Witty Scribble

Water, one of the essentials for existence of any life form on planet, is available to us as a gift of nature in many forms. We have various water bodies that cover more than two thirds of our planet. Let us talk about some of these water bodies and how to identify them. Ocean :  The largest of all the water bodies on planet, oceans are salty and cover 71 percent of earth’s surface. Sea :  It is a large water body of saline water which is usually connected to an ocean. However, there are few large (really very large) salt water lakes, like Dead sea and Caspian sea, which are surrounded by land from all sides but still referred as sea. Bay :  Bay is a water body that is surrounded by land from three sides. On the fourth side is usually a bigger water body like an ocean. Gulf : A larger bay. Moat :  A deep trench like structure which surrounds an establishment like a city or a fort.                                 A Moat Lagoon :

During our childhood days, most of us loved the sight of an airplane  wheezing  past over our head, high up in the clear, blue sky. At times, the plane left a white trail behind. Many kids credited it to rocket, destined to the outer world. It wasn't until class 4, when the mystery of the 'white linear clouds' was resolved by my dad. But do you know the reason for the formation of trail?  Let us understand the science behind it. What are the white trails formed by a jet? When an air plane flies high in earth's atmosphere, we at times see it leaving a trail, that tells the 'road' travelled. The reason behind this phenomenon is ' Condensation '. The exhaust from the plane, pumps water vapour in the air, which on mixing with the outside cold air, condense quickly to form a 'white cloud', as viewed from the ground. These are, in science terminology, called ' Contrails ', short for Condensation trails. Why some trails are

English is a funny language ...So says Amitabh in the the movie Namak Halal. It truly is; you may enjoy another cult classic 'Chupke Chupke' and giggle in the very naive-yet-difficult questions from Dharmendra. Well this blog doesn't talk about the funny side of English; rather it tells you about the different facets of the language.  What are Oxymorons?  Oxymorons are the words that have two opposite meaning words or self-contradictory words that we often find in use in spoken or written language. The term originated in Latinised Greek and comprise two parts: Oxy , meaning sharp or keen and Moron , meaning dull or foolish. Did you notice what they did there? Yes, you got it right. The word Oxymoron is an oxymoron itself. Beauty!! But is this just one such word? No, with vast scope of English as a global language, definitely not. Words such as these, that are themselves the example of the term they denote, are called Autological or Homological words. Few

From the fiercest to the swiftest, the 'Cats' are rightly the 'Lords of the jungle'. While Lions take pride in their loud and thunderous roar, a Cheetah's scary and fixated look makes even the lionhearted tremble.  And then there are the 'cousins' in the Cat family : Tiger, Leopard, Jaguar, Panther. But how to differentiate amongst these beasts? Not that you have to, during your out-of-luck-day, but probably the article will be of help to you, during your next visit to a zoo or a safari. While Lions and Tigers are easily identifiable, one tend to confuse amongst Cheetah, Jaguar and Leopard. And it is quite usual for us to not able to distinguish between them. The major difference amongst these felines lies in their skin pattern and body structure.  While Cheetahs have black solid spots running through the fur, Jaguars and Leopards have Rosettes pattern adorning the skin. Furthermore, Jaguars rosettes have spots in the centre; the structure that di