Author: drsriramnathan

“What’s your favourite colour was the q!
Colours there are plenty not one or two!
Red has been the top in my sight!
Then again mix all up you get white!”

You know some metals are ICONic!? and they have an attractive personality!?

Do not try to strain your brain now!

read on!

Without much ado I would tell you that these metals are Magnetic! They are Iron (I), Cobalt (Co) and Nickel (Nic!)! The acronym is copyright to me now!

We used to love magnets! Our most common source of magnets was in the small motors which used to come with most cars or circuit kits!

The way it used to work was so amazing!

We used to remove the tip of the motor and attach a plastic fan! This used to give so much air in small volt! One fine day we decided to up the voltage and see if the fan could lift the motor and we could make a Helicopter!

The motor which normally used to work well with the 3 volt adapter then got a boost of 12 volt! It was a adapter from dad’s car battery charger!

The moment we connected it, there was a sudden surge in the speed! It simply moved so fast! So much that it lifted the motor! We had a lift off! Then immediately there was a sudden spark, followed by the dropping of the motor and some fumes! My mom immediately picked up the burnt smell and asked from the kitchen if everything was ok!

All ok was our reply!

Yeah sure, the motor was gone and burnt without repair but at least we could play with its magnets!

The circular magnet was the best part of the motor! That motor was also like a speaker! If you connect the wire to the speaker to the motor and place it on a solid surface and if you place your ears close then you would see that the motor does not move but you can hear the song! Of course that is also the basic structure of a speaker!

One of our favourite projects was to make the electromagnet! Wrapping an iron rod with copper wire and then when you electrify it, you get a magnet!

Later on in our physics labs we used to love charting out the magnetic flow using small iron dust!

Magnets were the most natural form of a magic! Some huge magnets are in fact so powerful that they can simply attract! Even the MRI machines actually have huge magnets which is why you have to be very careful while entering an MRI!
Also the fact that MRI works using magnetic properties in your blood is also pretty interesting!

Magnetic resonance imaging works by passing an electric current through coiled wires to create a temporary magnetic field in your body. A transmitter/receiver in the machine then sends and receives radio waves. The computer then uses these signals to make digital images of the scanned area of your body!

The origin of course is also interesting! They come from Lodestones!

Lodestones are naturally magnetized pieces of the mineral magnetite. They are naturally occurring magnets, which can attract iron. The property of magnetism was first discovered in antiquity through lodestones.

Pieces of lodestone, suspended so they could turn, were the first magnetic compasses and their importance to early navigation is indicated by the name lodestone, which in Middle English means “course stone” or “leading stone”, from the now-obsolete meaning of lode as “journey, way”. The name magnet may come from lodestones found in Magnesia, Anatolia!

The chronicled history of magnetism dates back to 600 BC. Lodestone’s magnetic properties were studied and documented by the famous Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus!

Around the same period, the magnetic properties of lodestone were known in India, and the well-known ancient physician sage Sushruta applied it to draw out metal splinters from bodies of injured soldiers!

The three elemental metals that are naturally ferromagnetic are iron, cobalt, and nickel! The ICONic trio!
Another Iconic personality is Harris Jayaraj! I just love some of his songs! Peppy and fast and they lift you up and attract your musical quest like a magnet!

Now listen to some HJ numbers like Vaseegara and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“It has no colour but takes it all!
Can rise like wind and then take a fall!
Drink it up with no regrets!
Cause it’s simply water you all!”

Everyone looks into it but everyone sees a different thing always! No two people can see the exact same thing! Then again if one person looks into it then he or she will always see the same thing! It is never different!

Then again no human or any being can stop looking at it!
They also reduce anxiety for some and increase for some others!
Now now! Patience!

read on…

Without dangling the thread of suspense let me tell you that the answer is a MIRROR!

Whenever you give your pen to someone to write anything, more often than not he or she would sign or write his or her own name! That is a natural tendency!

In the same way, no human can resist looking at the mirror when they see one! Even if it is a passing glance!

