WILL CITIZEN SCIENCE HELP SOLVE THE WATER SHORTAGE CRISIS IN BANGALORE?

The days of living peacefully in an environment of plentiful, clean natural resources are over. First, it was the environment that we heard was in trouble - pollution of various kinds, global warming and the like. Next, energy was crisis hit as one fine day we learned that energy supply, that was once abundant, would never be the same again. Costs rose sharply and suddenly. We were also warned that in the future, we could only expect costs to keep rising. So like it or no, the only way out was to forcibly put the throttle on our profligate energy consumption! And now, its the turn of water! In the 1990's, when we could drink water from our private wells at home, to think of Cape Town turning water-less would have appeared like a far-fetched, absurd story taken straight out of the world of science-fiction. No sensible person would even care to listen if you prophesied it. It was so unimaginable! Come 2018, however, it became a stark reality!

The future face of reality is dark. And grim.

Could beautiful Bangalore be the next after Cape Town? Even before Chennai, Mumbai or New Delhi? It seems too heart-wrenching to be true and yet, futurists and experts warn us that if it could happen to Cape Town, it can surely happen to Bangalore too.

The message is very clear and plain - water is turning scarce, drastically scarce ... by the day ... even in Bangalore! While we may like to dream that there's enough groundwater in Bangalore for another 1000 years to come, that sadly isn't true. 

India recommends a per capita consumption of 135 litres of water/ day for healthy living. The population in Bangalore is expected to shoot up to 20 million by 2031, by which time water supply would have dwindled to just 88 litres per capita per day. Primary reasons are the complete disappearance of many of Bangalore's lakes or lake water having become severely polluted. Against 35 tmcft in 1800, there's just 2 tmcft of water in Bangalore's lakes today! (Note: tmcft stands for thousand million cubic feet (or 10⁹ cubic feet). 1 tmcft of water will serve the needs of nearly 6 lakh people for a year). Another reason according to the acclaimed Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is inadequate rainwater harvesting although rainfall itself is sufficient in Bangalore.

Waiting for the slow, bureaucracy-ridden Government to act is pointless, so experts are pointing to Citizen science - the direct involvement of amateurs (commoners like you & me) in data collection, research and related activities.

Enter 'CrowdWater', product of a Citizen science project by two Ph.D students of the university of Zurich (Switzerland), Barbara Strobhl & Simon Etter. 'How much water is there?' seems to be CrowdWater's starting point in finding a successful management/ conservation/ supply solution for water. Only when you know how much of water you have can you make a plan about how much you can supply and over what period of time. Hence the objective of the app is " ... to collect hydrological data with the help of citizen scientists". The whole activity of carrying out measurements is referred to as "gauging" by the authors.

Lade dir hier unsere App für #Android (https://t.co/iYOJ9V4jTD ) und #iPhone (https://t.co/BBn03mZMdB ) runter. #CitizenScience #CrowdWater #Hydrology @spotteron #CitizenScienceApp pic.twitter.com/aDRRdMx28L

— CrowdWater (@crowd_water) May 9, 2018

If you are a Banglorean and wish to help, download the CrowdWater app (free) from Google Play Store (Android) or Apple's App Store (iOS) (see the Tweet above). You will be asked to register for a one-time account with an agency called Spotteron. After registering successfully, you can contribute data about water sources in Bengaluru that you are familiar with. Data is collected in four categories: Water level, Discharge, Soil Moisture & Flow condition of a temporary stream. As measurements submitted by individuals are highly prone to error, the app seeks the inputting of several measurements by different individuals for the same water source. The more measurements, the better. Statistical techniques will then be applied to all available inputs to determine a reliable measure of the amount of water available at a given source. 

The aggregate quantity of water across all sources in Bangalore will be calculated by summing up the quantities estimated at individual sources. 

CrowdWater is map based and uses your device's GPS to accurately capture Latitude/ Longitude data for a given source of water. You will need to physically go to the water source you choose - lake, river, tank, stream, etc. and take some photos there. The estimation process compares your photo with a reference photo supplied by the app and then calculates the amount of water-based on the differences found.

Learning materials are available at the CrowdWater website and the app itself will guide and teach you the basics of how to calculate/ input the four measurements above for a water source.

