Pedalling one's way to health - would this be possible in Chennai traffic ?

The ubiquitous one on which Rajnikant rode in film ‘Annamalai’ selling milk to richness is in the thick of news. The political parties of India such as Telegu Desam, Samajwadi party, Manipur Peoples Party, the J&K National Panthers party, Kerala Congress Party and the now defunct Tamil Maanila Congress all had attachment to it - yes the simple mechanism of moving on wheels with human power ‘the cycle’.

There is news that arterial roads of Annanagar, especially the ones near educational institutions are going to have cycle tracks shortly. The Mayor M Subramanian of Corporation is launching a pilot project to create exclusive lanes along the 8 km roads.

There are many cities in western countries which have similar facility encouraging usage of cycles – there could be potential dampeners in the form of design, the drainage, the platform, the private property construction, utilities, reach to public transport, vendors who have occupied the pathways, unauthorized parking of vehicles and of course the maintenance of the proposed facility in a long term. Studies have been made on this and this is to be introduced in phases. Their study reportedly reveals that around 7000 school children cycle their way to school. The news brought some nostalgic memories…………………..

A few decades ago - Atlas, Hercules, BSA and Hero were not mere names. They were proud assets – people would treasure their cycles, parade them with pride, and ride them to offices and other places. The weekends many could have seen the ritualistic oiling and cleaning of the cycles with small pieces of clothes. Children would relish a small ride in cycle. It was macho to learn cycling when in middle school level and those who came to school cycling their way were the envy of other students. How much has changed in a generation or two ?

This utopian invention also known as bi-cycle is a pedal driven, human powered, single track vehicle – having two wheels in a frame, a handle bar and a pedal. Many of my age could recall the lamps that were fitted to the cycles – earlier they were oil wicks then ones powered by dynamo affixed to the rear wheel generating energy as the back wheel rolled on. Do you know that riding a cycle without light in night was an offence and Police would fine for that offence.

This is one which has not changed much since its invention. The bicycles had huge impact on society. The parts and the final product was a big industry. It is recorded that cycles were imported from 1905 and was priced close to Rs.50/- (with which one can buy many grams of gold those days). In India, Ludhiana has had a pride of place in the cycle industry – TI Cycles was a major brand in South India.

All cinema halls, railway stations, factories had a cycle stand which can house hundreds of cycles. The attribute of the village was people on cycle. Postmen entirely depended on it. The cycle repairer who can ride the vehicle in style was a childhood hero. There were shops who gave cycles on hire – remember it was 15 paise per hour in late 70s.

All that has vanished – there are not many cycles – nay no space for such utopian creatures on this fast world where there is little space for jostling motor vehicles. Many would make demands for using this friendly one, which is very good for health and eco system but not many would prefer to ride this to office or to a function, thinking of the difficulty as also the status.

In India, quite often Political parties would organize massive cycle rallies to promote their cause and to capture the eyes of voters during elections.

At a time when Chennai Corporation is ushering this laudable move, the London Mayor has launched a cycle hire scheme. This first public cycle sharing scheme in London will allow users to hire a bike for short journeys around the capital. It is hoped that the 6000 cycles spread over 315 docking stations will increase the number of bike journeys taken on the capital's roads. Tourists, residents and commuters can all use the scheme - although for the first month they will have to register in advance. At the time of launch, around 6000 cycle will be ready for hire, much lower than what was launched in Paris where it reportedly started with 10000 and enhanced to 40000 by present estimates. Even at this rate, it would ensure a bicycle hire stand ‘docking station’ in every 300 by 300 metre square of area covered, ensuring that one need not walk kilo meters to find one.

Getting the land, vehicles and infrastructure must have been a very tough assignment. Still they have been in a position to implement this. Seemingly the London population has supported this and has started making use of this in a big way. To make this a hit, measures including subsidized cycle training, safety campaign, incentives to purchase safety equipments like helmets and improvement to infrastructure of the roads are being done. Unlike India, people use helmets and other protective gear whilst driving cycles also.

The investment is pretty huge - estimated at £50 million for phase one which will be met by London tax payers. Running costs will be met from the tariff for using the bikes, there is to be an annual subscription charge and it will be possible to have day and weekly membership, at a lower charge. It is reported that in Paris, the first half hour is free. The London scheme reportedly is open to anyone aged 18 and above and initially only registered members can use the bike. The bikes will be available on pay-as-you-cycle basis. The good thing about the scheme is you can hire one at a docking station and leave it elsewhere closer to your destination at another docking station, which requires great networking. If the bike is stolen whilst in once possession, the hiree will have to pay. The maintenance like puncture will be attended to at any docking station and the vehicle will not released until the repair is complete.

The one proposed in Annanagar, Chennai is only of providing infrastructure to the cycle user – in London, Paris and other European countries, it is making the cycle available at a nominal cost and urging the citizens to use the same – saving in energy, helping the green environment and promoting health.

In many tamil cinemas, the comedian would often own a hire cycle shop and getting a cycle in a new place would often be the theme of comedy. In one film, Goundamani – the claimant to fame of all repairs would refuse cycle to a common man – he could not find out any valid reason – would then ask for the name and would say that he would not hire cycles for such names…….

