Category: history

The Cream of Swadeshi: Boroline

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https://boroline.com/about-boroline/

It finds its place in every home, on all travels, and as a trusted friend at work. The green tube is its timeless identity and it is virtually a panacea for all ills—chapped lips, small cuts, pimples, grazed knees, as soother or smoother… It can be found in first aid kits, home medicine cabinets, handbags, and suitcases. It is Boroline, unchanged over time, and with faithful fans across all generations.

While most of us have grown up taking its presence for granted, this unobtrusive but ubiquitous tube is more than just a cream. It is an early manifestation of the spirit of Swadeshi, and continues to be a lasting symbol of Make in India. I recently discovered this, and many facets of this comforting cream.  

The non-cooperation movement against the British Rule embraced many strategies to demonstrate peaceful resistance including marches, rallies, boycott and bonfires of foreign goods. There was a demand for goods which were locally made, but not much availability of these. It was in this climate that Gourmohon Dutta, a prominent member of the business community in Calcutta decided that he would play his part in the movement against foreign goods in a different way than simply through protests. He established a company called GD Pharmaceuticals which aimed to produce high-quality medicinal products to replace similar products being imported at the time.

In 1929, GD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd began to manufacture a cream which was visualized as an ‘antiseptic cream’. The formula for this included tankan amla (boric acid) which is an antiseptic; lanolin which is a soothing agent; jasad bhasma (purified zinc oxide), which is a sun screen and astringent; paraffin; oleum (essential oils) and perfume. The cream was packaged in a green tube which had the symbol of a small elephant as its logo.

The name Boroline was derived from its ingredients: ‘Boro’ from boric powder, and ‘olin’ as a variant of the Latin word oleum, meaning oil. The logo symbolized the qualities of steadfastness and strength that an elephant stood for, as well as its auspicious significance, to bestow luck and success. It was so successful that in rural areas Boroline was known as the ‘hathiwala cream’ (cream with the elephant).

Perhaps the most ardent adherents of this cream were the Bengalis for whom the brand represented dependability and nationalism. One of the advertising radio jingles for the cream, originally in Bengali, and then adapted to Hindi, became an earworm that even today, can transport a generation to another time.

There was a brief period when, due to shortages during World War II, the cream could not be marketed in the familiar packaging, but an accompanying note reassured customers that the product was the same.    

In the years leading to Independence, Boroline emerged as a symbol of resilience and self-sufficiency. A true blue swadeshi product which would go on to become an intrinsic part of households across the country, even in the decades following Independence.  

By 1947 Boroline had become a household name that besides its multiple uses, stood as a symbol of patriotic entrepreneurship. As a tribute to this customer support, on India’s first Independence Day, 15 August 1947, the company is believed to have advertised that it would distribute one lakh free tubes of Boroline.

Today, almost eight decades later the swadeshi cream has its faithful followers, even under the deluge of high-end skincare products, which promise miracles. A recent piece by a young model in the fashion magazine Vogue describes Boroline as the ultimate ‘go-to’ in all situations, reinforcing the unwavering role that this cream continues to plays even today. The company has also diversified into a few other products, but none has the same kind of brand recall as Boroline.   

While the basic packaging, colour and logo of this cream have not changed, its mother company GD Pharmaceuticals has moved with the times. Starting with production in a small manufacturing unit in a hamlet just outside Kolkata, and which continues to function today, there is a second facility near Ghaziabad. The factories are fully automated, and production processed are meticulously monitored. The company adheres to all mandatory government regulations and complies with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). All packaging materials used are recyclable and the waste produced is biodegradable. Just as the brand denotes integrity, the company also takes its social responsibility role seriously, and continues to be committed to serving the nation.

August is a significant month in the history of India’s freedom movement. The first Swadeshi Movement was officially launched in Bengal in 1905, on 7 August. The Quit India movement started on 8 August 1942. India became an Independent nation on 15 August 1947. This is a good time to celebrate Boroline, the swadeshi cream.

–Mamata

Remembrancers To Resurrectionists: A Stroll Through Forgotten Job Titles

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Once upon a time—before HR departments and LinkedIn profiles—jobs came with titles so evocative, so oddly poetic, they sound like characters straight out of a Dickensian drama or a Ruskin Bond vignette. While today’s professions lean towards the ultra-pragmatic and descriptive, many titles of the past came with a whiff of romance. For example: the Remembrancer.

Yes, the Remembrancer. Not an app. Not a diary. A person. One whose very profession was to remember. Specifically, to remind monarchs and magistrates of important affairs—debts, legislation, ceremonies. A Remembrancer was originally an official tasked with reminding a monarch or government body about matters of state, legal affairs, or financial obligations. The title comes from the idea of “remembering” important business that required attention.

