Drinking may make you genius or GUINNESS!

Drinking in a bar can sometimes be beneficial to the whole world! Coming from pen of a Teetotaler, it may sound surprising and no, it is not autocorrect! The statement is true! Read on!

When we were young (er!); anytime someone made some big claim or did something amazing, we used to say, “Wow! That must be in the Guinness book!”

But did you know that this world famous book which is now a global brand, with offices in London, New York, Beijing, Tokyo and Dubai, with brand ambassadors and adjudicators on the ground around the world started with an argument in a BAR!?

We used to love watching this show since we also had our own Limca Book of records which was a book while this was also a show! The episodes used to be so interersting and fun! Sometimes even bizarre! I remember one episode where they were documenting who could spit the spit most furthest! 

Now of course it is no longer about the book since no one reads it much anyway! Instead the records are seen in TV shows, medial and other events including the website! 

Now, coming to the Bar story! In fact even the word Guinness is named after a brewery in Wexford! 

The official story is that the book which is the ultimate authority on record-breaking achievements, started out as an idea for a book of facts to solve arguments in pubs!

When you are high spirited then you may not listen to someone or something unless it is ‘authority!” this was the primary function of this book!

The idea came about in the early 1950’s when Sir Hugh Beaver (1890—1967), Managing Director of the Guinness Brewery, attended a shooting party in County Wexford. 

There, he and his hosts argued about the fastest game bird in Europe and failed to find an answer in any reference book. Of course one smart phone would have solved the matter then and there! But Some findings are meant to be!

In 1954, recalling his shooting party argument, Sir Hugh had the idea for a Guinness promotion based on the idea of settling pub arguments and invited the twins Norris  and Ross McWhirter who were fact-finding researchers and more importantly sober to compile a book of facts and figures! The alcohol and the bar may have stimulated the quest but facts need a normal ‘spirited’ mind!

Guinness Superlatives was incorporated and the office opened in two rooms in a converted gymnasium on the top floor of Ludgate House!

After an initial research phase, work began on writing the book, which took 13 and a half 90-hour weeks, including weekends and bank holidays and possibly couple of visits to the bar!

Even under the influence of alcohol McWhirters would not have known that taking shape was a book that would go on to become an all-time best seller and one of the most recognized and trusted brands in the world! The story may now be an entry in the Ripley’s Believe or Not!

Now the thing which may bug the men who fought and Sir Hugh and most probably you is what was the answer on that pertinent question which started the whole thing! Although the books never did tackle this original question – owing to their focus purely on world records – the red-breasted merganser would be the most likely answer; it is fully migratory and still occasionally hunted! So even a brawl in a bar may make you fall but it can lead to something great! Like how birthday celebrity Michael Caine says in batman, “”Why Do We Fall, Sir? So That We Can Learn To Pick Ourselves Up.”

Now fall on the bed and sleep!

Good Night!

This one bags a punch! Not a punching bag!

Remember those punching bags hung on to a contraption you used to see in amusement parks? If you punch properly then you win a prize and stuff and also get to show off! We puny kids never tried it of course! But do get comforted by the knowledge that even the most muscular and strongest dude may not pack the strongest punch!

That title has been given to a creature whose punch is so strong and fast that it can break a crab’s legs or a snail shell without a thought!

The strike is so fast that it is like the speed of a .22 caliber bullet—and it causes bubbles to form and collapse in the water! This energy release creates an impressive force thousands of times the creature’s bodyweight that combines with the initial strike to smash open the shell of its prey, killing the animal inside!

This natural assassin can grow to around the length of a butter knife, and they have rainbow shells—usually blue, green, and yellow—and red legs. Their purple eyes sit on top of stalks above their head and can move independently of one other for a better view! 

Even their eyes are a piece of complex technology which in addition to move and see independently of each other can detect changes in the light spectrum!

So much so that they can detect cancer cells in your body! Like a natural PET scanner!

The animal is called the Peacock mantis shrimp—also called harlequin or painted mantis shrimp. These critters get their name from their kaleidoscope shell like a peacock’s tail and their hinged forearms which resemble that of a praying mantis and are kept tucked away until the moment of attack!

