Category: Uncategorized

“The blowing wind so cold that it bites

The scattered dust blinds my sight

Then a sudden gust feels like a game

In that noise I feel it calling my name…”

Everyone who is more or less normal likes a good song once in a while though the type of song may vary!

Some of the best songs are always remembered and many times they are sung by the Man with amazing lyrics to woo everyone!

There is a big ‘man’ in the ocean who does the same! 

intrigued!? Read on!

The classic next door neighbour or even the smart kid in the school gets an instant elevation in status if he can sing! Of course singing the popular songs is the way to go and if he could play an instrument then thats epic!

All said and done a combination of boy singing with a guitar is the boy or the dude who is the most popular in most schools and colleges!

This interest in singing is a sign of development since the conventional ‘alpha’ male phenomenon! 

Now if that guy could dance! Then there is not stopping him! The most popular kids of the schools would usually be these singer/dancers or the captain of the school cricket team or the sports team! Rest of ‘us’ geeks would be in the audience clapping!

Even in these you have to note that it is not the song or the dance but the attitude and confidence which makes them cool!

It is no wonder that songs which reflect these have always been popular! 

We of course know that birds also ‘sing’ and that too melodious songs but apparently there is an animal who is of course closely related to us, who also sings!

The Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are capable of the production of complex songs. These songs are amongst some of the longest measured in animals. Only male humpback whales perform these vocalizations. 

Male humpback whales produce complex songs during the winter breeding season. These vocals range in frequency between 100 Hz and 4 kHz, with harmonics reaching up to 24 kHz or more, and can travel at least 10 km (6.2 mi)!

Males may sing for between 4 and 33 minutes, depending on the region. In Hawaii, humpback whales have been recorded vocalizing for as long as seven hours!

Songs are divided into layers; “subunits”, “units”, “sub phrases”, “phrases” and “themes”. 

A subunit refers to the discontinuities or inflections of a sound while full units are individual sounds, similar to musical notes. A succession of units creates a subphrase, and a collection of subphrases make up a phrase. Similar-sounding phrases are repeated in a series grouped into themes, and multiple themes create a song.

The function of these songs has been debated, but they may have multiple purposes. There is little evidence to suggest that songs establish dominance among males. However, there have been observations of non-singing males disrupting singers, possibly in aggression. Those who join singers are males who were not previously singing. Females do not appear to approach singers that are alone, but may be drawn to gatherings of singing males! So males even in a group songs have some hope!

It has also been suggested that humpback whale songs have echolocating properties and may serve to locate other whales.

Whale songs are similar among males in a specific area. Males may alter their songs over time, and others in contact with them copy these changes.

Humpback whales even produce short, low-frequency “grunts” and short, modulated “barks” when joining new group! 

So not that far away from humans right!?  Now go have a whale of a time and maybe listen to a nice song instead of singing! Nice pleasant song reminds me of the simply peaceful and melodious song ‘main to aarti utaaroon’ by celebrity Usha Mangeshkar!

Listen to that in the evening or early morning though!

Shubh ratri!

Audible narrated by the author himself!

Running length more than ten hours!

It is always a pleasure listening and reading books and novels by William Dalrymple since the way he describes suff is music!

Of course the best thing is that the narration is straight from the heart!

It is so unfortunate that what we all know to be true is universally accepted only when a ‘English’ man with an amazing accent tells it to the world! The same words with an Indian accent or even in any other language does not have much power even if is true!

This is in spite of the abysmal way William Pronounces the Indian and specifically the Sanskrit words! It was painful to listen to him narrate the indian names! Then in the end he talks about Laila and MAJUN! (that was not a typo! That is how he pronounced Majnu!)

He gets so many stories in the Puranas wrong!

But in spite of all these, the attempt to bring out the glory of India deserves a big salute and Namaste from my side and all Indians when many within do not have much respect for out great history!