Sure cycle would bring back nostalgia – if you wonder the mention of some political parties at the start of this post – all these parties had cycle as their election symbol.

Regards – Sampathkumar S

Eggs recalled in US - what is salmonella bacteria ?

The spheroid or oval shapped cell laid by different species is in the news for wrong reasons. Perhaps I am not the person to write anything on this – though here is something on eggs which are eaten by mankind for hundreds of years. Perhaps this is also an edible egg.

Can you identify what eggs these are ?

The most common is the chicken eggs – though eggs of other birds are also eaten. Understand that roe and caviar are edible eggs of fish which are also eaten.


Reports state that more than 228 million eggs have been recalled across the United States due to the presence of salmonella bacteria. The outbreak is linked to a farm in Iowa. The news is about Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, is expanding its voluntary recall (original recall date: August 13, 2010) of specific Julian dates of shell eggs produced by their farms because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Eggs affected by the expanded recall were distributed to food wholesalers, distribution centers, foodservice companies and limited retail outlets in California, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Texas, Georgia, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Illinois, Utah, Nebraska, Arkansas, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. These companies distribute nationwide. The Press release reads that eggs affected by the expanded recall announcement are packaged under brand names: Albertsons, Farm Fresh, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma, Lund, Kemps and Pacific Coast. Eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons (6-egg cartons, dozen egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, and loose eggs for institutional use and repackaging) with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 229 and plant numbers 1026, 1942 and 1946.
There have been confirmed Salmonella enteritidisillnesses relating to the shell eggs and traceback investigations are ongoing. Consequently the fears of worsening salmonella outbreak has skyrocketed. There are fears that the contaminated eggs could still be in the consumers’ refrigerators. Hundreds have been reported sick and one law suit has already been filed against the supplier - the Wright County Egg Farm in Galt, Iowa.


Salmonella enterocolitis is an infection in the lining of the small intestine caused by Salmonella bacteria and is one of the most common types of food poisoining. It occurs when one eats food or water that is contaminated with the salmonella bacteria. Any food can become contaminated if food preparation conditions and equipment are unsanitary. The strain in question, Salmonella enteritidis, is particularly pernicious because it can affect the inside of an egg. The ovaries of a hen can be contaminated by the bacteria, passing the contaminant along to the whites and yoke of an egg as well as outside the shell. .


First off, there are two major strains of salmonella that effect humans: salmonella enteritis and salmonella typhi. Typhi is associated with typhoid but the present recall is not associated with this. It has to do with salmonella enteritis - enteritis means “inflammation of the intestine.”


For a commoner, what has Salmon the common name for several species of fish to do with the disease is an intriguing question. Salmonidae is family of finned fish including salmon, trout, chars, white fishes and graylings. It is stated that salmons migrate whilst trouts are resident. The disease has nothing to do with this fish
The association is with Daniel Elmer Salmon (1850 – 1914) a Veterinary surgeon, the first DVM degree awardee in US who spent his career studying animal diseases for the US Dept. of Agriculture. The salmonella genus of bacteria was discovered by an assistant of his, who gave his name to the bacteria.


So, if you are in US – avoid eating eggs atleast till the dust settles down - and in case you still want to know whose eggs those were :

Regards – Sampathkumar.

The much talked No ball and the debut of Wahab Riaz

‘Oney nam, no ball ekak danna puluwan’ - can you translate this ……..


Morning read the news of England bundled out with debutant Wahab Riaz taking five for. Left arm pace bowlers are some what rare but not in Pak. Riaz is one and his genre flows unabated in Pak cricket. There have been Azeem Hafeez, Wasim Akram, Tanvir Sohail to Mohammed Ameer. Riaz has had a memorable debut.



Wahab Riaz took five wickets on debut as Pakistan ended the first day of the third Test against England in a sound position at The Oval here on Wednesday. When I was reading this, my 11 year old son remarked that he did not fare well against India. I don’t remember to have heard his name at all but true to what Athul said, he had played 5 one dayers and had played in ODI 2705 held at Bangladesh on 10th June 2008 when Yusuf Pathan made his debut. India made 330/8 in 50 and won by 140 runs. Wahab Riaz had leaked 86 in 9.2 taking 2 wickets.


Coming back to the recent India Lanka match, some tend to write that the no ball was a non event – it does not appear so. Whether another ton got added to the list of Sehwag may not be so material but the act and the attitude of Lankans leaves lot to be said. The words at the start were clearly heard uttered by Tilakaratne Dilshan who was fielding at point. It was loud and clear instruction to Randiv literally instructing him to bowl a no ball. This coupled with the letting of 4 byes displayed the real spirit – coming as it does who has played for three seasons under Sehwag for Delhi Daredevils is sordid indeed. The TV footage shows Viru taking guard, Dilshan’s voice is lewd, Sangakkara certainly heard it – though Viru would not have understood what was uttered in Sinhalese.


Leaving Sehwag stranded by this plan was simply school boyish and immature act. The rule is also ridiculous as the ball would be counted as having been played by Sehwag but the six scored of it would not count.  

