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“He was hanging in mid air nay a care 

Just a thin rope holding him high!

He was a trapeze artist of great repute!

With every jump he tries to reach the sky!”

How do you feel when someone calls you a retard? Well, of course angry but still it is really great that you understand the meaning of retard so that actually makes you not one! Now that is not a justification of calling or getting called a retard! 

Now, do you know a similar sounding word called Leotard?

Read on! 

Well, it has nothing to do with retard and was in fact quite an intelligent work and is in fact named after its inventor who not only was intelligent but also has a song inspired by him!

So the story goes that Jules was born in France and was a good student! But he wanted to fly! That is good you may ponder but in his case, he literally wanted to fly!

So while he was on track to become a Liar…I mean, Lawyer; he began to experiment with trapeze bars, ropes and rings!

Of course the apple didn’t fall far from the tree since he was actually trained by his father who taught gymnastics and managed a swimming pool!

Remember those famous acts of Trapeze artists where they balance on top of a rope! Well, Jules would practice his trapeze stunts suspended over the pool!

Falling would make him only wet and a little upset! 

The one thing Jules was annoyed with was the fact that there were no tight dresses which could fit him in one piece without any flying over or over hang!

In the movie incredibles, the official superhero cloth designer always used to say that a super hero must not have a cape! Simply because it will get stuck somewhere and that does happen to the supervillain so that is that! 

So the mother which was necessity in this case and not his own mother (though she might have done the stitching for all we know!); made him design a skin-tight, knitted one-piece he invented to allow him total freedom and aerodynamics! 

Because it was so form fitting, there was no danger of any fabric catching or flapping as he performed!

Also you must understand that unlike the puny skinny kids like me at that age, Jules was a well built man so he had no qualm of showing of his tight corners or masculinity on full display much to the apparent delight (I am assuming!) of ladies and gents alike! 

With his slim fitting Superhero single fit outfit Jules was unstoppable! 

In 1859, Jules invented the flying trapeze act!

He became the first person to complete a somersault in mid-air and the first to jump from one trapeze to the next! 

Now you will scream (like a retard!) that you have seen this often so what is so great about it?!

Well, Jules was the first one to do these stunts high up in the sky for the FIRST time WITHOUT any safety net! 

As far as the song is concerned, the song: “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” by George Leybourne was inspired by him! And no! I am yet to listen to the song but I am sure it will be a high flying one!

Anyway, Jules sported his skin-tight uniform for the rest of his career. And sixteen years after his death, the name “leotard” caught on! (Maybe that is why it is called Sweet sixteen!; Now that is definitely a retarded joke!). 

Paris ballet schools were the first non-circus performers to adopt the leotard. And over a century later, leotards are still sold and used at dance and gymnastics schools to this day or night for that matter! 

All because a masculine man who wanted to be a Lawyer decided to wear a tight dress and fly! Masculine roles with a sensitive touch reminds me of birthday celebrity P. Samuthirakani!

Now wear your two piece night dress and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

“It was made in an instant
Without a chance to think
Jump into the water first
Then think about float or sink…”

In the amazing book by Daniel Kahneman called’ Thinking, Fast and Slow you have a section on something called Heuristic and Bias.

The whole concept has now taken a management level and Heuristics is an important phenomenon!
Remember that famous joke on how in an interview one person was asked, “What is your greatest positive quality?”
The person answered I make quick and prompt decisions!

So he was later asked some complicated mathematical problem like what is the square root of say ten thousand and he answered instantly “ten!” (or something; the answer is not important here so do not get into the accuracy!)

The interviewer shouted, “But that is completely wrong!”

To which the person replied, “I said I make prompt or quick decisions! I did not tell that I make the right decisions!”

That is closer to Heuristic!

Though it sounds like Heretic, which means someone whose beliefs or actions are considered wrong by most people, because they disagree with beliefs that are generally accepted; Heuristic is close but means something else!

The root meaning is from Ancient Greek which literally translates to “I find, discover”! And is thus the process by which humans use mental shortcuts to arrive at decisions.

Practically, heuristics are simple strategies that humans, animals, organizations, and even machines use to quickly form judgments, make decisions, and find solutions to complex problem!

