A bit about myself

Education :
                    B.Sc. Bangalore University, (May 1980)
                    M.Sc. Pune University* (June 2002)

I did my M.Sc. under the Partly by Research and Partly by Paper programme of Pune University.

          I do not have a PhD degree and therefore 

I am not to be addressed as Dr Arvind Paranjpye

          I am making this specific mention because often people put me in an awkward position
          by addressing me as a 'doctor'.

For some of the pictures, click here

Email me at >> paranjpye.arvind@gmail.com

Presently, I am the Director of  the Nehru Planetarium of the Nehru Centre, Mumbai,
I joined the Nehru Centre on 22nd Dec 2011

My address

Director

Nehru Planetarium, Nehru Centre,

Dr Annie Besant Road,

Worli, Mumbai 400018

India

I maintain a site 'Celestial events for viewing pleasure'  <link>. On this site, I am updating the list of forthcoming astronomical events, which is particularly useful for Indian observers.

Experience and interest:

For most of my life, I have been interested in Astronomy, which has shaped my hobby/passion and career. I have been interested in various hobbies, including stamp collecting, ship and boat modelling, and photography. 

I had been an amateur astronomer since my college days.

My professional career began as an assistant in the photographic laboratory at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore, India, in December 1981.   Working in the laboratory, primarily independently, I mastered various laboratory photography techniques.  Conventional photography has now been replaced by digital imagery.

I spent two years in the extremely arid Himalayan region (Sep'84 to Aug. '86).  During this period, I conducted site survey observations for a high-altitude infrared observatory.

Upon return from Leh, I was involved in the search for minor bodies in the solar system. In 1988, our team became the first Indians to discover a new asteroid, which was named 4130 Ramanujan. We were awarded the Astronomical Society of India Medal for the discovery of an asteroid in 1996. 

Asteroid 17446 Mopaku was named after three team members: Venkatachala Moorthy, Arvind Paranjpye, and Kamatchiappan Kuppuswamy. The asteroid was discovered on January 23, 1990. 

For a short period, I also took some spectroscopic observations using 1 and 2.3-meter telescopes at Kavalur.

I joined the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in April '91.  Initially, I worked on developing low-cost instruments for astronomical observations.  And carried out site survey observations.

I had been involved in IUCAA's science popularisation activities since they began, and later assumed responsibility for the programme.  

As an amateur astronomer, I had opportunities to observe and photograph the following major celestial events -

Total Solar Eclipses
16 Feb 1980 (India),
24 Oct 1995 (India),
11 Aug 1999 (Iran)
21 Jun  2001 (Zambia)
22 Jul 2009  (China) - we had an overcast sky
21 Aug 2017 (USA)

Annular Solar Eclipse
15 Jan 2010

Transit of Venus
June 8, 2004

I have contributed columns or short articles to various newspapers and periodicals on skywatching and astronomy Q&A, including the Indian Express, the Times of India, Tarun Bharat, and Sakal Saptahik.

From time to time, I have been on the radio and television. I have hosted live sky shows on All India Radio, Pune and Mumbai.

In 1996, I received the New Discovery Award for 'Discovery related to asteroids' from the Astronomical Society of India (ASI). (Ref.) 

In 2023, I received the Zubin Kembhavi Award for Public Outreach and Education in Astronomy from the  Astronomical Society of India (ASI). (Ref.)

I was a member of the Astronomical Society of India's

Public Outreach and Education Committee. 

Love Story

A man and a woman who had never met before, but were both married to other people, found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a Trans-continental train

 

Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room, they were both very tired and fell asleep quickly ..... He was in the upper bunk and she in the lower.

At 1:00 AM, the man leaned down and gently woke the woman saying, "Ma'am,
I'm sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket? I'm awfully cold."

"I have a better idea", she replied. "Just for tonight, let's pretend that we're married".

"Wow! That's a great idea!" he exclaimed.

"Good," she replied. "Get your own freaking blanket."

After a moment of silence ... he farted.

Fatherhood is no joke

Fatherhood is no joke but, in order to survive it, you do have to keep a sense of humour.

• [finally gets the car seat installed correctly]

                 Me: Where’s the baby?

                 Wife: In college.

• I wear a clown mask to sleep just in case one of my kids has a nightmare and comes to sleep in our bed.

• Parents: don’t give your child the answers to his homework. He needs to learn on his own that you don’t know what you’re talking about

• The best thing about trying to name a baby is realizing how many people you hate.

