As The River Flows

It was March 2017. I opened the inbox of my email and found an invitation. " We invite you to an International Storytelling Festival in the continent of Africa ? Would you be interested?" I was naturally excited to travel so far away to listen, share and exchange stories. There were on and off exchanges with the Professor coordinating the project. With the undulating updates about the funds, the entire project would be called off it seemed. Hmmm… My family was also waiting for the confirmation email but when it came, we had reasons to be happy and sad. The date of departure from Hyderabad changed in the last minute from Sep 3rd to Sep 2nd. I had to leave on Sep 2nd morning around 3 am which meant I had to leave home by Sep 1st night. It is the birthday of my younger son and we were both not looking forward to my absence. But we had also been waiting for this email. As I was sadding and happying, my dear friend Pushpa called and I promptly poured out my problem....

        Storytelling in the language classroom Deepa Kiran                                ELTAI  2014 “There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” —Ursula K. LeGuin Story of The sparrow and the banyan tree Once upon a time there was a beautiful lush green forest which was the home to a variety of animals. The animals lived in the forest peacefully enjoying the lovely food and shelter it provided them. The big banyan tree right in the middle of the forest housed many nests and was the most popular shade for the animals and insects. One hot summer afternoon two travelers passing through the forest lit a small fire to cook their food and as they left they forgot to put off the fire. In a while the wind carried splinters into the air and onto the dry branches of the trees. Seconds later the branch...

            Depleting natural resources and degradation of the environment is a primary contemporary preoccupation of environmentalists today. Air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, ozone depletion, green house effect are issues we are familiar with.  A relatively new concern is that of Light pollution. For the past few years environmentalists have been researching on the harmful effects of light pollution. This is a phenomenon now fairly common in the cities of developed nations of the world. Changing lifestyles, shifts in workplace demands of both customers and retailers, are some of the reasons that have led to the presence of a fairly active night life which consequently poses demands on artificial light requirements. This is the primary cause for Light Pollution. How and when does Light Pollution occur?             When excessive artificial lighting enters the ...

                                     Everyday actions are increasingly being handled electronically, rather than through the use of pen, paper or face-to-face interaction. The technique of studying and electronically capturing the physical characteristics of a person is called Biometrics. The physical characteristics studied may include finger prints, hand geometry, eye-structure or voice pattern. Biometrics involves using these physical characteristics as a password or a form of identification. The need for biometrics can be found in the central, state and local governments as well as in the military. With rapid growth in electronic commercial transactions there is a great demand for fast and accurate user identification. There are broadly three different types of user identification: 1) Something the user knows – A password, a PIN (personal identification number), or a piece ...