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Children e-Lead the Way
Where: San Mateo, USA June 24, 2000: Many adults think that the decision to buy a computer is theirs. The children just smile. For, they know it is because of them. They are the world’s Webmasters. Now, a US survey has found proof of the fact. Children are taking to the Internet, like ducks take to water. The number of children logging on to the Internet has tripled in the past three years, says a report by the Associated Press....
The 'English Pinch' in Bangladesh
What would you say if you saw a restaurant billboard saying “You be in our guest and please like any menu from arrangement ultimate sea food”? Will you brush it aside thinking the billboard painter must be ‘uneducated’. Mark, when I say ‘uneducated’, I actually mean that he does not know English. For a lot of us, being educated also means knowing English. But, can you brush aside an entire nation – Bangladesh – which has problems with its English?...
Eight year old rules the publishing world
Where: San Francisco, USA July 1, 2000: The literary world is in a fix. Poets, scholars and publishers cannot believe their ears. An eight-year-old has accomplished what most of them believe is impossible. Eight year old rules the publishing world [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] Sahara Sunday Spain, has received a record advance of £66,000 from the publisher HarperCollins for a book of her poems. That amounts to $100,000 – quite a large sum even for an adult considering that it is for a poetry collection....
Green Fields in a Concrete Jungle
August 5: Imagine green paddy fields and a calm pond next to it. The breeze that blows over the still waters is cool and refreshing in the afternoons. Imagine all this in the middle of a city. Sounds dreamlike? Actually that is what Govind Mhatre’s farm is like. Like a dream. It looks like it has been displaced from a picture book and placed in a wrong setting. Govind’s farm exists in the middle of a bustling city — complete with its concrete buildings and polluting vehicles –in the suburb of Borivli in Mumbai....
He Can't See But He Shows The Way
As a child, he would beat up anyone who dared to call him “andha” or the blind one. Now he does not need to. Last week, he beat 33 people with his navigational skills at a car rally and emerged the winner. Meet Vipin Malhotra, who navigated a car through a distance of 50 km in one hour and 10 minutes at a car rally held in Delhi. He did this with the help of a map which had instructions in Braille....
Protest Without Clothes
July 1: See this picture. What do you think the children were doing? No, they were not waiting for a community bath. They were at a gram sabha (village meeting). They had gone there to tell officials that the increased cost of power is making them miserable. This kids protest happened at Sitarampura near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh recently. Protest Without Clothes [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] The gram sabhas were being conducted last week by officials of the Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corporation (AP Transco)....
Operation Clean Up
The bricks came a tumbling. And the concrete made a rumbling. Leaving behind a huge mound of debris. And a huge crowd of human beings. With tears in their eyes. Their houses had been destroyed before them. Jagmohan, the Minister for Urban Development was in action. He was cleaning up the city, he said. The people were sent to Narela, a far flung area in the suburbs of Delhi. They would get new houses, they were told....
Injured Deer Lands on Dinner Plate
July 8: A deer was in great pain. It had got injured in the forest. It was discovered by some villagers who lived near the forest. This incident happened in the Champhai district of Mizoram, in north-east India. The villagers picked up the deer and gave it to Hranleikapa, a leader of the Mizo National Party, to hand over the deer to the zoo in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram. But, that was not to be....
The Sweet Taste of Success
June 24: Vaibhav Bhagate starts work at 5.00 am. He works as an apprentice at the Technical Training Centre of the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking. After school, he attends class at the Vikas Night High School and Junior College at night. Vaibhav is the son of a former municipal employee, Sitaram. He has topped the merit list of night students in this year’s Higher Secondary Examination of the Maharashtra State Board. Last week, he was felicitated by Anil Deshmukh, the Minister of State for Education....
The Fearless Doctor
Where: Jolo Island, Philippines July 1, 2000: She has dared to go where most of us wouldn’t. She went inside the jungles of southern Philippines where an armed group of people was holding 21 people, as hostages. Her purpose was to treat the kidnapped hostages, mostly foreigners. She has made eight trips to the camp since June 10, says a recent report in ‘The Indian Express’. This brave woman is Nelsa Amin. Nelsa works as a health officer in Jolo island in Philippines....