ramadocblog

“A shop in some place has books!
The shop is open tis never locked!
The owner says a reader doesn’t rob
A Robber doesn’t read so don’t be shocked!”

Some of the most competitive examinations in the world (or even universe!) can be said to be conducted in India like the IIT or the Medical entrance examination!

Getting into institutions like these are a matter of great pride simply because the entrance is so tough!

But (he he!) did you know that there was another university in India which was the world’s first Residential university where the entrance was more tough that any at a time when people in other places were trying to simply learn basic words!?

read on!

I have never attempted or written an engineering examination since I had the resolve only to be a doctor and nothing else! There was no ‘take what you get’ attitude!

But I know that some of the engineering examinations at least at that time was so tough! The amount of preparation required is so much!

Even examinations like the UPSC are big mountains to climb!

Now this particular University of the ancient times has such high levels of rejection rates! So much so that apparently even the gate keeper at the entrance would be so wise that if you fail to ‘pass’ his test or questions even there itself you would be sent out!

The university used to get applications from all over the world but only very few were even considered!

The training was intense and there was no distractions! You get up, you read, you discuss, you debate, you refer from the huge library and sleep a little and repeat!

Of course when it comes from an ‘angrezi’ author it has more credibility! It is unfortunate that when we were departing education to the whole world even when people had trouble grasping simple things and now the so called ‘civilized’ nations try to teach us!

In the novel ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ by William Dalrymple, the author’s description of the greatest University of that time gives you goosebumps!

The university had a library almost as big as the Alexandria and was about nine stories high!

Of course those Illiterates who do not know the value of knowledge or education burnt and destroyed this treasure!

The famous libraries were called Ratnasagar, Ratnadadhi and Ratnaranjak. All these libraries were located in a complex called ‘Dharmaganj’.

And yes! The famous university was Nalanda!

Incidentally I did my LKG in a school called Nalanda but I am sure that it was not the same!

So Nalanda was a renowned Buddhist mahavihara (great monastery) in ancient and medieval Magadha (modern-day Bihar).

Operating from 427 CE until around 1400 CE, Nalanda played a vital role in promoting the patronage of arts and academics during the 5th and 6th century CE, a period that has since been described as the “Golden Age of India” by scholars!

Nalanda was established by emperor Kumaragupta I of the Gupta Empire around 427 CE, and was supported by numerous Indian and Javanese patrons – both Buddhists and non-Buddhists.
Nalanda continued to thrive with the support of the rulers of the Pala Empire (r. 750–1161 CE). After the fall of the Palas, the monks of Nalanda were patronised by the Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya.

Nalanda University was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji which he had proudly reclaimed in his court records. Bakhtiyar khilji was a Turkish Afghan general of Muhammad Ghori.


Over some 750 years, Nalanda’s faculty included some of the most revered scholars of Mahayana Buddhism.

The faculty and students associated with the monastery included Dharmapala, Nagarjuna, Dharmakirti, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Chandrakirti, Xuanzang, Śīlabhadra and Vajrabodhi.

The curriculum of Nalanda included major Buddhist philosophies like Madhyamaka, Yogachara and Sarvastivada, as well as other subjects like the Vedas, grammar, medicine, logic, mathematics, astronomy and alchemy.

The mahavihara had a renowned library that was a key source for the Sanskrit texts that were transmitted to East Asia by pilgrims like Xuanzang and Yijing.
Many texts composed at Nalanda played an important role in the development of Mahayana and Vajrayana. They include the works of Dharmakirti, the Sanskrit text Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra of Shantideva, and the Mahavairocana Tantra!

In the novel William describes the arduous journey of a monk from China who started on a journey of close to six years from China to Nalanda across deserts, rivers and all sorts of trials and troubles to reach this great place of education and was received with lots of adulation and open arms! An honour given to very few!

Education is thus what we have always given importance to and that is how it will be! So is the importance to art and literature. Only a humane human can actually appreciate art and music and creativity! One such amazing artist is Pulapaka Suseela! Listen to her songs and think of our glorious past and future!

Shubh Ratri!

“Got a new dress everyone said it’s too good!
I should be happy I know I would!
But little did they know t’was the old one!
Just told em it’s new for fun!”

