Small things that make a BIG difference !

Aamir Khan's "Satyameva Jayate" has evoked sharp reactions from people. People are talking about social evils. Female infanticide has become a topic of heated debate on Facebook and other social media. Some admire Aamir for his concern and some say, he is doing all this for money. I don't know the truth.

I was too 'small' to understand why my late Grandfather insisted upon putting off the oil wick in our pooja room every night. Later as a grown up, I realized it was not miserly behavior but just a precaution by an extremely wise man who cared for his home and family. We had a lot of rats in our large ancestral home and they could have easily put the house on fire at night if we were to leave the wick burning.

When in high-school, we had a lesson, "A spark neglected, burns the house". A small misunderstanding between two friends Ivan and Gabriel ends up ruining both the families before they could realize what had happened. This story actually helped me to understand the great old man better !

Four decades later, I look at people around me and often get frustrated by the absolute lack of care for public property, water, electricity and such things and most importantly the time. Every walk of like, we overlook the small things that will finally make a big difference. But we seldom realize them, give importance to them or do something to change them.

Leaking Pipes: Every place I have visited has a leaking pipe or a pipe that has been left open by someone who just doesn't care. We just don't care, do we ? Thousands of liters of purified chlorinated water is lost every day. We see a lot of places in our country thirsting for water and we see absolute lack of remorse while wasting water.

Every drop of water we are wasting is taking us one step towards a universal drought some day ! Can't we see this and understand this ? Can't we take the small step to change this to avert a disaster ?

Electricity:  Most of us rarely forget to switch off lights, fans and air-conditioners in our own homes. But we seldom care when we are at office or in public places. When it is in the office or a public place, nobody bothers to switch off a light or a fan when not in use. It isn't our property and hence not our duty or not our bother is the attitude. But is it true ?

WE are footing the 'Bill' for all this wastage. The public lights are lit with the taxes we pay. Should we waste it ? I shot this 'day-light robbery' of tax-payer's money on an evening on my way back home. This street lamp was lit at 4:10 PM as we can see bright day light behind the lamp. This wasn't the single lamp. Every single lamp along the road was lit.

We can ill-afford this, but this is what is happening in every state, every place and every nook and corner of our country. When I pointed this out, the general reaction was, "This is nothing. It happens everywhere". My question is, "But why ? Why does this happen everywhere ? Why should it happen at all ?" This happens because, "We just don't care !"

Day Light Robbery of Electricity !

Bad Roads: How a small hole unfilled in time becomes a POTHOLE is known to all of us. Yet our administration has mostly remained completely oblivious and that is how we have so many potholes littering our roads soon after every monsoon. "A Stitch in times saves nine". We have learned. But we some how prefer to wait till 9 and even 99 are necessitated.

POTHOLE in the making...

POTHOLES Family !

If we the people begin to question government, the rulers will have to answer and behave. Else we have the power to change them in the next elections and teach them a lesson. It is another matter that many of us don't even bother.

But before we exercise our powers, let us ask ourselves, "Are we doing our duties as citizens ? Are we doing the small things that matter ?"

Let us do the small things right. It is never too late to learn, reform and work for a better tomorrow !


Dr. Punned-it

Palm Wine, Fenny and My Experiments with Truth !

In Vino Veritas; In Wine Lies The Truth !

I have often been dismissed as a hopeless and completely useless appendage by my friends and advised to mend my ways for a hip, happy and happening life. My Mom comforts herself in the belief that her son is 'clean' at the age of 42. One good thing about me is there is at least one reason for my wife to be happy about her husband.

The reason for all this is that I don't 'drink'. Thus according to my friends, I have wasted almost 60% of my life while expecting to kick the bucket at 70. The tragedy if I die much earlier isn't just that I will be merely kicking the bucket. But I will be doing so by considerably increasing the percentage of the wasted life !

But am I really a teetotaler ? Historically speaking, nope ! I am not the 'good son' my Mom has always believed me to be. Nor my wife is fully right about my virgin status when it comes to the ultimate 'truth serum' also known as alcohol !

