Laughter

According to Doctors, one of the best ways to increase our life span is to laugh daily till our stomach hurts. Smiling or laughing affects everyone around us. When we see babies, the initial reaction is to smile. That is because babies reflect pure happiness and feeling of being content. So, smiling is connected to being happy and who would not want to be a happy person? So, here I am today, trying to spread that happiness among my readers. I will be telling funny experiences which happened to me and my friends. Some were extremely embarrassing whereas others were downright hilarious. I hope I succeed in making you smile.

One of the best things about being clumsy is, I end up falling each and everywhere. So most of my funny moments are where I fall or spill or in the worst case make others fall (Thankfully, the third case hasn't happened yet). When I was staying alone in Bangalore, I had to eat lunch at college from Canteen. Getting the plate from crowded canteen wasn't a problem for me. The main problem for me would arrive when I would sit comfortably at one place to eat. Because I don't remember even one single day when I did not spill anything on my tshirt or jeans. And the incident would not end there but continue with me cursing everyone around me including the person who made the lunch. And my poor friend Divya would bear all this in the name of friendship. Sometimes, I wonder how did she tolerate me those 3yrs in college? Because my clumsiness does not confine to spilling. I can not drink while I am walking. So if we go to buy Hot Chocolate or Coffee then I would walk 2 steps and stop to drink. The distance between the Kiosk and the classes was quite a bit which would end up us being late for class almost everytime. The rush and the sound of bell would always speed up the heart rate and the fear of missing our attendance was so great that many times I would just gulp my coffee and run to class. I would always ignore the burning tongue, because nothing was more important to us than getting attendance.

Once, I had gone with my best friend for dinner to a Chinese restaurant. We sat beside window thinking we will get nice cool air and good view. As soon as we ordered our dinner, I felt someone dancing on my lap. I looked at my best friend thinking it must be one of his funny trick. But he was so engrossed in the menu that there was no possibility he would pull of such a trick. I lifted the table mat and when I looked down, I got heart attack of a life time. What I saw on my lap was 1 huge rodent jumping from here and there and quite enjoying himself. Thank God that I did not scream but I jumped from my seat and started hopping around. When my friend saw the rodent walking away from me, he howled with laughter and no person could stop him afterwards. I was so shaken and tried to tell him that Dancing Rodent was quite scary but no force of nature could stop him from laughing at me. Finally even I gave in and joined him in his laughter.

The other incident took place when I was shifting from PG to my home in Pune. It was a really rainy day and me and my friend hadn't eaten for whole day amidst packing. It was almost 7 in the evening and we decided to have lunch plus dinner outside. It was a rainy day and whole floor had gotten wet. I was careful while walking but being me I slipped. The way I fell was so comical that I went high in the air and came down with a crash. Even the dog, which PG owners had got scared and whimpered away from me but all the other spectators started laughing so hard and doubled with laughter when I said- owww my back is paining. Only Shadow (the dog) came near me and showed any concern. Rest all were busy laughing.

These kind of small incidents have occupied my life almost at every stage. Specially the spelling mistakes I make while typing will haunt me forever. Once while speaking to my brother I typed Renukai Bhalerap by mistake, since then my life has become a hell rider. Because my brother has made sure everyone comes to know about this typo and now they all call me as Kai or Bhalerap. They have gone as far as to say that we will even open a wikipedia name by this name. Now, even I wonder what my actual name is. These examples will go on and on. I hope I have succeeded in my endeavor to make you all smile atleast a tiny bit. To conclude this post, here is 1 joke and a quote about laughter which i liked.

Best Diplomatic lines for the person you Hate- Its not that I hate You but lets just say, If you were on fire and I had water, I would drink it because of my thirst.

Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects. ~Arnold Glasow

The Vampyre - Myth or Disease?

They are suppose to be fragments of imagination, nothing but part of mythology of Europe. Many times we have heard they are not real, they can not be real, it is impossible. But on the other hand we hear so many new stories about them. Specially in Europe and America, where the fascination about Vampires keeps growing. What allures public towards Vampire is all the legends about them. Vampires are suppose to have supernatural strength and are suppose to be very handsome and secretive. They can bring immense pleasure to the donor if they want or can even kill them in an instant. The myths and legends go on and on.

But what is the real story? Is it really mastery of imagination or there is some truth behind it? That's what I will try to find out in this post today. As we all know Vampires were popularized by a famous novel by Bram Stoker named Dracula which was published in 1897. But did mention of Vampires or anything closer to it exist before Bram Stoker's novel. The answer to this question is surprisingly yes. Amongst the many names of Vampire, the most known name is Vampyr, which when roughly translated means "Blood Drinker". There is a legend about Arnold Paole who existed in early 18th C and had supposedly become vampire after his death. It was said that, while serving in Army, Arnold had been bitten by a Vampire and after coming back to his hometown in Germany fate took his life. A few days later people of the village started dying of blood loss and many people encountered that they had seen Arnold walking around the village when he was suppose to be dead. When the locals dug up his body, there was no decay to his body and there was blood on his lips and he looked as healthy as before. Locals put a stake through his heart and then he cried in anguish and turned to ashes. Now how did the locals knew to put stake through his heart is beyond me. Or how did they even know that he was a Vampire and they should attack him in daylight is also a part of mystery to me. Nonetheless, This is the first account of Vampire attack and 16-17 people died in it.