Remember the tale of the Emperor’s new clothes!? It was a hilarious tale in which you had all the sympathy for the crooks who made a fool of the vain!
The story was inspired by a Spanish tale.

Or was it!?
In the In the novel ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ by William Dalrymple; the author tells about a similar tale but Indian this time!

read on!

Clothes are the major draw for anyone! many would spend so much to cover themselves! Fashion shows and parades are there for new designs and to show you ways to cover you!

Being the son of an army officer, I have always been taught to dress decently and not for show! Even stepping out of the house just for a while you will not find me in casual dress! But (expected!), that of course does not mean that you need costly clothes!

Even now one of my best shirts which looks and feels so rich and good and is wrinkle free for more than ten years now was less than 500 INR while the super costly ones lie in a corner gathering dust! Those were of course the ones gifted by my wife since I would never spend too much money on clothes! If it was a gadget then of course there is no limit!

Even socially you have some rules! If you are rich then you do wear rich, branded and shiny clothes! While if you are super rich then you wear simple but decent clothes!

Then again, you will never find a girl who would say the she has enough clothes even when her clothes wardrobe is full! It is an argument you can never win! It is always, “I do not have any clothes to wear!”

The more exclusive the clothes, the better the deal apparently! Which is whey the story of the emperor’s clothes is so famous!

The tale as we all have read or seen goes like this; There was an an emperor who used to have an obsession with fancy new clothes, and used to spend lavishly on them, at the expense of his public and ignore the other matters of the rule or the state!

One day, two con-men visit the emperor’s capital.
Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are incompetent or stupid. The gullible emperor hires them, and they set up looms and pretend to go to work.
A succession of officials, starting with the emperor’s wise and competent minister, and then ending with the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty but everyone pretends to see the clothes and weave more bigger stories about them since they do not want to left out or called a ‘fool’!

Finally, the weavers report that the emperor’s suit is finished. They acts as if dressing him and he sets off in a procession before the whole city!
The townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear inept or stupid, until a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all!
The people then realize that everyone has been fooled. In various versions the King either runs away embarrassed or still continuous in vain!
The fate of the con-men is not revealed in the initial stories though in later versions they are shown to have escaped with the payment!

The tale was first written by Andersen and his tale is based on a 1335 story from the Libro de los ejemplos (or El Conde Lucanor), a medieval Spanish collection of fifty-one cautionary tales with various sources such as Aesop and other classical writers and Persian folktales, by Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena.

Andersen did not know the Spanish original but read the tale in a German translation titled “So ist der Lauf der Welt” (“That’s the way of the world”)!

Now the Indian version as mentioned by William appears in the Līlāvatīsāra by Jinaratna (1283), a summary of a now-lost anthology of fables, the Nirvāṇalīlāvatī by Jineśvara (1052)!

In this story, the dishonest merchant Dhana from Hastināpura swindles the king of Śrāvastī by offering to weave a supernatural garment that cannot be seen or touched by any person of illegitimate birth.
When the king is supposedly wearing the garment, his whole court pretends to admire it. The king is then paraded about his city to show off the garment; when the common folk ask him if he has become a naked ascetic, he realizes the deception, but the swindler has already fled!

Now of course these stories may or may not be true or real but the message what they try to convey is the essence of these stories!
The message here is that it is best to trust oneself and be honest; Speak up for the truth and what is right. Without honesty, people often end up looking very foolish! But of course see the time and place to show your honesty! Now speaking of emperors, you must recognize the emperor or King Ornithologist!

If you are a bird watcher or even a passing photographer you would have surely read his book!

Now put on your night ‘clothes’ and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!

“It’s brown and hot! The taste is a kick!
Don’t drink a lot, twill make ya sick!
Dunno bout you cause maybe it’s just me!
The best coffee is the filter one you see!”

So do you take coffee or tea in the morning! Well, many times I do not take anything and it still works! But if you are from the South of India then pure filter coffee it is for you!

In the north, the sweet Masala Chai is preferred!

Since I am an Indian first! I love them both!

You would think it is easy to make the coffee, well if it is instant then yes, but if it is the authentic filter coffee then it is a process!

read on!

