The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inside delhi

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Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Inside delhi

New arrival

In these times of binary virtuosity and easily accessible end-user information, it is but inevitable that the sacrosanct medium of books would eventually come under the influence of digital all-pervasiveness.

Taking the phrase “custom-made” a step further, an online book store, “iandmystory.com”, has come out with personalised versions of books wherein, at a price, the storyline is modified and the main characters assigned names as per individual orders. What this essentially means is that the reader would now get to read his favourite adventures wherein the principal characters are named after the child and his friends and associates.

It is supposed that reading familiar names and finding one to be the “star” of the storyline would encourage kids to read and develop a culture of collecting books.

A venture of Virtual Store Private Limited and showcased at the just concluded World Book Fair at Pragati Maidan, personalised books are thought to reinforce cultural and ethical values via a more user-friendly medium and also “keep the children away from digital distractions”.

Though the endeavour attempts to fight fire with fire by using the web to promulgate children’s literature, it is questionable how many kids would choose to stay off the digital highway after being lured online to create their personalised book.

Kunal Diwan

Old bonds

After their historic space flight 24 years ago, Russian pilot-cosmonaut Anatoly Berezovoy and his Indian counterpart Rakesh Sharma had their first special meeting at a function in the Capital this past week. And neither of them had lost the warmth and camaraderie that they shared on the space flight back in 1984.

Sharing his impressions, Rakesh said he had never dreamt of a space flight as technology had not developed to such an extent then. When the assignment came his way, he utilised the opportunity in the best way possible.

Rakesh said he was ready to share all his knowledge and experience with the Indian Space Research Organisation and even expressed his willingness to fly again to outer space. “The days are not far off when human beings would land on other planets too,” he said optimistically.

Berezovoy, who had trained Rakesh Sharma for the joint space flight, may not be at home with English but he made up for it with his enthusiasm. Every time there was a mention of his Indian counterpart’s name, his face lit up and he quickly opened the book showing their picture on board the Soviet Space Station Salyut-7.

The event was organised as part of the Year of Russia in India as also the just concluded World Book Fair where Russia was the guest of honour.

Madhur Tankha

Jungle raj

Since they handle the largest volume of vehicular traffic in any city of the world, the Delhi Traffic Police deserve to have the best of expertise and technology to make their job easier and to make the lives of the citizens more comfortable. However, their adherence to staid rules and methods has made the lives of millions miserable.

Across the city, it is the job of the traffic police to advise the agencies on installation of traffic signals. But by adopting the seemingly simple but potentially fatal policy of having a signal at every possible intersection or T-point, the traffic police have only increased the travelling time of the people. This also frequently results in a precarious situation late at night when these lights only create confusion as people observing them and those flouting them cross paths.

How inept and improper handling of the signalling system adds to the chaos is most visible near the Ghazipur crossing on National Highway 24 in East Delhi. As at the crossing, there is gross mismanagement and the signals have been timed inappropriately, with outbound traffic on National Highway-24 piling up at all hours of the day. At night this leads to a nearly 2 km long jam that affects vehicular movement on Narwana Road within Indraprastha Extension also.

What used to save precious time for most motorists in such a scenario was a small bridge over a drain that led to Road No. 56. This used to help them avoid the rush and move towards Anand Vihar or Ghaziabad with ease. But the traffic police willed otherwise. They installed a light at the point where the bridge opened on to Road No. 56. This practically reduced the movement to one-fourth as the vehicles are now forced to stand still even when there is no traffic from the other three sides. And as a consequence, this “escape route” has also been blocked for innumerable motorists.

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

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