The golden road is the spice route and how the trade flourished so much so that India was one of the richest countries in the world! In fact any place you find so much wealth and prosperity was known as India! It was a synonym of richness! It still is…

Even now he declares with pride how one city of Indonesia is named Ayodhya or how the national airways of Thailand is Garuda! Goosebumps!


The chief matter of the book though is the role of Buddha and the birth and emergence of Buddhism

The importance and the construction of nalanda and the sections it used to have been described so well! It was a university unlike any other in the world! With so many sections and floors and a big collection of books! Getting into the university was the most coveted and the hardest thing at that time!

The chance discovery of Ajantha caves has been told by a charming story and how! Which leads to the typical William style of story telling of the stories of the kings and queens and story of ashoka!

He also tells about the rise of Buddhism in the rules of Ashoka, Chandragupta and maurya stories!

The most interesting ones were the the stories from china! Probably because the Indian stories we already knew! The ones from China were new!

The most engaging ones were the story of the monk and his and arduous journey! It ends well but it takes time! He was responsible for the translation of the ancient indian texts and the propagation of the same!

He then narrates the story of the the concubine who became an empress! This story told with his epic narration seemed like a script of Game of Thrones! It is one of the most rivetting stories of rise to be the empress of China! From a ordinary woman to the most powerful one! The first and the last Empress of China!

The rise of budhism in china have been told with these epic stories and then the fall! By the time it rose in China you could see its fall even in India

The novels ends with notes about Genghis Khan, Akbar and Persians.

Still he does mention about the role of Indians in the discovery of mathematics and the modern numerical system which is Indian! Also the biggest contribution of India in the world of mathematics! The Shunya or the ZERO!

If you do not want the bad pronunciation of Indian words, you can read the ebook! But to get the message and goosebumps as an Indian; listen to the audiobook! You will feel pride; if you are a true Indian of course!

The way he concludes how India has always been at the forefront of education whether it is ancient times or even now made me feel so much pride especially since I am presently not in India!

Read and listen as soon as possible!

“The earth and the sky so huge

You can see them meet so far!

You try to catch the place!

But then realise it’s as far as the star!”

Have you realised that the most dangerous area of your house is the toilet and the most dangerous fluid is water!

Intrigued!? Read on!…

The first thing we have always been taught to do is to wash our legs or at least remove the shoes and keep them outside! You can never wear the outside shoes or footwear and walk inside the house!

The fact that most of the places had some reverence was the added thrust! We cannot imagine wearing those shoes inside! This was so good since of course is a matter of hygiene.

Furthermore you may wear slippers but they would be slippers for the house and then you have another set of slippers which were only for the toilet! The ones for the toilet or the Bathroom slippers would always be firm rubber slippers with good grip!

This is because it has been found that the toilet is one of the most dangerous room of your house! In fact in many of our houses the toilets would not have firm locks by design and in any case the children toilets would not have locks or would not be locked from inside as a rule. 

The other thing we were always careful about was the spill! If you spill water you must clean it immediately or at least put a cloth over it! Spilling water was an emergency of sorts! This is because water is colourless! You cannot see water and as Bon Jovi says’ “It is definitely slippery when wet!”. 

These practices are very important since water and floor have been associated with over 2.135 million hospital visits every year!

Nearly 2,000 deaths resulted from floor-related injuries in the home in 2022!

That’s more than double the deaths caused by anything else in the home!

The high risk is for the extremes of population and a slippery floor. 

For those with preexisting conditions or at high risk, a fall can also reveal or trigger a problem that becomes fatal. We have often advised patients with giddiness that most of the peripheral vertigo is usually not life threatening. But the fall may be fatal. 

Another dangerous area of the house are the Stairs or steps with around 1.027 million hospital visits and Beds or bed frames which recorded 912,000 hospital visits!

In fact Beds and bed frames aren’t just a risk for adults. They are linked to more than 80,000 injuries among children under 2 years old annually making them a more dangerous object for young kids than almost anything else in the home.

