Flying Termites of the Monsoon Season

In villages, here in Tamilnadu of India, people, especially children are sportive in collecting Flying Termites (Alates or Swarmers and ‘Eiesal’ in Tamil). They sing a song to threaten them, and blow air into the opening to their nest present underground! The song contains the following message: “There is snake inside the nest of these flying termites! Won’t they rush out vacating the nest?” As the flying termites come out by themselves (!), one by one, from their underground colony, they are collected in a tiny basket! One can hear these songs of the children in villages after each North East monsoon shower: at these times these creatures swarm around the places. In a few hours they shed their brown membranous wings, and then they are seen in the vicinity running one after the other in pairs. These flying termites are the reproductive forms of the Termites. They, the kings and queens from the termite colony come out of their nest, fly in air, mate with each other and settle down somewhere else inside the ground to establish their own termite colony!

Ok. What the children do with the collected flying termites? In the early part of 19^th century they simply put them on the top of the ‘Hurricane lantern,’ roasted and then relished. Elders used to roast them with fried Bengal gram (Chick pea), onion and puffed rice to make a snack for the rainy season! Now the flying termites are consumed as a side dish by the pregnant women for their high mineral contents. Their content has a good taste like that of yellowish butter and is a nutritious delicacy to all. These flying delicacies are wonderful and delicate insects indeed!

HAM and Mobile Phone Communications

In 1980s I used to tune into both foreign and native radio stations in Short Wave Bands with enthusiasm. I was able to hear the latest news broadcasts before they appear late in the daily news papers. One day while I was combing through the radio bands (SWL), I heard a radio station that was a different one from others. It had a man speaking to another man, and not to the listeners! The words repeated in the end of a conversation were: ‘roger, roger’! In response to this the other man spoke to him next. I was surprised, and understood later that they were the hobbyists, ‘HAMs’ (Amateur Radio Operators) conversing in 40 Meter band! The person’s station name (Call Sign) is VU2TX. Yes, HAMs use and speak in a lot of coded words as they also send such coded messages in Morse code (CW) – like we send now Abbreviated Text Messages in SMS! Their conversations are easy to understand if you listen to them carefully and repeatedly. You can also go through the text books prescribed for appearing for Amateur Station Operator License Examination, for referring to their coded words. (Getting through this exam entitles the candidate to get the license and speak to other HAMs all over the world!).

There are millions of HAMs throughout the world rendering services such as developing communication devices, experimenting on gadgets, helping in emergencies and disaster management through this hobby! Actually the present day’s Mobile communication devices (Phone and Signal towers) are simply the modified form of Hand held transceivers and Repeaters used by the HAMs since 1990s! HAMs’ communication networks are also the forerunners of the present day Word, Voice and Video chats of the internet, as also of the Social Community Networks such as Orkut, Myspace etc.!
We should not forget our wonder HAMs and their hobby, as they are still around us without seeking any publicity, and doing their good services. And we must be always in gratitude to them as they have provided the basis of our present day communication boom and boon worldwide!

Veins - Playing on by Emptying!

Veins are the tubes that conduct the used blood to the heart. They are superficial unlike the arteries and they can be seen prominently bulging out from below the skin in lean persons. The greenish tubes seen on the skin of the fair colored persons are actually these veins and are not the 'nerves' as many mistake them to be. They carry the blood from the distal parts of the limbs up towards the heart. They have valves in them that permit the flow of blood towards heart only but not backwards! To see this action of veins do the following:

You can place a finger tip on a distal portion in a stretch of a vein and press it down gently to block the flow of blood in it.

Then with another finger tip pressing down on it next to the previously fixed pressing finger, move over the length of the vein pushing up the blood in it (emptying) proximally.

Next take out this second pressing down finger tip. Now you shall see the previously prominent vein as an empty, dry, flat and green streak! The emptied blood does not flow back as a valve in the vein prevents it! Now if you release the pressure by the first applied finger tip, blood from the distal part of the vein will flow forwards and fill it up making it prominent once again!
It is a wonder action of the vein valves that helps to circulate the blood inside our body properly!

Shooting Stars - Meteors in Leonid Showers!

In our younger years of age, we used to gaze at the night sky and count the stars that appear, move and disappear – ‘Shooting Stars.’ While doing so, friends advised that one should immediately look at a green tree if he sees a shooting star; otherwise it might cause his death!

In 1998 November, there was news in dailies about ‘Leonid Showers.’ So, we all went to look upon the skies after midnight at about 01.30 am. The date was 18^th. You can read my jotting on my diary on that date:

“At night (1.30 am to 3.30 am) we all saw the meteors on the clear sky about one or two at a time in a gap of about 10 minutes from 2.15 am to 3.30 am”

As we waited with patience, there were these continued appearances of these shooting stars (or the Meteors) in showers. It appeared as if fireworks were lit and displayed in the sky at the Deepavali Day, here in India! An amazingly spectacular heavenly sight!