Some common examples in day to day life are like how a person is stuck in traffic and makes an impulsive decision to take the other route even though he or she does not know the way. Someone is offered a job and accepts it without further details and so on!

When you apply affect heuristic, you view a situation quickly and decide without further research whether a thing is good or bad

This is an important tool in marketing and sales because Impulse buying is a great way to make sales!

There are some variations to this and modifications like a term called the anchoring and adjustment heuristic. Here you use a starting point to anchor your point or judgment, but then you adjust your information based on new evidence. Like how a A salesman initially offering a high price and eventually arriving at a fair value with the customer!

In another terminology called the availability heuristic, you use the information available to you to make the best guess or decision possible like trying to guess the population of the city you live in even though you have never looked up the exact number of people and like closer to the election your assuming that most people in your city will vote a certain way because you and your immediate community are voting that way!

There is another terminology called the Common Sense Heuristic which is defined as a practical and prudent approach that is applied to a decision where the right and wrong answers seem relatively clear cut. The commonest example for this is like how if it is raining outside, you should bring an umbrella. Other cited ones are how you (not me since I cannot stress enough that I am a Teetotaler and proud of it!) choose not to drive after having one too many drinks or how you (this is definitely me! since I am very choosy of the food I eat!) decide not to eat food if you don’t know what it is!

You also have the Familiarity Heuristic which is how something, someone or somewhere familiar is favored over the unknown. Like a group is deciding between a new restaurant and a restaurant they have been to many times and ultimately goes to the restaurant they usually go to or How a driver takes the familiar route to work every day even though there is another, faster way and finally consumers buy the same brands over and over regardless of the quality of the products!

Finally (at least in my blog! Since Heuristics is a behemoth in sales techniques!) you have the Representativeness Heuristic! This was one of the first ones to be described by Daniel and was a part of an experiment done!
In the original experiment on representativeness heuristic during the 1970s, psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman gave participants descriptions of a man named Tom.
They characterized him as organized, detail-oriented, competent, and having a strong moral compass. Based on these details, participants were asked to guess Tom’s college major.
Using representativeness, the participants assumed that Tom was an engineering student even though there were relatively few engineering students at the university where the study was conducted! It was a fallacy because here there are lots of assumption made which may not be true!

Some very common examples are assuming someone is arrogant and self-absorbed because they are reserved, quiet and rarely interact with people! or
how we judge someone’s nationality using only preconceived notions based on the way they look and talk even though you have not spoken to them or learned anything about them.


In medical parlour, if you see a doctor with clean white coat we assume he or she is a dermatologist! While one with white stains on the pants is an Ortho GUY! Or one with a complicated steth is a cardiologist! Or one with the Knee Hammer is a General Physician! Or a LADY doc with a green Ot dress draped half heartedly may be the Obstetrician!
These are all examples of the Representativeness Heuristic! And finally a well adjusted smartly groomed person with a clean coat and calm demeanour maybe the ENT! Now this final statement is suspect since I am ENT so this is not only an example of Representative Heuristic but also Bias! Another example of Bias is like how I like the tamil Version Gajini directed by celebrity Murugadas Arunachalam more than the hindi version since I am a South Indian! Though both are really good!

Now make a Non Heuristic decision to sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“The white barrel had hot steam coming out all around!
With delicate precision, coconut flakes over it was found!
The brown hot river had stones of pulse!
Eating that hot Puttu was his first impulse!”

After a long time, I had Puttu today and it was really bad! Hard and thick and hardly any coconut in between and to top it off, the Kadala Curry was thick and had no flavor and the banana was raw and sour! Of course I had no mood to eat but then that is an independent matter altogether!

Practically though Puttu has no actual taste of its own! I can literally see my Keralite friends folding their Mundu getting ready to kick me!
Now since anyway the Mundu is folded, I can tell you that the favorite breakfast of my dear Mallu friends is not from Kerala!
Keep your Mundu on and read on!

