Japan’s young blind photographers use ‘eyes of the heart’...

Tokyo: Yutaka Meijo holds his breath to make sure his camera stays steady, carefully brings the object into focus and waits just a moment before clicking the shutter—relying only on his ears and a hunch.

“I take pictures relying on sound,” said the 18-year-old, who lost his sight when he was seven. “But there’s just a feeling to it,” Yutaka said, as he took shots of his visually impaired friends playing table tennis, hitting a ping pong ball with a bell inside.

“I press the shutter button and don’t hesitate when I think the moment’s right. The moment can’t be brought back. That’s my secret for taking pictures,” he says.

Yutaka is among 23 young photographers at a school for the blind in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, whose pictures are gradually drawing public attention. The children held cameras for the first time in their lives two and a half years ago when Hiroshi Suga, an award-winning Japanese photographer, gave a lecture at their school.

Suga, who is known for his documentary photographs, described the children as having “eyes of the heart”. “When I told them to hold cameras, at first some of them held cameras back to front or upside down while others covered the lenses with their hands,” Suga said.

“But they learnt quite fast and I was really surprised to see how impressive their pictures were,” he said.

He gave them cameras with oldfashioned film, and told them to take pictures of “whatever you like”. The results included photographs of family, teachers, friends, a street performer, and road studs for the blind.

“Their pictures are natural and honest,” Suga said, looking at their works in his studio. Suga decided to make their work public, kicking off an exhibition last year in Yokohama, and publishing two collections of photographs entitled “Kid Photographers”.

Exhibitions have taken place across eastern Japan, including Tokyo, drawing big crowds and selling more than 7,000 books. “Nothing is limited in life,” Suga said. “The kids have a disadvantage for sure but they aren’t pitiful.”

Kanna Yoshida, 14, takes her camera with her whenever she goes out as she says taking photographs allow her to “visualize” memories in her mind.

The young photographers, however, do miss at least one thing—appreciating their own work for its own sake. “I can’t see my pictures, of course,” said Takahiro Tsurui, 14, who lost his sight four years ago in an accident. “But taking pictures matters in itself. I can’t see them but I can imagine what I take.”

Takahiro says photography has helped him build the confidence to go out and talk to people. “No matter what job I have in the future, I want to continue taking pictures all my life,” said Takahiro. AFP

FREEZING TO DEATH?

Future shock: Heat wave temperatures to soar in decades
Washington: During the European heat wave of 2003 that killed tens of thousands, the temperature in parts of France hit 40°C. Nearly 15,000 people died in that country alone. During the Chicago heat wave of 1995, the mercury spiked above 41°C and about 600 people died.

In a few decades, people will look back at those heat waves “and we will laugh”, said Andreas Sterl, author of a new study. “We will find (those temperatures) lovely and cool.”

Sterl’s computer model shows by the end of the century, high temperatures for once-in-a-generation heat waves will rise twice as fast as everyday average temperatures. Chicago, for example, would reach 46°C in such an event by 2100. Paris could near 42.7°C with Lyon coming closer to 45.5°C .

Sterl, who is with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, projects temperatures for rare heat waves around the world in a study soon to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. His numbers are blistering because of the drying-out effect of a warming world. Most global warming research focuses on average daily temperatures instead of these extremes, which cause greater damage.

His study projects a peak of 47°C for Los Angeles and 43°C for Atlanta by 2100; that’s 5 degrees higher than the current records for those cities. Kansas City faces the prospect of a 46.6°C heat wave, with its current alltime high at 43°C, according to the National Climactic Data Center.

A few cities, such as Phoenix, which once hit 50°C and is projected to have heat waves of 48.8°C, have already reached these extreme temperatures once or twice. But they would be hitting those numbers a little more often as the world heats up over time.

For New York, it would only be a slight jump from the all-time record of 40°C at John F Kennedy airport to the projected 41°C. It could be worse. Delhi, India is expected to hit 49°C; Belem, Brazil, 49.4°C and Baghdad, 50°C .

These are temperatures that are dangerous, said University of Wisconsin environmental
health professor Jonathan Patz. And by 2050, heat waves will be 3 to 5 degrees hotter than now “and probably be longerlasting,” Sterl said. By mid-century, southern France’s extreme heat waves should be around 44°C and then near 48°C by the end of the century, Sterl’s climate models predict. AP

Penguins falling victim to showers
Washington: Global warming is leading to unusual epic rains in Antarctica, which is in turn causing the region’s penguins to freeze to death.

According to a report in National Geographic News, since Antarctica’s young Adelie and gentoo penguins are not yet equipped with water-repellent feathers, they freeze to death when the mercury dipped below the freezing point. “Many, many, many of them—thousands of them—were dying,” said explorer Jon Bowermaster, who had been in the region on an expedition funded in part by the National Geographic Society.

