How accurate is Bureau of Meteorology ~ gripping final day at Gabba !!

How accurate are the predictions of Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Government ?

How will the Indian tour of Australia 2020-21 end ? – it was 1-2 in ODI; 2-1 in T20I and LWD thus far in Tests.   On 12 November 2020, the Indian squad arrived in Sydney to begin a two-week long quarantine period.  On 24 Nov 2020, BCCI confirmed that Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma were  ruled out of the first two Test matches.  Couple of days later, T. Natarajan was added to India's squad for the ODI series.  .. .. .. now Nattu has donned India colours in all 3 forms !

Tropical Cyclone Kimi is a currently active tropical cyclone which is threatening Queensland in Australia. The tenth tropical low and third tropical cyclone of the 2020–21 Australian region cyclone season, Kimi originated from a weak tropical low which formed northeast of Queensland on 16 January. The low strengthened into Tropical Cyclone Kimi early the next day, as it slowly moved towards the coastline of northeastern Australia.   Impacts are anticipated to be significant, with the effects of the previous storm to hit the state, Cyclone Imogen, to be exacerbated from the heavy rainfall.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is an Executive Agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together the state meteorological services that existed before then.  The report reads :  Cloudy. High (80%) chance of showers. The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe. Light winds.  Tropical monsoon activity continues to be visible in the north of the country with convective cloud and thunderstorms. This particularly visible around Cyclone Kimi off the coast near Cairns in QLD with visible cyclonic rotation. Brisbane is the capital of  the Australian state of Queensland. Woolloongabba is a suburb of the City of Brisbane,  and contains the Brisbane Cricket Ground ('the Gabba')  where the 4^th and final test is underway !

He may be a great run accumulator but there are enough reasons to dislike him. Mohammed Siraj bowled a snorter of a delivery to send Steve Smith packing. A length ball bowled by him hit the crack and took off the pitch. It ended up hitting Steve Smith on the glove, as the Australian tried to fend it away. The ball looped to Ajinkya Rahane at gully, who completed the catch. .. .. earlier Labuschagne got almost a similar delivery, edged and walked shaking his head but .. Smith gesticulated that the ball hit the glove and .. .. and he had taken the glove off the bat ?  - reviewed .. .. it was clear that glove was certainly on the handle at the point of impact !

At close of play on day 4 India chasing 328 were 4 without loss .. .. on a day of much happening Indians could feel happy that Australians did not set the target but were bowled out with 2 Indian bowlers hunting for the last wicket to conclude a five for !  eventually both were involved – it was Caught Sharadul Thakur bowled Mohammad Siraj  [Siraj 5-73, Thakur 4-61]

Rain wiped out nearly all of the last session of day four soon after Australia had set India 328 to win the Gabba Test. India's openers had only faced 11 balls, and still had a possible 23.1 overs left to negotiate before stumps, when rain sent the players hurrying into their dressing rooms for the second and final time on the day. On a pitch where inconsistent bounce has grown into a frequent menace, Australia probably have enough time left  in theory, to bowl India out and wrap up a 2-1 series win, but the weather forecast for day five isn't encouraging for them.

First India bowled  Australia out. This hadn't seemed likely when David Warner and Marcus Harris had extended their opening partnership to 89 and left Australia effectively 122 for no loss some 40 minutes into the day's play. But India regrouped, with Shardul Thakur breaking the partnership on his way to an impressive four-wicket haul and Mohammed Siraj capping off a stellar debut series with a maiden Test-match five-for.  Now day 5 is going to dawn more intriguing and challenging for   Tim Paine, whose place in Australian cricket history may hinge on the events of the final day of this landmark series.  The most unlikely of Australian captains has achieved all that could be reasonably asked of him since taking over after the trauma of Cape Town - but the halo has slipped.Winning is not enough for cricket fans in this country. The manner in which the game is played matters as well. Lose or draw on Tuesday and, in the eyes of many Australians, Paine will have failed on both counts.

