Did we come from Mars...

This is my theory and the reason I dare write it down is because of certain supporting facts.

Our earth has been rotating for millions of years and may continue to do so for a long time to come. We know that the center of the earth consists of molten lava, in semi liquid form.  The point I am coming to is that slowly but steadily the molten form of lava is solidifying. There will come a day when the entire mass solidifies leaving earth with very less or no gravity. The first impact will be on the atmosphere. Earth's magnetic field serves to deflect most of the solar wind, whose charged particles would otherwise strip away the ozone layer that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation

Calculations of the loss of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of Mars, resulting from scavenging of ions by the solar wind, indicate that the dissipation of the magnetic field of Mars caused a near-total loss of its atmosphere.

Similarly, Earths atmosphere will start to loosen and finally disappear to a great extend leaving the earth open to the ultra violet and infra red radiation from sun and space. This will vaporize the oceans and all water bodies leaving the earth as a dry desert.

As human beings evolve further and advance at a high pace in scientific discoveries, the first thing we will be looking for in this universe will be a place where life can continue before the doom day on earth. Imagine that we finally find a place. The first thing we would do is to confirm that there are no living/non living things on that planet that is a threat to us. If so we would first destroy them much before we even plan to invade.

My theory: did our ancestors live in Mars?

 Mars compared to earth is very small, and the process I mentioned earlier, solidification of lava can occur on a much higher pace than earth. So, if we were on mars and come to know about this phenomenon, the very next step would be to move our homes to earth. Now we know that before man ever appeared on earth, there were dinosaurs. It is widely believed that they came to extinction due to a meteorite strike on earth; well could it have been a nuclear bomb from mars? To make sure that there were no threats to the human life which will be launched after a couple of centuries? In the holy Bible and well in Hinduism it is mentioned about an incident where every form of life was put in to a ship during the time of a great flood, can it be a reference to a satellite which carried life to earth? The space ship mentioned in the ancient books might have misinterpreted to a ship.  We might have been scientifically much advanced in that time, but unfortunately no technology could have been transferred along with the specimens of life moved to earth.

Another point I would like to include is that if the theory is of any possibility, then earth might not be the only place to which we might have planned to move, there might be other places in this universe, it could be our brothers located far away that we call as aliens.

Sarat S.

GYM

Yes, the personification of laziness [that’s me], finally decided to join a gym. As always, a quick decision. Initially I thought it’s just a spur of enthusiasm... a side effect of watching 'Double Impact' on a late night TV channel. But I am surprised that its 2 months now and I am still dragging myself to the gym every morning at 5.

The process starts with the alarm going off from my LG Optimus mobile, followed by the jolts from my wife, half asleep, still managing to push me out of the bed. This is followed by the knocking on the door phenomenon by my dear father. He continues till I open my door and some how manages to say 'I am awake, thank you'. By now I will be in a position to hold my tooth brush, though brushing seems like an American soldier dragging himself through the swamps of Vietnam. Usually I take my car to Gym, as it

would be still dark and brrrrr cold. Every single day, driving down the road I think how I ever got into this mess...

My gym is on the third floor, the first two floors are used by Raymond’s, and the posters of slim n trim models are a sort of inspiration for the battle ahead. I am not going into the torture that goes on for the next 1 hr, its too brutal to put in words, kids must be reading this. Then you might think what I am coming to...

Well, it’s about the people whom I see out there. Let me classify:

The analyst: for example my friend Ramadas [name not changed], he comes by 6 AM, enters the gym with a long breath both hands held apart like a pigeon before it takes off, wearing a shorts and sleeve less t shirt he comes as if he is conquer half of Europe and may be even Asia. he comes he sees and he sits, that’s it. he looks at all the machines, at the mirror, rub his over sized tummy and then get on to any of the machines. don’t misunderstand when I say gets on to, for he doesn’t do anything. from the chair, he just moves to the machine, that’s all, there also he sits looking around - a perfect analyst.

