Secret Humor

By Biji T Kurien MSc MPhil PhD

God said, Let the earth bring forth. . !
And it was so! The earth brought forth everything God ordered.
However, the earth brought forth much more for those who sought—metallurgy, meteorology, metrology, microbiology, magicology, and the like.
And there arose a lot of questions also!
Did the earth bring forth secret humor that is evident only for those who seek? Is cryptographic humor related to pareidolia, the ability of the mind to see patterns in random data? Is secret humor related to theopneustos, namely God-breathed; or can one explain it by Divine Workingtogetherism? That is, God working all factors together in sundry times and divers manner to bring out humor through snow and ice murals, ice designs, ice sculptures, stone figures, designer clouds, dew magic, fruit and vegetable delights, land designs, tree art, leaf canvas, flower dance, insect passion or lioness lessons.
This work answers these questions with more queries and introduces hundreds of never before seen pictures (untouched, unaltered, non-photoshopped) including that of doughnut shadows, rock wonders, and romance in the air, water, clouds, ice, fruits, as well as vegetables.
Discover, from this original pictorial compilation, the probable origin of the English alphabet, skywriting, leaf writing, smiley face, leaf art, sculpting, murals, graffiti, street lights, eyeglasses, snowman, snowwoman, snow dog, The walking dead, roller coaster, dancing, windows, highways, loop roads, cross, and much more.
This work also addresses the Horus controversy, surf stoke effect, and several life issues—often using funny images from God’s creation.
Finally, this work reminds us that ultimately, everything is vanity. That, we are but a vapor. Not even white, black, or brown mist. Just A, B, AB, or O vapor—Rh positive or negative. Temporariness is our middle name; blood-grouping and tissue histocompatibility type our significant inherent differences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973663362

Biji T Kurien MSc MPhil PhD

Dr. Kurien completed his studies at the University of Madras, India. Currently, he works as Professor of Research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City. His research interests include the study of free radical-mediated oxidative damage in systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren’s syndrome, as well as the role of the nutraceutical curcumin in autoimmune diseases. His publication record includes numerous scientific publications in national and international peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, he has published a Christian fiction, “One Tempting Test” and edited six volumes in the Methods in Molecular Biology series. God blessed him and his wife Jolly Kurien with children Jobin, Johann, Jasmin, Bianca, and a dog named Shadow. His mother Annamma Kurian stays with them, while his father, T. V. Kurien, passed away in 2006 to be with his Savior Lord Jesus Christ.

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Copyright © 2019 Biji T Kurien, MSc, MPhil, PhD.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Front Cover Picture and Back Cover Picture Credit: Biji T. Kurien

Interior Image Credit: Biji T Kurien

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the Bible in Basic English.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,

1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6335-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6336-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019906235

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/25/2019

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Dedicated to the loving memory of Theyilamannil Varughese Kurien, Theyilamannil Varughese George, Theyilamannil Varughese Mathew, Theyilamannil Varughese Alexander, Theyilamannil Varughese Joseph, Sosamma Varughese, Thankamma Koshy, Theyilamannil Varughese, Annamma Varughese, Theyilamannil Varughese Mathew, Puthenkavu ammachy, Nedungadappally Modayil ammachy, Niranam ammachy, three appachans from Thalavady, Annamma Thomas, Paradyil T. Thomas, T. Thomas Sosamma, Thomas Mathew, Paradyil T. Thomas (Sr.), Reji Paradyil Thomas, Mary Mathew, Kunnel Mathew Itty, Kunnel Mathew George, Kunnel Mathew Thomas, Eliyama Varughese, Secunderabad ammachy, Ranny ammachy, Kottayam ammachy, P.T. Jacob, Chakkumootil ammachy, Kottumkal ammachy, Solomon Varughese, Appakot M. Matthews, Baby John, P.J. Thomas, M. Yohannan, V.K. Koshy, Prasad Koshy, John Samuel, Grace Samuel, Johney John, Annamma John, Rajan Abraham, Arunkumar Anantrai Bhatt, Ramagauri Anantrai Bhatt, James Fesmire, Ramasamy Selvam, and Annamma Varughese (Kunjamma from Mallapally).

