‘Craic’ (Irish for ‘having fun’)

I dare you to say Muckanaghederdauhaulia without flinching. Or you could try Illaungraffanavrankagh, Glassillaunvealnacurra, or Corragunnagalliaghdoo. The Irish city we’re visiting has it a bit easier. We’re visiting the land of musical place names, leprechauns (a tiny mischievous fairie), Guinness (arguably the world’s most famous beer) and literary greats today – Dublin. 

The capital of Republican Ireland, with a population of about 1.2 million, is divided into four areas – Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown (say the first part of that one?), Fingal and South Dublin. The city has a history of around 2000 years and is believed to have been settled by the Vikings on the banks of the river Liffey until the Anglo-Norman invasion in the 12th century. The city’s name comes from an old Irish Gaelic phrase ‘Dubh Linn’. In the 18^th century, Dublin was the second city of the British Empire. But in 1801, England abolished the Irish Parliament and Dublin’s status was greatly diminished until Ireland became independent in 1922. Today, it’s a vibrant city with a predominantly young population.

Dublin’s economy was once mainly centred around brewing, distilling, food processing, and textile manufacturing. She has one of the oldest stock exchanges in the world that dates back to the late 18^th century.

With its huge bronze door and thousands of stained-glass windows, St Patrick’s (Patron saint of Ireland) Cathedral is a must-stop for visitors. The legend goes that St Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland. The more prosaic tell us that there never were snakes in Ireland and the banishment of snakes is a metaphor for the banishment of evil while bringing the word of God to the country. Close by, is the other famous cathedral, Christ Church. However, of interest to many would also be Whitefriar’s Church which is the final resting place of St. Valentine. No one really knows how he comes to be associated with romance but who are we to question an interesting titbit of folklore?!

Dublin is just about 118 sq. km and of that, 1752 acres is Phoenix Park, the largest city park in Europe. This was once the royal deer park and is now home to the Dublin Zoo as well as to the official residence of the Irish President.

Another interesting landmark in the city is the O’Connell Bridge. Interesting because it’s a traffic bridge which at 45 metres, is as wide as it is long! There are so many rivers and streams dotting Dublin that many don’t even have names.

If you’re a sports person, you must watch a game of hurling. Hurling is included in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It has a 3,000-year history and is mentioned a lot in Irish mythology. Hurling bears some resemblance to football but it has a small ball which can travel up to a scary 120km per hour.

Storytelling is an Irish tradition. Once upon a time, people had full-time jobs as a Bard – a professional storyteller. Given that tradition, it’s no wonder that Dublin was home to a host of literary figures – Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw to name a few. Dublin was recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature in 2010.

Folklore abounds in Ireland so it’s no wonder that this is the land that inspired Dubliner, Bram Stoker to write Dracula. The Abhartach, is ‘the Irish Vampire’. A local chieftain killed the vampire not once, but twice and each time the creature kept coming back. The third time the chieftain was advised by a Druid to bury it upside down and this apparently worked. A more modern version had the vampire escape its grave and go looking for fresh blood to drink.

Other legends include that of the Banshee – a female spirit who was red eyes from her constant wailing. The terrifying scream sends shivers down the hearer’s back because it’s supposed to foretell death. The Irish fairie isn’t always a sweet little creature. For example, the Dullahan appears in the form of a headless rider that uses the spine of a human as a whip. He also is the harbinger of death.

Halloween is an Irish export. It originated about 2000 years ago with the Celtic festival called Samhain. People gathered around huge bonfires that were lit to scare off ghosts (Puca). When Nov 1^st was declared All Saints Day by the church, the previous night became the designated day for spooks known as ‘All Hallows Eve’ and thence Halloween. The trick or treating, the pumpkins and all else we associate with Halloween took off from there.

So, whether you want to be spooked or you want to try your hand at Hurling, Ireland is a one-of-a-kind destination.

What Makes You ‘You’?

Have you heard about Dolly the sheep? She was a sheep like no other – she was a clone of another sheep. This means that her DNA was identical in every way to that of the original sheep. Of course, this didn’t happen naturally. You may be like one of your parents but it’s next to impossible for you to be exactly like them. Dolly was created through a remarkable job that we call genetic engineering. A good idea? Well, let’s consider that a little bit later. For now, let’s focus on the marvel that we call genes.

