Kubla Khan Xanadu ... .. .. Dipendara Airee !!

Xanadu would mean a metaphor for opulence or an idyllic place, based upon Samuel Taylor Coleridge's description of Shangdu in his poem Kubla Khan.  Today learnt that a few new names of Cricketers – Munkhbat, Malla, Airee !! 

Enkhtuvshin Munkhbat sounds difficult to pronounce !!  - he made his debut, coming in at no. 9 did not score and did not bowl too !!  on a day that belonged to 19 year old Malla who became the second-youngest batter to score a century in men's T20Is. The youngest is Gustav Mckeon of France.  More to be read about Dipendra Airee who  broke Yuvraj Singh's record of scoring fastest fifty in T20I cricket, reaching the milestone in just 9 balls. 

Genghis Khan (1162 – 1227), was the founder and first khagan of the Mongol Empire, which later became the largest contiguous land empire in history. Having spent the majority of his life uniting the Mongol tribes, he launched a series of military campaigns that conquered large parts of China and Central Asia.  Years later Genghis' grandson Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty in 1271, taking the temple name Taizu. Kublai's great-grandson Külüg Khan later expanded this title into Fatian Qiyun Shengwu Huangdi, meaning "Interpreter of the Heavenly Law, Initiator of the Good Fortune, Holy-Martial Emperor". 

At - Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field, T20I no. 2255 – Nepal played Mongolia.  

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia  and China. The western extremity of Mongolia is only 23 km (14 mi) from Kazakstan.  Mongolia is covered by grassy steppe, with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city, is home to roughly half of the country's population. The territory of modern-day Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires. 

In the Asian Games records tumbled as  Nepal's batters smashed a number of records in the opening match of the Men's Asian Games against Mongolia in Hangzhou, in a record 273-run win.   

A young Kushal Malla made a hundred off just 34 becoming the fastest  century in T20Is.  The previous record of 35 balls was jointly held by David Miller, Rohit Sharma and Czech Republic's Sudesh Wickramasekara. 

That was to be walloped by a fifty by Dipendra Singh Airee – in mere 9 balls.  Airee's innings featured eight sixes and no fours,  the fastest fifty in all T20s, beating the previous record of 12 balls, which was jointly held by Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle and Hazratullah Zazai. While Yuvraj's fifty came in a T20I, the other two were scored in T20s. 

273 - Nepal's margin of win against Mongolia,  is the highest margin in terms of runs in all T20s. The previous biggest margin was Czech Republic's 257-run win against Turkey in 2019.  Nepalese batsmen hit 26 sixers.   

It is Cricket at Asia Games - Cricket became a medal sport at the 2010 Asian Games. The last time cricket featured in a major multi-sport event was at the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The gold medal was won on that occasion by South Africa, who defeated Australia by 4 wickets in the final with New Zealand winning the bronze medal. At a general meeting of the Olympic Council of Asia, held in Kuwait on 17 April 2007, it was announced that cricket would be included as a medal sport in the 2010 Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou. Matches would be played on a Twenty20, 20-overs per side format. 

The 2022 Asian Games (officially the 19th Asian Games)  currently being held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. The games marks 110 years since the creation of the continental event, starting with the 1913 Far Eastern Championship Games. 

Indian womens’ team has won the Gold this year.  The Men’s team for the event reads :  Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh.

With regards – S Sampathumar
27.9.2023 

Wishing Jyoti Yarraji Gold in Asian Games 2023

Mark your calendar – Sunday 1^st Oct 2023, remember to watch Women’s 100m hurdles at Asian Games 2023.   .. .. and can you identify this Sports person ??

 

        The event evolved from wooden barriers being placed along a 100 yard stretch, in England during the 1830s. The inaugural Women’s World Games of 1922 featured the 100m hurdles, and a slightly truncated event made its first Olympic appearance over the 80m distance in 1932. The distance was increased to 100m at the 1972 Olympics.  