Now I have never been a fan of the Puttu and if given a choice between two tasteless breakfast main that is Puttu or Idli; I would unhesitatingly select Idli! You can simply eat the Idli with the Chutney powder or if it too hard or cold you can always make a good Idli Uppuma which actually tastes really good!

Now by their own both Puttu and Idli do not have much taste unless the Idli is made by my mother and her trick was that she always used the cloth to place the MAVU or flour! Those Idlis used to be so soft and hot that you can hold one end and the other end would break! My dad used to say how they must be like Malli poo or Jasmine flowers! So soft and delicate! Though the real taste of Idli is the samabar or the chutney! or even the spicy chutney powder with Ghee or Til oil! Like me, my mother did not have much inclination to make or eat Puttu! It could also be the fact that for five odd years in Calicut Medical college, the only respite for a vegetarian for breakfast was the Humble Puttu! Since the Idli could literally break my jaw!

Similarly like the Idli, the side dishes like the Hot Kadala Curry or the cheruvar payar curry or the roast bananas are the ones which give taste to the Puttu!
Again exception is the Puttu made by my brother Rakesh who used to make his famous brown and white puttu as part of the Puttu festival whenever he used to come home! In fact whenever I get or rarely make Puttu, my kids exclaim, “Oh! The doddu (a short form of dodappa or periappa which means the elder brother of the father or Tauji!) breakfast! During those times of course the special side dishes are again important but still my brother’s Puttu were so tempting and hot that you can eat at least some early bites without anything! Till your whole throat becomes dry and craving for some fluid!

The Special twist which I used to do in the Kadala curry is to roast some shallots and grind and put them in the gravy with some coconut milk! Also like my mother I used to make the Banana as morabba in Jaggery! We get this special Nendra banana which I used to cut in small pieces along with the skin and heat them along with jaggery and a little cardaomom! It is better since it’s more fluid than the dry Puttu! Also my brother puts a little sugar and salt in the dough along with a liberal dose of coconut gratings! The way he comes loaded with his multple Puttu instruments would put a Thatta kada (cart shop in Kerala) owner to shame! Then it could also be the fact that he serves it piping hot and we all would be eagerly waiting for him to push the Puttu on our plates! Since the day he makes Puttu which is usually for dinner, we would not make anything else! So all the hungry and eager faces would stare at him for his precious hot delight! The bloating sensation and the fullness the next day and the deep sleep may not be a coincidence!

So finally coming to the origin of Puttu since the Mallu friend with the folded Mundu is feeling cold! It has been said that the puttu was first made in Tamil Nadu. Today, puttu is also made apart from Kerala in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Sri Lanka! Even as far as the Assam there is a similar dish called Sungapitha!

The origin of the story is that puttu was mentioned in the 15th-century Tamil poet Arunagirinathar’s book ‘Thirupugazh’! But during the time there was no mention of Puttu in any Malayalam book!

There is an interesting snippet about puttu in Thiruvilayadal Puranam written by Param lyotthi Munivaran in the 16th century. The Thiruvilayadal Puranam narrates the story of Sivaperumal of the famous temple in Madurai. Once, Lord Ganesha, in disguise, approached an old lady who was selling puttu on the way side and offered to help her. However, the old lady replied that she didn’t have money to pay him any remuneration. Lord Ganesh then told the lady that he would accept the crumbled bits of puttu as his remuneration. The legend says that the entire puttu made by the old lady, that day, was crumbled. Even today, crumbled puttu is presented as and offering for the idol of Lord Ganesha in Madurai!

Now my dear Mallu friends, do not fret! Puttu record is by Kerala only! So a world record has been created for the longest puttu ever made!
Twelve final year students of Oriental School of Hotel Management, set the World Record by making the World’s Longest Puttu which was around 18 feet! Now that is a great reason for the mallu dance! And thinking how the recent malayalam movie has stirred up a craze for an old Tamil song sung by Birthday Celebrity S Janaki; It means that if it is good then Mallus or Keralites will take it!

Now if you are planning for the Puttu tomorrow then do not forget to soak some chickpeas overnight!
Shubh Ratri!

“The little bird entered its large mouth which was a big shock!

’cause the mouth was of the scary Nile croc’

It simply pecked the food between the wide tooth span! 

