Category: Uncategorized

“A thousand shows for you to see

But the lack of a good one worries me!

Only one channel and show it used to be one day!

All of us used to watch the Cat and the cute mouse play!”

If you ask someone which is your favorite cartoon show when you were young (er!) then if it an avid animation fan like me then his or her list will be huge! But for those who watch just for a while and for fun and passing time, rest assured that more often than not, their choice would be Tom and Jerry!

The original toon is so good that even now you can watch and enjoy it to your heart’s content! Of course you root for Jerry all the way but many time you definitely feel bad for Tom and this balance of emotion keeps the show going! In real life though if the cat smells a rat then rest assured most cats which have not been trained or tamed or spoilt would immediately grab the rat and they are in fact amazing and successful hunters! Personally though I am a dog lover and I am terrified of cats! Like Jerry or a typical mouse or rat!

But do you know that there is a condition which makes the rats lose their fear of cats and in fact get attracted to them! 

There is this parasite which actually needs the gut of the cat to reproduce! So when they are present in the rat body, they make sure they get a Prime delivery to the cat! 

The parasite is called Toxoplasma gondii!

The microbe is a single-celled pathogen that infects most types of mammal and bird, causing a disease called toxoplasmosis. But its effects on rodents are unique; most flee cat odour, but infected ones are mildly attracted to it! 

A new research showed that even months after infection, when parasites are no longer detectable, the effect remains! 

This of course raises the possibility that the microbe causes a permanent structural change in the brain! To put it in biological terms this is thought to be an evolutionary adaptation to help the parasite complete its life cycle: Toxoplasma can sexually reproduce only in the cat gut, and for it to get there, the pathogen’s rodent host must be eaten!

Even in humans, studies have linked Toxoplasma infection with behavioral changes and schizophrenia. These include an increased risk of traffic accidents in people infected with the parasite while another found changes in responses to cat odour! 

People with schizophrenia are more likely than the general population to have been infected with Toxoplasma, and medications used to treat schizophrenia may work in part by inhibiting the pathogen’s replication!

Schizophrenia is thought to involve excess activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. This has bolstered one possible explanation for Toxoplasma’s behavioral effect: the parasite establishes persistent infections by means of microscopic cysts that grow slowly in brain cells. It can increase those cells’ production of dopamine, which could significantly alter their function. Most other suggested mechanisms also rely on the presence of cysts! 

The observation is that the infected rodents actually show a much more comprehensive decrease in general anxiety and reduced aversion to a wide range of threats! One study have shown that 

T. gondii causes a phenomenon known as ‘fatal attraction’ in infected rodents!  

So if you have had a fear of cat and now do not have that fear or if you see a rat trying to woo a cat; rest assured that it is time for a check up! Unless of course you are watching a movie with a cat or a tiger and the rat gets some magic potion! Tiger reminds me of birthday celebrity Tiger Prabhakar and his action stunts much like the Tom and Jerry toons!

Now try to catch up some old toons and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“He told a joke and it made her laugh so loud!

It was of course a lie ’cause he was too proud!

He was sad but to hide that was his usual style

All he wanted to do was to make her smile…”

When you start sketching you will realise that if you sketch someone who is known to be good looking or even recognizable then if you do not get the proportions right then you will get an embarrassing sketch! 

Then again you can take that sketch with the long nose or the disproportionate eyes or the bad nose and mention that it was supposed to be a cartoon or funny sketch of the person! That is one sure fire way of saving whatever little grace you have left!

Of course it may not work all the time and like me if your natural tendency is to get the proportions wrong then it is a difficult task to make the sketch as real and unfunny as possible! 

If you think about it though, some of most talented artists like my favorite RK Laxman used their funny sketches to actually tell you the truth! In fact they are like the jesters of the kings who use fun and humor to tell the truth! Jesters like Tenali Raman (yes, I am called Raman by many! But then!…); were actually super intelligent beings who would challenge the kings and even brave punishments to tell the truth! 

So the question ‘Who drew the first cartoon?’ can never be answered as the comic and satirical art can be traced back to ancient times as above! 

But you can search Google with the question ‘Who drew the first comic or satirical drawing to be called a cartoon?’ and it is possible that you will come across this amazing sketch by John Leech!

