Lady speak

JANANI SINGH-CRAWFORD is an archaeologist who has worked on archaeological sites abroad.

WHILE the other students were busy mastering the art of making paper planes and reading comics, I was the sole entity who listened to those tales about kings and queens and the rise and fall of empires, with stars in my eyes.

So a bachelor's degree in History was the most natural choice in my quest to unravel the mysteries of the past. Dates, battles, and other information was not learnt, out of force but out of genuine interest and this earned me quizzical looks both from contemporaries and teachers alike. After the masters program and armed with original thesis work on those mystical pharaohs, sphinx and pyramids I went on my first dig to Egypt.

Not knowing what to pack I ended up carrying so much that carting around my heavy luggage became a big problem and I was politely told to lose a few things if I wanted to still remain a part of the group!

The first lesson I learnt thus was the importance of planning, planning right from the time of excavation to how to effectively utilise the meagre financial resources and have back up plans if the money train dries out. When you are in the middle of nowhere digging diligently while the natives look on with a sense of bemusement, it is imperative that you go armed with the most powerful sunscreen lotion and hats and shoes. These but partially protect you from the blazing sun and the fiery sands. It helps tremendously to know the local language and culture. For the simple reason that, in case of a sting from a scorpion the native at your elbow will have a much better and faster cure at a time when you are half paralysed with fear rather than pain!

You tend to start worshipping the weather god in a pitiful attempt to be spared from the extremities in weather that can burn you to a crisp or freeze you!

As a certified `shovel bum' archaeologist my duties on my first dig ranged from shooing away pesky children, sweet-talking the natives to lend a helping hand, to handing out antihistamines to the affected crew members! My organisational skills were well appreciated and I slowly moved on to actual `digging'. This is where one gets to truly realise that archaeology is an equal opportunity employer. Just because your wrist bones are smaller you are not given miniature size instruments to work daintily at the site. If you can't shovel, dig, chip and clear away as good as the men, then you are out.

This is one field where you need an extraordinary amount of patience... after spending hours, sometimes even days working on a valuable artefact, just to have it crumble into a pile of dust in your hands, can reduce even a veteran archaeologist to tears.

I met my future husband on my first excavation and we managed to bond somewhere between those sunburns, heat exhaustion and dehydration. Now when our eyes meet over the canopy of our site, I know that he wants - the flat blade shovel!

MALINI SURYANARAYANAN