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Do you know that how much you can drink was actually dependent on how much a group of people can blow!

Now that I have got your attention! It is not PG or R Rated!

Probably many of you never noticed it but the most accurate observers might have seen that the standard size for a wine bottle is 750 ml!

Of course all these things are noticed only by those like me who are Teetotalers!

The standard 750ml wine bottle size is a result of historical trade practices, primarily between France and England in the 19th century

French winemakers shipped wine in large barrels that held 225 liters, which is equal to 50 imperial gallons—a unit of measurement the English used. Dividing the 225-liter barrel into 300 bottles of 750ml made the math straightforward for both French producers and English buyers!

Another reason was that the 750ml size also fit perfectly into cases for transport and sale. It was common to ship wine in cases of 12 bottles, which equaled exactly two imperial gallons!

Also a 750ml bottle holds approximately five to six glasses of wine (125ml each), making it a convenient size for sharing at a meal!

It is also mentioned that the size is ideal for aging. A smaller volume allows for a specific rate of aging due to the surface area of the wine in contact with oxygen around the cork, and it was believed that wine aged in a 750ml bottle developed a preferable character over time!

But the most important reason and the reason of the click bait above was the blowing capacity!

In the 18th century, before automated glassblowing machines, the strength of a glassblower’s lungs was a limiting factor! The 750ml size was considered the practical maximum a glassblower could produce in a single breath! That is actually a little more than your average tidal volume which is around 300-400 ml which can be increased by exercise and practice and may be glass blowing!

This trivia though is mind blowing! Mind blowing also was the amazing performance of Govardhan Asrani! He will be missed!

SHubh Ratri…

When you see human development two inventions are the foremost and the biggest! The second most important is the wheel while the most important is the Fire!

There is no society or development without fire! In any form!

Fire played a critical role in human evolution by providing warmth, protection from predators, and a way to cook food, which made it easier to digest and more energy-rich!

This technological advancement enabled humans to expand their geographic range into colder climates, develop more complex social structures, and even influenced physiological changes that supported brain growth!

Starting from the cooking of food to Protection! Then it gave something every living being wants! Not only kindness but warmth! It also made socializing possible by extending daylight!

It also gave rise to advanced tool making and construction! Humans used fire to harden tools and manage landscapes by burning, transforming environments over time.

Which is maybe why one of the oldest texts, the rig Veda actually is an ode to Fire or Agni deva! The Rigveda is a compilation of 1,028 hymns devoted to numerous gods, with fire (Agni) being a key deity.

The Rigveda’s very first hymn is dedicated to Agni, establishing his importance. His significance is both literal and symbolic. As the god of the sacrificial fire, Agni is the intermediary between humans and the gods. Offerings and prayers given into the sacred fire are carried by Agni to the deities. So Agni is the divine messenger!

Agni has its presence in three realms! Agni is conceptualized as existing on Earth as fire, in the atmosphere as lightning, and in the sky as the sun!

This presence across all three realms establishes him as a link between the human and divine!

Beyond the physical fire, Agni symbolizes spiritual knowledge, purity, and the transformative power of divine will. This “inner fire” is associated with human consciousness and the soul!

The constant presence of fire in the home, in ceremonies, and in cremations makes Agni an eternal witness to human actions and vows, particularly in rituals like weddings!

Then we light the lamp and use fire in Deepawali! So many reasons like Coming of Bhagwan Ram or Killing of Narakasura by Bhagwan Krishna or worship of Goddess Laxmi!

There is also a reason where we light up the sky with crackers to guide our ancestors who have visited us during the Paksha!

Finally it is the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance!

Wishing for the fire of knowledge to be lit in your heart and life!

A very happy Deepawali!

Do you know what is the common thing between Albert Einstein, Srivasa Ramanujam and James Watson!?

If you think you are as intelligent as them, well dream on! Though DREAM is the answer to the above question!

Then again you are dreaming if you think I would get to the point immediately!