First and foremost is the selection of the perfect coffee powder! Even here the taste is different for everyone but there are many who say their own brand is the best!

The powder itself can never be mixed directly with the milk which was once done by someone I know! Her father still drank the coffee since it was her first time!

The selection of powder also has other issues like you have to also see the amount of chicory in the coffee powder! Chicory adds sweetness, a caramel flavor, and a lot of specialness to your coffee apparently but basically it does make your coffee the perfect colour!

There have been countless trials and errors with so many different combination of powders to get your proper fit! Many visits to different places we used to get so many different powders and use them for ‘test’! Most of the times they fail and we get back to our own combination! Occasionally in a marriage or in an old hotel you would get the perfect tasting coffee and if you enquire you can get the powder they use and that is added to the mix for experimentation!

Your coffee needs not only to taste good, but the colour is the most important! If it is not the perfect colour then the lover of filter coffee may not even drink it! Even the level of sugar is like the rocket science! Unlike tea where you have to add a generous amount of sugar, in coffee you must add very little! True coffee drinkers may even drink a sugar less coffee but if they would throw out a sweet coffee! The only coffee which can be sweet is either a bad one or a cold one!

Of course in Bangalore, a sugar less coffee does not mean a coffee with no sugar but a coffee with sugar which is ‘less’ than the normal level! So it still has sugar! There is also a trend to add jaggery to the coffee but that is not authentic apparently!

There are many such hard and fast rules of coffee unlike the tea! You can still over boil the tea which may make it a little bitter but you can NEVER add the decoction (the warm water with the filter coffee) to the milk and boil! If you do that then it will certainly get burnt!

A true coffee lover which is by default filter coffee drinker can find out if the coffee is burnt! He or she can also find out whether you have made the coffee with the first batch or the second! Only the first batch is the best!

You need to use your perfect mixture of powders and set it some time before!

Previously we used to use the filter coffee jar with the small hole in the bottom and now the automatic ones are used! The amount of work involved is really too much if you are the only one who drinks coffee in the house!

After you collect the warm decoction you need to heat the milk separately and then turn off the gas and add the decoction slowly till you get the perfect colour!

Add a couple of more dollops for that for more kick and you have your filter coffee! Washing and cleaning of the filter coffee and the amount of waste it generates is actually a lot! It is a messy affair and more often than not the effort is simply too much!

The best coffee is thus which is made by someone else! Then finally (yes, it is still not over!); the coffee has to be served in that typical brass vessel with the cup and saucer which is called the ‘dawara’! Even that has to be the perfect colour! The colour of the glass and the coffee inside must complement each other! By the way even those brass cups have to be washed and kept in a special way or else they change colour! All that effort for that wake up juice which coffee!

For now, since only I drink coffee in the house and that too when I have time (and patience!); filter coffee is something I drink only outside once in a while!
For routine, it is unfortunately instant coffee powder! I mix a couple of brands to get a proper taste though! Since milk is also something I do not use now, the perfect coffee is a dream! The soy or almond milk simply does not boost the taste of coffee but then that was a hard choice I had to make!

Sometimes though if you have a headache then it is better to take a hot masala chai! or get a head massage! Like one from the Birthday celebrity Jonny Walker! I actually sketched this listening to his ‘Sar jo tera’ song! Though my best Jonny moment is the one in Anand! Murari lal!

Now put fill the powder in the filter of the filter coffee and put hot water and cover nicely and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“It’s fun while it lasts
Life is such a race dats fast!
Only your deeds and fame stay
Work a lot, some time do play!”

One of the greatest joys of being a child is that things are always good or bad! There are no grey areas! A person also is either good or bad!

In a twist, if you have a twin; you can have a good twin and an evil twin!

Did you know that even our Earth has an evil twin!

read on!

In the same way even in the movies those days you know there are some who are good while one is bad! Even in comics you have a hero and his or her arch nemesis who is bad!

Which is why when you see movies like the Jewel Thief, the most decent guy turning out to be the chief villain is a shock! It is like Aishwarya in the movie Khakhee!

When you have clear good vs bad, it is a normal thing but unfortunately life is not movies! You may be the hero in your story but you may also be the villain in some other person’s story!

