Cash-For-Oxygen Catching on in Polluted Calcutta August 20, 2002 09:23 AM ET Email this article Printer friendly version CALCUTTA, India (Reuters) - Lean back in a plush leather chair, pay cold cash and breathe pure oxygen.

That's a deal increasing numbers of people are lapping up in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta as they struggle to cope with the metropolis's foul air.

Cashing in on rising concerns about air pollution, two brothers have started Calcutta's first oxygen parlor, where customers can sink back in soft leather chairs, inhale oxygen flavored with various scents and be lulled by soothing music.

"The response has been great. We get bureaucrats, policemen, college students, housewives, corporate bigwigs -- all looking for a way to fight pollution and stress," Rajeev Madhogaria, who owns "Oxyzone" along with his brother, Sanjeev.

A U.N.-sponsored study released earlier this month said a cloud of smog covering southern Asia is putting the health of millions at risk.

Calcutta is one of India's most polluted cities. Many of the city's 15 million inhabitants complain of fatigue and headaches due to emissions from the thousands of taxis and buses.

The brothers said they were surprised by the response with hundreds willing to shell out $3.60 for 20 minutes of pumping oxygen into their lungs.

Besides single sittings, Oxyzone also offers memberships, although its rates are likely to be out of reach for many people in a country where the average annual per capita income is $450.

But Purbasha Majumdar, a 20-year-old college student, is an oxygen-seeker who evidently believes it's worth the money.

"The smoke from diesel vehicles gives me a headache and makes me tired," Majumdar said, waiting for her turn to breathe oxygen scented with an array of aromas such as sandalwood, lemon, orange and lavender.

"This is good way to fight pollution, relax and feel refreshed."

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2002

Answers

Remember, you heard it here, first.

I expect this fad will soon expand to LA and maybe Phoenix.

Groan! What ever happened to tea time?

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2002

How do the grasshoppers fit in?

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2002

Oops. Screw up. I'll see if I can find the grasshopper article.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2002

How to stop giant grasshoppers? 'Hit 'em with 2-by-4,' expert says

By Ramsey Campbell | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted August 20, 2002 EUSTIS -- Monstrous grasshoppers -- too nasty-tempered and toxic to be eaten by natural predators and too big to be bothered by conventional pesticides -- are on the rampage in Central Florida this summer.

Alice McKinstry Davis, curator of the Eustis Historical Museum and Preservation Society, first saw the 4-inch creatures chowing down on a flower-garden smorgasbord outside the museum in downtown Eustis a few weeks ago.

"We didn't know what to think," Davis said. "I'd never seen anything like them. They were devouring all our broadleaf plants."

Davis ran for the bug spray. The king-sized grasshoppers just sneered. Alarmed, she called experts for help.

"About all you can do is hit 'em with a 2-by-4," said Pris Peterson, master gardener at the Lake County Agricultural Center.

So Davis went out and rounded up some enthusiastic high-school volunteers willing to stomp on the critters. Between the teens and a direct application of an unusually potent insecticide, museum workers beat back the infestation.

Davis had made the acquaintance of an Eastern lubber, which is to grasshoppers what King Kong was to apes. Yellow with red and black markings, it's the only one of the 70 species of grasshoppers that live in Florida that defies natural predators and insecticides.

It's a nasty pest. Too fat to fly, lubbers can jump high and long. When disturbed, they spread their wings and hiss. Try to touch one, and it's likely to eject a foul-smelling, irritating foam intended to keep you away. It's highly effective.

Agricultural officials and bug specialists from the University of Florida say no back yard in Central Florida is immune to a lubber infestation this year.

Usually the population of Eastern lubbers is held back by lack of food or water, parasites and insect diseases. But the combination of a dry winter with a return to normal rainfall this summer may be responsible for a bumper crop in Central Florida, said John Capinera, a professor and chairman ofUF's Department of Entomology.

"Lubbers seem to like a wet environment," Capinera said.

Capinera said he has been getting a rising number of inquiries about the bad boys of the insect world. But even though grasshoppers are the most abundant insect above ground, little is known about them.

Scientists have learned that most grasshoppers are important in returning nutrients stored in plants back into the soil and as a food source for birds, reptiles, skunks, foxes and mice.

Nothing finds lubbers tasty, however. Biologists think they are poison to birds, said Capinera, author of Grasshoppers of Florida, a field guide published last year.

Lubbers favor shrubs, herbs, broadleaf plants and grasses -- in other words, almost every plant on the farm or in the garden. If their numbers get out of control, they can cause significant crop damage.

So far, however, they've just been startling homeowners unaccustomed to seeing grasshoppers that look as if they'd have a starring role in a horror flick. After all, they have five eyes, viselike jaws and ever-moving mouth parts. The best way to control the lubbers is to hope that something gets them when they're young -- they're not so toxic then, and birds sometimes eat them.

"But when they get older, they are too big and crunchy to be appetizing," said Linda Landrum, an urban horticulturist with the Volusia County Cooperative Extension Service.

Need to get them out of your back yard? You might try offering some to a local school -- they're commonly used for dissection in biology courses because of their size.

Other than that, you could try Landrum's favorite disposal method: Grab the squirmy hoppers and drown them in a bucket of soapy water.

Be advised, however, that catching and holding them down can be stinky, tricky and often gross. The lubbers tend to resist the procedure.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2002

We just cut them in half when we see em. never saw that juice they supposedly excrete. May have smelled it though and blamed the dog.

sorry, Bunky.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2002