In vino veritas: In wine there is the truth. The centuries old wisdom has more than a pint of truth in it. I have seen most of my friends becoming extremely generous, emotional and truthful after downing a couple of pegs. So what if it isn't strictly wine they are consuming ? All forms of alcohol has been included in the category when they said, "In wine lies the truth". Perhaps the intensity of truth varies with the concentration of the serum in the liquid.

Can we actually say, "In wine lies the truth" ? Doesn't it becomes an oxymoron ? How can the truth lie ? Well, that wanders into the linguistic domain and that will require another post. I have written about the "Spiritual aspects of the Truth Serum" before. This is about MY experiments with the "Truth serum" and let me come back to that.

My earliest experiment with truth began at a very young boy, perhaps at 7 years of age. We used to have a guy called Chukudu bringing us freshly distilled 'Palm Wine'. It used to be sweet and very tasty. It was believed to be good for the underweight kids with lack of appetite. I was so underweight those days, even the good old 'Kallu' couldn't help my appetite. I don't remember when and why it stopped flowing. Perhaps the fear of boys growing up with addiction ended it all.

small G !

By the time I was 10 years old, I graduated to serious stuff.  There always was a stock of Goan Cashew Fenny in our home. It was supposed to be good for the cold and fever. Our grandfather used to give us this semi-sweet but funny tasting liquid in small ounce glasses when we had cold and fever. I don't know how I developed a liking for this stuff. On a fine rainy day, I ended up guzzling quite a lot of it in small quantities at small intervals without any of the elders coming to know. I replaced the liquid with equal quantity of water each time. I ended up sleeping almost an entire day and beyond after that. May be because I realized it was the effect of the burning liquid, I gave up on that. Even though nobody at home came to know of this adventure, grandpa was heard complaining about the Fenny having lost its potency !

Joining Medical College Bellary brought me to a new world. There were teenaged boys getting a feel of the freedom for the first time during hostel life. A lot of boys lost their alcohol virginity. I stayed off alcohol may be because of the financial implications or may be because of the promise I had made to my Mom. I am not sure if it was the good son or the helpless son who remained teetotaler.

But that doesn't mean I don't like alcohol. I have guzzled down those Ayurvedic "Arishtams" during childhood. I used to love them and I love them even today; especially the "Dashamoolarishtam". That definitely proves I do like alcohol when they come in the taste that suits me.

I have enjoyed the "Grape wine" prepared by Christian aunties in Kerala. Many of them have been kind to offer me bottles of this sweet and tasty beverage every year. I have stayed off this 'wine' for sometime now after I developed severe acidity following ingestion of a whole bottle of that during a holiday with my cousins in Nelliampathy about 6 years ago.

During our rainy holiday in Madikeri in August 2008, I obliged my friends and ordered some wine. But this wine was not the grape wine I had enjoyed. It turned out to be something stronger and hit me hard. I ended up with a burned tummy and a spinning head. But managed to survive to write this story.

Rain, Wine and Dine !

During our Bellary Alumni Reunion with the delicious acronym BAR in December 2010, Murali tried to graduate me with his brand of a cocktail or mock tail. But it turned out to be a knock-tail and was really damn-awful. I had to disappoint him and ended up as miserable as I always have been. But the BAR definitely was a great experience.

Raising the BAR !

Finally we come to "Zindagee Na Milegi Dobara" in December 2011 in Kundapur. The night of 26 December, I was finally convinced to take 'at least something'. So I took about 5ml of some drink and mixed it with 300ml of Sprite and then sat with the men as a man. Unfortunately, I still couldn't finish that drink. Next day on the island, Dabs forced me to finish off what was left at the bottom of a beer bottle. Thus finally, my hitherto wasted life has been given some kind of salvation  !

Truth seekers on isolated island !

Kingfisher Grounded !

Hence at last, I have truly and truthfully gained the legitimacy to say and write, "Live, Love and Laugh !"




Dr. Punned-it

If Mamata Banerjee were a Malayalee !

The native Malayalees and then the naturalized Malayalees like me don't really appreciate our politicians and keep on criticizing them. I attended a function last night, that was graced by a couple of ministers and a handful of politicians. They came across as simple people who took in their stride, a lot of bungling by the organizers and event-managers.

