ramadocblog

“Playing with numbers that was his game!
Manmohan Singh was his name!
Everything in economics he had the answer!
Om shanthi; will miss you sir…”

What is common between the first AI to ‘listen’ to your thoughts and the lady who is ‘fair’!?

What is in a name!

Well, it is the name!

read on!

The term ‘Fair’ is actually not racist; at least when it is used properly since the original meaning is that Fair lady is a term that is often used to describe a woman who is considered to be beautiful, elegant, and pleasant in appearance.

Of course the word has been misused so much to reflect the colour which is sad! We have a similar word in Hindi called the “GORI”! Many songs have used the word to actually mean a beautiful woman though it may have some deviations!

The blog of course is not to address that! The first official use of Fair lady can be seen in context with the movie My Fair lady!

The link in that and the first AI is in the name! The name is ELIZA!

So ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program developed from in 1960s at MIT by Joseph Weizenbaum.

What is so special is that what finally happened!

Weizenbaum named his program ELIZA after Eliza Doolittle, a working-class character in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. The play of course later was made in to the very famous musical My Fair Lady.

According to Weizenbaum, ELIZA’s ability to be “incrementally improved” by various users made it similar to Eliza Doolittle, since Eliza Doolittle was taught to speak with an upper-class accent in Shaw’s play!

However, unlike the human character in Shaw’s play, ELIZA is incapable of learning new patterns of speech or new words through interaction alone. Edits must be made directly to ELIZA’s active script in order to change the manner by which the program operates!


So Weizenbaum Created ELIZA to explore communication between humans and machines, ELIZA simulated conversation by using a pattern matching and substitution methodology that gave users an illusion of understanding on the part of the program, but had no representation that could be considered really understanding what was being said by either party!

Mind you this is in the 1960s!

Whereas the ELIZA program itself was written (originally) in MAD-SLIP, the pattern matching directives that contained most of its language capability were provided in separate “scripts”, represented in a lisp-like representation.

The most famous script, DOCTOR, simulated a psychotherapist of the Rogerian school (in which the therapist often reflects back the patient’s words to the patient) and used rules, dictated in the script, to respond with non-directional questions to user inputs. It is like when you visit a Psychiatrist, many time he or she would simply urge to open up by asking things like “how do you feel?” or “what is your thoughts?” instead of directly providing an answer! This is what ELIZA was trained to do!

As such, ELIZA was one of the first chatterbots (“chatbot” modernly) and one of the first programs capable of attempting the Turing test!

ELIZA’s creator, Weizenbaum, intended the program as a method to explore communication between humans and machines.

He was surprised and shocked that some people, including Weizenbaum’s secretary, attributed human-like feelings to the computer program.
Many academics believed that the program would be able to positively influence the lives of many people, particularly those with psychological issues, and that it could aid doctors working on such patients’ treatment!

Weizenbaum first implemented ELIZA in his own SLIP list-processing language, where, depending upon the initial entries by the user, the illusion of human intelligence could appear, or be dispelled through several interchanges.

Some of ELIZA’s responses were so convincing that Weizenbaum and several others have anecdotes of users becoming emotionally attached to the program, occasionally forgetting that they were conversing with a computer!

While ELIZA was capable of engaging in discourse, it could not converse with true understanding. However, many early users were convinced of ELIZA’s intelligence and understanding, despite Weizenbaum’s insistence that it cannot be true!

Weizenbaum’s own secretary reportedly asked Weizenbaum to leave the room so that she and ELIZA could have a real conversation.

Weizenbaum was surprised by this and felt that he had not realized that extremely short exposures to a relatively simple computer program could induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people!

Now the cherry on the cake is that; the original ELIZA source-code had been missing since its creation in the 1960s!

The source-code is of high historical interest since it demonstrates not only the specificity of programming languages and techniques at that time, but also the beginning of software layering and abstraction as a means of achieving sophisticated software programming!

Now if someone named ELIZA or something similar is chatting with you in the net, be sure to ask if she knows someone called Weizenbaum! If ‘it’ replies “Oh, that is my father!” then, well; ask for her source code!

