I had to bring this to your attention: a five-year-old Kashmiri girl named Lishba who lived in one of the areas that was most affected by the quake spoke to the BBC about her memories of the tragedy and what she felt during and after it. I wish there were a picture of her; even without one, she’s captivated me. I don’t remember being this eloquent when i was five…

Where she was when the quake hit:

I was at home watching television and my sister was playing outside, my parents were in at home as well.

I felt the house shake and I got scared and ran to my father.

My sister was playing outside and at first we couldn’t find her, then my father went and got her home and all of us came out into the garden.

At first both my father and I thought the painter doing up my room must have broken something since the house shook, but then my father said this was an earthquake.

After the earthquake everybody was out of their houses and there was confusion everywhere.

Lishba, like so many others, is now homeless:

My house is completely broken all over.

We are now living in a field near my grandfather’s house.

When it rains, we all take shelter in the balcony of my grandfather’s house. It’s all broken and there are cracks everywhere but we all sit there.

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Express India reports –

New Delhi, August 18: A teacher stabbed a pencil into the head of a four-year-old after she caught him sleeping. An incision had to be made to remove a piece of lead from the boy’s head.

…The incident occurred when class teacher Kalpana Kumari found Anas, a student of Prep I, napping in class. She snatched his pencil and hit him on the head.

This passage brings to mind Maoist Chinese justice where the family of the condemned is charged for the bullet used to execute him –

…The family of the boy alleged that Green Field Convent School did not even provide first aid. Anas, the victim, lives with his aunt as his parents are at Moradabad.

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Since we’ve had so many posts on kids lately, thus taking our mind off more troubling matters, I thought I’d throw a post into the mix as well. Remember Karan Takhar? He came in second place a few months ago in the National Geographic Bee. Indian Americans were denied a coveted “bee” crown. Well, on Thursday in Budapest, Hungary, Karan redeemed himself with the help of two teammates. Voice of America reports:

A team of three American school students has won the National Geographic World Championship in Budapest, Hungary Thursday. The team from Russia came in second and Canada was third.

Looking relieved three teenagers of the United States received the golden medals in an Olympic style ceremony at the end of the National Geographic World Championship in the Palace of the Arts in Budapest.

They received them after a nerve wrecking hour, which included burning questions on the capital of Slovakia, an egg-laying mammal, and questionable election practices in Zimbabwe.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that one of the three Russians walked up to Karan before the bout and whispered, “I will break you.” This made their eventual loss all the more difficult.

Less impressed with the American victory was the Russian team, which came in second.

The two boys and one girl wearing silver medals found it difficult to smile. 15-year old Ivan Prokhorov from Murmansk, explained why Russia should have won. “From one hand I am happy because it is the best result in Russian history. But from the other hand I feel upset a little bit, because we could be the first. Because we are intelligent enough to win this competition but something happened, I don’t know what,” he said.

The Globe and Mail asked Karan what he thought of the experience:

“It’s such a great experience but once you’re done, it’s really tiring,” said Karan, adding that his plan was to “sleep first, then celebrate.”

Think you got what it takes? Try for yourself. Continue reading →

This unfortunate baby was born on February 22, 2005 in the tiny little town of Roseburg, Oregon (Population 21,000). Why do I say that she’s unfortunate? It has nothing to do with the dress she’s wearing, that’s really not her fault. And all babies look like boiled aloo when they’re born. Nor was she born too small or too large; at 9 lbs 3 oz, she’s well within normal parameters.

The unfortunate thing about this baby is her name: Aryan Justice. This poor little girl is going to have to go through life with the name of a political cause that frankly, hasn’t been on the winning side of many battles lately. Probably the last time the Aryans won anything was when they invaded India, thousands of years ago. They would have been better off naming her “Christian Right” (assuming they shared those values, many Aryan Nation folks are Pagans [NSFW], and talk about the “brutal dictatorship of Christian tyrants” [NSFW]), at least then she could have been called “Chrissie” by her schoolmates.

Also, it’s unfortunate this this girl looks so … well … tan. She looks more like she fits the earlier definition of Aryan as “Indo-Iranian” than the revisionist definition of “blue eyed, blond haired, supremacist puke.”

Lastly, I love the hospital’s little helpful name explanation guide. Aryan, they tell us, is a name of French origin, and means Holy. Riiiiiiiight. And if you believe that, I have a Reich to sell you. Here’s hoping that this poor baby grows up at least as sane as Moon Unit and Dweezil Zappa ……

UPDATE: Runnerwallah points out that the name was no mistake [NSFW], and that her parents really are White Supremacists. I hope she tells people it’s pronounced “Arianne”, and that her parents named her after the European space program. Then she can move to India when she grows up, where her name isn’t so unusual, and marry somebody of her own skin tone.

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