Hello, Sparky here.
Ø This week was
like no other. Just in case you missed reading the magazine last week, let me
bring you up to speed on what happened last week. The birds decided to elect a
leader and the storks wanted to elect a leader amongst themselves to represent
their ‘exclusive’ interests. As at end of last week, we had 8 birds including 3
storks running for the post of the leader of birds. The 3 storks also
contesting amongst themselves for the post of ‘leader of storks’.
Ø As requested
by the senior birds, Mr. Goldback and I are overseeing the election process to
ensure a ‘free & fair’ election. This was the timeline the ‘Election
Commission’ drew up for the elections.
|
Timeline |
As at end of day: |
|
Last
date for submitting the ‘Intend to and willing to become a leader’ form |
Sunday |
|
Last
date for campaigning |
Tuesday |
|
Announcement
of time and place of voting |
Wednesday |
|
Voting
|
Thursday |
|
Declaration
of result |
Friday |
Ø Sunday was the last day for submitting the ‘Intend to and willing to
become a leader’ form. On Sunday, Mr. Woolly-necked stork took back his papers
and announced his intention to not to contest in the elections given the fact
that he’s just recently arrived on the island and is yet to get to know the
others.
Ø For the full
list of all the aspirants who ran for the elections do solve the crossword puzzle
in the ‘activity’ section.
Ø On Sunday,
the last day for filing the required form for running for the election, we had
one entry – a Kingfisher filed the paper which caused the ‘Election Commission’
quite a lot of distress.
Ø Mr. SBK, a Stork-billed Kingfisher who lives in the Mango tree had been
grumbling for a while now that the other ‘fish-eaters’ were taking more than
their share of the fishes which meant the choice of fishes as well as the stock
of fishes were limited for the kings of fishers. So, he has been advocating the
idea of demarcating the river for the use of every ‘fish-eater’. Initially he
put across the idea to Madame ‘Not-so-common Coot’ but nothing came of that. He
then tried to sell his idea across to other kingfishers – nothing came of that
either. Imagine a tiny kingfisher putting this idea across to a mighty pelican
or the huge Otters. At best they would laugh at him or at worst gobble him up.
So, when the elections came about he thought it a great opportunity of seeing
his idea through. He filed the ‘Intend to and willing to become a leader’ form
on Sunday morning and when the word got around about his intention, the first ones
to show displeasure were the kingfishers. The kingfishers knew of his plans and
what trouble it would cause them.
Ø So what
threatened to be a head-ache for the kingfishers soon snowballed into a problem
for the ‘Election Commission’. Seeing that there seemed to be no support that
would come forth from the kingfishers, Mr. SBK also filed his papers to run for
post of the leader of storks. Before the filing of his second form, Mr. SBK had
been seen being in ‘prolonged’ consultation with the pelican candidate and some
of the other senior pelicans. They probably wanted to drive a wedge between the
various storks, split the storks’ vote 3 way instead of 2 so the pelicans could
benefit out of that. Well, who knows what other understanding the pelicans and
Mr. SBK came to.
Ø At any rate,
Mr. Goldback and I were left wondering what to do. We knew Mr. SBK to be a
kingfisher so how could he run to be the leader of storks? Did having a bill of
a stork make him eligible to contest as a stork? Then again, there was nothing
that expressly forbade a non-stork from becoming a leader of the storks. It was
just a commonsensical thing that a stork should be the leader of storks. Even
as Mr. Goldback and I were discussing this, the painted stork and Openbill
stork candidates and their supporters arrived, vociferously clicking their
beaks in anger. As more of them started to gather and we couldn’t hear our own
voices anymore, Mr. Goldback raised his hand for calm and announced in his most
authoritative voice that it was but a thing of common-sense that a leader has
to be first and foremost one amongst the ones he leads. That settled the
matter.
Ø The next few
days were meant for the birds to get to know their ‘to-be leaders’. The
interactions ranged from tête-à-têtes to outright mud-slinging contests. There
were meetings of all kinds of birds at all kinds of hours. It was like an
all-day dawn chorus except there was no symphony just cacophony. How one is
supposed to make up his/her mind in this cacophony was on Mr. Goldback and my
mind but being impartial actors we didn’t intervene.
Ø Hopefully the
‘no-campaigning’ day of Wednesday helped the birds settle their minds and make
it up as well. On Wednesday evening, Mr. Goldback and I cordoned off a part of
the Banyan tree and put out a notice announcing the place and time of voting on
the next day. We had 5 monkeys assisted by Mr. Civet (monkeys can’t see in the
dark but civets can) who guarded the demarcated area the whole night so there wouldn’t
be any mischief by any of the contestants or their friends and foes.
Ø The next day
morning at day-break, after a quick breakfast, as per our discussion and
arrangements all the ‘officials’ took their place and the voting began. The
Otters had recommended a paste made of leaves of mignonette tree, which pounded
and applied on a bird would leave an Orange stain on the feathers, marking them
as having already cast their vote. In fact, the otters even got the leaves from
another island, pounded it, mixed it in water, left it overnight and had it
ready for application on the voting day.
Ø We had
compiled a list of all the birds on Banyan Island. As the birds came in to cast
their vote, they were handed a paper with the photo of the candidates printed
on it. As the bird received the paper, a smearing of the otters’ paste was
applied on the tail features after which the bird proceeded to a secluded area
where the chosen candidate received a mark by way of hole pierced through the
paper on that candidate. Stepping out of the secluded area and in view of
supervising officials, the bird dropped the paper in a hollow by the bee hive
where it was safe from tampering or mischief until it was time for the
‘Election commission’ to collect it for counting.
