Sunita Williams-Woman Space Astronaut of Indian Origin.

image source: Google

Many of you must have heard of Sunita Williams. I had discussed about Sunita Williams in my previous post when she had returned after six months in space.

Sunita Williams is an Indian American astronaut and a United States Navy officer who holds the record for longest space flight by a woman.

Well she is in news again. She, along with Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, parachuted in Soyuz TMA-0sM capsule through dark, cloudy skies and touched down at 7:56am local time and landed on the snow covered steppe 52miles northeast of the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan.

The crew had spent 125 days abroad the International Space Station, a $100 billion research complex involving 15 countries and orbiting 250 miles above earth.

So what did Sunita and her crews do at the outer space for four months?

The crew conducted a number of experiments, including tests on radiation levels at the space station and research into the effects of melting glaciers and seasonal changes on Earth’s ecosystem. They also managed several visits to the space station by international and commercial spacecraft and conducted several space walks to maintain the station.

Sunita Williams visited India in September 2007 and went to her ancestral village Jhulasan in Gujarat. She was awarded the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vishwa Pratiba Award by the World Gujarati Society, the first person of India descent who was not an Indian citizen to be presented the award.

On October 2007, Sunita Williams spoke at American Embassy School and then met the Prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh.

She has expressed her desire to adopt a girl from Ahmedabad.

Pocket Pets

Many children like to keep pets, they are great companions. It is fun taking care of them, bathing them, feeding them and taking them out for a walk. They are stress busters. Some like dogs and some cats,  there are many who like to keep birds but the cutest of them all are the pocket pets.

Pocket pets are small rodents which can be carried in a pouch and kept in a cage, most of them are playful at night.

Pocket pets also called exotic pets. If you know how to take care of them, then they can be great companions.

You must have seen big rats in your building compound? Well these rats breed on garbage and solid waste. It’s not healthy to have them in the house because they can spread disease, eat electrical wires, and cause lot of damage in the house. These are wild rats.

But there is another breed of rats that can be tamed and domesticated. The significant difference is mainly in their coloring, while the wild rats are normally brown; the domesticated rats have different colors ranging from white to blue. They also have a longer lifespan because they are protected from predators and can be given a healthy diet of fruits and seeds, kept clean and given medical care when required. Rats fluff up their hair, hiss and squeal and move their tail around when defending their territory.

Fancy Rat 

Fancy rats come in a wide variety of colors and coat types and there exists several rat fancy groups worldwide. While some pet rats retain the agouti coloring of the wild brown rat (three tones on the same hair), others may be black based colors. Additionally, eye-color is considered a subset of coloring, and coat-color definitions often include standards for the eyes as many genes which control eye color will also affect the coat color. Color names can vary for more vague varieties, like lilac and fawn, while the interpretations of standards can fluctuate between (and even within) different countries or clubs

Sugar Glider

The sugar glider has asquirrel-like body with a long prehensile tail.  Males are larger than the females, and their length from the nose to the tip of the tail is about 24 to 30 cm (12–13 inches, the body itself is approx. 5–6 inches). A sugar glider has a thick, soft fur coat that is usually blue-grey; some have been known to be yellow, tan, or albino.  A black stripe is seen from its nose to midway of its back. Its belly, throat, and chest is of a cream color.

Gerbils

Gerbils are typically between sixand twelve inches (150 to 300 mm) long, including the tail which makes up approximately one half of their total length. One species, the Great Gerbil, originally native to Turkmenistan, can grow to more than 16 inches (400 mm). The average adult gerbil weighs approximately 2½ ounces.

Kangaroo Rats

Kangaroo rats are six-toed endotherms with large hind legs, small front legs and relatively large heads. Adults typically weigh between 70-170 g. The tails of kangaroo rats are longer than both their bodies and their heads. Another notable feature of kangaroo rats are their fur lined cheek pouches which are used for storing food. The coloration of kangaroo rats varies from cinnamon buff to dark gray, depending on the species.

