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Growing with children is a great fun. The other day, I was helping my daughter with her project on endangered and extinct animals and birds. While collecting information and images supplied by Google Baba and the volumes of encyclopedias, we had a discussion that was related as well as tangent to it! Related category had obvious questions but interesting ones belonged to tangent category.

What will replace laptops when they will be extinct, how would the life be if the projects and exams ever become extinct, are students not endangered species if we take the meaning literally (constantly under threat, she meant), what will happen if the ghosts of the extinct animals start haunting the man kind, etc!

Needless to say, the project took much longer than the mother daughter thought it would. However, we both were happy in the end! She because she was free to play and I because I had a quality time with my now-growing-so-fast bundle of joy. Such moments soon are going to be extinct from my life, I thought. But that’s evolution and can’t be avoided by a mere mortal like me. Thus, consoling myself, I got ready for daily dose of evening walk.

I make it a point to trade different paths every time I venture out for a walk. This way, it lets me know the lanes and by lanes of our adopted city of residence for now, from the close quarters. Walking on the streets, dotted with unknown faces and in the company of vehicles going up and down, plying at different speeds, works wonders on my spirit. Changing colors of the sky as the day nears the end and the vibrant avenue created by the street vendors selling their wares, provides for flushing out all clogged thoughts from my mind. The calls, of the returning birds, play the background score, soothing my nerves and pleasing my auditory senses.

That day, however the thoughts about the extinct animals lingered little longer. When I stopped by, to buy some flowers, I was piqued by an aroma. It sure was a known one but I couldn’t name it. So, I decided to follow the aroma trail. Walking with a sprint, I paced up with my growing curiosity. Few meters ahead and I stopped, for my search had ended. Here I stood right in front of a flour mill.

The floor generously sprinkled with flour, the bags and sacks of grains to grind, the rhythmic sound of the running mill and the statue like mill-man with Gandhi cap and lungi half folded now caught my attention. Was I not used to this sight when I was a child? Where have they gone now? Have they lived their lives long enough and now breathing slow and low, somewhere in lost corner of the city?

Kaun sa bag hai?” (which bag is yours?) asked the mill-man putting a break to my train of thoughts. “Mera bag yaha nahi, dil aur dimag me kahi pada hai” (My bag is not here but somewhere in my heart and mind) was my mystic reply, that even surprised me! The mill-man wore a puzzled look. I left him there without taking discussion any further and went ahead.

A question however followed me… is the flour mill, on road to extinction already?, Like nine yards saree that grannies used to wear, or good old “chulha” (earthen or brick stove), horse driven Tonga that had “bhopu” (horn) etc. Will these be wiped away just like STD booths? I marched mechanically towards home. Opening the door of the apartment with the key, I recollected a quote by Charles Darwin…

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change! 


Linking this post to #MondayMusings by Corinne of EverydayGyaan

Categories: MusingsParenting

30 Comments

BellyBytes · August 7, 2018 at 7:30 pm

You’re quite right about things getting extinct . I too wonder what will replace telephones, cars, emails?

    Anagha Yatin · August 7, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    Telephones by telepathic messaging, cars may be by big brothers of drones and emails will definitely RIP… as the newer generations have diminishing levels of patience to read and write… hahaha! That was a good food for thought Sunita. Thanks for visiting and adding to the discussion.

Shilpa Garg · August 7, 2018 at 11:55 pm

The old will give way to the new…. like it has been happening for centuries. And we will look at our current ‘new’ with nostalgia and awe years later.
Loved your answer to the flour mill man… poetic and profound!

    Anagha Yatin · August 8, 2018 at 10:02 am

    ‘Current new’… liked it! Specially when every day things are changing, the term has a sound root!
    Thanks Shilpa for visiting and adding to the discussion on post.

Pri · August 8, 2018 at 8:09 am

Very well expressed! Indeed, it isn’t the survival of the fittest anymore but survival of who can adapt best.
(Maybe that’s why dinosaurs are extinct while the house lizard still continues to survive and scare us. ?)

    Anagha Yatin · August 8, 2018 at 10:05 am

    Haha… true that Priyanka. May be the lizards and dinos have some ‘scary DNAs’ in common!
    Thanks doctor for visiting and adding this point to topic.

Mayuri Nidigallu · August 8, 2018 at 9:29 am

So Sukhada has taken after you, Angha , in her thought process and intelligent questions. I loved how you ended the post and the beautiful quote.

    Anagha Yatin · August 8, 2018 at 10:07 am

    Hahaha… Sukhada has many googlies and I am always on a sticky wicket while facing the onslaught of questions from her!
    Thanks Mayuri for visiting appreciating.

Sachin Baikar · August 8, 2018 at 11:16 am

Nice topic covered in the post ? Anagha. I too have read about birds and animals on verge of extinction. I don’t know whether the quote you mentioned is applicable to all species. But who is responsible for this extinction. It’s known and proven that the humans are behind the mass extinction of animals.

