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The Hospitality of a True Blue Nawab
April 21: Nawab Mir Jafar Abdullah entertains guests in the celebrated Awadhi style of his forefathers. The nawab (title of former rulers of princely states), hosts elaborate traditional dinners for foreign tourists at his grand palace called Sheeshmahal (glass palace), in Lucknow, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow flourished in the 18th century as the capital of the nawabs of the principality of Awadh. It became an important cultural centre for art, music, crafts and etiquette based on the idea of graciousness that may seem excessively laidback today....
Animal Sense
February 14: So you live in a quake-prone region and want to be prepared the next time an earthquake strikes. Unfortunately, science has still not come up with a way to predict earthquakes. But there’s hope yet. Just visit your local zoo and observe the behaviour of the animals there. Astonishing but true. Animals remain even today, the best bet of alerting humans to an impending natural disaster. Animal Sense [Illustration by Shinod AP] Curious to know why?...
Cruising in the Sky
Cruising in the Sky [Illustration by Anup Singh] December 9: You remember how plush and huge the Titanic was? It was a ship any one would want to travel in. Don’t you wish travelling in an aeroplane could be made as comfortable instead of you being crammed into a place where you can’t even stretch out to sleep? Well, very soon you will actually be able to make your dream come true !...
From Kitchen Cabinet to State Cabinet?
May 11: From the kitchen floor of the house to the Floor of the House or State Legislative Assembly – that is the distance Lakshmi Parui is hoping to cover. A widow in her late 50s, who supported herself by working as a domestic help in semi-urban Balagarh till a few weeks ago, she contested the West Bengal state elections on May 10. She has contested the elections as an ally of Mamta ‘Di’, leader of the Trinamool Congress....
The Writer
The Writer [Illustration by Anup Singh] December 9: Stanley “Tookie” Williams is an American writer of children’s books. His books are cautionary tales, warning children to stay away from drugs, guns and gangs so common to certain sections of poor America. Williams has won wide acclaim and two literature prizes. But then Williams is no ordinary children’s writer. He is a four-time murderer on death row (waiting to be executed) in California’s San Quentin prison....
Holi in Fiji
March 19: Before it was Holi in India, phagua, as Holi is called by the Indo-Fijians, was already being celebrated. The Fiji Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, are six-and-a-half hours ahead of Indian time and the Indo-Fijians were already singing chautal, an oral tradition of celebration. For the community, memories of India go as far back as 120 years, when the first batch of Indians in colonial India, were taken to Fiji, also a British colony, as labour....
First Pope To Set Foot in Mosque
May 11: Pope John Paul II created history by setting foot in the Omayyad mosque in Damascus on his historic visit to Syria recently. He is the first Pope in Christianity’s 2000 year history to enter a mosque. First Pope To Set Foot in Mosque [Illustration by Shinod AP] And it isn’t just some ordinary mosque that the Pope stepped into, reports the Hindu newspaper. The site of the Omayyad mosque has a religious history predating Christianity, and goes back more than 3000 years....
The Night of the Women
The Night of the Women [Illustration by Shinod AP] March 19: A few days ago, the streets of Bogota, the capital of South American country Colombia, wore a very unusual look at night. Not one man was visible outside. Bogota’s eccentric mayor, Antanas Mockus, had declared March 9, 2001, as the Night of the Women. All the city’s men were ordered to stay indoors and leave the city free for women that night, says a Guardian News Service report in The Hindustan Times....
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....
Where Children Run Their Own Lives
September 9: Govindpuri, a sprawling slum settlement in New Delhi, spread over nine km, is like any other slum — a congested maze of narrow lanes, uncovered drains and tiny houses. But it is unique in one aspect. The children living there have come up with an unusual way to settle their problems. They have set up Bal Panchayats or local governing bodies that have child members only. “We started Bal Panchayat two and a half years ago to address our own problems....