Hamster

Hamsters are typicallystout-bodied, with tails shorter than body length, and have small, furry ears, short, stocky legs, and wide feet. They have thick, silky fur, which can be long or short, colored black, grey, honey, white, brown, yellow, red, or a mix, depending on the species.

Chinchilla

Chinchilla has a shortertail, a thicker neck and shoulders, and shorter ears.  Body length about 10-14 inches; tail is another 5-6 inches or so

Degu

The degu is a small rodent with a body length of 25.0 to 31.0 centimetres and a weight of 170 to 300 grams. It has yellow-brown fur above and creamy-yellow below, with yellow around the eyes and a paler band around the neck. It has a long, thin tail with a tufted black tip, dark sparsely-furred ears, and pale grey toes. Its fifth toe is small with a nail, rather than a claw, on the forefeet. Its hind feet are bristled. Its cheek teeth are shaped like figures-of-eight.

The Eagle Story

When it rains, most birds head for shelter; The eagle is the only bird that, in order to avoid the rain, starts flying above the cloud

Chug! chug! chug......Train Ride Through Dream Town

Koooooooo! 
 Koooooooo! 
 Chug! Chug! Chug! 
Chug a train 
Chug a train
 Noisy little chug a train 
Winding through the hills and trees 
Chug a train, take me please 
Oh! Please take me

 What fun it is to sing this song, holding the arm of your friends, forming a chain and moving like a train, up and down the obstacles in the path.

 Do you like to go travel by train, car or plane?

 Well, my all time favorite is to travel by train.

 I like to see the train chugging through the vast fields, I love to see the waterfall rolling down the hill during rainy season and most of all all I like the train stopping at lonely stations in the middle of the night and what I love the most is drinking tea in those clay cups and eating at all odd hours.

 Have you tried that?

 Have you travelled to Matheran by that little toy train that winds slowly through the hills, so slow that you can actually walk alongside by it?

This extremely lightweight (1.5 tonnes) railcar was used on the Neral-Matheran line on the Central Railways. Power to the wheels is transmitted by a chain, and the wheel arrangement is rather peculiar. (can you see that in the picture?) With a wooden body and a fuel tank capacity of 10 gallons, the car could seat 12 passengers. Like all other cars-on-rails, this one is provided with a hand brake as well.

I am specially fascinated by this car-train

  This 1925 model Austin, originally an automobile was made for running on road. It was later sold to scrap dealer. A railway employee brought this car from scrap dealer and restored it. However, he made few major changes to the car. He fitted rail wheels to the car and removed the steering. Thus began its journey as railcar. It was used for carrying inspection officials on track. It could carry six people. It is the only one of its kind in world still in running condition.

This crane tank you are likely to see at the railway workshops serving the dual purpose. As steam locomotives, they could be used as work shunter, moving vehicles within, and in and out or workshops. In their spare time, they could be used as cranes within the workshops, for lifting vehicles off their undercarriages etc.

Such machines were popularly known as 'crane tanks'. The engine is fitted with three cylinders: two to power the locomotive, and one for the crane.

"Sir Leslie Wilson" of the GIPR was one of the first electric locos to work in India. It was built in 1928 and was retired in 1974 as 'EF' class No.1-20027 The EF/1 class were later renamed class WCG1 and were all retired from service a few years ago.

The locomotives better known as 'Crocodiles' were built at the Metroplitan Vickers works and their mechanical portions came from the SLM, Winterthur.

This unique steam monorail was built in 1907. This unusual train is based on the "Ewing System", and connected Bassi with Sirhind (6 miles). This was designed by Col. Bowles. The unique train system consists of a track of single rail. See that? This mono track, the load-carrying wheel are run while one big iron wheel at other side to balance it and to keep the train upright. This train as built by Orenstein & Koppel of Berlin. This train ran till October 1927.

