Animal Behaviour Enthusiast

Editor’s Choice: Short Story of Teacher – Animal Behaviour Enthusiast

Students stood up in unison to extend a warm welcome to their new Animal Behaviour professor Ms. Reena Mathur.

“Good Morning class. Sit down all of you,” enthusiastically Ms. Reena said.

I couldn’t resist the impression that she was charismatic and too different from all the rest of the professors I attended today. She was tall, healthy with boy cut hair. She wore Salwar suit with dupatta hanging round her neck in the pattern similar to man’s sherwani. Medium red bindi planted flawlessly in the centre of her brows on her forehead adored her full round face.

45 minutes class echoed for the entire session with hearty laughter as the B.Sc. (Hons.) students enjoyed the class introduction thoroughly. Ms. Reena Mathur’s inclination could be seen towards one student name Laali as she like the name a lot.

“Ok class we will meet day after tomorrow. By the time buy the subject book. Your syllabus book is authored by me.”

Class without the controller always looks like a fish market. Merry laughter soon drowned into raucous clamor.

 

“Good Morning,” entered Ms. Reena wearing azure coloured salwar suit with matching spectacles with big square glasses grinded into a curve at four corners.

“You might be wondering what colourful spectacles. Actually I like to wear colour combinations and as I didn’t succeed in finding the same here so I asked one of my students in USA to parcel me a twelve coloured spectacle set of my dioptre.”

“My elder sister said what madness. I replied it’s my choice.”

I being a spectacled student imagined myself with specks matching my wardrobe and felt excited.

“I don’t like reading word to word from book and then explaining. I am thorough with my book. Let’s start with how I finished my thesis for doctorate.”

Drooping students suddenly went erect specially the meritorious one.

“My topic was about learned behaviour. I have an aquarium at home with gold fish. Aquarium even contains a wheel which rotates as soon as fed with electric current and emits bubbles.”

Ms. Reena Mathur’s words were picturesque.

“Daily at a fixed hour I used to feed them after setting the wheel in motion with the supply of electric current and then adding fish food in the aquarium.”

“Slowly the fish became accustomed. As soon as I used to on the rotating wheel fish would swim to the surface. One day I took the fish food in my pinch and half dipping my fingers steadied my hand. At first they drifted away but slowly fish came and sucked the food away from my pinch. Sucking sensation at my thumb and finger tip was a grand experience. Gradually it became a habit. Now they are not at all reluctant in grabbing the food that way.”

“Wow! Mam. You must have submitted the best thesis.” someone raised her voice from the back.

“No. Infact my thesis was returned saying that it wasn’t a novel approach. Though disheartened I never lost the zeal.”

Now even the duffer students were paying heed.

“One fine morning around 9 a.m., I went to Amber Fort, famous for temple and monkeys.”

“Yeah Mam,” students joined her.

“I sat down on a big stone and took out a paper and pen to note down the behaviour of monkey mob present there. People were busy feeding them bananas. Suddenly the city witnessed a mild earthquake and people vacated the area leaving behind me and the monkeys. I decided to stay and noted their gestures. My stay provided some vital monkey behaviour information and that proved to be a boon.”

“I was awarded my doctorate along with medal.”

Class filled with murmuring. With thanks students bid her goodbye.

With each passing day I developed special taste for the weird subject just because of the effective professor. I thought that the Animal Behaviour subject made Ms. Reena more appealing might be due to imbibitions of her subject’s gestures into hers. Her eyes too expressive like her words.

“Wow, Mam Reena is also our Anatomy practical in charge. That’s great.” I discussed that in my group.

“Class we are going to begin with bones. 1st is Atlas, 2nd Axis, 3rd Cervical. Our spinal cord passes through the groove formed by Atlas and Axis. Whenever a person is hanged the logic is to pressurize the Axis in such a way that the groove between Atlas and Axis gets disrupted crushing the spinal cord thus sucking the blood and oxygen supply in short sucking out life.”

Something new always excites the mob. Class began to feel intimacy for Ms. Reena by now.

“Today we are going to learn about pheromones.” Ms. Reena said in the theory class.

“Once I with my friends went to a picnic spot. We spotted a nice place there and lit fire for cooking without acknowledging the fact that on one of the tree branches above the fire was hanging a bee hive. Slow but persistent heat annoyed the bees. One, two, four, eight and gradually a swarm bolted out to sting us.”

