Around the world:
Bringing happiness to tsunami victims
Described as one of the deadliest disasters in human history, the
tsunami that devastated parts of South East Asia is now more than three
years old since this dreadful event overwhelmed us.
Those who suffered from it are still trying to get over it,
particularly the little ones in the 6 to 14 group. American Red Cross
which has been providing tsunami relief has stepped in to make the lives
of these young ones cheerier and happier.
80 children, both in Sri Lanka and Aceh, have been given disposable
cameras and told to take pictures of things that make them happy. These
amateur photographers did make mistakes like taking pictures upside down
or out of focus and some even showed 'an errant finger in front of the
lens.'
The general idea, however, explained a neuro-social programme
specialist working for the American Red Cross in Aceh is that, "Some
children lost after the tsunami their creativity and interest in normal
life. They are always remembering the day of the tsunami and everything
they lost. So we are trying to bring them out. If they keep it in their
minds, it will never come out." For instance, some of them are still too
afraid of the waves of the sea to visit the shore.
The net result of the campaign to take pictures of the things they
liked in their homes, their schools and in their environments resulted
in a deluge of pictures with a great variety of subjects. The result, it
is stated, is a glimpse of life just as it was before the tsunami - as
if there never had been a tsunami - people at work and at play, climbing
trees, tending goats. But in all of them, it is said, 'the horror of
that day hovers just below the sun-filled surface.'
Asian food for cosmonauts
Up until now a 156 astronauts from 15 countries, as well as five
'tourists', have set off from the International Space Station (ISS),
reports AFP from Moscow. Readers may wonder how these five 'tourists'
have got mixed up with the astronauts.
The AFP report doesn't say how they come to be there, one presumes,
though, that these are the over curious ones wanting to know how it
feels to fly through the cosmos and who are paying for this flight.
By now they must be knowing that flying through the cosmos is not
like flying through the air.
The main difference is in the taste of the food served on flight.
On the plane there is no difference from the food served as in a five
star hotel, but the food served to the cosmonauts is not something worth
writing home about. For one thing they come in aluminum tubes and little
plastic bags marked 'cabbage soup' and 'Russian mustard.'
You cannot really sit down to a meal as we do when on a plane flight
due to the restricted space in a space module.
Are these cosmonauts satisfied living on this airy fairy food?
Obviously not for they have been found, like Oliver Twist, asking for
more.
So when the South Korean female astronaut Yi So-Yeon joined the
latest astronautical flight the food she brought made headline news like
this: Astronauts Relish New Asian Space Foods.
What she had brought were the Korean specials like Cinnamon tea,
noodles and Kimchi a spicy dish that prompted the remark by the captain
of the astronaut team Sergei Volker - "Today we can choose the food we
want." But they still come in aluminum tubes and plastic packs.
The portable loo
A sign of the changes in the styles of living overcoming Indians
today as a result of its industrial development is the portable toilet
becoming the most precious gift in a marriage ceremony.
It has happened like this. City bred Indian girls are now reluctant
to wed boys from the country because the toilet facilities in village
homes don't reach up to city standards. "It has become a trend
nowadays", says the Times of India, "to buy portable toilets as gifts.
The demand is on the rise this season." A manufacturer speaking to
the Times said, "Already we have provided 2500 toilets in 200 villages
in Pune, Satara and Kolahapur. The toilets are priced between Rs. 7000
and Rs. 12000 depending on quality." What happens sometimes is that the
brides' families notice the state of the toilet facilities and decide to
install a portable loo.
No longer may dress or diamonds or luxury cars be the star attraction
in an Indian marriage ceremony; for these traditional highly prized good
have been outshone by a simple portable toilet.
Around this time the Japanese have also got the idea of manufacturing
portable toilets.
This time it is not for rural homes but for motor cars on the move.
Strange that the idea did not surface any earlier because the need of a
portable toilet has been felt by many a motorist or his passenger caught
in a traffic jam. Now that this invention has been made great relief
will be felt all over the motoring world at this mere thought. The loo
area in the motor car is to be curtained off, ensuring quiet and comfort
to the user.
Roving Eye |