Indian village with 250 sets of twins

I am not able to believe this news, but it seems to be true. Normally, we have heard that parents who undergo In-Vitro Fertilization, mostly give birth to babies in multiples. But here, in the remote village of Kodinhi, in Kerala, in 2008 alone, 15 pairs of twins were born in the village out of 300 healthy deliveries and this year is expected to top that number. Although 250 sets of twins have been officially registered in the village, Dr Sribiju, who is a local doctor, researching this phenomenon, believes the real number to be far higher. He says, "What is fascinating is the increasing numbers of twins with each passing year, so much so that I feel in the past ten years the number of twins in Kodinhi has doubled."

He further says, "Indian, and by that I mean Asian, people on the sub-continent have the lowest acknowledged incidences of twinning in the world at around four per thousand.

"In addition, there is no IVF treatment here because of the prohibitive cost. Global rates of twins being born, especially in the western world, have increased because of artificial insemination."

Read this news in detail.

I have always insisted on having two children, so that the first child will have company, when he is growing up and later to fall back upon, when needed. The people of this village need not go through the process of two pregnancies, but like 'two in one', they will have two kids in one delivery! Nice!

Edited to add: Current issue of 'Outlook' has published this article. Read for more interesting information.

Facebook reunites mother with long-lost son

I was not able to believe this story, when I read it.

'A woman whose three-year-old son was abducted and taken to live in Hungary has been reunited with him 27 years later after finding his name on Facebook.

Avril Grube last saw Gavin, when his father (Paros), took him on an outing to Blackpool Zoo. That was in 1982.

Instead of going to the zoo, however, Joseph Paros took the boy to Budapest in defiance of a court order.

Despite appeals via the Hungarian Embassy in London and the British Embassy in Budapest, and an appeal to Margaret Thatcher, then the Prime Minister, Mrs Grube heard nothing more of her son.

Then last October, her sister, Beryl Wilson, typed the name Gavin Paros into Google and found a link to someone of that name on the social networking site Facebook.'

Read further, to know about how the mother and son got together and the son is 30 years old with three children. In the meantime, the son also had been searching for his British parent. At last, with the help of 'Facebook' they got each other.

Looks like a Hindi film plot with a good climax. But in reality, the mother must have gone through so much pain, when she lost her son. The mother's sister was instrumental for this reunion and she should be appreciated for her relentless search for her sister's son.

At last, they are happy and together and it is a nice feeling for us, readers.