Author: drsriramnathan

Imagine you are in a deep dense jungle and suddenly you hear the sound of a machine gun fire or a repid fire of the artillery!

You can then stop imagining! Then again it may not be the army!

It may just be a bird!

Still stop imagining!

That very typical loud and scary sound is produced by the Shoebill stork!

The primary sound of a shoebill stork is a loud, mechanical “bill-clattering” that mimics the rapid firing of a machine gun or an automatic weapon. Instead of vocalizing using their vocal cords, adult shoebills produce this intense sound by rapidly snapping the upper and lower mandibles of their massive, hollow, shoe-shaped bills together!

This is a loud sound! But then if you are like me you would wonder if that is the loudest sound made by an animal! Well, of course it isn’t!

Now to get an idea of the loudness understand that any sound over 85 decibels over a period of time can damage your ears while any sound over 120 decibels can do that damage instantly!

The loudest animal can create a sound more than 230 decibels while there is an animal which can create a sound energy which can produce the same heat as the sun!

The sperm whale is the loudest animal in the world, producing echolocation clicks reaching up to 230 decibels (dB). This is louder than a jet engine taking off (around 150 dB) and is powerful enough to rupture human eardrums at close range!

Luckily it is produced in the oceans so we are safe!

Now while the sperm whale creates the loudest individual sound, the blue whale’s low-frequency pulses can carry for hundreds of miles, making it the loudest sustained animal call!

Coming to land; size does matter! Here also it goes to the Africans!

The loudest land animal is the African Elephant with sounds up to 117 dB and their powerful trumpeting calls can be heard by other elephants up to 5 miles away!

The Howler Monkey is the loudest primate on land, reaching around 140 dB due to a specialized resonating throat chamber! Here also humans are not the first!

Among the insects you have the African Cicada which produces sounds up to 107 dB using vibrating membranes called tymbals to attract mates!

Then again for those who feel that the size does not matter you have the loudest Small Animal (Relative to Size) which is the Tiger Pistol Shrimp which produces the sound in the level of 200+ dB!

This tiny crustacean snaps its specialized claw so fast that it creates an imploding bubble. The resulting shockwave stuns prey and briefly reaches temperatures hotter than the sun! So this loud barking SHRIMP does bite and burn!

Of course that sound on land would have made you deaf or blind! That reminds me of the amazing movie Andhadhun by Sriram Raghavan!

Now stop imagining loud animals and sleep!

Shubh ratri…

This game is the precursor of at least 8 other games and is also named after a Yoga pose or they may be named after each other!

The term is CHATURANGA!

Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose), often called the “yogi push-up,” is a foundational arm-balancing posture in vinyasa and power yoga. It requires intense core strength and stability, bridging the transition from a high plank to a low hover!

Even in dreams if I think of Chaturanga Dandasana, I will end up with a cramp!
Then again the other Chaturanga is also not my cup of tea (or filter coffee for that matter!)

This ‘Chaturanga’ is the earliest known ancestor of modern chess, originating in India around the 6th century during the Gupta Empire!

The Sanskrit term translates to “four divisions of the military”—infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots. These four branches served as the direct predecessors to chess’s modern pawns, knights, bishops, and rooks!

Chaturanga was originally played on an uncheckered 8×8 grid called an ashtāpada. Each piece possessed its own unique movement

Raja (King): Moved one square in any direction, identical to the modern king.

Mantri (Counselor/Minister): Moved exactly one square diagonally (the precursor to the modern queen).

Gaja (Elephant): Moved two squares diagonally in any direction and could leap over other pieces.

Ashva (Horse): Moved in the familiar “L-shape” and is the only piece to retain its exact original movement.

Ratha (Chariot): Moved any number of squares horizontally or vertically, exactly like the modern rook.

Padati (Foot Soldier): Moved one square forward and captured diagonally, similar to a modern pawn.

Around the 7th century, the game traveled along the Silk Road to Persia, where it was called Chatrang (and later Shatranj in Arabic).

The Persians adopted the game, and many modern chess terms stem directly from this era:

Shah (King)
Shah Mat (The King is dead/helpless), which evolved into the term Checkmate!

Over the centuries, the rules underwent major shifts. In 15th-century Europe, the weak Counselor piece evolved into the powerful Queen, and the Elephant was transformed into the Bishop, resulting in the fast-paced, complex game we know as modern chess!