A quick bite for the bird and for the croc, a free dental plan!”

This fish called the pilot fish was seen following a trawler or a ship which had recently caught a shark! In fact the fishermen had seen the school of this fishes swimming along with the shark! It was as if they had lost a friend! 

That was in fact the case! How it is said that if you go to jail then befriend the biggest and the meanest guy in the jail and you will be assured protection till he or she is there! Of course the better thing would be to avoid going to the jail in the first place! Then of course you have my favourite movie called the Shawshank Redemption where you have another great partnership between Andy and the jailer! Even though these two relationship seem similar, they are in fact not the same or are they?! Read on! 

In the book called 30 days to a more powerful vocabulary by Dan Strutzel; he talks about Synergy and Symbiosis!

So Synergy refers to the interaction between two or more elements that results in a combined effect greater than the sum of their individual effects! This term is commonly used in business to describe the benefits of teamwork and collaboration. 

Synergy is often the primary motivation behind pursuing a merger! Combining the best of both worlds! It is like having your cake and eating it with cream! Shareholders can benefit from synergy, as a post-merger share price often increases because of the effect synergy has on the deal. 

We can also achieve synergy through factors like combined talent, combined technology, streamlined processes that allow for cost reduction and increased revenue. Here it has been seen that even Negative synergies can also exist! Here people or organizations can accomplish more if they work independently than when they work together. It is like division of labour and part of work to get the complete work done as a whole! 

Now coming to Symbiosis; this is a biological term that describes the close and often long-term interaction between two or more different biological species. It is a mutually beneficial relationship where both organisms benefit from the interaction. Symbiosis can take many different forms, including mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. In mutualistic symbiosis, both organisms benefit from the relationship, while in commensalism, one organism benefits while the other is neither helped nor harmed. In parasitism, one organism benefits at the expense of the other! 

The initial example of Pilot fish was an example of symbiosis and it has been seen that many species of shark have established an unlikely alliance with these pilot fish. So while the pilot fish helps to rid the shark of parasites and clean away fragments of food caught between their teeth, it benefits from protection against other predators. The companionship between these two species is said to be so strong which is probably the reason of following the ship which had caught its “Bodyguard!”.

It has been seen that synergism is among organisms allows for the creation of an effect that neither could create on its own. The relationship is not obligatory, and both organisms can survive independently! 

In fact in some context synergism is a part of symbiosis which makes it interesting! The final five types of five types of symbiosis will now be mutualism, synergism, commensalism, parasitism, and antagonism. Of course I do not need to evaluate antagonism since that is the relationship every human knows since his or her being aware of the world! Of course if you do not have antagonism with your enemies then you are just dull! Though of course if you have an arch enemy or nemesis then you may have either overdone it or maybe you are a marvellous super hero (or Heroine for that matter!) and you just do not know it yet! Thinking of Superheroes and Arch nemesis and even Marvel reminds me of the quirky Stan Lee who was an actual superhero in a symbiotic and synergistic relation with everyone!

Now form a symbiotic relationship with your bed and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“The poem was so good, the words were so profound!

The way he uttered them was so sound!

The judge was shocked though he did fake a grin!

The poem was in fact written by him!”

In so many blogs I have discussed how the wrong inventor has been given credit and the rightful person is either neglected or forgotten! I have a special passion for this since once when I was young (er!); I had entered an essay competition and I had read several books and met my English teacher to get good points for the same! Those lines are still fresh in my memory like, Sitting in this Dingy (the first time I heard that word actually!) was one! A guy was sitting just behind me who unknown to me copied those points verbatim! I was told later that a big discussion went in the staff room on whose paper was the original! Even now I vehemently thank my English teacher who supported me in spite of the fact that the other guy was the biology Teacher’s kid! And that is why when I do something I make sure I get the credit for it! But to take credit for someone else’s work is the greatest crime according to me!

So this guy was denied of the credit of not one but two big inventions! No, it is not Tesla who I am sure would have the actual claim to many inventions denied to him but this is an ancient dude!