The City Remembrancer of London–a post dating back to 1571–still exists, quietly observing proceedings in Parliament, tucked behind the Speaker’s Chair. We can’t help but picture him as an elderly gentleman in an impeccably cut coat. who acts as a liaison between the City of London and Parliament. Their duties include monitoring legislation that might affect the City, representing the City at ceremonial functions, and advising on constitutional matters. The Remembrancer also attends the State Opening of Parliament and sits in a specially designated place in the House of Lords.

It is not just the UK. India too continues something that must have started in colonial times. We still have Legal Remembrancers in our legal system, primarily at the state level. They play a crucial role in advising the government on legal matters and representing the state in court proceedings. The Legal Remembrancer (or Remembrancer of Legal Affairs) is a government official who acts as the chief legal advisor to the state government. 

Even quainter are the roles that seem to exist simply to add charm to history books. The Ale Conner who tested beer for public consumption. The Knocker-Up who tapped windows with a stick to wake people up before alarm clocks were invented.

Saggar Maker’s Bottom Knocker is not a Victorian insult; it is an occupation. In pottery, a saggar is the box which holds the clay which is being fired. By placing various substances in a saggar, dramatic effects can be produced on the finished pottery. A master-craftsman called a saggar maker made the saggars. But bases of the saggars were produced mechanically and did not require much skill. They were left to young apprentices called bottom knockers, as they literally knocked them into shape.

While a Computist might bring visions of those working on advanced computer programmes, in the old days, these were people charged with calculating Easter based on lunar cycles—part astronomer, part theologian. An alternative term for jyotish?

A Lector was a person who used to read out Karl Marx or pulp fiction to cigar workers in Cuba while they rolled tobacco leaves by hand.

Resurrectionists or resurrection men were body-snatchers who would steal fresh corpses and sell them to medical schools for students to practice dissection. This trade flourished at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries in Britain as a result of a lack of bodies to dissect in these schools. Organised criminal gangs would steal recently buried bodies, or acquire dead bodies before burial, and then sell them at a premium to anatomy teachers who used them to demonstrate dissection and also give students a chance to try dissecting themselves, as this was a required part of medical training. The widespread practice of body snatching led to the Anatomy Act in Britain, which legalized the use of unclaimed bodies for anatomical study.

We can’t help but wonder what future historians will make of us. “Brand Evangelist,” they might scoff. “Was that a missionary or a marketer?” “Content Creator—was that a novelist or a TikToker?”

Perhaps some titles are best left in the mists of time, to be stumbled upon in dusty libraries or trivia nights. But wouldn’t it be something to bring a few back? A ceremonial Remembrancer for family birthdays, perhaps? A Beadle to enforce silence during Zoom calls?

Till then, we’ll sip our tea like old scribes, toast to forgotten vocations, and remember to remember the Remembrancers.

My first and recent encounter with the wonderfully romantic word ‘remembrancer’ was not in a pleasant context. A Haryana committee which recommended the appointment of Vikas Barnala, an accused in a stalking case, to the position of assistant advocate general in the office of advocate general, included a Remembrancer.

–Meena

Pic credit: Our Great American Heritage

Under the Same Moon

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July 20 is a day with special significance for humanity. It is Moon Day—it commemorates the day humans first set foot on the Moon in 1969—a moment that changed forever human imagination, and our relationship to the rest of the universe.

For many of us, the Moon is far more than a historic rock in the sky. It has always fascinated us. It is companion, compass, calendar, and comfort.  It’s poetic, scientific, spiritual, and personal. Whether it is its influence on tides or moods or menstrual cycles—there’s no denying its pull on our lives. It is a part of folklore—in India, a part of the family, with the moon referred to as Chanda mama.

India is writing its own Moon story, with the first manned flight planned for 2027. Grp. Captain Shukla’s sojourn at the International Space Station is part of this preparation. But we have chalked up some notches already:

  • In 2008, Chandrayaan-1 confirmed the presence of water molecules on the Moon—yes, our lunar scout found signs of water where many others hadn’t.
  • Chandrayaan-2 in 2019 didn’t land as planned, but gave us valuable data.
  • And then came Chandrayaan-3 in 2023 when India became the first country to successfully land near the Moon’s south pole—a scientific and symbolic triumph.

This is India’s contemporary moon-story. Here is a beautiful ancient one.

The Rabbit in the Moon: A Buddhist Tale

One of the most enduring tales about the moon is of the rabbit in the Moon, a story rooted in Buddhist Jataka tradition and echoed across generations.

