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This is actually a deformity but considered to be a mark of elegance!

So much so that one of the most recognisable structures in the world; the statue of Liberty has this deformity!

Now you may say ‘My foot’! And you will be close!

Now did you know that the Statue of Liberty has a longer second toe; sculptor Frederic Bartholdi studied Greek and Roman sculptures, modeling the statue’s feet to define her heritage from the earliest days of civilization!

This ‘deformity’ is called the Metatarsus Atavicus which medically is also known as Morton’s toe or Greek foot!

This is an anatomical variation where the second toe is longer than the big toe. While today it is often associated with foot pain, historically and culturally, it has been revered as a highly prized, classical symbol of beauty, elegance, and nobility!

Ancient Greek sculptors idealized the long second toe, often incorporating it into statues of gods, goddesses, and heroes!

The aesthetic standard persists in famous works like the Venus de Milo and Michelangelo’s David. Even the Statue of Liberty features toes of these proportions!

In certain ancient societies, the longer, narrower second toe was thought to create the illusion of delicacy and grace, making it a highly desirable feature!
Then again the medical reality is not so beautiful!

The appearance of a long second toe is actually caused by a shorter first metatarsal bone. Because the big toe is shorter, weight is shifted to the ball of the foot and the second metatarsal!

You may also end up with Footwear Challenges! Finding well-fitting shoes can be tricky. Experts recommend sizing shoes to the length of the second toe rather than the big toe to prevent crowding and nail issues!

The uneven weight distribution can occasionally lead to calluses, metatarsalgia, or even neuromas!

So being beautiful according to the Roman and Greek standards is not so easy! Now did you really put your FOOT IN MOUTH by saying MY FOOT!?

Then again the first Jurassic park movie was the standard and it went literally done the drain after that! Which reminds me of
Sir Nigel John Dermot “Sam” Neill!

He will be missed…
Heartfelt condolences…

Shubh ratri….

Have you heard of the term Retrouvaille?

We will get to it!

The number one discussion in most WhatsApp group after all the nonsense about politics and well everything else is REUNION! Or even simply a meet!

The final aim of most whatsapp group can be summarized in one line; WHEN WILL WE MEET AGAIN!


The joy of meeting is the supreme joy!

If you are meeting some of your friends after a long time and there is a strong possibility that you may meet him or her only very rarely then the joy is apparently more!

Which is when you understand the term Retrouvaille!

Retrouvaille is a French word meaning “rediscovery” or the joy of a joyful reunion with someone dear after a long time apart.

This concept connects deeply to relationships with friends and family. It captures the emotional magic of picking up right where you left off, even if years have passed!

Retrouvaille and Reunion are similar but the emotions in a Retrouvaille are much more deep and long lasting!

So while a Reunion is simply the act of coming together again (like a school or family event); the Retrouvaille describes the feeling of happiness and deep love during that reunion. It is the warmth of finding your connection again!

Real friendships survive physical distance. A retrouvaille moment happens the moment you hug your best friend at the airport after months or years!

It is also the excitement of sharing life updates while realizing the core of your friendship is still exactly the same!

No wonder the term Retrouvaille is also the name of a famous worldwide program for struggling marriages!  Though I am sure you will not need it since you keep reading my blogs!

Eventually you may become a super star! Like our Jogi!

A true blue Bangalorean would get it immediately!

Did you!?

Lemme know!

Shubh ratri…

A fruit company controlled a country which is why such an arrangement is name after a fruit!

In the late 1800s, American fruit companies, most notably the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita), began buying up huge amounts of land in Central American countries like Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.

Their only aim was to use the land to grow fruit and make profit!

The railways, roads and even the ports were only designed to make transport of materials for the company!

Similar to what East India did to India! All the so called development were only to make things easy to TRANSPORT wealth from India to their own country!

The United fruit company thus acquired massive lands at throwback prices and since they used to control everything they in affect controlled the government!

These companies built railroads and ports to effectively control the local economies and shipping their fruit to North America.

Because the fruit companies held so much economic power, they often interfered with local governments.

So if a leader tried to tax the companies or give land back to the local people, the corporations would use their political influence to help overthrow the government. This resulted in unstable, corrupt leadership that catered to foreign interests!

