435 items in this section. Displaying page 42 of 44
Orissa Police's Feathered Force is Dying
July 1: The news is that a mysterious disease has killed 35 valuable members of the Orissa’s police service. They are all pigeons. The first of the deaths took place in March in Puri district. Twenty-four more pigeons died soon after, in Cuttack district. They experienced long drowsy spells before dying. The veterinary doctors who examined them said that the mysterious disease could be just the sweltering heat. Pigeons? In this day and age? Yes, Orissa is the only state in India whose police force still employs pigeons as message carriers....
The Eyes of a Child Soldier
Where: Sierra Leone, Africa August 5, 2000: A child is recognised everywhere as a symbol of innocence. Those who fight wars know this fact. And the more brutal among them use this knowledge to do the most terrible thing. They force children to fight the wars that they have started. This is what the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) does in the West African country of Sierra Leone. The title of the group suggests that it is performing heroic acts....
War Memorial for Child Soldiers
Where: New York, USA September 23, 2000: “Everyone was dying. You saw the legs or hands of your friends lying in front of you. It was so horrifying, you couldn’t make sense of it. It was hell… Boys lay on the ground for three or four days without being buried. We were fighting around their corpses.” This is how Rashid, an Ethiopian high school student, described his experience of fighting on the Badme front in 1999....
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....
The Truth about Eels
Where: Florida, USA October 16, 2000: The recent emergence of a large number of unfamiliar eels in the waters off the coast of Florida in South-east America, is causing worry to local ecologists there. They fear that the new arrivals, eels of Asian origin, will disturb the food chain of the region with their voracious appetites. What exactly are eels ? They are slippery serpent-like fish, inhabiting shallow coastal waters throughout the world. They are fairly common in the freshwaters of eastern and south-eastern America....
Flying Granny, Courageous Climber
Where: Worldwide June 24, 2000 : British grandma Jennifer Murray turned 60 in Calcutta some days ago. But she is no ordinary grandmother. In 1997, she entered the Guinness Book of World Records by becoming the first woman to pilot a helicopter around the world. And now she is determined to become the first solo woman to circumnavigate the world in a helicopter. She was in Calcutta for a brief halt in the journey. Grandma Murray is doing it for a cause....
Toilet Matters
Where: New Delhi, India August 3, 2000 : As a kid, I had a big problem going out. I hated the thought of travel. It’s not that I was a stay-at-home type. I liked visiting people, places. But travel I hated. For, in the midst of a particularly long journey, I would desperately want to go to the toilet. My parents would ask me to hold on, as there were no suitable public toilets for girls....
Conquering Britain!
Where: Birmingham, UK November 25, 2000: A few weeks ago, we wrote about Indian-born Roshan Doug, who has been selected as the poet-laureate for the city of Birmingham in Britain. Close on the heels of that news comes another: Birmingham councillors will be giving an Indian name to a few suburbs in the city. Birmingham’s Apna Town Apna Town (our town) will be the new name for Sparbrook, a group of suburbs in Birmingham city. So this Christmas, if you drive past the Midlands (160 km north of London) you can see the Apna Town signage in English, Hindi, Gurmukhi and Urdu....
Old PCs Save Precious Lives
Where: Chicago, USA July 1, 2000: Computers and Internet connections are not for the rich alone. Even the poor should be able to use it, says Zina Munoz. Zina works as a nurse in Chicago. But Zina is not merely a nurse. She is also one of the people behind an Internet revolution in half a dozen countries across the world. The idea came to her during a medical conference in Dallas four years ago. Americans keep throwing away old models of computers for newer and faster computers even though the old ones are working fine....
Humble Rickshaw Gets a Face-lift
Where: New Delhi, India July 15, 2000: This inauguration did not make the media go crazy with their cameras and flashbulbs. There were no pop stars or actors either. Delhi’s Chief Minister, Sheila Dixit was present when 20 rickshaws quietly got on to the roads. The sleek, colourful cycle-rickshaw is designed to give comfort to the driver as well as the passenger. They are easy to pedal and comfortable to ride. Humble Rickshaw Gets a Face-lift [Illustration by Shiju George] The cycle-rickshaw has a new gear system, which reduces the amount of pedalling needed....