Tuesday, November 18, 2014

MY WINGS!

It is time you discovered your wings!



 The untimely rain today helped me discover my wings.

It has begun to drizzle. Just when I am about to step out for my daily afternoon walk, the water drops have begun their journey from the sky to the earth below. I am a little annoyed that I cannot keep the promise I made to myself - the promise to go out and feel the pulse of nature. There is a stretch in the jogging track within my premises, an apartment complex bounded by walls that runs parallel to a huge green belt just outside our boundary wall. It is this spot that fills me with pleasure every time I pass by it. It is to look at it and feel something waking up in me that I have resolved to go till there and stop for a while before resuming my walk every day. It has almost become a ritual for me. 
A dilapidated house at its centre, the trees around it cutting off the sunlight that can barely make it to the rooms inside, it does nothing to enhance the beauty of the place. The beauty lies in the mango tree, its canopy spreading over many smaller plants, the jackfruit tree with its innumerable branches reaching out to the smaller trees growing far away from its root and the coconut trees standing tall which all lend a special charm to this nondescript piece of land.
The memory of the serenity of the area pulls me, as if with a magnetic force, and I get impatient for the rain to stop. I notice that the drizzle has turned into a steady downpour with the wind getting stronger every minute. Dark clouds gathering up in the sky send down sure signs of the rain continuing unabated as I give up hope of keeping my appointment with my special place. Vexed, I go back to my reading table. Restlessness prevents me from focusing on my book when I am suddenly reminded of a write-up in a newspaper that spoke about visits to special places and re-visiting them by imagining that one is really there to re-live those golden moments.
I try the trick and I am soon transported there, gazing at the trees, plants and flowers. A cuckoo greets me cooing when another bird joins it with a sweet warbling call. A squirrel scurries up the thick trunk of the banyan tree. Behind the towering eucalyptus trees, the thick smoky clouds come sailing over the white ones and slowly cover up a small patch of blue sky The elegant slender deodars lean towards me as I smile back admiringly. My eyes come to rest on a huge thick log lying on the grass. Two pigeons fly down from somewhere and sit on it for a chat. A cat passes by the log. The birds can’t care less. They have wings - wings that can save them, wings that can take them where they want to be.
I too am where I wanted to be - my special place. I have kept my tryst with the deodars and the sky there, with the help of my love for my favourite haunt and my imagination – my wings.

If there is one thing I could leave behind for my children, it would be my wings.




Saturday, July 19, 2014

The message......

“You don’t need the curtains, really!”

The message......

Sweeping through the tangle of branches
peacefully came the cool breeze
Soaked in colours the dawning sky,
with rising sun, peeped thru’ the trees

One tree wore dusty brown branches

Carrying new leaves glowing with sheen
It towered over its neighbour
As it touched the blue sky with its green

The other stood with younger branches

Its light green leaves a few inches away
The two gladly gave each other company
thru’ each silent night and day

Watching the sun drench the two

with its strong golden light
I sat enjoying their green beauty
when I spotted in one, at a height

A raven that sat almost still

Against the green, its black stood out bold
Motionless it was, without a sound
feathers and wings glowed in the afternoon gold
when suddenly appeared another raven
its calls renting the air
Excitedly the two exchanged stories
as they kept flying here and there

Gleefully flitted about the duo

as they sent down the tree a few shivers
rattling the branches, shaking the leaves
creating waves travelling in rivers

Briefly breaking the afternoon silence

The two friends took flight
Just as I thought I was all alone
The butterflies came within sight

Thru’ the branches and the leaves

the pretty things explored in and out
Weren’t they hunting for flowers in them?
Blissful, spreading bliss, no doubt

Lighting up the trees with

bright yellow in each wing
they fluttered about in joy
when came the bees buzzing

Flying in twos and threes

They looked for daily nectar
The butterflies gave them company
As I looked on from afar

For long moments they went about

Flying and buzzing, buzzing and flying
As the sun came slowly climbing down
“I’m blessed to be here”, I was sighing

A sweet music floated down

Spreading happiness like never before
Slowly the cuckoo stilled as twilight crept in
Leaving me hungering for more

I missed the caws and chirps

For sundown ‘twas, bringing in quiet and peace
And I went to draw my balcony curtains
When my eyes again fell on the trees

“Why do you want to keep us out?” asked a voice

from the thick dark foliage
“You don’t need the curtains, really!”
Slow and silent came their message.



