When the theft of a Bonsai plant in Hyderabad caused a flutter

Prized bonsai stolen

It’s not just gold, silver and cash that seem to attract thieves; you can now add the ornamental bonsai plant to the list. Just days ago, thieves made away with a 15-year-old dwarf casuarina bonsai tree in Hyderabad, that too from the house of a retired DGP, V Appa Rao. The gardener noticed the bonsai was missing when he returned to work on Monday after his Sunday off, and alerted the DGP’s wife, who promptly lodged a complaint with the police. The plant in its pot, was kept near the gate; the two CCTV cameras were unfortunately not working. But the cops looked at surveillance cameras in the area, zeroed in on two suspects on a bike, and managed to lay their hands on one of them and recover the bonsai. Apparently, there was a similar such robbery from the officer’s house three years ago. Bonsai trees are highly prized, and gain in value as the age. The most expensive bonsai tree is said to cost 1.3 million US Dollars while in India many such trees are sold in the range of Rs 25 to 50 thousand.

Schoolchildren’s poems in budget speech

Kerala’s finance minister Thomas Isaac, an alumnus of JNU, has a PhD from the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, and he has published in both English and Malayalam. His budget speech may or may not have won praise, but he is sure to have won the hearts of children in the state: it quoted from the poems of several school children to buttress his remarks about how Kerala has emerged stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic. The speech was not short and sweet by any yardstick; newspapers reported that he spoke for a record three hours and 18 minutes, and many opposition leaders were not happy with such a long speech. He began his speech by quoting a class seven student from Palakkad, and then went on to quote from several more during his speech. The poems were part of a project to encourage the creative skills of children during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Chocolate park in Dakshin Kannada

The Madikeri-Mangaluru highway [Mercara-Mangalore highway as it was known before the renaming of towns in Karnataka] is one of the most scenic routes in the country. It may soon have another attraction that should appeal to all those with a sweet tooth, especially children… a chocolate park. The brainchild of Campco [Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd], it will be set up inside its own premises in Puttur, where it already has a factory that produces some 23 varieties of chocolate.

A top Campco official said the idea was inspired by the fact that chocolate has caught on in tourist destinations like Ooty; he said the plan was to set up a park on the way to Hanuman Betta, a popular location, where tourists could stop to see how chocolate is made and try out some fresh chocolate. Campco is the largest producer of cocoa and raw chocolate in India and supplies to leading brands like Cadbury and Amul besides exports.

The wettest January

January is the beginning of the lean season after the north-east monsoon withdraws in December, after having brought the state its main rainfall. But this January has been exceptional, and how: it has been one of the wettest Januaries in recent memory, with rainfall in excess of 1000 per cent across the state. According to Skymet, the weather service, TN normally sees about 16.5 mm of rain in January on average but this January the state recorded 124.8 mm of rain, which works out to 1055 per cent surplus. To put this in perspective, January has recorded deficit rainfall in every year since 2014, except 2017, when 37.3 mm of rain was recorded. And this was only until Pongal, on Jan 14.

No Covaxin please, say docs

The Central government, after expediting approvals for the two COVID-19 vaccines produced in India, Covishield from Serum Institute of India and Covaxin from Bharat Biotech, without waiting for the phase 3 results of the latter, rolled out its nationwide vaccination scheme on Jan 16. It said people would not have a choice between the two: take what you get or forget it. One section of doctors seem to have decided though: the TN government doctors. The TNGDA [TN government doctors’ association, some 20,000-strong] has issued an internal advisory to its members saying they should insist on Covishield when called for vaccination, till the phase 3 trial results are out. Tamil Nadu, along with several other states, has received stocks of both, while some have got only Covishield.