Benson and Bency are prisoners in their own home. Their crime-they are HIV-positive and their parents had died of aids. The happy weeks spent at the Kaithakuzhi Government Lower Primary School-after every other school refused them admission-seem like a distant dream to the seven-year old orphan and his five-year-old sister. For the villagers are adamant that Benson and Bency should be ostracised, not be allowed to mix with other children and, in effect, not be allowed to attend school.

HOME ALONE: Benson and Bency

The Government had acted promptly. On a complaint from the children's grandfather Gheevarghese John, Kerala Education Minister N. Soopy ordered the Education Department to admit the children to a local school. But the official diktat did not help counter the social boycott. Within days, Benson and Bency were the only students in the school. Parents withdrew their wards from the school fearing their children might contract aids. Soon the Parent Teachers' Association (PTA) backed by the villagers launched a stir to get the siblings dismissed from the school. Persuasions of doctors and social workers that there was no risk of hiv spreading fell on deaf ears. "We sympathise with the two, but can't have our children sitting with them," says Deepa Suresh, PTA president.

The Education Department finally succumbed to the pressure and Benson and Bency stopped going to school. The state Government now proposes to send teachers to their home or admit them to a special school. "This has happened despite a Supreme Court directive barring any discrimination against HIV-positive children," rues Father J. Thottam of Amnesty International, one of the few supporters of the duo in the village. "It's so boring to sit at home all the time," complaints Benson. But no one's listening.

-M.G. Radhakrishnan

HOME ALONE: Benson and Bency

It's dangerous, they say, to cross swords with Narendra Modi, known for his sharp retorts. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) made up with the Gujarat chief minister last week by tendering an apology following a tiff with him last month.

At the CII meet in Delhi in February, Modi had got into an argument with industrialists Rahul Bajaj and Jamshyd Godrej, who tried to grill him on the law and order situation in Gujarat. When the chief minister retorted that the meet was not the appropriate forum for such issues, the matter was supposed to have ended. But not for Modi.

Modi made his displeasure felt by staying away from a CII function where he was the chief guest-it was planned before the spat. Next, a group called the Resurgent Group of Gujarat, comprising industrialists like Karsanbhai Patel of Nirma, Sudhir Mehta of Torrent and Gautam Adani of Adani, sprung up and took on the CII for painting Gujarat in bad light. The thin attendance at its budget-viewing meet at Ahmedabad perhaps sent alarm bells ringing at CII. No business chamber can ignore Gujarat. CII Director-General Tarun Das met Modi in Gandhinagar last week and tendered an apology. The organisation refused further comment on the issue.

The 9/11 hero has become the villain. As US President George W. Bush prepares to attack Iraq in the face of worldwide opposition to his plans, a host of posters have sprung up lampooning the "most powerful man on the earth". While some liken him to trigger-happy James Bond, others compare him to the straw-headed scarecrow of the Wizard of Oz and the spooks of Sixth Sense.