Saturday, July 5, 2014

Gift for God



Once upon a time there lived a woman with her husband and their son. She earned good money with the help of her education and was proud to be a regular contributor to the family income, often showering her son with toys and chocolates and whatever he wanted except ample amount of time that he craved for. The little boy felt very lonely sometimes, his grandparents from both sides who came down to be with him, loving him and caring for him, but unable to fill the void in his life. So he asked his mother for a baby he could play with. She thought of her career and she thought of her son’s loneliness. A year later, the boy got a baby sister.

Happy that her family was complete now, the mother now focused on her work again. God came in her dream one day and asked “Where is my gift?” “I didn’t know you ever needed a gift”, she replied in consternation. “OK, we’ll talk about my gift later. Tell me about gifts that you have given anybody till now.” The reply came readily “I have earned pots of money for my family. I have gifted my son with a sister he longed for. I buy this and that for my parents. I gift my friends on their birthdays and colleagues too.” There were a lot of I’s in her spontaneous answer. God listened patiently and simply said “But that’s all because of your job which is again because of your education. If you didn’t have an education or a job, what could you gift?” She couldn’t imagine herself without education or a job, nor could she imagine any gift that could be bought without money. She said finally “I need time.” But God had vanished by then.

Years passed. God appeared again. “Sorry God. I got so busy with this and that.” God smiled kindly and left. The woman was now doing well in her field. She bought herself and others lots of gifts. She spent her leisure time in shopping malls. Life tasted sweeter than ever. And suddenly she thought of the gift God had asked for. God didn’t need money. What could she get for Him that He didn’t have enough? It flashed to her one morning when she was sipping tea in the balcony.

Her life changed. She got aware of the service she had been getting from people around – her housemaid, her cook, her driver, her gardener, her car cleaner. They were born poor. She gave them money; they gave her service – it was a give-and-take. What if they all had enough money, what if everybody had money and there was none to do those jobs? She thanked God. She took their service and added a smile to the salary she paid to each of them. God came in her dream once again and she immediately said “Thank you, God.” And then He replied “I got my gift. Thank you.” He left feeling richer. At least one had gifted Him with gratitude.


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Friend or Foe?


‘Twas not a great day
Cares with me I did carry
So I set out for a walk
But a demon didn’t let me be free

Drops of sunshine slip off the leaves

Intoxicated with a sudden joy, I cry, “Oh! This ego!
Thief you are! Stealing my peace?!"
and I ask, "How dare you bother me so?!”

“How dare YOU say so?!" I hear!

"For it’s you who chose to carry me around!
Cast me away and just move on
Only then peace will be found!”

"So farewell to you, my long-time friend

For you make old ties meet sudden end!"
I was sad, but am glad now that I left behind far
my ego, for it is a deadly disease, my dear!





















Sunday, February 23, 2014

Search for your dreams…….


Under the green-and-brown tree I sat
The late afternoon sun has lazily cast
Its long shadow beside me
That gives me fine company

A light breeze……and my eyes have closed
Ah! I wish I could dream, I thought as I dozed……


 The silvery moon spreading a soft light
The twinkling stars bringing in the night

I thought of the bird in the tree sleeping
Did it have a dream in its wing?


 A few leaves fell and as they fell
It looked like the tree had a story to tell….


 I sat still, very still, waiting to hear;
The branches and leaves all came near


“We are all here on the tree
But the leaves down there you see
A while ago with us they were
Not knowing it would soon all get over
And till the last moment
Long after the sun had set
They sat very complacent
Thinking they would always be up here…..”

Didn’t they have any dreams? I wonder!


They had ample time for it
Are they now full of regret?


Under the soil they’ll soon disappear
Or the breeze will take them somewhere far

Never to come back, never again to this tree…
……………………………………………………….

Life is very precious
But we’re in a constant rush
To our dreams we say “Hush!”


