Author: drsriramnathan

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…

The book 48 laws of power by Robert Greene talks about how you must maintain composure when someone is angry!

Words spoken in anger are like the misaimed arrows shot without a thought! They can never come back and if they hit something or someone, that is a bane for life!

Then again have you heard of Talleyrand?

I got to know that his philosophy is the the ultimate blueprint for Machiavellian political pragmatism!

Talleyrand worked at the highest levels of successive French governments, and his career spanned the regimes of Louis XVI, the years of the French Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII, and Louis-Philippe.

Those Talleyrand served often distrusted him but, like Napoleon, found him extremely useful. The name “Talleyrand” has become a byword for crafty, cynical diplomacy!

One time Napoleon vented out his anger on Talleyrand in front of the whole palace but Talleyrand kept his cool!

In the end just by maintaining his composure and dignity Napoleon was shown his place and that was the beginning of his fall from grace!

Operating across six wildly different regimes, his approach boiled down to a single core allegiance: France’s survival and dominance, unclouded by ideology, sentiment, or rigid loyalty!

His most famous argument is that treason is only a matter of dates! He abandoned kings for the Revolution, backed Napoleon Bonaparte to secure order, and then helped restore the Bourbons when Napoleon became a threat to the balance of power. To Talleyrand, regime loyalty was folly; national continuity was everything!

In diplomacy, he championed moderation and balance. His most famous directive to subordinates was “Above all, not too much zeal”. He believed that emotional attachment and rigid enthusiasm blinded politicians to the realities of a situation!

He viewed words as tools to navigate power dynamics, summarizing his cynical, realist worldview with the maxim: “Words were invented to conceal thought.”

The story and thoughts are so similar to our own Kautilya! Politics is a LONG game! People who play POLITICS have no SHAME!

Which is why POLITICS or more accurately POLI’TRICKS’ is not for everyone!

Then again acting like its a routine thing is not for everyone especially if you are an actor like Ashok Saraf!

Now stop DOING POLITICS and sleep!…(I was talking to myself there!)

SHubh ratri!

Sunbathing is good

Of course in controlled amounts!

The Ultraviolet B (UVB) rays trigger your skin to produce Vitamin D, also exposure to bright morning sunlight regulates your circadian rhythm and Sunlight prompts the brain to release serotonin, which boosts mood and helps counter depression!

You of course knew all this! But do you know what is advantage of MOON BATH!

Nothing absolutely of course! But there was a ‘Doctor’ who used to sell the MOON! In fact he was known as the MOON DOCTOR!

“Doctor” Weisleder, as he called himself, was a one-time sockmaker who worked out of a dark and dirty tavern in Germany.

It was in the 19th-century and in Germany and the medical charlatan was known as the “Moon Doctor of Berlin”!

“Doctor” Weisleder was his name by the way!

Of course he was not a real medical doctor; he was a former sockmaker (or hosier) and heoperated his wildly popular practice out of a dingy tavern in Berlin!

Weisleder claimed he could cure absolutely any incurable disease using lunar rays (moonlight).

Then again; the treatment was ‘successful’ because it was SIMPLE!

Patients would gather by the hundreds at his tavern clinic. Then Weisleder would instruct them to expose and extend their affected body part (e.g., an aching arm, leg, or joint) toward the moon!

He claimed the lunar light would pull the disease out of the body!

Despite the unscientific nature of his work, his boozy tavern clinic drew massive, desperate crowds who were eager to enjoy a beer while waiting for a “miracle” cure!

In any case the patients who used to visit him had lots of faith in his ability and many times that works wonders! He would take the patient to a room window and expose the part to the moonlight while chanting something which only he could hear!

Amazed!? Well there is more!

Funnily his wife would do the same to the women from another window on the opposite side of the house!
No one stopped once to think how two opposite windows can both get moonlight at the same time!

That’s the power of faith and maybe Placebo!

Then again if you have real talent like metro man E Sreedharan then you don’t need any placebo!

Now stop Moonbathing and sleep!

Shubh ratri…

Quiz time was one of the best times in school! You would learn so much and when someone tells it out loud, you normally do not forget!

