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- INDIA
Arif Khan, the bird lover from district Amethi in Uttar Pradesh (UP) was in the news early this year for befriending a stork. Khan now lives with a hawk.
He found the hawk bleeding near his village Mandkha and nursed the bird back to life. Once the hawk had healed and was well enough to fly, Khan left him in the open. But for the love of Khan, the hawk refused to leave its new home, and the person who gave it shelter in its most vulnerable moment in life.
It may be recalled how Arif Khan became a social media sensation overnight. A few months ago he had posted videos of himself with a stork that never left his side, and shared a meal with him on a plate.
Those videos became a favourite of netizens including animal lover and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav. The former Chief Minister was so happy to witness the friendship between Khan and the stork in the videos posted on social media that he visited Mandkha to spend time with the stork.
Khan had found the stork hurt and bleeding just like the hawk. He had brought the bird home and took such good care of it that the bird was loath to lose sight of Khan. The stork had lived with him for almost one year before authorities blamed him for keeping the state bird of UP as a pet.
Despite all the support Khan received on social media, the stork was forced to separate from him and it was put in a pen at the Kanpur Zoo. Later there were more videos of the stork flapping its wings in loneliness as it seemed to long to return to its friend Arif Khan.
Since the hawk is not a state bird, it might be allowed to live with Khan unlike the stork that remains imprisoned in a zoo.
Dance And Drama
A film festival opened in Lucknow last Thursday to celebrate the work of the late Nirmal Pandey. In collaboration with the Department of Arts (Journalism and Mass Communication) of Lucknow’s Shia PG College, some 15 films including documentaries and feature films were screened at the Bhartendu Natya Akademi.
Anil Dubey, organiser and close friend of Pandey told the media that he wants to share the work of his very talented friend with the world. Pandey passed away suddenly at the age of 47 years in 2010.
The Nainital born Pandey was a versatile alumni of Delhi’s National School of Drama (NSD) who had featured in award winning films like Bandit Queen and for his role of a transvestite in the 1996 film Daayra, he shared the best actress award with Sonali Kulkarni at the French Valenciennes Film Festival in 1997.
He had performed in nearly 125 plays. Pandey was a great singer as well and released an album called Jazba. He has left behind him a theatre group that he had founded in 1994 called Sanvedna.
The festival felicitated favourite actors and directors including Seema Biswas who played Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur’s 1994 film ‘Bandit Queen’. Pandey’s last film ‘Lahore’ was released in 2010 one month after his death in Mumbai.
Ganga And Jamuna
After gradually increasing for three days, the floods caused by the waters of the rivers Ganga and the Jamuna have at last receded below danger levels. As the monsoon season recedes so do the waters of the River Ganges.
District officials had remained alert last week with their eyes glued upon the danger levels of the rivers Ganges and Jamuna. Both rivers saw a dangerous rise in waters till a few days ago.
However, the waters of both the rivers have reportedly receded after having submerged many low-lying areas in the district forcing locals to evacuate. The goods of many vendors were washed away, the flood having reduced many small businesses to nothing.
Made In China
There is a scare in Lucknow over the use of nylon strings for flying kites in the city. On the eve of 15 August celebrations, and the festival of Raksha Bandhan that falls on August 30, legislator Dharmendra Kashyap from Bareilly’s Lok Sabha constituency Aonla has expressed concern about the safety and security of citizens.
Kashyap has written a letter to the ruling party demanding action against those who manufacture and sell synthetic strings. The strings made in China use glass, metal powder and are coated with synthetic non-biodegradable substances.
These strings have caused severe, and fatal injuries to people, animals and birds in the past. Besides, the use of Chinese strings has affected the livelihood of traditional kite string or ‘manjha’ makers of Bareilly.
Bareilly in UP is not only famous for its pendant-earrings or the ‘jhumka’ but also known for its over two centuries old trade of making ‘manjha’ for kite lovers that follows a safe and human being friendly process.
The morning ritual of ‘manjha’ makers involves boiling pots of coarse rice till it becomes a paste. The paste is generously coated on cotton strings to prepare a sturdy ‘manjha’ that poses no danger to human beings.
On the other hand the made in China nylon strings have caused serious injuries to people and some lives have been lost. As the string gets entangled around pedestrians it is known to have slit several throats in the past.
In 2017, the National Green Tribunal had imposed a ban on the sale of nylon and synthetic ‘manjha’ because it poses a threat to human lives as well as to the life of animals.
The tribunal had directed all state governments to prohibit the manufacture, sale, storage and purchase of this string. A ban was also imposed on cotton ‘manjha’ coated with glass, metal powder or synthetic non-biodegradable substances.
However, for the moment the ban seems to have been shelved. It continues to threaten more lives from the closed pages of many dust collecting files.
Talking to the media Kashyap said that the purpose of writing a letter at this time is important as the kite flying season is round the corner when the use of nylon string could endanger the people’s lives.
It is also the concern of the Lucknow Metro to not have kites flying around the trains with life threatening strings. The Indian Railways, National Grid and UP Electricity Department are all affected by the danger posed today by the deadly made in China ‘manjha’.
