The bad good food....

 Fish, to taste right, must swim three times – in water, in butter and in wine. —–Polish proverb 

 The appetizing proverb painfully brings to life the biggest irony which life plays on us -

“Good tasting food is bad for health
Bad tasting food is good for health” 

Indeed , what can be more painful. It seems as if an ancient pharaoh curse places upon the human generation – "Thou shall eat only to live but not live to eat." The moment you try to add taste to any dish - it either shoots up in calories pushing your belly size or it either becomes the worst possible thing you could do to your liver.

What wrong did we do the universe in its initial days that it ironically jewelled us with the sense of smell, taste and sight but snatched from us the bliss to devour a beautiful meal? The moment we glide a tasty morsel down our throat, our mind starts to distract the joy by popping up images of a treadmill .And what can be more unfair in life than the fact that - the delicious taste which lasts for an instance or two has to be followed up with a workout of an hour or so. Is it an ultimate punishment for our instant gratification of materialism or is it the settlement we have to pay the sins of our past lives.

“A dream to live and eat merry
A dream to wine and dine the cherry
A dream to gourmet endless under the sky
A dream which we are, alas forced to die” 

And all our advanced technology cannot help us to solve this quandary. We can slice microchips, hundred times thinner than the human hair but we cannot come up with something which will slice away our belly fat. If only while the human body was evolving there was a mutation which made the body burn down the excessive fat automatically and immediately – what a yummy life it would have been. Imagine devouring all culinary dishes one after the other without an iota of a worry to become fat or chubby. Technology and human body indeed have scope to develop more.

“Butter Chicken will kill me for sure,
Bitter guard juice is the only cure,
Spicy, tangy and sizzle i have to abhor
Boil with no oil only I am to devour
Not fair for sure."
 
Another fact one fails to understand is in spite of all these inhibitions, we have created one delicacy after other. From the fathoms of ancient scriptures to the naive interactions with new societies – all have produces new culinary dishes. Or perhaps it is the restriction that we can only enjoy a limited amount of dishes, inspires us to make more and more exotic and delicious dishes.

“Eat I cannot all of it
But eat I shall, as much I can
You can call me a glutton
But I am not sparing any mutton
Call me if you want to - a couch potato
But i will still devour all the Lasanga Tomato
I will consume all the Curry spice
Until the moment I am consumed by life”

Buzzzzz Wars

You will surly agree with me on this one friend - “Neither of us like mosquitoes”. The threat of malaria and dengue is another thing; but even when the mosquitoes are not acting as parasites for these dangerous diseases ; they still have more than a handful of annoying tricks up their sleeves (or should I say – up their wings) to harm us. And harm us they have to - after all we are the source of their food. Oh! I mean the source of their drinks (and all of us like to have more and more drinks, don’t we?).

However even among all this logic, I fail to understand why mosquitoes carry a special grudge against me. Countless times it has happened that when I am with a group of people , be it any place - someone’s home , a tent camp etc  , I will be  the only person whom the mosquitoes will choose to bite, And , as if the irritation caused from the mosquito bites is not enough , the utter refusal from the other people in the gathering to believe that there are mosquitoes in vicinity is even more frustrating. They always think that I am just cooking up false stories And when I try to prove my honestly by showing them the mosquito bites, all of them will turn their head in the opposite direction in unison and grumble that I am creating a scene for no reason.

Even though I feel emotionally hurt at this apathetic behaviour, i have no hard feelings for my fellow companions, After all they cannot understand and hence cannot sympathize this unique war which is going on between the mosquitoes and me.

But why is this war is going on is even beyond me . The mosquitoes always seem to have a plan against me – one will start buzzing around my head and while I am trying to look up as to where the little beast actually is; two other will come to my feet and give me their most powerful stings.

I don’t know what wrong I have done to the mosquito community to deserve this treatment from them ? Maybe my face resembles the inventor of the mosquito repellent coil or solution. And whenever the mosquitoes see me – Revenge gets into their heads. Or maybe once in the past due to me a very important mosquito (such as Queen Mosquito of whole mosquito community or a mosquito who was proclaimed by the mosquitoes to be the next Avatar) was killed and since that day the whole community is after my blood. Or maybe some friend played a prank on me by informing these mosquitoes that I am very keen on blood donation and hence the mosquitoes attack me to fill up there blood banks .

