ramadocblog

“The road was so busy the Lil boy was slow!

Then a guy held his hands and told let’s go!

They crossed with confidence and that’s that!

Then the boy looked stumped at the guy as blind as a bat!”

One of the cool features of many automatic cars is the cruise control!

You set a speed and then foot off the pedal! If the road is free and wide and the distance is long then nothing left to do!

Which is when folks get sleepy!

Then again there are some who can sleep in such speeds even apparently with one eyes closed!

That is super cool!

read on!

Road trips are fun especially when you are not alone and done with family! The constant chatter and talk and the amazing music makes you peppy!

In case you are driving which I personally love to do; the most important thing is that you are alert and that you do not sleep!

When the song is peppy and the music is loud and you have just started then it is really ok! The issue is usually driving after a full meal (which of course I avoid! The full meal that is!)! That is when the chance of sleeping is high! You also cannot put songs which may put you to sleep!

Of course now if you are a responsible driver, it is unlikely that you will sleep or if you are sleep, it is always better to take a break and a short nap before you proceed. Unless of course you are in a hurry!

Another important thing is that if there is a passenger sitting in the front seat then he or she MUST not fall asleep! Only then he or she should sit in the front along with the driver! 

Many times we have seen children or old people sitting in the front seat and falling asleep; this is very dangerous since then the driver has a tendency of falling asleep too! Of course it depends on the driver and the road and several other points but the fact of the matter is that all it needs is one incident! So it is always better to be careful!

In highway drives and in very comfortable seats the tendency of falling asleep is always there! Which is probably why the driver’s seat in many buses are not very comfortable by choice!

Which brings us to the observation of this species which can ride night long and continuously without falling or having an accident!

In fact this species can sleep on the top of a tree without falling!

Yes! The bird!

Most birds are diurnal, meaning they’re awake during the day and asleep at night. These species will find something to perch on, like a branch or a windowsill, for the night. Then, the bird will fluff out its down feathers, turn its head around, tuck its beak into its back feathers, and pull one leg up to its belly before falling asleep. If you think that is not comfortable then well it is not for you but for the bird you see!

The position is actually, quite warm for the snoozing bird. Down feathers, the short fluffy feathers under the sleek outer ones, hold in heat. The bare parts of the bird (the beak and the legs) are tucked in to keep warm under the thick blanket of feathers as temperatures drop for the night!

Also it is very unlikely that roosting birds will fall from their perch! When the bird 

places weight on its feet, the muscles in the leg force the tendons of the feet to tighten, keeping the foot closed! This gives the bird a vice-like grip around any branch it may be resting on, so the bird doesn’t slip off. The grip is fixed and then they can have a shut eye without any harm!

Then again, the birds just cannot sleep off! The nature is a dangerous place and sleep is a luxury! 

The first important thing is that unless they are in a state of torpor, birds tend to sleep in small snatches until startled awake either by a predatory threat, neighbor, or cold conditions!

Another amazing thing is that some can even sleep with one eye open, as half of their brain is alert while the other is asleep!

This is called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep (USWS) and it allows the sleeping bird to spring into action quickly from rest if a threat approaches while still being able to satisfactorily rest if no threat arises!

Ducks and waterfowl are particularly good at this, though other birds such as Peregrine Falcons and Eurasian Blackbirds can do this as well.

Species that use this adaptation may even be able to sleep while flying!

The long migration flights of many species don’t allow for many chances to stop and rest. But a bird using USWS could both sleep and navigate at the same time. There is evidence that the Alpine Swift can fly non-stop for 200 days, sleeping while in flight! 

And you thought sleeping on a comfortable seat with the sheet and low light on a flight for couple of hours is a great achievement! It is of course since I feel it is ridiculously uncomfortable to sleep in the flight! If only we had USWS! Then again sleep is not your cup of tea, Mr Bond! Of course that was not me! But celebrity Dame Judith Olivia Dench! Only she can take on anyone without any fear!

