22 - Sparky’s ‘some old, some new’ World

    Hello, Sparky here.

Ø  This week was pretty much the same as the last week for most of us. Fair amount of rain, abundant food, good number of reading sessions, lots of fun and camaraderie. 

  

Ø  We looked forward to the evening reading sessions so much so that even a light rain on a couple of days didn’t keep us away from the sessions. It did get cold at times but there was warmth in our hearts that more than compensated for the lack of it in our bodies. As we made good progress in the reading of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice we have not only started appreciating the beauty of the language but also have started understanding ourselves a little more. The pride and prejudices of the characters are also the pride and prejudices that we carry and nurture within us.

Ø  There is a bit of Elizabeth Bennet in all of us – her stubbornness, her audacity, her impertinence and her contempt for others’ opinions. There is also quite a bit of Darcy in us – his assumed superiority complex and his presumed arrogance. Also, let’s not forget Mr. Wickham, Mr. Collins and Mrs. Bennet – every once in a while something of them does raise its ugly head. What one can do is as Mr. Goldback said, ‘Constant introspection’. That’s definitely a good start but with all that constant introspection where is one to find the time for doing anything? I am hoping Jane Austen herself will provide me the answer to this question.

 

Ø  This week the winged ones had a bit of a busy time. It all started when a painted stork teenager who was learning to fly, crashed into a few pelican teens who were having a breakfast of catfishes brought to them by their parents. The pelicans thought the stork had come to steal their breakfast and one of them poked him with the beak. The hurt pelican started screeching which brought his parents back and soon it was a proper brawl just like the last time they had fought. Again someone went to find Mrs. Not-So-Common Coot, who was as is her wont, was missing.

 

Ø  The crash-landing of a little stork into a party of little pelicans brought forth the bigger issue of an ever-missing leader to the fore. As for this fight, some of the elders soon broke the fight but what refused to be untangled was the want of a leader. So, someone suggested an election to be held to choose a new leader.

 

Ø  Though, initially no one wanted to ‘stand’ for elections – it was a completely novel idea as hitherto the leader was a bird who volunteered and given the busy lives of birds, there was no one who ever volunteered – a day after the idea had been mooted, a few birds thought it was ‘not such a bad idea’ and a couple of days later, there were quite a few who thought it would be a jolly good thing to be a leader.

 

Ø  A few birds approached Mr. Goldback and me, requesting us to conduct ‘free & fair’ elections to choose a leader for them. I understand fair but ‘free’ is bothering me – does that mean we should do it for no fees? Does this mean that for this job we should have received fees but by calling it ‘free’ they intend not to pay us? I will be discussing this with Mr. Goldback.

 

Ø  In the meanwhile, the painted storks with their recent run-ins with the pelicans have decided to elect a leader to exclusively represent their interest. So, as the magazine goes out today, this is how the matter stands. We have 8 birds who have submitted their ‘Intend to and willing to become a leader’ form to us which includes 3 storks who have submitted the same form for the post of the ‘storks’ leader’ as well. This is going to be very interesting.

 

Ø  Mr. Goldback and I were a little overwhelmed initially by the honour bestowed on us of conducting this election. Mrs ‘Not-So-Common’ Coot was a volunteer-leader of the Birds’ Welfare Association but this election is more than just about an association. The bird that will be elected will the representative of all the birds and a leader like Mr. Goldback. The birds are taking the elections very seriously and so will Mr. Goldback and I. We have discussed at length the mode and modalities to ensure a ‘free & fair’ election.

 

Ø  After great deliberation the below is the timeline for the election as decided by the ‘Election Commission’:

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

News Update: ‘The aspirants are actively circulating themselves amongst the voters as well as their non-winged friends so if any bird be interested in running for the elections, please make up your mind soon else you will lose precious ‘campaign’ time.

Sparky’s Note: A bird running in the election approached me for placing a campaign-advertisement in ‘Sparky’s World’. I have refused it as a matter of principle and would want to make it clear that I shall not entertain any such requests, irrespective of the offer.  

Here are a few activities for this week. Nothing like quietly sitting by yourself and solving a few puzzles provided you can find yourself such a spot. With the hectic campaigning all around I am beginning to wonder how I will ever write my next issue of the magazine. I shall see about that, let’s cross the bridge when we get there. For now, here are the activities for the week.

·         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’.

	A leader should have insight, Should have an understanding of everyone’s plight. So, what should a leader have?
	All rules that a leader sets, The leader himself must follow first. There can no ______ to this rule.
	A leader should be able to take decisions. which should be based on _______ taking everyone into consideration.
	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’.
	Let me save some time for both me and you. This letter is the same as what you get in riddle no. 2.
	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.
	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	of the world
In	moon
Over the	nine
As happy	with two tails
Grin from	as a clam
On top	seventh heaven
As happy	ear to ear
On cloud	as a sandboy

 

•          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/effect) our enthusiasm for our readings every evening.

2.       The ______ (affect/effect) of reading together in the evenings have paved the way for quite a few unlikely friendships.

3.       Through the ______ (course/coarse) 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 ______ (course/coarse) for his comfort and liking.

5.       Gumphu monkey met Mr. Goldback and told him she was bored out of her mind, ______ (implying/inferring) that she would love to lend a hand in conducting the election. Mr. Goldback then rightly ______ (implied/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?

Answers to last week’s puzzles:

·         Solve the riddles below and you get a phrase which denotes our present emotion.

Like	Used to make comparisons between two, as in a Simile, As when comparing, say, Lotus and Lily.
A	Means ‘one’ not many. Denotes a specific ‘noun’, not just any.
Dog	Man’s best friend and amie. Loyalty and Love are synonymous with me.
With	‘Accompanied by’ or ‘Having’ The word’s a preposition, useful in sentence framing.
2	If 3 is a crowd then what’s company?
Tails	A human smiles and his friend wags. One is curved lips and the other is what?

 

•    Below are words that start with the term ‘biblio’ which means ‘relating to books’. It’s derived from ‘biblion’, a Greek word meaning ‘book’. Could you match the word with its meaning:

Bibliography	-       A list of the works of a specific author or publisher or pertaining to a particular subject. -       A list of writings used by an author in preparing a particular work.
Bibliotherapy	A form of supportive psychotherapy in which  carefully selected reading materials are used to  assist a subject in solving personal problems or for  other therapeutic purposes.
Bibliophile	A book-lover or a collector of books
Bibliomania	Extreme preoccupation with acquisition and ownership of books.
Bibliopole	A dealer in rare books.
Bibliotics	Examination of written documents to determine  authenticity.
Bibliology	-       the history of books; bibliography. -       the study of the doctrines of Bible.
Bibliotheca	-       a library or -       a catalog of books

 

•          A Crossword puzzle. All the words rhyme with the word ‘dear’, mind you not all the words end with the letters ‘ear’, many end with ‘ere’.

• Math puzzles 

‘Little readers’ Section’

·         Here’s a photo of a lake with an island in the middle. Waterbodies like these support a variety of animal and plant life.  You also see photos of many creatures which live in and around the lake. Could you guide each of them to their home in the ‘lake photo’.