A COVID-19 challenge in rural heartland of Odisha
The Hindu
Annada Shankar Das, an Ayush doctor working in Nuapada district, has attended close to 1,000 patients in the last two months, several at odd hours.
Annada Shankar Das keeps telling himself not to attend phone calls at odd hours. But when his phone rings, he does answer. Working in western Odisha district of Nuapada, which is badly affected in the second wave of , Dr. Das, an Ayush doctor, has attended close to 1,000 patients in last two months, several of those at odd hours. The moment he gets calls from patients, he writes down their co-morbidities, soothes the nerves of anxious relatives, helps critical patients in hospital admission and distributes drug kits. “If you avoid or miss a phone call, you will actually jeopardise one’s life,” he said.
The municipal bus stand auditorium in Malappuram was packed. But nobody quite knew what to expect. After all, a new event was making its debut at the State School Arts Festival. The moment V.G. Harikrishnan started his rendition of Pyar bhare do sharmile nain..., everyone was convinced that Ghazal was here to stay. The student from GVHSS, Atholi (Kozhikode), was applauded loudly for his rendering of the timeless ghazal sung originally by Mehdi Hassan.

For the last few weeks, several wards in Madurai city have been getting piped drinking water through a new drinking water scheme. The sweetness of the generously supplied water has led to loss of business to several suppliers of canned drinking water in the city. But, not many know that the water supplied to the houses in Madurai is directly drawn from Lower Dam of Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki district of Kerala.











