Making a scene

Shantanu David takes a look at some of the stranger news stories from around the world, as people, places, animals, things come to grips with COVID-19

Reverse Colonialism
Things have certainly come a long way since the days of the British Raj. While colonialism is generally frowned upon these days, its effects can still be felt all over the world, sometimes in the most unexpected ways. For instance, the British Raj carried off shiploads of treasure, artefacts, spices, and ‘exotic’ animals from India, which haven’t really found their way back to the motherland yet. Apparently a flock of India’s national birds decided to take advantage of the lack of people outside due to the COVID-19 outbreak and break out of their home in Kent, England, and raided a garage a couple of kilometres away, presumably looking for a faster means of getaway. Named Gulliver, Blanche, Victor and Prince, the four birds, including an albino, are well-known in those parts and so were easily identified. Twitter user Natalie Worral captured the birds digitally, and posted the picture on Twitter, captioning it, “We have four friendly peacocks who roam around our village. One of them is albino and since lockdown they are wandering further afield with people posting photos on Facebook of their latest visit! Here they are visiting an office at the local car garage!”

Picture Perfect
Artist Stan Herd has been working with the theme earth for almost half a century, and has created landscapes, crop circles, and earthwork installations around the world. So it should come as no surprise that when the Kansas-based artist wanted to pay a tribute to medical and other frontline workers, he decided to work in his favourite medium. The earthwork display, titled Tribute to the Frontline, sprawls over half an acre in a field to the south of Lawrence, Kansas. It features a bunch of purple flowers, displayed in a vase with the words “Thank you” worked on to the vase. “This was my opportunity to do the small thing I could do to offer my heartfelt thank you to these amazing people on the front lines,” Herd told CNN.