Two Drops, A Million Lives

 Silently watching his friends play, a little boy was sitting by the window. Looking at his frail and paralysed legs, he realises that he will never be able to play or even move. The cause of this child’s misery is polio.

Polio is one of the most contagious and deadly diseases faced by mankind. At its core, it mostly starts with fever, fatigue, and other mild symptoms. But in critical cases, it leads to severe paralysis and even death. The most adverse effects are seen in children. Polio has existed since prehistoric times. Dating back to 1580-1350 BC, an Egyptian stele depicts a priest with a withered leg, a feature associated with this disease. 

In 1789, the first known clinical description of polio was provided. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, polio was known as one of the most dangerous diseases, known for its frequent outbreaks. In 1916, a massive outbreak in New York City killed over 2000 people. From 1916, every summer brought with it a polio outbreak. By the mid-20th century, polio was found in every country, emphasising the need for a cure.

In the 1950s, the first successful vaccine was created by Jonas Salk, an American physician. Soon, an orally administered vaccine was created. With these vaccinations, the polio outbreaks decreased in great numbers.

The World Health Assembly, in the year 1988, passed a resolution to completely eradicate polio. With WHO’s assistance, vaccine production was also expanded globally, with significant capacity developed in countries including India and Indonesia. In 1995, mass vaccination campaigns took place in China and India. National Immunisation Days were coordinated in 19 European and Mediterranean countries in the same year, and in 23 African countries in 2004. By 1994, polio had been eliminated from the Americas, and by 2000 the Western Pacific was polio-free. By 2003, polio remained endemic in only 6 countries – and three years later, that number had dropped to 4.

In India, the fight against polio was carried out with the Pulse Polio Immunisation Program. The program administered the oral vaccine to over 1 million children and ensured that every child under the age of 5 was vaccinated. The campaign ran with the slogan “Do Boond Zindagi Ke” to highlight the vaccine’s convenience. India achieved the status of a polio-free nation in 2014.

Even though there is a cure available to prevent the physical symptoms of polio, its psychological symptoms are far more devastating. Chronic stress, anxiety, and depression are some of the most common psychological effects of polio. This not only causes distress but also affects the individual’s ability to cope with the disease.    

World Polio Day is celebrated on 24th October every year to raise awareness of the devastating effects of polio and the importance of the polio vaccine. This day honours the extensive efforts taken to end the polio epidemic. 

 As Jonas Salk once said,

“Hope lies in dreams, imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make those dreams a reality.”

This day reminds people that global action begins with a simple dream, a dream to help people!

- Anaya Ramtirth 

ज्ञान के सागर में सीपियाँ: पठन से प्रबोधन तक

 

"किताबें झाँकती हैं बंद अलमारी के शीशों से, बड़ी हसरत से तकती हैं... 

ज़बाँ पर जायका आता था जो सफ़ा पलटने का, अब उँगली क्लिक करने से बस एक झपकी गुजरती है।"

अपनी कविता 'किताबें' में गुलज़ार जी बड़ी सुंदरता से बदलते समय की एक समस्या की ओर, "इन्स्टंट इन्फॉर्मेशन" यानी "त्वरित जानकारी" की प्राप्ति के कारण कम होती हुई पुस्तकें पढ़ने की आदत की ओर संकेत करते हैं | लोग आजकल एक क्लिक से किसी भी विषय के बारे में जानकारी पाकर बिना उसे पूरी तरह समझे उसे स्वीकार कर लेते हैं|

लेकिन यह आधी-अधूरी जानकारी हमें पूरा चित्र नहीं दिखा पाती। इसके विपरीत पढ़ने की प्रक्रिया हमें अलग-अलग संदर्भों के माध्यम से विविध दृष्टिकोण समझाकर अपना स्वतंत्र व सूचित मत बनाने का अवसर देती है। यह हमें किसी एक दृष्टिकोण तक सीमित न रखकर समकालीन विचारों के भेद दिखाती है। इस प्रकार ये केवल अलग-अलग दृष्टिकोण को स्वीकार करना नहीं ,बल्कि पूर्व स्थापित संकल्पनाओं पर सवाल करना भी सिखाती हैं।