Hopefully his  prized bowlers would not  summon one last effort and get the job done, Tim Paine  will go down in history as the only Australian captain to lose back-to-back series at home against India. So pressure is on Paine and not on stand-in Indian Captain Ajinkya Rahane.  Australia have enjoyed every possible advantage. They've played at home, won every toss and had the deciding Test played at their Gabba fortress, where they have not lost since 1988.  Tasked with bowling out India on the final day of the series to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia were on Monday night facing the prospect of being a paceman down after Mitchell Starc walked away clutching his hamstring at the Gabba. After 16 days of oscillating, absorbing theatre, it has come down to three sessions. Ninety-eight overs. Six-and-a-bit hours of play, weather permitting of course. At stake is not only custody of the trophy but possibly a place in the World Test Championship final, and even the legacy of Tim Paine's captaincy.

Australia, needing to win the fourth and final Test to clinch the series 2-1, have a day to complete the assignment. India, set an ambitious 328 to achieve victory, don't need to go for it to retain the silverware and could hang on for a draw like they ultimately did in Sydney.   Test Cricket at its captivating best !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
18.1.2021 @ 10.26 pm.

  

Natarajan scores a run ! - India's no-names leave Aussie red-faced !!

In Dec 2003, at Adelaide – Ajit Agarkar scored just 11 & 0*  -    but scripted history !!  In Test Cricket, often day 3 could be the defining day but perhaps not at Gabba, Brisbane today !!  .. .. ESPN has this interesting statistics – as commentators kept telling that Natarajan should have run two to double his International aggregate – when he scored that solitary run it was “ After ten first-class innings without a run, T Natarajan  finally scores one” that too  on Test debut. How he emerges with the ball in the second essay could redefine this test.

Ian Chappel feels that both the batting line-ups are fragile and that makes it interesting and intriguing.  I feel, Aussie has an established line-up, playing at home – India dogged by injuries has almost two teams playing in 4 tests !!  .. the recent times has seen  the emergence of Marnus Labuschagne and the potential of Will Pucovski and Cameron Green, with David Warner and Steve  Smith.  The Indian line-up is so much stronger with Kohli in the middle, acting as the batting general. Their openers failed, middle-order fragile, coupled with injuries to all and sundry.  Today after close of play – The Courier Mail thundered “India’s no-names leave Aussies red-faced”  

That sums up their frustration even when they are 54 runs ahead on close of day 3.  Their strong line up of Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins peppered and kept hurtling – Indian wickets were tumbling.   They started at 62/2 having lost Gill and Rohit.  Pujara went at 105 and Rahane out at 144; Mayank Agarwal batting at 5 for the first time left at 161 and when Rishab Pant steered Hazlewood to Green Gully it was 186/6 – 183 short with only tail exposed. If you are about to blame Pant, know that his  23 became his first sub-25 score in 11 innings in Australia.

Have seen Sharadul Thakur make some runs in limited overs and he opened with a six hooking Cummins ! Sundar & Thakur together – how much are they worth?

Washington Sundar is known more for his TNPL and IPL exploits. Seen as a limited over specialist opening the bowling and keeping great batsmen at bay.  Only because of the Covid-19 pandemic was Sundar asked to hang around for the Test series to help with bowling in the nets.   He is only 21.  Shardul Thakur,  is India's seventh-choice seamer in Tests. He spent the long tour playing just three limited-overs games and bowling a lot in the nets, getting to bat only when the throwdown specialists or the bowlers have any energy left after bowling to the players expected to play. Today both forged together adding 123 runs for the 7^th wicket – making  maiden Test fifties to help India post 336.

Australia still finished the day with a handy lead and two full days left, but the rain forecast for the last two days is sure to play on their minds. Tim Paine faces the agonising scenario of leaving the door open for a historic defeat at the Gabba in order to keep alive Australia's hopes of regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against an opponent whose tenacity knows no bounds.  After that abysmal 36 at Adelaide   just under a month ago and Virat Kohli taking  the next flight out to Mumbai, few would have been shocked if they were flattened 4-0. The  severely undermanned visitors could now deny Australia the series and the silverware and even clinch it themselves. As holders and with the series locked at 1-1, India need only a draw to retain the trophy while Australia must win the Test.

There has been no shortage of heroes among the 20 players who have taken the field for India over the four Tests amid a football season's worth of broken bones and strained tendons.  After the heroics of injured Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin at Sydney – at Brisbane it is the   21-year-old debutant Washington Sundar and second-gamer Shardul Thakur, who were brought in from deep in the bullpen as bowling reinforcements in Brisbane yet blunted Paine's men with the bat before a crowd of 12,777 on Sunday. Josh Hazlewood. wound up with 5-57 but the Indian counterattack led them to an unlikely first-innings total of 336, only 33 short of Australia's.

