Life on an island: Final

We are done with various aspects of island life. But we haven’t touched one final entrant  — the humans.

Every island has its own culture. Each islander has his own skill set to survive in their conditions. They learned their skills over years of trial and error.

The people in the island have learned the craft and skill needed to make a boat with facilities to travel long distances to find new colonies to extend their clan. They make the boats with the tree trunks and tie them with threads prepared by coconut husk.

Some observed the birds traveling across their islands and followed them to find a new island.

Some identify an approaching island by their effect on the ripples on the surface of the sea. Tall islands leave a trail of clouds like a chimney from a factory. So they can be detected even before reaching it. With such observational skills and techniques Polynesians colonized island after island.

But there is a flip-side to this story.

Many animals have become extinct because of the humanization of the islands. People when they colonized an island, they introduced their pets (cats etc) and also some new animals to the island. These animals hunted the defense-less and flight-less birds and eventually caused their extinction.

One of the greatest contributions of islands is the theory of evolution. Charles Darwin’s legendary journey to the Galapagos islands has provided almost all the evidence for his theory. He collected numerous samples from these islands to prove his theory. On close examination he understood that the tortoises living on each Galapagos island have developed unique physical characteristics, features and food habits based on the conditions present in their respective islands.

Every island tortoise is different from its neighboring island. Each has developed its own uniqueness and survived and others which were unable to adapt collapsed without a trace. For example one tortoise has developed a longer neck because its food is available not on the ground but on the small plants which can be reached only when it stretches its neck. Hence this resulted in their change –the long neck.

I am concluding this island series but if there is an interesting insight (about an island) worth a post then sure I will share it with you in the future.

Hope you enjoyed your stay in the island.

Life on an island: Part 5

So far we have understood that an island provides opportunities to change. But does every change end up positively? Does change always indicate progress?

Let us see the implications of these changes.

When threatened, Kakapo, one species of parrots from New Zealand, just freezes and becomes motionless. It is the biggest of all parrots in the world weighing 4kgs. It has no defense, for it is flight-less. It lost its natural reflexes – like fight or flight – thus cannot save itself from any attack. BIG doesn’t always mean strong. In fact, in this case, it (weight) makes the parrot defenseless. The wings became useless and the parrot, flightless.

But some species – unlike these parrots – used their wings to their advantage.

Some insects, like some kind of dragon flies, use their wings for flirting and courtship displays (a rhythmic dance to attract the female). Some other insects when they sensed that the wings were no longer useful, they have shed them to reduce the extra baggage and thus saving energy. A few insects even transformed their wings as a shield to their body.

From the above two scenarios we can clearly interpret that one species – the birds – lost their capability to fly and hence became defenseless. The other species – the insects – turned the same disadvantage into defense by converting their wings as a shield of protection.

So what can we learn from this insight?

In life we face many challenges. Some skills or jobs which were in demand may suddenly become obsolete. So in these ‘changing’ times the best way to defend is to turn your barriers into bridges – just like the insects.

Few tips to defend yourself in such crisis:

• The current skill set you are having may also be useful in other fields too – which you might not be aware of. So explore such multiple usages of the same skill set.
• Your present talent, when refined a little bit or extended further, may enhance your prospects beyond your imagination. Think and identify such greener pastures. Updating your knowledge takes you to the new territories.
• Apart from your current career, always water few seeds of your interest. Like if you are interested in something – writing, music, speaking etc. practice it or approach experts and learn the techniques. Who knows? it may save you from a layoff or an economic meltdown.

See you in comments!!!

Life on an island: Part 4

(Author’s Note: This post is longer than usual. The topic demanded a wider explanation because of its significance in the present world scenario. I hope readers will understand this with kind heart. )

What would happen to your mind when you don’t use it for years?
What would happen to your bike when you leave it unused for years?

The only way to make some things better is to use them as often as possible, like your mind for example. That’s why the wise always keep their minds busy – by reading, learning, solving, searching, dreaming and doing. Cause deep within they know the key to tap their brain’s potential — The more you use it, the better it gets. And they also know the consequences of leaving it, unattended.