Long ago, the story goes, a kind and gentle rabbit lived in the forest. One day, Lord Indra came down disguised as a hungry old man, asking for food. The rabbit, seeing he had nothing else to offer, jumped into the fire to offer himself as a meal. Touched by this ultimate act of generosity, Indra rescued the rabbit and immortalised him on the Moon—his shape etched forever in the lunar light.

Even today, if you look closely on a clear full moon night, you can make out the shape of a rabbit crouched gently on the surface. Some say he’s still keeping watch. Some say he’s a reminder of kindness and quiet courage.

So on the July 20th, look up at the moon, wonder at its beauty, and ponder the words of some wise people:

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

—Buddha

“Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.”

—Paul Brandt

“The moon is the first milestone on the road to the stars.”

—Arthur C. Clarke

“Always remember we are under the same sky, looking at the same moon.”

—Maxine Lee

“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”
― Deng Ming-Dao

–Meena

Next week, some more explorations related to the moon.

Pic: nasa.gov/mission/apollo-11/

The Stroop Effect and Other Sneaky Brain Games

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Having been associated for long with Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VASCSC), the pioneering science centre in the country, I always source STEM education materials and kits from them.

A few weeks ago, we received one such package I had ordered. The wonderful thing about VASCSC material is that they don’t let an inch of space go to waste. So the large envelope in which the kit came was also printed with any number of science games and puzzles.

The one that my 6 year old grand daughter and I really had fun with was the Stroop Effect.

It was all giggles as she held out the sheet with a bunch of words and asked me to look at them.  The word “RED” was written in bright blue ink. She asked me to say the colour, not the word..

“Red!” I said instinctively.

“No!” she giggled. “It’s blue ! You have to say the colour of the ink!”

Oh.

And just like that, we stumbled headfirst into the Stroop Effect—a clever little quirk of our brains first identified by psychologist John Ridley Stroop in 1935. Stroop, an American psychologist conducted a series of studies as part of his PhD research. He was fascinated by how automatic processes—like reading—can interfere with other tasks, such as identifying colours. In his now-famous experiment, he showed that when colour words (like “red” or “green”) were printed in mismatched ink colours, people took longer to name the ink colour. This delay, or interference, revealed something profound about how our brains handle conflicting information.

So what is the Stroop Effect?

The classic version of the Stroop test asks you to name the colour of the ink in which a different colour name is written. Like the word “Green” printed in red ink. Sounds simple, right? But our brains are wired to read words so automatically that it slows us down, or even trips us up, when the word and the ink colour don’t match.

This interference between what we read and what we see is a fascinating peek into how our minds juggle competing bits of information.

Why does it matter?

What seems like a party trick actually has deeper implications. Psychologists use the Stroop test to study attention, processing speed, and cognitive control. In clinical settings, it helps assess brain injuries, dementia, and even ADHD. The longer it takes for a person to respond correctly, the more it can reveal about how their brain is functioning.

But even beyond labs and clinics, understanding the Stroop Effect has very real applications.

Take driving, for instance. Ever noticed how highway signs use simple fonts and colours? Imagine if a stop sign said “Go” in red letters—confusing, right? Designers rely on principles like those revealed by the Stroop Effect to make sure our brains process the right cue first.

It’s not just colours and words

Once you start noticing, these mental speed bumps are everywhere. Consider this: we all know that when we try rubbing our stomach with one hand and patting our head with the other, we run into hilarious situations. It is tricky, because your brain is trying to coordinate two conflicting patterns of movement. That’s a bit like motor interference, another cousin in the Stroop family.

Or think of the McGurk Effect, where what you see affects what you hear. If a video shows someone saying “ga,” but the sound is “ba,” your brain may hear “da.” Vision wins over sound, just like reading wins over colour in the Stroop test.

And then there is change blindness—when something in a visual scene changes, and we don’t notice because our attention is elsewhere. Magicians depend a lot on this trick, as also UX designers, who try to guide user attention in websites and apps using visual cues.

A lesson in humility

For me, discovering the Stroop Effect was a gentle reminder that our brains, for all their wonder, are not infallible. They’re predictably imperfect, prone to biases and blind spots. Well, that makes life more exciting!

–Meena

Image: Venderbilt University site

The Real James Bond

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Recently there was news that a woman has been appointed as the head of the British Foreign Surveillance Agency. This is the first time in its 116 year-long history. For readers of spy fiction, and even more, fans of the popular James Bond films, this may sound as a deja-vu. After all we have such a clear image of the formidable Dame Judy Dench playing this role as M, in the fictitious MI6. In many ways the intricate workings of the MI6 and its key characters have been deeply etched in several generations of Bond followers, first through the books, and subsequently through the movies. “The name is Bond. James Bond” immediately conjures up the image of the suave but tough, risk-taking, swashbuckling, gizmo-loving hero, who has been played on screen by a series of actors starting with the inimitable Sean Connery.

