ramadocblog

“That blue colour line on the skin so fine!
You need them clean to get an IV line!
The bulge in the middle is a fear!
Then the line is not in but near!”

Getting the vein was a pain!

Gave some blood for tests today and was pleased to see how easy it was to collect!

Once you are in, the syringe automatically gets locked and the prefilled bottles depending on the tests required are simply inserted and voila it’s done!

I still remember during our residency the blood collection was the biggest challenge! Especially after the chief rounds in the medicine department you would get a huge list! And we like Draculas or vampires in white coats would walk around with our small ampoules and the salts to prevent clotting! We would get one syringe and the blood has to be filled in that!

Then after carefully calculating the amount of blood to be distributed, each small ampoules would get the blood ranging from 2_5 ml! The dread was when the lab used to return the sample saying that the sample is inadequate!

Another terror was one with chubby skin! When we used to meet a slim and muscular personal with thick prominent veins we used to feel so happy!

Worst was in the pediatric posting! Oh the kids used to cry and silently so did we!

The baby fat would make sure the vein was so difficult to get! And then the normal syringe may not help so we used to break the tip and use only the needle!

Then the kids would always move at the last moment! No amount of cajoling would work!
One fine day in the ped posting I got a big list from our professor!

Luckily I got the blood in the first attempt! The kid was not very fussy but very young and the mother was very tensed. I carefully put all the blood in the ampoules and was pretty happy with the results! In fact for the first time I may even have surplus blood and that too in pediatrics!

Then suddenly the baby streched and his legs fell on the ampoules on the bed! They dropped down and the whole blood just leaked out! I was so upset! Luckily two ampoules were already labelled and full! So I readjusted the blood and fervently hoped that the lab does not send them back with ‘inadequate sample!’ reason!

It did not happen! Maybe the lab tech was having a good day!

Getting the vein is an art and that too in the first try is the best! Guess more tech would be to make sure this happens more seamlessly in the future!

That would be great! Great also was Pradeep Rawat in many movies and series!

Plus he has such prominent veins!

Ok that’s really insane! Must be the sleep creeping in!

Sbuhbh Ratri…

“Shake it and the air starts to fly!
Then the cap stops it with a sigh!
Then again when the cap is gone!
The fizz from the can goes to Town!”


Fermentation is a natural metabolic process whereby microorganisms convert
sugars like glucose into other organic molecules and gases, including alcohol.


Fermentation within cells dates back to the age of anaerobic (oxygenless)
respiration more than 3 billion years ago, but it also occurs in single-celled
eukaryotes and more complex multicellular organisms that have evolved and
thrived in Earth’s more recent oxygen-rich environment.

It is perhaps not difficult to imagine that some late Neolithic (Stone Age) farmers or others who observed bubbles fizzing out of rotting (fermenting) stores of fruit or grain might have wondered what was going on and investigated further.

This investigation would have lead them to a by product of the rotten grains!

Then there would have been another maverick who would have got bored and thought, “now that is a liquid which I must taste!” Or maybe it was a part of a Neo lithic game of truth or dare!

Anyway there would have been several who would later tasted the liquid and then would have felt something warm or nice! Or it could have been just the desperate attempt of a homeless and hungry and thirsty man or woman who would have felt warm and ‘nice’ drinking that product!

And that’s how my friends, the first beverage or spirit was prepared and ingested!

Of course for a teetotal like me, that’s just a nice piece of interesting history! History and historical also is our own real life James bond Ajit Kumar Doval!

Now drink, some warm water and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“The winds blow over the wall

The mountains run so tall! 

The rivers run so fast

Nature oh you are a blast!”

Alok Kumar in his book called Ancient Hindu science states this, “Caraka, Suśruta, and Kauṭilya documented chemical transformations where oxidation, reduction, calcination, distillation, and sublimation were explained. Caraka, in his Caraka-Saṁhitā, lists gold, copper, lead, tin, iron, zinc, and mercury in making drugs.

The Iron Pillar near in New Delhi is a testimony to the metal forging of the ancient indians. 

The pillar, although about 1600 years old and weathering the heat, humidity, and rain in the open air, is still rust-free!

