DO YOU KNOW

 What is Retro walking?

     Retro walking is backward walking, usually done as a form of exercise. It is claimed that 100 steps of backward walking is equivalent to 1000 steps of conventional forward walking.

     Fitness experts say retro walking burns more calories, improves the mechanism of balance and co-ordination in the body and gives the heart and lungs a better workout than forward walking.

     As retro walking puts less stress on knees, those with knee or ankle problems benefit from retro walking exercises.

TALLEST ANIMAL ON EARTH

 Giraffe 

     When a baby giraffe, called a calf, is born, it literally has a long way to go — about 1.2 m(four feet) to be precise. The female or cow gives birth to the young one standing up and her legs alone are 1.8 m (six feet) long. The baby lands safely and in about half an hour, is able to heave itself up. After ten hours, it can run. A newborn giraffe is as tall as Mamma’s legs!

     As the calf grows older, the mother leaves it in a crèche with other youngsters. One or two giraffe mothers baby sit while the others take a break to eat and socialise. With their long, spindly legs and over arching necks, giraffes are the world’s tallest mammals. They can easily peek into a second-floor window! 

     A male giraffe is about 5.5 metres (18 feet) tall while a female is about 1.2 m (four feet) shorter. The long legs allow giraffes to sprint short distances at 56 km an hour. About one-third the height of the giraffe is the neck. It contains the same number of bones — seven — as human beings but each vertebra is more than 25 cm long. The neck makes the giraffe a natural look out in the vast open savannah it inhabits in Africa. Other herbivores such as zebra and antelope, gather around giraffes while feeding, because they feel safe in their company. 

     One would expect that its height and size would deter any predator, but giraffes are attacked by lions and crocodiles. Babies are especially vulnerable. Adult giraffes are most at risk when they are drinking water because they have to assume an awkward posture, with their legs spread out wide and their necks stretched out low. This is why giraffes try to get as much water as they can from their food. 

     They typically eat the tender leaves and buds of the acacia tree. The acacia has nasty thorns specifically evolved to tackle giraffes, but the animals have a trick up their sleeves —their tongues! The purple-black tongue is around 46 cm long and the lips are prehensile (capable of grasping). A giraffe bypasses the thorns and curls its tongue and lips around the leaves beyond and pulls them off with consummate ease. 

     Long, outrageously thick eyelashes protect its eyes. In case it swallows a thorn, a giraffe’s thick, sticky saliva coats it to prevent any harm. 

     Giraffes have beautiful spotted coats and each giraffe has a distinctive pattern like a human fingerprint. They have a smallish hump on their backs. This and their spotted coat gave their species the scientific name camelopardalis which means camel-leopard!

Fact File:

◆ A giraffe has a peculiar gait, in which both the front and back legs on one side move forward at the same time.

◆ Its closest relative is the okapi, a short zebra-like African mammal.

◆ Both male and female giraffes have a pair of hair-covered horns called ossicones. Babies are born with soft horns that lie flat against their heads.

◆ If they have to, giraffes can send predators flying with a deadly karate-style kick.

◆ Giraffes only need 5–30 minutes of sleep.

◆ They can moo, roar, snort, hiss, and grunt but do so rarely.

WORSHIP OF SNAKE GOD

 Nag Panchami

     The festival of Nag Panchami, celebrated all over India in August, centres around the worship of cobras or snake gods and goddesses. In some places devotees bow before live cobras; in others, serpent images made of clay, dough, or silver are venerated. Worship generally includes pouring milk over the head of the snake or its idol also offered to snakes for drinking. It is considered auspicious if the reptile drinks the milk.

     Nag Panchami is a time for snake charmers to make some money. They take the reptiles to towns and cities in round bamboo baskets. When they play the ‘been’, a musical instrument, the cobra coiled in the basket, stirs to life. It raises its head, spreads its hood and moves its head from side to side. One gets the impression that the snake is swaying to the music.

