Category: Meena Raghunathan

Remembrancers To Resurrectionists: A Stroll Through Forgotten Job Titles

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

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

Waxing Moon? Waning Moon?

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

We usually think we know what we need to about the Moon. After all, we see it almost every night—peeking between clouds, trailing us on evening walks, or gleaming quietly over exam-season all-nighters. But ask most adults how to tell if the Moon is waxing or waning, or what phase it is in, and you’re likely to get a sheepish shrug.

Moon Day (July 20) is a good time to find out more—because the Moon is more than just a pretty face.

The Moon’s Phases

As we know, the Moon doesn’t shine on its own. What we see is sunlight reflecting off its surface. As the Moon orbits Earth once every 27.3 days, the portion we see illuminated changes depending on the relative positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon.

But because Earth is also moving around the Sun, the complete lunar cycle (from New Moon back to New Moon) takes about 29.5 days. This is called a synodic month.

During this period, the Moon goes through eight distinct phases:

  1. New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and Sun; its illuminated side faces away from us.
  2. Waxing Crescent – A sliver appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere). “Waxing” means it’s growing.
  3. First Quarter – Half of the Moon is visible—right half lit.
  4. Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit, increasing toward full.
  5. Full Moon – The entire face is illuminated. Earth is between the Sun and Moon.
  6. Waning Gibbous – The light begins to shrink; left side remains lit.
  7. Last Quarter – Half again, but this time the left half.
  8. Waning Crescent – Only a small sliver remains on the left.

And then the cycle begins again.

What Does “Gibbous” Mean?

“Gibbous” comes from the Latin gibbosus, meaning hump-backed or bulging. It refers to the Moon when it’s more than half but not fully illuminated. A nearly full Moon—either on its way there (waxing) or just past (waning). So:

  • Waxing Gibbous = swelling toward full.
  • Waning Gibbous = shrinking after full.

Waxing or Waning?

If you are following the progress of the moon night after night, you will know if it is waxing of waning. But would you know if you just happened to glance up one night? Indeed there are ways to tell. In the Northern Hemisphere:

  • If the right side is lit, the Moon is waxing.
  • If the left side is lit, the Moon is waning.

This holds true whether you’re looking from a balcony in Bengaluru or walking through a park in Boston. But here’s where it gets interesting:

The Moon is Universal—but Not Identical

The same Moon is seen all over the world—but not always in the same orientation. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, everything flips:

  • Waxing appears with left side lit.
  • Waning shows up with right side lit.

In fact, a person in the Southern Hemisphere sees the Moon “upside down” compared to someone in the Northern Hemisphere. For example:

  • When it’s a First Quarter Moon in India, the right half of the Moon is illuminated.
    In Australia, it’s still the First Quarter—but they see the left half lit.
  • When it’s a Waxing Crescent in New Delhi, it appears on the right side.
    In Cape Town, that same sliver appears on the left side.

It’s the same phase, same Moon—but reality shifts, depending on where you stand!

Once we learn to read the Moon, it becomes a kind of nightly compass. It connects us to the rhythm of the Earth, of time itself. And yes, it’s also fun to casually identify a “waning gibbous” and enjoy the raised eyebrows from unsuspecting friends.

So the next time someone asks, “Is it waxing or waning?”—you’ll know. And if you’re feeling generous, you might just pass on that little rhyme:

🌒 “Right is bright, it’s waxing with might.”
🌘 “Left is lit, it’s waning a bit.”

–Meena

Picture source: https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/

Under the Same Moon

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

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

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ 1 Comment

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 Curious Case of Poop-Eating Plants

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Poop. Not a subject of polite conversation. But with a six-year-old granddaughter, this is an integral part of my daily discussions—stories and jokes which feature poop, farts, and belches, and I thought nothing could get me.

But poop-eating plants did! This is one of those bizarrely strange tales from the natural world that makes me marvel at how much we don’t know.

The next time someone tells you that plants only need sunshine, nutrients from the soil and water, its time to pop out the word coprophagy. That’s the term for poop-eating. Most often it’s associated with animals—rabbits, dung beetles, and sometimes dogs. But it turns out that some plants may also be participants in this less-than-dainty buffet. Not many, mind you. It’s an exclusive club.

