Govind Gujar: entomologist's journey to understand the Society we live in

  Mumbai-Sinnar-Ellora-A’bad-Parbhani-Parli-Parbhani-Aundh Nagnath-Jalna-Ellora for Vrishneswar-Shirdi-Mumbai by Car June 22 We left Mumbai at about 7.30 am and reached Sinnar at about 12.15 pm with a break at about 10 am for breakfast. We met our relative for about 15 min and then drove to the Gargoti [mineral] museum nearby in MIDC area. We spent about 2 hours in the museum and purchased necklace of stone as well as sapphire for ring. This museum is founded by Mr K C Pandey who collected precious stones out of his passion and later turned it as an enterprise. Most of these precious stones are formed inside the earth millions of years ago under high temperature and pressure with air trapped inside. Some are crystalline, sharp as needle and others quite big. Some are hard and few others are soft as cotton. We also saw fossils, shaligram, of millipede-like. It is beautiful museum with guide who explains it in simple language. Most of these are chemically simple calcium based compoun

    June 11, 2023 Further to my FB post on the 9th of this month on insecticides approved for use in brinjal, https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0YetbFX2tkj22KM8tSXB1rtJfuec83YaGtCoJjfM1dyb8NAP9vA3BfLE8YcNRrFrvl&id=208392785855018&mibextid=qC1gEa   I tried to answer the following questions  1. How effective are these in recent times? In other words, are new insecticides more effective than those in the past? 2. Are the new insecticides safer to environment and human health than those in the past?  For this, I focused on those specifically approved for mite control i.e. acaricides/miticides in brinjal.  Results  1. Yes, new miticides (these too are 20 years old) are more effective than those registered 30-70 years ago. 2. Difficult to judge as info specific to India is not available. Env & human safety database does not show them absolutely safe on all accounts for some. Alternatively, safety is on borderline. Surprise is Flumite, also known as Flufenzin or Flu

  June 4, 2023 1.       There is no child who would not have enjoyed train journey. Engine and its whistle still rings in my ear as I remember those childhood days. Oral Whistle of train guard would be loud enough for train to start. And with engine giving a loud whistle that came of the steam engine, we will all jostle to enter the compartment. There are many jokes spun around. One that I remember is of Mahmud, an actor in Hindi movie who take out his whistle to start the train, as the guests get bored waiting at platform. It was hilarious. Most of us simply liked to see trains coming and going. Speed and length of train is another pastime to enjoy. So, as a child, I would often count the train coaches or bogies as the train sped through. Probably railway station in many small towns served a purpose of recreation ground even for the adults. Pleasure of standing on the platform of the stations in between, taking tea and having a long look at book stall, and then buying newspaper at