Mirrors are so essential that no house can do without them!

Even if he or she asks him or her; “Am I looking good?”; he or she would always double check in the mirror!

It is amazing how you look at yourself in the mirror and see that the person in side the mirror is looking at you actually! Have you ever wondered if the image stays there after you!

Did you know that when you feel that you are not looking good and anxious, the mirror lets you know that! Then again it can also reduce your anxiety! It will show you that no matter how much alone you are in this world, there always would be that man or woman in the mirror who will always be with you and know your innermost thoughts! The one who knows all your secrets! And the one who would never betray you!

Ok that was too deep! Then again mirrors came to the rescue in tall buildings and how!

Now when elevators to tall buildings used to take so much time to travel people used to complain that it was slow! Now you cannot increase the speed too much so a better option was to install mirrors in the elevators!

Now every human likes to see the mirror since that face he or she sees is a familiar one! And this was an effective way to pass time!


Apparently elevator mirrors serve multiple purposes beyond aesthetics, such as alleviating anxiety by creating the illusion of more space and enhancing safety by allowing occupants to see who is behind them!

Additionally, they aid in accessibility for wheelchair users and offer a harmless distraction during elevator rides!

Just make sure that the mirror is clean though! Since a dirty mirror still gives an image but it may not be to your liking! Then again you can clean a dirty mirror and remove the spots but no amount of cleaning would remove the dirt in your minds and soul! That need spiritual cleaning!

In Japan – which is thought to be where the lift mirror was first introduced – the chief purpose was accessibility. Platform lifts can make buildings accessible for wheelchair users where stairs present an obstacle. However, the size of the lift may mean that there is no space for a wheel chair user to turn around inside it!

The placement of mirrors helps someone in a wheelchair to back in or out of the lift safely without having to turn. This can prevent accidents and make life easier for anyone with a physical disability using your building! It is like the rearview mirror of your car which you can use when you are reversing!

Mirror mirror on the wall! As a director and actor K Bhagyaraj was tall!

Now look at the mirror with confidence and brush your teeth and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

“He screamed at the poor old bloke
In a language only he spoke!
Still the guy felt sad!
Its the tone and not the language which is bad!”

What is the connection between the Periodic table and Sanskrit!?

That is for you to know and me to explain!

read on!

Who does not know the periodic table! Some may even remember the elements on the table!

Most remember the order of at least the first twenty or forty elements though during schooling years, it was imperative to know the whole list!

Lanthanides and actinides who were mentioned separately were a big bore though! It was so difficult to remember their names!

I had learnt a Mnemonic to get the elements by remembering their symbols and it really worked! During one physics test I was so happy when questions like write the atomic number and Names were asked! Then when I heard couple of my classmates ask for the log book I was so surprised since that question was in the end!

Then I realised that the Log book which we used to use also had a section where the periodic tables were mentioned! All that memorisation for nothing!
It also had a couple of other ‘information’ which could ‘help’ us in the questions! Guess studying and memorising is good! But being smart is better!

Now the person who created or the founder of Periodic Table was Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev!

He also went further in conceptualizing periodicity as a fundamental law governing the nature of the elements. Based on that insight, whenever the properties of a given element didn’t fit the overall pattern, he famously left an empty spot in his table for an as yet undiscovered element!
In spite of the critics at the time, the missing spot ‘elements’ were discovered later with the said properties validating Dmitri!

He was puzzled about where to put the known lanthanides, and even predicted the existence of another row to the table which were the actinides which were some of the heaviest in atomic weight and even these were found later and shifted to another block just as predicted!

Now the more interesting point here is that he used the prefixes eka, dvi, and tri, Sanskrit for the numbers one, two, and three, to name these hypothetical elements, referring to the number of places they were from a known, lighter element in the same group!

Have you heard these names before!? Well yes! They are Sanskrit!


Let that sink in. Not Greek. Not Latin. Not even German, the lingua franca of science in continental Europe and of Dmitri at the time.

