Letter.

Letter Published in Bangalore Mirror Bangalore on 10April 18Code of small things: Trio inpsires many

The cover story, Code of Small Things, was an interesting read. Three young Bengalureans are teaching coding to children belonging to families of modest means and their aim is to increase their job prospects and create the change they want to see in the world. The gesture of Shweta Mukesh, Sanjeev Reddy and Mani Kandan is laudable. One-projectold, they identify children from economically-weaker backgrounds, upgrade computer labs in their school, and teach them how to code – free of cost, over weekends, in three months. This includes learning the foundations of coding and problem-solving through code.org, how to write HTML, Javascript and CSS codes, how to make websites, games and robots, interactions with Silicon Valley seniors such as Will Poole who scaled up the Microsoft Windows business, talks about the good and bad side of tech and how to be a responsible consumer or creator, and visits to tech companies. Also, the recent directive by the Karnataka government, asking people to surrender guns in their possession, particularly farmers in Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Hassan districts, has not been welcomed by farmers. They say having a gun at their disposal is necessary as it’s nothing, but selfdefense. However, in my opinion this new rule is good and no individual should be allowed to carry a gun, writes K Ragavan