The country had an economy of state capitalism, where the country is operated as a private commercial enterprise for the exclusive profit of the ruling class.

Typically, such a country would then have a society of extremely stratified social classes, usually a large impoverished working class and a ruling class plutocracy, composed of the business, political, and military elites!

The ruling class controls the primary sector of the economy by exploiting labor.

Such exploitation is enabled by collusion between the state and favored economic monopolies, in which the profit, derived from the private exploitation of public lands, is private property.

At the same time, the debts incurred thereby are the financial responsibility of the public treasury!

All this because such a country was controlled by a fruit company! Did you get the name!? It is BANANA REPUBLIC!

The term banana republic is thus a pejorative descriptor for a servile oligarchy that abets and supports, for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scale plantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation!

So we all know fruits are good for you! But now you know how they can be bad for a whole country!
Now now! Do not go bananas thinking about it!

Then again if you do want to think something nice then you can think about Sistla Sreeramamurthy Janaki…

What a great loss
A big tragedy indeed but an amazing life none the less…

She will be missed

Heartfelt condolences
Om shanti…

In the novel Memoirs of a Primate by Robert Sapolsky; he ends by narrating a sad story which could have been prevented.

This story shows how the greed of the man can even lead to the eradication of a whole species! Of course it is now new!

Time and again we know that the average Homo Sapien is the most dangerous species! He or she has the brains to save the universe and uses it to destroy it as and when he or she can!

Plus you tend to give responsible position to the person who has the LEAST capability of using it or who has only GREED in his or her mind!

So after two decades of bonding with the baboons, a tragic disease strikes!

The first signs are those Baboons who are strong and get the best share of the food! They are the ones who start getting weak and sometimes simply collapse!

When Robert researched them he used to frequently find how the Lung would have simply melted away! You do not need much thoughts to know that it is TB!

In humans it is a chronic debilitating disease but in Baboons it is an acute and dangerous disease which can spread like wildfire! Now before you do could anything you need to know where it came from!

That story is sad and sinister. The Masai tribes rear cows and they have lots but then they are the first to know when the cow is infected with TB. They would then silently take the cow to the hotels and sell the contaminated meat!
The meat inspector would be sufficiently bribed and the obviously infected parts would be thrown on to the garbage dump. The other ‘safer’ lookin meat would then be ‘served’ to the guests! The infected meat thrown on the garbage dump would be eaten by the baboons especially the males who are strong and lazy!

They get infected and it spreads like wildfire! Many would die and Robert cannot do anything since they are all well connected  and tourism is the chief industry in Kenya! He dreams of doing stuff but they all remain a dream!


So you know the cultprit but you cannot do anything! Each and everytime though we know the cultprit is your average Homo of the Sapiens!

Then again that same species is responsible for some memorable things also! Like the movie love story starring Manoj Tuli!

You may know him as …let me know…

Shubh ratri…

In the novel memoirs of a Primate by Robert Sapolsky at one point is simply frustrated with things happening around him!

He then speaks to the wise elders of the Masai tribe who have so much suffering and challenges but then they simple listen to him and say, “That is DUNIYA!”

That word had an intant connect with me since we know Duniya! Since it was the audio book I actually went back couple of times to recheck whether I heard the word correctly or not!

The word is similar in many dialects including Arabic, hindi and Urdu!

The Science of “Duniya” or the the Universe or the world is that human free will is an illusion.

Robert actually then states that that our choices, actions, and entire lives are pre-determined by two main factors over which we have no control!

One is the Biology or the genetics we inherit, the environment in our mother’s womb, and our brain chemistry!

And the other is the Environment! The experiences, culture, and social conditioning we face from the moment of birth!

Every action you take is the result of what happened a split second before, which is the result of what happened an hour before, all the way back to the day you were born.

Therefore, your brain simply “determines” what you will do before you are even consciously aware of it!

Which is when inspired by how DUNIYA operates Sapolsky realises that  we Should live understanding the world this way changes how we treat each other.
Three things are important in this! First is to Eliminate blame; then is to
Treat rather than punish and finally the most important is that we must Reduce judgment!

We should recognize that our successes and privileges are the result of luck (in our biology and environment), not just hard work which is also important! But for everything we have we must also thank our luck!

