Reliance grand gesture of 100 tons of oxygen for Covid

Covid 19 is threatening humanity badly .. .. the nos. are increasing - Tamil Nadu recorded 10,694 positive cases yesterday, bringing the state tally to 9,91,451. Among these, Chennai reported 3304 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,83,436. .. .. to cynics and non-believers – just see your neighbourhood – with streets getting closed, the threat is real !!

 IPL meantime is interesting – at Chepauk, Mumbai Indians chose  to bat and defend successfully. Their 150 for 5 landed in the middle of the 152 and 149 defended in the two previous matches, Jonny Bairstow, opening this time, threatened to run away with the game taking three of the powerplay overs for 52 runs.   Jasprit Bumrah, the classic artist, went without a boundary in his four overs for the fourth time in the history of the IPL. Rahul Chahar broke the back of the Sunrisers Hyderabad with three wickets in the middle overs, and then Trent Boult came back to wipe off any resistance, with a little help from Bumrah again. For the Sunrisers, it was another case of Warner-Bairstow or bust, getting a great start but not capitalizing it !

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani once  said that his wife Nita Ambani, has built a bigger brand in Mumbai Indians than the company.   Nita has built a bigger brand for Reliance," said Mukesh while addressing a gathering of past and present cricketers and Mumbai Indians players on the occasion of franchise's 10 years' celebration. A founding member franchise of IPL, Mumbai Indians are two-time winner of the T20 League in 2013 and 2015 and an equal number of Champions League T20 titles.  

Oxygen (O), nonmetallic chemical element of Group 16 (VIa, or the oxygen group) of the periodic table. Oxygen is a colourless, odourless, tasteless gas essential to living organisms, being taken up by animals, which convert it to carbon dioxide; plants, in turn, utilize carbon dioxide as a source of carbon and return the oxygen to the atmosphere. Oxygen forms compounds by reaction with practically any other element, as well as by reactions that displace elements from their combinations with each other; in many cases, these processes are accompanied by the evolution of heat and light and in such cases are called combustions. Its most important compound is water.

In hospitals, more Covid patients reportedly  have suffered breathlessness in the second wave than any other symptom, leading to a greater need for oxygen this time, the government said  on the record rise in cases across India. Other symptoms like body ache were higher in the first wave, said a member of  NITI Aayog. According to him, more than 70 per cent patients are over 40 in both waves. In a letter to all Chief Secretaries, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla  asked them to take all measures to prohibit the supply of oxygen for industrial purposes, except those exempted

 

The Central Government responded Sunday to reports on the shortage of medical oxygen. "Requirement for Medical Oxygen is a critical component in the treatment of Covid affected patients," the Centre said. "In view of the recent surge of Covid-19 cases, the requirement of oxygen for effective clinical treatment of Covid patients has also witnessed a manifold hike," the government said.

.. .. .. and the Corporate which is always in news responded brilliantly ! Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd is diverting oxygen produced at its refineries to supplement availability in worst-hit COVID states like Maharashtra and the trucks carrying supplies are in transit, sources said. Reliance's twin oil refineries in Jamnagar have through minor process modification converted industrial oxygen into medical-use oxygen that can be administered to COVID-19 patients low on oxygen, people aware of the development said.  It was further stated that the trucks carrying oxygen cylinders are in transit.

Unable to get prompt supplies, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While Maharashtra is among the worst-hit states facing a fresh outbreak of the pandemic, Gujarat too has seen number of patients swell.  Oil refineries can produce limited volumes of industrial oxygen in air-separation plants meant for nitrogen production. Scrubbing out other gases such as carbon dioxide can convert it into medical-use oxygen with 99.9 per cent purity. Reliance operates the world's largest oil refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

A great gesture by Ambani - the western state will get 100 tons of the gas from Reliance, Eknath Shinde, urban development minister of Maharashtra  said in a tweet. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
18.4.2021. 

Triplicane mourns the death of Mr P Nagarajan

Triplicane mourns the death of another good person.  Mr P Nagarajan who had been Ward Councillor multiple times excelled with his sincerity, honesty and simplicity. The man in his mid 80s would walk his way, wish people with a nice smile. During his tenure as a Councillor in Chennai Corporation he did commendable work, helping people in civic issues.  A man who has been associated with SEva Dal and Congress since pre-Independence days was liked by everyone.

He was one of the key persons behind ‘Friends Association’ which actively put up arches on 4 sides leading to Sri Parthasarathi Temple, the Geethacharyan tableau on the walls of Temple, playing of Sreevishnu sahasranamam on the eastern arch and in bringing Thiruvallikkeni Post office in North Tank Sq.

