ramadocblog

“He screamed at the poor old bloke
In a language only he spoke!
Still the guy felt sad!
Its the tone and not the language which is bad!”

What is the connection between the Periodic table and Sanskrit!?

That is for you to know and me to explain!

read on!

Who does not know the periodic table! Some may even remember the elements on the table!

Most remember the order of at least the first twenty or forty elements though during schooling years, it was imperative to know the whole list!

Lanthanides and actinides who were mentioned separately were a big bore though! It was so difficult to remember their names!

I had learnt a Mnemonic to get the elements by remembering their symbols and it really worked! During one physics test I was so happy when questions like write the atomic number and Names were asked! Then when I heard couple of my classmates ask for the log book I was so surprised since that question was in the end!

Then I realised that the Log book which we used to use also had a section where the periodic tables were mentioned! All that memorisation for nothing!
It also had a couple of other ‘information’ which could ‘help’ us in the questions! Guess studying and memorising is good! But being smart is better!

Now the person who created or the founder of Periodic Table was Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev!

He also went further in conceptualizing periodicity as a fundamental law governing the nature of the elements. Based on that insight, whenever the properties of a given element didn’t fit the overall pattern, he famously left an empty spot in his table for an as yet undiscovered element!
In spite of the critics at the time, the missing spot ‘elements’ were discovered later with the said properties validating Dmitri!

He was puzzled about where to put the known lanthanides, and even predicted the existence of another row to the table which were the actinides which were some of the heaviest in atomic weight and even these were found later and shifted to another block just as predicted!

Now the more interesting point here is that he used the prefixes eka, dvi, and tri, Sanskrit for the numbers one, two, and three, to name these hypothetical elements, referring to the number of places they were from a known, lighter element in the same group!

Have you heard these names before!? Well yes! They are Sanskrit!


Let that sink in. Not Greek. Not Latin. Not even German, the lingua franca of science in continental Europe and of Dmitri at the time.

But Sanskrit!

Before you start to think why let us know about Otto von Böhtlingk who was a Russian-German Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. His magnum opus was a Sanskrit-German dictionary. During that time he was preparing his second edition of his book on Panini!

Now who was Panini!? If you are an Bharatiya, you would know or at least heard of him somewhere! Even then just know that Pāṇini or Sanskrit: पाणिनि, was a Sanskrit grammarian, logician, philologist, and revered scholar in ancient India, between the 7th and 4th century BCE

With his most notable work, the Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pāṇini has been considered the “first descriptive linguist”, and even labelled as “the father of linguistics”.
His approach to grammar influenced many foundational linguists in the modern time like Otto von Böhtlingk!

Finally let us see the explanation!

By using Sanskrit prefixes to name “missing” elements, Mendeleev may have recorded his debt to the Sanskrit grammarians of ancient India, who had created theories of language based on their discovery of the two-dimensional patterns of speech sounds (exemplified by the Śivasūtras in Pāṇini’s Sanskrit grammar!).

Mendeleev was a friend and colleague of the Sanskritist Otto von Böhtlingk, who was preparing the second edition of his book on Pāṇini at about this time, and Mendeleev wished to honor Pāṇini with his nomenclature!

That my friends is the complete picture!

Another picture which is not only complete but also amazing would be the life story of our celebrity! Captain Bana Singh PVC! Just listening to his saga of his part played in the Capture of Siachen post will make you feel so proud! Do read about him if you can, thats written in English or any language, not necessarily sanskrit!


SHubh ratri!

Jai HInd!

“It goes and comes and never stops!

That’s like rabbit jumping hops!

In comes the new out with the old!

Just like life that’s one year old!”

This was a king of kings! Yes; ‘THIS’ since ‘it’ is non living!

The fact remains that ‘it’ was the most powerful in the world!

read on!

The movie Oppenheimer is more about the person than the basic reason why you watched the movie! Yes! The development and deployment of Atom bomb! 

Instead the movie becomes a soap opera with ego clashes and trials! Frankly  in spite of being a big admirer of Nolan movies, this was a disappointment! 

