how water travels in air !!! ~ Uriyadi !

Uriyadi  is not simply a water sport – it is divine for the cowherds & devotees – those of us who have seen will understand the religious fervour – this is more on how Water travels when thrown with a conical object  – projectile - momentum → liquid sheet → fragmentation → droplets → projectile motion. Do you see a peacock in the water ??

Some Science behind the water thrown with force from a Conical object.  The water probably travels several metres per second. With a sufficiently fast shutter, individual sheets, strands and droplets become visible. With a slow shutter, the same scene would instead appear as broad white streaks.  In this picture taken at Uriyadi thiruvizha at Thiruvallikkeni before Sri Parthasarathi Perumal, you can see  the water travelling from the right side toward the centre-left. It does not behave as one solid body of water. You can see several stages almost simultaneously:

1.    Immediately after being thrown, the water has considerable forward velocity and initially travels as a comparatively dense sheet or mass. The individual water molecules remain together because of cohesion and surface tension.

2.    The sheet stretches and becomes thinner. Different portions of the water have slightly different velocities and directions. Air resistance acts strongly on the broad, thin sheet, so it becomes unstable.

3.    The sheet tears into streams and droplets. This is what makes the photograph so interesting. Across the right half you can actually see numerous fine, almost parallel streaks. Those are droplets moving rapidly during the camera exposure.

4.    Gravity simultaneously pulls everything downward. So each individual droplet follows approximately a projectile trajectory — forward motion combined with downward acceleration. With sufficient distance, the overall path would become a parabola, although air drag makes it somewhat different from the ideal mathematical parabola.

Believe it is striking as a whip and will be pretty painful ! .. .. and it is divine !!

Interesting !

Regards – S Sampathkumar
6^th Sept 2026

 

A poster, Bodhisattva, thousand armed Senju Kannon – and some interesting details !!

 

How many of you are following  Duleep Trophy – finals is being played in Chennai at Chepauk stadium today – entry is free !!  -  one of the oldest major first-class competitions in Indian domestic cricket, and historically it occupied an interesting position above the Ranji Trophy level  

The BCCI instituted the tournament in 1961–62, naming it after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji (1905–1959), nephew of the great K. S. Ranjitsinhji. Duleepsinhji was born in Kathiawar and played Test cricket for England, scoring 995 runs in 12 Tests at an average of 58.52. It began as the traditional five-zone knockout tournament. In 1993–94 it changed to a league system, and subsequently moved between league and knockout formats.  There were much more radical experiments later.   The zonal system returned again for 2025–26.  Now there are Six zones with inclusion of North East !! 

There was a time when SZ had a bowling combination of  E. A. S. Prasanna – B. S. Chandrasekhar – S. Venkataraghavan. For Madras cricket, Srinivasa Venkataraghavan is probably the outstanding Duleep Trophy figure of this period. Venkat  captained it extensively -  15 Duleep Trophy matches as captain between 1970 and 1979  !!  

At lunch  -  Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhimanyu Easwaran, who turns 31 today, were back at the pavilion after racing away playing  aggressive strokes all around the park with even Easwaran dancing down the track against the spinners for some big strokes. Sooryavanshi launched five fours and a six but as soon as the century stand came up he miscued a pull to deep midwicket while Easwaran marched on with such confident strokes, both against pace and spin.   

It is unlikely you identify the person in the photo or the place but this poster could give you some intriguing thoughts – clear there is a match on 22.9.2026!~ the faces of Men in Blue are identifiable.

                        Ōya-dera (大谷寺) is a Buddhist temple in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It is  remarkable because part of the temple is built directly against a dramatic cliff of soft volcanic Ōya stone.  What makes Ōya-dera particularly interesting is its group of Buddhist images carved directly into the rock face, known collectively as the Ōya Magaibutsu. The most famous is the Senju Kannon (Thousand-Armed Kannon), traditionally associated with the founding of the temple by Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) in the early ninth century. Modern scholarship, however, is more cautious about the precise date and authorship of the carvings.  The temple belongs to the Tendai Buddhist tradition and is traditionally counted as the 19th temple of the Bandō 33 Kannon pilgrimage. The rock sculptures have been designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan.

