The world of superstition and black magic

Every man is his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner

- Sir Thomas Brown

Of late, I have stepped into a weird parallel universe of superstition and black magic. Here, Science and rational thinking are dead.

(Image source: ILoveFunnyCats)

Black magic is surprisingly common, from voodoo magic in Africa or Gu in China, to what's practiced here. Although the people of these cultures have never met each other or are related in any way, they have developed similar theories and belief systems. It's sort of like convergent evolution, where organisms not closely related evolve independently to have similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments. So maybe it all stems from a certain common trait in the human mind. 

I'm not a believer, but I think the success in black magic lies in its ability to plant tiny seeds of suspicion, fear and hate in the minds of people and have them slowly grow into a garden of mental paranoia.

For example, the nun, I am told, is responsible for the fine white sand we see at our workstations each morning. I'm made to believe that she chants and curses fistfuls of sea sand and leaves these cursed grains in places where the person of interest (i.e. the target of the curse) tramples it. In this case, a colleague of mine. In the early days when this phenomenon started, we were able to laugh it off as a ridiculous act. However, over the course of two weeks, I have been observing my colleague's attitudes slowly changing from one of apathy to mild irritation to hatred. So, black magic works?

I have little faith in curses and prayers. If they worked, we would be having world peace right now and no child would ever have experienced rape.

The business of black magic runs on the assumption that many bad people out there want to make your life miserable through certain black magic techniques and that it is possible to shield yourself through other black magic techniques. So the cause of harm and the antidote are from the same source, like snake venom? Hmm... interesting. Most horror stories about the power of black magic are spread by believers, who indirectly help the practitioners stay rich. Hardly any of these stories appear factual, verifiable or proven by empirical means.

Like holy water for vampires, the shielding effects of black magic are supposedly rendered completely useless by simply sprinkling oil made of pigs. Yes, who knew pigs were the kryptonite to evil spirits!

Another time, when I was living in a rented apartment alone, the house owner who is also a staunch believer of black magic, hired a man to perform some rituals. Some time before that, he got into a fight with his half sibling over property issues. In the scuffle involving knives, he was stabbed on his hand. Since the incident, his dependency on black magic has only intensified. The rituals included sacrificing a live chicken and requesting to enter the apartment at 2:00 am, with another man, to cut lime fruit to ward of evil spirits and bury small bottles of blessed oil in the corners of the house for extra protection. Of course, I didn't stay the night in that apartment and since he informed me a few hours earlier, I bolted home (152 kilometers away) almost immediately. A few weeks after the incident, we handed our notice of termination. Now if he paid the man a large sum of money to make us end the contract sooner, so he can have the house back, then I'd say it was money well spent on black magic.

This house owner spends his days under the delusion that people around him (like his half sibling) are out to kill him and take away his property. So he too, chants at night, spends on people who claim that they can help him and regularly performs superstitious rituals. Recently when we came home from a break, we found oil sprinkled on the floor, for which we couldn't find a better explanation. However, it appears even he has a bit of doubt in his mind about black magic, because he still relies on CCTV cameras. 

Humans dislike the feeling of not being in control. Believers of black magic are common in less educated societies and countries with harsher living conditions. Even better educated people become believers due to their upbringing or inexplicable or helpless circumstances in life. They turn to supernatural explanations to try to make sense of negative occurrences. They are gullible to being convinced by people who promote black magic. They may be compelled to go to any lengths to try to get ahead and get what they want. An instruction like "sprinkle this (unidentified) powder in the food of your enemy" would be religiously executed. For all we know, this powder could be a concoction of heavy metals or diluted poison that can make someone sick over time. Or maybe free lance evil spirits who like to negotiate really exist and they take up small jobs in return for chicken blood, for example? 

Salt is an item of superstition in some households. Emptying the bottle of salt in a home is akin to a curse, according to my mother, her mother and many others I know. Salt that is accidentally spilled must be thrown over one's right shoulder. Funny incident though, one time, I emptied the salt container in the house (to refill later in the evening) and went on about my usual business. That evening, unlike most other days, I had an incident where I was left quite shaken. Coincidence, or not? Should I repeat this experiment to see if I get a similar result? * laughs nervously *

People in Sri Lanka are commonly seen feeding bread to crows (or children made to feed crows by their parents) during bad times predicted by astrologers. Some give specially prepared milk rice to crows in an almost religious-like ceremony. When I was younger, I was also once made a participant of this ritual. This particular superstition takes me to my next story.

Recently, I moved houses temporarily. On the day I checked out, I packed all my belongings to a tuk tuk and left to office. On my way, about 2 kilometers from my office, I noticed a crow fluttering about on the concrete road divider. There was heavy vehicle flow on both rides of the road. My conscience starting torturing me for the next two kilometers. How could you have left an injured animal to die on the road? Would you have liked to be left behind helplessly on the road to die like that? Can you imagine the fear that animal is feeling right now?

About 500 metres from the office, I asked the tuk tuk driver to turn back. It is probably too late already and the bird would have been run over by now. We had to hover the area twice to locate the bird. The driver stopped the tuk tuk next to the road divider, and amidst many honking vehicles and impatient drivers, we tried to grab the bird with my wet towel, that moments ago I had used to dry my hair. The bird wasn't ready to cooperate. It fluttered around, unable to fly. It went under the tuk tuk and we feared it was only a matter of time before it was run over by incoming traffic. Then to our horror, it fluttered helplessly to the middle of the road! We stopped the traffic and shooed it to the opposite edge of the road, where the tuk tuk driver grabbed it by a wing. I then threw the towel over it and grabbed the bird. Another driver stopped his lorry to hurl profanities at the tuk tuk driver. He left when I apologised and told him there was an injured animal.

After a dramatic rescue, the crow came with me to the office. I forgot to ask for the tuk tuk driver's name or thank him for being a great asset on our morning mission. The crow looked like it had a broken spine. My superstitious animal-loving colleague and I managed to feed it a bit of water. She said it was an act of great merit (i.e. good karma) to rescue an animal. On the contrary, I thought it is a responsibility any decent human should undertake if they are in a position to take action. 