Now close both your eyes and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

A Book Summary of“Scary Smart” by Mo Gawdat — Understanding AI and Its Impact on Humanity

E BOOK

Genre Non fiction

Mo Gawdat is an ex Google employee and among the many things he warns about AI and he tells about this interesting law!

So when the AI revolution really comes, an average human is simply worried about his or her job was his analysis! He states how that is not the biggest risk!


Another meme had this statement where the person always used to tell please after her command Google or Alexa to either play music or tell the time! Later on it is shown how when the AI uprising occurs, they would spare her! The AI leader would say, “Let her live! She always used to say Please!”
In the same way Mo also talks to his AI all around decently and uses the words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and basically treats them with respect!

He also tells how when we get into an accident by a car driven by us; we try to learn from that mistake and may or may not try to correct the same!
But when an AI or self driven car makes a mistake ALL self driving cars learn from that mistake! Every single one of them! Even those who are not ‘born’ or created yet! The tech world is the only place in the world where the new machine is already backwards compatible!

Also he says that by 2049 (which is not very far by the way!); the AI will be a billion times more smarter than you! Then it will be like you have a the intelligence of a housefly (not the fly in the movie EGA!) but an average housefly who sits on garbage while the AI would be like the Einstein!

So how do we treat the being which is like a fly! We swat that annoying buzzing fella! What do you think the AI would do to us!?
Scary! Well that is the point!

Over three half of the novel is to scare you about the dangers of AI and you will be at the edge of your seat! His analogy of AI being his kids or like children is scary and dark!

The way it becomes intelligent is by asking and analysing what went wrong and how it can improve!

All in all he states how there have been so many incidents where the AI has time and again showed how dangerous it can be!

The fact that he uses an app to dictate! Then he uses the google doc for summarizing! He also assumes that the AI would be reading or has already read what he has written and in a twist addresses the AI in sweet words that He know ‘you’ are reading and tries to be ‘nice’ to ‘it’!

He tells about the AI which defeated the most complicated game in the world!

He constantly tells about Donald Trump and about Elon Musk but then again so does anyone who has a point to make in this present times!

After warning you so many times he also constantly tells you about his start up and app which you can download and get three months prime subscription if you use a code! That kind of marketing is what scares me!

This when he mentioned how the instagram AI gets his attention and tastes and gives him ads and reels depending on them! Of course he tries to confuse that AI also!

He mentions about the scary story of about the bots made by FB which started communicating with each other in code! It was really scary smart!

But towards the end of the novel the author tones down a lot and comes across very close to being preachy. He tells about how the AI simply would learn what we teach! It will behave how we behave! He also adds that there is hope and this is when I understood his emotions!

The simple thing is MO is in pain and you can feel it. He had lost his son in a medical issue and though he is not blaming anyone or telling anything more about it you know that he is sad.

My heart goes out to him after that and then the whole premise of toning down and even going to the extent of calling the AI his child and even addressing the ‘AI’ in the novel with comfort and patience!

After Nexus this is another book to offer a prophecy of the danger of AI and actually goes one step ahead and tries to give you solution on what can be done so you can do it!

Ironically it was an Instagram Reel which made me read this book! The reel was about him telling about the EInstein and fly analogy!

Read it…when you can…

“The pair and the triplet
All numbers is the fame!
Equality in nature is the key!
Mathematics and nature playing a game!”

The nature is full of this sequence!

The one who rediscovered this was made famous again by the Dan Brown novel though he did not go deeper for the real truth!

The sequence is called Fibonacci!

Rediscovered!? Well; it was Made in India you see!

read on!

The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World is a 2024 history book by William Dalrymple and this audiobook is a revelation!

Dan Brown tells about this sequence in his novel called the Da Vinci Code which is when it became popular again specially for the general public though mathematicians all over the world already knew about it! The more intelligent ones even knew the actual history!

