Category: Meena Raghunathan

Thanks for a Spelunking Time!

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Humans and caves go back to the dawn of time. In popular media and imagination, people of the Palaeolithic era are cave-dwellers, armed with rocks and clothed in animal skins and furs. While it is true that human ancestors did live in caves in that period, these were probably not their predominant dwellings. But since bones, artefacts, weapons and paintings in caves are sheltered and preserve better, a lot of objects used by early humans are found there rather than anywhere else, giving rise to the perception that humans mostly inhabited caves.

Mawsmai Caves
Mawsmai Caves, Meghalya

Our fascination with caves is long-standing. These dark, mysterious places figure in many an adventure story. Aladdin for instance, found his magic lamp in the Cave of Wonders. The thieves in the Ali Baba story hid their treasures in a cave which opened with the famous spell ‘Open Sim Sim’. Pirates are often associated with caves, as are many children’s stories involving lions and tigers.

Most caves are formed by the dissolution of limestone. Why does this happen? Rainwater as it falls to the earth dissolves carbon dioxide that it encounters in the air it passes through. As this carbon-di-oxide laden water percolates through the soil, it turns into a weak acid. The acid slowly dissolves the limestone along the joints, planes and fractures in the soil to form cavities. Some of these cavities in time become large enough to form caves.

India has its share of breath-taking caves which are of interest from a geological standpoint as formations;  from the archaeological stand point in that they house ancient cave paintings and artefacts; and from an aesthetic and religious standpoint—as the home of fantastic carvings and temples.

The earliest evidence of humans in India have been found in the Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh, with some of the shelters showing evidence of being inhabited 1,00,000 years ago! The cave paintings here go back to about 8000 BC. The Ajanta and Ellora caves in Maharashtra have Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples, with the oldest dating as far back as 2nd century BC! Badami, Elephanta, Amarnath and Borra are among other popular and highly-visited caves.

But Meghalaya may take the prize when it comes to caves. The Krem Liat Prah caves in the Jaintia Hills are listed among the longest caves in the world, with a length of 30,957 meters—and this is only the explored length! In fact, the top nine out of the ten longest and deepest caves in India are in Meghalaya!

Another interesting cave is the Siju Cave of the Garo Hills, also known as the Bat Cave, which spans over 4 kilometres long, but with nearly all of it is filled with underground streams and rivers, is not easy to explore.

During my recent visit to Meghalaya, we were able to visit three touristy caves (Mawsmai and Arwah caves, and the Garden of Caves at Laitmawsiang) which easily are accessible and not too difficult for even the inexperienced. And that gave me a small taste of what it would be to be a spelunker —a person who walks and climbs in caves as a sport (from the Latin spelunca, which in turn derives from Greek spelynx, both of which mean ‘cave’).

A lot of the work of discovering, exploring and bringing to light the caves of the state has been done by the Meghalaya Adventurer Association founded by Brain Dermot Kharpran Daly and his group of dedicated spelunkers.

But all is not well with the caves of Meghalaya. Limestone mining for the cement industry is a major threat to the caves. As one drives across the state, one can see hill after hill carved and hollowed out. In fact, this has already led several disasters including the collapse of the Krem Mawmluh Caves, the seventh-longest cave system of the state. Much of this mining is now illegal, but that does not mean it has stopped!

Is there nothing we can do to stop the depredation of these amazing structures that have formed over million years?

–Meena

Bridging the Past and Future

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Bridge-building brings to mind heavy equipment; tonnes of steel and concrete; engineers and overseers by the dozens. And lakhs of rupees.

Well, what if there were bridges which involve some rubber trees; centuries of traditional knowledge and skill passed down from one generation to another; and a lot of cooperation? And very little money.

And indeed there are such bridges by the dozens in Meghalaya. Built by the Khasi and Jaintia communities, the Living Root Bridges, locally known as Jingkieng Jri, play a key role in rural connectivity in the dense forest areas of the state, which are also among the wettest areas of the world (think Cherrapunji).