Breathing hard in pain, yet, it never pecked us. They say crows are some of the most intelligent birds around.

With a badly broken back. The two tail feathers were perpendicular to the bird's body. 

After getting in touch with someone who works closely with the wildlife rescue center in Colombo, my colleague and I dropped off the bird at his place. A few days later he told me the crow was eating well, but it may never fly again. Unfortunately, that was the best outcome of the rescue mission. Part of me wondered if being run over swiftly by a vehicle would have been better for the bird than a lifetime of handicap in captivity and human care. 

Anyhow, with this act of saving a crow's life, my mother is convinced that I am now insured for life against evil influences.

E.T. settles in

Two years ago, after I made the somewhat unsettling decision to move to Sri Lanka, I felt like I was an alien that had unknowingly arrived at the correct planet. Many years prior to that, I felt that my interests in wildlife conservation were a little strange and highly idealised, even. Having spent a good part of my early life stuck in the obsession of being a veterinarian and eventually having to concede that it was not practically possible, I thought it was too late in life to ever find satisfaction in a closely related job and that I'd die with regrets. It was my stint at the Singapore Zoo that gave me a renewed sense of hope. I still work with more people (i.e. lesser animals) than I would like to, but I feel strangely at home in these circumstances I have fallen into. For the first time, I've found many more people like me (or better even), so much so that I am no longer an outlier in contrast. For once, I feel that talking about saving animals and having those conversations at work is not something that would raise eyebrows or sound silly enough for others to make jokes about it.

Yesterday at work, we completed a 2-day workshop for 18 NGOs (consisting of about 60 individuals) who will be working with the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme for the next two years. Sure, there were small hiccups here and there, but our efforts in organising the event mostly paid off. Even though I was on the event management side of things, I learnt quite a lot of things on formulating projects according to the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) method, applications of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools in projects and the importance of using good communications.

On Day 1 of the workshop, I was put on the spot with a request to be the compère. Despite the great lengths I go to avoid standing behind a podium, I get cornered sometimes. And being an adult and realising I was one, I had to play it cool. First, I was given the simple task to welcome the participants, do a quick run through of the agenda and introduce the first speaker. Being me, I messed up, of course. I accidentally introduced the second speaker first. After that blunder, I fared better. Thankfully, I realise that with age, I am getting more humiliation-proof. Those small things that used to embarrass me and make me very anxious are becoming fewer in number. Even the really embarrassing things that happen, I realise, are but a moment that will be soon forgotten, or would end up a good lesson or become fodder for a good laugh in future. And these are all equally good outcomes.

On the morning of Day 2, just as I woke up, in a state of semi-sleep, I mentally drafted the best opening lines for the workshop. I come up with the best imaginary speeches at that time of the day and some of those speeches really blow me away. As usual, I remembered none of that when I stood behind the microphone. The segments where I had to use the microphone for bossing people around to remind them to hurry up, submit forms, etc, were easy. Someone I knew from my childhood once pointed out (to my surprise at the time, I admit), that I am bossy. This small talent of mine for pushing people around, especially if they are lazy, incompetent, uncooperative or ridiculous and reverses the "forward-flowing" energy of life can be good sometimes. It's no wonder that I took a liking to the quality assurance and regulatory compliance (i.e. policing) aspects of my previous profession, which involved setting things "right" (to accepted standards), despite the unpopularity. This is making so much sense now. But Shuri, you are lazy too!! Shhh, this isn't about me. 

The workshop left a profound impression on me. The participants were people from different walks of life who bid and won grants (through a tough selection process) for environment-based projects involving communities to improve things in Sri Lanka. To see the vision and ideas of how different people proposed to do things, including the introduction of innovative solutions, were very interesting. They spoke with passion. Sure, these were only at a conceptual level for now, sounding great on paper, and implementation on the ground would be a challenge. Still, it was nice to play with the thought that if done right and all these projects achieve a high success rate, it would be a great accomplishment. Given the little experience I have gained from this job, I know that there will be plenty of obstacles, for example, failures, mismanagement of funds, disputes, unforeseen circumstances, show-stoppers or even grantees losing interest, after the project kicks off.

The projects to be implemented touched on various areas like eco-tourism, agriculture, community livelihood development, increasing biodiversity and environment conservation. I have already taken a special liking to a few projects that focus more on wildlife.

One of the participants was a young lady (possibly under 30 years of age) who's made herself a name in the wildlife conservation circles here for being a passionate and driven individual. She's made it her life's mission to protect the Fishing Cat population living in the highly urbanised city of Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo. During the applications process, she wooed the panel with her charisma and youthful optimism in wanting to fight the odds to carry out her mission. Fishing Cats are nocturnal, so many city-dwelling people don't know about their existence or the decline of populations, unless they become roadkill or are caught and killed by people for attacking poultry. In her project, she's used the Fishing Cat as an indicator species to assess the health of Colombo's urban (inland) wetlands, which are its natural habitat range. This is a project I am looking forward to since it is going to involve the building of an animal rescue and rehabilitation center (* gets distracted thinking of Fishing Cat kittens * SHURI, focus on finishing this post with a serious tone!)

The Fishing Cat is found in various parts of Asia, including Sri Lanka (Image Source: http://www.fishingcatcambodia.org)

One project is going to increase nesting areas and habitats for the wildlife in urban Colombo, such as for the endangered Purple-face Leaf Langur, insectivorous bats, wetland birds and the Fishing Cat. With an increasing human population in the cities, animals are rapidly losing their homes. While we can't do anything about an increasing human population, there's hope in trying to help humans and wildlife co-exist. The project will also carry out various activities to remove invasive plants that are wiping out indigenous species of plants and slowly destroying the balance of wetland ecosystems. The person leading this project is also a passionate zoologist who volunteers his weekends to educate members of the Young Zoologists Association. He has experience in working with the National zoo and he led a project which was instrumental in establishing the only official wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre in Colombo through a previous grant.