In all these stories perspective is the key! For every winner there has to be a loser! That is the way it has always been! Like how the history always is with the victor! There will be so many ‘true’ stories which would have been buried with the truth! Here also ‘true’ is in parenthesis since even truth is actually many times a point of view!

What he or she said and what you interpreted and what she or he actually meant are complex things! It is a wonder how we have so much peace when actually there is a literal volcano ready to burst ever instant!

In the movies or novels about twin, it is always shown that one of them is the timid and meek twin while the other has a dark side! This is a common theme! The dark side twin usually does not take any nonsense and sometimes is true evil! The ‘evil’ twin is completely opposite of the ‘good’ twin though in most novels and movies they all become good or get defeated in the end!

The evil twin phenomenon reminds me of the The Third Twin by Ken Follett!
Now that is a novel with so many twins of the same person and all except one turn out to be as evil as possible in different grades! A typical Ken follet thriller which was entertaining as always!

In the novel Man is not from Earth and many other ‘alien’ movies it is often shown and referred that the ‘alien’ is ‘Martian’ or from the planet MARS! There have been missions to even send probes there to find out more! But if you see the dimensions, there is another planet which is like earth but like its ‘evil’ twin!

Yes! VENUS!

Venus and Earth are sometimes called twins because they’re pretty much about the same size. Venus is almost as big as Earth. They also formed in the same inner part of the solar system. Venus is in fact our closest neighbor to Earth. So they were formed in the same part of the solar system, made out of the same materials. They’re about the same size!
Till now all good and syrupy! Then somewhere along the way the evil crept in!


Some people like to say Venus went bad or something went wrong!
On Venus, what happened is its large, thick carbon dioxide atmosphere is driving a greenhouse effect! In fact, it’s so hot on Venus that you can melt lead! The temperatures on the surface of Venus are over 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and then Venus is covered in a 15-mile-thick layer of clouds! The toxic clouds of sulfuric acid start at an altitude of 45 to 70 kilometers! The clouds smell like rotten eggs! And those clouds are made of sulfuric acid! So you think acid rain is an issue! This is pure acid out there!

Venus rotates very slowly on its axis – one day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days. The planet orbits the Sun faster than Earth, however, so one year on Venus takes only about 225 Earth days, making a Venusian day longer than its year! This year on Earth though is close to its end! That is good news! Bad news though is that we lost a great actor and a great comedian Delhi Ganesh today. I still remember his effortless dialogue delivery and down to Earth manner. You will be missed sir

Heartfelt condolences

Om Shanthi…

Done in Less than four minutes and with a pen!

“The world is so sensitive you see!
It’s a fine balance between you and me!
Sometimes it’s nice to be like a river!
Sometimes it’s better to be calm like the deep sea!”

Everyone remembers 1983 especially Indians since that was the year in which we won the cricket world cup!

But (you expected that didn’t ya!); the same year there was a bug which could have started a world war with disastrous consequences! And we were saved only because of a gut feeling!

read on!

So all we remember about 1983 was the world cup and the fact that it established India as one of the top players in the world! The supremacy of South African team was broken and the respect which the team got has continued even till now!

There have been innumerable stories and movies on the amazing victory not to mention how we adored Kapil and Sunny after that!

Cricket became so famous that it was the go to game in any break! The team after the win was one of the best teams ever and even now people talk about the win with nostalgia! There is no one in India who has not played cricket when he was young after 1983! He or she may not be good at it but would have definitely played!

Batting is something everyone likes to do while fielding is a bore! But then cricket was our national pastime after 1983!

This in spite of the fact that there was no direct TV broadcast!

But (unexpected!); the year also had a near miss of epic proportions!

In the novel Nexus and in the novel Scary smart; the authors talk about how AI will be a threat and how!

With this example the point is driven more strongly across!

So in 1983, Soviet commanders were alerted with a message that the United States had launched five ballistic missiles at them!
Imagine you are the person who gets this message and if you were a little hot headed or even more or less ‘normal’; the counter reaction would be scary!