Living Root Bridge

The process begins with the planting of two rubber trees– Ficus elastica—one on either side of the river. These trees take about 10 years to grow and give rise to secondary aerial roots.  A bamboo scaffolding is created across the river, and these roots are woven together and trained onto to this to start creating the structure. The aerial roots thus grow across the river, and when they reach there, they are planted again on the opposite side. The roots along the scaffolding grow thicker and intertwine. The roots need to be guided to grow in the right direction for the next few decades, after which they can stand on their own.

The planning and engineering skills required to build these bridges is enormous– they often rise 50 to 100 feet in the air and may be as much as 175 feet in length. Many are ‘single-storey’ bridges, but there are ‘double-storey’ ones as well. They have always been built and cared for by the local communities, and the tradition continues.

The bridges need loving care—for instance, every two years, the bamboo scaffolding has to be changed since the moisture and humidity might damage it. Properly cared for, these can last for a hundred years and more.

These bridges have been around for centuries and are even today, about 100 are in use, connecting over 75 villages. While local communities use them for their normal day-to-day movement, these bridges are also now major tourist attractions. They also act as corridors for animals to safely cross the rivers—barking dear and clouded leopards have been recorded to use these bridges. The bridges support the growth of moss and provide a habitat for squirrels and other small animals, and nesting sites for birds.

The technique is used not just for making bridges but also other structures that are needed locally, for instance,  ladders and steps to provide a reliable mode of movement especially during the monsoon season; platforms and towers which serve as lookout points; erosion and landslide prevention structures to protect slopes and help in soil stabilization.

A true testimony to the patience, skill and cooperative spirit of the communities who build, use and care for them. And also to the effective methods of transmission of traditional knowledge, so that generation after generation is able to do this work effectively.

This sustainable and eco-friendly tradition has been recognized internationally. In fact, as of last year, the Living Roots Bridges or the Jingkieng Jris has been included in the UNESCO’s tentative list for World Heritage Site status.

I was lucky enough to see such a bridge and walk across it. It was an amazing experience. The one I visited was very accessible to tourists. But some other intrepid members of our group went to see a double-storey one, which involved six hours of trekking. And came back exhausted and with aches and pains in every joint. But they said that every pain, ache and stiff joint was worth it, and given half a chance, they would do it again!

So take the soft route or the hard, but if you can possibly see a Living Root Bridge, it will be a memorable experience.

–Meena


On Orchids

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For most of us:

Orchids = Rare

Orchids = Exotic

Orchids = Beautiful.

I recently went to Meghalaya where I visited an orchid park. And of course the variety and beauty of the orchids we saw were amazing. But when I tried to figure out a little bit more about these flowers, I found all the three equations mentioned above, which have been firmly planted in my mind for decades, to be false!

Orchids in fact belong to one of the top two most-common families of flowering plants on earth! This is the family Orchidaceae which comprises about 750 genera and close to 28,000 species!  So orchids are not rare!

Orchids

The dictionary meaning of ‘exotic’ is ‘origination in or characteristic of a distant foreign country’. Actually, with their wide distribution, orchids may be among the least exotic flowers. Orchids grow on every continent except Antarctica. At least four species have been reported from north of the Arctic Circle. So orchids are not exotic in most parts of the world! 

And while most orchids are beautiful, there are some which are warty, bumpy, hairy and unbeautiful. In fact, the latest orchid to be discovered—the gastrodia agnicellus–from a forest in Madagascar, has been dubbed “the ugliest orchid in the world” by the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew in the United Kingdom. It has been likened to a soul-sucking eyeless worm. While I am not very comfortable to have anything castigated so severely on the basis of looks, I have to admit after looking at pics of this flower, orchids are not always equal to beautiful!

Ok, easy enough to demolish myths. Now time to look at some facts.