In fact there are countless such examples all over our country! 

In another novel called the technology of the Gods by David Hatcher; he talks about the incredible metallurgical skills of the ancient Indians including even how they could extract rare metals from their ores!

With a history like that, all we need now is sustenance! Keeping up the great work started many ages back! Talking about great work brings to mind Soumitra Chatterjee, the great Bengali super star!

A quick sketch on the scribe!

Shubh ratri!

“It’s sweet but never has salt
Made of dough not malt!
You can have a bite for ones sake!
Chocolate or carrot!? Yup it’s a cake!”


This is the scale which measures how much you can be shaken!

Shaken yet!

Well I still remember when we were in a lesser known place in Assam called Missamari!

One fine day or rather night; we were sleeping and suddenly the rock hard and steady metal cupboard which is so typical of an army house started to shake like it was suffering from a seizure!

My dad who was waken up by all of us; simply told that it’s just a mild shake! Nothing to worry about! Just sleep!

Only in the morning we got to know that the whole colony had actually come out for a while since it was actually a major earthquake!

It was ok since if we hear of a major quake in the news then rest assured it will always be major. It’s when the almighty earth tells you that nature is the strongest!

Of course when reporting about any quake you mention Richter!

So Richter magnitude scale and Richter’s magnitude scale – is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and Beno Gutenberg.

Since it’s a log scale, an earthquake measuring 5.0 releases 31 times more energy than an earthquake measuring 4.0! But this is not an actual scale! In fact the original scale did not even catch magnitude of less than 4.5!

So now a modern method of measuring is used but still it is reported as Richter scale since that’s more familiar!

Even when there are changes no one can separate Richter from earthquakes because he earnestly made the effort!

Earnestly making effort and succeeding was also the hallmark of actor Shobhan Babu!

Now forget about shake and have a break!

Shubh Ratri!

“Twist and turn toast but don’t burn
A little jam a little butter
Morning when you are hungry
A buttered bread is better!”

There are three types of people who eat Idli!

with Chutney or with sambar or with both!

This is only about the fresh idli by the way!

The best way to eat the non fresh idli is to add the idli podi!

The chutney podi or the Idli podi is an amazing mix of spices and dal and many times we used to wait for the idlis to be left over so that mom could make the idli uppuma with the amazing chutney podi!

Idli upma is the best way to make the old idli taste better!

Now of course you have a variety of idli options like Idli manchurian or pakoda or even idli burger! This is because Idli is just like rice!

Someone had mentioned some years back that Idli has no taste! Well, it is true! In the race between dosa and idli, Dosa is the one with the taste while Idli is the option if you are health conscious!

Then again you have so many types of Idli now that you will be amazed! In Bangalore you also get something called the Thatte Idli or the plate idli! You have to eat this as hot and as fast as possible!

Then again you have the Ragi Idli and other variations which try to make the healthier Idli even more healthy!

Here also you must know that the Idli has no taste! You need a side to complement or more importantly, supplement it!

All said and done though, one of the best breakfast on a busy day is a plate of soft steaming hot idli with piping hot sambar and chutney!

That must be taught! Of course no better teacher than the first one Savitribai Phule!

Kudos to the original and real educator!

Shubh ratri…

“The colors the thrill the loud sound!
The dancing and merry go round
The playing and teaching side by side
Annual day is a matter of pride!”

Annual day!

The other day I was attending the annual day function of my son and it was a nostalgic experience!

read on!

Now when we used to have annual day, it was for the whole school and all the sections! There was no division though of course sometimes the primary and secondary used to have separate annual days.

Since most kids were small in primary, the chief annual day was the annual day of the school!

By default it was in the evening and by default it was usually in the school stage! The days culminating into the annual day used to be so cool! Those who were participating used to get special permission to skip classes and ‘practice’!

Only a select few used to participate and there was a selection process! There was a pre annual day in which the good ones were selected while others were politely told not to participate!

The thrill of getting on the stage in front of your parents is there for some kids while some kids do not bother much!

