States of matter

This is a written version of a popular science talk for school children given on India's National Science Day 2009 at Mumbai. I discuss what distinguishes solids, liquids and gases from each other. I discuss briefly granular matter that in some ways behave like solids, and in other ways like liquids.Comment: 5 pages, eps figures, written version of a public lecture given at Mumbai on Feb 28, 200

Towards a sustainable Growth story: A critical analysis of the fundamentals

In this paper, I will develop an insight into the growth process of Indian Economy and will find that increased inequality due to unconventional transitions have its negative implications for future growth prospects and the overall issue of sustainability. The objective of this paper is to throw light on theoretical concepts of growth process and to suggest some policies which are in line with the conventions and at the same time are well integrated with the contemporary Indian Economy. Issues like that of consumption inequality, labor mobility etc. have been identified as inhibiting factors for a smooth flow of transitions and with a sector specific analysis, have been dealt with, so as to remove them and make the transition process free flowing, which will bring about a sustainable long-run growth strategy

Superconducting and Anti-Ferromagnetic Phases of Spacetime

A correspondence between the $SO(5)$ theory of High-T${}_C$ superconductivity and antiferromagnetism, put forward by Zhang and collaborators, and a theory of gravity arising from symmetry breaking of a $SO(5)$ gauge field is presented. A physical correspondence between the order parameters of the unified SC/AF theory and the generators of the gravitational gauge connection is conjectured. A preliminary identification of regions of geometry, in solutions of Einstein's equations describing charged-rotating black holes embedded in deSitter spacetime, with SC and AF phases is carried out.Comment: 6 pages, no figures, shortened for journal submission, comments welcome :