A 'princely' Rs.400 or $8 - for winning two golds, one bronze at Ipoh

When constable and sportswoman Anita Yadav went to meet a top Agra police official with her prized possessions - two golds and one bronze medal won at the November athletics championships in Malaysia - she could scarcely imagine what lay in store.

A 'princely' Rs.400 had been sanctioned as her reward by the police, says a bitter Anita. This was the response to her application informing the police department of the laurels she had won.

'No compliments, bouquets or encouraging words from any quarters. Even the media took no notice of my achievements,' Anita told IANS in an interview. 'Cricketers would have been honoured and recognised by everyone but athletes like us are cold shouldered.'

Anita's kitty of medals weighs several kilograms, having won them at state, national and international meets at regular intervals. But the cold indifference and lack of encouragement from people in general and her own department in particular has begun to hurt.

'When I returned after 15 days of hard gruelling competitions at the international level in Malaysia and applied for three days' leave, my boss said you have already had such a long outing and rest. Get back to work.

'With this kind of attitude how can sports flourish here?' Anita wonders.

At the Malaysian International Open Masters Athletics Championship held at Ipoh Nov 7 and 8, she was given the best woman athlete award.

She touched 5 m 40 cm in long jump, winning a gold. She clinched a gold in javelin throw and a bronze in the Medley relay race. She was the lone representative from Uttar Pradesh.

'At 35 plus, I had to compete with a 23-year-old girl,' she said.

As a constable attached to the Sadar police station in Agra, she finds it hard to combine her duties with sports.

'But I manage because my husband, Shanti Swarup, who is also in the police, takes care of my 11-year-old daughter and six-year-old son. He has never let me feel burdened with domestic chores and has been a great source of encouragement.

'I come from a very conservative background in Etawah and when I go to my in-laws, I still have to hide my face behind a veil despite my long international exposure.

'Even with 80 odd medals I have no future in sports. They give me nothing extra, no facilities, no allowances. My own salary is spent on my diet. I eat 85 almonds daily, two litres of milk and a very rich vegetarian diet of dal roti, plus lots of desi ghee and at least five glasses of fruit juice.

'I could win medals at Malaysia because I am fit and practise regularly, come what may.'

A post graduate in sociology from Jeevaji University, Gwalior, Anita is totally devoted to sports and has won medals not only in athletics but also judo, table tennis, weight-lifting.

She keeps a low profile. 'At the international meets I stay alone, don't mix around with people, keep a low profile and concentrate on my work because I am a fitness freak,' she says.

In fact, the poor efficiency and performance levels of the police she attributes to lack of interest in sports.

'Speaking for myself and my family, let me put it in bold letters: we do not accept a single penny from corrupt sources or as bribery. The whole department knows that. You know how difficult it is to stay away from the corrupting influences of the system you are part of, but I am proud of this fact,' Anita said.

'I have won all the shields and honours in police games for Agra and Uttar Pradesh in the past 12 years. But no one is proud of me. I feel so frustrated and feel like giving up because I cannot give anything to my family.

Kitten survives trip in shipping crate

A scrawny, black and white female kitten has apparently survived a trip across the Pacific Ocean and North America inside a shipping crate. Cleveland Animal Protective League Executive Director Sharon Harvey says a Cleveland company that received the crate of spooled steel coil Friday found the kitten inside one the spools.

Harvey says the mother cat and other kittens found in the crate were dead. The crate came to Samsel Supply Co. from Singapore. It was sealed Feb. 4 and shipped three days later.

The approximately 12-week-old kitten has been checked by a veterinarian and has responded well to being fed.

It will be kept in quarantine for about three weeks to make sure it doesn't pass any infectious disease to other animals.

Woman applying for new ID says she's 120

Mariam Amash filled in the routine form with anything but routine information. Amash, who recently applied for a new Israeli identity card, said she was born 120 years ago — a claim, if confirmed, that would make her the oldest person in the world. The Guinness Book of Records currently lists 114-year-old Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Indiana, as holding that title.

Sabine Haddad, a spokeswoman for Israel's Interior Ministry, confirmed that Amash, from the Israeli Arab village of Jisr a-Zarka, is listed in the population registry as having been born in 1888. "We're just not sure it's correct," Haddad said.

The listing was based on a birth certificate issued by Turkish authorities who ruled the region at the time, she said. Ministry clerks in an Israeli city near Amash's village found out about her claim this week when she came in to replace an identity card she lost.

Relatives said she has 10 sons and one daughter, her eldest, now in her late 80s. She has about 120 grandchildren, 250 great-grandchildren and 20 great-great grandchildren, they said.

A granddaughter-in-law, Hamda Amash, 40, said Mariam is a "healthy, active woman. She walks each day and makes sure she drinks at least one glass of olive oil." She was a pampered second wife who married relatively late, explaining the ages of her children, Hamda Amash said. "Her house is always full of people," she said. "People like to come to her house. She talks to us about the old days. She knows the history since the Turkish times." Turkish control over the Holy Land ended with World War I.

A devout Muslim, she has made four pilgrimages to Mecca, the last one about 15 years ago, when she would have been over 100, relatives said.

Amarilis Espinoza, a Guinness spokeswoman in London, said she was not familiar with Amash's contention, but said multiple documents would need to be produced to back up a birth certificate, like the birth certificates of a spouse and children, death certificates, school certificates and medical examinations.

"Anything that helps reconstruct the timeline of the person back to that age," Espinoza explained. "There is a lot of documentation that needs to be prepared before we could announce a person is the oldest person."

Love Actually: Coma can't put a fullstop to this tale

College romances are meant to be fun, laughter and companionship. But for 23-year-old Sunny Pawar, companionship has assumed a new meaning.

His girlfriend, Aarti Macwan, met with a serious accident a year-and-a-half ago and has been in coma ever since.

Sunny says Aarti - his girlfriend of of two-and-a-half years - was a cheerful, independent girl. But now she needs to be cared for 24 hours a day.

"I spent 15 months with Aarti before the accident and 15 months after. It's those 15 months that have forced me, motivated me and given me the determination to go on," says Sunny.

Sunny was a student before the accident but he has now given up his studies to take care of Aarti. He feeds her, keeps her clean, talks to her and takes care of all her daily needs.

Aarti's mother Bharati Macwan can only marvel at this young boy whose role has transcended way beyond the regular boyfriend.

"He is a male member and taking care of my daughter and serving her like anything even before marriage. He' s her boyfriend, he's her father," she says.

Struggling with financial difficulties and the inevitable depression, Sunny pins up poems and positive messages on the wall opposite Aarti's bed.

And even though this unique couple isn't bound in a marriage, they are already living their vows - together in sickness and in health, till death do them apart.

Game researcher ducks millions in royalties

Ryuta Kawashima, the researcher behind Nintendo's Brain Age series of games for the DS portable system, would rather be working than enjoying $11 million in royalties he could have earned from his creations.

"Not a single yen has gone in my pocket," Dr. Kawashima told the AFP in a recent interview. Kawashima, whose likeness was heavily featured in the best-selling Brain Age games, is instantly recognizable to almost 12 million gamers worldwide.

Under the terms of his agreement with his employer, Tohoku University in Japan's north-east region, Kawashima was entitled to accept half the Brain Age royalties personally. Instead, he used the proceeds to help fund $6.5 million in construction projects on Tohoku's campus.

"My hobby is work," he said. "Everyone in my family is mad at me but I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it."

Kawashima, who strictly monitors his teenage sons' gaming time, is currently working on a four-year project to study brain development in children. He's also cooperating with Toyota to develop a car designed to keep elderly drivers alert.