Fair And Unfair Faces Of An Airfare

This isn't about flying, but the business of flying.

In five years ending 2013, airline operators in India have run up a loss of 8.5 billion USD. Their accumulated debts stand at 15.00 billion USD. The question is: 'Which is going to fly higher – the plane or the plane fare?' Those who continue to subsidise the economics of mismanagement would know better!

This time around what is amusing is 'Unbundling', a semantic striptease where amenities, part of the air fare once, are being shed one by one. A quarter of the free baggage allowance has vanished. Sports, Musical, and other items now attract additional charges. Preferred seats aren't free options any more. On board, drinks (except water), snacks, and meals have to be purchased. It costs to stretch your legs in airlines' lounges. And think twice before cancelling your tickets.

If you dislike sitting next to babies, a 'Quiet Zone' may soon be available as an upgrade. Rule out taking a catnap, as on-board 'Sampling' sessions could wake you up with give-away sachets of shampoo or shaving cream!

Unlike this, Samoa Airways, which operate flights between the Independent State of Samoa and American Samoa have been innovative. They recently introduced a 'Fly-by-Weight' fare structure. Originally suggested by Dr Bharat Bhatta from Norway, the scheme sums up the cost of a ticket from the passenger's body weight, weight of the luggage carried, and length of the flight.  For the obese and over-weight, this would indeed be a worthwhile incentive!

'Unbundling' has to be 'bundled up' at the earliest. It is both confusing and unfair. If allowed to continue, the day when greedy airlines levy 'lavatory charges' may not be far away!

   "If the Wright brothers were alive today,
Wilbur would've had to fire Orville to reduce costs"

 — Herb Kelleher, USA Today    

It Happens Only In India

To most of you, recent reports on 'Head Transplants' in human beings might appear bizarre. Few would however realise that science was merely on a 'reinventing spree'! Because, as early as the second millennium BC, organ transplants were known in India. In a way, this establishes the diminishing gap between mythology and reality.

Look at these oft-repeated mythological tales:

Sati (Parvati in her earlier birth) falls in love with Shiva and marries him against her father Daksha's wishes. Feeling let down, Daksha invites everyone for a grand ritual at his palace, except the couple. Yet, Sati attends the ceremony. Daksha ignores her at first, then begins to publicly abuse Shiva. Unable to bear the shame, Sati sets herself to Yogic fire. When news of her death reaches Shiva, he decides to punish Daksha. His aides wreck the sacred site, slice Daksha's head, and hurl it into the sacrificial fire. Later, relenting to other gods' pleadings, Shiva resurrects Daksha by fixing a goat's head on his body.

In the second legend, Parvati while preparing for bath realises she is alone at home. So, she shapes some turmeric paste used as skin cleanser into a lad's form. Making it come alive, she asks him to guard the entrance. When Shiva returns home, the lad blocks his entry. In rage, Shiva beheads the lad. Later, moved by Parvati's grief, he orders his aides to fetch the head of any life form sleeping with its head to the North. They return with a baby elephant's head. Shiva attaches it to the lad's body and revives him. Ganapati or Ganesha was born thus.

The science of Ayurveda with its amazing ability to sustain and revive life, was a gift to mankind from Lord Brahma. He blessed Daksha Prajapati with this knowledge. Daksha passed it on to Ashwinikumaras, celestial twins with human bodies and horse-heads. Dhanwantari learnt it from them, and chose Sage Bharadwaja to propagate it.

Among Bharadwaja's disciples was Atreya (900 BC), author of 'Atreya Samhita', the world's oldest book on medicine. Sushrutha (600 BC), son of Sage Vishwamitra who gave us the 'Gayatri Mantra', was a master of surgeries. In 'Sushruta Samhita', he elaborates over 300 surgical procedures including Rhinoplasty. Charaka (400 BC) compiled over 1200 illnesses with their symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment in 'Charaka Samhita'.

Vagbhata, Patanjali, and Nagarjuna who followed, took Ayurveda to greater heights. Vagbhata's work, 'Ashtanga Hridaya' captured the essence of Ayurveda in easy to understand verses. The renowned Ashtavaidya (masters in eight branches of medicine) practising Ayurveda today in Kerala, are descendants of Vagbhata's disciples. Patanjali added a new dimension with 'Yoga Sutra', a book on Yogic postures. Nagarjuna through his 'Rasa Shastra' introduced therapeutics using heavy metals. Another priceless contribution was that of Shalihotra in the form of Veterinary sciences.

How apt were Martin Luther King Jr's words: 'If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values...'

   "Many of the advances in Sciences that we consider to have been made in Europe were in fact made in India centuries ago."    

                                                                                                                                                     ~  Grant Duff

My Brain, Your Body, And Our Life!

Cornea (1905), Kidney (1950), Pancreas (1966), Heart/Liver (1967) and Lung (1981)... What followed was even more incredible: Hand (1998), Penis (2006), Arms (2008), Legs (2011) and Face (2013). Logically, Head should come the next. And, it seems so.

Dr. Sergio Canavero, neurosurgeon from Italy confirms that possibility in a couple of years. Calling it a 'Head Transplant' maybe inaccurate because what the recipient gets is a body, not a head! The misnomer aside, promise of an extended life to someone with a healthy brain, but a diseased or dysfunctional body captures our attention.

The procedure involves surgical severing of the heads of both the donor and recipient to begin with. The recipient's head will then be aligned with the donor's body and the circulating system between the two connected to ensure blood to the brain. A robot assisted microsurgery that follows will render the more complex job of joining the spinal cords and nerves.

Though, still a theory, 'mating' one person's head with the body of another seems bizarre. How will the recipient's brain react to the sudden loss of its body, and adjust to the demands of another? Dr. Canavero himself says, the 'chimera' created will carry the mind of the recipient, while children born subsequently will inherit genetic traits of the donor!

Confused? This anecdote, if true, may have an answer. While experimenting with transplants in 1970, well-known neurosurgeon Dr Robert White severed the head of a Rhesus monkey and attached it to the body of another. When the monkey woke up and noticed its new body, it glared, snarled, and snapped at Dr. White. Was the monkey expressing horror, dread, or helplessness?

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;
the unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to himself...."

                                                                                                                                     ~ George B Shaw