Another noteworthy project will be implemented by a university in the north of Sri Lanka. The project is led by a young gentleman (also under 30 years) who is a passionate zoologist and a probationary lecturer. He also wooed the panel with his subject knowledge, humility and his determination to improve the lives of the people in the area who were for decades affected by Sri Lanka's 30-year old civil war. Their project will involve the establishment of an outdoor laboratory for university students in the midst of a coastal wetland and will include boardwalks, etc. The site will also be promoted as an eco-tourism destination for activities like guided nature tours, boating and bird-watching for generation of income to the impoverished and isolated communities living in the area.

Another one of the projects is led by a leading herpetologist/ photographer. In November last year, he was part of a team that discovered the newest species of snake in Sri Lanka. In addition to that, his research findings have led to discoveries of over 20 (and counting) other new species which include snakes, amphibians, geckos and skinks in Sri Lanka. He didn't have a pompous air about him, despite his impressive career background. With my liking for reptiles, it was hard not to want to strike reptile-related conversations with him (nothing even remotely intelligent-sounding came to my mind, to be honest) or make him talk about his subject to satisfy my inner fan. I just stuck to small verbal exchanges relating to the workshop. I am happy and shameless to say I was able to manipulate the course of events and get a (group) photo with him in it. Seriously, Shuri!

It takes the coordinated effort of many individuals in various capacities to make a project a success. The grant that we (the organisation I work for) received was to oversee the knowledge management and capacity building aspect of several of these individual community projects located in the Colombo urban wetlands landscape. We are one of the mid-way links between the ground level and the funding agency. It will be our job to monitor progress, to facilitate project activities, to intervene when things are not going well, to link the ground level project persons with higher level authorities, to help communities to link their enterprises to larger market chains and finally, to use communication tools to showcase and document what the projects are up to and have ultimately achieved. Because ultimately, grant-based development work is part of a cycle where good work (as showcased by good publicity) will attract more sponsors and grants, which will in turn bring more opportunities to people and community level organisations to carry out good development work (mostly for the environment, in our case). That's the theory, at least.

On the downside, working with NGOs entails some effort to be optimistic and trust that people will maintain their good intentions and not become too corrupt in the face of extra money, and if they do, to be as vigilant as possible to close any loopholes that would allow it, without letting emotions run you over and make you form a too negative outlook in life. On the upside, there are several capable and driven people working in these projects, including young people who give the conservation field much hope, and there will certainly be a few successful projects that will leave a lasting impact. I don't know where life would take me in the next two years, but the end results of this phase of projects are something I'd really like to see.

The faulty dog

My family had a "No Pet Dogs" policy for a very long time. It is mostly because unlike cats, they are overly dependent on owners for food and attention and that makes it hard to leave them home alone. Cats, on the other hand, are more independent and are able to hunt for their own food when other sources of food are not available.

Despite objections from the family, my foster brother was very determined to have a dachshund. We were concerned that it was another phase, much like his past interests in rearing fish and growing a ponytail. My mother has a weakness for dachshunds since she had several of them growing up and he was able to exploit this loophole to his advantage. We also suspect that he had entrepreneurial motives on being a dog breeder after he met his friend from whom he bought a puppy for a price of USD 40. This idea, however, didn't catch on since our family strongly opposed the idea of breeding animals for cash. 

Personally, I dislike commercial dog breeders. I'm not sure if there are professionals who do the job humanely out of concern for the mother dog and puppies, but most small-scale breeders are after a quick buck. Driven by profit, they put the welfare of the animal on lower priority. For example, Nicky's mother is made to mate regularly and produce litter after litter of puppies which are then sold to people who like pedigree dogs. It is sad that a puppy bred for sale only gets to spend a few weeks with the mother, when she may also miss nursing and caring for her litter. Also, it is hard to guarantee to what kind of homes the puppies go to. Perhaps, they stand a good chance of getting good care owing to their "pedigree" status since people tend to take better care of valuable things for which they paid a price. Or they might end up in a home where the owners realised that the dream of owning a pedigree dog was a passing fancy and that it is a big and expensive responsibility. Or the puppies might once again be used to continue the cycle of commercial breeding. If the puppies are fortunate, they will end up in a loving home where they will spend a good dog life till eventual death.

In December 2015, Nicky joined our family as a six week old puppy. Soon, he became the center of everyone's attention and brought much joy and endless entertainment to my parents and brother. While living in Singapore, I received regular updates of Nicky and pictures of how my father cuddled and showered Nicky with attention - that even my sister and I didn't get as children!

Baby Nicky

    

Bath time - dunked in a bucket of water and dried with a hair dryer!

A literary critic and humorous journalist H. L. Mencken described dachshunds as "half a dog high and a dog and a half long." Nicky, true to his breed's personality, grew up to be comical, sociable, playful, hyperactive and too stubborn to be disciplined.

He has soulful eyes and regular mood swings, specially when he gets wind of us planning to leave the house. He hunts animals like spiders, cockroaches, frogs and mosquitoes for the thrill. He is a terrible guard dog. Even though he barks very loudly for his size (we learned later that it was because this breed has a large chest cavity), he would welcome any burglar to the house or would gladly get into a stranger's vehicle. And due to his friendly nature, he was popular with all the animal-loving guests who stayed at our bed & breakfast inn.

Grown up Nicky at 10.5 months

As he continued to grow, we realised that my brother may have accidentally purchased a faulty dog. He does insane things that no dog we knew ever did. He was hyperactive all the time (except when sleeping), he greets favourite people with so much joy and sprinkles of pee, he loves to eat catnip, he would bark at all the clocks in the house, his sex drive was at 100 percent a 100 percent of the time, he mistook our old cat for a mate and tried to hump her too, he started humping legs of unsuspecting guests, he started roaming around our neighbourhood chasing away male dogs and looking for females, he started eating the carpets at home and swallowed chunks of carpet fabric, he would jump into tyres of incoming vehicles, he would litter the house with soil and partially decomposed material (like rotten remains of frogs) brought from outdoors, and the list goes on.