Of course ELIZA was a vault of knowledge! In the same way a repository of economic knowledge was Shri Manmohan Singh!

A brilliant mind who will always be remembered for his financial genius!

Heart felt condolences!

He will be missed…

Om shanti…

“A boss wants to give this less
an Employee always wants excess!
The whole world want this to timely come!
Tis just your monthly or weekly income!”

Over ninety nine percent of the population of the world look out for this at either the end of the month or the week!

And to think that it was named after something you now simply sprinkle with liberty on your food everyday!

read on!

The world moves because there is a system in place. The majority of the workers in the world depend on this and their whole life revolves around it!

This is the reason why anyone tolerates his or her boss no matter how much he or she dislikes him or her! Then again there can never be a good boss!

Even if that person was once your own friend and may be even a junior, once he or she becomes your boss then he or she is neither your junior nor your friend!

Of course there are bosses who are good but then that is a myth and myths like Unicorn has to be seen to be believed!
The employee wants to work and get paid and maybe sometimes just work the amount which is necessary or which he or she feels is necessary to get his or her due!

Every employee would always feel that he or she deserves more especially when he or she gets to know how much his or her friend makes! One of the major cause of depression is finding out how much your friend or colleague who did not pay for his tea or coffee the other day makes much more than you!

It is like the three idiots phenomenon! You feel sad when your friend does not have a job or loses a job but you feel more sad when he or she is promoted over you!

Of course promotion and rank does not mean a thing if what you get paid is the same or after taxes; even less! That pay slip is the indication of happiness of most employees at the end of the day!

Coming then to the answer!

We have paper money now as a legal tender or a means of buying stuff. In the book Bitcoin standard by Saifedean Ammous, the author says how a big pile of Limestone was kept in the middle of the street! That was the currency!

One day you are the owner then if you buy a something, say a house then there is a transfer of ownership! The Limestone stays there! Only the owner changes! And all this is simply based on only one thing which is finally the only way to transact!

Later on even gold copper and silver were introduced as mode of exchange with benefits and disadvantages of either!

Later on you have the Paper money is your money but controlled by the government so one fine day all the hard cash you have with you can be turned into paper by a simple law of the government!

He proceeds further and explains how the actual reason of world war I was monetary and if not for US support it would have ended then and there!
In fact after the war many countries lost their monetary value though the maximum brunt was felt by the ones who lost the war!

Again finally coming to the answer!

So there was a time when the means of payment was salt! Yes! That powder which you put with disdain on the side of your plate!
A weekly or monthly quota of salt was given as payment to workers!

That payment was called Salarium! Where have you heard that before!? YES! It’s Salary!
Salary comes from the Latin word salarium, which also means “salary” and has the root sal, or “salt.” In ancient times, it specifically meant the amount of money allotted to a soldier to buy salt, which was an expensive but essential commodity!

Now next time you see salt treat it with respect! The cheapest item in your kitchen was someone’s monthly pay!

Most people thus work for salt! Some though work only for their country and country folk! Like Shaheed Udham Singh; do not ever forget about such freedom fighters who avenged one of the most cruel Genocides ever.

Now earn your salt by sleeping on time and going to work on time!
Shubh Ratri!

“Just a single word to guess tis hard!

course gettin it is a special reward!

They make your mind twist and run!

These mind games, they be too much fun!

What is the link between Bulls, mind and wordle!?

It is all in the mind you see!

read on!

The daily routine now is to solve the Wordle! The best thing about the game is that you just need basic vocabulary!

It is a treat for the whole family and sometimes knowing less is good! Many times my kids get the words first since it is usually a simple word! The way the game shows that the letter is correct but wrong place or correct and right position or completely incorrect is a tease!

But the way it stimulates your thinking cap is really good!

The combination of letters and the thrill of getting it in the first or second attempt is really great but the actual thrill in getting the word in the last attempt! 

By default it is always better to put the words with the maximum vowels first and I usually put ADIEU as the first word! Only rarely do you not solve the wordle but if you are had pressed for time, simple words seem complicated!

The biggest issue is when there is a repeat of the word!

