CULTURAL QA 06-2021-03 Being a compilation there may be errors
Q1 Is chocolate deadly toall animals or just dogs? A1 Claire Jordan Worked atNational Health Service (NHS)Tue No. That is, it’s dangerous for many species, not just for dogs, but atthe same time humans are not the only animal that can eat it. It’s perfectly safe for rats andmice, and even slightly beneficial (reduces the risk of liver cancer). Q2 Can humans read the mind? A2 Tiny Nair Cardiologistat PRS Hospital, Trivandrum Wed The human mind is truly unreadable To a mom; there is nothing more precious to her, than her own children. So, most neighbors and friends could understand the mental state and painof Mrs Kathleen Folbigg, when she lost her first child in late 1990. The kiddied suddenly in sleep. Kathleen resided at Hunter valley; a town 180 Km north of Sydney, in NSW,Australia. A year later her second child died in sleep; of unknown cause, leavingher devastated. One day next year, she woke up to find her daughter notresponding and limp. She literally carried her to the hospital ER and beggedthe doctors to do something, but the kid could not be revived. Autopsy couldnot come to a conclusion regarding the cause of death either. Death wasattributed to ‘seizure’ as the most likely cause. Within an years time, Kathleen brought her 4th. child to the hospitalwith poor breathing, and subsequently died. That’s the time when alarm bellsstarted ringing. The child was apparently found flaccid in bed in the morning.The police quietly started an investigation. They dug up all the evidence,medical records and the previous autopsy data. All the 4 kids died of hypoxia(suffocation); most likely smothered to death. Kathleen was questioned; put to a trial and was found to be guilty. ‘Shewas careful enough not to leave any trace of her crime’ the court commented. So bizarre was her case that she was nicknames the ‘black widow spider’the ‘worst serial killer’ of Australia. In 2003, she was sentenced to 30 years in jail; of which she 18 yearshave already passed. Human mind is truly unreadable. In 2020, Prof Corola Vinnesa; was studying DNA signatures of criminalsand prisoners. She stumbled upon an surprising finding. Kathleen carried anunusual set of genes which she shared with her children. Called CALM2, andG114R, these genes, responsible for cellular calcium handling, can triggercardiac arrhythmias (irregular heart beat) in susceptible children and cause‘sudden infant death syndrome’. These hitherto little-known genetic signatures were corroborated byresearchers from across Europe and US. The study was so convincing that 90scientists including 2 Nobel Laureates requested Australian Court to reconsidertheir verdict and set Kathleen free. Human Mind is truly unfathomable.(Ref BBC) Q3 Who was the first demonthat Lord Rama killed? A3 Ravi Sankar Answered Tue I think, first demons that lord Rama attacked was maaricha,subaha andthataki while protecting yaagam/yagnam of Maharshi Vishwamitra along with hisbrother lakshmana. In that attack, subaha and thataki died. Maaricha escaped with injuries. Q4 What is the middle layerof the Earth called? A4 George Booth Geophysicistat Terra Nova Garden Services May 28 The middle layer of the Earth is called the mantle. At close to 3,000 kilometers thick, this is Earth’s thickest layer. Itstarts a mere 30 kilometers beneath the surface. Made mostly of iron,magnesium, and silicon, it is dense, hot and semi-solid (think caramel candy).Like the layer below it, this one also circulates. It just does so far moreslowly. Near its upper edges, somewhere between about 100 and 200 kilometersunderground, the mantle’s temperature reaches the melting point of rock.Indeed, it forms a layer of partially melted rock known as the asthenosphere.Geologists believe this weak, hot, slippery part of the mantle is what Earth’stectonic plates ride upon and slide across. Q5 What has growing up in anIndian middle-class house taught you? A5 Ratnamala Kamath M'comfrom Karnatak University, Dharwad (Graduated 1988)Tue Growing up in an Indian middle class house, the things that I learnt were Money doesn't grow on trees. You have to work hard to earn it. A penny saved is a penny earned. Think ten times before you spend yourown money and hundred times before you spend your parents money. Neither a borrower nor a lender be. Be considerate towards everyone especially the elderly, children andanimals. Education is the only way to earn a decent income to lead a comfortablelife. Buy things for their sturdiness and lasting value rather than aestheticappeal. Never disclose your Income or earnings to anybody. Maintain your self respect and dignity at all times. “Clothes maketh the man”. Always appear neat and decently attired inpublic. Always share your things and food with siblings, family and guests. Never covet others property or things and be happy and thankful with whatyou have. Never to waste food. Never forget to pray and thank god for everything. Of course, there