Am sure you would have heard Oui amma! The latest song from Raveena Tandon’s daughter! But have you heard about Oumuamua?
Now, it has nothing to do with any item number in a hindi movie! But it is still an ‘item’ of interest! And it is Interstellar! Again, not the movie!
ʻOumuamua is the first confirmed interstellar object (object from outside our solar system) to be discovered. Discovered in 2017, it’s a rocky, cigar-shaped object with a reddish hue that passed through the solar system.
It was given the designation 1I/2017 U1 and the Hawaiian name “ʻOumuamua,” meaning “a messenger from afar arriving first,”.
ʻOumuamua is elongated and appears cigar-shaped, with an estimated length of about 377 feet (115 meters). The structure exhibits unusual variations in brightness, suggesting it is tumbling rather than rotating on a single axis! Its high speed and trajectory indicate it came from interstellar space and was not gravitationally bound to our sun. The interesting thing is that unlike typical comets, Oumuamua does not display a bright coma or dust tail, leading to questions about its composition.
Another interesting thing is that it is accelerating away from the sun, which puzzled astronomers and led to speculation about potential explanations, including the release of hydrogen gas or even the possibility of it being an alien spacecraft! Of course when no one knows the exact origins, you would have many explanations!
Scientists believe it could be an exotic type of comet or asteroid, perhaps one that has been heavily coated with dust from interstellar travel! It has also been thought to have originated from a collision within another star system and been ejected into interstellar space!
One theory called the Nitrogen Ice Theory suggest it might be a piece of an exoplanet similar to Pluto, potentially composed of nitrogen ice! One more theory is that it could be an alien ship similar to Rama! Not our dear God on whose name I am named but named after Rendezvous with Rama! This is a 1973 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. Set in the 2130s, the story involves a 50-by-20-kilometre (31-by-12-mile) cylindrical alien starship that enters the Solar System. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries! So was Clark on to something!? Well we can get to know in time!
In January 2022, researchers proposed that a spacecraft launched from Earth as part of Project Lyra, could catch up to Oumuamua in 26 years for closer studies!
Let us check back after 26 years then! Hope that made you smile! Or you can watch a Rajendra Nath movie and laugh!
Imagine one fine day someone who is dressed, well out of times and is behaving a little odd and he or she tells you that he or she is a time traveler who has come from the past or history; he or she has come from around a time 5000 years ago! (Or at least that is what he or she tells you!); well what do you do?
One sure fire test is to ask him or her to make lemon juice! Or if you are from Kerala, maybe lemon sherbet or soda!
If he or she makes an amazing lemon juice or lemonade then, well you can drink it (at your own risk!) but rest assured that he or she is not from the past!
That is because there was no lemon 5000 years before!
The Lemon is only about a few thousand years old!
I still remember the big oval lemons we used to get in Assam! Those had so much juice but were surprisingly bitter! The first time we tasted those lemon juice at one party; it was so bitter that no amount of salt or sugar could make us gulp it!
I quietly poured that juice on a potted plant! Sadly during the next visit, well let us just say that the plant had some issues!
Now we love the lemon! It must be yellow and round and spot less to be only sour and not bitter! You must soak them in warm water and then use! I used to make nice lemon juice which my mother used to love so rest assured I am not 5000 years old!
Now the lemon is a cross breed of several fruits!
One fruit is the bitter orange, best known in the west for its use in marmalade, cocktails, and tea. The bitter orange has about six different varieties, the best known being the Seville orange (the famous ingredient in marmalade) and the bergamot orange (used in Earl Grey tea).
The bitter orange itself is a hybrid of two other citrus fruits: the pomelo and the mandarin! The pomelo is a large, sweet citrus fruit, often described as the largest in the citrus family! It’s known for its thick, easy-to-peel rind and juicy, sweet-tart flesh. Pomelos are native to Southeast Asia and are considered an ancestor of many other cultivated citrus varieties, including grapefruit! Finally a mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata), often simply called mandarin, is a small, rounded citrus tree fruit. The mandarin is small and oblate, unlike the roughly spherical sweet orange (which is again a mandarin-pomelo hybrid). The taste is sweeter and stronger than the common orange.
