RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Most of us cultivate, or foster, certain interests in areas that may, in reality, not fascinate, draw, or propel, us — because we have to somehow survive, while keeping the ‘financial wolf’ from the door. What we customarily showcase on our curriculum vitae, therefore, becomes a norm in the course of time — […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR The idea of nanomachines was first postulated by Richard Feynman, the avant-garde physicist and Nobel laureate. He hypothesised that there was ample ‘Room at the Bottom.’ He also suggested that human beings were a marvellous biological system — adept at doing things ‘small as big.’ He was ahead of his time — he […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR To cut a long story short, our stress response originates in and is co-ordinated by the brain. Long before a stress response takes place in us, we perceive a threat to our well-being. This may involve all manner of conscious and unconscious thoughts, beliefs, memories, and emotions. It is also obvious that several […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR All of us understand the significance of taking time off from our frenzied schedules. The formula is predictable — to reconnect with nature, stroll in the woods, smell the grass, feel the dew, count the stars, sit on a swing, visit a place of worship, and dwell in silence. It is not pristine […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR When Alan Davidson and Robert Davidson published their parental wisdom book, “How Good Parents Raise Great Kids,” exactly 30 years ago, they shared the collective wisdom of parents in their own words. This was unique, what with its in-depth look at the lives of families whose kids were doing well. The book explained […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR There’s this fascinating video clip of tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain not getting worked up, or irritated, when one of the microphones got wobbly and was falling off. He holds it with his left hand and weaves his magic on the tabla with amazing dexterity — and, with a delightful smile. His poise, […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR The conscious self and the divine self are two sides of the same coin. When the two coalesce, it is akin to the mind acquiescing to itself, while relating to the whole self, or consciousness. In the process, it seamlessly integrates with self-awareness, but not so much with the unconscious self-awareness, or unconscious […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Sir Garfield St Auburn Sobers. What a name — and, description. A gallant knight and the game’s ultimate all-rounder. Sobers, who made his Test debut, against England, at Kingston, 72 years ago [1953-54], was a total cricketing phenomenon. A three-, or four-in-one, marvel. He’s a Brian Lara with the bat, an Alan Davidson […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR When the Austrian paediatrician, Clemens von Pirquet, MD, first used the term, allergy, in the early 1900s — from the Greek allos, for altered state, and ergon, for reaction — to illustrate excess physiological responses to substances in the environment, the fascinating expression caught the fancy of the world. Today, allergy is, doubtless, the most clichéd […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Consciousness is, in essence, something that exists with its own identity. It may, therefore, be construed that it is distinct from all other objects, processes, energies and also realities the physics of consciousness would reveal. More so, because physicists do not mean anything that constitutes the substance — or, what is meant by the […]