WHERE TO DUMP YOUR E-WASTE IN BANGALORE?

e-waste (Electronic Waste) aware? Then, you're surely concerned and you may be haunted by disturbing questions about your responsibility in the matter of trashing your e-waste safely. You know that e-waste is dangerous - far more dangerous than it looks. And you want to save the environment from its devastating effects. But you are in that familiar situation in which you ask "Should I be the first to act? Why not others? Let someone start first and then  I'll join in". Or "I work long hours and spend lots of time commuting too, leaving very little time for personal matters, so why don't the Pollution Control Board people come half way around to help by creating some conveniently located collection centers or install e-waste drop-boxes at popular places?" Another question maybe "What accumulation of e-waste (i.e. qty) is significant to necessitate  a visit to a collection center? Each time I replace cartridges in my printer, I am left with a pair of spent ones. Is it OK to toss the old cartridges into a roadside canal on my way to the office? After all, it's just two small cartridges, so maybe that much of e-waste won't really harm anyone. Alternately, should I visit a drop-box every time I am ready with a pair of spent cartridges?".

Surely questions like these are bound to keep troubling you, disturbing your peace! Yet a small inner voice from your heart says "I'll be really happy if I can give ALL my e-waste to honest recyclers. I want to give it each and every time, no matter how small the quantity, so that no harm is done to the environment. But ... is that really possible? I wish someone would help in a big way by extensively setting up the needed infrastructure and support".

All of us who are concerned have been thinking that way for a long time and solutions are beginning to appear publicly, now. So, it is with delight that I share (from a recent study of e-waste disposal facilities in the city) that there are nearly 70 places in and around Bangalore (as on the date of this post) that accept e-waste from individuals. You can see how they are distributed in the (Google) map below.

e-waste collection centers in Bangalore on 07-April-2018

e-waste drop box located at MK Retail store, Indiranagar (near CMH)

- I use this one!

Good news to you? Then its time to act, too!

So click on the map above (it will open a new browser window that displays a zoomable map with more details), find a collection point near where you live and you are all set. Resist the temptation to procrastinate or make excuses and dispose off your e-waste responsibly - not once but each and every time !

Note: To know more details of a collection center, click on its name displayed in the "Legend" sidebar at left. You should see a pop-up appear giving details of the chosen center (see map below) - whether it accepts e-waste from individuals (or only factories & businesses), mode(s) of acceptance, whether the organization will pay for e-waste and so on. Use that info to choose a center that best suits you. Good luck!

MY DISCOVERIES OF BANGALORE

I recently typed "Bangalore" in Google Maps and tried to make some sense of the shape it displayed - perimeter, area, similar looking shapes, specialties and so on (pl see the map below). 

Map of Bangalore

As you can see, the outline doesn't bring to mind any regular shape we know in geometry. There's a vague resemblance with Australia if you view it upside down - otherwise it's  shape is just that of another omelet! So I tried to make  some sense of it and here are a few things that I discovered along the way:

1. Many of us Bangaloreans think that Cubbon Park is the center of Bangalore. Well, that's somewhat correct, but according to the venerable Google Maps, Bangalore's center is (Lat, Long) (12.97159, 77.59456). If you look for details of this point, you'll find it is an office of IBM - IBM India Pvt Ltd D3 Block, Vittal Mallya Rd, Bangalore 560001. Maps' center is about 900 metres from Cubbon Park.

2. Bowing to Maps' choice of center, i.e using  IBM India D3 Block, Vittal Mallya Rd  as center, the biggest contiguous circle within Bangalore (i.e. using innermost border points from the center and excluding the small hatched space below Electronics City) is the one in dark red colour. It's radius is approximately 18.5 km.  Consequently, area and circumference are 1075.2 sq km and 116.2 km respectively. This inner circle passes through Whitefield, Baiyapanahalli, Sathanur, Makali, Thavarekere, Ramohalli, Kumbalgodu & Sompura.

2. The biggest circle that passes through/ close to most of Bangalore's periphery is the one in green colour. It has a radius of 24.3 km (Area=1855 sq km. Circumference=152.7 km).

3. Diagonals:

D1. Alappanahalli (13.078616, 77.797294)  to Maligondanahalli (12.899728, 77.434627) - 44.5 km

D2. Chowdappanahalli(13.140478, 77.747876) to Bidadi (12.803908, 77.401541) - 53.35 km

D3. Hosahalli (13.150505, 77.648733) to K. Chudahalli

(12.775784, 77.489431) - 45.6 km

D4. Ragihalli State Forest (12.743639, 77.559469) to Channahalli (13.175039, 77.614610) - 48.3 km

D5. Kukkanahalli (13.152495, 77.437407) to Sampangere (12.867854, 77.878891) - 57.6 km

D6. Neelamangala(13.116134, 77.385633) to Chandapura (12.801010, 77.713075) - 50km

The average of the above 6 diagonals is 50 km. Hence an imaginary circle that contains  "most of Bangalore" has a radius of 25 km. This agrees well with the result of Srl 2 above.