Then again since the origin is Indian; the champions even of the modern Chess are indians especially the younger generation! Guess it has come a full Chaturanga circle!

Even the role of Amrish Puri came a full circle! Starting with character actor to villain then back to character actor!

Now stop playing mental Chaturanga and sleep!

Shubh ratri…

There is a crab and then there is a Samurai!

Then again this Crab which looks like a Samurai finds itself in the middle of the evolutionary debate!

The biological name of this crab is Heikea japonica or Heikeopsis japonica

It is a relatively small species of marine crab native to East Asia, most famous for its carapace which naturally mimics the scowling face of an angry human warrior!

The samurai is famous due to the well known legend of the Fallen Samurai!

The crab’s cultural significance stems from a pivotal moment in Japanese history: called the Battle of Dan-no-ura! This historical naval battle marked the tragic defeat of the powerful Taira (Heike) clan by the Minamoto (Genji) clan, leading to the mass drowning of samurai warriors and the child Emperor Antoku!

According to local folklore recorded in The Tale of the Heike, the ghosts of the drowned samurai were reincarnated into these small crabs, eternally wearing a mask of fury on their shells!

Even if you Google the name samurai crabs you can see those ‘ancient’ warriors giving you the stare of FURY!

Because of this legend, coastal Japanese fishermen traditionally throw these crabs back into the ocean out of respect and fear for the fallen spirits! So the Japanese who normally EAT everything do not eat the Samurai crabs!

Of course the Scientific explanation is a combination of couple of theories!

The “samurai face” as such is a textbook example of pareidolia, where the human brain visualizes familiar patterns—like a face—in completely random structures.
Simply speaking your eyes would see only which is there on YOUR MIND!

Then you have the artificial Selection theory by evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley and later Carl Sagan.

They popularized a theory that human superstition drove the crab’s evolution. They argued that fishermen threw back crabs that looked like faces, allowing those specific crabs to reproduce. Over centuries, artificial selection inadvertently perfected the samurai likeness!

Whatever be the reason; they are a great example of the mysteries and beauty of nature and many times you must not worry about the how and the why! Just enjoy!

Then again the Samurai crab and the Samurai are well known and respected and revered in Japan!

On this father’s day I am also proud to have the best DAD in the world! My mother used to love and adore and have so much respect for her Father which is why my sketch of the day is of my Grand Father! He was a Freedom fighter and a member of the INA with Subhash Chandar Bose! Now that is another legendary father!

A big shout out to all those amazing father’s of the world! You Rock!

Shubh Ratri…

Would you be shocked if I ask the question; what is the common historic link between the Middle east, Asia and America!?

The shock will come when I tell the answer by the way! The common thing is ‘The CAMEL!’

Then you will think what the Camel has to do with America! No no! You cannot store Oil in its hump!

The origin of the SHIP of the desert is actually from, hold your breath; AMERICA!

What’s unique about the earliest camels, Protylopus and Poebrotherium, is that they appeared about 45 million years ago in the North American rainforests and savannahs! One of the strangest places Paracamelus (which is also an ancestor of camel) fossils have been found was Ellesmere Island in northern Canada! The temperature there at the time was often below zero, with 6-month-long winters and very few sun rays. Not the place you’d expect to find a camel at!

Camels first evolved in North America around 40 to 50 million years ago, starting as rabbit-sized animals in ancient forests.

The earliest known camelid ancestor, Protylopus, was no larger than a rabbit and lived in the open forests of present-day South Dakota!

Over millions of years, they grew larger and adapted from dense forests to open grasslands. The sheep-sized Poebrotherium emerged 35 million years ago with features much closer to modern camelids.

The Ice Age camel Camelops evolved about 3 to 5 million years ago. Standing up to 7 feet tall, these imposing herbivores roamed widely from Alaska down into Mexico!

Then started the global migration and separation!

Around 6 to 7 million years ago, camel ancestors (Paracamelus) crossed the Bering Land Bridge (connecting modern-day Alaska and Russia) into Asia. These eventually gave rise to today’s Old World camels (the single-humped Dromedary and two-humped Bactrian)!

Then about 3 to 5 million years ago, early camels migrated south across the Isthmus of Panama, eventually evolving into modern South American camelids like the llama, alpaca and guanaco.

But the original native camelids (along with other megafauna like horses and mammoths) disappeared from North America about 13,000 years ago. Scientists generally attribute this extinction to a harsh combination of shifting Ice Age climate changes and aggressive hunting by early human arrivals!

