Category: Uncategorized

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…

Do you remember that famous joke on  marriage?

It goes like this; “Do married men live longer?, NO! it only seems longer!”

The jokes on them since it has actually been found that marriage reduces stress! Especially for men!

Now it is not just an old wife’s tale but research by Neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky who categorizes the effect of marriage on stress through the lens of social support and loss of control!

Of course the catchpoint here is that the marriage just like your body and mind MUST be healthy!

A healthy, supportive marriage reduces physiological stress by providing predictability, emotional outlets, and a strong buffering mechanism against chronic external stressors.

Conversely, a toxic or chronically conflicted marriage becomes a severe source of long-term psychosocial stress!

Sapolsky’s research reveals exactly how marriage and relationships influence our stress levels and biology!

The first is the Stress-Buffering Effect. In his work on primates and humans, Sapolsky emphasizes that one of the most effective ways to lower baseline levels of glucocorticoids (stress hormones like cortisol) is having reliable social support!

A supportive spouse provides a feeling of control, reliable predictability, and an outlet for frustrations. When facing external hardships (e.g., financial strain or career pressures), a strong marriage reduces the overall “wear and tear” on the body, famously termed the allostatic load!

Then again you have the Danger of Marital Conflict in which Sapolsky states how stress kills the relationship! According to Sapolsky’s findings in Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, chronic stress impairs the brain’s hippocampus (which governs memory).

Under severe chronic stress, individuals become more self-focused and less empathetic. Instead of working as a team, couples may compete for resources and begin to view each other as adversaries rather than allies!

This unresolved marital tension generates sustained activation of the sympathetic nervous system. This keeps stress hormones elevated, which over time compromises the immune system and increases vulnerability to disease!

In fact the very act of Divorce and the subsequent Social Isolation due to the dissolution of a marriage creates profound psychological and physiological disruption.

The loss of this primary social bond often removes a fundamental buffer against chronic stress, occasionally accelerating the aging process and increasing the risk for stress-related illnesses!

So you want to live a long life? Get Married!
That was not a joke!

If you want real jokes then check out some movies by Salim Kumar…

He was effortlessly funny…
He will be missed…
Heartfelt condolences…

Om shanti…

Hey Baby, Babe, Honey, and Sweetheart or Habibi, Mi Amor (Spanish), and Mon Chéri (French)!

Got your attention I guess!

By the way the one thing common to all of the above is that they are the most common nick names in the world!

Of course they are general and if you have been addressed by them then you can FEEL definitely loved but in General!

Next step would be if you have a nickname which is only for you! Which is as unique as you and is used by someone specific to DEMONSTRATE his or her love for you!

If you have a nickname then you know that you are loved!

I have a Nickname and of course only a select few know or call it! Then again different people can have a diferent Nick name for you!

By the way the word NICKNAME is not NICK’ NAME!

It has a very different origin which of course does not matter now since the idea is finally the same!

But still it is interesting!

Before surnames were widely adopted in medieval England, nicknames were essential for telling people apart. Many of these original descriptive nicknames (e.g., Brown, Russell, or Short) eventually became permanent family surnames!

Many seemingly unrelated nicknames we use today (like Dick for Richard, or Bill for William) originate from medieval rhyming slang and abbreviation practices. In the Middle Ages, writing everything by hand was tedious, so names were shortened for convenience. People then added rhyming variations (e.g., Richard → Rick → Dick) that stuck in everyday street speech!

So apparently the word “nickname” evolved from the Middle English phrase “an ekename,” which literally means “also-name” or “additional name”!

By the 15th century, a linguistic accident known as metanalysis occurred, where the “n” from “an” shifted to “ekename,” eventually changing “an ekename” into “a nickname”.

The term stems from the Old English word eac, which means “also” or “to increase”.

An ekename was exactly what it sounded like: an extra moniker used to describe someone’s physical traits, occupation, or personality.

So you can see since “ekename” started with a vowel sound, people naturally placed the article “an” in front of it (i.e., an ekename).
Over time, through rapid or casual speech, people began misdividing the syllables!

They detached the “n” from “an” and attached it to the beginning of the word, turning an ekename into a nekename, and eventually nickname!

So they NICKED the N and gave it a shorter name! NICKNAME!

Of course if you do have a nickname by which people call you, it does not have to be a good thing always!

I know many who have NICKNAMES which may put a VILLIAN of a soap opera to shame! So if you do not have a nickname, you can still be happy! It may mean you are not loved enough! But it also means that no one hates you enough to give you a nick name!

And no! I will not tell you my nickname!

By the way the actor Sunil Dutt did not have a nickname sunil! Since his actual name was Balraj Dutt!

Now ‘nick’ those mobile scrolling thoughts in the bud sleep!

Shubh ratri…

When you have to settle something you discuss, argue, debate, fight and finally send the drones!

