Ma Wa Gray

  My late grandmother’s father was Irish. And to be honest I definitely have a touch of the blarney - whatever that means. In my mind I think it means I’m fiery, stubborn, creative and perhaps prone to over-exaggerating. It also means, as Athol Fugard says fairly frequently of his own Irish father, that I love to spin a yarn.  As a child I could tell the most terrifying ghost stories - ask Edu Boettiger. They were properly bad. Because I had made them up they didn’t really affect me but the rest of the populace of children in Winterton born between the years of 1983 and 1990 may beg to differ. I also thought I was bringing magic into my baby sister’s world by telling her intricate stories about how her Barbies came to life every night. The details were a little bit too real for her and ended in some terrible nightmares for her. Basically I did Elf On The Shelf thirty years ago and the results weren’t great. In my time I’ve got people to believe in fairies and Hogwarts, The Eas...

  ' The elephant herd is led by the oldest and largest female cow known as the matriarch.  The herd gravitate naturally around the matriarch, making her quite simple to identify. She influences the herd more than any other group or individual. In a crisis, the herd will rely on her to make the major decisions as to their course of action. Like humans, some elephants are born to be leaders.  Successful leaders earn respect through their wisdom, confidence and connections with other elephants. They need to care for the needs of their herd, and be compassionate to their own herd as well as the members of other herds.' Venkat Kumar Yesterday a great matriarch fell. If I were an elephant I would be with her herd, surrounding them, gently paying homage to her physical being with my trunk. I would sniff the veld, I would hear the croak of the frogs and I would be present with the herd who is left behind.  Instead I sit and weep through swollen eyes at my computer, desperate...