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Umbrella Yaga to bag Yagna!

July 2, 2011

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After giving 81 umbrellas to the students of the Gandhi Nagar Primary school to 'induce the rain gods' to give rain which succeeded as it has been raining cats and dogs in Mangalore, we decided to conduct one more of such by giving bags to those of the students who did not have them. Not just any ordinary bags but those with slogans on them to make them think.

There were about 68 students needing them and were handed over those bags on Saturday, July 2 at a small function with a small treat thrown in!

However, we just could not resist bringing a bit of scientific temper into the proceedings! We asked the children whether giving them umbrellas had started the rains!

One boy replied it rained only on the next day. Then I asked him whether the rain was due to them being given umbrellas and there was a chorus of 'no's! Then came a bed of nails with really sharp ones on a plank. It was shown around and the students felt it.

All agreed that the nails were really sharp. Then came the question: who is going to stand on it? As there were no volunteers, we asked the teachers who were the most mischievous boy and girl in the school. They were named, summoned and 'punished' by asking them stand on the bed of nails! They however were smiling!

When we asked them why they said it is not paining at all! The children were surprised and one of them explained why the nails were not piercing the skin. He said because of the large number of nails who were at the same level the weight of person standing gets equally distributed on a number of points!

A point was made about rational thinking and its need.

We also explained the slogans screen printed on the bags- they were two- Hands that help are better than lips that pray. When we asked them the meaning they said they do not know!

Then it was explained to them how it is so. We gave them the example of a person who has slipped and fallen - no amount of prayers can help him to stand and only a hand given to help.

Then we asked them whether they understood the second slogan which said develop rational thinking for the progress of the nation. The answer was again no. It was explained to them how scientific temper helps the country to progress by proper utilisation of resources. It was also explained to them as to why all of them were not given bags or umbrellas.

The teachers had taken care to inspect their bags to see which of them had none and the same was applicable to the umbrellas too. But, we told them that we love them all equally and that the note books given by us at the beginning of the year and the treat following was for all because all of them needed these things.

The funds for these activities have come from a number of individual rationalists who wanted to help children without any rings attached. We do not ask them to sing praises of baba or pray to gods or sing apesn to our diety. We don't force them to say any slogans but we request them only one thing- think before you believe.

We have not put the names of any of the organisations or the donors because we want to make the children happy and help them to the extent possible.


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BG

*The writer is the president of Federation of Indian rationalist Associations

The umbrella yaga

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News Network
July 12,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 12: The Expert Committee set up by the District authorities to inquire into death due to Covid-19 in Dakshina Kannada district declared that the death was due to patients late reporting to the hospitals and severe co-morbidities.

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News Network
March 30,2020

Mangaluru Mar 30: The Mangaluru South Police has registered a criminal case against a man over a 'derogatory post' against the district administration. According to DC Sindhu B Rupesh, the man identified as Melwyn Pinto had sent a derogatory message on WhatsApp.

She warned on taking stringent action against miscreants who are spreading false information and rumours about district administration under DM Act provisions.

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News Network
July 2,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 2: Mangaluru BJP Corporator Manohar Shetty, who entered a manhole to clean a drain, said that he did it to avoid waterlogging ahead of monsoon as people were facing several problems for the past few years.

"In my ward, there is a rainwater drain at Kadri Kambla junction and for the past few years, there was a waterlogging problem due to trash water used to collect and vehicles used to find it difficult to pass in that area," Shetty said.

"Since there was a lot of trash it had to be cleared to avoid waterlogging. We changed our dresses, and then I along with my three party workers entered manhole and cleared the trash," he said.

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