To begin with, what are orchids? Orchids come in different sizes, different shapes, grow in different parts of the world. But the one characteristic which unites them, as well as differentiates them form other flowering plants, is the fusion of the male portion of the flower (stamen) with the  female portion (pistil), into one structure called the column—often visible protruding from the center. Orchids have three sepals and three petals, which all appear to be part of the flower. The middle petal is modified and is usually brightly coloured and exudes a scent.  

Orchids are among the oldest flowering plants known. A few years ago, Harvard University scientists discovered a fossilized bee carrying orchid pollen which dates back at least 15 million years. However, scientists speculate that orchids have been around much longer than that, maybe as much as 100 million years.

Orchids

Orchids have the tiniest seeds in the world. A single seedpod can have up to 3 million seeds in it.  The seeds are so small they can only be seen under a microscope. The plants take about 5-7 years to bloom once germinated, and can live up to a hundred years.

Incidentally, the vanilla bean comes from a species of orchid.  It is the only orchid which is commercially grown and harvested, not for its flowers but its beans!

India has a vast orchid diversity—a total of 1256 species have been recorded, out of which 307 are endemic to the country. But our orchids are under pressure. This pressure mainly comes from illegal harvesting and exploitation for trade. Orchids are illicitly collected from the wild and traded as ornamental plants.

So yes, do get orchids for your home-garden. They will surely add a touch of colour and beauty (unless of course you choose the gastrodia agnicellus!). But make sure they are sourced ethically. For many of them are indeed under threat.

–Meena

A Sweet Welcome to the New Year!

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A sweet dish popular in Karnataka, but not too well-known in other parts of the country, is Hayagreeva. Intensely sweet and very rich, the major ingredients are ghee, chana dal and jaggery. How can you go wrong with that?

One should indulge a bit in the New Year, so here is urging everyone to make it during the week (before guilt catches up!).  I shall leave the recipe for you to look up—it is easily available (as what is not, these days?).

I would rather get into the Who, How, Why?

Few of us would associate the name ‘Hayagreeva’ with a sweet. Let alone the sweet, in fact not many may even be aware of Hayagreeva the god. So let’s start at the very beginning.

 Hayagreeva is an avatar of Vishnu. Hayagreeva means the ‘horse-necked one’, and that is how this avatar is depicted, with a human body and a horse’s head, and a brilliant white in colour. He is shown clothed in white garments and seated on a white lotus. Hayagreeva represents knowledge and wisdom, and the triumph of knowledge over the evil forces of passion and darkness. He is shown as having four hands. One of these is in the gyana mudra—giving of knowledge, while another holds books. The third and fourth hold a conch and discus, the traditional items associated with Vishnu.

So how does the transition from the name of a God to the name of a sweet happen? Many centuries ago there was a devout disciple of Hayagreeva called Vadiraja Thirtha (1480 to 1600 AD). He was a renowned philosopher and a great scholar, who translated many works of Madhavacharya from Sanskrit to Kannada. He served as the pontiff of the Sodhe Mutt in Karnataka. He was particularly devoted to the Hayagreeva avatar of Vishnu.

It is said that Vadiraja Thirtha would make a sweet by cooking chana dal and jaggery (the two items most beloved to horses) in ghee, and place the dish on a tray on his head. The Lord Hayagreeva would emerge out of his statue in the temple in the form of a horse, and partake of the prasaada. He would spend time playing and dancing for his bhakt, and then go back into the idol.

And thus the tradition of hayagreeva as an offering to the gods was born.

There is another interesting story associated with Hayagreeva. It is said that a goldsmith was once trying to make a statuette of Ganesha. But every time he did this, the head kept taking the shape of the head of a horse. The artisan tried many times, but it was always thus. The goldsmith got frustrated and started to hit the statue with a hammer to break it. But however hard he tried, he could inflict no damage to the idol. That night, in his dream, Lord Hayagreeva himself appeared, and told him to give the statue to a holy man whom he would meet the next day.