If you attend a lot of quiz shows then by matter of experience itself your knowledge will improve! At least that is the idea!

Then again when you are not participating in the quiz you answer the questions very well from the audience while you get into the stage, the answer completely disappears from the memory!

Some classic questions were that everyone knew the answer and the competition was to actually get the answer first!

Like who invented the electric bulb everyone would scream Edison though if you practically see, he simply modified it! This is the issue with many such FACTS which we would have learnt when we were young!

Like who invented the steam engine? Avid quiz enthusiasts would scream James Watt right about now! But!…

The steam engine was not invented by a single person, but rather evolved over centuries.
James Watt is most famous for perfecting it, though Thomas Newcomen built the first practical engine, and Thomas Savery created the earliest commercial device fifty years before Newcomen!

So way back in 1698 Thomas Savery invented the “Miner’s Friend,” a steam-powered water pump. It was the first commercially used steam device, though it had limitations and was prone to explosions!

Then in 1712 Thomas Newcomen, built the first true atmospheric steam engine. Newcomen’s design was successfully used to pump water out of deep coal mines in England but consumed massive amounts of coal! That was not the goal!

Finally in the period of 1765–1769; James Watt while repairing a Newcomen model, noticed it wasted a massive amount of steam. He revolutionized the technology by adding a separate condenser, which vastly improved efficiency and paved the way for industrial machinery!
So basically he made the engine more practical and more importantly more PROFITABLE!

Later Innovations were equally innovative and profitable like in  1804 (Richard Trevithick): Built the world’s first high-pressure, full-scale steam railway locomotive.
1814 (George Stephenson): Built the first successful steam locomotive to pull a load on a public railway!

So even if you invent something useful, make sure it is profitable! Only then people will scream your name on the stage!

From believing everything to not believing anything we have come a full circle! If someone asks who is the inventor of a particular thing we would first Google and then only answer!

Of course that reminds me of Sundar Pichai…

Shubh ratri…

In the novel A primate’s Memoir; Robert Sapolsky tells about his journey from the comfort of an American home to the jungles and desert of Africa!

One of his adventure is a dark comedy which really had me in splits!

So he meets an ex army old man with deep brooding eyes and stories to tell!

When the old man was a young lad all fit and ready to settle; he met a girl in the mountains! All they did was lock eyes for an instant and she smiled and ran back inside her house!

Those were the days of tradition and respect so the lad went to his father and told him to give his SHARE of COWS so that he could go ahead and ask for the MOUNTAIN GIRL’s hand in marriage!

The father was only 40 years old and still very much YOUNG! So he told his son that he was keeping this particular COW for himself and planning to get a THIRD WIFE with that!

The next year however they may get another COW which he would hopefully give to his son so that he can get a WOMAN!

The son grudgindly agreed and went about his way!

The next week he got ready to welcome his Father’s third wife!

Yes! You guessed it! It was the MOUNTAIN GIRL!

I know it is sad for the son but I laughed so hard! It is like when you see a person slip and the first thing is you laugh! Of course you do care that he or she is hurt but then the first thing is the laugh!

So I am sure the son learnt some things!

He should get his own COW! And if possible SUGGEST his father that more than one wife is probably not a good idea for his sons!

Luckily as the story goes, the third wife or his step mother did not remember the SON who after some time got a younger and more DESIRABLE wife for himself!

He tries to avoid going to the mountains though!

Such twist and turns can happen either in some far away place or in movies by director Bharathiraja!


A well respected figure in the cine world!

He will be missed…
Heartfelt condolences
Om shanti…

In a book Called Super Mars, Ellis Silver talks about Terraforming!

But do you know what is Terraforming Paradox!?

By the way you actually have a game by that name and concept!

Terraforming games are video and tabletop titles where players alter the environment of a hostile or barren planet to make it habitable. The core mechanics typically involve gathering resources, building bases, managing planetary climate (like heat and oxygen), and eventually introducing plant and animal life!

So you got an idea what is Terraforming!?

Terraforming is the process of altering the surface conditions of hostile planets such as Mars to make the planet hospitable for humans and ultimately turn the planet Earth-like!

