Happy special day, son.
Hope your tummy is good. And that youre additional work gets finished soon
today so that you can get a bit of relaxation done this weekend. It is your
special day! I still remember the day Mamma and I took you to take your photos
when you were maybe 6 months? I think so but mamma will tell you exactly. You
were such a cute baby, with your teethless smile and then the photographer
would say, you are a little cheeky monkey. Adorable! Still are :) lovely.
I thought of sharing this
link with you.
Some Polynesians
Carry DNA of Ancient Native Americans, New Study Finds https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/science/polynesian-ancestry.html?referringSource=articleShare=
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And want to talk to you about
Thor Heyerdahl. I first came across his book on the Kon Tiki expedition when I was
a bit younger than you in Bhopal. It was a moth eaten book, hugely battered,
paperback with torn pages and faded covers. I picked it up in a second hand
book shop and it was seriously old, I think I paid 2 rupees out of my 5 rupees
allowance. And it was worth it. I devoured it completely in one day, staying
awake at night and doing the torch thing below the blanket. And got scolded by
Didu because I finished the batteries. It was published in 1948. The basic idea
behind the expedition was that people from South America could have reached
Polynesia. Till then, there was a prevalent idea that it was people from Asia
who populated the Polynesian islands of the Pacific.
So he went to Peru, a bit near
where we were in Ecuador and built a balsa wood raft with a little cabin and
sails. It was build based on what the Spanish Conquistadors documented about
the then extant boats, rafts and ships. The knotted twine or codex's literature
of the Incas and Aztecs did not store any information and in any case, the
Spanish totally destroyed the literature anyway (ok, ok, that gets me excited
and angry so best leave it). It was so fascinating to read how they built the
boat out of balsa wood. Balsa wood is a very very light airy wood, son, and it
floats beautifully and doesn’t become waterlogged easily. Building a ship is
tremendously difficult son, without modern tools, and they did that with what
they thought technology existed 6000 years before. So they built a raft. Balsa
wood logs tied together with hemp ropes, and then cross pieces to give lateral
support. Remember that when you are on the sea, you have to make your ship
flexible otherwise it will break apart (lesson to be learnt in your career and
for your companies). There was no metal in the construction at all, and they
build the masts out of mangrove wood, spars out of wood and reeds and bamboo
was used to deck the top.
They took modern provisions but
also used sealed bamboo rods to keep water in. It worked after a fashion although
there was a problem with the water. This is a reason why coastal trade was so
vital for so long. You and Choti have read the Odyssey, there was a good reason
why the old storyteller would pull into a bay every night. That was because of
the difficulty of storing fresh water on board. They carried food like coconuts, potatoes,
fruit and caught loads of fish. They sailed over 6,900 kilometres over 101 days
and then landed on an atoll with a crash.
We haven’t been to Easter
Island but we have been to Galapagos, Thor's idea was that the monumental
statues of Easter Island more resembled the Peruvian art than local designs, and
for that they needed to have population exchange. Galapagos didn’t show any
local art but Easter Island did. Fascinating. And now the study up there
provides further evidence for that. Fascinating. But see if you can read up on
Thor. A truly fascinating character, son. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl#Books
Also, if you can read this
link: https://warontherocks.com/2020/08/when-youre-outnumbered-lessons-from-two-british-masters-of-irregular-warfare/
Two more fascinating
characters. People who jump out of their skins and become larger than life and
literally, by force of their character, make a huge difference in their
surroundings! Yes, they make mistakes. They are flawed heros. They piss off
people. They engender huge loyalty and change people's thinking. Amazing.
Anyway, have a good day son,
happy special day to you again.
Love and miss you
Your loving Baba
