet, join the waitlist. Timelapse at 5× speed (~40 minutes in real time).

[Anil Sekhar @superlit]

@SuhagAShukla @TheEconomist The Economist is leftist garbage. Put trash where it belongs.

[The Trump Organization @Trump]

Introducing Trump Towers Hyderabad — rising on Golden Mile Road in Kokapet. Twin 65-storey towers connected by a suspended sky bridge and crowned by the landscaped Trump Club. More than 450 residences, floor-to-ceiling glazing, and private lift lobbies are setting a new benchmark for the city’s skyline.

Read the full press release: https://t.co/bewh6gnA6q

[Anil Sekhar @superlit]

Three things need to be taught in preschool and kindergarten onwards. We have to teach children to think of the society as a while and not just their immediate family. Many Asian societies that developed like ours look out more for immediate and extended families but not for common good.
1. Trash goes in the trash bins/ garbage bins/ waste bins in public spaces as well, not just in one's home.
2. Road safety.
3. Protecting and expanding green spaces in and around neighborhoods.
In addition, driver's education and road etiquette should be taught in middle school onwards. Pedestrian rights, lane keeping while driving, avoiding sounding the horn unless absolutely necessary (even then a short one), ill effects of constant noise on human health

[Anil Sekhar @superlit]

We should popularize the phrase "Indian ghee" or something close to emphasize the origins of ghee from Sanatani culture. The Greeks did it with clever marketing in the English speaking world by popularizing the phrase "Greek yoghurt", Iceland did it with "Icelandic skyr" etc. If not, in the near future, just like arsenic laden southern rice in the US was hybridized with Basmati and marketed as "Texmati", ghee will end up as the "Purest Midwestern Ghee (TM)". A similar fate awaits Moringa leaves that have been a part of traditional diet in India for thousands of years, but now heavily marketed with a very high mark up by middle men in the West.

[Emmanuel Navon | エマニュエル・ナヴォン 🇮🇱 @emmanuelnavon]

Israel is a three-thousand year-old civilization and a success story.
Pakistan is a 20th century British colonial invention and a failed state.
The former needs no “legitimacy” certificate from the latter.
https://t.co/QpPxQjU0in