वाचन के इस महत्त्व को लोगों तक पहुँचाने के लिए डॉ. ए. पी. जे. अब्दुल कलाम जी के जन्मदिन के अवसर पर प्रतिवर्ष १५ अक्टूबर को "वाचन प्रेरणा दिवस" के रूप में मनाया जाता है| डॉ. कलाम जी को पुस्तकों से विशेष लगाव था, उनका मानना था कि बेहतरीन किताबें दिमाग के लिए प्रकाशस्तंभ हैं, जो जीवन के सफर में हमारा मार्ग रोशन करती हैं| इसी उद्देश्य से सन २०१५ से यह दिन विद्यार्थियों और समाज में वाचन की संस्कृति को प्रोत्साहित करने हेतु मनाया जाता है।

वाचन का महत्त्व सिर्फ आधुनिक काल तक सीमित नहीं है। प्राचीन भारतीय सिद्धांतों के अनुसार पाठक केवल उपभोक्ता नहीं है, उसे रचनाकार या सृष्टिकर्ता के बराबर का दर्जा दिया गया है| आनंदवर्धन जैसे महान विचारकों का मानना था कि कवि तो केवल एक बीज बोता है, जिसका सुंदर बगीचे में रूपांतर करने का कार्य पाठक की कल्पना करती है। यह भी माना जाता था कि जब आप किसी रचना में पूरी तरह डूब जाते हो तब आपका अहंकार लुप्त होकर आप ब्रह्मानंद सहोदर ( आध्यात्मिक आनंद जैसा सुख) की अनुभूति कर पाते हो।

पुस्तकों से मिलने वाली यह अनुभूति पाने के लिए पुस्तकों तक हमारी पहुँच होना भी उतना ही आवश्यक है। डॉ. कलाम कहते थे कि एक पुस्तकालय किसी भी राष्ट्र की रीढ़ के समान होता है। यह कोई विलासिता नहीं बल्कि जीवन की अनिवार्यता है| लेकिन आज के समय में वाचकों की घटती संख्या के कारण हमारे देश में पुस्तकालयों की संख्या भी घटती जा रही है, जिसका एक कारण शायद वाचन से मिलने वाले वास्तविक आनंद से अनजान रह जाने वाला आज का समाज है।

पुस्तकें हर व्यक्ति के लिए कुछ ऐसा लाती हैं जो उसके विचारों और अनुभवों से जुड़ जाता है।

यह ज्ञान के महासागर के समान होती हैं और हमारा ध्येय उस पूरे सागर को समा लेना नहीं बल्कि हमारे दिल को भाने वाली अनोखी सीपियों और शंखों को इकट्ठा करना है। क्योंकि पठन केवल ज्ञान अर्जित करने का माध्यम नहीं, बल्कि एक ऐसी अनुभूति है, जो खयालों को नई उड़ान देती है और आपके मन को छू जाती है।

संस्कृत भाषा में एक श्लोक है :

पुस्तकस्था तु या विद्या, परहस्तगतं धनम्।

कार्यकाले समुत्पन्ने, न सा विद्या न तद् धनम्॥

इसका सुंदर प्रतीकात्मक अर्थ यह है कि पुस्तकों में सीमित ज्ञान तब तक हमारे लिए निष्क्रिय हैं, जब तक हम उसे पढ़ते नहीं है। पुस्तकें ज्ञान को अपने भीतर सँजोए हमारा इंतज़ार कर रही हैं, आवश्यकता केवल उन्हें खोलने, पढ़ने और उस ज्ञान को अपना बनाने की है।

- श्रीला कुलकर्णी

From Postboxes to Inboxes: The Forgotten Art of Postal Communication

 

कुछ तो बातें हैं अंदर, जो कहने को बेक़रार हैं,

न जाने कितने हफ़्ते, महीने, साल बीत गए,

पर वो लफ़्ज़ों से अनजान हैं. . .

Letters.