Our bodies are made up of billions of tiny cells and these tiny cells have even tinier structures (that look a bit like strings of noodles) inside their nuclei and these are called chromosomes. Chromosomes are found in pairs – 23 pairs – one half of the pair comes from your mom and the other half from your dad. The chromosomes are made up of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and about 2% of this DNA make up what we call genes. Can you imagine how tiny they are? And yet, they play such an important part in making us who we are. Do you have thick, black, straight hair like your mom? That’s because of the genes. Or maybe you’re tall and have long legs like dad – the genes again. Your genes are the bosses that instruct your body on how you should be. We have approximately 30,000 genes, and these can be found in every cell. Genetics is the study of how genes work and pass on traits.

Almost 200 years ago, an Austrian monk called Gregor Mendel first studied how traits are passed on from one pea plant to another. Noone realised at the time, that that very same process is how humans also pass on their traits.

A part of our DNA isn’t really human. Aliens? Well, maybe not quite so interesting. They are from viruses that have accumulated in our bodies over the course of evolution. So that means if one of us had the corona virus, there’s a tiny chance that a great, great, great grandchild of ours will carry a minuscule bit of that virus unknowingly. We share 25% of our DNA with grandparents so by the time we go down a few generations, this will become 1/8 and then 1/16 and so on. Your dad has 2 genes for a particular character, one from his mom and one from his dad. But you are going to inherit only one of them. The same goes for your mom. This is how endless variations are possible even among siblings.

Since only 2% of the DNA is the actual genetic material, we have for a long time, labelled the rest of the DNA ‘junk DNA’ but scientists are beginning to think that that is not quite true. Its just that we don’t know enough yet.

We share 98.7% of our DNA with the monkeys (ha… ha…) and 77% with a gelatinous creature that lives amidst the seaweed and is called the star ascidian (ugh). Why, 40-50% of our DNA is the same as that of the cabbage! We could so easily have become some other creature but luckily, we have something called ‘control genes’ which make us human and not cabbage.

Every time a cell in our body divides (and this happens quite often in certain organs like the stomach lining, for example), the entire DNA duplicates itself. There are very rarely mistakes in this copying process but they do happen occasionally and then you have an exceptional human – maybe someone who has super hearing or super vision or something. Spider-man could be a mutation that we all know. Of course, sometimes, the mutations aren’t as much fun. Scientists now believe that it may be mutations that cause certain illnesses like cancer. Mutations are also responsible for things like albinism where the gene that controls the colouring function doesn’t work properly and people end up without colour in their hair or skin.

Genetic engineering is when the DNA of an organism is altered in a lab. This could be by changing a pair, deleting a part or adding a bit. Some important products like human insulin and hepatitis B vaccine have been made through this method. However there is some controversy over genetic engineering and fears that it may be misused. What if someone made an exact clone of themselves? For not-so-good reasons.

Michael Theodore Mouse – the Mouse we Love

Walt Disney: “Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever”

“I hope you don’t mind my saying this but, wow!! You look terrific at 95!” I exclaimed as Mickey strutted across to shake hands with me. As I took in the red shorts, the yellow shoes and the white gloves that currently enveloped my hand, I was filled with awe and delight. Mickey’s wide grin filled up the major part of his face and he giggled. It almost seemed as if my childhood, your childhood and virtually everyone’s childhood were embodied in that comical figure.

“Do tell us how you started life…,” I said in my best wheedling voice.

Mickey blushed – that cute, modest blush that endears him so much to us all. “I’m afraid I’ve to start here with a fact that many of you may not have heard. It wasn’t only Walt (that’s Mr Disney to you!) but also his friend Ub Iwerks who made me, me. Walt created my um… charming personality (there was the blush again) but Ub ‘animated’ me, gave me life and the ability to move and talk and do all the things that you’ve been seeing on screen all these years.” “Oh,” I said, “I didn’t know that! In fact, I’ve never even heard of this Ub Iwerks.” “Oh yes, Ub worked at Disney for about 30 years. He was a rather quiet person but we have him to thank him not just for me but also some of the fun stuff in movies like Mary Poppins and Sleeping Beauty. He was a genius!”

Well, I’d learnt something new already. “Tell me something else I might not know,” I said. “You know that I first came on the scene in a film called Steamboat Willie (I wasn’t even the title character!) where I tried to build my own boat.  That was in 1928. Walt wrote the script. He originally called me Mortimer Mouse (Mickey shuddered) but luckily for us all, Mrs Disney didn’t think that suited my character and it was she who suggested that I should be called Mickey.” “Thank God for that!” I laughed. “Yes, Mortimer sounded a bit self-important, didn’t it? And here I was trying to be everyone’s best friend and always being optimistic. I only ever wanted to make people laugh.”