The pitcher plant (genus Nepenthes) is a frontrunner in this strange category. While most carnivorous plants are famous for trapping insects, some tropical species of Nepenthes have found an alternative nutrient source—bat poop. In places like Borneo, bats roost conveniently above the pitchers, and their droppings fall right in. Scientists call it a “nutritional mutualism.” The bats get shelter; the plant gets dinner. Apart from bat-poop, plants are known to eat the poop of tree shrews, lizards, and even of birds. These flowers even resemble toilets—all the better to catch the poop as it falls.

These plants don’t actually chomp up poop. Rather, they have evolved to extract nutrients from faeces, often via mechanisms like sticky leaves, enzymes, and old-fashioned decomposition. Some even form alliances with fungi or microbes to get the job done.

But why on earth would a plant choose poop? It’s a matter of efficiency. Poop, especially from animals like bats and tree shrews, is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus—two nutrients that are vital for plant growth but maybe in short supply in nutrient-poor soils where many of these carnivorous plants grow. Insects provide these too, but poop is like a ready-made fertilizer packet, no hunting required. Poop offers a shortcut—already digested, already broken down. Though the comparitive nutritive values have not been rigourously tested, it is believed that poop is more nutritious.The bats roost above the pitchers, do their business, and the plant simply absorbs the nutrients through specialized enzymes or microbes that help break things down. Also, insects are scarce on tropical peaks above 2,200 meters, so poop provides a good alternative source.  In fact, scientists are finding that some carnivorous plants are evolving from eating bugs to eating poop! Some pitcher plants have even evolved shapes and scents to attract the animals specifically for their droppings!

Are there any Indian coprophagic plants?

Yes indeed! North East India is home to several species of pitcher plants or Nepenthes. Recent studies suggest that some species in the Nepenthes family (including those found in Southeast Asia) are more than happy to lap up the occasional faecal nutrient.

The Western Ghats, another biodiversity hotspot, also hosts a variety of unusual plants, including some that partner with fungi to decompose animal droppings in the soil. While not technically “eating” poop in the way a pitcher plant might, these interactions are still part of the larger cycle of nutrient recycling—with poop part of this circle of life.

So, the next time you see a lovely green pitcher in a botanical garden or on a damp forest trek in the North East, give it a respectful nod. It might be doing more than just sitting pretty. It might be part of a brilliant, bat-poop-powered system we’re only just beginning to understand.

Well, I know that after this story, Botany is definitely going to be my granddaughter’s favourite subject! Who knew botany could be this…entertainingly gross?

–Meena

Picture: http://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/poo-plants

Carravaggio Crosses the Seas

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

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

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

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

Libraries Take Wing

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

How often we randomly pick up a feather as we walk along. And wonder which bird it could belong to.

A feather library is where we can turn to for help in such a situation. These are digital or physical collections of bird feathers, used for research and education. They are an invaluable resource for understanding bird species, identifying feathers, and gathering data on bird health and natural history. These libraries are important tools for the study and conservation of bird species, offering insights into bird morphology and helping in the identification of feathers found in the wild.

There are not too many across the world. Some of the established ones include:

1. The Feather Atlas created by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a comprehensive image database of North American birds and covers about 438 species. It can be browsed by bird order, family, or species. It has an open identification tool in which one can fill in details about feather patterns, colors, size, and position, which can help you identify the bird your feather belongs to.

2.Featherbase (Germany) has been created by a working group of German feather-scientists and other collectors worldwide who have come together and contributed their personal collections. It holds close to 8000 specimens from over 1,000 bird species, with a focus on European and African birds. The collection includes high-resolution images and detailed anatomical information, and has supporeted studies in forensics, conservation, and biodiversity monitoring. It is rigorously classified and offers options of various languages so that birders from across the world can use it.

3. Found Feathers (iNaturalist Project) is a citizen science initiative where users contribute observations of feathers they find. The project encourages the collection of feather length and placement data, enhancing the database’s utility for researchers and birders. There are over 2,00,000 observations from across the world.

