Lazing around on a Saturday afternoon, surfing through the television channels, I came across one in which a Tamil debate was on. I did not take note of the topic of the debate, and neither is it relevant to what I want to say in this post. What is relevant is the venue of the debate and the judge's introduction to the debate.
The venue was Kanchipuram, the silk town in southern India. The judge was describing how labour intensive the production of silk is, both in terms of the human labour involved in making the woven silk fabric from the silken threads of the cocoons, and also the production of the silk threads by the silkworm. The judge wanted to bring out a life lesson by taking into context the efforts put in by the silkworm.
Like a Silkworm :
The judge made this argument.
There are two creatures in the critter kingdom which are easily associated with spinning silk. One is the silkworm and the other is the spider.
While the spider's web is usually spun quite quickly; the silkworm's cocoon is spun over days, carefully and painstakingly.
While the spider's web is fragile and flimsy disintegrating on mere touch; the silkworm's cocoon is sturdy and requires considerable effort to unravel.
While the spider's web becomes a cobweb to be swept off and cast in the dustbin; the silkworm's cocoon is spun into one of the finest fabrics known to man.
Thus, one has to lead a life like a silkworm, putting in hard work whose results are useful to the world. Not like the spider's whose hasty work is of no use to anyone else.
Like a Spider :
The argument got me thinking and distracted. Thus, I did not even notice what was being talked about in the debate.
I came to a radically different conclusion on the Spider vs Silkworm issue. I looked at the problem from an engineer's perspective. From the perspective of utility versus effort.
The spider builds a web, not for protection, but as a trap to catch insects. Hence, the spider web needs to be sensitive, and not sturdy. The spider silk is by no way flimsy for its width as it is many times stronger than a steel wire of the same width. On the other hand, the silkworm weaves a cocoon for its protection against predators during its pupal state. Sturdiness is the key here. Different insects had adopted different methods as protective 'sheaths' during their pupal state. Butterflies make a chrysalis, silkworms and many moths weave cocoons, some flies make a puparium.
The point to note is that both the spider's web and the silkworm's cocoon serve their purpose. It is completely irrelevant if they are of any service to humans.
That was the engineering and utility aspect. Let's see the proverbial "other side of the coin" of the Spider vs Silkworm issue.
Spiders generally weave their webs well out of the paths of humans and in the paths of insects. Whenever cobwebs are cleared, there is a fair chance that the spider has already moved away after the web had served its purpose. Spiders don't live in these webs. They hunt with them. Even if a spider were still in its web during the clearing, it would easily escape unless the human who is clearing the cobwebs is particularly vengeful, chases and kills the spider.
On the other hand, the silkworm spends a significant effort to makes its cocoon. The cocoon is made of fine silk fibers which the silkworm would break open when it matures from a pupa to a mature moth. This would inevitably make the fibers too short to be of any use to weave any yarn or fabric. Further, the cocoon is glued together by the silkworm's saliva, and would need some processing to get the fibers separated out. Thus, the only logical step to make the silkworm's effort useful to humans is to boil the pupae, along with the worm inside. The excessive efforts put in by the silkworm may thus lead to its own demise.
Therefore, wouldn't it be better to be like the spider, putting in efforts that are commensurate to your needs and goals; without trying to impress anyone in vain. The excessive effort may lead to unwanted attention, and can also lead to others usurping the fruits of your labour and even destroying you in the process.
May be it is better to be a spider than a silkworm.
The venue was Kanchipuram, the silk town in southern India. The judge was describing how labour intensive the production of silk is, both in terms of the human labour involved in making the woven silk fabric from the silken threads of the cocoons, and also the production of the silk threads by the silkworm. The judge wanted to bring out a life lesson by taking into context the efforts put in by the silkworm.
Like a Silkworm :
The judge made this argument.
There are two creatures in the critter kingdom which are easily associated with spinning silk. One is the silkworm and the other is the spider.
While the spider's web is usually spun quite quickly; the silkworm's cocoon is spun over days, carefully and painstakingly.
While the spider's web is fragile and flimsy disintegrating on mere touch; the silkworm's cocoon is sturdy and requires considerable effort to unravel.
While the spider's web becomes a cobweb to be swept off and cast in the dustbin; the silkworm's cocoon is spun into one of the finest fabrics known to man.
Thus, one has to lead a life like a silkworm, putting in hard work whose results are useful to the world. Not like the spider's whose hasty work is of no use to anyone else.
Like a Spider :
The argument got me thinking and distracted. Thus, I did not even notice what was being talked about in the debate.
I came to a radically different conclusion on the Spider vs Silkworm issue. I looked at the problem from an engineer's perspective. From the perspective of utility versus effort.
The spider builds a web, not for protection, but as a trap to catch insects. Hence, the spider web needs to be sensitive, and not sturdy. The spider silk is by no way flimsy for its width as it is many times stronger than a steel wire of the same width. On the other hand, the silkworm weaves a cocoon for its protection against predators during its pupal state. Sturdiness is the key here. Different insects had adopted different methods as protective 'sheaths' during their pupal state. Butterflies make a chrysalis, silkworms and many moths weave cocoons, some flies make a puparium.
The point to note is that both the spider's web and the silkworm's cocoon serve their purpose. It is completely irrelevant if they are of any service to humans.
That was the engineering and utility aspect. Let's see the proverbial "other side of the coin" of the Spider vs Silkworm issue.
Spiders generally weave their webs well out of the paths of humans and in the paths of insects. Whenever cobwebs are cleared, there is a fair chance that the spider has already moved away after the web had served its purpose. Spiders don't live in these webs. They hunt with them. Even if a spider were still in its web during the clearing, it would easily escape unless the human who is clearing the cobwebs is particularly vengeful, chases and kills the spider.
On the other hand, the silkworm spends a significant effort to makes its cocoon. The cocoon is made of fine silk fibers which the silkworm would break open when it matures from a pupa to a mature moth. This would inevitably make the fibers too short to be of any use to weave any yarn or fabric. Further, the cocoon is glued together by the silkworm's saliva, and would need some processing to get the fibers separated out. Thus, the only logical step to make the silkworm's effort useful to humans is to boil the pupae, along with the worm inside. The excessive efforts put in by the silkworm may thus lead to its own demise.
Therefore, wouldn't it be better to be like the spider, putting in efforts that are commensurate to your needs and goals; without trying to impress anyone in vain. The excessive effort may lead to unwanted attention, and can also lead to others usurping the fruits of your labour and even destroying you in the process.
May be it is better to be a spider than a silkworm.
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