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Imagine over six thousand microscopes, each with a lens. Now imagine a bee's eye. The eye has 6300 lenses too!
Did you know that elaphant's teeth can weigh as much as nine pounds each? Amazing!
Do you have foxgloves in your garden?
The flowers look just like little hats, don't they? And it used to be believed that fairies wore the bell-shaped flowers as hats - they are just the right size.
Long ago, it was believed that a 'Puffin' was a fish as well as a bird. People thought it was born from rotting piece of wood floating in the sea, instead of hatching out from an egg as we know it does today.
Twice in the blue moon!
Remember the saying 'Once in a blue moon?' A 'blue moon' is the name given to the second full moon within the same month. A full moon normally appears twice a month every two-and-a-half year but only in 19 years does it occur in two months of the same calendar year. R. Subramaniam, Director of the Madhya Pradesh Birla Planetarium, announced that the moon had lit up the last night of Jan.1999 after appearing on the first night of the same month marking a once-in-a-19-year happening. The same phenomenon took place once again on March 1 and 31, 1999, marking a rare celestial event of two blue moons in a calendar year after a gap of 19 years.
Tick It!
It is clocks that make Patit Paban Dutta of Calcutta tick-literally! He has been tending the clock towers of Calcutta for more that half-a-century. Starting as an apprentice under his father at the age of 16, Dutta is still able to climb up a flight of 108 stairs to check the clock a top St. Paul's Cathdral every week and wind it with the help of 5-kg iron crank. It was one of his forefathers who had set up the famous clock towers of Calcutta way back in 19th century. Assisted by son Subir, Dutta also looks after other clock towers in the city and in suburbs like Bandel and Hooghly. In fact it was Subir who had repaired the clock at the Golden Temple at Amritsar.
Guardian angle
Though Ashis was born in an affluent family in Calcutta, the slums just across the street made him aware from an early age of appalling lack of access to medical care. People in these slums 'dropped dead like flies.' That decided his life's mission. While in his teens Ashis started a door-to-door collection drive, picking up medicines from neighbours and distributing them amongst those who couldn't afford them. His 'Medical Bank' began with 100 homes in 1980. Today his health service picks up medicine samples from over 500 doctors in the city and runs a free outdoor service with 25 doctors treating a hundred patients each day. The bank has 50 donors on its rolls, each of which bears the cost of treatment of one patient. It has also signed up 1,000 locals, each of whom buys a pair of spectacles for patients who need them. Ashis also organizes monthly health camps for slum and street children. Ashis' example shows that if you are concerned, you can show it!
Call this a prison?
Adarsh Karagar located on the outskirts of Lucknow is a unique prison. The convicts in this jail are permitted to move about freely. They also earn their living. Some have laundries, other run barber shops while some have formed a musical band which is in great demand at functions. They queue up each morning before leaving for their chosen work but have to return by sundown. But of course Adarsh Karagar is not for all and sundry. It is only meant for 'star prisoners' with exemplary records who are between 21 and 40 years, physically fit and have strong family ties. The Karagar also has an open village with 50 acres of land for cooperative farming. The main aim of this jail is to reform the convicts by providing financial and emotional security.
Who needs sight when you have vision?
Kishor Bhattacharya of Guwahatti, a postgraduate in History, set up an NGO called Dristidan for the welfare of the blind to bridge the gulf between visually challenged and those with sight. As a first step he has opened an extensive Braille library to provide easy access to books and journals. "My simple aim is to give the blind the confidence to survive in this world," says Kishor, who is visually handicapped himself. Next step? A shelter for homeless blind in the North-east. |
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