Whatever the reason, i wish the somehow the mosquitoes also read this blog and reconsider their cruel strategy against me. The only thought that gives me a bit of respite is that – Unlike so many other things in this world; at least the mosquitoes do not suck my blood with disguised intentions. (pun intended !).

What if God was one of us....

What if God was one of us,
Just a slob like one of us.
Just a stranger on the bus,
What if God was one of us ?

Lyrics of Song from Joan Osbome . Watch the song on You Tube here

As uncanny and as thought provoking the song may be, imagine another thought provoking scenario- Among all of us on this earth, YOU are given the privilege to be GOD?
Lucky You!! Or so it seems at the first instant. For however excitig the opportunity sounds, it comes with its set of unique dilemmas. For starters, there are so many Gods in this world, .so which God to be?  Without a doubt you deserve the best (after all , you are God). So why be any other God and why not be the best God?

So the dilemma now reshapes itself into - To find which God is the best? Your dilemma is made even more difficult when you realize that you cannot approach anyone for advice. After all, every person would claim that the God he/she follows is the best God.

After realizing that your Social Network will not be able to help you out on this one, you decide to try your hands at History only to discover that human history is tainted with the loss of countless lives in an attempt to put one God better than the other. But amidst all this bloodshed, History still fails to point toward a Supreme God among other Gods.  

Keeping History books into history, you decide to research a modern text. Maybe modern analysis can solve your dilemma .You get hold of the book, If world were a Village. The book tells you that if on this earth there were only 100 people -- 33 would be Christians, 18 Muslims, 14 Hindus, 16 Non Religious, 6 Buddhists and 13 followers of other religions..

Aha! This gives some pointers. Should you become the God which most people follow? But does this line of thought not imply that the lesser followed Gods are the lesser Gods? Doubtful of this hypothesis, you lunge into the field of Sales expecting to see some light. But alas, as you feared, Sales teaches you that there is no definite relationship pattern between the numbers of consumers of a product and the quality of that product. There are many other parameters which collectively affect the end users choice. So you realize that the parameter ‘Number of followers of a God ‘ is not a sufficient one to choose The God among Gods. (I told you at the start, it won’t be an easy problem solve)

Perplexed by your dilemma, you come up with an exhaustive solution - Study about each God that there is and then decide which God is the Numero Uno!. As comprehensive as  the idea sounds ,let me warn you  it is not a practical one. Just to give you the reason behind my apprehension , when you would reach Buddhism in your study, you will find the Buddha has 32 avatars. So you have to 32 avatars to understand the Buddha.  Oh! What do you say – 32 is not such a big number. You can study the 32 avatars. Okay, But then let me tell you about Hinduism, The total Gods in Hinduism is 330000. By the time you would complete the study of their life, your life would be completed.. Case closed!

You seem to be a bit lost now with all these approaches failing to give you an answer. Let me suggest you a compromise – Instead of choosing the best God , let us only decide to choose the best religion. It seems a more manageable prospect. It is also very closely related to the initial dilemma - after all , it was God only who gave religion to men and women ( Or was it  the other way round ? Let’s not dwell into it , we have work to do ).

And on top of other things, your decision would  also help the whole human race. The whole race has been fighting among themselves for ages  to prove their religion as supreme, Maybe you can decide for them and settle the issue once and for all, And they are sure to agree with your decision ( after all  you are God 1 )

So let us work together and try to list down the major teachings of the various religions of the world. Then we will try to categorize the teaching into some categories so that we can analyse them in detail. So let’s get to work .............................

And there!!, we have the table ready below. Now all we need to do is analyse and pick out the best religion

.

Yes, my friend, I am as shocked as you are -- All the religions teach the exact same things via their respective Gods and via their own respective means ??!! 
But why then have humans been fighting among themselves since time immemorial to prove that their religion and their God is better than the religion and God of others? Apologies my friend, I have no idea how to answer this new dilemma. But I have a feeling that the day every human starts taking the trouble to ponder over this question, the world would be a better place. Do you share the same feeling my friend? 

What if god was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Just trying to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just trying to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
Except for the Pope maybe in Rome...

Yeh hai Mumbai meri Jam !