Then you have the citron! Or Citrus medica historically also known as cedrate which is a large fragrant citrus fruit with a thick rind. It resembles a ‘huge, rough lemon’. Now that I think about it, the bitter lemon I had in Assam may have been the citron!
Finally to create our lemon, the bitter orange was cross bred with the citron!
And soon enough the prodigal son lemon was more popular than its parents! Now of course you have so many varieties of lemon and so many uses! All you need next time is to make a lemon without the seeds! Then you can actually crack yourself and say like Tiku Talsania! Yeh kya ho raha hai!
This one is right out of a zombie movie! A worm tongue!
Now just when you thought nature is really amazing; it amazes you even more! It is like a mission impossible movie! Just when you thought that Tom cannot get more crazier than this; he jumps of a cliff on a bike onto a train!
Hopefully though the Missions which are ‘impossible’ may stop with the last one! We watched it in 4d max and when the chairs start to move, you feel the thrill of the chase! Then again all good things must come to an end! With the final outing and the final closure, rest assured the Mission is done!
Now Tom jumping from one plane to another is not from the Zombie movie, have you heard of a fish with the tongue which is actually a worm!?
The only parasite that functionally replaces an organ! Yes! Lukily though this time it is not the brain! But the tongue!
The tongue-eating louse (Cymothoa exigua) is one of the strangest and most disturbing parasites in the animal kingdom. It enters through the gills of a fish and attaches itself to the base of the tongue. It severs the blood vessels, causing the tongue to wither and fall off. Then it replaces the tongue, attaching itself to the stump and functioning like a prosthetic tongue. The fish can still eat and live normally—with the louse acting as its new tongue. And of course the fish still lives! The fish gets some food too since the worm can only eat so much!
This is an example of a parasitic symbiotic relationship, one species gains from the other, while the other species is being harmed!
Now, Cymothoa exigua is not believed to be harmful to humans, except it may pinch if separated from its host and handled! So next time if you are speechless, instead of telling that cat got your tongue, you can say; the worm got it!
Now if that shocks you along with the mission impossible with so many stars! Do you know there is a movie in Hindi where there is only a single actor! That was the movie Yaadein and though there are depictions of many people, only Sunil dutt is actually in the whole movie!
Most people know that dogs have a really good sense of smell, but did you know that 40% of the brain goes entirely to their sense of smell!
To put this into perspective, we can taste a teaspoon of sugar in our coffee. They could smell a teaspoon of sugar inside two olympic sized swimming pools! It has been suggested that dogs can detect many types of cancers in humans because cancers leave specific traces, or odor signatures, in a person’s body and bodily secretions! Now then you would ask (if you were as quirky as me!) then why don’t we employ an animal whose sense of smell is even better than the dog!
Well I fail to see how you can get an African elephant or a Shark to work for you!
Yes! The African elephant is often considered to have the most developed sense of smell among animals. This is due to having a large number of olfactory receptor genes (around 2,000), more than any other mammal, including dogs. However, the best sense of smell can also be measured by how well an animal can detect faint odors, and in that case, the male silkworm moth is the champion!
The male silkworms also can detect the pheromones released by females from a great distance, even at extremely low concentrations, making them the ultimate champions in terms of detecting faint smells!
Other animals with strong senses of smell include Dogs, Bears and Sharks! You would be surprised to know that even our dear Cows have a surprisingly good sense of smell, which helps them find and choose their food!
In the list above am sure the best candidate to ‘smell’ cancer in humans are indeed dogs!
And Yes! dogs can be trained to smell certain types of cancer. Studies have shown that trained dogs can detect cancer in urine, breath, and even tumor samples. They can distinguish between cancer and non-cancerous samples with a high degree of accuracy!
Dogs possess a significantly larger number of olfactory receptors than humans, allowing them to detect subtle changes in odor. The chief reason here is that cancerous tissues release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are not present in healthy tissues!
