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Confusions -productive Failures

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by jayasala42, Feb 12, 2020.

  1. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Cheeniya Sir has in his introductory message to the 'Finest Post ' has spoken about Leap year.inter alia making a reference to ShriMorarji Desai and Madam Rukmini Arundale.This enabled me to share a few truths about Leap year.

    On arrival of the New Year the first thing that comes to our mind is calendar, leave alone New Year oaths.

    The schedule of our lives is shaped by the movements of the earth, moon, and sun.

    In ancient Rome, a priest observed the sky and announced a new moon cycle to the king. For centuries afterwards, Romans referred to the first day of each new month as Kalends (from their word calare, which means “to proclaim”).

    The word calendar was derived from this custom.
    We are amazed at the vast calculations in any calendar or panchang.

    There have been confusions and confusions.

    The ancient Babylonians utilized a lunar calendar. But using a lunar calendar poses a major problem as well. A lunar month is 29.5 days, meaning 12 lunar months add up to 354 lunar days, which is about 11 days short of a solar year. As a result they had to reduce 11 days when they shifted to Gregorian calendar.They simply reduced 11days in October 1582. The calendar in Oct showed date 16 next after 5th.

    But many countries started doing adjustments at various time intervals.Sweden was more confused than anyone, as a result of which it had 30 days in February 1712.( Feb alone can accommodate such confusions)

    As soon a year is born, a 5th std student will be asked to find out how many days Feb has this year.Just divide the year number by 4.This was done at the assumption that the earth takes 365 days and 6 hrs to go around the sun.But later it was estimated to be 365 days 5hrs and 48 mts.To accommodate this, they took a step to reduce one leap year in every 400 years.Years 1700, 1800,and 1900 were not leap years, but year 2000 was.
    .
    Was it perfectly alright?Sadly, no. To make more or less accurate provision for a lakh of years another alteration was suggested not to make years 4000,8000 12000 etc leap years so that the period of year comes to 365.2422 days.

    Reg months, lesser said the better. there were only 304 days ranging for 10 months starting from March to Dec as the name Sep , Oct NOv and Dec indicate the seventh, eighth ninth and tenth months respectively. (as revealed by nomenclature)It was then followed by days of winter, later named as Jan and Feb.

    After all these misunderstanding and misnomenclatures, a consensus was finally arrived and the present day calendar is in fine shape to see.

    We will add one more confusion.Normally Pongal or makara Sanakranthi is celebrated around middle January around 14th or 15th.Right?
    If you had some interest, you would have observed that Sankranthi was celebrated mostly on 15th January during leap years.
    But wait! It is just a temporary state at that time and Sankranti slowly moves forward. Let us see how.

    People with some astranomical interest know that that the transition into Capricornus( makaram) occurs 6 hours 9 minutes later every year. This surplus of 9 minutes is very important. In 4 years Sankranti moves forward by 24 hours 36 minutes, but the leap year pulls it backwards by only 24 hours. (Because of extra day taken in leap year, Sankranti gets pulled in previous day.) These surplus 36 minutes slowly keep pushing Sankranti forward.

    In short, the pattern of Sankranti which previously was 14-14-14-15, changed to 14-14-15-15 in the period 2009-2012. Few years later it will become 14-15-15-15; few years later it will be 15-15-15-15; it will keep shifting forward like that. But in exactly how many years? It takes about 40 years to change Sankranti pattern.
    This proves that Sankranti will keep going out of sync with seasons.
    About 1800 years ago,makara sankranthi coincided with 22nd December.
    Today the difference has accumulated to 24 days, which is a big difference. It will go into February in another 1200 years.
    If any of us happens to live at that time we will be wondering to celebrate Sankaranthi in February even after Ratha Sapthami and Bhishma's shaking off his mortal coil in Uththarayana may prove to be a farce .

    On many occasions confusion is perceived as an impediment.

    But when it comes to learning, our intuitions here are exactly wrong. It is said that confusion can lead us to learn more efficiently, more deeply, more lastingly—as long as it’s properly managed.

    The human brain is a pattern-recognition machine. This gives us a subconscious familiarity with their essential nature that we can hardly articulate in words, but which we can easily put into action.
    Actually living in confusion is a process of subconscious learning.When we rush in too soon with an answer,and we feel doubtful about the correctness of our decision, it’s better to allow that confused, confounded feeling to last a little longer—for two reasons. First, not knowing the single correct way to resolve a problem allows us to explore a wide variety of potential explanations, thereby giving us a deeper and broader sense of the issues involved. Second, the feeling of being confused, of not knowing what’s up, creates a powerful drive to figure it out. We’re motivated to look more deeply into the problem.We may arrive at more meaningful patterns.

    When we withhold the answers ,there is an experience of overcoming failure , a necessity
    to have mental strength to solve problems, amidst crisis. The solutionless emptiness creates “fertile ground” in the brain for encoding the answer when it is eventually provided.

    can we term 'confusions' as productive failures?Many of us can pat ourselves as belonging to this category.
    I think I have erroneously entered into Viswa's prioritized zone.

    jayasala 42

     
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  2. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    A very informative write up ma'am.
    The above quoted information is exactly what my dad informed me many years ago.
    Celebrating Sankranti on December 22 is correct. That is the day Utharaayanam starts. This will also bring the Tamil New Years Day from April 14 to March 22, the next day after equinox, which makes sense.
    The failure to correct the leap years, and leap seconds have given us these off-set dates for festivals.
     
  3. sln

    sln Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Jayasala,
    There is no confusion in my mind as I am zero on this subject.Sankranti was celebrated as advised by my mother as long as she was there.Today my daughter decides as advised by her MIL.My role is limited to helping myself generously to pongal and vada and my information has not crossed beyond earthly matters.I am amazed at the voluminous information you have taken pains to provide-a specialists job.
    Regards.SLN
     
  4. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear KKrish,
    Thank you for the reply. As a member very interested in astronomical studies, I wished that you should go through the snippet.Following lunar calender also has its own pecialities as Adhika masa, Kshaya masa etc,equally confusing.I think some research is being done to follow a calender that is in close proximity with astronomical data.I don't know people with traditions and cultures will be willing to accept and follow.
    jayasala 42
     
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  5. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    One of my bucket list of things to do is to research this area @jayasala42 ma'am.
    Thank you for the snippet. It shed light on so many things.
     

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