Do you know the biggest mystery of dream is the greatest mystery of life itself! You may know the end but you can never know the beginning! Your dream may have an end which can be slow or sudden (There is a philosophical quote there but lets leave it for now!); but you will never remember the start of your dream! You may be in the remotest corner of the world or even in a space station in Mars but you can never remember how you got there!

Then again dreams are pretty amazing! There have been famous inventions and discoveries which were inspired or seen in a dream!

Inventions inspired by dreams include the periodic table, the lock-stitch sewing machine, and the structure of DNA!


Three famous ones though are the answer to the question above!

James Watson, who co-discovered the structure of DNA, dreamed of a spiral staircase, which is said to have inspired the iconic double helix shape! Others have also mentioned that he dreamed of two intertwined serpents!

Albert Einstein’s famous theory is said to have been inspired by a dream. According to one account, he was sledding down a mountain at immense speed, which caused the stars to change their appearance. Other versions involve a different perspective on cows reacting to an electric fence!

Finally our great Srinivasa Ramanujan! He once claimed that goddess Namagiri Thayar would appear to him in dreams and provide him with complex mathematical formulas!

Since you stayed with me till now without dreaming; you get a bonus!

One such Nobel Laureate called Otto Loewi dreamed of an experiment that would prove once and for all that transmission of nerve impulses was chemical, not electrical! He woke up, scribbled the experiment onto a scrap of paper and went back to sleep. Next morning, he found, that he couldn’t read his midnight scribbles!

This was so disappointing to him since in his dream apparently he had solved the problem! So he thought of trying to sleep and dream it again! That day, was the longest day of his life!

That night, however, he had the same dream. This time, he immediately went to his lab to perform the experiment! That iconic experiment is what lead to acetylcholine! The master neurotransmitter!

Some dreams though make you famous while some dreams can keep you awake!
Of course if fame is your motive then it is usually through hard work and consistency! Like Sunny paji!

Now sleep and dream a cure for insomnia!

Shubh ratri!

Have you ever seen a perfectly healthy person?

Man or woman for that matter!

I can imagine this happening to any medical practitioner! One of your patient comes back saying that his or her Headache is not cured!

Now you may not remember him or her and the medication you had given but not when! So you checked your records and you realize that you had seen him six months back!

So then you ask him or her whether he or she has had headache for the past six months!?

He or she would most probably reply, “Well it disappeared after your medications in two days but now after six months it has come back again!”

Apparently his or her understanding was that once you treat him, he or she should never have a headache again!

Unfortunately that is so not the case! No one is ever perfectly healthy!

You of course have to make sure that you take care of your health and keep you body engine in shape as much as you can but for all practical purposes; you can never be healthy FOREVER!

In fact when many patients complain that they have backache and headache; more often that not, even you would be having it at the same time! Many times it may be even more than what the patient would have!

I know many who would have more severe leg pain or back pain or even neck pain (this is my case by the way!) than even the patient! Just ask anyone suffering from a disc prolapse which is surprisingly common in doctors especially those who use endoscope!

Health is defined by the World Health Organization as a state of “complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

This holistic view considers health to be more than just a lack of illness, emphasizing a positive state of overall well-being, including the ability to cope with life’s demands and the environment!

Many times the complain is that they were taking regular medications and still they got sick!

Many practitioners sarcastically say that our body is not a vehicle which can be ‘trouble’ free with regular ‘servicing’!

No one can say that we have ‘serviced’ your body and now you are good for the next ten thousand KM or five years! Which ever comes first!

Even when your doctor gives a certificate of fitness he or she would normally write that your systems are WITHIN NORMAL LIMITS! Not that ALL SYSTEMS ARE WORKING AT 100 percent efficiency!

Which is why I have great respect for the brave anesthetists who would certify that a patient is fit for GA or LA! This is because no one is actually ever really FIT! The indices and the lab tests are only a rough estimate of your fitness! There have been those with perfect lab tests who have had surgical and anesthetic complications while there have been many with poor findings with amazing recovery!

So you may never be perfectly healthy and all you can wish and hope for is a good and relatively happy life! Maybe like what Unnikrishnan Namboothiri had!

