Modernize!

I've been reading translations of Satyajit Ray's Feluda detective series with my eight year old. While the mysteries are interesting enough, what sticks out as a sore thumb is the fact that they have not been "modernized".

Let me explain.

Feluda thinks nothing of lighting a cigarette as he mulls over his case. At the time the story was originally written, smoking probably wasn't considered a health hazard and Satyajit Ray wrote what he did. Fast forward to the present where we now know all about the evil health effect of smoking, and guide our children away from the concept. Naturally the eight year old wants to know why Feluda is indulging in a smoke when we "all" know that's it's not good for health!

It would have made the books so much more acceptable if the translator had eliminated the bits around "puffed at his cigarette".

It isn't as if this has never been done before. In the Noddy series' created by Enid Blyton, the naughty black golliwog has been replaced by nice sweet Dinah Doll who is also black.

Why can't we do the same?

A Climber will not Creep

I've lived in a typical urban environment all my life, without much real contact with flora and fauna. The closest I ever came to nature while growing up was when I grew bean seeds for school. Of course, I studied botany in school and learnt about creepers and climbers, all the while scratching my head trying to figure out the difference by looking at grainy pictures in text books.

Fast forward to the present day, where I decided to grow a kitchen "garden". I planted beans and with the help of sticks, tried to get the plant to cover a grill. The bean plant was smart, it got the idea pretty quickly and latched onto the grill -- and kept climbing. It climbed till it reached the top end of the grill. That's when I thought it would start to grow sideways (you know, be a grown up and all that ;-)). Instead the plant, climbed all the way down and then back up again! Surely a climber, not a creeper.

That's when I really understood the difference between climbers and creepers.

Mint, on the other hand, never grew more than six inches tall; but began invading space horizontally. A creeper perhaps?

I'm looking forward to more such revelations as I get to be one with nature via my kitchen "garden"...