14 - Sparky’s ‘Revived’ World

Hello, Sparky here.

Ø  The rains have more or less taken a break this week. That happens sometimes, the weather system slumbers just like we do after a lot of hard work. As long as the system wakes up and makes up, we are going to be alright.

Ø  The good rain we had last week though has had its effect. All around, nature has revived. To put it in another way, there’s renaissance all around in nature and we are making the most of it. The temperature has fallen as well, so we can comfortably go around finding food, visiting old friends, making new ones and also most importantly shake off the lethargy that summer had wrapped us up in.      

Ø  The baby monkey who had got lost last week – we have all started calling him Civvy as he can’t stop talking about his civet friends – took his mother over to meet his new friends, the civets. Now, monkeys are morning people and civets prefer the nights, so evening was the perfect time for them to meet but the monkeys like most of Banyan residents usually get back home well before the evening so most of us had never seen the civets before. We all know where they live and what they smell like, it’s just that we have never seen them out and about when we are on the mango tree and we animals usually don’t poke our noses into other people’s hollow without a valid business. (Don’t remind me of the squirrel in Kruger National Park poking his head into the hollow where the python rested – am sure, he had a valid business.)

Ø  Civvy and his mother delayed their departure to the Banyan to meet them. Many of us who knew of Civvy’s plan that day also delayed our departure to see the civets. Civvy and his mom knocked above the civets’ hollow just as the civet family was waking up. As the civets live in the Mango tree, there was no point gifting mangoes to them so instead Civvy’s mother had taken along figs from the Banyan. As they stood talking with each other, many of us who had stayed back wanting to see the civets made our way towards their hollow. As each one passed by, Civvy waved at us and his mother introduced us to them. After this had happened about 5 times, Civvy’s mother and Mr. & Mrs. Civet stopped chatting and turned around for all of us to come close so the introductions could be done in one go and they could get back to talking without further interruptions. It was a nice to finally put a face to a scent – if you know what I mean.         

Ø  Civets are a mongoose like animal. They eat fruits, insects and small mammals as well. Remember, I had once mentioned ‘Kopi Luwak’ in this magazine? It’s the coffee that humans consume which has been eaten and defecated - by none other than these civet chaps. Poor fellows, in Indonesia, as the demand for this weird coffee increases, instead of just collecting the seeds defecated by wild civets, they are being caught, housed in small cages and fed the coffee beans –humans like to make a factory production of everything they fancy, with no regard for anyone else. At any rate, these civets on Banyan Island are safe. Not because there are no humans here but because there is no coffee plantation here.

Ø  Is it possible that the otters haven’t made it to this issue of the magazine? It almost looked like that. Till the day before the issue was to be sent out, things were very quiet. They were pretty much following their routine with the inclusion of ‘mango eating’ included, but I can’t be reporting the same thing in every issue. Probably if they stop eating mangoes, or get to a point where they are able to climb the mango tree and eat our share of the mangoes, that would definitely be worth reporting. So, how have they got into the news?

Ø  Udra and Samudra finished eating the mangoes that we had left by their dens and then when they wanted to eat a mango they finally ‘discovered’ that the mangoes grow on a huge tree that they cannot climb. Since they cannot get at the mangoes themselves, they came up with a novel idea of charging a mango as fee for the books they lend. So, what’s the problem?

o   Firstly, not everyone who borrows books eats mangoes. Papa Pelican had a go at it. He’s so big, he had difficulty settling down on a branch with the thick foliage of leaves. He tried to hover in the air to get the mango. You can imagine a big bird hovering while his big beak tries to pluck a mango. Let me just say, it didn’t work.

o   There are some who don’t eat mangoes but can get to the mangoes but have no idea how to get it to the otters. Like the bee-eaters and drongos.

o   There are some who eat mangoes, can get to the mangoes but cannot carry it back to the otters (like barbets, mynas and bulbuls).

o   There are some who have no idea what a mango is (like Mrs. Ulukah).

o   There are many who have none of the above problems but are resenting the fact that they are being asked to ferry mangoes. 

You get the idea. So this matter is causing a lot of problem for both the borrowers and the lenders. At the time this issue of the magazine is ready to be sent out, there’s still no resolution of this problem. I am hoping a solution will be found soon and I can report a happy closure of this matter next week.          

If you are out of mangoes too like the otters, here are a few activities to take your mind off the mangoes for a while.

• Solve the riddles one by one and get a word that solves another riddle. The final word describes the mood of the moment.  

	Third of the 26
	Every new day this comes knocking, If it doesn’t knock, build a new door - so goes the saying.
	You are in a job that you find suitable, you like the job and are also capable, Then you will have carved something, could you name the label?
	Hard work will make you grow and prosper, The best that life has to give, will be on offer.
	It’s all very complex, there’s a lot of detail, But as long as you can do this, no one would complain.
	This is what you’d be doing, If you pay attention to something.
	If you think, this is what you get, And this in turn action begets.
	The final riddle – first letter of the answers above will also solve this riddle below:
	Peace and calm is our present state of mind, To what we have now, we are happy, not blind.

