Random Thoughts about Frogs

I was scanning the tv channels the other day and my finger was fast to work on the CH+ button than my mind could recognize what was being played on the channel. TV shows are becoming stereotypical and so sophorific these days. Not motivated enough to step out, I was thinking of doing something interesting without getting out of my chair. I casually recollected a game/exercise i read once somewhere which when practiced regularly is supposed to increase your creativity/writing skills. The game is simple. Write something about the first thing that you get in your mind until you dont have anymore. Determined to do this exercise, I now was on the hunt for the “thing” that i need to write about. Where to get it? Can I choose something of my convenience? No. I decided to scan the channels and the first thing that would grab my attention would be the subject of my exercise. And alas! it was frog. Poor frogs, they are part of every test and exercise – including this one.

Alright here are the thoughts that I got:

- Frogs are amphibians: They can live equally well both on water and land. Same with people. They have to cope up with both the professional and personal life. But just like how frogs can’t live only on water or land, people cant concentrate only on personal or on professional world. They got to amphibians.

- Frogs jump: In a way, S/w professionals or even politicians are frogs. They just jump from one org/party to the other. But why do frogs jump? Wll they jump if they get all it wants in the place where it is sitting – within the distance reachable by its toungue? I hope not. When a professional gets what he wanted in the current org he wouldnot probably jump. Again what he wants is unique and could not be standardized. So he jumps to other places where thinks or hears better suits him.

- Frogs croak loud to attract mates: Just like how some people boast to get others’ attention and come up in life. Even though one has enough skills, there needs to be proper level of self-advertisement inorder to improve visibility in professional life The same thing does not apply to personal life. Boasting is considered as the worst trait. It is all dependent on the place and the plight.

On the second thought, why do frogs croak? To attract mates? Do all frogs croaking at the same time get the mates? no. Only the one whose croak is loud enough to be heard by a female and is sweet enough for that female. Its a kind of competition there. So Croaking is not just shouting but exhibition of strong character and strength. May be it portrays muscularity or strength.

All the female frogs which hear this male’s croak does not become its mate. Only the frog which is interested becomes. This behaves just like radio transmission. A programme in radio can be transmitted to anyone and any one may receive it but only interested people stay tuned to the channel.

- Hind part of the frogs stay low: This eases the frog to jump forward and move great distance. Same way, people have to be humble. This would push them to great height in their lives.

- Kinds of frogs: There are numerous species of frogs. Each with their own characteristics. People differ in their characteristic and behavior depending upon the environment they grow in.

- Frogs are green: Frogs are of different colors. But yet, the word frog immedietly brings into picture the color “green”. Why? Stereotyped. Most of the people’s thinking tends to be streotypical and this hinders creativity.

- Some frogs are poisonous: One has to be careful with these frogs, just like how we have to be careful with few people. There both harmless as well harmful persons.

Further, I have seen in movies that frogs hold poison in their skin. How does this hlep? It does not spit poison. Does it prevent other preadators from eating them? If yes, how do the predators sense there is a poison? If no, does the predator die after eating this frog? Whats the point? both are dead anyway? how does it help? think, think.

- Frog jumps. Can any automobile be designed using this cocept? What will happen if we see automobiles that jump in a city? It would be confusing. And accidents. Surely there would be causalities. You dont want an automobile to jump right on your head. But if such an automobile is deviced we may use springs for the movement and may reduce the gas consumption.

- Frogs have long tongue: The insects just stick to the tongue. can we designing a house-cleaning system based on this? Think of a sticky material that reaches the top of the cieling or a cornet or into the rat holes and picks the dirt with that? Would that be fun?

- Frogs are used in labs: Frogs are used widely for testing in labs? Why frogs? why not lion? Because they are not aggressive enough? Should one be aggressive so as to prevent others from taking advantage of?

Lastly, you would have known about the Frog prince story. Why was Frog chosen? Is it because they are ugly? Why frogs are considered ugly?

Phew! That was long. I ran out of ideas. Please pitch in and add some points in the comments section.

Dude is now a dad..!

I am returning after a small hibernation to post this. Things have changed. I am the happiest person right now. Me and Sowmya are now parents . We got a baby girl on Aug 27, 2009. Busy spending most of my vacation with Sowmy and our kiddo. Came across some incidents and had quite an experience in past few days; will add spice to those incidents and post them soon.