The bomb is left to the background and this cannot be right since that’s is the first time an atom bomb was used and the whole world saw the destruction it can cause!

The human being is the only animal in the world which can try to develop much more complex means of annihilation of his or her own species and planet!

Now you would think that it was the most powerful bomb! But it was actually just the beginning! The race would lead to even more complex bomb! 

The atom bombs use the fission of atoms to give so much energy! But you have another bomb using the Fusion energy which in fact makes the sun blaze which is much more more powerful than fission bombs!

In fact the initial step to make hydrogen bomb is to first make an atomic bomb! That is the needed first step since the energy to produce Hydrogen bomb is huge which can be created only by a Fission bomb! This is also mentioned in passing in the movie since there is one team which wanted to develop the Fission while one wanted to make the Fusion! Then he was told how the first step to make a Fusion reaction is to first make a fission one!

And a hydrogen bomb can be even 1000 times as powerful as an atomic bomb! 

Now as far as weaponry goes; the most powerful bomb ever to be produced and ‘tested’ is the king of bombs called the TSAR BOMBA!

The Tsar Bomba is the single most physically powerful device ever deployed on Earth, the most powerful nuclear bomb tested and the largest human-made explosion in history.

For comparison, the largest weapon ever produced by the US, the now-decommissioned B41, had a predicted maximum yield of 25 Mt (100 PJ). 

The largest nuclear device ever tested by the US (Castle Bravo) yielded 15 Mt (63 PJ) because of an unexpectedly high involvement of lithium-7 in the fusion reaction; the preliminary prediction for the yield was from 4 to 6 Mt (17 to 25 PJ).  By comparison the Hiroshima bomb had an yield of around 16KT (Thats Kiloton and not Megaton which is much higher!) 

A comparision is that Tsar bomba is 3,300 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima!

All that force and power is trapped inside an atom!

In fact it was opined that if atoms of a single average human are converted into bomb then according to Einstein, it will be equal to thirty Hydrogen bombs! See the power inside you!? You are actually a bomb!

A power of another kind; powerhouse of acting was also Charu Hasan

Now hope you enjoyed the first Sunday of the year! 

Shubh ratri!

“The bed so soft it feels like a cottony cloud!
The size so big t’will make you proud!
All the money you have in the keep!
Not enough to buy you some sleep!”

This is never a thing which you can see or feel! But still it is worth thousands of dollars and is one of the most exclusive commodity in the world today!

No! It is not your brain which you may not see but know it is there! But it can really stump your brain!


read on!

The biggest commodity in every industry is of course money! Then there is a form of money which you cannot see!

If someone says money is not necessary then he or she is either lying or well he or she is definitely lying!

Only thing is that it is not the most important thing and not the only necessary thing!

In the novel called the Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous he talks about different forms of currencies over the history starting with salt or a piece of limestone to gold and other metals to paper money!

Except gold which is a currency which can always be quantified and which would never fade away, other currencies are dependent on the state of the government and other economic factors.

This is where the latest currency craze, which is bitcoin comes into play! Now this is one the many types of currencies which is not under any control!

Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto!

But did you know that even that is a pseudonym! No one has actually seen or met him!

In a documentary it was speculated that that Peter Todd, a college student in 2008, might be the original creator of the cryptocurrency!
Then again it has not been proven possibly so that people could take Bitcoin seriously, so they could believe it was created by a famous cryptographer and not some kid still in school!

Use of bitcoin as a currency began in 2009, with the release of its open-source implementation

In fact in one country in 2021, El Salvador adopted it as legal tender!

Now how powerful is a Bitcoin? Well, the first time Bitcoin was used for purchase was in around 2009-10 for buying a pizza! The buyer paid ten thousand bitcoins for that!

That would have in all probability the most costliest burger in the world! Because cut to 2021 and the value of a single bitcoin is 46k dollars and in 2024 Bitcoin’s price today is US$98,139.43!

And if you think practically it is not gold or cash! It is a mode of transaction or legal tender which you cannot see or hold in your hand!
It’s a mode of payment which is virtual! The Bitcoin are limited currency which cannot be produced more if you need so there will not be any recession!