This game is actually similar to the game of hangman which we used to play a lot till the Wordle craze took over! 

A similar game in which you have to guess the pattern is done with colours instead of alphabets! This is also having the same premise like; you either have a wrong position right colour or right position and colour or wrong position and colour!

Yes! The game is one of the most popular Board games now but at the time of its invention it had no takers at first!

This game is based on an older, paper based game called Bulls and Cows!

A computer adaptation of it was run in the 1960s on Cambridge University’s Titan computer system, where it was called ‘MOO’ as an ode to the cow and bull!

The modern game with pegs was invented in 1970 by Mordecai Meirowitz, a postmaster and telecommunications expert. 

Meirowitz presented the idea to many major toy companies but, after showing it at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair, it was picked up by a plastics company, Invicta Plastics! Very soon it has become one of the most popular board game!

So much so that many researchers have written papers to guess the code in less than 5 or 6 steps! Even now there are many versions of the game and it really does stimulate your mind which you must try to master!

And yes the name of the game you must have guessed by now! Mastermind!

A master of words and an intelligent mind also was Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee!

Now try to master your sleep!

SHubh ratri!

“The guy cursed his luck again and again!
He had the ticket for the ship in vain!
He missed it but then it may be a gain!
Well cause Titanic was the ship’s name!”

How important is luck? Well, it has always been said that a diamond would shine no matter what and the gold would glitter!

But; it still needs to be lucky to have light!

In fact the foremost theory of evolution was discovered by luck! And it won the discoverers a Nobel!

read on!

Luck is such a big criteria that many times you cannot even think about the permutations and combinations!

Often people say that they were lucky or unlucky to be there or do this or get something!

Many rational people would then say that it is a matter of coincidence and since the universe is so huge, coincidence is also more!

Then again for the person who gets Lucky, it is just that!

The other day I was just ‘lucky’ to have got the opportunity to meet the PM since there is no other way that it could have happened!

When you get good marks in your examinations there is a high chance that you were also lucky! You were lucky that the paper had questions which you knew the answers to! You were lucky to have got the version which had high marks! You were also lucky that the invigilator gave you some extra time! You were lucky that you were on time!

You were also lucky that you had a good sleep and maybe good food before you came! You were also lucky that you had good materials to read!

Then you were lucky that the your answer paper did not get lost somewhere or stolen by someone! (It can happen believe me!)

Finally you were lucky that the examination was not cancelled!

Each and every single step where you were lucky could have been the opposite and you could have not got good marks!

It has often been said that only the average or mediocre people need luck while the truly talented ones do not need it! This is so false since even the best diamond in the world needs to be lucky to be discovered or at least needs to be lucky to be identified as a diamond!

Also most of the people in the world, in fact majority of the people in the world can actually be classified as average! Average is actually the majority! That is such an irony and so true!

Average almost always needs luck! Now whether you believe in luck or not, it is there!

Now coming to the lucky discovery of the foremost theory of universe!

While working with the Holmdel antenna in New Jersey, the two astronomers discovered a background noise. When Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson made this Nobel Prize–winning big bang discovery there was no “aha” moment!

Penzias and Wilson first considered and dismissed many possible explanations for the errant light, including, famously, the idea that it was contamination from pigeon droppings on the antenna!
They in fact got a ladder and went up there and scrubbed off the inside of the horn! But it made no difference!

After ruling out possible interference from urban areas, nuclear tests, and cleaning pigeon poop with sincerity; Wilson and Penzias came across an explanation with Robert Dicke’s theory that radiation leftover from a universe-forming big bang would now act as background cosmic radiation!

In fact, only 37 miles from the Holmdel antenna at Princeton University, Dicke and his team had been searching for this background radiation for ages!

This ‘lucky’ discovery gave Wilson and Penzias a Nobel prize! I guess that is a great reward for cleaning the Pigeon poop! Now that is luck!


We are also lucky to have listened to the great voice of Mohammed Rafi; My most favourite song by him is the JAHAN DAAL DAAL par; the way he utters the intro still gives me goosebumps!

Now be thankful that you are lucky to have a warm and comfortable bed to sleep! Now if you are really lucky, you will get a good sleep as well!