While watching all the Mal-function,  I had a nightmarish idea. What would have happened if some of those maverick leaders from other states were to be Malayalees ?

The answers are at once interesting as well as scary ! My first thought was about what would have happened if Mamata Banerjee were to be a Malayalee ?

She would have been Mamadha Bannerjee and would have been called 'Chechi' !

Chechi would have banned all the cartoons and the ban would have been a 'Bann' with an additional 'n'.

All pending railway projects in Kerala would have been completed and the Edappally railway over-bridge near Amrita hospital would have become a reality long ago and not remained a welcome arch for over a decade.

The Welcome Arch of Valappally !

But Edappally would have been renamed Valappally because 'Edathu' stands for 'Left'.

As the railways minster, Chechi would have demanded Rs. 5000 Crores from the exchequer for a railway line between Kochi and Dubai.

Kochi - Dubai Railway Line

Chechi would have banned the word 'Mallu' and the movie "Mallu Singh" would have been released as "Malayalee Singh". Else the Producer and Director of the movie would have been in jail.

'Cinemala' the popular spoof program on Asianet channel would have been history. All the parody artists in Kerala would have died of starvation or joined one of the leftist unions or become naxalites.

EMS, AKG and Punnapra - Vayalar struggle would have become history from the history text books in Kerala.

'Deshabhimani' wouldn't be available in Ernakulam public library.

The Zimbly slippers would have made a killing by projecting the leader as their unofficial brand-ambassador.

Zimbly Slippers !

Kochi Traffic Police who are happy barricading all right turns would have been forced to ban all left turns in the city. Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and all cities in Kerala would have become 'No Left Turn' cities.

Luckily she never became a defense minister. Else a Lieutenant Colonel would have become Rightinant Colonel.

If she were to be the I & B Minister, the once popular television serial "Left Right Left" would have become "Right Right Right".

Wayanad would be vying for separate state status.

Left leaning photos of Pisa tower would have been banned in Kerala.

No more Left leaning !

A lot of things would have happened if Mamata Didi were to be born a Malayalee. It isn't practical to list everything here. Thankfully, she is not a Malayalee; else most importantly, this piece wouldn't have been posted !




Dr. Punned-it

The Beggar of Hampi, Pride and Pricked Prejudice !

The Hampi Viroopaksha Temple

Being in Bellary and not visiting Hampi is just not possible. Early days in Bellary, I had heard enough about Hampi. Our primary school history lessons too had given us enough reasons to visit Hampi. Finally I did visit Hampi with a group of friends sometime in 1989 winter. Murali, Vishwanath, Jagan, Shadrak, Umesh, Vishwanath Nayak, Azeem, Thara and me were there on that tour.

Our group in Hampi

A lot has been written about Hampi and I can't better any of that. What stands out for me after 23 years is an experience that made the raw youth feel proud about our heritage that day and a lot more wiser for life.

We were going around the famed Viroopaksha temple. There was a bunch of noisy youth a few paces ahead of us. Being doomed to be Doctors, we were less noisy or perhaps relatively so. When we came to the western part of the temple, we were directed to a small dark corner room by some people. We all went there and saw this...

The Pin Hole Camera !

This is the famed pin-hole camera of Hampi where an inverted image of the main tower of the temple is seen on a wall of a small dark room through a hole in the roof of the outer fortress on the western side. As we were marveling at this piece of architectural wonder of almost 750 years history; the loudest of those boys from that group proclaimed loudly in Kannada, "Hey this is all fraud. Someone has drawn this here and that too inverted. How can people fall for such con ! blah blah blah".

There was a sun burned unshaven man appearing to be in his seventies, sitting just outside that room. He had unkempt silver hair, shrunken cheek lined by sharp bony jaws to his face and a frail body. He was clad in worn off saffron robes with an equally weather beaten towel spread on the floor. That must have been white some time in history but looked brownish yellow. He was obviously begging and there were a few coins on his towel.