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work is a testament to God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His divine principle of Workingtogetherism. He made several factors to work together for good—from the harshness of snow, ice, rough terrain on earth, and other factors—to bring forth secret humor. God worked in the stillness of the night, getting together the right conditions to attach dewdrops to the grass blades in a spectacular fashion to present it in the morning as a present for His favorite creation—namely humans. Be it dewdrops, clouds, flowers, insects, ice, snow, vegetables or fruits—everything takes part in this principle of Divine Workingtogetherism for the good of God’s beloved creation. The author is grateful to God for this divine principle and for granting the opportunity as well as the ability to compile this work.

Many thanks are due to his family for the support shown during this time, especially the author’s father Kurien T. Varughese (deceased); mother Annamma Kurian; wife Jolly Kurien; children Jobin, Johann, Jasmin, Bianca; siblings Binu and Beena; nephew Justin; nieces Renee, Alyssa, and Amaira. The author also thanks in-laws John Thomas, Mariamma Thomas, Gigi Thomas, Shany Thomas, Julie George, Dr. Thomas George, Jayson John, Simi John, Meshvi Dave, extended families (Rajen Dave, Madhu Dave, and Deep Dave family), uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends for supporting author’s family.

Special thanks are due to Pastors Jon Chasteen, Oscar Ortiz, staff, and members of Victory Church, Oklahoma City for their prayers and being the church God intended them to be.

The author is thankful for the prayers and support of Pastor Paul Ponraj and family from Coimbatore City, Tamilnadu, India. He also thanks Mallapally Sharon Church, Pastors Kunjoonjachen (Kunnamthanam), M.P. Eapen (deceased; Mallapally), M.A. Mathai (Coimbatore), and others from Kerala and Tamilnadu for their prayers. Similarly, gratitude is due to Pastors, Solomon Varughese (deceased; Michigan), Mathew George, John Samuel (deceased), George John, George Samkutty and others from Oklahoma. This author’s previous work One Tempting Test saw this paragraph unwittingly deleted as a result of some last-minute electronic mess-up.

The author is obliged to teachers, professors, and research faculty (Professors Hal Scofield, David Kem, Michael Bachmann, Robert Broyles, John Harley, K.T. Madhusudan, Hiroyuki Matsumoto, R. Selvam, Michael Centola, and Mr. Adam Payne). The writer also appreciates the friendship of Nicole Scofield, Stuart Scofield, Amanda Scofield, Bea Scofield, his current lab mates Joshua Cavett, Dr. Valerie Harris, Dr. Kristi Koelsch, Ambre Chambers, former lab members, and friends/colleagues from the Section of Diabetes and Endocrinology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Arthritis and Clinical Immunology, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), other departments at OMRF, and Department of Veterans Affairs, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Parents, who changed diapers, helped the author to walk, talk and learn and relatives (especially late grandmother, T.T. Sosamma, P.T. Thomas and Thomas Matthew) who assisted in this endeavor – to them the author is extremely grateful. The author appreciates his parents T.V. Kurien and Annamma Kurian for general biblical discussions. The author also expresses his gratitude to the staff at WestBow Press for professionally handling this manuscript from submission to the production stage.

Biblical verses, quoted in this work, are from King James Version (KJV), Bible in Basic English (BBE), English Standard Version (ESV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), New International Version (NIV), New King James Version (NKJV), The Message Bible (MSG), Contemporary English Version (CEV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), New Living Translation (NLT), and Good News Translation (GNT). Bible verses are in light green and Bella Donna font.

The goal of this book is to make known God’s miraculous ways in the ordinary things of life. Hopefully, this work brings a smile to readers.

