ramadocblog

Now that is what I call travel! Driving from 7 am in the morning till 11 pm! But the most straining part was not the 400 odd kms on the highway! But the 20 Km in the city traffic!

From moving at over 120 Km per hour to less than 1 km per hour it was a variation of epic proportion!

I should think that the license official must just stand at the end of the service road of Bengaluru and if you manage to cross that in less than one hour then your license will be home delivered for sure!

Then again the early morning visit to our family temple was a divine experience! The temple which is usually busy or sometimes closed was open! The last time it was raining so much that it was difficult to even navigate!

But this time it was like a divine intervention for us to see our family deity; Chittur Bhagavathy…

Going on those village roads is always nostalgic even for me but more so for my father! The lanes which have become so unrecognizable and new!

The streets which were so empty some years back now had so many houses on either side that there was no space to drive! Of course the feel was the same! The same old stores which were either falling apart now or with lots of new ‘make up’!

Then going to the special spots like the banyan tree or the old school or the old club and wondering how the things which do not move at all, change so much!

The old bus stop which was still there but now has a proper stand and seats! And more importantly bus!

The best part was to see the old house where my grand parents used to live in! As far as I could remember it was a palatial house with a huge courtyard and a huge well! It used to be so clean and neat!

Now it felt so small and old! Over the years the house has become so small! The courtyard was so tiny and the fields were still great but looked so small now! I guess since at the time I was small, the house and fields looked big! Now when I see them with my adult eyes; they look so small!

Still it was nostalgic! A snap taken now would then freeze this new memory forever till Google or FB tells me about my memories and make me nostalgic again!

A quick sketch with aching body and the eyes just closing! An ode to greats from my village! Palakkad!

Though for me there are many greats which I would try to sketch some day; the first name which came was E Sreedharan!

Let the mobile body recharge!

Shubh Ratri!

Travel is an experience! After sometime you realize that your final identity is that small book which is the most precious paper or book when you are out of country or anywhere in the world!

So Nehemiah 2:7–9, dating from approximately 450 BC, states that Nehemiah, an official serving King Artaxerxes I of Persia, asked permission to travel to Judea; the king granted leave and gave him a letter “to the governors beyond the river” requesting safe passage for him as he traveled through their lands. 

That letter is the first official such paper given by anyone to anybody!

That letter then and the book now is a PASSPORT!

Arthashastra (c.  3rd century BCE) make mentions of passes issued at the rate of one masha per pass to enter and exit the country. In one of the Chapters of the Second Book of Arthashastra concerns with the duties of the Mudrādhyakṣa (which roughly translates into ‘Superintendent of Seals’) who must issue sealed passes before a person could enter or leave the countryside!

Yes! That is literally the passport official!

The term “passport” is from a medieval document that was required in order to pass through the gate (or “porte”) of a city wall! 

Luckily once you are in your country you do not need any passport ( at least for now!) to go from one place to another! That feeling itself where you cross one place border to another place and no one asks or cares about your PASSPORT is a great feeling! 

After those many months of driving an automatic on the wide streets of Kuwait it was fun and a good change to drive a manual one on the highways in Bharat! 

Could still make some time for a blog and sketch! That was a twist right!? Of course not as amazing as a twist in the M Night Shyamalan movie though!

Do make sure your documents are safe before you sleep!

SHubh Ratri!

Redundancy means having to lose your job when you are no longer required! But this word has lots of meaning and importance in industry. 

It also means the provision of duplicate, backup equipment or links that immediately take over the function of equipment or transmission lines that fail. Like there is an entity called the Passive Redundancy Which uses excess capacity to reduce the impact of component failures. Like the extra strength of cabling and struts used in bridges

This allows some structural components to fail without bridge collapse. This is called  the margin of safety.!

This means that redundancy is not always negative but even positive depending on the situation!

In fact we do have so many examples of Passive redundancy in our day to day life! Even in our body we have such measures!

Passive redundancy in everyday life refers to having backup systems or extra capacity in place that only activate or become relevant when a primary system fails. It’s like having a spare tire in your car – you don’t use it until you have a flat!

Another example is having a spare battery for your phone or laptop is a passive redundancy. You only use it when the main battery is depleted.

