[Assam] Dry Spells in Assam-- Rain Water Harvesting
Barua25
barua25 at hotmail.com
Sun Aug 20 23:44:42 PDT 2006
Ram:
Please allow me not to agree with you.
First keeping records is one thing and forecasting is one thing.
Keeping records of daily weather condition such as highest and lowest temperature and rainfall is important and cannot be compensated by high tech forcasting what the weather will be tomorow.
Second I donot think it is expensive. It is basic elementary and does not need to full office. A clerk sitting at home can do it for Rs 100 a day. I think every citi and town of the rank of Jorhat, Guwahati etc in India ought to have it.
Indians are known for not keeping any records of things. We Indians think that histroy is circular and what ought to happen will happen and what is the point in keeping chronology of things. In this the Chinese are far ahead of us. They kept records of all earthly and terrestial event since thousands of years. Unlike the Indians they also kept chronology of events. It is in this line on Mongolian tradition that the Ahoms kept chronology of their rulers. But I would assume that we Indians have improved on this after the British. If Assam now lost the tradition of keeping records of things, I bet we lost it due to the influence of Pan Indian philosophical tradition that there is no point in keeping records of things (like you are arguing). Assam has lost many of its originalities due to the infux and influence of Pan Indian ideas from the mainland. (Poor Assamese!!!) We have dilutated our history, culture, language and lost our independence due to this.
Coming to the modern science such as weather (incidently the word 'weather' and Assamese 'botor' have the same Indo-European root) , we must note that keeping records of the weather is a modern western tradition. During the Ahom days, we did not even have concept of Centrigrade or Farenheit temperature. But in modern days, I would consider it a crime if a citi or town does not keep records of the daily weather. If India is not keeping records of daily weather of each town and citi, that does not mean Assam would have to follow India like a 'litikai'. Assam should revamp its its own tradition.
These I am writing from my 'kharkhowa' common sense (or what I would have ordered if I were the king of Assam or India). In light of this, we can dig history and try to find out what the European or the Western or the Middle Eastern tradition is in this reagrd say during the last 200 years.
This brings to mind of the 'Diray of Biman Barua', the diary of a famous school head master from Jorhat who kept his diary from 1919 to 1983 for every day without fail. Recently his diary was published as a book. His diary always started with the weather condition of the place. Suddenly people are finding that his diary is very important since it gives weather condition of every day of Jorhat for the last so many years. I am sure Biman Barua learnt the trade from the British. I simply wish that other Assamese and Indians would also learn the tradition of just keeping records.
It seems we Indians may try to go for high tech Weather Forecasting without caring to keep records of daily weather. (Poor Indians!!)
RB
----- Original Message -----
From: Ram Sarangapani
To: Chan Mahanta
Cc: Dilip/Dil Deka ; Rajen & Ajanta Barua ; Himendra Thakur ; assam at assamnet.org
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Dry Spells in Assam-- Rain Water Harvesting
Dear Barua,
I think each and every city in a country does not need a Met office. One hi-tech office should actually be able to forecast for the whole country. The costs are prohibhitive to have Met offices in each and every state.
From my understanding, India now has the Doppler system and the GIS. With weather sattelites, she has advanced rapidly over the last couple of years.
Incidently, there are 2 links below for those interested. One tells us how forecasting throughtout the world have NOT been able to forecast properly in recent years (including the US).
The other is techinical research paper on weather forecasting in India.
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/01-30b-05.asp
http://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/miscellaneous/misc015.htm
Hope these help to clarify a little.
--Ram
On 8/20/06, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>
> O'Deka:
>
> Are you suggesting that the Kharkhowas are unable to do better than GoI ?
>
> But it cannot be done by THOSE kharkhowas who emulate GoI.
>
> That is the difference.
>
> And how can it be changed?
>
> It can be changed when Assam takes charge of its own affairs, and its able
> stop aping the dysfunctional, desi model of mis-governance
>
> And when could that happen?
>
> You take a wild guess and tell us. How about that?
>
> O'm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> At 5:49 PM -0700 8/20/06, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
> Barua,
> How about the famous "Ahom Buranjis"? I heard throughout my high school
> days that writing down everything as history was a trait with the Ahom
> rulers that no one else in India could compare to. Can someone open the
> Buranjis stored in Xibaxagor, Jorhat and Golaghat and tell us how weather
> treated Assam from the 1200's to 1826, before the British took over?
