Wonders never cease - camouflage

Camouflage in reefs
The creatures in the reefs indeed seem to be masters of camouflage.  

     The sea horse which hides among 'coral pens' and the innumerable types of crustaceans which get 'lost' among the bright colourful reefs.  When the tiny fish and creatures hide beneath the reefs on seeing a small school of 'thugs', one of the thugs goes beneath which scares the hiding little ones into swimming above, where they are promptly made 'biriyani' by the waiting thugs!

     One type of fish (unfortunately I do not remember its name) swims vertically(!) among the reef.  In that vertical form they look like a stagnant reef, they swim horizantally only when they have to move from one part of the reef to another.  

Spectacular!

Wonders never cease - The American Beaver

American Beaver

     I have always thought that beavers look cute with their cute little 'beaver teeth'.   Beyond that I didn't really know anything about them till about a day ago.  I saw this wonderful documentary on beavers which was so interesting and informative.

     After watching that documentary my admiration and 'respect' for this little animal has indeed increased manifold.

     What a hardworking creature it is!  Truly amazing!

     How much of work it does with its little sharp clawed hands(?)!!  I was even more amazed to know that beavers bring down small trees!  Whew, those teeth must be something!

     And how well the family cooperates to bring about building the dam and the nest.  Apparently, beavers may pair for life.  The female gives birth every spring and the older siblings live on with the parents till they are about two years of age. After that period they go out into the world to search for a mate and a nice spot to build their nest.  

     It was particularly interesting to watch how one established family was seeking to bring reinforcements for their home.  Since the beaver would be vulnerable to bring logs by land (and of course it would be easier to float the logs rather than drag them), they cleverly built dams, changed the course of the lake and built canals to where the trees were!  "The trees won't come to the river but the river can go to the trees"!  And the female (queen she is called, I think) beautifully stocks up for the winter.  She stores the twigs/branches in such a place near the nest that they would be cool but not freeze up in the tough Wisconsin winter!

     What a creation!  I want to shake its beautiful, clawed, hardworking, talented and efficient hands, and say "Well done!!"

A sign from heaven

A sign from heaven!  That's what it was!
A perfect 'tick' as if someone in the heavens above was saying 'yes' to set right my confusion.  Not that I had any pressing issues to confuse me!!! But good to have this divine sign, just in case, to reiterate that I am, after all, right!
Being a teacher, I know the value of this 'tick' mark.  Tick, tick, tick, all answers right, full marks!! yay!
I could feel the thrill and excitement of the student who had answered well in an exam and was awaiting results.
Again, not that I had written any exams, but good to have divine approval! Thank you God!

Another use of batter.

Using Dosa batter as a bleach.  This is a harmless yet effective bleach.  My friend (who gave me this tip) says that dosa-batter is most effective for bleaching feet; to ensure there is uniformity in color, especially for those who use sandals.
I like this use of batter because - it is usually available and harmful chemicals are not present.  After enjoying a batch of idlis/dosas, the last drops of batter can be put to this use! :)

Orange peel

I have come across many suggestions to use lemon to deodorize the garbage disposal, and I know that it works very well too. 
Recently I disposed some orange peels (navel oranges) in the disposal, and I was surprised with the pleasant odor which resulted!! The fresh citrusy scent was indeed refreshing!  It struck me that orange peel could be a good substitute for lemon in this case.

Book review

The idea of a 'sequel' to P & P was indeed attractive to me (since of course I am a great fan of Jane Austen's P&P), but the title sounded a little negative. However that didn’t stop me from borrowing the book from the local library. The few pages I had read in the book club were certainly entertaining and made an eager read.

Six years have passed since Elizabeth’s marriage to Mr Darcy. Jane and Mr Bingley are their neighbours, settled at Highmarten. It is the eve of Lady Anne’s ball which is celebrated with great pomp every year. All the Darcy’s neighbours and friends are invited except, of course, the infamous Wickham and his wife.

On the eve of the ball, the family and some close friends like Mr Alveston and Colonel Forster (who is now Viscount) are gathered for dinner when Lydia comes distraught and hysteric. The coach man only knows that Mr Wickham and his friend Mr Denny were in the coach, and all of a sudden Mr Denny leaves the coach in a huff, halfway through the woods in PEmberly. Mr Wickham follows him and a little later a gunshot is heard. The coachman, young and inexperienced as he is and Lydia who breaks into easy hysterics just like the ‘poor nerves’ of her mother urges the coachman to approach the house.

For the main part of the book, the trial unfolds in great detail – the inquest, the imprisonment and the actual trial. The narrative is lengthy and small particulars are sometimes described in great detail. For the most part the narrative is of a somber nature, of course given the circumstances it is understandable. But what happened to the carefree and clever remarks of Elizabeth and her ability to laugh at others and herself? This or the lack of this is what I missed most in the story.

The author has cleverly entwined the characters of Miss Elliot (Persuation?); Mrs Knightley and Mrs Robert Martin (Emma) though briefly which is very enjoyable and is a refreshing surprise.

I like P&P for is seemingly simple plot, the human folly of its characters, the fairy tale ending with conquered pride and broken prejudices and the beautiful time of the story. This book makes a good read as an individual story, but I wouldn’t consider it as a fitting sequel to my favorite book.

Who is responsible?

Well, the write up was (and is) meant to be my free expression of thoughts as an individual and as a teacher; it is not meant to corner any one.
After watching the movie I felt the accusations laid against teachers and the management was unpalatable to me.
In my write-up I have only narrated my situation as a teacher and have not touched upon the management side which can be very sticky; because they can present their own set of problems adding on to that of the teacher.
And yes, these things need to taken on a case to case basis, for there is no general solution to the matter.
In this particular case of the movie, I felt a lot of problems could be avoided by the proactive interest of the parent instead of just 'passing on the buck' to the teachers.
However, I still feel very strongly that parents do have more time with their wards than any individual teacher.
A teacher can teach a child in a particular term/year or maximum in a particular level like middle school or high school etc. Moreover in today's scenario we do not have 'gurukula' type of systems where a student approaches a teacher and remains in tutelage for atleast the next decade.
Anywise I do not want to hurt the feelings of a parent, for parents who are extremely cooperative to teachers and understanding do exist but are very hard to come by.