SHubh Ratri!

“The roaring water fell down the waterfall
Screaming and rushing seen by all!
Then it stopped with a splash and blow!
This dance of Aqua is a beautiful show!”

These little animals would drive you crazy but crazy fact is that those who were crazy enough to eat them were spared of a dangerous disease which used to affect the sailors!

read on!

Early morning ritual in our house was to eat the chyawanprash! This was a concoction which was sweet and sour and looked like jam!

One spoon was the standard and though I never had a taste for it, I did not mind eating it once in a while!

I have seen people eating it like jam spread on a bread!

It was best to just put it in the mouth and get it over with!

The main component of course was the Gooseberry which was a popular fruit in our house! During the season they used to buy in bunch and make the pickle! If you had nothing in the house to eat, then you would always have curd rice with either the lemon or the Gooseberry pickle!

This was the practice for ages when no one even knew that the effective ingredient we are taking is the Vitamin C!

Of course everyone knows about the dreaded disease of scurvy and James Lind!

But though James did recommend the use of Lemon and Orange because of his experiment which was one of the first clinical trials ever; the recommendation was only a part of his book which took 4 pages out of 450 pages of recommendation like fresh air!

He actually thought that notably hard work, bad water, and the consumption of salt meat in a damp atmosphere which inhibited healthful perspiration and normal excretion were the reasons for scurvy! He did conclude that oranges and lemon were effective but that was a small conclusion in a large complex study! He of course did not have any clue about Vitamin C!

Apparently an extreme form of vitamin C deficiency, scurvy was first discussed by Hippocrates (460-370 c)! Yes the one whose oath (the modified one though and not the original!) We take when we become doctors though many may not follow it! I know some who did not even take it!

So Hippocrates diligently noted the condition’s manifold manifestations and deadly effects while remaining ignorant of the cause.!

The first recorded incidence of plant-matter rich in vitamin C being used to cure scurvy is probably the 1536 exploration of the St Lawrence Seaway by Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) who was on the point of losing his entire crew until the locals showed him how to brew up a preparation from the needles of the white cedar tree which was rich in vitamin c!

A similar intervention saved Sir Francis Drake’s (1540-96) crew during his circumnavigation when, in 1577, with his crew ravaged by scurvy, he put ashore in what is now Patagonia. Here again the natives saved the interlopers with a mash made from the bark of a local tree, also high in vitamin C!

Unfortunately for thousands of sailors and soldiers to come, the medical minds of both France and England with their characteristics high mindedness and feeling of superiority could not accept what natives and people who don’t know English or French already know for ages!

For 18th Century sailors, disease during long sea voyages was often more dangerous than enemy action.

One British expedition to raid Spanish holdings in the Pacific Ocean in the 1740s lost 1,300 of an original complement of 2,000 men to illness!

Many sailors suffered “a strange dejection of the spirits” and lay immobile, while others who “resolved to get out of their hammocks, have died before they could well reach the deck”.

The explorer Captain Cook recommended malt and sauerkraut, while others swore by “elixir of vitriol” (a dilute solution of sulphuric acid), blood-letting and applying a piece of turf to the patient’s mouth to counter the “bad qualities of the sea-air”!

Among the array of imaginative remedies one of the most effective was for those sailors who ate the ship’s rats were inadvertently protecting themselves – as the animal synthesizes its own vitamin C! Then again that may not be a universal appeal!

Even after it was suggested that Lemon and orange was effective, the efficacy of these juices was lost after some time since they have to be fresh! Moreover any storage and excess cooking would make the Vitamin C ineffective or inferior!

Only when Vitamin C was discovered was the cause found and the sea cruise has now become the grand and more comfortable option now which is a far cry from the rat eating days! Now that is a story! Story also was Malgudi days! And one of the best depictions of Swamy was by celebrity Manjunath Nayaker! He was a natural!

Now have some warm water and sleep peacefully that you do not have to eat rats!
SHubh Ratri!

“Are you a human or a bot!
Make a mistake you will be caught!
Then again the bots don’t care!
Tis the feelings that makes humans rare!”

