Sweats of summer

I'm late every day, even though I wake up at 6 am and start to get ready for the University, I end up being late. And these days with the excruciating heat, the nights feel longer and the summer's buzzing tourists have started to rejoin the blood feast, which again keeps me up till late night and also Twitter is there as well. But then back to the story, I’m always late! Well, all of you know that the traffic system is messed up to its limit, and we all know the scenario of the microbuses. In the morning rush hour, it jam packed, and I’m pretty sure that the  designer or the engineer of Toyota never knew that so many people could fit inside that small space in the microbus, he’d probably be shocked to know that they’d fit 10 people in it! It was fine during the winter, but these days every single one inside the micro bus has a drop of sweat trying to escape the hot surface of their nose and fall on someone else hair or body while trying to hold onto anything they can find inside the micro bus! The bus will be fuming with heat and even with all the windows open, the wind never gets through the barrier of that many people inside the micro to your head, and you can’t even move an inch, but still the conductor yells, “Thaau khaali chha” – There’s still some space in here, I have no idea of what his definition of Space is!! May be he knows too much of Physics stuffs and empty space. To top it all off , well Icing on the cake as it is said, or Sweats on the cake may be? Icing is too far, "Winter is coming" only in Game of Thrones, while we’re mushed up in sweats of summer. And these are the times when the bus driver is in no rush to reach somewhere and the traffic is freaked up. You get stuck in traffic for hours to such an extent that you get dehydrated sitting inside the bus with sweaty backs and fuming internal cabinet with 10 or more people standing in front of you, and you don’t really want to smell the variety of sweats! You can’t walk because it’s too hot and you can’t stay inside the micro bus for too long because it’s literally an oven. I don’t even know the solution to it, increase the micro bus number and then we will have more traffic and leave it as it is, it’s extremely hard to withstand, and most of you who take the microbus from NAC/Newroad area at the peak hour will know it, Try getting a comfortable seat from NAC microstand, you’ve got be lucky not to be standing! 

Eternal universe

Silence,

broken into pieces

of thoughts and dreams

the chains of life and

chains of feelings

holding back,

like gravity

pushing down on me

to the core of the earth

as I’m melting inside me

like a dead star

collapsing under my own weight

under the weight of pain

of your thoughts,

those eyes and that face

that bends the light of my life away from me

as I get forced away into the darkness

of eternal universe

Solving the Rubiks

Untitled

No, I think I should talk
not you, let it be me
I'm good with the words,
since when?
forever,
there's no forever
remember we've just met
how long has it been,
its been forever,
you just didn't know
but again, I'm good with words
So I shall do it,
no I will do it,
you'll ruin it for
you don't even exist
its you who doesn't exist,
how can I not exist,
if I didn't there wouldn't be you
You are because I am ,
I am you and you are me,
so let me say, and let me be
but what about he?
He's not into she,
how can it be?
aren't we all the same?
and you all go by my name?
aren't we just different in our heads
is it just me rambling or
no idiot its your meds
stop it, don't take it anymore
you'll lose us if you do,
but I'll lose her if I don't
what if she leaves you?
we never will
but I want her, not you
you are me and I am you
You want what I want, and
what I want is freedom in you head
and I don't want to lose me,
I love the me inside you,
I am the better you,
Stop, I can't take it anymore
and who is that? never seen him before,
he's you, he's new! 

Jumping Spiders

Spiders are one of the most feared creatures in this world right after snakes, or they may share the top spot for phobias for most people. Despite the immense fear and loathing of spiders at sight of a spider it can’t be denied that they are one of the fascinating creatures. They have strangely unique and peculiar life styles and are found all over the world (except Antarctica) among various environmental conditions. About 40000 species of Spiders have been recognized from all over the world, with lots of new species yet to be recognized for sure. Of all those species only two families of spiders are non-venomous, they lack venom glands. Apart from those two families all other known species are venomous. But only large species of spiders have a fang large enough to penetrate the human skin. It can be said almost 95% of all spiders can’t harm humans. Red Back spiders found in Australia and the Black widow spiders are few of the spiders that kill human beings.