It is also possible to date this drawing to July 15th, 1843, when it was published in Punch magazine with the caption: ‘Cartoon No.1: Substance and Shadow’. John Leech was also the first artist to be called a ‘cartoonist’! 

The irony is that the sketch tells how you can read the first page for free but if you do not subscribe then the next pages will be in Latin; and the webpage which you click also does the same 200 years later! It will show the home page but you need to subscribe to read more! This really cracked me up!

Founded in 1841, the magazine’s name was hit upon at an early meeting – an attendee remarked that the publication should be like a good Punch mixture – nothing without Lemon, referring to editor Mark Lemon, whereupon founder Henry Mayhew declared ‘A capital idea! Let us call the paper Punch!’ The title was also inspired by the provocative glove puppet, Mr. Punch, of Punch and Judy!

Acclaimed for its acerbic wit, Punch captured life during the 19th and 20th centuries in astute detail and became one of the most illustrious publications of its time. Staff met every Wednesday to discuss material for the next edition, which was decided over a convivial dinner. The drawings, also referred to as cartoons or ‘cuts’ had to be completed by Friday night, when they were sent to the engravers.

Punch is credited with coining the term ‘cartoon’ as we know it today. In addition, the periodical also attracted great comic writers and poets over the years, including William Thackeray and my favorite (till I realized that he only wrote about the Upper society and about a certain ‘Group’ of people…) P.G. Wodehouse!

This also gets us to the recent trend of stand up comedy! Now I am a big fan of this genre but if you are going on the stage and only using expletives to tell a joke and talk dirty to be funny then it is just akin to a small kid tell “Butt” jokes! If you cannot tell a clean joke to make everyone laugh then it is not funny, it is just embarrassing and dirty humor which of course is a big rage now! 

Then again these shows get you to laugh and that is regenerative to your body and mind right there! Laughter is a good medicine (yes, it is not the best!); and you must take it as and when you can! Good comedy reminds me of Birthday celebrity Jagdeep and since it is a comedian, also allowed me some leverage to draw the sketch a tad cartoonish!

Now stop watching the reels which make you smile and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“The sun may be covered for a while
And darkness may mask your smile!
But if you are bright do not fret’ ’cause you will shine!
Some things take work while others take time!…”

Thanks to everyone for bearing my blog and more recently, my short poems! Do you know the longest poem?

And did you know that the above poem which is one of the most common form of poetry is called a Quatrain!

Come to think of it, if you are an avid reader of poetry then you will realize that there are so many different types of poems according to the publishers at the Penguin Book House!

One of the smallest poems is called the Haiku which is an ancient form of Japanese poetry that has become very popular all over the world. Renowned for its small size, haikus consist of just three lines (tercet); the first and third lines have five syllables, whereas the second has seven. Haikus don’t have to rhyme and are usually written to evoke a particular mood or instance! So no need to rhyme! Just pass your time!

Free verse is a more popular style of modern poetry, and as its name suggests there is a fair amount of freedom when it comes to writing a poem like this. Free verse can rhyme or not, it can have as many lines or stanzas as the poet wants, and it can be about anything you like! So, while free verse may sound simple enough, the lack of rules makes this form of poetry tricky to master! When there is no rule then you have a big chanced to get over ruled!

The types of Poems I usually do not understand are the old Sonnets! This very old form of poetry was made famous by none other than William Shakespeare, but the sonnet actually originated in 13th century Italy where it was perfected by the poet Petrarch. The word ‘sonnet’ is derived from the Italian word ‘sonnetto’ which means ‘little song’. Traditionally, sonnets are made up of 14 lines and usually deal with love. As a rule, Petrarchan (Italian) sonnets follow an ABBA ABBA CDE CDE rhyme scheme, whereas Shakespearean (English) sonnets are typically ABAB CDCD EFEF GG! Who would have thought that even poems are actually bounded by rules!

Acrostic is a type of poetry that spells out a name, word, phrase or message with the first letter of each line of the poem. It can rhyme or not, and typically the word spelt out, lays down the theme of the poem.