In his passing away this morning Triplicane is missing another jewel known for his simplicity and good nature.   Pray for strength to his family to bear this loss. Deep condolences !!

 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

18.4.2021

Deepak Chahar sends Punjab wobbling !!

If you were to ask – do we need IPL at a time when Covid is peaking – I have no positive answers !!  .. .. but if you are the one to enjoy the game, sitting relaxed at home and see ball-by-ball – I am one with you . .. .. and if you are the one who put a meme or read with happiness (this afternoon especially before the start of the match) on how Dhoni is running a retirement home  ! – or that he looks jaded and needs to retire or he favours some players like – Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ruturaj Gaikwad (who are not performing !) ..  please read on .. and incidentally can you identify this CSK player ?

During the first player auctions for the inaugural IPL season in January 2008, the Chennai franchise bought a number of contemporary star cricketers such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Matthew Hayden, Stephen Fleming, Muttiah Muralitharan and Michael Hussey.  Dhoni was the costliest buy at $1.5 million, became the Captain with Kepler Wessels becoming the  head coach. They played their first game on 19 April 2008 against Kings XI Punjab at Mohali, won by 33 runs after posting 240/5 in 20 overs, which was the highest total of the tournament, a record surpassed by themselves in 2010.

Way back in Nov 2019 in T20I 1014 at Jamtha, Nagpur - the wicket of Aminul Islam, clean bowled was significant ~ and if you ask what is great about the last batsman wicket – read on !

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain M. S. Dhoni is playing his 200^th  Twenty20 (T20) matches for the Men in Yellow today at Wankhede.  The mercurial MSD  has led CSK  in all but one game (2012 Champions League T20 – in which he bowled too) when he has been part of the XI.   Dhoni has made 176 appearances for CSK in the Indian Premier League (IPL) besides having 24 outings for the side in the Champions League T20 (CLT20) tournament in the past. MSD also represented Rising Pune Supergiant in 30 IPL matches in the 2016-17 seasons.

Under the helm of Dhoni – CSK has performed greatly .. have won the IPL title thrice (in 2010, 2011 and 2018),  have the highest win percentage of matches among all teams in the IPL (59.83 %). They hold the records of most appearances in the playoffs (ten) and the Final (eight) of the IPL.  In addition, they have also won the Champions League Twenty20 in 2010 and 2014. .. .. and yet they are ridiculed often !!

In Nov 2010 - Hyderabad axed four senior players, while their head coach and batting coach have resigned in the aftermath of a humiliating defeat against Rajasthan in their opening Ranji Trophy game in Jaipur.  The ignominy was - they were bowled out for 21 - the lowest score in the tournament's history. Batsmen Arjun Yadav, Anirudh Singh, Anoop Pai and allrounder MP Arjun were dropped.  Head coach Venkatapathy Raju, a former Indian left-arm spinner, and batting coach Vivek Jaisimha resigned. 

Today at Wankhede – the ball was moving – wonderfully bowled by Deepak  Chahar as Punjab were all at bay more so after a brilliant run out by Sir Jadeja.  Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda and Nicholas Pooran – all removed by Chahar.  Wickets fell at 1;15;19;19;26;57;87 & 101 as Punjab ended their innings at 106 with TN Sharuh Khan scoring 47.  Punjab's 106/8 is the second lowest 20-over total in IPL at Wankhede. Lowest is 101/9 by MI against PWI in 2012 while chasing a target of 130 to win.

Well bowled Deepak Chahar !  .. on that day against Bangladesh at Nagpur, of  the 5 bowlers, Khaleel and Washington Sundar went wicketless; Yuz Chahal had one taking him to the fastest Indian to 50 wickets in T20I.. Shivam Dubey was the unlikely hero with 3 wickets (was on a hattrick with 4-0-30-3) .. .. it was CSK Deepak Chahar who stole the show ! ~ he reportedly was rejected by  Greg Chappell, who was director of the Rajasthan Cricket Association academy in 2008.   Chahar had dream figures of 3.2-0-7-6 – including a hat-trick when Aminul Islam was bowled off the 2nd ball of the last over – it was his third consecutive wicket split between 18th and 20th overs.  Only 3 bowlers have taken 6 wickets in T20I – Ajantha Mendis twice and Ys Chahal once – DL Chahar topped hat list with a magical 3.2/0/7/6.