are many other things that I have learnt growing up in amiddle class household but these are some things that I could recall. Q6 How's life after gettinga government job in India? How does life and its aspects get changed? A6 Kavya Karumudi Enforcementofficer EPFOMay 28 Life after getting a government job does face certain changes because ofthe very nature of the job. Having initially worked in private sector, I could observe a hugedifference between private sector job and government job. Every job has got itsown pros and cons. First lemme put foward the merits entailed in government job :— Professional life: Through your work you end up serving the public anddealing with people on daily basis. Listening to their problems and providingbest solutions with available information and resources is very satisfying.Here, the professional life is in itself a social service , whereas, as agovernment servant you end up helping people specially in times of crisis. Financial life: In terms of income, it might not be as lucrative asprivate sector. But the income is sufficient to lead a happy, simple andrespectful life Work life balance: The work timings won't extend into the night as it isfor private sector or IT professionals. Limited stress and standard workinghours ( though not always) helps in alloting enough time for family and have apeaceful balance Along with many merits that are attached to government job, there certainchallenges too: Social: In many government job profiles, govt servants can be postedanywhere and everywhere based on requirement. If the posting is in tier1 city(metro city), one can have good social life as one can find atleast couple ofcollege or school friends in every major city. But if the posting is in anyremote area, with very few colleagues n no friends social life is literally nonexistent. Personal: Most of the officers are transferred after certain tenureperiod of 3–4 years. So the idea of settling down in a particular place or cityis not possible. The problem also arises when the spouse is working and can'tshift every town or city where the official is posted. In such case you mightbe signing up for life long — long distance relationship. There might be many other merits and challenges for a govt job which varywith the department and the nature of duties and position held. But more orless this is the general picture. What really matters in govt job is the satisfaction that one gets whenthe work done is seen to bring happiness and joy among the needy and vulnerablepeople. So I personally am leading a peaceful happy life , as I get to interactwith many people on daily basis . Currently even during covid pandemic phase , the job being essentialservice, I get to go to office daily and thus maintain my sanity. I am not a‘work from home' type person and love driving to work and meeting/interactingwith people. Q7 For someone withADD/ADHD, what are the benefits of exercise? How do those benefits change orstay the same if it’s cardio versus weight training? A7 John Paterson Studied atMemorial Composite High School Wed It is thought that AD/HD is a remnant from when we were hunter-gatherers,because people with AD/HD have an almost eternal supply of energy. They cankeep going physically long after those who aren’t AD/HD have quit for the day. Their mindset is tied to movement. If they stop moving, they becomementally tired and can fall asleep where they are sitting, even when they’vehad more than enough sleep. The reason why exercise is so beneficial is because it helps burn off thephysical excess energy that people with AD/HD has and helps keep the mindalert.It is a great question as to whether or not cardio or weight-trainingmight be better. That might be an individual thing, but my experience has beenthat being physically exhausted from weight-training is better. Q8 The concept karma is realor just wishful thinking of people who faced injustice or crime against them? A8 Nagarajan Ramachandran Studentof Non-Duality and software specialist. May 28 The concept of karma has been postulated based on our observation ofcause and effect chain in the material world as well as the fact that our ownactions have a habit of coming back to us. We have also observed as to how lots of people have managed to get awaywith murder. We have observed how some innocent man has been sent to serve in prisonfor a good 50 years of his life and then released when the real truth emerged. What can you possibly say to this innocent man after he gets out with hislife already ruined? If you tell him that he suffered because of his past karma he will beable to get enough strength to go on with his life else he would be hating Godand humanity for the rest of his life and ruin any chance of peace. So you are right karma theory is for consolation only. We do not know the laws of nature. Seema Sharma Dhakal A storyteller, wearing 55 years with grace..!!! Q9 In which Indian citywould you like to live after you retire? A9 After