So how does that punch work? When not in use, the shrimp’s clubbed arm is fastened securely in place by a latch, allowing energy to build up. A saddle-shaped spring within the arm helps store even more energy. When the latch is released, the spring propels the animal’s claw forward in the fraction of a second—50 times faster than we can blink—to hit their prey. At 22 m per second, it is one of the fastest limb movements of any animal! The spring like mechanism is so similar to some machines which shoot or catapult!

Remarkably, mantis shrimp are unharmed by the blow thanks to complex layers within the club which absorb the impact and prevent the claw from cracking. This innovative design has inspired the development of materials for armor, sports helmets, and shock absorbers for vehicles!

Mantis shrimp use the same technique to defend themselves from predators. However, they only use this energy-intensive method of self-defense if they must. When under threat, they perform a behavioral display known as a meral spread before resorting to violence: standing on their hind legs, puffing up their chest, and spreading their arms to look as large and intimidating as possible. If the predator isn’t put off by this display, the shrimp will attack. But most who know the meral spread would not dare to fight! 

Meaning that before he literally throws a punch that will most literally blow your mind, the shrimp gives you a warning! If you do not heed then it is entirely your fault!

But if you do not know birthday celebrity K. Surendran, better known by his stage name Indrans; then it is not your fault since his acting as a character and comedian is so flawless that he just clicks in place and packs a silent punch!

Now punch the pillows and make them soft and sleep!

Good Night!

Duck me if you can!

Most eggs are oval and a duck’s egg are particularly so! Since the number ‘0’ looks like the duck’s egg, when you get a zero it is called a duck!

Of course no one likes to get out by scoring duck but when that happens, not only is it frustrating, there is a whole list of types of duck! Not the natural kind but the kind which is mentioned in the annals of cricket journals and guide and many may not be aware of this! 

Since I do not follow cricket much, It was a big revelation to me though people who are avid cricket watchers may know this very well!

The most infamous and scary duck of all, is the golden duck! Do not get mislead by the gold! It is sad! This happens when the batter is dismissed off the very first ball that he faces in his innings!

This may very well explain the silver and the bronze duck! The former is when the batter is sent back to the pavilion for zero runs and gets out on the second ball that he faces while the latter is when the batter is dismissed for no runs on the third ball that he faces in his innings!

For all the above please read his or her since these terms are the same for women’s cricket also!

Now of course you may feel that these are bad ducks! But there is an even worse duck! That is called the Diamond duck which is quite possibly the worst of them all!

The Diamond Duck is when a batter is run out, timed out, or has obstructed the field without having faced a ball. Getting out without facing a legal delivery is called a Diamond Duck! So this batsman has not even faced a delivery! Sad!

There is a duck associated with the proper Gentleman’s game and being royal! Yes! The Royal Duck! This is is associated with one of the biggest Test series in the history of the sport—the Ashes. The Royal Duck label is for the opening batters who have dismissed off the very first ball that they face in the marquee series between Australia and England!

If a batsman is dismissed for no runs and this causes the whole innings to end with his wicket then it may not be a laughing matter but it is called a Laughing Duck!

Another tricky situation of ducks, where the batsman is sent back to the pavilion on any kind of duck in both innings of the same match, is referred to as ‘A Pair’ in cricket! That is two ducks!

Imagine now getting the ducks in both the innings of the same match! Then it is called a King Pair! 

Bowlers likes Hattrick while Batsmen are scared of them! This leads us to the final and one of the rarest duck! The Batting Hattrick which is a collection of three dismissals in three balls across any consecutive Test innings is referred to as the Batting Hattrick. 

Now all you need to duck from the duck is simply make at least one run! That may not be a laughing matter in international cricket though! But whatever Jaspal Bhatti used to do used to make us Laugh! Especially with his clean and relevant comedy! One of the greatest comedians of India and I am sure he would have made a very funny commentator! You will be missed Jaspal ji! Thank you for the laughs!

