The Eternal Optimist!

Was listening to a lecture by Prof Dattesh Parulekar on information and communication technology in the developing countries. The professor brought out the pros and cons of ICT in Asia and Africa with specific examples. Approximately 70-80% of cobalt needed to manufacture mobile phones comes from Africa mainly Ethiopia and as such the spread of cell phones in Africa has been awe inspiring! However the Africans are not doing so well with regards to internet connectivity where again taking the example of Ethiopia, he showed that about 90% of the internet connections in the country were concentrated the capital of Ethiopia, Aids Ababa. The rate of spread of cell phones in the developing countries rose from 2% in 1991 to a whooping 41% in 2006! The internet usage in the developing world rose from 0.2% in 1991 to 41% in2006. Talking about information and technology and political problems in developing countries, we can see how in countries like India, electronic voting machines have...

I just visited my grandmother and remembered my childhood. So I decided to try my hand at writing a story for children! here goes... A long long time ago, there lived a fairy in the forests of Africa. She loved her forest. Everyday, the fairy hopped from flower to flower and poured honey into it. The flowers greeted her with a smile and the birds sang in her honor. Everyone loved the fairy! One day the fairy saw a grass hopper happily playing around the grasslands. He was dancing hither and thither and singing a song! “Work is so boring Let’s do something thrilling We sing the songs of freedom!! Sing and dance! Now is your chance! Come on, Take a vacation!!” Listening to his song, the fairy began to think. “I have been working all my life.” She though. “My work is indeed boring.” So she decided that she would not work any longer. The next day, she threw her honey pots aside and went for a picnic! She set out to roam around the jungle and enjoy! She ...