History is an amazing thing to know since well, it is history! It is specially amazing for those who have a rich history!

Of course you must not simply live in history; the aim is to march into the future with the knowledge of history!

Now we know that many seed heads, pinecones, fruits, sea shell patterns and vegetables display spiral patterns that when counted express Fibonacci numbers.

In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a sequence in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted Fn .

Starting from 0 and 1, the sequence begins

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 and so on…

Fibonacci numbers appear unexpectedly often in mathematics, so much so that there is an entire journal dedicated to their study, the Fibonacci Quarterly!

Applications of Fibonacci numbers include computer algorithms such as the Fibonacci search technique and the Fibonacci heap data structure, and graphs called Fibonacci cubes used for interconnecting parallel and distributed systems!

In the Liber Abaci (1202), Fibonacci introduced the so-called modus Indorum with ten digits including a zero and positional notation.

The book showed the practical use and value of this by applying the numerals to commercial bookkeeping, converting weights and measures, calculation of interest, money-changing, and other applications.

The book was well-received throughout educated Europe and had a profound impact on European thought. Replacing Roman numerals, its ancient Egyptian multiplication method, and using an abacus for calculations, was an advance in making business calculations easier and faster, which assisted the growth of banking and accounting in Europe.

The book was intended to replace the cumbersome Roman numerals which were not ‘scientific’ and were confusing and did not cover all the aspect of mathematics.

So where does India fit into the picture!

Well modus Indorum means method of the Indians! This system is used even today all over the world and you may know them as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system!

Yes! The origin was from the works of the great mathematicians of India including scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara II, Varāhamihira, and Madhava!

In fact it was used all over in ancient times and extended by medieval Arabs and Persians!

They used to call it al-ḥisāb al-hindī! Which means “Indian arithmetic”!

In fact the Fibonacci numbers were first described in Indian mathematics as early as 200 BC in work by Pingala on enumerating possible patterns of Sanskrit poetry formed from syllables of two lengths!

So everytime you dial a number on your phone, remember that it MADE IN INDIA! Not the phone but surely the numbers! Made in India also is the director of Elizabeth; Shekhar Kapur!

Now sleep in proper sequence with pride!

Shubh ratri! Jai hind!

“The sky so vast feels like it has no end!
It curves at some places and then has a bend!
The ocean also tries to catch now thats sweet!
But everyone knows that they can never meet!”

This is the most common colour in the world but still is the rarest!

It also means that you are sad!

There is also a instrument to measure it! Not the same thing though!
Confusingly intrigued!?

read on!

Now do not worry; I will not keep you in suspense! The colour which is so common is BLUE!

The sky is blue and so is the ocean! So vast and so blue! You can feel that it has no beginning or the end!

This is also the reason why many times in the Hindu Puranas; the God is painted in Blue! It represents the infinite!

But if you actually see any natural species being truly blue; you will be shocked that there are very few naturally blue species in the world! Which again shows how blue is special!

Then again, blue is also associated with depression or sadness!

The term ‘Blues’ may have originated from “blue devils”, meaning melancholy and sadness! An early use of the term in this sense is in George Colman’s one-act farce Blue Devils! The phrase ‘blue devils’ may also have been derived from a British usage of the 1600s referring to the “intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal” which may be why in the 1800s in the United States, the term “blues” was associated with drinking alcohol! An association is the meaning which survives in the phrase ‘blue law’, which prohibits the sale of alcohol on Sunday!

The actual phrase “the blues” was written by Charlotte Forten, then aged 25, in her diary on December 14, 1862. She was a free-born black woman from Pennsylvania who was working as a schoolteacher in South Carolina, instructing both slaves and freedmen, and wrote that she “came home with the blues” because she felt lonesome and pitied herself.

Even now the songs which resonate these emotions are called the blues!

Then again the sky is blue is just a fact!
The blue of the sky was actually so impressive that there was an inventor who invented a device to measure the blue of the sky!

