A human being is distinguishable from other animals in superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright stance. However, how the bumblebees use voltage to sense flowers, pit vipers use their in-built night-vision goggles to see at night, or mantis shrimps use cavitation to strike prey suggests that human senses don’t always measure up; we share the planet with creatures that are pinnacles of evolution. As a part of writing a response to a creative self-made prompt, I Identified one such uncommon animalistic evolution and illustrated how my life would change if I possessed it.

 

Last year when I visited the Corbett National Park– India’s well-known wildlife reserve- I caught sight of a poster on sea cucumbers- sedentary marine animals found in great numbers on the deep seafloor. The sea cucumber, as the poster revealed, was capable of turning its body into a giant puddle. It could turn its tissues from solid to liquid, which allowed it to slip into cracks in the seabed. My eyebrows touched my hairline as I read, and I immediately knew how a power like that could change my life.

My rather conventional parents have firm ideas on the perfect daily schedule for me, and there is rarely any room for disagreement. I may not admit it to them, but I’ve discovered that their advice (read- directions) have mostly ended up helping me (my mother’s rule of finishing summer-holiday homework in the first week itself had led to stress-free holidays for me, and last-minute sweating for my friends). Most of the time, therefore, I am willing to go along with their ideas. However, when it came to revising my bedtime last year, we had the most drawn-out and bitter arguments. Arguments that I, not unpredictably, lost, but I did not give in with grace. Lights off at 10 was too strict and unreasonable, even for them. All my friends stayed up later than that, reading, studying, or using the internet.

At first, I would meekly make my way to my bed and shroud my room in darkness. Under the covers, though, I would turn on my phone and browse through websites like Quora, StackExchange, or Curiosity, wading through facts about the Crimean war, the long history of gulf-war, or about latest scientific discoveries. I vividly remember designing the format of my public speaking program and finalizing the organizational structure of my non-profit, Chanakya, late at night. Maybe that’s when I was at my most productive, or perhaps it was my way of defying rigid rules, but my ruse could not continue for long. My mobile phone began to be confiscated at bedtime, and I, like a defeated warrior, could only bow my head in the tacit admission of having been bested.

It occurred to me, as I read about sea cucumbers and their astonishing ability, that being able to slide under doorways would be a very useful power indeed. Granted, it would lack the romance and drama of a superhero’s life, but it would enable me to slip the yoke now and then, nip into my parents’ room, sneak my phone past their sleeping selves, and allow me to be the ‘captain of my soul’ (I love Invictus, don’t you?).

However, come to think about it, perhaps the reason I might pick shapeshifting as a useful skill is that in future, I want to do exactly that- throw off the yoke of limited exposure, internalize my new and diverse experiences, and transform into a more evolved self. Not physically, but in every other way that counts. In fact, ever since I have emerged from a home life steeped in conventions to gain an education that’s as modern as this part of the world can offer, I have been metamorphosing. An obedient, respectful, quiet boy at home to a knowledge-hungry, social teenager at school- the liquid version of his sea cucumber self.

However, the only ‘magic’ that will ever exist in my world is the one that I create.