In Nov 2010,  77 years after its inauguration, it was mayhem at Jaipur. The name of  Deepak Lokandersingh Chahar was one everybody’s lips. The  18 year old has created waves not mere ripples.  In his debut Ranji match at Sawai Man singh,  he walked into the record books and enabled a humiliating place for Hyderabad also.   Pankaj singh bowled 8 overs conceded 11 and took 2 but for once looked an ordinary performance as at the other end was Chahar who had figures of  7.3 – 2 - 10 – 8. In the second his figures read : 18-3-54-4.

The cricketer at the start is Chezian Hari Nishaanth – the other childhood friend of him Narayanan Jagadeesan have played junior cricket together in Coimbatore and have also opened together for Dindigul Dragons in the TNPL - have been central to Tamil Nadu's unbeaten run in Syed Mushtaq Ali this season. The pair has struck up three fifty-plus opening partnerships, including an unbroken 128 against Assam.

Interesting !  CSK kku whistle podu –enga thalai Dhonikku periya whistle adinga!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
16.4.2021. 

newly discovered fresh water snail named after Serbian ace Novak Djokovic

We hear this idiom ‘at a snail's pace’ often meaning or referring to something moving or happening very slowly !  

A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name snail is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have a coiled shell that is large enough for the animal to retract completely into.  Gastropods that naturally lack a shell, or have only an internal shell, are mostly called slugs.  Since the advent of email,   the postal system has come to be referred to in Internet slang by the retronym "snail mail".

Novak is in the first place on the all-time list of players who have spent most weeks at No.1. Having spent his 316th week at the summit of men’s professional tennis, he is in front of the aces like Federer, Sampras, Lendl, Connors, Nadal, McEnroe, Borg, Agassi… Novak Djokovic is the only player in history to have at least 9 semifinals in all four Grand Slams: US Open – 11, Roland Garros – 10, Wimbledon – 9, Australian Open – 9. With a 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) victory over Roger Federer in the 2019 Championships final, Novak joined Bjorn Borg and Laurence Doherty as a five-time Wimbledon titlist.  Novak Djokovic from Serbia, is currently ranked as world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).  Djokovic has won 18 Grand Slam men's singles titles and 82 ATP singles titles overall, including a record nine Australian Open titles and a record 36 Masters 1000 events.  

Dan Evans pulled off the best victory of his career so far under the unlikeliest of circumstances as he produced a nerveless performance to upset Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5 on clay and advance to the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters. Evans had arrived in Monaco widely considered to be one of the weakest clay court players in the top 100, with a 0-7 overall record against top-five opponents. The Briton had lost 10 consecutive main-draw matches on clay dating back to 2017, and he has been so candid about his distaste for clay that when Tim Henman later asked him whether it was his best surface he shot back with a sarcastic question of his own: “Is golf your best sport?”  Yet this week has been a different world from the beginning. In the opening round Evans beat Dusan Lajovic, runner-up of the Monte Carlo tournament in 2019, before defeating the Miami Open champion, Hubert Hurkacz, in straight sets to line up his match against Djokovic.   Evans was often the more durable player, working Djokovic with his wicked slice, abrupt injections of pace with his forehand and countless excellent drop shots that either remained low and moved Djokovic off the baseline or died in the dirt for an outright winner.

One loss does not make a summer !  .. ..  Djokovic is in news as always – a  newly discovered species of freshwater snail has been named after Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic 'to acknowledge his inspiring enthusiasm and energy'. 

Researchers from Montenegro found Travunijana djokovici in a karstic spring in the Dinaric Alps near the capital city of Podgorica during a field expedition back in 2019. Karst is the name given to the landscape created by the dissolution of soluble rocks like limestone, complete with sinkholes, caves and underground steams. Snails are notoriously slow and the naming is intended to reflect not T. djokovici's pep but that of the team — who traversed challenging landscapes to discover it.

MailOnline reports that Researchers from Montenegro found 'Travunijana djokovici' (the shell of which is pictured) in a spring near the capital city of near Podgorica during a field expedition back in 2019.  'Some of the world's rarest animals inhabit the unique underground habitats of the Dinaric karst,' the duo explained. 'To reach inaccessible cave and spring habitats and for the restless work during processing of the collected material, you need Novak's energy and enthusiasm.'

Adapted to living in underground streams, T. djokovici has a 1.8 millimetre-tall milky-white spiral shell shaped into an elongated cone. It belongs to the family of small freshwater and brackish water snails known as the Hydrobiidae, or 'mud snails'. T. djokovici is the first species of the genus Travunijana to date to have been found in the Skadar Lake basin — all other have been found in the Trebisnjica river basin in Herzegovina.  As T. djokovici is found in such a small area, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed the newly-discovered species as being vulnerable and it will be added to their Red List of Threatened Species. The full findings of the study were published in the journal Subterranean Biology.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
16.4.2021.