It is not controlled by the central government and Bitcoin cannot be hacked since it would take so much more effort and resource and the end result without POW is useless!

POW is proof of work which has to be authenticated by a group who are paid for it and they will also never be hacked! Also the cluster size is fixed and that the original Bitcoin can be modified but that will lead to another currency so it is better to not modify it!

Then again you would think if you cannot touch or hold it then how can you put value to it? Well, if you practically think then even the 500 INR in your hand is having that value only because the government says so and certifies it! Without that it is just a piece of paper! Like how during the demonetisation that 500 rupees became ZERO overnight!

For now in spite of the controversies and illegal trading, for all practical matters, Bitcoin is one of the top contenders for the currency of the future! Let us wait and see how it goes!

Like old times maybe we return back to salt for money if the Bitcoin is a bit too much! Now speaking of old times reminds me of Sital Batabyal and his old super cool movies! I used to love watching his classic movies! You may know him as Pradeep Kumar!

Now crypto or not! Let all trading cease so that you can sleep in peace since Bitcoins may give you a comfortable bed but sleep has to be earned without it!

Shubh ratri!

“The sun shines bright and white!

Takes the darkness away ain’t that right! 

Then again even the night not so bad!

All that silence makes you glad”

This was a gas used like alcohol!

Of course it got used for medical reasons!

Started by a Chemist, popularised by a dentist and even Joker from Batman uses it!

read on!

The moment I mentioned Joker I guess it was obvious that it was Laughing Gas! 

The actual used of this is now in anesthesia but when Nitrous Oxide was discovered it was actually a recreational drug!

In fact this was gas which was used to get a high! 

It was an addiction like smoking! In fact the chemist who described so many elements died by constantly inhaling it! 

Even after the invention it was mainly used as a party pill!

Despite Davy’s discovery that inhalation of nitrous oxide could relieve a conscious person from pain, another 44 years elapsed before doctors attempted to use it for anaesthesia!

The use of nitrous oxide as a recreational drug at “laughing gas parties”, primarily arranged for the British upper class, became an immediate success beginning in 1799. While the effects of the gas generally make the user appear stuporous, dreamy and sedated, some people also “get the giggles” in a state of euphoria, and frequently erupt in laughter!

Only later a dental surgeon named Horace Wells used it as an anesthetic agent when it was realised 44 years after the discovery of this gas that it relieves pain! 

Of course now it is not a primary anesthetic agent and acts mainly as an adjunct but it was a major push towards anesthesia and development of other more potent medications and drugs for relieving pain during surgery.

Now this gas has a new use! 

In the early 1980’s, the low-dose dental titration technique was first used to investigate and treat psychiatric conditions, including substance abuse! The gas is now a research project for its use in Neuropsychiatry!

So if you meet a Neurologist or a psychologist at some time in future and if he or she is laughing even at your bland jokes then make sure there is no leak of the Laughing gas!

It is no laughing matter that Chetan Anand was an accomplished director and producer specially his series on Param Veer Chakra!

Now let those conversations and laughter cease cause this is the time to sleep! 

Shubh Ratri!

“Made yesterday broken very soon!

Keeping is rare like the dark side of the moon!

Make them and make sure they are set!

Breaking a resolution is an easy bet!”

Oh the resolutions!

So easy to make and so easy to break!

then again; that is what makes you a mortal!

Read on!

I normally try not to make resolutions! Maybe that is my resolution which is to make no resolution! This is because over 90 percent of the new year resolutions do not work!

But if at all there is some version of resolution it can be to make blogs which are shorter and more interesting! It may even be a blog which I have written before but a crispier more readable version!

It is the same with the sketches! and maybe even poems!

To make better versions every single day!

That is the only resolution which is required and it does not need the completion of the revolution of the Earth to start! Which is to be your better self every other day!

Traditionally of course we still believe that our new year is during the months of March-April and we usually celebrate them with much more pomp and conviction! In fact we used to get new clothes for sure only during ‘our’ new  year! 

