Three-year-old Sensation
Rachhit Kalra, a three-year old boy, can solve the Rubik’s Cube puzzle in a matter of minutes and has won several contests. In a video posted on YouTube by the Indian Cube Association (ICA), Rachhit is seen sitting on a table, his legs crossed, fiddling with a Rubik’s Cube. At times, he is too distracted to even look at the puzzle while solving it. Oscillating from intense moments of focus to giggles, he works relentlessly to solve
the colour-coded puzzle, sometimes taking a break to scratch himself! His mother Prerna Kalra says that unlike her, her son doesn’t display any signs of nervous tension before a competition. “He giggles and sings while solving,” she said.
Mystery of the Black Tiger
Fifty years ago, tribal people in Simlipal, in northern Orissa, began seeing black tigers. Such tigers are not wholly black. Actually, their stripes are so broad that they seem to join, making the orange coat almost disappear.
They are the result of a single mutation in a gene called ‘Taqpep’. Genes are found inside the nucleus of every living cell. Genes are responsible for the colour of one’s eyes, skin and hair, body height and other features. Genes are also inherited. The rare mutant tigers have not been seen outside Simlipal.
Long ago, tigers could walk from one end of India to the other
because all forests were interconnected. Now tigers live in islands of forests that are not connected. Simlipal is 500 kilometres away from the next closest tiger population. So, the ‘black tiger’ gene has stayed within Simlipal. The reason that so many tigers there have this special gene is because they form pairs and have cubs within the same small group.
(Compiled by Dr. Veena Adige)
Bhavan's Journal,May 15, 2022∎ 82