Fairy Queen'...the oldest preserved steam locomotive in the country is currently out on the mainline running the special tourist trains to Alwar and back!! The EIR loco was built by Kitson Thomson & Hewitson of Leeds, UK in the year 1855 and is still in operation today!! This loco weighs 26 tons and has a 2-2-2 wheel arrangement.

Many people consider ‘WP’ no 7200 as the best looking steam locomotive built anywhere in the world, which was built in the year 1947 and spent its entire working life on the Central Railways! Built by Baldwin this loco retired in May 1987. It weighed 103 tons and had a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement.

'Decauville' was a WG Bagnall built steam locomotive and worked on the Decauville Railway in the North West Frontier. Built in 1902 this loco weighed 15 tons and had a 2-4-2 ST wheel arrangement

One of the more recent additions to the National Railway Museum is the 'WL' class of locomotive. Built by the Vulcan Foundry in 1955, this loco worked on SR before being sent to the NR and still bears its Ferozpur shed markings on it!

An engine of 1950, Vulcan Foundry built 'HPS' class No.24467 that stands with a GIPR saloon on the grounds of the National Railway Museum. The loco first worked on the EIR and retired on the NR. Weighing 75 tons it had a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement.

Loco featured is an Ajmer Workshops built, 'F' class No.734 of the Rajputana Malwa Railway (RMR). This metre gauge loco was built in 1895 and was one of the first locos ever to be built in India. It had a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement and weighed 38 tons.

There are some engines which are fireless steam locomotive, that is similar to a conventional steam locomotive, but has a reservoir, known as a steam accumulator, instead of a boiler. This reservoir is partly filled with water and charged with steam from a stationary boiler. The locomotive can then work on the stored steam until the pressure has dropped to a minimum level, after which it must be recharged.European fireless steam locomotives usually have the cylinders at the back, while American ones often have the cylinders at the front, as in a conventional locomotive.

Over the years a great variety of engine have been made and if you are in Delhi you might want to visit the National Railway Museum which is spread over 10 acres of land. The museum has a wide and varied collection of rare and antique steam locomotives, carriages, saloons and other railway artifacts. It has both live exhibits as well as working/non-working models in its indoor gallery.

 The museum also runs a toy train around its grounds on regular days. On some days the Old Patiala State Steam Monorail is steamed up and runs on its track around the museum.

 Okay lets sing the song again......

  Koooooooo! Koooooooo! 
 Chug! Chug! Chug! 
Chug a train 
Chug a train 
Noisy little chug a train 
Winding through the hills and trees 
Chug a train, take me please 
Oh! Please take me

 Toy train at Baroda source

The Elephant and the Doggy

Source

The elephant and doggy were walking sadly, both lost, confused and in tears

Said the elephant to the doggy, “My eye-sight is poor; one sharp twig has poked me, for few days my friend, I may not be able to see well, will you lead me across to the seas?”

“Agreed” said doggy, and held on to the elephant’s trunk and together, they walked with glee, the doggy hopped and jumped and ran very fast then came back to hold on to elephant’s knee.

They walked for long, the elephant and doggy till they reached a green banana tree

“I am hungry” said the doggy “look up there, dear elephant; will you pluck one banana for me?”

“Yes of course, if you be my friend, I fetch it all for free" Then smiled at doggy and stretched his trunk to reach up high onto the tree.

He plucked out bananas one by one, and counted “one, two, three”

The doggy jumped and happily grabbed and repeated, “one, two three.”

“One, two, three, one, two, three” they chanted loudly as doggy ran round and round, all around the tree.

“Thank-you my friend, I love this song, but pray, tell me what is this ‘one, two three’? asked doggy of his friend elephant as he huffed and puffed, then happily leaned against the tree.

“One is when I plucked first one, two is for the second one, add one more and count together, it becomes number three, you see?”

“One, two, three, one, two, three” they chanted loudly as doggy held on to elephant's trunk and together they ran around the tree.