We also have something called the Redundant Wiring which is seen in some 

electrical systems, which indicates some extra wiring in place that isn’t actively used, but can be switched to if the primary wiring fails. 

While in some systems, there might be a dormant backup instance of a program or server that takes over if the main one fails!

The we have the same redundancies in our own body! The loss of sight in one eye or hearing in one ear doesn’t cause total blindness or deafness, but rather impairs specific functions like depth perception or directional hearing. Which is maybe we have two of each and similar organs systems but no one would of course know which is the primary and which is Redundant!

Organisms also often have multiple copies of genes, which can act as a passive redundancy if one copy is damaged or mutated. 

We also have such redundancies in our day to day life like having a backup plan for a presentation, like extra notes or a different way to present the information, is a form of passive redundancy. It is the same with carrying a spare set of keys which is also a passive redundancy, ensuring you can still access your home or car if you lose the primary set!

So a passive redundancy is a good thing! Then again you cannot always have a spare! Sometimes there is only one! Like you can only have one Kishore da! Nothing redundant there!

A sketch and blog after a day’s sleep of less than 4 hours!

Now close your two ‘primary’ eyes and sleep like me!

SHubh ratri!

Sadness and Happiness are two facets of normal life!

You cannot be both all the time and you are normally a mixture of them! You feel happy sometimes and then sad some other times but it is always changing.

Of course no one ever has issue if you are always happy or happiness is never a problem usually! But sadness is always an issue. Then you have depression.

Everyone goes through these emotions and it is a fact of life!

Sadness though is a normal human emotion experienced in response to life’s challenges, while depression is a mental illness characterized by persistent and pervasive sadness, along with other symptoms, that significantly impacts daily life. Essentially, sadness is a temporary state, while depression is a prolonged condition requiring professional help.

Depression affects an estimated one in 15 adults (6.7%) in any given year. And one in six people (16.6%) will experience depression at some time in their life.
The death of a loved one, loss of a job or the ending of a relationship are difficult experiences. It is normal for feelings of sadness or grief to develop in response to such situations.

But being sad is not the same as depression. In grief, painful feelings come in waves, often intermixed with positive memories of the deceased.
In major depression, mood and/or interest (pleasure) are decreased. In grief, self-esteem is usually maintained. In major depression, feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing are common along with suicidal thoughts.

Then again you can have a myriad of symptoms of depression like

Persistent low mood: Feeling sad, empty, or hopeless for extended periods along with loss of interest or pleasure, or being easily frustrated, restless, or agitated.
If you thought that it is only mental; depression takes a huge physical toll!

You may feel lots of fatigue and low energy! You may feel tired even after adequate sleep. There can be significant weight loss or gain, or changes in appetite.
You may also face sleep disturbances like difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping too much.

Finally you can also have Headaches, stomach problems, or other physical discomfort without a clear physical cause. Some people have severe body pain with no cause with a variety of diagnosis and the root cause would be depression.
If you do have someone or know someone with these symptoms you must try to help them!

Having said that, most people with grief or depression need comfort.

A simple smile, positivity and some encouragement. Your one comment can either pull them up or push them down!

So like Bamby says! ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all!’

Hope that makes you smile! Or maybe watch a Madan babu scene for that epic laughter!

He will be missed…

Heartfelt condolences

Om shanti…

So do you like to read the paperback or hard copy or the eBook is ok?

Hard core readers like the feel and look and the general appeal of a book to read! They like to turn the pages slowly and feel the book!

Which is maybe why even now with the advent of so many options to read; we still have book stores all over the world! Starting from the most isolated streets to the posh airport lounge!

Previously while travelling which was usually bus or train; a book in hand was a must! Even if it was not there; buying of the comics from the railway station was a ritual!

We all used to buy one each and finish it as soon as possible and exchange!

Then it became thick books! The bigger or thicker the book, the better for book lovers like me! Even during bus journeys it was a constant companion unless it was a night journey! You had to stop reading when the lights were off! The story would be in the crucial phase but the old folks need their sleep!

Finally I am very comfortable now with my kindle! I have the scribe and it is god send!

Though my first ebook reader was this amazing one by Sony gifted by my brother! It was a super cool contraption and I would have read hundreds of books in that! I literally have used that device to its literal end!

Then again kindle is now the go to device for reading and now scribe is also for writing and the occasional sketch when you think that you may not have time!

