My childhood excitements were much as my sisters and brothers showed me all the wonders in this world. My eldest brother used to enter into darkened room whenever there was a family function. When I tried to peep into the room he shouted at me to close the door. Later he explained me after coming out of the room thus: he was loading his camera with a Roll film that would have been spoiled if it was done outdoors in daylight!
We live, and are alive as we have our body organ, the Liver. Liver does many functions for our body. In its own illnesses such as Cirrhosis and Hepatitis C, it functions lesser than normal. Here this it has to be replaced with a donor liver by transplantation. But lo, donors are not readily available.
I have seen tribal women carry their children on their back in pouches of cloth. I was reminded of this when I was informed about a different kind of frog (toad) that carries its young ones on its back! It is the Surinam toad (Pipa pipa, Star-fingered toad). It is also remarkable that it carries young ones from their embryo stage itself!
At dusk we see birds that fly fast to their nests. But there are certain birds that hunt only in night's darkness and sleep at daytime. One such bird is the Nightjar (Caprimulgus asiaticus, Goatsucker, Common Indian Nightjar, 'Pakki' in Tamil).
Each year in summer we expect the arrival of a delicacy in the market. It takes the heat off our head and cools down the whole body. In my childhood I had also relished on a sweet drink related to that delicacy. These two products are from our Palmyrah tree (Borassus flabellifer, Double palm, Lontar palm, 'Panai maram' in Tamil). The tree has multiple uses from making huts to making palm sugar and what else not? Its black fruits contain the soft, jelly-like delicacy (that I mentioned earlier here) called 'Nuongu' in Tamil (Ice-apple).