By training specific dogs to identify and react to specific odor patterns associated with different types of cancer many cancers can be detected.
It has been shown that dogs can detect a range of cancers, including bladder, breast, lung, colorectal, ovarian, and prostate cancer! Which is why scientists are actively exploring the use of dogs and other animals in cancer detection, with the ultimate goal of developing diagnostic tools that can detect cancer early and improve patient outcomes!
Just when you thought the future is only AI; there comes the little bloke with cute eyes and dangling ears! Man’s (or woman’s for that matter!) best friend to the rescue once again!
Best reminds me of one of the best actors! Krishna! At one point he had close to 20 or so movies releasing in the same year! Most may not even know him! You may know his son Mahesh Babu though!
Our sun, may look smooth and calm from Earth, is actually a maelstrom of superheated plasma. The nuclear reactions that power a star cause massive convection cells of superheated gas to rise and fall constantly across its surface. These cells emits about 100 to 300 watts of sound energy per square meter, about the same as a police siren. And because the sun’s surface area is around 10,000 times larger than Earth: imagine 10,000 Earths covered in police sirens! So Anything that could make itself heard 92 million miles away is a potent force indeed! In all, it’s best the sun’s clamor remains locked away by the nothingness of space.
In the same way you have the calm and composed Dravid! The win by RCB took me back to the second season of IPL! When the team lead at the time by Dravid went until the finals! He was their iconic player and frankly the best player! Then again he would always be the best player for me!
In the first season he was the highest run getter of the team! The test player who handled the 50 overs and now the 20 overs game! He lead from the top and how!
I have never been a great cricket buff since, well, any match I see, rest assured the team I support always gets defeated! But still Dravid was the one who could win in spite of my viewership! Of course the fact that he was from Karnataka and also a pretty decent guy were all good points!
That was the year 2009 I think! The second season of IPL and the team lead by Dravid was in the finals! I was a bachelor then and ‘unstable’! I took caution to the winds and in a departure to my good sense, watched the match! It was fine till Dravid was there! There were so many close ones and tense moments but Dravid was there! Then one tragic ball and he was out! The opposing team were wild! You could see the dressing room erupt into joy while the RCB area was shocked! Everyone including a cricket novice like me knew that it was over for RCB! I turned off the TV after that! Which was also the last IPL match I saw!
Even the world cup match I used to make sure that I was as away from the TV or any viewing area as possible if I wanted India to win! In fact I was in an auto on the way to my house when Dhoni hit the iconic shot! We understood that India won though since the whole street was full! We stopped the auto and jumped out and danced like one! Indians and bharat wasis!
Which is why I have not watched any other RCB match including the one yesterday! Of course occasionally I do check the score but never linger more than a few seconds lest my ‘bad luck’ falls on them! I know it is crazy but then again what is life without some eccentricities!
Still I would like to remember that Dravid team which almost won the cup! Then again though you may hate it, since it is the truth; no one remembers the one who comes second! Winning at least once in a while is the best boost! So enjoy RCB! You did good and deserved the cup!
Heartfelt condolences for those who had the tragedy in the stampede…
(Dr) Atul gawande wrote a book called Being Mortal
A Grim but true look about the thing happening to each one of us!
All the pain and trials of the world and in the end, each one of us is going to be this! Whether you are poor or rich or middle class! The best thing is that it does not have any gender preference!
The greatest sportsperson to the weakest little child born today would finally become this at some point!
Some may be more or less but most start getting there the moment they are born!
Interestingly this is not restricted to humans! This happens to each and every one of us! The trees which may be a sapling now and will becomes a big one with branches all over! Even that mighty tree would become this one day!
The small puppy who falls more and walks less! Then looks at you with cute eyes would one day become this!
The little toddler who wants to walk but falls! Then again gets up and walks again! Over and over till he or she can walk! Even that kid will become this at some point!
The little bird chick who patiently wait for their mother to get food! Crying and waiting with open beaks! The bird may fly away to start its own family one day but still will become this one fine day!