The issue was that a bug in the software had interpreted what the Soviet early-warning satellites picked up as a hostile attack, when in fact it was nothing more than sunlight reflecting off the cloud tops!

Soviet protocol necessitated that Russia respond decisively, launching its entire nuclear arsenal before any US missile detonations could disable their response capability!

This catastrophic error could have launched a world war that would have dwarfed the damage caused by the Second World War!

Of course nothing of the sort happened all because of the level headedness of an army officer!

The officer in question was Lt Col. Stanislav Petrov, who intercepted the messages and flagged them as faulty! He reasoned that if the US was really attacking, they would launch more than five missiles! Now that is some amazing expectation I must say!

He further said that he had a funny feeling in his gut that led him to investigate further! How many times you would have had this feeling and acted upon it! Would you expect an AI to have a funny feeling! It may tell you to stop ‘feeling funny!’ Talking about feeling and funny and so many emotions reminds me of Shankar Nagarakatte or Shankar Nag!

Now be thankful to Petrov and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“You may think options there are a lot!

Lemme tell you they are quite few!

So remember to spend it on the most important!

Course the most important for you is you!”

Meurisse, Thibaut in his books always tells that time is the most precious commodity! 

He then tells that if you are feeling guilty of saying NO then don’t!

read on!

There was a time when I was completing one Thesis or the other since I love knowledge and I love to write!

The whole idea of the charts and the tables was nectar to me!

This is specially when the Thesis is not yours then the work of research would be done by others and all you have to do is analyse and compile the data!

In an emergency I had finished a whole thesis with the available data in one day! All I had to do was make the specific corrections and modifications and then add the charts and tables!

If the data is already these then it is a piece of eggless sponge cake! Also compared to many in my ‘group’ I was pretty good with the WORD since I had worked as a medical writer for some time! Among the Medical writers I was actually one of the least experienced one but when you compare to the non writes then it is like the one eyed person in the land of the blind!

I also knew that it is imperative to send the thesis on time so that it does not get rejected by flimsy reasons! Since at the time, the center receives a lot of thesis during the exam season, they become more lenient in approval!

But if you delay and send them later then they have only few thesis to see and approve and then they would look through the magnifying glass and see even the smallest errors! 

One of the Thesis was rejected from the central board because of some technical issues and my friend just pounced on me for that!

He told me that I no longer try to keep in touch with him and do not talk to him more often!

I had cleared the exam the previous year while he could not and moreover he had moved to another place. 

We were anyway not that close but I told him something which was so true even when I did not realise it! I told him, “Yeah right! Just remember that even now the only reason you are talking to me or calling me is to finish your thesis! Once that is over, rest assured unless there is some corrections or modifications, you are never going to call me again!”

I did the modifications and the Thesis was accepted! And yes! My words were prophetic! He (or she!) has not called me for the past several years! 

The surprising fact is that I had done around four thesis work during that time and all the four have the same ending! No call back! Not even a Happy deepawali! Of course until the next ‘rejection’ or ‘help’!

Also no! This is not an exercise in self pity! That boat has sailed long back! 

Like the author says, TIME is your personal wealth! 

You must not feel bad if you cannot give your precious time to everyone!

You are allowed to be thrifty with it! It is your own currency and you have the sole right to spend the way you want! 

Another important rule which was told in another self help book was that no one likes to be reminded about how someone was helped by someone else! Of course there are some who would acknowledge the help publicly and proudly but the modern society which is the reel or meme generation likes to do charity ONLY for public or publicity! Which means they do that in the open! But help is taken secretly! 

So all said and done, when you say that you do not have time, it simply means that you have priorities! And you do have the right to select your priority so do not feel bad when you say NO! 

So you do not have to do many things at one time! Just try to do one thing properly! Multiple things reminds me of Mr Yogi or birthday celebrity Mohan Gokhale! 

Now use your time in the night to sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“It’s black and hot!

Da demand always high never low!

You can pay for it in gold! 

Of course you can eat it! Tis not just for show!”

In the novel ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ by William Dalrymple; he tells us about this commodity which was perhaps one of the most precious things ever!

Now you can simply find it on your table and you may not even think twice before using it like a ‘King’!

There were times when this was bought with so much money that a country’s budget had a percentage of the share!

read on!