Another older form of poetry is the villanelle that came from France and has lots of rules! It is made up of 19 lines; five stanzas of three lines (tercet) each and a final stanza of four lines (quatrain). There is a lot of repetition throughout the villanelle and the real challenge is to make meaning out of those repeated lines!

Limerick is also actually a type of poem! They are funny (and sometimes rude!) poems which were made popular by Edward Lear in the 19th century! The last line is often the best and the punchline!

Now if you want to praise someone or if you have forgotten your wife’s birthday then you can try the Ode which is one of the oldest forms of poetry and believed to have come from ancient Greece. The word ‘ode’ is derived from the Greek word ‘aeidein’ which means ‘to sing or chant’, and these poems were originally performed with a musical instrument.

Then you have the dark and depressing Poetry called the Elegy which
doesn’t have rules like some of the other forms of poetry but has a fixed subject; death! They are usually written about a loved one who has passed away, but can also be written about a group of people, too. Of course it is up to you to make this one dark or hopeful!

Finally you have the old and traditional poetry called the Ballad that typically tells a dramatic or emotional story. Most modern pop songs you hear nowadays can be referred to as ballads! In fact most song lists in your favorite music app is called the pop or rock Ballads!

Now where is Quatrain you may ask!? Well it follows a set of definitions like Stanza is a set amount of lines in poetry grouped together by their length, meter or rhyme scheme. Then you have the Couplet which is a two-line stanza, a Tercet which a three-line stanza and our favorite Quatrain!
It is understood that Cinquain would then be a five-line stanza and Sestet is a six-line stanza!

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the world’s shortest poem is a one-letter poem by Aram Saroyan comprising a four-legged version of the letter “m”!

So which is the longest poem? Well it is closer home! With more than 220,000 (100,000 shloka or couplets) verses and about 1.8 million words in total, the Mahābhārata is one of the longest epic poems in the world! And here you were scratching your head to write a four line poem! Thinking about head (more accurately hair!) reminds me of Birthday Celebrity Akshaye Khanna!

Now say the shortest poem and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

‘He said this to his friend, “Do not be rough, and treat her well

If you don’t then I will give you hell”

Now don’t think too much or too far!

He was just talking about his beloved car!’

Growing up one of the biggest satisfaction is when you get a driving license and two wheeler! I am a big fan of two wheelers and my trusty Luna was my companion for two glorious years! Then of course if got upgraded to my Hero Honda bike! Oh the fun we had! But both were given by my dad and got from his hard earned money! 

So the best joy and satisfaction is when you buy a car with your own money! 

My swift has taken me to places and we have done stuff! When I got it though I simply wanted a car to own! I did not know the first thing about a Hatchback or a Sedan! Time for knowledge! 

A sedan is defined as a 4-door passenger car with a trunk that is separate from the passengers with a three-box body: the engine, the area for passengers, and the trunk. Throughout the generations, the definition of a sedan has been the same. 

Sedan cars generally look different to hatchbacks or estate cars, with a more pronounced ‘three-box’ shape, with separate ‘boxes’ for the engine at the front, the passenger compartment in the middle and the boot at the back.

Cars such as the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 have a classic saloon look. Some saloons like the Jaguar XE have a sleeker look and could be mistaken for hatchbacks. And some hatchbacks look more like saloons  – the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe for example!

Regardless of how they look, the defining characteristic of a sedan is a boot that’s separate from the main passenger area of the car, whereas a hatchback has a full-height boot lid that includes the back window.

Sedan and saloon are just two variations of describing the same type of car – a long, executive vehicle which generally prioritizes luxury over practicality. The term ‘sedan’ is often used in American English, whereas in British English the same vehicle is described as a ‘saloon’ 

The word ‘saloon’ comes from the French ‘salon’, which means a large room. The term ‘saloon car’ was originally used to refer to the luxury carriages on a train. It was adopted by British carmakers in the early part of the 20th Century to describe cars with an enclosed passenger compartment!

The definition of a hatchback was traditionally a two or four-door vehicle with a tailgate that would flip upwards called a hatch. While the present-day description of a hatchback would be a vehicle with four doors and a hatch at the rear-end that flips up, based on a two-box body for the engine and passengers or cargo!

