Darwin, Lincoln, and my grandmothers

From the industrial complex-based modern town where we lived, my siblings and I used to head every summer to spend time with our grandmothers, who lived in kind of "advanced villages" that were about 50 miles apart--Pattamadai and Sengottai.

Sengottai had a regular structure for a cinema, and Pattamadai had nothing but a tent, a bunch of benches, and a crude projector.  It was in one of these movie places--I think it was in Sengottai--that I was introduced to the idea of evolution, way back when I was a kid, and way before the academic idea popped up in the biology class.  Yes, thanks to a film, in a run down cinema hall, in a very small town.

It was some old black and white movie that had Sivaji Ganesan, I think.  Am guessing it was from the 1950s.  As practically all Indian movies do, this one too had songs, one of which starts with "kurangil irundhu pirandhavan manithan"--translates to "from monkeys humans were born".

It was news to me that humans descended from monkeys.  I mean, I was then a kid less than ten years old.  I was more than shocked to know that humans were born from monkeys.  The world has never been the same to me since then.

It was much later in high school when we learned about natural selection, evolution, and Charles Darwin.  Today is Darwin's 200th birthday.  (and, Honest Abe's too).

In Darwin's honor, and relating to my first ever intro to evolution, here is a link to the famous "The Monkey Trial"--State v. John Scopes.  

Am proud to have descended from apes.  And, yes, mighty glad to be in the country that Lincoln helped build.  My beard, however, is nothing compared to Darwin's and Lincoln's :)

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