Finally a dangerous combination of slippery floor and closed space is the Bathtubs or showers! Plus we tend to ignore the lights of the toilet and give very little space when actually it should be one of the most important room! 

Important reminds me of an important celebrity Raj Kapoor whose movies were a treat to watch! 

Now mop the spills and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

“The green grass you can see far and wide
The tall mountain the nature’s pride!
The running river so serene while noisy is the sea!
For all the AI generated images, nature is the most beautiful you see!”


The device was a constant fixture in every house those days! Especially in the south! Do you know that a crocodile also uses the same technique to ‘grind’ food!?

Intrigued!?

Read on!

Yeah do not worry! Without much delay let me tell you that the answer is the famous Grinding stone!

Of course now most houses have either a Grinder or maybe just a Mixie; those days, the grinding stone was the way to go!

Even now many places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu still use the Grinding stone and there are people who can vouch that the chutney or the Flour made with the grinding stone has that ‘special’ taste!

It is like the rice cooked in an open vessel versus the cooker! We of course are so used to any rice, but apparently the open vessel cooked rice is much more tasty!

I still remember how my mother used to start grinding for the Dosa or the Idly and I can swear that they used to be so soft and fluffy! I do not remember the taste of any gravy or chutney grinded by the stone grinder but my father often used to say that the real taste is the ones made or grinded by the stone!

Later on of course with the coming of the Mixie, the flour or the chutney was done in minutes! The haste in making and eating made it sure that no one ever bothered about the ‘actual’ taste! So in weekends or special occasions my mother used to use the grinding stone. Even that got replaced soon enough by the Grinder which was more or less trying to get the ‘taste’ of stone grinding with the ease of a mixie!

It was of course reserved for big loads only which of course was weekends or rare days since the whole procedure of cleaning the grinder was a big chore! The mixie was simply too easy!

But the whole process of grinding two stones with the things in between was an art! There were two distinct types of such stones and even these two had a pair! The one which was round with a hole in the centre was mainly for more liquid or flowing grinding like the dosa or idly four while the flat stone was mainly for the semi solid or gravy like stuff like the chutney or ‘chammandi’ as they say in Kerala! Each of these had two stones called the chinna kalla or small stone and the periya kalla or the big stone!

The round one had the second stone in the hole itself with some space in between! The whole process was not easy to do and there was a learning curve. Frequently in between you had to stuff more solid stuff along with the rhythm! If you miss then your hands would be crushed with no mercy! Children were never allowed to use this contraption! Even the small stone which had to be lifted and cleaned was heavy and huge! Only the strong person of the family would lift and clean it!

The way the dal or the chilly or the small onions or the coconut used to get crushed without mercy was fascinating to say the least!

Now of course the little mixie does the job without much fuss! Of course how the grinding stone made its way to the kitchen is historical but apparently even some animals use this grinding to grind their food!

The animal is Crocodile!

Apparently throughout their lives crocodiles ingest small stones known as gastroliths, these stones remain in the first section of the crocodiles’ stomach and are thought to work in the same way as a bird’s gizzard, mechanically grinding up the contents!

I guess the stones add some natural flavour to the food which is why it tastes good! Then again it take effort to grind with the stone so maybe that is the added flavour! The two stones working either side by side or parallel to each other used to create flavour magic! Parallel reminds me of the pioneer of parallel cinema Shyam Benegal!

Now soak some rice and dal for the dosa and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“He can spin the earth with just a thought!
If you challenge him then you are a crackpot!
He can change the colour of the sky to black from blue!
He is no ordinary human! That’s Rajni for you!”

This clothing accessory is many times ornamental while at times can literally save your honour!

Sometimes though it can be used to beat your honour!

The use of this accessory was so scary that it was banned in prison! It still is!

intrigued!?

read on…

The only time I do not usually wear this accessory is when I wear my scrubs! Otherwise you can never find me not wearing it if I am wearing a pant! It does not matter whether I need it or not!