They were really slow. Sometimes they got lost or misplaced. Sometimes the handwriting was messy. The reply took three weeks or more, and half the time it said, "All fine here, hope you are fine too." But the honest answer is that the slowness, the bad handwriting, and the dull news were never the point. The point was that a letter proved that someone actually sat down and spent real time thinking about you for longer than a minute.

Think about what actually went into writing one. You picked a single person out of everyone you knew, sat down and stayed in their company, on paper, for as long as it took to fill a page. Your pen pressed hard on the sentences you were sure of and went faint on the ones you weren't. A reader could see exactly where you hesitated. You can’t see a pause or a shaky hand in a digital font, can you?

Then came the part that felt like magic. You wrote a name and a few lines of address on an envelope, handed it over to a total stranger, and it reached a door you had never seen, sometimes in a town you would never visit. Nobody in between knew what you had written, and nobody needed to. They just made sure it arrived.

And then, the journey would end. Someone held the same page you touched, carrying a trace of your quiet afternoon or late-night memories, and put it in a drawer, a diary, or tucked it inside an old book. Years later, you open it, and suddenly you’re listening to that person exactly as they were back then, and the same smile creeps onto your face. Today, a chat thread just scrolls away into infinity. A letter actually stays put.

We type out more words in a day now than a letter a writer sent in a year, yet somehow we skip the points that matter. Messages arrive before we've finished feeling them. We type, backspace, rewrite, and twist every sentence. "Seen” has quietly replaced "Received," and those long waits are quietly disappearing. Nothing is wrong with speed. But somewhere between the typing dots and the thumbs-up, we stopped staying with a person long enough to mean it.

Each October, National Postal Day comes around, reminding us of something we rarely stop to think about: why did people once write letters so often, and why have we stopped?

It celebrates the postal system, that vast, unglamorous network built around a beautifully simple task: Carrying one person’s words across distance and placing them, unchanged, into another person’s hands.

- Nisha Gupta

IAF: Just Two steps away from ‘World’s Best’ Title

 

Founded on October 8, 1932, the Indian Air Force came into existence at Karachi’s Drigh Road, with just six RAF-trained officers, 19 air soldiers, and four Westland Wapiti IIA biplanes. Over the decades, it transformed from a small auxiliary unit into the world’s fourth-largest air force. Its motto, “नभः स्पशृं दीप्तम” (“Touch the Sky with Glory”), borrowed from the Bhagavad Gita, makes the chest of every Air-Warrior swell with pride. From its early operations to the critical precision strikes of 1971 and turning the tide during the 1999 Kargil War, the skies have long echoed with the formidable roars of the MiG-21, Folland Gnat, Hawker Hunter, Sukhoi Su-7, Mirage 2000, and the MiG-29. Yet, behind these gloriously fought victories and elite tactical excellence lies a side of the force that demands a hard, honest look. 

The Indian Air Force faces severe structural, technological, and operational vulnerabilities that threaten its combat readiness in an increasingly hostile neighborhood. Despite efforts toward self-reliance under Atmanirbhar Bharat, the IAF remains caught in a loop of operational shortfalls due to mismatch of Sanctioned Squadrons numbers with effectively working Squadrons, engine technology voids; for example, the Kaveri engine 1.0 program was asked to shut and was de-linked from the LCA Tejas fighter jet project in 2009, as it could not consistently generate the required 90+ kN of wet thrust (maxing out at ~72 kN) and faced severe thermal metallurgy challenge, fifth-generation delays because Of intergovernmental delays and lack of technological advancements, and last, the dependency on Foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs); for example, the acquisition of 36 Rafales did bring instant operational superiority, but they come with high life cost, and with Restricted source codes.

Being the youth of our country, I believe that addressing these vulnerabilities is not a disrespect of our armed forces; it is the first prerequisite for true greatness. A nation that builds its own defense systems builds an unassailable future. To ensure the IAF remains a world-class aerospace power in the 21st century, India must pivot sharply toward radical structural reforms: Defense R&D should not remain confined to state-run laboratories alone; it must foster deep partnerships between DRDO, academia (IITs/NITs), and private defense startups to achieve breakthroughs in stealth materials, hypersonic tech, and propulsion—fields that demand venture-style agility and massive initial funding.

