The 'Recycled' School

Innovative ways of educating children in India. Good to see such things happen.

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A school in Pune is a model example of how to follow a greener lifestyle. It's not just teaching its students chapters on recycling, but setting an example.

With walls made of plastic bottles, cow dung plastering interiors, roofs of bamboos and straws and pipes for ventilators, the Aman Setu Primary School on the outskirts of Pune in Wagholi is a school literally made out of waste materials of all kinds.

Its aim is to create an eco-foundation for its children: A fundamental lesson in recycling and conservation.

All classrooms have been built using the Earth Bag Technique - sacks filled with a mix of the earth and waste products have been sealed and stacked up like conventional bricks, tied with barbed wire and plastered over with a mix of natural waste.

The roofs have been waterproofed with old hoardings.

"By creating a learning space like this, we are bringing children closer to nature. Not only is the structure kinder to the earth, aesthetically satisfying, cool and comfortable, it is also a dynamic learning space. It's a hands-on experience for the children to know Mother Nature," said Madhavi Kapoor, founder, Aman Setu.

Staying true to its belief, the students of Aman Setu Primary School are made to play in natural spaces instead of designed playgrounds so that they learn about the flora and fauna and how to live eco-friendly.

They are also taught how to turn organic waste into fertiliser and grow vegetables.

If schools are all about laying the right foundation, this place seems to have got it right. Just as we say, - you learn what you live - here the young minds are learning how to live with nature.

Source: www.ndtv.com, July 04, 2011

Monkey Marriage in India

Strange things happen in India. Here is one of them.

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The wedding of Raju and Chinki could put Bollywood to shame. The monkeys were married off in a hush hush ceremony by villagers in Rajasthan before the forest department could stop the 'wildlife crime'! The newly weds have now landed in a zoo.

The caretaker families of the two monkeys had planned an elaborate north Indian wedding for the two. Three-year-old groom, Raju, was to ride a horse from Banetha town in Tonk district, some 100 km from Jaipur, to bride Chinki's house in Talwas village in neighbouring Bundi district.

But the state's forest department clamped a ban on it, prohibiting the nuptial plans for the simians on the ground that it was a wildlife crime.

The dream of villagers were shattered - almost. Some over enthusiastic villagers took the monkeys into a nearby jungle and got them married secretly at 5 a.m. Wednesday. Before foresters could reach the venue, the deed was done. 'I attended the marriage. Almost all rituals were followed, including the seven rounds of the fire and the marriage vows,' a village told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Forest officials are not happy over the development. 'It is a kind of atrocity on the monkeys who were not even aware of what was happening to them. We had issued notices to the two families warning them against it,' a senior forest department officer told IANS.

A team of police and administration officials reached Talwas village, but by then Raju and Chinki were already a couple - in the nearby Antari Ka Jungle. 'The villagers took them to a nearby forest area and got them married,' said the officer.

Now the two monkeys have been 'rescued' and sent to a zoo in neighbouring Kota district. And that has saddened Raju's caretaker Ramesh who says he brought up the monkey like a son. 'We had made all the preparations. Marriage invitations had been sent to at least 200 people,' Ramesh said. He said he was surprised over forest department's 'diktat'. Ramesh claims he trained Raju with such perfection that he behaves like a human being.

'When I met Niranjan Pancholi, Chinki's caretaker, a few months back, I made the marriage proposal for them, which he happily accepted. We were planning to bring Chinki to our house in Banetha after the wedding,' said Ramesh.But the zoo is where the Raju and Chinki landed. 'My dreams are shattered,' said Ramesh.

Source: www.newdelhinews.net, 7th July 2011

Heights Of Superstition: Constable refuses to register theft, says he can't start day on bad note

This is heights. A Constable refusing to register theft, saying he can't start day on bad note. What is bad note in that? Does he want us to gift him something daily so that he can start his day on a good note. Such are the people in Indian Police Department.

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''Please come after 2pm. If we entertain a complaint of theft incident in the beginning of day, the whole day would be passed while handling such complaints.''

Amandeep Saini, 27, of Naraingarh was stunned to hear the response of a constable, when the former approached him for lodging a theft complaint of a cellphone at police post PGI on Thursday. The cellphone belongs to a serving Lt Col R K Saini, who was admitted in Nehru Hospital in PGI since July 3, and was stolen from his bed.

Amandeep, a distant relative of the Army officer, said he went to police post with a written complaint which was turned down by the constable. When he stressed that cellphone was costly and swift action of cops might trace it, constable asked him to come back in afternoon, Amandeep added. The cell phone was stolen between 5am and 5:30am from the bed of patient on Thursday.

Source: Times Of India, July 8, 2011