James Bond: a simple name that is almost synonymous with these qualities. How did this happen? The christening of Bond is a fascinating story in itself.

The creator of this character, Ian Fleming was a British Naval Intelligence Officer during World War II.  As part of his work he interacted with several spies from different countries. After the war, Fleming left the Service and decided to devote himself to writing spy novels.

He did all his writing from his winter home in Jamaica, then a British colony. He bought several acres of land and built a house mainly based on his own design. He named the house GoldenEye, named after an intelligence mission of the same name that he had overseen during his time with the Intelligence Service. This is wherehe wrote his first book Casino Royale which introduced Secret Agent 007. He named the character James Bond. This did not spring from his imagination; it was the name of an ornithologist whose books Ian Fleming, himself a birder, used to refer to while he was in Jamaica. Fleming thought that it was a perfect name for a spy as it was ‘ordinary and unromantic, but sounded masculine’. As he explained later: I was determined that my secret agent should be as anonymous a personality as possible. Even his name should be the very reverse of the kind of “Peregrine Carruthers” whom one meets in this type of fiction.

This ‘real’ James Bond was born in America but moved with his father to England when he was 14 years old, and he was educated at Harrow and Cambridge. He then returned to the United States and tried his hand at banking upon the urging of his father. But he gave this up and joined the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia as an ornithologist (self-taught). He began to focus on the birds of the Caribbean islands, undertaking long strenuous voyages on mail ships (despite being prone to seasickness), and hopping from island to island on local banana boats and tramp steamers. This is where he found his true calling. He explored the thick foliage of the islands on foot or horseback, surviving on whatever he could find. He recorded and collected bird samples. From the 1920s through the 1960s, Bond the birdman undertook more than 100 scientific expeditions to the West Indies. He collected more than 290 of the 300 bird species known to the West Indies. He wrote more than 100 scientific papers on Caribbean birds. He complied his observations in the book Birds of the West Indies. This seminal book of Caribbean bird watching was first published in 1936 and for many years remained the definitive bird watching book of the region.

It is this book that Ian Fleming, a keen bird watcher, used as a reference while he spent the winter months at GoldenEye on the north coast of Jamaica. And it is the name of the author that he gave his fictitious character. James Bond, the spy, went on to become one of the most famous names in spy fiction.

Ironically, the real James Bond did not know about this new identity for almost a decade after that. His wife found a reference to this in a magazine interview with Ian Fleming and wrote to the author. Ian Fleming admitted that he ought to have taken permission for the use of the name. To make up for this lapse, the story goes that he wrote back to ornithologist Bond with three offers: He gave Bond “unlimited use of the name Ian Fleming for any purpose he may think fit.” He suggested that Bond discover “a horrible new species” and “christen [it in] insulting fashion” as ”a way of getting back!” And he invited the Bonds to visit Goldeneye so that they could see “the shrine where the second James Bond was born.”

In 1964 the real Bonds who were in Jamaica on a research trip paid a surprise visit to Ian Fleming at GoldenEye. Ian Fleming tested his authenticity by asking Bond to identify some birds. The two went on to become good friends, although Ian Fleming died not long after.   

The ornithologist and the spy, an unusual coming together. While the James Bond franchise continues to thrive and profit, it is fitting to remember the original James Bond whose pioneering contributions to the field of ornithology and conservation have laid the foundation for all that has come after. James Bond was prophetic when he wrote in his introduction to Birds of the West Indies: “In no other part of the world … are so many birds in danger of extinction.… It is to be hoped that the island authorities will show more concern for the welfare of their birds so there may yet be a possibility to save the rare species from being annihilated. Bird sanctuaries should be created where no hunting of any kind is permitted.”

On a more personal note James Bond, the spy, entered our family in the mid-1960s. My mother was recovering from an accident and in a lot of pain. Someone (perhaps a nephew) gave her a couple of Ian Fleming books to distract her. She was soon hooked! Thereafter James Bond was ensconced on our bookshelf, and both my parents enjoyed the books. I am not sure if they saw any of the Bond movies. But I know that they would have equally enjoyed this story about the real James Bond!

— Mamata

Carravaggio Crosses the Seas

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When we hear the name ‘Michealangelo’, we think of the Sistine Chapel. But there was another one of the same name, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (known as Caravaggio) born a few years after the original’s death, who played own his part in significantly re-defining art.

Born in Milan, his father was an architect. The family left the city in 1576 to escape a plague and moved to Caravaggio. In 1584 our Caravaggio was apprenticed for four years Simone Peterzano, a painter. He became familiar with the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael, and other Renaissance masters during this time.