Now duck on the bed and sleep!

Good Night!

Mirror mirror what do you see!?

Growing up, Michael Jackon’s songs were a big hit and anyone who used to listen to music of any kind would at least know his famous songs like the Beat it or Black or White; the latter more so because of the famous video where we were introduced to the term or the phenomenon of morphing!

Now one of the best lines or quotes which I remember from MJ songs and I often use it in parts! It is an inspiring song and the lyrics which go like this;

‘I’m starting with the man in the mirror

I’m asking him to change his ways

And no message could’ve been any clearer

If they wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself and then make a change’

I often say, ‘At the end of the day, you need to convince only the man (or woman) in the mirror!’

The mirror has been in existence almost as long as humankind though I am sure even animals know their reflection in the still waters; the natural mirror of the world. This as the legend goes may be one of the first mirror which 

was formed in the ancient Himalayas when a little water body stopped to rest itself.  Then the first woman (man may not have had that much patience!) walked and looking down into the pool was surprised by­—another girl!—but that another girl had worn the same attire as she and moved in the ways mimicking her in everyway! Of course she was clever enough to finally realize that it was an reflected (may not be the word she thought!) image of herself!  

Still waters and mythology aside, the mirror as object is called “one of mankind’s most consistent civilizers,” bringing a sense of personal reflection and comparative identity. 

The earliest man (or woman!) made mirrors were from polished stone and mirrors made form black volcanic glass obsidian. Some also used polished copper to produce mirrors, and often the round face of the mirror would be embellished with ornamentation!

History also suggests of production of polished metal mirrors and mirrors made from polished stone were known. 

Some countries began to be mirrors from metal alloys, a mixture of tin and copper called speculum metal that could be highly polished to made a reflective surface as well as mirrors made of polished bronze! Metal alloys or precious metals mirrors were very valuable items in ancient times only affordable to the very wealthy!

Now the development of glass blowing made Glass as the major component of Mirror but because glass is a poor reflector, it must be coated in order to make a mirror. The most appropriate materials for making metallic coatings are silver, gold, and chrome.

In 1835 Justus von Liebig, a German chemist, developed the silvered-glass mirror where a thin layer of metallic silver is put onto glass by the chemical reduction of silver nitrate. The invention of this process enabled to mirrors being manufactured on a much larger scale, and for the first time in history ordinary people could buy a mirror. Present-day mirrors are more frequently produced by depositing aluminum by vacuum directly onto the glass.

Glass sheets are made from silica, which can be mined or refined from sand. When glass is made from natural crystals of silica, it is known as fused quartz. However, if it’s a synthetic glass, then it’s going to be synthetic fused silica. The silica or quartz is melted to an extremely high temperature, where it is then poured or rolled into sheets. 

Silver is boiled down to a liquid, and then applied in a thin, even coating to the glass. The liquid silver could also be sprayed on spending on what tools are available. After the silvering process, the mirrors are covered in a protective coating to avoid chips in the reflection, and then polished. If the mirror polishing process isn’t done correctly, there could be waves in the glass which would cause distortion!

So glass and mirrors are basically liquids! Which is why you can see many old ones literally getting melted and thick at the bottom while the top gets thin! Previous mirrors were a work of art and very expensive which only the rich could afford! If you have a full body size mirror in your house now then you are equivalent to a wealthy aristocrat of ancient times! Maybe even a king! King of acting and emotions is the birthday celebrity Nassar who was the only thing worthy to watch in a series called Killer Soup and of course who could forget his amazing character in Bahubali! My favorite movie of him (due to personal reasons!) though is a cute little Tamil movie called Saivam! 

No normal human can ever resist the temptation of looking at herself or himself in the mirror when he or she passes by one or is faced with one! Time after time, the mirror is the object which not only reflects your image but also your personality! 

Look in the mirror and reflect on your day and tell yourself it will be ok!

Shubh Ratri!

The fly which knows tomorrow!

Did you know that this creature can predict future? and is also one of the most efficient hunters in the universe!?

A lengthy but interesting blog so please bear with me!

