February 17. “Button, Dost and I had a peculiar conversation last Sunday.”

“Why was it peculiar?”

“Dost suddenly said—I wish I were a fly!”

“I got a jolt. Why? I asked.”

“If I were a fly, he said, I would have watched how you and one of the staff, make such good tea and why another older staff, can’t!”

“So I asked him—but why a fly? Why not a spider or a lizard? Chances are that while watching how the cup of tea is being made, you could fall into the tea while buzzing around. That would be the end of a good cup of tea. Were you a spider or a lizard instead, you could actually watch and, may be, not fall into the cup of tea as well as find out how the two of us make tea and how it is different from the way the older staff makes it.”

“Why can’t a spider or a lizard fall into the tea?”

“Unlikely, as spiders usually crawl around and hang on spiderwebs spun by them while lizards usually stick on to walls because of little suction pads under their feet!”

“It is indeed a weird conversation.”

“It’s really crazy. What do spiders and lizards drink? We drink water, tea, coffee, soft drinks… How do they quench their thirst?”

“I would assume they drink water whenever and wherever they find it.”

“I have watched a fly sit on a sugar diamond, turn it into liquid before sipping it. Its fangs act like sippers. Now, come here quickly.”

“I am right here beside you at the study table.”

“See this picture. She is the oldest orangutan. At 36, she’s given birth to a baby boy.”

“Let me see.  She’s so cute. Mother’s love is universal. Look at the tenderness with which she is holding her baby.”