He moved to Rome, and set up in due course as an artist in his own right. Caravaggio’s work is known for its chiaroscuro (from Italian chiaro, “light,” and scuro, “dark”) technique—basically the use of light and shadow to define three-dimensional objects. Caravaggio and his followers used a harsh, dramatic light to isolate their figures and heighten emotional tension. Caravaggio’s use of realism and chiaroscuro helped to create a new style of painting that came to be known as Baroque, which shaped European art in the centuries to come.

One of his masterpieces has come to India. This is ‘Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy’, which was painted around 1606, and exemplifies his use of chiaroscuro. This painting was lost for centuries, re-surfacing only in 2014. It was authenticated as an original masterpiece by a team of leading art historians and is generally accepted as such today.

The painting travelled to India a few months ago, and was first exhibited in Delhi under the aegis of The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, in partnership with The Cultural Centre of the Italian Embassy. Now it has come to Bangalore, and is exhibited at the National Gallery of Modern Art.

Three armed policemen are at the entrance to guard this $50 million work.The NGMA has also done its best to make it an enriching experience, with detailed panels about the artist and the painting, as well as a Virtual Reality experience.

Admittedly, It is a slightly strange feeling to go into a large, empty, almost-dark hall with only the one painting on the wall, with just one light focussed on it. A very different experience from seeing tens of paintings displayed in a room, with visitors filing from one to the other, and sometimes sitting on the benches provided to contemplate on something that catches their attention (or just to rest tired feet).

But all the care being taken with the work certainly proves India’s seriousness to protect and display of priceless art that comes to visit us.

It is not as if international masterpieces have not come to India before. Picasso’s works have been exhibited in India–the first exhibition of his works in South Asia was held at the National Museum in Delhi in December 2001 and featured 122 works. 

There are reports of original Botticelli paintings being exhibited in India too. For example, there are some reports that “Madonna of the Pomegranate” was displayed at an exhibition in Thiruvananthapuram. 

While no originals were physically displayed, there was an online exhibition of Raphael’s drawings by the India International Centre (IIC) IIC to commemorate the 500th death anniversary of the artist. 

Immersive, virtual experiences around Van Gogh’s work as well as da Vinci’s work have come to India in recent years.

Looks like India is now on the art-map, and we will be getting to see more such international masterpieces in the near future.

In the meantime, we can of course take in all the amazing art, craft, sculpture and architecture our own country offers!

–Meena

Casting a Spell

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The Indian-American domination of a peculiarly American phenomenon—the Spell Bee—is something that intrigues me no end. Not to say Indian-Americans don’t excel in many pursuits out there, but these kids winning the national level spelling competitions year after year after year after year is quite something.

The American tradition of spelling competitions may have started with the Puritans. By the mid-18th century, spelling competitions were common across the country. In 1750, Benjamin Franklin apparently recommended their use in a proposal for a school. Spelling challenges were quite the rage with both adults and children in the 19th century. Mark Twain apparently mentions ‘spelling fights’ in Adventures of Tom Sawyer!

The use of the term ‘bee’ for these competitions started in the mid 1870s. It is an unusual usage of the word, as ‘bee’ usually refers to a community activity with a shared goal—like quilting bees or knitting bees.

English, with words from various sources and a variety of languages, probably peculiarly lends itself to this pastime. Afterall, I don’t think there can be much confusion how 99% of words are spelt in Tamil or Kannada or Oriya– languages with phonetic writing systems do not have so much confusion in spelling. Moreover, because English has borrowed words from many languages through its history, the result is a diverse vocabulary with inconsistent spelling patterns which are carried over from the mother-languages.

In the US, the National Spelling Bee, as we know it today, was established in 1925. The Louisville Courier-Journal was the first sponsor, who saw it as a way to foster interest in spelling and language. 

The E.W. Scripps Company acquired the rights to the National Spelling Bee in 1941. This company was started by E.W. Scripps who founded The Penny Press, a daily newspaper in Cleveland. Today, the company is involved in investigative documentaries and enterprise journalism with the purpose to ‘…advancing understanding of the world around us.’

The Spell Bee has been held annually, in late May or early June since its inception, except for a few years during World War II and in 2020 due to COVID-19.  It has evolved over time, beyond just spelling, encompassing vocabulary development and broader language knowledge. 

The first winner of the Spell Bee, in 1925, was Frank Neuhauser of Louisville, whose winning word was “gladiolus”. The next year saw a girl winning for the first time– Pauline Bell, also of Louisville, who spelt the word “cerise”. (Incidentally, girls won nine consecutive competitions from 1932 to 1940.)