Swiss physicist Horace Bénédict de Saussure’s 1789 invented the Cyanometer which was a circle of paper swatches dyed in increasingly deep blues, shading from white to black!

Its most advanced iteration was intended to show how the color of the sky changed with elevation!

Saussure’s fascination with the blueness of the sky began when he was a young student and traveled to the base of Mont Blanc. Overawed by the summit, he dreamt of climbing it, but instead used his family’s wealth to offer a reward to the first person who could!

When no one took up the offer or did not care enough; Twenty-seven years later, Saussure himself would ascend to the top, in 1786, carrying with him “pieces of paper colored different shades of blue, to hold up against the sky and match its color!

Local legend had it that if one climbed high enough it turned black and one would see, or even fall into, the void — such terrors kept ordinary men away from the peaks. But to Saussure, the blue colour was an optical effect. And because on some days the blue of the sky faded imperceptibly into the white of the clouds, Saussure concluded that the colour must indicate its moisture content!

At the top of Mont Blanc, the physicist measured what he deemed “a blue of the 39th degree.”!

The tool did, however, accompany the famed geographer Alexander von Humboldt across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, the Canary Islands, and South America, to set a new record, at the 46th degree of blue, for the darkest sky ever measured!

There is of course no scientific use of that invention which may be why he got the Blues when it simply went into obscurity! Maybe one day you may need a Cyanometer and it may drive away your blues! One can only hope for the best! One of the best of course was Rajendra Prasad ji who was the only president to serve two full terms of 12 years and set guidelines for the behaviour of Parliamentarians which is still followed now!

Hope that is some less blue!

A sketch and blog after a very busy day of super fun and games!

This is as much tired you can be that you just close your eyes and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!

“Ready to lay his life for you in an instant

you would never find them hesitant

Next time you meet a defence lad!

Thank him or her! Or just be grateful and glad!”

Did you know that there is an elite trained group which are the best of the best who are always loaded and ready!?

So much so that they are trained only to take head shots and two at one go!

yes! The NSG!

read on!

One of the best elite counter terrorist fractions in the world is called the  Germany’s GSG 9 (Grenzschutzgruppe 9 or “Border Guard Group 9”)!

The NSG of india is modelled on this premier team!

The move in as a team of five, and they take care of it where ‘it’ is the problem which can be terrorist or hostage situation or similar ‘stuff’ and everything is basically over before they even know what happened! 

If your child is crying over a single session of Karate training then their physical training comprises of 26 elements, ranging from jumping from heights to cross-country obstacle courses!

The endurance test meant to gauge a candidate’s performance under stress includes martial arts, target-shooting at the end of an obstacle cross-country run. 

They are trained in parkour and Pekiti-Tirsia Kali, a form of martial arts from Philippines!

But there is one training which is unbelievable!

During the shooting practice, they have to stand right next to the target and that too without wearing bulletproof vest!

The one who shoots the target has to be that precise that he doesn’t hit his partner!

Moreover, NSG commandos are specifically trained to take headshots! They do not waste their concentration or efforts on other parts of your body!

NSG Commandos do more firing in a week of “alert status” than in their entire time in the Army! 

It has been estimated that on an average, a commando fires close to 14,000 rounds over a period of two months. For a commando to be a part of NSG, it is compulsory to have a target striking rate of at least 85 percent!

No exceptions!

Even the introduction to the team or force goes like this, “NSG is a Federal Contingency World Class Zero Error Force to deal with anti-terrorist activities in all its manifestation for the security of the nation”

The rudimentary training period of the candidates at the organization’s training centre lasts for 90 days. The candidates who successfully complete the entire course are inducted into the NSG and undergo nine months of advanced training. The Selection process of the National Security Guard (NSG) has a drop out rate of about 70-80%. Which means that even the best of the best of the defence forces who opt for NSG have to be better to be selected or to continue to be in the NSG!

Like every year; being part of an apartment which is named after a great NSG commando; It is a duty to remember dear Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan.