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Japanese Koi Carp fishes in Memphis Botanic Garden, Memphis

CONTENTS

1.     WHO CREATED THE SMILEY FACE?

2.     HAVE YOU ENTERED INTO THE TREASURIES OF THE SNOW?

3.     HAVE YOU SEEN THE STORE HOUSES OF THE ICE-DROPS?

4.     CAN BEAUTY OR HUMOR COME FROM DESTRUCTION?

5.     CAN THERE BE PLANTED HUMOR?

6.     CAN THE FLOWERS MAKE US SMILE?

7.     DOST THOU KNOW THE BALANCINGS OF THE CLOUDS, THE WONDROUS WORKS OF HIM WHICH IS PERFECT IN KNOWLEDGE?

8.     CAN THE LANDS AND ROCKS BRING FORTH HUMOR?

9.     DOES THE RAIN HAVE A FATHER? WHO GIVES BIRTH TO THE DEW?

10.   CAN HUMOR COME FROM PLANTS YIELDING SEED OR TREES WITH SEED IN ITS FRUIT?

11.   DO INSECTS AND BIRDS HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR?

12.   WHO PROVIDES FOOD FOR THE RAVEN WHEN ITS YOUNG CRY OUT TO GOD?

13.   ARE WE TAKING OURSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY?

14.   BE KIND

15.   THE CROSS OF CHRIST

16.   ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

PROLOGUE

Each one of us is knit together with tiny invisible, living parts known as cells. We started our life as a single cell. One became two, two changed to four and so forth till we reach about 10 trillion living parts—some parts take care of the thinking, some parts take on manufacturing, some carry out smelling responsibilities, some do the seeing, some for the hearing, some for smiles and laughter, etc. So, whatever we do, we are feeding these small parts within us that are knitted together miraculously to make us a whole. Therefore, small things move us a lot. The subtleties of life—a smile, a kind gesture, kind words, etcetera make a big difference in this cruel, unforgiving world.

However, we often forget that we started our life as a single cell in a dark but warm place. We forget that small things make a big difference and despise the day of humble beginnings, hoping to see big things to happen suddenly and not seeing the simple things of life that can make us smile, laugh or share a smile. Subtle stuff of life can be quite humorous.

This work introduces unaltered, untouched, and non-photoshopped photographs to show how God uses His creation to bring forth secret, subtle humor—a few of them sacred—using a simple Biblical principle. That is, God brings all things to work together for good to those people who love Him—this time He brings all factors to work together at the right time and place to produce Secret Humor. As far as this author knows, this work showcases images that have not been shown before (except the kissing camel image) or presents pictures in an entirely new light.

The author attempts to bring a smile or even laughter to one’s soul without hurting anyone. No one should evoke laughter at someone else’s expense. If we search diligently, we will be able to unravel God’s secret and subtle humor in creation (the author understands that there may be more than one simple interpretation for several pictures presented in this work). Ultimately, the hope is that this work will enable us to seek and find God’s handiwork in everyday things of life.

To quote AB Simpson, a noted theologian and world evangelist;

God has hidden every precious thing in such a way that it is a reward to the diligent, a prize to the earnest, but a disappointment to the slothful soul. All nature is arrayed against the lounger and the idler. The nut is hidden in its thorny case; the pearl is buried beneath the ocean waves; the gold is imprisoned in the rocky bosom of the mountains; the gem is found only after you crush the rock which encloses it; the very soil gives its harvest as a reward to the laboring farmer. So, truth and God must be earnestly sought.

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Trees and shrubs growing on the banks of the Manimala River, Mallapally, Kerala, India

CHAPTER ONE

WHO CREATED THE SMILEY FACE?

King Solomon wrote in the Book of Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. We humans claim to discover something new now and then. However, Solomon points out that in God’s eyes nothing is new on the earth. God creates things out of nothing, and we make things out of something provided by God on this earth.

Now, with this disclaimer out of the way, let’s delve into the nitty-gritty of secret or hidden humor. First of all, what is humor? After thousands of years of wrangling and haranguing about this issue, psychologists and philosophers formulated the popular incongruity theory which states that humor materializes whenever there’s a discrepancy between what one expects to occur and what takes place. That is probably why Aristotle also came up with the observation that the secret to humor is the element of surprise. Now, it will come as a surprise to many when someone says that God comes up with humor, especially a kind of fun that becomes apparent only after some seeking. Since the secret is seeking out the not-so-obvious or secretive, any sought-out humor in creation that comes as a bit of surprise may be defined as secret humor.

