wrong tweets ~ famous people but wrong words & wrong news !! : Twitteratti

The twitter world is most active and interesting too ! – just a few minutes back – the official twitter handle of CSK : “ Chennai Super Kings - Mask  Podu – whistle podu” @ChennaiIPL   tweeted  this photo with caption:

Mask is our Valimai! Step out always with Face with medical mask & stay safe.

#WearAMask  #WhistlePodu #Yellove

 

Back in Sep 2014,  the Indo-British Heritage Trust organised a debate at the  inaugural event to mark the 400th anniversary of formal relations between India and Britain back in 1614.  The interesting conclusion in the historic debate that put the mighty empire on a mock trial at the Supreme Court in London,  was that the British Raj did more harm than good in the Indian subcontinent. The motion before the house was, "The Indian sub-continent benefited more than it lost from the experience of British Colonialism". The team against the motion, eloquently led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and including fellow authors William Dalrymple and Nick Robins, clinched a decisive victory. "No wonder the sun never set on the British Empire, even God couldn't trust the English in the dark," said Tharoor as part of his arguments which focused on the economic ruin of India at the hands of the East India Company.

Irrespective of party leaning, this man is to be admired for his language skills, though there are frequent fax-paus.  Former Under Secretary General- United Nations, turned politician, and author Dr Shashi Tharoor's official Twitter account is quite an interesting page. More than the subject matter, what interests people is his intriguing use of lesser known words; every few days, Dr Tharoor makes most Indians reach out for the dictionary and learn a new English word!

Sitaram Yechury is  leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), was has been its General Secretary since 2015.  He is a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was the party's Parliamentary group leader. Have heard that his father Sarveswara Somayajula Yechury lived in Kakinada.  Tragedy struck on them as Ashish Yechury,  Sitaram Yechury’s 34-year-old son, died of Covid-19  after a two-week long battle with the infection. Breaking the news on Twitter at 7.59 am, around two hours after his son’s death, Yechury wrote, “It is with great sadness that I have to inform that I lost my elder son, Ashish Yechury to Covid-19 this morning. I want to thank all those who gave us hope and who treated him – doctors, nurses, frontline health workers, sanitation workers and innumerable others who stood by us.”

Leaders across party lines, including the Prime Minister as well as the President of India, put out messages on social media to express condolences after hearing of Ashish’s death… .. there was a glaring fax-paus.  Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, while expressing her condolence on Sitaram Yechury’s son’s demise, ended up with quite an embarrassing tweet. At first, she condoled  death of Sitaram Kesari’s son,   she tweeted her condolences to Sitaram Kesari and his family.  Then there was another tweet that started -  ‘Please tweet’ before her actual message that showed that the condolence message was copied-pasted from WhatsApp or other such tool. Few minutes later Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted correct condolence message to correct intended recipient on third attempt.

Sadly, there have been cases when wrong obituary messages have been put up.  Jayaprakash Narayan died in Patna, on 8 October 1979, three days before his 77th birthday. In March 1979, while he was in hospital, his death had been erroneously announced, causing a brief wave of national mourning, including the suspension of parliament and regular radio broadcasting, and the closure of schools and shops.  

On Friday, it was the turn of former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan (78) to announce that she is very much alive. Her 'clarification' came after Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and some media outlets Thursday night announced the demise of Mahajan. Tharoor and others deleted the tweets after BJP leaders pointed out that she was hale and hearty.

"What should I do? These people carried the news without any confirmation. They should have at least confirmed with the district administration in Indore," Mahajan is heard saying in an audio clip. "The Central government and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla should take note of this," the BJP veteran says in the clip. "This became all-India news. I started getting calls from my relatives in Mumbai. My brother's daughter responded to Tharoor's tweet asking who gave him this fake news." Mahajan also wondered why some Mumbai news channels, in particular, flashed the fake news of her demise. After deleting the tweet, Tharoor had said he was relieved that Mahajan is doing fine and said he banked on "a reliable source" in putting out his tweet. Mahajan was the Lok Sabha Speaker from 2014 to 2019. She earlier represented the Indore Lok Sabha constituency in Parliament for eight terms.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

23.4.2021

so many heroes in the same match - CSK day out at Wankhede

IPL no doubt is a great entertainer – and what a match it turned out to be - 15th Match (N), Mumbai, Apr 21 2021, - 422 runs scored and can there be so many heroes in the same match – bowling hero and batting heroes in the same innings !  - awe-struck !!

KKR started chasing a big total in the worst manner possible – getting reduced to 31/5 courtesy magic of Deepak Chahar – the scorecard read : : 1-1 (Shubman Gill, 0.4 ov), 2-17 (Nitish Rana, 2.5 ov), 3-27 (Eoin Morgan, 4.3 ov), 4-31 (Sunil Narine, 4.6 ov), 5-31 (Rahul Tripathi, 5.2 ov), but some different script was to follow :  Dinesh Karthik made 40 off 24 with 4 fours and 2 sixers – big hitting Andre Russel charmed with 54 off mere 22 with 3 fours and SIX sixers .. .. and then when the match appeared lost, Sam Curran was hit for 30 runs in an over – 4 sixers and 1 4 by Pat Cummins whose 66 off 34 threatened to snatch the match away. 

