Adam's bridge !!

Disclaimar: The opinion expressed here is not authoritative and not intended to hurt anyone's sentiments.

What is it?
* A continuous stretch of land thru Sea that connects the south-eastern tip of India and noth-eastern tip of SriLanka.
* Made of sand and rock.
* 48 Km long
* The waters near this structure are shallow (varying from 3 to 30ft).

Origin of the bridge
* Bridge dates back to 1 - 2 million years.
* The origin of the bridge is unknown. Though references to the bridge can be found in Hindu mythology,a concrete(!!)
evidence to prove that it is man-made is yet to emerge.
* In the last 700,000 years the have been 17 occasions during which the sea-level could have receeded sufficiently for completing the connection between India and SriLanka.

Ramar sethu effect
* Since this structure forms almost a bridge between India and SriLanka and water in this area is shallow, ships cannot naviagate thru the strait.
* Shipes proceeding from west-coast of India to east-coast or vice-versa have to go around SriLanka.

The canal
* A proposal to dredge the strait to make it navigable was made by a British officer named A D Taylor in 1860.
* For reasons unknown,the proposal was not taken-up then.
* Ever since independence various committees deliberated and worked out different routes for the canal.
* The proposal was revived in 2001 by NDA,the ruling alliance then.
* The project was officially inaugrated by the UPA prime-minister Manmohan Singh in 2005.
* Now the project has run in-to rough waters.

What do Very Honest People and Really Secular Senators say?
* The bridge was built by Ram. Hence it is a holy-symbol for Hindus.
* Demolishing the bridge amounts to demolishing a Hindu monument.
* The project need not be stopped,but SCL(SethuSamudram Corporation Ltd) should choose an alternate route.

What do environmentalists say?
* Dredging sea bed will have a catestrophic impact on the marine eco-system in the area.
* Coral-reefs which are protected by international laws will be destroyed.
* Fishing and fisher-men in adjacent areas will be affected.
* The project should be stoped.

What does the DMK & other TN parites(except AIADMK) say?
* The canal will save almost a day of sea-travel.
* More ships will anchor @ Tuticorin and Chennai.
* The canal is an economic boon to Tuticorin and Chennai.
* Choose any route but complete the project.

What does the Supreme court say?
* There is no evidence to prove that the bridge was man-made.
* The project shall continue.

What does SCL(Sedhusamudram Corporation Ltd) say?
* The current route was chosen considering the following factors:
- Cost - mininum cost
- Ease of navigation - route with least curves/turns
- Silt formation - silt formation should not close the canal
- natural disaster - canal should be less prone to earth quakes
* Inspite of the above reasons,an alternate route that doesnot affect the bridge will be chosen.
NB:
SCL is the govt funded company floated to carry-out the project.


My say
Let's make an anolgy.
There is dirt track that leads to your neighbourhood.
Thousand people inhabit the area.
There is a temple/church/mosque on the way.
Since there is no road,you will have to walk to your house everyday,which takes 1 hour.
No vehicle(water tanker,gas,ambulance,etc) comes to your location.
There is a porposal to lay road on the dirt-track.
If the road is to be laid,some portion of temple will be affected.
Now,what would you choose?
Temple or road?
What is the temple for?
To ensure happy-living and good-luck for the inhabitants of your street.
Would you make 1000 people suffer to make 1 temple survive,which ironically was meant for the well-being for the people?
Ofcourse,there will be environmental impact.
Trees will be cut.
Worms and insects will be crushed.

But this has to be done for the well-being of the people.
It's ironic that a bridge built by Ram to connect India and SriLanka centuries ago is dividing the people of India in the 21st century.

Happy to be alive !!

continuing from where I left yesterday.

Am alive therefore I write.
Headed straight to the beach and found it deserted.
Found true love.
A couple was busy romancing,ignoring all tsunami warnings.
May be that is why they say,
"Ignorance is bliss"
With in minutes a convoy of policemen drove everyone away from beach.
Went to my place to learn that the tsunami-warning had been with-drawn.

Why wasn't there a Tsunami?
* Though the quake occurred close to the epicenter of the 2004 quake,
it occurred @ a depth of 30 km under ocean floor,
way deeper than the 2004 quake,which occurred @ a depth of 10 km.
As a rule,deep quakes dont trigger tsunami but shallow quakes do.
When a quake occurs deep under ocean-floor the fracture does not travel
all the way to ocean-floor. So,no crack appear on ocean floor and no water
is displaced. When no water is displaced,there will be no tsunami.
* The fault-line length of yesterday's quake was 200 - 250 Km.
The 2004 quake's fault-line measured 1200 Km.
Shorter the fault-line,lesser the water that is displaced.
Hence lesser the probability of Tsunami.
* Waves always travel in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the
quake fault-line. The fault-line of yesterday's quake was oriented in
north-west and south-east direction. Even if waves were triggered,those
would have traveled towards pacific ocean and not towards the continents.

Now,I know why there wasn't Tsunami.
Now,I know why I'm alive.
Or do I really know why?

Armageddon !!

Armageddon !

Is this it?
There was a massive quake of magnitude 7.9 two hours back.
The epicenter of the quake is @ 4.517, 101.382.
In other words,exactly the place where devastating quake of 2004 occured.
The quake by itself was not devastating but the tsunami that followed was.
Am @ Chennai located along eastern coast of India.
It isn't sure whether there would be a tsunami this time.
Aint running away yet.
This may be that last few moments.

Our office is located with in one Kilometer from sea.
Most have left(ran) from office.
Few are still busy.
Is this what they want to do in the last few minutes of their life?
What do I do in the last few minutes of my life?
Don't know for sure.
But am just writing.
The security is driving me out of office.