The ‘English’  new year was only for the cake cutting and watching new years special on the TV! We all used to see the pre recorded program and felt so nice and special! The countdown in the TV was the official countdown since our clocks were never in sync! There was no mobile network and there was no OTT!

So there were no resolutions and we did not think about this “New year” much! The march april new year was the time to celebrate! In fact that was the origin of the new year and new year resolution since it was the time of harvest!

At that time in an effort to impress upon their gods and benefactors, people would like to be better versions of themselves!

The beginning of the year was like a start over of life! From this point onwards was the key! And everyone needs a start over; a turning point in their life!

It is obvious that like India, many civilizations across the world have celebrated the turning of the year for millennia!

Although they didn’t necessarily use the term resolutions, they tried to enter the new year with a positive mindset, as recorded by early first century texts such as the Roman poet Ovid’s “Fasti” — a six-part account of the Roman year and its religious festivals.

They also exchanged gifts of figs and honey or other foodstuffs that represented prosperity, and ensured they worked for part of the day as a good omen for the coming year!

When it comes to ancient forms of New Year’s resolution throughout history and across cultures we see the same principle at play.

In Ireland, having a clean house at the start of the year symbolized a fresh start and the luck of the house for the coming year! This is what we do all over in Indian festivals! The concept of out with the old and welcome the new is spread across almost all the Indian festivals!

There’s also the figuratively regenerative burning of the Año Viejo in Colombia, Ecuador and other parts of Latin America. In this out-with-the-old tradition, which is Spanish for “old year,” families stuff a life-size male doll with memories of the outgoing year or other materials and dress it in their clothing before setting the doll ablaze at midnight! This so similar to the Baisakhi or Lohri festival!

All in all, the new year is a time to try to be the NEW you!

But (yeah, my resolution must be to use less of but!); the most important resolution to make is to just be a better version of yourself every single day! A positive step upwards no matter how small will finally make you much better! 

Like the proverbial Tortoise or the slug which climbs two steps in the morning and then falls one step back, the journey to perfection is a journey! You can never reach the end! The whole point is to enjoy the journey and learn and better yourself if possible!

Fun and joy reminds me of Asrani and his comic timings!

Let this year make you strong!

Shubh ratri!

“That was a little fast and then a little slow!
Shiny sunshine many times sometimes a little snow!
Another year you will get many tasks to face!
Slow and steady my friend tis not a race!”


Did you know that the chief thing that is keeping you alive or normal is a system so complex that no one truly knows how it works!

read on!

One would never forget his or her first car right!?

Even if the loan took half your salary and maybe was second hand!

Luckily my first one was first hand! A red colour Swift diesel and that was my prized possession!

I worked so hard to get the loan approved and then the wait for the car was long and slow!

Finally though when I got it, I took it for a test drive and the very night took it to the highway from Chennai to Bangalore!

The shining red car was almost old till I reached the outskirts of Bangalore at which point I got some bottles and washed it in side of the national highway! When I show it to my parents and someone special! I needed it to look good!

And it did! Then one week later a State Transport bus came and rammed it from behind when it was in the signal waiting for the light to turn green!

It was crushed both front and back and though it was a heartbreaking moment, I used to comfort myself saying that at least I was ok! My friend Ashok used to tell me that The car can be repaired and made new; but you cannot be repaired or replaced!

Now the car story was only a side deviation; when I was waiting for the delivery of the car after paying advance, everywhere I looked, I used see only Red Colour Swift everywhere!

Each time I crossed the road or simply walked on the street, I used to see only Swift and that too mainly red colour!

That is actually not conforming to the fact that Swift was common and popular, but because of a system in your brain (or mine!) which activated every time I saw a Swift and bought it to the notice of my brain!

This system is called the Reticular Activating System!

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a bundle of nerves that sits in your brainstem. And its job is to regulate behavioural arousal, consciousness and motivation.

What that means is, the RAS is able to control what incoming information (stimulus) you’re aware of, so that you’ll be motivated to behave in a certain way. It is like a filter or a screener or a gatekeeper which sits at the entrance of your brain and allows only specific information to get through!