Now coming to winners of Indian origin. 30 of the last 36 competitions have been won by them. Which is surely not a chance thing. Before 1999, there were only two spelling bee winners of Indian-American descent—Balu Natarajan in 1985, with the word “milieu”, and Rageshree Ramachandran in 1989 with “elegiacal”.  Nupur Lala opened the floodgates in 1999 winning with “logorrhoea,” and there has been no looking back since then! This year of course we celebrate Faizan Zaki, a 13-year-old Indian-American student from Texas, who won with the word ‘éclaircissement”

Rebecca Sealfon who won in 1997 against Prem Murthy Trivedi, has done some analysis on the subject of Spell Bee competitors, and tells us that children practice for about 500 hours in the years in which they compete; some hire ex-competitors as coaches; and they typically and unsurprisingly relax by playing word games like Scrabble or Boogle. Some try to learn every word in the dictionary. She further tells us that double ‘ll’ words are the ones which have tripped up a large number of contestants, along with the words ‘metastasize’ and ‘metonymy’.

Since I don’t know many of these words, and would certainly not be able to spell them, I can only express my wonder at these sub-14 year olds who can.

Kudos to all of you! You have cast a spell on me!

–Meena

Pic: https:spellingbee.comblogscripps-cups

Plastics: From Saviour to Scourge

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Last week marked World Environment Day. The theme for this year was Beat Plastic Pollution. In events around the world to mark this day, much was discussed and written about the dire state of the environment due to the over-accumulation of plastic. In recent years plastics have become the bane of the environment. It is ironic that it is this material that was once hailed as a boon! The history of this ‘wonder material’ goes back to the mid-nineteenth century. 

This was a time when elephants and turtles were becoming seriously endangered due to demand for ivory and turtle shell which were used in the making of numerous things from piano keys and billiard balls, to combs. The biggest consumers of ivory were high-quality billiard balls. Between three and five balls could be made from a tusk, and at least two elephants needed to be killed to make one set of billiard balls. The increasing popularity of billiards in England as well as America, led to the slaughter of thousands of elephants. There was a serious threat to elephants, and also there was an increasing cost of ivory to make the balls.

This led to the quest for some man-made materials which could be used as substitutes. One of the earliest such attempts was to dissolve cotton fibres in nitric and sulphuric acids, and then mix these with vegetable oil. In 1862 an English chemist Alexander Parkes was the first to patent this new material with the name Parkesine. It was presented at the Great London Exposition in 1862, but it was not a commercial success.

In the meanwhile in America, Michael Phelan ‘the father of American billiards’ took out an ad in 1863 offering a sum of $10,000 for a substitute for ivory. John Wesley Hyatt, a young printer with no formal training in chemistry took up the challenge. He spent six years experimenting with various solvents. In one experiment he blended camphor with nitrocellulose and produced a hard mouldable substance that he called ‘celluloid’. He patented this in 1869, and along with his brother began to produce it in 1871, marketing it as a substitute for natural materials like ivory and tortoiseshell.  

As it turned out celluloid was not the perfect substitute for billiard balls; when two balls collided it produced a mini explosion. But the new material had a number of properties that made it attractive. It could be moulded into any form, hardened or left flexible; it was waterproof, it would not rot or corrode like metals; it was extremely durable, and it was cheap.

Celluloid was hailed as an environmental saviour. A sales pamphlet in 1878 claimed that “it will no longer be necessary to ransack the earth in pursuit of substances which are constantly growing scarcer”.

Celluloid was the first industrial plastic that would transform the world as multiple uses were found for it. It was followed by polyvinyl chloride or PVC. Since then plastics have undergone numerous stages of development. Plastic was not immediately adopted widely. But by the mid-20th century, as the benefits of this ‘trendy, clean, cheap’ material were loudly touted, plastic became ubiquitous, and took over every aspect of daily life.

The world embraced plastic with a clear conscience. The products made of plastic provided the added attraction of being easily disposable. The convenience of single- use throw-away products were extolled and countries like the United States made a whole-hearted example of this. The use-and-throw lifestyle became the aspiration of every society.

Today we are seeing the legacy of this throw-away lifestyle. The world is producing 300 million tonnes of plastic a year, a figure expected to triple by 2050. The chemical properties that have made plastic such a multi-use and durable material also makes its disposal difficult. Plastic takes a long time to degrade, in some types even thousands of years. Thus landfills are overflowing. Even the degradation of plastic is a serious environmental issue as it breaks down into microscopic particles that pollutes the oceans, land and the air. These micro-plastics are also accumulating in our bodies, the health impacts of which are not even known as yet.

The modern plastics industry relies on fossil fuels for its raw material contributing to global CO2 production. Thus the production of plastic also has an impact on climate change.

