The Creepy Times: By Rahul Alvares
*DISCOVERING OUTSIDE DISCOVERY*
'You must watch National Geographic. It's just the thing for you'.
If someone says this to me one more time, I am going to blow up.
Watching Discovery or National Geographic seems to be the latest
'in-thing' for showing your concern for animals today. Everybody
wants to prove their love for animals by talking about how they just
can't get enough of Animal Planet.
I have nothing against any of these channels. The photography,
especially of the underwater sea world is beautiful and
extraordinary. But I find that while everyone wants to sit and watch
what's showing on their TV, not one of them can even spare a moment
to find out about the things going on in their own backyards.
At twenty three, I am the oldest of three brothers and I distinctly
remember the family discussion at home some 15 years ago on the
subject of TV. My parents have always been opposed to buying a TV
and they were trying to explain to us the reasons why they were not
falling in line with the TV-buying public. We couldn't understand
all their arguments until they finally put it to us this way: TV is
for those who will never get to experience the real thing. 'Do you
want to actually visit, some day, all those beautiful places they
show on TV, or would you rather be happy with just seeing them on
the screen?' The choice simply put was: Buy a TV, or travel around
instead. We chose travel. And I am proud to say that till today we
have never allowed the idiot box space in our house. We have
travelled instead to almost all parts of India. I learnt snake
catching in Pune, handled crocodiles in Mamallapuram, studied
spiders and earthworms in Chennai and even travelled to Thailand and
Malaysia in my quest to learn more about reptiles. All of which I
managed to do because I never sat in front of a TV.
So what's to see in the backyard? Well, have you ever noticed the
different type of insects around? Grasshoppers, locusts, bugs,
beetles, ants, spiders, geckoes, snails and shrews riddle almost
every household. But they are little aliens to us when we compare
them to the lions and tigers prancing around on Animal Planet. Do
you know that spiders aren't insects, that they have 8 legs instead
of six? Same with scorpions. They belong to Aracnida. But why
bother, since every once in a while we swoosh away all the cobwebs
in our homes, sending all the spiders scuttling around for safety,
their homes destroyed. Spiders prey on flies and mosquitoes. So much
for nature's mosquito control programme. Neither are cockroach
eating geckoes welcome in our homes. And if we see a centipede
(another cockroach terrorizer) we crush it, quick.
Even in big cities one can find toads, frogs, snakes and birds. How
many birds do we know the names of, other than just crow or pigeon?
How many wild plants do we know the uses of? Earthworms are found
almost all over, but I can't think of one NG fan who has bothered to
collect a few and setup a vermi-bed in an effort to tackle the
kitchen waste that we all produce everyday.
I don't believe that one can learn much watching these channels
either. Every time I have tried to watch a snake programme on TV at
a friend's house I have given up after a short while. For one thing,
TV programmes are very basic. They cater to viewers with the most
average IQ levels. TV programmes are designed to catch the eye. They
cannot be made even slightly complicated or you would soon lose
interest. And the few bits of information that do appear to enter
your mind so easily, exit just as fast. I can guarantee you that you
will be none the smarter even after watching a two hour show that
you paid full attention to from the start.
So many people watch snake shows, but zero is the number of people
who will be able to identify a snake on that basis. And close to 90%
is the number of these TV viewers who would happily smash a snake,
should one cross their path. I have had many avid National
Geographic viewers ask me very basic questions like, is it true that
snakes seek revenge, or that they have two heads sometimes?
One bad aspect about TV programmes is that they very often stray
away from the truth. I remember once watching a video on Monitor
lizards. "Thunder Dragons" was what it was called. Scenes of
monitors clashing with each other, claws drawn, lightening flashing
and all this combined with the deep rumbling voice of the narrator,
even gave me the creeps. The truth is that monitor lizards, like
snakes, are cowardly at heart. But the simple truth is not always so
exciting, is it?
If you are just a casual channel surfer or watch Discovery for the
wonderful photography (I have to give them credit for that), and you
have no other interest in the world around you, then you have no
reason to feel hurt or offended by my article. But if you watch
nature channels because you are interested in learning something,
then do this instead. Buy a book (about whatever you want to learn -
snakes, insects, or birds). You would learn more reading for 30
minutes a day, than you would if you managed to catch every TV show
on the subject for the next 2 months.
Start bird watching, collect insects - it's very easy when you have
even a little genuine interest.
Now whenever I go to a friend's house, I watch a movie instead.
That's better use of my free time. Read a few books and you'll soon
find that it's true for you as well.
*Know your snake*
* *
*This snake is known as the Buff Striped Keelback. A nonvenomous
snake it is usually very placid even when first handled. The snake
is usually reddish brown and marked with colourful pinkish red
blotches in the anterior region of the body which are especially
visible when the snake flattens its body under threatening
conditions. The snake also has two buff coloured lines running along
the margins of the posterior side of the body.*
* *
*There are no local names for this snake. Though it is very commonly
found it is of a very mediocre body size and pattern and is
therefore not easily identified. Thus there are no myths about it
either. The snake is often brought into the house by cats who seem
to regard them**as a substitute to 'playmice'.
You can contact me by emailing at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Phone number is 91-832-2278740 but it doesn't always work
....so therefore you should also ring up my parents office number 2256479...heheheh.
If its a snake call and if I'm not there then you can try calling up
Harvey: Mobile:9822158688 Res: 2401814
Neil: Res. 2402957 Mobile: 9822149745
Nirmal:2252463
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