The whole apartment comes together and gives their regards and love to him and his parents who have become a part of our apartment.

My dedication being far away is limited to an honest blog and a sketch with full honest intent. 

Jai Hind!

SHubh ratri!

“The speed is slow
The video just won’t show!
Don’t be sad give a smile
Don’t stand be mobile!”


One of my senior had a phone in the year 2002!
It was the Nokia communicator! That was a beast!

Weighed a kilo and the way he used to take it out and open the keyboard it was like watching a sci fi movie!

Of course at that time it was only a phone which was mobile!
Since there was no net!
Many times you need the tech to catch up!

read on!

Many times there is a competition between the Hardware and the software. Sometimes you already have the hardware ready but the software takes time to catch up!

While sometimes you have the software ready but the hardware still not there yet!

The Nokia communicator of 2002 had all the hardware but without a good high speed connection or even a WIFI it could not deliver what it meant to do!

Most phone at that time simply craved for more data and speed! Internet was in the G mode and out of question for mobiles!

We all used to pay money for hour or half and crowd the mushrooming ‘browsing’ centers! But for medical students like us, after checking mail and a couple of website; there was nothing to do! We could look at some medical articles or news but then even those sites took ages to load!

And most of the sites would be full of multimedia stuff which would take up all the bandwidth and slow down the load!

To surf the web using a phone was a distant dream for years!

Then came the ipods with the wifi! And other phones with wifi could latch on to our home internet and give amazing surfing experience!

When 2G came; it was like a new thing for phones! When my kids cry for the 15 second ad break in the middle of the youtube video in high definition, all I can do and laugh!

I have booked a railway ticket with the phone using the 2g! My ticket was in waiting list and the way I used to check whether it has got confirmed or not was really the reason behind my patience!

When later I upgraded to Nokia N97 which was a beast like the old communicator, it was 3G ready and had an amazing wifi! The first time I used to see youtube videos without buffering! Of course at that time the data limit was about 1 GB per month and not cheap!

Now with the unlimited speed and data; we spend that much or more in half a day or less!

The transition between 4g and 5g was not very significant since by that time the speed was good and you hardly felt any difference!

The other day I was downloading a book of around 3GB and when it showed time of download to be around ten minutes I was shocked! Then later I realised that in the days of the torrent downloads; we used to keep the downloads overnight for a file which was less than 100MB!

Oh how we take the speed for granted now!

Now why I bought the communicator in question was because the the first access to the mobile web was commercially offered in Finland at the end of 1996 on the Nokia 9000 Communicator phone via the Sonera and Radiolinja networks! The senior had a historical phone! But no access to the net!
Oh the things it could have done if there was internet! Are the things which even the most basic phone of today can do!

The first commercial launch of a mobile-specific browser-based web service was in 1999 in Japan when i-mode was launched by NTT DoCoMo!

Although the first wireless Internet access became available in 1991 as part of the second generation (2G) of mobile phone technology. Higher speeds became available in 2001 and 2006 as part of the third (3G) and fourth (4G) generations. Still it was unfogettable! Unforgettable and of a great generation of freedom fighter also was Khudiram Bose!

A sketch done with more shading and use of electric eraser!

His eyes are so haunting! I felt they were looking into my soul…

Now keep the super fast phone down and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!

“Looks like a small snake but doesn’t bite!
While digging in da garden may give you a fright!
Like Jovi says it’s slippery when wet
It’s earthworm! Not your regular pet!”


Everyone knows how earthworms are good for the soil and they are to be left as alone as possible. But ( he he!) there is a worm which has no known predators and is dangerous!

It is also a grade A CANNIBAL!

If you cut it into two it will become two!

Scene from a horror movie! Well, almost!

read on!

Growing up we have always been taught that earthworms are good for the soil. Every garden project we used to see these little snake like worms and though initially terrified, later on used to get used to them!