In the oceans, plastic ingestion and entanglement is harming and killing marine creatures including turtles. On land climate change is one of the factors that is changing habitats and endangering all living things from elephants to ants. Ironically, the material that was once celebrated as the saviour of these creatures is today the scourge of the environment across the globe.

 Sadly, over these decades the state of planet Earth has only deteriorated. The issues with overuse of plastic not only remain, but have been exacerbated. While there have been efforts in terms of policy initiatives, technological advances, and even public awareness these have not been able to cope with the even faster increase in plastic consumption, pollution, and waste generation. Even after decades of advocacy for Recycle, Reuse and Refuse, the picture is grim. In 2025 the world is expected to consume 516 million tonnes of plastics. And only 9% of all plastics produced as actually being recycled globally. The theme for WED 2025 ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ spotlights the growing scientific evidence on the impacts of plastic pollution and hopes to sustain the momentum to refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink plastics use.

— Mamata

The Potato Has Its Day

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I love potatoes in all forms, from French fries to aloo tikki! I am sure that I am a member of a global club of potato fans. And worldwide it surely is, because the potato is such a versatile vegetable that it finds its place in cuisines across the globe. Used in different forms from the simply boiled and mashed to being roasted, sautéed and topped with a variety of fancy toppings, potatoes provide tasty sustenance and comfort.

Potatoes have also been generally perceived as being ‘only starch’ and children are admonished when they gorge on potatoes; and reminded that they must eat their ‘green vegetables’ that provide greater nutrition. But wait! In recent times the potato has been elevated! It is celebrated for its nutritional value as well as its role in providing food and livelihood security. It has been recognized by the United Nations for its deep historical and cultural significance, and its evolving role in today’s global agrifood systems. The United Nations has even designated a day to be observed annually as the International Day of the Potato.

The potato traces its roots way back to the Andes where it originated, and was domesticated during the Inca civilization and was revered as ‘the flower of ancient Indian civilization’. Following domestication, these early potatoes spread through Mesoamerica and became a crucial food supply for indigenous communities. It was  particularly suitable as a staple foodstuff called chuño, a freeze-dried potato product that could last years or even decades.

The Spanish invasions of the mid-1550s dwelt a blow to the Inca Empire, but gave a new lifeline to the potato. The invaders took tubers across the Atlantic, as they did with other crops such as tomatoes, avocados and corn, in what historians call the Great Columbian Exchange. For the first time in history, the potato ventured beyond the Americas; and gradually established itself on the European continent. These tubers, first grown in Spain were then sent around Europe as exotic gifts to botanists, and even prominent figures like the Pope. The potato played a role in the rise of urbanization and fueled the Industrial Revolution. By the end of the 18th century, potatoes had become in much of Europe what they were in the Andes—a staple.

The potato also gained popularity with sailors as it provided nourishment during long voyages. It is likely that these staples spread widely across the world through these voyages, taking root on different continents. In fact the potato has been called the “world’s most successful immigrant”, as its origin has become unrecognisable for producers and consumers everywhere.

Since then, the potato has shaped civilizations and diets across continents over several centuries. Ireland’s Great Famine of the 1840s was caused by the failure of the potato crop due to a fungal disease. More than half the Irish population depended entirely on potatoes for nourishment, and the wiping out of the crop led to starvation or famine-related deaths of millions, while millions emigrated to escape this. On the other hand, it was the potato that alleviated famine in China during the Qing Dynasty, securing its place as an essential crop. During World War II and subsequent conflicts, the potatoes high yield and resilience provided food security amongst shortages of other food.

Today potatoes are a key crop across diverse farming systems globally, ranging from smallholders producing diverse local varieties in the Andes, to vast commercial, mechanised farms in different continents. The potato is the world’s fourth-most important crop after rice, wheat and maize, and among the first non-grains. China, India, Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s top potato producers. About two-third of the world population consumes potatoes as its staple food.

In the light of its global reach and popularity the United Nations also felt that it was important to highlight the important role of potatoes in contributing to food security and nutrition, as well as livelihoods and employment for people in rural and urban areas the world over.  

Small-scale and family farming production of the potato, particularly by rural farmers, including women farmers, supports efforts to reduce hunger, malnutrition and poverty, and achieve food security, and relies on and contributes greatly to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Potatoes are not just a staple food but a symbol of resilience and adaptability. The potato is resistant to drought, cold, and barren land with wide adaptability. The crop’s versatility and ability to grow in a variety of conditions make it an advantageous crop choice. Potatoes provide accessible and nutritious food and improved livelihoods in rural and other areas where natural resources, especially arable land and water are limited and inputs expensive. Potatoes are also a climate-friendly crop, as they produce low levels of greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to other crops.