He suddenly got up pulling his towel in a hurry, scattering his coins all over the place in the process. He didn't seem bothered, but went directly to the young man and called him out to follow him. He crawled to the darker corner of the dark room and asked the youth to hold the other end of the towel so that it was positioned in front of the shadow. All of us could see the shadow of the tower appearing on the towel.

We couldn't see the face of that boisterous boy in the darkness that prevailed in the room. But a lot of darkness must have been driven away from his mind in that beautiful moment. Though I had a camera on me, I couldn't capture the magnificent moment on camera because it all happened in such a hurry and the darkness in the room just didn't allow me to click the event. Alas !

Coming out of the room, the saffron clad man gave a lecture to the youth and his friends. It was as good a lesson to all of us blinded by the arrogance of our modern life. He said, "Oh you the pant and shirt clad city bred youth of today, young men; pause before you proceed to mock anything that you don't know. This is a construction that is almost 1000 years old and has stood the ravages of time like many of those marvels in this great place called 'Haalu Hampi' [Ruined Place]. This was the Vijayanagar empire where gold and diamonds were sold in the road side shops. Over 50 generations of yours must have turned into ashes since this place was constructed. Look at every stone, pillar and idol of this place. They were constructed when there were no machines and cranes and such things. If they managed to construct such a magnificent place at that time, what does it say ? Those people were far more intelligent, wiser, stronger and talented than you, me and all of us. Never again make fun of our heritage. You are a nobody who has done nothing precious yet and will achieve nothing in life if you continue with this attitude. God bless you with better sense in future !"

I could see the pride in the eyes of the senior gentleman and the pricked prejudice on the sheepish face of the youth. And was I having goosebumps ? I still get them thinking of that day. Ever since, I have made it a rule not to mock anything that I don't know or understand. Questioning anything is fine, including the concept of God. No progress can be made if we believe everything without questioning. But before you sit on judgement, make sure you are qualified enough to do so and you know the truth. Else, it is better to be cautious. The world is a lot more intelligent and wiser than a single human being can normally aspire to be !




Dr. Punned-it

Squaring up 25 !

After squaring up numbers ending with 5, me and my daughter have moved onto squaring numbers ending with 25. We proceed exactly the same way we did with 5, but with a larger number. That is all.

We will begin with same equation of (a + b)2= a2 + 2ab + b2.

Here b = 25.

Now the equation gets simplified like this:  

a2 + (2 x a x 25) + 625

That is further simplified into: 

 a2 + (50a) + 625. 

Now we will leave out 625 to be added at the end.

a2 + (50a) is further simplified as:

a (a + 50)

Here 'a' is any number that ends with 00, like 100, 200, 300 and so on. We have 625 at the end of the number. 

a (a + 50) is a round figure that will end with at least '000' because we are multiplying 100 x 150 or 200 x 250 and so on. Leaving out the 'three zeros' we will further simplify the equation a (a + 50).

We will take the two zeros [00] from 'a' and arrive at a simpler number 'n'. We will remove the third zero [0] from the [a + 50]. We remove these three zeros [000] because we have 625 at the end of the answer and hence we are simplifying the multiplication leaving out the '0's.

That means: 150 becomes 15, 250 becomes 25, 350 becomes 35 and so on.

So what we have is following simplified equation:

n (n5) - *n5* here is NOT a product here, but we just write n and place 5 next to it to derive the number. So if 'n' is 7, n5 is 75.

Now the n (n5) product is placed before 625 and we have the whole square.

Like: n25 whole squared = n(n5) followed by 625 

Some examples: 

For Whole square of 125: 1 x 15 = 15. Whole square: 15625

For Whole square of 225: 2 x 25 = 50. Whole square: 50625

For Whole square of 425: 4 x 45 = 180. Whole square: 180625

For Whole square of 725: 7 x 75 = 525. Whole square: 525625

For Whole square of 1025: 10 x 105 = 1050. Whole square: 1050625

For Whole square of 1325: 13 x 135 = 1755. Whole square: 1755625

This is quicker, accurate and time saving way of doing Arithmetic for school kids. This again can be worked out without a paper and pencil, if we know our simple multiplication well.

 

Dr. Punned-it

Music Sense !

