NatGeo: Knowledge Bank

National Geographic, popularly known as NatGeo, channel is the one that has caught my attention for past 1 year. I got to learn a lot about numerous events, design errors, dangerous drugs, explosives, world-wars, martial arts etc. from this channel. Favorite among the programme are Seconds from Disaster, Situation Critical and Aircrash Investigations. NatGeo does dramatize these serials and very efficiently as well (not like Sansani on Aaj tak). I started viewing Seconds from Disaster (SFD) around 1 year back and immediately became a fan. When SFD finished I searched internet for more episodes. These serials are amazing and you not only learn about the final event but also get to know how bits of pieces unfold and combine to trigger a disaster. I made DVDs and actively distributing these DVDs to friends to share the knowledge.

Here is the comment from one of my friends who watched "Apollo 13" episode on Situation Critical. "I watched Apollo 13 movie as a MOVIE, but when I learned through NatGeo that every bit of information presented in the movie is actually real, I was shocked.". Well I was shocked too. Till then I also didnt know that Apollo 13 just orbited the moon and came back safely to Earth. Their mission is known better as "Successful Failure". Amazing story and a brilliant example of teamwork. Watch the movie if you can, but I'm pretty sure you will not be able to appreciate until you watch NatGeo's Situation Critical episode on Apollo 13. This is because most of the times you wont understand what controls are the characters referring to in the movie.

There is, however, a problem I'm facing after watching numerous episodes on Airplane Crash Investigations. Whenever I fly now, I always have numerous doubts floating in my mind:
1. Is the Rudder working?
2. Is the TCAS (Traffic collision and avoidance system) working properly? Sometime back there was a news that there is at least one incidence per month of 2 airplanes flying dangerously close.
3. Was the airplane service done responsibly? and many more.
You cannot imagine what I feel when an airplane makes a turn or passes through clouds. Ugly !!!

I'm currently watching World War 1 and trying to brush up what I learned in 10th standard. I would recommend anyone to switch to NatGeo if you turn on your TV and start watching already seen movie or daily star/sony etc soaps. You probably wont get entertainment but, I bet, you would definitely add something in your Knowledge Bank.