Smiley face, smiley emoticon or emoji stands out singularly as the shining emblem for humor— something that transcends language, culture, or race. It is funny to learn that there are many claimants for this simple yet powerful symbol. Therefore, it is essential to delve into the secret of the origin of the universal smiley face.

WHO CREATED THE SMILEY FACE?

Harvey Rose Ball, an American graphic artist, is mostly credited for having invented the original version of the iconic smiley face 55 years ago in Worcester, Massachusetts. Commissioned to come up with a graphic to raise morale in the rank and file of an insurance company deflated by a series of tough mergers and acquisitions, the ad man made the iconic smiley face. Ball received $45 for the work, which took him less than 10 minutes to draw. The smiley face became very popular. However, neither the company nor Ball tried to copyright or trademark this graphic. Then, in the 1970s, two brothers named Bernard and Murray Spain copyrighted the graphic after adding the slogan, Have a Happy Day to the smiley graphic. The story of the smiley face, however, is far more complex.

Another claimant for the credit for the smiley face is a French journalist named Franklin Loufrani. He invented a picture consisting of a bubble with two dots for eyes and a curve for a smiling mouth in 1972. Therefore, he called the symbol 30569.png a smiley. He registered the smile for commercial purposes and used it to highlight the rare occurrences of good news in the France Soir, a French newspaper. He further obtained the trademark for the smile, and he dubbed it as Smiley and started the Smiley Company that produced the Smiley T-shirt transfers.

Many credit Scot Fahlman for having first used the :) and :( emoticons or glyphs (blend of emoticons and icon) in e-mails in 1982. Kevin Mackenzie is also ascribed with coining the first emoticon as the tongue in cheek symbol in 1979.

However, it is possible to find the symbols :), :( and ;) in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible published as early as 1909 (that is, the earliest KJV Bible this author could procure). Deuteronomy 29:17; Exodus 30:13 and 32:25 in the Old Testament and Hebrews 12:21 in the New Testament show the :) symbol. Acts 10:36 is one verse in the New Testament that has both the :) and :( symbols in the same verse. The emoji ;) is present more commonly in the Bible. This finding is not a typographical error since these symbols also occur in the same places in other KJV Bibles published in 1957, 1970, and 1972.

It is also imperative to know that these symbols do not bear the conventional meaning credited to them in any of these verses. It is possible that someone could have stumbled on these emoticons while studying the Scriptures, and brought out the meaning ascribed to them now.

Emoticons are extremely popular and have spawned explanatory dictionaries, websites, and the introduction of the emojis for cells phones. But, the birth of a smile in real life and the actual graphical depiction of a smiley face is straightforward.

God said in the beginning,

Let there be light… (Gen 1:3; KJV); …And it was so (Gen 1:7; KJV).

Then He said;

… let the earth bring forth… (Gen 1:24; KJV).

Each time the earth brought forth just as God ordered. He found that it was good and He smiled. The angels in heaven saw this and rejoiced with God, praising Him for His greatness. However, the first big smile from a human came when Adam woke up after God breathed the Breath of Life into him. Just moments earlier he had been a lifeless structure made out of dust, sculpted by God in His image. God first lifted Adam, from his sleeping position, with His hand. God smiled at Adam and hugged him, the very first hug on earth. Adam grinned back at God and got his first lessons in life—that of laughing and hugging. God has been lifting the contrite and humble people out of the dust ever since, to sit with princes or become princes. We should never forget our humble beginnings as mere dust in the Garden of Eden.

And in those initial days—when the word sin was not around—before the fall of Adam and Eve by disobedience and the start of the sin life, all the animals talked and lived in peace with each other. The animals even smiled at each other. Some remnant of it can be observed in the world today, as we see some animals occasionally smile (discussed later on in this chapter).

THERE IS A TIME FOR LAUGHTER

The Bible tells us that laughter is good medicine for the heart.

King Solomon writes;

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: (Eccl 3:1; NIV) … a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:4; NIV). A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit. A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash. For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast (Proverbs 15:13-15; NLT). A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength (Proverbs 17:22; NLT).