I have always been taught to wear it with pants and that is how it has always been!

Now before you get any under the ‘belt’ ideas! The answer is actually the belt!

I cannot imagine not wearing a belt! Even when it is jeans or casual pants, the belt is a must! That completes the attire! When I do not wear the belt, I feel exposed!

It is another matter that I had always wanted to wear the army belt one day which is when my obsession with belt started! My dad used to have this amazing belt with his beautiful uniform! He used to shine it so much that we could see our face on it! After adjusting the size it used to fit perfectly!

Even our school uniforms used to have such belts! The only time I lost a belt was in the LKG in Nalanda public school in Kota for which I had to get an earful from my mom and pay the fine! After that I have always taken care of my belts!

During college days the pants used to change but the belts ( I had a couple then) used to be the same! The were the adjustable ones since the regular belts with holes never used to fit me!

I used to pierce extra holes if I had the normal belt!

Unfortunately now, belts are perfect size! Those days though without the belt, there is a very likely chance that the pant could fall!

Once during a college program, my jeans buckle buttons broke! I was left with a loose jeans with no belt in a room full of college guys and gals! And I was literally holding on to my pants! Then luckily I had the rakhee thread which I improvised to tie the ends of the jeans! That thread literally saved my honour (however less it was though!).

That may be the only rare occasion when I forgot to wear the belt with jeans! After that incident, if the pants have belt hooks, then rest assured they will be belted!

Apparently the earliest documentation of male belts goes all the way back to the Bronze Age. In the beginning, belts were primarily utilitarian as a means of carrying tools or weapons. Military girdle bands worn around the waist and designed to keep weapons in place are considered the first belts in history. Leather belts were also very popular in military due to their flexibility and durability which granted freedom of movement and some protection.

Even though men in Europe had started wearing pants in the 16th century, it took until the middle part of the 19th century for trouser waists to fall to a lower line and belt loops to be created! The belt finally transcended its application as a military tool turning it into an essential accessory!

In some countries, a father’s belt could be associated with corporal punishment! As belts are constructed out of materials like leather that were both strong and light, a belt can be easily wielded to produce intense pain by using it as a whip! The common scene of removing the belt in preparation of a ‘belting’ is well known to many old timers!

Since the 1980s and more commonly in the mid-1990s, the practice of ‘sagging’ the pants, in which the waistbands of trousers or (typically long) shorts are worn at or below the hips, thereby exposing the top part of any underwear not obscured by an upper-body garment, has been seen among young men and boys!

This practice is believed to have originated with prison gangs and the prohibition of belts in prison (due to their use as weapons and as devices for suicide!) — historically, including in the latter part of the 20th century, gang-affiliated young men and boys were expected to wear their belts fastened tightly!

Talking about young men and tough guys reminds me of celebrity and the king of kings! The one and only Rajni! Like I always say, there is nothing which Rajni CANT do!

Now wear your belt less Night Dress and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“The rain drop that fell on you
Could have been the morning dew
You pushed it away from the rose
It came back to give you the same dose!”

There is an appliance in your house which was illegal in one form in the early 90s!

In fact it used to cause suffocation so much so the cause of suffocation was named after that appliance!

now do not lose your cool!

read on!

The scene in one of the Indiana Jones movie shows Indy getting inside a refrigerator to escape a Nuclear explosion! Apparently it was safe during a nuclear explosion! Then again it is a big if! Since very close to the explosion it may not give you much protection!

Further away though it could save you from bumps and falls to an extent! You may still end up with broken bones and some lacerations and then some! Whether you would survive or not, well no one can know for sure!

Am sure that information would come in handy!

But the refrigerator may not be the messiah of safety as Indy shows! In fact in the early days of refrigerator, it was one of the leading causes of death by suffocation! In fact the term used those days since it was so common was refrigerator death!

