Siddharth Alva

Management Consultant based in Mumbai, India

[SuSingh @suhani84]

It goes without saying that @IndiGo6E is going through one of its worst spells. Every day you hear of passengers complaining about service. My mother, a senior citizen, had to endure a 7.5 hour delay in Bhubaneshwar and then be yelled at by the Indigo staff when seeking answers.

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

I am a Hepatologist.

Arguably, I care for the sickest group of patients in medical practice – end stage liver disease.

I see death almost every day in my ICU.

Some are natural deaths, leading to multiple organ failure triggered by a failing liver.

Some are decided. The family decided to pull the plug. They decide it was time to let go.

And every time, I see the heart rate drop, the blood pressure fall and the electrocardiogram go flat.

And I wonder. What goes on inside a dying brain?
Was it a small black hole, that gets bigger and bigger and then engulfs the field in darkness as the heart shuts down taking the brain away with it?

Or was it just all light at the end of the tunnel and then darkness, once the destination had reached?

A group of doctors did something strange. Something unimaginable.

And it led to them witnessing something melancholic, but beautiful.

They went inside an ICU. Saw that four patients were unconscious.

They were not clinically dead, yet. And not brain-dead. But were comatose.
They were kept alive by a machine that pumped oxygen into their lungs.
Three had brain injury due to cardiac arrest. One had haemorrhaged into the brain.

All were unresponsive for a very long time and sadly, the family decided to pull the plug on them.
To let them go away, peacefully.

But before they did that, the loving family did something bittersweet. They signed a document which was made by the group of doctors, allowing them to study their beloveds’ dying brain.

The group was led by Dr Jimo Borjigin of the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor at Michigan.

The doctors fitted machines to the heart and brain of the dying patients and then withdrew their life support by removing the breathing tube.

Immediately after the tube was removed, the brain activity did not show anything different.
But as the brain got closer to death, about 300 seconds before death, a power surge. And it occurred in the regions of the brain which was associated with conscious experience. Like the dying was suddenly yearning to live.

And make no mistake, these were not “some bursts” of electrical activity that happens when the brain cells withered away without oxygen. This was a special kind of activity.

These power surges increased connectivity in a region in the brain called posterior cortical “hot zone” – an area crucial for conscious perception – when it came to just before dying, the brain cells were having a cross-talk, not dying away into oblivion.

They were passing final messages to each other within the regions of the brain, while the physical body lay, limp and motionless.

And the doctors were heartbroken – because the final electrical pattern of surge that the dying brain was showing was the similar to those seen in dreaming humans.

All the patients in the study died.
But before they died, they taught us something.
That even in death, our minds are resilient.
That we clutch at only everything that is good.

What were they dreaming of?
A husband, about his loving wife?
A mother, her children?
Children, their parents?
Or maybe a scene from a movie that changed you?
Or a song under a starry sky?
Or a pet who loved you unconditionally?
We will never know.

But know this, even in death, the mind conquers – with dreams and love, not nightmares and hate.

Remember, nothing perfect lasts forever, except in our memories.

Make good memories while living, so that we can re-live them in death.

Go hug you family, take your children for an ice cream. Walk your dog into the sunset.

Sources:
➡️"Surprising brain activity moments before death" by Dr. F Perry Wilson @fperrywilson via https://t.co/g2NmWlMrAs

➡️Research Article: Surge of neurophysiological coupling and connectivity of gamma oscillations in the dying human brain from @PNASNews https://t.co/YqvZIlDaxN

[Rohini K @rohinik]

Visited @CSMVSmumbai this morning especially for the Children's Museum. Our three year old was excited to visit the space-themed exhibit, but the section was shut. No announcement or notice. No one knew when it would open. Our kid was extremely disappointed, and so were we. 1/2

[Steven Strogatz @stevenstrogatz]

A great mathematician named Madhava, working in Kerala, India, discovered the power series for sin(x) in the 1300s, hundreds of years before Newton, Leibniz, Gregory, Taylor, et al. In this video, master teacher @garyrubinstein shows how Madhava did it: https://t.co/8Biod55KqC

[Siddharth Alva @Sid_1308]

@StevenFnBell The late shift was my favourite podcast and helped me through some tough times. This too shall pass, hope you don't give up

[Siddharth Alva @Sid_1308]

@StevenFnBell Stay strong Steven

[Alt News Hindi @AltNewsHindi]

BJP नेताओं सहित न्यूज़ ऐंकर्स शिव अरूर, सुधीर चौधरी, चित्रा त्रिपाठी और रजत शर्मा ने दावा किया कि 2004 में UPA सरकार ने नौसेना के ध्वज में ‘सेंट जॉर्ज क्रॉस’ को फिर से जोड़ा जिसे अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी ने 2001 में हटाया था. ये दावा झूठा निकला. | @abhisheksay

https://t.co/msM0ekebdy

[@GrappleClips IS BACK @GrappleKlips]

Bret Hart vs Hakushi

WWF RAW
July 24, 1995

[Pickle @mpickle]

If you sleep less than 7 hours a night, read this:

[@GrappleClips IS BACK @GrappleKlips]

Bryan Danielson with a Leg Trap Bridging German Suplex!

[Siddharth Alva @Sid_1308]

Extremely dejected and am at a loss of words, did not expect such service from a brand like ITC.

[Siddharth Alva @Sid_1308]

Hi @ITCHotels , deeply disturbed by the service form Welcomhotel, tavleen chail. They took a double payment for me despite payment showing successful at my end. They acknowledged on 13-Jun over email that they have received a double payment but i've still not received my refund

[Siddharth Alva @Sid_1308]

They confirmed 2 weeks ago that i will receive the funds within 10 working days, and today i get an email (after multiple followups) that this will take another seven to ten working days. What pathetic service is this! Why should a customer have to wait so long for his own money?

[Cliff Pickover @pickover]

Mathematics, physics, education.

→ Relax and enjoy this visualization of "integration" in calculus (e.g., finding the area under a curve).

Source: https://t.co/20ipTujSaF

[@GrappleClips IS BACK @GrappleKlips]

Bret Hart vs Fit Finlay

WCW Nitro
July 13, 1998

*match time under 5mins bell to bell

[Rofl Gandhi 2.0 🏹 Commentary @RoflGandhi_]

कई शहरों से रिपोर्ट आ रही है कि सिनेमा के बाहर कश्मीर फाइल्स के पोस्टर लगाकर अंदर धाकड़ दिखाई जा रही है। लोग बीच में उठकर भी नहीं आ पा रहे कि कहीं ��ाहर अग्निहोत्री के बंदे ना पकड़ लें।

[Any / അനന്യ @MysticHeretica]

Holocaust, a systematic murder of 6 million Jewish people. But who were the perpetrators?
Picture shows people waiting to enter the building where belongings of their Jewish Neighbors are being sold. (27/11/1940)

Role and participation of the ordinary Germans in holocaust : 🧵

[Dr. Sanket ⚕️ @Sanket_298]

People talking shit bout Dr B R Ambedkar on his birth anniversary, he did not work 'only for Dalits'. Here are some of his works to enlighten your minds..
#AmbedkarJayanti 1/n

[Siddharth Alva @Sid_1308]

https://t.co/9moCgMmh1N