In India, Traffic jams are a procedure of everyday life. The saying goes around here - If you are not consistently stuck up in traffic, then you are not really moving around a lot. In fact , in India , one requires to dedicate specific time slots daily for meeting traffic jams. Only once in a blue moon it so happens that the roads are sparsely populated.
However a blue moon is a rare thing. And if one is living in Mumbai - the most densely populated city in the world, then the blue moon simply does not exist. In Mumbai, just like in any other city in the world, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west but the traffic always rises in the north , south , east , west , up (air space congestion) , down and in any other direction that you can come up with.

Living three years in Mumbai has helped me accumulate some  observations which can be of aid when it comes to Mumbai traffic.---

1 . While in Mumbai , one should always carry a hygrometer(a device which measures moisture content in the air around us) with him/her. The intensity of Mumbai Traffic is directly proportional to the moisture content in the air.
As absurd as it may sound, the claim for hygrometer is well supported with data --When there is moisture or worse a slight drizzle in the air, people drive a fraction slower than their usual speed just to be careful to avoid any slippery incidents (Indian roads are supportive of the idea of driving fast). This reduction in speed is cascaded to the traffic behind and eventually brings the traffic to a complete halt. Some fools worsen their speed and hence the traffic by getting all romantic while admiring  the clouds and the rains while driving.
In fact with time and experience, you can deduce from the hygrometer reading the amount of time that you have to be stuck standstill in the traffic. A reading of 60 % (slightly above normal moisture) means that you are to be standstill for 18 minutes. So why not leave the car amidst the traffic and grab a few eatables from the roadside shop? A reading about 80% gives you ample time to catch a good 40 minutes power nap in the car. Anything about 95% should be seen as an opportunity to catch a 2 hour movie in the nearby theatre.

2. Many inexperienced with Mumbai traffic rules make the fundamental mistake of thinking that a queue in Mumbai means standing one behind the other.In Mumbai , a queue means standing one besides the others  and if there is less space then the definition of queue is extended to mean pushing others away and then standing one beside the other.
You don’t want to me more late than you already are to reach home, do you? Then you need to adapt your concepts regarding the queue.

3. Regularly play carom , snooker or billiards .You should gain expertise on one of these games  before you hit the Mumbai roads with your vehicle. These games develop your idea of tricky angles and deviations. This knowledge is critical while driving – you never know when you may need to squeeze in between a few cars to move ahead. Or worse you may have to deflect yourself at an angle when some novice is trying the same squeeze with may end up in his somersault.

4.Always carry good quality ear plugs with you.  For even though the traffic is jammed for the next 5 kms ahead of you, the person just behind you is always convinced that he/she is stuck in this traffic only because of you and if somehow you get out of the way ,  he /she  would whizz to home in 5 seconds . Hence this person keep honking the horns of his/her car ceaselessly.After the few minutes , the ceaseless honking with be accompanies by ceaseless cursing and swearing. Without a nice pair of ear plugs, you will be distracted with all this noise while you are busy swearing at the person ahead of you.

Happy Driving !!!!

The Physics of Egg Half Fry

The newest bug which has caught me is nowadays is cooking. Now , I  realize that at 26 years of age , I am a late starter in this sophisticated field ,  but none the less , as I always say to myself before trying anything new  - 'Everything is difficult before it become easy' , hence here  also , I decided to venture on this new field with enthusiasm. There was certainly a huge  lack of skill, but apparently no lack of will.
Bear in mind that , that until I caught this bug , I have never even boiled water. So everything I try provides me a  new set of  leanings and new set of rules . It is a different matter that it provides my kitchen with a new set of accidents.(and the set of accidents is , I must confess , is by no means small ).
I know my limits (or maybe not , that's why I am cooking ) , hence I decided to start with the innocuous egg half - fry.Now all of you would say that it is one of the simplest thing in the world - Put a pan on the gas , break an egg on the pan , move the pan here and there a bit and you get an egg half fry as seen in pic below.Add salt and spices as per your taste.And that's about it . Simple !

