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A knotty piece of string
Anyone who has ever knitted, crocheted, quilted, embroidered or otherwise worked with a length of yarn has witnessed this miracle. A perfectly innocuous, straightforward length of yarn mysteriously ties itself into a convoluted knot. As though tired of running in an endless track, it decides to curl up on itself for a cosy nap. Called…
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Dangerous creatures—megafauna to microbes
Our prehistoric ancestors were brave. Small bands of them stepped out of their caves into the wilderness to hunt, armed with only wooden spears, clubs, and roughly sharpened stones. They hunted no ordinary creatures—they stalked megafauna—menacing monsters several times their size and several hundred times their weight. Dangerous beasts which could kill with a sideways…
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A lost tail
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Shades of blue
Christmas season has ended and Blue Christmas has played many times over as part of the season’s playlist. Its not a particular favourite of mine. On the other hand, we all have our favourite shades of blue—for it is the world’s most popular colour and occurs in 71% of all national flags. We are inhabitants…
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A mouthful of bitter melon
Among my many mouth-watering childhood memories of food lurks one bitter foe. A mouthful of bitter melon, to be precise. Aka the bitter gourd or karela or its cousin-the uchche. It turned up regularly on our lunch platter, being considered a superfood, though the term itself had not been invented then! It all came back…
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The Disappearing Donkey
This is a tale of the disappearing donkey – those overworked and undervalued creatures that are disappearing from our own backyards. Some may sneer at my choice of subject, still others may see this diminution as a progressive step! But do not be hasty, dear reader. For the dons who study donkeys have detected a…
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A full head of hair