Now I am going to write about Bram Stoker. The great maker of Dracula. Inspiration of many Hollywood movies and books and daily soaps. He has written a story about a Vampire who is a count and provides all the detailed information about lives of Vampires. Many people say that inspiration for Bram Stoker was Vlad III the Impaler who had ruled over Romania and resisted Ottoman empire during 15Th C. He was best known for his inhuman punishments. He killed all those who opposed him and to make enemies afraid of him, he piled the corpses on his border on a wooden pole. He used to dine with the bodies of those who he have killed. It is obvious that Vlad III was very inhuman person but the question to ponder upon is did he really have vampiric abilities. He was called as Draculya because that was his surname and his father's name was Dracul. But I fail to see any connection between Dracula and Vampire? Did Bram Stoker just took inspiration from the personality of Vlad or was there any relation? I am unable to find any sort of link between the two.

Now the present day situation. Today science has made many advancements and according to them there exists one disease which can be called as Vampire Disease also. The scientific name of the disease is Porphyria. In this disease, the person becomes sensitive to sunlight, he gets the appearance of having fangs, they used to drink animal blood, they have aversion to garlic and they are suppose to be very aggressive. These all symptoms sound way too familiar right? So there is a high chance that the myths are actually stories of these patients.

Today, some people due to mere fascination with Vampires decide to turn into vampires and live accordingly. Interestingly, they even find donors. These cases are common in Europe and USA. But thankfully, they are confined to only those regions and haven't spread much. But due to Internet and global media fascination with vampires is spreading everywhere. I just hope it does not cause any harm in the minds of young. And hopefully, they wont get up one day and think- Hey, wont it be good to become a vampire? God forbid, if that happens then it will be impossible to supply them with blood when there is such scarcity of it.

This is all for today. Hope to come back soon with more.

One interesting fact- The phobia of vampires is called as Sanguivoriphobia. It literally means phobia of Blood Drinkers.

Comments will be appreciated.

My Passion- History

Since I was a kid, my mom used to tell me stories about Mahabharata, Ramayan and Shivaji. Sounds too cliche but in my case its entirely true. I grew up hearing tales about Saints of Maharashtra and Heroes of our epics. This made such a vast impact on me that as I grew up I understood Cultural History is where I belong. History according to me is a medium through which we can learn almost anything. Because, History is nothing but the testament of past. Many times, this testament might be closer to fiction than reality. The base of it might be fact but it is not necessary that the whole account is truth. This we can see clearly in the movies like 300 where the Battle of Thermopylae which was fought between Persians and a Greek city-state. But the story that revolves around it, is a work of fiction. So due to this tampering sometimes, the main account gets lost and it becomes important to find the truth all over again.

History can not be made, it is already present and it needs to be found and understood. When someone reads an account of any Historical Event or any testament such as Mahabharata, Bible, the perspective is very important. Not everyone sees the reality as it happened. It is often exaggerated and sometimes it does not resemble truth in any way. While understanding the History, one should not be biased and look at it as mere account of past events. If this does not happen, then due to the various views over same incident, confusion occurs. This makes it hard to understand what really took place. To make my point clear here is the example of Mahabharata again, as the epics are in Sanskrit (which is not understood by many) it becomes hard to know the events of such a great epic. Some scholars say Pandava were seeds of extra marital affair (sorry to put it so bluntly) and others say they were God-lings, which means they were kids of Gods. Due to this, there have been many debates and arguements among the scholars which has led to confusion in general public. But then again, the event has taken place almost 2000-3000 years ago which makes it near impossible to know the truth from fiction. I know, I am contradicting myself here, but isn't History also contradictory?

Now, the main question is What history means to Me, as a person? I will not give another cliche answer of History is everything. I would rather put it in few words which my Best Friend said to me- God can not change History, but Historians can. I want to be that person.I want to be the person who changes the History by doing avid study of it. It encourages me to strive for that knowledge which will help me bring about the change in the world around me. History encourages me to move forward every single day. This all sounds too big and too typical once you read it. It feels dreamlike. But that's how it is to me. Studying History is my dream. The whole purpose of taking History as a subject was to learn new things every single day. To tell you the truth, I, myself did not know what was I going to do with the subject which I had taken due to pure interest. But someone very close to me made me realize how beautiful the subject is and how it can change my life. Which I am proud to say has changed very much. It made me who I am today. The incidents of the past has definitely taught me lots about present and It continues to teach me.

Now one quote which will sum up this post-

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. ~Pearl Buck

I hope you all enjoyed reading this. Please comment and let me know my faults.

Introduction

Hi, This blog has been started by a very very popular demand by my brother, Vipul. By mistake I promised him that I would start writing my blog as soon as I get my laptop and he made sure i follow my own words.

I am not sure where this journey of blogging will take me but I am going to make sure I will enjoy each and every word of it. This blog is not going to confine itself in any particular sphere but it will vary according to my moods. I will be blogging about History, Culture, Religion, World Politics, Economics and any such topic which interests me. At the same time, I will not be blogging for the sake of it but I will do study of it or rather, read about it and post my opinions here. Now something about me.

I am Renuka. I have done my BA from Mount Carmel College and want to pursue my career in History. I can see some of the people making assumptions after reading the name of the college. After all, top models hail from MCC right? But my college isn't all that about models but there are some exceptional people like Nirupama Roy who belong to MCC. Anyway, my college, is topic for some other day. I just want to say, Dont judge a person from the institute s/he belongs. I promise to make my blogs as entertaining and fun as possible .

I guess this is enough for the introduction. I will post on some interesting topic soon. Keep looking...........