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CBSE kids can rejoice.

TED talk by Ashraf Ghani

A very interesting talk by Ashraf Ghani, currently in race to be Aghanistan's next President.

How exactly does this help??

People stand in queue for swine flu check up outside a hospital in Pune.
(A picture from the Indian Express)

Aai mala pan fugaaaa

Kasab's desire to have someone tie him a rakhi as reported by the ToI makes him sound like a child who wants something colorful and shiny that the others have.

"He expressed his desire after he saw several people in court sporting colourful 'rakhis' during the day's proceedings," his government-appointed lawyer S.G. Abbas Kazmi told mediapersons."

Clothelines in the US

Having heard stories of warnings by apartment landlords for hanging clothes to dry in the open, clothesline spotting has become one of my favorite pass-times. My husband never seems to see any, though as the passenger I have spotted quite a few on county roads. When I was new to this country it seemed absurd that people would spend so much time, money and energy drying clothes in a steam dryer that reduces garment life. I took it as one of those things that 'Americans do'. So now this story (and the comments that follow) in NYT only makes me laugh in disbelief.

Poor pedestrians

Why does Vivek Moorthy generalize that pedestrians are "poor and illiterate" and so "cannot take legal recourse?" Though the number of vehicles on Indian roads has increased dramatically it does not mean that only the poor walk. Educated, middle class Indians also walk on the same roads and have to face the same hazardous conditions. It seems like he got carried away by his idea of the "walking class" and could not resist attributing an income level to it. I appreciate and support his appeal for better urban planning with safe walking conditions. But making pedestrians seem like some poor and illiterate beings unable to stand up for themselves just kills the piece for me.