“We ran but the bees were quick enough. We killed many by slapping our one hand on the other or cheek or on which ever part we found them on our body. The more we killed, the more were we attacked. This was because of pheromone i.e. special chemical complex secreted by the organism which marked the destination for the rest of the swarm to follow. On our way we spotted an empty small tunnel and squeezed ourselves into it closing the end with a big stone but were stung on the way.”

“We stayed there for a while till the angry swarm left. Afterwards my friends tried to move out the stings piercing through my skin. Eventually this led to the injection of the left over bee venom to enter my blood as the process of sting removal accompanied squeezing and pulling it out.”

“After a while I felt squeezes in my gut. Bee venom as soon as it mixes with blood and reaches gut it causes that sharp unbearable sensation. I went a lot many times to freshen up at home before the doctor arrived, feeling almost drained and dead. Was timely medicated but for the next couple of days my body, especially face swelled almost pushing my eyes into slits. I was administered cryotherapy and that helped me a lot.”

“Though a small organism and when annoyed, although well aware that stinging means its death, than also won’t leave the opportunity. When a bee stings (projection on its hind part) and then tries to release itself, in the process the sting having barbs gets entangled into the skin causing its abdomen part to break and ultimately death. I have confronted and suffered their anger.”

“Wild animals mark their territory by their pheromone present in their urine. No other tries to surpass the marked territory. You could see the phenomenon in your locality too. You will find only the same dog day in and day out.”

“Let me exemplify. Once in zoo, authority after looking at the tiger’s cage asked the worker to clean the cage as it smelled bad with the odour of the animal’s urine. Next day the tiger was pushed outside the case in the open space and the cage was thoroughly washed with detergent and water in order to remove even the slightest odour. Subsequently the tiger was allowed to re-enter his cage as it was growing cold outside. Next day the zoo officials found the tiger dead in the open space outside the cage. The cat family member suffered frozen death on account of unfamiliarity with his cage. Zoo people washed away his markings, his pheromone.”

Bell rang.

“Now, as I have touched this topic let me tell about honey bees’ famous Wagging-tail dance as coined by famous French scientist Karl von Frisch. Honey bees when they have to communicate direction to nectar they perform a special series of actions known as Wag-tail dance. To know more about it you can go through your books.”

“Thanks Mam.” Class said.

Next class brought something really very exciting. Mam taught us about subconscious mind, hypothalamus and phantom pain. She incredibly explained the story of the amputee with gone hind limb and the pain sensation in his gone toe. The man used to wail uncontrollably and the doctors were helpless. This was the phantom pain effect. I never felt the need of the book. Her potent way of delivering stories left a deep imprint on my mind.

Her successive lectures comprised of man having sleep walking sickness and his stay at Mam’s Bani Park residence as lessee and how she yelled horrifically one night after finding the man sleeping besides her. Another one was of peacock hatchling that was abandoned by his mother and adopted by Mam. Journey of the two together and the intimate bond they shared. That class brought tears to her eyes which she successfully hid. Yet another one comprised of her mother’s cancer fight, her elder sister’s marriage and she being sent to college by mother on that auspicious occasion and the sore on her feet which she suspected to be malignant.

I don’t think she ever noticed me. But I learnt her every time she entered till the time she left. She only recognized Laali, Dipika Vasu, Puja Sharma, Neeta Natani, Megha Mathur and Shreya Kaushik. For her I must be just one of the others.

One day in the class she asked us to read the book and come. On the subsequent day I occupied the front seat next to my friend Dipika and on my other end was Puja. Mam crossed checked whether we went through the book or not. She asked me. This was her first conversation with me. I refused. She said if you won’t go through the book now you will find it troublesome in the peak hours. See the books of Dipika and Puja. The duo’s books’ were highlighted and hungrily marked. I felt miserable but was well aware that I was conversant with what Mam taught and I’ll score the best.

When our II year marks were out, I straight away looked at the Animal Behaviour subject and to my utter satisfaction I scored 45 out of 50. Just before exams I went through the entire books in 4 days just as I do with story book. It was the effective class effect and in exams I wrote my answers exactly the way she preferred – Diagrammatic, highlighted and precise.

One meets myriad of people in lifetime. But out of those many faces, few are distinguished ones, those who etch your memory unknowingly. She is that one person. Still my memory about her and her lessons is crisp.

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