Just like that

Not a very comprehensive article.. but has quite a few interesting facts. DNA Thursday, August 24, 2006 22:01 IST It’s been over a week since the news of the sweet water ‘miracle’, but many devotees are still thronging Mahim creek to drink the highly contaminated water at the risk of death. Warnings from doctors and BMC officials about the same continue to go unheeded in spite of the scientific reason for the change in the water’s taste. Now we hear Ganesh idols (a déjà vu of the ‘96 miracle) are drinking milk, causing frenzy amongst his followers. So the question once again arises: Just what makes otherwise sound people give wind to logic? “Stress,” says psychotherapist Seema Hingoranny, “makes people desperate to cling on to hope and a higher power.” She feels last year’s deluge and the recent train bomb blasts have made the city more vulnerable and gullible. Social commentator and columnist Anil Dharker agrees. “Both incidents were looked upon as some kind of punishment. So I guess ...

Saturday, August 19, 2006 Source: HindustanTimes.com Women around Mumbai may just have more to worry this monsoon than just their make-up running and their hair getting wet. Did you know there is the possibility you could be struck by lightning if you're wearing underwired bras? A recent scientific study strengthens the belief that metallic supports in modern bras could attract lightning and strike their wearers dead. An unconfirmed instance of this occured circa 2000 in Hyde Park, London, when two women hiding under a tree died after being struck by lightening. The forensic report said "lightning discharge was channeled into the metal brassieres, leaving burn marks on the women's chests." Does this assume significance at a time when Mumbai's met department has issued a weather forecast for today that warns of the "possibility of thundershowers in parts of the city and the suburbs?" Question is, are the city's nymphets taking it seriously enough to c...

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An Appalling story.. from DNA Monday, August 07, 2006 22:41 IST KOLKATA: Such is the level of impoverishment in rural West Bengal, that they are feeding their own blood to bedbugs, just to earn a paltry two rupees. This new ‘profession’ has emerged along highways, where dhaba owners have found this novel way to keep bedbugs away from their regular customers. With pesticides and hot water too expensive or cumbersome to eradicate the pests living in the charpoys of dhabas, owners are recruiting poor people who lie on each charpoy completely nude for half an hour, to let the bedbugs feed on their blood. Once the bugs are satiated, they do not bite the customers who use the charpoys during the day. Once a charpoy is thus ‘debugged’, the human debugger shifts to another charpoy. He is paid Rs 2 for every charpoy that he lies down on. According to Dalbir Khetri, a dhaba owner in Duttapukur, North 24 Parganas, it is not possible to disinfect the coir beds by washing them with boiling water...