The life we lead right now with all the struggles and challenges may be a dream for someone else! That is DUNIYA!

Like you can have only have one Sunny cricketer in a Duniya! Of course that’s Sunil Manohar Gavaskar!

Now think about your Duniya and sleep!

Shubh ratri…

You may have seen beautiful family portraits especially those royal places with lineages going back several years!

Each one more beautiful and grand and royal than the other!

But have you heard of a family where each person was more ugly than the other!? Now beauty is a matter of your eyes but this is according to potrait artists!

Let me tell you two chief things which determines the beauty as a potrait artist!

If the nose is good then the face is really beautiful! And if the jaw is bad then the face looks bad!

This whole family turned out to be ugly because of a famous jaw deformity! So famous that there is a name for it and studies done to prevent such ‘complications’!

The jaw is called the Habsburg jaw which is clinically called mandibular prognathism! This is a pronounced genetic facial deformity characterized by an extended, jutting lower jaw and severe underbite.

It is famously associated with the House of Habsburg, a powerful European royal dynasty, and was the biological consequence of centuries of intense, inbreeding to retain political power!


To keep wealth and power concentrated within their lineage, the Habsburgs frequently married close relatives, including first cousins and uncles to nieces!

In 2019, an extensive genetic study published in the Annals of Human Biology confirmed a direct link between the Habsburg’s degree of inbreeding and the severity of their jaw deformities.

This intense level of consanguinity drastically reduced genetic diversity, increasing the rate of recessive gene expressions that caused the physical anomalies!

While mandibular prognathism is the primary trait, many members of the dynasty exhibited a collection of related facial abnormalities all named after Habsburg! Now is that a thing to be proud of or not is your choice!

Apart from the Habsburg Jaw, you also had the Habsburg Lip with a thick, everted (protruding) lower lip and the Habsburg Nose which is a prominent nose featuring a dorsal hump and an overhanging tip!

The trait was heavily documented by portrait artists for over 200 years!

One of the famous person from this family was Charles II of Spain who was also known as El Hechizado or “the bewitched” and he was the last of the Spanish Habsburgs.

His inbreeding coefficient was incredibly high, and his jaw was so severely deformed that he had difficulty chewing, swallowing his food whole, and speaking clearly!

All because of the inbreeding coefficient! Which means that when they say opposites attract, it is very true!

The person who you marry and eventually have kids must having a very less inbreeding coefficient which means that the more you are not related to him or her, the more are the chances that you will have beautiful or at least healthy kids!

Now that’s a fairy tale wedding! Fairytale though were a far cry when it comes to the movies by Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone! But all his movies are cult classics now!

Do you know who that is!?

Lemme know!
Of course don’t lose your sleep over it!

Shubh ratri…

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift’s was an interesting novel growing up! But little did I know that it was a very complicated novel in four parts!

In the novel Seeing further by Bill Bryson he tells about the complexity of this supposedly simple novel!

But we will discuss about that some other day!

Today you will get to know about Struldbrugs!

For the first time ever I will not beat around the bush and tell you that Struldbrugs mentioned in the novel’s third part are immortals!

So when you hear the word immortal you would feel, wow! That is amazing! Even Gulliver thought the same! In fact Gulliver sounds like GULLIBLE! Which was the primary theme! We are all so Gullible!

So Struldbrugs are rare humans born in the nation of Luggnagg who are biologically immortal and are marked at birth with a red spot above their left eyebrow!

The catch here is that they do not stay young!

They continue to age forever. By the time they reach 80 years old, they are physically and mentally ruined. They become blind, deaf, and lose all their teeth!

Their memories stop at middle age, so they cannot even remember modern words or events. They outlive all their family and friends!

But society is not kind to them and in Luggnagg, Struldbrugs are viewed as “legally dead” when they turn 80.

The law takes away their money and property to stop them from owning everything forever. They are not allowed to hold jobs or testify in court. They must live as beggars or rely on the government!

At first, the main character, Lemuel Gulliver, thinks eternal life sounds amazing. He dreams about living forever to become the wisest man in the world. However, when he meets the Struldbrugs, he is horrified by their sad and miserable state. This teaches Gulliver that death is a natural and necessary part of life!