But Sanskrit!

Before you start to think why let us know about Otto von Böhtlingk who was a Russian-German Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. His magnum opus was a Sanskrit-German dictionary. During that time he was preparing his second edition of his book on Panini!

Now who was Panini!? If you are an Bharatiya, you would know or at least heard of him somewhere! Even then just know that Pāṇini or Sanskrit: पाणिनि, was a Sanskrit grammarian, logician, philologist, and revered scholar in ancient India, between the 7th and 4th century BCE

With his most notable work, the Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pāṇini has been considered the “first descriptive linguist”, and even labelled as “the father of linguistics”.
His approach to grammar influenced many foundational linguists in the modern time like Otto von Böhtlingk!

Finally let us see the explanation!

By using Sanskrit prefixes to name “missing” elements, Mendeleev may have recorded his debt to the Sanskrit grammarians of ancient India, who had created theories of language based on their discovery of the two-dimensional patterns of speech sounds (exemplified by the Śivasūtras in Pāṇini’s Sanskrit grammar!).

Mendeleev was a friend and colleague of the Sanskritist Otto von Böhtlingk, who was preparing the second edition of his book on Pāṇini at about this time, and Mendeleev wished to honor Pāṇini with his nomenclature!

That my friends is the complete picture!

Another picture which is not only complete but also amazing would be the life story of our celebrity! Captain Bana Singh PVC! Just listening to his saga of his part played in the Capture of Siachen post will make you feel so proud! Do read about him if you can, thats written in English or any language, not necessarily sanskrit!


SHubh ratri!

Jai HInd!

“It goes and comes and never stops!

That’s like rabbit jumping hops!

In comes the new out with the old!

Just like life that’s one year old!”

This was a king of kings! Yes; ‘THIS’ since ‘it’ is non living!

The fact remains that ‘it’ was the most powerful in the world!

read on!

The movie Oppenheimer is more about the person than the basic reason why you watched the movie! Yes! The development and deployment of Atom bomb! 

Instead the movie becomes a soap opera with ego clashes and trials! Frankly  in spite of being a big admirer of Nolan movies, this was a disappointment! 

The bomb is left to the background and this cannot be right since that’s is the first time an atom bomb was used and the whole world saw the destruction it can cause!

The human being is the only animal in the world which can try to develop much more complex means of annihilation of his or her own species and planet!

Now you would think that it was the most powerful bomb! But it was actually just the beginning! The race would lead to even more complex bomb! 

The atom bombs use the fission of atoms to give so much energy! But you have another bomb using the Fusion energy which in fact makes the sun blaze which is much more more powerful than fission bombs!

In fact the initial step to make hydrogen bomb is to first make an atomic bomb! That is the needed first step since the energy to produce Hydrogen bomb is huge which can be created only by a Fission bomb! This is also mentioned in passing in the movie since there is one team which wanted to develop the Fission while one wanted to make the Fusion! Then he was told how the first step to make a Fusion reaction is to first make a fission one!

And a hydrogen bomb can be even 1000 times as powerful as an atomic bomb! 

Now as far as weaponry goes; the most powerful bomb ever to be produced and ‘tested’ is the king of bombs called the TSAR BOMBA!

The Tsar Bomba is the single most physically powerful device ever deployed on Earth, the most powerful nuclear bomb tested and the largest human-made explosion in history.

For comparison, the largest weapon ever produced by the US, the now-decommissioned B41, had a predicted maximum yield of 25 Mt (100 PJ). 

The largest nuclear device ever tested by the US (Castle Bravo) yielded 15 Mt (63 PJ) because of an unexpectedly high involvement of lithium-7 in the fusion reaction; the preliminary prediction for the yield was from 4 to 6 Mt (17 to 25 PJ).  By comparison the Hiroshima bomb had an yield of around 16KT (Thats Kiloton and not Megaton which is much higher!) 

A comparision is that Tsar bomba is 3,300 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima!

All that force and power is trapped inside an atom!