A refrigerator death is death by suffocation in a refrigerator or other air-tight appliance. Because, by design, such appliances are air-tight when closed, a person entrapped inside will have a low supply of oxygen!

Early refrigerators could only be opened from the outside, making accidental entrapment a possibility, particularly of children playing with discarded appliances; many such deaths have been recorded!

The issue with these refrigerators was that those refrigerator were places with a poor air supply, a heavy lid or a self-latching door.
Children playing games – such as hide and seek – may crawl inside and become trapped.
The watertight or airtight seal prevents them from getting air, and the appliance’s noise insulation prevents their screams from being heard and very soon suffocation follows
Apart from refrigerators and similar equipment such as iceboxes, freezers, and coolers, equipment such as clothes washers, dryers, and toy chests can also put children at risk of refrigerator death.

The refrigerator in our house was this mammoth appliance which used to silently hum in a corner and get special status! The house with a refrigerator those days was a gifted house since food would not get spoilt and you can get ice whenever you want!
Of course how frequent and how much ice was limited!

The freezing tray was a magical place which looked like Kashmir every time we used to open it!

The earliest refrigerators regardless of the cooling technology, had doors on the units which were sealed shut using a mechanical latch. I used to remember that refrigerators had this lock which was used only when we used to shift houses. No other time was the lock used! In fact the key was so small and delicate that many times a small knife could open the refrigerator!

Apparently after World War II when production of refrigerators resumed, old refrigerators were often disposed of. But one statistics for the 18 months from January 1954 to June 1956 showed that 54 children were known to have been trapped in household refrigerators, and that 39 of them died!

As the issue rose in prominence, people were asked not to abandon refrigerators and to detach the doors of unused refrigerators! Many places actually enacted legislation making the abandonment of a refrigerator with a latch in a location where a child might find it illegal!

At least as early as 1954, alternative methods of securing air-tight closures had been suggested and starting in the mid-1950s, volunteers and health inspectors searched out abandoned refrigerators in order to detach doors and break latches.

Around the world, manufacture of latch refrigerators has been replaced by that of ones with magnet-closing doors with a lock and key which could be locked only from outside.

The next time you open the doors of your refrigerators with ease; just put a thought on the tragic history. Talking about Technology and tragedy; it is indeed a big loss to have lost SM Krishna. He will be remembered as the one who made Bengaluru the tech hub it is today!

Heartfelt condolences…
OM shanthi

Shubh ratri!

“He heard the truth and then he was sad

When it was not known it was bad!

But now he understood that’s its even more worse!

Sometimes knowing the truth is definitely a curse!”

Breaking news!

The internet is dead!

It has apparently been so since 2021!

now before you start your condolence messages; 

read on!

The other day I read a story about a guy from Dubai who landed for his marriage and a big crowd only to find his instagram bride non existant or disappeared! 

Now of course it could be an imposter and cheat which is the likely diagnosis but then it could very well been a bot!

That brings us to this interesting theory that internet is dead!

The Dead Internet Theory is the belief that the vast majority of internet traffic, posts and users have been replaced by bots and AI-generated content, and that people no longer shape the direction of the internet! This is not very far  from the truth!

The theory was floating around in the late 2010s, but it was solidified and amplified in 2021 after a lengthy post describing the theory was posted on a thread titled “Dead Internet Theory: Most Of The Internet Is Fake,”!

This is really puzzling because suppose you search for any imaginative stuff which your mind can conjure, you would get a bag of results!

Imagine you search for Batman dog! You will get so many results! Some of the images would be so bizarre but some so realistic that you will be amazed! Some of these hyper-realistic images have garnered so much likes and comments!

Try it and come back! Think of any bizarre stuff which pops into your already weird mind and see if Google can get you what you thought!

This is of course not real and is actually generated by the AI! The real artists are dead!

The “dead internet theory” thus has an explanation that the AI and bot-generated content has surpassed the human-generated internet!