And sure enough, Vadiraja Thirtha met the goldsmith the next day. Lo and behold, he knew about the statue and asked the goldsmith about it. He of course gave it to him, and Shri Vadiraja consecrated it and started worshipping it.

May your New Year be as sweet as the hayagreeva!

–Meena

Aquarium Alert

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Last week, a huge aquarium housed in a Berlin hotel burst. Water, about 1500 fish, and debris flowed across the street causing chaos and slightly injuring two people. It was early in the morning, otherwise the 1 million litres of water pouring out from the aquarium might have led go many more injuries.

The AquaDom which burst was a star attraction of a complex with hotels, cafes and shops. It is supposed to have been the biggest cylindrical tank in the world. It is still not clear why the aquarium cracked when it did. It is speculated that the sudden overnight fall in temperature—it went down to -10c that night—may have caused in the acrylic glass tank to crack, which then led to its exploding under the weight of the water.

There were about 1500 fish of 80 species housed in the tank, of which most died. Just a few fish which were at the bottom survived.

Aquaria have never been easy to construct or maintain. Quite apart from managing the engineering challenges of building a structure that can hold the huge weight of water,, the design of these structures must take into account the requirements of the different types of creatures they house, since modern aquariums include all types of aquatic organisms: mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates as well as fishes in one exhibit. And what the tank is made of also requires thought–many substances, especially plastics and adhesives which are nontoxic to humans, are toxic to water-breathing animals.

Maintenance issues include problems such as water clarity, dissolved wastes, temperature, tank decor, disease treatment, and nutrition. And then of course, the glass has to be such that it does not reflect, so that visitors can see the creatures. Further, the structure has to be acoustically properly designed.

Maintaining water quality is critical of course—first and foremost, the inlet water must be free of pollutants including sewage and industrial wastes.  In fact, chlorine and other additives have been removed from water before it can be used for this purpose. The gaseous equilibrium of the water with the atmosphere has to be maintained to ensure adequate oxygen and to avoid super-saturation with nitrogen. Provision for  purification of metabolic wastes is of course critical.

Even addition of plants to an aquarium has to be done with care. Since aquaria are usually kept in bright light for many hours, the plants there photosynthesize much more, and the balance of carbon di oxide and oxygen and water in the water goes awry unless carefully balanced.

India never did have an AquaDom equivalent, but the Taraporewala Aquarium in Mumbai has a hoary history. It is the oldest aquarium in the country, and was opened by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India in 1951.

taraporewala-aquarium
Taraporewala Aquarium

The cost of building at that time was about ₹8 lakhs, of which ₹2 lakhs came from a Parsi philanthropist D. B. Taraporewala. So the government graciously named this aquarium after him.

It has over 100 species of fish and other aquatic animals like sharks, seahorses and turtles. The collection consists of freshwater, marine and tropical fishes brought from across the world.

It was a major tourist attraction for locals and tourists. And to keep up with the times and modernize the exhibits, it went through a major renovation less than 10 years ago.

However, construction work undertaken for the Mumbai Coastal Road project may likely have weakened the 70-year-old building and it was feared to be structurally unsafe. An audit was carried out in March 2022. Based on this, the government was to decide whether to repair the structure, re-construct it, or shift the aquarium from its location on Marine Drive to another location at Worli.

As of now, sadly the Aquarium is closed, and it is not clear what the government has decided.

Fish are probably low down on the priority list of policy-makers and decision-makers.

–Meena

Guts and Gore

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Last week we looked at the millions of microscopic life-forms which live within us and which help not just our digestive processes, but contribute overall to our health and well-being.

This week, here is a bizarre story of how we started to get insights into our digestive system (quite literally, as you will see).

The year was 1822, the place Mackinac Island, near the Canada-US border. A young fur-trader called Alexis St. Martin got shot in the stomach—how and why and by whom is not clear, but probably an accident.