In fact it was opined that if atoms of a single average human are converted into bomb then according to Einstein, it will be equal to thirty Hydrogen bombs! See the power inside you!? You are actually a bomb!

A power of another kind; powerhouse of acting was also Charu Hasan

Now hope you enjoyed the first Sunday of the year! 

Shubh ratri!

“The bed so soft it feels like a cottony cloud!
The size so big t’will make you proud!
All the money you have in the keep!
Not enough to buy you some sleep!”

This is never a thing which you can see or feel! But still it is worth thousands of dollars and is one of the most exclusive commodity in the world today!

No! It is not your brain which you may not see but know it is there! But it can really stump your brain!


read on!

The biggest commodity in every industry is of course money! Then there is a form of money which you cannot see!

If someone says money is not necessary then he or she is either lying or well he or she is definitely lying!

Only thing is that it is not the most important thing and not the only necessary thing!

In the novel called the Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous he talks about different forms of currencies over the history starting with salt or a piece of limestone to gold and other metals to paper money!

Except gold which is a currency which can always be quantified and which would never fade away, other currencies are dependent on the state of the government and other economic factors.

This is where the latest currency craze, which is bitcoin comes into play! Now this is one the many types of currencies which is not under any control!

Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto!

But did you know that even that is a pseudonym! No one has actually seen or met him!

In a documentary it was speculated that that Peter Todd, a college student in 2008, might be the original creator of the cryptocurrency!
Then again it has not been proven possibly so that people could take Bitcoin seriously, so they could believe it was created by a famous cryptographer and not some kid still in school!

Use of bitcoin as a currency began in 2009, with the release of its open-source implementation

In fact in one country in 2021, El Salvador adopted it as legal tender!

Now how powerful is a Bitcoin? Well, the first time Bitcoin was used for purchase was in around 2009-10 for buying a pizza! The buyer paid ten thousand bitcoins for that!

That would have in all probability the most costliest burger in the world! Because cut to 2021 and the value of a single bitcoin is 46k dollars and in 2024 Bitcoin’s price today is US$98,139.43!

And if you think practically it is not gold or cash! It is a mode of transaction or legal tender which you cannot see or hold in your hand!
It’s a mode of payment which is virtual! The Bitcoin are limited currency which cannot be produced more if you need so there will not be any recession!

It is not controlled by the central government and Bitcoin cannot be hacked since it would take so much more effort and resource and the end result without POW is useless!

POW is proof of work which has to be authenticated by a group who are paid for it and they will also never be hacked! Also the cluster size is fixed and that the original Bitcoin can be modified but that will lead to another currency so it is better to not modify it!

Then again you would think if you cannot touch or hold it then how can you put value to it? Well, if you practically think then even the 500 INR in your hand is having that value only because the government says so and certifies it! Without that it is just a piece of paper! Like how during the demonetisation that 500 rupees became ZERO overnight!

For now in spite of the controversies and illegal trading, for all practical matters, Bitcoin is one of the top contenders for the currency of the future! Let us wait and see how it goes!

Like old times maybe we return back to salt for money if the Bitcoin is a bit too much! Now speaking of old times reminds me of Sital Batabyal and his old super cool movies! I used to love watching his classic movies! You may know him as Pradeep Kumar!

Now crypto or not! Let all trading cease so that you can sleep in peace since Bitcoins may give you a comfortable bed but sleep has to be earned without it!

Shubh ratri!

“The sun shines bright and white!

Takes the darkness away ain’t that right! 

Then again even the night not so bad!

All that silence makes you glad”

This was a gas used like alcohol!

Of course it got used for medical reasons!

Started by a Chemist, popularised by a dentist and even Joker from Batman uses it!

read on!

The moment I mentioned Joker I guess it was obvious that it was Laughing Gas! 

The actual used of this is now in anesthesia but when Nitrous Oxide was discovered it was actually a recreational drug!

In fact this was gas which was used to get a high! 