This that sits between your brain and your senses (sight, hearing, touch etc.) and filters what information gets through and what doesn’t. Why this is important is because there are a lot of information and your brain cannot handle everything! So it is like a VISA approval system which only allows certified VISITORS to your brain!

Everyone has it and it is simply marvellous!

This is so understood for those who drive! The initial hesitation and fear you have while driving a car or even flying a plane is gone after a few drives! Of course it is practice but the chief thing is that after a while it gets automated!

This comes into play when you have to take a tricky turn or stop suddenly and if your RAS is good then it is a piece of cake for you! In fact in many road accidents it is the RAS which protects you even when you are driving at high speeds! Even a racing car driver needs his or her RAS to take control during any race! Those who have mastered the control of RAS make good drivers!

It can also be seen when you are so tired that you may sleep even when you have loud sounds around you and you still manage to sleep soundly! But even this is amazing because a mother can usually sleep in heavy noise area but the moment she hears her baby crying she gets up almost immediately when in fact the sound of a baby cry may actually be lesser than her surrounding!

In the case of seeing the same car everywhere, the RAS has activated the feeling that you are interested in the red Swift so you may see so many car but RAS will only take the entry for Red Swift!

In the case of mother and the baby, RAS has understood that the cry of the baby is the most important so it ALLOWS that EXPAT to pass through without much VISA!

Now here is another great finding; RAS is activated in mother most of the times but if mother is away or not there, the same system gets activated in the Father also! RAS, like me is gender neutral!

Wanted to start the year with happiness! My RAS used to always make me smile when I used to see Uma Devi Khathri! Her innocent cute round face always used to bring a smile! You also knew that she would be funny and good in the movie! Fat people in movies those days were always good and fun to be around like a Teddy Bear! You or your rather your RAS may know her as Tun Tun!

Smile a little and laugh a lot! But make sure your RAS approves it first!
Shubh Ratri!

“It may be nine for you, may be six for him
If you do not get that the future is grim!
Let the blame game disappear!
Accept that and welcome the new year!”

In this amazing novel called Don’t let others rent space in your head by Gary Coxe he talks about how a helicopter pilot lost his arm!

yes! you read it right!

but what is more amazing is what he did next!

read on!

In the novel Gary Categorically states how everyone must take charge of what they do and more importantly take responsibility of their problems and life!

You can always spend lifetime thinking about your misfortunes and issues but the fact of the matter is that only you can solve your problems!

No one can help you if you do not want to help yourself!

There is an incident in a popular show where a customer burnt himself while drinking hot coffee which he had ordered! You know what he did?
Well he sued the coffee for not informing him that the coffee is hot!

He literally ordered hot coffee! What did he expect!?

Even then it did not matter! He sued and the company fearing backlash and negative publicity, simply offered him coffee from their outlets free for life! They also had to put a sign on the coffee mug saying that “Careful! The coffee is hot!”

If you thought that this was crazy, well there are a bunch more! Just got a couple of them loony ones!

When a client took his pants to a Washington DC dry cleaner, he never imagined he would never see them again. He sued them for $54 million when they lost his pants because the company did not meet their “Satisfaction Guaranteed” promise displayed in their store. He also claimed the lost pants caused him mental suffering. Unfortunately for him, he lost the case!

Then there was this man who wanted to change not his name or sex or religion! But AGE!

A 69 year old Dutchman wanted to legally change his age in order to avoid ageism. Emile Ratelband claimed he felt discriminated against because his real age was affecting his job prospects as well as his chances of success on Tinder, a popular dating app. The judge explained that many rights and obligations are age based, and that changing the legal age could cause many legal implications. The plaintiff ended up losing the case!

Then you have cases of misleading advertisements! You of course cannot take things literally but this person did!

Red Bull’s famous slogan “Red Bull gives you wings”: got the company in some trouble. A class action accused the company of having misleading ads and making false claims. Plaintiffs said the energy drink did not give people wings figuratively speaking, that is, they didn’t feel energized. They said the company lacks evidence to claim the beverage could improve one’s focus. Red Bull settled out of court and agreed to pay $640,000! Now that would have certainly made the plaintiff fly!