He was treated by Dr. William Beaumont, a US Army surgeon who was stationed at a nearby army post. St Martin had a hole in his stomach where he was shot. The treatment seemed to work and he recovered, but the hole did not close. For the first two weeks or so, whatever he ate, came out through the. But after that, though the hole was still open, the food did not come out and his digestive system seemed to be working normally. And though the stomach-wound healed, there was still a hole there—a window to his innards. Since sstomach acids are very strong, they essentially disinfected the wound from the inside out, and so it was safe to not sew it up.

Dr. Beaumont saw this as a miraculous opportunity to study the digestive system—he could literally look into the stomach as it worked. He paid St Martin to work in his house doing domestic chores with the understanding that he would allow the doctor to carry out experiments. St Martin was not happy, but did not have much choice.

Dr. Beaumont carried out a variety of experiments. For instance, he often watched the digestion happening in St Martin’s stomach after he ate. Sometimes, he let him eat and then retrieved the contents of the stomach later through the hole to see how much digestion had taken place. He would put food in a mesh bag and then dip it into St Martin’s stomach and take it out after some time. He even licked the inside of St. Martin’s stomach and found that the acid taste manifested only when the stomach started to digest food.

Over the next several years, Beaumont observed and recorded everything that went into St. Martin’s stomach. He took samples of gastric secretions and sent them to chemists for analysis.

Gory though it sounds, and medical ethics of today would probably never allow these kind of experiments, it has to be said that Dr. Beaumont’s work laid the foundation for modern ways of studying and understanding physiology. His work helped us to understand how the basic process of digestion actually occurs.

Weirdly enough, even today, in the US and some other parts of the world, the study of the digestion in cows is undertaken by deliberately making a hole or cannula in a cow’s stomach. The hole is fitted with a cannula which acts as a porthole-like device that allows access to the stomach of the cow, to perform research and analysis of the digestive system. These are called cannulated or fistulated cows. Apart from research, this also helps sick cows by allowing vets to insert healthy microbes into the sick cow’s gut. But I wonder if there can’t be ways just to give the sick cow medicines orally. Making a permanent hole in a cow’s stomach doesn’t seem a very nice thing to do! In fact, any animal rights groups find the practice objectionable, and are campaigning against it.

Here is to the spirit of science, of exploration and discovery. But strongly rooted in ethics!

–Meena

It Takes Guts!

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‘Gut Ecology’ is the name of a book brought out by the St. Marks Academic Institute which is dedicated to ‘advancing scientific knowledge of colorectal disorders’. I think the book, which features topics like ‘The gut microflora: traditional and molecular identification techniques’, and ‘The ‘unculturables’’ deserves to be a bestseller. Not that I would understand the contents, but I have to admire the dedication and scientific spirit it takes to spend a lifetime researching and writing on such topics! Guts indeed!

But what exactly would the book be about? Let’s break it down. Ecology is the study of organisms and how they interact with the environment around them. An ecologist studies the relationship between living things and their habitats. ‘Gut’ is commonly used to refer to the stomach, entrails, parts or the whole of the digestive tract. So a ‘gut ecologist’ would study the insides of our digestive tract to understand the micro-organisms (collectively referred to as gut microbiota) that live there, and how they interact in our digestive system.

For very long, the presence and role of micro-organisms in our body was not known. It was in the 1670s and ‘80s when Antoine van Leeuwenhoek started using his newly developed handcrafted microscopes that scientists started studying them. Leeuwenhoek described and illustrated five different kinds of bacteria present in his own mouth and that of others, in a letter he wrote to the Royal Society of London in 1683. He later also compared his own oral and faecal microbiota, and proved that there are differences in micro-organisms in body sites. (See why I say it takes guts to be in this field!)