Yes, I thought. One of the main reasons we love Mickey is that he’s not brilliant or a super hero – he’s just that little fella who has plenty of courage and intelligence and manages to do good despite his small size and squeaky voice. “People say that Chaplin was the inspiration for the Mickey Mouse character,” I said. “What do you think?” “Well,” said Mickey, thoughtfully. “We do have certain traits in common, don’t we? We both try to be kind…” “And you’re both rather innocent,” I added. Mickey chuckled. “And at one time they used to say that Chaplin and I were the biggest Hollywood stars!”

“Oh, and did you know that Walt himself was my first voice?” “What??!” I exclaimed. “Yes, Walt enjoyed it too and continued to do my voice for quite some time – almost 2 decades. As the Disney studio grew, Walt got too busy to do voice work regularly and I had to have other people saying my dialogue. Of course, the amount of dialogue had also increased by then. It was in Karnival Kid that I got to speak first and the first thing I said was…” “Hot dog, hot dog”, I put in. “In fact, you were the first cartoon character ever to speak,” I added.

“You went on to star in over 130 films including short films and full-length features,” I said. “That’s more than most film stars!” “Yes, and I can speak in more languages than most of them,” Mickey couldn’t help boasting a little. That was true. He is translated into languages all over the world and has different names in different countries too – he’s Musse Pigg in Sweden, Mi Lao Shu in China and Topolino in Italy, to name just a few.

“Before you go, let me tell you a fun fact about you… Did you know that at every US presidential election there are a good number of votes that come in over the postal ballot for ‘Mickey Mouse’?” I couldn’t help laughing as Mickey’s shy smile and fiery blush reappeared.

The Disney empire with all the films and the fun fairs and the merchandise (the Mickey Mouse watch is hugely popular) is one of the biggest in the industry but Walt Disney never forgot “that it was all started by a mouse”.

A Fishing Village Called Edo

Have you tasted sushi? There are several rather good Japanese restaurants in Bangalore and the go-to dish for most people who visit them, is sushi. So, what is it? It’s usually a piece of raw fish wrapped up in a thin rice coat. And not to forget the wasabi sauce – do remember that wasabi is nowhere near as innocent as it looks. The tiniest grain will make you reach for a gallon of water though actually, it feels like it’s hit your nose rather than your tongue.

For many of us, sushi and wasabi are the closest we’ve gotten to the 4 main islands and the nearly 7000 tiny ones that make up Japan. Being an island nation, tucked away from the greater part of the world, Japan has an aura of exoticism and mystery. Tokyo is the metropolis with the greatest number of people in the world and an urban economy that is second only to New York’s.

This city was originally a little fishing village called Edo. It was during the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate that it began to become big and prosperous. The town became the centre of power and culture. The shoguns were military leaders who were supposedly appointed by the emperor but were actually the real rulers of the nation. Their rule was a period of peace and prosperity in the nation. By the mid-18^th century, Edo had become a huge city. In the 19^th century, when the 700-year shogunate period came to an end, the emperor moved his palace to Edo and the city was renamed Tokyo meaning ‘Eastern capital’. Today, Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the emperor is mostly a figurehead with a largely ceremonial role.

When you think of Tokyo, you often think of skyscrapers and bright lights; but you also think of the pretty, pink cherry blossom (Sakura) that blooms around April. Both the blossoms and the leaves can be eaten and are used in traditional sweets and teas. You don’t just slurp tea down in Japan. There’s a whole graceful ceremony involved which makes a point of emphasising the calm that a lovely, aromatic brew should give.

Tokyo is a glorious blend of the traditional – tea ceremonies, historic temples and beautiful, tree-lined avenues – and the modern – a hotel and a restaurant run entirely by robots (multilingual ones!), the world’s tallest tower (that’s The Tokyo Sky Tree at 2080 feet), a city that’s home to several of the world’s Fortune 500 companies.

Over 10% of the total population of Japan lives in Tokyo – this leads to crowded trains and high rents and makes management of disasters (fire, earthquakes) more difficult. Luckily, the Japanese are one of the most disciplined people in the world which makes things a wee bit easier when a natural disaster happens. Remember those images of the recent football World Cup where the Japanese were famously seen cleaning up stadiums and locker rooms after their matches? Japan as a whole is an earthquake prone country. Buildings are built to stand strong but disasters have been known to occur.

