Time to Light - Deepavali

The thought of just a day left for Deepavali brings excitement within. Though the weather wasn't that favorable to celebrate Deepavali - the festival of lights and fireworks - as it kept raining for the last few days and a warning from meteorology that there could be rains across the day of Deepavali. The covid has its share already in defusing the light of Deepavali; the supreme court's guidance has gripped the firework sale, but at masses, these don't matter when purchasing things and celebrating the festival. 

I love rain, and it must keep away drought, but never during the festivals, especially Deepavali. 

I hung rice led serial in our living room for Deepavali 

I see a general feeling of excitement of Deepavali is missing among the people; perhaps their lifestyle changes and influence of gadgets has kept their interest away from the festivals and celebrations. I have fond memories of Deepavali, the most anticipated days of our life - from childhood till now - an inexplicable feeling embraces. Since I grow up lighting fireworks, it has become an inseparable thing during Deepavali, and every year, I buy some fireworks as I enjoy the same. 

During childhood days, we begin celebrating Deepavali a month early to the festival. We buy crackers loosely from the nearby petty shop and burst one by one during the weekends. I recollect how joyful the days are then - with our neighborhood friends, we go for cracker hunting on the day of Deepavali, picking up the unburst crackers on the road to burst. Roaming the street is my favorite pass time, then, and it's fun as we keep talking and walking around the streets in our area.

I miss so many things right away, and when I think back, I feel the pleasure and pain equally. Not only that I miss those days, but I also couldn't make up with the contemporary world, even for the smallest desires and right to be human. Though I buy a variety of fireworks, what I could light was only a sparkler. My world is little with endless vision and works to do, but being a dependent, I could not achieve anything without aid from anyone. 

Hope you all have a Happy and Safe Deepavali! 

Indian Golden Jackal and Its Relevant!

Foxes and Jackals have become an endangered species in our  Indian subcontinent, and I remember seeing a Jackal (in wilder) only once in the Kodiakkarai scrub forest, aka Point Calimere.  I have been to many wild forests, but nowhere I could see a Fox or Jackal. It seems the foxes have almost lost their habitation, and who could be responsible for that other than us, the human beings? 

Man hunted foxes/jackals for their skin and flesh - believing to have medical values is used in traditional medicine is one of the reasons for the foxes to disappear from the forest. And those who hunt foxes are called Narikuravar (fox tribe) in southern India, and they sell things made of fox body parts, esp. they make necklaces with fox tooth hanging.

But they stopped hunting fox/jackals after the Indian Wildlife Conservation Act (1972 as amended to 2005) forbids the hunting of all wildlife; they were prohibited entry into the forests; thus took alternatives such as selling beaded ornaments to survive. But beyond that, habitat loss is the main reason for the fox/jackal to become endangered.  The conversion of grassland habitat to agriculture, industry, and increasingly bio-fuel plantations have drastically affected its population.

There is an attitude of comparing fox/jackal trickery and ingenuity with people among us, who are very sharp, specific, and self-centered. There's a famous story of The Fox and Crow told in various versions (and ours was "granny's vada"); to praise the trickiness of fox, but the moral of the story was to never deceive anyone cunningly for our benefit and don't believe everyone's word.

There is also a superstition in India that waking up on a fox face or hearing a jackal howl means good things will happen. And there are much folklore, mythology, and literature relevant to the jackal's cunningness and religious beliefs.  So whatever it is, preserving a dying species is everyone's duty, and those living around the forest need to be more responsible, emphasizing the same.

The golden jackal I shared here was shot at Amirthi Zoological Park, near Vellore. The Park has a nice set of dens, that too a colorful one - paintings of trees resembling the walls of the kindergarten - covered by a partial dome-like cage. When we visited, a lone jackal was roaming outside the dens - there are two separate dens, what I guess was there must be at least a pair of jackals -  right now, only one is available.

The Golden Jackal, believed to be a social animal that lives either as pairs or packs like wolves, is native to Southeast Europe to Southeast Asia. Comparatively, a small size wolf, "the jackal possesses shorter legs and a shorter tail, a more elongated torso, a less-prominent forehead, and a narrower and more pointed muzzle. The golden jackal's coat can vary in color from a pale creamy yellow in summer to a dark tawny beige in winter."

"The genetic studies indicate the golden jackal expanded from India around 20,000 years ago, towards the end of the last ice age. Golden jackals' habitat in valleys and beside rivers and their tributaries, canals, lakes, and seashores feed on foods ranging from fruit and insects to small ungulates."  (courtesy wiki)

Signs: MGM & VGP

MGM Dizzee World

The VGP Universal Kingdom, aka Golden Beach

You guessed right; these are the signboards of the most visited amusement parks in Chennai. And these theme parks are located on the scenic ECR (east coast road), and among the two, VGP is the oldest amusement park come beach resort popularly called VGP Golden Beach. 