The answer to the above question is not a human who to be frank and without his or her tools would be a very poor hunter and predictor! It is also not that famous octopus or parrot who used to “correctly” predict which team would win the world cup!

With over 97 percent success rate which is unheard of in the natural world, the most efficient hunter is so accurate and effective that there is no equal!

This hunting machine also studies the pattern of flight and movement of other insects and thus can actually predict with amazing accuracy on the next movement of the prey!

It is a matter of great luck that this is a tiny animal or else we would be in trouble!

Undaunted by swarms of potential distraction, they hunt within visually cluttered environments like the riverbanks they call home. What’s more, they do all this while performing aerial acrobatics!

The champion in question is that whose body shape has actually inspired several machines and a legendary creature of the myth!

In spite of all these features, its small size makes it non threatening so much so that children (human this time!) play with them!

The humble and quirky Dragon Fly!

How do they achieve the kill rate though? 

Researchers in an attempt to study this probed the optic lobe, an area of the insect brain responsible for processing visual information. 

With glass electrode tips 1500-times thinner than a single strand of human hair, they found neurons responsive to prey-like targets, including one called ‘Centrifugal Small-Target Motion Detector 1’, or ‘CSTMD1.’ 

A comparison here is that humans have around 86 billion neurons while the insect’s small brain has around 2 million neurons! 

The first property mentioned above is ‘prediction.’ 

When a prey-like target zips across the dragonfly’s visual field, some neurons encode the area ahead of the target, exhibiting an enhanced sensitivity in this region and suppression elsewhere. This likely prepares the dragonfly to respond to an imminent target and forms a prediction of the prey’s trajectory, even if it becomes obstructed (such as when it flies behind the leafy branch of a tree)! A feat which even Google’s GPS maps may not be able to match! 

To understand the second property let me tell you of a competition we faced in a mall in Malaysia! There was a hanger with six cylindrical objects falling one by one in random. Three on either side! We could get only a couple! That is when my ex army officer father told me that no one can get all! So you must concentrate only on one side and you can get at least three! Try it! Dragon fly does exactly that! It is called

‘Selective Attention.’! 

When presented with a pair of rival targets moving on different trajectories, a dragonfly must choose only one for lunch, or risk missing both. In a winner-takes-all manner, CSTMD1 responds to just one of the rival pair, encoding the target’s trajectory in a train of electrical impulses, ‘spikes’, unperturbed by the presence of the rival distractor!

Of course dragonfly being the best predator takes it one step further!

When a pair of rival targets are presented together, the dragonfly brain generates an independent ‘spotlight’ of enhanced sensitivity for each target, complete with prediction, regardless of which is selected!

Though initially this predictive enhancement for the rival distracter does not influence CSTMD1’s response to the chosen target, it becomes apparent when the chosen target disappears! Attention is then able to quickly and easily switch to the previously ignored target, without a period of confusion, delay, or the need to ramp up a second response!

This ‘preattentive’ tracking of non-selected targets could be critical in allowing the dragonfly to keep track of other potential prey or predators while engaged in an active pursuit for one target, allowing the dragonfly to freely switch targets with ease. 

Encoding and prediction of the original target trajectory becomes less sensitive as the system ‘locks-on’ to the new target, reminiscent of the ‘Inhibition of Return’ previously only observed in human, primate, and avian research!

The dragonfly’s ability to effectively encode the trajectory of multiple targets and switch with minimal loss of time or delay is the 97 percent! The research to these can one day give us better self driven vehicles and drones! All from a fly! Now precision and speed and accuracy also is the hallmark of birthday celebrity Zakir Hussain and being a Tabla Player myself (I mentioned I can play Tabla! Now good or bad you have to decide!), I think of him as my guru since it was his effortless rendition which inspires me even now!

Now dream like a fly and you will fly (at least in your dreams!)

Good Night!

Instead of being the ant, be the mediant! Om Namah Shivaya…

Imagine something or someone takes control of your body and mind and makes you listen to his or her command! So much so that you go against your natural habits and climb a mountain and stay there and eventually the thing which is controlling takes over you and your body as if you are just a speck of dust!