So spread your wings and hurry
A dream your wings will carry


What if wide awake I always kept
And did everything perfect
Never letting my wings fly
and let my dream sigh and die?


A colorless life is that
Where morning to night
For the money we work
Then in glory we soak


Uncaring for the bird and her song
For the day is always so long
Uncaring for the music in the wind chime
For fear of slipping behind and losing time


You’re not alone my friend, do not fear
Many like you are yonder
Some a little lost, some little unsure

“Am I running too fast, too far?”
Perhaps at times they wonder!


Time becomes wings, time flies by
Time becomes wings, my dreams will never die.

………………………….


To search for a meaning in life
I dive deep into my mind
More dreams keep cocooning there
I’m now sure with time wings they’ll find…..



Thursday, January 23, 2014

Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy seemed to permanently vanish into thin air had it not been for my little daughter


This article featured in The New Indian Express Saturday, when I had newly stumbled upon my long-lost love - writing!!

Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy were visiting us all the while when recently all of a sudden they seemed to permanently vanish into thin air, well almost, had it not been for my little daughter………….

It is the time of the year again when there is goodwill and cheer around. Blue sky without a hint of grey and the golden sunshine raise the spirits of one and all. The deciduous trees have begun shedding off their year-long green attire while many of them are already standing bare, shorn of their jewels. There is a nip in the air and the children move around wrapped in woollens, without any cares. For the exams are far away. For the gifts are about to flow in. For Santa Claus is on his way……

My six-year old came in hopping, jubilant and restless. “I wish Santa gives something special this time too,” he chirped and then after a pause announced emphatically “I have been a good boy all through.” He was looking at me for an approving nod while I was thinking of the show of muscle power he had had the other day with his best friend. It had ended with the two exchanging blows and “We’re not friends any more” for the umpteenth time. I let bygones be bygones and instead of raking up the past I said gently “You need to wait till Christmas.”

Advaita went off trotting, his “Jingle bells, jingle bells” ringing in the air as he went down to the lawn. Two days to go, and Santa was not yet ready with “her” gifts. It has been me who has donned the role of secret Santa over the years. And over the years I have sought the help of Santa when uninteresting vegetables have to be stuffed into my son’s reluctant mouth, or he has to be sent off to bed at nine much against his wishes. “Santa visits only the good children with his stock” has been the year-long refrain. My little one has revolted over many matters and quite often Santa has come to my rescue. Now that Santa’s visit was round the corner, all my little promises to my son are flashing back to me. Fortunately, “Santa visits only the good boys, not the naughty ones”, “Santa has a notebook where disobedient children don’t feature.” and other mild threats were not taken lightly since where gifts are concerned, Advaita seldom took a chance His temper tantrums too plunge to a low in December.

As I went about the household chores, a thin voice rang out loud. “Is Santa Claus really there?” For a second I froze and then I peeped down from the balcony where I had been fussing over the big stocking that had to be dusted, for Christmas was nearing. Down in the lawn, my son sat in the midst of a group of children. The vital question hung in the air, but before long the one who had thrown it had been cornered by the faithful majority. “How did I receive my Beyblade?” my son questioned innocently. “And how did my crown come in our stocking?” a four-year old girl asked. “And who do you think will know that I love chocolates more than Beyblades and leave for me boxes of them every year? My parents dislike my eating chocolates, they would never do that.” This was from the group leader, a seven-year old. Under the deluge of questions that strongly supported Santa’s existence, “Is Santa Claus really there?” drowned quietly. I could not thank enough the little ones for their unshakeable faith in Santa. After all, apart from dropping gifts and spreading joy around, he has made my life a little less of a struggle, considering my six-year old is the least cooperative during mealtimes, excepting when Santa is remembered. I realize I’ll have to make a quick visit to the nearby store before it gets too late and fresh doubts about Santa spring up in Advaita’s mind. Every year, Santa has been filling up the stocking with the most interesting gifts and every year I have been introducing new vegetables in the menu during Christmas time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The other day my son came in with a clouded face and knitted eyebrows. “Tell me a secret,” he almost whispered. As I waited, wondering what was coming my way, he blurted out “All this while, were YOU leaving the Christmas gifts in the stocking, not Santa Claus?”