4. I used Maps' line tool to connect about 200 points along Bangalore's periphery  and found the approximate perimeter to be 249.9 km. An "equivalent" circle would have a radius of about 40 km. An equivalent square would have a side of 62.5 km.

5. As 25 km would be a good estimate of Bangalore's radius, 40 km (from Srl 4 above) is highly exaggerated. This mathematically reinforces our view that Bangalore is extremely bloated, far from any regular geometric shape. 

6. Area, by plotting points taken from Bangalore's border in a graph drawing software tool works out to 1630.5 sq km. This compares very poorly with the 709 sq km estimate given by Wikipedia. Either my estimate or Wiki's needs to be corrected soon.

MAKING "AI" (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) UNDERSTANDABLE

AI or Artificial Intelligence is a relatively new tech term in India. Not many are clear about it or how it differs from other tech terms in the same domain - Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Analytics and so on. We will be increasingly seeing and using AI powered machines/gadgets in India in the near future. For example, Google Maps, an app so widely used by us, uses AI. Robotics is another field that is AI intensive.  Home robots are becoming more robust, trustworthy and affordable and as a result are entering more homes. This trend is true of India too. Sure, Indian  robots have limited intelligence at this time but they are getting smarter and more capable by the day. At ₹20,000/= (1667 per month) Indian robots capable of sweeping and mopping floors are already threatening to overtake the maid-servant dominated sweeping and swabbing job field at home. 

So let's learn what this term really means - and, what it doesn't!

AI refers to the ability of a machine to automatically and continuously learn about/ from its environment based on the amount of  "intelligence" pre-programmed into it. And based on its accumulated "knowledge" at any point in time, to perform tasks that are useful to its owner. 

Let me explain with the help of a sufficiently intelligent AI device - say, a robot that's designed to talk to us, learn about us and perform assistant tasks based on our preferences. Let's say his name MyNao. We buy him from some store and bring him home. He is powered-on and fully 'alive'. When MyNao 'sees' you for the first time, you are a stranger. So, he might take your photo and store it in his internal memory. With some data inside, MyNao is curious to learn more about you, so he might ask 'Who are you?'. If you reply 'I'm Amit', he will assign the name 'Amit' to your pic. Now, MyNao has captured a photo and the name of its owner viz. 'Amit', so the next time it 'sees' you, he might say 'Hi, Amit!' (because he can 'recognize' you now). MyNao has been pre-programmed to interact with human beings and 'knows' that you are one. So the next time through he might ask (assuming that he cannot make out male from female by sight) 'What is your sex? Male or Female?'. You tell him 'Male'.  He will add this detail to the data he has about you. Then referring to his in-built knowledge about men, he'll get ready to ask you tens and hundreds of questions about men viz.  'What do you do for a living?', 'What is your ethnicity?', 'Are you married?', 'What's your wife's name?', 'Do you have any kids?' and so on. Note that when he finds something new about you, he adds that to his self-learned 'knowledge' (about you) and gets ready to ask a whole new set of questions in his next learning cycle. This he does continuously ad infinitum. 

The above is one of the most important capabilities of AI i.e. a self-learning "engine" that learns more and more about the objects it is designed to interact with over time. 

Another important capability of AI is to select intelligently from a set of alternatives and perform the one that is of greatest value to its owner. So, if MyNao had been residing in Amit's house for sufficiently long, like an expert,  he would know everything about Amit. What time he wakes up, how long it takes for him to get ready and have breakfast, when he leaves for work, names of his family members, pets, what job he does, when he returns home, his moods, how he likes to be entertained and so on. Being so knowledgeable about Amit, on a day when he returns home late, tired and harassed, knowing his entertainment preferences he might ask 'Tired, Amit? Can I play an AR Rahman hit for you? Or some of Kishore Kumar's top favourites?'. 

So that's AI in a nutshell - a self-learning machine that builds up knowledge about its environment over time and performs useful tasks intelligently based on that knowledge.

Bangalore Baptist Hospital - A Bangalore Hospital with a difference

Bangalore Baptist Hospital (BBH in short) is a hospital with certain unique character traits that sets it apart from other hospitals in Bangalore. Don't get me wrong, I'm not, by any chance trying to say that it as a flawless, model hospital for other hospitals to follow. Admittedly it has it's share of faults and recently I personally gave them a bit of the stick as a Local Guide for Google Maps in Bangalore after discovering some. You can view the lashing given in my review in Maps here -> my BBH review . However, if fault-tolerant pursuit of perfection (in which one is continuously learning from and correcting one's faults) is an admirable practical goal, then you may like to read on and know more about BBH.