The Cobras of Shirala Battis: Shirala in Maharashtra's Sangli district is renowned for its celebration of the Nag Panchami festival. Shirala literally crawls with cobras during this time. Tourists pour in either to participate or gawk at the snakes or to witness the strange interaction between man and venomous reptiles.

     Days before Nag Panchami, the countless nag mandals or youth clubs whose members specialise in trapping snakes go on a snake-catching spree in the surrounding countryside. Even the children of the village are quite fearless and handle the snakes as if they were toys.The cobras are put in clay pots and carried by bullock cart in a colourful procession to the Amba temple where they're worshipped throughout the day. They're released back into the wild once the festival is over.The people of Shirala believe that they're protected against snakebite because of an ancient boon granted to their ancestors by Shiva. They also realise that snakes are very useful in keeping the rat population under control, and they never harm the snakes. However, animal rights activists say the snakes undergo tremendous stress during the festival.

Snake Myths: 

* When the snake charmer plays the 'been' the snake sways to the music.

False. Snakes don't have external ears. They cannot hear airborne sounds. They pick up vibrations of sound from the ground. They move their head from side to side when the snake charmer plays the 'been' because they're suspicious of the instrument and regard it as a possible threat. As the snake charmer keeps shifting the position of the 'been' the snake keeps moving its head from side to side so as to keep the instrument in sight all the time. Lizards have external ears but snakes don't.

* Snakes Loves Milk.                

False. Snakes can't digest milk and normally don't drink it. However, if they were deprived of water for several days they would drink milk, or for that matter even Pepsi or Coke, to quench their thirst. Often, during Nag Panchami, snakes are forced to drink milk by their owners and many die as a result. Some people believe that snakes enter cowsheds and drink milk from cows. This, of course, is utter nonsense. Snakes sometimes enter cowsheds while chasing rats. The cows are tethered and cannot get out of the way. They cower in fright and some of them may get so scared that their milk dries up. This may make the farmer think that the snake has drunk their milk. 

* Snakes can't lap up liquid with their forked tongue. When they're drinking water or any liquid they suck the liquid into their mouth and then force it into the oesophagus by contracting the mouth cavity.

INDIA'S OLDEST WIND INSTRUMENT

 Flute

     The flute is India’s most ancient wind instrument, depicted in the frescoes at Ajanta and in centuries-old temple sculptures. Remnants of flutes made of bone that are thousands of years old have been found in Europe and elsewhere, but the Indian flute developed independently of its western counterpart. 

     The flute is a simple instrument generally made of hollow bamboo though other materials may also be used. It has five or more holes along its length and a mouthpiece. The musical notes are produced by blowing into the mouthpiece and opening and closing the other holes with the fingers, in correct order. In India we have two main types—the bansuri, used in the Hindustani classical music of north India and the venu, used in Carnatic music. 

     The venu has eight holes and is smaller in size than the bansuri, which is typically around 35 cm (14 inches) in length but can be as long as 82 cm (32 inches) and has six or seven holes. 

     Lord Krishna is often shown playing the bansuri, an instrument with which he produced music that enthralled not only the gopis and others but also wild beasts. Two of his several names are Murlidhar or ‘one who holds the flute’, and Venugopal. 

     One of the greatest exponents of the flute is Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. 

     Pannalal Ghosh (1911-1960), maestro of the flute, made many innovations in the instrument to extend its tonal range and to integrate it into Hindustani classical music. 

STORY TIME

 Precious Onions

     Once upon a time there lived a man called Saul who was always in search of adventure. One day, a traveller came to Saul’s village and told of a far-away country where onions were unknown.    

     “What!” cried Saul in astonishment. “No onions? How can people eat food without the taste of delicious onions?” 

     He decided that he would introduce onions to those ignorant folks. He bought a wagon-load of onions and set off. As soon as he was admitted to the king’s presence, Saul announced, “I have brought a unique vegetable which will improve the taste of your food greatly.”

