Prosopis Juliflora - Fuel Wood Wonder!

I was introduced to a tree in my early childhood by its thorn! The tree is Prosopis juliflora. Elders called its thorn as Crow’s thorn (‘Kakka mual’ in Tamil) and cautioned me not to get a prick on foot with it, as it will lead to a painful abscess. It was so named as crows collect these dried greyish black thorns from the grounds near the tree and use it to build their nests.

Prosopis juliflora (‘Veali Karuvealai’ in Tamil) is an evergreen tree thriving well in any soil and is drought resistant. It appears withered only when it rains, as it folds and closes all its leaves then! Its roots go deeper than other tree roots – up to 175 feet! After cutting down to its roots tip I found a tree pushing up its fresh shoot as if it is a new tree within a month – there had been lying a much bigger main root of that tree uncut! The tree is ubiquitous here in South India and other countries like Australia. But peculiarly it is not seen in North India! Its seeds germinate quickly after monsoon rains. So, to check its invasion in farm lands, it must be pulled out and dried in sunlight as soon as it appears above the ground.

Its main use now is as a fuel, either after drying or after turning into charcoal by burning partially in a mud covered heap of its twigs. It was used then as live fencing in farms in the past and hence its Tamil name. It is said that it was introduced into Tamil Nadu, South India with the efforts taken by Honorable K.Kamaraj then Chief Minister to boost the livelihood of poor people. Another use of it: its produce, the pods are eagerly eaten by goats, which are fed by their keepers to fatten them and get tasty flesh!
This tree that grows on wastelands and offers excellent fuel wood at no cost is a wonder tree in every aspect!

Co-trimoxazole, Medicine prolonging Life Span!

It is nice to see people move out of their houses for getting entertained, learning or earning. These are the people who feel themselves in a healthy state. Yet another group of people is there that feel not healthy. Doctors try to make this second group to shift out and move to the healthier group again. For that ‘repairing work’ the tools used here are the medicines! Out of these, one wonderful medicine helps people live longer, healthily, than their destined time: it is the Co-trimoxazole and these benefiting people are those living with HIV/AIDS infection (PLHA)!
This Co-trimoxazole tablet cures the disease, Pneumonia caused by the fungus, Pneumocystis carinii (or P. jiroveci), and also prevents the same disease in them! It also cures diseases caused by other bacterial infections in them, and thus protects them from death or disabilities. Prescribing this tablet is not restricted to them only; it is used in other people also for curing intestinal infections, ear and urinary infections.Co-trimoxazole in itself is a combination of two medicines in one – Trimethoprim and Sulphamethoxazole. It belongs to the good old group of Sulpha drugs (so, it must be also avoided in people allergic to the members of this group – showing itchy skin rashes, mouth ulcers etc. after swallowing them).This Co-trimoxazole tablet that has emerged as a panacea to the special people (PLHA) is a wonder medicine creating a history in medical treatment of diseases!

Antlion snares your attention!

Smaller, shallow, round fine sand pits with dug sand heaped around are seen at spring and summer, here in India. As kids we used to drive ants into these pits and watch them being dragged down into the sand from the pits’ bottom! Is there some ‘monster’ inside the sand? No, no. It is our cowardly lurking lion – the Ant lion larva or Doodle bug (Myrmeleonidae, ‘Kunnaan’ in Tamil)! But it is cunningly trapping the ants that happen to step into these pits. These ants slide down the slope of the pit in loose fine sand to its bottom where our antlion grabs them sucks their juice and throws off their carcasses out of the pit! We used to fish out this ‘lion’ by simply inserting down into the bottom of the pit a thin stick, and taking out the stick when it grips it! These antlions are the larvae of the flying insect, Antlion lacewings (or Antlion, simply). The female of it lays an egg into the sand that hatches into the larva. This larva turns into a puba that develops in a cocoon of sand, deep down inside the sand, to fly out as adult fly when fully matured.

We sang a song as children over a sand pit of the antlion thus: “Kunnaan, Kunnaan, Kurr Kurr” - in Tamil! It is a wonder lion lurking inside its own snare itself!

Wonder in wonder: As I just finished writing this post an Antlion lacewings flew down into the room in reality! You see here its picture!

Wonders on Earth and the Sky!

From the sky, looking down on our Earth will be always a surprise for all of us! Winding rivers that merge with the bluish sea at their ends reflecting the images of Sun or the clouds on their surface, brownish mountains with their wavy ranges, greenish forests, cumulus clouds floating just below our level like a sea of clouds that conceal earth’s surface, dazzling large water bodies such as reservoirs, trains moving like caterpillars in the cities – all these passing slowly backwards are wonders provoking excitement in us as we watch them with awe on traveling in a Jet plane over the skies here in India!