One of the coolest weapons in the Doom Series is the flamethrower! This amazing weapon’s creation is is generally credited to Richard Fiedler, who submitted designs for two variants of the weapon to the German military during the early 1900s!

The uncredited inventor was actually the Kallinikos of Heliopolis. 

The concept of the flamethrower goes all the way back to ancient Greece. Early flamethrowers were described by Apollodorus of Damascus as coal-powered and were used in combination with acid to crack stone walls. However, Kallinikos of Heliopolis developed the first truly effective flamethrower dubbed “Greek fire,” the weapon was used by the ancient Byzantine Empire to cripple opposing ships. A tube-like device delivered both the fuel and the flame that would ignite it, creating the flamethrower effect that would later become so famous! So Apollodorus may have been the first but maybe he did not complete the design which can explain the injustice! 

But the injustice does not stop here! 

How everyone’s favourite past time is to simply go to a mall! Well the first shopping mall is generally credited to Victor Gruen, who was instrumental in designing and building the first mall in 1954! 

In addition to his work with flamethrowers, Apollodorus of Damascus is also believed to have developed a concept very similar while working as the architect of Rome’s famed Trajan’s Market!  The building encompassed a range of market stalls and covered shops in addition to apartment buildings, making it the first true urban hub. The ruins of the market and the Trajan Forum can still be seen to this day!

So the ruins of the first mall stand tall but the credit to Apollodorus has suffered a fall! Then again some legends do not need any introduction like the legend and pride of Karnataka Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj aka Dr Rajkumar! A quick pen sketch on the go! 

Now credit some sleep to your body!

Shubh ratri!

“T’was hiding behind those words!

A little pain and pricking like swords!

A complex sign here with a simple halitosis!

Ah! the effort it takes to reach a diagnosis!”

The other day a Patient came to see me after some years and I recognized him as an ex constable and that his son was studying in the engineering college! He was so happy! The reason why I actually remember him was because he had a severe on table bleed for a neck surgery and we had a tough time controlling the same! In all probability it was because of his anti platelet medication which he did not stop as instructed. 

Of course it was controlled and then it caused some additional days of stay in the hospital and then his son had rushed from his college to meet him out in the Operation theatre waiting room! 

Do you like it when your doctor recognizes you? It may not be a good thing though! Read on!…

So when a Doctor, especially surgeon recognizes you, more often than not it may be a special case or a complication! Of course there are exceptions but there is no way you would ever forget the cases which failed or did not meet your or the Patient’s expectations! 

One of my Professor in medical college was so well known for his people skills and everyone used to marvel at his memory recall of patients! That too it was the medical department and a busy one! He used to mention how in the corner of the Op sheet he would draw a small plane which indicated that someone from the Patient’s family used to live abroad! Then we realised he used to use these small tricks to find familiarity with the patients!

Most of the times when a doctor recognises an old patient, half of the work is done! When we ask stuff like how is the work in your bank or how’s the teaching job; it gives them confidence and ease! And a comfortable and happy patient will most of the time get better IN SPITE of your treatment! 

Of course now there are some doctors who either by memory or by observation can tell so many things about the patient that it feels magical!

In fact if you see the inspiration of Sherlock Holmes, probably the most famous detective in the fiction world; You would realise that the author Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a doctor himself! He had repeatedly though mentioned that he was inspired by another doctor who used to enthrall everyone by his powers of observations to tell stuff about patient’s even without asking them a single question! 

The name of the doctor will ring a Bell since his name was Dr Joseph Bell!

In his instruction, Joseph Bell emphasized the importance of close observation in making a diagnosis. To illustrate this, he would often pick a stranger, and by observing him, deduce his occupation and recent activities. These skills caused him to be considered a pioneer in forensic science, at a time when science was not yet widely used in criminal investigation. 

He served as personal surgeon to Queen Victoria whenever she visited Scotland. He also published several medical textbooks. Bell wrote the book Manual of the Operations of Surgery! 

According to Irving Wallace (in an essay originally in his book The Fabulous Originals but later republished and updated in his collection The Sunday Gentleman), Bell was involved in several police investigations, mostly in Scotland, such as the Ardlamont mystery of 1893, usually with forensic expert Professor Henry Littlejohn. Bell also gave his analysis of the Ripper murders to Scotland Yard! 