Already, there is strong evidence social media is being manipulated by these inflated bots to sway public opinion with disinformation – and it’s been happening for years!

In 2018, a study analysed 14 million tweets over a ten-month period in 2016 and 2017. It found bots on social media were significantly involved in disseminating articles from unreliable sources. Accounts with high numbers of followers were legitimising misinformation and disinformation, leading real users to believe, engage and reshare bot-posted content!

So much so that every ‘fact’ checker in the net has his or her work cut out! Of course most of the so called ‘fact’ checkers have a checkered past or motive which is why they may only present one or ‘their’ point of view of the truth! Since truth is many times a point of view and purely a human phenomenon!

This approach to social media manipulation has been found to occur after important events in many countries. In 2019, a study found bot-generated posts on X (formerly Twitter) heavily contribute to the public discussion, serving to amplify or distort potential narratives associated with extreme events!

Uncovered by activists and journalists, the coordinated efforts used bots and AI to create and spread fake information, reaching millions of social media users!

This scale of influence is significant. Some reports have even found that nearly half of all internet traffic in 2022 was made by bots. With recent advancements in generative AI – such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT models and Google’s Gemini – the quality of fake content will only be improving!

At a top level, the concept is that artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots automatically churn out social media posts designed to farm clicks, comments and likes on platforms like Facebook and TikTok. They do this because more engagement leads to more advertising dollars!

In other words, everything is happening between machines, no humans needed. Go deeper down the rabbit hole, and some dead internet proponents argue that government organizations use these bots to manipulate human opinions!

Of course everyone knows that you do not need anyone else to manipulate human opinions! We can do that job pretty well ourselves!

Talking about humans and manipulations and the ‘truth’ reminds me of this amazing movie called the Kishkindha Kaandam and the splendid acting by Narayanapillai Vijayaraghavan! 

What a performance! Which unlike the Dead internet was alive and rich! The chief message being; “you do not need to know the truth always! Some truths are best not known!”

Check it out when you can!

Now even if you think the internet is dead, remember that the bots do not stop! You can! So do that!

Shubh Ratri!

“The home feels so safe and in order
Tis because of the men at the border
They do not sleep or rest
Till your security is the best”

Words cannot describe the feeling of watching the Movie Amaran; I had the similar feeling when we watched the movie Border.

The amount of sacrifice the family of an army personnel goes through can never be put on paper.

No amount of compensation would do justice.

At least we can give respect and recognition where it is due.

read on…

Every moment in the movie we know that Mukund is going to be Martyred (That is not a spoiler since if you do not already know about Major Mukund then the system has failed you); but the stress of anything can happen anytime has been shown so well.

The support of parents, the love of wife and kid and the financial issues which an average army personnel faces has been shown so well!


So in case you did not know about Mukund, let me refresh your knowledge of those who give you a good sleep in the night.

Major Mukund Varadarajan, was an officer in the Indian Army’s Rajput Regiment, and is remembered as a fearless leader who prioritized his team’s safety and well-being.

In every scene he is shown not as a boss who just orders around but a leader who leads from the front!

Mukund came from an Army family—his grandfather and two uncles served in the military. This inspired him to join the Army and fight for his country. Though in the movie it has been shown that he got inspired by a visit of an army passing out parade which can also be true.

He joined the Rashtriya Rifles, an anti-terrorism wing of the Indian Army known for its rigorous work in Jammu and Kashmir, where officers operate under challenging conditions to maintain peace and security. His career in the armed forces was marked by resilience, courage, and a dedication to protecting civilians.

Major Mukund Varadarajan gained widespread recognition for his role in multiple counter-terrorism operations. On April 25, 2014, he led an operation in Shopian, Kashmir, where intelligence had identified three suspected militants hiding in a residential area. Aware of the risk, Major Mukund and his team courageously entered the zone and engaged in a close-range firefight. Demonstrating extraordinary bravery, he eliminated three militants, saving numerous lives but sustaining severe injuries in the process. He succumbed to his wounds later that day, sacrificing his life for the mission. With remarkable courage, swift decision-making, and strategic precision, he led his team to eliminate three top-ranked Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, achieving success at great personal cost!