This is how Nicky sleeps

With all that energy, it occurred to us that perhaps he would do well with a companion. Although he is a playful dog, he never had dog friends before. All the stray dogs in our lane treat him like an outcast, probably because they were not sure what this tiny, horny and loud dog-like creature was. The cats were the only animal company he had, but they didn't have enough energy to keep up with him. One moment he was loving and still, but the next moment he would play rough, slobber them with saliva and bark at them. The only issue was that we did not want to adopt more than two dogs at a time (considering food and medical costs) and that meant Nicky could not be allowed to breed. 

Castrating a healthy pet in our culture is not a black/white matter. People are more forgiving if it is a female dog because these same people think it is a burden for a female to be impregnated against her will by a male dog and that they are doing her a favour. Those who believe in karma thinks it is a sin to castrate an animal and in future births, those who back it may be born infertile (or something to that effect). One person told my mother that he knew of a dog that died a mysterious death after being castrated. Others took a more ethical point of view and suggested it is equivalent to taking away a basic right of an animal and goes against natural behaviour (which I also agreed with). Who knows how its psychology, behaviour and general health will be affected when a dominant hormone is no longer present in his body. 

Nicky's regular veterinarian asked us to allow him to mate at least once before castrating him and joked that he can help find him a mate. He didn't explain the reasoning behind it so I can't tell if it is because he thought it was best for the animal's welfare, or that it was a waste to operate on a pedigree dog with money-making potential, or because he felt that letting it sire puppies once will reduce karmic effects of castration.

Another friend/veterinarian in Singapore advised that it was best to castrate him as early as possible (preferably before 12 months of age) after he starts showing signs of sexual behaviour because otherwise, with constant practice, humping quickly becomes a learned behaviour. She also said castration has other health benefits to the dog like reducing the risk of testicular tumours, transmissible venereal tumours, hernias and prostatic diseases. She also suggested contraceptive implants as an alternative to castration, but these are very costly and requires replacement every 6 - 12 months. She also added that even if we manage to rehome all of Nicky's future offspring, that is potentially a lost opportunity for a stray or a shelter dog that could have a home. Two other dog-lovers with many years of dog rearing (and rescue) experience voted for castration.

The family was divided on opinions. However, after much debating, asking around for advice and receiving conflicting views, we made the difficult decision to castrate Nicky and get him a companion afterwards.

About three weeks ago, we visited two dog shelters (Tikiri Trust and SOFA) to find a suitable companion for Nicky. The first shelter didn't have any young female dogs for adoption because we were told that it will be easier for Nicky (who's never had dog company before) to bond with a younger one. At the second shelter, we were quizzed thoroughly to assess pet ownership potential and asked several times if we were ready to commit to looking after another pet for another 13 - 15 years. We explained that we were there that day only to look at a companion for our dog, but we would finalise the adoption only two weeks after that. And that would also give us more time to rule out any impulsive decisions. After she was convinced, she said there was one female puppy about four and a half months of age and brought it out for us to see.

It was a done deal the moment we saw Lea! It was hard to think clearly when there was a puppy in front of us and we (irrationally) thought it would be good if Nicky had a sister who looked like him. On second thoughts, I don't think Nicky has any idea of what he looks like. True to our word, two weeks later, we picked up (a taller) Lea from the shelter on the way back from having Nicky castrated. It was a bitter-sweet day for all of us. 

Meet Lea - now 5 months old and way taller than Nicky!

Lea, thankfully, was not a faulty dog. She is shy and gentle in nature. She's only fierce when eating and protecting her plate of food. She likes to be carried and is very curious to explore her surroundings. 

Nicky was a bit unwelcome on the first day, but Lea being a shelter dog with experience sharing space with a hundred other dogs, was patient with him. Since then he has grown very fond of her. He experienced the joy of playing and wrestling with another dog for the first time and loved it. He takes her around our garden and the neighbour's garden to show her his favourite hangouts. His appetite has improved since he imitates her (good) eating behaviour. Previously a fussy eater, Nicky now eats his food faster and indiscriminately knowing that his adopted sister will take it from him otherwise. Nicky is also learning slowly to share toys and his love and attention from us. He's stopped roaming in the neighbourhood and marking territory with pee a hundred times a day, which might be the effect of castration. He still tries to mount her sometimes though that might be a sign of affection or just conditioned behaviour. On the downside, he's become a bit swollen headed after getting a sister and now barks at our two cats and chases them away (even animals have an "us versus them" mentality!). Lea also follows suit. 

Going crazy during play time

Nap time

 Kitty, who's been with our family for 8-9 years, eyes the energetic youngsters with mild annoyance

For now, everyone (except our two cats) is happy. 

Esela Perahera

The city I live in is gearing up for a huge festival starting tomorrow. This annual festival called the Esela Perahera is held in July/ August and some refer to it as "the most colourful pageant of Asia". For 10 days, a huge procession of Kandyan dancers, drummers, jugglers, fire-breathers, whip-crackers, adorned elephants and more will parade through various narrow streets of Kandy town as a mark of respect to the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha. The relic is housed in the Temple of the Tooth (aka Sri Dalada Maligawa).

A short clip of the Esela Perahera

Hordes of devotees, tourists and locals will be pouring into Kandy in the next few days, making the town very congested! Thankfully, this time of the year also happens to be cool, windy and without much rain. Most locals who have lived their entire lives in this city still try to catch the spectacle at least on one of the days, knowing very well that it will involve brushing with hundreds of strangers on the streets, sometimes struggling to hold on to a few inches of ground to stand, because it is indeed an impressive sight.

Our family was invited by some friends to watch the procession from the comfort of one of their friends' shop balconies. We also talked about taking a load of snacks and drinks to share and kill time till the procession passes us. Our snack menu includes things like fried peanuts, biscuits, boiled chick peas, pickled fruit, fresh fruit, cake, etc. As a child I remember we (all the younger ones) try to count the number of elephants in the procession and compare notes later. My last count was forty-two although the procession is said to have up to a hundred elephants! I'm guessing many elephants got away while I reached out for snacks or got carried away eating.