So if you can speak to the camel and ask where it originally came from, it will look at you and say; “I am originally from America Mate!” Of course his CARD may not be green!

Then again all said and done the Camel is a majestic hard working SHIP of the desert and hard workers shine no matter where they come from!

Just like our hard working president Droupadi Murmu madam!

Now sleep like a Camel or Human! You decide!

SHubh ratri…

In three of the five most famous books by Robert Greene; Robert uses the MIRROR analogy!


In the novel 48 laws of power Robert Greene explores the Mirror Effect! The law titled “Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect” is told to be used as a tool for deception, seduction, and strategic psychological control. By mimicking an opponent’s actions, values, or body language, you neutralize their strategy and disorient them!

When you mirror your enemies by doing exactly as they do, they struggle to figure out your strategy. This reflection disarms them, making it an excellent tool for defensive shielding and offensive deception.

By mimicking an opponent’s behavior and applying it back to them, you subtly mock or humiliate them. This frequently forces them to overreact, lose their temper, and make strategic mistakes!

Then in the novel The Art of Seduction, Greene notes that because humans have a narcissistic streak, mirroring someone’s body language, values, and ideas is highly hypnotic. It creates an illusion of a profound, shared connection, drawing them under your spell!


Finally outside of psychological manipulation, Greene frequently emphasizes that you must act as a metaphorical mirror to yourself. Training your mind to see yourself exactly as the world and others see you is essential for acquiring real power, understanding your true flaws, and achieving Mastery!

If you are human and if you ever cross a mirror; you would definitely stop to check yourself even if it is for an instant! Unless of course you are a Vampire or a Ghost! Then you may ask then how are Vampires so well groomed! Well they groom each other!

Then you have the Man in the mirror analogy which is my favourite! The only person you need to answer to at the end of the day is the MAN or the WOMAN in the mirror!

Show your deeds to yourself in the mirror! Like the deeds of shakthiman or Bheeshma! Which reminds me of Mukesh Khanna

Now stop staring at the mirror and sleep

Shubh Ratri…

Sometimes when our concentration is somewhere else; we miss the obvious!

In an experiment it was shown that in a group of people playing basketball, the ‘audience’  failed to see a GORILLA!

That famous experiment is called the Invisible Gorilla experiment (I don’t think they spent much time in NAMING the experiment though!)

Anyway, the Invisible Gorilla experiment is a landmark psychological study that demonstrates inattentional blindness—the phenomenon where we fail to notice fully visible but unexpected events when our attention is narrowly focused elsewhere!

In 1999, psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris conducted this famous study at Harvard University.

The task was that the Participants watched a short video of six people—three in white shirts and three in black shirts—passing basketballs. Viewers were instructed to count the number of passes made by the players in white. Simple enough but here lies the catch!

The Surprise was that roughly halfway through the video, a person in a full-body gorilla suit walked into the middle of the scene, stopped, faced the camera, thumped its chest, and walked off.

The gorilla was on screen for about 9 seconds.

But did you know that  Astonishingly, about 50% of the viewers completely failed to notice the gorilla!


Do see the video but since you know the result; try to show it to someone who has not seen it before! They will be so busy counting the ball passes that they will not SEE or rather NOTICE the Gorilla!

The Key Takeaways of this famous experiment which has been repeated many times with similar results many!

On is the selective attention capability of the brain! Because our brain’s processing capacity is limited, we filter out vast amounts of visual information to focus on the task at hand. It is like if we are driving, we SEE only the road but do not NOTICE other things!

Also there is a matter of overconfidence: The experiment highlights an “illusion of attention.” Most people confidently believe they would notice a giant, unexpected gorilla!

There are so many real world implication of this like how having a cognitive blind spot can have serious consequences.
For instance, studies have shown that even highly trained experts—like radiologists reading lung scans—can miss obvious anomalies when their attention is tightly focused on searching for something specific!

It is such a simple but complicated thing! I still remember in our practical examination how we were presented with a scan with so many findings! We were to write the findings in the next station! But the very first question in the next station was; For five marks ‘What is the name of the patient?’

Most of us missed it!

So hopefully in the quest for the rare or unknown, try not to miss the OBVIOUS!

Obvious also is the fact that Sathyan Sivakumar is a good comedian!

Shubh ratri…

Do you know that there is a MASCULINE bundle in your heart!

Maybe that’s why men are associated with most things ‘heart’!

