247 items in this section. Displaying page 16 of 25
Talking Through their Hats for Peace
September 9: A group of children are going to attend the International Conference on War-affected Children, at Winnipeg in Canada, from September 10 to 17. Coming from war-torn countries like Somalia, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Kosovo will all wear hats during the conference. The hats are meant to prevent them from being identified back home. They might be punished for speaking out against war when they return. But there will be some children who will not wear hats, and will even talk to journalists, according to a recent article in ‘The Indian Express’....
Frank Conrad's Garage
Where: Pittsburgh, USA July 22, 2000: Over eighty years ago, the first commercial broadcast on radio occurred in a garage in Pittsburgh, US. Today, the garage and the house it is part of, are up for sale, according to a brief report in ‘The Asian Age’. The garage and house had then belonged to engineer, Frank Conrad. Conrad had 200 patents on the radio, which meant that he had official documents that gave him the right to make, sell or use the radio....
What Lies Beneath?
What Lies Beneath? [Illustrations by Shiju George] October 28: When archaeologist Donny Youkhanna started excavating an ancient mound in the Umm al-Ajarib cemetery, located 400 km of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, he had no idea what he was going to unearth. He dug up a huge graveyard belonging to the ancient civilization of Sumer, which flourished in Iraq nearly 5000 years ago, says an Associated Press report which appeared in The Times of India....
Origamist Whizkid Sivaram
October 21: Imagine the talent required to fold a single sheet of paper as many as 100 times, to create fantastic animals, birds, insects, celebrities, aircraft and gods! Actually this is an intricate art dating back to1000 A.D. Japan, where it was pioneered, and is called Origami. And 12-year-old origamist Sivaram Narayanan, is a whiz at it, as visitors during his recent “one man” exhibition at the Lalit Kala gallery, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, says a report in the Chennai edition of ‘The Hindu’....
The Circle of Life
February 5: Young Vittal Partani is one of many volunteers who has been engaged in a singleminded task these last few days in the town of Bhachau that was devastated by the January 26 earthquake, in Gujarat. But there is something special about the 20 year-old and the youngsters accompanying him on the rescue mission. All of them are orphans of the Latur earthquake disaster of 1993. Only this time around, their roles have reversed – from victims to rescuers....
The China Doll
The China Doll [Illustration by Anup Singh] December 9: A country’s national identity is very much like an individual’s identity. Each country has a name, a past from which it traces its origins and a few distinguishing characteristics that make up its overall personality. Yes, nations have personalities. Just like human beings, those countries with strong personalities are the ones with a sure sense of who they are. Kan Yue-sai appears to be sure of who she is....
Teachers' Day
Teachers’ Day [Illustration by Shiju George] September 5: An average teacher teaches, a good teacher explains, a superior teacher illustrates, and a great teacher? A great teacher both learns and inspires students to ask questions fearlessly, for asking the right question is like taking the right turn amidst a maze of lanes and bylanes. But these are different times. While school students say that teachers are no longer interested in teaching, teachers turn around and say that it is not their fault – nobody is interested in learning and that society treats them like dirt....
The Bright Ones
September 9: Five-year-old Krishna and four-year-old Rama are two very bright brothers. They are too young to join school but they know by heart all the textbooks of the primary school. The little geniuses, however, are not Indian! Their names are the only thing Indian about these kids. For they are Russians in every other way. The two boys, sons of Ariy Radogar, were allowed to take the test for primary school admissions after their father insisted that they could clear them....
Duped Again
October 21: There are two Indias – the India of the powerful, privileged classes and the India of the masses. The powerful have good jobs and enviable lifestyles while the masses are precariously perched on the brink of survival. A large proportion of the masses lives in villages, which, as Mahatma Gandhi said long ago, is where the real India lives. Ill-fed, ill-clothed and ill-educated. Time and again, this real India finds itself being taken for a ride....
Celebrity Camera
When man took the first steps on the moon, a camera captured the moment forever. Today those pictures are a part of history. And so is the camera that was used to shoot them. The Hasselblad camera. Celebrity Camera The first space photographs were taken with Hasselblad cameras. One Hasselblad is still orbiting around the earth. It was dropped by an astronaut while on a space walk. Do you know that a few Hasselblads are also lying on the moon?...