• 

Rainwater harvesting is a technique of collecting and storing rainwater for future use. It is a traditional method of storing rain water in underground tanks, ponds, lakes, check dams and used in future. The main purpose of rain water harvesting is to make the rainwater percolate under the ground so as to recharge ‘ groundwater level’.

Methods of rainwater harvesting

Roof top rainwater harvesting: Roof tops are excellent rain catchers. The rain water that falls on the roof of the houses, apartments, commerical buildings etc. Is collected and stored in the surface tank and can be used for domestic purpose.

Recharge pit: In this method, the rain water is first collected from the roof tops or open spaces and is directed into the percolation pits through pipes for filtration. After filtration the rain water enters the recharge pits or ground wells.

People living in rural areas adopt a variety of water collecting methods to capture and store as rain water. Some of the methods used are 1) Digging of tanks or lakes ( Eris): It is one of the traditional water harvesting system in Tamil Nadu. Eris are constructed in such a way that if the water in one eri overflows, it automatically gets diverted to the eri of the next village, as these Eris are interconnected

Ooranis: These are small ponds to collect rainwater. The wao is used fo various domestic purpose ( drinking, washing and bathing). These ponds cater the nearby villages.

• 

• 

Mendel (1822-1884) was an Austrian monk who discovered the basic principles of heredity through his experiments. His experiments are the foundation for modern genetics. He was born in 1882 to a family of farmers in Silesian of Czechoslovakia. After finishing his high school at the age of 18, he entered the Augustinian Monastery at Brunn as a priest. From there he went to the University of Vienna for training in physics, mathematics and natural science. Mendel returned to the monastery in 1854 and continued to work as a priest and teach in high school. In his leisure time he started his famous experiments on the garden pea plant. He conducted his experiments in the monastery for about nine years from 1856 to 1865. He had worked on nearly 10000 pea plants of 34 different varieties. Mendel noted that they differ from one another in many ways. Thus Mendel had chosen 7 pairs of contrasting characters in many ways.

Reasons for Mendel’s Success

He chose the pea plant as it was advantageous for experimental work in many aspects

It is naturally self- pollinating and so is very easy to raise pure breeding individuals. It has a short life span as it is an annual and so it was possible to follow several generations. It is easy to cross- pollinate. It has deeply defined contrasting characters. The flowers are bisexual.

John Keats born on 1795 was a British Romantic poet. Although trained to be a surgeon, Keats decided to devote himself wholly to poetry. Keats’ secret, his power to sway and delight the readers, lies primarily on his gift for perceiving the world and living his moods and aspirations in terms of language.

• 

“A Thing of Beauty ‘ is an excerpt from his poem ‘ Endymion: A Poetic Romance’. The poem is based on a Greek legend, in which Endymion, a beautiful young shepherd and poet who lived on Mount Latmos, had a vision of Cynthia, the Moon Goddess. The enchanted youth resolved to seek her outstand so wandered away through the forest and down under the sea.

Rabindranath Tagore

• 

Rabindranath Tagore was born on 1861, Nobel prize- winning Bengali poet, author, philosopher, artist, and educator wrote “Gitanjali”(1912).

“My Reminiscences’ was written and published in his fiftieth year, shortly before he started on a trip to Europe and America for his failing health in 1912. It was in the course of this trip that he wrote for the first time in the English language for publication.

• 

A brave girl 10-year- old girl applied her school lessons and saved 16 lives even as the fire at Crystal Towers in the Parel area of central Mumbai killed four and injured another 16 people on Wednesday. Zen Sadavarte, who is a class 3 student, was sleeping when her mother spotted the smoke at around 8 am. Zen was trapped on the 12th floor of the 16 storied- building where the fire had started. However, without getting deterred Zen showed presence of mind and applied the safety tips taught to her in school to save the lives of her family members and neighbours. Upon spotting fire, as everybody rushed out for safety, an asthmatic girl was feeling breathless. Upon hearing her mother cry, Zen quickly took pieces of cloth from her house, went them and urged her family and neighbours to cover their noses with them and breathe through it.

• 

• 

Hobbies are the activities that we do in our spare time. Hobbies are unique to people. Some like gardening, a few like photography, many have book reading as their hobby. While other hobbies are swimming, collecting stamps, playing video games, and many more. People have hobbies not only to pass their free time but also to do something useful . Hobbies help people learn new things, relax after a day of tiring work and to energise their body and mind.

“Whatever you like to do, make it a hobby”.

