Part I
Evolutionary history of an infant
The place was no longer the utopia it used to be. The creature no longer liked it here. Vast masses of fauna had far stretched the available resources the place had. Too many predators and seemingly endless competition for food or mate had had its toll on the poor little thing; it was getting frailer by the day. It had made up its mind, it would travel to the unknown reaches of the strange medium that was just like the bottom of the sea but with out all the water. The odds were heavily stacked against making it to the land but the fish like creature had decided that almost certain death was better than certain death. Thanks to its ancestor’s similar expeditions, it could hold its own in this alien environment, long enough it hoped, before it found an oasis. As it reached shore, it was obvious that thousands of its kind had the same idea but after the endless hordes it had grown used to live with in the ocean, thousands almost felt like complete isolation. In the years to follow, groups of these creatures chose different paths of dealing with the new world, some learned to eat the curious green stuff that was literally everywhere and some found that their fellow pioneers were tastier.
When we return to the scene after a few hundred million years, the virgin land had no longer remained virgin. It had been tainted by the touch of life. Life, which had once been almost exclusive burden of ocean had conquered every crevice, every tree, every cave and could even be seen flitting about in the thin air above. The landscape was more diverse than it had ever been so much so that some species had now had now reversed evolution cycle and had gone back to the oceans. Descendants of our little fella did not look anything like it and far from being a clumsy on land this particular one was perched high on the tree scanning the horizons for something while its band was anxiously waiting below. It gestured to them with the modified fins which were now long, flexible and had five digits at the end including one that was opposable to the others. The others understood his commands split in to smaller groups and forged their way into the forest in absolute silence. The group of curious looking bipeds was oblivious to the imminent danger and continued blithely chewing on grass. Suddenly the deafening silence was broken by a thud of a fallen body, and then another and another. Just like that through perfect coordination, few spears and surprise the group of humans had bagged enough food for their clan for a few days. The food was much awaited by the members of the clan especially an infant named Killara, his name in his native language meant permanent. At just two months of age, Killara had an eternity to go to live up to his name. Especially considering the fact that any tribesmen becoming grandparents was almost unheard of. Creatures, weather, scarcity of food, illnesses and often other members were the basic threats to life. These people carried on living just as their ancestors had since the known time. Fire, primitive art was still considered impressive, agriculture and domestication was unknown and people’s survival largely depended on their ability to hunt, their choice of mates greatly affected by their status in society and in general, you had to be very smart or very strong to survive. They would be considered at the very bottom of human evolutionary spectrum. The pinnacle of this spectrum was not a few thousands years in to the future but was a mere few hundred miles away.
It was the year of 1840, a new city of Melbourne had recently established just below the lush stretch of rain forest in the northeastern Australia. It was a wonderfully planned town with the latest amenities. It was the new place to be and soon Killara would find himself there.
………………… to be continued …….