It was an addiction like smoking! In fact the chemist who described so many elements died by constantly inhaling it! 

Even after the invention it was mainly used as a party pill!

Despite Davy’s discovery that inhalation of nitrous oxide could relieve a conscious person from pain, another 44 years elapsed before doctors attempted to use it for anaesthesia!

The use of nitrous oxide as a recreational drug at “laughing gas parties”, primarily arranged for the British upper class, became an immediate success beginning in 1799. While the effects of the gas generally make the user appear stuporous, dreamy and sedated, some people also “get the giggles” in a state of euphoria, and frequently erupt in laughter!

Only later a dental surgeon named Horace Wells used it as an anesthetic agent when it was realised 44 years after the discovery of this gas that it relieves pain! 

Of course now it is not a primary anesthetic agent and acts mainly as an adjunct but it was a major push towards anesthesia and development of other more potent medications and drugs for relieving pain during surgery.

Now this gas has a new use! 

In the early 1980’s, the low-dose dental titration technique was first used to investigate and treat psychiatric conditions, including substance abuse! The gas is now a research project for its use in Neuropsychiatry!

So if you meet a Neurologist or a psychologist at some time in future and if he or she is laughing even at your bland jokes then make sure there is no leak of the Laughing gas!

It is no laughing matter that Chetan Anand was an accomplished director and producer specially his series on Param Veer Chakra!

Now let those conversations and laughter cease cause this is the time to sleep! 

Shubh Ratri!

“Made yesterday broken very soon!

Keeping is rare like the dark side of the moon!

Make them and make sure they are set!

Breaking a resolution is an easy bet!”

Oh the resolutions!

So easy to make and so easy to break!

then again; that is what makes you a mortal!

Read on!

I normally try not to make resolutions! Maybe that is my resolution which is to make no resolution! This is because over 90 percent of the new year resolutions do not work!

But if at all there is some version of resolution it can be to make blogs which are shorter and more interesting! It may even be a blog which I have written before but a crispier more readable version!

It is the same with the sketches! and maybe even poems!

To make better versions every single day!

That is the only resolution which is required and it does not need the completion of the revolution of the Earth to start! Which is to be your better self every other day!

Traditionally of course we still believe that our new year is during the months of March-April and we usually celebrate them with much more pomp and conviction! In fact we used to get new clothes for sure only during ‘our’ new  year! 

The ‘English’  new year was only for the cake cutting and watching new years special on the TV! We all used to see the pre recorded program and felt so nice and special! The countdown in the TV was the official countdown since our clocks were never in sync! There was no mobile network and there was no OTT!

So there were no resolutions and we did not think about this “New year” much! The march april new year was the time to celebrate! In fact that was the origin of the new year and new year resolution since it was the time of harvest!

At that time in an effort to impress upon their gods and benefactors, people would like to be better versions of themselves!

The beginning of the year was like a start over of life! From this point onwards was the key! And everyone needs a start over; a turning point in their life!

It is obvious that like India, many civilizations across the world have celebrated the turning of the year for millennia!

Although they didn’t necessarily use the term resolutions, they tried to enter the new year with a positive mindset, as recorded by early first century texts such as the Roman poet Ovid’s “Fasti” — a six-part account of the Roman year and its religious festivals.

They also exchanged gifts of figs and honey or other foodstuffs that represented prosperity, and ensured they worked for part of the day as a good omen for the coming year!

When it comes to ancient forms of New Year’s resolution throughout history and across cultures we see the same principle at play.

In Ireland, having a clean house at the start of the year symbolized a fresh start and the luck of the house for the coming year! This is what we do all over in Indian festivals! The concept of out with the old and welcome the new is spread across almost all the Indian festivals!

There’s also the figuratively regenerative burning of the Año Viejo in Colombia, Ecuador and other parts of Latin America. In this out-with-the-old tradition, which is Spanish for “old year,” families stuff a life-size male doll with memories of the outgoing year or other materials and dress it in their clothing before setting the doll ablaze at midnight! This so similar to the Baisakhi or Lohri festival!

