Painting pill for migraine

If Van Gogh and Lewis Caroll could do it, why not you?

Five hundred and fifty confessed migraine sufferers participated in an art competition in the capital last month, trying to sketch their way to relief.

“The main idea of the competition was to tell migraine patients to draw inspiration from some of the greatest artists and authors in history who also suffered from migraine,” said Subhadarshini Singh, the producer and director of the event.

Several of the sketches depicted what an attack of migraine feels like — a drill boring through the brain or a hammer relentlessly striking the head.

One had a sufferer feebly smiling at people while silently enduring the pain.

Chandni Baheti from Mumbai won the first prize — a sum of Rs 51,000 — followed by Aboli Kadam, also from Mumbai, and Jyoti Dixit from Delhi.

Kill a rat, get cash

Mumbaikars now have a chance to make some quick money. All they have to do is kill a few rats!

To curb the growing rodent population in the city, the Bombay Municipal Corporation is doling out Rs 5 for every slain rat.

With an estimated nine crore rats in the metropolis — and the number is growing steadily — there’s Rs 45 crore to be made out of slaughter.

To claim the money, one should bring the rat’s body to the local ward office. If you’ve smashed the rodent beyond recognition with a stick or a stone, don’t worry. You don’t have to carry the mutilated carcass. Show the tail and you’ll be handed the cash.

But killing a rat is not as easy as it sounds.

Nearly 70 rat-catchers employed by the BMC move around the city every night. They have managed to trap only 12,329 rodents so far this year. And the number they’ve killed by placing poison near rat-holes is so negligible that the civic body hasn’t bothered doing a head-count, or rather, a tail-count.

Modern scent in madarsas

A bunch of girls can’t wait to get to class. Not a usual sight, you would say.

But at the Jamiah Khaulah Assalafiah madarsa, it’s the order of the day. For, the classes here are not just Quran lessons. A course in perfume-making, for instance, could set them on the road to a scented career.

Andhra Pradesh has drawn up a road map to modernise education in 1,500 madarsas run by the Wakf board.

The state government has provided computers to all of them with Urdu and English software.

Boys and girls are also being offered vocational courses. “This is an attempt to resolve their unemployment problems and also insure against their recruitment by agents of Islamic terrorism,” said state minorities minister Mohammed Fareeduddin.

Dino in park

The children of Chennai now have a new reason to cheer. A dinosaur will greet them at the gates of Guindy Children’s Park in the southern part of the city.

The forest department is pumping in Rs 20 lakh to give a new look to the park located in a reserve forest close to Raj Bhavan.

New pavements will be laid and a fountain will add to its beauty.

If Guindy is expected to draw young tourists for some fun and games, an eco park is being set up to educate them.

The Chennai corporation has begun work on the project along the Adyar Creek. The local administration department, headed by DMK youth wing leader M.K. Stalin, is planning to invest nearly Rs 100 crore in the park, officials said.

Mumbai: Feeling low? Need positive energy? Learn ancient breathing techniques, yogasanas and imbibe spiritual knowledge at an Art of Living course being organised by Vyakti Vikas Kendra till May 12.
The venue is on S.V. Road, Goregaon (West).
For details, call 9821049928 and 98675 50117.