Sounds like the screenplay of a zombie movie with Will Smith as the hero!? No! The truth is actually stranger than fiction!

This happens in nature and there are so many examples but this example in particular is frightening! There is this fungus which grows in some places which infects ants and what happens is scary!

Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, commonly known as zombie-ant fungus, is an insect-pathogenic fungus, discovered by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in 1859.
While foraging and going a little out of its way or a careless ant steps on this fungus which attaches itself to the ant and penetrates the skin and reproduces and waits. Slowly it propagates and reaches the circulation and brain of the ant and then starts the mind control of the scary kind!

O. unilateralis infected ants are characterized by alteration of the behavioral patterns of the infected ant. Infected hosts leave their comfortable grounds and canopy nests and foraging trails for the forest floor, an area with a temperature and humidity suitable for fungal growth!

Not only that, they then use their mandibles to attach themselves to a major vein on the underside of a leaf, where the host remains after its eventual death. The ant literally gives up its mind and body for the fungus which is actually less evolved evolutionary speaking!

The process, leading up to mortality, takes 4–10 days, and includes a reproductive stage where fruiting bodies grow from the ant’s head, rupturing to release the fungus’s spores. The sight of the fungus growing out of the ants head and body is a blue print for a horror movie!

Now of course the ant is lower down in the evolutionary ladder than the homo sapien which is maybe why this does not happen to us! It is always better to have our own control over our body and minds! You can do that with whatever is comfortable to you! Meditate or do yoga! Like the Adiyogi! Believe what you may, all you need to do is to take the positives from everything and everyone!

Instead of being the ant, be the mediant!
Happy Mahashivaratri to one and all!
Shubh ratri…

It’s all Gumshoes my dear Watson!

Do you what is a Gumshoe and who is Eugène-François Vidocq?

Vidocq is an inspiration to many novelist and writers and a French criminal!! But that is only one half of the story!

Now the Sherlock series starring Benedict is one of the best series on Holmes and here Sherlock calls himself a Highly functional sociopath! In simple terms the only difference between him and the criminal is that he is on this side of the law!

Even in the movie catch me if you can, the thief played by Leonardo is finally recruited in catching thieves like him! 

This brings us to a conclusion that only a criminal and that too a successful criminal can become a politi…I mean Detective! 

In the lines of Lincoln Rhyme, the best detective on chair! To catch a criminal you must think like one! Get into his mind and proceed! Amelia Sach’s his assistant and future wife (that is when she was no longer his assistant!) had done that many times! 

And the one who actually started this trend was Vidocq!

So after a bad childhood and life of crime and several brush with the law and also being sentenced to death, he finally had a revelation and a change of heart and then told his superiors that he can work as an informer!

Years passed and finally he became a criminalist and helped the police catch criminals! With his fame and fortune growing he became more professional on the other or this time, the right side of the law!

He later on became the founder and first director of France’s first criminal investigative agency, the Sûreté Nationale, as well as the head of the first known private detective agency. Vidocq is considered to be the father of modern criminology and of the French national police force. He is also regarded as the first private detective!

This story has inspired so many writers including Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe, and Honoré de Balzac! Edgar Allan Poe was prompted by one story about Vidocq created the first detective in fiction, C. Auguste Dupin, who appeared, for example, in the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, which is considered the first detective story!

Inspired by this and many other story was another author who was a doctor with a genius mind called Arthur Conan Doyle and created one of the most famous detectives ever; Sherlock Holmes!

Did we miss something!? Well yeah, Gumshoe!

So the chief characters of a detective like say, The Batman (he is actually a detective more than a crime fighter! In fact in the early novels, his detective skills were more famous! He was again ‘inspired’ by Holmes!); is that they have to be shady and stay in the shadows! And most importantly they must be quiet! So when they walk the shoes which used to be very hard those days used to make lots of noise! 

The early detectives thus had a special type of rubber soled shoes which used to be quiet! It became their trademark so much so that of the the slang for the detectives used to be GUMSHOE!