I also remember a time when elephants that were brought to Kandy from various parts of Sri Lanka for the Esela Perahera would come to bathe in the river beside my house. We enjoyed watching them play and bathe in the river from a distance. It seems like they have found a different location for bathing in the recent years.

This time though, I have mixed feelings about participating as a spectator of this grand procession that has cultural, religious, traditional and nostalgic significance to me.

In the past, Asian elephants were used in warfare and labour that required strength. As these roles are now redundant, elephants (in captivity) in Sri Lanka have become a symbol of wealth and power. It is not uncommon for temples, powerful figures and some Buddhist monks to own at least one elephant. They are also used in numerous religious processions, celebratory events like weddings and animal shows for human entertainment.

Almost all elephants that seem tame to humans are captured in the wild. A more fitting word would be "snatched" from the herd. Most are caught very young as they need to be "tamed" from a young age. It is said that they undergo a training period consisting of torture, starvation, abuse and solitary confinement to "break their wild spirit" and fear a human keeper enough to obey their orders. Unlike their African counterparts, Asian elephants more suitable for training. They can't be domesticated (as in the case of selectively bred animals) so although "tame", captive elephants are pretty much the same as wild elephants. Therefore, they are kept chained and mahouts (elephant keepers) always carry a sharp hook to remind the elephants of obedience.

During the Esela Perahera, captive elephants are made to participate in a procession with thousands of bystanders, heat and noise. Some of the bigger elephants carry chieftans on their back. During the procession, they sometimes step on smoldering pieces of charcoal that fall off the torches and are regularly prodded by the mahouts with hooks. Sick elephants are probably not spared because participation means a day's wage for a mahout. One elephant on a rampage in a congested town could easily end up in a catastrophe. So underneath beautifully adorned garments, adult elephants walk in chains that are often too short for the animal to take a natural step. This is perhaps a fitting analogy for the Esela Perahera itself. Beneath all the extravagance, there lies commercialism (yes, even our family benefits from incoming tourists to Kandy) and worse, untold suffering for the hundred elephants.

A chained temple elephant in Sri Lanka. Source: The Dodo

While the elephant-mahout bond is said to be a a special one, usually for life, not every mahout is kind or an expert in the needs of elephants. Mahouts work hard to look after an elephant and depend solely on the elephant for their livelihood. So the only means he can feed his family and a 2-5 tonne animal (that eats about 150 kg of food a day) is to take his elephant to as many events, religious processions he can, or simply show them off to tourists in return for a fee. In a way, religious events like the Esela Perahera support the livelihood and sustenance of many mahouts and captive elephants respectively. However, it is a vicious cycle.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has categorised Elephas maximus as "endangered" and the population count is on a downward trend. In Sri Lanka, there are threats like elephant-human territorial conflicts, capture of juveniles in the wild and an ivory demand (which is smaller in extent compared to Africa).

A herd of wild (female) elephants and their offspring spotted at Minneriya National Park (Sri Lanka) during my last visit in July 2016. Scores of them gather annually in this very spot while on a migratory route. 

It is indeed a sad case that in the 21st century, with so much accumulated knowledge in Science and collective conscience, we continue to uphold and glorify traditions with a darker side. It is even sadder that we humans exploit animals in the name of religions that preach kindness and non-violence towards them.

Elephants are special. Like pandas, they elicit a feeling of fondness in many people (if you disagree, you haven't seen a baby elephant up close). They are the largest land animals on Earth. They are highly intelligent and social herbivores with complex emotions. They have the longest gestation period of 18-22 months for a mammal and elephant calves depend on the mother's milk for 3-4 years. Even if those facts don't impress anyone, few would argue that a hundred shackled elephants covered in magnificent costumes are better than a hundred elephants roaming free in the wild.

Hakuna Matata

After spending two years in the glory of reptiles, I decided to expand to an additional realm of animals for my volunteer work at the zoo - the African Adventure! And this time, I have great company because Katy Kat decided to join too. She has a strong liking towards dogs, giraffes and as I found out yesterday, giant tortoises.

It's impossible to hate giant tortoises. They are so gentle and good natured.

We just finished a fun first day of training being amazed by the special adaptations and behaviour of animals in this scope (rhinos, giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, lions, leopards, hunting dogs, warthogs, meerkats and naked mole rats).

I think it was a good decision for me to join this station because I have a recurring nightmare of being chased by a rhino. For the record, my worst animal fears are being chased by rhinos and flying cockroaches. Although we learnt that some rhinos can grow up to a staggering height of 2 meters (and I'm only 1.6 meters tall), our trainers mentioned that they can't jump, so leaving a log as an additional barrier to their enclosure can slow them down significantly. Next time I have that nightmare, I'm going to try and run towards a fallen tree in the savannah. Nope, I see no holes in that plan.

Wait what?! Lions, warthogs and meerkats??

A familiar cast

Source: Deviantart

The day ended with a game to see how well we had revised our notes. We were given a photograph of an animal and each group was asked to write down as many recalled facts as possible. The prize for the winner was too good so the competition turned fierce. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts (dammit if only I knew, I would have spent more time on my notes!), we lost the chance to have a private session to feed either the rhinos or the giraffes. Our opponents were nice enough to request the trainers to allow us to join them. For now it's a big maybe, as they will try to accommodate extra people.

~ ~ ~ 

At work, I recently decided to adopt some indoor plants. Following advice from a friendly sales lady who assured me that they are all indoor plants which will survive well in an air-conditioned office, I purchased three plants. I gave the cactus to a colleague as part of her birthday present, because I was quite sure it won't die too soon.

It's interesting to watch plants grow...even at the cost of having your boss and colleagues think you are a bit eccentric

Turns out this plant needed direct sunlight for photosynthesis

Two days later, the plant with reddish leaves starting wilting! I tried to water it but there was no change. Then I carried it to a roof top garden in the adjacent building and left it concealed among other plants, hoping a bit of sun exposure will nurse it back to life. To my horror, it rained heavily for a couple of days and I was too afraid to see what happened to the plant. When I gathered my guts and went there, I was not prepared for what I saw!

