If you want someone to lift your mood, tune into Radio Quarantine Kolkata. With the aim of bringing together people who are stuck at home, a group of friends including professors, PhD scholars and filmmakers have set up the web-based community radio station. Filmmaker and curator Kasturi Basu is the co-founder. Since 2013, she has run the People’s Film Collective, which hosts film screenings and festivals with a strong focus on popular movements. So, rest assured the content is going to be anything but boring.
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Teen’s book to help transgenders

Saranya Bhattacharjya

Age is just a number. Saranya Bhattacharjya can vouch for it. Born and raised in Moulsari, Gurugram, she started writing at nine. “As a kid, I had put on weight, and felt excluded. So, a lot of my poems were about being different,” says the Class X student of The Shri Ram School.  Bhattacharjya, 16, met Rudrani Chettri Chauhan, a transgender rights activist, two years ago. “The first time I interacted with her, I was compelled to pay a visit to Mitr Trust, the first MSM/TG/Hijra community-based organisation that works on HIV/AIDS prevention.

Later in the pandemic I saw that the organisation didn’t have access to basic necessities like ration and medicines.” So, she got in touch with friends who could create art corresponding with her poems. Now, she has published her first book, Clash With Reason (R499), a compilation of poetry written over the years. Proceeds from the sale will go to Mitr Trust. “The book is about people who are deemed different, but it is also about embracing diversity,” she adds.
amazon.in

Pencils that love trees

Sk’oodle was launched in 2014 to offer elaborate do-it-yourself art kits, educational puzzles, cognitive skill-enhancing craft sets. They later pivoted to producing and selling eco-friendly pencils on learning that every year 4,00,000 trees of height 60 feet are cut just in India to make wooden pencils.  “We experimented with creating paper pulp of different mixes, and tested the durability and strength of the paper body around the graphite lead. We also conducted breakage and transit tests. This went on for nine months before we could come up with the first paper rolled pencil pack (R99 for 10),” says Vic Rana. They are currently using recycled paper to create a pencil body, which he says is also 100 per cent durable and designed to not break when sharpened. This means they last longer. mid-day used the pencils and found them comfortable to hold. Made with non-toxic materials, the ‘plantable’ pencils carry ready-to-sow seeds of chilli, tomato, coriander, fenugreek, and mustard, so when you are done, simply stick it into a pot and tend to the sapling.
skoodleart.com