The plans are not limited to his views but also views from big investors including Elon Musk!

The core plans usually include a complex plan with huge cost!

They start with Atmospheric Modification: Altering the atmospheric pressure and gas composition so the air becomes breathable and can trap heat!

Then you have the Warming or cooling a celestial body to allow liquid water to exist on its surface. Without water there is no life! Most important things is like how in interstellar you have the search for the ALTERNATE earth; Water to be present in the LIQUID form is the first and foremost criteria!

Finally you can introduce microbes, plant life, and photosynthetic organisms to cycle nutrients and generate oxygen!

These are just three simple points! But if you think about it; it is a huge insurmountable task!

Which brings us to the Terraforming Paradox!

The Terraforming Paradox is a philosophical and engineering dilemma that asks why an advanced civilization would ever bother physically altering distant planets. It highlights that the technological capability required to fundamentally reshape a hostile world (like Mars) to support life is so immense that, once achieved, physical colonization becomes completely obsolete!

The first issue here is the Trap of Self-Sufficiency wherein to terraform a planet, a society must master closed-loop life support, autonomous robotics, asteroid manipulation, and orbital engineering. Once they possess the power to move atmospheres or generate artificial magnetospheres, they have already mastered creating artificial, pristine habitats!

Then comes the cost!

It is astronomically easier and cheaper to build massive, climate-controlled space habitats than it is to force a planet-sized rock into human parameters. Space habitats allow for custom gravity, no tectonic hazards, and zero planetary-escape penalties!

Then you have something called the Colonization Conundrum which implies that if a civilization is capable of surviving the millennia-long, resource-intensive process of terraforming a hostile world, their post-biological or highly-adapted bodies would likely find Earth-like biospheres—with their unpredictable weather, seasons, and indigenous microbes—dangerous and inconvenient!

Basically the added comfort makes them more comfortable to CONTROL a climate rather than be at the mercy of the nature!
It is like you make someone so comfortable that he or she would feel even light work a huge task!

Practically what these all means is that for now we only have ONE EARTH! A perfect planet with more than enough resource and comfort for everyone! So instead of trying to CREATE LIFE in another planet; let us maintain LIFE in this one!

Instead of Terraforming another planet; the need is to TERRAFORM the selfish HUMAN BRAIN! That of course may lead to some other PARADOX though!

There of course is no paradox that Kiran bedi is an inspiration to many women!

Now let’s start with the sleep paradox!

Shubh ratri…

Sun Tzu! That is not my pet name!

That is the name of the author of one of the most famous books on the strategies of war! So much that it is called THE ART OF WAR!

Using his wide experience Sun Tzu has told about the powers of observation and they are astute!

Listen to some pearls!

When the enemy is close at hand and remains quiet, he is relying on the natural strength of his position!

If his place of encampment is easy of access, he is tendering a bait!

Then by analysis of the movement in and around the enemy you can get to know a lot!

Movement amongst the trees of a forest shows that the enemy is advancing!
The appearance of a number of screens in the midst of thick grass means that the enemy wants to make us suspicious!
While the rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambush!
While startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming.! Then again when there is dust rising in a high column, it is the sign of chariots advancing; when the dust is low, but spread over a wide area, it betokens the approach of infantry!

Finally when the dust branches out in different directions, it shows that parties have been sent to collect firewood while a few clouds of dust moving to and fro signify that the army is encamping!

You can even get to know the state of the enemy by simply watching the soldiers!

All you have to do is observe the soldiers!
When the soldiers stand leaning on their spears, they are faint from want of food! Which means that they are tired and weary!
Another observation is that if soldiers have been sent to draw water begin by drinking themselves, the army is suffering from thirst!

Finally a war is not fought on the land but in the minds! A prepared General or a leader would win always!

Even after so many years, most of the PEARLS from this book hold true! If you do go into any battle, be it in life or otherwise you must read this one and you will surely win! Or at least you will get to know how you lost!

Then again life is not just a battle! Sometimes you can simply laugh it off!

Just like how Tiku Talsania does it!

Now don’t FIGHT your urge to sleep and sleep!

Shubh ratri…