The plant had been brutally murdered by a band of barbarian snails!

An Autobiography: Approaching Full Circle

"What A Wonderful World" - A powerful 2 minute video that sums up what it is that we are going to lose if we don't change or get involved 

If we were to compare the Earth's habitable environment to a good family inheritance, we are not only spending it away faster than all the time it took our ancestors to save up, we are also borrowing credit from what might have been the inheritance of our descendants. As world's population increases and moves towards development, we have exceeded the Earth's natural capacity to supply in relation to the existing demand. Of course, we don't contemplate on this on a regular basis so the normal tendency is to passively navigate ourselves around the tell tale signs (and the not-so-obvious ones) towards comfortable and profitable goals that often provide instant gratification.

I'm guilty of it too.

Looking back from where I am now, my yearning to get involved in the conservation field has, somewhat ironically, taken me to United Arab Emirates and Singapore. These two countries topped the globe in terms of their ecological footprints (UAE at No. 3 and Singapore at No. 12) according to the WWF Living Planet Report of 2012. Not only that, I am currently an employee of the Oil and Gas industry which is largely responsible for the depletion of the Earth's natural oil and gas reserves and indirectly responsible for increased Green House Gas emissions in recent history. This is just one example of how our sophisticated lifestyles – just as they are interconnected with the Earth's biological ecosystems – are also dependent on activities setting the planet on an irreversible course of destruction. The way I see it, we are all (to varying degrees) part of the problem and part of the solution to this environmental crisis.

Sri Lanka is a country with abundant natural resources having one of the highest biodiversity densities of Asia and I called it home for the first 18 years of my life. As a child, I loved spending my time outdoors, doing regular rounds of “garden patrol”, observing various plants and animals that were a common sight and spending time by a river that flows beside my house. One of my greatest joys was rescuing injured, sick or abandoned animals and nursing them back to health. It was a role I took up very seriously and for which I had the full support of my parents. 

I was also fortunate to spend various phases of my childhood with my two grandfathers, from whom I have learned much about using resources in a "sustainable manner" - a term I didn't come across until many years later. My maternal grandfather was an advocate of “reduce, reuse and re-cycle” policy where he carefully made the best use of all paper, plastic, metal, glass and wood until they had no more uses. My paternal grandfather supported the livelihood of local farmers and he himself was a passionate planter who selflessly left behind the fruits of his agricultural labour for the benefit of his future generations. With those early influences, among others, caring for the environment that sustains us may be associated to me with a sense of obligation rather than being just a passion. 

Since arriving in Singapore in 2004 to do my undergraduate studies, I've had all my basic necessities and creature comforts. However, growing up was a slightly different affair in Sri Lanka. We had to live in a sparing manner since most basic resources such as water and electricity were limited and we were constantly affected by power outages and periods of drought. My village didn't have the infrastructure to tap into the national water supply, but we were fortunate enough to have naturally occurring wells and a river nearby for basic needs for water. 

Dubai was my home for a brief 2.5 years while I completed an overseas work assignment from 2010 onwards. The United Arab Emirates is a rapidly developing country and Dubai is a melting pot of foreigners from all over the globe. The new environment, new challenges, new acquaintances and my new-found sense of independence suited me well. My boss who was a co-owner of the company took an interest in my potential and supported me in becoming a certified ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems Internal Auditor to audit company policies and procedures, although it was not my main scope of work. After trying out various responsibilities within the company, I realised that my personal strengths and continued interest in relation to a career would lie in work that required careful observation, attention to detail and doing lots of writing.

It is easy to assume that a rich desert city such as Dubai which is heavily dependent on the abundant natural oil and gas resources in the region to maintain its luxurious artificial splendor would have zero interest in conservation. However, even there I found active conservation groups such as EWS-WWF and the Emirates Marine Environmental Group (EMEG) which organises environmental awareness and conservation activities (most notably their turtle rehabilitation and release programs). On a hopeful note, both these groups had a substantial number of passionate volunteers, young and old, supporting their causes. Within the UAE, I also managed to travel to places such as Fujairah (one of the seven “emirates” or states making up UAE) which had better weather compared to Dubai and coral reefs to be explored. Also within driving distance was Musandam (Oman) which was a popular location for dolphin watching. One interesting place that I could not visit in my time there was Bu Tinah Island - an official finalist for the “New7Wonders of Nature” competition in 2011.

The next phase of my life brought me back to Singapore in 2012 where I am currently employed as an ISO Quality Auditor. My work revolves around quality assurance for fabrication of FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) units and assisting with statutory/ regulatory compliance for these units sailing to offshore oil fields such as Brazil, Angola and the Gulf of Mexico. From an environmental perspective, my work contributes to ensuring that vessels leaving the port comply with the standards of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) – most notably the MARPOL (Marine Environment Protection Committee of the IMO) Standards - to minimise marine pollution resulting from the vessels' gas emissions, sewage, garbage, oil discharges, ship recycling, ballast water and use of anti-fouling substances. 

But ideally, I want to do more.

In the past, I have enjoyed short volunteering stints with Nparks at Pulau Ubin, assisting the staff with guided board walks at Chek Jawa and conducting forest patrols to remove traps and snares. As a SEC Earth Helper, I once participated in a Horseshoe crab rescue and rehabilitation project which required the assistance of volunteers to remove the crabs entrapped in abandoned fishing nets at the Mandai mudflats and at the same time, doing a population survey of the two species of horseshoe crabs (mangrove and coastal) in the area. 

After trying out a few similar experiences, I've settled as a volunteer Docent at the Singapore Zoo (in the Reptile Realm) where I feel quite at home. For the past 2 years, I've been part of a team of volunteers that engages the public and spreads awareness of animals (in my case, reptiles) and help spread the conservation message. This activity brings much meaning to my personal mission as I get to share my knowledge with a growing number of members of the public who come in search of meaningful encounters with wildlife rather than mere entertainment. Not only that, I get to stay close to animals (such as during my Keeper Attachment) and meet and learn from people as passionate as I am (or more even) about wildlife and the environment. 