One of the best children series was this amazing series about a little boy and his giant robot!

I used to love watching that show which used to come once in a week or so!

It was called Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot or the Giant robot!

That was our first fascination with Robots! And even they apparently follow some laws! or!?

read on!

In the series the Kid had a watch which used to control the Robot! It was so cool which lead to our fascination with the watch!

There was a time when your imagination was that you could press a button on your watch and communicate with someone! Voila! That is a reality now!

Of course you cannot control any Giant Robot for now but still you can do a lot of stuff which would have been part of science fiction at the time!

Even in those days the special effects was so good that we could see this huge Robot lifting a car or how his palm was big enough for Johnny to sit!

Now sure they show how the ‘Robot’ only follows the one wearing the watch but later on they show how ‘it’ responds to emotions!

Now by the time this series came into our TVs Robot was a common terminology, but the term was first used in 1921 by Czech playwright Karel Capek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots)!

The play involves a factory that builds artificial people to be servants for humans. In fact the story is that one of the humans feels pity on the Robots and frees them and finally they become so powerful that it leads to the extinction of humans!
But since the robots can’t reproduce, even they face extinction soon! This is ironical when they actually kill the last human who could actually make more of the ‘Robots’!

Robot term is drawn from an old Church Slavonic word, robota, for “servitude,” “forced labor” or “drudgery.” The word, which also has cognates in German, Russian, Polish and Czech, was a product of the central European system of serfdom by which a tenant’s rent was paid for in forced labor or service!

In early drafts of his play, Čapek named these creatures labori, after the Latin root for labor, but worried that the term sounded too “bookish.” At the suggestion of his brother, Josef, Čapek ultimately opted for roboti, or in English, robots!

In the end, there is a deus ex machina moment, when two robots somehow acquire the human traits of love and compassion and go off into the sunset to make the world again!

The play of course was well received but the fear of the Robots is real!

Since many have this fear; Isaac Asimov the master of Robot based stories had made the classic three laws of Robot which is supposed to protect us from the Robotic hurricane!

The first and foremost law is that “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm”

The second laws is that, “A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law”

and finally the third law is that “A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law”

Of course these are laws made my humans for the Robots to follow! When many Humans do not follow laws! Can the ones made by them be sure to follow the laws made for them by someone else!

That is a Question for the AI! Or maybe a great mentalist! Thinking of Mentalist reminds me of the Guru in Apta MItra which is the celebrity Avinash!

Now before you think about the laws for the Robot, Try to follow the human ones!

SHubh ratri!

“Culture as rich and deep as the ocean
History and knowledge parallel to no one!
Having undergone so many test!
Everyone knows, Bharat is the best!”

The last time it happened it was 43 years back!

That is the last time an Indian PM visiting Kuwait!

The energy was exhilarating and the thrill was palpable everywhere!

The thrill of meeting your prime minister and that too in a foreign land is really special!

It gives you a feel of home so far away from home!

This in spite of the fact that work is always there and time is a big factor!

Still we were lucky to get the opportunity!

Of course the wait and anticipation itself was plenty! If you had expected the crowd to be tired, well they were till they saw their dear PM after which a sudden burst of adrenaline happened!

Then urged by the chants of Modi; and Bharat Mata ki jai and Modi hai to, the enthusiasm of the crowd was palpable and felt all over!

Then he was greeted by our chants and cheers! The mesmerizing dance program which he thoroughly enjoyed and his namakar to the artists was truly humbling!

Then of course just shaking his hands or a namaste or namaskar gave us so much contentment and joy!


The thrill and happiness of waving our flag with so much fervour and pomp and respect cannot be put in words! The wait was for hours and like any good thing we felt that the visit got over so fast!

With all that mental occupation after a while it felt like a dream! Only when we saw the photos and the videos was when it was confirmed that it really happened! Then the lucky ones were those who had amazing snaps with the PM while many of us were happy to be in the background! At least for now!

My only regret was the I could not get a autograph from Modiji of his sketch I had sketched the other day! Even my son who actually did not know that we may be meeting the PM drew his sketch and wrote SAFE TRAVELS!