There is an interesting Indian connection too. Kannon  is the Japanese form of Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion—whose name and iconography travelled from India through Central Asia and China before developing distinctive Japanese forms. Thus the Senju Kannon here ultimately derives from the Indian Sahasrabhuja Avalokiteśvara, the “thousand-armed” manifestation of Avalokiteśvara.

Sano  is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.  The total area of the city is 356.04 square kilometres (137.47 sq mi).  Tochigi Prefecture is located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Utsunomiya is the capital and largest city of Tochigi Prefecture, with other major cities including Oyama, Tochigi, and Ashikaga.  Tochigi Prefecture is one of only eight inland prefectures and its mountainous northern region is a popular tourist region in Japan.  

Moving to the Sports at the start – Cricket, the  first cricket match in Japan was played on 25 June 1863. British merchants at the foreign settlement in Yokohama (a treaty port) challenged sailors on a Royal Navy ship to a game. The invitation was a ploy to ensure that the merchant community would be protected in the case of an ambush from local samurai, as they had been warned of a planned attack on that date. The participants in the match carried revolvers and rifles to ensure their safety, although no attack eventuated. The first cricket club in Japan was the Yokohama Cricket Club, which was formed in 1868 by a Scotsman, James Mollison.  For a time, cricket was one of the common sports in Japan's foreign settlements, being played alongside baseball by both American and British expatriates.  Throughout most of the 20th century, the only cricket played in Japan was between the expatriate communities in Yokohama and Kobe.  However, in the 1980s, cricket was introduced into several universities, by Japanese students who had learnt the game in other countries. The Japan Cricket Association (JCA) was formed in 1984, and became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1989, and an affiliate member of the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) in 1995.  

Sano Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Sano, Japan.  The pitch is made of plastic carpet and is in pretty good condition. The ground is also used for baseball.   The news is - India will play a men's T20I against Japan to launch the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of India-Japan diplomatic relations. The one-off game for the Suzuki Cup will be played at the Sano International Cricket Ground on September 22. This is the first time India will play Japan in a men's T20I.  The match will be the first step of Sport 75, an initiative arising from the agreement during a meeting between Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi and India's PM  Shri Narendra Modiji. The move also aims to promote cooperation between the two nations with an eye on India's ambition to host the Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2036.

Japan will be the 20th team against whom India will play a T20I. Japan are ranked 41st in the men's T20I ranking, and are hosts of the Asian Games that start later this month. The venue in Tochigi Prefecture is different from the one that will host the men's and women's cricket competitions at the Asian Games - the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin.

Japan's women's national team made their international debut at the 2003 IWCC Trophy in the Netherlands. These were the first One Day International (ODI) matches played by any Japanese team, with the Japanese men's team yet to play at that level.  Mai Yanagida pictured at the middle  is a Japanese international cricketer.  In April 2019, she captained Japan's squad in the 2019 ICC Women's Qualifier EAP tournament in Vanuatu.  Born in Kanagawa, Yanagida played softball in her youth and first played cricket as a student at Waseda University.

Interesting !  A poster, Bodhisattva,  thousand armed Senju Kannon – and some interesting details !!

Regards – S Sampathkumar

6^th Sept 2026

“The Magnificent Five — Marina Edition”

 

“The Magnificent Five — Marina Edition”

 

Not the ‘Magnificent Seven’  !!  ~ [only 5 of them]  The Magnificent Seven directed by  John Sturges, released in 1960  had   the core story of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai into the setting of the American frontier. It became one of the defining ensemble Westerns, celebrated for its memorable cast, Elmer Bernstein's iconic score, and lasting influence on the genre.