Decades later, though much has changed in my life in terms of location, occupation and attitudes since my time in Sri Lanka, working towards animal welfare and experiencing natural habitats still brings me the same joy. I feel a sense of relief every time I visit a nature reserve or a wildlife sanctuary or read about passionate conservationists like Sir David Attenborough or Gerald Durrell, or see someone throwing a trash into a recycle bin or hear of an innovative technology that uses sustainable energy sources - because despite the odds, there still is hope.

This environmental crisis that we face today is a grave one, with consequences already showing and affecting most of us. It helps to have passionate and conscientious people uniting and lobbying for climate change, loss of biodiversity and such, but without the support of governments to enforce adequate legislation and environmental management systems governing our industries, we may have already lost this battle to conserve biodiversity, reverse climate change and ensure a habitable planet for our future generations. Besides spreading awareness, on a personal level there is much we can do like volunteering, taking a little extra effort to recycle trash, reducing/ reusing the products that we have taken for granted, getting involved in pro-environment community activities and, for those who can, supporting conservation efforts financially.

Mother Earth, which we have stressed beyond her capacity, has the ability to heal herself given our support and time. But the question remains: how willing are WE to do what is required of us?

Musings of May

On Vesak day, I managed to participate in the temple celebrations of Singapore because unlike last year, I was not home for this occasion. This being a temple managed mostly by Sri Lankan monks and visited frequently by the expat community of Sri Lanka, it felt nice to be in a familiar cultural setting. Of course, part of the expectation of going there was to get a meal that reminded me of home! 

Vesak lanterns 

Traditional drummers of Sri Lanka

The residents of Singapore received a pack of free face masks by post. Out of lessons learnt in the past, the country is well-stocked for another haze episode.

The other day, I went shopping and after returning from my trip, I realised that one of the t-shirts purchased still had its security tag on. These are the ones that makes the detectors beep if anyone tried to shoplift! Unfortunately nothing beeped when I walked out so I didn't see it till I got home. There was no way I was going to waste two hours to get it removed at the mall!

I don't recommend stealing, but I can confirm that the wikiHow entry on "How to remove a security tag from clothing" works! It wasn't easy but the rubber band method eventually worked.

A shoplifters guide to removing security tags

On my way to the duty station yesterday, I met a couple of Cotton topped tamarins. The mother tamarin was teaching her 2-month old to climb branches and the little one was screaming its head off when felt left behind. These primates are critically endangered with about 6000 left in the wild.

 The baby tamarin

The mum

The young aldabra tortoises were enjoying a meal of fresh vegetables

The Tourist

Having caught two episodes of Cosmos just before bed and learning that Edmund Halley and Isaac Newton had an interesting history together, I woke up this Sunday morning with a thirst for an adventure! If not for Halley's encouragement, Newton may not have published his work on Gravity and history as we now have it would have taken a very different route! Anyway, Halley's comet passes Earth's orbit again in July 2061 when I'll be in my late 70's. If I'm alive and with passable eyesight and consciousness, maybe I'll catch it.

I decided to be a tourist today and visit the world's largest oceanarium - the S.E.A Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa. Although the park opened about two years ago and I even had the privilege to interview for a position of Marine Mammal Specialist there, I was yet to explore it! I was overwhelmed with the sights of marine life in the enormous tanks. The park made it possible for visitors to see the enchanting beauty of worlds underwater, just like a scuba diver would. I sincerely hope that a good proportion of visitors leave with an idea of what it is that we are slowly destroying with our collective demands on the planet and be a little more environmentally conscious. 

Sri Lanka's Port of Galle was a key location on the Silk Route as displayed in the Maritime Museum...

..where exports included precious gems and pearls, resin, wood, spices, beeswax, coconuts, turmeric, sesame and even corals and Hawksbill turtles.

The journey begins!

Unbelievably graceful, delicate and evolved to resemble seaweed - the Leafy sea dragons

Jellyfish are made of about 95% water! 

Coral reefs teeming with life

No, there were no blue whales at the park, but this poster made me wonder how fortunate we are to live in the time of the largest animal to have EVER lived on Earth! 

After making a quick detour to the Universal Studios Singapore (it pays to have a 6-month unlimited pass since I play the the role of tour guide quite often) to go on the Transformers and the Mummy rides and watch a few shows I hadn't before, I headed home to catch the T20 Cricket World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

My shopping trolley on the first round of grocery shopping for the month (just after pay day) consists of many bags of chips, treats and ingredients to improvise new recipes. When it is the last round of shopping for the month, my grocery basket consists of the bare essentials to maintain ordinary bodily functions.

So I was out grocery shopping today and ended up buying more than I could carry. I queued for a taxi, right behind a family of two kids and their mom. To attract taxis to this mall, one had to regularly press a button that triggered a sign somewhere on the highway, letting taxis know that people were waiting. The annoying thing was that the button remained activated only for a few seconds. The two kids watched me intently as I pressed the button a few times whenever the light went off. Being curious creatures, they quickly took over the job from me as I sat back and felt smug about having trained two little baby monkeys to help me.

Yesterday at the zoo, I joined a group of five other Docents for station duty. In addition to visitors, we expected a new batch of volunteers who went around the zoo, visiting various stations i.e., "Reptile Realm" (that's us!), "Fragile Forest", "Tame and Touchables", "African Adventure", "Conservation Cove" and "Primarily Primates" to help them decide which station they wanted to volunteer at. So we put out some of our best specimens at the station, including a live Kingsnake, hoping to attract enthusiastic new recruits.

I remember my first time as a trainee having a look at all the stations, trying to pick one. It wasn't that difficult. From a very early age, my likes for snakes were mixed with both fear and fascination. I felt that more of us had to speak up for the unpopular animals which are easily shunned by the public before giving them any chance of survival. Reptiles are incredibly adapted, diverse and useful in this web of life which we are part of.