Little Advaita is now nine years old.

The truth had to come out some day – I just hoped I had not gone overboard.

“And Tooth Fairy too never visited?!.....” He was barely audible by now. Was he disappointed? Was his world of Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy crumbling down too fast or too early? Was it the end of innocence for him? Would he ever enjoy the moral stories I spun for him when he went to bed in night, saying they were real-life incidents from Santa’s life?

As I stood unsure of what I should say, I wondered how many mothers in the world have been caught lying by their young children. But wait a minute. Had I been lying? Not really. I was no longer tongue-tied. The words flowed out effortlessly. “There is the world where we all live our life, which is there for everyone to see and then there is the imaginary world tucked away in the secret recesses of our minds where Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy keep visiting until we are ready to let them free for the younger children all over the world waiting for them.”

“Well Mom, I think you are right. But let not Diya know about this. Santa should keep showering her with gifts every year.” He was whispering again. In the next room, my little daughter was playing with the xylophone she had dug out of the stocking this Christmas, blissfully unaware of the conspiracy just hatched between her mother and brother. Five years on, she might come to me with an equally clouded face and the same questions. Will my reply be any different? Time will tell.




Why we can’t do without Wildlife


This article of mine was published in a Saturday issue of New Indian Express.

My dear son,


I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself throughout the entire journey you took with Mowgli, Baloo and the other friends from the jungle, with Shere Khan keeping you on tenterhooks now and then. You know what, Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book” has been a must-read for not only you, but thousands of other children over the decades. And to share a secret with you – I’ve even got a copy of the original story for myself as a bedside read. What had motivated Kipling to come up with such a masterpiece, with such interesting characters (helpful bear Baloo, deadly python Kaa and shrewd tiger Shere Khan) making it a delightful read, a perfect classic? Where had they all existed? Well….the forests of India, actually.
What if they were not there at all? What if they’d become extinct before he sat down to write?

“Oh! Mom, don’t be so imaginative! Our Social Studies teacher told us our India is home to a great variety of wildlife, and they’re all thriving here,” I can almost hear you say.
But did you know their numbers are dwindling alarmingly? That many species of wildlife have already vanished from the face of this world, never to come back? “Why is Mom so worried about all this?” you might wonder.

Well…it’s simple. We, the humans, have been dependant on wildlife for ages. Wildlife doesn’t mean wild animals alone, it covers all animals, birds, plants and even organisms growing in natural conditions. Together they form a huge world, and so if we neglected it too much, we would be in trouble sooner or later. Just sit and think for a while. When it comes to plants, the herbivores depend on them on which the carnivores depend in turn. So it’s not only the vegetarians or vegans, it’s also the non-vegetarians that depend on the plants in a way. If you thought it’s mostly food that plants provide, let me remind you that medicines, clothing, even many building materials (wood, for example) come from the plant kingdom. Next time you wear your woollens and cottons, spare the animals and plants a thought.
It doesn’t end there. Who powers your trips to the bird sanctuaries and zoo and national parks where you get to see wildlife during holidays and vacations? Well, the plants of course! How?! It’s a long story, but to tell you in short, millions of years ago when humans did not exist, plants and animals and many organisms died and got buried under layers of earth which finally formed oil to give us petrol and diesel that power our buses and cars and other vehicles, taking us where we want. Even coal is formed likewise and is indispensable today because of the electricity it helps generate.

Sadly we don’t feel threatened enough to stop and think of how to minimize the damage we have been doing to wildlife. We take our wildlife for granted. “Damage? We? How?” you might think.


We’ll get into that soon. Say, how would we feel if aliens came and tried to drive us out of our planet? Threatened, right? We are doing something exactly like that. We are building roads, recreational areas, amusement parks, hotels, malls and buildings more than we need. But when we are cutting down forests for all this, are we not destroying the habitat of many plants and animals and birds and organisms, something they call their home that they suddenly lose without any fault of theirs?

