ATTRACTING FLIES AND TOURISTS

 Rafflesia, a giant flower

     On 19 May 1818, Sir Stamford Raffles, most famous as the founder of modern Singapore, and naturalist and physician Dr Joseph Arnold were touring the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, when their guide brought them news of a giant flower. They went to see it and were staggered by the sight that met their eyes: a huge, lumpy flower with mottled red petals and stinking to high heaven, lay on the ground.

     They were not the first Europeans to see the flower. A French naturalist had made notes on the flower some years earlier but his notes never reached Europe, the headquarters of Western science in those days; Arnold’s notes and sketches did, and so the monstrous flower was named Rafflesia arnoldii after him and the leader of the expedition, Stamford Raffles.

     The Rafflesia is a parasite that infects the roots of the Tetrastigma vines (related to the grape vine). The plant grows fully within the host, doing without leaves, stem or roots of its own. When it is ready to bloom, a bud erupts on the sides of the host plant. Over months, the bud grows to the size of a cabbage before erupting into a five petalled flower, generally reddish orange in colour, with white spots. The flower, with a spread of about one metre and weighing around ten kilograms, is the largest known flower in the world. It mimics the smell of a rotting animal carcass to draw its pollinators, carrion flies, to it. The flies must do their work of pollination within a week because the flower dries up by the fifth day.

     Male and female flowers usually grow close together. The fruit is a berry containing hundreds of sticky seeds which are carried across the forest floor by tree shrews and other small forest animals.

     There are about 20 species of Rafflesia growing chiefly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. They are national flowers and tourist attractions in these countries.

THE NAGA RANI

Gaidinliu

     The British took political control of north-eastern India in the 1830s. The laws they enacted were often at odds with local traditions and customs and caused resentment among the people, notably the Nagas. 

     The disaffection simmered for several decades and came to a boil when Christian missionaries arrived in the region and began to preach a new way of life. 

     The Nagas united under a social and religious reformer, Jadonang, who taught them the importance of education and the need to discard useless and superstitious customs. In 1931, under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, Jadonang started a Naga Civil Disobedience Movement (also known as the Zeliangrong Movement) in the Naga Hills. 

     He proclaimed ‘Naga Raj’—freedom for the Nagas from the British. Alarmed, the British arrested Jadonang and hanged him on the false charge of murdering some traders. This further infuriated the Nagas. 

     They chose Jadonang’s 16-year-old cousin, Gaidinliu, as their leader. Gaidinliu organised an army and a network of spies who reported every movement of the British troops to her. All able-bodied men were enlisted as warriors and trained to fight. She urged the people not to pay taxes and they obeyed her. They willingly contributed to her cause. With the money, she bought some guns. 

     Alarmed at her increasing popularity, the British tried their best to capture her. But she moved swiftly from place to place and under assumed names. Finally, on 17 October 1932, Capt. Macdonald surrounded a fort she was rebuilding and launched an attack. Gaidinliu, her brother and other followers were taken prisoners. 

     The teen rebel was sentenced to life imprisonment and was kept in several prisons in the northeast. Jawaharlal Nehru visited her in 1937, and impressed by her valour, called her ‘Daughter of the Hills’ and gave her the title of ‘Nagarani’. Despite his best efforts, he could not get her released. She spent another decade in prison until 1947 when India became independent. 

     Gaidinliu continued to work for her community after her release. She was bestowed the Padma Bhushan in 1982. The gallant Nagarani passed away on 17 February 1993.

DO YOU KNOW

Who invented the hand sanitizer? 

     Doctors, nurses and other medical personnel in hospitals have to necessarily wash their hands with soap and water or with some antiseptic before entering a ward so that they don’t pass on infections to the patients. 

     The story goes, that in 1966, a student-nurse interning at a hospital in California in the US saw that it was often difficult for doctors rushing from one ward to another, to find a place where they could wash their hands. It occurred to the nurse that it would be a great boon to the doctors, if instead of washing hands, they could carry an antiseptic gel that they could rub between their palms. 

     The gel, of course, would have to contain a germicide. It was well-known that ethyl alcohol is a powerful germicide. Why not create a gel with an alcohol base? The nurse, it is obvious, had inventive skills. She created an alcohol-based gel and got doctors to try it. 

     Tests showed that it worked! 

     Doctors in that hospital and later, other hospitals began to use the gel instead of washing their hands. The nurse had invented a unique sanitizer. Later, in the 1980s, the gel began to be made commercially as a hand sanitizer, for home and personal use. 

     Who was the nurse? Her name is Lupe Hernandez. She made such a valuable contribution to health care services but she remains a shadowy figure in the annals of medical history.

THE RAJAYOGI

 king Dharmapalan

     King Dharmapalan was a kind and generous ruler. His palace was grand and he had hundreds of attendants. He enjoyed all the luxuries fit for a king. But at heart he was an ascetic. So he was known as Rajayogi. 

     Once a yogi came to see him. He looked at the king's fine robes and all his paraphernalia. He was furious. “You call yourself a Rajayogi and you bask in luxury and enjoy all the pleasures. You are a hypocrite!” he said. 

     The king was unperturbed. He asked the yogi if he could serve him in any way. 

