How fast are you on your bicycle? A gown –up usually a bicycle rides at fifteen kilometers an hour. A fast rider can go at thirty, and in bicycle races athletes can do over forty-five kilometers an hour. Now what makes such speeds possible for bicycles?

Many things have been put together to get bicycle to move as fast as they do today. But there is one thing that should take the first place among them. Before it was invented, no one cared to ride fast bicycles unless there was a strong reason for doing so, speed on a bicycle was a punishment in those days!

Who, then took, such punishment, and why? Some sports –persons were ready to take great risks to win prizes in races. Our story begins with one of those races. It looks place in Belfast in Ireland.

It was a bright summer day in 1887. A ten-year-old boy came home from the playing fields in great excitement. A big event was going to take place, and he was going to take part in it. The school Tricycle Race was fixed for the next day!

His father smiled and asked are you going to win the race?

`I am certainly going to try,’ the boy replied. He was going to put all the speed and strength of his legs on the pedals of his tricycle.

`But how I wish it didn’t jolt so terribly! He complained.

`And the boy will be a bundle of aching bones by the end of the day,’ said his mother. `And if the tricycle overturns, he could get badly hurt. Can’t you do something to that tricycle and make it a little less bumpy?’ she pleaded.

Her husband shook his head. `What can I do? A tricycle isn’t an animal that I can treat,’ he said, laughing. He was a doctor for animals, a veterinary doctor surgeon. He really did not know what he could do to make a machine better.

In those days, tricycle had no springs, and they gave their young riders a thorough shaking. Even the bicycles that grown-ups rode were nicknamed `bone-shakers’.

That evening, after dinner, the doctor sat in his garden, thinking. He was worried about the next day’s race. As he looked round at the plants and flowers, something that he saw in a corner caught his attention.

It was an old garden hose. Suddenly, he had an idea! `Surprise I blow air into that hose!’ he thought.

When water in full force through the rubber tube, it stayed firm and round. If it was filled with air, would the hose stay firm and round in the same way? He decided to try and find out.

He took the hose and cut two lengths of it. They were long enough to wind round the rear wheels of the tricycle. He pasted them round two suitable metal rings and filled air into them. When they felt firm to the touch, he sealed their ends. He then stretched them and fastened them round the two rear wheels of the tricycle with strips of canvas.

When he put his foot on the seat and pushed the tricycle, he was very pleasantly surprised. It moved very smoothly.

The doctor could not treat the front wheel in the same way. The fork that held it was too narrow for the air-filled garden hose to pass through.

`I hope you’ll today’s tricycle race a little easier than the last one,’ he told his son the next morning.

You can guess what happened at the race. The doctor’s son rode so fast that he reached the mother end all alone. He left the faster of his rivals halfway.

And he did not look as tired as the other boys.

As he rode, the tyres of his tricycle went smoothly over every jolt and bump on the track.

That evening, all the boys in the race were at the doctor’s house on their tricycles. They all wanted `those tyres’. They rode back home as happy as ten-years-olds on tricycles could ever be!

Everyone in the neighborhood soon heard about the `air-filled tyres’. By that weekend, the doctor’s backyard was filled with tricycles and bicycles! As the weeks passed, their number grew larger and larger.

Every evening after work, the doctor was busy putting tyres on bicycle wheels. Still the number of bicycles in his yard only grew larger. So one day he said to himself, `Enough is enough. I can’t go on like this for ever.’

Then firmly, but politely, he told the cyclists that he could not `treat’ any more machines. The cyclists had to go back home disappointed, but the doctor’s

Evenings were once again as quiet as they used to be before the tricycle race.

Then, one day, his son, brought home a stranger. He said he was a racing-cyclist, shook the doctor’s hand and said, `Here you are, with a wonderful idea, and you are doing nothing about it1 patent it, my dear sir, patent it immediately. You mustn’t waste any more time. You have invented something which will increase the speed of all road vehicles twice over!’

Soon after the stranger’s arrival, the doctor took out a patent on his invention. A patent is a document which gives inventers the sole right to produce or sell their invention for a certain number of years. No one else can sell or copy that invention as long as the patent lasts.

The newspapers of that week were full of stories about a new invitation called a `pneumatic tyre’. Learned people said, `those pneumatic or air- filled tyres will turn bicycles into flying horses! Now who is going to make them in large enough numbers?

The question did not have to wait log for an answer. William Harvey du Cross, who was a rich businessman, bought from the inventor, for a small sum of money, the sole right to manufacture his air-fill tyres. He then built a factory and named it the Dunlop Company.

The `animal doctor’ in our story, who invented the pneumatic tyre, was John Dunlop

Soon pneumatic tyres were made in millions. They did not make their inventor rich. But John Dunlop became so famous that, even today in many places, pneumatic tyres are called Dunlops.

