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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

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