Finally in this series this is about a Kidnapper who sued! Jesse Dimmick, a fugitive facing a murder charge, kidnapped a Kansas couple in September 2009. At some point he fell asleep and they escaped. They sued Dimmick for over $75,000 in damages; his response was to countersue for breach of contract. He claimed the couple had a legally binding oral agreement for them to hide him from the police. His case was dismissed! Thank heavens for small mercies!

Now, what happened to the Helicopter pilot you ask!? Well he is a pilot! He should know that the wings rotate even after the Chopper stops and he has to wait for them to stop! He did not and cut his hand on the back wings! He sued the Helicopter manufacturer that the DANGER sign which was present was not big enough or primiment! So a pilot of a Chopper does not know that the wings can chop!? It is literally called a Chopper and he was a pilot!
Again the case was dropped!

All these examples are to reiterate the fact that we can sit around and blame and sue everyone around us and still suffer or simply take control of our life and be responsible!

Let that be the resolution of the year!
Now who took my pen…I mean it is ok; I have other pens!

If that made you smile then this reminds me of the famous smile of Chinna Thambi Prabhu and his dimpled smile!
End your year with a smile!

Happy New year!
Shubh Ratri!

“It takes a while to get the flow

The official at the table may say no!

Wow! Look my file is the creme de la creme!

Wake up my dear! Tis just a dream!”

This can be red or white and your influence is shown only when you can escape or at least fast track it!

Intrigued?

Read on!

I hate documents! The average human being is surrounded by papers which prove that he is a human! A piece of paper is more important that anything else!

No wonder there are so many forgeries!

Then again with more papers come more checks and more bureaucracy!

Now in India most of the works to apply and register and get a document is more or less streamlined and the wait is much less. 

Then again an average government office all over the world have this issue! The authentication and time delay and the time waste!

This is the RED TAPE!

The term “red tape” is  “an umbrella term covering almost all imagined ills of bureaucracy,” both public and private!

More commonly though, red tape is usually defined more narrowly as government policies, guidelines, and forms that are excessive, duplicative and/or unnecessary, and that generate a financial or time-based compliance cost!

For the average person who already is weighed down by the job and work timing; the wastage of time is the major factor!

There is also a White tape; which recognizes that regulations that are intended for useful purposes may nonetheless entail a compliance cost.

It is generally believed that the term “red tape” originated in the early 16th century with the Spanish administration of Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, who started to use red tape in an effort to modernize the administration that was running his vast empire. 

The red tape was used to bind the most important administrative dossiers that required immediate discussion by the Council of State, and separate them from files that were treated in an ordinary administrative way, which were bound with ordinary string.

As of the early 21st century, Spanish bureaucracy continued to be notorious for extreme levels of red tape (in the figurative sense)!

In 2013, the World Bank ranked Spain 136 out of 185 countries for ease of starting a business, which took on average 10 procedures and 28 days!

Similar issues persist throughout Latin America. 

In Mexico in 2009, it took six months and a dozen visits to government agencies to obtain a permit to paint a house!

In fact there is an award which is like the IGNOBLE called the Paperweight award which ‘rewards’ and lists cases of Red Tapism!

Town of Smithers in Canada is on this list for the third straight year with what the federation likes to call its “sidewalk to nowhere” bylaw.

In the popular movie ZOOTOPIA, one of the most hilarious and dark comedy scene is the one with the Motor Vehicle department! The reason it was funny is that it was so relatable!

The person at the counter does everything so slow including talk much to the irritation of the officer! I guess such departments are similar all over!

The lethargy to come whenever you want and do work till the next break and still get paid without any accountability is the reason why people prefer government jobs! Of course even they have issues but then the whole system gets you after some time! 