Special among these is India’s Feather Library. This pioneering initiative is the first of its kind in India and the world, dedicated to documenting, identifying, and studying the flight feathers of Indian birds. It is the passion project of architect Esha Munshi, a dedicated bird watcher who has seen over 1500 bird species across the world, and veterinarian Sherwin Everett who works in a bird hospital in Ahmedabad. They have created the library with the aim of having all feather-related data under one roof, fostering collaboration and advancing the collective understanding of Indian birds. In the short span of time since inception on Nov 15, 2021, 135 species have been documented.

The process is rigorous. They collect feather specimens from dead birds at rescue centres to establish a primary database of bird species. They then make detailed notes on the flight feathers, taking into account the number of Primaries, Secondaries, Tertials (Wing Feathers), and Rectrices (Tail Feathers), along with basic details such as overall length, bill length and width, leg lengths, etc. Then they stretch out one wing and fan the tail in both dorsal and ventral views to document the exact number of feathers, unique characteristics, colour, pattern, and size etc. The physical collection is housed at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore.

The database is open to all and provides easy access.

Kudos to the dedication and passion of people like Esha and Sherwin who through their efforts help support avian research, conservation efforts, and educational outreach. And make a better world.

Happy Environment Day!

–Meena

Singing Telegrams, Speeding Birds

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

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

MOOMINS

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ 1 Comment

Way back in the ‘60s and ‘70s growing up in Delhi, the family newspaper was The Statesman. It was considered by Tamilian families to be the closest substitute for The Hindu, which in those days used to arrive in Delhi with a delay of a day or two.

So like all good Tamilian families outside Tamil Nadu, we too took The Statesman. And through this, got introduced to the Moomins, which was the only cartoon strip that the paper carried.

The central characters of the cartoons, which have just turned 80, are gentle-looking hippo-like creatures called the Moomins . They are white and roundish, with large snouts. The Moomin world and its characters are the creations of the Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, and the books and comic strips were originally published in Swedish in Finland.

The core family consists of the main protagonist, Moomintroll, a small and well-meaning Moomin who who is forever having adventures and often finds himself in trouble; his mother, the nurturing and loving Moominmamma; and his father, the restless Momminpappa. And besides, there are many of their friends.

The first book was written during World War II as a fairytale for Tove to comfort herself during dark times.  It is based on the situation and stories of  millions of displaced people seeking refuge. The Moomins live in a tall blue house – a joyful place where everyone is welcome, whoever they are. The motto is ‘The door is always open’. The blue-purple Moominhouse is thus a symbol of security, shelter and a sense of belonging. No wonder then that even today the Moomins represent hope for refugees, so much so that UK cities are using this as an the inspiration for a series of art installations in UK cities, in collaboration with Refugee Week. 

The Moomin stories are tales of adventure and overcoming adversities, always with a sense of inclusion and tolerance, and living together in cheer and happiness. Harmony with nature is a recurring underlying theme. The underlying message of all the Moomin stories is that it’s the simple things that are valuable in any situation, and that one’s attitude can often change a bad day into a good one.

Many in India may not be very familiar with these characters, but there are nine Moomin novels which were all successful. The cartoon strip was syndicated in 1954, to over 120 publications in 40 countries. This comic strip reached 20 million readers daily. There was a TV show too, which was originally broadcast in Poland and then sold to other countries including the UK, and aired on PBS in the US. There are even two Moomin theme parks, one in Finland and the other in Japan. Moomin stories have been adapted for the theatre, the cinema, and as an opera.

Here are some Moomin quotes, encapsulating good sense and postivity:

‘That’s most extraordinary, but I’m so used to your doing extraordinary things that nothing surprises me.’

‘Perhaps it will come – perhaps not. It’s all the same to a person who knows that everything is unnecessary.’

‘How nice to be on your own for a bit and do what you like.’

‘I like you, I don’t want to make you feel unhappy.’

‘The main thing in life is to know your own mind.’

In a conflicted world, Moomins may be the cartoon characters we need!

–Meena

Visual: From http://www.moomins.com