Smoking away the IQ

‘Har fiqra ko dhooemain udata chala gaya’

This is a famous song by a hero of the past era=Prem Adib. The spirit behind this line not only marks the mood of the hero in that picture alone but is normally the mood of every smoker. You light a cigarette whenever you are in a rather despondent mood. Do not know how far it helps in dispelling the mood but then there is always the option of going in for one more (and one more,if that does not help). Before you know you are a chain smoker. In fact despite the recent ban on showing smoking in films SRK continues to smoke on. There are some authors who claim that a smoke helps bring up their ideas.

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Doctors the world over have been at pains to convince the smokers that it has adverse effects on the working of the lungs and heart(not to speak of the unbearable foul mouth odour.) and even life.. And now, it has been noticed that despite all the tall claims (or are them excuses?) of the smokers it also leads to clouding their judgement (IQ) The twirling strains of smoke rings not only do not lift you to the Seventh Heaven of mental inspiration but actually pull you down some grades.

The website Dailymail.co..uk report that the IQ of regular smokers is less than non-smokers.A survey of over 20,000 youths has shown that the IQ of those who smoke one or more packets is less by 7.5 vis-à-vis the non-smoker. Normally the IQ of young smokers is seven points less than non-smokers (94 against l0l). It further falls down by 4 more points for those who smoke one or more packets a day. Normal IQ is from 94 to ll6.The IQ of non-smokers is higher than that of the smokers.

This study was conducted at the Sheeba Dispensary of the Tal Hashimar Hospital in Israel.

Like the first glass of wine the first pull of a smoke is not a pleasant experience. It can well up a terrible bout of cough and consequent in-felt rejection as inhaling smoke is normally anathema for the body. However, body is a dutiful housewife. If it finds that you would rather have it never mind if it wells up rejection in her (not to mention the adverse effects on its health it may bring in course of time) poor girl puts up with it. Hear that silent cry, the turning away of the face of the missus and friends when talking to them.Hear the silent yearning message cried out.

Of them and the silent cries of your own body !

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The Eternal Savitri

You must have heard the tale of Satyan-Savtri. How she insists on being married to him in spite of knowing that he would not live for more than a year and then keeps a close eye on him and triumphs over the prediction.

Being a modern man (or woman) you may not believe the tall tale of how she tricks Death by her persistence for the restoration of her husband’s life and finally clerverly tricks him into agreeing to spare Satyan. But leave aside all the modern arguments of the tale being an oblique way of bringing out the medicinal properties of the Bunyan Tree.(The bunyan tree has always held a high place in our minds.With its vast expance sending down additial roots from the branches and spread its cover .It must have and still does provide cover from Man from rain and sunshine in old times and still does. (In a SF tale a single Bunyan Tree is shown as spreading the world over . It sends down the shoots from the branches and at the end of these roots are human beings who remain permanently attached to it going out the world over(the shoots expanding or contracting according to their needs. Not only do they receive sustenance from the tree but also contributes to its continuation by bringing in food for it ‘at its hehest. )

Coming back to Savtri it appears that while her tale might have been a contrived one it seems that this contrivation is not just for its own sake but to bring out and boldly underline an eternal truth of everyday life.

Socrates said,’Marry you must for if your wife is good you will live a long and happy married life. On the other hand if she is quarrelsome Xantipee(His wife) you may become a good philosopher life him.’ The philosopher was rather unjust to her for they say she stood by him when he was charged with sedition and misleading the youth and pleaded with the opponents for his life and also with Socrates to fall in line and save himself.

She was not alone. Each wife works for the elongation of the life of her husband. Savitri’s travails are symbolic of this eternal struggle of the missus to keep her ‘mian’ in good health and spirits. Surveys have shown that a married man lives longer than an unmarried one (whether voluntarily or helplessly). It is because of her insistence in time and out of time to have a medical check-up that he sees a doctor. A survey report presented at the Annual Meet of the Royal Economic Society of the Surrey University brought this out. This study also reveals that such couples tied together in unbreakable marriage bonds also take care to take regularize exercise. This helps prolong their life Mr. Hedrick Smithz who conducted this study says that this stems from a mutual corresponding will of theirs to see their partner fit as a fiddle.

I am quite sure that even if the tale of Satywan-Savitri has been reverse Satywan would not have lagged behind in following Death and secure restoration of the life of Savitri. Savitri could not fight with Death. Satywan could even have challenged Death to a duel.

