ARSENIC POLLUTION: ITS SOLUTION

               Arsenic is a grayish-white element which forms a poisonous compound when heated some areas in the world including West-Bengal, Bangladesh, Hungary, New Zealand and Thailand have heavy concentration of this element which when remaining under deep water is relatively harmless. But if it comes into direct contact of sun it volatalises and forms the noxious compound. This compound taken unknowingly with water causes serious skin diseases including cancer. The layer of iron sulphide abounds in arsenic when sunk in water it is not harmful. But when the water layer goes down and the iron sulphide layer comes into contact with oxygen it becomes highly damaging. Arsenic is also found in factory affluents, garbage and insecticides used in agriculture- all of which pollutes the air and water if proper precautions is not taken. Arsenic infection is initially difficult to detect. Patients suffer from cough and feel weakness. In advanced stages arsenic infection leads to cavatolene gangrene and skin cancer. Fatal result of arsenic poisoning have also been reported. Towards the eighties of the last century only a few cases of arsenic poisoning was reported in west Bengal. But by 2005 the number of arsenic infection has gone up to a million or more. It is not east to surver all areas which are potentially arsenic prone. The only safeguard against the danger is to drink pond and canal water after purification instead of water from wells. It is the duty of local bodies like the panchayats to determine with the health Dept. to conduct a survey of the regions and make the people conscious of the dangers of arsenic poisoning and its remedies.

Little Friends may Prove to be Great Friends

             There was a lion and a mouse in a jungle. The lion lived in a den, near to that a mouse lived in a hole. One day the lion was sleeping. The mouse was running up and down. By chance the mouse got into the nostril of the lion. The lion wake up. He was very angry. He caught the mouse with his paws and was about to kill it. The mouse prayed for mercy. It said that it might be of use to him in future. The lion laughed at the small mouse and let it go. After some days the lion was caught in a hunter’s nest. He could not tear the net. So he began to roar. The mouse could know the lion from its roar. It went there without losing time and gnawed into the net. It said, “O king of beasts. I have cut into the net. Now run for your life. I had been able to do a good turn to you.” The lion was glad and ran away.

The Dog and the Crow

         Once a dog found a piece of bone. He was eating it sitting under a tree. There sat a crow on the tree. It wished to take away the bone for itself.

The crow was very cunning. It fled away. After sometime it returned there with another crow. Both the crows went to the dog. One of them with the beak pulled the dog by his tail. The dog felt disturbed and annoyed. Again the crow bites the dog in its tail. The dog got very angry. He dropped the piece of bone on the ground and looked back to see what the matter was. In the meantime the second crow picked up the bone and flew away with it.

The moral of the story is ‘the power of cunning’.

Panini and the Well

              Panini was a great scholar of ancient India. He lived in Punjab. But as a boy he was very dull. He could not understand anything. He had read in primary schools but was driven out from all of them because of his dullness. He was sixteen years old yet he learnt nothing. His father grew angry and drove him. Panini became sad and roamed about. One day he came near a well. Village women had come there for water. Their pitchers had made deep hollows on the hard stones around. Being impressed Panini thought, “These stones are hard. But the pitchers have rubbed them daily and made these hollows on them. My brain surely not harder than a stone? Can I also make my dull brain sharp if I try harder?” He thought thus and went to a village. One kind teacher admitted him in his school. There Panini worked hard. Eventually his dullness was gone. He learnt quickly and became a very learned man. He wrote many books.

So the moral of the story we all learn from here “always see where you are going”.

A Man and his Ass

        A man dealt in salt. He had an ass to carry loads of salt from a distant town. There was a stream on the way. The ass had to cross that river every day. One day the ass fell in to the river. Some of the salt melted in the water. The load became lighter. The ass felt relieved to some extent. It became clever. It began to let it feet slip every day. The dealer suffered a great loss. He became very angry. He wanted to teach the ass a good lesson. He kept it without food for two days. The ass could realize its fault. It never did such a thing again.

Don’t Try a Thing You Don’t Know

         A fisherman was fishing in a river. He fished for a long time and was tired. He went to a house nearby to have a smoke. He left the net by the riverside. There was a big tree beside the river. A monkey lived in that tree sitting by a distance the monkey watched carefully how the fisherman threw his net and caught the fish. The monkey wished to throw the net into the river. So it went to the net. It picked up the net and tried to throw it. But it was not an easy thing for the monkey to do. In trying to do so it got entangled in to the net. It tried hard but could not get free. The fisherman came in the meantime he was very angry. He beat the monkey to death.

Look Before You Leap

            A fox was once passing by a well after sunset. It had been dark. She he did not notice the well. He slipped in to the well. He remained there all the night and suffered much. Somehow he saved himself from drowning. Near that well there lived a villager. The villager had a goat. The goat was quite foolish. In the morning while grazing about, she went near the well. The fox on seeing the goat said, “Come friend, you have not tasted such clear and sweet water in your life as you may find in this well. I have drunk and drunk and yet want to drink.” The foolish goat was a bit thirsty. She could not check herself. She at once jumped into the well. The fox got upon the head of the goat and got out of the well.