Now do sleep on time for Good (more or less!) health!

Shubh ratri!

What is the common link between Lewis Carroll, Agatha Christie, Vincent Van Gogh, Newton, Elton John?

Before you rack your brain and get a, well seizure let me tell you that they all were epileptics! 

There was a time when a diagnosis of epilepsy itself was a big taboo and on top of it all, there was no treatment except maybe isolation.

In secrets of secrets; Dan Brown introduces us to one complex character with Epilepsy and how her condition is used and misused by other is the crux of the whole novel. Even getting to know this fact will not spoil your story of the novel so do not get a, well; seizure!

The interesting fact though which is described or mentioned is that during the episode of seizure the brain is working at its full capacity! It can make the whole body shiver or oscillate. This according to the author is one of the closest thing any human would be to an extra sensory perception or ESP! 

Those who suffer normally do not remember anything about the episode but many feel a projection in such a way that they are visualizing their body from outside of their brain! When they get this feeling then in many people it is followed by a period of immense bliss or euphoria! 

This euphoria after an attack is called the Post Ictal euphoria. This postictal euphoria is a less common but notable phenomenon and this highly pleasurable state typically emerges as the person recovers from amnesia or confusion that marks the earlier part of the postictal period.​

The individual may experience a positive emotional shift, sometimes in sharp contrast to feelings of depression or anxiety that may have been present before the seizure.​

Euphoria after seizures is most frequently reported in people with certain temporal or frontal lobe epilepsies, although it can rarely occur after other types of seizures too.​

Postictal euphoria is distinct from postictal psychosis or mania. While euphoria is a relatively brief and benign state, postictal psychosis often involves hallucinations, delusions, and concerning behavioral changes that require medical intervention.​

The mechanisms behind postictal euphoria aren’t fully understood, but it may relate to neurochemical changes, including altered dopamine or serotonergic activity, in the brain as it recovers from the seizure event.​

Feelings of euphoria may also occur alongside symptoms such as derealization and insight shifts, especially if the seizure has had a pronounced effect on mood and consciousness.

The state of calm and that momentary happiness may be a sense of realization of the capacity of the brain or maybe the truth of the extra sensory perception? 

Only more HUMANE research may tell. 

A humane and amazing human was Pankaj dheer 

His portrayal of Daana Veer Karna was really sublime. He will be missed…

Om Shanthi…

Do you know that Elephants do not play chess?

Now before you start thingking out loud; what a stupstupid question!?
The term is title of a very a very famous paper written by Rodney Brooks of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Brooks introduces Nouvell AI, also called fundamentalist AI!

In the paper Brooks challenged the traditional symbolic approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and proposed an alternative based on physical grounding and interaction.

He argued that the traditional approach, built upon the “symbol system hypothesis” which assumes intelligence operates on a system of symbols, had limitations. Brooks’ alternative, which he dubbed “Nouvelle AI”, emphasizes building intelligence from individual behavior-generating modules that interact with the real world through sensors and actuators.

He argued that this approach removes the need for symbolic representations because the world itself serves as the best model

Like you; the whole thing went over my head like a hot knife goes over a wad of warm butter!

So the simplest way of expalining the concept is that even the best ROBOTS of today may have supreme intelligence but don’t have the dexterity of a two year old kid!

We recently got a new Toy which is a case in point! To escape the hassle of a real pet, this was a toy doggie with more than sixty sounds and actions! This inlcudes eye movements and neck movements! But all said and done, it is still a toy! To replace the real thing will take ages or may be never!

One real thing I simply love which is human and not AI are the eyes! Of course some eyes I love more than the other! Even if I am an ENT specialist; I do believe that eyes are the mirror to your soul!

Another beautiful eye!


Now close yours!

Shubh ratri!

One Nobel laureate’s discovery would save the life of another who would later get a Nobel prize himself!

Sounds like a script of a Manmohan Desai!?

Well sometimes real life stories are so amazing!

The story starts with a Banter; I mean Banting!

