Wa – i – sa Sumer
April 12, 2006 rejuvenated and brought back the long, lost and forgotten culture of the Pnar people of Jowai; famously known as ‘ka Chad Sukra’. It was under the aegis of Seinraij Jowai, a socio- cultural and religious organisation and the efforts of the then President of Seinraij, Jowai, O.R Shallam, G.H Bareh the General secretary, H Passah Chairman art and culture and P. Kynjin the secretary of art and culture, and a host of executive members of the organisation, that Ka Chad Sukra was revived and brought back to life. Lakhs of people from different parts of the state thronged Jowai to bear witness as well as to participate in this grand celebration. The then Minister of Forest, Govt of Meghalaya, S. Mulieh graced the function as the Chief Guest while the Chief Executive Member (CEM), Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) Moonlight Pariat was the guest of honour.

Rajiv Doulagupu
Last week different set of guests at the café ordered for Pasta Carbonara (my favorite), one of them loved the cuisine, while the other didn’t like it at all. I tried to find out the reason but didn’t quite understand why the same dish prepared in the same manner would get different reactions. In the past as well, I have heard a guest telling me that the coffee is too bitter. I was perplexed as I wondered that she might have forgotten to put sugar in her cappuccino.  I thought of doing some research into it, and understand why same food tastes differently for different people. The result that I got is very interesting, and it goes deeper than saying that our taste buds are different.

Anamika S Nair
It was about 6 on a fine morning that my phone rang “soona man kaaangan” , with much irritation I attended the  call that broke my sleep. The voice of a close friend from the other end told me “watch ‘India’s Daughter’ before YouTube takes it down.”I cursed him for disturbing my beautiful dream of a bus journey (coincidences), and hung up the phone to go back to sleep. There was hope of the dream continuing. Well, I didn’t see the dream anymore nor could I see India’s Daughter as YouTube took it down like he predicted. Waiting for hours in front of a slow broadband network I was able to download a copy of it through torrent. I watched the documentary, unable to figure out why it should be banned.

Bobby Ramakant (CMS)
Vietnam signals greater regional leadership in malaria elimination by hosting health officials and experts to discuss challenges to achieving a malaria-free Asia Pacific by 2030. This week, Vietnam will host Ministry of Health officials from the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN); a group of 17 countries in Asia Pacific who each share the ultimate goal to become malaria-free. Last year at the East Asia Summit meeting in Myanmar, leaders from 18 Asia Pacific countries, including Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, decisively committed to the goal of an Asia-Pacific free of malaria in the next 15 years. With expanded leadership and financing, both Vietnam and other Asia-Pacific nations, may reach that goal even sooner.