Ø Under the
strict vigilance of Mr. Goldback and all the volunteer officials the voting proceeded
and concluded smoothly. The birds kept on coming the whole day long and the
volunteers were seamlessly replaced by other volunteers in rotation so the
process carried on without any stoppage or hindrance.
Ø A whole week
of meticulous planning and supervision for the ‘Election Commission’ should
have been concluded by the announcing of the new leaders on Friday (and thus
earning our first full night’s sleep in days) but alas it was not to be. We
intended to collect it at day break on Friday as the voting went on till late
into the night till the last of the nocturnal bird had cast its vote. On Friday
morning just as a few of us were reaching the hollow to collect the ‘votes’
from the hollow a well-aimed shot of something hit the bee hive sending the
bees into a frenzy of defensive flight. The shot took a good chunk of the hive
down to the earth. We ran just in time to save our own fur and skin. We
waited for over 2 hours for the bees to settle down but even after it looked
like they had settled down, the furious bees who had lost a good bit of their
home and food refused to let anyone approach their hive. So, as this issue of
the magazine goes to you all, the ‘votes’ are yet to be collected.
Here
are a few activities for this week. I managed to write the magazine this week
after all the rest of the work for the day had been completed so I could update
you all of the excellent work done by the ‘Election commission’.
· Solve
the riddles below, put the words together and you will find out my present
feeling towards the whole election business.
|
|
Lot
of work is no reason to be feel bad, As
long as there is excitement to be had. This
one rhymes with ‘sad’ But
means just the opposite of that. |
|
|
This
is a pronoun, Not
a he or a she but the other one. |
|
|
This
is just an auxiliary verb, But
don’t take me lightly, Without
me the sentence will be off, slightly. |
|
|
Something’s are nice while doing, Some when recollecting. At
any rate, everything comes to an end. And
this is the meaning this word does lend. |
Sparky’s
Update: But it isn’t.
The above riddle was set in anticipation of closure and this update has been necessitated by the fact that there isn’t a closure yet.
· Here are a few idioms on ‘beginnings’
and ‘progress’. Could you put the rows in order so as to have the 2 parts of the
idiom in the same row so as to complete it?
|
Early bird |
with a clean slate |
|
Nothing ventured |
catches the worm |
|
Blow away |
new ground |
|
A new |
to the drawing board |
|
To break |
Headway |
|
To make |
mountains |
|
To start |
the cobwebs |
|
To turn over |
lease of life |
|
To move |
nothing gained |
|
To go back |
a new leaf |
· Here’s the crossword puzzle that will
reveal the candidates who contested in the election:
‘Little
readers’ Section’
· There are animals
that are big and animals are small, also animals that are tall and animals that
are not so tall. Here are some animals, could you put them in the order of their
height. Also think why the animals are what they are.
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
· Solve
the riddles below, put the first letter from each of the word together and get
a word which rhymes with the word ‘elect’ and describes in one word what I
think of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. To make it easy, most of the
answers rhyme with the word ‘election’.
|
Perception |
A
leader should have insight, Should
have an understanding of everyone’s plight. So,
what should a leader have? |
|
Exception |
All
rules that a leader sets, The
leader himself must follow first. There
can no ______ to this rule. |
|
Reflection |
A
leader should be able to take decisions. which
should be based on _______ taking
everyone into consideration. |
|
F |
No
nice-enough word to give, so am in a fix. The
clue I shall give here is, ‘it’s the 6th of the 26’. |
|
E |
Let
me save some time for both me and you. This
letter is the same as what you get in riddle no. 2. |
|
Connection |
Above
all else, a leader needs to find a _____ with his group, Respect
is earned and results achieved when there’s a relationship between leader and
the troop. |
|
Tea |
Proving
tricky to get a rhyming word here for this letter. A
leader should often have ____ and biscuits with his group, and
that by itself would resolve many a matter.
|
- Below are some idioms which mean
being ‘happy’. Could you put the 2 parts of the idioms together?
|
Like a dog |
with two tails |
|
In |
seventh heaven |
|
Over the |
moon |
|
As happy |
as a sandboy |
|
Grin from |
ear to ear |
|
On top |
of the world |
|
As happy |
as a clam |
|
On cloud |
Nine |
- Here are some similar sounding that
can be confusing. Fill the blanks with the right word:
1. Even
the prospect of a shower does not affect our enthusiasm for our readings
every evening.
2. The
effect of reading together in the evenings has paved the way for quite a
few unlikely friendships.
3. Through
the course of the reading of P&P we are discovering many things of a
bygone era.
4. The
guest who had come last week complained of the sand on our island being too coarse
for his comfort and liking.
5. Gumphu
monkey met Mr. Goldback and told him she was bored out of her mind, implying
that she would love to lend a hand in conducting the election. Mr. Goldback
then rightly inferred her desire and involved her in the planning
process.
‘Little
readers’ Section’
|
Author’s
Note: |
|
Colossal Cuttlefish have the
largest eyes of any animal. I don’t have a photo of a Cuttlefish’s eye or
even of a Cuttlefish for that matter. But then here are 10 photos with eyes
of animals that I have photographed. Can you identify the animals? |
|
1 |
Crab |
2 |
Butterfly |
3 |
Squirrel |
|
4 |
Bird
(Adjutant Stork) |
5 |
Langur
(Monkey) |
6 |
Tiger |
|
7 |
Frog |
8 |
Leopard |
9 |
Zebra |
|
10 |
Chameleon |
|
|
|
|