The crime rate is very low so visitors can roam the city safely. Although the transport system is very efficient, overcrowding is inevitable. So much so that Tokyo has official ‘oshiya’ (Pushers) whose job it is to push and pack commuters into the trains! Indeed, the world’s busiest traffic intersection, the Shibuya crossing is considered a sight. Traffic coming from 7 different directions stop as the lights turn red and about 2500 people cross the road. (We could do with a system like this at our silk board junction!) The local people call this ‘the incredible scramble’.

Foreigners get to do tax-free shopping in Tokyo. Weirdly, but most conveniently, you can buy almost anything from a vending machine too, which, when you consider that few people speak English, makes it convenient to do your essential shopping. There’s even a ‘mystery’ vending machine for those who like surprises!

However, Tokyo is home to the greatest number of Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. So, on your first visit there, greet your host with a bow and begin with the sushi.

Weyward by Emilia Hart

This is an easy read… well-written, engrossing and full of mystic paganism. I enjoyed it. 3 women, 3 witches, ancient and modern, living in a man’s world. It did hit a couple of false notes on occasion (like when our heroine knows, as well as I do, that her abusive husband is on the way but instead of taking action decides to go on a clue hunt). Some books go back and forth in time leaving the reader somewhat befuddled but this one got it just right. I liked all 3 timelines. And I was sooo glad not to have a wich burning!

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

It starts with the discovery of a skeleton. But is it a murder mystery? No! It starts with a Jew. So is it about anti-Semitism? Not quite that either. About the blacks and the injustices heaped on them? Hmm… yes, but not just that either.

If you like meeting a whole tribe of characters – the good, the kind, the evil, the stupid and every ‘kind’ between, you’ll love this book. It was a bit disorienting at first because you keep leaving characters behind just as you get to know them and move on to someone else. And then like one of those huge, colourful jigsaws, it all starts to come together. Different cultures and people forced to live together in a small town can be messy, but also hugely comforting. “Light is only possible through dialogue between cultures, not through rejection of one or the other.”

The Collected Regrets of Clover by

Mikki Brammer 

“Don’t let the best parts of life pass you by because you’re too scared of the unknown… Be cautiously reckless.” Clover’s self-doubt resonated. And that of course, made for a good read. 🙂

This story – if you can call it that – was a unique read and had characters we don’t often see in fiction. The writing flowed well and the silly little misapprehensions seemed real. People are not only what we think we see. They have real selves tucked away beneath the surface just as we have. Why do we hide away? Maybe because we fear that once we expose our vulnerable selves, no one will understand or care?

The Cicero Trilogy by Robert Harris

Works for everyone who loves seeing historical figures come to life and be human rather than cardboard cutouts. It’s long… so be prepared for a patient read.

By the second volume I was deeply invested in the character and the Rome of the time. A very human Cicero here and of course, that means hubris but you care and you feel and that’s what a book must do for me. Harris’ writing is spot on. His use of modern-day English helps rather than hinders the progress of the story.

I’m always fascinated by great names from history and love seeing them from different points of view. This trilogy didn’t disappoint. For me, Lustrum was the weakest link but it still drew me in. There’s something both terrifying and very human about all these people – Cicero, Pompey, Caesar, Antony – to name just a few, strutting across the stage with their varied agendas. I’ve been immersed in ancient Rome and her politics for a while now and I’ve enjoyed it!

None of This is True by Jewell

Talk about unreliable narrators!! Well, the feeling of impending dread was maintained well. I kept wanting to shake someone or the other and ask them to wake up! But then again, people are sooo complicated. Would what I thought was going to happen, actually happen?

If you don’t like bizarre situations and characters, this may not be the book for you. If you already have ‘trust issues’ this may not be the book for you. But if you just want to get carried away on a wave of ‘what’s going to happen now?’ then this is a good read. I finished it fast and though ‘enjoyed’ may not be the right word, it was a compelling read. 🙂

The Armour of Light by Follett

At the outset, I wasn’t too happy. It didn’t seem as rooted in time and place as the other novels in the series were and I also had a bit of a problem with the writing style – it didn’t seem to match the Ken Follet I know and enjoy. The spoken language was almost ‘modern’ and didn’t seem to ‘fit’. However, as I got deeper into the book, the dichotomy I was experiencing started to make sense. The era was one of great change where the old and the new were perpetually clashing. Industrialisation had begun. Modern ways of thinking and being were coming about and every change threw up questions of ‘to be, or not to be’. The nobility had to reassess their roles as did the working classes. Education was no longer the privilege of the upper classes. Machines were set to take over jobs. So yes, ultimately I did enjoy the book. And even the storytelling which had disappointed me initially.