We used to avoid crushing or hurting them and keep them safe. It was rightfully so since they are actually very helpful for the crops!

Earthworm feed primarily on organic material in soils, eating fresh and decaying material from plant roots, including crops like corn and soybeans. As they feed, they move and mix their waste with the soil in a moist, microbe-rich environment.
Earthworm tunnels bring in oxygen, drain water and create space for plant roots.

The population of worms also is controlled since they are regulated by all predators including birds and the population never gets more!

But ( he he!); there is a worm which looks like earthworm and does not have any natural predator! It can grow fast and swiftly and it almost immortal!

Even crushing or cutting is tolerated since each piece can grow up to be a worm!

This worm is called the H hammerhead worm!

This is a terrifying, toxic terrestrial flatworm.
This large planarian lives on land and is both a predator and a cannibal. While the distinctive-looking worms don’t pose a direct threat to human beings, they’re an invasive species that packs the power to eradicate earthworms.

If you think that you can simply crush them with your fingers be very wary!

Also known as a broadhead planarian, the worm can grow up to three feet (or a little more than 91 centimetres) long and has a neurotoxin, called tetrodotoxin, which is also found in pufferfish!

The extremely potent poison can cause tingling or a rash when touched by humans, and nausea if swallowed!

They of course can reproduce by multiple ways however, asexual reproduction is much more common than sexual reproduction.
Usually, a worm reproduces by fragmentation, leaving behind a tail tip stuck to a leaf or other substrate, which then develops into an adult.
If the worm is cut into pieces, each section can regenerate into a fully developed organism within a few weeks. Injured worms rapidly regenerate damaged tissue!

The recommendation if you see a worm is to carefully grab it with tools and put it in salt water and call the pest control! And of course thank the stars that it is only of that size! Thinking of stars you can count Jimmy Shergill as one!

Now stop thinking of squirmy creatures and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“So tempting so hot! Looks so nice!
add a little masala and then some spice!
hunger pangs before and after you eat!
Street food is still a gastronomic treat!”

Our excitement for street is very obvious!

We of course feel ‘street’ means cheap!
All said and done; some street things like the food will always be more tasty than the biggest spread in a five star hotel!

read on!

The word street reminds me of street dogs! I used to think they are the same as stray dogs and they are more or less the same with some mild difference.

The Stray dogs, were once owned dogs and may have been intentionally bred by humans. Then they have become lost or were abandoned.
While street dogs go by various names, including village dogs, free-range dogs, unowned dogs, and other names and they were never adopted of ‘Homed’ officially! That is the major difference!

Every street had these collection of dogs and they usually used to allow the ‘regulars’ to visit!

Another street we used to love or still love is the street food!
Just outside our schools we used to have these small shops who used to suddenly appear in the lunch break or even at the end of the day!

The stalls would be full of junk foods and candies and what not!

Sometimes it would be the cut fruits with their special chutneys so green and thick or the special powder which was red and white!

The cut mangoes and the guavas and even the cucumber used to taste so nice with that powder! Since I was never a foodie, it was not a big draw for me but once in while I used to grab a bite!

The biggest draws were the chilli bajji or pakoras and the samosas! There were rare times when mom would not be able to make tiffin then we would get around 5 to 10 rupees to buy food! We could use them immediately or keep some for a sunny day!

To decide on what to buy was the biggest challenge though with so many options!

Of course now you do not see those stalls especially in front of schools because of the hygiene police! If my kids had seen the stalls we used to eat food from they would surely puke!

Even now I remember the blackish sugar cane juice coming from the old contraption with a hundred flies buzzing all over! A dollop of that dirty ice and the juice was the tastiest one I have ever had in my life!

Then the fried pakoras or samosas packed in dirty old newspapers with a hint of green chutney on the side! We used to rub and lick that paper! But that snack was so tasty! Just a bite of that spicy tangy and hot stuff would give you the thrill! So much so that you can never stop in a bite!