> 600 years of data would be a lot more comprehensive than the 60 years of
> data that government of India metereological department (IMD) is keeping.
> Don't you think so?
>
> I am being facetious but why do we blame GOI always for everything that is
> missing, including things before 1947? If we the Assamese think of ourselves
> as superior to the other Indians, why don't we start pioneering in areas
> that other Indians have not thought about? Oh, I get it. We will start it
> once Assam is a sovereign state and we will not share our secrets with the
> lousy Indians.
> Dilip Deka
>
>
> Rajen & Ajanta Barua <barua25 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Himenda:
> I think you are missing the perspective of the issue.
> We are talking about what Assamese are doing now.
> Is there anybody in Guwahati NOW who keeps records of Guwahati weather on a
> daily basis?
> Are we concerned at all about our present condition including the weather?
> Simply hoping for things to happen out of the blue does not work and will
> not work even when one does not debunk history.
> Thanks
> Rajen
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Himendra Thakur
> To: Rajen & Ajanta Barua
> Cc: assam at assamnet.org
> Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 9:14 AM
> Subject: Dry Spells in Assam-- Rain Water Harvesting
>
> Dear Rajen and Ajanta,
>
> Dry spells in the weather of Assam were not uncommon historically. The
> situation was addressed by our Swargadeva Kings by excavating large tanks
> named as "sagar" (meaning a sea), like Jaysagar, Shivasagar, etc. These
> "sagar"s were revered, dedicated in the name of gods and respected
> dignitaries. Joysagar was named after Queen Mother Jaymati by her son
> Swargadev Rudrasingha. These artificial lakes were maintained with utmost
> care and respect.
>
> Considering that the water level of the artificial lake in Shivasagar is
> several feet above the water level of the surrounding paddy fields, it
> appears the tank is fed by some artesian well. In the historical records,
> there is reference to "naga" (meaning a serpent) at the centre bottom of the
> tank. The family of Rasendra Barua was expert in installing the "naga" ---
> which could have been some kind of an inverted filter that also served as a
> valve to control the upward flow of water from the artesian well --- where
> they probably used mercury to hold down the filter sand. Mercury was a
> mysterious liquid in those days, called "rasa" --- generating the name
> "Rasendra Barua". The technique was so strictly guarded as a "family secret"
> by the family of Rasendra Barua that now nobody knows about it ! I have
> several cousins in the dynasty of Rasendra Barua and they know nothing about
> the technique !! But, we still have crystal clear water in Joysagar,
> Sivasagar --- thanks to our bygone Swargadevs and Rasendra Barua dynasty.
>
> We must not give up hope. Young engineers of Assam today can invent & devise
> a "Rainwater Harvesting System" and save the excess water of the rainy days
> for the dry spells. They must be carefull not to store water in overhead
> tanks exposed to sunlight which will cause growth of algaes and ruin the
> system, like what happened in Hawaii islands at one time. Overhead storage
> has the great advantage of distribution without pumping. However, location
> of overhead water thanks on flat-roof of buildings today will be a terrible
> earthquake hazard because these buildings were not designed for that kind of
> oscillating top-load. All these points must be considered while designing a
> "Rainwater Harvesting System".
>
> Dry spells of Assam were so common that history ran into mythology. One
> instance is the symbolical story of Kamala Kunwari where the princess
> (kunwari) sacrificed her life to please the Jalkunwari (water goddess) so
> that the "sagar" (tank) would be filled up with water. Seven decades ago, my
> father, the late Kumudeswar Barthakur of Shivasagar Vishnu Doul (temple),
> made a Senola Gramphone record to tell the story of Kamala Kunwari where my
> older sisters, Saujanyamayi & Hiranyamayi, sang the songs. This gramphone
> record was very popular in Assam in the late 30s & early 40s in the last
> century.
>
> Your querry about the "records of weather in Assam for last 200 ywears" may
> not be available, but we do have the records of intelligent leadership of
> Swargadevs, technique of Rashendra Barua family --- we must never say
> "history is bunk" --- we must go ahead to the future with hope, glory,
> self-confidence, inventions, intelligent planning, self-sacrifice and a
> strong determination.
>
> With love to everybody,
> Himendra
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rajen & Ajanta Barua" < barua25 at hotmail.com>
> To: <assamonline at yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 12:10 AM
> Subject: Re: [asom] Assam witnesses hottest summer in 132 years
>
> > I wonder where we can get the records of weather in Assam for last 200
> ywears?
> >
> > Rajen Barua
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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