India Tales: Youth commits suicide after watching Salman Khan's Sultan

A 30-year-old resident of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh consumed poison and ended his life after watching Salman Khan's latest film, Sultan.

According to the police, Shahjaad, son of Gafoor Khan, died in a private hospital in Indore on the night of Thursday, 7 July, the day Eid was celebrated across the country.

Shahjaad had gone with his employer, Aavesh, to Indore, where they watched the film together in the afternoon. Shahjaad was Aavesh's driver.

On their way back to Dewas, Aavesh asked Shahjaad to drive him to a relative's place in the Tukoganj area, where Shahjaad waited for him in the car.

After some time, when Aavesh returned, he saw Shahjaad vomiting. When asked, Shahjaad confessed to having consumed poison. He was immediately rushed to a private hospital, where he died shortly.

Investigating officer ASI Toppo said: "Shahjaad's statement could not be recorded. The reason for committing suicide has not been understood."

Shahjaad has been survived by his parents, brothers, wife and one child.

The business of intoxicating drugs is in full bloom in the city of Ujjain. Students and young people are fast falling into its grip. Interestingly, the police seems oblivious to these activities.

A deadly drug called MD is being sold under code names like 'Meow-Meow', 'Rawa' and 'Book', and is also being sent to other cities and exported to other countries. Persons associated with the drug trade informed that it is also exported to Dubai.

The drug is sold in small batches, and the drug peddlers make it available only through constantly-changing code words.

It is manufactured in small chemical, fertiliser and drug factories in areas like Indore, Ujjain, Neemuch etc. MD is prepared using Ketamine, Sodium and some more chemicals - which are used in the manufacture of other chemicals too, which is why hardly any eyebrows are raised. Up to one tonne of the drug can be manufactured in one batch, but only the ordered quantity is manufactured at a time. The finished products and other material are immediately removed from the site.

Peddlers purchase and sell the drugs by continuously changing the code name, to escape the attention of the police.

It's called 'Book' so that students can ask for it without suspicion, while 'Rawa' came about as the substance looks like the food article.

The peddlers are paid handsomely for the job, but normally, long-time addicts are employed for this purpose. Many addicts are involved in this trade - they sell the drugs after procuring them from Ujjain, Indore, Neemuch and nearby places, but have no knowledge of the source or trade practices.

There has been some speculation about the existence of an ancient civilisation that existed along the banks of the river Narmada, but there wasn't much evidence available to support the claims.

Some years ago, historian Sangeet Verma made up his mind to seek whether there was any truth behind the speculation. And now, after eight years of combing the forests of Satpura, Verma claims to have laid bare a tremendous amount of evidence before the public eye. The evidence is now being readied for carbon dating. Verma claims that the evidence he has found is more than two thousand years old.

Interestingly, while the civilisation may have developed similarly to the Indus Valley Civilisation, it was preserved and enriched by Kabilas of tribal people. An important difference is that unlike village gods or nature gods, this civilisation seems to have been based around the worship of Lord Rama.

The remnants found in the jungles of Satpura have rock paintings depicting battles between Rama and Ravana, paintings of Lord Hanuman in his forest avatar, and a statue of Goddess Kali.

"Many paintings and statues have been found in the jungles of Satpura in the Narmada valley. I have seen the ancient items discovered by Sangeet Verma with my officers. Their preservation and collection has been going on," confirmed Hoshangabad collector Sanket Bhondve.

The Mexican crop Chia is gaining popularity among the farmers of Karnataka. Reeling under the effects of continuous droughts, more and farmers are opting to cultivate this highly nutritous crop, which fetches a good price in the market.

Chia has been called a 'superfood' by food experts. According to an article about superfoods in Time magazine, Chia is "packed with 10g of fiber and nearly 5g of protein per ounce (just under 3 tablespoons). The seeds - which come from a plant in the mint family - can absorb up to 10 times their weight in water, making for a fun addition to everything from puddings (think tapioca without all the sugar) to pancakes".

Till now, only some farmers in Mysore were producing this crop. Last year, around 100 farmers adopted it. According to K Shanta Kumar, chairman of the Central Karnataka Cane Producers Federation, farmers produced about 100 tonnes of the crop, and sold it for about Rs 19 lakh.

This year, about 300 farmers will sow this crop, and the production target has been fixed at 300 tonnes. Scientists at the Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI) have provided considerable help to the farmers regarding the cultivation of this technique-based crop.