To gumshoe meant “to sneak around,” and by 1906 became a common nickname for plainclothes detectives (or “private eyes”), famous for moving stealthily in their quiet rubber-soled shoes!

Now another group of detectives are those who like to sneak and reveal secrets! They find the truth and tell it to us! They are called Journalists and news reporters! Of course nowadays when I want something fun and full of gossip I see the news while for serious and truthful stuff I see the shows in OTT! One of the most famous news anchor and probably one of the loudest is birthday celebrity Arnab Ranjan Goswami!

Do not listen to him before you sleep though! He will wake you up!

Good Night!

Moral or immoral! Crastinate!

The best (or the worst!) thing about morals and sayings is that almost every moral or saying will have an equally popular but opposite moral or saying! There are so many examples of that!

One person may say “All good things come to those who wait ” while another will say 

“Time and tide wait for no man” These patterns are called Opposite proverbs!

Here are a few! Wise men think alike is more of less opposite to Fools seldom differ!

One of the most popular adage is, ‘The best things in life are free’ which is opposed by another famous proverb, ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch!’ 

One of the most famous is, ‘Slow and steady wins the race’ which is antagonized by ‘Time waits for no man’! 

The only thing which I have been able to decipher is that life is not just a single proverb or principle! It is a balance of the opposites! Unless you have a proper balance, it will not work! Like the Deva and Asura (or more accurately Sura and Asura)!

One of the constant advice given by elders and your teacher or boss is usually to finish your work in time and not to procrastinate! 

Now everyone knows Procrastination is the act of unnecessarily and voluntarily delaying or postponing something despite knowing that there will be negative consequences for doing so. It is often perceived as a negative trait due to its hindering effect on one’s productivity, associated with depression, low self-esteem, guilt, and feelings of inadequacy.

But there is a catch here! It can also be considered a wise response to certain demands that could present risky or negative outcomes or require waiting for new information to come! 

In fact there is a new term which is almost as bad as Procrastinate which is in fact almost the opposite meaning! 

So this is the act of completing tasks as soon as possible even if it costs extra effort or the quality of the outcome deteriorates!

Some people may use this approach in order to avoid the anxiety and stress of last-minute work! 

In some areas this faster but inefficient completion of work is actually considered an unhealthy behavior pattern and is accompanied by symptoms such as conscientiousness, eagerness to please, and high energy!

It has been observed that people who do this may try to find shortcuts to be more efficient and productive, but it may result in outcome which is inferior or 

undesirable! The action is impulsive and close to reckless! 

The term which describes such a feature is now known as Precrastination!

So if your boss or teacher or parent is telling you to hurry up or Precrastinate! Tell them that it is not advisable! Of course do not procrastinate also for too long! Go for the balance! I have recommending a new term for that balance! Crastinate!

Balanced or crastinated (not a real word but it fits! So I am thinking that if it used regularly then it will be accepted in the ever expanding English vocabulary!) performance also was of birthday celebrity Makarand Deshpande! You may not know him by name if you procrastinate and not search in Google but if you precrastinate, you will instantly crastinate and recognize him! 

Now if you want crastination in your life then sleep on time! Neither pre nor pro!

Good Night!

Ant if you can!

Read with patience! Am sure you will find it interesting! I concentrated more in the blog today than sketch and it shows!

Many times many of you would have got up one day and though, “Wish I was born in some other country!” But the value of water is felt only by those who have been stuck in the desert!

In any case you can be thankful that you are not born in this tribe in the Amazon! The tribe is called Satere-Mawe! Though it sounds like a satire, it is far from fun!

Before that you must know of this pain index, the Schmidt Pain Index ranks insect stings on a scale of 0 to 4 — 0 being no pain at all and 4 being absolutely excruciating!

Now many of you would have been bit or more accurately stung by the bee! Remember how painful it was! The bad news is that it is only 2 in the index!

Rated at the almost top of the scale (4.0), but still not the most painful sting, is that of the tarantula hawk. Their bite has been called Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair dryer has been dropped into your bubble bath. A bolt out of the heavens. All you apparently do is Lie down and scream! 