Do not worry! The commodity I am speaking of is something which is so common for Indians that we never realise it is so precious! The pepper!

The most common confusion we always have is which is the salt and which is the pepper! When it is inside a covered that is!

Go to any grand hotel and if there are a couple of shakers then rest assured the first one you would pour will be pepper!

Even if it has lesser holes which is apparently how you distinguish from the salt shaker!

After some time the salt just stops flowing! While the one commodity you want in lesser amount, the pepper just flows!

Of course the pepper is something my daughter loves to remove from her Pongal or from the vada! It is put with relish while cooking and removed with equal relish while eating!

If you have a cold or sore throat, my mother would announce that she is making Milagga rasam! Though here Milagga is chilly in literal translation, the actual spice they put is pepper! 

Even garam masala has this as the major spice and most sambar powders or rasam powders and those powders whose recipe has been kept in secret has pepper as the chief element or one of the important element!

You cannot make khara pongal without pepper!

I still remember my history teacher telling us how pepper was a very valuable spice and I used to think we have it every other day! And NO! I did not think of collecting all the pepper corns from my pongal and selling them!

But in the history of trading of spices, it has been shown that pepper was the king!

Known as the “King of Spices”, pepper was the most important spice traded internationally. Pepper was one the earliest commodities that was traded between the orient and Europe. In medieval times, pepper frequently changed hands as rent, dowry and tax!

Used whole or cracked or powdered, pepper affords many health benefits. Its taste and the unmistakable flavor it add to foods were among the reasons that it was highly prized in ancient times and even now!

Pepper cultivation began thousands of years ago in India, where it was native, and it was soon introduced to the major islands of Indonesia by traders.

Two species of pepper were domesticated: long pepper (Piper longum) in the northeast of India and black pepper (Piper nigrum) in the southwest. Long pepper was the most popular pepper in Rome because of its greater pungency, while black pepper dominated in medieval Europe because it was more readily available to traders. Long pepper is now mostly forgotten.

Pepper was a key component in the ancient Ayurvedic system of medicine.

There are numerous records of pepper’s medical use in India that date back at least 3000 years! 

The encyclopedia Britannica states how Pepper was a key component in the ancient Ayurvedic system of medicine. It also found its way to China in antiquity. There is written evidence that it was being traded overland from India to Sichuan Province by the 2nd century BCE. Pepper is also mentioned in histories of the Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) published in the 5th century CE and in a Tang Dynasty account four centuries later. Pepper was probably brought to China from India initially for medicinal purposes, but it did not take long for it to become an important spice in food!

Egyptians used pepper and it is known that there was active trade between India and Arabia by that time, and the Egyptians were sending ships down the Nile to what they called the Land of Punt to obtain exotic goods like frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon!

The author in the novel states how people used to pay in millions and even billions for the trade and that has been recorded as trading receipts! Apparently there was one rich man who used to complain how the amount of pepper his cook puts in the dish may even bankrupt him!

So the next time you remove those peppercorns from your Pongal just know how valuable they actually are! Valuable also are indian ‘brains!’ Like the birthday celebrity Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman! Now he is ‘Export Material!’

Now let us put some salt and pepper on the salad and eat and then sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“I looked everywhere but it was not there!
The discovery eluded my quest!
Little did I know that what I seek
Is within me and is the best!”


How a Tiger disappearing into a ‘rock’ and how the curiosity of an English officer paved the way of discovery of one of the biggest tourist attraction in Maharashtra!

It was a rediscovery of history of sorts!

read on!

In the novel ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ by William Dalrymple; among other things, he talks about this amazing tiger hunting party!

There are so many books and novels written by Indian authors in their own native languages mentioning the glory of Bharat and how the ancient Universities like Nalanda were among the peak of education at the time! The mega university was so imposing and world renowned that people all over the world used to flock to it for education!

We were literally teaching the world! But education without protection is waste because at The End Of 12th Century Invader Bakhityar Khilji Demolished the Monastery, Killed The Monks And Burned The Valuable Library!

Then again this is not about Nalanda which may need a hundred blogs just to cover the foundation!