All in all, the new year is a time to try to be the NEW you!

But (yeah, my resolution must be to use less of but!); the most important resolution to make is to just be a better version of yourself every single day! A positive step upwards no matter how small will finally make you much better! 

Like the proverbial Tortoise or the slug which climbs two steps in the morning and then falls one step back, the journey to perfection is a journey! You can never reach the end! The whole point is to enjoy the journey and learn and better yourself if possible!

Fun and joy reminds me of Asrani and his comic timings!

Let this year make you strong!

Shubh ratri!

“That was a little fast and then a little slow!
Shiny sunshine many times sometimes a little snow!
Another year you will get many tasks to face!
Slow and steady my friend tis not a race!”


Did you know that the chief thing that is keeping you alive or normal is a system so complex that no one truly knows how it works!

read on!

One would never forget his or her first car right!?

Even if the loan took half your salary and maybe was second hand!

Luckily my first one was first hand! A red colour Swift diesel and that was my prized possession!

I worked so hard to get the loan approved and then the wait for the car was long and slow!

Finally though when I got it, I took it for a test drive and the very night took it to the highway from Chennai to Bangalore!

The shining red car was almost old till I reached the outskirts of Bangalore at which point I got some bottles and washed it in side of the national highway! When I show it to my parents and someone special! I needed it to look good!

And it did! Then one week later a State Transport bus came and rammed it from behind when it was in the signal waiting for the light to turn green!

It was crushed both front and back and though it was a heartbreaking moment, I used to comfort myself saying that at least I was ok! My friend Ashok used to tell me that The car can be repaired and made new; but you cannot be repaired or replaced!

Now the car story was only a side deviation; when I was waiting for the delivery of the car after paying advance, everywhere I looked, I used see only Red Colour Swift everywhere!

Each time I crossed the road or simply walked on the street, I used to see only Swift and that too mainly red colour!

That is actually not conforming to the fact that Swift was common and popular, but because of a system in your brain (or mine!) which activated every time I saw a Swift and bought it to the notice of my brain!

This system is called the Reticular Activating System!

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a bundle of nerves that sits in your brainstem. And its job is to regulate behavioural arousal, consciousness and motivation.

What that means is, the RAS is able to control what incoming information (stimulus) you’re aware of, so that you’ll be motivated to behave in a certain way. It is like a filter or a screener or a gatekeeper which sits at the entrance of your brain and allows only specific information to get through!

This that sits between your brain and your senses (sight, hearing, touch etc.) and filters what information gets through and what doesn’t. Why this is important is because there are a lot of information and your brain cannot handle everything! So it is like a VISA approval system which only allows certified VISITORS to your brain!

Everyone has it and it is simply marvellous!

This is so understood for those who drive! The initial hesitation and fear you have while driving a car or even flying a plane is gone after a few drives! Of course it is practice but the chief thing is that after a while it gets automated!

This comes into play when you have to take a tricky turn or stop suddenly and if your RAS is good then it is a piece of cake for you! In fact in many road accidents it is the RAS which protects you even when you are driving at high speeds! Even a racing car driver needs his or her RAS to take control during any race! Those who have mastered the control of RAS make good drivers!

It can also be seen when you are so tired that you may sleep even when you have loud sounds around you and you still manage to sleep soundly! But even this is amazing because a mother can usually sleep in heavy noise area but the moment she hears her baby crying she gets up almost immediately when in fact the sound of a baby cry may actually be lesser than her surrounding!

In the case of seeing the same car everywhere, the RAS has activated the feeling that you are interested in the red Swift so you may see so many car but RAS will only take the entry for Red Swift!

In the case of mother and the baby, RAS has understood that the cry of the baby is the most important so it ALLOWS that EXPAT to pass through without much VISA!

Now here is another great finding; RAS is activated in mother most of the times but if mother is away or not there, the same system gets activated in the Father also! RAS, like me is gender neutral!

