Editorial the Quarterly Journal of Ela Foundation for Nature Conservation
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Issue No. 2 April – June 2012 The Quarterly Journal of Ela Foundation for Nature Conservation through Education and Research E ditorial Dr. Satish Pande The hot summers aren't something that The inputs from officials of the forest avian life relishes. Birds are known to poorly department make this issue all the more tolerate extreme weather, and the heat is interesting. It highlights the fact that if we particularly oppressive for them. When work hand in hand with the government afternoon temperatures cross the 400 C mark, machinery, many of our conservation goals it is not uncommon to find birds that are can be achieved. We intend to start a dehydrated, exhausted and gasping for constructive dialogue with the forest breath on roads, grounds, open terrain and in department, because we should understand scrubland. These birds are vulnerable from that having a common vision is necessary for the conservation and protection of Ela — r the heat as well as predators. a w Mother Earth. a P r Spare a moment of consideration towards a On a different note, the eighth 'Certificate m these suffering birds — it could breathe u invaluable life back into the dying creatures. Course in Basic Ornithology' from K All they need is shade, a little water and care. December 2011 to February 2012 concluded successfully. Borrowing from cricketing Water is life. In this issue, we have a terminology, I would like to say it was a scholarly article by a leading ethno- record with the number of participants for the ornithologist on the life-giving Aap — water. course crossing a century. Bureaucrats, We understand how our ancestors envisioned bankers, army officers, teachers, students, this life resource. In ethno-astro-ornithology, auditors, IT experts, doctors, industrialists, In This Issue a leading astrophysicist gives us a cosmic builders, technicians, businessmen, view and enthrals us with facts from Down hoteliers, tour operators, housewives, artists, Under about how the aborigines perceived mathematicians, biologists, botanists, Ancient Wisdom - India heavenly bodies. In 'Asia Speaks', our senior pensioners and others constituted the Life and Cosmos ornithologist colleague from Malaysia tells spectrum of our participants. In this course, participants are armoured with quality us about the habitat issues in his country. Our Habitat Problems senior ecologist from the south briefs us scientific knowledge about ornithology and conservation in an interactive audiovisual about the habitat problems in the Western Asia Speaks Ghats — the global mega biodiversity lecture series. hotspot. We also have studied insights on Range Extension treating birds, marsupial amphibians, stick- Importantly, we have the participation of ‘Team Shapoorji Pallonji - Pune' of insects, and endemic trees. This quarter's Travel raptor portrait is of my favourite nocturnal 'Shapoorji Pallonji and Co', one of the most predator — the Indian Eagle Owl. The reputed corporate houses in the country, in Kids Section portrait is drawn so realistically that one is our nature conservation efforts. We lost in its hypnotic charm. The inputs from collaborated to construct wooden bird homes Book Review our readers are refreshingly spontaneous. by conducting a unique workshop for our ornithology course participants. This Science collaboration not only strengthens our resolve but empowers our course Naturally With Nature participants to make nest boxes by and more.. themselves, teach others and implement this conservation program on a wider platform. Incidentally, we stumbled upon one more Days to Remember publication with the name, 'Ela Newsletter'. We have, therefore, changed the name of our Earth Day -- 22 April official quarterly to 'Ela Journal' to give it a Migratory Bird Day -- 3 May unique identity. The membership of Ela Foundation has been steadily growing thanks to the support of people concerned about the well-being of Mother Earth. I request each member to invite more people to our family, because in conservation it is not family planning but e d n family growth that always delivers the a P results. h s i t a S www.elafoundation.org Issue No. 2 / April - June 2012 2 A ncient Wisdom - India The Song of Water - Dr. Suruchi Pande * Aapa (water) is termed as Jyoti (light), Rasa The Saama worship is followed by another * Suruchi Pande, PhD (Philosophy), PhD (the essence of life) and Amruta (nectar of mode of five-fold meditation on water. It is (Sanskrit), is a post-doc research scholar immortality) in our Vedic literature. The the 'Song of the Water Cycle'. Here, the presently working on “Owl in Indian Rigveda praises the treasure of water, condensed black clouds are the 'hinkaara'; Culture” considering it a goddess – “Aapo Devi”. the water that is released by these clouds The Chhandogya Upanishada elucidates the have peculiar notes – 'prastaava'; the