It's been ages since I visited these parks. I have no desire or ability to take rides inside the park but would love to see the VGB Universal Kingdom and the New Marine Kingdom to enjoy the underwater world and fisheries.  I have crossed these places many a time but still couldn't stop for a visit.

Linking up with Tom's signs2

Nephew Jeshwanth and the New Arrival

My nephew Jeshwanth is almost six months now - by November 3rd, he completes the same. His activities have enhanced now, and he flips, frequently lies on his stomach, and tries to crawl at a snail pace. And it is funny to see him move forward by lifting his butt up and down. 

Jeshwanth from sister-in-law's baby shower last month.

He approaches and tries to grab things with his tiny hands and tries to feel us by touching our faces. He's quick with his gesture, and at a glance, it looks like he is hitting us, but the next second he shows tenderness and smiles that are so innocent to sense. He tries to mimic the words or sounds we emit (by twisting his mouth) though only air exits his mouth the way he observes us amazes. 

He screams when his happiness rose, and giggles when we make funny and silly sounds. And he's quiet other than those and uses wakeful eyes when watching television. But we never encourage that habit when he comes to our home, but his eyes go over it due to colors, and his favorite is the bright yellow of Chennai Super Kings (IPL cricket Team). My father used to watch IPL, and whenever he sat on his lap with a match at the same time, join him to watch colors. 

I added a short video below on  Jashwanth giggling and flipping. 

To add joy to the same track - to add another boy to the family, my sister-in-law delivered a baby boy (today). The family goes through an overwhelming joy, and on the other hand, we anticipated normal labor but had to go through cesarean since the baby turned overweight. The baby and the mother are doing well. And they are expected to be discharged in a day or two. The baby and the mother would go to their maternal home directly from the hospital to stay there for a few months before coming to our home, so we had to wait sometime to see the baby. 

Smartphones and Contemporary Kids

Smartphone, the word has become a heartthrob of man, particularly the younger generation, and each whining of the smartphone is a stimulator on the veins. The smartphone has created a global revolution in telecommunications in the short time since the introduction of cellular phones in the early 90s. Smartphones have become inseparable and mandatory power of the human race in their daily life. 

Like everything that has a plus and minus, negative and positive, good and bad, smartphones do their part of the sum. Every instrument, device, and gadget made possibly good purposes, and it is up to us to use it in the same way. And I think it lies in understanding the invention of the device and its use. 

Smartphones are for adults, and I still believe even after the pandemic situation had become favor against my thought of kids using smartphones, for online classes, except the occasions of emergence, kids don't have any business with smartphones. A consoling thing (this time) was kids using smartphones in the right way for education rather than gaming. Though kids and games are inseparable, let whatever the purpose for you to hand over the smartphones to kids, their gaming intend is indispensable. 

image courtesy

Leaving that apart, let us move into the intention of the post that handing over the smartphones to little ones and infants. Let's say it has become a trend or newfound custom by the young mothers to feed their children by playing something on the smartphone for the little ones to watch to take a mouthful. Perhaps, smartphones are handy, and the young mothers who always hold to them entertain the child by showing something amusing on the screen to feed the stubborn instead of heading out or relying on something real for amusement.

And what this shows is their laziness or lack of time (if she's a working mother) to use smartphones this way to quickly and easily feed a baby. (The young mothers in the blog world should forgive me if I'm wrong in my perception.) The young parents see if the kids trouble them, and if so, they give away their smartphones to the kids to sit quietly in a corner to allow them to do their chores. And this is where the trouble begins. 

One of my uncle's daughters, less than the age of 3, was in trouble when she allowed watching the smartphone continuously. My uncle had another baby when the elder daughter was a year and a half, and to look after the 2nd baby, they gave the smartphone to the elder and made sit quiet. Since the child keeps looking at the smartphone is not able to focus on anything other than staring and smiling only at the smartphone screen. She is still under therapy and is recovering at a good pace. 

I think the young mothers feel trendy to say that they feed their child by showing smartphones. I saw a mother trying to feed her child by playing a youtube video on the phone, but the child wasn't interested, and she was forcing him against his will to play, but not on the phone. On the same line, my cousin also tried this way on my newborn nephew Jeshwanth, and we have warned her not to follow this route, and I hope she listens to us. 

(My little nephew is now flipping and started to lay on his stomach. The boy began to take solid food like our traditional idly and biscuits in creamy form. His activities and naughtiness have increased, which needs a separate post to show off his actions.)

I fear smartphones would steal the children's childhood because friends and games (not online gaming or gambling) are a vital part of the period that lasts as evergreen memories of our lifetime. If they miss this chance, there isn't a chance to get back things, and the virtual world will end in a flash of great disappointment. 

The children's world is big, their imagination is boundless, and it is unreasonable to shrink it with a small device called the smartphone. We should make understand kids that smartphone isn't the world, but a part of it. I agree smartphones are essential in today's online education and communication, and it is better if they stood with that for the kids.

Thank you