That irritating boss who does not do anything but still wants results! That colleague who irritates you with his stories! That Guard who usually does not care for you but suddenly smiles and even salutes you when he wants something!
That shopkeeper who smiles at you when you buy a lot but frowns when you just want some change!
That irritating guy on the road driving in front of you going so slow! And that equally irritating one who is behind you who wants to go fast! That Liar…I mean Lawyer who is charging you for an issue which when you think about could have been done and dusted by simply talking! That politician who says he or she does not want any post or position ever and then does everything to hold on to his or her seat or post! That wise man or woman who tells you to be calm and not get angry and loses his or her temper when the water is not cold enough!
Or that doctor who is great when he or she charges less and you get better and is really bad when the bill is high and so is your pressure!
Your partner who is great till he or she listens to you! Then becomes irritating when both the hearing and the listening stops!
The children who make you proud when they score great marks and of course they become your spouse’s children when they score bad!
The friends and relatives who are great when they are yours and become irritating when they are well, not yours!
That newsreader who is great and truthful when he or she tells great things about your favourite political party! The same person becomes loud and irritating when he praises the ‘other’ team!
The friends of the whatsapp group who send GIFs in an instant for anything and everything or those who simply peek and say or do nothing!
All of these are going to become this at some point! It may be slow for some and it may be incomplete for others! Many would start feeling this the moment they are born while many would not feel even after running and working the whole day!
Millions of money have been spent to reverse this but till date, you can even beat some malignancy and very severe illness, but you cannot escape this! Even the president of the biggest country to a homeless person in the poorest one is becoming this every single day!
Many times when we see patients with symptoms we cannot cure or completely treat, we simply accept this and announce that they have become this!
A three letter word which is the universal truth!
But whether anyone accepts or not, you me and everyone else are becoming this slowly and steadily!
That word is OLD!
Every single day, your body is becoming old! Your gums are receding, your back is hurting and your vision and hearing is going down! You are forgetting more and getting angry even more! You like to sleep more and take a break as much as possible! The hair is changing colour and for some the hair is running away!
Just remember that that one person who irritates you the most will one day also become old! Now that is real GOLD!
Gold also is Isaignani Ilayaraja!
Great though that we got to see RCB take the cup before Kohli became old!
Search for the most dangerous animals and your will find this specimen called the Blue-Ringed Octopus in the top five! (Yes! The great Homo sapiens is still in the first place!)
But did you know that it is dangerous because it has a great microscopic friend!?
Now when you think of Octopus you would assume a large sized creature with a big head (or whatever you call it!); but this one is an actual example of ‘size does not matter!’
At the size of a golf ball and decorated with stunning iridescent rings of blue, the aptly named blue-ringed octopus punches well above its weight.
This docile animal will attack when threatened, packing a neurotoxin 1,000 times more powerful than cyanide, with no known antidote not that there would even be enough time to administer it before death occurs!
The bite of the blue-ringed octopus is so painless, one might not even feel it happening (which makes it even more remarkable how often people share photos and videos with one in their hand)! The Homo sapien is not only the most dangerous, he or she is sometimes the most stupid also!
People have been so amazed by this docile creature that they touch and try to ‘enjoy’ the beaty of nature! Little do they realise that when a thing is naturally beautiful then you better watch out!
The poison in question is the tetrodotoxin (TTX)!
TTX is found in a variety of animals including fish, amphibians and shellfish. Pufferfish are one well-known example. These fish can be eaten, but they sequester TTX in their internal organs, so if they aren’t properly prepared, they can cause fatal poisoning.
Blue-ringed octopuses disperse TTX throughout their body. If they are eaten by another animal, the TTX acts as a poison. There has been at least one case of human poisoning caused by someone mistakenly eating a blue-ringed octopus, though a study found that swallowing TTX can make it about 50 times less toxic than when it is delivered through other means! But still, it is better to have some ‘safer’ dish like maybe a Palak Paneer or what I made today! Soya chunks with capsicum!
Another remarkable thing to note is that the poison is not produced by the Octopus itself but the little friend who has ‘rented’ place!