God also directed the author of Psalm 126 to write;

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, The LORD has done great things for them. The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad (Psalm 126:2-3; ESV). Smile on me, and teach me your laws

(Psalm 119:135; GWT). Many people say, Who will show us better times? Let your face smile on us, LORD. (Psalm 4:6; NLT).

LORD JESUS CHRIST HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR

Imagine Lord Jesus Christ smiling as He talks about the absurdity of pointing out the speck of sawdust in someone’s eye when their eye has a plank stuck in it (Matthew 7:3-5; Luke 6:41-42). Envision Lord Jesus smiling as he talks to his disciples about how the self-righteous Pharisees "strain out a gnat but swallow a camel" (Matthew 23:24; NIV), or how it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of the needle before a rich man can enter into the kingdom of God.

One day, the Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and set her in front of Jesus. They told Jesus about the Law of Moses that required the killing of the adulterous woman by stoning, hoping to trap Him this time. Lord Jesus did not reply and simply stooped to the ground and wrote something on the soil. As they kept pestering Him, Lord Jesus stood up and told that whoever is without sin can cast the first stone at her. Then He calmly stooped to the ground once again and kept writing on the dust.

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one. Imagine the smile on Lord Jesus’ face when He asks the woman about the whereabouts of her accusers and whether they condemned her or not. The woman replied and said that they did not condemn her. Lord Jesus said that He also did not condemn her and just told her to go and sin no more.

One can visualize the smile on Lord Jesus Christ’s face when he welcomed little children with his loving arms. His disarming smile must have endeared twelve men to leave their full-time jobs and follow him. This smile must have also been a reason for Zacchaeus to come down from the tree he had climbed to see Jesus. Several passages in the Bible show that God laughs at the wicked (Psalms 2:4; 37:13; 59:8). This author also believes that God sits in Heaven and laughs at the wrongful interpretations doled out by religious leaders regarding The Ten Commandments and His teachings.

INAUGURAL ADULT HUMAN SMILE ON EARTH

After God made Heaven and earth, the sun and the moon, plants and fruits, land animals and sea creatures, He felt happy about all of them. He then made the man and felt very happy. When the first man stood up and smiled back at God, it made history. Ever since then, the smile continued between fellow-creation. This author believes that every time we smile at each other, it is pleasing to God and it also spreads camaraderie among people on earth.

However, when sin entered into the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, it required persistent effort on our part to smile at each other. We still need to continue that effort till the time Lord Jesus Christ returns to take the faithful or till the end of our time on earth.

Humorous stories abound on earth. These can bring a smile to our faces.

In one story, an English lady had scouted for houses in Switzerland and returned to England. She was not sure whether the house shown to her by the village schoolmaster had a water closet (bathroom or toilet). So, she wired him about this issue when she returned to England. The schoolmaster was confused by the initials W.C. but conferred with a parish priest who concluded that W.C. stood for Wesleyan Church. The schoolmaster wrote back saying that the W.C. was located about 9 miles from her house and that it could hold 350 people at one time and it was open on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday each week. He suggested that she should take her lunch with her when she visited the W.C. and make a day out of it. He further declared that the acoustics in the W.C. was marvelous!

Moreover, he wrote that his daughter met her husband in the W.C. and subsequently was married to him there. The seats at the W.C. had holes in them, he wrote, and plans were afoot to buy plush seats. His wife, he continued, was delicate and could not attend regularly and it had been six months since she went last.

The poor woman must have stopped further communication with the schoolmaster.

THE REAL ORIGIN OF THE ICONIC SMILEY FACE

The pictures shown in the following pages of this chapter will provide an inkling to the reader regarding the origin of the iconic smiley face.

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Picture 1: The faces in plantain slices (Yukon, Oklahoma, USA)

SMILEY FACE IN PLANTAIN

When this author was in his teens, he used to help his mother in the kitchen. He cut raw plantains into thin slices for her to fry them in oil. At that time, he did not notice anything unusual in the plantain slices. It was just a chore that needed to be completed, especially to take part in the deliciousness of fried plantain chips. It was not until he was much older than he began to observe that each plantain slice had a story to tell.

