15 - Sparky’s ‘Alarmed’ World

 Hello, Sparky here.

Ø  The rains have resumed and so have the frogs resumed their symphony or cacophony, depending on whether you are a frog or not.  

Ø  A couple of things happened this week. Civvy, the baby monkey for the first time in his life saw a chameleon hunting. Chameleons have long extendable tongues which can be 1.5 times to 2 times their body length. The tongues are sticky and they can extend the tongue incredibly fast. Overall, if you haven’t watched a chameleon feed on an insect before, it will leave you stunned for a moment and then after a while you will begin to doubt if you actually did see it happen that way. That’s exactly what happened with Civvy and it was a good thing too as at least for a while he forgot about his civet friends and spoke about chameleons. It made for a pleasant change.

Ø  Two days back, during the lull in the rain while we were all on the mango tree having a quick meal before the downpour again, Civvy went running to his mother and said calmly, ‘Mamma, There are 2 huge bird which are feeling cold in the company of a chameleon longer than end to end of papa’s hands when extended. So, how long must be his tongue?’ His mother did not pay heed as she sat enjoying a mango but Mr. Goldback, the leader of the monkeys immediately came to Civvy and asked him to show him that chameleon. Now, this was after 2 days of good rains. The rains upstream must have been heavier than what we received as the level of the water in the river had risen as well as there was increase in the intensity of its flow. As the ‘keeper of records’ I too followed Civvy and Mr. Goldback. This is the scene we came upon.

Ø  We saw 3 guests on the Banyan Island - 2 Woolly-necked storks who would not be unwelcome and a crocodile who wouldn’t care if he was welcome or not. Mr. Goldback and I exchanged looks before we quietly went back, one to the Banyan and another to the mango tree to spread the word that a crocodile was amongst us. The heavy rains upstream had probably washed the crocodile off his home on some distant river bank and the relative calm flow due to the presence of islands in our stretch of the river had brought the crocodile to our island.

Ø  Since then we have been living ‘on the edge’, we tree dwellers not so much but the ground dwelling animals and birds are having restless days and sleepless nights. The otters are keeping mostly to their dens and the monkeys are keeping a strict vigil over the crocodile. His every movement is being tracked of which there hasn’t been much. The crocodile is a cold-blooded creature, unable to self-regulate his body temperature so in the absence of sun in the past few overcast days the big chap has been sluggish. He’s spending most of his time in the water – sitting not swimming, but too close to the island for our comfort. The times he comes ashore, he sits immobile like he’s meditating but none of us are fooled, we are all staying well out of his way. We are wondering if and when he will start making sorties around the island. Most of us are just sitting and watching the big fellow. Mangoes are forgotten, books are forgotten and we have also forgotten how to laugh. Only the birds with wings to take them away from danger in a jiffy and even amongst them only those with nests well out of crocodile’s reach are living a normal life. Of course, the crocodile’s presence has not made an iota of difference to the frogs.

          

Ø  In the meanwhile, the pair of woolly-necked storks have started building a nest in the Banyan tree. No one’s really made an effort to make their acquaintance as somehow having seen the woolly necks with the crocodile the first time ever we saw this pair, we have all associated them to the crocodile. At any rate, the woolly necks are busy with their nest and have no time in which to brood about the unwelcoming residents of the island.       

If you could do with a bit of distraction, here are a few activities for you to keep you busy 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. 

	Crocs belong to the age when these roamed the earth, Their presence now, steals our peace and mirth.
	Found in the tropics of continents starting with this alphabet, Body and skill perfected over millennia, to outlive us, they are all set.
	A mother croc cares for her eggs and babies, Completely unexpected, but she doesn’t care for her reputation or our ‘….logy’?
	200 million years back, these crocs came around, This is what they have avoided to be still found.
	One will be this, if one doesn’t get away from them in haste, Crocs will bite first and then wonder about the taste.
	The final riddle – first letter of the answers above will also solve this riddle below:
	From afar, at the mean machine one can marvel. If you were to find one beside your boat, you would be this and fearful.

·         What comes next in the sequence. Not very easy, but a bit of thinking will bring the words into focus:

M	T	W	Thursday
J	F	M
E	I	O
M	V	E
Pa	At	In
As	Af	NA

•         There are many words which look very similar to each other and can be confusing, put a little thought and the confusion will soon clear up else if you read a lot, you will not be confused by these words. Try these to see how you do.

1.        The otters are not ________ (averse/adverse) to the idea of climbing the mango tree to get at the mangoes, it’s just that their bodies are not equipped for climbing trees.

2.        Braving the ________ (averse/adverse) conditions in the rainy season, Mr. Goldback checks the Banyan Island for any signs of danger.

3.        Plants like beggar’s ticks and cassia tora growing on either side of the path between the banyan tree and mango tree makes it look like a neat ________ (aisle/isle).

4.        Our Banyan Island is really only an ______ (aisle/isle).

5.        On winter mornings thick fog __________ (envelops/envelopes) our island.

6.        The letters I receive from my aunt in the city come in beautiful ________ (envelopes/envelopes).

7.        Mr. Goldback does not tolerate insubordination, anyone doing so will ________ (loose/lose) his place in the family.

8.        When baby monkeys run around the Banyan, the _________ (loose/lose) branches and leaves fall to the ground.   

'Little readers’ Section'

• ·         Here’s more from the ‘imagination series’ by Mr. Ankit Agrawal, our regular reader and contributor.

·         There are many things that are associated with the rains and the rainy season. Hidden in the letters below are 11 such words. Could you find these words:

• 
  

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.  

C	Third of the 26
Opportunity	Every new day this comes knocking, If it doesn’t knock, build a new door - so goes the saying.
Niche	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?
* T	Hard work will make you grow and prosper, The best that life has to give, will be on offer.
Elaborate	It’s all very complex, there’s a lot of detail, But as long as you can do this, no one would complain.
Notice	This is what you’d be doing, If you pay attention to something.
Thought	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:
CONTENT	Peace and calm is our present state of mind, To what we have now, we are happy, not blind.

Author’s Note:

* I would like to own up here. I cannot remember what the answer is supposed to be. I even tried working out the puzzle, I end up with ‘toil’ but it doesn’t seem correct. It’s also not very clear from the puzzle, what it is that one is supposed to be solving. Sometimes, things make sense when you are working on it and when you revisit it later, it stumps you. This has stumped me and I will let it be.

·         Match the words rhyming with ‘Civvy’ to their meaning:

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

·         A Simile is a figure of speech which compares 2 unrelated things and highlights the similarity between the two things. Here are a few popular similes, could you put the second column in order, so the similes are complete.

  

As black	as Night
As brave	as a Lion
As busy	as a bee
As chirpy	as a cricket
As cool	as a cucumber
Cry	like a baby
As deaf	as a doorknob
As dry	as a bone
As easy	as ABC
Eat	like a Pig
As fresh	as a daisy
As light	as a feather

·         The answer to puzzles set on Ms. Ruchi Anand’s painting.

v  The activity for my little readers –how many birds do you see in the painting and of how many different colours?

There are 16 birds, 8 birds of purple colour and 8 birds of peach colour.

v  The 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 the answer – the only tricky part was that the weight of purple bird is based on the previous bird and not on the previous purple bird.