Stuffed Capsicum

I am back to blogging after a while. Interestingly the category is cooking (again)  and interestingly it involves Capsicum (again). No No, It is not an obsession but purely co-incidental.

I took the recipe from NDTV GOOD TIMES and here is the outcome.

Needless to say, it was good to eat especially when it was raining outside and the temperature was low.

PS:  Look the picture closely with meticulous attention to identify the stuffed capsicums. I overdid the decoration and this looks more like a salad. There are totally 3 capsicums and spot them to know your concentration level. 

Tomato – Capsicum Gravy

After few trials, I can say I can make a good tomato gravy (or chutney or thokku, whateva! Call it as you wish).  Today, I tried to add few capsicum and it really tasted good. So just thought I could share it, if it might help even one soul in this big world. Here it goes

Ingredients:

Chopped Tomato – 4
Chopped Onion – 1/2 of a big onion
Green Chillies – 2
Chopped Capsicum – 1/2 cup
Mustard, Jeera, Urid Dal, Bengal Gram Dal – 1/2 teaspoon each
Oil – 1-2 teaspoons
Curry leaves and coriander leaves – little

Procedure:

Heat oil in a vessel and add mustard, jeera, urid da and Bengal Gram dal.
Once the dal turns brown add onion, green chilli, capsicum and curry leaves and fry. Fry till the onion turns golden brown. Then add the chopped tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes. Add a pinch of turmeric and very little water and heat till the tomato boils. Then add 1 teaspoonful of MTR Sambar powder and 3/4 teaspoon fulls of salt and heat for another 3 minutes till the Tomato becomes mashy. Garnish with coriander leaves.

And here is the output from my war-room

NewYork Nagaram Translation

I was utterly bored this Saturday and was browsing through the videos in youtube. I came across my favorite ‘NewYork Nagaram’ song composed and sung by the ‘Mozart of Madras’ AR Rahman for the movie ‘Sillunu Oru Kadhal’.  I thought why cant I try to translate this to English. I tried my best to and below is the output. Some parts might feel like Translation and some like transliteration. Read it at your own risk  .

First the video, and then the translation.

When the NewYork city was sleeping,
Solitude got dense;
Mist was enveloping.
Getting off from the ship,
Wind was strolling on the land.
Am I a candle
Crying in a glass cage?
Is it loneliness?
Or is it a martyrdom?

You are not here to lull me with your words;
You are not here to offer me a morning coffee with a kiss;
You are not here to blow out the dust falling in my eyes;
You are not here to calm my baffling mind;
I am here and you are there,
Why does this minutes of separation fell like years?
‘Sky is here and blue is there’ -
Have we become an analogy for this phrase? …

My pen would write your name
A hundred times in diary,
Was your name made of honey ?!
For ants swarm your name after it has been written.
Earth is chill;
Why this freezing winter turned into a summer at this moment?
Come my Dear!
Even the hot lava glaciates into an ice
If you are near….

Time to Save!!

I started my career as a  salaried full-time employee two years ago. When I looked down how much I have saved, I must admit that I have not saved a single rupee. My salary is sufficient to run a family of two pretty comfortably. We are not into any sort of financial crux so far but I nonplused about where the money went and how I did not care to keep track of the expenditure.

Deciding to save some money, the first step I took was to analyze my expenditure. The basic problem was that I did not plan my spending. Plan my spending? What does that mean? I did not have any list of the things that I need to get before visiting a mall. I used to browse through and if I like something I used to buy it: most of the time only unnecessary things. Now, I have decided to make a list before hitting a shopping mall.

Most of the times, I observed, the money spent on petty things is accumulating more than the few costlier things. If you track your expenditure for a month on a daily basis, this can instantly be identified. For example, autofare to the shopping malls for a month, accumulated to a higher value than that of the actual purchases I did in that month. Getting a bike would be a better option for the long term.

One major thing that I fell for was the credit card. I knew and have heard people say that holding a credit card is not a good idea. I thought I could control my cravings for buying things and that credit cards would not take much of my money. But I was wrong. I was infact lead into buying more things than before, as I have the facility to pay later. Warren Buffet, the richest man in the world, advises youngsters not to use the plastic (credit card). You are spending a money that you are going to earn tomorrow. The debt level increases. The most cunning strategy adopted by the Credit card company is the “minimum payment due”. As long as you keep on paying only the minimum payment due, the credit card compay is earning more.  To lure you to pay only the minimum amount, often the minimum payment due is of very less percentage of the actual due. You would pay the minimum amount and be happy that they you are not late but it draws more interest in the long term.   I have decided the following things about credit cards
1) Not to use credit cards to shop something big which I cannot afford to and later pay more money that the actual cost of that article
2) Use CC to pay my mobile bills where in i would get cash-back offer
3) Use CC to book railway tickets where in I would get cash-back offer
4) Clear the CC debt in full. Avoid paying only the mininum payment due.
Full stop. I am not going to extend its usage more than the above points.

