435 items in this section. Displaying page 18 of 44
Places That Care
How many of us have ever given even a fleeting thought to the inconvenience faced by disabled people in the public spaces in our country? How many of us have seen them shopping or visiting theatres, cinema halls or places of worship, leave alone historical monuments? Perhaps, none. For the ‘differently abled’, it is not just disability that makes life tough but our own insensitive and smug attitude coupled with a pathetic support structure that deems it fit to label people with disabilities as ‘handicapped’ rather than help them lead lives on their own....
It's Hi Harry, Bye Hardy Boys
August 1: On July 31, as an army of children and adults got ready to “celebrate” Harry Potter’s birthday, there was a young fictional heroine waiting to share the limelight with him. Her name? Lyra Belacqua, a girl with extraordinary powers, unusual friends, and living an orphaned life as well. Lyra Belacqua is the name of the latest craze unleashed by writer David Pullman among young book readers in the US. The verdict is clear; Harry Potter and Lyra Belacqua are here to stay....
Starving in the Midst of Plenty
May 19: People in the rural areas of six states of India – Orissa, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhatisgarh and Maharashtra – are experiencing famine-like conditions. But the governments are refusing to give them relief. The terrible thing is that they are doing so at a time when their godowns are overflowing with grain. Which is why an organisation called the Public Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) has filed a case (public interest litigation or PIL) on behalf of the people of these states in the Supreme Court of India....
Advertisement for Dogs
Advertisement for Dogs [Illustration by Shiju George] If you are selling a dog’s product, who should you ask to buy it – the dog owner or the dog? A British advertisement firm has decided to get the attention of dogs in their latest ad campaign on a pet awards show. The programme, to be conducted by the television channel Animal Planet, is being publicised with posters that have been sprinkled with dog urine, the Indian Express newspaper reported....
Precious Boats
July 27: Grooms in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district are singing a different tune these days. They are no more asking for jewels or hard cash. No, they haven’t given up on the dowry. Instead they are demanding for something more practical and useful, a wooden boat. Along with it comes the demand for a bride who can swim, says a report in Hindustan Times. The reason for this lies in the floods that hit this area last year and the people are not taking chances anymore....
Young girl's earth-shaking courage
There is a ray of hope for quake hit-Gujarat. All it needs to do is listen to a 12-year-old girl, Prutha Desai. She might be small but towers over many in spirit. This girl who lost her right arm in the January 26 earthquake, six months ago, has shown great courage in starting life afresh, literally: from learning to write with her left hand to wearing socks. But what is remarkable is that Prutha hasn’t lost her smile, courage, or creativity in drawing and art, says a report in The Indian Express....
Testing Times for Indian Sports
August 6: It was the sort of news that makes everyone sit up and take notice. No wonder the Indian newspapers have been full of it. Some time ago, sportswoman Sunita Godhera submitted an explosive petition to the Delhi High Court. In it were the names of 144 sportspersons who, she says, have been found to be taking banned drugs to boost their performances. These tests were carried out at the laboratory of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in New Delhi....
A Battle Well Fought
June 2: In the war against AIDS, they don’t come any tougher than Xolani Nkosi, better known as Nkosi Johnson since his adoption by a white family. In his short life, he had become one of South Africa’s youngest and boldest campaigners fighting for the rights of AIDS affected people to be accepted by society. At 5:40 am on June 1, he finally lost the battle. Now, there’s nothing more the doctors can do for him....
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?...
Tattoos that Talk
Where: St. Petersbug, RUssia May 19, 2001: For more than 50 years Danzig Baldayev had been studying a unique mode of communication amongst the Russian prisoners. When he was a prison guard he discovered that the tattoo on each prisoner’s body had a message for the other inmates. A burning cross meant the prisoner wanted revenge, a pirate with a knife between his teeth showed that the person was a sadist or one who likes to hurt others and a tattoo of the Soviet founder, Vladimir Lenin, was like a charm against execution....