The Symbiotic bacteria in blue-ringed octopus salivary glands produce tetrodotoxin! This substance is potently neurotoxic, blocking the transmission of nerve impulses. This stops muscles from being able to contract and has potentially deadly consequences! So this very beautiful creature can literally stop your heart!
Your Heart also stops a little when you see your Adhar card photo! Though it’s an amazing initiative courtesy Nandan Mohanrao Nilekani!
So remember that if it’s beautiful then it probably is dangerous!
Rebooting the brain: part 1: The journey of Hope by Dr Saran Srinivasan and Dr Pratibha
This is probably one of the first and finest books on Neurorehabilitation and Neurological disorders which is midway between a textbook and a novel!
The stories of the patients are real and that is what makes this a unique experience! Since this is a book summary, I have not shared the complete stories but only trailers! The summary is for those who may not read the book and a preview for those who would!
Starts with an introduction of how he wanted to be NS since young! The added benefit of paying Paltry fees for medicine and speciality resonated for people like me who also paid less than 3k per year for MBBS seat! It is simply unbelievable on how we get the best education in the best price in the world!
His first and interesting patient was called Nina! He then describes on how she inspired his journey!
Dr Sharan says that of all the organs in the body, the Brain does not have a back up! It is gone then it is Pack up!
He actually comes from a line of inventors and pioneers! His Father Senior Sinivasan made the first ever made in India Helmet!
Listen to this one line and you will get the flow of the book!
“Do you think neurological disorders or dysfunctions happen only after having a stroke, Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA), or a brain attack? Oh no, darling, not at all! Try riding your bike without a helmet, under the influence of alcohol, or at high speed, and I can assure you that you’ll end up being my next patient”
He tells about his center the PRS Neurosciences, where they have been attempting to provide hope to people when they think they have lost everything. Here, tradition and innovation converge in an evidence-based setup, constructing a track forward that delivers a comprehensive and holistic nature of healing. It is a journey that recognizes the mind-body connection, weaving together the threads of ancient practices of Ayurveda and yoga with the cutting-edge techniques of modern neuro rehabilitation. In this ‘Samanvaya’ or synthesis, we discover a comprehensive approach that leaves no stone unturned, addressing not only the symptoms but the very core of neurological disabilities – which is functional independence!
In “Rebooting The Brain” he tells about how Neurons that fire together wire together!
He mentions about this special package offered by them called th CAREPa-Re. This is the acronym for clinical, anatomical, radiological, etiopathological and finally rehabilitation. Here the CAREPa determines the Re!
They also use new techniques along with Atma Nirbhar bharat tech!
Moreover they developed New frontier in Neurosciences called the Functional Neurosciences!
In between he tells about three amazing stories of patients which pushed him from surgery to rehab! Yes! You have to read those stories yourself!
In between he does throw in some facts and literally mind boggling trivia! Like how the human brain is estimated to have 100 billion neurons, and each of these can make 10,000 connections. So, the capacity of the human brain becomes 100 billion to the power of 10,000, literally limitless! Imagine 100 billion 10000!
He says how, when you come across patients who have lost all their known skills and come down to square one, the baby phase, where they are unconscious and incompetent, it is difficult to figure out which parts of the functional brain circuits are damaged. The entire discovery depends on the skill of the caregivers!
In between he also mentioned that divorce rate among doctors was highest among neurosurgeons! Which is why he did not want to be a part of the statistic!
He tells about gobi manchurian! Which is actually not a Chinese dish! So in India we innovate and make it Indian!
A whole section is on neuromodulation where he starts starts with the amazing story of the Police writer Lokesh! There was a time when he could not write! And how the team treated him and now he is back and how!
Dr Sharan mentions how movements disorders are like that one uncle at a family reunion who just cannot stop dancing even though the DJ has packed and gone home!
Under promising and over delivering is the mantra of the team! This is really good since expectations reduces joy! It is better to promise silver and then deliver gold!