Fully 396 species have gone extinct in 100 years. Under normal conditions (that is, without the presence of humans) that loss should have taken 11,400 years.

Read more:
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/humans-are-behind-the-mass-extinction-of-animals/

    Anagha Yatin · August 8, 2018 at 11:40 am

    Agree you Sachin. Man had been the cause of expediting the extinction for most of the species of animals and birds. The harm done by our, our forefathers actions has caused damages that are beyond recovery and very sad. Gandhi ji has rightly summed up this. He said, ‘Earth has everything that a man needs. Earth is not enough for man’s greed’.
    Thanks for sharing link throwing light on extinction of animals and birds.
    As for the Charles Darwin’s quote, I believe he never had imagines that his own folks, human beings will end up being on the wrong side. So probably he never factored them in.
    Thanks for visiting.

Sajid Akhter · August 8, 2018 at 11:36 am

Hi Anagha,

We are evolving every single day. With so many new inventions and discoveries, humans are constantly updating themselves. New things are coming and old stuff are getting lost. Lot to think about I guess.

Thanks for sharing, have a great day. 🙂

    Anagha Yatin · August 8, 2018 at 11:43 am

    No one had ever escaped change and evolution. And if the change is for good then good to say bye bye to old ways, isnt it?
    Thanks Sajid for visiting and sharing your thoughts on the topic.

Obsessivemom · August 8, 2018 at 1:42 pm

That last quote makes so much sense – only when we are open to change can we survive. We might feel nostalgia for things that are gone but that is inevitable.

Sonia Chatterjee · August 8, 2018 at 2:27 pm

I love every post of yours specially the ones with a personal touch. It is not about evolution anymore, it is more about replacement of the old by new for a short term convenience or man-made need.

writershilpa · August 8, 2018 at 4:22 pm

Oh yes, the question that often keeps turning round in my mind–what will happen when the things we are so used to today, become extinct? Maybe if we are welcoming of change, we won’t feel the pinch. Of course, we will definitely feel it when animals become extinct. That’s something that will break my heart, for sure.

    Anagha Yatin · August 9, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    You summed it up so well Shilpa. Agree every word you said.

xhobdo · August 8, 2018 at 4:57 pm

Loved the post.

    Anagha Yatin · August 9, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    Thank you

Anshu Bhojnagarwala · August 9, 2018 at 4:13 pm

Loved the post, Anagha. Such an unusual and astute observation. I do not get readymade flour, but get it grounded from the flour mill as I feel I get fresh and real atta.

Rupali · August 9, 2018 at 4:40 pm

These are simple treasures we may enjoy if we keep our windows ( senses) open and watch carefully the world around us.
Nice read Anagha.

Aditya Mohanty · August 10, 2018 at 10:58 am

This is true . The day is not too far when we small children said to be as endangered . We must take some powerful step to stop this .

priyareflects · August 10, 2018 at 5:15 pm

so true. I often wonder who/what will replace us (humans).

    Anagha Yatin · August 10, 2018 at 7:28 pm

    Improved and better versions of us! Superior human beings…
    You got me thinking Priya. Thanks for visiting and sharing your idea.

Jyotirmoy Sarkar · August 11, 2018 at 9:17 am

First of all,very nicely described your experience while in walk.
extinctions now a days in this technological era has became a common part to be noticed very easily,may be our dependence and the discoveries in technological field forcing some species and activities to be vanished totally.
Very nice write up covering an important issue.

Abhijit Ray · September 4, 2018 at 9:23 am

I read most of your recent posts. So I had to go back in time. This one I stumbled upon. Yes, atta chakkis are going out of business. Times are changing. We all want readymade prefaced stuff, preferably home delivered. Who has time to carry a bag of wheat and bring back equivalent quantity of warm atta? I remember during college days, I would stay back in college and return home late. Or else, mother will ask me to go and collect ration and then get the wheat crushed in an atta chakki. Those days are gone.

    Anagha Yatin · September 4, 2018 at 11:15 am

    Thank you so much Abhijit for visiting my blog regularly and adding to the discussion on the topic of the posts. Highly indebted!
    Wish I knew, your mother, I would have loved to play the whistle blower for your act of avoiding the chores!!! Hahaha. Thanks for sharing this snippet of your life.

Reshmy Pillai · September 4, 2018 at 11:11 pm

This post stops me to ponder what will replace what is our lives.

Atulmaharaj · September 18, 2018 at 8:25 pm

A good take on the pace at which things are changing. For someone like me even the landline is on the verge of extinction.

    Anagha Yatin · September 18, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    True that. We dont have a landline now.
    Thanks for visiting and sharing about this item on the list of “engendered” things!

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