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Breast Cancer in Men

There would appar to be a spelling mistake in the title of the article. Men for Women. There is not. May be the breast is not as prominent among males as in females but essentially both are breasts.They say that the mythological character Arjun had no breasts and he alone was the proper ‘male’. However, this appears to be only by way of tribute to his bravery to take on any situation. But even the prospect of the Kurukshetra War daunted him and Krishna had to come out with a long and involved argument to persuade him to take uip the bow and arrow.(However, despite Krishna’s justification to Arjun to take up cudgels against the Kauravas the outcome of the war ;proved to be as disasgtrous as he feared. In fact the Pandav dynasty did not last for more than three generations as there is no mention of any descendent of theirs ruling at Delhi(Hastinapur) after Janmejaya.,Pradyot who claimed decent from the line is seen as ruling at Ujjain not Delhi)

So breast is common to male and females. The precise function of breasts in male is not clear but it is likely the remant of the fact that each human life starts as a female in the womb and subsequently is differentiated into males or females. Perhaps while other physical changes occur the woman-like (though much reduced in size and even non-functioning) breasts continue to remain.

And even this symblic continuation brings with it some of the infirmities towhich the female breasts is heir to. There is growing concern as the breast cancer is a bane for females is slowly occurring even in male breasts. Doctors say that males are falling easy prey to it.

Doctors in India say that off late there has been a rapid spread of breast cancer among men. They attribute it to the changing lifestyles. While cases of male breast cancer are a little over two percent of total breast cancer cases. The main reason for this increase among males is the growen of the hormone Estrogen.

The occurrence of extra Ex Chromosomes among males is termed as Clinefelter syndrome. In many cases it is the cause of cancer in male breasts . However, it could as well be on account of some hereditary peculiarity. A recent Consolidated Population Breast Cancer Registeries Report of the Indian Council of Medical Research (1990-96) reports the occurrence of 2.77% cases of male breast cancer. The more worrying aspect of male breast cancer is that it spreads more rapidly than females breast cancer.

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The Maruti

The first really Made in India car was very appropriately named after Maruti. His sweep across the Gulf of Mannar was the first recorded crossing of it. Crossing across the sea from Shri Lanka to India are all lost in mythology and then in celestially-driven chariots.

Ramayana says that even Maruti was perplexed how to do it until Jambuvant reassured him that he could certainly do it.

When Sanjay Gandhi first thought of having an indigenous car –a People’s car at the even then –1971- cheap price of Rs. 5,000/- it was silently scoffed off as the fancy of a spoilt son. For prior to that car-making was believed to be an exclusive domain of the West. The nominally Indian named car Hindustan and the Fiat ‘produced’ in India were both local products of foreign companies.

The first sweep of the Maruti was a non-starter. Government issued three licences for the development of the car, one of which was to Sanjay Gandhi who had conceived the idea.But he was a non-starter. And then the Janata Party came to power .There was no question of it indulging in the fancy of the spoilt child of the previous regime. As if that was not enough Sanjay died in an air-crash in 1980 and the Maruti was a non-starter. All the reassurances of Jambuvant fell on deaf ears (or should we rather say on ears who would not hear)

However, with the coming back of Indira Gandhi to power in 198l she revived the project as a tribute to her son. While the role of a mother’s love for a child who died prematurely in this cannot be ruled out. But more than that was perhaps the desire to test the reassurances of Jambuvant that Maruti can sweep across the skies to kick-start the automobile industry here. In the absence of any knowhow India went to foreign European ‘gurus’ like Volkswagon, Renault and Fiat but they refused to adopt this student. At last an Asian nation-Japan-agreed to help us. This was a pioneer effort in moiré sense than one—the first project of automobile production in India but it was also the first dose of FDI(foreign direct investment ) in a PSE(public sector undertaking)here.

The first delivery of 10 Maruti cars was done on 14-12-1983; the death anniversary of the original proponent of the concept-Sanjay Gandhi. The first allottee was Harpal Singh of the Indian Airlines. In keeping with the name of spirit of the project Maruti decided to make a bid ,as they say in Sanskrit ,to cover up the skies. Against a maximum sale of just 40000 cars per annum in India Maruti decided to increase the capacity of the unit to 1,00,000 units and then go up to 2,50,000—a feat which would have flabbergasted even Jambuvant who had full faith in his inner strength. Maruti also decided to be entirely indigenous.

The response to the car was overwhelming. It is true that Maruti could not be the Janata c ar available at Rs. 5,000/- as originally envisaged what with inflation and increase in the prices of materials even at rs.40,000/- it was considered as a bargain then.The sales reached as high as one million cars in 1994, the first Indian car-maker to soar this high.

In the subsequent years Maruti ‘s flights became more sophisticated both in design and mechanization.

And the young Maruti who swept up to the Sun to gobble it up, as he was hungry, has now decided to roll into the Sunset deciding against making it Euro IV compliant. Initially it would be in just a few cities but by the end of the next decade (2015-16) all over India.