The eBooks are cheaper and though you do not have the feel of the real book; they are compact and you can take thick volumes without much space! Not to mention the fact that night or day; you can read whenever you want!

So when the in flight movies get boring; my daughter and me pick up our kindles and get lost in our literary world!

You may feel reading is fun or fun is well, fun! Like maybe Mashoor Gulati or Sunil Grover!

A quick sketch and blog while travelling between two countries and continent!

Read a book and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

This work of imperfection is now a world heritage site and one of the most visited monuments in the world!

How sometimes a defect or a flaw makes it your or someone else’s or something’s biggest asset!

Imagine travelling over 700 km both ways from Rome just to see a building which in practical sense is actually falling!

Luckily it is safe for the next 200 years!

That is the Leaning tower of PISA!

By the way, the tower has been leaning from 1178! And now the greatest discovery is that it is straitening! Then again who would want to see a straight tower of PISA!

Which is why the tower has been officially allowed to lean!

So apparently the  construction of the Tower began in 1173. Originally designed to be a bell tower, it stood upright for over 5 years, but when the third floor was completed in 1178 it began to lean!

The thing is the foundation of the tower, which is only 3-meter deep, was built on a dense clay mixture. This mix impacted the soil and furthermore the clay was not  strong enough to hold the tower upright. As a result the weight of the tower began to diffuse downward until it had found the weakest point!

Due to this problem, construction works stopped for 100 years. The government decided to focus on its war with Genoa and hope that the soil would settle in the meantime.

Then another Engineer tried his hand at correction but the lean got bigger!
Engineer Giovanni di Simone started to add more floors to the tower and tried to compensate for the original lean by making one side of the upper floors taller than the other. This only caused the tower to lean over even more!

Other engineers still unbothered by the lean further added more floors and a bell tower! Adding height and yes! More lean!

The mistakes and leans continued even through 1838 when architect Alessandro Della Gherardesca, dug a pathway at the base of the tower to allow people to admire the intricately crafted base. This caused the tower to lean even more, probably due to the digging of its base!

Then again you would think so much lean would have made the tower to fall!

The real astonishing fact is that the tower in spite of being a little tizzy all the time for so many years still stood its ground! In fact it even withstood the world war when its other sober and straight mates fell!

In fact when American soldiers invaded Pisa, they were ordered to destroy all buildings as to prevent enemy snipers to find suitable places to hide. There were no exceptions to this rule, and many buildings were blown up everyday, as the US forces advanced over the Italian countryside. However a retreat took place shortly after the arrival of the Americans, making unnecessary to destroy the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

Twenty years after the end of the war Italy asked help to avoid the Leaning Tower from toppling. They didn’t want the tower to lose its leaning though, because it is now the symbol of the city, a landmark loved by tourists from all over the world. As a temporary measure engineers and architects installed a leaden counterweight of 800 tonnes!

After that, no other stabilization work was performed since that was the first time that the leaning correction not only worked; it went one step further! In the year 2013, engineers that are monitoring the Tower reported that the straightening motion hadn’t stopped yet, and the monument leaned back an additional 2.5cm!

The lean is what makes this tower special! The greatest flaw you could ever have in a building has now made this one the most famous in the world!

The designer of the leaning tower can now rest in PEACE! or rather lean in peace!

Designer reminds me of Pingali Venkayya; the amazingly talented designer of our flag!

Now lean and fall on the bed and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

Are talented people arrogant or rude? A time honored belief is that if you have talent or you are the best then you can afford to be rude!

Some of the world’s greatest sportsmen or artist who are extremely talented are known to be rude or just not social! Rarely would you see a talented person being very social or many times you would not realize the talent which is easily available or accessible! In fact if you get something easily then you may not be able to appreciate the talent!!

Which is maybe why artists like to be elusive so that people can think that they are privileged to get to listen or see him or her in those rare occasions!

One such talented artist who was known to have a sultry attitude was Michelangelo! But real talent will be seen and appreciated at the proper time! It is just that the attitude may be different! In fact his competitors during the time like Leonardo and Raphael were also very popular and though their rivalry is been touted; it has been seen that both had mutual respect for each other!

Though Sistine Chapel art work is simply amazing which is courtesy Michelangelo; Raphael’s works also are really nice!