Even otherwise, if you think about it; Doctors are like detectives or sleuths who have to use their skills and power to detect what’s wrong give the proper treatment! The moment they listen to the history, a string of diagnosis would run through their minds which would be narrowed down with the examinations and tests in that order! Ideally a good doctor must be able to diagnose and treat with the most minimum of tests and the least number of medication!

No wonder some of the most famous authors who have written thrillers and stuff about complex emotions and technology are doctors! The list apart from Conan Doyle is rather long and includes Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, A J Cronin and even Khaled Hosseini! Now that is an amazing combination of brain and wit! A combination of wit and brawn though is Birthday Celebrity John Cena! 

Now pray that your doctor does not recognize you and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“So many colours t’was a big treat !
The prison was hard but sweet!
The one inside couldn’t wait to get out!
All you had to do was put it in your mouth!”

Who would have known that a chocolate was made or invented for war and mainly for soldiers! Read on!

One of the best chocolates when we were young (er!) were these cute little button like colourful things filled with chocolate in between!
The sweet and colourful and tasty GEMS!

They used to come is so many colours and there were two types of GEMS eaters! One type who were mostly in a hurry were the ones who would take a bunch and just stuff it in the mouth! They would bite the whole bunch and crack open the shell to get the sweet chocolate as soon as possible!

I was the second type at least most of the times! We used to take one GEM and place it gently on the tongue and slowly enjoy the outer sugar and colour coating! After a few minutes of slowly licking and sucking the coating will slowly melt away to reveal first a colourless (or white shell!) and then the dark chocolate! The tongue will first get coated with one colour which could be either red blue or green or other rarer colours if you are lucky and finally it will become brown!
There were also experts who could crack open the shell and chocolate inside separately! Some used to carefully separate the shell from the chocolate inside and eat them completely apart! Oh the joy of getting that perfect thin crust of candy with the rich thick chocolate inside!

Now of course my kids are more interested with the Exported version of Gems or M&M’s! These were the original chocolate candies which as history goes was made for war!

Forrest E. Mars, Sr was the son of the candy giant, Frank C. Mars, the creator of the Milky Way and 3 Musketeers candy bars! Forrest left his father’s company to start his own after their personal war (not the war that lead to the invention but maybe a start nevertheless!) .
It’s said that during his travels, he came across soldiers during the Spanish Civil War eating small pellets of candy-covered chocolate and that’s what gave him the idea to start his own!

Now during the start of the Second World War, sugar was in short supply in the USA and was therefore rationed. However, there was one company that got away with endless supplies of sugar: Hershey!

Hershey Corporation would provide chocolate for the troops (a delicacy and moral booster for them while they were out in the field!). Now Mars knew this and used this upper hand to make his new candy creation happen!

Now one more issue left! How to make the chocolates resistant and melt proof to an extent! Since they were in a war in the tropical climate! The solution: M&M’s patented candy coating! The candy became a hit with soldiers for their convenience and mobility. After the war, the candy still swept the nation and how!

Now each M is the initial of a different person. One is Forrest Mars and the other is Bruce Murrie, son of the founder of Hershey’s! Since it started a tsunami of counterfeit sweets, they printed the letters on the candy as a proof of genuinity! The two sides with the two Ms! Two side reminds me of the awesome portrayal of Two Face by birthday celebrity Tommy Lee Jones though his best is of course Men In Black and The Fugitive!

Now better to stay away from sweets and instead have a sweet dream!
Shubh ratri!

“It was on his face as it dripped down cold
Sweet and a familiar taste which was bold!
Lips were red, a look to make you scream!
Don’t fret! Its just an ice cream!”

In the heat of the of the summer, few things are more refreshing than a frosty, sweet popsicle. Some people just call these ice pops while we used to call them ice cream sticks. Did you know that Popsicles were invented by 11-year-old Frank Epperson and named after him! Now that does not make any sense! Must be brain freeze from the ice! Read on!