• It’s weird how we tell kids not to lie and tell them how good the picture they drew is.

• I’d walk through fire for my daughter. Well not FIRE, because it’s dangerous. But a super humid room. But not too humid, because of the hair.

• 
  [kid’s party]

           Me: Can we leave? These things take forever

           Wife: *harsh whisper* Shut your mouth. Watch our daughter open her presents.

  

• I’m coaching my son’s soccer team because it’s important that he knows I’ll swear at other kinds, too.

• If it ain’t broke, my children haven’t touched it yet.

• 3 year old: What’s neglecting mean?

          Me: Shhh daddy’s playing video games.

• I’m at my parenting best when I randomly yell out “be careful!” every few minutes without looking up from my phone.

• Son, my best advice is to find a girl with an embarrassing tattoo and marry her. She knows how to make bad decisions and stick with them.

• I constantly google “how to put your kids up for adoption” so my kids can find it on my search history and know that I’m not messing around.

• Son: am I adopted ?

         Me: not yet, but we're hopeful.

A Glossary of Nautical Terms

The two most commonly used in boating are "PORT"and ''STARBOARD"

PORT: Facing the bow, 'Port' is on your left. It is easy to remember. 'Port' has 'four' letters,    and 'Left' has 'four' letters. So port is left.

STARBOARD: Since there are only two sides on a boat, and Port is one of them, it is obviously clear the other one is left, "Starboard" is left.

Other necessary Nautical Terms

AHEAD:  The nautical term of 'ajohn'.

ASTERN: Without humour i.e. "The Captain told no jokes.  He was astern Captain".

AMIDSHIPS: This condition exists when you are completely surrounded by boats.

ANCHOR: What you display when you are completely surrounded by boats.

BERTH: The day on which you were born.

BUNK: Phoney sea story.

BUOY:A buoy is the floating device you always smash into when trying to avoid the submerged obstacle the buoy is there to warn you about.

CHANNEL MARKER: Tells you the station you're tuned into on your TV set.

DINGY: The sound of a ship's bell, i.e. Dinghy-Dinghy -- Dinghy-Dinghy.

DISPLACEMENT: Accidental loss, i.e. when you dock your boat and later you can't find it again, you've displaced it.

DOCK: Nickname for a medical man.

EDDY: Nelson's last name.

HEAVE-HO: What you do when you get seasick,  and you've eaten too much of ho.

HITCH: The thing to look for when a millionaire invites you on this boat, ... especially if you're a female!

KEEL: What your wife does to you when she finds you've bought a boat!

LAUNCH: The meal eaten abroad a boat at about noon time.

MOOR: Amount of people needed for a boat-party, like 'The moor, the merrier!'

OAR: When you have a choice, like "This .... oar that!"

PORTHOLE: A hole in the left side of a boat - or is it a right side?

QUARTER-DECK: The floor on a cheap boat, which cost about 25c to install.

SHOAL: Worn by female sailors on chilly nights.

TIDE: A commercial detergent.

SUPERSTRUCTURE: A structure that's a lot better than one on your boat.

WAKE: What friends attend when you've been careless with your boat.

गुगली

गुगली

थिएटर बाहेर थांबलो होतो मित्रांबरोबर

गर्दीत कुठुनशी झाली तिच्याशी नजरानजर

गोड गुलाबी हसणारी नाजुक सुंदर दिसणारी

कुडता अन्‌ सलवार घातलेली शालीन ती सुंदरी

सेकंदभरात झाला मनाचा हिशोब तयार

हिच्याबरोबर आयुष्याचे गणित नक्कीच जुळणार

मैत्रिणींशी कुजबुजत काहीतरी तिने ठरवले

'विचारू का त्याला' एवढेच मी ऐकले

येताना पाहून तिला मित्र माझे घाबरले

मती माझी कुंठली अन ह्रदयही थांबले

अगदी जवळ येऊन तिने माझा हात हातात घेतला

म्हटली, "तुझा चेहरा मला माझ्या भावासारखा वाटला"

"बंधु माझा राहत असतो दूर शहरी 

रक्षाबंधनास येशील का तू माझ्या घरी"

गुगलीने तिच्या ह्या झाली माझी दांडी गुल

सावरतोय ह्यातून तोच ती म्हंटली "एप्रिल फुल"

ही कविता कोण्या एका  मिलिंदने लिहिली होती

आणि मला २००४ साली ईमेलने आली होती.

English Official language of EU

I received this by email in late 1990s

ENGLISH: ¨The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where! more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.