Chennai’s  famous ‘Mounted Police battalion’ – riders on good looking horses.  Every morning they are seen on the picturesque Marina beach and on holidays when huge crowds descend on the shore – their contribution is immense. There are some women too in the battalion. 

flock of நத்தைக்குத்தி நாரை ~ Asian Openbill Stock

 

“a flock of birds’ captured hovering over Triplicane at early hours around 06.44am back on 13.7.2022 - they were merely dark silhouettes moving purposefully across the morning sky. Years later, in the waterlogged paddy fields near Kumbakonam, the same species presented itself at leisure — the Asian Openbill Stork, Anastomus oscitans.

Birds migrate far and long – no Q in asking where they could be  heading. There are some plausible wetland areas north of central Chennai or some other pastures of water sources.

The Asian Openbill Stork (Anastomus oscitans) is one of the common and rather interesting storks of the Indian subcontinent. It is particularly associated with wetlands, marshes, shallow water and flooded agricultural fields—especially paddy fields.  

Its most remarkable feature gives it the name. In an adult bird, the upper and lower mandibles do not meet along the middle portion, leaving a conspicuous gap when the bill is closed. The bill is dull greyish/yellowish, the body largely whitish-grey, the flight feathers black and the legs pinkish.   That unusual bill is closely connected with its speciality — eating freshwater snails. Openbills probe shallow water and muddy fields for molluscs and are particularly adept at extracting snails from their shells. They also take crabs, worms, insects, frogs, fish and other small aquatic animals.  

Openbills fly with the neck stretched straight forward and the legs projecting behind. Their broad black-and-white wings are obvious when lighting permits, but when photographed against a bright sky—as happened to  at 6:44 a.m.—the bird becomes almost entirely a silhouette. They also soar and travel in sizeable flocks.

The Openbill can actually be a friend of the paddy farmer. Snails form a major part of its food, and some freshwater snails can become serious rice-field pests. Openbills therefore participate naturally in controlling snail populations.  

நத்தைக்குத்தி நாரை  :  இதற்கு “அகலவாயன்” என்ற பெயரும் வழங்கப்படுகிறது. Anastomus oscitans என்பதே அறிவியல் பெயர். தமிழ்நாடு பறவைப் பதிவுகளிலும் நத்தைக்குத்தி நாரை   என்ற பெயரே பயன்படுத்தப்படுகிறது.  பெயருக்குக் காரணமே சுவாரசியமானது. வளர்ந்த பறவையின் அலகை மூடினாலும், மேல் அலகும் கீழ் அலகும் நடுப்பகுதியில் முழுமையாக ஒன்றோடு ஒன்று சேராது — இடையில் ஓர் இடைவெளி இருக்கும். அதனால்தான் ஆங்கிலத்தில் Openbill.

                        இதன் முக்கிய உணவு நன்னீர் நத்தைகள். சேற்றிலும், ஆழம் குறைந்த நீரிலும் மெதுவாக நடந்து நத்தைகளைத் தேடிப் பிடித்து உண்ணும். நத்தைகள் தவிர தவளை, நண்டு, பெரிய பூச்சிகள் போன்றவற்றையும் உண்ணும்.    வயல்வெளிகள், சதுப்பு நிலங்கள், ஆழமற்ற நீர்நிலைகள் இதன் விருப்பமான உணவகங்கள். நத்தைகளே பிரதான உணவு; தவளை, நண்டு, நீர்ப்பூச்சிகளையும் விட்டுவைப்பதில்லை!

வயலில் இறங்கி நத்தை தேடும் இதே பெரிய பறவைகள், வானில் ஏறிவிட்டால் கழுத்தை நீட்டி, கால்களைப் பின்னால் நீட்டியபடி கூட்டமாகப் பறப்பது அழகான காட்சி.

 Two photos – one taken at Thiruvallikkeni, Chennai in July 2022 and another at  taken at Kumbakonam on 25.12.2025 …

Regards –S Sampathkumar

4.9.2026