working for years,anybody wants to retire and live a happy life. By the time he reaches thatpoint, most of his responsibilities have been fulfilled, now he wants to liveexclusively for himself. Moreover, if he had a stressful or tiring job that contributed tolowering the quality of life, will probably experience retirement as a relief. The same was with us, my husband being from the medical profession, astressful and tiring job, it was our dream after retirement, we will lead acalm and peaceful life. When we both were on the jobs, were looking forward to the weekends andthe holidays, when we can spend time together, and do the things we love most. Now the question was where to settle down. Let me say one thing, my dreamcity kept changing. Being brought up in the mountains, initially, my dream wasto settle down in some hilly area. Looking at my elders, gradually I realized that the life of the mountainsis not as beautiful as it looks, at least for the aged people. With time, the body becomes weak and started suffering from many old-ageailments, like arthritis, dementia, Parkinson's, etc. At that time it's verydifficult to lead a comfortable life, especially in mountain areas. It is okay that living in the mountains means you are in paradise butthat's only in summers, in winters you have to face many hardships. In wintersthe roads are often closed due to heavy snowfall, fewer medical facilities,walking miles on foot, etc. During snowfall, most of the water pipelines are blocked because thewater in them freezes, many times there is no electricity, and keeping yourselfwarm is a big challenge. Keeping all these aspects in mind, we started looking for other option,where we can enjoy a comfortable post-retirement life and the place should benear to hills. Suddenly, on one dusky evening, sitting on the bank of a beautiful lake,Sukhna. While looking at the crystal clear view of the lake after the shower,both of us had a dream with open eyes. Dream to settle down in Chandigarh, thecity beautiful. And one day, by the grace of God, our dream of settling down inChandigarh was fulfilled. A sense of calmness that you won't find in a cityanywhere. Here life is much easier and calmer than in the other cities of northIndia. Each part of every sector in Chandigarh has an individual park. Simplyimagine driving on a wide road with trees on both sides, it is an uncommonsight in metro cities. Topmost medical facilities, lush green trees surround the city'slandscape and the cool breeze from the mountains. Chandigarh, a gateway to the hills. The mountains are very close, it justtakes 40 minutes to drive to the slopes of Himachal Pradesh. Since Chandigarhis only 110 km far from Shimla makes the city an immaculate place to be in. For the last 14 years, we are enjoying a wonderful post-retirement lifehere in Chandigarh. All the above QA are based onQuora digest on 03-06- 2021. Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers Q10 Can you tell about Daivagjna Surya Pandita who wrote aSanskrit work by name “Ramakrishna Viloma Kaavyam” ? A10 cnu pne<[email protected]> Thu, 3 Jun at 5:06 am The sentence ‘Able was I ere I saw Elba’ is often quoted as a greatexample of a palindromic sentence in English as it can be read in reverse too.This is said to be created in the 17th century. Now, consider the following: A Sanskrit poet by name Daivagjna Surya Pandita wrote a Sanskrit work byname “Ramakrishna Viloma Kaavyam” in the 14th century (English-equivalent ofthe word ‘viloma’ is ‘inverse’). This book is supposed to have 40 slokas (a slokais a Sanskrit poem). Each sloka makes sense both when read in from thebeginning of the sloka to the end AS WELL AS from the end to the beginning ofthe sloka (a sort of palindrome). Now comes the best part. When each sloka is read in the forward direction,the book deals with the story of Ramayana and when each sloka is read in thereverse direction, the book deals with the story of Maha Bharata. One sloka is given below (in devanagari font) तां भूसुता मुक्ति मुदारहासं वंदेयतो लव्य भवं दयाश्री The same sloka, read in backward direction is given below: श्री यादवं भव्य लतोय देवं संहारदामुक्ति मुता सुभूतां In the first sloka, भूसुता impliesSita and hence, Ramayana story and in the second sloka, श्री यादवं implies Lord Krishna. The meaning of the first sloka is “I pray to Sita, the incarnation ofLakshmi who is affectionate towards a smiling Lava (Sita’s son)”. The meaning of the second sloka is “The teachings of Gita, bestowed uponus by Lord Krishna who draws people towards him with his benevolence, destroyevil and are close to our heart” And there are 39 more shlokas like this. Need one say more about Sanskrit or the people who created many wondersin ancient India? ( Thanks to Venkata Ramana Muthom who posted the above in Facebook.) Compiled and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on 03-6-2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/137344915.2521176.1622713425429%40mail.yahoo.com.