A bike that is not used is destined for destruction. Slowly it gets rusted and gradually loses its functionality. If this continues for long, it even drops its primary purpose. Now instead of the bike taking you to your destination, you have to take it to its destination – the repair shop. That’s why they say that “it is better to be ruined than rusted.” In other words, it is better to ‘lose’ it by using it but not by leaving it.

What would happen to the wings of the birds if they were unused for years?

Of course! now you know the answer.

The wings lost their primary purpose and hence the birds of the island (the permanent residents) became flightless. As there is no need for them to fly, they stopped flapping their wings and gradually they lost the functionality.

Why they abandoned flight?

First, flying needs lot of energy. They don’t want to waste their valuable limited energy by flapping their wings.

Second, they don’t have enemies to attack them, so there is no need to use them for flight. Just like soldiers abandon swords if there is no war.

Third, they changed their diet to eat whatever that is edible in the island.

Finally, any bird, before beginning its migration, ought to store huge fat reserves to finish the journey. Now when these birds try to find a new land, the food available in the source island may not accommodate to sustain life, till they reach their ‘imaginary’ destination. Then why risk life, anyway?

So some species of birds, parrots for example, instead of becoming life-less they chose to become flight-less.

Now even when they want to (or even try to) fly, they cannot.

Kiwi, the New Zealand bird, is the ultimate example of what isolation can do to its species. It is a flightless bird; its wings look like fur, lost its tail, and now lives in burrows, just like some mammals. In fact it looks and even acts like a mammal. But, it has retained few bird characteristics – it has a beak and it can lay eggs.

So it is clearly evident now that an  island can eliminate even the primary skill of a species. When we think of a bird, we think of flying. But isolation can transform a flying bird to a ground-dwelling creature. It can keep you ‘grounded’

Did we become ‘flightless’ in our life?

Did we lose our ‘primary skill’ as we are growing?

I strongly feel that we are gradually losing one of our primary skills that shaped our progress: Thinking

We are more engrossed into our daily jobs doing great work for our clients. We are more touched with our technology than with our own senses. We are more into the race of life than into our face of mind.

Most of us are heading, but in wrong direction. Did our ‘thinking’ become flightless? How shall we gain flight and harness its power once again?

I think the solution begins when we spend more time with ourselves. Be it meditation, be it spending a day per week in silence or even just being conscious of our small acts. Let us ‘think’ again before we get rusted. Let us act before thinking becomes an endangered habit. Let us not allow ‘thinking’ to be flightless.

Let us breathe life into our wings.

Let us fly.

PS1: I want to know ‘your’ interpretations of this insight? What skill have we lost apart from thinking? I am curiously waiting for your comments.

PS2: By the way New Zealanders are called Kiwis because of this bird (kiwi) which is exclusive to their country. (In other words, kiwis are endemic to New Zealand.)

Life on an island: Part 3

Good morning!!!

Now let us understand the other insights of the life here…

Scientists were puzzled by the changes that happened to these creatures. Apart from the change what surprised them the most is the ‘speed’ of the change.

The birds changed their beak structure to suit the flowers and fruits of the island. Some developed large beaks, others trimmed down their beaks. Some adapted a curved beak – to crack particular nuts of an island tree. Some birds changed their color. Some just intensified their color to identify (or differentiate) themselves from other species or may be just to attract the opposite sex.

These changes in the beak size and structure may have taken place in 10,000 years. But in the evolutionary perspective this time period is considered as ‘very short’. Because the same changes outside an island may take 40,000 years. Hence this ‘speed’ surprised the scientists.

May be this is what happens when options become slim. When you have wider options, as in life outside the island, you are very slow to change because anyway there is no threat to your survival. But the island life is different you have very limited resources and unlimited threats. There are only two options: change or die. In this compulsion the speed gears up automatically.