Now of course the thought of taking an ice cream or any icy treat is out of question and even the imagination makes me sneeze! Plus the calories! Not to mention the raw sugar and the artificial colours and flavours! Oh how did I become so old!

During our childhood though one of the best things about summer were these ice cream sticks! The mango and the orange flavours and different colours were a delight to us when we were young (er!). If our kids get to know what junk we have eaten am sure they will be shocked! How the ice cream bhaiyya would shake off all the flies and take out the ice stick from his old cart! I still remember how some ice cream used to be salty since he used to put salt on ice to make them melt slowly! Even that salty and sweet taste was like nactar!

The proper Ice cream or milk based ice creams like Kulfi were more costly and reserved only for house parties or special occasions only! The go to cheap ice creams were the sticks and later on these flavoured ice filled plastic sheets! You were supposed to bit one end and stick sucking slowly! If you think about the plastic and the storage now you would puke! At that time of course it was a sweet delight!

We have also tasted the iced lollies called the “Chuskies!” which is actually a play on Chus which means suck (of the eating kind!) and that used to come with so many flavours! The fresh crushed ice was a icy delight and the race was to suck the flavour and make it colourless before the ice melts!

On a hot summer day walking back to our house chatting with friends and later on showing our red or more orange tongue and lips were some of the unforgettable memories of the ice cream wala!

Even during holidays, the familiar ring of the bell of the cart of Ice cream wala would send us rushing behind him before the favourite varieties get over!
The other day I found my kids having a similar iced stick which was at least ten times the price of normal ice cream and proudly they exclaimed that it was, “The Popsicle!” If only they knew!

Now coming to The Popsicle! The story is that Frank Epperson had been stirring a drink with a stick but forgot it on the porch on a cold and icy night and it froze!
When he found it later, it was a frozen treat with its own handle and thus history was made. We have also done this so many times! Put the ice cream stick in a cup of juice and freeze it and voila! An icy treat!

But that was when he was 11, so it didn’t go anywhere and by the time he patented the idea as an adult, no one else had thought of it so he named them Eppsicles! That name and the treat did not go together for obvious reasons and his kids agreed!

No one wanted to eat an Eppsicle, and they never called it that!
Instead they called them popsicles because they were pop’s cicles, as in “Hey pop, make me one of your cicles.” So even though it’s not his given name, their pop took their advice and changed it! He was not only Frank he was also their Pop! Speaking of Pop reminds me of the dad of all cop shows CID starring the birthday celebrity Shivaji Satam!

Now take some warm water and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“He was asked what he hankered!

His lips moved but no words were uttered!

Like the parched earth waited for the sweet rain!

He just wanted someone to take away his pain!”

Most of my snaps in social media will have me wearing a shade or sunglasses! It is not because how someone once said that the more My face is covered, the better it looks! The reason is different! 

Do you know what is common between Julius Caesar, Napoleon, JFK, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, Sunil Shetty, SRK, Mahesh Babu, Manoj Bajpayee, Serena Williams, Hugh Jackman and Me!

No, it is not that we all are hated or loved by many (which is still true!) but all of them (us!) suffered from this debilitating condition which may actually be one of the commonest symptom in the world!

In fact at any given time period it is the third most common disease in the world!

Do not worry! It is not depression (though again it may be there!); but the correct answer is Migraine!

If you actually talk about headache as such then almost every one has had a headache in his or her life at some point! Migraine of course is much more debilitating and though it is a diagnosis of exclusion, it is very exclusive!

There are some forms of Migraine which can even happen without headache and can cause even hearing loss or dizziness!

Migraine is one the oldest ailments known to mankind. Some of the earliest cases of painful headaches were recorded by the ancient Egyptians and date back as far as 1200 B.C. 

Much later, in around 400 B.C., Hippocrates referred to the visual disturbances that can precede a migraine such as flashing lights or blurred vision, which we call aura. He also described the relief felt by sufferers after vomiting! 

The credit for migraine discovery, however, was given to Aretaeus of Cappadocia who described in the second century the one sided or unilateral headaches that are typical of migraines as well as the associated vomiting and the windows of time between migraines that are symptom free. 