The tragedy is until an englishman or ‘firangi’ tells or writes about the great history of India or Bharat; no one really cares!

The colonial mindset is difficult to shake!

Nevertheless, it is slowly changing!

Even the introduction of his book would give you goosebumps if you are a true Indian! And this story was a part of just the introduction!

The audio book is close to 14 hours long so watch out for more!

So the story goes that a young officer called Smith was chasing a tiger with his team when suddenly it went into a ravine and simply disappeared into the wall!

Though initially dazed at that! Smith recovered his senses and investigated the disappearing wall!

When he went near he saw that the big stone wall actually had an entrance! It was a man made (or woman!) cave!

Further investigation and more clearing of the vegetation revealed more caves! But even that was not amazing! What was amazing were the paintings inside the caves with vivid description of the life and times of budha made so eloquently!

Now these caves are a world heritage site called the Ajanta caves!

These Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India.
They are Universally regarded as masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, the caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive paintings that present emotions through gesture, pose and form!

The Caves constitute ancient monasteries (Viharas) and worship-halls (Chaityas) of different Buddhist traditions carved into a 75-metre (246 ft) wall of rock.
The caves also present paintings depicting the past lives and rebirths of the Buddha, pictorial tales from Aryasura’s Jatakamala or the Jataka tales! and rock-cut sculptures of Buddhist deities!

Of course with all the pomp and translation the glory is forgotten! But like the ever shining gold, the shine will remain! Like how birthday celebrity Karan Dewan and his golden acts will never be forgotten!

Now plan a trip to Ajantha sometime in the future and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“Look around and run!
Having pests is no fun!
Set the trap and simply trot!
Just hope to god twil be caught!”


Do you know what is the common thing between an Elephant, Frank Costanza from Seinfeld, Dr Henry Jones (The Father of Indiana Jones!) and Bloodsport (The member of the suicide squad!)?

Well, they all have murophobia!

Intrigued!?

Read on!

It was the year 2002 and we were just fresh from Internship and we all were preparing night and day for the entrance examination once again!

Then one of my friend Suggested that our Thalaiva; Rajni (who else!) had a movie coming up and it had a scene in which they had ‘imported’ a very amazing tree and what not! It also had a Japanese actress and Manisha Koirala!

Of course we did not need any details since after all it was Rajni!

The issue was we had to get up very early in the morning and stand in the queue! There was no advance booking those days and even if there was am sure we would either not know or afford it!

So early morning we took a bus and reached one of the two theatres showing the movie!

The line was already forming but we were not very far from the window so we knew we could get in! All we had to do was wait!

Then after some time the regulars turned up! Rajni songs were sung and played and danced on!

The regular mega fan came with his attire of Rajni and is mannerisms! It was a grand show even before the movie!

Then after a long wait which made people start commenting that the movie is either delayed or cancelled the reel came in a big chariot like vehicle just for show!

We all jumped for joy! The ticket window opened just then and we all rushed in!
Songs from Padayappa, Basha and Thalapathy were heard from everywhere!

Now the theatre was this old one which we never visited in the morning but only for the night or evening show! We somehow found our seats in the darkness and sat!
Then the moment the lights and AC was turned on, a loud noise was heard which was the banging of seats and similar to marching soldiers! It was coming closer and closer and then when everyone looked down with horror we saw RATS!

There were at least a hundred rats who were suddenly disturbed by us! They were nicely munching the old popcorn and other food stuff people would have dropped from their seats! Then when the lights were turned on they ran!

It took close to a minute for them all to rush down and disappear behind the screen! We put our legs up the seat and simply held on!

The movie was mediocre but some dialogues were really amazing like, Known is a drop and unknown an ocean! But what I remember most clearly were the rats!

And yes! Murophobia is the fear of rats! The fear of mice and rats is one of the most common specific phobias.

It is sometimes referred to as musophobia (from Greek “mouse”) or murophobia (a coinage from the taxonomic adjective “murine” for the family Muridae that encompasses mice and rats, and also Latin mure “mouse/rat”), or as suriphobia, from French souris, “mouse”!