There were reports that Randiv apologized to Sehwag but Sanga played a new game quoting other incidents, especially the monkeygate of Indian fame. This might be well within the law but certainly not the spirit.


Subsequently Randiv has been suspended for one match and Dilshan fined his match fee. The captain who tried to act innocent got away unscathed. That is the decision of 6 men committee of SL board. Sanga was advised to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in feature notwithstanding the fact that Lankans acted in a similar manner – Malinga bowling a wide to deny Sachin a century at Cuttack one dayer.


Now there cannot be any speculation on whether it was deliberate at all. ICC has welcomed the swift and decisive action.


Rules are clear that the moment the no ball is called, a run is scored and technically the match was over once that single came irrespective of whether the over stepping was deliberate or otherwise. But how one can dissect into the occurrence within the delivery is a ridiculous explanation. If two runs are required, batsmen driving the ball completes the two – but after that split second ball also crosses the boundary – will it be 2 or a four – will the Team and batsmen get 2 or four ?


Anyway – the tournament is alive with another crucial match between Kiwi and Lankans today


- Sampathkumar S

Flood havoc in Pakistan

The mythologies are abuzz with stories of deluges – these are the floods sent by the Deity to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution. Floods have always been the scourge of civilizations destroying property and killing people in large numbers. Floods are overflow of an expanse of water, occurring when flow exceeds the capacity.

Neighbouring Pakistan is suffering badly from floods. On 29th July the floods were triggered by heavy monsoon rains in north-west Pakistan causing rivers to breach their banks, villages of mud brick houses were destroyed. UN has described this flood as the worst in living memory. According to initial estimates of UN 14 million people were affected and lakhs of homes have been destroyed. There is further not so good news with the Pak Met Dept forecasting that River Indus going by hydrological condition is likely to attain a medium to high flood level ranging between 350,000 to 470,000 (cusecs) from 18.08.2010 to 19.08.2010. This could inundate low lying areas of District Hyderabad, Thatta and adjoining areas alongside river bed.
The river Indus is a major river which flows through the Indian sub continent. It originates in the Tibetan plateau near Lake Mansarovar runs through Ladakh district of Jammu & Kashmir and enters Gilgit Baltistan flowing through North in Pakistan to enter Arabian sea near the port of Karachi in Sind. It is the longest river of Pakistan. Indus feeds the eco system of the forests, plains and countryside and has Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej and two more tributaries from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Agfhan. Where it flows in to Arabian sea, it has the Indus river delta which unlike other delta consists of clay and other infertile soils and is very swampy. The Pak city of Hyderabad lies about 130 miles north of the moutn of Indus.
BBC’s Satellite images show how the Pakistan flood waters have swollen the lower Indus River, completely filling the river valley, when compared with images of the same area one year before. The flow through the Sukkur Barrage has reached levels of 1.4m cubic feet per second (cusecs). The barrage is only designed to withstand a maximum of 0.9m cusecs.

The floods in Pakistan which has become a monumental disaster began following heavy monsoon rains – the worst affected areas being Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and parts of Baluchistan. Around 200o people are feared dead. This is reported to be one of the worst flood of the Region in 80 years and feared might get worse as it midway through monsoon season. 1.4m acres of crop land has been flooded killing ten thousands of cattle. BBC further reports that along 1200 km stretch of River Indus in Sindh province, Govt. has evacuated one million people and is evacuating more. The prediction of more downpour by the Pak Met dept is added source of worry.

Meantime, Europe’s "water satellite" has provided a different perspective on the floods in Pakistan. The Smos spacecraft senses the wetness of soils, and its unique instrument has detailed how the earth became saturated in the monsoon rains. Data from satellite has been processed into making a series of maps which shows that the ground is getting progressively wetter, indicated by the shift from warmer (yellow/orange) to cooler (blue/grey) colours. The consistent blue in the south reflects the naturally wetter landscape that surrounds the Indus River where it enters the Arabian Sea. Satellite data is frequently used in the relief response to major disasters and would help in disaster mitigation.

                                                                  marooned livestock

As is the case in many a countries, years of river mismanagement is also an added cause for the massive floods. To Pakistan, Indus river is lifeline, people have expanded the canal system to cater to the needs of the ever increasing population by diverting the river flow wherever it is needed to support agriculture. When humans sculpt newer paths for farming and other needs, there are fewer floods but when it comes they are worser. When consistently exploited, river channels have smaller areas to absorb the rain fall. The traditional wetlands along river course would generally take up some flood waters but in modern world they too are converted to farmlands. 
Apart from the deaths of people and cattle, extensive damage to infrastructure and crops have significantly harmed the economy of the Nation.

                                                              washed away bridge at bannu
The recent meeting between Indian and Pak Govt officials at Islamabad on July 15 ended on an acrimonious note. Since then there were only exchange of condolence messages after train accident in India and air crash in Islamabad. India offered assistance of $5 M in relief material for the victims of floods. Going by the sensitivity in the relationship, it is anybody’s guess as to how the Pak Govt would respond to this offer.

Regards – Sampathkumar S