Just a humbling experience which would be cherished for life!

As Modiji said, Jai Bharat!

“Tick tock ding dong and thats the way to go!
Always steady never fast never slow!
When it goes can never be back!
That’s time! Never white never black!!”

There is one thing which nowadays people wear only because it is there! Of course it does have some more work but practically it is just an accessory which is not necessary like most accessories are!

Both women and men wear it with pride! But which hand that is the eternal question!

keep a look out for the answer!

read on!

The answer was in the ‘LOOK OUT’ or Watch!

Of course I am speaking about wrist watches!

Everyone now has a mobile or sits in front of the system rarely does anyone now has to pick up the hands to see the time from the wrist watch!

Which is why it is now just a fashion accessory unless your profession depends on it or unless the watch has got itself upgraded like the Samsung gear or Apple watch or like most smart watches when it is a health monitoring device!

It is also been upgraded to be your calculator and alarm and memo recorder!

I use my Apple and One Plus watch alternatively to the hilt! Including messaging and calling and also navigation! Not to mention listening to music or audiobook via the connected airpods or Buds!

In the transition between normal digital watches and the smart watches there was a time when the whole watch wearing was just a fashion accessory since the phone would tell you the correct time anyway!

Without an upgrade it is just a piece of jewel and treated like that!
Some of the most costly watches are mere jewels which show just time! But they do draw attention which is the chief aim now!

But if you have not upgraded the watch then in all probability you use your watch only as a watch which is why you may forget to wear them or do not charge them!

Now which hand do you wear your watch?


Traditionally, men wear watches on their left hand. This is because most watches are designed with the stem (the part used to adjust the time) on the right side, making it easier for right-handed people to manipulate it with their dominant hand!

Traditionally, wristwatches are derived from pocket watches, specifically from a particular type of pocket watch called savonnette. Instead of having the crown at twelve o’clock, these timepieces had it at three o’clock. In addition, they typically mounted a spring-loaded cover that protected the dial and opened with a push of a button – and this cover had a hinge at nine o’clock.

For this reason, modern wristwatches carry the crown at three o’clock, which is the most comfortable position if you wear a watch on your left wrist. With regular arm movements, the crown doesn’t bother you pointing against your skin. But if you wear the watch on the opposite wrist, the problem arises!

The crown, by its very nature protruding and knurled, scratches against the skin, producing annoying redness – so several watchmakers decided to provide a unique service to their customers and offered left-handed watches, where the movement was mounted precisely the opposite way round, with the crown mounted at nine o’clock instead of three o’clock: after all, this is not a particularly difficult modification, given that all that is needed is to rotate the movement 180 degrees and apply a dial and, if necessary, the date rings, which are specially made!

It has also been suggested though that those who wear the non smart watches by choice on the right side have psychological reasons for wearing a watch on one arm rather than the other!

It is said that they are often correlated with the two universes of the brain – the creative and the rational, thus suggesting that those who wear their watches by choice on the right arm are more creative than those who wear them on the left! Just the very act of the choice of your hands can make you a creative person!

Then again ladies traditionally have been wearing the watches on the right hand! This is of course an observation only and not a gender thing!
The reason presented here is from a watch wearer website! Not my opinion!

The reason is apparently intuitable: traditionally, women’s watches were smaller (and had a less accurate watch movement) than men’s and represented more of a style accessory than a real functional object. They were treated more as ornaments.

Therefore, since many more women are right-handed rather than left-handed, they tended to wear on their left wrist not watches but other jewelry such as bracelets and chains, which could scratch the watch!
That’s why many women, to avoid this problem, started wearing watches on their right wrist instead of their left, even being right-handed. And even if the size of women’s watches has increased with time – nowadays, many women wear watches traditionally considered as “men’s” in shape and size – they still wear them on the right side for this exact reason!

The modern smart watches may have either a crown or knobs on the side which by design are placed in neutral positions so that you can wear them in any hand of your choice! Also by default these watches do not differentiate between men and women! They are all unisex watches and rightly so!

Of course the choice of colours still sets them apart but then that is a personal opinion! So which hand do you use? For wearing the watch I meant!