Wanted to start the year with happiness! My RAS used to always make me smile when I used to see Uma Devi Khathri! Her innocent cute round face always used to bring a smile! You also knew that she would be funny and good in the movie! Fat people in movies those days were always good and fun to be around like a Teddy Bear! You or your rather your RAS may know her as Tun Tun!

Smile a little and laugh a lot! But make sure your RAS approves it first!
Shubh Ratri!

“It may be nine for you, may be six for him
If you do not get that the future is grim!
Let the blame game disappear!
Accept that and welcome the new year!”

In this amazing novel called Don’t let others rent space in your head by Gary Coxe he talks about how a helicopter pilot lost his arm!

yes! you read it right!

but what is more amazing is what he did next!

read on!

In the novel Gary Categorically states how everyone must take charge of what they do and more importantly take responsibility of their problems and life!

You can always spend lifetime thinking about your misfortunes and issues but the fact of the matter is that only you can solve your problems!

No one can help you if you do not want to help yourself!

There is an incident in a popular show where a customer burnt himself while drinking hot coffee which he had ordered! You know what he did?
Well he sued the coffee for not informing him that the coffee is hot!

He literally ordered hot coffee! What did he expect!?

Even then it did not matter! He sued and the company fearing backlash and negative publicity, simply offered him coffee from their outlets free for life! They also had to put a sign on the coffee mug saying that “Careful! The coffee is hot!”

If you thought that this was crazy, well there are a bunch more! Just got a couple of them loony ones!

When a client took his pants to a Washington DC dry cleaner, he never imagined he would never see them again. He sued them for $54 million when they lost his pants because the company did not meet their “Satisfaction Guaranteed” promise displayed in their store. He also claimed the lost pants caused him mental suffering. Unfortunately for him, he lost the case!

Then there was this man who wanted to change not his name or sex or religion! But AGE!

A 69 year old Dutchman wanted to legally change his age in order to avoid ageism. Emile Ratelband claimed he felt discriminated against because his real age was affecting his job prospects as well as his chances of success on Tinder, a popular dating app. The judge explained that many rights and obligations are age based, and that changing the legal age could cause many legal implications. The plaintiff ended up losing the case!

Then you have cases of misleading advertisements! You of course cannot take things literally but this person did!

Red Bull’s famous slogan “Red Bull gives you wings”: got the company in some trouble. A class action accused the company of having misleading ads and making false claims. Plaintiffs said the energy drink did not give people wings figuratively speaking, that is, they didn’t feel energized. They said the company lacks evidence to claim the beverage could improve one’s focus. Red Bull settled out of court and agreed to pay $640,000! Now that would have certainly made the plaintiff fly!

Finally in this series this is about a Kidnapper who sued! Jesse Dimmick, a fugitive facing a murder charge, kidnapped a Kansas couple in September 2009. At some point he fell asleep and they escaped. They sued Dimmick for over $75,000 in damages; his response was to countersue for breach of contract. He claimed the couple had a legally binding oral agreement for them to hide him from the police. His case was dismissed! Thank heavens for small mercies!

Now, what happened to the Helicopter pilot you ask!? Well he is a pilot! He should know that the wings rotate even after the Chopper stops and he has to wait for them to stop! He did not and cut his hand on the back wings! He sued the Helicopter manufacturer that the DANGER sign which was present was not big enough or primiment! So a pilot of a Chopper does not know that the wings can chop!? It is literally called a Chopper and he was a pilot!
Again the case was dropped!

All these examples are to reiterate the fact that we can sit around and blame and sue everyone around us and still suffer or simply take control of our life and be responsible!

Let that be the resolution of the year!
Now who took my pen…I mean it is ok; I have other pens!

If that made you smile then this reminds me of the famous smile of Chinna Thambi Prabhu and his dimpled smile!
End your year with a smile!

Happy New year!
Shubh Ratri!

“It takes a while to get the flow

The official at the table may say no!

Wow! Look my file is the creme de la creme!

