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The Green Magician
July 1: Many children, all over the world, are working to protect the environment. While some are involved with school groups, others are busy spreading awareness in their neighbourhood. Fifteen-year-old Kruti Parekh is a bit different for she uses some rather fantastic methods in campaigning for the environment. This nature-loving teenager uses magic to promote environmental causes! Kruti also happens to be India’s youngest professional conjurer — a record she has held for the last five years....
Romance of Postage Stamps
In earlier days the stamps of British Guiana were printed by a British printer, Waterlow & Sons. In 1856, the stock of stamps was exhausted but a fresh supply had failed to arrive. So the postmaster hurriedly had 4-cent stamps printed locally using the existing designs, the seal of the colony – a ship and the motto ‘Damus Petimusque Vicis sim’ (We give and we seek in turn). These new stamps were printed on magenta paper in black ink but the quality was so poor that the postmaster, to prevent forgery, asked the postal officials to initial each stamp before selling it....
A school for budding politicians
August 1: The ‘Netagiri Vidyalaya’ (Leadership School) in Ranchi gives the impression of being one of those ‘dingy-lane’ institutes that spring up like mushrooms during rains. What could a school situated in such premises possibly teach its students, you wonder. Apparently a lot, says a report in the India Today magazine. As the name suggests, the recently opened school, the first of its kind in the country, aims to educate aspiring politicians. And the institute is sure to get a lot of ‘students’ for Ranchi is now the capital of the new state of Jharkhand, formerly a part of Bihar....
More fuel to the CNG fire
August 16: It’s a nightmare either way. Too little, and we have thousands of autorickshaws and bus drivers in Delhi waiting for their turn to fill their fuel tanks with the new eco-friendly CNG or Compressed Natural Gas. Too much, and we have the gas pipe of a bus bursting when a careless attendant over-filled a tank at the Bhikaji Cama Place mother station. On the other side, Petroleum Minister, Mr Ram Naik is now championing the cause of low-sulpher diesel, and more recently, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), which we use as cooking gas....
A Problem, Naturally!
April 4: On April 1 or Fool’s Day, India’s capital, New Delhi, wore a deserted look. There were no public vehicles on the road. According to a Supreme Court decision passed two years ago, they were required to run on compressed natural gas or CNG, to ease the terrible pollution levels in the city. For two years, two successive Delhi governments slept through the deadline, not bothering to create a system that would make the transition easy....
They Make you Swallow a Fish for a Herbal Cure
June 17: As the northwest monsoon strikes India in the first week of June, people from all parts of India, and abroad, make a beeline for Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. They all have one thing in common: they suffer from the disease of asthma and gather in Hyderabad for a unique herbal cure. The medicine is stuffed inside the mouth of a three-inch live murrel fish which the patient is made to swallow. Once inside the body, the fish releases the medicine....
Pushed to the Edge
December 27: Leslie Readwin of Britain is in India with a purpose. She wants to see the famous tigers of the Corbett National Park, which nestles at the foot of the Indian Himalayas. The 80 year old is very keen to meet the majestic cats in their natural surroundings. But she might have to return without seeing even one. The tiger is dying out at Corbett, a Park that was created with the very aim of preserving the region’s tigers....
Simputer: The Low-cost Computer
September 23: For all those who thought computers were expensive items and not in the list of “essential buys”, think again. A new computer is here, priced at an easily affordable Rs 9,000 (about $200)! And cheaper than a colour TV. Does that grab your attention? It is called Simputer. And it’s the answer to your prayers. As the name suggests, Simputer is not for the hitech geeks! It is a simple computer meant for those who think that a mouse is a small rodent and that a RAM is a male goat....
Indian Shooters Combat Racism
The Indian squad that just won the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in the UK, has brought back more than just 13 gold, six silver and eight bronze medals. They’re also carrying some bad memories. According to the Indian shooters, who included Jaspal Rana and Mansher Singh, the behaviour of their British hosts bordered on racism. In a report in The Hindustan Times, the Secretary General of the National Rifle Association of India, Baljit Sethi recalled the day when India won all four gold medals....
The Law versus the Dhoti
February 26: It took a 25-page judgement by a judge of the Rajasthan High Court, in the state capital Jaipur, for the dhoti‘s fortunes to rise. The traditional lower garment worn by men in India, can now be worn by practising lawyers to court. It all started with lawyer Ved Pal Shastri coming to court one day, wearing a dhoti, instead of the usual white trousers that every lawyer wears. His senior, Justice Rajaram Yadav, objected to the dhoti saying it went against notions of the prescribed dress code....