You can actually have some variation in this with significant overlaps!

If you focus on the rear design according to the shape and slope of the rear section of the car you can have three types of cars!

Like a fastback Saloon the slope stretches’ from the roof to the base of the boot.

In a notchback saloon the boot lid and the roof are parallel to the ground. The lid actually extends back horizontally from the rear windscreen. 

Finally in a true hatchback saloon, the boot lid covers the entire rear! The rear windscreen lifts up the with the lid!

Practically a small car is most probably a hatchback while a bigger one is a saloon or a sedan and you may feel like a king with a crown! In fact Toyota has a tradition of using the word “crown” in most of their cars! The Japanese word for crown is, you guessed it; ‘Camry!” But do not worry if you have a hatchback since the chief reason why they were made with this compact design was to make them easier to park! Now thinking about my Swift gives me a smile cause she was my first…car of course!! And one of the most recognizable smiles on the national television was the smile of Birthday celebrity Renuka Shahane! 

Now hatch, err I mean latch your back…and front to the bed and sleep!

Good Night!

“This endless desire to fight and win
May give you victory but not within
Once in a while it is good to lose
Happy or sad, sometimes you can choose…”

Peter principle is a book by Book by Laurence J. Peter but you do not have to read the book to know what it is!

Imagine a cricketer who is a great batsman, he or she would be promoted higher up the order and finally may even be made the captain! But it is seen that as he or she gets promoted higher and higher, he or she will finally reach a position where he or she will actually underperform!

Even in an office, you can have a person who is doing a great job at entry level! Then as and when he or she is promoted, he or she will reach a peak and then he or she will get a job in which he or she may not do a good job!

It is like the credit card scam! Your credit limit is at first a very low but easily achievable limit! You are then given an option to slowly and steadily increase your spending limit! Till you reach a point when you can no longer pay the limit! That is when they pounce on you!

Even in government jobs it is seen that a person who has been appointed because of a certain skill is given more and more responsibilities but then finally it will reach a point when the work suffers and how!

A person is good in a job then he is promoted to a better position till he or she reaches a plateau! or actually starts performing worse at the elevated position!

These are examples of Peter Principle which actually notes that every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence! It actually concludes that every job in a hierarchical organization will be filled by a person who is incompetent!

The Peter principle hence states that a person who is competent at their job will earn a promotion to a position that requires different skills. If the promoted person lacks the skills required for the new role, they will be incompetent at the new level, and will not be promoted again.
If the person is competent in the new role, they will be promoted again and will continue to be promoted until reaching a level at which they are incompetent. Being incompetent, the individual will not qualify for promotion again, and so will remain stuck at this final placement or Peter’s plateau!

This outcome is inevitable, given enough time and enough positions in the hierarchy to which competent employees may be promoted. The Peter principle is therefore expressed as: “In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”
This leads to Peter’s corollary: “In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties.”

Now this is not a new thing! In the 1910s one Spanish philosopher told that every public servant must be demoted to his or her immediate lower position or rank so that he or she can do that work most effectively!

The simplest analogy is a juggler! You go on giving him or her a ball to juggle and steadily he or she will juggle them and take one more till the limit is reached and the balls all crumble down! Then the penultimate number of balls is his or her capability or capacity says the Peter Principle!

In fact it has been seen that companies tend to promote their least-competent employees to management roles where they are least likely to interfere with production! So if you want to be a manager then you must become incompetent! Irony is that all the so called managers who get amazing prefixes are actually those who have shown incompetence at various levels of production!

It is like the adage, “Those who can’t do, teach!” and interestingly that quote is by G B Shaw in the 1900s! Of course some exceptional managers are also there who go against the Peter Principle and make for great and talented CEO’s! Talent does not follow any principle! A big bag of talent also was Maharajapuram Santhanam who with his dedication and devotion to Carnatic music will remain in our memories forever!

Now show your competence in the bed…I meant sleep of course!
Shubh ratri!

“He looked at me and shouted in fear!
I had a tong and I was putting it in his ear!
Fret not, he had put in his ear; a Thermocol ball
Just removing that since ‘am a doctor you all!”