Both males and females have this  ‘MASCULINE’ bundle! Of course it is only in name! The name is BUNDLE OF HIS!

Ok ok; I will not be HEARTLESS; I will tell you more about it!

The most automatic organ in the body is your heart! It has to RUN non stop and it can be RESTARTED after it stops! The question then remains from where the IGNITION or start of the heart beat occurs?

In 1839, Jan Evangelista Purkinje discovered a net of gelatinous fibres in the subendocardium of the heart. Walter Gaskell in the 1880s observed that the impulse of the heart began in the sinus venosus, and that this region had the most rhythmic ability!

Then later on conducting bundle between the atrium and the ventricle was found by Wilhelm His, Jr in 1893! (THAT’S WHY ITS CALLED BUNDLE OF HIS! NOTHING MASCULINE ABOUT IT!)


In 1906, Sunao Tawara found a “complex knoten” of tissue at the proximal end of the His bundle. He concluded that this was the inception of an electrical conducting system which continued from the AV node through the bundle of His, divided into the bundle branches, and terminated as the Purkinje fibres!


Finally the BEGINNING of the heart beat was found in the end!

Arthur Keith and Martin Flack discovered the sinus node which is the beginning of your heart beat!

The sinoatrial (SA) node is the heart’s natural pacemaker. In a healthy adult, its intrinsic resting rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm).

This specialized group of cells dictates your baseline heart rate, though it naturally adapts and increases during stress or physical exertion.

The rate of the sinus node varies depending on how the heart is functioning and the specific rhythm it produces!

If everything is normal then the heart will have a rhythm which is equal to the rate of beating of SA node! Which is why a normal beating heart is said to have the SINUS RHYTHM…

Heart rate also increases when you are excited! Or laughing! Which reminds me of that hilarious show called Dekh bhai dekh!
Which of course reminds me of Shekar Suman…

Now relax your heart and sleep!

Subh ratri…

Todays blog will be BLOODY!

Its literal by the way!

This one act by anyone is one of the best forms of service and atruism!

You can do this act and it is true charity since even the recipients do not know who has given this donation!

Like the saying goes; “when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” It defines true charity as giving in complete secrecy, driven by genuine humility rather than the desire for recognition!

This is one such perfect example!

Blood transfusion!

But did you know that the first blood transfusion on record was performed in 1665 – between dogs!

Two years later, successful transfusions from lambs to humans were reported in Europe, but that method eventually was banned because of transfusion reactions.

Finally in 1818, British obstetrician James Blundell figured out how to provide his female patient with blood from her husband using a syringe. He performed 10 transfusions in his career, half of which helped his patients while half developed severe reactions. At that time though these were still good odds!

Early transfusion attempts though were frequently plagued by adverse reactions.

The discovery of human blood types in 1900 and the development of anticoagulants for blood storage in 1914 ultimately transformed blood transfusion into one of the most critical procedures in modern healthcare.


Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner discovered the primary human blood groups (A, B, O). This explained why some transfusions were fatal while others succeeded, earning him a Nobel Prize. The AB blood group was later discovered by his colleagues.

Then you had the famous Rh Factor! Landsteiner and Alexander Weiner discovered the Rhesus (Rh) factor, further enhancing transfusion safety.

Then you have the era of the modern Blood Storage and Modern Banking!

Scientists in Belgium and the U.S. discovered that adding sodium citrate prevented blood from clotting outside the body, allowing for blood storage.

During World War II, the demand for blood surged. Dr. Charles Drew revolutionized blood preservation by separating and storing plasma, which was crucial for saving soldiers’ lives and establishing the precursor to the modern blood bank.

Then again you can also have an old Hindi movie showing three people DONATING blood at the same time to one Woman who turned out to be their actual mother!

That’s not bloody! Speaking of Hindi movie you can see this scene and listen to Hemant da!

Shubh ratri…

Did you know which is the most important REASON for human evolution?

Actually your interest in that DID YOU KNOW is the answer!

The only real reason apart from the supposedly amazing brain of why only Humans topped the chain of the evolutionary tree is this simple practice which most humans do!

In fact the very fact that social media is so famous is simply because of this!

The practice is GOSSIP!

In the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, historian Yuval Noah Harari argues that gossip was a vital catalyst for human evolution and survival. It acted as the foundational building block for large-scale social cooperation.