From the Earth, looking up on the sky also brings wonder in our eyes! On 5^th December 2008, there was a wonder on the evening sky: conjunction of the crescent Moon with the bright Venus and the Jupiter planets that resembled the present day Smiley, a smiling face having these planets as eyes and the crescent moon as its mouth! On 31^st December 2008, again there was a conjunction of the crescent Moon with Venus that had moved out of the previous place of conjunction leaving the Jupiter far behind it!

As we have seen many wonders to move behind us one by one in the Golden Year, 2008, let us all see up to the sky and pray to the Almighty to make this year, 2009 also full of many such wonders!

“Wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year!”

Jungle Babbler - Seven sisters - nice visitors!

I find each day a flock of winged visitors in my garden at morning or evening. They give a noisy call making me to peep out to have a look at them. Often I see one of them pecking on its image in the rear view mirror of my two wheelers! These visitors are the birds called as the Jungle Babblers , and as Seven sisters in India (Turdoides striata). They have grayish brown feathers, and move the tails often either up or to one of their sides fanning out the tail feathers in the act.

These Jungle Babblers live in the tropical suburban areas only. They are seen only in flocks of seven or more, flying down to the ground or to the tree perch, one after the other following in a line. They fly lowly and do not fly away on seeing human beings; but get alerted and fly away on seeing our advancing movement towards them! As they hop around on the ground they eat insects and worms. Occasionally, they make noisy quarreling sounds with offending Mynas and chase away them!
These wonder babblers frequenting our garden are amusing and nice birds! You can share with me your experience about these birds.

Snow and Ice greet You!

At this time of winter we are reminded also about Santa Claus, Christmas tree and ……… the Snow! Snow is the solid form of water (ice!) found naturally on places having colder and the coldest weather conditions. But I have seen this snow here in our hot Subtropical region also! Yes, but ….. inside the artificial snow showering room of Entertainment Fun centers!

Some exciting factors that I came across, and wondered about this snow are here:

Snow crystals are ice crystals formed directly from water vapors by cold air, and not from the freezing raindrops! They are produced inside the clouds at -10’C. They become hexagonal prisms of ice crystals as they grow by further deposits of ice crystals on their facets. They grow branches on their six corners in the process. As they become heavy (!) enough, they move out of the clouds and float down to earth as Snowflakes! Shapes of these snowflakes vary depending upon temperature and water vapor content. Snowflakes fall down to the earth to become the Snow!

We, people in India, see only the Sand sculptures (Sand art) and wonder! But in the colder countries one can see and wonder about the Snow castles, Ice sculptures, Snowman …etc. etc. at this time of Christmas – like us too, via satellite television!

Soapnut Tree - Ritha - Cleansing hair as Shampoo!

In the past century, women here in Tamilnadu of India used to tie and wear extra entwined hair tufts on their heads. This is to show off about 'their' possession of lengthy hairs and to make up for their actual shorter hairs! I have seen such hair tufts being washed and dried before wearing on. For this a washing solution was prepared by dissolving in water the powder of dried fruits obtained from a tree. We, as children used to play with this solution to blow out bubbles of air through a tube dipped in it! The fruit mentioned here is that of the Soap-nut tree or Ritha (Sapindus trifoliatus, ‘Poonthi kuoattai maram’ in Tamil). It is a berry with a nut inside. Its fleshy part contains Saponin which has surfactant action like that of soaps and detergents! Nowadays this saponin is an ingredient in shampoos.

Another species of the soap-nut tree is found in Himalayan regions grown by Nature by itself (Sapindus mukorossi). It bears larger fruits. Seeds of soap-nut trees are said to germinate easily. But now propagation of this tree by man is drastically low; the tree needs to be grown in all farms as its canopy gives cool shadow, and its fruits have also contraceptive and antimigraine chemicals in addition to its cleansing saponin content.

This Soap-nut tree that gives us many such natural products is really a wonder tree among all the other trees, as it was in the past!

Rabies, the Fatal Disease and the Vaccines that prevent it

The disease Rabies is infective. Usually a dog having this disease spreads it to man or other animals by its bites. Rarely domestic animals such as cattle, pigs, and cats and monkeys too can also spread it. When man goes for trekking or hunting in forests he may be bitten by wild animals such as fox, wolf, mongoose and bats, that may have been already infected, and get this disease.

The virus causing this disease attacks nerves and brain after entering the body through the bite wounds. As the disease cannot be cured and leads to death quickly, one has to prevent himself from acquiring it by getting himself and also his pet animals vaccinated against it before sustaining any such bite wound. Even after any unexpected bite, the Rabies can be prevented by getting vaccinated! (- but only after immediate washing the bite wounds with soap and water, and applying Povidone-Iodine ointment - for this removes and kills the virus instantly). By taking all these precautionary measures the Rabies can be avoided by all. The wonder vaccines used get all the credits as an incurable and fatal disease is prevented by them!

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!