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Do you know that many information we have about the digestive system was due to a bullet and a near fatal accident!?

Then again a hole in the stomach made it all possible!

The experimentation and ethics are questionable of course!

So close to 200 years ago June 6, 1822 to be precise; St-Martin was accidentally shot with a musket at close range at the fur trading post on Mackinac Island. The charge of the musket shot left a hole through his side that healed to form a fistula aperture into his stomach

The bizarre window into his digestive system created the circumstances for a strangely intimate relationship between Martin, a Canadian fur trapper, and the fort doctor, William Beaumont! 

Beaumont was stationed at Fort Mackinac in the Michigan Territory and he treated Alexis St. Martin. Beaumont not only saved his life, but he allowed St. Martin to live with him as he recuperated. St. Martin’s convalescence lasted several years, affording Beaumont the opportunity to closely monitor the gradual recovery of his patient.   

Alexis St. Martin was a resilient young dude since the injury was so severe and he was never expected to recover! Forget live for so long!

Curiously, St. Martin’s wound healed as a fistula, with a permanent opening in his abdomen through which the interior of his stomach was visible from the outside of his body. Beaumont soon discovered that he was able to view the process of digestion via the nearly inch-wide hole leading to St. Martin’s stomach. Seizing upon this rare opportunity — and with St. Martin’s intermittent cooperation for the following ten years — Beaumont conducted hundreds of experiments on the functions of the human stomach. The results of these exhaustive investigations were published in Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion in 1833.

There were over 250 different experiments in all, with most of them detailing how Beaumont placed various kinds of food directly into St. Martin’s stomach via the fistula. 

Most often, the food was kept in place by attaching it to a string that Beaumont left dangling outside of the hole to St. Martin’s stomach. Beaumont could then watch the processes of digestion by looking directly into the stomach.  

He would also remove the food at regularly timed intervals to take weight measurements, and then reinsert the food into the stomach again to continue his observations on digestion. As one might imagine, these experiments were often uncomfortable and painful for St. Martin.

But the poor bloke bore it all for food and accomodation and may be since someone took so much interest in him! 

Of course the experiments and process gave us deep insights to the process of digestion and do not worry, life was not totally unfair to Alexis St. Martin!

Later on Alexis St. Martin got married and that too happily! Anecdotal evidence of course! Since he later on had six children and the best part!?

Well, he outlived his doctor by several years! So a hole in the stomach can still be managed! A mental hole in the heart or your soul? Well, only God can save you!

Also note that not all doctors like to see patient simply as objects to experiment upon! Some are really great and in fact legendary! 

Like the 93 years old doctor Chilukuri Santhamma! Do read about her and get inspired while eating your dinner!

SHubh ratri!

Do you know what is gobbledygook?

Or how about Onomatopoeia?

Before you call Mr Tharoor; lemme try to explain!

Now Onomatopoeia is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes.

Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as Moo, meow, roar, and chirp! These are literally the voices made by the animal or bird and a Homo Sapien’s version of the same!

In the case of a frog croaking, there is actually a cultural and regional difference! So while the English sound is ribbit for species of frog found in North America; English verb croak is for the common frog!

See how foreign travel can even change the status of a frog!

Not only sounds but there are many words which are actually the spelling of how they sound or perceived to sound! Like hiccup, zoom, bang, beep and splash.

Even machines and their sounds are also often described with onomatopoeia: honk or beep-beep for the horn of an automobile, and vroom or brum for the internal combustion engine.

Even human is not spared! The sound of kiss is MWAH! I can literally hear my daughter saying, “that is so cringe dudda!”

So what is gobbledygook !?

Well, the gobbledygook is a language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of technical terms!

You might have heard of the simpler term for it called Gibberish!

So gibberish, also called jibber-jabber or gobbledygook, is speech that is (or appears to be) nonsense: ranging across speech sounds that are not actual words, pseudowords, language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to outsiders!

The etymology of gibberish is uncertain. It is generally thought to be an onomatopoeia imitative of speech!

Yes! The irony is that even my blogs can sometimes be construed as gobbledygook! Hopefully not this one! Though it can be confusing like how when I say the sketch is of Sushant Singh and you think Rajput while it is another equally talented actor!