Writing

• 

Writing is a unique hobby because most people don’t want to exhaust themselves in their spare time. Many feel that writing is tough, but I do not think so. I feel writing is like painting our voice. When I get free time, I pick a pen and a notebook and start painting my ideas in words. I write stories , poems and sometimes, about my feelings. My mind relaxes when I pour my thoughts as words. So, writing energises me. When I write things, my imagination is at its best. I imagine a world with magic and magicians, where I can fly, and birds can talk. Writing helps me completely immerse myself into that world! Sometimes, I sit with small children and entertain them with these stories of mine. The happiness of their faces makes me to write more and better. Although writing is just a hobby for me, yet it is very beneficial. It opens my mind to think beyond the little things with a broader mind. It makes me more passionate about my life. It makes me learn new things and enjoy every moment of my life.

• 

‘Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words”.

• 

Ajay Kumar Garg, is a very talented young artist. He lives in Jaipur, India. His childhood was going on well, until he suffered an injury at the age of three. Ajay was treated, but that treatment left him permanently deaf. His parents tried several hospitals to cure his impairment, but it didn’t cure him. His father, once bought him a paint set to play. Ajay started to paint happily. He painted on the walls, floors etc. He looked happy, while using the paint set that was gifted to him. Soon, Ajay’s father realised that Ajay was talented in painting. When Ajay was five years old, a court artist of Dholpur (Rajasthan), Shri Sua Lal saw his painting and was very impressed with his work. He then took Ajay and started training him.

• 

After completing his education, Ajay tried tailoring but, that didn’t make him happy so he went back to painting. He became an apprentice of Asha Devi. She taught Ajay the old and dying technique of ‘Traditional Indian Miniature painting’. He mastered the technique of preparing colors and brushes and gained knowledge of the paintings. Soon he became an accomplished artist in the miniature style. He uses a magnifying glass and a single- haired brush for miniature paintings that depict Indian culture. Ajay is gifted in the practice of creating images on a grain of rice.

• 

Ajay exhibited his work and sold 144 out of the 150 paintings displayed. He continued to show his work throughout India , the United States and United Kingdom. In 2004, Ajay was awarded a national award of accomplishment from the Indian President, Dr. A.P. J. Abdul Kalam.

• 

Apart from painting, Ajay is also very actively involved in the welfare of people with hearing impairment in India and has been the executive member of the’ Deaf & Dumb Association’ in Rajasthan. He also gives free training to hearing impaired children in Jaipur as well as children in an orphanage in Gandhi Nagar, Jaipur. One of Ajay’s current goals is to revitalise the dying art of traditional miniature Indian paintings.

• 

Ajay’s life shows us that we can turn our hobby or passion into a successful career, if we are ready to learn and develop our skills.

• 

The hard working and the passionate people, always chase their dream and live it. Ilavazhagi is one among the many to achieve her dream amidst all odds. Mr.A. Irudayaraj, her father, was a district level champion in carrom. His dream shattered, since his family did not encourage and support him. He was determined to achieve his dream through his daughter. He used to put his daughter on the carrom board, while she was two years old, he would carry her with him to the tournaments; he played with his friends at local clubs. Her father began coaching her when she was around five. One day her father called her for a match, and she won that match, which gave her confidence. The confidence led her to win. Her victories included the Asia Cup and (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Cup and the world championship.

• 

Irudayaraj, a fish-cart driver who transports materials like pipes to make a living for his family- a wife and three daughters. They lived in a small one-room apartment in Vyasarpadi, Chennai, is not enough to accommodate the family. The trophies, she has over the years are too many, and her home is just not big enough to keep them. The trophies left over after filling the space under the bed, were given to the neighbours and relatives. Financing the trips has always been a big trouble, though she has been playing for the state for almost 14 years. Still she says” Victories follow me”. Ilavazhagi is a member of the Thiruvallur District Carrom Association and also represented India at the Carrom World Championships, Asian Championships.

• 

The hard working and the passionate people, always chase their dream and live it. Ilavazhagi is one among the many to achieve her dreams amidst all odds. Mr. A. Irudayaraj, her father, was a district level champion in carrom. His dream shattered, since his family did not encourage and support him. He was determined to achieve his dream through his daughter. He used to put his daughter on the carrom board, while she listened to the sounds of striker and coins. When she was two years old, he would carry her with him to the tournaments ; he played with his friends at local clubs. Her father began coaching her when she was around five. One day her father called her for a match, and she won that match, which gave her confidence. The confidence led her to win. Her victories included the Asia Cup and ( South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) cup and the world championship.