The experience, he added, painted a clear and grim picture of the impact of global climate change. “It’s not just melting ice. It’s actually killing these cute little birds that are so popular in the movies,” he said. ANI

Solar system oblong, not round....

Washington: The solar system may not be a nice round shape, but rather a bit squashed and oblong, according to data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft exploring the solar system’s outer limits, scientists said.

Launched in 1977, the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 unmanned probes are now studying the edges of the heliosphere, the huge magnetic “bubble” around our solar system created by the solar wind as it runs up against the thin gas in interstellar space.

The solar wind is made up of electrically charged particles blown into space in all directions by the sun. The boundary between the heliosphere and the rest of interstellar space is known as the “termination shock”.

Voyager 2 in August 2007 crossed this boundary 7.8 billion miles from the sun. Voyager 1 had crossed the boundary in December 2004 about 10 billion miles away from Voyager 1 and almost a billion miles farther from the sun.

Scientists think this indicates that the bubble carved into interstellar space by the heliosphere, which extends well past the distant orbit of Pluto, is not perfectly round, and the solar system is shaped a bit like an oblong.

“Imagine a balloon is being blown up by the solar wind. You might imagine that if you took a balloon, which is mainly spherical, and pushed it against the wall, it would be blunted on one side,” said Edward Stone of the California Institute of Technology, one of the scientists involved in the research.

That’s what has happened with the heliosphere, he said. The findings were published in the journal Nature. REUTERS

SQUASHED: The solar system is seen in a 2004 illustration distributed by Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

PIL filed against fee structure in private med, dental colleges...

Shibu Thomas | TNN

Mumbai: A public interest litigation has been filed against high fees being charged by private unaided medical and dental colleges from students belonging to other states who had taken admissions in the year 2005-06.

Hearing the PIL by Dahisar resident Amit Mehra, a division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice V M Kanade directed that the admission brochure for that year be placed before the court.

“For the last three years students from outside Maharashtra of this particular batch have been charged Rs 6 lakhs which is on on par with fees of Non Resident Indian students,’’ said advocate Amrendra Mishra, counsel for the petitioner. He added, “Students domiciled in the state are being charged only Rs 2.17 lakhs.’’ However, students of the subsequent batches both from the state as well as from other states have been paying the same fees.

The apparently discriminatory fees came about following a joint memorandum signed between Association of Management of Unaided Private Medical and Dental Colleges and the state government before the Supreme Court in 2005. This MoU agreed to allowing the 15 % management quota in colleges to be filled by both NRI students as well as those from outside Maharashtra.

According to the petition this was supposed to be an interim arrangement till the seven judge bench delivered its judgment in the matter relating to fees charged by private institutions.

“While for the 2005-06 batch in respect of fees for both NRI and outside Maharashtra students were at par, the admission criteria was different,’’ said the petitioner. Students in the NRI category were required to obtain merely 50% marks in HSC, while students from other states had to also qualify in the CET examination conducted by the Association. The petition, while calling the different fee structure as discriminatory, has urged the court to quash the high fees charged from students form outside the state.

shibu.thomas1@timesgroup.com

Agony, ecstasy after mad rush to colleges

Roana Maria Costa | TNN

Mumbai: On a cloudy Thursday afternoon at a south Mumbai college campus, three girls just couldn’t stop screaming. Ayushi Anandpara, Anam Merchant and Aanchal Jumani hugged each other on Thursday in between their squeals. They were ecstatic at having got into the junior college of their choice.

“I scored a percentile of 94.8, but was not sure I would make the Xavier’s cut-off as they have a 60% reservation and we fall in the other 40%. But I have made it here and am very happy,’’ said a glowing Anandpara, who has chosen the arts stream. Standing on the basketball court, she shared her euphoria with her friend Anam Merchant.

“Ecstatic is not even the word that I can use to even start to describe what I feel. Making the first merit list gives me the best feeling and I am on the top of the world right now,’’ said an excited Merchant, who too applied for arts.

As students and parents scrambled over each other to see which names had featured in the first merit lists, a long queue formed across the court for the purchase of application forms. The atmosphere was charged as students chalked out plans and shared notes with friends.

Jumani, who got into HR College but was with her school friends at Xavier’s, said her kick of the day was the text message HR College sent to her informing her that she had made the cut. “At 3 o’clock sharp, just as the college opened its gates, the SMSes were sent. When I got there, it was a mad rush as I had to push my way to see my name,’’ said the excited girl.

But as those who made the cut were relieved and went into party mode, there were others who will have to wait for the second merit list.

Standing outside HR College at Churchgate, Darshan Modi was feeling low. “I applied to HR, KC and Jai Hind, but got through only at KC. I expected to see my name at the other two colleges too. I now pin all my hopes on the second merit list,’’ said the lanky teen.