My dear son, it’s not only to feel empathy for the animals and birds that we need to stop killing them for sport or meat, or the trees that we need to minimize their felling, it’s more for our survival that we need to reduce some and stop some of our irresponsible acts. Stop for a moment to think. Today, it’s us making a list of endangered and extinct species of wildlife; tomorrow will it be us there in that list? Well, we definitely don’t want to go the way the dinosaurs did.


Nature has gifted us with its bounty of wildlife, so that we live a healthy life in a healthy habitat. A forest cut down today means losing the many treasures of many forms of wildlife which were silently helping us live and other treasures too. It could mean something as important as oxygen-producing plants and trees purifying the air. And not to mention the sheer joy of watching creatures of the blue planets – the oceans where blue whales swim about nonchalantly, on the TV, of listening to chirps of the birds, the roars of tigers and lions in the forests and reading Kipling’s Jungle Book-like stories inspired by wildlife.

The Red Panda, the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger, the Siberian Crane, would they all go into oblivion, only to appear in books and the Net? Would you like to visit Bandipur for roads instead of forests, a busy township in North India instead of the cool ambience of Uttarkhand where people flock for bird-watching in the forests there?

If you are alarmed, do not be. Rather, work with your Science teacher to know how you could help. You could start in small ways, like enjoying birds in their natural habitat instead of keeping them as pets at home (because many a time they die as we do not know to take care of them properly), throwing garbage in the right bins, else it litters a place and might end up as garbage in waterways and get devoured by animals accidentally, causing them a painful death (it could even flow down to oceans and stay as floating garbage as a potential danger to the creatures there), urging your family members to wear less of leather (since it comes from skin of animals), writing short notes on how you can save wildlife and pasting them on the return gifts that you distribute during your birthday party. After all, small gestures from many kids like you, can bring about a change in the way people have looked at wildlife.

Let’s do the little things to start with and change the wildlife world and our world in turn.

Love,
Mother


Wednesday, January 22, 2014

What pearls "Sound of Music" brings on for ages for generations and for me......

  
Watching 'Sound of Music' with my daughter and letting my thoughts flow unfettered.....

  The story of Robert Wise's  classic film “The Sound of Music”.......


 Love conquers all. A woman’s love for music, children and Nature bring everlasting dramatic changes in an Austrian family during the days of Nazi rule.


Maria plans to be a nun but isn’t cut out for it. Reverend Mother of Salzburg Abbey in Austria sends her to be the governess of the seven motherless children of Captain Von Trapp, a retired Naval Officer. Their hostility towards governesses is no match for Maria’s kind heart that helps her realize that they are growing up in a loveless stifling environment of discipline enforced by their father.


When the Captain is away from home, Maria’s love for the hills and trees takes her and the children to the lap of Nature. There she gives them the first lessons of music and the long-forgotten taste of freedom from a strict routine by picnicking on lush green meadows, running with rivers, climbing on trees and rowing boat in a placid lake, and wins over seven hearts effortlessly.


Straightforward that she is, during an argument with the Captain, Maria tells him to bridge the growing gap between him and his children through love again. The haughty and authoritarian Captain talks tough with her only to be overwhelmed by a song his children, tutored by Maria, sing to the baroness. Overnight he mellows down to an affectionate father.


With time, Maria and Captain get drawn towards each other but the baroness plays spoilsport. Stung by her words Maria returns to the Abbey, confused by her own feelings towards Captain. Meanwhile the baroness gets engaged to Captain.


Shocked that Maria has left for good, the children, in desperation, try to meet her in vain. Reverend Mother, with the wisdom of her silver years, advises Maria never to run away from problems, rather face them, by returning to Captain’s house.


Almost instinctively, Captain calls off his engagement to the baroness. The moment it dawns on him that he is in love with Maria, he hesitatingly approaches her in his sprawling garden where two hearts unite at last!


With the Nazis capturing Captain’s dear homeland, a sudden call of duty far away from home threatens to separate him from his family but music again comes to their rescue! During their performance at a concert, they cleverly leave the place to seek refuge in the Abbey from where they finally escape to Switzerland, to freedom!


What I love about the evergreen film “The Sound of Music”......