India boasts the largest youth population on Earth—a pool of unmatched software engineers, roboticists, and AI pioneers. By integrating young talent into defense incubators, drone warfare research, and autonomous systems development, we can take technological development in Research and Development sector on a 6th Generation Level. And the biggest pride of any young mind will be that their innovations helped the nation.

The men and women in uniform have proven time and again that their courage and tactical skill are second to none. It is now up to the nation’s visionaries, researchers, and young innovators to match that courage with world-leading indigenous technology. When our engineers and our warriors fly together in locally designed, high-tech machines, the Indian Air Force will not only touch the sky with glory—it will command it. Jai Hind.

- Manprit Shekhawat

And Then There Was Her: The Queen of Crime

 

Around a century and three decades ago, a little girl took up a voracious hobby of reading. Although her mother homeschooled her, the latter’s made-up tales fueled her imagination, ultimately earning her the title of the ‘Queen of Crime’. Amusing herself, little Agatha loved making up imaginary friends, playing with animals, and writing poems. Author and family friend Eden Philpotts often remarked on Agatha’s mother’s aversion to the girl’s writing and poetic whims by saying, “The artist is only the glass through which we see nature, and the clearer and more absolutely pure that glass, so much the more perfect picture we can see through it. Never intrude yourself.”

She loved travelling, and often found herself a visitor of many cities, from living in the French capital to the archaeologically affluent city of Cairo. As she grew more in love with her husband, Archie Christie, she also had to face long years of loneliness while he was away at war, fighting for the Allied powers. The atrocities of the First World War affected both spouses. Archie, posted in France, and Agatha, on the Home Front, each played their part in the war, with Agatha working as a nurse with the Voluntary Aid Detachment in a Red Cross Hospital in Torquay.

Agatha Christie is a household name today among the all-time bestselling authors in the world, courtesy of the Belgian, methodical detective with the waxed moustache, Hercule Poirot. Known for his wit and keen understanding of the real world, Poirot’s character was inspired by a Belgian refugee and former great policeman who had settled in Torquay. As for the murder method in her novels, she naturally settled on poison, putting her knowledge and experience of the dispensary to use.

According to UNESCO’s Index Translationum, she remains the most-translated individual author and was also voted the best crime writer, while The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was voted the best crime novel ever by 600 professional novelists of the Crime Writers’ Association. Following the war, Agatha continuously experimented with different kinds of mystery and thriller novels. Her well-renowned novel that lifted her to fame was the debut novel featuring Hercule Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Towards the end of 1927, Agatha had created another intriguing amateur detective—a white-haired old lady from a seemingly sheltered village named Miss Jane Marple. 

Her mother’s death and her inevitable divorce in 1928 brought a significantly dark turn in her career. This marked the moment when, writing was no longer pleasure but a profession.

Alongside writing novels, Agatha also began to take an interest in playwriting ; following the disappointing adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd into 'Alibi' by Michael Morton in 1928. In 1930, she wrote a brand-new play featuring Poirot, Black Coffee, after which she decided to remove Poirot from future stage productions, arguing that he took attention away from the plot. In 1947, Agatha was approached by the BBC to write a radio play for the 80th birthday of Queen Mary, who was an avid admirer of her work. The result was Three Blind Mice, which ultimately became The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in history.

Agatha’s writings were gaining critical popularity. In 1948, Penguin published 100,000 copies of ten of her novels; then, in 1950, Collins printed 50,000 copies of her 50th book, A Murder Is Announced. Her works are consequential proofs of the phenomenal events of her life. 

From being a young girl immersed in creativity to rightfully becoming the ‘Queen of Crime’, who imprinted her creative soul on the pages of more than a hundred literary works.

Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, along with her merited fame, has also earned an evergreen place in the hearts of those of us who are mystery and crime-fiction enthusiasts through her extraordinary skill in weaving some of the most sophisticated yet gripping thriller tapestries of all time. As we celebrate her 136th birth anniversary, her stories remind us that great mysteries may be solved, but the fascination of her world of secrets, suspense, and human nature never truly ends.

-Krutika Mali