Now say whatever you say for good night in your Onomatopoeic way and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

The rain was like a little bird which had just learnt to fly! It was going slow and steady and non stop! It would soar up a little and then wane down and then start again!

Bangalore roads or that small piece of land in between the mini puddles were trying to hold on to their identity and failing fast! The white or the black topping did not do much good other than the make up on a big scar which would reappear even more prominent with a quick wash!

I was wondering whether to take my bike and meet my mother to deliver her my special rice which she used to love to eat! I guess most good cooks like to taste food made by others! I may be an exception in the latter but then again maybe I am not that good! 

Now the bike would be fast but the car would be safe though frustratingly slow! The confusion which every Bangalorean faces every day and more so in the night when the traffic is sadly tragic! 

Two wheeler is always the best since you would at least move but if the rain is heavy then rest assured you would be like a wet cat! Irritable jumpy and cold! 

Also since I had food, it made more sense to take the car!

Praying fervently I rushed with the hot rice to my mom’s place to surprise her with my food! Of course I knew that she would have made her surprise ready for me and my kids! I gave her one box of my rice only to be handed two big ones and a gleaming mom!

It was the famous aloo bonda and her special Ribbon Pakodas freshly taken out of the hot oil! It was deepawali next week and she was getting ready!

She gave me a look at my surprise and when I was going to scold her for straining too much she just said, “It is ok! I took rest in between!”

Of course I was also happy to get the special treat! She had many who would give anything for a bite of her delicious snacks!

Then again that was the last time I could give her my rice and get snacks from her. The taste of those final treats still lingers in my memory…

Then the other day I was just thinking how it was almost four years since that fateful day and was rushing to reach home! I had prepared some notes for my daughter’s exams and it was late night special duty!

Luckily there was no traffic or confusion on which vehicle to take since I had only one and driving in this place is super fun! 

Reached home to see her reading with full concentration and handed the notes to which she handed her own! I looked at her with a fake anger (a father can never be actually angry at his daughter anyway!) mentioning how she must not strain so much before exam and take rest! She simply mentioned, “It is ok dudda! I took rest in between!”…

Luckiest are those who have loving mother, amazing wife, great supporting sister and a lovely and absolutely marvellous daughter!

To all the lovely ladies out there who do should be pampered the whole year as a rule! A very happy official Women’s day!

Signing off with a sketch of Hellen Keller…

Shubh Ratri…

God/Mom bless…

When you have a big brother or an elder sister then you know that you will be a little safe! You will be protected or at least guided!

You would know what to do and more importantly what not to do!

The expectations would be lesser and the stress too!

Do you know that even the Mighty Earth has a big brother or sister who protects it and has been doing it for millions of years!?

This mega or giant planet is Jupiter which revolves the Sun once in twelve years which is maybe why the Maha Khumbh Mela is celebrated once in twelve years!

In Carl Sagan’s Cosmos it has been said that Jupiter is a failed star because it is made of the same elements (hydrogen and helium) as is the Sun, but it is not massive enough to have the internal pressure and temperature necessary to cause hydrogen to fuse to helium, the energy source that powers the sun and most other stars.

However, Jupiter has only about 0.1 percent the mass of the sun, and as it is definitely not a star, we can’t really call the solar system a double star.
If Jupiter had tried little more then we would be a two star system! And the day would be 24 hours! No nights at all! But then I love the night since it makes me appreciate the day more! And of course normal people sleep in the night! So what if Jupiter is not a star! It is a star planet!

And more importantly it is the big brother or sister protector of the Earth!

Some astronomers believe that one reason Earth is habitable is that the gravity of Jupiter does help protect us from some comets. Long-period comets, in particular, enter the solar system from its outer reaches.
Jupiter’s gravity is thought to sling most of these fast-moving ice balls out of the solar system before they can get close to Earth.
So long-period comets are thought to strike Earth only on very long timescales of millions or tens of millions of years.

Without Jupiter nearby, long-period comets would collide with our planet much more frequently. But Jupiter creates both good and bad conditions for earthly life just like any elder brother or sister gives you challenges in life to make you stronger!