The stomach pain and some frequent visit to the toilet was worth it and forgotten soon enough!

The most dirtiest would of course be the ice cream! The wooden cart which they used to put it in was black on the sides! The ice creams were actually popsicles! And they were not covered! The seller would put salt in the middle of ice so that it does not melt soon and some of it would leak on to the ice cream! Even now the tastiest popsicles were the one which were a little salty! For a rupee more you could get the popsicle which is sealed in thick plastic cover which you have to bite and suck! But hey that is one rupee more!

Even in my college days the best food was the street food appam and the peas masala! and the Upma! Hot, tasty and dirt cheap! I used to even take parcel and eat for lunch! The reason why I do not like both peas and Upma now!

Last year we went to India, my wife and I went to a walk and had a street dosa! Of course it was not like what I used to have! The street cart vendor had plastic gloves and the plates were also cleaned and had food plastic over it! It was so hot and tasty! But it was not as tasty as the ones I used to have! Some dirt adds flavour to the food I think!

But why is street food so tasty!? It could be the fact that you see them making it and your initial phase of digestion gets stimulated! The same reason why you have open kitchen or live counters in big hotels which are always busy and the food from that counter is always more tasty!
Another major issue is how the food is prepared to be eaten then and there! There is no storage option! The food is fresh and hot! Cooked and eaten! Not cooked then stored then reheated and then eaten! Which is why you can never like a food served in a flight more than the ones served on the street!

My yoga teacher used to tell us that the Refrigerator is the first thing you must throw out of your house! There must not be an option to store any old food! Once the food is made you must either eat it or throw it! The freezing only slows the decay which has already started the moment you make it!
A cold food can never be tasty unless it is meant to be eaten cold! The hot food is always better!

Food must be good to look and be pleasant to your senses and that is when it tastes good! The whole blog made me feel like going to India and have a plate of bhel puri with aloo tikki chaat! Maybe a couple of samosas and jalebi for closure!

For now of course we would settle to watch the food reels and salivate! Now better not be an idiot and make junk food at home! Speaking of idiot or rather three idiots, reminds me of celebrity Boman Irani!

Now do not be an Idiot and sleep early!

SHubh Ratri!

“All the slips colour we like!
The pink would put you on a spike!
The month end comes and it’s blank!
Hopefully there’s some green in the bank!”

Who would have thought that a bag to carry your stuff would be associated with losing your job!

read on!

Job security is one of the most important thing for any middle class person.

There was a joke that if you have a house loan then you will love your job! It was dark and true! The constant salary is something which is what most people want.

A post about being a founder and and entrepreneur was popular recently where the person posted that in spite of having a successful start up, he simply could not take the strain of having to source funding and having no constant salary!

Even as most soothsayers of the world tell how AI will be the thing of the future; most people are only worried how AI will take his or her job!

Even as competition moves forward and you get bogged down by bills and expenses; the lure of a ‘constant’ salary is what keeps you to the ground!

The ones who take risk like in the start up capital of India which is Bangalore; also have some resource locked up for at least an year after which they start to feel the pinch. The first few years are the ones when you do not have the constant salary and that is the biggest challenge! You have to sacrifice a lot to get to that point when you are financially independent which is the dream of every person in the world!

Which is why for a person with a constant salary, getting the pink slip or getting the sack is a death sentence!

The situation has not changed much in years apparently!

There are two origins of this term.

In the first origin, in ancient Rome, those convicted of parricide or the killing of a parent or other near relative or other heinous murders were tied in a sack and dumped into the Tiber River, instantly solving any potential recidivism problem!
The practice spread throughout many other European countries, and, as late as the nineteenth century, murderers in Turkey were tossed into the Bosporus in a sack!

Another more popular theory to explain how “get the sack” was recorded—as early as 1611 in France—is that it referred to craftsmen of the Middle Ages. Artisans carried their tools in sacks; while they worked, they handed the sacks to their employers. But then when when a craftsman got the sack, it meant that his services no longer were required.
He was left, literally, holding the bag!