Spiders belong to the class Arachnida, and they differ from other Arthropods in having only two body segments; Cephalothorax and abdomen. The spinnerets, through which spiders extrude silk is located in the abdomen with numerous silk glands.  All known species of Spiders are predators. Most people associate spiders with webs, but not all spiders construct webs. Wolf Spiders, Jumping spiders do not construct webs to trap preys.

The Jumping spiders belong to the family Salticidae containing more than 500 genera and 4500 described species. Jumping spiders are one of the most beautiful spiders. They have best vision among all the other spider species. They are easily distinguishable by the arrangement of their eyes. All jumping spiders have 4 pairs of eyes, with two front eyes being comparatively large as compared to lateral ones. They are found in variety of habitats from forest to grasslands, mountainous regions and even common in houses. They are active hunters; they do not construct a web to catch their prey. They are diurnal as they have to depend upon their vision to hunt and pounce on their prey to catch them. They feed upon other insects. Some of the jumping spiders can jump more than 50 times of their own body length, and even though it doesn’t make a web to catch prey, they do release a filament of silk in case the jumping fails. They have venom gland that helps to paralyze their prey. Most jumping spiders do not live for more than a year. The jumping spiders are believed to be extremely smart. The mating ritual in most species includes moves almost as similar to a dancing. One of the most beautiful spiders has to be Peacock spider (Maratus volans). (fig below)

Peacock spider (Maratus volans)

Though most people associate spiders to be creepy and scary, the fact is they are one of the most important organism in the chain of life, they are friends of humans as they help to control the files and insects, pest harmful to humans and other living forms. Almost everyone I know fears spiders, most of them hate spiders, but I see no point in hating spiders at all, they can’t even hurt us if they wanted to, except the few species. But the point is there are more species of animals that are far more dangerous than Spiders. In case of spiders the hate is based on a book judged by its cover. They aren’t creepy if you know them and you ought to know them to judge them.

                                                          Phidippus putnami

Here's a link to the Courtship display of the Peacock Spider http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEAMq3y0950

Snakes aren't Poisonous

"Why are you obsessed with snakes?"
"You might catch a poisonous one and die"

And, every time that happens, which happens a lot, I've got to start up on Zoology Lecture 101 back and again! So, Finally I've decided to put my laziness aside and write a blog about it and end this lecture thing once  for all, so that I can ask them to read my blog !

So, back to the problem in saying, "Snakes are Poisonous" ! No, the Snakes aren't poisonous! They are Venomous! And, I know, the person reading this will definitely say, whats the difference? Aren't they the same? Just like everyone I encounter but, NO Poison and Venom are two different things!
Venom, as in the case of snakes, are those toxins present in varieties of animals most commonly snakes! Unlike, Poisons, Venom's need to get into your blood streams to take effect! Where as poison could affect with direct contact or by swallowing!

To break it down, lets say we have the The Inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus), considered as the worlds most Venomous snake, and it is said that the smallest volume of it could kill an Elephant or 100 Humans! But, If you were to take a full glass of Taipan venom and drink it, unless you have an internal ulceration in the Gastrointestinal tract, you will be fine! Nothing will happen, even with the most Venomous snake's venom! The venom has to be injected into the blood, which in case of Snakes is done by Fangs which act as hypodermic needles! But in case of Poison, it will harm you even if you touch it or drink or eat or get it into your Alimentary canal. So there's the major difference between Venom and Poison! 

The black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis

The Origin of Passion : The unanswered question !