Consider that its powerful gravity prevented space rocks orbiting near it from coalescing into a planet, and that’s why our solar system today has an asteroid belt, consisting of hundreds of thousands of small flying chunks of debris! If you are planning to go beyond the realms of the solar system then apart from the basic issues of space flight; you must cross this obstacle course to succeed!

You of course can succeed only by training and asking questions! Reminding me of the one who always has a question ready! Arnab Ranjan Goswami!

Now if the answer to the question, ‘Are you sleepy?’ in affirmative then please sleep!

Shubh ratri!

The best (or the worst!) thing about morals and sayings is that almost every moral or saying will have an equally popular but opposite moral or saying! There are so many examples of that!

One person may say “All good things come to those who wait ” while another will say
“Time and tide wait for no man” These patterns are called Opposite proverbs!
Here are a few! Wise men think alike is more of less opposite to Fools seldom differ!
One of the most popular adage is, ‘The best things in life are free’ which is opposed by another famous proverb, ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch!’
One of the most famous is, ‘Slow and steady wins the race’ which is antagonized by ‘Time waits for no man’!

The only thing which I have been able to decipher is that life is not just a single proverb or principle! It is a balance of the opposites! Unless you have a proper balance, it will not work! Like the Deva and Asura (or more accurately Sura and Asura)!

One of the constant advice given by elders and your teacher or boss is usually to finish your work in time and not to procrastinate!

Now everyone knows Procrastination is the act of unnecessarily and voluntarily delaying or postponing something despite knowing that there will be negative consequences for doing so. It is often perceived as a negative trait due to its hindering effect on one’s productivity, associated with depression, low self-esteem, guilt, and feelings of inadequacy.
But there is a catch here! It can also be considered a wise response to certain demands that could present risky or negative outcomes or require waiting for new information to come!

In fact there is a new term which is almost as bad as Procrastinate which is in fact almost the opposite meaning!
So this is the act of completing tasks as soon as possible even if it costs extra effort or the quality of the outcome deteriorates!
Some people may use this approach in order to avoid the anxiety and stress of last-minute work!
In some areas this faster but inefficient completion of work is actually considered an unhealthy behavior pattern and is accompanied by symptoms such as conscientiousness, eagerness to please, and high energy!

It has been observed that people who do this may try to find shortcuts to be more efficient and productive, but it may result in outcome which is inferior or
undesirable! The action is impulsive and close to reckless!

The term which describes such a feature is now known as Precrastination!
So if your boss or teacher or parent is telling you to hurry up or Precrastinate! Tell them that it is not advisable! Of course do not procrastinate also for too long! Go for the balance! I have recommending a new term for that balance! Crastinate!

Balanced or crastinated (not a real word but it fits! So I am thinking that if it used regularly then it will be accepted in the ever expanding English vocabulary!) performance also was of birthday celebrity Makarand Deshpande! You may not know him by name if you procrastinate and not search in Google but if you Precrastinate, you will instantly ‘crastinate’ and recognize him!

Now if you want crastination in your life then sleep on time! Neither pre nor pro!
Shubh Ratri!

One of the biggest fears nowadays is the fear of death! Not of the human but of the mobile battery!

The greatest disappointment is also when you plug in the phone to get charged and the plug is not turned on!

You come back to see that the phone not only did not get charged but it has drained further!

The days of charging your phone once in a week or even a month is long gone! Now they feed on the charge at least once and sometimes more than that!

The future is not complete till you have a battery which can last long! ONe charge and it will stay juiced up for days or even months and a true miracle; even years!

I still remember how the poor remote of the TV used to start acting up when the battery was low! We used to kick and push and warm up the cell like giving CPR on the battery! Most of the times it used to work though!

Like the toothpaste which would be used till the last drop, the battery would be used till the last remaining electron!

Of course their history is also interesting!

Batteries have played an invaluable role in the history of physics, chemistry,
and industry.

Around 1780, physiologist Luigi Galvani experimented with frogs’ legs
that he could cause to jerk when in contact with metal. The spectacle of that
chorus line of flexing frog legs guaranteed Galvani sell-out crowds in
auditoriums the world over.

Galvani ascribed the leg movement to “animal electricity.”

However, Italian physicist and friend Alessandro Volta believed
that the phenomenon had more to do with the different metals Galvani
employed, which were joined by a moist connecting substance!

