The first animal that usually becomes a member of an Indian household (disapprovingly) is a lizard creeping on the wall or the ceiling. It is the Common House Lizard - the Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus, 'Palli' or 'Gouli' in Tamil). It is a silent nocturnal lizard. But sometimes it makes sounds suddenly, that alerts and stuns us. Beliefs are attached with its sounds: that its such utterance at that instant means that the decision being made by the person is agreed and approved by it also! Another belief is that it foretells an impending event! I heard also such sounds when these lizards chase and fight or mate.
In the past, man grew fungus and found out that it produced a substance that killed other disease - producing germs. It is the science about the production of Penicillin from the fungus, Penicillium notatum. But in the remote past millions of years ago wasps had found this fact and used this technique in protecting their developing offspring, the larvae! Yes, the Beewolf wasps (Philanthus crabroniformis) produce a cocktail of antibacterial substances from Streptomyces since ages.
One bird that I watched and wondered in my childhood made me to continue Bird-watching as a hobby. It is the Common Tailorbird (Orthotonus sutorius, 'Thaiyal kuruvi' in Tamil). What attracted me to it so much? It is its tiny size compared to that of a hen, its incessant calls, its upright moving tail and its amazing behavior of nest - building!
Then, in 1960s, here in my home town a lane was called after a tree that had been grown along its side. It was called as 'Vaadhaankottaimara Theru' (in Tamil). That tree's common English name is Indian Almond Tree ('Terminalia cattappa', Tropical Almond, ' Vadhaankottai maram' in Tamil)! The tree is characteristic with all its broad, large and deep greenish leaves that turn bright red before they fall down.
When we are behind an object we will not be able to see any object that lies in front of it. It was learned by us as a child's play in our childhood. That is happening in a celestial hiding too - the Solar eclipse or the Lunar eclipse. In January 15th of this year 2010, here in Tamil Nadu of South India, we had the chance of viewing the Annular Solar Eclipse - an exact central fitting of Moon on the Sun leaving only an outer ring of Sun's disc unobstructed. This event was the longest one of this millennium; it happened at afternoon. I viewed it around 1.30pm IST. The following were also seen as an effect during the eclipse affecting the environment:
We expect exciting mysteries to happen at nights rather than at daytime. Two years back at night I found a mysterious thing lying on the portico of the house. It was like a small fluff of wool lying flat on the floor. As I approached it to clear it away, my son alerted me that it was moving. So, I took a small twig in my hand and touched it carefully to test: there were seen many 'movements' out of that main one!
When guests come, we as humans offer them all food and facilities with much hospitality. Then it is needless to to say how much hospitality will be there for those visitors who bring with them some advantages for us. Such a hospitality exists in plants also. Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera, 'Thamarai' in Tamil) exhibits it to the visiting bees.
In our human life, at each phase of our age we have our own best performing activities. Equally, at the same time we have also the impairment of our other activities that we did well in our earlier phase! Such an activity is the impairment of close print reading (viewing) ability of the eye, called as Presbyopia. When I was a school student my mother had given me often thread and a stitching (sewing) needle to thread through the needle's eye for her.
Diabetes, as you know, has now become a global disease affecting human lives in many countries. It is related to Obesity: obese people are more prone to develop Diabetes. So far, the reduction of obesity has been tried with risky surgical operations. Now, a non-surgical treatment for it has been devised. It aids also in reversing Diabetes (Type 2) that has its onset in a person just now!