Kolkata Knight Riders have lost 3 of their 4 matches and CSK has won 3 of their 4 – the match would be remembered for the fight that KKR put in. Ground fielding is astonishing – Ravindra Jadeja appears everywhere, Faf never misses catches – Rahul Tripathi is electric and then odd mistake like Nitish Rana dropping and helping the ball over the ropes – it was all happening !   

CSK has been the butt of many memes and there have been harsh calls for his head – Rituraj Gaikwad had a great outing. Opening partnership of 115 and he departed in 13^th over making 64 off 42 balls with 4 sixers .. .. Faf du Plessis powered his way to unbeaten 95 and a mass total of 220 powered by cameos by Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni and a single ball six by Ravi Jaddu.

Wankhede was reveling to the batsmen paradise but Deepak Chahar had other ideas as his deliveries wobbled troubling batsman. In a game where  26 sixes were hit, Deepak Chahar dismissed Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Eoin Morgan and Sunil Naraine .. .. and when everything looked lost, Russell hit a 21-ball fifty, coming in at five down in 5.2 overs. Cummins walked in when Russell was out, saw Dinesh Karthik fall too, and then reeled off a 23-ball fifty. But in the end, the Super Kings had put up too many runs and taken too many wickets up front. Obviously the tail could not match or provide ammo for Cummins.

So in a match – Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis shone, followed by cameos by Moeen Ali who did not bowl a single delivery; MSD too came to bat and hit a six much to the delight of his fans and Jaddu lofted the only delivery he faced for a six out of hands of Rana.  Pat Cummins delivered fast and  Prasidh Krishna was hitting more than 140 in all his deliveries in a single over-  returning Kamlesh Nagarkoti sprayed it all over.   Varun Chakravarthy &  Sunil Narine, bowled well and there was so much Tamil advice flowing for Varun from DK.

At one stage after the CSK blitz and Chahar toring them out, KKR appeared falling to a loss of a very big margin – Russel & Cummins showed other ideas – but in the end, a big total despite poor bowling by Sam Curran and flow of wides from Shardul Thakur – CSK emerged victorious.  Russell's fall was as anti-climactic as his innings was thrilling. Having got to fifty off with his sixth six - each one hit hard enough to launch the ball into orbit - he faced up to Sam Curran in the 12th over and left a length ball on leg stump that he thought was going down. He had moved too far across though and misjudged it, as the delivery took out leg stump, leaving him in disbelief, even as the Super Kings rejoiced.  Then Cummins whacked Curran for 30 – 20 off final over was too demanding and   Prasidh Krishna stumbled in crossing for a first run and was a bit slow to turn around for the second, it was all over for the Knight Riders.  In between Lungi Ngidi bowled a tight spell of 28 off 4 with 3 wickets ..

Great match for fans !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
22.4.2021 

the struggle of the resilient Nicholas Pooran

Liam Livingstone, the England and Rajasthan Royals batter, has opted to return home early from the IPL, citing "bubble fatigue" after spending much of the last ten months moving in and out of biosecure environments. The Royals said that Livingstone had flown back to the UK on Monday, before India was added to a "red list" of countries from which the arrivals need to undergo a mandatory ten-day quarantine period.   He has not played a single match for Royals in IPL thus far.

Today, it was a double header and in the first match, the 14^th of the season, Punjab Kings had another nightmare, losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad this time at Chepauk.  .. .. .. and Nicholas Pooran, promoted to No. 4 had another nightmare – a ‘diamond duck’ -   miscommunication with veteran batsman Chris Gayle found him short of his crease. Pooran, who is yet to fire this season, had to walk back to the pavilion without even facing a delivery today.

Remember in Nov 11,2018 at Chepauk – T20I   – India Vs once mighty West Indies –  I could not recognize most players in the line-up that read : Hope, Hetmeyer, Darren Bravo, Dinesh Ramdin,  Pooran (who !); KA Pollard, CR Brathwaite (c), FA Allen, KMA Paul, K Pierre, O Thomas .. ..  on that day, was impressed to see Nicholas Pooran play   some audacious shots – he scored 50 off 25 balls – later  read that he is a wicket-keeper from Trinidad & Tobago.   

                   In 2017, IPL he was grabbed by MI for a base price of 30 lakhs, but do not remember him playing any of the matches.   Eleven days after being snapped up by Mumbai Indians in the IPL auction, he was suiting up for Islamabad United in the PSL playoffs against Karachi Kings. A week later he walked  out to bat in a bright yellow outfit for City Kaitak in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz.  .. .. and on July 1, 2019 at ICC WC at  Chester-le-Street,  chasing a tall score of lanka, Pooran made his maiden century.  Avishka Fernando, all of 21, scored his maiden international hundred to set up Sri Lanka's 338 for 6 - by far their highest total of the tournament - and Nicholas Pooran, three months shy of his 24th birthday, responded with 118 - his first international century too - to threaten a remarkable comeback in what would have been the highest chase at a World Cup.   