When Dr. Dunlop fitted the first two tyres on his son’s tricycles wheels, there were only 300,000 bicycles in the world. Today, there are many more than 98 million of them in the United States of America alone.

                    Planning plays an important role in the economic development of a nation. Soon after attaining independence, India resolved to implement five year plans taking into consideration the needs of the people and the resources available.

                               In the past India was considered to be one of the richest countries in the world. She had great natural resources. But over centuries she was under slavery and was subjected to exploitation. Foreign rules left the country economically depleted. The British especially were responsible for the poor state of our economy. Under their rule poverty engulfed the nation.

                            This situation had to be remedied when the nation achieved political independence. The nation had to be made self-reliant in all respects. For this, careful planning was needed. Our first Prime Minister and the architect of modern India, Nehru introduced the concept of five year plans. These plans were to ensure an all round development of the nation. The planning commission was set up to prepare the five year plans. It was intended that the country had to be self-reliant in about three decades. But various factors disturbed our planning and reaching the desired goals is still a distant dream. The wars with china and Pakistan led to the deterioration in our economy.

                                      So far ten plans have been implemented. Each plan has its objectives and priorities. The planning commission prepares the blue print of these plans. The first five year plan gave priority to agriculture and power projects. The second plan aimed at creating a socialistic pattern of society. Self sustaining growth was the objective of the third plan. The fourth plan concentrated attention on the weaker sections of the society. The fifth plan had self reliance as it slogan. After this there were annual plans. The sixth plan gave priority to the removal of poverty. The seventh and the eight plans had been prepared to ensure an all round developments. The ninth plan aims the acceleration of economics reforms the tenth plan aims to supply protected drinking water for all villages.

                            All these plans had common features like removal of poverty, improving the life of the common man and generation of employment opportunities.

                                 The nation underwent a metamorphosis during these plans. A lot has been done to improve the quality of life of people. In the fields of agriculture and production of electric power we have made remarkable progress. India is one of the leading industrialized nations. A large number of industries provide employment to workers and technicians. Our scientists have achieved wonders in their respective fields. The government is introducing a number of schemes to help the poor. In the fields of education and health health progress is made.

                                             There are Impediments in the way of our planning. Population explosion hampers our progress. People should work with honesty and integrity to make our planning successful.

We will talk about cricket, about two of the stars –the unwilling caption and the shy bowling wizard.

Have you guessed who they are? Of course they are Sachin Tendolkar and Anil Kumble. Why did Sachin not want to be captain of the Indian cricket team? Well, he’s been one already and then was replaced by Azharuddin. Being a caption is like being a class monitor. You are blamed when the class makes a noise. Os as in this case –when the team loses! It is responsibility all the way.

Now for some interesting facts- born in Mumbai on the 24th April 1973 Sachin played his first test match at Karachi-when he was only sixteen! And he was the youngest player, at 19, to score 1000 runs in test cricket (1992). Lovingly called the little, big hero -`little’ because he’s short, stocky and curly-haired, and `big’ because he plays like a giant1

He received the Birla Award and then the Arjuna award for sports in 1995 –when only 22. Two years later he was also awarded the Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.

At the time of writing, Sachin has 21 centuries in international one day matches to his credit.

Now here’s what other crickets say of him. Azharuddin –his caption at the time –said he was Viv Richards, Mark Waugh and Brian Lara all rolled into one. He would score a century, field like a tiger and take wickets too if he were given a chance to bowl –a real `all-rounder’.

Australian caption, Steve Waugh, said he was easily the best batsman in the world –second only to Brad man! Hen the foreign media prepared a dream team; Sachin was the only Indian player to be included! He has not let all this make him proud. He I very level –headed balanced and dedicated.

Within 24 hours of his father’s funeral he was on his way to the world Cup (in England) because his side needed him.

And now for the second champ- Anil Kumble

Kumble is a tall, young man with a run as spring as an antelope’s bound. His long, bony fingers can easily spin a ball.

He is only the second bowler in 122 years to take all 10 wickets in an innings. His record spell -10 for 74 against Pakistan at the Firozeshah Kotla helped India to win the 2nd Test.

The only other person to have taken wickets in an innings was Jim Laker whose figures are 10 for 53.

After the last wicket was taken, kumble could not find the ball. He wanted to keep it as a memento. Well, luckily, his friend Venkatesh Prasad had it and gave it to Kumble.

He believes in the three D’s Determination, Discipline and dedication.

Minutes before flying to Sharjah for test he had the time and the concern to call up a young boy who was seriously ill and almost certain to die! It made the boy’s last happy.

They say he is a matador who looks like a chess player. (A matador is a bull fighter who usually moves quickly and is bold and adventurous – whereas he looks like a chess payer who usually is gentle, quiet and polite.)

There is something that one wants, but everyone gets without asking for it. Can you name it? It is pain. All of us wish with all our hearts that there was no such thing as pain in the world. People in pain will give everything they have o anyone who can help them to get rid their pain. This story is about a man whose work as helped millions of people and animals to escape a great deal of pain. He was a doctor and his name was James Simpson.