A musical, it is a breath of fresh air, soothing nerves and souls. Music here holds the characters and events, bonding seven children, their governess and their father effortlessly with the passage of time. The charm of the story lies in the different struggles of the different people who are all striving to overcome obstacles in the path towards happiness – the story of millions of us. The children try to come close to their father, Captain tries to forget memories of his dear, dead wife and Maria tries hard to be a nun. Without the silent struggle, the journey of each of them would lose its song.


"Sound of Music" is etched in my mind for its eternal truth – life is all about what choices we make. Maria chooses to bond with the children in the face of hostility. Dictatorial Captain chooses to metamorphose into an affectionate father and later again chooses to break his engagement to marry Maria who brings sunshine in his life.


The film deftly shows what optimism can do. Maria’s initial hesitation evident during her first trip to Captain’s house as she asks herself “Why am I so scared?” is swiftly replaced with a confidence growing from her great attitude. She is an embodiment of courage and an infectious optimism as she returns to Captain’s house to find out if she is destined to share his future and later when she gently urges Lisl, Captain’s teenager daughter, to move on with life after her first heartbreak.


“Sound of Music” magnetizes me with ethereally beautiful scenes of Austria’s natural beauty of hills crowned with trees sheltering chirping birds, lakes interspersing green meadows and brooks tripping over stones.


The director gives every character a fair share of screen presence (wise Reverend Mother, scheming baroness, suave Max and so on) and gives us a balanced mix of humour, love, joy, suspense and happiness, laced with feelings of patriotism and finally peace as significant events of world history – rise of Hitler and the Nazi rule – unfold, forming the backdrop.


I love the unique way two different kinds of love – blossoming passionate teenage love and a calm, matured love that later culminates in marriage – happen in the same garden, both in silvery night, at two different points of time.


The film’s many evergreen songs carry beautiful messages. “Climb every mountain” encourages one to cross obstacles to hunt for one’s dream and live it. As Maria sings “nothing comes from nothing”, I realize that beautiful moments take birth in noble actions of the past. And to overcome sadness I can hum about “a few of my favourite things”!


"Sound of Music" is life’s lessons packaged with profound truths - “walls are not built to shut out problems” and one has to face them, “you have to live the life you were born to live” and good times follow difficult times just as “the sun comes out” after the night.


One single film has so much to offer!


It's thinking time!! So 'A Bit of Science Time' now!


Ready for some thinking?

Click here for getting your brain cells tickled with Let us think for a while! some science questions.

I plan to include more later!

 


Bio-mimicry in child-friendly portions!!


If you like the biomimicry stories here, also do visit www.childfriendlynews.com where I contributed these......



Japanese Trains look up to kingfisher for the perfect nose

Are you aware of Shikansen? These are the super-fast trains in Japan. They are the bullet trains and they are the ones which have helped Japan earn the label of being amongst the world’s most technologically advanced nations. But did you know these trains, when traveling through tunnels, produced very loud claps that proved to be a great nuisance even to people not staying close to their route? It was indeed a challenge to reduce the high noise level!

It was then that biomimicry came to the rescue! Bio means life and mimicry means copying. Designers turned towards nature to look for a solution. The kingfisher’s beak inspired them to design a 15-metre nosecone on the front car of the bullet train. Just as a kingfisher dives seamlessly into the water, the modified bullet train became much quieter and smoother too in its journey following this modification!

Interesting, right? Now it is your turn to look towards nature and come up with your own biomimicry inventions! I will eagerly wait for your posts at sdapara@gmail.com!



Termites inspire architect to say “No” to fan and air conditioner!

Heard about an office complex WITH a shopping mall but WITHOUT any fan or air blower or air conditioner? Want to visit it? Then head to Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe. The building, covering half a city block, gets cooled when outside air is hotter than it and warmed when it is colder outside, because of its multiple vents through which outside air flows in. Can you believe that its architect Michael Pearce designed it after termite mounds?! The sturdy mound the termites build has a chimney-like structure at its top and tunnel-like holes in the wet mud at the bottom. Dry, hot air flows in and picks up water vapour from the wet mud at bottom, and cools down too as it passes on its heat to the mud. Also warm air rises up through the “chimney” and goes out, thus leaving a cooler mound even with high temperatures outside. The creatures continuously open up new tunnels and block others to maintain a consistent temperature and humidity inside, to keep the fungus, its food, alive.