Well things were somehow not so simple when I tried it.
I certainly put the non-stick pan correctly on the gas and I certainly turned on the gas .(important step else how will the food cook - I thought it myself , it was not even mentioned in the recipe book ! ).
Then I took an egg , hit it with a spoon so that it cracks and dropped the inner contents of the egg on the frying pan. Within 30 seconds I learned , the non- stick pan is a misnomer as my egg got stuck on the pan's surface badly, I somehow scraped it off from the pan and placed it in the only place it was worth placing - the dustbin.
After much extensive research on the internet , I discovered that even in non-stick pan one has to put some oil on the pan's surface to avoid sticky incidents.I started wondering if the 'non stick pan' should actually be called 'nonstick only after using oil pan' , but decided to think over it on a later date and came back to give another attempt to the egg half fry.
On coming back to the cooking area , I realized that  I  had forgotten to turn off the gas.But that's not such a big deal , is it ? I took back the misnomer non stick pan , put it on the gas , put some oil on it , let it heat up a but and cracked an egg on it again.Much to my disappointment , as the egg touched the pan , the inner yellow portion(yolk) of the egg burst open and spill all over the pan.My initial impression was that it must have been an egg of a chicken with weak inner strength and feeble character.But then I though - Chickens cannot be humans , hence there must be some other reason.
And then it stuck me - it the same thing which has been the cause of all those injuries to me during my childhood - Newton's acceleration-due to gravity  g . I realized that I must not drop the egg from a very high height else it will fall down with a faster speed due to gravity and hence spill open on impact with pan. Now the next confusion was what is the 'break point height limit' of each egg. They should mark it on each of the eggs else how will one know after which height the egg will break. But I thought , that it expecting too much from technology.Maybe, after a decade or so it would be mandatory to sell eggs with break point height linit marked on them. I realized , I  was going ahead of my time so I broke the chain of thoughts and came back with a fresh egg.
Now this time , I did everything right -  pan , oil , heat , correct height , but for some reason I got another unexpected output.The yellow(yolk) which is supposed to be in the center (refer the pic) with the white albumen  surrounding it was actually present on the edge of the white albumen. It seems as if the it wanted to leave the white bed and venture the world on it 's own. I know what you are thinking - the egg has the characteristics of traveling , it must belong to a migratory bird.
But alas , my friend - in this world there are no simple explanations.It turns out the culprit was center of mass , trigonometry and of course gravity. See,at the time of cracking the egg, if the egg is not parallel to the surface of the pan , then all the inner contents of the egg will slide to one side of the egg and the force of gravity (mg) will split into mgcos@ ans mgsin@ (will always was a bad thing while solving physics problems in school), which will cause your yellow yolk liquid (which is heavier compared to the white albumin liquid) to fall away from the exact vertical point below on the pan.The white albumen liquid , on the other hand , which has lesser weight and lesser self - ego  will not be bothered by this incline and still fall in the center.The end result will be a displaced yolk in the half fry.
It took me 3 eggs to experiment with and confirm my research. It would have also calculated the angle @ which causes the yolk to fall out of the white portion completely of the half fry - it would have been a breakthrough discovery (just like the calculation of escape velocity - the minimum  velocity which is required by satellites to launch them successfully in the earth's orbit ) but I was running out of eggs , hence I had to put my enlightening research on hold.
Now all excited - with pan , oil , heat up of pan , correct height , no incline - I cracked the egg and VOILA  (or maybe WAKA   - the phrase of the moment - thanks to FIFA and Shakira ) -I got a perfect half fry egg.
I gobbled it up after adding salt to it and rushed to write this blog to tell everyone about it.
After the successful half fry and this blog , I feel so satisfied with my efforts - now there is no chance of anything going wrong - or is it ? Damn , the gas is still on ................

Someone Stop that Commercial !

The context of this article refers to advertisements broadcasted in India.It may not appeal so much to the International Audience.


A saint once told me that – “Son, none of us are alone! All of us have Cosmic Energy Waves around us which surround us at each and every moment of our existence”. I don't know about cosmic waves , but one thing that I know of is that – I am surrounded by stupid commercials around me at each and every moment of my existence. Hoardings, TV, Radios, SMS,Internet, Sales call – they are everywhere.
And so deeply have these ads affected me , that nowadays , I cannot even dream without commercial breaks in between.
Spending a lot of time analyzing these commercials , I have discovered that their behavior is not as stupid and random as it seems , albeit it is governed by well defined laws.

So ladies and gentlemen, let me present before you the Three Laws of Commercials.

Law number I
For our protection first there is God, second there is …….Pepsodent and Dettol 

You don’t believe me ? Let me explain.
Just have a look at the Pepsodent Commercial--24 hour security, 24 hour defense, dishum dishum and what not! You are forced to wonder how humans survived all those prehistoric ages without the protection of Pepsodent.”

