ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends Come August, every year, this nation of 1200 million, are looking forward for the 15th of the Month. Especially this year, 2011, this 15th falls on a Monday and surely there will be many planning a long week end. From 12th evening to the 15th evening, its 3 full days of weekend for those working for ESSO group of companies and organisation. For those, who are little confused about this ESSO, besides being an American Oil Company, it is also an acronym for Every Saturday Sunday Off. Thus, there will be thousands of families planning or have already planned to travel out of their routine place of residence. These families would be depriving their school going children to participate in the Independence Day Celebration in their respective schools, since this was the day 64 years ago, our colonial masters, the British, left the Indian shores for good, leaving us to fend for ourselves. Of course for those who witnessed the historic moment of our tricolour going up on the ramparts ...

IN QUEST FOR A NON-VIOLENT SOCIETY A social worker associated with school children, while talking regarding a handicapped child asked if we could help get some quality used children’s clothes for needy children in village school around her place. Agreeing to join hands with her, in her concerns, we wrote to five local schools, if the parents of children of those schools would come-forward to give away the ‘used but presently unused clothes of their wards’? Visiting one of the five schools, we were saddened to see 3 small children kneeling outside the headmistress’ chamber. They were undergoing punishment for some mischief. Another four grown up boys were waiting to be called in. As we were waiting outside, these four students were called to explain their share of wrong-doings and were all treated by the standard weapon of most teachers. The wooden foot-ruler sternly landed with a slap sound on their extended palm, by turn. Fear was writ large on their face and as they underwent their ...

GANG LEADER FOR A DAY The Hustler and the Hustled One sultry summer day not long after my fiasco with the hustlers, I attended the funeral of Catrina, Ms. Bailey’s dutiful assistant. On the printed announcement, her full name was rendered as Catrina Eugenia Washington. But I knew this was not her real name. Catrina had once told me that her father had sexually abused her when she was a teenager, so she ran away from home. She wound up living in Robert Taylor with a distant relative. She changed her name so her father wouldn’t find her and enrolled in a GED program at DuSable High School. She took a few part-time jobs to help pay for rent and groceries. She was also saving money to go to community college; she was trying to start over. I never did find out her real name. As a kid she had wanted to study math. But her father, she told me, said that higher education was impropriate for a young black woman. He advised her instead jus to get married and have children. Catrina had a l...

How to save an 800gm @ birth Swapna Majumdar Prematurely born, little Babu weighed just 800 grams at birth. Considering that over three-fourth of neonatal deaths occur among infants who are born with low birth weight - weighing less than 2.5 kilo at birth - and that the state of Bihar, his birthplace, sees about 250 neonates die everyday, his chances of survival were bleak. Neither his mother, Kajal Devi, a resident of Vaishali district, nor her family, thought he would make it. In fact, his case was a big challenge for Dr Martin Parvez and the team of nurses at the sick newborn care unit (SNCU) in Vaishali. Baby Babu, however, beat all the odds. Severely anemic, he had to be given blood transfusion twice, his body was too frail for the ventilator so he had to be given ambubag care with oxygen round the clock. In ambubag care self-reinflating bag is used during the resuscitation for artificial ventilation. Call him a regular little fighter or a miracle child, but Babu was lucky e...

IT’S THE MIND SET, STUPID! - Adv. D.K. Shetty Cases of state sponsored, covert or overt, Global terrorism is increasing alarmingly day-by-day. Unprecedented security measure has become top priority all over the world, especially in Western Countries. Nobody is spared however big and powerful one may be. Mutual suspicion and mutual distrust have grown so much that even left hand suspects the trustworthiness of right hand. When we look at the global scenario of security measure, no doubt, Muslims are the worst sufferers. When one member of the family is branded with charges of delinquency, entire family is looked upon with suspicion. Similarly, repeated indulgence of even small section of a particular community in criminal activities and terrorism are brought to the fore, the needle of suspicion unfortunately turns towards entire community. As responsible citizens and members of a decent society, it is our bounden duty to co-operate with the law enforcing authorities to do their jo...

Indian-origin led team makes mosquito cocktail London: Mosquito bites could soon become a fading memory, thanks to a chemical cocktail made by a team led by an Indian-origin scientist to buzz off the pesky insects. Scientists, fed by Anandasankar Ray of the University of California-Riverside, have concocted a gas that swamps the mosquito’s senses, making it impossible for them to sniff out human blood. The breakthrough could lead to new repellent lotions and sprays, as well as gadgets designed to keep mosquitoes away from humans, the journal Nature reports. The discovery would also help in providing protection against malaria, and other topical ills such as dengue and yellow fevers, according to the Daily Mail. Mosquitoes transmit deadly diseases to more than half a million people a year and cause millions of deaths around the world. Who says city students are better? Thane: Tribal students from the tribal taluks of Thane district including Shahapur, Murbad, Wada and Talasari o...

Man keeps hands off money for 22 years Beed (Maharashtra): Money is what drives the world so say people, but Babanrao Mhaske doesn’t believe in the dictum. The simple villager hasn’t touched currency for over 20 years as he thinks it is root of all evils. A farm labourer from Aadas village of Kaij Tehsil in Beed district, Mhaske took the oath 22 years back, something that he continues to follow till date. “After an incident that took place 22 years back, I realised that money is the only cause behind disputes. It was then that I decided not to touch money till I am alive,” said Mhaske, aged around 58. He said: “I avoid having tea and meals outside my house, as it would compel me to breach my commitment.” Interestingly, Mhaske’s landlord hands over his monthly salary straight to his family. Despite odds, he is committed to keeping his promise, which he has made to himself. “Come what may, but I would keep my promise till the last breath”. Woman in France marries dead fiancé! Lond...

Vivekananda: India’s need of the hour Dr. M. V. Kamath There is still one more year before the country can rightly celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of one of the most astounding men in India’s long cultural history but apparently such is the high respect and affection Swami Vivekananda commands among practically all sane segments of Indian society that he is very much in the news and talked about. By any account he was in a class by himself, blessed by none else than Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. He was born on 12 January 1863, just seven years after the so-called Sepoy Mutiny or India’s first War of independence. As he grew up, memories of the War must have remained fresh in every Indian patriot’s memory. Sri Ramakrishna, his guru-to-be, was born in 1836 and how Narendra Dutta (for that was his given name) came to know him and both got attached to each other in some mysterious way, is history. Narendra was a precocious boy. Romain Rolland, in his biography of this remarkable s...