I am crazy about tshrts and I have more tshrts than I need. And of course, all of these are branded. Sitting down and thinking about it, I found that I have spent few thousand bucks for apparels every month. And it was not necessary at all. Instead, I could have maintained what I have better and it would have added up few thousand rupees to my savings. I have planned to pay attention to what I have already and to deny buying new ones unless it is necessary. Again, it should get into the shopping list If i need one.

Now that I have understood my expenses a little bit, I am going to focus on why I did not save any money when I could have saved a considerable amount by now? Upon scrutiny, I found that the most important factor is the attitude “I would do later”. Every month, I was postponing the savings saying “not this time. Probably from next month”. Why? Well, I got to pay my bills first. This is a big mistake. You should set some money for yourselves before paying money. Had i saved, 1000 rs per month for the last two years, by now I would have 24,000 rs plus the interest. This might look like an insane point but setting aside money for yourselves as the first job every month will work wonders. You can also make use of autopay options to transfer the money automatically to a savings account or some investment.

Ah!! That’s it for now. Let me try implementing these for couple of months and see how well it helps me in saving. Comments or suggestions are welcome.

Three wishes

Mr.X was a avaricious fellow who heard that God granted three wishes to his neighbour Mr.Y.  Mr. Y was good in nature. As any other good person, he was also poor. He was a firm believer of God and so he prayed to God to solve out his issues. God happily granted him three wishes which turned him from a pauper to a millionaire.

Mr.X decided to pray God and get his three wishes. Hoping that God would grant his wishes, he carefully planned his wishes. Being Greedy that he is, he was not happy with just three wishes. He thought much about how can he can utilize this oppurtunity to the maximum. After all the brainstormings, he finalized on what his wishes would be.

Mr.X prayed to God and God made his presence before him.

“Mr. X. I am pleased with your prayers. I will grant you three wishes. Go ahead and ask them! What is your first wish? “

“God! Grant me a Mercedes car”.

“Are you sure it is enough? Do you want to ask anything else?”

“No. It is enough” . Mr.X has had other plans. He was sure he can get the maximum through his final wish.

“Okay! Take this envelope. Once you open this, your wish will be granted. Now you can go ahead and ask your second wish”

“God! Grant me a beautiful house near the river.”

“Okay! Take this envelope. Once you open this, your wish will be granted. Now, what’s  your third wish?”

Mr.X asked “God! Grant me three more wishes”. He was grinning. Obviously, he has fooled the god. God was startled. But He cannot take back his words.

“I am shocked by your third wish! Do you mind asking any thing else?”

“No, God! You promised. Grant me three more wishes”

“Alright! Take this. When you open it, your third wish will come true”.  God granted the third envelope.

The God vanished.

Mr.X returned home jubilantly. He carefully opened the first envelope.  Poof! He was granted with a Mercedes. He was happy.  He then went on to open the second envelope. Poof! He was granted a house near the river. He was happy again.

Now it was time to open his lottery. The third envelope. He opened the third envelope with a wide grin, hoping to see God again. Poof! God didn’t turn up. There was a small piece of paper in the envelope on which something was written. He started reading it and was shocked! It was written

” Three more wishes as per your request.
1. Good morning !
2. Good Afternoon !
3. Good Night ! “

What would be your wishes?

Mathematics in the Mythology

You know 60 seconds make 1 minute, 60 minutes make 1 hour and 24 hours make 1 day. Seconds, mintues and hours are modern day units of time. What were the units of time before these terms were introduced? Don’t get any ideas. I am not going to investigate what were the terms used but rather going to focus on what is said in the Hindu Mythology.  We do not have a concept of milliseconds or nano seconds here. The minimum named unit is 1 Kashta which is equivalent to 15 eye-winks.(Again, am taking Vishnu purana as a base for these numbers. Bhagavatha describes more minute units like Anus and Paramanus). Now lets start looking at the numbers and the units.