There have been many accounts of their supposed rivalry but still they had mutual respect for each other.

It is actually a very interesting story as told by our Guide in the Vatican Museum at Italy.

In 1508, Pope Julius II commissioned the then 26-year-old Raphael to paint frescoes in his private library, he had won the commission despite competition from masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarotti!

His works earned him great reviews that portrayed him as superior to Michelangelo in coloring and painting in general! Did you know that by the way!?

Michelangelo lost several commissions to Raphael when an ambassador erroneously made the announcement that the Sistine Chapel was to be painted by him. This led to a resentment that kept growing as Raphael kept getting rave reviews of his works of art!

While Raphael’s affable, life loving personality earned him the support of Pope Leo X, humanists and poets, among many others, Michelangelo’s self-imposed isolation and sultry attitude created tensions!

Despite bearing Michelangelo’s negative reactions to his success, the young Raphael maintained a vivid interest in his artwork and arranged a secret visit to the Sistine Chapel with the help of Bramante, the architect commissioned by Pope Julius the II to build the new Saint Peter’s Basilica. Young Raphael made this choice so that he could admire the work which was at the time off limits by order of the artist himself!

After being greatly inspired by the ceiling frescoes he secretly visited, Raphael decided to pay tribute to Michelangelo by portraying him as Heraclitus in the “School of Athens”, as if to match him to the legendary bad temper and competitive nature of the “The Weeping Philosopher”!

The School of Athens also is an amazing ode to many great philosophers and great thinkers of that age! But that is a whole blog for another day!

Despite their rivalry, when Johannes Goritz of Luxemburg, Head Chancellor of the Papal Court requested Michelangelo’s estimation of the value of Raphael’s “The Prophet Isaiah” painting, since he considered the price too high, he received an unexpected reply.

Upon analyzing the painting, Michelangelo explained to him that it was worth the price simply for the knee alone. This shows that, despite resenting Raphael’s success, Michelangelo too admired his skill!

One of Raphael’s last paintings, “The Transfiguration”, depicting Christ surrounded by an aura of light while floating on Mount Tabor as well as the miracle of the possessed boy shows characters that have imposing bodies with detailed muscles as influenced by Michelangelo’s splendid Sistine Chapel finishes!

So people with real talents do respect those with the same!

Now if you think you are a talented artist you can simply visit the Vatican Museum to get a giant dose of Humility!

Or see a Delhi Ganesh movie for a giant dose of fun!


Another travel blog and sketch! Legs are tired but hands are fine!

Shubh ratri!

One of the biggest and most ancient amphitheater was actually made to be like the biggest idiot box in the world!

It is of course one of the wonders of the world and of course so huge that at one point you would wonder how can we walk more! Plus it is an amazing place!

The whole trip though is only walking and then some!

This is the Colosseum!

The Colosseum which is ultimately from Ancient Greek word “kolossos” meaning a large statue or giant is an elliptical amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheater ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheater in the world, despite its age!

Our guide who was a brilliant fella with a non stop zeal to talk! He started by praising Rome telling how even our calendar is based on Roman culture and then he proceeded to tell how they actually liked to kill and ‘take’ all the culture they conquered!

He then stated how the whole idea behind the Colosseum was to keep the people busy so that they would not ask what the empire is doing!

All those who get inside had classes and different sections and even those who were in the lowest sections used to feel privileged! He told how the two lowest sections were of women and beggars!

But even they used to feel good or privileged! Since many were not allowed to see the fights inside the Colosseum! They would think that even the kings and queens of different countries have not seen the fight inside the Colosseum so they are so much better than them!

It was the same with beggars who would rather be in the lower sections and still  made to view than be defenseless baits for the animals which usually were the slaves or prisoners from another country!

Everyone used to think about the person or people below themselves in the social structure and feel privileged and finally not question the empire!

Their brain and time was occupied by the ancient idiot box and the empire would do as they please! He ended up by saying that not much has changed apart from the fact that the Colosseum has become portable and available in your fingertips!

Something to think about or well, let us just binge watch the latest season of Squid Games and not do any mental mathematics!

Mathematics reminds me of this great legendary mathematician!

Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi was an Indian polymath with interests in mathematics, statistics, philology, history, and genetics. He contributed to genetics by introducing the Kosambi map function!