This is a real incident from my life. I had earlier posted it on Facebook as a note. Since notes on Facebook are prone to get lost, I am securing this on my blog. If anyone finds this offensive, this is not meant to be so. I apologize to the characters if they happen to read this and recognize themselves here. Only the fun element has to be imbibed from this. No malice intended !

Early 90s, Medical College Bellary. The boys and girls were preparing for the college day celebrations. We used to spend most of our free time in the room given to us behind the Microbiology department. We had a talented Violinist named Anil. He was practicing hard for the upcoming event.

I was waiting for my turn to rehearse my song with the Orchestra. At that moment one of our senior boys who was part of the organizing committee came calling to make sure everything was going smoothly. Looking at Anil concentrating on his violin, our man asked him some questions. I was witness to the entire conversation.

The original Kannada exchange was hilarious beyond words. Hope the fun is not completely lost in translation. We will call the senior GS for convenience. Here we go with the dialogue.

GS: Hello Anil, great, how is everything going ? Your guitar is superb...
Anil [looking upset]: Hey, this is not guitar...
GS: Oho, so this is Piteelu, right ? [Probably, he meant Fiddle, a colloquial form of violin]
Anil: No man...
GS: Right right, Tambourine, I know, I know...
Anil [looking frustrated]: This is NOT Tambourine...
GS [Not ready to give up]: So this must be Mandolin...
Anil: [Exasperated]: Hey GS, this isn't any Mandolin or Gindolin...
GS [Nonchalantly]: Ho, what is there man, some instrument with strings. It can be 'Rudra Veena' also...

I wasn't able to control my giggles by now. GS saw that and asked, "Hey Shenoy, what are you going to do ?". I said, "I will be singing 'Chupaana Bhi Nahin aata' from Baazigar". GS gave me a free advice, "That is a bore song. You sing 'Kaali Kaali Aankhen oooo oooo oooo' instead". I nodded saying, "Well, let me try..."

GS turned to Anil and said, "Well you can give music for that song with your 'Sarangi' and we will rock the function". Anil was by now completely demoralized and said, "See GS, this is not any Sarangi or Firangi, why can't you let me tell you the name of this ?"

GS left with a parting shot, "Hey come on man, what difference will it make even if it is a Tabla ? Haven't you heard William Wordsworth saying 'what is there in a name' ? Finally it is a music instrument that makes a lot of noise. I have that much music sense. Now excuse me and I have a thousand things to do. You carry on with your Bongo"


Dr. Punned-it

Solving the 9th Wonder !

Multiplying any number ending with 9 is a big 'scare crow' for kids in primary school. It becomes virtually a non-issue if we approach it as a process of addition and subtraction rather than multiplication. Once again unfortunately, people shut their minds even before we count from 1 - 9.

My daughter used to do the same till I made her use a method that has eradicated the fear of multiplication from her mind. She now enjoys doing it in the mind and she is always correct. But she still hasn't exorcised the 'Ghost' from her mind and wants to check if her answer is correct. She will be confident with time.

So what do we do ?

Simple. Let us take the simplest of numbers ending from 9, that is 19. Most kids would know the multiplication table by heart. But is that necessary ? I have never found that necessary. I approach it as adding 19 as many times as I am supposed to multiply. So 38, 57, 76 and there goes the table.

Often kids get stuck on reaching 7, 8 and 9. That is where the realization comes that it actually is easier to add and delete than do a table. I do it this way.

19 is 1 less than 20. 

We all can have multiples of 20 easily because 20 is nothing but 2 x 10. 

So just check this method. 

I do 20 x 9 = 180. 

When it comes to 19 x 9, that means it actually is one 9 less than 20 x 9. 

So just delete 9 from 180. 

That means 19 x 9 = 171. 

That is it !

Let us move to larger numbers.

Let us take 89 x 7. 

What I do is 90 x 7 = 630. 

We know 89 x 7 is one less times 7.

So just delete 7 and that means 623.

Let us take another example of 99 x 8. 

100 x 8 = 800. 

Minus 8 means the answer is 792. 

The riddle solved, in the mind. 

No paper, no pencil and in no time. And of course no tension !

Dr. Punned-it