     The king agreed to ask his cooks to use the onions. “But if we fall ill, then it’s off with your head,” he warned Saul. 

     The next day, a number of dishes were prepared with the onions. A great banquet was held where everyone was invited.

     As they ate, Saul could see that the onions captivated all, from the king to the commoner. And everyone agreed that from then on, they would not eat food without onions in it!

     The king was very pleased with Saul and offered him gold equal in weight to the onions he had brought. When he reached home, he related his adventure to the admiring villagers. One of them, Peter, thought over what Saul had said.

     “If onions were welcomed so warmly, then what might be the reaction to garlic?” he pondered. “It adds even more flavour to food. Why, the king might even reward me with diamonds!”

     So Peter carted five sacks of garlic to the same kingdom. The king agreed to introduce garlic to his people. When everyone sampled the food cooked with garlic, they praised it to the skies and remarked that it was even better than onions. As Peter had predicted, the king and his minister wished to gift him something even more valuable than gold. 

     After a long discussion, the king summoned Peter and said,“We would like to present you with the most precious commodity in our kingdom to express our gratitude for your gift of garlic.”

     And the king handed over to Peter five sacks full of onions!

DRAWING WITH LIGHT

 Photography

     Photography is a way of capturing and recording images using a device called a camera. Photography was invented by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor. The person who captures the picture is called a photographer. Pictures captured using a camera are called photographs.

     Photography is considered as a useful form of communication. A photograph has the ability to capture an experience, an idea or a moment in time and gives us more information about the place, people, events and objects in the photograph. World Photography Day is observed annually on August 19 to celebrate the art, craft, science and history of photography.

Facts:

* The word 'photography' is derived from Greek words meaning 'drawing with light'.

* The oldest photographic image is almost 200 years old and it took eight hours to capture.

* Print media (newspapers and magazines) has been using photographs of events and people since the 1800s.

* The first colour photograph was taken in 1861 by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell.

* George Eastman founded the Eastman Kodak company that made camera film and photography available to the masses.

* People never smiled in the olden days as they had to stay still for many hours for one photograph to be captured.

* The first digital camera weighed four times more than the modern DSLR.

* The most viewed photograph is a wallpaper of Windows XP named 'Bliss'. It was photographed by American photographer Charles O'Rear.

DO YOU KNOW

How and where did forks originate?

     The dining fork has an interesting history. It originated centuries ago, in an ancient Egypt, not as an item of cutlery but as a cooking tool used for carving or lifting meats from cauldron or the fire. The original forks were fairly large with two tines (prongs) that prevented meat from twisting or moving during carving and allowed food to slide off more easily than it would with a knife.

     By the 7th century, the nobles and royalty of the Middle East and the Byzantine empire began to use forks at the table for dining. (Until then, they had eaten with their fingers, using only knives for cutlery.) But this did not meet with the approval of the clergy, who considered it sinful to substitute metal forks for the natural forks (fingers) provided by God. It was not until the 16th century that forks gained acceptance in Italy. In 1533, forks were brought from Italy to France when Catherine de Medici married king Henry II. The French, too, were slow in accepting forks, because using them was thought to be an affectation. The French Monarch Louis XIV was known to have forbidden his children from eating with the forks their tutor had encouraged them to use. But gradually, the fork gained popularity and by the beginning of the 19th century, it had become an essential part of the French dinner table.

     An Englishman named Thomas Coryate brought the first forks to England after seeing them in Italy during his travels in 1608. He initially faced much ridicule, as the English thought it unnecessary. But over the years, they became prized possessions made of expensive materials intended to impress guests. Small slender-handled forks with two tines were generally used for sweet, sticky foods or for foods such as berries which were likely to stain the fingers. By the mid 1600s, eating with forks was considered fashionable among the wealthy British. Forks used solely for dining were luxuries and thus markers of social status and sophistication among nobles.