15 twinklings of an eye    -  1 Kashta
30 Kashta                          -  1 Kala
30 Kalas                            -  1 Muhurta
30 Muhurtas                    -  1 day/night for mortals
30 Days                            -  1 Month
6 Months                         -  1 Ayana
2 Ayanas                          – 1 Year

Now there are two Ayanas – Southern ayana (Dakshinayanam) and Northern ayana (Uttarayanam). Southern ayana is the night and Norther ayana is the day for the gods. So, for Gods 1 day equals 1 human year.

360 divine days              – 1 divine year (360 human years)
12000 divine years         – 4 Yugas (12000 x 360 = 43,20,000 human years )

Now how are these 12000 divine years spread over 4 Yugas?

Krita Yuga          – 4000 divine years (4000 x 360  = 14,40,000 human years)
Treta Yuga         – 3000 divine years (3000 x 360  = 10,80,000 human years)
Dwapara Yuga    – 2000 divine years ( 2000 x 360 = 7,20,000 human years)
Kali Yuga            – 1000 divine years (1000 x 360  = 3,60,000 human years)

That adds up to 10,000 divine years =  36,00,000 human years —> (1)

The period which precedes a Yuga is called Sandhya and the period which follows a Yuga is called Sandhyansa. They are of as many hundred years as there are thousands in the Yuga.  Ideally, the order of these yugas will be like below:

Sandhya of Krita Yuga -> Krita Yuga -> Sandhyansa of Krita Yuga -> Sandhya of Treta Yuga -> Treta Yuga -> Sandhyansa of Treta Yuga -> Sandhya of Dwapara Yuga -> Dwapara Yuga -> Sandyansa of Dwapara Yuga -> Sandhya of Kali yuga -> Kali Yuga -> Sandhyansa of Kali yuga.

Now lets calculate Sandya and Sandhyansa of each Yuga.

Krita Yuga     -  Sandhya + Sandhyansa – 400+400 = 800 divine years ( 800 x 360 = 2,88,000 human years )
Treta Yuga    -  Sandhya + Sandhyansa – 300+300 = 600 divine years (600 x 360  =  2,16,000 human years)
Dwapara Yuga  – Sandhya + Sandhyansa – 200+200 = 400 divine years (400 x 360 = 1,44,000 human years)
Kali Yuga          – Sandhya + Sandhyansa – 100+100 = 200 divine years (200 x 360  = 72,000 human years)

Sandhyas + Sandhyansas for 4 Yugas = 2000 divine years (7,20,000 human years) –> (2)

From (1) & (2), the total of 4 Yugas including the Sandhyas and Sandhyansas = 12,000 divine years ( 43,20,000 human years)

Wait!! Thats not over.

Aggregate of 4 Yugas     -  1 Mahayuga (Great Age)
1000 Great Ages        -  1 day of Brahma  or 1 Brahma (1000 * 12000 divine years =  432,00,00,000 human years)

That’s it ?? No.

1 Brahma is split into 14 time periods named Manwantaras.  1 Manwantara is a life time of divinities like Indra, Manu etc.

1 Manwantara =  71 Mahayuga  + some additional years = 71 x 12000 = 852,000 divine years (852000 x 360  =  30,67,20,000 human years + additional years)

14 Manwantaras = 1 Brahma (Day of Brahma)

At the end of 1 Brahma the dissolution of the universe occurs. Then there is the night of Brahma which is equal in duration as a day of Brahma. At the close of the night of the Brahma, the universe is created again.

1 day of Brahma + 1 night of Brahma = 1 year of Brahma ( I am not sure about this one   )
100 Brahma years = 1 Param which is Brahma’s life time.

Phew! Thats all is mentioned in the Vishnu Purana about Time. This comes in Book 1, chapter 3 of the tranlation work done by  Horace Hayman Wilson, as available in SacredTexts website.

Comments/Corrections/Sugesstions are welcome.

RAIN !!!

When, do you think, the knowledge about the formation of rain was expiscated? 19th Century? Or may be 18th Century?

When I was browsing through Vishnu Puranam in Sacred Texts, I found the following piece of information about Rain as Narrated by Parashara to his disciple Maitreya. Vishnu Purana is often considered the important purana of the 18 puranas. The following excerpt is from the translation work done by HH Wilson on Vishnu Purana. This comes in chapter IX of Book 2.

” In what manner the world depends upon the sun, be attentive, and you shall hear.

