To kill a mocking bird

I must admit that I started reading this book because of Mouna's suggestion and I am glad I read it.
I read it twice- the first time I was forced to give away the book to the library when I had almost finished it. So had to borrow it the second time. So as not miss the link I started it from the beginning and it was good as things gave much more meaning to me when I read it the second time.
There were several instances where I would laugh loudly at all the adventures of Jem, Scout and Dill (especially the Boo Radley incident) and would look up to see if someone is watching me laughing like that.

One can relive their childhood days while reading this book.

I think it's not just the humor that bound me with the characters but the intricacies with which they teach the simple lessons of life, of adulthood and growing up.

The little episodes of Boo Radley; fire at Ms. Maudie's; Jem and Scout's encounter with Mrs. Dubose; Atticus shooting at the mad dog; Dill's running away; the case of Tom Robinson and at the end Boo Radley saving the children from Mr. Ewell; all carry such good messages with a touch of humor.

I really enjoyed reading the book.

The Act of Smiling

A few years ago I happened to read this book called 'Phantoms in the Brain' by Dr. V. S. Ramachandran. He said there are two different circuits for the act of smiling. 'When you see a friend you grin. But, when the same Friend aims a camera at your face and asks you to smile you fail to do so. Instead of a natural expression, you produce a hideous grimace.

The reason these two kinds of smiles differ is that different brain regions handle them and only one of them contains a specialised "smile circuit". A spontaneous smile is produced by the basal ganglia. When you encounter a friendly face, the visual message from that face eventually reaches the brains emotional center or limbic system and is subsequently relayed to the basal ganglia, which orchestrate the sequences of facial muscle activity needed for producing a natural smile. These entire cascade of events happen in a fraction of a second without the thinking parts of your cortex ever being involved.

But when someone asks you to smile, the verbal instruction from the photographer is received and understood by the higher thinking centers in the brain, including the auditory cortex and language centers. From there it is relayed to the motor cortex in the front of the brain, which specialises in producing voluntary skilled movements'.

So when you smile next time at your friend and at the camera remember the work that our brain carries out.

Shadow on the wall

The shadow of my favourite Tara devi idol.