        Athletes run in lanes and start from blocks, negotiating 10 hurdles of 2ft 9in (83.8cm) over a distance of 100m.      A reaction time – measured by sensors in the starting pistol and on the blocks – of less than 0.1 is deemed a false start and runners will be recalled, with the responsible athlete disqualified.  

The 100 metres hurdles,  is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of 33 inches (83.8 cm) are placed along a straight course of 100 metres (109.36 yd). The first hurdle is placed after a run-up of 13 metres from the starting line. The next 9 hurdles are set at a distance of 8.5 metres from each other, and the home stretch from the last hurdle to the finish line is 10.5 metres long. The hurdles are set up so that they will fall over if bumped into by the runner, but weighted so this is disadvantageous. Fallen hurdles do not count against runners provided that they do not run into them on purpose. Like the 100 metres sprint, the 100 m hurdles begins with athletes in starting blocks.  

A 655-member Indian contingent is competing at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, the People’s Republic of China. The 19th edition of the continental multisport event officially began on September 23 and will conclude on October 8.  A total of 48 sets of medals in track and field athletics are on offer at the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou taking place in 2023.  

The likes of Olympic champions Mutaz Essa Barshim, Neeraj Chopra, Gong Lijiao, and Liu Shiying will be in action  with competitions taking place at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium and the Smart New World Qiantang River Green Belt. 

At the last edition, Jakarta 2018, a 570-strong Indian squad racked up a best-ever Asian Games haul of 70 medals - 16 gold, 23 silver and 31 bronze. With an increase in the contingent strength, a bump in the medals count is also expected. Over the years, athletics have accounted for the majority of India’s medals at the Asian Games - 254 from a total of 672. Track and field events will once again be the focus at Hangzhou 2023 with India fielding 68 athletes - the country’s largest contingent in any sport. 

The Indian athletics squad in Hangzhou features top names like men’s javelin throw ace Neeraj Chopra, the reigning world, Olympic and Asian Games champion, Commonwealth Games men’s 3000m steeplechase silver medallist Avinash Sable and women’s hurdles sensation Jyothi Yarraji.  By now you have read in detail the success of Indian Womens Team in Cricket.   

 

Jyothi Yarraji, the national record holder in women’s 100m hurdles, is making  her Asian Games debut in Hangzhou. She is the first Indian woman to run sub-13 seconds in the event.  This season, the 24-year-old from Visakhapatnam won gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok. She also clinched silver at the same tournament in the 200m event and will be in action in both categories in China too. 

She was born in Aug 1999, in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Her father, Suryanarayana, works as a private security guard while her mother, Kumari, is a domestic help who works part-time as a cleaner in a city hospital 

The  Sports person featured at the start is – Valsamma.  Manathoor Devasia Valsamma became  the second Indian woman to win an individual gold medal at the Asian Games and the first to win it on Indian soil. Valsamma won the gold medal in the 400 m hurdles in an Indian and Asian record time of 58.47 seconds in front of a home crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the 1982 Asian Games. This made her the second woman athlete to win an Asian Games gold for India, after Kamaljit Sandhu (400 metres-1974). She later figured in a silver medal-winning 4 X 400 metres relay team.  She was  conferred with  Arjuna Award in 1982 and the Padma Shri in 1983.

Wishing Jyoti all success for winning a Gold at Asian Games 2023

 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
26.9.2023 

வெண்சங்கு கழுத்தோடு .... .. .. நான் கண்ட பொருள் கூறவா!

வெண்சங்கு கழுத்தோடு !  ?  !!

Conch (Sanghu) is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). 

தோட்டினையும் குழையினையும் அணிந்த பெருமான் என்று செங்காட்டங்குடி தலத்து பதிகத்து பாடல் ஒன்றினில் திருஞானசம்பந்தர் குறிப்பிடுகின்றார்.  தோடுடைய செவியன் என்று ஒரு காதினில் தோட்டினை அணிந்த பெருமான் என்று தனது முதல் பதிகத்தினை தொடங்கிய திருஞானசம்பந்தர் மற்றொரு காதினில் வெண்சங்குக் குழையினை அணிந்துள்ளார் என்று உணர்த்துகின்றார்

நினைத்ததை முடிப்பவன் படத்து பாடலில் காதில் ரீங்காரமிடும் புலமைப்பித்தன்  வரிகள் :

வெண்சங்கு கழுத்தோடு பொன்மாலை அசைந்தாட - நான் கண்ட பொருள் கூறவா!