Signboard displaying milestones crossed during 45 years of BBH

Modern F&B Cafeteria

Age Well Clinic (for seniors)

BBH is a Christian missionary hospital that has recently completed 45 years of existence. Being a hospital that seeks to showcase God at work in healing & healthcare, it has a unique atmosphere when compared to other hospitals in the city that are "for profit". Needless to say, under constant pressure from managements to use all possible methods to generate profits, doctors in the majority of "for profit" hospitals are guilty of subjecting patients to several unnecessary tests and investigations, merely to inflate bills. Sadly, the tacit profit motive makes quite a number of these doctors neglect true patient-care issues, particularly if they are not well-to-do, resulting in poor healthcare and in quite some cases avoidable health complications and even death. I also believe that over time, aligning with the profit motive makes doctors work less harder and makes them greedy for higher pay and benefits. 

Charitable/ mission hospitals, on the other hand, by freeing doctors of such money-linked evils help them truly focus on serious patient-care. You have doctors/ medical staff who are continuously learning, working hard, keen on professional excellence, healing and cure and happy overall. It also makes a world of difference from a patient's point of view i.e. care and satisfaction that results from transparency about the treatment being given, no waste of time and money on useless investigations and finally, the lowest bills for a given level of quality of medical care. That's exactly the uniqueness of BBH (and other mission hospitals in Bangalore) that I'm talking about.

Quality of Medical care at BBH is usually above average and in quite some cases, very good to excellent. However, I had some serious complaints when I lived in the hospital as an in-patient's attender recently (8-11 Feb, 2018). For example, basic amenities in wards/ beds that are not considered expensive (i.e. costing not more than ₹5000/= per day) were miserably inadequate (till 11-Feb-2018) at least - no convenient storage space, no wall mirrors, no clothes hooks on walls etc. Quality/ accuracy of medical care provided by one Department (Orthopaedics) was just above average. Ward security was lax. Coordination between medical and non-medical Departments was poor and so on. 

When I confronted the hospital's senior management with the above complaints, I expected the usual stiff resistance, denials, insincere explanations & promises. Consequently, I was amazed when I was received positively! The management did not deny their just shortcomings but agreed to investigate sincerely and correct themselves suitably.

The honest, sporting attitude of the management completely reversed my feelings of animosity! It bowled me over because it was the kind of response that I was least expecting that I actually got !! And that too, from the kind of medical big-wigs that head BBH's senior management !!!

Just as it is true in real life that you simply can't help loving a sporting co-worker whom you accuse often yet responds positively, not getting hostile when you accuse but responding in a fair&responsible manner, I have started becoming friendly with BBH again. Although I yet need to see what corrective measures have been put in place in response to my complaints, I have deep appreciation and praise for the kind of understanding and immediate responsiveness I got from BBH's management.

To conclude, I would highly recommend BBH to you for medical care in Bangalore(*). It is unique in that: 

• You get quality medical care at the lowest (comparable) cost in Bangalore. 
• BBH is both NABH & NABL accredited. 
• They have all medical departments. 
• All the latest high-tech medical gadgets. 
• Doctors in general are excellent and not being burdened with having to produce profits for paychecks, genuinely give you the kind of care you deserve. 
• Medical staff who genuinely care for you
• Being partly an academic institution for doctors, nurses and other medical staff, it can be expected to be at par on the healthcare learning curve, so that one can expect to receive the very latest in medical treatment available in India at any point of time.
• You won't have to waste time and money on useless investigations and tests - that means the shortest stay at the hospital and and a low, honest bill. 
• If you feel strongly about anything (like I did) you can complain to a mature, responsive management and expect to get your complaint redressed!

HICU (High Intensity Care Unit)

Main Hospital Pharmacy

ELS & Utility Shops

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(*) - As there are several other mission hospitals in the city (notably Chinmaya Mission Hospital, Vydehi Hospital etc.), surely, I would have been able to write a better review after evaluating a representative sample of all mission hospitals in the city and making an unbiased comparison. If I have time and opportunity, I will do so sometime in future. As on date (23-Feb-2018), apart from BBH, I have only used Vydehi Hospital, Whitefield and the exposure I have is too little to use for purposes of an evaluation, so a comprehensive review (BBH & other mission hospitals) won't be possible until sometime later.

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