The word migraine was derived from the Latin word “hemicrania” meaning “half” (hemi) “skull” (crania). This term was first used by Galenus of Pergamon to describe the pain felt across one side of the head during a migraine. He also suggested that the pain originated in the meninges and vasculature of the head. 

In addition, he pointed towards a connection between the stomach and the brain due to the vomiting that seemed to be related to migraines.

In 1979, Moskowitz, a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, proposed that migraines result from an interaction between the trigeminal nerve – involved in detecting sensations from the head and face – and the thin, pain-sensitive “meninges” membranes that surround the brain. He demonstrated that migraine attacks were triggered when trigeminal nerve fibres released chemicals called neuropeptides that caused the blood vessels of the meninges to dilate, resulting in inflammation and pain. He suggested that blocking the action of these neuropeptides could provide a new type of treatment.

Another breakthrough came when Goadsby, together with Edvinsson, a professor of internal medicine at Lund University in Sweden and the president of the International Headache Society, identified the key neuropeptide involved in triggering these attacks: calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)!

Goadsby and his colleagues have been awarded the Brain Prize for their research into the cause and treatment of migraines. The prize, worth 10 million Danish kroner ($2 million Cdn), is awarded yearly by the The Lundbeck Foundation in Denmark for outstanding and ongoing research in neuroscience! 

Now that is serious money which can keep at least some headache away!

For all the seriousness and debilitation migraine causes, you must also understand that this is one condition whose attacks can be prevented if you can get to know the triggers! 

That is where the shades come in! If like me, your trigger is the sunlight then shade away! Other triggers are some stuff which you can avoid, meals which you should not skip and sleep which you must have complete and good! Most of the time, hydration is the key and hiding from sun normally helps! Every person has his or her own Migraine trigger and recognising that it the key! I always say though that only those with a good head can have headache so having Migraine may make you a person with a great head! Tackling any condition and getting over it is the real deal which reminds me of birthday celebrity Nara Chandrababu Naidu. 

Now do not strain at the screen for long since even that can cause headache and ironically that headache shows you do not have ‘Head’!

Shubh ratri!

“She could have gored him he would not care

When it comes to emotions, it was all bare!

The heart was broken he had enough

The venom of her words were the most tough..”

Henry was born at Midway Manor in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England, the ninth child of Zachariah and his wife Lydia.

In 1784, while a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, he perfected, with his own resources, an invention of what he called “spherical case” ammunition: a hollow cannonball filled with lead shot that burst in mid-air. He successfully demonstrated this in 1787 at Gibraltar!

He intended the device as an anti-personnel weapon!

In 1803, the British Army adopted a similar but elongated explosive shell which immediately acquired the inventor’s name! 

Until the end of World War I, the shells were still manufactured according to his original principles.

The ammunition invented by him used to cause multiple injuries and were a big cause of concern for the trauma surgeons all over the world! So much so that any injury with such an ammunition was a death sentence for those unfortunate enough to get hit by it!

You must have certainly heard the name of this time of ammunition or injury even if you are not a trauma surgeon or even a war veteran! In fact the name is so common that it is a part  of the dictionary and general vocabulary!

Henry’s full name was Henry Shrapnel!

Yes! The name of ammunition is shrapnel! 

Shrapnel of course by definition refers to fragments of something that has exploded, usually a bomb, but could even be from a gunshot or some other explosion that has sent pieces of dangerous debris flying. Those pieces are shrapnel!

Modern anti-personnel bombs are made using this concept, devices filled with things like ball bearings or nails that maim and kill in a much larger area than a single explosion by itself would! And you thought only bullets kill! Shrapnel and words can do much worse! 

In 1814, the British Government recognized Henry’s contribution by awarding him £1,200 (equivalent to £89,299 in 2021) a year for life! Due to some circumstances, he was not able to receive it apparently! Not everyone can be rich you see in spite of inventing literally a bomb! Being rich brings to mind Birthday celebrity Mukesh Ambani!  Of course he shoots up the stocks rather than bombs which is much better!

Now have a look at your Reliance stocks or Mutual funds and sleep peacefully! 

Shubh Ratri!