If you don’t know what light painting is, it’s the closest thing to magic you’ll see this week
Alithea Jake
Paisa wasool
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Most children are given a piggy-bank to inculcate the habit of saving. This writer remembers a tin box that she owned for much of her childhood—the money would later be used to splurge on pizzas and cola at the school canteen. But teaching kids to become financially literate goes beyond a piggy bank-saving exercise.
A new book, Money Lessons (Rs 599), by BrightCHAMPS, a global edtech platform for kids, hopes to inculcate age-appropriate lessons on currency, banking, loans, and spending. Set in Utopia, the city of the future, the protagonist, Ms Greenline, who is also the “inventor of power orbs” takes teenagers Max and Ray back to the classroom to teach them a thing or two about money.
Why? She believes that if they become financially smart, they’d be able to defeat Mr Krisis, a villain on a mission to find the “lost orb”—the orbs are what’s solving the city’s green energy problems. While the plot seems forced and a bit convoluted to us, nine-year-old Alithea Jake who read the book, feels “it’s what makes the book interesting”. “I love illustrated texts with animated characters... this one is fun and easy to read.”
She liked reading about the barter system, and how back in the day, people exchanged items to get what they wanted. “If I were given that option now, I would barter my necklaces and bracelets made of beads and shells in exchange for a stuffed toy, or even teach my dad how to read musical notes in return for a new iPad,” she says.
The book also discusses the evolution of money from bank notes to digital currency. There are QR codes every few pages, which take you to videos associated with the chapter. “The activities in the book helped me understand some of the financial concepts better,” says Alithea.
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Lactose-free protein for the win
For vegetarians, their protein intake is a matter of grave dilemma—and a bowl of dal just doesn’t cut it. For a vegetarian who is lactose intolerant, when even paneer is a dicey option, the struggle is all the more real. So, we were happy when we found Origin Nutrition’s Vegan Protein, which is soy and gluten free, and dairy and nut free. It comes in four flavours—strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and coffee caramel. We have kept the pack of four at work, so we can get our daily fill even at office. We had the serving, which comprises 25 gm, with water, and though the vanilla was hard to swallow, the chocolate was palatable. But our tummy was calmer, and digested the protein easily. And, that, we valued.
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Lights, camera, click
If you don’t know what light painting is, it’s the closest thing to magic you’ll see this week. To put it simply, light painters create images by moving light sources against darkness (think Diwali sparklers), and capture it on camera using a long exposure. One such artist is Darren Pearson. Set against majestic natural backdrops, Pearson’s use of bright, varied colours and unique, intricate patterns make his work stand out from other light painters. One of his series, called “Light Fossils”, features dinosaurs in all manner of poses and locations! His glowing artwork also includes rainbow-coloured flowers, elk and jellyfish against the night sky, which we find quite captivating.
@dariustwin, Instagram
Living the vintage life
After all that social media overdose, the world seems to be going retro. And our touch of vintage came from Gabi, who’s a self-professed “21st century girl sharing 20th century fashion”. What would 1960s fashion look like? Or how would the Disney princesses dress like in the ’60s? Gabi has all answers. In just under
a minute, she showed us her take on Cinderella’s flowy gown and re-imagined Snow-White’s short dress with gloves and headbands synonymous to that decade. We were also surprised that the era had something called rain bonnets. Looking like a pocket toy, the product would be taken out when caught in rain, unfolded into a plastic bonnet and voila, it saved you from a wet hair day.
@gabis_vintage, Instagram
Lessons from the Professor
Well to be honest, we may not always have the best understanding of international events around us. But when we heard that Professor Pushpesh Pant has started a new YouTube channel to cover all aspects of international events, we wanted to give it a listen. Noted academician, food critic, historian and one of the leading experts of international relations, Pant retired from Jawaharlal Nehru University as Dean of its School of International Studies. Decades of his knowledge and expertise are visible in these videos, seven of which have been uploaded so far. The videos have been made keeping the civil services aspirants in mind, but we believe anyone looking for an in-depth understanding of political and world events, should tune in. Giving his non-politically correct opinion, Pant appears to be talking to you and not giving a fully academic-bookish lecture, which makes you want to hear out his POV. In one such video he talks about the G20 summit in India, the pros of it with PM Modi making a grand spectacle of the event, a voice of the South, and also deals with its criticism. In addition to his eye opening talk, Pant has also put together PPTs, focusing on the civil services aspirants, and he provides a link to download these PPTs. Well, who doesn’t like a teacher who gives lessons from out of the book and passes notes along? We certainly do.
@pushpeshpant1, YouTube
Curated by Aastha Atray Banan, Yusra Husain and Sharanya Kumar
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