NEVER BELIEVE THE WICKED

           There was a tiger. He was very cruel in his youth. He was a man eater. In his old age he became very weak. He could no longer hunt down any animal. So he suffered much in want of food. He had a gold bangle in his possession. He sat in an open place in the forest with bangle. There was a road along that open place. When the tiger saw any man passing by he said to him’ “Brother here is a good bangle. I wish to give it to you. Don’t fear. I am old and infirm now. I now pray to God five times a day and do other religious acts. The bangle is useless to me. It will be useful to you. Don’t fear, come to me and take this.”        
A man was passing by the way. He was simple and religious minded. He believed the tiger. He thought he would help a poor man with that gold. He went near the tiger and was about to receive that bangle. The wicked tiger caught him by the neck and killed him.

A HOUSE ON FIRE

               It was a holiday. I was busy reading for my coming examination. Suddenly I heard a cry. It came from the neighboring house. I looked outside through the. To my horror, I saw that smoke was billowing out of the house next to our one. I suspected that it was on fire. It was a thatched house. To make things worse a strong wind was blowing. In no time flames of the fire lepta out and spread on all sides of the cottage. Volumes of thick smoke filled the air. I at once left my books and ran to the house. Other people had also arrived there in the meantime. We went forward to fight the fire with buckets of water. We were able to bring the fire under control after an hour’s hard struggle. Though there was no loss of life, the house was burnt to ashes with all its contents. The residents of the burnt house were poor people and this terrible accident virtually made beggars. The neighbors raise a fund to help them tide over the difficult time.

DO NOT TRUST A FALSE FRIEND

           There were two friends. One day they were passing through a forest. By chance a bear came up there. The friends got frightened. One of them climbed up a tree. He did not think for a moment what would happen to his friend. The second friend did not know how to climb up a tree. He had presence of mind. He lay on the ground as if he were dead. He knew that a bear does not touch a dead man. T he bear came to him and sniffed at his mouth, nose and ears. It took him for a dead man and went away. Then the other friend got down from the tree. He came to his friend and said, “What did the bear say to you? It had put its mouth beside your ears.” His friend said, “The bear whispered into my ears not to keep company with a friend who runs away at the time of danger.”

THE GREAT MAN I LIKE THE MOST

          We all adore great man because they always help us to improve our life. They inspire us with their selfless devotion of duty, kindness, justice and morality. Many great men were born in this world, but the great man I like most is Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar.
Iswarchandra was one of the most prominent persons of Bengal. Born in 1820 A.D., he had his early education in the village pathsala. He then came to Calcutta and got himself admitted to the Sanskrit College. Although he was the son of a poor man, he became a great Sanskrit Scholar by dint of his merit and hard labour. He also learnt English, Hindi and Parsi. It was his great scholarship that earned him the great fame of Vidyasagar.
As a man he was versatile genius. He fought against the evils of the society, against the child-marriage and for the favor of re-marriage of child-widow. In this sense, he was a great social reformer.
He was also a famous writer. He translated books in Bengali from Hindi and English, and also wrote original books for the students. His primer for lessons in Bengali and the Sanskrit Grammar was much appreciated. He is rightly called the father of Bengali Literature.
But above all, he had a heart of gold. He used to spend much of his income for the poor and the wretched. That is why he is called “Karunasagar”. He himself lived a very simple life of Brahmin pundit though he used to earn a lot. Plain living and high thinking was his motto in life. He had a very high spirit, and nobody could make him do anything which he thought to be wrong. Lastly, he had high respect for his mother. Such a strong and charming personality is seldom found in any countr4y. Bengal is proud of Iswarchandra.

PULSE POLIO IMMUNIZATION

       Poliomyelitis, known popularly as Polio is a various carried disease. Children are mostly prone to be infected by it. The disease causes inflammation of the grey matter in the spinal cord. Physical disablement is the dreadful effect of the disease. The limbs of the children falling victims to this serious disease become thin and crooked. Such unfortunate children become permanently disable. To free the world from this disease the World Health Organization has issued certain instructions to be strictly followed by the parents of children all over the world. In our country since 1995-96 two days in December and January with an interval of six weeks, children below five years are given two doses of this vaccine. It is a sad thing to note that almost 66% of the total numbers of Polio victims all over the world are Indians. It is obvious that the reason for this is the negligence of parents or guardians in getting the children vaccinated for the required number of times at proper intervals.

Plastic Bags

         In the past paper bags were commonly used by sellers when handing goods to the customers. These bags were generally made by old newspapers and other kinds of used books, khatas and magazines. These paper bags could be used only once and new paper bags were needed whenever something was sold and bought. But when modern technology discovered plastic and polythene, a single bag made of these synthetic materials could be used again and again. They are durable, waterproof and preservable. But plastic bags have a dangerous side also. They are not nature-friendly, not being absorbable in the soil. If burnt, the gas produced by it pollutes the air. If thrown away into drains they choke them because they are soluble in water and do not decompose. Fields strewn with plastic bags lose their arable quality. There may come a time when plastic bags thrown into rivers may choke them and destroy their flow.

Experience Of a Ghastly Storm

         On June 10, 1995 there was a terrible all over the Southern Districts of West Bengal. The storm blew from South-West and assumed the vehemence of a cyclone just after sundown. The sky had been cloudy since morning. The weather was gloomy and sultry. Towards the evening the wind gathered force and it became violently strong after sunset. There was a terrifying roar all around. Showers of rain and flashes and lightning accompanied the storm and added to it vehemence. Many mud-houses caused havoc to life and property. As I was walking across a meadow when the storm broke out, I escaped its fury unhurt. But I was aghast at the extent of destruction that was caused by the storm within such a short period of time. I thanked my stars for having escaped its fury!