RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR It all emerged, quite amusingly, from an unlikely pioneer, who, as a kid bearing a fragile, delicate frame, was, otherwise, perky in school with his relentless inquisitiveness. While not much is known of Sigmund Freud’s early life, because he purged his personal writings, twice over, his subsequent papers were strictly embargoed in the […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR We live in an era of paradoxes — of sometimes pleasing, usually passable, and most often ear-splitting music, aside from the typecast ‘stamp,’ or raucous remix[ed] digressions, thanks to hi-tech glitz. This isn’t all. There seems to be a growing penchant for Punjabi-accentuated songs in Hindi films today — rather than perceptible Hindi numbers. […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR It is a fact that we are riddled by the overriding premise that microbes, or microorganisms, are our ecological foes and that they are meant only to be destroyed. This is how the origin of the word, ‘bug,’ first came into vogue for bacteria — illustrating a creepy sense of apprehension for all […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR “Blessings on him, who first invented sleep,” eulogised Miguel de Cervantes, the legendary writer. Yet, the irony is there is a distinct, also alarming, lack of awareness about sleep in the community — general and medical. Many physicians, for instance, continue to simply miss, or ignore, the ever-cascading, veritable surplus of sleep-related disorders. […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR There just can’t be a better example of globalised fascination than cartoon strips. You know them all — the great, all-time favourites. However, none comes close to one classical genre that is in a league of its own — the much-loved Asterix. It is a delight that’s going as strong as ever — […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR We sense, we sight, we smell, we touch, we hear, we taste, and so on — and, yet, we don’t always bestow our mind’s eye, or ‘I,’ for such subtleties. This credo holds good for our feelings, or emotions — our fundamental constituent that makes us what we are. The paradox also is […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy’s rib-tickling genius knows no age, because they beamed the lighter side of life, the child and the adult, wrapped within our psyche, like never before. Oliver Hardy: “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.” Stan Laurel: “Here’s another nice mess I got you into.” It’s such […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR It is not as bizarre as it appears to be on the surface. The human body and the ubiquitous chip have something in common — a palpable flair for self-regulation. Your electronic gizmo is a feat of technological excellence just as much, and more, the human body is with all its myriad feedback […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR The use of antibiotics is based on the paradigm there is a battle in progress in the body and it must be resolved — and, that the body is not capable of success without drug support. Antibiotics ‘kill’ microorganisms related to a given illness or disease, all right; they also impede their duplication. […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR When a crazy fan shot dead John Lennon, in a mad frenzy, forty-four years ago, it marked the end of an era — an age which was unlike any other epoch in music history. It’s also everything that made the Beatles, the Beatles — for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The Beatles influenced just […]