By the way the novel was written in 1726 and see the description of Struldbrugs! Old forgotten and more or less sick with a ‘mark’ over their eyebrow! We have a similar immortal like that written many centuries before with a mark on his forehead who has also been cursed! Do you know who?

Immortality is not all that tempting is it now!? As Anand always says; “Zindagi badi honi Chahiye lambi Nahi!”

So make sure your LIMITED stay in this world is meaningful! Maybe make movies like Asha Kelunni! Some of her malayalam movies like Kilukkam still makes me laugh! You may know her as Revathy!

Now have a Good quality and not a long sleep!

SHubh ratri!

PS- Also lemme know if you got the reference!

Did you know the that Newton invented calculus!

I should have asked ‘Do you know calculus?’, first!

Anyway lets avoid controversial questions! And ask more controversial ones!

Did you know that Calculus was actually not only invented by Newton but also by another Mathematician! 

In fact we actually use his invention today!

Did you also know that Newton was so affected and vindictive of his competition that he did everything possible to keep his competition at bay! Then again truth is like the gold! It will shine forever! 

In the novel Seeing Further by Bill Bryson; he talks about this rivalry and how!

Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz independently invented calculus in the 1670s. Newton invented it first as a tool for physics. Leibniz published his work first. They had a bitter fight over who came first. Leibniz won this fight in the long run. We use his symbols today!

Newton called his system fluxions. He wanted to measure the speed of moving things. He used terms like “fluents” (changing quantities) and “fluxions” (their rates of change).

Leibniz used infinitesimals which are numbers that are infinitely small. They are larger than zero, but smaller than any real number you can name. Think of it like cutting a pizza into a million tiny slices!

The symbols we learn in school come from Leibniz and not Newton!

Leibniz wrote derivatives as fractions! This shows the ratio of tiny changes in y over tiny changes in x!

He wrote integrals as int with a long “S” for summa. It means adding up an infinite number of tiny slices!

Newton used dots and dashes over letters, like ẏ. These are harder to type and use, so modern math classes ignore them!

So we use Leibniz! But who came first!?

Well…

Newton was a secretive man. He did not publish his calculus notes for years. Leibniz figured out the same math on his own ten years later. Leibniz published his work immediately!

When Newton saw Leibniz’s work, he accused Leibniz of cheating. Newton was the head of the Royal Society in London. He used his power to declare himself the first inventor. Historians now agree that both men invented calculus on their own!

Of course Leibniz won in the long term but at a hefty prize! Did you know who Leibniz was until now? While everyone knows Newton! Being the head and being powerful comes with fruits you see! Not everyone can use power judiciously!

Judicious use of talent also is a talent! Like the talented Balamuralikrishna!

Now use calculus to set your alarm! Joking! 

Shubh ratri…

A Primate’s Memoir by neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky

Audio book!

I am going in reverse!

This should have been the first novel I should have read by Robert!

Then again it dose not matter because it is not in series though many incidents are related to his other novels as well as his lectures!

This one is basically a biography on how he ended up studying and living with Baboons for several years and literally became an expert on the Primate behaviour!

His journey and resilience would put anyone to shame!

From the safe environment of America with a safe job, Robert decides to go halfway across the world to a desolate place where even civilization has not reached to spend time with Baboons!

Then again that is passion! If you do not take the trouble; it does not feel worth your time!

This is an adventure book which details his 20+ years studying wild baboons in Kenya.

He blends wildlife science with local culture. Sapolsky proves that social rank and stress hormones affect primate health and life span.

The book explores both animal behavior and human survival in the bush.

Sapolsky grows up in Brooklyn. He falls in love with the African animal displays at the museum. At age 21, the Harvard graduate leaves the US to study a real baboon troop in Kenya.

He studies how stress causes disease. He tests blood and hormone levels. He learns that a baboon’s place in their social group determines their stress.


The primary finding is that the lower-ranking males actually suffer the highest stress!


The ‘imagination’ or notion that the Males are the king and leaders is thrown into the bin at least when it comes to baboons! The males have come from some other troop and they do not know shit! It is the females who are the most experienced! Even in attack unless it is his own kid which is under attack you may find the male sitting comfortably atop a tree being groomed by the trending female! Food is free for all and all the alpha male does is to roam around, eat, seep and have babies with all the leading ladies! When he is ‘away’ the other males have a go! They constantly try to take over the alpha position though and that is a constant cycle!