In the book called Algorithms to live by; The computer science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths tell about this amazing word! At first the word sounded so close to the word, STUPIDITY that I did not give much attention to it! But when they told about the amazing phenomenon the word represents, I was amazed!

At some time in my previous blogs I have covered these inventions; have a look at these and try to find out the common link between them!

The Post-It Note, which emerged after 3M scientist Spencer Silver produced a weak adhesive, and a colleague used it to keep bookmarks in place on a church hymnal!

Silly Putty, which came from a failed attempt at synthetic rubber!

The microwave oven. Raytheon scientist Percy Spencer first patented the idea behind it after noticing that emissions from radar equipment had melted the candy in his pocket! I had written an extensive blog on this some time back!

The polymer teflon, which Roy J. Plunkett observed forming a white mass inside a pressure bottle during an effort to make a new CFCs refrigerant! and finally one of the most famous example of this phenomenon; the discovery of Penicillin!

Alexander Fleming returned from a vacation to find that a Petri dish containing staphylococcus culture had been infected by a Penicillium mold, and no bacteria grew near it!

You may have got it by now! These are examples of amazing discovery which happened accidently and there are in fact so many examples of this! So much so that the it is the word I mentioned above!

The word has been exported into many other languages, with the general meaning of “unexpected discovery” or “fortunate chance”.

The first noted use of “this word” was by Horace Walpole on 28 January 1754.
In a letter he wrote to his friend Horace Mann, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made about a lost painting of Bianca Cappello by Giorgio Vasari!

Horace was actually referring to a Persian tale of three princes who were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of!

The name comes from Serendip, an old Persian name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon), hence Sarandib by Arab traders! But it is still not done! The name is actually derived from Sanskrit! It is a combination of the word for Sinhalese and island and called
Siṃhaladvīpaḥ (Siṃhalaḥ, Sinhalese + dvīpaḥ, island).

So did you get the final word?
Well, the Sanskrit origin Sinhalese inspired Persian language Horace named word for amazing accidental discoveries is SERENDIPITY!
Now Sanskrit reminds me of Sanskriti and a true connoisseur of art Shri Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna! Being a singer of his caliber though is not Serendipity but hard work and dedication!

Now go for a serene deep rest aka sleep!
Shubh ratri!

If someone is asked what or which is his or her favorite snack if he or she ignores the fact that it is not that great for health then one snack is probably worldwide famous and loved by all! The French fries! This is so famous that this is one snack which you can find anywhere and everywhere in the world!

The whole franchise of Mc Donald’s run because of its French fries! You are asked about having to add them with any and every item you take on the menu!
There was a joke on this that, they would ask “Do you want fries with that” for everything so much so that if you take fries as your main item, they still ask’ “Do you want fries with that!!”

Then you can places where the fries are more thin as wafers and even that as a snack is famous! The chips are like the regular sides all over the world!
If someone says that he or she does not like Chips or French fries (you can also add Samosa in that list along with Puri!) then rest assured that he or she is either a Robot or an Alien! Or an alien robot!

So when my kids the other day went all the way to a hip place to get their favorite snack which I assumed was the French fries with the Mexican twist of peri peri; I was surprised that the most preferred snack is no longer the French fries! Of course they still love the French fries but this was a jolt!

Now this snack which is apparently ‘better’ health wise than the potato and is now a rage! Even in theatres (movies of course! Not operation!) all over the fact that this has a better storage and is more robust!

Lets get to that in a bit!

Ignacio Anaya García; was a Mexican maître d’ (Maître d’ is short for maître d’hôtel, which comes from French and literally means “master of the house.” Maître d’hôtel was used in English for a head butler or steward of a household before it referred to the head of a dining-room staff! Now lets not digress! Lets just assume that Ignacio was a Chef!)

The restaurant he worked at a restaurant in Mexico, close to Fort Duncan used to have military personnel as constant visitors and the there was a definite zeal to innovate! One fine day Anaya served a new snack for the very first time to American military wives! To inspire American military wives is a catalyst for invention indeed!
So he basically fried tortilla chips and put shredded cheddar cheese and sliced jalapenos on top!
He warmed them up for a few minutes and voila! A new snack was born which was an instant hit! So much so that was promoted to chief chef, and he eventually started his own restaurant in the 1960s!

