What is in a name!

It is exam time and we, the Grad Students run caffeine in our veins as a dietary supplement for blood. And despite our albino appearance, fate shows no mercy to running us head first into encounters like...

"Hi there, what can I get for you today?"

"Can I have a medium coffee please?"

"Sure. What's your name?"

"Shankar."

"Is that the full name..?"

Venam da... valikkudhu... "Shankar Narayanan"

"The what ?"

Where did you learn your grammar - proper nouns don't have articles as prefixes !!

"That's S..H..A..N.."

"Can you spell that out please?"

Ippo adhu dan da pannaren.. padutharanungley..!

"S...H.."

"etch, what...?"

It's English, not Spanish !! Words in English exist where H is not silent!

"H for house.."

"whooos ?"

"H for HULK"

"Ah.. H.. I got it!"


Very smart !

"A...N..."

"Wow.. That's a pretty complicated name..!  (beaming).. let's spell it again.."

Dei, dei.. inum muzhusa naalu alphabet kooda mudikaleyey da ! Adhukkula repeat spelling ah !

"S..H...A..N.."

"K for king, A for Art, R for .."

"SHANKRR.. is there a double 'R'..? "

Vechuka da.. unakku enna venumo vechuko.. kaapi ya kodunga da... oru vaai kaapi ketadhu kuthama da.. sobba.. sobbababababaaaa...

(Not letting it go.. ) "Wow, looks like I got it.. thats pretty complicated.. why don't we keep it simple ? (grin)"

Enda.. ungalukku puriyala 'ndra dukkaaga en pera 'Arnold Somasegar' nu maathi vechuka mudiyuma da... !!

"So is there a last name..?" (by the time even the coffee arrives)

anney..venam.. valikudhu... azhuduruven..

(Still holding the cup in his hand and waving it all around animatedly)  adha koduthutu pesunga da... 


"How do you pronounce it..?"

And it started all over again!

Aaniyey pudunga vendam, inimel naan coffee keten, enna pinja seruppaleyey adi ! 

Coffeee.. cafe.. kaaapeeee..

Java...? heck no...this post is dedicated not to mere mortals, but to the ones who truly savor the ambrosia, the mere fragrance of which can instigate life, the best (or is it not..?) beverage that man has ever discovered..'coffee'. For a substantial subset of people in the world, their days cannot kick-start without a cup of coffee. Oh no.. this is not going to be yet another of my 'incident-o-mania' posts. This is going to be an erudite conglomerate of facts and figures ! So my dear readers, please wear your scientific shoes before stepping on further.

Okay.. lets now get going with the composition of coffee. Most of us are familiar with the infamous ingredient called caffeine. It would surprise you to know that this is less than 1% of the components that make coffee. The major contents of coffee are

Polysaccharides - 12 %
Chlorogenic acids - 15% (mono/di esters of hydroxycinnamic acid)
phenolic polymers - 20%
quinic acid / quinides - 8%
caffeine - 1%
water - 4%
minerals and other organic acids - 40%

Most of these components are not the inherent innate components of coffee. They are the compounds that are formed during the various processes that it undergoes like
roasting, blending and brewing.

Now moving on to the well-known stimulating effect of coffee. The main reason for feeling fresh after a coffee is because of the quinides. The brewing process results in the isomerisation of these quinides which have varying effects on our brain. While some research indicate that the synergetic effects of these quinides on a biological entity are healthy, certain others indicate that such hyperactivity cannot be handled by the brain. However we cannot be certain of the effects/side-effects of coffee till date because we are still quite ignorant of the effects of the numerous chlorogenic acids and quinide isomers. What we are sure is that the stimulant effect is due to the reaction of these compounds with the opiate system of the brain.

What benefits does the coffee offer to you ..? well, It boosts endurance by delaying fatigue and it improves long-term memory (Good news eh..?). It may help prevent kidney stones and it relaxes lung spasms during an asthma episode. And as you may have discovered, it stimulates your gastrointestinal tract. Moving on to the bad elements of coffee... it contains carcinogens(Homework: find out what a carcinogen can do to you.) which when taken in large quantities can be harmful. But then., hey who cares !! Its definitely the most refreshing drink on earth ! Remember folks .. anything cna happen over a cuppa coffee.. anything.....