Hello, Sparky here.
I will not wonder if you have been wondering what
happened to me. It’s been a good while since I wrote and this fact has weighed
on my mind all the while that I haven’t written but it also helps that I have
no competition to speak of on Banyan Island and so I can afford to just take
off the way I did.
Initially it was a couple of books that kept me so rapt
up that I missed a week and then another, and before I knew it not writing had
become the dominant habit. That’s the thing with habits, it just becomes us. From
a ‘come what may’ publish every week kind of reporter I became a ‘who cares
what’s going on in the world around’ teenager.
You might again wonder which books kept me so engrossed
as to make me forget my duties as a reporter. Here’s the list:
·
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
·
Love & Freindship* by Jane Austen(*that’s
Jane’s spelling not mine)
·
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
·
Short stories by Anton Chekov
·
Stallion of the Sun, a translated compilation
of short stories by Kannada writer U.R. Anantha Murthy
·
My travels with Charley:In search of America
by John Steinbeck
There was one more that would have made it to this list
but for the intervention of Mr. Goldback.
Let me tell you of how the reading spree began. One
evening, it was still winter then, the peak of winter in fact, we had all
gathered in the evening for our sun-dower session, as these sessions have come
to be called now. The Otters wanted to sun their collection of books. Winter
apparently is the best time for this – no fear of rain – is how the Otters
explained it to me. They wanted a helper and I obviously, rather
enthusiastically offered my help. The entire ‘sunning’ process was a one day
affair really, but I stumbled upon many un-read titles which the Otters kindly
let me borrow and before I knew it reading had taken precedence over all else.
If I had to breathe consciously I would have probably relegated that too to a
later date.
Winter soon turned to spring and if you have been a
regular reader (though I have not been a regular writer) you will recall that spring
is my favourite time of the year and unless I am writing of the charms of the
season, let me own up here, I rather not write at all in spring.
So as I was whiling away the spring just as I had whiled
away half the winter, one day Mr. Goldback, the leader of monkeys came to see
me. We live on the same tree so we see each other every day and wave at each
other or exchange some pleasantry. Even when one is in a stupor that comes of
reading too much, where one begins to live inside of the books and the real
existence feels like a daydream, it’s unlikely one can ignore the presence of
someone like Mr. Goldback. On that ‘fateful’ day when he came over to see me at
my burrow, I had just started Leo Tolstoy’s magnum opus, War & Peace.
Mr. Goldback started the conversation by enquiring after
my health. Having established the fact that I was in the pink of health, he
broached the subject of my delinquency towards my professional calling. Thus
being cornered I issued an apology and then and there decided to make peace
with Mr. Goldback at the risk of being at constant war with my own desires to
pick up a book.
So, now that you have caught up with why I hadn’t been
writing, let’s catch up on what’s been happening on Banyan Island these past
few months.
Our winter resident birds have since settled down and
have all had babies who will leave with their parents in a couple of months for
their summer homes. As our winter residents settled down the cacophony of the
initial days of jostling for space and building a nest is behind them and in a
way behind us too, atleast that’s what we expect as winter ebbs and spring
progresses. This is the time when we regale in the silence or the relative
calm, the Koels and Barbets are still a good while away from setting up their
daily orchestra but we were in for a surprise this season. Peafowls have taken
residence across our island on the main land and they just break off into loud,
full-throated calls en masse, especially at night. They are loud for sure.
Of the all-year-residents, the young Woolly-neck Storks have flown away to places far and near, eventually they will find a home of their own just like their parents did on our Banyan Island. The baby Woollys kept returning to their parents earlier but as days went by they return less often. Their visits were always welcomed by us all, especially Civvy and Kiwi monkeys who had helped them back into their nests when they had fallen over and have since been intimate buddies. The baby Woollys bring such stories from abroad that the residents of Banyan tree are left laughing themselves silly over their stories and its rendition.
Over the glorious winter and spring months we also had many humans visiting. The nice ones’ visit entertain us just as much as they are entertained by our company and the not-so-good ones make us hold our breath till they depart. Such is life, isn’t it? The humans were lording over us all till a virus came along to teach them a lesson. The humans came out with a vaccine and thought they got the better of the virus, now the virus has changed forms and is getting ready for a second bout which has left the humans clueless.
|
Author’s Note: |
|
The reason Sparky mentioned for not publishing the
magazine weekly is really mine. Truth be told, publishing every week with an
almost 3-year-old taking up all the day-light hours had turned my life into a
marathon. Just the 2 activities of thinking up puzzles and sifting through my
collection to find suitable photos left me with hardly any time to write
stories and poems which are the 2 things that gave me enjoyment as well as satisfaction.
So, henceforth, as I try to be a ‘regular’ writer I plan
to just work on the 2 things that I enjoy leaving the puzzles to a time when I
will have time on my hands and inclination in my heart to work upon them. |
Answers to last week’s puzzles:
·
Who
am I?
o I am a forest spread over 9 countries. I make
up to 50% of ‘my kind’ in the world. One
in 10 known species calls me home. In 2019 numerous fires ravaged me while the
world pretty much just sat and watched. – The Amazon
Rain Forest
o You will find me underwater. I occupy only
0.1% of Ocean area but support at least 25% of the marine species. When I am
healthy I am colourful and support a variety of life, when I die I turn white.
– Coral reef
o I am a type of fig tree. My roots drop from
my branches to the ground and as time passes I come to resemble a grove. – The Banyan tree
o I am where you are. I am the one and only
home that you have. It seems like a series of co-incidences that makes me
sustain life as no-other of my kind does. – Planet Earth
·
These
are a few birds’ nest with the birds ‘hidden’ – look at the nest, the size of
the nest and that of the bird, the location of the nest and materials used and
try to match the nest to its owner.
· Here are some words that rhyme with words that are synonyms for the word ‘home’.
This is by no means an
exhaustive list of answers. What has got exhausted is my ‘imagination’ and
‘inclination’.
o Expansive
o Elephant
o Elusive (the above mentioned Elephant)
o Extensive (the landscape)
o Eyeful (needed to take in the view)
o Enthralling
o Enticing
o Exquisite
o Elegant
o Enormous
o Excellent
See you all soon.
In the meanwhile, if
you would like to write to me, email me at Sparkyatbanyan@gmail.com