Now onto to Dettol -Unfortunately, I came to know about the powers of dettol quite late in my childhood.
You see, when I was a little boy , I used to fall sick before every school exam and my teacher used to scold me , ”You dumb head .You stupid boy. Exams make you fret so much that you fall sick.”
Well...., Medical Science was not so advanced in my childhood days. Little did my teacher know that the cause of sickness was not my dumbness but the fact that I do not take bathe in Dettol Soap.

Leaving my sad childhood behind, let me move on to the next law.

Law number II - Where ever you go, our network follows 

As I already mentioned, these ads will never leave you.
On weekdays, my primary activities in office consist of answering emails, typing some code and convincing sales guys on my cell phone that I am in no need of pre approved car and home loans.
Imagine, after 5 days of such hard work you are enjoying a deserving, peaceful Saturday afternoon sleep and as you are about to fall into deep slumber ,it at this precise moment that your mobile gives an SMS blast. Sleepy and tired, you somehow reach out to your mobile --– Whoosh - “SMS on 54545 to know your Class X th result.”Tell me , why the hell would I want to know my 10th board result at this age ??!!!!
Actually if I reflect upon my marks, I probably did not want to know about them even at that time.

I mentioned about this SMS problem to my friend Sanjeev, and he is like –“What’s the big problem, dude ? Keep your mobile on silent mode while sleeping! ”.
Life …my friends, alas, is not so simple. You see, Sanjeev does not have a girlfriend .But I have. And she calls me every 5 minutes questioning me , “Where are you , what are you doing ? What are you not doing ? What took you 20sec to receive the call ?"

Phewwww…

Believe me my friends , the only thing more dangerous in this world than a GPS tracking enabled girlfriend is the Internet Pop UP ads . The Devil could not be everywhere – so he made them. These Internet pop ups have a tendency to pop up at the wrong place, at the wrong time and with the wrong content. (Boys would know all about it : ) )
For instance ,when I surf the net and no one is around , the pop-up will always try to find the perfect bride for me. It has been trying the same for the past 5 years. But when I surf the net and my father is around, the ‘Matrimonial Pop Up’ is always replaced by the ‘Get Blind Date with Hot Mumbai Girls PopUp’.
One of two more of these Pop Up incidents ,and I am sure to thrown out of the house by my father.

Anyways , popping on to
Law Number III - Impossible is Nothing.

Impossible is nothing for the ad makers. For them, the sun rises in the west. You have no idea what they will end up teaching you in their ads.
Let me give you an example,

Remember the surf excel ad ?
A young chap comes up in a cap and says “Stains are good ?”.
Young chap, you say stains are good!! . Obviously you have not met my mother!

HDFC Child investment plan
Remember , 4 year old, giving investment advice to parents ? “Papa grow up I want to be an astronaut. So do some investment” I wish I was so intelligent as a 5 year old. My family would have been so rich, and, I would have been an astronaut. Better to be on Mars than in this Mumbai traffic. Any day .

One more instance -
Radios are at another level. Before following cricket commentary on radio I used to believe that Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman that India has. But now after following cricket on radio , I have realized that it is actually BSNL. Sachin only takes 1s and 2s , it is BSNL who hits all the 4's and 6 's.
”Aur ek laga ek aur BSNL Chauka ”

Those were the three laws, ladies and gentlemen.

I have figured out the laws that govern these commercials but I am yet to figure out how to escape these commercials. It does not seem like happening during my lifetime, In fact, I fear that even after death when I ask the Almighty upstairs -”God , am I going to get heaven or hell. What are my chances.? “ The Almighty would just stand there eating a Britannia biscuit and smile “Son , its 50/50”.

The Curse of English Phrases

The English language is flooded with axioms, proverbs, and metaphors. These English expressions have the special gift of causing confusion - What these expressions read is never what these expressions mean.

And just when you start thinking that you have got a hang of the language, someone would put up an expression in front of you which would leave you blank. You would be at your wits end to try and deduce the meaning of the phrase in the current context;  but of course you cannot. Next you would  push all the triggers of your old faithful brain , just in case it might have heard the expression somewhere. But , as our brain usually does in tricky situations , it responds with a safe blank.