I still remember the mountain of files and permissions I had to get as a class rep for the college trip which was partially sponsored by the government! It was roaming from one desk to another from one office to another in a different city and that too in between the college! We had to stay in an old lodge since we ran out of money! On top of that unluckily that was the day of the state government strike! Then again I am thinking now that the only reason why it got approved was because there was a strike going on and the Babus were eager to finish and scoot! 

The chief issue here is counter check! Even the office workers do not have much leverage since there are people with fake papers and unless it goes through the bureaucratic machinery, the paper does cannot be passed!

Which reminds me of the famous scene in that serial which was an amazing parody to the office workers! OFFICE OFFICE! In one of the episodes, Pankaj stands in front of the official and states that he is alive! But the official tells him that, “That cannot be possible! The document here says that you are dead!”

If you want to take revenge on your enemy, just send him or her to get a official paper! He or she would get his karma! 

The best and in fact an ode to red tape is the book called the Peter Principle by Peter Sutton! That is an amazing novel which tells us about how 

everyone in an organization reaches to his or her own level of incompetence and peaks! This is so true when it comes to most offices especially with a hierarchical structure! The files pile up and the efficacy goes down with each push to the top! And the tape gets more red everyday!

Now while red tape is an ode to that search for accuracy which is actually never attained while poetry and fiction is an ode to abstract which has no limits! Which reminds me of the great poet and writer Kuppalli Venkatappa Puttappa or KUVEMPU! 

The last Monday of the year marked by Red Tape experience! I fervently hope that it does not continue!

Shubh Ratri!

“It comes and goes but then never comes back!
You have to get through just pick up the slack!
One time it’s dark and then you get the ray!
Of course the dark is night and the light is day!”

This was first ten and then became 12!

Then again it can be based on the sun or the moon!

Every other year or so you get something extra!

Intrigued!?

read on!

The Month of December is always chill! Cold and slow and all you want to do in the night is to curl up in the cozy warm bed and and sleep!

Of course the name December is an ode to the fact that it was the DASHA or Tenth month of the calendar! That was the time when the calendar had only ten months!

The old calendar had only ten months! It started with March and the end of march was a celebration which is followed even now in many places!

Then the latest months of the year was added which were January and February!

With the amount of edits and misinformation which has crept into WikiPedia, it is difficult to know what is truth! In fact from becoming a free encyclopedia of knowledge and ‘fact’; wiki has now become a repository of free for all ‘fiction’! Which is why it cannot be told for sure when the ten months was turned into 12!

The story goes that around the year 700 BCE, the Roman king Numa Pompilius is said to have added the two winter months!

January was called mensis ianuarius, the month of Ianus, the ancient Roman god of beginnings, of passage, and time itself.

January initially had 29 days and came after December!
In 154 BCE, a rebellion forced the Roman senate to change the beginning of the civil year from March to January 1! With this administrative reform, January officially became the first month in the year 153 BCE! This is WIKI information which may or may not be true!

The above calendar system is based on the movement of the SUN! In many parts of the world including India, we have the LUNAR calendar.

The Hindu calendar system is based upon the motion of the moon. Each lunar year comprises twelve months. The lunar year comprises 354 days, compared to 365 ¼ days of the Gregorian calendar, which is based on the solar system.

This gap increases to a month over a period of three years. For this reason, the Hindu lunar calendar has an extra month every three years, named Adhik! So while Solar calendar has an additional day, the Lunar has an additional month!

The month of Adhik is considered to be more auspicious, and is referred to as the month of Purushottam, Bhagwan.

The Hindu calendar year is based on the Vikram era, after King Vikram of Ujjain. The system is still widely used in Northern and Western India. The calendar began in 57-56 BCE.

The twelve months of the year are lunar-based, where each month is divided into the bright half (waxing of the moon), known as the ‘shukla’ or ‘sud’, and the dark half (waning of the moon), known as the ‘krishna’ or ‘vad paksh’. The 15th day of the sud half (full moon), is known as Punam, while the last day of vad half (new moon), is known Amãs.

Now practically this calendar is not completely Lunar since there are adjustments made to align with the Solar calendar! So these are actually called a lunisolar calendar!

