We are the Champions

Here's an hilarious fictional version of the factors by which we became the world champions for T20.

Dhoni "Thanks Ravi, the match was pretty close encounter between two great teams and our guys held the nerve to win the game and cup."

Shastri, "Who was the main reason for this thrilling victory?"

Dhoni, "All us played well but I would say the main reason and man behind this great victory is Ajit Agarkar"

Shocked Shastri..., "Agarkar ? ? .. how come Agarkar... he didn't played in the final"..

Dhoni, "Yeaph.. that's the reason we won this low scoring match.. if he could have bowled in final, Pakistan would have scored the winning runs from his 4 overs...."

Shastri, "ok.. fine, To whom you want to thank for winning this final..."

Dhoni, "The team doctor deserves the credit... he really helped us to prepare for the final..."

Shastri, "Is it? ?.... how the doctor helped to prepare for the final...
he is not the coach or physical trainer...Dhoni.. I am getting confusion"

Dhoni, "Ravi... nothing to confuse... he has failed Sehwag in the fitness test according to our game plan and we managed to pick a good playing team.. thus we weigh the doctor's contribution as very high...
infact its better than our team effort in the field.. our game tactic worked well"

Shastri, "To whom you want to dedicate this World Cup?"

Dhoni, "The entire team including myself wants to dedicate this cup to Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly..."

Shastri, "I really really appreciate you... its good that you have so much respect to the seniors....and you ...." Dhoni interrupts....

"Ravi.. let me complete... India would have exited in the Group matches if they decided to play in the series... thank god they opted out and we managed to play cricket and won the cup.."

Shastri, "The match was thrilling encounter and was concluded by a single mistake of Misbah.. Isn't it? "

Dhoni, "Yes you are right, after lofting the ball Misbah told me that he has sent the ball to where there was no one....but he didn't know that there is a malayali in every corner of the world.... This single mistake has coasted the game and won the cup..."

Shastri faints and Dhoni receives the CUP and thats the end of the great Twenty-20 world cup...

Dhamaal Da Kamaal

I guess it is a little too late to write a review on the movie nor do I want to have just another review out there. I happened to see Dhamaal this weekend and this is certainly a hilarious laugh riot. What I liked about the movie was it was clean fun, simple jokes, a lot of PJ's; No Double meaning or cheesy stuff. Asrani and Javed Jaffrey were at thier best, they seemed too natural for thier roles. Arshad Warsi seemed to be a bit lost and was not his usual self. What I did not realise during the movie but something that struck me when I was driving back home.. was that the movie had no heroines.. which is pretty unique for a hindi movie.. I can't remember any other bollywood movie which did not have any heroine in it.
The movie certainly makes itself in the all time comedy list along with the likes of Andaz Apna Apna, Hera Pheri, Golmaal, Angoor and others...

The Bridge (Ram Setu)

Science is What we know; Faith/Philosophy is what we don't know

Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.
- B Fuller

Ram Setu, the controversial Bridge at this time does not seem to be bridging the divide between the Govt. and the peoples opinion. The question might've been out there for ages, but it certainly seems to be gathering pace as it is going to become the biggest election slogan next to BJP, fully supported by their allied services like RSS, VHP and the likes. With the Congress- Left alliance seems to be heading for a divorce this issue could tilt the scale towards the NDA. This could be their biggest campaign slogan since the Ayodhya issue.


Rama Setu, is a chain of limestone shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India.
The bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only 3 ft to 30 ft (1 m to 10 m) deep in places, which hinders navigation.
Sethusamudram, a project to create alternative shorter route for ships to cross the Gulf of Mannar, is a wonderful idea -- one which is more than 150 years old.

I've been reading a lot of opinions on the Ram Setu and the best report is the report done by the ex ADB exec Dr Kalyanaraman. This report digs into the various historic and scientific facts and lays out things that might've been missed by most researches.

Objective:
The official web site of the project says, 'Ships originating from the west of India and destined for Chennai, Ennore, Vishakapatnam, Paradeep, Haldia and Kolkata have to travel around the Sri Lankan coast resulting in increase of travel distance and time. Apart from this ships belonging to Indian Navy and Coast Guard need also to traverse around Sri Lanka. In order to reduce the steaming distances between the east and west coast of India and to improve the navigation within territorial waters of India, a navigation channel connecting the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay through Adam's Bridge has been envisaged so that the ships moving between the east and west coasts of India need not go around Sri Lanka.' The total cost of the project is Rs 2,427 crores (Rs 24.27 billion).

Here's the list of issues that is affecting this project:

Mythology:
Ramayana, is one of the religious epic which is very dear to every Hindus heart. Ram has been the center of controversy and the Ayodhya issue has certainly shown how the nation feels about it. That is yet another issue. This bridge is an important event in the rescue efforts of Sita and is hence an heritage from a religious perspective.
There are a lot of debates going on whether the Ramayana is a fable or a reality. There are no scientific evidence available that says that Ramayana did happen and is not another epic. The carbon dating has shown this bridge to be about 3,500 yrs old which kind of puts in inline with the age as described in the Ramayana. However, the Valmiki's description that describes the events of Ram's life does hit upon a number of places that do match historically in terms of the places and the events. So althought we do not have any direct scientific evidence, the events portrayed does point to physical heritiages across the nation.
The skanda purana, Brahma purana and the ramcharitamanasa all make references to this bridge. Whether factual or not, this certainly is a religious monument.