• 

Irudayaraj, a fish- cart driver who transports materials like pipes to make a living for his family – a wife and three daughters. They lived in a small one – room apartment in Vyasarpadi, Chennai, is not enough to accommodate the family. The trophies, she has won over the years are too many, and her home is just not big enough to keep them. The trophies left over after filling the space under the bed, were given to the neighbours and relatives. Financing the trips has always been a big trouble, though she has been playing for the state for almost 14 years. Still she says “Victories follow me”. Ilavazhagi is a member of the Thiruvallur District Carrom Association and also represented India at the Carrom World Championship, Asian Championships.

• 

Gardening is a delightful pastime. One can grow vegetables, fruits and flowers bin one’s own garden. If you do not have open spaces near your home for maintaining a garden you can set up a garden on your roof! All you need are a few old buckets or tubs, some mud and seeds to plant. Did you know? The horticulture society of Tamil Nadu gives soil bags with seeds to promote gardening in our houses! Stamp collection is nothing but collection stamps from envelops that come by mail. This hobby is known as philately. We learn about different leaders , important days on seeing the stamps ! We can also exchange rare stamps with our friends. Many people are fascinated to collect coins from different countries. Sometime relatives who visit or work in other countries bring and give the coins of the foreign country to us ! This hobby is known as numismatics. Some other take interest to collect seashells. It is said that there are more than 1,00,000 shell species found in the sea shores. The rarest, the most valuable, and the most beautiful shells are found in the Indo-Pacific , Caribbean, and Mediterranean regions. Cooking is one of the oldest hobbies. It is now even considered a life -skill to know how to cook. We all should try and learn to cook! Painting can help unleash your creative side. Painting allows you to tap into the thoughts , desires, and feelings in your head and translate them into something beautiful. Painting relaxes our mind and helps focus better, so go ahead and pick up a paintbrush. Teaching is a fun and useful hobby. Teaching helps us understand what we have learned better. It also helps us to help other children. If we are good at teaching then, one day we can even become a good teacher! Web- browsing helps us collect information about the latest medical invention, the new technology for phones and news about society and country. It is an amazing hobby where we can learn about things that are thousands of kilometres away with just a few clicks ! We can also share all the wonderful information with our friends.

Why do Birds Sing? You might assume that birds sing because they are happy. While birds might be happy, they sing in order to communicate. One reason they sing is to stake a claim on territory.Birds sing to warn other birds to stay off their property.For example, a Robin might stake a claim on a piece of land provides enough worms for the Robin to feed its family. A bird maintains singing perches around the outside edges of its territory. The perches are high in the trees, so other birds can see and hear it. Birds also sing to find a mate. The length and complexity of the mating song gives information about the fitness of the bird. Healthy birds can sing longer, more complicated songs. Birds call to one another in shorter vocalizations in order to warn of danger and to locate one another. Birds sing instinctively. Young birds learn to perfect their songs by listening to adult birds and interacting with other birds. Birds in a local area might learn variations in the basic song which help them recognize other members of their group

• 

Twenty years ago, kids in school had never even heard of the internet. Now, I’ll bet you can’t find a single person in your school who hasn’t at least heard of it. In fact, many of us use it on a regular basis and even have access to it from our homes ! The ‘net’ in internet really stands for network. Information can be shared , or sent from one computer to another. The internet is a vast resource for all types of information. You may enjoy using it to do research for a school project, downloading your favourite songs or communicating with friends and family. Information is accessed through web pages that companies, organizations and individuals create and post. It’s kind of like a giant bulletin board that the whole world uses! But since anyone can put anything on the internet, you also have to be careful and use your best judgement and a little commonsense. Just because you read something on a piece of paper someone sticks on a bulletin board doesn’t mean it’s good information, or even correct, for that matter. So you have to be sure that whoever posted the information knows what they’re talking about, especially if you’re doing research! But what if you’re just emailing people? You still have to be very careful. If you’ve never met the person that you’re communicating with online, you could be on dangerous ground! You should never give out any personal information to someone you don’t know, not even your name! And just like you can’t believe the information on every website out there, you can’t rely on what strangers you ‘meet’ on the internet tell you either. Just like you could makeup things about yourself to tell someone, someone else could do the same to you

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace. The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will , leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Committee, in fact, a notoriously conservative body which among other things had a marked antipathy to pure sciences, especially to Mathematical Physics. Restrained by a clause in Alfred Nobel’s will that the prize should go to the person whose ‘ discovery or invention’ shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind, the committee initially ignored the great theoretical advances in Physics. Wracked, no doubt, by guilt that he had become a merchant of death through his invention of dynamite and smokeless powder and plagued by sadistic fantasies of destruction, the Swedish chemist, engineer and aspiring poet, Alfred Nobel, who has been described as Europe’s richest vagabond , left his colossal fortune to the cause of progress in human knowledge. Five prizes were installed, one each for literature (‘to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature, the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency), Physics, Chemistry, medicine, and peace to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity among nations for abolition or reduction of armies, and for holding or promotion of peace ‘.

