AGRICULTURAL  ART  OR  ARTISTIC  AGRICULTURE  ?   -  BOSCONET  THOUGHTS

Sam Van Aken is associate professor in Syrcuse University’s art department. He grafted over forty varieties of stone fruit trees on to a single tree. Among the fruits are peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines and cherries. In spring the tree displays its marvellous beauty by producing a variety of flowers in different colours, shapes and sizes.

This is not the first successful work or art of this type for this professor. In a previous project called ‘Eden’, he had grafted vegetables and flowers together. Then he came up with a large project for a great orchard growing over forty varieties of stone fruit trees. When he could not find the money to support such a large scheme, he came up with the idea of having just one tree, but producing all these varieties of fruits on it.

It is great that an ART professor has mastered the technology for this type of grafting. Could ‘art’ of this type be also of great practical and commercial value to poorer farmers with only tiny plots of cultivable land?

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STRANGER  THAN  FICTION   -   BOSCONET  THOUGHTS

A man on a bike, with a lady as his pillion rider. He is driving fast. They come to a point where the road splits off into two – one rising up as a flyover and other a road at the ground level. He hesitates on the choice of road to take. At the last second he takes the flyover. The turn was so sudden that he loses control of the bike. They hit the wall of the flyover. Both of them fly forward, off the bike and down on to the road below the flyover.

The boy hits the road and falls unconscious (later, at the hospital, he is declared brain dead). The girl falls on to the roof of a van parked on the road below. She rolls over its windshield and falls to the ground. She picks herself up and shakes some dust off her clothes. She walks over to the boy and sees that he is unconscious (perhaps dead?). She searches the pockets of the man, takes his purse and mobile phone and coolly walks off the scene!

This is reported to have taken place in Chennai on Tuesday, 5 August.

What sort of relationship did these two people have? What made the girl go pillion riding with this boy? What sort of a human being would do what this girl did?

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R  U  +ICTED ?   -   BOSCONET  THOUGHTS

India now has two centres for the rehabilitation of those suffering from what could be called “IT addiction” – uncontrolled use of the internet, video games, smart phone, social media, etc. The first centre was at NIMHANS, Bangalore, and the second started functioning three weeks ago at Sarvodaya Enclave in New Delhi.

A study by NIMHANS says 73% of teenagers in Bangalore are suffering from psychiatric distress. Victims of the addiction have eye strain; serious negative impact on their studies; difficulties with the family and with their social life; and neglect of recreational activities. Some suffer from insomnia, inability to concentrate and constant irritation.

When addiction reaches the level where a child will not even touch her food if the wi-fi is not working at home, there is every reason to be concerned.

Like most other excellent things in life, the products of IT are so fantastic when used responsibly, but so harmful when abused !

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