I n the news
Pyaar ki jeet: Chetan Bhagat's new book
So, Chetan Bhagat steals the limelight yet again! This time he isn’t spending a night at the call centre or showing off at IIT (the things he did were certainly risky!). Instead, he uses the story of his own life as the plot of his new book. To be precise, 2 States is based on his marriage.  
 
O f women, for women

Widow Nandi and other stories

In Calcutta, it was Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who launched the campaign to remove the ban on widow remarriage. In the 1850s, he began, like other social reformers, by writing a pamphlet in Bengali showing that remarriage had the sanction of the shastras; he even debated the issue with Hindu priests in Sanskrit.  

 

Learning in the zenanas

Among the earliest women’s memoirs of the 19th century are stories of a passionate desire to learn to read. Rassundari Devi, born in 1809, taught herself to read by stealing precious moments from her housework and the responsibilities of caring for her 12 children. Later, she described her craving for knowledgearriage had the sanction of the shastras; he even debated the issue with Hindu priests in Sanskrit.  
 
 G ood ideas for a better world
Urban jungles of the green kind

I was at the entrance of the compound leading up to my house when I saw the most spectacular sight: a magnificent hooded cobra. It was a baby cobra fighting off a crow. This was not the first time I had come face to face with the wild in the busy polluted city of Pune; I have counted at least 54 different species of birds from my window, thanks to the surrounding trees and green areas.  
F ind out for yourself
What is Life Cycle Analysis?
When you buy and use a product, how do you know if it's good or bad? In a general sense, if it is useful, works well, and fulfils its purpose without costing you too much, you can say that the product's good. But now that caring about the environment is becoming important, judging whether something is ‘good' or ‘bad' goes beyond its usefulness  
S cience for everyday life

How much water do we really need?
 As temperatures continue to rise over the long summer months, so too do our thirst levels and we need to drink lots of water to avoid getting dehydrated. 
 A lternatives

Alternative energy
 We need energy for everything we do. For our bodies the energy comes from food. But for everything else, like the machines we depend on for our transport, communications, entertainment and health, we need to produce energy. 
One World

The ancient Silk Route
Alexander
Imagine a time when there were no airplanes, trains, telephones, or even electricity. Trade flourished even then. How did regions and communities network for various businesses? By trade routes, of course! The ancient Silk Route is the most famous of all land trade routes  
 E arth warriors
Johnny AppleseedWho is Johnny Appleseed?
The other day I was reading about retired people in a Mumbai suburb who protect their local trees from being cut. This led me to thinking about ordinary environmental heroes. People who are not doing some amazing scientific or technological feat, but merely looking after the environment in simple ways, making small differences that add up. 
 S torybook

The hunter’s regret
There have been a lot of stories in the papers recently about people who go hunting, often for animals that are protected. A few months ago it was the Nawab of Pataudi, former captain of India’s cricket team and father of Saif Ali Khan. Saif too has been arrested for hunting protected animals, and so have Sunjay Dutt and Salman Khan.

 D o It Yourself
Building a birdbath
If you carefully observe the aerial space around your house, you will notice that besides sparrows, crows, pigeons, mynahs and bulbuls there are scores of other species of colourful birds flitting about the trees, shrubs, bushes, antennae, cable wires, terraces and balconies. Although you are bound to see a larger variety in winter, summer is a good time to create a bird sanctuary in your garden, park, backyard, terrace or balcony, to attract and offer sanctuary to birds.  
 P oetry for change

When we think of poetry, we think of something that has to be learned by heart and recited. We think of a classroom and a teacher. Our poetry page lets you read poetry just for the fun of it – to enjoy the words, the rhymes, the ideas and the images that poems create in your head.

 
W hat people are talking about…

Greenhouse gases
 The need for countries all over the world to cut down on their greenhouse gas emissions is becoming more and more urgent. Almost every day there are news reports on these gases and the harm they are causing the world. The most interesting recent news has been that the American state of California is suing the world’s major car manufacturers for damaging the state by being major contributors to greenhouse gases.  
 E xpressions
Courage under fire
We jumped up as soon as the bell rang releasing us from the dreadful grip of studies. It was time to make our way to the National Institute for Speech and Hearing (NISH) for a show that was being put on by the hearing impaired.  
 

 G ood ideas for a better world
Bawris and johars: Rainwater harvesting in the old days
Our ancient religious texts and epics offer an insight into the water storage and conservation systems that prevailed in the days gone by. In ancient India, people believed that forests were the ‘mothers’ of rivers and worshipped the sources of these waterbodies.  

 T he trouble with…
Diamonds
Diwali and the gift-giving season may be over, but soon it will be Christmas. And the advertisements for various gift items will continue into that season.
 C hangemakers

Women’s voice
 Ruth Manorama recently won the Alternative Nobel Prize for 2006. But wait a minute. Who is Ruth Manorama? And is there such a thing as an ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’? 
 10  biggest environmental issues
1 Climate change/global warming
2 Air pollution
3 Water scarcity
4 Water pollution
5 Solid waste disposal
6 Population growth
7 Bio-diversity loss
8 Forest cover loss
9 POPs (including pesticides)
10 Soil degradation and desertification
 F ind out for yourself
Do animals have rights?
 With so much in the newspapers about rights, including tribal rights, water as a right, the right to information, it is sometimes difficult to figure out what a right is, where a right comes from and who gives out these rights. One interesting and practical way to understand the ideas behind rights is to try and figure out if animals have rights, and what difference it would make if they did.
 M essages from Little Earth
Never has the earth been at such risk - from man. Excerpts from The Little Earth Book by James
Bruges