The way he has been shown to be brave and fearless and a typical army man is simply superb!

Major Mukund was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, India’s highest peacetime military decoration, for his bravery and service!

The movie has been narrated by his wife and I guess it is her point of view which has been played so well by Sai pallavi and the lil kid!

The surge of emotion and the pride of being an Indian and how much the defence services does for us has been shown without any exaggeration.

This blog and sketch dedicated to Major Mukund.

Shubh ratri

Jai Hind…

“The road was so busy the Lil boy was slow!

Then a guy held his hands and told let’s go!

They crossed with confidence and that’s that!

Then the boy looked stumped at the guy as blind as a bat!”

One of the cool features of many automatic cars is the cruise control!

You set a speed and then foot off the pedal! If the road is free and wide and the distance is long then nothing left to do!

Which is when folks get sleepy!

Then again there are some who can sleep in such speeds even apparently with one eyes closed!

That is super cool!

read on!

Road trips are fun especially when you are not alone and done with family! The constant chatter and talk and the amazing music makes you peppy!

In case you are driving which I personally love to do; the most important thing is that you are alert and that you do not sleep!

When the song is peppy and the music is loud and you have just started then it is really ok! The issue is usually driving after a full meal (which of course I avoid! The full meal that is!)! That is when the chance of sleeping is high! You also cannot put songs which may put you to sleep!

Of course now if you are a responsible driver, it is unlikely that you will sleep or if you are sleep, it is always better to take a break and a short nap before you proceed. Unless of course you are in a hurry!

Another important thing is that if there is a passenger sitting in the front seat then he or she MUST not fall asleep! Only then he or she should sit in the front along with the driver! 

Many times we have seen children or old people sitting in the front seat and falling asleep; this is very dangerous since then the driver has a tendency of falling asleep too! Of course it depends on the driver and the road and several other points but the fact of the matter is that all it needs is one incident! So it is always better to be careful!

In highway drives and in very comfortable seats the tendency of falling asleep is always there! Which is probably why the driver’s seat in many buses are not very comfortable by choice!

Which brings us to the observation of this species which can ride night long and continuously without falling or having an accident!

In fact this species can sleep on the top of a tree without falling!

Yes! The bird!

Most birds are diurnal, meaning they’re awake during the day and asleep at night. These species will find something to perch on, like a branch or a windowsill, for the night. Then, the bird will fluff out its down feathers, turn its head around, tuck its beak into its back feathers, and pull one leg up to its belly before falling asleep. If you think that is not comfortable then well it is not for you but for the bird you see!

The position is actually, quite warm for the snoozing bird. Down feathers, the short fluffy feathers under the sleek outer ones, hold in heat. The bare parts of the bird (the beak and the legs) are tucked in to keep warm under the thick blanket of feathers as temperatures drop for the night!

Also it is very unlikely that roosting birds will fall from their perch! When the bird 

places weight on its feet, the muscles in the leg force the tendons of the feet to tighten, keeping the foot closed! This gives the bird a vice-like grip around any branch it may be resting on, so the bird doesn’t slip off. The grip is fixed and then they can have a shut eye without any harm!

Then again, the birds just cannot sleep off! The nature is a dangerous place and sleep is a luxury! 

The first important thing is that unless they are in a state of torpor, birds tend to sleep in small snatches until startled awake either by a predatory threat, neighbor, or cold conditions!

Another amazing thing is that some can even sleep with one eye open, as half of their brain is alert while the other is asleep!

This is called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep (USWS) and it allows the sleeping bird to spring into action quickly from rest if a threat approaches while still being able to satisfactorily rest if no threat arises!

Ducks and waterfowl are particularly good at this, though other birds such as Peregrine Falcons and Eurasian Blackbirds can do this as well.