The same rule aptly suits the present day inventions. When you take the greatest inventions like TV, Cell phone and Internet etc. all of them were invented in the last 100 years. In fact all the revolutionary discoveries and inventions that changed the ‘shape’ of the world happened in the last 200 years only; although life began 3000 million years ago. May be the compulsion to invent the new is pushing the scientists to come out with such inventions with speed. May be their (scientists) survival is at stake. May be their sponsoring companies force them to come up with the inventions. May be competition is pushing their limits.

May be the same compulsion is pushing our children to gain all 90+ marks in the exams.

May be the same speedy ‘forced’ change is leading to our global ‘growth’.

And may be the same thing happened to the ‘life’ on the island.

PS: The aftermath and the consequences of this speedy ‘progress’ will be revealed in the upcoming posts. Thank you all for making the ‘island’ rich with your readership. -ajaY vegeSna

Life on an island: Part 2

I appreciate your patience. The wait is over. We are entering into the crux of our learning. In part 1, we realized that there are some common features in all the island creatures. Now we are about to understand few of them.

Can an island change your food habits?

An absolute yes!

And that’s the first adaptation of the creatures of the island.

An island can transform a fruit eater into a flesh eater. That’s exactly what happened to one species of parrots in New Zealand. Instead of eating fruits they started eating insects. Some even ended up as scavengers.

They broaden their menu by eating anything which is edible – they have to, else they wouldn’t survive. The crest of this behavior is cannibalism.

The best example for this is the giant tortoise of Aldabra Island. From a vegetarian it turned out to be a carnivorous…and even became a cannibal, eating the corpses of its own species.

Can an island make you BIG?

Heavens Yes!!

Coco-de-mer, the largest seed in the world, is unique to Praslin island of Seychelles. It is the island original. It evolved in the island and as this seed cannot travel (float) in the sea, it was locked in the isolation. Hence it became endemic to the island meaning you cannot find it elsewhere in the world.

Moa – the tallest of all birds in the world – belonged to New Zealand. It grew till 13 feet, in height. Only an island can make this possible.

Why they grow big?

• As there is an abundant food resource to munch upon
• As there are no enemies to attack them

Benefits of being big

• They can become the top predators on the island
• They can get the lion’s share in every hunt
• The extra fat can help them survive in a bad season – if food becomes scarce for example
• If every survival strategy fails, the big ones can – and will – eat the small ones from their own group; cannibalism in other words.

These are the two insights, for now. In the upcoming posts I will share the rest of the island wisdom. Until then please enjoy our coco-de-mers and the beautiful blue sea. We shall meet tomorrow before the morning breeze embraces you.

Life on an island: Part 1

“Welcome to my island…”

As I said in the intro, we are about to embark on an insightful journey

Let’s walk a few steps ahead…

‘Almost’ all the creatures on the planet have an incredible gift: the ability to adapt. I said ‘almost’ because those that didn’t adapt will have to become endangered or extinct. This unique ability to change has led the human race to succeed over other living things. (Of course, the same thing is now causing our own destruction too)

How an island is formed?

The volcano rising from the sea bed – thousands of miles underneath – reaches the surface of the water and forms an island. It takes 50,000 years for a volcano to invite life into it. Again, it takes another 50,000 years to breathe full life – with plants and animals – into it. Some islands are formed by coral reefs; hence known as coral islands or atoll. Few other islands are the result of the continental drift.

How an island is filled with life?

Seeds washed away from other lands end up floating and find a refuge in the island. Some animals or sea creatures will land here as larvae carried by the oceanic waves from thousands of miles.

Some creatures remain as permanent residents in islands – like komodo dragons in Indonesia. Others will come here as visitors – giant tortoise and birds for example – to breed; and leave the site once their mission is accomplished.

The island dwellers – be it plants or animals – have changed their characteristics dramatically to suit the conditions of the island. In the process they even end up as new species.

These islanders may look differently and may also act differently compared to their original ancestors or its nearest relatives living elsewhere in the world.

When scientists observed the animals living on a remote island compared to its original counterparts, they were amazed to see certain common features in all the island creatures.