Frederick Banting, was a Canadian surgeon interesting in Diabetes!

In 1920, Banting had a 25-word hypothesis about isolating a substance from the pancreas to treat diabetes, which he presented to Professor J.J.R. Macleod who then gave Banting a lab at the University of Toronto.

Sure enough Banting and his assistant, Charles Best, began experimenting with pancreatic extracts on dogs. Finally by the spring of 1922, they had purified a usable insulin extract with the help of James Collip.

The major impact was that this Insulin allowed people with diabetes to manage their blood sugar levels, transforming the disease from a death sentence into a manageable condition!

Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923 for the discovery!

Now lets go to the next Noble Nobel!

George Richards Minot was born in a family of doctors!

His father was a physician,  also his uncle and his great grandfather were the founder of a Hospital!

So you would think; wow now that’s a chair ready to sit! His road to being a physician was ready! He did become one but then came the bad news!

He was diagnosed with diabetes which at that time was a sure death sentence! If you want to know the horror stories of children with Diabetes you can just Google!

Even for adults it was a terminal illness! Not like now when it is just a condition!  People with severe disease usually succumbed in a year!

Luckily Banting discovered insulin as you had already read above!
Minot was treated and went on to win his own Nobel! He treated another terminal illness at the time!

He with his team all discovered an effective treatment for pernicious anemia, with liver concentrate high in vitamin B12, later identified as the critical compound in the treatment!

Banting thus saved so many life and he was altruistic as well!
Banting, in a spirit of altruism, sold the patent for insulin to the University of Toronto for just $1 so it could be distributed wide!

Altruism and dedication also was the middle name of Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam! Huge respect for him!

Shubh ratri!

Since Dan Brown’s novels are filled with facts in spite of being fiction; I got the audible version for revision!

In his latest novel called the Secrets of the Secrets; He mentions (Rather she but lets not get specifics since that part is fiction!)

In an attempt to explain the Noetic science; the speaker tells about the famous Hermann grid!

If you have not seen this image yet in the social media it most likely means that you DO NOT have a smart phone!

Google it and see the image and get back to the blog!


So for those who do not have the smart phone lets begin!

The Hermann grid is an optical illusion where viewers perceive grey or dark spots at the intersections of a white grid on a black background. These “ghostlike” spots disappear when you look directly at them because the illusion is caused by the way the human visual system processes light and edges, a phenomenon known as lateral inhibition. The spots are more apparent when viewed from the periphery of the vision, as your eyes are more sensitive to the contrast between the intersection and the surrounding white lines!

The whole phenomenon happens because of sound principles!

One of this is called the Lateral Inhibition in the Retina and Neural processing which happens when light hits your retina, neurons send signals to the brain.

Lateral inhibition occurs when a neuron that is stimulated by light also “inhibits” or dampens the signal from its neighboring neurons.

At the intersections, the white light hits the receptive fields of the neurons and also their neighbors. The neighbors’ inhibitory effect on the central neuron is stronger, which “turns down” the signal from the center. This makes the intersection appear darker!

Along the white lines though in the middle, away from the intersections, the signal from a neuron is not as strongly inhibited by its neighbors, so the line appears brighter!

Finally the illusion is strongest in our peripheral vision because there is a gap between the actual neurons and the points we are looking!

There is no magic in the FACT that the dots appear and reappear! They are always there! We see but only OBSERVE occasionally!

Now if you observe that being old and feeling old is not the same! This is so true in the case of Prof. Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao who retired at the age of 70 then made several contribution in the world of statistics to be awarded the International Prize in Statistics, an award often touted as the “statistics’ equivalent of the Nobel Prize at the age of 102 years!

Sending both the sketch and the Hermann grid for your amusement till you sleep!

SHubh ratri!

Do you know what is a QUBIT?

It is not a bit of the queue! But it is definitely in the queue to revolutionize quantum computing!

In his latest Novel called the Ayodhya Alliance by Ashwin Sanghi; they tell about this revolutionary concept of QUBIT!