Will continue if there is tomorrow(for me).

coimbatore

Was in coimbatore to attend a marriage.
A,T and I started pretty early from our place to railway-station.
S joined us @ junction.

Was in cbe by 06:30 the next morning.
Rooms had already been booked.
But v were waiting for more than 15 mins @ the hotel-reception.
"Just 5 mins,sir. He's taking bath. He will check out now"
This is what the receptionst repeated once in every 10 mins.
There were couple of other guys who had been waiting longer than us.
Had a few words with the receptionst.
Why did he accept bookings if rooms were not really available.
After half an hour's wait,we got our room.
IR joined us.
The weather was really cold.
And to our surprise,there was no hot water.
Cursing(but whom) v got ready.

Fortunately,we were @ the wedding-hall on-time(for supper ;))
P's brother was getting married.
Had a good-time chatting with P and his friends.
Was uncomfortable to know that the bride-groom was just 6 months older than me.
Would I be in a similar ceremony six months from now on????
I hope not so early.
Wonder how long I could be insouciant!

By 11'O clock,we were out of the wedding-hall.
Went to the temple @ Perur.
It is a temple for Shiva and quite-old.
It is built with stones and not bricks.
Must be around 500 years old.
The statues in the central mandapam are a feast for eyes.
Each statue is around 6 feet tall and cut from a single stone.
One can only agape in awe @ the skill of the sculptor(s) who chiseled these wonders.
You can spot the sharp nail on the fingers of these statues.
That would give you an idea of how detailed the statues were.
I spent aound 20 minutes gazing these statues.
Couldnt get any booklet on the temple's history from the shops inside the temple.

When we were about to leave the temple,I saw Kalyani.
She's dark and gorgeous.
Couldnt help myself staring @ her for minutes.
When she returned my stare,I wanted to get real close.
I did and she cuddled me.
Though Kalyani was fond of me,
I had to pay one ruppe for the mahout!

IR was very patient.
Though he is not Hindu,he accompanied us to the temple.
We spent a long-time @ temple,but never did he complain.
Now I know why he is liked by so many.

T and I went for a walk around race-course in the evening.
It was one of the best times we had to-gether.
There was greenery on either side of the pavement.
The weather was plesant.
My college-day sweet-heart lived in that locality.
I acquiesced the nostalgia that settled in me.
Didnt explicate T what I was going-thru.
The walk went on for an hour.

Started from cbe by 21:00.
Cbe will always be special for me.
This is where I did my college.
This is where I gained and lost.
This is where I learnt some of the most important lessons.
This is where I had my wonder years !

shades of sin !

I love shades.
But hate the shade I have become of the former robustious kid.
]Do I have a purpose?

Have missed the last date for CAT-application.
Anyway,writing it is one thing,making it is something else.

What am I gonna do this year?
What am I gonna do in life?
Search, Search !

Search I do,
Only to discover all sins I've committed.
'Discover' may not be the rite word.
Coz,I knew I was sinning when I did.
Should I search for the word ?

Am a sinner.
How am I gonna expiate these sins?

Finding the potion that will wash-away all these sins is gonna my pursuit.
Will post wat I find every-day in this earnest pursuit.
The day I don't post,is the day I have erred,yet again.

for you

It's the 13th day of the 8th month.
Both are rather odd(though 8 is even) numbers to cheer about.
But this is a day am real excited.
Is it due to the fact that I love these numbers?
Or is it coz,I like that someone who was born on this day?(it's you stupid!).
I wonder.
May be it was destined that Miss.sweet was to be born on the13th day of the 8th month.
No suprise,I fancied these numbers.

Found a in you balance that's so rare.
Mature but young n silly (s,u r @ times),
Serious,still humorous,
Classic yet contemporary.(stole this line.cant help it,suits u so well).
Have always brought the best out me.
Has always been gr8 when you are around.
Wish we met 25(or is it 30?) years back.

You don't know this blog,
And I may not tell you.
You may never come-across this,
But here I'm addressing it to you.
Why should this be written if it may never be read?

Well,you will get here,if you really have to.....

sunday night

Was a real lazy weekend.
Did nothing worthy except for the fulfilling jogs in the evening.
It's really tough to run against the sea breeze.
But whose gonna complain when gals turn their head in your direction?

Was really looking forward to the nite-out.
T,SK and me started from our place.
T takes only wine.
SK takes no alcohol.
I swore not to take anything non-alcoholic that nite.
Waited for 10 mins and checked in to a latest pub in our locality,
only to find that they were not serving wine or mock-tails.
And they didn't play any music.
Were running out of the bar(ya,it isn't a pub as we found out) in no time.
A 'great' start.

Headed straight to a pub which v knew was good.
Was lil late to the pub.
The waiter was there to take the last-order in no time.
Had to coax n cajole him to bring 2 pegs.
Was furious wen I found out that he had substituted pepsi for whiskey.
Was ready for a brawl and took the matter to the manager.
Understandably,the manager was by the waiter.
Forced him to sip the drink.
And then he told me,"It's sprite! U have mixed sprite with the drink".
I never mix sprite with ma drinks. Mistook things.
Was real embarrassed.
Even apologised to the waiter.

Time to pay the bill.
Sheshadri - that's the name given as the waiter's in the bill.
That was weird.
The guy was afrikan.
"Wat's ur name,man?"
"Sheshadri,sir"
"Sheshadri? u sure? u r drunk or wat?"
"Am Sheshadri"
"Oh k! U r Sheshadri, I'm Frank and he(pointing to my friend) is Hu chow!!!"
"Good bye, Sheshadri"

Headed out of the pub wondering about the racial reasons behind the name.

for me

Shall do what I really want to do,amen!

cold-turkey

beating the cold-turkey.
pray for me