Since I was part of the orchestra team playing the banjo or the triple drums, I was on the stage for the lower grades! But then in the higher grades I stopped playing and the orchestra was performed by professionals (read better talented people!); the only way you could get into the stage was when you get an award which was usually first for competitions like debates or poem recitation!

My luck was complex! When I had such awards the situation was such that my parents could not attend while when they did attend, I got nothing! It was so sad to see my classmates performing so well while I sat in the civil dress with my parents looking at me with a neutral expression! Later on when I tool couple of buses to reach the Annual day function which was held in a hall in a corner of the city to collect a prize for Poem recitation; I had no one to cheer for me save for a few friends!

Which is why when my parents saw me on the stage during my convocation as the secretary of the House Surgeon’s Association, it was a proud feeling for me!

In my son’s school though they have annual day for each class! Everyone is allowed or coerced to participate! The Principal made an amazing speech on how in this school they not only concentrate on the academics but also other activities which are equally important! The show was simply out of the world and so coordinated!

As far as performance on stage in concerned, I guess for kids nowadays, it just comes naturally! They are made for full media glare and they know how to act! The confidence and the zest by which they perform is refreshing to say the least!

Talking about performance brings me to mind the mind blowing performance of Vijay Sethupathi in Maharaja…

Now to the daily routine and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“He was hot and the tongue was dry!
Red all over and in pain Oh my!
Now do not stumble and fall!
Twas just high fever you all!”

This could make you mad! Not the poem (ok fine, in addition to the poem!)

Then again this was like a thick fluid which was known to turn into gold!

now do not be fluid!

read on!

One of the most interesting metals ever for us in the chemistry lab was the mercury!

The fluid was metal! We were told that it is a conductor of electricity and even its vapours conduct electricity!

I used to love the fact that the thermometer we used to take in the camps in our college used to have this Mercury in them!

The way we used to check temperature was to first shake the meter and place it on the arm pit! Of course some confusions used to arise many times when during our practical exams one student used the armpit for temperature assessment while another tensed student went the oral way!
I was just glad for the patients that there was no rectal thermometer!

The small silver line of the thermometer was the most precious part since mercury is very costly indeed! Once someone used the Human thermometer to test the boiling water and the mercury pump just propelled out like a rocket! Very hot indeed!

Another close association of medicos and Mercury was the BP apparatus (the technical name is big and called sphygmomanometer but I did not want to risk mis spelling it!). Even that had a mercury tank and am sure the price was high because of that! The ones without them were not that accurate but the mercury ones were not easy to maintain and you need to keep them in plain level! Even now with all the fancy electronic equipments I still trust the trusty old sphygmomanometer measured by an expert!

The fact that it is a metal but is liquid and also can turn into vapour which can also conduct electricity was simply amazing! But for all the thrill of mercury; it was a dangerous metal!

When we were small, the chatterboxes and storytellers (read those with great imagination!) of the class used to tell stories on how if you swallow mercury it will come out after making a hole in the stomach!

It is of course true though that mercury is toxic! Coming out of your stomach, well that is a story for a late night horror show! It can make you mad though!

In fact the mad as a hatter analogy though popularised by Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and means someone who’s crazy or prone to unpredictable behavior, didn’t originate with Carroll!

Instead, the expression is linked to the hat-making industry and mercury poisoning. In the 18th and 19th centuries, industrial workers used a toxic substance, mercury nitrate, as part of the process of turning the fur of small animals, such as rabbits, into felt for hats.

Workplace safety standards often were lax and prolonged exposure to mercury caused employees to develop a variety of physical and mental ailments, including tremors (dubbed “hatter’s shakes”), speech problems, emotional instability and hallucinations!

Now one fine day if you have a drink of wine or any spirit too much then simply take a thermometer and break it and blame all your ‘symptoms’ on the escaped fumes of mercury! Or simply yet, do not drink!
Water is fine though!

Definitely fine and most of the time really amazing were the acting prowess of Durga Khote though my favourite has always been the mother in KARZ! “Look at him through the eyes of a mother and you will see that he is my son!” Goosebumps always!

Quick sketch on another busy day! The mercury is falling though! The temperature I meant!

SHubh ratri!

