Friday, June 29, 2007

Adaptation


Adaptation-Here's an excerpt of the dictionary meaning:

1. the state of being adapted; adjustment.
2. Biology:a form or structure modified to fit a changed environment.
3. Physiology: the decrease in response of sensory receptor organs, as those of vision, touch, temperature, olfaction, audition, and pain, to changed, constantly applied, environmental conditions.
4. Sociology: a slow, usually unconscious modification of individual and social activity in adjustment to cultural surroundings.
5. The act of making suitable to an end or the condition of being made suitable to an end.

As per the theory of adaptation proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, giraffes stretched their necks in response to higher leaves, that led them to adapt and the future generations inherited the long necks. A sloth, well known for it's sluggishness, has in reality adapted itself to being so slow and 'slothy'. It is precisely the laziness that keeps him away from harm's way. Did you know that a sloth would usually not cover more than five metres in an hour? The slow speed keeps him unnoticed by his predators.

The best example of adaptation is how the human body and mind adapt to pain. When the pain reaches an unbearable limit, the mind slowly gets numb to it. It is also amazing how the mind adapts to the fact that the person is soon going to die. Facing death in its face is I'm sure a scary thought, but the mind adapts eventually. This is so well illustrated in Iron Maiden's song "Hallowed Be Thy Name", where the prisoner is about to be taken to the gallows, and at first the idea of death terrifies him. But finally when he acknowledges that death is his certain fate, he is not scared to die anymore, and sees the living world as a mere illusion.

When I returned to my country after a very long absence, in the initial days I felt like a stranger between my own people. I felt 'out-of-place' in my own home. It's been four months since I'm back. I am still getting accustomed to driving on the left side of the road. I have started to write dates in DD-MM-YYYY format, as opposed to MM-DD-YYYY format. I do not put hyphens between digits of my phone number anymore. I have packed my favorite boots in the closet because I know I will not be able to wear them for the next four months due to the incessant rains.

As long as change is a constant reality, the need for adaptation will remain so too.




Friday, June 15, 2007

It isn't time that's passing

Remember the long ago when we lay together
In a pain of tenderness and counted
Our dreams: long summer afternoons
When the whistling-thrush released
A deep sweet secret on the trembling air;
Blackbird on the wing, bird of the forest shadows,
Black rose in the long ago summer,
This was your song:
It isn't time that's passing by,
It is you and I.

- Ruskin Bond