Kids in 1970s enjoyed their summer holidays freed from the school classes and exams. I enjoyed a vacation by doing a small business :) I bought a few grams of a white substance from the mall, ground it into powder; soaked it overnight in a plate full of water. At morning I was delighted to see the plate full of a jelly-like delicacy. I added colourant and sugar to it and then, the delicacy was ready for sales to the boys and girls! What is that substance that I used?
Yes, snake's venom can save a person from diseases such as Diabetes mellitus! After venom is secreted in venom glands and it remained unused, where does it go then? Or what happens to it?
Some years back we went on a trekking through the coffee plantations in Western Ghats (Lower Palani Hills range). After returning back to our residence, we noticed that each one of us having a black sac-like thing on our legs! Blood was oozing out from that spot. We had been bitten by Leeches (Haemadipsa sylvestris, Indian Leech, Terrestrial Leech, 'Attai' in Tamil).
At my younger age there was gossip in our group about ghosts' voices that were heard at nights demanding delicacies from the passersby. Now, I wonder whether it could have been the mimicked sounds of a bird! Here, in South India, mynahs and black drongos mimic and then forget the sounds instantly. But it is said that there is a bird that records, remembers and repeats sounds that it heard 30 years back!
While I was strolling around in my garden I found a carrot plant grown up by itself! I had not sown any carrot seed earlier. I left it as such to get carrot from it. But as it grew up, it had only a straight stem with smaller leaves unlike that of a carrot plant. It also started to bloom differently.
We go on trekking to explore about animals or birds in the wild nature. Our such exploration extends also to other planets and moons. But here we include also extra-terrestrial living things, that are similar to us, the human beings. Over the years, we read and heard the news that signs of life, like water etc. does exist in other planets and moons. Recently, in December 2012 it has been reported in the news that a flower is found on the surface of Mars - a Martian Flower!
In 1960s, I observed some creatures creeping on the wall of our house. When I tried to catch them, they ran and escaped behind wall-hanging calendars. Even if I caught one of them gently, it slipped away to safety leaving behind a silvery white powder on my fingers - just like a moth leaves its scales! It is the Silverfish (Lepisma saccharina, Fishmoth, 'Velli poochi' in Tamil).
In India one can easily identify kiosks selling soft drinks by the bunches of tender coconuts hanging on the front of them. Even in winter these coconuts are available with them, since the water present in them has many other uses apart from being taken as a natural beverage. This Tender Coconut Water ('Elani thannee' in Tamil) found inside the greenish or orange tender coconuts ('Elanee') cools down the body in hot summer; so it is in much demand.
In 1970s, I went to an exhibition conducted by a Polytechnic Institute located at Madurai, South India. There at one of the stalls, students were demonstrating to the public a block of white material that they cut by a heated wire! The hot nichrome wire stretching between two poles cut the block when it was applied from above and pressed down on it.