The Spanish version of Ignatius is Nacho which was Anaya’s nick name!
And yes! You guessed it! This new snack was the Nachos! The best thing about Nachos according to me though is the dip! A good dip can elevate the Nacho experience to the next level! Of course the potato chip does not need a dip to elevate its taste! Some snacks are so flavorful without much help! Full of flavor and essence also was Shri Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan who in a career spanning over six and half decades, rode like a colossus and dominated Tamil music for decades. Besides primarily Tamil, he also sang in other languages including Sourashtra, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam! A true singer who respected the Carnatic music which gave him fame and prosperity!

Now stop eating those Nachos and sleep!
Good Night!

Remember those huge jars in the storage area of your house which used to be open once in a while and the aroma of the pickle would come and your mother or grandmother would carefully take out some pickle with a clean dry spoon and transfer some to a smaller jar! While my mother’s mother would have these jars full of pickles, my sweet toothed paternal grandmother would also have this thick halwa made out of jackfruit and jaggery called the Chakravarty! A sweet and salt bonanza!

We used to call the jars as Bharani and we always used to look at then with wonder since none of us were allowed close to them and we were never allowed to open them! If you are allowed to open a Bharani then it means that you have become responsible enough! It was a better proof of becoming a major than even your aadhar card!

Then she would carefully put a layer of oil over the pieces of mangoes which would be trying to get up and escape! Then a layer of plastic sheet will be put and the lid would be closed again tightly only to be opened after some weeks!

In fact the whole process of making the mango pickle or Avakkai pickle in my grandmother’s house was like an operation theatre with the chief aunties or mamis covering their face so that even a droplet of water in terms of spit would escape!

Only the most firm and green mangoes would be selected in a selection process more tough than the IIT! Just like the IIT or NEET if you are old or ripe then you are rejected without a thought or mercy!

Then like the grilling and training which happens in the army for the new cadets, each and every mango would be washed in a separate preoperative prep room! and cleaned with a clean cloth!

Then after getting it into the main room it is once again cleaned this time by the chief assistant surgeon! Then they would be cut by the chief surgeon with so much expertise that most of the pieces would be so equal in size to each other and they would look like clones! The home cloning machine! The whole room will now be having the aroma of raw mangoes and the tempted kids would devising plans of invasion!

Many mangoes may still be rejected in this phase like the UPSC interview stage! Survival and picking (more accurately Pickling!) Of the fittest! Darwin would be pleased Then comes the salting of the mangoes!

This is when the recruits like to run away! Some odd pieces would be eaten or given to those kids who would try to trespass the sterile area! The challenge was to bite the sour mango without closing your eyes! An impossible task indeed!

The elder kids and people would prefer the mango at the next stage when they are fully dressed in red (the mango that is!)! The chili powder dusting with a hint of asafetida would be the more tasty version! The immediate best is yet to come though!

Then the mangoes are bathed in oil and many secret masalas depending on your family in a large steel vessel and given a good shake so that they mix well! After carefully covering each and every mango with its own dress of chilly mix and oil, it is carefully poured over the Bharani! Every family member would have her own Bharani and the older the Bharani, the more senior or respected is the member! There is no immediate gratification here! You can taste the pickle only after some weeks! When you finally taste them they would be so soft that you can cut them with a butter knife! For now of course you can be satiated with the next best thing!

The best part for immediate gratification would be the steel vessel with the oil and chilly and salt! My grandmother would put hot steamy rice over it and give it a mix!
That pickle rice would be eaten with relish in between large sips of water by one and all! Whole time we would be making the sssh sound! It would be hot and spicy and having an unforgettable taste and of course amazing! Amazing also is the birthday celebrity Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw who may not be known as a pickle maker can save someone in a pickle!

Now remember those old jars and close the small store bought bottles of pickle which taste nothing like them and sleep!
Good Night!

“So many movie on the OTT but do not know what to do

It was better when the channels were just one or two!

You complain all the time even when it is time to cheer! 