During eight months of the year the sun attracts the waters, which are the essence of all fluids, and then pours them upon earths (during the other four months) as rain; from rain grows corn; and by corn the whole world subsists. The sun with his scorching rays absorbs the moisture of the earth, and with them nourishes the moon. The moon communicates, through tubes of air, its dews to the clouds, which, being composed of smoke, fire, and wind (or vapour), can retain the waters with which they are charged: they are therefore called Abhras, because their contents are not dispersed. When however they are broken to pieces by the wind, then watery stores descend, bland, and freed front every impurity by the sweetening process of time. The sun, Maitreya, exhales watery fluids from four sources, seas, rivers, the earth, and living creatures. The water that the sun has drawn up from the Gangá of the skies he quickly pours down with his rays, and without a cloud; and men who are touched by this pure rain are cleansed from the soil of sin, and never see hell: this is termed celestial ablution. That rain which falls whilst the sun is shining, and without a cloud in the sky, is the water of the heavenly Ganges, shed by the solar rays.

The water which the clouds shed upon earth is in truth the ambrosia of living beings, for it gives fertility to the plants which are the support of their existence. By this all vegetables grow and are matured, and become the means of maintaining life. With them, again, those men who take the law for their light perform daily sacrifices, and through them give nourishment to the gods. And thus sacrifices, the Vedas, the font’ castes, with the Brahmans at their head, all the residences of the gods, all the tribes of animals, the whole world, all are supported by the rains by which food is produced. But the rain is evolved by the sun; the sun is sustained by Dhruva; and Dhruva is supported by the celestial porpoise-shaped sphere, which is one with Náráyan?a. Náráyan?a, the primeval existent, and eternally enduring, seated in the heart of the stellar sphere, is the supporter of all beings”

Vishnu Purana is considered to be composed in First or Second Century AD.  It has more details like the distance of each planets from each other, diameter of the Sun, number of years in each Yuga etc. More information about RAIN are explained in Matsya Purana, Linga Purana and Vayu Purana.

Cycle! Cycle!

Well, I always liked cycling and was hoping to post once about cycles. The time has come. I am listing out some of the advantages of bicycling and uses of cycles/cycle parts here. Of course, it is not a serious one:

Few Serious points:

Health:

* Cycling is an enjoyable form of aerobic exercise and is very effective. Cycling to your office everyday reduces the risk of heart diseases, obesity and common form of diabetes
*  Cycling helps fight obesity. Cycling regularly burns calories which helps in weight management
* Cycling reduces depression
* Cycling results in strong legs.

Check this site for more details.

Environment:

* No gas or fuel needed. So saves energy consumption
* No emission of smoke. So, no air pollution. Reduces the risk of Ozone depletion
* No engine. So, no noise pollution and less heat generated

Some not-so-serious points:

* No traffic jam.
* No license required
* Impact of two cycles colliding is very very less than two cars colliding
* In cases of traffic jam (caused by heavy vehicles), cycle can be carried over head. You cannot do this with car/mo bike.
* Helps saving some money (No fuel cost, remember. Just air)
* Helps in setting up Romantic scenes in Bollywood style.
* You can put the stand on and cycle in the same place. This is not possible with motor bikes. (Though you can accelerate the bike, the wheels don’t run )
* Maintainance is easy.. Just need a piece of cloth to wipe off and occasionally few drops of oil.
* You can fight four people using a cycle. ( Kollywood style).  Btw, check this video:

* Helps in maintaining good relationships within family  (For example, you can drop your son in the school…  Thavamai Thavamirunthu style)
* You can earn some extra cents by making your pet ride it
* If the wheel is bent, you can easily correct it by holding the wheel between your knees and adjusting the handle bar. This is not possible with bikes.
* You can easily remove the chain from the cycle and use it for defending/offending
* You can wear the cycle chain in your neck to get a cool dude look
* You can invest in few cycles and set up a “hire-a-cycle” business
* Remember dynamo?? You can connect few wires from cycle and convert mechanical energy into electrical energy.
* You cut the cycle tube into small pieces and use it for lifting weights in gym.. Poor man’s gloves.
* In beaches, you can use it for “bird-watching”. People who frequented Chennai Marina beach would know.
* A cycle Tyre can be used as stumps to play gully – cricket.
* A cycle Tyre is the most common thing that is burnt during bhogi festival.

Phew! I am running out of ideas. I welcome more ideas from the readers on uses of cycle/cycle parts.