The book describes much more than just monkeys. Sapolsky faces extreme isolation. He deals with dangerous wild animals, corrupt park rangers, and kidnappers. He also befriends the local Masai people!

All the while you have civil war going on and the government getting collapsed! People fighting and killing with impunity! If you have money then you are alive! Then you have the tribes who drink cow blood! They also drink the milk occaionally! They also are hunters and do not do anything else! Education is a distant dream and ‘their’ way of life is the way of life!

So you can imagine the state of the author being a vegetarian stuck in a place like this! One fine day he gets a leg of a Zebra as a gift from the rangers who are supposed to protect them! Apparently it was a payment they took for delayed salary!

Naorobi is the city to be if you need anything but simple things like a fridge to a permit takes lots of patience and GREASING! Almost everyone is corrupt and only the degrees vary!

He tries to get close to the troop and even gives them Biblical name in spite of being an atheist!

Then you have the darting and the army ants and the hyena attacks! It is a wild safari all around and you cannot stop to take a nap!

In between he does meet his partner and they share more than food habits and then some!

The final chapter is the tragedy and ends up with hope…

After two decades of bonding with the baboons, a tragic disease strikes! A tuberculosis outbreak kills most of his original baboon troop! How they go the disease? All human of course!

The story is sad and sinister. The Masai tribes rear cows and they have lots but then they are the first to know when the cow is infected with TB. They would then silently take the cow to the hotels and sell the contaminated meat! The meat inspector would be sufficiently bribed and the obviously infected parts would be thrown on to the garbage dump. The other ‘safer’ lookin meat would then be ‘served’ to the guests! The infected meat thrown on the garbage dump would be eaten by the baboons especially the males who are strong and lazy!

They get infected and it spreads like wildfire! Many would die and Robert cannot do anything since they are all well connected  and tourism is the chief industry in Kenya! He dreams of doing stuff but they all remain a dream!

I have seen what happens later in his other novel but that is another matter!

Finally the tragedy forces Sapolsky to accept nature’s harsh realities. He transitions from a young, attached field observer to an experienced scientist. He now focuses on the academic side of biology! And talks about the concept of DUNIYA! The world as it is!

With every word you could feel his pain and emotions and this is a treat!


Thank you for doing this Robert…The DUNIYA is a better place because of people like you!

An amazing journey indeed!

In the novel Seeing Further by Bill Bryson which is about the Royal Society he talks about, well the Royal Society!

That is of course not surprising!

Then again he talks about one of the famed members of the Royal Society; one bloke called Isaac Newton!

Then again that is also not surprising!

But! Have you heard of the Newton’s death mask!

That is the juicy story right there! Who told you history is boring! Most probably your biology teacher!

Anyway you must know about this piece of history! Newton’s Death mask!

Newton’s death mask is a plaster or wax sculpture cast within hours of his passing on March 31, 1727!

Created by Flemish artist Michael Rysbrack, it was intended as an anatomical reference for sculpting Newton’s Westminster Abbey tomb.

Several copies exist in institutions like the Royal Society Picture Library and the Huntington Library.

By the way it was not just any other mask! It was taken right after death, which is why the mask shows Newton with closed eyes and a slightly flattened nose due to the weight of the wet plaster!

The existence of multiple authentic copies demonstrates the intense reverence held for Newton during the Enlightenment.

Then you have several historical and modern facts regarding the mask!

Prime of which is the Thomas Jefferson Connection! The plaster mask held at the Huntington Library was once owned by Thomas Jefferson, who prominently displayed it at Monticello as an emblem of the Enlightenment!

An iron/pewter version exists at Woolsthorpe Manor, which was bought in a Camden junk shop in 1930 for just £2.10s! Do not ask me the price now!

In 2012, researchers used an Xbox Kinect to create a highly accurate 3D model of the mask, ensuring the scientist’s physical likeness is preserved forever!

And you thought only the Mask of Jim Carrey was famous!

Then again more famous and pious is Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso! You may know him as the Dalai Lama!

Big respect to his holy grace on his birthday…

Now remove all your pseudo masks and sleep!

Shubh ratri…