Catnaps

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Catnap (aka "power nap", "forty winks") is, strangely, the opposite of sleeplessness.

Sustained failure to drop into a catnap leads to a severe sleeping-disorder...utter insomnia.

By the way, I am a global authority on that insomnia:

http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2009/10/world-mental-health-day.html?m=0

For reasons too complicated to elaborate here, I suffered total insomnia for about a month, at the end of which I was craving for one of two things: "catnap" or "death", neither of which was forthcoming.

My famous psychiatrist tried what he proudly called "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors" which, alas, aggravated my death-wish. 

Towards the end of that terrifying month when I was about to end it all, he changed his mind and prescribed "Olanzapine". 

My son pushed one tablet of it down my unwilling throat. 

Lo and behold! Within minutes I had my most welcome catnap in a month...as welcome as a wife to a dying bachelor (ask me!) 

I then recalled my favorite verse of Ancient Mariner:

"Oh sleep it is a gentle thing

Beloved from pole to pole 

To Mary Queen the praise be given

She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven

That slid into my soul"

This could well be my epitaph :)

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Catnap is also the opposite of the "dormouse-nap" of Alice in her Wonderland:

"There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. `Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,' thought Alice; `only, as it's asleep, I suppose it doesn't mind.'

..........................

`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the March Hare.

`Exactly so,' said Alice.

`Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on.

`I do,' Alice hastily replied; `at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know.'

`Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. `You might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!'

"You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, `that "I like what I get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!'

`You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!'

`It is the same thing with you,' said the Hatter.."

..............................

Nowadays I am like that dormouse; can't say if I am awake or asleep; it is all the same with me...

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Let me now illustrate what an ideal catnap is:

When you feel pleasantly drowsy after your hectic lunch, DON'T do any of these three things:

1. Get up and take a walk

2. Get up and take a bath

3. Get up, go to your bedroom, switch on the AC, lie down on the mattress, and sleeeep

Instead, DO the following thing:

Sit erect in your chair, balance nicely a fat book (like the "Born & Wolf") on your head; and snooze...till the fat book drops on your thighs jerking you up painfully.

...THAT is a catnap and is much more refreshing than a couple of hours extra sleep in the night.

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Sourendu Gupta:

1974: IIT KGP: Post-lunch 1st Year Tutorial Class:

There are 10 youngsters in the tiny room; five boys and five girls (all the girls are from the campus...they are all sitting in the second row).

The first row has the five boys, Sourendu sitting in the middle.

I write down an optics problem on the green board and drowse in my chair.

Sourendu promptly sinks into his catnap.

Girls giggle and giggle...

Sourendu is woken up by his neighbor's elbow-kick.

He looks at the problem on the board, solves it in 5 minutes and announces the correct answer.

I invite him to the green board and he writes his solution and returns to his seat.

Girls get busy copying it from the green board furiously.

I clean the green board and write the next problem.

Sourendu promptly sinks into his catnap.

Girls giggle and giggle...

Sourendu is woken up by his neighbor's elbow-kick...

................................

...Girls get busy copying it from the green board furiously.

...The tamasha goes on for the entire hour...

Sourendu is now a Senior Professor in TIFR...

https://theory.tifr.res.in/~sgupta/

Girls?...I have no idea...

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Professor AVK Rao:

1985: IIT KGP: After-lunch 3rd Year Lab:

AVKR found taking his famous catnap in his teacher's-chair. 

His two other colleagues giggle.

Two students arrive and, not bothering the gossiping teachers, approach AVKR and wake him up saying:

"Sir! Anderson Bridge balance point is not coming"

"Pull out 100 ohms from the resistance box in the galvanometer arm"

Students go away happily.

AVKR resumes his catnap.

His two colleagues giggle.

.....................

Two other students arrive and, not bothering the gossiping teachers, approach AVKR and wake him up sating:

"Sir! B-H curve commutator is not working"

"Clean the mercury in the contacts"

Students go away happily.

AVKR resumes his catnap.

His two colleagues giggle...

The tamasha continues for the three hours....

AVKR is resting in his Good Teachers' Heaven.

His two colleagues?...I have no idea :

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Famous celebrities who were proud of their catnaps:

1. Winston Churchill

2. Salvador Dali

3. Albert Einstein

4. Leonardo Da Vinci

5. Napoleon Bonaparte

6. John F. Kennedy

7. Thomas Edison

8. Ronald Reagan

9. Aristotle

10. Margaret Thatcher

11. Bill Clinton

....

https://thecarousel.com/wellness/11-most-surprising-famous-people-who-loved-to-nap/

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Acknowledgment:

I thank Shree Kandi Shankarayya Garu for giving me the title of today's blog, responding to my recent boast:

"Give me a word; and I will give you a blog"

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