Thanks to termites and architect Pearce, the energy consumption has come down drastically for this building, with its ventilation system having cost 10% of a standard air-conditioned building!

Have you heard of Biomimicry (bio=life and mimicry=copying) where nature turns teacher and inspires humans to copy it for coming up with unique designs? Well, Eastgate Centre is just an instance of it!



Even Michael Phelps would adore sharks!

Does a shark inspire you to swim your fastest? Do you dream of even trying to copy it? Well, you don't have a body shaped like a shark's, and you can never have powerful muscles like it has. But wait, don't despair! Let me share an example of biomimicry (bio-life, mimicry-copying) that will boost you up and that even Michael Phelps, the famous swimmer, will vouch for! Speedo LZR Racer Suit is a special swimsuit that has been copied from shark's skin. A shark has tiny, teeth-like structures on its skin, their shape and positioning varying across its body. These 'teeth' being in between skin and water, help the shark to face the least resistance from the water it is flowing in. This is a secret behind sharks being such fast swimmers that has been unearthed by Speedo. Now are you inspired to look at Nature and inform me at sdapara@gmail.com about how some biomimicry idea is just germinating in you?



A lovely coloured birthday dress without any dyes in it!

Can you think of a colourful dress for wearing it on your birthday made from only fibres without any dyes? The blue morpho butterfly has inspired a Japanese company to think along those lines. This butterfly has multiple layers of proteins on its scales so that when light strikes it, it does it in a way that its wings emit only blue colour, without the wings having any blue pigment in them! With varying thickness and structure of the fibre, this company’s innovation, Morphotex, creates colour, without having anything to do with dyes or pigments.

 


Walk with Nature-buddy in the butterfly park


This story of mine was published in HooplaClub, a Bangalore-based children's magazine. The original article follows below.

Walking under trees through the lanes of the butterfly park, Nature-buddy was listening to her children humming a tune when the wind took notice of a tree and shook its branches lightly. The sudden thick shower of pink blossoms and dry, brown leaves made them stop and look up. The tree had the last few spring leaves and a rich load of the pink beauties.

A beautiful shiny blue butterfly flew in and settled down on a piece of apple lying on the ground. Just as it folded its wings up to suck in the juice with its straw-like proboscis, Advaita cried out “The blue wings are brown now?!”

Diya, Advaita's younger sister went running towards the butterfly. Startled, it flew away in flashes of blue, disappearing every now and then amongst the trees and bushes.

“How is it appearing and disappearing so fast? Why does it look only blue when it flies?” Advaita asked, immensely surprised.

“It’s playing Hide and Seek!” Diya shrieked, clapping her hands gleefully.

“It’s magic - the butterfly doesn’t have blue in it at all,” Nature-buddy said mysteriously, adding after a pause, “Well, its wings have multiple layers of scales that have bumps on them which reflect the sunlight striking them in a way only the blue gets reflected which is why it got its name ‘blue morpho’. The layers lie on a colourless membrane. The underside of course is brown which you just saw.”

Diya sat down below the tree and dug into her backpack. As she shared her garlic butter sandwiches with her brother and Nature-buddy, another blue morpho came flying in. Its wings reflected blue but its brown was visible even when it kept flying. Advaita noticed and said “This one is both blue and brown even when it’s flying.”

“Its wings’ brown undersides help it to get lost in the forest foliage. So when it flies amongst bushes, as its wings flap continuously, they alternately reflect blue which makes them very visible and then again show the brown underside that helps them to camouflage themselves so they seem to disappear. This one’s very close to us, so we can see its brown as well.”

“Why aren’t they flying near the flowers, mamma?” Diya asked suddenly.

“That’s because their diet is usually logs of dead wood, fruits, fresh or rotting, and even wet mud.” Nature-buddy sure gave nasty surprises!

“Oh! They’ll stink!” Diya said, pinching her little nose.

“How are you so sure, mamma?” Advaita asked.