If you find that funny they you will certainly find celebrity Om Prakash Chibber funny!

Now set alarm in the watch of either left or right hand and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“The silence of the night is like a cool breeze!
Course if you have allergy it can make you sneeze!
Then again the peace and calm is the deal!
It’s not how you look but how you feel!”

There was a ruthless barbarian who has been believed to have killed over ten percent of the world population!

The only solace for Indians is that at that time they were saved by an animal!

Yes! both statements are true…or so we believe!

read on!

The book by William Dalrymple called the Golden Road mentions about the Tyrannical barbarian Genghis Khan!

He was so cruel that mere mention of his name would make kingdoms surrender!

His use of archery and horse attacks and the ‘surrender or die’ combined with spot attacks made sure that he won at all costs!

Genghis Khan born c. 1162 – August 1227 was also known as Chinggis Khan and was the founder and first khan of the Mongol Empire.
While in India we bow to our elders and brothers; Temüjin killed his older half-brother to secure his familial position!

After spending most of his life uniting the Mongol tribes, he launched a series of military campaigns, conquering large parts of China and Central Asia!

Almost all writers, even those who were in the Mongol service, have dwelt on the enormous destruction wrought by the Mongol invasions!

One Arab historian openly expressed his horror at the recollection of them. Beyond the reach of the Mongols and relying on second-hand information, the 13th-century chronicler Matthew Paris called them a “detestable nation of Satan that poured out like devils from Tartarus so that they are rightly called Tartars.” He was making a play on words with the classical word Tartarus (Hell) and the ancient tribal name of Tatar borne by some of the nomads, but his account catches the terror that the Mongols evoked!

In a list of the most cruel invaders ever, Genghis is in the second place! This is what is written about the invader who was less cruel that Genghis and is in the third place! The invader called Timur!
Timur led military campaigns through a large part of western Asia, including modern Iran, to Syria. In present-day Afghanistan, he ordered the construction of a tower made out of living men, one stacked on top of another and cemented together! He also ordered a massacre to punish a rebellion and had 70,000 heads built up into minarets!

If that shocked you then remember that Genghis is on second place in that list! Yes! I know you want to know the first! It was Atilla the Hun! But then that’s a blog for another sad day…

Nearly 40 million people were believed to be killed in Mongol invasions which led to an empire that spanned 22 per cent of the Earth’s surface!
One estimate is that approximately 10% of the contemporary global population, amounting to some 37.75–60 million people, was killed either during or immediately after the Mongols’ military campaigns!

This number would have been much greater (how!?) if he had come to India! But enroute to India, one animal changed his mind!

Legend has it is said that Chengiz Khan saw an horned unicorn which he assumed to be a command from heaven to halt his march into India!
He may have been a big invader but the fact was that he was a barbarian so what he saw and thought as a unicorn since the eyes would see only that the mind knows! Was in all probability the Great Indian One horned Rhino!

Knowledge is always greater than strength! Which is why it has been said “‘Swadeshe pujyate raja, vidwan sarvatra pujyate’ which means that A king is honored only in his own country, but one who is learned is honored throughout the world!

Historical reminds me of the historical movies by celebrity Govind Nihalani!

Now thank the Rhino and sleep in peace! By the way the study of nose is also called Rhinology but then thats the blog for another day!

Shubh Ratri!

When everything is as expected! One of my personal best poem, blog and sketch! Happy with all of them today!

“Oh why you wear that sweater so torn and so old!
What protection it may give you from cold?
This is a woolen shield like no other
Knitted with warmth by my mother!”

This was initially done exclusively by men!

Now everyone does it but then not everyone can do it since it requires skill!

Intrigued!?

read on!

Since you showed so much patience of reading this far! The activity exclusive to males is Knitting!

Knitting is the process of creating loops of threads that interlock row by row, through the use of yarn and needles! This craft has been used by many in creating fabrics and garments such as socks, sweaters, scarves, hats, and dresses!

My mother was an expert Knitter! Her craft bag always had a bunch of wools of different colours and an assortment of needles!