Gut bacteria
Gut bacteria

Now we know that the human gastrointestinal tract—from mouth to anus– is divided into sections, and each provides a different environment and different kinds of micro-organisms thrive in each section. In all, about 100 trillion micro-organisms (most of them bacteria, but also viruses, fungi, and protozoa) exist in the human gastrointestinal tract. In fact, the colon contains the highest microbial density recorded in any habitat on Earth, representing between 300 and 1000 different species. There are actually about as many bacterial cells in our bodies as there are human cells, and they contribute over a kilogram to our weight! So Stewart Brand, the American writer, environmentalist and editor of the highly influential Whole Earth Catalogue was right when he said, ‘If you don’t like bacteria, you’re on the wrong planet.’

These organisms are such an integral part of the functioning of the human body that they are sometimes called ‘the forgotten organ’.

A foetus has no bacteria at all in the system. Through the process of birth, it picks up a good number, and then in the first few years of its life, the child picks up a huge number of different bacteria from its environment. Fascinatingly, like fingerprints, a person’s gut microbiota composition is unique to each individual.

These micro-organisms influence our energy metabolism and many other areas of human health, from immunity and the progress of diseases, to appetite, to nutrition uptake, and even personality! They therefore greatly influence our health, well-being, weight etc.

External factors influence the composition of these micro-biota but by changing our diet or fasting can change the composition of these life-forms in our systems, in a matter of days or weeks, and this is why it is important to pay attention to what we eat. This is also the reason why medical science is increasing focus on  prebiotics and probiotics. If like me, you are confused about the two terms, here are simple definitions:

* Probiotics are foods or supplements that contain live microorganisms intended to maintain or improve the “good” bacteria (normal microflora) in the body.

* Prebiotics are foods (typically high-fiber foods) that act as food for human microflora. Prebiotics are used with the intention of improving the balance of these microorganisms.

Kudos to the scientists who work so hard to help us understand our bodies and their functioning, ready to spend their lives poring over microscopes to figure out how we can live healthier and better!

–Meena

Zoos and the Sense of Wonder

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Cheetahs at Oakland Zoo. Picture: Oakland Zoo site

Oakland Zoo is celebrating its annual Glowfari Festival through November, December and January. This year, the highlights include ‘a walkabout through the land down under with kangaroos and koalas, icons of the California coastline including whales, otters, and jellies, exotic animals of the tropical rainforest, and a trip to the past with a towering T-Rex and a megalodon shark tunnel!’ Ok, apart from the t-rex and megalodon shark, that’s not very usual for a zoo, right? Well, not till you learn that these are not real animals that the visitors will see but hundreds of huge hand-painted animal lanterns  placed throughout the zoo’s campus, making for a totally unique tour of the zoo by night. The spectacular lanterns are arranged throughout a mile-long pathway. They glow in the dark, turning the zoo into a fairyland. The tag line of the fest is ‘A Wildly Illuminating Lantern Festival’.

Sean Kenney’s Lego Butterfly

Some years ago, a New York based artist Sean Kenney toured several zoos and botanical gardens in the US with over 150 life size and larger-than-life size sculptures of animals and plants made with, hold your breath, Lego blocks! Lego blocks are this artist’s chosen medium. who turned his The largest sculptures took up to nine months to construct. The pieces are set in place as per a master-plan, and glued tother. A lion, for example, took 474 construction hours and Lego 48,248 bricks to build.

Brevard Zoo currently has an exhibition called ‘Life Beneath our Sea’ which displays a dozen giant sand sculptures hand-crafted by world-class artists using over 500 tonnes of sand, which is bringing the beauty of underwater scenes to the viewers.

These are just a few examples of innovative programmes being done by zoos to attract visitors, bring the beauty of wonder of nature to them, and educate them.

It is well recognized that experiences with animals and educational elements can increase zoo visitors’ motivation to take conservation action, and this is why zoos place so much emphasis on educational initiatives.

San Diego Zoo, probably the top-rated zoo in the world, has developed curricula on a number of topics that can be taught through a combination of classroom activities, along with activities to be done during a visit to the zoo. The topics range from the Panda curriculum to the Wildcats curriculum to Animal Adaptations to the Australian Outback curriculum. They also organize field trips with guides for schools, opportunities to get close to small animals, safari park guided field trips, special early morning trips and even sleepovers at the safari park!

