236 items in this section. Displaying page 21 of 24
Little Gyatsu Goes To School
As the sun rises over the hills, the birds start chirping. Nine-year-old Gyatsu knows that it is time to go to school. All his friends in the village go to school too. In no time a small army of rosy-cheeked children can be seen hurrying through the streets and up the hills, to the local primary school. The birds keep them company throughout the way. Little Gyatsu lives in a hill village called Drutlang. It is close to Aizawl, which is the capital of Mizoram state, in the north-eastern part of India....
Report cards
October 21: The two news reports appeared almost at once and said a lot about the state of affairs in education in the world. One was the announcement of a whopping US$210 billion Gates Scholarship set up at England’s prestigious Cambridge University by the richest man on earth, Microsoft boss Bill Gates. The scholarship fund will enable 225 youngsters from across the world to be Gates Cambridge Scholars every year, beginning 2001. Report cards [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] Graduate students from every country in the world, barring the United Kingdom, would be eligible to apply....
Somdev Devvarman Shines at Davis Cup Matches
Where: Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei March 8, 2009 : India’s top tennis singles player Somdev Devvarman beat world number 59 Lu Yen-Hsun from Chinese Taipei in the second round Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I fixture. Devvarman made short work of his opponent, defeating him in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. The victory took India to the third and final round of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I competition, defeating Chinese Taipei 3-2. On Saturday, India had won the doubles match against Chinese Taipei with Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi defeating Yang and Chu-Huan Yi....
Couch pet-atoes
Where: Lucknow, India July 18, 2007: First it was kids. Now, it’s the dogs. Middle class families across India are plagued by obesity. In other words, from the master to his pooch, everyone is fat, and very likely sick. According to a report in The Times of India, doctors at the Government Veterinary Hospital (GVH) in Lucknow estimate that nearly one in every three pet dogs in the city is falling sick because of the kind of lives their owners lead....
All for One
February 26: What happens when someone in authority takes advantage of the position that he is in, to harass someone weaker? In India, more often than not, the victim ends up doing nothing about it. Why not? Fear forces him or her to keep quiet. But not everyone believes in living up to the image of the powerless Indian. And when that ‘someone’ turns out to be an entire village, generally thought to be unchanging, it demands our attention....
The Empowered Woman of Nyala
September 23: For someone who has never travelled beyond the village, a trip to New York is something to be excited about. And it’s no different for Shakuntala Bai, of Nyala, in Rajasthan. She attended a two-day conference in New York organised by the Hunger Project and in the process met US President Bill Clinton too! Representing India, she spoke on “panchayati raj and the role of women”. The Hunger Project is a movement working to end hunger and poverty in India....
Army Comes to the Aid of Birds
October 14: Harike sanctuary, a large wetland in India’s Punjab district, has just undergone a massive clean-up operation. The sprucing-up of a large part of the sanctuary has been done to welcome a special group of tourists who had stopped coming to the sanctuary because it had stopped being hospitable. These tourists used to come all the way from Siberia, China, Central Asia and Ladakh to escape the harsh winter months. They were migratory birds like the cotton teal and common pochard, says a report in ‘The Indian Express’....
Say Cheese!
My nephew was six when he received the first whiff of a peachy odour, later identified to him as Parmesan cheese. A gift from a “foreign returned” relative, the cheese by the time it came home had got slightly rancid. But all the same, he gobbled it up with relish. There was never a dull moment thereafter and he started ferreting out large chunks of cheese and butter from sundry fridges without as much as a whey and what-for....
Learn while Playing!
Learn while Playing! [] | Done with the exams and looking for a break? How about trying a few mental calisthenics (gym exercises to tone up the body) that will keep your grey cells active during the summer vacations? The books reviewed below help you do just that. At the same time, they don’t tire you out. The Unbelievably Creative Me A Workbook Written by Karle Dickerson and Connie Berg...
The Chief Minister and the Butterfly
Where: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India July 1, 2000: Indian politicians are mighty people, especially when they are in power. Even Nature trembles before their arrogant minds. Some years ago, when India was ruled by a Congress-I government, its environment minister decided to build a guest house in Manali. Why not, you may ask. It’s a nice place. But there was one small problem – he wanted to have the course of a river changed so that he could have his guesthouse exactly where he wanted it....