interesting sand imprint

Marina or any other beach for that matter – makes you enjoy the nature – simply sit idly near the waves and watch them.  Different hues, size, force, jumping one on the other, creating ripples and frothing – they come one after the other – some small and some big – even as they reverberate, they slowly lose their force as they touch the shore and gently go back.  Gentle !, may not be all the time, it can be ferocious also..

As you sit on the sands on the sea shore, may be closer to feel the waves touching your feet – you can feel one with nature; the sound, the sight of waves and feeling them on your legs would take back to olden days when you cherished that summer holiday visit along with your cousins, may be building sand castles or simply walking on the wet sands, seeing your imprints and seeing them vanish with a stroke of the wave.  

It is the desire of the mankind to leave their imprints everywhere ! knowing fully well, that those could only be temporary and can be wiped out by more people treading the same path or by the action of waves and winds…….. still, we like to see our footprints imprinted.  An imprint is to produce a mark on surface by pressure.

Have seen and have been over-awed – those sand imprints made by Sudarsan Pattnaik,  sand artist from Odisha. He was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2014.

Covid-19 has impacted people badly – killing some, harming some and putting fear on almost every one .. and it has affected animals too.  Campaigners are now warning that without income from tourists, some owners will struggle to feed their animals. Thailand has reported 2,826 cases of coronavirus and 49 fatalities since the outbreak first emerged in January, and the government declared a state of emergency last month. And as the killer virus continues to sweep across the world, all elephant camps in the country were ordered to shut. Their closures have, however, massively affected its economy as the giant animals are a popular tourism attraction in parts of the southeast Asian country.  Save The Elephant Foundation told Sky News that it estimates around 1,000 of the country's domesticated elephants could be at risk of starving to death during the Covid-19 crisis.

This is not on their undue plight but on an interesting sand impression – that of one year old leaving a  perfect impression of himself after falling asleep in the sand.  Chester Zoo keepers were able to take a photo before Anjan trampled his imprint.

UK media is agog of  the baby elephant who left a fossil-like imprint of his head and trunk in a pile of sand after a nap.  One-year-old Anjan left this near-perfect imprint of his head and trunk after nodding off in the sand in his enclosure at Chester Zoo. Zoo keepers were amazed at it and posted the photo on Twitter with the caption: 'Elephants lie on their sides to sleep for around four hours a night - time for Anjan to create his amazing piece of animal art!'

 Chester Zoo said: 'Elephants lie on their sides to sleep for around four hours a night - time for Anjan to create his amazing piece of animal art'. Anjan did not quite understand what the big deal was however and trampled through the imprint within a few minutes of waking up.  People who saw the post on Twitter wanted Anjan's creation to be preserved but the zoo said that was not possible.  'The print was unfortunately left very much in the middle of the elephant habitat and so some rather heavy footprints have since passed through,' said Chester Zoo.  

Anjan had already made a name for himself at Chester Zoo after he was born three months after his due-date. Anjan, named after conservation figure Anjan North, was born three months after he was supposed to have been.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

23.4.2020.