pure, rains in a peculiar five-fold meditation or bubbling and steady flow of water in the Saama worship. Saama is a metrical hymn. rivers going in the eastern direction is 'udgeetha'; the water that flows in the western The Upanishada (Chapter II. Part 3) says, direction is 'pratihaara'; and, finally, the water that merges into the ocean is the “Vrushtau panchavidham 'nidhana'. saamopaasitapurovaato himkaaro In these verses, the beauty, serenity and megho jaayate sa prastaavo integral importance of water are respectfully varshati sa udgeetho reflected at a subtle, philosophical and vidyotate stanayati sa pratihaara: || 1 || sensitive level. The sages no doubt experienced the inherent musical notes Udgruhunaati tannidhanam varshati hidden in all natural phenomena, including haasmai varshayati ha ya etadevam rainfall. They appreciated the grace of vidvaansrushtau panchavidham creation and the elegance of cessation. They saamopaaste || 2 ||” knew that genesis has an end. But this was not considered a negative process of “The five-fold Saama worship should be annihilation but a positive one that made observed during rainfall. The wind that place for a new beginning. The precious blows prior to the rains is called 'hinkaara' (to water cycle was to be kept unpolluted and in make a kind of low roar or utter the sound a state of continuation. hin); the clouds that bring the rains are 'prastaava' (to make rains); the rain water is called 'udgeetha' (to chant or to say 'om' – the three syllable name of God); the thundering is called 'pratihaara' (to strike back), and the cloud that re-absorbs the water is called 'nidhana' (to end or to conclude). The rain is offered to that person and the rain is begotten by that person who knows the nature of Saama worship incorporated in the rain.” e d n a P h s i t a S www.elafoundation.org Issue No. 2 / April - June 2012 3 L ife and Cosmos An emu in the sky - D. J. Saikia * The emu is a flightless, native Australian Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, which is one Barnaby Norris and his father Ray Norris, a bird belonging to the genus Dromaius. It amongst billions of galaxies in our well-known Australian astronomer with a reaches up to approximately two metres in observable Universe, consists of a thin disk keen interest in Aboriginal Astronomy, took with a radius of ~25 kpc (kpc: kiloparsec; 1 a photograph of the engraving with the 'emu height, making it one of the largest birds, 13 second only to the ostrich. The emu has long parsec ~ 3x10 km), a small spherical bulge in the sky' correctly positioned above it. The strong legs allowing it to take large strides of at the centre with a radius of ~2-3 kpc, and a picture was taken in 2006 June 30. Barnaby well over 2 metres, and strong claws for halo extending to ~30 kpc. The disk, which is spent a couple of months stitching together defense. It feeds on a variety of plants and visible as a diffuse band of light in the night the mosaic of smaller images to produce the insects, and breeds during May and June, sky caused by thousands of stars, led to it stunning picture shown here which won him with the male doing most of the incubation. being described as 'a zone as white as milk' the 'New Scientist Eureka' science prize. A The flightless birds, including the emu, are by Ptolemy (90-168) from which it came to picture with the outline of the emu in the sky believed to have evolved from their flying be known as the via Lactea or the Milky Way. reproduced from the web is also shown to ancestors. You must be wondering by now The disk also has many dark patches at help the reader. what an emu in the sky is all about? visible wavelengths due to absorption by clouds of cold gas. At longer wavelengths, Many things in Australia are named after the When one looks up at the night sky one sees such as at infrared and radio wavelengths, the emu. For example, 'Emu - Austral hundreds and thousands of stars, depending dark patches are less prominent or disappear Ornithology' is the journal of the Royal on the brightness of the night sky and the because of decreased absorption at longer Australasian Ornithologists Union published level of terrestrial light pollution. If we take wavelengths. by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial the typical diameter of a star to be ~106 km, Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia. and the typical distance between the stars to Although we are used to identifying EMU: the Evolution Map of the Universe, is be about a parsec (~3x1013 km), the fraction constellations in the night sky from patterns an international effort led by Ray Norris from of volume occupied by our stars is very tiny, formed by stars, many Aboriginal groups in CSIRO, Australia, to image the southern sky approximately only one part in 1022 km. Australia have woven stories based on the at radio wavelengths with unprecedented Although largely invisible to the human eye, dark patches in the Milky Way.