Its good to hear about great things kids in this country are doing. The doom and gloom in the media makes ones feel as if there is no hope for mankind. This kind of an article just reminds us that there are dedicated, smart students working hard for the advancement of sciences and society.
Let me just mention that another incentive would be that Afghani women are considered one of the best looking in the world. Of course this depends upon whether the future will allow them to shed the burqa :)
In north India, in addition to chaat, we have kebabs, noodles (part of a cuisine called Indian Chinese), samosas, sweets like jalebi etc.
Yummm.... makes my mouth water just thinking about all this stuff.