Snowflakes have been a part of our garden for three years now. Initially, we just had the white ones, we added the yellow ones later. In winters, the situation became grim, when due to severe cold we had almost lost them. However, their tubers stayed hidden in the shallow earthen pot and have now come to bloom. Among the many plants that have found a home on our rooftop garden, few are as delicate and fascinating as the “Floating Heart.” Unlike the water lilies, the Floating Heart attracts attention and is quite different. Their small floating leaves, slender stalks, and small flowers that look like tiny stars or snowflakes rest gently on the water. What makes this plant special is the life it attracts. A bee visiting the flowers, transforms an ordinary moment into a lesson in nature's interconnectedness. The plant, a living participant in a small ecosystem supporting insects, fish, birds and countless unseen organisms. Botanically it is from th...
NEET exams are around the bend. Tensions are mounting more in the Education Ministry to seal the areas from where paper leaks happen. The education minister is being tested actually. The ‘Paper Mafia’, must still be on a look out to puncture the system. They would do it again for a ‘few dollars more’. Sleuths would be on a lookout. I hope they nab all those who dare to play with the future of our kids and bring them to book. One reason the paper leak controversies have attracted so much attention is because a breach could occur at many stages, like question creation, digital storage, printing, transport, centre administration, or post-exam handling. Basically, where there is human handling of the exam paper. Those loopholes must be plugged. I remember my preparation for the prestigious Staff College exams. Rumours used to float around that the question paper is being set in one of the Commands, especially for an exam called Tac-B. This was a pra...