“Well, I knew this butterfly park has many blue morphos and that I’ll be showered with questions and so I flipped through the encyclopaedia for a day,” Nature-buddy replied. She got up, smiling her way through the line of trees, the two children following her.

There were huge cages around, housing colorful chirpy birds making a continuous noise as they fed on grains and corn.

Walking and looking around, the trio came upon a big board close to the exit gate that read out loud “Butterfly’s Life”. It had pictures of a blue morpho in different stages of its life. First the eggs, then the caterpillar feeding on leaves of plants of the pea family. Then the cocoon inside which the pupa lay still, sleeping away to glory. Then the final stage – a butterfly with its magnificent iridescent blue wings shining in the sunshine.

Not wanting to leave right away, they glanced around. There were trees that stood in clumps, some of their branches hanging low with the weight of ripened fruits, while some branches looked beautiful with strings of blossoms all over them. Plenty of plants and bushes with numerous flowers kept the butterflies happy. A few birds flew outside within the netted enclosure they were in.

“Why are these birds not inside cages?” Diya asked.

“They are harmless to the butterflies here. Blue morphos particularly are eaten up by some birds which I think the zookeeper has kept caged,” Nature-buddy’s voice trailed off.

The warm spring afternoon brought on drowsiness and so they sat down on a patch of green below a banyan tree. Advaita pulled out a flask from his backpack and poured out hot tea into cute steel cups he had carried from home. “No disposable cups. We won’t cut trees to make paper cups, and plastic cups are not bio-degradable.” He said emphatically.

“You know one thing? The blue morphos have inspired some people in the world to come up with interesting inventions” Nature-buddy suddenly broke the silence as she sipped tea.

“How can a butterfly inspire man?” Advaita thought.

“Just as you have teachers, some people continue to seek teachers in Nature even after schooling is over. They take walks in the woods, observing Nature all the while, and get awesome ideas. Looking at the blue morpho and studying it, inquisitive people have come up with fabrics with multiple layers that reflect different colours at different angles.”

“How does that help?” Advaita asked.

“We won’t need a dye manufacturing factory for the fabrics . Also you’re not polluting your environment by adding harmful chemicals from there.”

“This will surely make our EVS ma’am happy. She keeps telling us ‘Little scientists! When you grow up, DO NOT invent anything that harms Nature.’”

As they talked, a blue morpho came and sat a furlong away on a dead log of wood. Its wings shone, clean and bright. “How do you think the blue morpho keeps itself so clean? Watch it. Can you see the ridges on its wing?”

“No, they look so flat,” Diya said.

“The ridges can’t be seen, but they are there. Because of them, water drops falling on the wing shape into balls and so they slide off easily, taking the dirt off the wing with them. This has inspired making of special paints which when applied on walls, leave behind ridges. A splash of water thrown on them carries away all the dirt, leaving the walls sparkling clean.” Nature-buddy was surely surprising them today!

“This act of copying nature is called biomimicry which is a famous word today.” Nature-buddy added.

“When are we getting our study room painted again, brother?” Diya asked.

“I’m sure Daddy dearest will ask you two to save up for that,” Nature-buddy remarked.

“Great! Even adults have teachers who aren’t human beings like them! And…..” Advaita broke off, for Diya was jumping excitedly as a swarm of blue morphos was coming towards them. One of them settled down on a half-eaten fruit on the ground near them. And then they noticed the two big eye-like spots on the brown wings. Nature-buddy spoke up again, “The two eye-like spots are to scare off enemies.”

“Why will they have enemies?” Diya asked.

“Most of the creatures on this earth have enemies, they are called predators. Butterflies are eaten up by birds and insects which are again eaten up by some other creatures and so it continues - a big reason for us not to capture these creations for their beauty. Anything becoming endangered or extinct is bad for us in the long run.”

“Diya, we’ll never hunt butterflies!” Advaita said, as his sister readily nodded.

Nature-buddy looked on happily, thinking “The children have seen a lot, learnt a lot and will go home with an important message – Nature has been there for long, waiting to be admired and studied and mimicked, not to be hurt.” Surely, by the next trip she would introduce them to more biomimicry examples. And if Nature could fascinate them now, who knows they might be successful “biomimicrians” two decades later!