The question I frequently run into as soon as some stranger gets to know me is "Why are you so obsessed with Animals, and Insects and Snakes in Particular!". How did it all start? The obsession, passion, where do you get that from? "Snakes and Insects have got to be the most hated of all the animals in the universe yet you're in love with them" 

To start off, with an answer to that question, I must go back to my childhood day, well who doesn't love animals? Even when I was a child and didn't really had any ideas regarding the rules of nature and all, I was fascinated by animals, I've always loved animals. We humans, as we call our self are the most sophisticated animals in the kingdom itself, but for me there are far more sophisticated animals in the wild, as compared to brain to body ratio, I'll give you the fact that we have huge brain and we definitely have higher level of intelligence, but once you get into the animal world, you'll know that there are animals, as tiny as ant and yet their brains works in such a way that you'd be amazed. Animals are the most under rated survivors of all time, especially snakes. We've seen that most of the animal, the biggest of the size, from mammoths to most big cats have become prone to extinction, well these days, it’s all because of poaching but even back in the days, those animals sophisticated with 4 pairs of limbs and excellent hunting techniques have fallen under the pressure of the nature’s harsh law of survivor. But look at snakes, they are small, slithery, without any limbs, not even a single pair and the most vulnerable to fast moving predators, but yet, in the race of life, they’ve survived for millions of years, while the most powerful animals using pure brute force to kill animals, the snakes lack those ability and still they thrive all over the world, even in the coldest places. Everyone has Ophiophobia, and most people kill them as soon as they see it, but most of the snakes are not harmful, they are more useful than harmful as they feed upon the rodents that transfer diseases. Snakes are the Evolution’s Greatest Survivors! And the most fascinating animals in the planet! A tiger or a lion may not have a kill ration of 5 out of 10 times but a snakes will definitely have 9 kill out of 10 hunting opportunity! They are most effective killers, and yet without a limb or a proper eye, a snake with such a small skull and with a peach sized brain’s sophisticated as such and if that animal, with an ability of snakes and brain of humans were to evolve then they’d not be stopped by anything! Well I’m just saying it to back my point up that, of course we are better when it comes to being sophisticated and intelligent, but considering the fact that snakes have such a small brain, yet their hunting ability is absolutely classy.

Some might say, Okay! Snakes are fabulous; some are colorful and are beautiful but insects?

Well, back to the Evolutionary point, the one that fascinates me about Insects, they are the only group or phylum which has been able to take all the modes of life; Areal, Cursorial and Aquatic! They can fly, they can walk run, jump, and they can live in water! They represent the only flying class in invertebrates. Some have extremely sophisticated modes of life, and behavior, the colonial form of life as in bees being the best examples. Spiders, like snakes have very high killing rate, they anticipate their prey’s move and kill them. Construct highly refined webs and capture prey, If you think they depend upon chance then, Go to youtube and look for “Gladiator Spider hunting technique” Trust me you’ll be amazed. A female mantis eats the males head before copulation, because she knows that she has free food and the males head takes no part in the copulation and once the head is removed, the copulation is even better than the head attached. Most people think Insects and other animals just go on as it is and then find food by luck or whatever, but have you, everyone reading this, have you ever analyzed the details of any animal behavior that you’ve seen around you? No! just look around how they behave, and then you’d want to know why do they behave as such, and once curiosity conquers your brain, then comes the obsession and once you start to understand the truth about the behavior and how that behavior is being acted upon by the laws of nature, then you get passionate about it! And with passion comes addiction and before you know it, you become a guy who cares about Insects and animals more than any other thing when he’s out of the house, or on a trek or anything adventurous! When you do the thing you love, you’ll be dedicated as a crazy guy, and that’s when you get better!

While you're at it! Check this photos out haha!  

And, I might have forgotten about my inspiration factor! Well, along with cartoons, I grew up watching NatGeo and Discovery and became fond of it, and I used to see Sir David Attenborough, Austin Stevens, Steve Irwin, Jeff Crowin up on adventures, and I used to say to my self, I will be like these guys someday, and here I am today, half way through it! I'm already a Zoologist, I just need to get a job in Natgeo now! ;) And, I will become One of them, one of these coming days, hopefully!