Further read that an year after finishing as the fourth-highest run-scorer at the U-19 World Cup in early 2014,  in Jan 2014,   Pooran was involved in a road accident.   "I was coming back home from training, driving," Pooran recalls. "I was close to home and a car was overtaking another car, so I pulled away. I hit a sand heap and then I came back onto the road and another vehicle hit me. "I was knocked out and then I couldn't remember what happened. I just woke up at the accident and I was like, 'How did this happen?' I was shocked. I couldn't believe that this happened. I was taken in an ambulance, couldn't move my legs.

That accident left him with a torn patella tendon, fractured tibia and fractured ankle.  He underwent  two surgeries; the  first was less than 24 hours after the accident, to repair the left patellar tendon. The second, on his right leg to repair the ankle fracture, had to wait another week, till after the swelling from the injury subsided. The surgeries, though, were a minor detail in the process to figure out the answer to the question Pooran had put to his doctors. It took Pooran until July, six months after the accident, before he could walk without assistance.  

Great resilience – he was back, up and running and scoring runs but this season had found runs too difficult to come by.  On 12.4 against Royals at Mumbai he was out for a duck; on 16.4 another duck against CSK and on 18.4 against Delhi Capitals scored 9 !  .. .. and today he was run out for a duck without even facing a ball.

Will KL Rahul select him again in the next match remains to be seen ! 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
21.4.2021 

B a t s [yes bats] come flying to Triplicane

 

Decades ago, we  saw famous batsmen  using and endorsing  bats like Slazenger, G&M, Grey Nicholls, SG, SS, BDM  and the like….. now you see bats without brand name explicit but advertiser’s logo prominent !! (in between those days there were ‘oiled /non-oiled bats’) ~ for a change this is no post on Cricket but on bats !!

We have seen them on some old temples, I have seen them at Thavana uthsava bungalow gori !!  - the  Egmore Museum does not just house priceless artefacts from the past. It also houses colonies of fruit bats in the trees outside, as a plaque informed the  visitors those days.  This season I am seeing them come with a buzz around 615 – 630 pm – close to hundred – they fly with unerring precision from nowhere and hang on the Arasa maram [peepal tree] at Vasavi Parthas, Venkatrangam Street, Triplicane, Chennai 600005.

When we think of bats, an unfavorable image often comes to mind. Whether it's the scary portrayal of them in vampire films and literature or a general fear of how their real-life counterparts might transmit viruses, bats have gotten a bad rap that's actually more fiction than fact.  Understand that there are more than 1,400 bat species in the world ! Bats can be as large as a small dog or as small as a bee. The ones that come nearer home resemble crows !! The largest bats are the flying foxes with wingspans of up to 2 metres and a body weights of up to 1.5 kilograms.

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera. With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more manoeuvrable than birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium.  The second largest order of mammals after rodents, bats comprise about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide.   A few species feed on animals other than insects; for example, the vampire bats feed on blood. Most bats are nocturnal, and many roost in caves or other refuges; Bats are present throughout the world, with the exception of extremely cold regions. They are important in their ecosystems for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds; many tropical plants depend entirely on bats for these services. Megabats constitute the family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera (bats). They are also called fruit bats —flying foxes.  

For centuries, bats have been called sinister and spooky, likely because of their beady eyes and razor-sharp fangs. But there’s more to these nocturnal creatures than meets the eyes.  The scientific name for bats Chiroptera,  is Greek for “hand wing.” That’s because bats have four long fingers and a thumb, each connected to the next by a thin layer of skin.  To navigate dark caves and hunt after dark, microbats rely on echolocation, a system that allows them to locate objects using sound waves. They echolocate by making a high-pitched sound that travels until it hits an object and bounces back to them. This echo tells them an object’s size and how far away it is.

The age-old question of upside down bats. Yes, it is awfully weird that there is an animal—a mammal even—that hangs upside down. Sure, some monkeys do it when they're just monkeying around. Bats are the only animals that actually spend most of their time hanging upside down: feeding this way, raising their young this way, and, yes, sleeping or roosting this way. Bats are not birds, nor are they insects.   The difference between bat flight and bird or insect flight is weight—specifically, the ratio of weight to lift-capacity of the wings.  Birds have hollow bones; bats don’t.  To compensate for the extra weight that mammals must have, to compensate for the problem of getting off the ground, evolution found another way for bats to transition from being motionless to immediately being able to fly when necessary.  

Back home in Chennai -   the grove behind the Egmore  museum's Bronze Gallery has been home to more than 2,000 Indian flying foxes (a species of fruit bat), and  in 2012 a board was put up stating the significance of the area. The plaque stated there are 49 species of fauna on the premises that support the fruit bat. This information was based on a World Wildlife Fund survey , which also studied the trees (in this case tamarind, copper pod and sapota) where they make their home.

Though they are reportedly harmless, they are scary and in the twilight – crows do appear agitated, when these bats start homing in to the peepal tree.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
14.4.2021