Think of this when you see someone smile even when he or she cant hear…”

In the early days of news reading when a tele prompter was not available, you might have noticed the readers used to ‘read’ with their finger tips! It was possible because of this pioneering system or invention. 

Let me tell you first about Charles whose inventions and initial work inspired this invention which is universally used everywhere!

Charles Barbier de la Serre Barbier was an inventor and interested in shorthand and other alternative writing forms. In 1815, he published a book titled, Essai sur divers procédés d’expéditive française. 

In this book, Barbier explains that conventional writing is a barrier to universal literacy because it takes too long to learn, and people who must earn their living (farmers, artisans) cannot devote the necessary time to education. He introduced a system with dots and alignment of dots which were not supposed to be printed but punched! They were pressed into thick paper with a blunt punch so that they could be read with the fingers! He also invented three tools to make this possible: a grooved board (or tablette) to receive the impressions, the punch itself, and a guide to ensure that the dots lined up!

Now let us come to the point and learn about Louis…

Louis was blinded at the age of three in one eye as a result of an accident with a stitching awl in his father’s harness making shop. Consequently, an infection set in and spread to both eyes, resulting in total blindness. 

In spite of this major tragedy he nevertheless excelled in his education and received a scholarship to France’s Royal Institute for Blind Youth. While still a student there, he began developing a system of tactile code that could allow blind people to read and write quickly and efficiently which was of course Inspired by a system invented by Charles Barbier.  

Louis’s new method was more compact and lent itself to a range of uses, including music. It went unused by most educators for many years after his death, but posterity has recognized this as a revolutionary invention, and it has been adapted for use in languages worldwide! This system of course is now used all over the world not only by the visually impaired but many others. 

The full name of Louis was Louis Braille! and yes, you would have probably guessed it now, the system is called Braille! In everyday life, braille is used to annotate public signs like bathroom placards and elevators buttons!

Next time you get into an elevator with these small bumps which you can feel with your finger tips, try to ‘read’ with them! And maybe thank the inventors like Charles and Braille who make our life so wonderful everyday! Our life is also made great by explorers and astronauts and aerospace engineers who try to see beyond earth and get information for us to learn and grow! Remembering one of the first Indo American astronaut on her birthday week; Kalpana Chawla, you may have left us but your legacy will inspire many! 

Think how fortunate you are and sleep with a smile…

Shubh Ratri…

“The journey is long and far

You just look at the North Star

If you want a good body mind and soul

Enjoy the journey, don’t think about the goal!”

In the book called Algorithms to live by; The computer science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths tells about delayed gratification!

Remember how you are doing something or going through tough times and someone tells you, “Don’t feel low, think about the reward!”. This research actually proves the opposite! 

The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on delayed gratification in 1970 led by psychologist Walter Mischel. 

In this study, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. During this time, the researcher left the child in a room with a single marshmallow for about 15 minutes and then returned. If they did not eat the marshmallow, the reward was either another marshmallow or pretzel stick, depending on the child’s preference. 

In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI), and other life measures.

The children were led into a room, empty of distractions, where a treat of their choice were placed on a table. The researchers let the children know they could eat the treat, but if they waited 15 minutes without giving in to the temptation, they would be rewarded with a second treat!

The surprising thing that the researchers observed is that some children covered their eyes with their hands, rested their heads on their arms, and found other similar techniques for averting their eyes from the reward objects. 

Many seemed to try to reduce the frustration of delay of reward by generating their own diversions: they talked to themselves, sang, invented games with their hands and feet, and even tried to fall asleep while waiting – as one successfully did! And it was those children who did not think about the reward who actually got the reward in the end!

The results indicated the exact opposite of what was originally predicted and what is always taught to us! Apparently thinking about the reward actually increases the frustration and actually delays the gratification! The best results are obtained when you do not think about the reward! The results seemed to indicate that not thinking about a reward enhances the ability to delay gratification, rather than focusing attention on the future reward!

Basically it can be concluded that you must concentrate on your journey rather than the goal! As simple as that and when you do reach the goal or get the reward in the end then the feeling will be much more satisfying! As satisfying as listening to the symbol of religious harmony Bismillah Khan play his shehnai! 

Now listen to his old notes and get a gratifying sleep!

Shubh ratri!