Economic:
Although this canal is supposed to help the shipping industry big way in terms of time and money, there are other related industry that could take a hit.
Local fishermen, Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike oppose the present route and are demanding alternative channels, which are available. They say the present channel would destroy marine life and corals. This will kill the trade in shankas (shells) that has a turnover in excess of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) per annum.
Invaluable thorium deposits would be affected, which are too important for our nuclear fuel requirements.
Costs of managing this area would have huge cost implication on the Indian Navy.

Environmental:
Tsunami assessment was not done
- Removal of the proven Tsunami protector in Rama Sethu
- Opens up serious potential damage of entire Kerala and Tamilnadu coast when next tsunami hits (per T.Murthy, leading Tsunami expert and advisor to GOI)
- Thorium deposits in Kerala (Aluva, Chavara), Tamilnadu (Manavalakurichi) that support nuclear power source for India will be desiccated
- Tsunami protection measures NOT incorporated in the project
Here's another opinion from Dr T S Murthy, an eminent tsunami expert:
"The Sethusamudram canal has many characteristics similar to the Alberni canal, and this is the reason I am concerned. In the March 28, 1964, Alaska earthquake tsunami, outside of Alaska the largest tsunami amplitude was at the head of the Alberni canal well inland and not at the open coast as everyone expected. Later, I explained this was due to (a phenomenon known as) quarter wave resonance amplification,"



Marine life:
Though there has been a demand from various quarters for the implementation of the project, there is also opposition to it from environmentalists. They point out that the dredging of the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar, by modifying habitats, could affect the ecology of the zone by changing currents. This could:
* cause changes in temperature, salinity, turbidity and flow of nutrients
* cause oil spills from ship and other marine pollution to reach the coastal areas and specifically the sensitive ecosystems of the Gulf of Mannar
* lead to higher tides and to more energetic waves, and hence to coastal erosion.
* affect the local sea temperature and thereby alter the pattern of sea-breezes and hence affect rainfall patterns.

They also point out that dredging the canal would stir up sediment the dust and toxins that lie beneath the sea bed, smothering corals and affecting marine life. The emptying of bilge water from ships travelling through the hitherto impassable areas could diperse invasive species through the ecosystems of the area.

These effects could endanger precious marine species and wealth. The Gulf of Mannar has 3,600 species of plants and animals and is India's biologically richest coastal region. Mammal species which abound in the area are sperm whales, dolphins and dugongs. The Gulf of Mannar is especially known for its corals: the portion in Indian territorial waters has 117 species of corals, belonging to 37 genera.Associated with these ecosystems are many varieties of fish and crustaceans. Marine life on the Sri Lankan side, which is better protected, is even richer. The Bar Reef off the Kalpitiya peninsular alone has 156 species of coral and 283 of fish; there are two other coral reef systems around Mannar and Jaffna. There are extensive banks of oysters, as well as Indian Chank and Sea Cucumbers, especially in the seas adjacent to Mannar. The pearl fisheries south of Mannar, which inspired Georges Bizet's opera Les Pêcheurs de Perles, have not been productive for many years, indicating the fragility of these ecosystems in the face of overfishing and of relatively minor changes in the habitat.

Despite these concerns, official environmental clearance has been given for the project. The contention that the Sethusamudram Canal will cut through coral reefs and disturb the ecology has been dismissed as a mistaken fear.

The Indian government has conducted various environmental studies which has concluded that such issues are overblown and not based on science. However, skeptics have noted that environmentalist objections remain, including:

* the Environmental Impact Assessment carried out by the Indian government was done by a body inexperienced in projects of this nature, was insufficiently detailed and did not consult with all the stakeholders, which included the government and people on the southern side of the proposed project,
* no proper survey has been carried out of the sea bed to be dredged, and
* no proper scientific modeling of the effects of the project has been carried out.

After environmental objections were made in Sri Lanka, the Indian government decided to carry out modelling, but this had not been done before clearance had already been given for the project. A modelling exercise carried out by Sri Lanka's National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) indicated that the project would increase the water flow from the Bay of Bengal to the Gulf of Mannar, disturbing the inland water balance as well as the ecosystems in the Gulf. There have also been judicial observations against this project.


Political:
The Current UPA Govt. did submit an affidavit to the Indian Supreme court stating that there was no scientific evidence of Ram. This has caused a huge uproar on the govt. They did withdraw the affidavit and amended the controversial lines to make it more amicable.
With the Congress-Left govt, headed for a seperation, an election seems to be in sight and this could be the issue changing the scales (as Congress seems to be having the upper hand at the moment). BJP might use this as thier trump card to victory.
Dr. Badrinarayanan, former director of Geological Survey of India and a member of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) says the Adam's Bridge was not a natural formation."Such a natural formation is impossible. Unless somebody has transported them and dumped them there, those reefs could not have come there. Some boulders were so light that they could float on water."

Security:
With the new canal, this could become the de facto border between India and Sri Lanka. We need to ensure that the Navy is up to speed as they would have to regulate the traffic here as well as potential conflicts/ Pirate ships/ Terrorist acts from LTTE are deterred. This would add additional load on the Navy as well as BSF to cover these areas.


With all these issues in the discussion, This project certainly has a lot of benefits but I would not expect this project to turn over any time in the next 10 years unless we decide on the alternate route that seems to be amicable to all parties and non controversial.



If you want to sign the online petition, here's the link.
http://www.petitiononline.com/ramsetu/petition.html