“One, two, three, one two three,” jumping, hopping sang the elephant and doggy. Singing, chanting, dancing, walking, together they finally reached by the sea

The doggy barked and yelped and groaned, then rolled down to play on the sand. The elephant was amused; he sat down too and rolled down just like his friend. Tired from too much walking, playing, they stretched out to hold each other’s hand. Doggy and elephant both sat down to rest, and discovered that they had become the best of friends

Written for children’s literature ‘Short Story Slam Week 6

"Chal chal chal mere Haati, oh mere saathi" campaign

In Mumbai city, you must have seen elephants walking on the street, have you?

Picture Source

But imagine if they become the endangered species like so many other animals, Tiger for instance. We need to protect them so that they don’t become extinct. We want them to live forever and forever. Right? Then we need to take care of them and learn to make friendship with them. Elephants are very friendly and they can remember the kindness for a long, long time.

But unfortunately, many times elephants are poached for their ivory. The number of elephants is diminishing because their habitat is destroyed by industries and redevelopment. We need to be aware of their needs and must make sure that they don’t disappear.

Have you seen the film ‘Haati Meri Saati? This was a cute film about the friendship between human and elephant

And now Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh has launched the 'Haathi Mere Saathi' campaign as part of an initiative to boost the protection and the welfare of India's endangered elephants. "This initiative is aimed at increasing awareness among people and developing not just friendship but also companionship between people and elephants," he said.

The mascot, logo and website (www.haathimeresaathi.org) of the campaign were also unveiled

"The country's national heritage animal needs its people and the idea behind the campaign is to mobilise this support," said Vivek Menon, executive director of WTI and a member of the task force.

source for cartoon pics here and here

picture source

A Scary Fairy Tale

Sometime, somewhere there were a King and Queen who had no children. They were very sad because of that. That is because they did not observe people who had children. If they had observed, they would not have wanted children.

One day a Witch came to the Palace and said that she could help the King and Queen have children. The Witch called for a large cauldron, and told the King to fetch her the following things:-

1.Puppy-dog tails – 1 doz.
2.Snips – 1 lb.
3.Snails – 2 doz.

When he had them brought, she mixed them up in the cauldron, along with mushroom and onion sauce. When it was done, she took a spoonful and daubed it on the King's head. She took another spoonful and daubed it on the Queen's head. She called for others to be daubed with the potion if they wanted children, but they all declined, very politely. Then she told the King that she would claim her payment when the right time came, and he must give her whatever she asked for. Then she flew off on her broomstick.

*

Twin boys were born to the King and Queen, though they smelled faintly of mushrooms and onions. There was great rejoicing throughout the kingdom, and the King ordered a great Feast. A special messenger was sent to invite the Witch. She had left them her address.

The day of the Feast came, and everyone including the Witch lined up to see and bless the babies (she was a well-behaved witch). By the time her turn came, the King was already fretting and fuming. He politely asked her (you must always be polite to a witch, even if you are a king),
“Dear granny, now everyone is going to know my sons smell of mushroom and onions, no matter what we do.”
She replied, very politely (you must always be polite to a king, even if you are a witch), “Well, be thankful. There is a lot worse they could have smelled of.”

Then the Witch flew, but not before she reminded the King of his promise.

*

The Princes grew up into strapping young lads. What they strapped to what, I cannot say. I probably should not, either.

One day, the Queen called them to her parlour (but she did not offer them any bread and honey. She didn't have to. They never ate any.) and told them that it was time that they set off to find brides for themselves. They went to the King, who was counting his money. He told them to be off and not ask him for any money because they were good at nothing.

So one Prince set off to the West, and the other set off to the East.

*

The one who went West had to hitch rides all the way, but he did not worry as he had his towel with him. People give you rides if you know where your towel was. But when night fell, he found himself stranded in a dense forest, full of thorny trees. And then he saw seven dwarves walk by him.