•  This week’s been so much about Civvy, the little monkey, my head is going ‘ivy’, ‘ivy’. So, here are few words rhyming with Civvy (there really aren’t too many). Match them to their meaning.

Ivy	Keep telling someone to do something
Chivvy	In a moment
Iffy	A climber
Jiffy	Full of energy
frizzy	Doubtful and uncertain
Fizzy	Being in the know of a secret
Privy	Not smooth and neat

• 
   A Simile is a figure of speech which compares 2 unrelated things and highlights the similarity between the two things. It’s used in prose and poetry to better establish an idea or just to beautify the language. Similes use words such as ‘like’, ‘as’, and ‘than’ to make the comparisons. Here are a few popular similes, could you put the second column in order, so the similes are complete.

  

As black	as a cricket
As brave	as a bee
As busy	as a doorknob
As chirpy	as a daisy
As cool	as a bone
Cry	as the night
As deaf	as a lion
As dry	like a pig
As easy	as a feather
Eat	like a baby
As fresh	as ABC
As light	as a cucumber

• Here’s a beautiful painting by Ms. Ruchi Anand. Ruchi lives in Pune and is awaiting her 10^th grade exam results. She enjoys doing arts and crafts. Thank you for the lovely painting, Ruchi and good luck to you with the exam results.

vThe activity for my little readers – is a simple one – how many birds do you see in the painting and of how many different colours?

vThe activity for all my other readers – The first peach coloured bird weighs 1 kilo and every subsequent peach bird weighs a kilo more than the previous peach bird. The first purple coloured bird weighs 2 kilos and every subsequent purple bird is a kilo heavier than the previous bird. What is the weight of all the birds put together? 

• Here’s something from Mr. Ankit Agrawal, our regular reader and contributor. He calls this the ‘imagination series’. The name seems apt, whoever thought one could scribble and write poetry around it?

See you all next week with more news, activities and answers to this week’s puzzles.

In the meanwhile, if you would like to write to me, email me at Sparkyatbanyan@gmail.com

Answers to last week’s puzzles:

·         Solve the riddles one by one and get a word that solves another riddle. The final word describes the mood of the moment – of what the replenishing rains bring to each of us.  

Summer	Months that roasted us like nuts. Ended at last, days of heat, exhaustion and dust. Months of calm and plenty, ahead of us.
Enthusiasm	We look forward to future with eagerness, Rain fills us up with this and nothing less.
Renewal	It was here before, it has come back again. There’s new joy, it feels like everything’s new again.
Energy	What the heat took from us, The rains give back to us all. Plenty of nourishment-to body and soul
New	Was here before, nothing that’s not been seen hitherto, Yet it all feels so ……?
Eagerness	When there’s food and company aplenty for today and tomorrow, We look forward to future with this, there’s to be no more sorrow.
	The final riddle – first letter of the answers above will also solve this riddle below:
Serene	Just last week the sun was our foe, but it’s so calm and tranquil now, The rains have made the sun mild and everything’s in nature is aglow

·         Match the Animals and birds to the sounds they make:

Bees	Buzz
Bears	Growl
Bats	Screech
Grasshoppers	Chirp
Crows	Caw
Donkeys	Bray
Pigeons	Coo
Hyenas	Laugh
Mice	Squeak
Monkeys	Chatter
Parrots	Talk
Whales	Sing

·         Here are some ‘rain’ related idioms. Some mean what it says, some are figurative. Fill in the blanks with the words in the boxes:

rain cats and dogs	saving for a rainy day	rained in	raining down on
rain or shine	when it rains, it pours	rain check	right as rain

1.    When Gumphu and Rooty invited Samudra to climb up the mango tree, he said he would take a rain check on it.

2.    Rain or shine, Mr. Goldback goes around the Banyan Island to check for any potential danger to his family.

3.    Squirrels are well known for saving for a rainy day. We collect nuts and stock them carefully to be used when food is scarce.

4.    In the next coming months, there are going to be many days we will be rained in. It’s the rainy season after all.

5.    Gumphu monkey’s aunt sent her a collection of books to be used for the baby monkeys. The otters also lent many books to Gumphu for teaching the baby monkeys. Gumphu was very happy and said, ‘well, when it rains, it pours’

6.    Since the coming of otters, everyone’s been raining down on them. We are all so happy with their having taken up residence amongst us.

7.    Mr. Goldback had once said, ‘Humans call mischievous and deceitful behaviour as ‘monkey business’, so calling selfish and thoughtless behaviour as ‘human business’ should the right thing. He’s right as rain on this one.

8.    As the rainy season has started, we are all prepared for when it will rain cats and dogs.

• Here’s the Crossword puzzle for the week. All the words rhyme with ‘rain’. It does not mean that all the words end with ‘in’, in fact, most of them don’t.