Daredevil stunt

Former Indian champion and ace motocross biker Gaurav Khatri drew a huge crowd at the Indira Gandhi Park at Itanagar with his daredevil stunt last week, says a report in the Arunachal Times. The Jaipur-based biker vaulted over four state transport buses, (approximately 75 metres). The show was organised by the district administration as part of the Statehood Day celebrations, and assisted by Nature Unlimited.  Last year Khatri performed daredevil stunts at the Orange Festival Adventure and Music, Dambuk in Lower Dibang Valley district in the state.

Mother shelter

Guwahati-based engineer and filmmaker Sanjib Sabhapandit of Vibgyor Enterprise has developed a temporary shelter home for flood-prone areas, says a report in the Assam Tribune. Dubbed “Mother Shelter” and described as an “all-in-one flood relief camp capsule”, it is designed in such a way that people can build it by themselves, applying their traditional wisdom and using the locally available materials and expertise, said Sabhapandit. However, considering the cost involved, he suggested that the government, corporate houses, better off people and NGOs provide the materials, instead of sticking to the practice of doles in the name of flood relief.

The components include a floating barge, bathroom, latrine, solar-powered illuminating system, “chullah, a fuel briquetting machine, study table, water filtration unit and rain water harvesting system.

General Wingate remembered

On 10 February some people laid a wreath at the site where the plane carrying General Orde Charles Wingate had crashed during World War II, according to a report in the Kangla Online. The site is near the village Thiulon in Tousem sub-division of Manipur’s Tamenglong district. The participants included members of the Chindit Society, UK represented by Yumnam Rajeshwor Singh and his team, District Council members of the area; Micah Panmei, the village chairman Rampisinang Kahmei and villagers. They observed a minute’s silence. The Chindit Society’s membership includes the families of Chindits, together with those who have an interest in the Far East theatre of war, the campaigns in Burma and the remarkable contribution made by the Chindit Long Range Penetration Groups. The Society has Holly Wingate (Orde Wingate’s daughter-in-law) as president and Alice Wingate (Wingate’s grand-daughter) as vice-president.

General Wingate, a British officer, started the Chindits whose members made long-range penetration behind the Japanese lines during the defeat of the British in Burma in 1943. He was born at Nainital in 1903. His “Chindits” or “Wingate’s Raiders”, a brigade of British, Gurkha and Burmese guerrillas, harassed Japanese forces in the jungles of northern Burma. On 24 March 1944, the plane carrying him and other war correspondents crashed near the village of Thiulon in Tamenglong District. All on board were killed. The villagers of Thuilon have decided to commemorate 24 March every year as the death anniversary of General Wingate.