108 items in this section. Displaying page 10 of 11
Bungee
Standing on the edge of a platform looking 150 feet straight down at the river below I thought to myself, how did I get roped into this mess? Do I really want to go ahead with this foolishness? Shouldn’t I be back with my feet firmly planted on the ground? I was standing on the platform of a 100-ft high bridge. My fingers tightly holding the rails in a death grip. I was about to do a bungee jump because I had boasted to Himakar, my cousin, I could do anything he could....
Simputer: The Low-cost Computer
September 23: For all those who thought computers were expensive items and not in the list of “essential buys”, think again. A new computer is here, priced at an easily affordable Rs 9,000 (about $200)! And cheaper than a colour TV. Does that grab your attention? It is called Simputer. And it’s the answer to your prayers. As the name suggests, Simputer is not for the hitech geeks! It is a simple computer meant for those who think that a mouse is a small rodent and that a RAM is a male goat....
The Office Where Records Are Made
. .265. . .puff! gasp!! 310. . 311. . . this is James Joseph of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, doing his squats in a corner of the Limca Book of World Records office. His aim? – setting a world record in squats. In front of James a large stopwatch ticks away the minutes. Behind him stands Kuldeep Monga with a score sheet keeping a tally of the number of squats. A doctor sits on a chair nearby, looking bored....
Olympic Swim Against the Tide
September 23: Twelve-year-old Fatima Abdeljamid is creating waves at the Sydney Olympics and for all the right reasons. She is one of two Bahraini nationals and among the very few from the Middle East nations to compete in the Olympics. Fatima, a swimmer, and Myriam al-Hili, an athlete, have been invited to the Sydney Olympics by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is a gesture that is meant to encourage Muslim women from Islamic nations to take part in the Games....
Mind the Manners!
Neeru and Shama were planning a trip to Europe for a holiday. They had been through all the travel catalogues, Lonely Planet series, and Michelins to plan their travel and stay. From friends and foren returned relatives they knew the weather backwards and had both warm and arctic-wear clothing. The final stop was this book on etiquette that friends were raving about: How Not to Say Yes While Meaning No. They sat in a group with their friends....
Fungus Threatens Chinese Warriors
September 23: These Chinese warriors have survived over two 2,000 years of wars, earthquakes and revolutions, but now find themselves battling against their most formidable enemy yet — a fungal infection. These Chinese warriors are not made of flesh and blood; they have feet – and bodies – of clay, and they are a valued cultural treasure not only for China but also for the world. Fungus Threatens Chinese Warriors [Illustration by Shiju George] The bad news is that over 7,000 terracotta figurines of soldiers, archers and horses in China’s northern city of Xian (pronounced Shee-ahn), capital of Shaanxi Province, have been found suffering from attacks by over 40 species of mould....
Hullo! My Name is Nershwn
He is eight years old and has already travelled a great distance from his original home, to Delhi. It was not a happy shift. What made his family leave its home was fear for the lives of its member. For, Majuli island, where they lived, is in Assam, different groups of people in Assam are fighting for what they think are their natural rights. Nershwn speaks of all this in his own way. He gives a snapshot of the world as he sees it, from his height....
The Olympic Gold Rush
September 30: At the Millennium Olympics in Sydney, Barbados, the tiny island nation in the Caribbean, has overtaken the United States and China to head the medals tally – if you calculate the number of medals against the population. When sprinter Obadele Thompson won the bronze in the 100-metre race in 10.04 seconds, on September 23, Barbados topped the medal table list maintained by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This is because Barbados has a population of only 270,000....
A Girl Soldier Speaks Out
September 8: At seven Arumuyam Malar could handle a gun better than a pencil. At eight she could handle the wireless radio and knew how to use hand grenades and semi-automatic rifles. As an ‘Eelam tigress’, or a child guerrilla of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, she was told that she had to fight till the end for her Tamil homeland or Eelam — and commit suicide by taking a cyanide pill upon capture....
Finns Favour Freezing Swim
November 4: It’s winter in Finland and temperatures are touching single digits. Across the Arctic, from Burbank to Murmansk, the land is completely frozen. Suddenly a group of Finns appear with a pickaxe and drill a hole in the thick ice pack. Are they going to fish? So where are the rods? Before you can blink a frozen eye, they have stripped down and stand shivering at the hole’s edge eyeing the chilly winter waters. Then, the bravest (or is it the most foolhardy?...