“The pomp the fun the season of joy!
Harvesting crops is the chief ploy!
So many themes all over the rest!
Indian festivals they are da best!”

This is so huge that it can take a thousand Earths!

In the night sky it is one of the brightest!

It was also the first and foremost!

read on!

One of the oldest planets of the Solar System is the Jupiter! We call it Brihaspati!

Jupiter is a world of extremes. It’s the largest planet in our solar system – if it were a hollow shell, 1,000 Earths could fit inside!

Then again it is also the oldest planet, forming from the dust and gases left over from the Sun’s formation 4.6 billion years ago!

Brihaspati as a planet (Jupiter) appears in various Hindu astronomical texts in Sanskrit, such as the 5th century Aryabhatiya by Aryabhata, the 6th century Romaka by Latadeva and Panca Siddhantika by Varahamihira, the 7th century Khandakhadyaka by Brahmagupta and the 8th century Sisyadhivrddida by Lalla!

Interestingly Brihaspati is described as a sage born from the first great light, the one who drove away darkness, is bright and pure, and carries a special bow whose string is Rta or “cosmic order” (basis of dharma)!

There is so much reverence to Brihaspati because it is the biggest and greatest protector of the Earth!

Jupiter takes about 12 Earth years, or 4,333 Earth days, to make one orbit around the Sun. However long a year on Jupiter is, it also has the shortest day in the solar system. Jupiter only takes 10 hours to rotate around once.

Interestingly age on different planets will depend on their orbits. Compared to our age in years on Earth, we would be younger on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and older on Mercury and Venus!

But Jupiter is special! It is the Guard which keeps the attackers at bay and sometimes sends them on the way!

Jupiter protects the fellow planets on inner orbits, allowing them to maintain nearly circular orbits that provide stable climates over extended periods of time. Long, elliptical orbits cause extreme climate shifts for an Earth-like planet, possibly preventing any sort of sustained life from evolving!

Furthermore, Jupiter can eat up any asteroid or comet that ventures near, earning the nickname “vacuum cleaner of the solar system.”!

The asteroid belt in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter is another example of the gas giant’s influence. Its gravity likely prevented the asteroids from combining into a planet! Like sage Brihaspati who protects those under him!

Jupiter can also radically alter the orbits of small bodies that stray close, hurling them on long orbits that take hundreds or even thousands of years for those bodies to return!
It has been stipulated that this is how comets got the extreme orbits that carry them to the far-flung reaches of the solar system. They spend most of their time out there, forming a cometary collection called the Oort cloud, which may extend as far as halfway to the nearest star!

Now just like any sage, do not make them lose their temper now because while Jupiter often protects Earth and the other inner planets by deflecting comets and asteroids, sometimes it sends objects on a collision course straight toward the inner planets!

It can be productive like if in earlier in the solar system’s history, when there were more objects flying around, the increased amount of impacts would have brought to Earth water and other ingredients for life!
Or it could have been destructive in that other collisions would have been disastrous, such as the impact that likely led to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago! So do not try to anger Brihaspati!

Interestingly the Maha Kumbh mela is celebrating every 12 years! Like the meme goes, Humans celebrate the one revolution of earth which is one year while legends celebrate the revolution of Jupiter which is 12 years!
This is probably one of the largest religious gathering in the world! Large also is the knowledge of herbs and trees of this celebrity!

Saalumarada Thimmakka also known as Aala Marada Thimmakka, has planted and tended to 385 banyan trees along a 4.5-kilometre stretch of highway between Hulikal and Kudur, Ramanagara District.

She has also planted nearly 8000 other trees! Now that is Maha!

For a while forget the influencers and pseudo stars and know about real stars like her!

Now go for your maha rest of the day aka sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“That sore thumb is a sight
Visible to everyone all right
It may bleed and stain
Can’t touch so much pain…”


One of the most hard hitting statements I read in the recent times is, “Beware of the Marathon runner who smiles!”

This is because his or her smile is misleading!

Don’t let others rent space in your head by Gary Coxe made this statement in his very interesting novel and it is so true!

I have so many of my friends who do run marathons and this statement is not limited to only Marathon! It is about those who seem perfect! Those who now can do stuff which are really amazing! The consistency with which they perform feats which are amazing!