In addition, there is a wide spectrum of diversity among potatoes. This provides wide genetic variation with a range of traits, including the ability to adapt to different production environments, resistance to pests and diseases, and different tuber characteristics. There are efforts to preserve indigenous knowledge and ancient technologies, while ensuring that the production of native varieties remains under local control. The 12 000-hectare potato park located in the Andes near Cusco, Peru is one of the few conservation initiatives in which local communities are managing and protecting their potato genetic resources and traditional knowledge of cultivation, plant protection and breeding.

In order to acknowledge and honour the multiple contributions of the potato, and propelled by an initiative from Peru and the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries, the United Nations designated 2008 as the International Year of the Potato. The objective was to raise the profile of this globally important food crop and commodity, giving emphasis to its biological and nutritional attributes, and thus promoting its production, processing, consumption, marketing and trade. In addition to being a food staple, potato by products are also being explored.Potato starch is being used as a sustainable alternative to traditional plastics. These materials based on potato proteins and starch can be used for various environmentally-friendly packaging, like food containers and medicine capsules.

In order to sustain the momentum, the United Nations decided, in 2024, to mark 30 May every year as the International Day of the Potato. The day highlights the importance of the crop in the movement towards sustainable development while celebrating the cultural and culinary dimensions of the crop’s cultivation and consumption.

Nutritionists say that potatoes contain nearly every important vitamin and nutrient, except vitamins A and D, making their life-supporting properties unrivalled by any other single crop. Keep their skin and add some dairy, which provides the two missing vitamins, and you have a healthy human diet staple.

So let us join the celebration this year with guilt-free indulgence of our favourite potato dish!

–Mamata

Singing Telegrams, Speeding Birds

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Humans have poured in innovation and ingenuity into developing communication modes and media. Today of course the world revolves around ‘social media’ but some of the older modes are quirky and beautiful. Here is a look at two of them:

Singing Telegrams: Popular in the 1930s in the US, these were telegrams sung out to the recipient. It began in 1933 when a fan sent a birthday greeting to Rudy Vallee, a popular singing star of the times. George Oslin, the Public Relations Officer of Western Union–the company which handled telegrams–was a man who thought differently. He had long been concerned with the ‘gloom and doom’ image of telegrams, which usually arrived to announce a disaster (those old enough will recall churning stomachs when a telegram arrived—usually to announce a seriously ill relative or the demise of a loved one). He took the occasion of this birthday greeting to add a fun element to telegrams and try to change their image. So he got a lady-operator to sing the telegram out on the telephone. And so a new medium of communication was born!

But those were days when few homes even in the US had telephones. So the postal department used to actually sent someone to ring the bell of the addressee and sing out the words! Of course, this was not something that went ‘viral’ but people did use if for a lark. It continued on till 1974 when the company suspended this service. Now, in the US and even in India it seems, there are some private companies which will perform this service. They come dressed in fancy clothes to fit the occasion, and put up a full-fleged performance at the doorstep of the addresee.

Speeding Birds: Pigeons as carriers of messages have been the mainstay of armies, spies, princesses imprisoned in towers and everyone else that the romantic imagination can conjure up. But the interesting thing is that the Odisha Police had a functional pigeon messenger system till as recently as 2008!  They were used in times of disasters or during military or police action when all other means of communication like wireless, telegraph, telephone and despatch riders were disrupted or failed. The pigeons were also used for inter police station communications. Flying at a speed of about 55 kmph, carrying messages written on light-weight onion paper which were inserted into a metal capsule and tied to the bird’s leg, this mode of communication was considered no-fail. These Belgian Homer pigeons were highly trained, and considered very intelligent by their handlers!

There is a very interesting story about Orissa Police Pigeon messengers. Apparently, in 1948, when Pandit Nehru, the then-PM visited the state soon after Independence, he first went to Sambalpur. The same day, he was to address a public meeting in Cuttack, which is about 260 km away. He wanted to send an urgent message to the police in Cuttack to ensure that the arrangements were such that they did not create too much of a barrier between the public and the dais. When he asked how the message would reach Cuttack in time, the police officials there showed him the carrier-pigeon which would be doing the needful. Nehru was sceptical. But the pigeon departed Sambalpur at 6 am and was in Cuttack by 11.20 am. And when the PM reached, his instructions had been carried out! He was amazed.

Even today, though not in regular use, Orissa Police still maintains a carrier pigeon service of about 150 birds, utilizing them for communication during disasters and for ceremonial purposes.

–Meena

Visual from: https://odishapolice.gov.in/sites/default/files/PDF/PO-213_0.pdf