A chapter then tells about Shivanna who becomes the first patient in the world with Park to undergo staged bilateral lesioning v3.0 surgery!
Even the story on how he met his mentor and guru by chanting the guru stotram mantra by shankaracharya is both amazing and divine!
A section on Parkinson’s disease including explanation, patient stories and amazing treatment outcomes!
The same with dystonia with special emphasis on Intrathecal Baclofen, Deep Brain surgery. You must check out the story of the businessman with dystonia who could not pose for a photograph since he could not look straight! And yes! He did get treated by the team and posed straight!
There was in between the story of Tarun the kid in coma who recovered slowly and the algorithm of spasticity which includes the good and the bad spasticity.
One chapter on pain management gets very personal when he tells about his own father’s battle with chronic pain! He ends that chapter with several examples of people with headache who must get a scan done! He states that we must never neglect pain! It is a fifth vital sign!
The difference between a CT and MRI for stroke and stroke management as such has been elaborated! Though Dr Sharan has made it as simple as possible, the layman may not enjoy it much! Medical professionals would love this section to the core!
In the section of stroke he starts by telling about Dr Jill Bolte Taylor a neuroanatomist and his book “My stroke of insight” documenting her experience of recovery and transformation in her book!
He further mentions that the ones who recover from stroke are not stroke survivors but stroke warriors!
A list of people who make the recovery possible including pain therapist, speech language pathologists to name a few. He gives each one a separate space and credit and even chance to tell his or her point of view!
The best part of the book is the fact that he tells us about the unsung heroes of the whole process! The Bystanders!
In the section of road trauma he tells about how there were 7 million COVID death in three years and while there 1.3 millions every year in RTA!
The head banging story of the story of the CA who met with an with accident by not wearing helmet and after big surgery and great recovery is seen riding without a helmet!
With the added advantage of true stories and experiences, you are in for a treat! So on one side you have the spinal cord injury and Monish and the other you have the grit and determination of Savita!
Story of Christopher Reeve with a beautiful quote by him has also been added!
The author categorically mentions that in any trauma you “MUST NOT MOVE A PERSON WITH ANY SUSPECTED SPINE INJURY!”
The final end points gives another well deserved mention bystanders and how it is very important to have health insurance.
Dr Sharan then tells about his amazing foundation called The Swaasthya Aarogya Foundation; the NGO which helps with patients and even sometimes takes care of the finances.
The final chapter is aptly called the Conclusion which starts with a saying by confucius which perfectly describes the whole book and the recovery after a neurological issue; “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop!”
Do you know these Stats? 100 millions people in the world have neurological issues! While there are 20,000 cases of spine injuries! That is huge!
The best for the last! An amazing story of a patient bedridden with MND but with grit determination and technology can now communicate and have hope…
Every page is a story and there is a story in every other page! The text shows his wide experience and his service mindedness! Plus it is so heartening to see his support system! If you want motivation, simply grab this one!
The flame says to the moth, do not come close to me! You will also burn like me!
That is deep! Of course that is only an angrezi translation of the lines from the famous song, “Pyar dewaana hota hain!”
We have seen how Moths rush to the flame? When they see the light they just don’t see anything else and literally set themselves on fire!
Now there are so many explanations about this odd behaviour which is a great fodder for scientists and poets albeit for different reasons! The poet would like to see the love while the scientist would like to know why! While of course for the moth or the insect, he or she does not care!
Now it is sure that moths are not inherently drawn to flames in the sense of a conscious desire to get burned. It is an amalgamation of light, navigation, and potentially mistaken cues!
When you know there are many theories to explain the why, then it is sure that no one is cent percent sure! Since the moth may not be of much help!
One theory explains the use of dorsal light. Many insects, including moths, use a “dorsal light response” to navigate. They orient their bodies so their backs are facing the source of light, which they perceive as being overhead (like the sun or moon). Artificial lights can disrupt this natural orientation, causing moths to spiral towards the light instead of flying away from it! So it can be just a stubborn Moth or Man who does not want to ask for directions!
