Homegrown Bumpkin Discovers a Dinosaur

Travel story: Albert Einstein's famous remark stirred my mind. I am not a genius. I have simply been curious since my school days.”

By Ramsharan Joshi in Edmonton, Canada

Having spent three days in the gorgeous city of San Francisco, I, along with life partner, Madhu, landed at the airport of Edmonton, the capital of Alberta province in Canada. Trina Joshi, younger daughter, accompanied us from the airport to her small, beautiful home in the highlands.

This riverside colony is inhabited by celebrities of the city. There is a small residence of Marshall Mcluhan, world famous media philosopher, at a stone’s throw from Trina’s home. His doctrine of the ‘medium is the message’ is still discussed in media schools. Mcluhan spent his teen years in this house. The house has been converted into the McLuhan Museum which is looked after with care by the city administration. Enthusiastic students of mass communication regularly visit the museum.

During our stay for a few weeks here, we visited the Royal Tyrrel Museum of Palaeontology. It is situated in Drumheller, about 280 kms from Edmonton. Anirudh Seoul, son-in-law, was on the steering wheel, as we drove there. It is located about 135 km from Calgary in Alberta’s badlands.  

As we entered the museum with tickets, the amazing world of the fossils welcomed us with its ancient treasure of giant creatures which have vanished forever from our planet. According to the museum, this is the largest collection of Dinosaurs fossils. There are unique skeletons of tyrannosaurids.

The major attraction of skeletons is the longest neck of a dinosaur ever recorded. In fact, this museum is popularly known as the Dinosaur Capital of the World. Since these are the largest and richest collection of fossils, you would come across a stream of visitors and researchers from across the world.

Significantly, their bones are still discovered, scattered in different corners of the badlands and mountain terrains surrounding the museum. During the night, youngsters and enthusiastic folks embark on a search expedition to dig the hidden priceless bone-remains of the giant creatures. The astonishing discoveries of fossils attract more than 430,000 visitors annually.

Palaeontologists from across the world show great interest in discovering the new bones of the extinct giants. Apart from elderly persons, school-going children and students seem to be more curious and excited about the mysterious, bygone era of these gigantic creatures.

Anaira, granddaughter, studying in grade four, was so excited to see the fossils. Her questions made me speechless. Observing her unbound curiosity at every moment, Albert Einstein's famous remark stirred my mind: “I am not a genius. I have simply Albert Einstein's famous remark stirred my mind. Responding to a query, he said: “I am not genius. I have simply been curious since my school days.” (From his biography).

Anaira

It is the responsibility of elders to inculcate critical understanding and the spirit of enquiry in our children. This innate curiosity should not be suppressed. In his autobiography, A Long Walk To Freedom, Nelson Mandela strongly advocates for the encouragement of curiosity among children.

In orthodox families in India and elsewhere, teachers and parents often don’t allow their children to ask questions. Consequently, the instinct for curiosity and knowledge is killed. This orthodox attitude towards youngsters must change.

A thought agitates me while watching the series of skeletons and bones. An unusual binary occurs to me: Are our centuries-old values and grand dreams of love, equality, fraternity, justice, humanity, pluralism -- being fossilized in contemporary times?

Is the State reduced into a mere skeleton of governance devoid of sensitivity?  Does life signify nothing? Is nature dead?

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Ramsharan Joshi is an eminent author, journalist and academic.