*

The one who went East also had his towel with him. He hitchhiked his way till he found a great hedge of thorny bushes that stretched from North to South blocking his way. And what a strange thing, the moment he tried to enter the hedge (don't ask me why he did that. He just did that.), voila! The hedge parted, and the thorns turned to roses.

*

One day the King stepped out on his balcony, and what did he see?

From the East came a taxi, and from it got off his son and a very beautiful woman. He yelled out, “Dad! Please pay the taxi off and come and meet my bride!”

From the West came another taxi, and from it got of the other son, with another equally pretty lady. He too called out, “Dad! Pay my taxi off too and come and meet my bride!”

The King and Queen rushed out. What a happy rejoicing it was!

The Queen held the first girl's cheeks between her thumb and index fingers, and counted all her teeth. When she was satisfied, she asked, “So how did my son woo you?”
“The girl, whose name was Snow White, said, “Well, like, I was kinda sleeping in a, you know, like a glass coffin like, and then this guy comes along, like, and you know, he kinda like, he kinda like kisses me just like that, and I wake up like, and, and...”
“And what?” asked the Queen.
“And then you know, I get these funny smells, kinda like, you know, faintly like onions, and, and, mushrooms. Kinda weird. And then I see there's this piece of apple, you know, in his hand, and he kinda says he got it off my mouth.”
“An apple?” the Queen shrieked. “Apples = carbs. Eee!”

The Queen recovered and gripped the other girl the same way. Her name was Sleeping Beauty. When she was satisfied about her pearly white teeth (it is always important to brush your teeth, especially when you have to sleep for a hundred years), she asked her her story.

She curtsied, “Well, Your Highness, I was destined to fall asleep for a hundred years when I pricked myself on a spindle.”
“What's a spindle?” asked the Queen.
“Oh, Your Highness, it is something they used to spin with in our times.”
“Oh! Get on with your story.”
“Yes, Your Highness. As destined, I pricked myself on the appointed day and fell into a long sleep. A hundred years later, the spell was broken by my beloved Prince.”
“I knew he'd do that. He's always breaking things. How did he break it?”
The princess blushed. Coyly, she said, “He kissed me. When I awoke, what do I behold, but a handsome prince, attired very strangely, and with the most intoxicating fragrance.”
“Mushrooms and onions?”, asked the queen, suspiciously.
“I like mushrooms and onions.”
“So what happened next?”
“I realised what had happened, and I fainted right away. I was a hundred years behind fashion!”

*
The King and Queen called for a great Wedding Feast to be organised, to which they invited everyone in their country, the kings and queens of the neighbouring countries, and the Witch.

In the middle of the Wedding Feast, the Witch

turned to the and said, “I shall claim the price for my servi

ces, now, King!”
“Yes, Madam. Your wish is my command. What is it you wish for?”
“I could wish you would not use clichés, but...”
She pointed to Snow White. “I want the piece of apple that poisoned her.”
Snow White came forward, knelt and handed over the piece of apple.

Then the Witch pointed to the princess, who now being called Sleeping Beauty. “I want the spindle that pricked her.” Sleeping Beauty came forward, knelt and handed over the spindle.

The Witch flew off, and was never seen again.

*

After the day of the Wedding Feast, the Princesses began to squabble with each other. They squabbled in the Queen's parlour and spilled her bread and honey, they squabbled in the King's counting house and put him off his counting, they squabbled in the maid's garden and messed up all the clothes on the line.

They squabbled over who had slept the longer. Sleeping Beauty said she had slept a hundred years, Snow White said she did not know how long she slept, but it was certainly more than a hundred years.

In a huff, they went to their bedchambers and each lay down to sleep. They slept, each for six hours, before they woke up and found they were even. They went to sleep again, and slept for eight hours each. They tried again, and again, but without their magic charms, they could never sleep more than a dozen hours.

But they remained very youthful and beautiful looking because of all that sleep, while their husbands grew older, and developed paunches and became grumpier than ever. And the King and Queen wished they never had children.

posted by Ozymandias