Sometimes referred to as “spider wasps,” tarantula hawks grow up to two inches in length and the bright color of their wings acts as a warning to any potential predators. By nature, tarantula hawks are not aggressive…to humans at least. 

Now if you have arachnophobia and are scared of spiders like tarantulas then this is a wasp even the Tarantulas fear!

Female tarantula hawks will paralyze the spider and proceed to lay an egg on its abdomen. The newly-hatched larva will then feed on the immobile spider. In the United States, tarantula hawks are primarily found in desert regions.

They repeat the ritual until the boy can endure the stinging and ensuing pain and paralysis without shedding a tear. This can take up to 20 attempts!

In spite of this gruesome nature and bite, they are not top in the list!

The top bite champion is an ant! 

The most painful sting of all — the bullet ant sting!

The pain has been described as “pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel” and rated i

as a 4.0+!

off-the-charts pain that lasts up to 24 hours.

These ants are the largest of the ant family, at about one inch in length. Like others on this list, bullet ants are not instinctively aggressive, but become so when as a defense mechanism. Their sting releases poneratoxin, a neurotoxic peptide that causes severe muscle contractions, a burning sensation, and great pain.

Coming to the Satere-Mawe tribe and why you are fortunate that you are not born in that tribe! 

One of the test of being a ‘man’ or manhood for the boys is to force their hands into gloves filled with, yes! The bullet ant! And you think it’s hard! Nothing is easy! Like the difficult and formidable task done by the great birthday celebrity Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata to make start Tata group which is now one of the best conglomerate in the country and the world!

Now watch out for any red ants below your bed and sleep!

Good night! 

Farzi fingerprints!

There is a crime committed and all you can find are some finger prints. That is usual but the scene of crime was in the jungle and there were no other human beings present!  But then you are in Australia and the crime was just stealing of some food and eucalyptus leaf! and all you see are these cute bear like creatures hanging around!

Same thing happened some years back!

The police took fingerprints from six chimpanzees and two orangutans housed at zoos in England. They weren’t just looking for a unique souvenir; they were testing to see if any unsolved crimes could be the fault of these banana-eating miscreants!

Now while these primates ended up being as innocent as they seemed, the police did determine that their fingerprints were indistinguishable from a human’s without careful inspection!

A few years later, in 1996, a different type of mammal came under police suspicions!The same animal seen in Australia! 

Yes! The Koala Bear!

The word “koala” comes from the Dharug gula, meaning ‘no water’. Although the vowel “u” was originally written in the English orthography as “oo” (in spellings such as coola or koolah — two syllables), the spelling later became “oa” and the word is now pronounced in three syllables, possibly in error!

While it makes sense that orangutans and chimpanzees would have fingerprints like us, being some of our closest relatives, these other mammals are evolutionarily distant from humans. It turns out that fingerprints are an excellent example of convergent evolution, or different species developing similar traits independently from each other!

Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last common ancestor of those groups. The cladistic or technical term for the same phenomenon is homoplasy. 

The recurrent evolution of flight is a classic example, as flying insects, birds, pterosaurs, and bats have independently evolved the useful capacity of flight. Functionally similar features that have arisen through convergent evolution are analogous, whereas homologous structures or traits have a common origin but can have dissimilar functions. Bird, bat, and pterosaur wings are analogous structures, but their forelimbs are homologous, sharing an ancestral state despite serving different functions.

The opposite of convergence is divergent evolution, where related species evolve different traits. Convergent evolution is similar to parallel evolution, which occurs when two independent species evolve in the same direction and thus independently acquire similar characteristics; for instance, gliding frogs have evolved in parallel from multiple types of tree frog!

Now all you have to do is go to Australia, find a Koala whose fingerprints match yours and do the crime and blame it on the Koala! Alternately you can simply not do the crime! As how even the birthday celebrity Shahid Kapoor  while acting in series like Farzi will finally say, “Crime does not pay”!

Now wipe your fingerprints from the crime scene and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!