In 1800, Volta invented the first true battery, storing and releasing a charge through a chemical reaction instead of physically, which came to be known as the voltaic pile. The voltaic pile consisted of pairs of copper and zinc discs piled on top of each other, separated by a layer of cloth or cardboard soaked in brine (i.e., the electrolyte). He experimented with various metals and found that zinc and silver gave the best results

Of course these were ‘wet’ cells which were unpractical and cumbersome! Necessity lead to the development of the dry cell which was finally developed in 1886 by the German scientist Carl Gassner.

Now of course we have the leak proof batteries and cells but still sometime it does leak! Old remotes and other smaller devices which used to run on these older batteries used to show the leaks in forms of rust and disfigurement as a testament to the association!

Finally now you have the cool dry Lithium batteries which can be recharged and used for so long! The only issue is the drain! Then again an average phone now has drainage dependent stuff going on constantly! Be it the wireless or the location or the bluetooth or even the cellular service! Not to mention the apps running in the background! No wonder the poor phone is always power starved!

Power starved also was the character Bijjaladeva played by Nassar! But still pretty solid!

Now put your phone to charge and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

As you grow older you realise that one plus one is not two!

Our textbooks are full of facts which can be questioned! They are full of great people with questionable characters and finally there are actually just an iota of actual truth or fact between a veritable mountain of exaggeration!

Talking about Mountains; everyone knows about the tallest one in the world! Mount Everest stands tall! But if you measure the height from the floor to the top then there are two contenders!

Mount  Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth (at least on land!) stands just 5.5 miles high! But the actual tallest mountain when measured from base to peak, is Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, which originates at the bottom of the ocean, is far taller than Everest, at about 33,500 feet (10,210 meters).

Of course measured from sea level, Mauna Kea reaches only about 13,800 feet (4,200 meters)!

Just when Mauna was rejoicing, comes the actual tallest mountain in the Solar System!

The highest mountain and volcano in the Solar System is on the planet Mars.!

It is called Olympus Mons and is 16 miles (24 kilometers) high which makes it about three times higher than Mt. Everest! Imagine that!

In addition to being very tall, it is also very wide (340 miles or 550 kilometers) and covers an area larger than the entire chain of Hawaiian islands. Olympus Mons is a very flat mountain which slopes by only 2 to 5 degrees. It is a shield volcano built up by eruptions of lava.

As described in this Novel by Ellis Silver, apparently Mars once had several active volcanoes, but they’re all extinct now!

The crust and mantle have become too thick for molten rock to break through from the core.  And this causes them to swell up and reach such heights!

So when even Everest is not the tallest then what’s the fate of the other smaller mountains!

Well, forget Everest (even the name was not its original!); in fact in Nepal it is known as Sagarmatha! Now whatever you call it or whatever be its height or whether it is the tallest in the world or in the universe; it makes no difference to the mountain!

It just stands tall touching the skies or at least reaching for it! Just how Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata did and how!

Now of course it is the time to Sutnu! Which is sleep in Nepali!

Shubh Ratri!

It has often been said that the most precious things are protected by the strongest stuff or Armour!


Like the Pearl or even the brain!

Even within the skull, the toughest bone in the human body is given the job of protecting this organ system which can show how important it is!

Of course there is a bias here but then you cannot ignore the fact that the cochlea is located in the inner ear and it is so important that the toughest bone in the human body (the petrosal bone)!

The cochlea is a Greek name that means snail. Which is very fitting, considering the cochlea looks just like a snail shell!
And the turn of the Cochlea has to be exact! It is generally 2 3/4! That is the exact shape and turn of over 99 percent of the Homo Sapien which makes him or her listen to you!

Of course only the shape is just a small component of the complex physiology of hearing!

Approximately 24,000 hair fibers can be found within the cochlea. These hair cells are necessary for hearing.

If you still do not feel that hearing is important then just know that the cochlea is the first organ to develop completely and is formed 4 ½ months into a pregnancy so you can ideally start listening as early as 4 month in utero!

So when Arjuna tells about Chakravyuh and Abhimanyu ‘hears’ then you can accept it!

Even otherwise the ear is so important since you are supposed to ‘listen’ more! Not simply hear!

