Vinod Anand

NO one will refute the fact that amongst the non-humans the large number of a given breed say of birds or other creatures look exactly alike. One can not possibly differentiate between a set of sparrows, or pidgins, or even cows and buffalos. But amongst the humans, all the people have different faces and they do not look alike, of course with a few exceptions like twins or even triplets, and that too very rarely.

However, I have heard that for every face, in all, there are seven people with the same identical face. But this may not be true. There is no scientific proof of this statement. There are never multiple versions of anybody existing at the same time. The mechanism of the Almighty in this respect is perfect. In such a large world-wide population, each person is unique in the sense of being different in looks and structure. The man-manufacturing factory of the Almighty produces absolutely non-uniform human beings. None of them is a perfect substitute of others. Of course, there are a few exceptions. There are twins, triplets, and even quadruplets, and that too rarely, but beyond that I don’t think there are quintuplets, sextuplets and septuplets and even more than that.

Terms used for the order of multiple births in humans are largely derived from the Latin names for numbers. Two offspring (twins) is the most common form, eight (octuplets) being the largest number ever successfully carried to full term with all children surviving. Generally, such terms are not used in non-human species, particularly those where multiple births are the norm. These are mentioned below:

• Two offspring – twins
• Three offspring – triplets
• Four offspring – quadruplets
• Five offspring – quintuplets
• Six offspring – sextuplets
• Seven offspring – septuplets
• Eight offspring – octuplets
• Nine offspring – nonuplets
• Ten offspring – decaplets
• Eleven offspring – undecaplets
• Tweleve offspring – duodecaplets
• Thirteen offspring – tredecaplets
• Fourteen offspring – quattrodecaplets
• Fifteen offspring – quindecaplets
• Sixteen offspring – sexdecaplets
• Seventeen offspring – sepdecaplets
• Eighteen offspring – octdecaplets
• Nineteen offspring – nondecaplets

Twins and triplets are quite common in most of the countries, especially in the African continent. I wonder why? Maybe, they are still behind in human development. There are three kinds of twins:

1. Identical Twins: They look alike and born from a single fertilized egg; they are normally of the same sex;

2. Mirror Image Twins: They are subset of identical twins, and each one appears as a reflection of the other; the identifying marks are always on opposite sides;

3. Fraternal Twins: They are conceived from two different eggs; they do not look alike, and they are of mixed sex;

About 66 per cent of the twins are of the third category. Being a twin doesn't mean you have to be exactly like your sibling!

Identical triplets or quadruplets are very rare and result when the original fertilized egg splits and then one of the resultant cells splits again (for triplets) or, even more rarely, a further split occurs (for quadruplets). Alternatively the original fertilized egg can split twice (to produce four embryos) and all four may survive, to produce identical quadruplets, or one of the embryos may not survive and result in triplets.

The human factory of the Almighty is really amazing!

BACK

Archie Panjabi wins Primetime Emmy Awards

INDIAN origin British actress Archie Panjabi, who starred in films like 'Bend it like Beckham' and 'East is East', has bagged the best supporting actress in a drama series for her role in 'The Good Wife' at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.

Panjabi was pitted against the likes of Rose Byrne ('Damages'), Sharon Gless ('Burn Notice'), Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks (both for 'Mad Men') and co-star Christine Baranski for 'The Good Wife'.

She made her film debut in the British hit film 'East Is East' in 1999 and went on to star in international blockbuster films like 'Bend It Like Beckham' in 2002, imdb.com reported.

The actress starred in 2005 in 'The Constant Gardener' and played a part in critically acclaimed films like 'A Mighty Heart' in 2007 and 'Yasmin' written by Simon Beaufoy, who also scripted the Oscar-winning 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

Panjabi won the Best Actress for her role in 'Yasmin' in 2004 at the Reims Festival in 2006 and was awarded the Shooting Star Award at the Berlin International Film Festival 2005. The award is given to actors who are seen as 'the most exciting and emerging actors from across Europe' (European Film Promotion).

She is graduate from Brunel University, England and has a degree in Management Studies.

BACK