the preacher: let me take a classic example, Mr. peeyush [name changed as Preshob is stronger than me]. if the instructor says to use 5 kg dumbbells, he will use 10 and tell him the reasons why he took 10 kg and also explain the benefits of taking more weight. though he takes 10 kg, he won’t do more than 3 curls, instead of 20. Another specialty of this category is that they go around giving tips about anything under the sun or even above it. they really can make good politicians.

the pathetic: well, I am not taking any names here, [because Sunil hates mentioning his name in blogs]. Well he is slim, too trim and week. can hardly take 5 kg but tries hard to take 50, fails, and looks around to confirm if anyone has noticed his effort or the scream that followed. Always carries a bottle, with protein powder in it, after reach try he will take a shot of protein, pulls up his sleeves and admires his biceps. Before he leaves the gym, religiously go near roonies poster n stares as if he had seen his long lost love.

The silent storm: hard core body builders, never utter a word. They come and start off without a word to anyone, but yes with a pleasant smile on their way to the weights. They are never seen in tight t shirts or sleeveless, but the bulging muscles and veins are hard to go un noticed. The thing I really admire in this cool lot is that they never give a word of advice unless asked for.

now, having said all these, what I really want to put forward is: I feel like every gym is a miniature form of the society we all live in, the ones with quality seldom tries to show off, the ones with their buckets empty [yes the preacher] run around telling everyone how good they feel they are and tells everyone what to do. Between these is the 'pathetic' who admires the show offs [preachers] and neglect the genius. The analyst never does any harm or even good to anyone, as far as they have a place to sit and observe, they are happy. The moment they are out of a seat, they go into depression.

OK, now this is the evolution that I think usually happens:

The analyst if stressed become 'the pathetic', if praised they evolve as bigger analysts

The silent storms if recognized will become genius, else smiles sarcastically at the stupid society till they die [90%] and after that will be recognized

The preacher evolves into.... can you guess? they evolve as MANAGERS my dear friends... MANAGERS... any disagreement???

Running with the racket.

My shuttle racket was in good shape though it was 10 yrs after my last smash. I used to play daily and had even won competitions for my club. Well, that was more than a decade ago. Though I had put on around 20 Kg, my rackets still seemed to be in good shape. Reaching the court on that beautiful Saturday, I saw my colleagues full of energy and thrill. As I was not too good with remembering names I went near to most of them and wished [I had just joined the new company]. I hopped around stretching my legs and swinging my arms just to feel confident that I was after all not in bad shape.

I was planning to play doubles and mixed doubles. The advantage was that only 50% of the total effort will be expected from me and I can even pass comments and tips to my team member, just to prove that after all I am the captain. Well as the saying goes - man proposes, God disposes, I was called in to play singles. My diplomatic approach and a short speech on feminism didn’t help in pushing my female team member in. Finally... I had to go in.

Now, there I stood like a pro, trying hard suppressing the panic look on my face. It felt as if the court was growing, may be to double the size. I looked around; my mind kept saying "how did I get myself into this mess?” I remembered my dear wife’s advice while I was getting in to my car "its been ages since you even walked fast, in case you feel like fainting just lie down and don’t wait till you blood pressure overtake you male ego". Well, I did smile back at her sarcastically then [I knew she was school champion in badminton and hockey, while back in Delhi]…

The game started, first few rounds went well except that my opponent was scoring and I was running around like a kid on a beach. Half way thru the game, I felt like the lights have gone dim, I could hardly see the cork though it didn’t make much of a difference. Mr. Sunil, my great opponent got the first game, I was expecting a break but the moron, my opponent was ready to continue. Trying to hide my exhaustion, I managed to negotiate for a break; all I wanted was to get some oxygen into my poor lungs. I dont know who, as I my vision was still not clear, came to me and said "Sunil is an expert in placement". I shook my head in agreement though I hardly understood what that pro had meant. Maybe  my dear opponent was running a consultancy... second round went smooth, my opponent had a smooth victory, my vision was getting worse and some of my very close enemies later told me that the game was wonderful and that I even ran to the court near by and gave a smash. Well... the doubles went ok as my partner was better than me in looks and also the game. That’s it... every muscle, every join was acing for the next few days and I could hardly bent my poor back, one of my friends mistook the condition and even commented that my posture has improved after the game, to which I gave a [painful] smile.

