DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Lozbang Sherab, 75, head of the family carries his ailing wife Pustong Lamo, 85, to cast their votes, in Ladakh’s remote Warshi village, home to just one family and five eligible voters, in the Ladakh region, India, on 20th May, 2024, PICTURE: Reuters/Sharafat Ali
• Five people from one family in a remote Himalayan village voted in India’s election in their own polling station on Monday after officials travelled for seven hours and borrowed a power connection from the military to enable them to cast their ballots. Officials collected the voting equipment on Sunday from Leh, capital city of the Himalayan federal territory of Ladakh, and boarded a bus, for the 180-kilometre trip to Warshi – where the only voters were Rinchen, 23, her parents, and grandparents. Located about 20 kilometres from Siachen Glacier, dubbed the world’s highest battlefield where Indian and Pakistani troops have faced-off for four decades, Warshi is accessible by road but lacks amenities such as electricity, healthcare and the internet. Polling officials turned to the military Border Roads Organisation for electricity when the generator they had carried up failed to work. “This area is unique because the government has set up a polling station for only one house,” election officer Phonchok Stobdan said. It is the dearth of infrastructure that Rinchen, a first time voter, is hoping her vote will help change. “It is a mixed feeling of excitement and responsibility. I would request the incoming government to solve the problems we have here,” she said. For her grandparents – Lozbang Sherab, 75, and Pustong Lamo, 85 – it was still hard to reach the polling station even though it was next door to their home. Sherab carried his wife out of their house and down the stairs on his back before helping her into a wheelchair. As Lamo emerged from casting her vote, she was met with applause from her family and polling personnel. – SHARAFAT ALI, Warshi, India/Reuters
Workers erect a barrier to block the view of a popular Mount Fuji photo spot, near a convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, on 21st May, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
• Japan’s majestic Mt Fuji was some 700,000 years in the making, but on one sultry May morning, it was gone. At least on one side of a busy road, views of the 3,776-metre symbol of Japan and the Lawson convenience store beneath it have vanished, as officials finished a 20-metre by 2.5-metre barrier to obstruct a photo spot that had become viral among tourists. For locals, the mass of visitors and their refusal to obey rules on littering and parking had become a nuisance and traffic hazard. “I’m really happy that foreigners are coming to our town,” said Kikue Katsumata, 73, a lifelong resident of Fujikawaguchiko. “But when it comes to taking pictures from the Lawson, the road is a bit narrow and it can be dangerous when people dash across without using a crosswalk.” The drastic decision to block the view of Mt. Fuji symbolises tensions across the country as Japan reckons with the consequences of a tourism boom. Cyril Malchand, a 45-year old visitor from France, found out about the fence online and made a special trip to be among the last to take in the view. He said he empathised with the locals. “When I see that there could be problems with people crossing the road without watching cars, I don’t find it that bad that they’re setting up that fence,” he said. – TOM BATEMAN/Fujikawaguchiko, Japan/Reuters
A child greets New Yorkers as she interacts with The Portal, a public technology sculpture that links with direct connection between Dublin, Ireland and the Flatiron district in Manhattan, New York City, in Dublin, Ireland, on 21st May, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Hannah McKay
• A live video portal linking New York with Dublin has reopened after being fitted with sensors that organisers hope will block out inappropriate behaviour by passers-by – including exposing body parts – that led to its shut-down a week ago. The Portal sculpture opened earlier this month linking a street in New York’s Flatiron district to central Dublin. A large circular screen at each location displays a live video feed from the other. Within days of its opening, some late-night revellers in Dublin took to exposing body parts and holding up pornographic images to the camera. At least one New York woman exposed her breasts. “There is only a handful of people that have misbehaved,” a program manager for Dublin City Council Culture Company Nollaig Fahy told RTE radio. “Unfortunately, that’s going to happen in the public realm.” In a bid to block “bad behaviour”, a system of sensors has been added to blur the portal at both ends if people get too close to the camera, Fahy said. The portal, whose feed was restored on Monday, will operate with limited hours and with physical barriers at both locations to stop people from getting too close, Dublin City Council said in a statement. – Reuters