In statistics, he was the first person to develop orthogonal infinite series expressions for stochastic processes via the Kosambi–Karhunen–Loève theorem. He is also well known for his work in numismatics and for compiling critical editions of ancient Sanskrit texts! Now while watching the mobile idiot box did you know about him!?

Do read about him if you can or do what the Romans did!

Another quick travel sketch and blog!

Buona notte! That is shubh ratri in Italian!

Do you know what is White fonting!?

Better know it if you want to get a job fast and for sure!

You use AI for everything! Just when you thought AI may take your job, people have started to use AI to get job!

We were on our travel route and landed on this airport at Italy! Everything here is automated including the check out! We were amazed at the automation which is actually the norm in many airports like even my favorite the BENGALURU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT!

Then we were waiting for our bags to come and one of our bags was one of the first ones to come! Then suddenly one bag from the belt came at an angle! It then got stuck in the middle! We thought the bag behind it may make it up but it could not overcome the block and then the whole belt stopped!

It of course took a HUMAN to come and correct the whole situation amidst claps!

Apart from being relived to have got the bag, I was also relieved that AI taking over humans is a long way or may not be even complete! A block here and a short circuit there and it all comes down!

Of course they will make it easier and easier everyday! So make AI your necessary friend who needs you and you can use it to make your life better!

Now coming to the white fonting!

Increasingly companies are using AI for screening job applicants and since AI uses the key words to search, if you have all or most of the keywords then your selection is highly probable!

Some have understood this and what they do is that they take the requirements from the job notice advert and paste it in their document but make the font white! The concept is simple; because the AI bots or digital filters in applicant tracking systems read the white text and surface the résumé for human review.

Because keywords are in white, the résumé will look normal to human reviewers!  This is called White Fonting!

The name white fonting comes from the practice of adding keywords to a webpage, using a white font on a white background! It can also be used as a search engine optimization (SEO) technique in webpages, to create a higher ranking in search engine results and can also add unrelated, but often searched, keywords to a webpage in order to gain additional traffic! This is one of the simple hacks!

What is not simple and in fact amazing is the work and contribution of Sri Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, also known as Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV who was the 24th Maharaja of Mysore, reigning from 1894 to 1940.

He is highly regarded for his progressive rule and contributions to Mysore, often referred to as the “Golden age of Mysore”. He was known for his administrative reforms, focus on education, and patronage of the arts and sciences.

Now that is a great natural intelligence!

Another quick blog and sketch since travel is not easy!

shubh ratri!

Street shopping is great only when you have cash and lots of it and in small denominations!

Most parts of the world will have such places where you do not have brands! All you have is stuffs you need to buy on an international or national trip!

Some small token or gifts to give to everyone to tell them that we remembered you!

It could be a keychain or some famous monument or the fridge Magnets!

Then you have the small coin purse or the bags! Or if you are lucky some great can openers or pocket watches!

The issue is that you need to have cash and that too of small denominations!

That is a big headache!

Even in a big city like Paris! Cash talks!

Which is why it’s a breeze to shop in Bharat! Here even the smallest of the smallest shop owner or even a person with shop on a cart would have a code for you to scan and pay!

I never carry any cash in India! But during these trips;  cash is a big headache!

The UPI revolution with the QR code is an amazing work by India!


QR code or quick response code consists black squares and dots which represent different pieces of information. When scanned, the unique pattern on the barcode translates into human-readable data.

Invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara, chief engineer of Denso Wave, the original purpose of the QR code was to track vehicles and parts moving through the assembly line!

A standard QR code is identifiable based on six components:
Quiet Zone – This is the empty white border around the outside of a QR code; The Finder pattern , the Alignment pattern – It ensures that the QR code can be read, even if it is skewed or at an angle. The Timing pattern – this makes it possible for a damaged QR code to be read. Then you have the Version information and finally the Data cells – with the actual information, i.e., the URL, phone number, or message it contains!

And you can use them to make a payment like in UPI!

These black and white patterns make complex messages just like how Anoop Jalota makes beautiful bhajans using complex old poems!

A quick sketch and blog after close to 12 hours of waking and touring and amazed by the Pyro and laser display at Disney World @Paris!

Shubh ratri!