The stories where we see even elephants getting scared of rats have found to be valid in experiments where they have been known to avoid rats! Now when even an elephant is scared of them then me being terrified of them is natural though I have caught and ‘disposed’ of some when we had rat problem in our old house! It was not a good feeling!

Of course talking about feeling and not rats reminds me of Bryan Adams! And don’t worry; the rats will not RUN TO YOU!

Now don’t worry, the rats are sleeping! You can too!

Shubh Ratri!

“Tell me Tenali do you know the number!
Of the bangles your wife wears everyday?!
Yes my lord! The moment you tell me
The number of steps you climbed today!”

Have you ever wondered how when you drive a car, you would automatically flip the turn signal when you turn and/or lock the car when you get out!?

Many time you may not remember the instant but these acts become automatic after a while! You do not have to think about them! Do not think!
It is natural!

The autobots and AI learning also follow the same theory which also involves death and elimination! A forgivable cruelty!

It is called the Hebbian theory!

read on!

While training for surgery like the Cochlear Implantation; it was always taught to us that the best results are obtained when the surgery is done below the age of 5.

This is because of a phenomenon called Neuroplasticity.

Have you noticed that as an adult when you try to learn a new language, it is really difficult. You may still over a period of time learn it but it may not be as normal or without accent if you had learnt the language as a child!

You need to practice and train and then only by repeated practice the language develops or a new skill develops over a period of time and remember that this new ‘skill’ may be still be there but it can get reduced if you do not practice!

That is the simplest practical proof of the Hebbian Theory!

The Hebbian theory was introduced by Donald Hebb in his 1949 book The Organization of Behavior. It is a widely known neuroscientific theory which explains that an increase in synaptic efficacy arises from repeated and persistent stimulation of a postsynaptic cell! This theory explains what is known as neuroplasticity, the adaptation of brain neurons during the learning process.

Like mentioned above a good example is the ability to drive not only a car but even a plane! When you start out, everything you do is incredibly deliberate. You remind yourself to turn on your indicator, to check your blind spot, and so on. However, after years of experience, these processes become so automatic that you perform them without even thinking!

Hebb’s theory postulated that the neurophysiological changes underlying learning and memory occur in three stages: (1) synaptic changes; (2) formation of a “cell assembly”; and (3) formation of a “phase sequence,” which link the neurophysiological changes underlying learning and memory.

Hebb’s concept describes a basic mechanism for synaptic plasticity.
In his book, Hebb stated that “When an axon of cell A is near enough to excite cell B and repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing it, some growth process or metabolic change takes place in one or both cells such that A’s efficiency, as one of the cells firing B, is increased.”

In one word it has been summarized by Mo Gawdat in his novel Scary smart as, “The neurons that fire together wire together!”

So what about the death or killing or elimination!? Well that also happens when you do not use your skills for a while!

As an example, it might seem incredibly difficult to memorise the entire multiplication table, however, as you practice recalling the information for months or years the knowledge becomes easily accessible and almost automatic. This is because neural pathways associated with the multiplication table become stronger and faster.

The strengthening of connections between neurons can be compared to the growth of muscles, the more a muscle is used the more it strengthens and grows. Stronger muscles allow us to perform certain activities more efficiently!

This is also the reason why we ask our hearing aid patients to use the aids as much as possible since that makes sure that the nerves stay active and the loss is not worsened!

Cell assemblies can be strengthened through repeated activation, forming a neural pathway, a group of interconnected cells, activation of which represents information stored in long-term memory.



The pathways and neurons that are frequently used are strengthened, while the pathways that are not used are gradually pruned or eliminated.
Since you haven’t used this information in a while, the neural pathways representing this memory became weaker or get eliminated completely!

This is like how it was shown in the movie ‘inside out!’ It is literally out of sight is out of mind and memory! This basically means that even your brain is like the OLX meter! Any information which is not used for some period of time is slowly stored back in some corner attic and finally deleted! That is how your house or rather brain remains tidy!

Now this is a normal brain like yours and mine! Imagine the amount of processing which the brain of ‘the Human computer’ Shakuntala Devi would be doing!? That thought may give me a migraine!

Now do not think that automation would work all the time! So place your alarm and make sure you have turned the lights and other switches off before you sleep!
Shubh ratri!