But when you see them smile or when you see the effortless way they do it, you may tend to get a false idea that the journey was easy! Their smile may hide their struggles and pain and more importantly their persistence!

You cannot make instant champions! You do hear news on how many beat the reigning champions and become grand masters or champions in their first top seed match! But you do not see the amount of practice it took for them to go on playing to reach the level of playing a top seed match!

In the same way, a marathon runner is not born overnight! You cannot get up one fine day and decide that you will run a marathon tomorrow!

It starts with 1k! Then 5 then 10 and then if you are good you may go for the half marathon! And only the best of the best go for the full marathon! And even after the completion of the marathon, the runner does not smile gracefully and make a speech! He or she would be gasping and panting and may even collapse! Every step is a battle won and the battle does leave scars! They get over the injury and pain and move on!

The smile comes only when they think about it! When the are resting after some time and only for a while!

This is also in context of the recent 70 or 90 hours week work! For most doctors it is a given thing! During residency, we are the cheapest labour with the highest degree of work and responsibility! And even in peak practice, an average doctor easily moves those hours! But for general work force, the work hours are for those who want to be the leaders or the future CEOs!

Because like it or not; no one has becomes a billionaire or come under the forbes 100 by having a salaried job with limited work and full work life balance! You will get what you choose and then do not complain about it!

If you want to be a marathon runner then you simply cannot smile! At least while running! Another not so easy thing is being an astronaut! I remember how when Rakesh Sharma went to space, each one of us wanted to grow up to be an astronaut! He really inspired many such kids! That is also a long marathon of sorts!

Plan your marathon and be prepared for the pain! Smile only when you rest!

Shubh ratri!

“The most clever dude was in the lead
For all the accolades he had greed
That made all envious and green
It’s better to be dull and not seen!”

Madam Curie used to carry samples in her pockets and these used to glow in the dark much to the delight of people and children alike!

So much so that these glow in the dark things became a part of everyday life! You had glowing clothes, suppositories and even toothpaste! You even had radioactive tea and chocolate and an atomic energy lab kit with real radioactive material costing around 500 USD in today’s rate! Hefty price to GET radiation right!?

Then you had the fashionable wrist watches! Which could of course tell the time in the dark! Oh how people were actually in the dark! That was real radioactive stuff right there on your wrist!

Then there were fluoroscopic X ray machines to see the size of your feet inside the shoe! Not only the customers used to get X ray photographs multiple times! Mothers used to allow their children play with them and they used to X ray parts of their bodies multiple times! And now you ask for a chest X Ray and the radiation discussion comes into play and rightfully so!

For hundreds of years, glassmakers used small amounts of uranium to create yellow or green glass. The yellow tint of this glass led to the nicknames “Vaseline glass” and “canary glass.” Under an ultraviolet (UV) or “black” light, the uranium causes the glass to glow bright green! Those who lived in glasshouses may glow!

What was the situation near atomic test centers you would think? Well, people would be ignoring the bright flash and the dead sheep and cattle and walk as if everything was hunky dory!

Finally realization dawned when of the 200 or so visitors to these centers; around 90 of them developed an assortment of different tumors!
The whole world then woke up and realized that these glow in the dark materials actually cause cancer and variety of tumors!

Now what about Madam Curie? Well, her constant exposure to such insane levels of radiation also gave her cancer! In fact Madam Curie died due to cancer!

The notes handled by Madam Curie are now stored in lead containers and the only way you can read them is by suiting up with radioprotective gowns and even then you cannot expose yourself to them for long intervals!
The notes can literally kill you even if you do not understand them! Now those are dangerous notes if ever there were once!

The tech or fashion of today may be the poison of tomorrow while the poison of today may be the medicine of the future!
Shine some non radioactive light into that though!

A shining bright light brighter than radiation and much more effective in a positive way was Narendranath Datta aka Swamy Vivekananda! Just a quick glance at his Chicago speech can give you peace and tranquility!

Finished this one on a very busy day in less than ten minutes!
Jai ho!
Now make sure your clock is not shining and sleep!
Shubh ratri!