Some of the raw plantain slices had a smiley face (see Pictures 1A and 1C) or a pleasant face (see Picture 1B). Also, each ripe plantain slice had a story to narrate, with some displaying a look of plain disinterest (see Picture 1G). Some portrayed a smiley face (see Pictures 1D and 1E), while another had a sad face when cooked (see Picture 2D) (a ripe plantain was prepared in a microwave with its skin on and cut into slices after removing skin).

Fried plantain chips had another side to it. One would have to hold them against the light to see the hidden information in the chips. Some showed the close-up face of a stern-looking cat in it (see Picture 1H), while Picture 1I shows a smiling rabbit standing on its two feet. In some instances, the rabbit became visible even in ripe and cooked plantain slices (see Picture 1F).

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Picture 2: The faces in fruits and vegetables (Oklahoma City; Yukon, Oklahoma, USA)

Picture 2 takes on a more somber tone. The plantain slices depicted here could probably evoke our sympathy. They should be known as the forerunner of today’s frowning face emoticons or emojis. The raw plantain slice clearly shows a frowning face (see Picture 2A), while the cooked plantain slice has a look that cannot hide its disdain (see Picture 2D) apparently for being prepared in that manner in a microwave.

SMILEY FACE IN ORANGES

This author found that the smiley face or frowning face is not restricted to plantains. Even oranges had a side to it that was surprising. If one cuts the rind of a navel orange on either side, it becomes easier to peel off the rind with one’s fingers. In such a scenario, it is possible to get a variety of fascinating images depending upon the type of orange used for cutting. Picture 2 shows representative images from a blood orange (after cutting off the peel from the edge) and a navel orange peel. A blood-orange, with the rind from one end sliced away, shows a funny blood-red smiley face (see Picture 2B).

SAD FACE IN ORANGES

Similarly, the frowning face occurs in fruits other than plantains. After cutting the rind off from the edge of a navel orange, the slice revealed on the inside a strange figure—a frowning face of a green-nosed older person with fibers for a beard (see Picture 2E).

SURPRISED FACE IN BITTER GOURD

It is possible to see a look of total surprise in a slice of bitter gourd (see Picture 2C). This image might have been the forerunner of the emoticon or emoji that expresses surprise. Bitter gourd is a vegetable consumed commonly in South India, especially the state of Kerala, either fried, curried, or minced and sautéed.

SERIOUS FACE IN APPLE SLICE

A sliced gala apple showed a serious-looking, mustachioed face across its middle. A scientific principle called Browning reaction has occurred in the sliced apple exposed to air, accentuating the mustachioed, serious look on the face (see Picture 2F).

SMILEY FACE IN THE INSECT WORLD

Kerala State is a marvelous place located on the west coast of India. Green vegetation, intermingled with backwaters and rivers, confers an idyllic beauty upon the area. The lovely beaches, tranquil backwaters, beautiful tropical trees, high literacy rate, thriving economy, and other aspects made Kerala State to earn the title of God’s own country. Therefore, it was not a surprise when a favorite travel magazine selected Kerala as one of 50 places in the world to visit in one’s lifetime.

We grew up in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, because our parents worked in Coimbatore City. However, we were born in Kerala. The author’s father, TV Kurien, headed the Coimbatore City YMCA, working as its General Secretary. He had served in a similar capacity at the Trivandrum, Kerala and Wellington, Tamilnadu YMCAs. His mother worked in the Coimbatore branch of the Textile Commissioner’s Office. However, we used to visit our grandparents, uncles, and cousins in Kerala when schools closed for the summer or Christmas vacation.

Presently, when we visit Kerala things are different. Gone are all our grandparents, uncles, most of our aunts, several relatives and friends—leaving a huge void that cannot be humanly filled! We focus on remaining relatives and friends and also try to enjoy the scenery in Kerala. The fertile land of Kerala is rife with flora and fauna, rendering it a fascinating arena for photography.

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Picture 3: The frowning grasshopper — The jumping spider (Theyilamannil, Mallapally, Kerala, India)

FROWNING GRASSHOPPER

One grasshopper did not take it kindly when this author tried to take a