A lunisolar is a calendar in many cultures, incorporating lunar calendars and solar calendars. The date of lunisolar calendars therefore indicates both the Moon phase and the time of the solar year, that is the position of the Sun in the Earth’s sky. If the sidereal year (such as in a sidereal solar calendar) is used instead of the solar year, then the calendar will predict the constellation near which the full moon may occur.

Of course moon or sun, the day will pass! You can simply learn Itihaas! Speaking of which reminds me the first mega epic on the TV! Ramayan! Directed by celebrity Ramanand Sagar!

Now get ready for the last two days of the calendar year!
Shubh ratri!

“Both are delicate but one causes more pain
This when broken can drive you insane!
Of course time heals and that’s a start!
It’s time to mend a broken heart!”

Breaking of this by choice is bad but accidental breaking in many customs is supposed to be good!

No! The answer is not Heart! Which is always bad!

but…

read on…

A broken heart is apparently difficult to treat or repair!

But a broken mirror is more often and more difficult to repair!

But remember that it is mainly a broken MIRROR which shows a proper reflection which is considered bad in some customs! A normal glass does not matter since they are more delicate than your heart! Though some may argue that the heart is more delicate since even a thought can break it while it takes physical strength or wind or gravity to break a mirror or a glass!

Now where did this belief originate from!?

It is a common belief that the broken mirror superstition originated from the ancient Romans. They believed that seeing a reflection was the power to see into one’s soul. Because they were the first to create mirrors from polished metal surfaces, this belief continued throughout Roman society. They also believed that the gods observed souls through mirrors; hence why it was considered so disrespectful to damage or break a mirror!

This also lead to the seven years rule in which some believe in the seven years of bad luck! This is because the Romans believed that the body renewed itself every seven years.
After each seven-year cycle, the body would renew itself, and any broken or ill pieces of the body would be healed. Hence the belief that breaking a mirror, a reflection of your soul, was bad luck for seven years!

Of course the issue is mainly because glass though so beautiful to look and see, like most beautiful thing leaves a big mess to be cleaned and hurts you if you are not careful! Which is why when you break any glass, it is not a good feeling especially for the one who has to clean and the one who installed the glass in the first place or the one who broke it!

There were some attempts to ward of the bad luck in case you break a Mirror or a Glass with a reflective surface!

The first one was to reuse the glass in a handcraft or grind the mirror into a fine powder, so it no longer shows any reflections! Then dispose of the powder under a full moon!

Another method for removing bad luck from a broken mirror is to immediately spin around three times in a counterclockwise direction after the mirror has broken. This confuses the spirits and helps to ward off bad luck!

In many cultures, salt is a symbol of auspiciousness. If you break a mirror, throwing salt behind you is an easy way to remove the bad luck. Make sure you throw it over your right shoulder, as throwing it over your left shoulder could bring even more bad luck. That is a literal “ASSALT” on the evil spirit!

So if you see someone dance or sprinkle salt then please do not call the Psychiatrist! Just watch out for broken glass!

Then again one of the best things is that there can even be a positive thing to the breaking of the glass!
Like while many people believe breaking of glass at home is inauspicious, Vastu Shastra suggests that it can also be a symbol of happiness and good luck. If a glass or mirror accidentally breaks, it is a sign that you have avoided a disaster. It indicates the start of positive changes in your life!

This is especially true if you have moved into a new house or changed a place of domicile! Apparently it means that it is a start of something positive! Of course in some customs, people deliberately break glass on happy occasion as a ‘Positive’ custom!

In Vastu However you apparently must not break the glass deliberately (who would!) and the glass must break by accident which is then considered auspicious!

Glass or no glass; the breaking is of course an issue since it is a delicate thing and not matter what you do, you can never mend the pieces together! A broken mirror would still give images! But the images would be different and separate from each other!
So let the breaking of a glass not break your heart, you can always get a new glass.

Breaking reminds me of an unbroken record of winning the maximum number of national awards in screenplay which was by Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair! A prolific writer and director and a Jnanpith award winner!

He will be missed…
Heartfelt condolences

Om Shanthi…