Diwali First Day, Gene Period 3 and Cockroaches

Diwali is almost upon us. I already smell it. Narak Chaturdashi नरक चतुर्दशी, first day of the festival, is celebrated in Maharashtra with an early morning bath अभ्यंग स्नान.

At Miraj, mother always woke us when it was still dark and cold. It felt colder because our house had a tiled roof, I was less fat and there was no constant talk of global warming.

Feasting frenzy soon followed the bath.

I liked that day the best. I still like it because I like getting up early. They say this liking is written in one’s DNA, a gene called Period 3. Yes, I agree because my mother too liked it.

In that respect, I am not like a cockroach.

Business Line on September 30, 2007 reported that:

“It's not just people who find it hard to get going in the morning. Cockroaches don't like mornings either, according to US researchers.

A study by biologists at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, found dramatic variations in a cockroach's learning ability throughout the day. In the morning, the insects couldn't learn a new task, but in the evening, something kicked in…

This study was a surprise from the beginning to the end—the fact that cockroaches could be trained, even though you would not generally say they are a high IQ creature, and the impact that their body clocks had on their ability to learn…”

Roaches are in excellent company of Calvin, my son and my wife!

Happy Diwali!!!


Artist: Bill Watterson Calvin And Hobbes

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