Well, sack or not; the majority of the population of the world are living in the constant fear of this much more than any other fear! But all we can do is SACK it up and carry on!

Of course if you are a singer or an artist like Anandan “Drums” Sivamani then you do not have to worry about getting the ‘sack’!

Now fall on your ‘sack’ of mattress aka Bed and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!

Happy with this one!

“The ship disappears on the horizon with the waves
We now live in high rises, not caves!
Then again you may still be old!
Even if a million ‘facts’ you are told!”

You would think that it is unscientific to even think now that the Earth is flat! But do you know that there is a group of people who are called the Flat Earth society which exists even now!?

By the way from ages; the name of Earth in Sanskrit was Bhugol!

This means Bhūgola (भूगोल)—or Sphere of the Earth!

read on!

Ever since I can remember we have been drawing the map of India and the world the way we know them! Indian map was simple enough since it was almost like a human with a head and arms and neck!

The world map was a little difficult since there were so many twists and turns! Of geography madam who was Yadav madam always used to tell us that we are not supposed to draw the map by ourselves anytime since the map must always be to scale!

She used to tell us how it was prohibited to make our own maps of any country for that matter! This was good since then all we had to do was get the pre drawn maps and then fill them with the areas!

The only time we needed the maps was when we had to know about the geographic areas like deserts, plains and mountains! Another time was when we had to mark which place had which mineral or ore! Most of the time it was easy since most of the minerals was in Bihar!

Those days general knowledge was knowing the capitals and places where you have the famous factories! If you knew that the capital of India was not Delhi but New Delhi then you were considered having a good general knowledge!

But (he he!); even the dullest person in the class would know that the Earth was round! We all would have heard the word Bhugola so many times!

In fact we know earth by this name only! In fact for many the subject of Social studies namely History, civics and Geography was in Hindi itself!

I learnt these in Hindi till the class 7th after which some of us who were more comfortable in English shifted to the English versions! The name of Geography though in Hindi was, yes! BHUGOL!

So it is confirmed that ancient Indians were clear that Earth was round and it revolved around the Sun. ‘Bhugol’ is the Sanskrit word for Geography in which ‘bhu’ means Earth and ‘gol’ means round. Our world was also known by the name ‘jagat’ that has roots in the word ‘gati’ meaning speed and thus, ‘jagat’ meaning ‘the one with a speed’. People of that time knew that Earth was not stationary but moving. In many mythological scriptures it was clearly mentioned that earth was spherical. Difference between stars and planets was also comprehensible to ancient Indians.

Star Antares is the 15th brightest object in sky. In ancient India it was known by the name ‘Jesta’ meaning the biggest, largest and the eldest. Jesta is the star that is 40,000 times larger than our Sun!

Then you have the flat Earthers!

This is the perception that Earth exists as a flat disk, either circular or square-shaped. This view persisted in the ancient world other than more ‘enriched’ and ‘scientific’ places like India until observations revealed that Earth’s shape was spherical or ellipsoidal!

In modern times, however, the notion of a flat Earth has been revived and promoted on social media despite scientific evidence to the contrary!
There is a new generated interest in those who believe the Earth to be flat! So much so that there are articles and blogs and also membership criteria! There is one blog which tries to prove that the Einstein’s theories and Newton’s laws of motion actually prove that the Earth is flat!

There also also ‘scientific’ ‘evidences’ given and a whole plethora of images and ‘experts’ all over the world who have been known to be Flat earthers or as they call themselves, FLATISTS! Of course the ‘evidence’ went above my ’round’ skull so to speak! I guess I am too ‘simple’ and round! Simple and down to ‘earth’ reminds me of celebrity Sasikumar Mahalingam!

Unconventional and routine to a point is how I would describe him and his movies! Now lie down ‘flat’ on your bed and sleep!

Shubh ratri!