Of course for most physicists and for many computer nerds it is old news! But for common folk like us it is something new and exciting!

So lets gets back to the QUBIT in a bit!

A qubit (short for quantum bit!) is the fundamental unit of quantum information, serving as the quantum counterpart to a classical bit.

Unlike classical bits, which can only represent a 0 or a 1, a qubit can exist in a superposition, meaning it can be a 0, a 1, or a combination of both simultaneously until measured.

This quantum phenomenon, along with entanglement, allows quantum computers to process information with exponentially greater complexity, enabling them to solve specific problems that are intractable for even the most powerful classical supercomputers!

Qubits are physically realized through various two-state quantum systems, such as the spin of an electron, the polarization of a photon, or the energy levels of trapped ions or superconducting circuits. 

Without getting technical which really goes over my head! There are some key characteristics of the QUBITS…

One is called the Superposition where a qubit can be in a combination of both its basis states (0 and 1) at the same time.

Another property is called the entanglement which is when two or more qubits become entangled, their fates are linked, even when separated by large distances. Measuring the state of one entangled qubit instantly influences the state of the others, a property crucial for advanced quantum computations!

All these properties are important because of the exponential growth in information since as the number of qubits increases, the amount of information they can represent grows exponentially. For instance, while two classical bits can represent one of four states, two qubits can be in a superposition of all four states simultaneously!

These unique properties of qubits enable quantum computers to perform calculations that are impossible for classical computers. They hold the potential to revolutionize fields such as medicine, materials science, artificial intelligence, and cryptography! Now that is huge BIT!

Huge is also the contributions of Keshava Parasaran!

Now put your eyes to the shut down mode and sleep!

SHubh Ratri!

How do you know the temperature normally?

Pick up your phone or ask Alex/Siri/ Google in that order!

If you are a nature enthusiast then you can simply listen and use the Dolbear’s Law!

All you need is a relatively quiet place and crickets! Not the sports but the insect! You also need good hearing and patience!

The law itself is a formula that approximates the air temperature based on the rate of a cricket’s chirps!

The law works because crickets are cold-blooded animals, meaning their metabolic rate and muscle contractions—which produce chirps—are directly influenced by the external temperature!

So as the temperature increases, a cricket’s chirping speeds up; as it drops, the chirping slows!

Can we use the same logic for and find the temp with rate of teeth chattering!?

Cold causes teeth to chatter because the body’s muscles, including those in the jaw, involuntarily contract and relax to generate heat, a process called shivering. This involuntary shaking is the body’s natural response to a drop in core temperature to prevent hypothermia! But that works only in the cold and the rate is different for everyone so stick to the phone!

Anyway the Dolbear’s law was first published the observation in 1897, although similar findings were reported earlier. 

The formulas can vary slightly depending on the species of cricket and the desired temperature scale.

For Fahrenheit the most commonly cited version is a simple formula based on chirps per 15 seconds: 

Count the number of cricket chirps in 15 seconds  and then you simply add 40 to that number!

For Celsius the formula is based on counting chirps in 25 seconds dividing by 3, and adding 4! Now let that not complicate your mind!

For instance, 48 chirps in 25 seconds would approximate (48/3+4=20 degree C). 

The accuracy varies from species to species in that for the snowy tree cricket (Oecanthus fultoni), sometimes called the “thermometer cricket”; the count and measurement is really accurate!

However, the chirping of common field crickets is less reliable!
Unfortunately here also you have a class divide! Common folks are not elite!

Similar conditions and similar laws apply to different insects! Different insect species have different formulas.

The formulas are also not accurate at extreme temperatures where crickets stop chirping or cannot survive. Other variables, such as the cricket’s health, age, or the presence of other crickets, can also affect the chirping rate!

So when it comes to theory, Dolbear’s law  is good but for all practical purposes just look at you smart watch or phone!


There’s a joke somewhere there! Of course if it’s satire then it could be Srinivasa Iyer “Cho” Ramaswamy!

Now stop listening to crickets and sleep!

Shubh ratri…