Wake up my dear! Tis just a dream!”

This can be red or white and your influence is shown only when you can escape or at least fast track it!

Intrigued?

Read on!

I hate documents! The average human being is surrounded by papers which prove that he is a human! A piece of paper is more important that anything else!

No wonder there are so many forgeries!

Then again with more papers come more checks and more bureaucracy!

Now in India most of the works to apply and register and get a document is more or less streamlined and the wait is much less. 

Then again an average government office all over the world have this issue! The authentication and time delay and the time waste!

This is the RED TAPE!

The term “red tape” is  “an umbrella term covering almost all imagined ills of bureaucracy,” both public and private!

More commonly though, red tape is usually defined more narrowly as government policies, guidelines, and forms that are excessive, duplicative and/or unnecessary, and that generate a financial or time-based compliance cost!

For the average person who already is weighed down by the job and work timing; the wastage of time is the major factor!

There is also a White tape; which recognizes that regulations that are intended for useful purposes may nonetheless entail a compliance cost.

It is generally believed that the term “red tape” originated in the early 16th century with the Spanish administration of Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, who started to use red tape in an effort to modernize the administration that was running his vast empire. 

The red tape was used to bind the most important administrative dossiers that required immediate discussion by the Council of State, and separate them from files that were treated in an ordinary administrative way, which were bound with ordinary string.

As of the early 21st century, Spanish bureaucracy continued to be notorious for extreme levels of red tape (in the figurative sense)!

In 2013, the World Bank ranked Spain 136 out of 185 countries for ease of starting a business, which took on average 10 procedures and 28 days!

Similar issues persist throughout Latin America. 

In Mexico in 2009, it took six months and a dozen visits to government agencies to obtain a permit to paint a house!

In fact there is an award which is like the IGNOBLE called the Paperweight award which ‘rewards’ and lists cases of Red Tapism!

Town of Smithers in Canada is on this list for the third straight year with what the federation likes to call its “sidewalk to nowhere” bylaw.

In the popular movie ZOOTOPIA, one of the most hilarious and dark comedy scene is the one with the Motor Vehicle department! The reason it was funny is that it was so relatable!

The person at the counter does everything so slow including talk much to the irritation of the officer! I guess such departments are similar all over!

The lethargy to come whenever you want and do work till the next break and still get paid without any accountability is the reason why people prefer government jobs! Of course even they have issues but then the whole system gets you after some time! 

I still remember the mountain of files and permissions I had to get as a class rep for the college trip which was partially sponsored by the government! It was roaming from one desk to another from one office to another in a different city and that too in between the college! We had to stay in an old lodge since we ran out of money! On top of that unluckily that was the day of the state government strike! Then again I am thinking now that the only reason why it got approved was because there was a strike going on and the Babus were eager to finish and scoot! 

The chief issue here is counter check! Even the office workers do not have much leverage since there are people with fake papers and unless it goes through the bureaucratic machinery, the paper does cannot be passed!

Which reminds me of the famous scene in that serial which was an amazing parody to the office workers! OFFICE OFFICE! In one of the episodes, Pankaj stands in front of the official and states that he is alive! But the official tells him that, “That cannot be possible! The document here says that you are dead!”

If you want to take revenge on your enemy, just send him or her to get a official paper! He or she would get his karma! 

The best and in fact an ode to red tape is the book called the Peter Principle by Peter Sutton! That is an amazing novel which tells us about how 

everyone in an organization reaches to his or her own level of incompetence and peaks! This is so true when it comes to most offices especially with a hierarchical structure! The files pile up and the efficacy goes down with each push to the top! And the tape gets more red everyday!

Now while red tape is an ode to that search for accuracy which is actually never attained while poetry and fiction is an ode to abstract which has no limits! Which reminds me of the great poet and writer Kuppalli Venkatappa Puttappa or KUVEMPU! 

The last Monday of the year marked by Red Tape experience! I fervently hope that it does not continue!

Shubh Ratri!