Parul Dewan on Pitara Kids Network

How does a Nuclear Bomb differ from a Conventional Bomb?

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 22:01:30 +0000

Every now and then we hear of countries of the world carrying out heated discussions about nuclear bombs. The topics range from who has the right to own a nuclear bomb and who does not, who should use it and who must not and so on. But what exactly happens when such a bomb actually explodes? And how are nuclear bombs different from conventional bombs?

The greatest difference between the two types of bombs is the sheer scale of destruction they cause. While a conventional bomb can be targetted to damage a particular area and the people living there, nuclear bombs are weapons of mass destruction. Just consider this: a 1 megaton (million ton) nuclear bomb is enough to wipe out the largest city on Earth. (1 ton=1000 kilograms)

What Freedom means to me...

Mon, 03 May 1999 15:30:18 +0000

Freedom means many things to many people. When we spoke to some children in the age group of 8 to 14, we were amazed to learn the different meanings they gave to that one word ‘freedom’. Here they put their ideas exactly the way their thoughts arose in their minds…

Radhika Jain (8 years)

“I don’t have to study.”
“Being able to watch my favourite channel Star Plus, Cartoon Network whenever I like.”
“Cycling in the morning instead of going to school.”

The Day Mother raised the Flag

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 22:58:58 +0000

On August 15, at the stroke of midnight, the Indian flag replaced the Union Jack of the British Empire. And millions of Indians went to sleep in a state of excitement. For, they would literally wake up in a free country. Among them was a five-year-old girl called Amrita Rangasami. She lived with four siblings and a young widowed mother, in a bylane of Madras (now Chennai).

Sixty-year-old Amrita, a senior journalist and scholar, remembers the day clearly, as if it were yesterday.

When two Voices become One Voice of Peace

Mon, 19 Jul 2004 19:16:40 +0000

Have you ever asked your family members or friends about the images they think of when a mention is made of war? Chances are that many would think of the mushroom cloud made by the atomic bombs that were dropped by the United States over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and August 9, 1945, during the Second World War.

Bombs wiped out more than half the population of the cities, and made the survivors and future generations suffer the harmful effects of radiation, in the form of terrible diseases and illnesses.

Vanishing Vulture

Tue, 15 Mar 2005 02:34:39 +0000

It’s the bird most commonly associated with death. Once a common sight in South Asia, the vulture, or nature’s scavenger, is one of the 78 species in India that is dying out. Faced with a mysterious virus and pesticide poisoning, the population of vultures today is said to be just 5 per cent of what it was (about 20 years ago) in the 1980s. A couple of years ago, the vultures of Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur numbered 2000. Now there are just four.

Square Watermelons

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 06:48:41 +0000

August 26: On a hot summer day is there anything that tastes as delicious and refreshing as a cold, juicy round watermelon? No wonder this healthy fruit has been enjoyed by man for thousand of years. How about trying square watermelons instead of round ones? Sounds fascinating doesn’t it?

Recently farmers in the southern Japanese town of Zentsuji have discovered a technique to grow their watermelons in square shape says a report of CNN.

The reason they’re doing this in Japan is because of lack of space in refrigerators. They are trying to make watermelons “refrigerator friendly”.

Young girl's earth-shaking courage

Sat, 26 Jun 2004 08:30:30 +0000

There is a ray of hope for quake hit-Gujarat. All it needs to do is listen to a 12-year-old girl, Prutha Desai. She might be small but towers over many in spirit. This girl who lost her right arm in the January 26 earthquake, six months ago, has shown great courage in starting life afresh, literally: from learning to write with her left hand to wearing socks. But what is remarkable is that Prutha hasn’t lost her smile, courage, or creativity in drawing and art, says a report in The Indian Express.

Looking for sister in Hiroshima

Sun, 06 Jun 2004 06:59:12 +0000

August 6, 1945. The day the United States of America dropped the atomic bomb on Hirsohima city, killing more than 200,000 people. A day after which the world has never been the same, for it proved that humans’ capacity to inflict suffering on fellow human beings was infinite. A day that hundreds of thousands of survivors try to make sense of to this day, by trying to remember what happened at each moment that day, before and after the bomb fell.

The Day the Bomb Fell

Sat, 20 Apr 2002 08:29:20 +0000

Near the centre of the explosion, people were instantaneously vapourised by the seeing heat, leaving only their shadows scorched into the stonework of walls or roads.

Thousands more were killed by being blown to bits, more commonly being hurled against solid subjects, crushed beneath falling buildings.

Others were simply cremated into charred corpses or hideously burned with great patches of skin stipped from their bodies and hanging in flaps around them.

In Hiroshima, 13 square kilometres of area was devastated and 92 per cent of its buildings were destryed. Over 2,00,000 of its estimated population of 3,50,000 were killed.

A school for budding politicians

Tue, 24 Aug 2004 06:01:35 +0000

August 1: The ‘Netagiri Vidyalaya’ (Leadership School) in Ranchi gives the impression of being one of those ‘dingy-lane’ institutes that spring up like mushrooms during rains. What could a school situated in such premises possibly teach its students, you wonder. Apparently a lot, says a report in the India Today magazine. As the name suggests, the recently opened school, the first of its kind in the country, aims to educate aspiring politicians.

And the institute is sure to get a lot of ‘students’ for Ranchi is now the capital of the new state of Jharkhand, formerly a part of Bihar.

Joining Hands for peace, at Hiroshima

Sat, 10 May 2003 14:38:29 +0000

Every year, on August 6 and 9, a peace memorial conference is held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thousands of people from all over the world gather there to indicate their support for peace in a world that is free of nuclear weapons. Dr Srimanjari, who teaches History at Miranda House, Delhi University, took part in one such conference, in 1998. She shares her experience, saying that the visit was a real eye-opener for her.

How does one talk about peace? By sharing memories of pain with those who did not, over generations, so that the desire for peace become stronger. In the peace conference that Srimanjari attended, there were over ten thousand participants, who came from all walks of life.