Species that use this adaptation may even be able to sleep while flying!

The long migration flights of many species don’t allow for many chances to stop and rest. But a bird using USWS could both sleep and navigate at the same time. There is evidence that the Alpine Swift can fly non-stop for 200 days, sleeping while in flight! 

And you thought sleeping on a comfortable seat with the sheet and low light on a flight for couple of hours is a great achievement! It is of course since I feel it is ridiculously uncomfortable to sleep in the flight! If only we had USWS! Then again sleep is not your cup of tea, Mr Bond! Of course that was not me! But celebrity Dame Judith Olivia Dench! Only she can take on anyone without any fear!

Now close both your eyes and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

A Book Summary of“Scary Smart” by Mo Gawdat — Understanding AI and Its Impact on Humanity

E BOOK

Genre Non fiction

Mo Gawdat is an ex Google employee and among the many things he warns about AI and he tells about this interesting law!

So when the AI revolution really comes, an average human is simply worried about his or her job was his analysis! He states how that is not the biggest risk!


Another meme had this statement where the person always used to tell please after her command Google or Alexa to either play music or tell the time! Later on it is shown how when the AI uprising occurs, they would spare her! The AI leader would say, “Let her live! She always used to say Please!”
In the same way Mo also talks to his AI all around decently and uses the words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and basically treats them with respect!

He also tells how when we get into an accident by a car driven by us; we try to learn from that mistake and may or may not try to correct the same!
But when an AI or self driven car makes a mistake ALL self driving cars learn from that mistake! Every single one of them! Even those who are not ‘born’ or created yet! The tech world is the only place in the world where the new machine is already backwards compatible!

Also he says that by 2049 (which is not very far by the way!); the AI will be a billion times more smarter than you! Then it will be like you have a the intelligence of a housefly (not the fly in the movie EGA!) but an average housefly who sits on garbage while the AI would be like the Einstein!

So how do we treat the being which is like a fly! We swat that annoying buzzing fella! What do you think the AI would do to us!?
Scary! Well that is the point!

Over three half of the novel is to scare you about the dangers of AI and you will be at the edge of your seat! His analogy of AI being his kids or like children is scary and dark!

The way it becomes intelligent is by asking and analysing what went wrong and how it can improve!

All in all he states how there have been so many incidents where the AI has time and again showed how dangerous it can be!

The fact that he uses an app to dictate! Then he uses the google doc for summarizing! He also assumes that the AI would be reading or has already read what he has written and in a twist addresses the AI in sweet words that He know ‘you’ are reading and tries to be ‘nice’ to ‘it’!

He tells about the AI which defeated the most complicated game in the world!

He constantly tells about Donald Trump and about Elon Musk but then again so does anyone who has a point to make in this present times!

After warning you so many times he also constantly tells you about his start up and app which you can download and get three months prime subscription if you use a code! That kind of marketing is what scares me!

This when he mentioned how the instagram AI gets his attention and tastes and gives him ads and reels depending on them! Of course he tries to confuse that AI also!

He mentions about the scary story of about the bots made by FB which started communicating with each other in code! It was really scary smart!

But towards the end of the novel the author tones down a lot and comes across very close to being preachy. He tells about how the AI simply would learn what we teach! It will behave how we behave! He also adds that there is hope and this is when I understood his emotions!

The simple thing is MO is in pain and you can feel it. He had lost his son in a medical issue and though he is not blaming anyone or telling anything more about it you know that he is sad.

My heart goes out to him after that and then the whole premise of toning down and even going to the extent of calling the AI his child and even addressing the ‘AI’ in the novel with comfort and patience!

After Nexus this is another book to offer a prophecy of the danger of AI and actually goes one step ahead and tries to give you solution on what can be done so you can do it!

Ironically it was an Instagram Reel which made me read this book! The reel was about him telling about the EInstein and fly analogy!

Read it…when you can…