To know their commonalities, please be patient until next article.

Life on an island: Intro

Your ship lost its way in a storm. Even in such cloudy fog, the crew tried to navigate to any land visible. The heavy waves and the gush of water reminded tsunami. Some prayed. Some swayed. Others tried to do whatever that is possible to save their lives. But they were helpless. All their efforts were wiped off with a sudden jolt of a thunderbolt and everything collapsed in seconds.

Your eyes – which were shut for few hours – started sensing the thin light of the sun. Your ears – which almost lost their function in the brutal sound of the  bolt – started listening to a musical rhythm of the waves. Gradually you opened the eyes and startled to see yourself lying on the huge bed of sand. All around you is nothing but water. Your eyes were filled with the blue. And now the reality struck: you were cast away to a remote island due to the ship wreck that happened last night.

How would you spend the rest of the life in such a hostile and inhospitable place with only a bunch of people who survived along with you?

Does your attitude change?

Do you change your diet?

Can you change the environment around you or is reality just the opposite?

How would you survive if the island is 5000 miles away from the rest of the world where expecting a ship to save you is as strange as expecting a penguin in a desert?

There were many plants and animals which were stuck in remote islands – just like you. Some islands are so remote, like the Aldabra Island for example, no human has reached it for thousands of years. An island can transform its plants and animals into new species with extraordinary speed compared to their nearest relatives living elsewhere in the world.

Many questions baffled scientists about the island life. But one question tickled them the most: How did the plants and animals arrive at these far fetched islands in the first place?

May be they were carried away by the waves of the water or by magnificent storms. May be they were separated from the super continent by the drifting land. May be the life-less violent volcano tips erupting from the sea formed the island and cooled off after 50,000 years to give life to the seeds of the plants passing by the waves. May be animals evolved there. May be some sea creatures considered the island as a safe refuge to breed, away from their attackers.

To clarify our doubts and to clear our minds from the myths of the island life…I am beginning a small series tentatively titled ‘life on an island’

This very small series unveils many BIG secrets and insights that you never imagined about island life.

I heart-fully invite you to my island with open arms…

Snake’s Eye View

Snake is an awesome creature on the planet. Its sleek body design without any limbs is an ultimate survival strategy evolved over centuries. Such design makes the intelligent use of its energy while hunting or hibernating.

A snake’s eye view provides a holistic  in-depth analysis of an issue. Because no other creature on earth can view the things in as diverse angles as a snake does. Creatures like these are rare. They defy description. Only one word pops up in my mind when I think of it: Agility.

Are you wondering what’s so special about it. Let’s see…

A snake can

• Crawl on the ground
• Crawl in the ground
• Swim on the surface of the water
• Swim deep in the water
• Jump in the air
• and can even glide in the air (to the ground or on to another tree)

Surprising isn’t it?

Wanna know where it can live (or hide)?

A Snake can live in the

• Dusty deserts
• Dark burrows
• Clumsy Caves
• Monstrous mountains
• Thick forests
• Muddy swamps
• Flowing rivers
• and even in the mighty oceans

In short, snakes are found in all continents except Antarctica and a few islands.

A snake’s eyes can identify the heat present in its prey just like an infrared camera. A snake’s ability to detect the vibrations from the ground is surely incredible.

I am not against the Bird’s eye view. It surely provides us a view from the top. In fact, Snake’s eye view complements the Bird’s eye view. An analysis of a problem is complete only when you have a top level view along with a snake’s inner view with diverse settings. Only with such deep understanding a creative solution springs.

So the next time you ‘hunt’ for a solution, be as agile as a snake. Try to have a surface view, later dig a few feet down into the ground of the problem. Do not shy away to venture into unexpected territories. Gain some agility and try new terrains, and gradually your  understanding expands and wisdom flows. Eventually the solution appears naturally… in the air.