     “I'll have nothing from you," the yogi said, adding, "you are cheating the world and yourself."  

     “What should I do to be worthy of your regard?" the king asked the yogi.

     “Just leave the palace right now and come with me. I'll teach you the essence of life and how to be detached from everything around.”

     The king got up and followed him barehanded without any hesitation. They walked quietly, the yogi showing the way. Halfway through, the yogi suddenly stopped.

     “Do you need anything?” the king asked. 

     "Yes. I forgot my kamandalu. I always keep it with me.”

  

   To this the king said, "I left my entire kingdom in a second and came with you. You can't even let go of a kamandalu. I thought you were going to teach me to be truly detached. I'm surprised."

     The yogi hung his head in shame. He apologized for his rude behaviour and unkind words. He had now understood that the king was a real Rajayogi.

JULY 29

 International Tiger Day

     International Tiger Day also known as Global Tiger Day, is celebrated annually on July 29. This day raises awareness about tiger conservation. Tigers play a vital role in maintaining the balance of our ecosystems. As top predators, they help control the populations of other animals, ensuring the health and diversity of their habitats. However, tigers are an endangered species, which means they are at risk of becoming extinct.

     There are six subspecies of tigers --- Bengal, Siberian, Sumatran, Malayan, Indochinese and South China. There are currently fewer than 4,000 tigers left in the wild due to habitat loss, poaching and illegal wildlife trade. International Tiger Day draws attention to tiger's plight.

Wild Cat Facts:

* Tigers are the largest cats in the world, with 

   some males weighing over 270 kg.

* A tiger's roar can be heard from up to 3 km  

  away.

* Tigers have stripes on their fur that act as 

   camouflage in the wild. Each tiger has a unique 

   stripe pattern on its fur and no two tigers have 

   the same pattern.

* Tigers have a powerful body and can swim long 

   distances. They are excellent swimmers and 

   enjoy bathing in water to cool down.

* Tigers are excellent hunters. They are incredibly 

   fast and can run at speeds of 64 km per hour. 

   They can also leap up to 10 m in one jump!

* Tigers are solitary animals and prefer to live and 

   hunt alone.

* Tigers have retractable claws that they use for 

   climbing trees and catching prey.

* Tigers are carnivores, meaning they eat meat, 

  and their diet consists primarily of large 

  ungulates such as deer and boars.

WHEEL OF WONDER

 Giant wheel 

     IT was George W Gale Ferris, a mechanical engineer by profession, who built the world’s first giant vertical wheel for the purpose of providing rides for entertainment. Such wheels are called Ferris wheels after their inventor. 

     The very first Ferris wheel was erected at the World’s Columbian Exposition, which was held in Chicago in 1893 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in America. George Ferris had to use all his powers of persuasion to get permission from the directors of the fair to erect the wheel. The directors thought it was a wild idea that would fail and give the fair a bad name. But at the same time they wanted to showcase a feat of engineering or architecture that would rival the Eiffel Tower, which was built for the World’s Fair of 1889, in Paris. So finally Ferris got the nod. 

     As it turned out, the giant wheel became the chief attraction of the fair. From the day of its inauguration on 21 June 1893, the rich and the famous and dignitaries from all walks of life queued up patiently each evening for the thrill and the privilege of being wheeled high into the air (the wheel had a diameter of 76 metres) for a breathtaking view of the city below. The wheel had 36 cars and each of them could seat 60 people, so there were 2,160 riders at any given time. While the women squealed and sometimes screamed in terror as the wheel slowly began its rotation, the men puffed at cigars and sipped champagne to cover their nervousness. But to Ferris’ credit, the wheel never gave any trouble and no one was ever hurt. It worked flawlessly till the end of the fair in November, raking in huge profits for all those associated with it. 

     Today, no country fair is complete without a Ferris wheel or a ‘giant wheel’ as we call it in India.

SMELL OF RAIN

Petrichor

     After rainfall, the  distinctive aroma is released from the soil.

     Despite being an unwelcome form of weather by many, rain is an essential event for sustaining life on Earth. Communities throughout history have always welcomed rainfall as an aid to their growing crops – and scientists think it’s for this reason that so many still enjoy the smell that follows the rain. This is called petrichor. 

     The raindrops themselves aren’t responsible for the scent that fills the air after it starts to rain. Rather, the water droplets cause various fragrant compounds to be released from the soil. As raindrops scatter over dry earth, the water traps tiny bubbles of air at the ground’s surface. These droplets then splatter, bursting the bubbles from the loose soil and carrying plant oils and other natural chemicals upwards into the air in an aerosol form.

STORMY SCENT

     Rain isn’t the only weather event that’s responsible for natural and distinctive smells. Thunderstorms produce a different scent that’s caused by a disturbance in the atmosphere. When lightning strikes through the atmosphere, nitrogen and oxygen molecules split and combine with each other to form nitric oxide and single oxygen atoms.

     These oxygen atoms then react with oxygen molecules in the air, making ozone (O₃). Ozone is a less stable molecule compared to oxygen’s elemental form (O₂). During a storm, air sinks to form downdrafts and pushes ozone lower into the atmosphere where we can smell it. It has a metallic scent, which makes it possible to identify when rain is soon to fall.