Simpson was born on 7 June 1811 at place called Bathgate in Scotland. His father was a baker. He encouraged James to go on with his studies instead of learning the family business. James’s progress at school was very quick. He was only fourteen years old, when he went up to the University of Edinburgh. He chose to study medicine and became a qualified doctor by the time he was twenty-one. It was part of Dr Simpson’s hospital duties to help other doctor during operations. On these occasions, he had to stand by watching while the patient screamed in unbearable pain. In those days, surgical operations were cruelly painful. Patients were tied to the operation table with strong straps to prevent them from struggling. They were given does of whisky to dull their as much as possible. But this did not help them very much. Often, when a patient cried out aloud in agony, the surgeon hurried the operation.

This was not a good thing to do. Operations should be done carefully, and surgeons should be able to give their whole attention to the task. But how could they do this when they were disturbed by heart –breaking cries?

`Is there nothing that will help patients feel no pain? Surgeons should be able to do operations carefully. They can’t do them well if the patients move and shout in pain.’ These were Dr Simpson’s thoughts as he stood by the operation table. `I must search for a pain-killer until I find one’, he thought. And the more operation he saw, the more determined he became.

Simpson had to carry out two kinds of tasks. First, he had to find a chemical that could lessen or kill pin when the operation took place. Then, he had to be sure that the pain-killer would not-kill the patient as well, or arm the patient’s health. But how could he make sure of this? He could not use his patients or other people in experiments. It might be dangerous. So he decided to experiment on himself, and on some friends of his who offered to help as volunteers.

One day, Simpson showed his friends a new chemical called chloroform. It was a liquid that gave off a kind of vapor, and had been bought from a chemist in Liverpool. Simpson gathered as much information as he could about this liquid. Then he decided to test it. He could about this liquid. Then he decided poured some of it into a glass. Then he and two of his friends began to inhale it, that is, they breathed in the vapor that rose from the glass.

When they had inhaled it for some time, the three men became unconscious. It was as if they were fast sleep. They saw nothing, heard nothing and felt nothing, not even the passing of time.

We do not know exactly how long the three friends stayed unconscious. It was Simpson who came to himself first. The chloroform had done him no harm at all and he was happy and excited about this. But he had to wait and see what happened to his friends, soon they too recovered one after the other, and they said that they felt quite well.

Now Simpson knew how to make operations completely painless. If a patent inhaled the right quantity of chloroform vapor before an operation, he knew nothing about what the surgeon was doing. Then, the surgeon could work on any part of the patient’s body without giving her or him any pain whatever. In other words, Simpson had discovered that chloroform was an `anesthetic’.

`Anesthetic’ is the doctor’s word for something that makes us knows nothing and feels nothing. There are `general’ anesthetic, and `local’ anesthetic. If a doctor gives us a general anesthetic, we fall into something like a deep sleep. Chloroform is a general anesthetic. General anesthetics are necessary only during bigger and more serious operations. To make smaller operations painless, doctors use local anesthetics.

When a local anesthetic is used in any particular part of the body, that part becomes and feels nothing, but the patient herself is awake and can see almost everything that happening.

When we go to dentists to have our teeth pulled out, they may inject a local anesthetic into our gums and then pull our teeth out. We will not feel pain, although we may feel the dentist tugging at the tooth. Teeth were not removed painlessly in Simpson’s days.

As we know, there were no good local anesthetics then. These were discovered much later. But just before Simpson found out what chloroform could do, some American doctors discovered another general anesthetic. This was ether. Medical scientists soon found that chloroform was better than ether as an anesthetic in many ways, later, they discovered even better anesthetics that either ether or chloroform.

Simpson and is friend successfully tested chloroform on 4 May 1847. But it did not bring relief to any patient till 1855. Most doctors refused to use it. They were very suspicious of this new drug. They said they did not know what injury it might do to their patients’ health. Many religious groups were also against the use of chloroform. They felt that5 god had good reasons for giving His craterous pain.

Simpson had to work hard to remove other doctor’s doubts from their minds, and to convince them that chloroform could be used quite safely.

For some time, Simpson tried in vain. Ten, in 1853, he got a rare opportunity to prove that he was right.

He had been made one of the queen’s doctor’s in the same year in which he tested chloroform on himself.

In 1853, Queen Victoria allowed the doctors to give her chloroform. One of the three royal surgeons gave it to her before an operation, and the queen later thanked Simpson. She said the drug had taken away the pain and congratulated him on his remarkable achievement. In 1866, Queen Victoria gave Simpson the title `Sir’.

After the queen’s operation, doctors began to use chloroform and ether during their operations. Anesthetics are now very common. Does anyone remember Simpson and the great work he did?

Perhaps not, but he lives every time a patient has an operation and feels no pain.