Once you go on practicing this approach finding a solution becomes fun and a cakewalk. (Shall I say Snake walk)

All the best. -ajaY vegeSna

My Experiments with the Unknown

Few months back, my friend Rajan and I went to a Chinese restaurant, ‘Peking Palace’ in Hyderabad. As we are always curious to taste the unknown, we opted for an item which we haven’t tried until then. We chose ‘Chinese tea’. Contrary to our expectation, our experiment failed. The tea wasn’t appealing to our tongue.

Few weeks back, we went to another Chinese restaurant ‘Bowl-O-China’. Again as usual we chose the unusual. We picked the ‘unknown’ dish called ‘Phuket fish’. The cost was expensive but the dish was awesome. It was a lip-smacking experience. Our experiment was successful.

The above two situations exemplify the two possible results that can happen when anyone ventures into the unknown. Either your adventure can yield a success or a failure. Either it can be a Phuket Fish or a Chinese tea. That’s it, there is nothing in between. No ‘Ifs’ No ‘Buts’ or even no ‘May be’s’

I am a curious cat. I always try new things whether it’s a casual walk to an unknown street, or trying a new dish or learning an unknown skill. The diversity in our choices will reflect in our actions. I love the unknown. It may bring a failure or success, it may turn out to be a negative or a positive experience. The result doesn’t matter. What remains with me is the experience of tasting the unknown.

What ever knowledge I have, What ever actions I take, it is the accumulated result of my practice of experimenting with the unknown. Only the unknown brings you new wisdom, only the unknown gives you new insights. If not, what else would do so?

The sign of freedom is not dealing with the known but having guts to venture into the unknown. Only then you are called a ‘free bird’, else you are just caged. Exploring the unknown sets you free; Free from the ignorance and free from the past. It is the symbol of flowering and the fruition of freedom within you.

Let’s Play

We begin our life with play.

As kids we played a lot with toys and later we joined our hands with other kids (teamwork in action) and slowly this phenomenon called ‘play’ graduated to school sports and finally ended up competing with other teams in inter-college events.

But as we grew to adulthood we stopped playing . Why? Is it because we are busy hunting a job? or Is it because we are busy with work? or Is it because we are busy with our family life?

Let’s explore…

We need to first understand that playing is learning.

Not only us every creature on this planet learns its future hurdles by having a play-fight with its siblings. Playing is an essential part of our life that teaches not only to stay fit but also to compete, fight, struggle and finally to win the game (of life). Winning is just a bye-product of our play. The main product is our own ‘progress‘ in life. Playing is a miniature example of the life itself.

When we understand the importance of the PLAY, we appreciate life and our own existence in the process.

What does a game teach us?

There are 3 crucial elements that a game helps us to get a hold.

First, in order to win we need strength , so we should be physically strong.

Second, to compete we need to understand the rival team completely, their strengths, weaknesses etc. So we need knowledge.

Third , we have to give our 100% to the sport, we must be fully into action.

Now apply the above 3 elements physical strength, knowledge and action to the problems we face in our lives. Any problem we face resembles a game. The playing field may change, but the principles are the same.

All our life revolves around metaphors. We associate the unknown to the known. So when we take life to a metaphor of game, that childhood energy, enthusiasm, and spirit all come back to the present. This enhances our learning experience and cements the concept in our mind.

In fact, to succeed in life we no need to grow as adults, but we have to become children again and should return to our progressive childhood. We need to let the child in us to take action and finally we should wake up the ‘player’ who was sleeping inside us from years.

No player goes to the ground with reluctance, then why do we go to the work unwillingly?

If you really hate the job either change the game (job) or at least change the rules.

No one forces a sportsman to play, they love it and they do it, naturally. Then why are we not playing the game of life? When you love something fully, you won’t call it ‘hard work.’ It just becomes a play.

Consider your office as a play ground. Just change your vocabulary. If someone asks “Where are you going?” say “I am going to the ground” If someone asks “What are you doing?” just say “I am playing”

Let’s take life as a game and every situation as the ground just made ready, for us to play and to win the opponent. The opponent being the problem we face at present.

Let’s Play…