Now you must not gossip as a negative or trivial behavior, Harari highlights it as a critical evolutionary milestone of the Cognitive Revolution that allowed Homo sapiens to dominate the planet!

According to Harari, human language did not evolve primarily to discuss philosophy, mathematics, or the physical environment. Instead, language evolved as a way of gossiping. While many animals can communicate basic environmental dangers (e.g., a green monkey can shout, “Careful! A lion!”), Homo sapiens developed the unique ability to talk about themselves and each other!

This is very vital because according to Yuval for an early human, it was less important to know where a bison was, and much more important to know:
Who in the tribe hated whom.
Who was sleeping with whom.
Who was honest, and who was a cheat!

And several centuries and development later; this has not changed! Not even a bit!

Then you have the positive effect of Gossip in that it builds trust and cooperation!

By talking behind each other’s backs, early humans could track shifting alliances and gather reliable information about who could be trusted. This social data allowed human bands to expand.

Without gossip, individuals could not truly know the character of everyone in a large group, forcing them to remain in small, fragmented troops similar to modern chimpanzees. Gossip allowed early Sapiens to form tighter, more sophisticated cooperation networks, giving them a massive competitive advantage over other human species like Neanderthals.

Then even Gossip has a limit!

Harari notes that sociological research places a strict biological cap on gossip. The maximum natural size of a group bonded purely by gossip is about 150 individuals. A human being cannot intimately track or gossip about more than 150 people at once!

To cross this threshold and build massive cities, nations, and empires, humans eventually had to transition from gossiping about real individuals to believing in shared fictions and myths (such as religions, nations, corporations, and money)!

Harari emphasizes that humans never outgrew this evolutionary trait. Even today, the vast majority of modern communication—including emails, phone calls, text messages, and news columns—remains essentially gossip. Whether it is political commentary or celebrity drama, our brains are still fundamentally wired to track social dynamics and reputation!

Even a blog is read more if it has some GOSSIP! Facts are boring! Though Gossip is a vital part of human existence is a FACT!

It is also a fact that Pritam Chakraborty does make nice music!

Now stop Gossip and sleep!

Shubh ratri…

All of you know landing strip! It is the array of lights which the Pilots ‘see’ to land their planes.

But (the but and the blog are inseparable!); did you know that there is an invisible landing strip all over your Garden! Now it is not a top secret landing strip for those ALIEN ships in the area 51! But these LANDING STRIPS are INVISIBLE to the human eye!

They are for a special kind of flyers!

One of the most important species in the world! Not humans (of course not! In fact Humans are some of the LEAST important species in the world!); but insects! Specifically the BEES!

In the book called greatest show on Earth by Richard Dawkins, he states how some flowers smell and taste good and they attract certain insects and humans alike!

These are the ones they have to attract so that they can help them in pollination! In fact the insects see ultraviolet spectrum so that they literally have an ultraviolet landing strip outlined for their landing!

So this ultraviolet (UV) landing strip refers to hidden markings on flower petals that are invisible to humans but brightly visible to pollinators like bees and butterflies. These creatures see a wider spectrum of light, allowing them to follow these specialized UV coloration in flowers targets directly to nectar and pollen!

While humans see a uniform color (like solid yellow), pollinators see a distinct bullseye or runway pattern. The outer edges of the petals reflect UV light, while the center absorbs it, creating a high-contrast guide leading to the reproductive core of the flower!

Flowers create these landing strips using internal pigments called flavonoids. These chemicals absorb UV light in the center while the outer edges reflect it, acting like a natural billboard!

This setup saves energy for both species. Bees find food faster without wasting energy searching blindly, and flowers get efficiently pollinated!

Common Flower Examples are

The ‘landing strip’ in Dandelions appear solid yellow to us, but feature a stark, dark UV absorption center for insects while in the sunflowers the center glows dark and concentrated, acting as a massive target zone while the evening Primrose displays sharp, radial guidelines pointing directly to its nectar!

And these flowers always provide just enough nectar so that the insect goes to another flower to pollinate! Very less and it will not stay and too much nectar means it will not go! Just enough! A balance in nature is all its about!

While we marvel at the human technology and one shot the whole HUMAN LANDING STRIP gets closed! While these millions of Landing Strips go one without any issues unless the average HUMAN starts interfering with them!

So let the BEE be! And do not try to destroy their LANDING STRIP too!

Too complicated!? Leave it! Just like how Kirron Kher says! Chaddo!

Now try ‘Landing’ on your bed!

Shubh ratri…