Also remember that just because you have said something does not mean that the other person has heard or even listened!

Another reason why this organ is so safely tucked inside is that what you hear is precious and what you comprehend is priceless! Which is why we have two ears!

All this on the world hearing day! Now listen to something pleasant like  Maa by Shankar Mahadevan and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

This was the first behemoth every medical student learns or tries to learn! The enthusiasm of the average med student is soon broken when he tries to finish one chapter and then realises that he or she does not remember much or even understood it in the first place!

Though we all start with this, we finally stick to the Indian book! And finally to our own or class notes!

I am telling about the Gray’s anatomy textbook! Of course for most non medicos it may refer to the famous TV series (that was spelled GREY’s anatomy!) which was just watchable till they killed of Derek; it was just downhill from that with no recovery whatsoever! Luckily the more recent versions of the BOOK is much better that the show!

The version which finally reached our shores was this gigantic book with tiny fonts and amazing paper! Just to buy and hold it and walk around with it required strength, lots of money and a ton of confidence!

There are a couple of interesting stories even in this book! Not in the book per say but in the writing and making of the book! If it is stories you seek then you would not find any in the pages of the Gray’s anatomy!

Apart from the text and the amazing details in this big book, the best thing about it were the images and more importantly the hand drawn sketches!

Even when the theory or the text was something you could not remember or read in the first place, the sketches were a visual treat!

Now the most amazing history of these sketches were that not only were they of great detail, they were in fact originally drawn in reverse!

Imagine the artistry of the artist who could do that!

That was Henry Vandyke Carter who was the great who Sketched this masterpiece! 

Coming to the vain and envious Gray! Yes! He was not so high and mighty!

When he saw the images, he understood that they would be remembered more and appreciated more! Moreover, images may not change much but later on after more research, the anatomy would have some modifications in that the text written by Gray would change but the images sketched by Carter would stand the test of time!

So he did what you would expect a jealous vain person to do! Sabotage!

The vain Gray made sure that Carter’s name was in smaller font and he did not receive any royalty or much payment for his works! 

But the Karmic eyes sees all! 

Many times all you need to do is wait for your enemy or envy to gets its due!

Gray passed away soon after the printing of his book and never got to know the legend it would become while Carter had an amazing teaching life going on to become the principal of Grant Medical College! 

Real talent would shine like the diamond or Gold! While the covering would fade away without polish!

Just like Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan! Have sketched him a couple of times before but this one was simply effortless. 

SHubh Ratri!

Oh yeah! If you wanted to sleep as a medical student then you MUST read the Grays Anatomy!

You love the rose but the thorns are fatal!

It was true ages back when a simple prick from a thorn would have been fatal!
Injuries from a great war or fight or even a simple act of gardening would have killed you more than the wound!

Did you know that the treatment of TB without antibiotics was, well fresh air!

If you were lucky you would survive.

If you had any of the other bacterial infection like the Syphilis then it was a death sentence for sure! It would not only take you but also make sure you get disfigured and suffer till the last.

Then as described in a book by Bill Bryson called the Body he describes how a person who got infected with the prick of a thorn was treated first time with Penicillin! Unfortunately the dose was not sufficient and even though he improved a little, it was not enough.

Of course when proper production began, Penicillin turned out to be one of the most important inventions of the modern medicine ever! Even now antibiotics are a major share of the prescription of any medical practitioner!

Then again with every rose, come the thorns!

Unfortunately though the rampant and unnecessary use of antibiotics has lead to multidrug resistant bacteria!

Remember that they were here before us and they don’t need us, we need them! In the absence of many bacterium we will not survive! And the antibiotics in our food and other products will kill them also!
There are also some good gut bacterias which have been eliminated which used to protect us!

Though most antibiotics are still effective and given only when required but many times when it is taken without recommendation or prescription  or even by those who do not realise the problems it would cause, it is a great crime!

That day is not far that we will come a full circle and a prick from a thorn will definitely be fatal again!

So don’t be a hero (or lead actress for that matter!) and self medicate! Speaking of hero reminds me of the first super star of Tamil cinema! You might not have heard of him though!

Thyagaraja Bhagavathar!

Shubh ratri!