The Singapore Zoo has specific programmes for various levels, from pre-school to primary school to secondary school. They also have professional development programmes for teachers. These are very structured experiences. For instance, one of the education programmes offered to secondary students ‘Fragile Forest’ helps them get a multi-dimensional experience of life in a rainforest ecosystem. It includes a walk amidst fascinating flora and coming face to face with lemurs, bats, butterflies, birds, tarantulas, snails, millipedes, etc. This tour also demonstrates the importance of rainforests to our lives, and ways individuals can help to save them.

And it is not just children that zoo education caters to. Many zoos like the Smithsonian offer internships for adults and senior students, and encourage volunteering.  

A number of zoos pivoted during COVID to offer virtual zoo experiences, including pre-recorded virtual Zoo tours, online classes allowing children to personally interact with Zoo educators and virtually meet several animal ambassadors up close. Some Zoos like the Taronga Zoo, run an educational TV channel, with new videos releasing every week. Other zoos offer virtual guided tours through the Zoo Commissary, Vet Hospital, and behind the scenes Aquarium.

Yet other zoos offer educational kits like exhibit design kits, , biological artefacts (i.e. skulls, feathers, shells, etc), and materials to conduct conservation learning games.

India too places emphasis on zoo education. The Central Zoo Authority got Centre for Environment Education to develop a Zoo Education Masterplan—a 330 page document which provides zoos in India a detailed way-forward on the why, what and how of education at such facilities.

Lets hope zoos across the world are able to effectively use education to support conservation.

–Meena

Going to the Zoo

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As a child in Delhi, one of the major highlights of the year was a visit to the Zoo. And if we were lucky enough to have guests from out of town with children, it was a bonanza year, because the zoo would be on the itinerary for the guests, and we could go along too. The birds visiting the wetlands which are a major part of Delhi Zoo; the lions, tigers, elephants, zebras; the mischievous monkeys, the exotic zebras and giraffes—these were our only encounters with creatures that we otherwise only saw in 2-d in books. And from such visits grew our wonder at the world of nature and our love for it.

And that indeed is one of the stated purposes of zoos—to introduce visitors to nature and to lay the foundation for a conservation ethic. As India’s Central Zoo Authority (CZA) sums up, the objectives of zoos are:

‘CONSERVATION: To be involved in programs which assist the survival of wild populations of animals. This is often done in partnership with other organisations.

EDUCATION: To increase the level of awareness, knowledge and understanding of visitors about animals, the environment and conservation, and to motivate behaviour change which will help the environment.

RESEARCH: To conduct and facilitate research on animals both in captivity and in the wild, with particular emphasis on threatened species.

RECREATION: To provide enjoyment and enrichment for visitors through close contact with living things.’

I spent two decades of my career as an environmental educator, and zoo education was something I was involved in at some stage. I still carried the deep impacts of my childhood zoo experiences and worked with a passion to make zoo visits more educational, striving to sow the seeds of love, respect and care for the environment, nature and animals.

Zoo

But last week, I took a 4-year old to the Bannerghatta Zoo and Safari Park. She liked it. But I saw nothing like the excitement and wonder I remember feeling as a child. She was reasonably excited when she saw lions and tigers and bears close up during the safari. And then during the walk through the zoo, she did like the zebras and monkeys and giraffes, but I could see that she was disappointed that they were just standing there, not ‘doing’ anything. And then when we saw a herd of elephants, she could not see the baby-elephants clearly, which she was not happy about. And as she walked through the zoo, she was tired and hot and cranky. All in all, if my childhood zoo visits were an 11/10, hers was a 7/10.