Or you can simply do this!

By the way this way of SETTLING things has been there for ages and even now this is the most commonly used way to settle a matter! In fact the name of the country POLAND was determined by this method!

No matter how many times you do, the odds remain the same!

Which is why even mathematically this is the best way to SELECT!

The end of a famous novel by Jeffery Archer was settled with this!

Even Jai fooled Veeru with this!

Without tossing around too much I will tell you that it is the toss of a COIN!

The history of “Heads or Tails” (the coin toss) dates back to ancient Rome, where it was originally called navia aut caput (“ship or head”). It was used to settle disputes, make everyday decisions, and play games of chance by assigning one choice to the emperor’s portrait and the other to a ship.

In India we have the Chit-Pat (चित-पट)! Chit refers to the face up (head), while Pat refers to the back or flat side (tail)! In official modern Hindi and Sanskrit numismatics, the “head” side is known as Shinha-Mudra, referring to the Lion Capital!

There have been some pretty famous non fictional coin toss though!

In 1845, two early settlers—Asa Lovejoy from Boston and Francis Pettygrove from Portland, Maine—flipped a coin to decide what to name their new settlement in Oregon. Pettygrove won, naming it Portland!

In 1903, the Wright brothers tossed a coin on the dunes of North Carolina to determine who would pilot the Wright Flyer for their first historic flight. Wilbur won the toss, though his initial attempt failed!

The coin toss is globally recognized for offering a fair, 50/50 probability. It is formally utilized in modern sports (such as NFL football matches) to determine field positions, and is even used in some legal and political jurisdictions (like the UK) to break ties in close elections!

Even the million dollar IPL or cricket matches start with the TOSS OF A COIN!

By the way even if you get HEADS a hundred times, the probability of getting the HEAD at the one hundred and first attempt is still 50/50! Wanna bet!?

Find some other person since I never bet!

Then again I can figuratively BET that you do not need a coin to decide which songs of SPB are good! Any choice will be good!

Now Stop TOSSING around on the bed and sleep!

Shubh ratri!!

The world’s longest commercial non-stop flight by both distance and duration is operated by Singapore Airlines between New York (JFK) and Singapore (SIN). The journey spans 15,349 km (9,536 miles) and takes approximately 18 hours and 50 minutes to complete!

So what you would say!

Well, did you know that there is a natural flight which is around 14,000 Km and it is taken by a bird with no GPS or meal break!

Like any long haul flight even here the technical requirement is to lose excess weight and be fit!

The bird is called the BAR TAILED GODWIT! And it is a miracle of nature!

The Bar-tailed Godwit holds the world record for the longest non-stop animal migration.

Each year, these Arctic-nesting shorebirds fly up to 13,500 km (8,400 miles) across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand and Australia in 11 days

Just like how humans prepare for a marathon; even these birds make their prep for a long non stop journey!

Prior to departure, they bulk up at staging grounds like the Kuskokwim Shoals in Alaska. There is an Extreme Fat Loading where the birds go on a feeding frenzy on coastal mudflats, doubling their body weight until 55% of their mass is stored fat!  providing the required energy!

To reduce weight and increase efficiency, they shrink their internal organs (including the gizzard, intestines, kidneys, and liver) by up to 25%!

Then you have the Muscle Boosting! At the same time, they enlarge their heart and flight muscles to maximize oxygen and power output.

Once they land, their internal organs fully regenerate!

Unlike seabirds, godwits cannot land on water to rest. They perform an uninterrupted, continuous flapping flight across the ocean.

Alaska to Australia/New Zealand route done by the subspecies Limosa lapponica baueri is the most famous.

Now the Pioneer was this bird code named E7! In 2007, a female which first proved this incredible feat by flying 11,680 kilometers non-stop over 8 days!

Then in 2022, a juvenile godwit named “B6” set the world record by flying 13,560 km from Alaska to Tasmania in 11 days without stopping!

While the southbound flight is a direct, non-stop trans-Pacific trajectory, the northward return flight to Alaska follows a different path. They fly non-stop from Australasia to staging grounds in East Asia (such as the Yellow Sea) to rest and refuel before heading to the Arctic breeding grounds!

So the return journey is a little easier with a stop!

Then again whenever ‘man’ sees a challenge, instead of getting inspired and learn how to get it done; he starts destroying nature without bothering about the fact that the nature is for everyone and not only for humans!

Because these birds rely heavily on specific mudflats to refuel, they face severe threats. The rapid loss of intertidal habitats around the Yellow Sea due to industrial reclamation has caused a worrying drop in godwit survival rates, making international conservation efforts critical!

The bird can prepare for a long haul by hogging! It may not work for the average HUMAN though!

An above average human though is Nitish Bharadwaj especially when he used to play the role of Bhagwan Shri Krishna…

Now prepare for your FLIGHT to dream land!
Shubh ratri…