23 - Sparky’s ‘election-time’ World

            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