The trainees came in all sorts with various intentions. Some were fascinated by reptiles, others were averse to reptiles. Some had many stories of reptile encounters to tell and wanted to learn more. Others wanted to know if we handled live reptiles because to them, it was associated with thrill and bravery perhaps. For the record, we do get to occasionally handle snakes and lizards under the supervision of the zoo keepers, but we had to make it clear to them that if handling live reptiles was their sole intention, it won't be long before they became disappointed and unable to keep up with the required commitment levels. Our job primarily was to engage visitors with facts and try to instill in them an appreciation for reptiles in hopes that they will go back and play a part in conservation.

On this day at the station, we got a California Kingsnake from our keepers. Kingsnakes are commonly kept as pets due to their docile nature and ease of care. He was named Bob and was a favourite of the keepers, having been with the zoo for nearly a decade. Kingsnakes, like King cobras prey on other snakes. However, while the King cobra is venomous and belongs to the family of elapids, the Kingsnake is nonvenomous belonging to the family of colubrids and it kills prey by constriction. It is also not fussed about having a primarily snake diet unlike the King cobra.

King Cobras are not true cobras, instead belong to its own genus. 

Source: A snake blog

A California Kingsnake

This morning, I was very touched by Arunachalam Muruganantham's story on the BBC news. There was a time, long ago when even I couldn't afford the luxury of a pack of sanitary pads every month. Now, when buying a pack off the shelf, I don't even give it a second thought because it's taken for granted. But to think that so many girls and women out there are still resorting to unhygienic and inconvenient means of managing their period because they simply can't afford it (as reminded by this article) made me sad. That is also why I was amazed by this "uneducated" man's determination to dare to go where no man went with only his self-belief to guide him until he turned an idea to a practical application. His story sounded more like a successful PhD project with a beneficial outcome to the general public! Not many people (regardless of income level) will walk away from a patent like that and not use it to accumilate as much money as they can.

The life of busy bees

I read an interesting line up of conservation-related books, thanks to the birthday gifts I got from my thoughtful friend Ryuu who has good tastes in books. 

Ta-daa! The original book by Douglas Adams

The first book on "Last Chance to See" is recounted by the late Douglas Adams with a good dose of humour. It is the story of how he teamed up with zoologist Mark Carwadine in 1985 and they set off on an amazing expedition around the world in search of species on the brink of extinction. There was also a BBC radio documentary series on the same journey in 1989.

The book details their adventures looking for nine selected animals. Not only that, through Douglas' account, we meet many passionate conservationists working on the field (against the clock) to desperately save the last few animals in the wild.

The Aye-aye in Madagascar
The Komodo dragon on the island of Komodo in Indonesia
The Kakapo in New Zealand
The Mountain gorilla in Zaire
The Northern white rhinoceros in Zaire
The Yangtze River Dolphin in China
The Rodrigues fruit bat on the island of Rodrigues, Mauritius;
The Amazonian manatee in Brazil
The Juan Fernández fur seal on the Juan Fernández Islands, Chile

In Mark's epilogue to this book he says:

"Even so, the loss of a few species may seem almost irrelevant compared to the major environmental problems such as global warming or the destruction of the ozone layer. But while nature has considerable resilience, there is a limit to how far that can be stretched. No one knows how close to the limit we are getting. The darker it gets, the faster we're driving. 

There's one last reason for caring, and I believe that no other is necessary. It is certainly the reason why so many people have devoted their lives to protecting the likes of rhinos, parakeets, kakapos and dolphins. And it is simply this: the world would be a poorer, darker, lonelier place without them."

The second book on "The Last Chance to See" is a personal account of Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry who, once again, go to distant corners of the planet to follow up on the endangered animals following the initial expedition by Douglas Adams TWENTY years ago. The "then vs now" situations that this book highlights from a conservation point of view is incredible!

I read this book twice and I'm getting the itch to read it again. Some chapters in this book can move a reader to tears.

The most disturbing thing about extinctions at present is the rate at which they are happening. At the time this account was written, most of the animals had suffered massive decline in numbers. The White Rhino hit extinction in the wild during their time in the African continent following a rebel crossfire in Congo DRC. In this book too, we meet many dedicated conservationists working tirelessly in the midst of hardships and sometimes putting their own lives in danger to save the featured animals from extinction.

The book was such a moving, intelligent, thought-provoking, compassionate and humourous account of their incredible journey and a yet another stark reminder of the perils that natural environments and animals are facing as we move forward towards 'development'.

The next book in the reading list was late Gerald Durrell's The Corfu Trilogy.

Goodreads describes it as follows:

The Corfu Trilogy consists of the popular classic My Family and Other Animals and its delightful sequels, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods. All three books are set on the enchanted island of Corfu in the 1930s, and tell the story of the eccentric English family who moved there. For Gerald, the budding zoologist, Corfu was a natural paradise, teeming with strange birds and beasts that he could collect, watch and care for. But life was not without its problems - his family often objected to his animal-collecting activities, especially when the beasts wound up in the villa or - even worse - the fridge. With hilarious yet endearing portraits of his family and their many unusual hangers-on, The Corfu Trilogy also captures the beginnings of the author's lifelong love of animals. Recounted with immense humour and charm, this wonderful account of Corfu's natural history reveals a rare, magical childhood.

It's true, I was thoroughly fascinated by Gerry's mostly humorous account of his childhood in Greece (which starts about 7 years after the death of his father while they lived in India). In the past few months, through his vivid descriptions, I felt like I sat right next to that family of five watching all of them as they went on about their lives, had their dining-table conversations and interacted with their close friends and queer guests. Not only that, Gerry also takes the readers and his dogs on his animal observing and collecting expeditions around the Greek island of Corfu. With a perfect union of random life situations, geography, love from his family and friends, and encouragement from his mentor Dr. Theodore, Gerry grows up to be renown figure in the field of animal conservation. So when an engaging book like that ended, I was left feeling rather sad that it was over.