Neeraja Bhanhot was born on 7 September 1963, in Chandigarh, Punjab, India, to Rama Bhanot and Harish Bhanot, a Mumbai- based journalist. She was the couple’s third child, a much longed – for daughter after two sons, Akhil and Aneesh. Neeraja attended Chandigarh’s Scared Heart School till she was in the 6th Standard, after which her family moved to Mumbai . There she attended Bombay Scottish School and went on to graduate from St. Xavier’s College. Even though Neeraja’s career had taken off, her family decided to get her married to a man in Sharjah, UAE. By March 1985, Neeraja was married. This is where her life took a turn for the worse. The marriage proved to be a disaster. After two months, she left her husband at the age of 22, due to pressurising dowry demands. But this woman refused to surrender to the society because she was born with the spirit to fight. Despite a sour marriage, she started her career in modelling and made appearance in various advertisements like Binaca toothpaste etc. She then applied for a flight attendant’s job with Pan Am, the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States at that time. Only 80 of the 10,000 applicants were picked, and Neeraja was one of them. She was sent to Miami to train for 6-8 weeks, and within a year, based on performance and peer review, she was sent to London to train to be a purser- the senior most cabin manager. Pursers worked as managers on flights, handling passenger complaints, making required announcements and handling security. She was soon made a senior flight purser with the airways – a big career achievement for a young woman of 22.

Udagamandalam is located in the Western Ghats zone at an altitude of 2240 m. It is the headquarters of the Nilgiri District, where the two mountain ranges meet. Udagamandalam, popularly called Ooty by the tourist, is the Queen of Hill Stations, Centuries ago this was also called as Oththai-Kai[single stone] Mandu [ Mund is a name of Toda Village]. The British started calling it as Ootacamund. Coffee and Tea plantations and trees like Conifers, Eucalyptus, Pine and Wattle dot the hill side in Udagamandalam and its environs. Summer temperature is maximum of 25°C and a minimum of 10°C. During the winter it is a maximum of 21°C and a minimum of 5°C .This area was inhabited by the tribals called Toda long before anybody ventured into this region . Curiously enough, this slice of paradise remained unknown even during the periods of the great Southern Dynasties. It was the British who ventured into the region during early nineteenth century. In search of copier climates development and modernization took place after their arrival . This was the summer Capital of the Madras Presidency during the British Rule. It is the pride of the Blue Hills and center of attraction. This was formed by Mr.John Sullivan, the then Collector of Coimbatore in the year 1824. This is located in an area of 65 acres. Fishing was the major activity in this place. In the year 1973, Tourism Development Corporation, Government of Tamilnadu, on behalf of the Tourism Department took possession of this place for Boating activity , which provides another thrilling entertainment for the tourists.

Usha Rani, cop-com- KABADDI champion rose from Shanty town of subedarpalaya in Yeshwanthpur near Bengaluru, in Karnataka. Armed with her mother’s unfulfilled dream to become an athlete, she became determined and practised kabaddi at the Kanteerava Stadium every morning rain or shine. As a school child , she grew up watching kabaddi at a club in front of her house and soon joined the club and started playing kabaddi at National level in sub-junior category. Whenever she was not playing, she was the source of support to her parents and others at home. She used to sell flowers for her daily living and she had to struggle all through her life until she got a job in the Karnataka State Police Force. She was selected as a police person for her excellence in sports and was the youngest in the Karnataka State Police women Kabaddi team. She was just 29 years old when she won a Gold Medal in Kabaddi. She is much acclaimed for her raiding skills in Kabaddi. E. S. Sumanth, sports officer at Karnataka State Police Sports Promotion Board says, “Despite a well – paid job, Usha participated in national events every year without a miss. She is an expert in giving leads, raiding opponents and consistently playing a prominent role in the Indian Kabaddi team”. Usha Rani is now working hard and practising every day to win the Gold medal at the Asian Games in 2018. She has also become a role model to her brothers and sisters at home and other fellow sports persons.