There was a master needle and a collection of normal ones.

Couple of months before winter or even when she had a little time she would be knitting away! Only occasionally would she look at the wool while rest of the time the whole thing was just skill!

The biggest issue during those times was the availability of wool! Sometimes she would order from far places and sometimes she would just wait!

Many times she would have started on a colour and halfway the wool would get over, then she would either wait of simply take another colour wool and continue! And voila! You get a multicolor woolen sweater!

The lucky ones would get the sweater first which would usually be me since I normally also feel very cold! Then it would be my brother and finally my dad! I never realised that she had stitched one for herself long back and then rarely ever for herself…

If she had a surplus of wool then it would lead to more wool stuff like the scarf or mufflers! I have always loved wearing sweaters and since I was a thin dude with no mass, the joke was that it was the sweater which used to hold me to the ground!

Even in school in Bangalore, when the winter was far over but still the morning was cold, I used to wear a sweater especially in the morning! So much so that everyone used to call me sweater boy!
It was also convenient since inside the sweater you do not have to worry how clean the shirt was! I used to be so happy when it used to rain or when it used to get cold since then I could wear the sweater without any embarrassment!

The first time after a short break when I went to my college, I had to enter the class directly! I was coming from cold Bangalore to the hot and sunny Calicut! I was of course wearing a sweater and the class had started so I did not have time to change! I simply went with the sweater! The thick green and white sweater was a sight many in my class still remember me by!

Of course I did not mention that it was one of the last sweaters knitted by my mother for me and I did not have the heart to stop wearing it! Also first time you go back to college after a short break is when you get very homesick! You tend to compensate however you can!

For a long time though in the later years mom stopped the knitting completely. Maybe the commercially available ones were faster to get and less tedious. Occasionally though there would be phases in which she would make a sweater here and there. Her best skill would be to repair the torn sweater! It was magical how the places where the wool came out would get stitched back again!

It was also understood since Bangalore was no longer that cold and we were quite old! The chief reason of the sweaters were the postings or transfer to the north of India where it was relatively much cold! Then again when it used to rain in calicut or when I was not well with fever, I used to wear the sweater and the warmth would dry all the cold feelings away!

Getting busy with career and education and her health issues had the side effect of her craft bag sitting idle in a corner gathering dust. Many times she would be asked whether we need it or not. She would merely say, Keep it; lets see. It is a small bag and it hardly occupies any space!

Finally when my dear daughter was born, her happiness was reflected by the coming back of her needles! During these time the needles were used to check whether the idly or the cake was properly cooked or not! You stab the idly and no idly must come on to the stick! The knitting needle was best for that!

The knitting started with gusto! If you see the constant knitting you may not realise the speed but if you see after a couple of days then you can know how it used to progress! Like a muscle memory she had not forgotten how to knit! It was slower this time but it was steady and the progress was great! She would normally make the turtle neck ones only since that was how she learnt and when the neck size was small she would promptly start the corrections! Her joy of putting it on my little daughter was pure! But the heat of Chennai made sure it was used only occasionally! Then when we were back to Bangalore the sweater was back! She subsequently made her signature sweaters for all her lucky grandkids!

Of course one fine day everything stopped and I really do not know what happened of the craft bag with her magazines and needles. I did not want to know…

Last month just after my mom’s birth anniversary my daughter, a recent teen suddenly asked for some wool! I thought it was a passing fancy but of course I never say to no her! Got her some assorted sets and one fine day she presents us with small coasters entirely knitted by her! Then within a week it graduated to a nice Muffler for my wife and super cool woolen gloves for my wife and me! I did not want to wear the gloves because I was scared that I would either spoil it or lose them! But the intricate knits and the stitches which she has learnt all by herself brought me to tears which of course I hid from her.

I know one fine day She would make a sweater because she is as skillful as my mother. Take rest amma; your legacy continues…

Legacy also will continue of the legendary Padma Awardee and one of the most deserving amma of the jungle! Tulsi Gowda! She left for the heavenly abode the other day.

After planting more than 30000 trees and saplings I think her work here will be remembered forever!

Om shanthi!

Shubh ratri…