அது என்ன வெண்சங்கு கழுத்து .. .. பளீர் என்ற நிறம் !  - சங்கின் வளைவு போன்ற அமைப்புள்ளதாலும்,  மிருதுவான தொடுஉணர்வைக் கைகளுக்கு அளிப்பதாலும், சங்கைப் போன்றே மங்கலச் சின்னமான தாலி, தழையப்பெற்றிருப்பதாலும்,  பெண்களின் கழுத்திற்கு சங்கு உவமையாகக் கூறப்படுகிறது. !!!  என எங்கோ படித்தேன் !!

சங்குகள் கூட்டம் கூட்டமாக வாழும் தன்மை கொண்டவை. கடலின் அடிமட்டத்தில் சுமார் 20 முதல் 25  அடி ஆழமுள்ள பகுதிகளில் வாழ்கின்றன.  இந்த இடங்கள் சங்குப் படுகைகள் என்று அழைக்கப்படுகின்றன. பெரும்பாலும் பாறையோரத்தில் இருக்கும் திடமற்ற, மெல்லிய மணற் பகுதிகள் சங்குகள் வாழ்வதற்கு ஏற்ற இடங்களாகும்.  வெண் சங்கு (Xancus pyrum) கடல் நத்தை வகையைச் சேர்ந்த மெல்லுடலி ஆகும். இது வலம்புரிச் சங்கு எனவும்  தட்சணாமூர்த்திச் சங்கு எனவும் அழைக்கப்படுகிறது.

 

நான் பார்த்த படங்கள் மிக குறைவு - சிறு வயதில் சென்ற ஊர்களோ இன்னமும் குறைவு !  .. .. 1975ல் ஹோகேனேக்கல் சென்று குளித்து, தர்மபுரியில் தங்கி - ஏதோ திரையரங்கில் பார்த்த படம் : நினைத்தை முடிப்பவன்" - MGR படம்.  கதாநாயகன் ஒரு சாதாரணன் ! - திருமண ஊர்வலத்தில் இசைக்கருவி வாசிப்பது மட்டுமே தெரிந்தவன்.  அவன் லட்சியமே, தங்கையின் திருமணச் செலவுகளுக்காகப் பணம் சேர்ப்பது - தன சொந்த ஊரை விட்டு,  பட்டணத்திற்கு வந்து நாட்கள் பலவாகியும் வேலை கிடைக்காமல் சுற்றியலைகிறான்.  

திரு எம்.எஸ். விஸ்வநாதன் இசையில் - திரு  TM சௌந்தர்ராஜன் இசையில் பட்டி தொட்டியெல்லாம் ஒலித்த பாடல் :  

பூ மழைத் தூவி வசந்தங்கள் வாழ்த்த - ஊர்வலம் நடக்கின்றது

எழில் பொங்கிடும் அன்பு தங்கையின் - நெற்றியில் குங்குமம் சிரிக்கின்றது

மங்கள  , குங்குமம் சிரிக்கின்றது 

 If you are wondering, what this is all about ?  - this morning saw a cow (calf)  in Triplicane wearing a conch-dollar, yes – a real white conch around its neck.

 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
10.9.2023 

Madras Munro Statue

The equestrian statue of Thomas Munro , 1st Baronet, Major-General in the British Army and Governor of Madras from 1820 to 1827,  is a major landmark in Chennai city on the arterial Mount Road.   The bronze statue was  sculpted by Francis Chantrey in the United Kingdom in 1834 and shipped to Madras in 1839

 

A photo taken from moving MRTS as it crossed the road from Chintadripet – what amazes is on the R the gantry cranes of Port are seen and on the left High Court and old lighthouse too are seen  !!!

 
S Sampathkumar
9.9.2023