I got to thinking why. And then I realized that she had the wildest and most remote of habitats and the most exotic of animals at her fingertips. She just had to switch channels in the comfort of home to see lion cubs playing with their mother’s tail; elephants mud-bathing; kingfishers swooping in for a fish catch; tigers chasing a deer. No wonder the physical sights were not so exciting.

I still believe that zoo-visits have a major role to play in nature education. But obviously, it cannot be business as usual. While zoos in India are making some efforts to make onsite education more exciting, there are international zoos which have taken this to new levels of innovation, immersion and interaction. Next week I will share some interesting and really cutting-edge programmes.

India has 145 recognized zoos in India as per CZA. Pre-Covid estimates indicate that zoos are one of the highest visited public spaces, with over 8 crore visitors every year. Zoos are still the most accessible way to see animals for real–national park and sanctuary visits are expensive and time-taking. We cannot lose this opportunity of zoo-visits to set off positive action for the environment.  And to do so effectively means we must understand the challenges that new media poses to traditional visit experience, as well as recognize the exciting opportunities it offers.

–Meena

Kindness Day

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Yes indeed, there is a World Day for Kindness! It is marked on 13 November, and the idea is to promote kindness. Initiated in 1998 by a group of NGOs, it ‘aims to promote kindness throughout the world and presents us with the opportunity to reflect upon one of the most important and unifying human principles. It is a day devoted to the positive potential of both large and small acts of kindness, trying to promote and diffuse this crucial quality that brings people of every kind together.’ 

Kindness Day
Kindness Day

Kindness is defined as ‘the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate’. Kindness is obviously not to be confined to one day. But this Day is designated to prompt us to think consciously about kindness, and to make resolutions to help us practice kindness every day

It sounds simplistic. Why on earth should anyone be reminded to be kind? But when we look around us, we find there is indeed need to do so. Why look ‘around us’? We will find the same thing when we look into ourselves. Did we say a smiling thank you to someone who was nice to us? When was the last time we did anything for anyone? Do we show basic courtesies in queues, on the roads, in public places?

In a world where people are growing increasingly disconnected, and it’s all about ME, ME, ME, it definitely seems that these behaviours we used to take for granted are disappearing. Never was the need for an initiative like Kindness Day greater.

A measurable proxy for kindness is an attribute called ‘Social Mindfulness’. This refers to being thoughtful of others and considering their needs before making decisions. Social mindfulness is related personality traits of honesty, humility, empathy, agreeableness and pro-social value orientation.

There have been international studies to understand social mindfulness and associated behaviours. One of the best known studies in recent times is the one by Neils Doesum and his associates, who carried out research across 31 countries to understand differences in social mindfulness among the countries. They studied most common, everyday acts of cooperation which require very little effort– for example, stepping to a side to let someone pass on a sidewalk.

Alas, India came up near the bottom of the pack! Japanese scored the highest—they made socially mindful decisions– decisions which kept the well-being of others in mind–72% of the time. Austrians and Mexicans were also towards the top of the list. People in Indonesia were at the bottom, making such co-operative, unselfish decisions only 46% of the time. But India at 50% was not much better.

So obviously, we Indians need to be more aware of this trait, and if at all there is an occasion to be marked with earnestness, it is World Kindness Day.

And remember, it is not about some earth-shaking decisions or major actions. It is about our everyday interactions with people around us—can we make their lives more better, less difficult, more pleasant?  The simplest way to start being more kind and socially mindful would probably be with the old adage ‘Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.’

Specific steps would include:

  • Being conscious of the needs, feelings and thoughts of others.
  • Taking these into consideration before making decisions.
  • Not restricting choices available to other people by being selfish.
  • Being grateful for the kindness of others, and expressing that gratitude.
  • Taking a moment to help someone in need, or to make someone’s life easier.
  • Making it a habit to do random acts of kindness, however small.
  • Resolving to bring a smile to someone’s face, everyday.

Let’s take the occasion of World Kindness Day 2022 to start the personal journey to a more kind, caring and socially mindful world.

Go on, make your resolutions today.

–Meena