Anushi Shah too was upset. “I got a percentile of 87.94, but that was not enough to get into Jai Hind or HR. I can only wish that the second list changes the tide for me,’’ she said.

District quota called for
Mumbai: Colleges that have not kept 70% seats for students in their district will have to put out a new merit list, according to a state education department circular sent to district education offices on Thursday. The circular quotes a 2003 order that asks for the quota. Mumbai has three districts—Mumbai, Mumbai suburbs 1 and Mumbai suburbs 2. TNN

ALL EYES ON BOARD: Students at Patkar College, Goregaon scan the first merit lists put out on Thursday.

ARTS GAINS MERIT ON FIRST LISTS...

Rising Cut-Offs Show That Even Students Who Score High In Class X Are Opting For The Humanities In Junior College

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Unlike in Delhi, Class X students in India’s commercial capital usually do not flock to the humanities stream. Most high scorers in Mumbai opt for science or commerce. But this year in some of the city’s top colleges, there has definitely been a steady increase in arts cut-offs, showing that even high scorers are opting for the stream.

At St Xavier’s College, Dhobi Talao, one of the country’s most popular colleges for humanities, the arts cut-off stood at 88% for ICSE students and 86.5% for SSC students, a good 2 to 3% more than last year’s scores. Not surprisingly, thanks to the marks normalisation scheme, which aims to put SSC scores on par with those of the ICSE and CBSE boards, St Xavier’s saw an increase in the number of SSC students making it to the merit list. Around a third of the students on the arts list were from the SSC stream.

In the case of St Xavier’s, those with phenomenally high scores opted for the arts stream. The merit list opened with a whopping 96.62%. The numero uno spot was occupied by an SSC student. The top 54 slots in the merit list for St Xavier’s College were occupied by students who had scored 90% and above in Class X. Most of them were either from the SSC or the ICSE stream, with only one CBSE student appearing.

At Ruia College, the arts cut-offs rose by about 4 to 5%. Last year, the cut-off for arts in the first merit list in this Matunga-based institution was 80%. This year, it stood at 84.02% for SSC students and over 85% for ICSE and CBSE.

“Cut-offs for arts have gone up dramatically. It goes to show that several students, despite high percentages, are taking up arts. Students passionate about this stream are getting in, irrespective of how high their score may be,’’ said Suhas Pednekar, Ruia College principal.

At Jai Hind College, counters for arts closed at over 82% for ICSE and CBSE students, 2% higher than last year’s 80%. “This goes to show that bright students with high scorers are increasingly opting for the arts stream,’’ said Kirti Narain, Jai Hind College principal.

MAKING THE A-LIST: Students at Maharshi Dayanand College, Parel crowd around the notice board displaying the first merit lists for admission to junior college on Thursday

Future tense for Cambridge board class X students

Anahita Mukherji | TNN

Mumbai: For students from the 60-odd IGCSE (Cambridge international board) schools across the state—most of which are in the city—who’re hoping to re-enter the Indian education system, the future is still uncertain.

The Class X board examination scores for IGCSE students are out only by August whereas admissions to junior colleges are complete by the mid-July. And so, most IGCSE students who want to opt for the Maharashtra state board in Classes XI and XII usually obtain temporary admission based on provisional scores in the mock exams that they appear for before the ‘O-levels’.

While most South Mumbai colleges readily accept these scores, many suburban colleges are wary of international boards and refuse admission on the basis of provisional scores. “How can we grant a student admission based on the scores in a mock exam and not the actual IGCSE board exam,’’ says Mithibai College principal Kiran Mangaoker.

When TOI contacted Mumbai’s deputy director of education, Sheila Tiwari, she said that there were no hardand-fast rules when it came to such admissions. “I have asked the government for guidance on this matter, till now, colleges haven’t been issued any instructions on the matter,” she said.

“This is really unfair on my child. How can colleges refuse admissions on the basis of a provisional score? This means that students from an international board who want to re-enter the Indian system stand to lose out on a year, because the results are out later than those of Indian boards,’’ says an upset parent of a student from a suburban IGCSE school.

However, while the colleges and the state are unclear on admissions for IGCSE students, Ian Chambers, region manager South Asia, University of Cambridge International Examinations, says that the Maharastra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board has issued an eligibility certificate for Cambridge IGCSE as a foreign board. This allows access to junior colleges in Maharashtra for students with 5 IGCSEs (including English).
“Acclaimed institutes such as Mumbai University to accept IGCSE students on the basis of forecast grades and we would like to see progressive institutes follow this example,’’ says Chambers. He adds that in the ‘Application Form for Eligibility Certificate’, a booklet brought out by the Maharashtra State Education Board for students belonging to foreign boards/universities/institutions, there is a deed of undertaking which states that the divisional board can grant a provisional eligibility certificate, provided that documents are furnished within a stipulated time limit. “We would like to see junior colleges follow this,’’ says Chambers.