And all this time , the person who used the expression would observe your internal struggle and apologize – I’m sorry .I did not know you were unaware of this phrase”. But you can see the chuckle in his voice and you can’t miss the look of amusement in his eyes. And the next thing you know is that every next sentence coming from this persons’ mouth is  loaded with a weird English expression. And standing there , you start feeling that if you could get a chance to live your life all over again, the only thing you would do is to learn all the English phrases that exist  so that you do not get into such a situation again.

Next chance in life is a matter of uncertainty , but at this  moment, in this ordinary avatar of my life, I would like to grab this opportunity to express my complaints against some of these English expressions and against the people(phrase-throwers) who use these expressions all  the time throwing caution to the winds. (I know I could have done without the phrase, but never mind).I have even named these complaints as English phrases – serves these phrases and the phrase - throwers right!

1 . My first complaint is called - Early to bed and early to rise, keeps a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

This expression is very close to the heart of those  phrase – throwers who apart from shooting phrases have another nagging habit - Morning Walk. These early risers are under the impression that just because they get up at 4 AM , mother nature has nothing better to do than unravel all its secret to them. Anything which they see or observer is Mother Nature's message to them and it is their utter responsibility to capture that event in a quizzical English phrase. For instance, they would see a bird chewing a worm in the morning and conclude - The early bird gets the worm .
I want to question  my early riser Friend -  "My dear , early riser , Have you ever taken an afternoon walk – I have taken –you see, I get up late and I am not ashamed of it and I can swear to Dear Lord that at even 12 in the noon; when the sun is at the highest point above our head ,  I have seen birds catching and eating worms with considerable ease."

Another favourite of these early risers – 'it’s a small world out there’.
Of course my friend, the world would seem small to you when you keep meeting the same 3 people every day at 4AM .After all, not many are as crazy as you to get up at 4AM for a casual stroll. And of course, when all you do is walk the same 400 meters everyday with no one around - your world is bound to be a small one . By the way, just for the records, the world seems fairly large to me when I am stuck in traffic daily for 4 hours while commuting between office and home.

2.My second complaint is called – A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

This complaint is against those phrase- throwers who are under the false impression that they know all. They pass phrases that provide incorrect advice. And the ’Not so know it all ' people like me tend to believe them and get into trouble. Let me share a few phrases which these Shakespeare kins have blessed me with.
The worst phrase I have ever got is - “If you love someone set them free. If they come back to you, they are yours. Else they never were”. I heard this and said – “Very well – seems good “. So I did all the preparations and proposed to seven girls, one on each day of the week and came back. I said to me – “What’s the harm? As per the phrase, if none of them love me, then the worse that can happen is that none of them will come back.” Well , not only did all of them come back , all of them came back at the same time with their boyfriends and while I was lying in the hospital bed with all the Get Well Soon flowers around me, life certainly did not feel like a bed of roses.

Another piece of gem from these saviours of Queens English – 'It is a blessing in disguise ' . I don't want to get into the details but I can assure you from my experience – that it not important to be in disguise when you are blessing someone; but on the contrary, disguise is important when you are cursing someone. And the bigger the person you’re planning to curse – the better your disguise needs to be.

3.Last but not the least, My third complaint is called – We cannot spell success without “U”.

This complaint is dedicated to those phrase – throwers, who just for the sake of acting smart, play around with alphabets and numbers in their conversations.Again, let me give you a few enriching examples. But before we proceed, I want to inform the phrase throwers of one more interesting fact which they seem to have missed  - "Without U , we cannot spell  “Stupid “ also."
An apple a day keeps a doctor away. This phrase itself brings tears to my eyes and fills me with anger. You see, as a child I hated my family doctor because his only ambition in life seemed to be to give me more and more vaccination injections. He wanted to protect me against the diseases which existed and against the diseases which may come into existence in the near or far future. Boy, did he believe in “Prevention is better than cure “.

Naturally .a s a child ,I hated doctors. So when I heard - An apple a day keeps a doctor away; I was overjoyed. And as a child I used to be quite intelligent also (I still am). So I quickly calculated – “Eating an apple every 8 hours will keep 3 doctors away”.
Today, I suffer from Haemochromatosis – excessive iron content in the blood. And I have to visit the doctor every second day. All thank to the English phrases and the damned phrase-throwers.

In the end , I know I cannot expect the barrage of these phrase-throwers to scale down , but to all of you out there waiting to bombard  your pearls of Queen’s English ,before you open your guns , I would  like to remind you of one more old is gold phrase – 'Silence is Golden'