That’s the story, and every story should end with a moral mmmm... lets see… how does this sound: "it’s not whether you win or loose, it how you enjoy and let others enjoy"... sound ok to the story right?

Bomb!!!

This happened back in 2002 when I was still doing my MCA at KVM Engineering College at Cherthala. There were a couple of us travelling every week from Trivandrum to Cherthala on Sunday evenings  by intercity  express. There would always be lot of things to discuss, starting from the new girl who had joined the college to hard core spirituality. During this particular trip, I and my friend, Tinu kurian [name changed as he still has not matured enough not to kill me] were all alone, as most of our friends had spent their week end at the hostel itself, since exams were nearing. Tinu was a short and smart guy, always active and smiling. He was one of the best friends I had in that college, though at times I used to wonder how that happened.

Tinu was then in the state hockey team and he always had lots to tell about how he defended the 6 foot guy in the opposite team and how he scored the winning goal at the very last second of the game. I never used to interrupt or show any signs of disbelief on my face, as it would provoke him to exaggerate more on his already exaggerated story. Stuck along I had no other way than to listen to this hero.  He would show actions on how he held the hockey stick, how he tackled etc and his face would display a book of expressions. I always tried to keep a straight face and not to show the urge to doze off, well; he never cared either as far as I did not walk away.

We had travelled for about an hour when Tinu suggested we go and stand near the entrance, to which I readily agreed. Not because I fancy standing there inviting danger, but then it was a better choice than to hear him narrate his heroic deeds. We walked towards the door when Tinu noticed something. A leather suitcase, left near the toilet door. Well, it looked expensive and we were surprised that the owner was not there looking for it. We made a plan to look for the owner when Tinu stopped like he had been shot at point blank, he looked at me and  asked “sarat did you read today’s news paper?”. I never had the habit of reading every column in the news paper other than the editorial and the cartoon column. As per Tinu, there was news which said about  some bomb threat in Kerala. Well, I could not relate for a second on what he was coming to, but not for long. A flush of chill waved across my body. Tinu tried to remain calm but could not utter anything other than stammering out something that sounded like B-O-M-B!!!. Though little sound came out of his throat, it was loud enough to panic the middle aged buffoon who was standing near him washing his face. He just ran across the compartment crying out that there was a bomb in the train. Thought it did not cause any chain reaction, many were at the verge of panic. People gathered around the suitcase and suggestions like throwing the suitcase out.  No one dared touch the suitcase though. Tinu had a better suggestion to me which was simple and precise “lets jump”, well I never expected any better suggestions from him, but this was way too far and I just held him firm enough so that he would not execute his plan. By that time our train had reached Kollam. As we were about to call in the guards, a slim middle aged gentle man in formal dress walked in worried. He looked around and with a burst of happiness took the suitcase and left. There was a moment of silence before everyone dispersed as if nothing had happened. I knew it was safe now to let go of my dear clever friend.

Tinu did not utter a word till we reached our hostel. While I was settling down in my room, I could hear my dear friends sound from across the hall. As I walked in I could see a group sitting around Tinu, eyes wide open and mouths to match. Tinu had both his hands up in air narrating the whole story dramatically. He described about how he spotted the suitcase, how he was bold and mature enough not to arose panic, how he made clever suggestions over my stupid comments, etc. he even added glory by describing how he opened the suitcase using a pin and how he passed the suitcase to the owner with a line of advice on how to take care of belongings. He went on till I reached near him. He looked at me, stopped his story. I am not sure on what his eyes said, but I guessed it meant “come on my friend don’t spoil the day”. Well I too sat there hearing the rest of the story and nodding in agreement to every pathetic look Tinu gave.