Ponds are our source of life

When I was a child – about 45 years ago – there were so many ponds in my village. Ponds in the backyard of a house, ponds in the fields, ponds on the slopes and at the bottoms of hills, and if that were not enough, there were also large temple ponds.

When I was six or seven years old, I used to cross eight ponds and a large stream to buy milk from a house located just half a kilometre away. The path was full of tadpoles, olive barb fishes (paralmeen), and the snakehead fish (kannanmeen) that opened their mouths and swam up if you threw a pebble into the water. The muddy edge of the ponds was covered with crab burrows, with crabs occasionally peeping out to look around. Water snakes waving their heads & tails, swam like arrows shot from a bow. Turtles occasionally looked upto check if anyone was approaching and then crouched down shyly if they saw someone, as if saying, "I'll come back tomorrow when no one would be here". The rainbow-hued kingfisher sat so still that it seemed to say “I will wake up from my meditation only when a Ray Finned fish (paralmeen) floats up”; the pond herons with their long beak lowered into the marshy land of the paddy fields and on the ridges searching for something; and the croaking Ornate Horned Frog (pokachitawala) loudly croaked “Pekrom, Pekrom"...That's how my friends were...

I would wander around immersed in my own universe, talking a little to them and sometimes scaring those who didn’t hear me. As you walked through the rice paddies in the morning, the dewdrops clinging to the leaves would run down your hands and feet, bringing a slight chill. The dewdrops lingering on the tips of the black grass at the edge of the ridge would sparkle like pearls in the sunlight.

The path ahead would lead down to the stream, water gurgling by with a soft murmur. I would wash my feet enjoying the coolness of the water. In many places purse seine fishing nets (spreadkuruthis) looked like they were sitting with their mouth open against the current. I'd take a look at that. I used to wonder which way the fish would be coming!!!

As soon as I used to reach home, my friends would call me for a bath in the temple pond. The bath always ended up dividing the pool into eight pools. The ruckus was unimaginable if there ended up being a group of children. They would just jump in and frolic in the water for an hour or two. If possible, they would jump off the diving wall (a high wall instead of today's springboard) and splash water in all directions. If there were young girls nearby, one could hear gossip and conversation floating through the air. Wasn't it fun to listen to their affectionate bickering?

It's as if I woke up from a beautiful dream. Slowly but surely, one has to come back to the reality.

Where are those ponds today? When the ponds – which are the source of so much biological wealth –dried up, the biodiversity of an entire village is threatened. The very culture that surrounded the ponds and the fields has been lost. Lands that had never known drought before are parched. Humans and animals have begun to scramble for water.

Ponds and reservoirs are essential to retain water on earth. In olden days, ponds were mostly dug on hillsides, depending on the terrain. The ancient societies were able to harvest water through these ponds and that’s what even the modern science suggests. It not only stores the rain water, but also slowly irrigates the soil. This decreases the possibility of drought. When those ponds were lost to the rubber and banana plantations of the present days, the rain water would flow directly into the rivers without stopping anywhere, making these rivers swell, thereby causing sudden flood. So, when the monsoon is over, drought sets in.

Thus, in order to save our future – to save the biological wealth on earth – we need to save water; and for that we need to rebuild as many water bodies as possible. Let all our lost biodiversity return. Let the turtle, the otter, the frog, the hermit crab, and the fishes all come back like before. Without it our entire earth will become a barren land and we would struggle to get even a drop of drinking water!!! 

Nostalgia, a mystical thing, my God..!!!

 

A month ago, I received an email. This is the content of it: “I am looking for my playmate Ravi, who grew up playing with me in Idukki.  If you are that Ravi, please contact me on this phone number”, Sunny said affectionately. I was stunned for a moment. I was that Ravi. My mind suddenly went back 40 years. To the time when I was hoop rolling bicycle tires with sticks on the streets of Idukki wearing cross-belt trousers.

What sweet memories of those days! Our telephonic conversation left us both with an indescribable feeling. I think it’s what we call nostalgia...!!! I remember that the hoop would climb any hill or step, and would rest under my bed with me when I slept...

It brought back so many childhood moments that I couldn’t help but look up some of my most cherished memories. I'm sure you'll fall into a similar nostalgia after seeing these pictures...Enjoy!!!

There was a time when we didn’t get off our bicycles.  Even though we weren’t tall enough to reach the pedals, showing off our acrobatic skills was still vital. I’m sure you can still feel the scar of the wound on your leg after all these years…

Do you remember these lemon/orange candies? Two for five paise from Pangan's stall. And then there's the jaggery candy that wouldn’t break when you bit into it.

When I saw these marbles, I grinned and rubbed my knuckles. How many calluses did I give and receive playing with them over the years? Can you still hear its sound in your ears?

Most of us are at an age where we would rub our backs when we see this. There are very few games that require as many tactics as well as physical skill and accuracy as this game. The thrill of which is more or less lost with time, and most children today lack the speed and nimbleness to dodge a bouncing ball while collecting stones.

Oh my potass (firecracker)!!!  How many of you have I burst?! Using that plastic toy gun - for those of us whose parents would indulge us - otherwise, with our hands and feet, and if patience ran out, in the fire, too. Doesn't it sound like a pumpkin seed crackling when you put it in the fire? I remember some of the troublemakers of our time had tried to bite it off, too. And when they bit it, they heard something crack. Was it a tooth or a cracker? I can't remember exactly....!!!

And that firecracker commonly known as the “Snake tablet”. A seemingly impossible trick with a snake that grew infinitely long when you burnt a small tablet. Today, this tiny thing is enough to put you behind bars for environmental pollution. That’s the amount of smoke it produced.

Buddy, can you forget the time you were beaten for being late to class after being enraptured watching a snake charmer making a snake move and dance to his music on the road...!!!

Or the time when you saw the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort for the first time while living in a village hundreds of kilometers away?! The time when you listened to patriotic songs without knowing what patriotism and devotion even were...!!!

And how much of a nuisance this machine used to be?! A mistake of a single letter was enough to cost you the entire page.

This relic is a testament to the old ways of life. Of a time when correcting a single mistake was extremely difficult, so one paid close attention in order to avoid mistakes. So things would be done with extreme caution. And today, you can make as many mistakes and corrections as you want.

Friends, don't you also have old memories like this????