An extension of this is the lunar or stellar guidance since moths have evolved to use the moon or stars as navigational cues. Artificial light sources can mimic these natural light sources, leading moths to mistake them for their usual navigational landmarks! So the rest stop which the moth thought as a place for taking a break, fried it away!
Other theories involve both UV and Infra red radiation!
UV light plays a role in the behavior of moths, including pollination and mating. Some moths may be attracted to UV light because they perceive it as a signal related to these behaviors. Also flames emit infrared radiation, which is a form of heat. Some moths may be attracted to the heat, or they may mistake the infrared radiation for the infrared reflections from moth pheromones! The flame is mistaken as a ‘hot’ friend perhaps!
It has also been suggested that they are simply avoiding predators and for this the moths may try to fly upwards towards light sources, mistaking them for the rising sun, in order to find a place to hide from predators during the day.
Some studies suggest that moths may be attracted to the scent of certain plants and flowers, and that some artificial light sources, such as lamps, may emit a similar scent, further contributing to their attraction to light!
In the novel called the Selfish Gene (or was it the Blind watchmaker!? I frankly do not remember but that is not the point!); Richard Dawkins states that it is because the Moths can’t differentiate between light! They think it’s the moon which is just in their vision and is at infinity! It’s like their brain is programmed in that way! They are just flying towards that far away light completely unaware that it’s close and it will burn them! Of course majority still fly towards the moon and live another day! The flame rushers are actually rare!
Rare also is to be a legend and still go on for the last 70 years! That’s Clint Eastwood! From the western to dirty Harry and to the oscars! A legend forever! An ode sketch to the best cowboy out there!
GOOD night BAD is to sleep late UGLY is only a point of view!
Every other day FB would tell you that you have been friends with this person for this many years! So how about celebrating the friend anniversary! Of course since FB itself is not that old, most of the times you would have been friends for much longer time that what FB may claim!
Then again did you know that there is a mutual friendship which is over 600 million years old and still continues to this day!? FB may not show that one though! And of course if you have a close friend (lucky you!) then this is the friendship to beat!
Now one of the oldest confirmed symbiotic relationship dates back 520 million years and involves two species of marine worms. These worms were discovered in fossils from China and show one species with smaller worm-like animals attached to its outer surface, suggesting a symbiotic interaction!
But there is another friendship which has lasted even longer and stays even to this day!
The Lichen! This is a fungus-algae partnership, with evidence dating back 600 million years. Lichen is a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and algae or cyanobacteria. Fossils show evidence of lichen-like symbiosis dating back 600 million years!
Lichens are a complex life form that is a symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, an animal like fungus and an plant like alga.
The dominant partner is the fungus, which gives the lichen the majority of its characteristics, from its thallus shape to its fruiting bodies. The alga can be either a green alga or a blue-green alga, otherwise known as cyanobacteria. Many lichens will have both types of algae.
This is a ‘perfect’ husband wife relationship though and much more than ‘mere friendship!’ so if that particular fungus or algae tells you that they are ‘just friends!’ do not believe them!
The fungi benefit from the carbohydrates produced by the algae or cyanobacteria via photosynthesis. The algae or cyanobacteria benefit by being protected from the environment by the filaments of the fungi, which also gather moisture and nutrients from the environment, and provide an anchor to it.
Both partners gain water and mineral nutrients mainly from the atmosphere, through rain and dust. The fungal partner protects the alga by retaining water, serving as a larger capture area for mineral nutrients and, in some cases, provides minerals obtained from the substrate. If a cyanobacterium is present, as a primary partner or another symbiont in addition to a green alga as in certain tripartite lichens, they can fix atmospheric nitrogen, complementing the activities of the green alga!
No dowry, no alimony! Only pure love! That is the Lichen! Friendship and companionship must be like the Lichen! Only then there will be peace all over! Then again you need leaders like Ahilyabai Holkar who was the Rajamata and later the ruling queen of Indore within the Maratha Empire! She contributed to the growth of Indian architecture through the commission of various temples, Ghats, and Dharmshalas spread across bharat!
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