247 items in this section. Displaying page 11 of 25
Francoise's Dolls
“I did not see the face of my child: I passed into unconsciousness after her birth. My neighbours told me she was beautiful. My mother and the nurse buried her alive. I did not even hear her cry." A doll depicts a girl child and the words alongside it, movingly tells the tale of a new mother’s anguish at the brutal killing of her baby girl. The doll has been made by Belgian-born Francoise Bosteels, who made India her home over 25 years ago....
Olympic Games are Fair Game for TV Satire
August 5: Heard of facts imitating fiction? Well, that’s exactly what’s happening in Australia. There’s a comedy serial on Australian television these days. It is a spoof or hilarious leg-pulling on the Australian officials who are in charge of making all the arrangements for the Olympic Games scheduled to start in the Australian capital Sydney. The really strange part is, much of what the serial shows as fiction, ends up happening as fact some time later, says a report in ‘The Times of India’....
Bead Calculator
November 18: Quick! Tell me what you get when you divide the number 992.587318, by 5,647.723? Stumped? Need a calculator? Well, thirteen-year-old Hiroaki Tsuchiya of Japan arrived at the answer in no time at a mental mathematics tournament in Kyoto: the right answer – 0.17575000013279688115015555826658. And, he did it without a calculator, too! Bead Calculator [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] Hiroaki is adept at mental arithmetic multiplying, dividing, adding or subtracting large numbers that would make an accountant’s head spin....
The Day it Rained Fish
August 12: Last weekend saw some ‘fishy’ happenings across the world. In Britain, for example, it rained fish. The Day it Rained Fish [Illustration by Shiju George] It happened in Great Yarmouth, a fishing port in Norfolk. Residents found a shower of dead but still fresh fish called sprats raining down on them. “I thought at first I might have had something wrong with my eyes. The whole of my backyard seemed to be covered in little slivers,” said a resident to ‘The Times of India’, which carried a report....
Here's Lucy
Some of you must have watched I Love Lucy, a popular serial on television featuring the wonderful scatter-brained redhead named Lucy. The show is a perennial favourite of people around the globe and its lead character, Lucy, is one of the most popular comedienne the world has seen. Lucille Desiree Ball was born on August 6, 1911, in Celoron, New York. She modelled as a teenager, winning national exposure as the Chesterfield Cigarette Girl in 1933....
Gandhi's School is Dying
Where: Wardha district in the western state of Maharashtra, India October 6 : Every year, October 2 is observed as Gandhi Jayanti in India. Both children and adults look forward to this day, but not to commemorate the birth of ‘the greatest Indian since the Buddha, as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been called. It is more to enjoy the national holiday that falls on this day. To most people Gandhi Jayanti is more like a history lesson they learnt by rote in school....
Latecomers Out
August 19: What happens when guests come late to school functions in the city of Surat, Gujarat? They are not invited a second time round. No prizes for guessing the identity of these guests – the city’s politicians, of course. Latecomers Out [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] Politicians who come late to functions in Surat, known as the diamond city for its thriving trade in the precious stone, are a worried lot today....
Little Heroes
January 31: Four-year old Parul Mishra of Lucknow (right) walked over a burning bed of coal to save her little friend Priyanka, who had accidentally fallen into it. Twelve-year old Sunil Singh and 13-year old Mukesh Kumar of Doda district, Kashmir, foiled a militant attack on their village. Two brothers, Prince and Ashish Kumar of Gaya district, Bihar, fought a dangerous gang of dacoits who had stormed into their house. Parul, Sunil, Mukesh, Prince and Ashish are ordinary children, but for one trait....
Many Ramayanas
Once, Aristotle, the famous ancient Greek philosopher, asked an old carpenter how long he had used his knife. Thirty years, the carpenter replied. He had changed a blade a few times and the handle a few times, but the knife was the same, added the carpenter. Something similar has happened to the Indian epic, Ramayana. Writers in different places and in different languages, have composed the Ramayana down the ages. They carry with them the flavours of local cultures, and each one proudly takes its place in the gallery of Ramayanas....
The Boy Who writes with His Feet
March 7: Sujit Dawn of Sehera Bazar town in Burdwan district, West Bengal, is taking the madhyamik (middle-level) or Class X Board Examinations this year. If he passes, he goes on to senior school. But there is something about Sujit that makes him different from the other boys taking the exams. He is writing the exams with his feet. Sujit is physically challenged. The only son of Swapan (a timber merchant) and Putul Dawn, he was born without hands and learnt to write by holding the pen between his right toes....