‘Meteoroids’ are the smaller separated parts from the Asteroids belt of stones that revolve around the Sun. When they come near our Earth, they are attracted and sucked into its atmosphere; but they catch fire and become visible as ‘Meteors.’ As they do so they get vaporized or fall down to the ground as ‘Meteorites.’ (It is believed that one large such of meteorites hit the Earth in Mexico and caused the extinction of Dinosaurs). But the Meteor showers of Leonid occur when our Earth passes through the dust particles left out by the comet Tempel-Tuttle.
Did these meteor showers come only in 1998? No, no! They appear each and every year around mid- November! So, you can witness this celestial event this year also in the Constellation of Leo. I wish you all have this wonderful experience! You can contact me for sharing your own rendezvous with these meteors or meteorites.

Venus - Our Sister Planet!

First, I wish you all and the kids a Happy Halloween Day! And wish the kids have nice ‘Treats by Tricking’ in this day!

Planets in the Solar system including our Earth rotate themselves in the direction from the East to the West. But with one exception – one of our planets rotates in the reverse direction! It is the planet Venus! On the land of Venus, our Sun rises in the West and sets in the East!

As this planet is close to the Sun as Mercury, it is seen near the Sun always – as ‘Morning Star’ just before sunrise or as ‘Evening Star’ just after sunset!

As it is closely similar in size and composition to that of our Earth, it is called Earth’s sister planet.

It has been named after the Roman Goddess of Love. It is known as ‘Sukra’ in Indian Astrology. It is stated in astrology that Sukra provides one with wealth!

Puzzling scientists still, the Venus is a wonder planet indeed!

Red Velvet Mite - to Please You!

As the North East Monsoon brings rain showers, here in South India, we see now a beautiful crawling creature. It is seen after each shower, moving on with its legs softly on the fine sand brought out by the storm water. It has velvety shining skin with dimples on its back. It is so soft that you are tempted to touch on its back. This is the Red Velvet Mite of Trombidium species! (It is called as 'Paappaathee Poochee' or 'Pattu Poochee' in Tamil language). It usually comes out of soil just after the rains, in sunshine, as do also the mushrooms at this time. As children we used to collect these mites in match boxes, with tiny bits of grass added as its diet! But I have seen these mites as predators too, preying on Flying Termites ( 'Eiesel' in Tamil) that also come out of the earth at this time of monsoon.

These Red Velvet Mites live in the layer of fallen leaves in wood lands or farm wastes. They eat small insects, and eggs of other mites and insects. The females get fertilized as they sit on the ‘Love Garden’ made by the male with its semen! The larvae of them live as parasites on other insects like Grasshoppers. The mites live for more than a year.

It is a wonder mite that wondered children and is wondering all the children every year at this time of monsoon here! If you have anything to say about this mite you can share it here by clicking on the Comments.

Jumping Spider - the Intimate Inmate!

With human life, some animals attach and adapt themselves. Examples for this are dogs, cats, sparrows etc. Spiders also adapt like these, to human environment – inside the house! I refer here to the Jumping Spider particularly. This spider jumps or hops on to you when you are near it, and it even looks up at your face by moving up its head and eyes! It usually preys upon insects such as mosquitoes and house-flies. In Tamil language it is called as ‘E Pulee,’ that means as ‘The Tiger that preys upon House-fly.’ It is found often on the floor or the walls, jumping here and there doing no harm to anybody. But I find it to be very the most sensitive to water. A mild splash of water on it can kill it! It won’t revive at all even if it is well dried out of is moisture. In breeding, it makes white sacs in which its young ones hatch out from eggs and grow.It is a wonder spider in our house that has come to stay with us voluntarily!

Mud Wasps and Wonder Nests!

Mud wasps (mud daubers) are seen coming inside the house through the windows and then getting out after a while. They fetch mud pellets to build nests on wall corners, ledges or the ceiling.

They also prefer 'artificial man made nests' - like the screw holes seen on the speakers, or the power plug points! They simply lay eggs in them and seal with mud.

I have seen colorful whorls of paper like nesting material inserted one over the other like plastic cups, inside power plug points. The nesting material used here are the petals from the flowers of Bougainvillaea! Inside the central tube-like part of this 'flower' the wasp lays eggs and seal.When I break open these wasp nests, I often find semiconscious spiders or caterpillars moving their parts now and then.

Cuckoo wasp is different and it behaves like cuckoo in placing its eggs in other mud wasps' nests to get its larvae fed and brought up by the host wasp!
Again and again I could post more and more about these wonder wasps that drive you away from their nests, and but do not sting you at all! You can share with me your own experiences with wasps here.

Aspirin - the Tablet that avoids Deaths and Disabilities!

Tablet Aspirin was sold and used widely under many brand names in 1960s for relieving headache. Slowly it was pushed aside as newer pain relievers were discovered. Moreover its continuous use produced (and produces) various other illnesses that include Gastric ulcer and Gastric bleeding. These almost precluded its use and it almost disappeared in the prescriptions of doctors.
In this present stressful world of today, as lifestyle has become totally changed from that of 1960s, many other Non-Communicable Diseases have become high handed. These diseases are Hypertension, Diabetes, and other complicating illnesses arising out of them such as Heart attack, Brain stroke, etc. Now our tablet Aspirin has been rediscovered again to have preventive nature against the complications of these illnesses, and thus the deaths and disabilities also, which may result out of them! Here Aspirin has to be taken only in low dose that is innocuous and avoids Aspirin’s own side effects such as Gastric ulcer.
Thus this wonder tablet Aspirin is in limelight again as it safeguards human race from dwindling down!