Whatever the outcome, the never-say-die attitude of India that has stood them so sell so far. Australia, by comparison, have used just their usual frontline four throughout the series.  Besides their 3 quickies,   Nathan Lyon, is just  three short of 400 Test wickets, let us be hopeful of India finishing the tour on a high.

In that 2003-’04 tour of Australia,  Sourav Ganguly century allowed India to draw the first Test, the Indian team arrived in Adelaide for the second Test.   Australian batsmen quickly found their touch. On the back of a classy 242 by Ricky Ponting, the hosts scored 556 (in just 127 overs) in the first innings.  In reply, India collapsed to 85/4 before Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman orchestrated a 233-run stand to help India finally finish on 523 all out. The hosts had a small 33-run lead (coincidence same today too)  then  Ajit Agarkar upped his game to script what is arguably his finest moment in international cricket. Agarkar’s spell of 6/41 broke Australia and   Dravid, with 72,   played a vital role as everyone chipped in. When the winning runs were scored Agarkar was fittingly at the non-striker’s end. He didn’t need to face a ball but   had done his part.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
17.1.2021
  

Remembering the great patriot - Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose : 2021

 

One man who has left the most indelible impression on India – as fighter par excellence, a great martyr, a man who could have shaped the destiny of India - certainly ‘Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose’ and the Nation remembers him today ..

Train 12311/ 12312 runs 1743 kms for 32 hr 10 mins from Howrah – Kalka and has now been named as ‘Netaji Express’ after the great Subhash Chandra Bose.   The train first operated in the year 1866 and it has been in service of the nation for more than 150 years.   The train currently operates as 02311 and 02312 special train due to covid and it will run with its once Indian Railways normalises the operations. It is said that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose took this train from Gomoh under Dhanbad district to escape from the British administration 80 years ago.

A Nation must remember its martyrs who gave its freedom.  We became independent in 1947 and 73  years have rolled since.   There have been many unsung heroes – slowly we are losing generation which fought or witnessed the Freedom struggle ~ sometimes the news that we read in media about them are heart-rending.  After their first defeat at the hands of British in 1757, there arose many instances  when Indian patriots formed groups and fought hard and bitter battles exhibiting selfless sacrifice.  Alongside hundreds of Velu Thampi, Peshwa Baji Rao, Sardar Shyam Sing, Rani Laximibhai, Tantia Tope, Maharaj of Dumraon, Nana Sahib, there are many hundreds hidden whose exploits, history did not record or were neglected by the British historians and later partisan historians. .. towering among them all would be ‘Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose’.  Ever since India attained freedom and PM addressed the Nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in August 1947 – there have been Congress politicians and most of the heroes never received the attention and mention they deserved.

Movie is only a form of entertainment, yet there are some films / some scenes that move us. Shankar directed ‘Indian’ [Bharatheeyudu] was a good film.  To many the hero was not the young Kamal but the older Indian Senapathy. The flashback in black & white was really moving taking us to older days, especially the footage of the great Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose.  The story shows Senapathi as a young valiant fighter joining  Bose’s army with the full support of his wife Amirthavalli. The handful of Nation’s soil to be smeared on forehead daily is poetic.  Senapathi gets captured,  survives the brutalities and comes to back in free India riddled with corruption, and he fights that !!

                      On Sept 16th, 1985, in a dilapidated house in Faizabad, formerly the capital of Oudh province in India, a reclusive holy man known as Bhagwanji or Gumnami Baba (‘the saint with no name’) breathed his last. Locals had long suspected that he was none other than Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945),  the greatest revolutionary  who raised an independent army against the British Empire seeking  total independence for India. The Second World War had enabled him to practise what he preached and his Indian National Army  fought with the Japanese in Burma attempting to drive the British out of the subcontinent.  Sadly, his death has remained mysterious.  Nethaji was reported killed in an air crash  in August 1945, while trying to escape to the Soviet Union, many believed then and continue to believe now that, helped by his Japanese allies, he faked his death, reached Russia and returned to India many years later to lead the secret life of a hermit.

Thus the Great Man’s memory is still to be property documented ! ~ and what we did we do on our part to remember him ?  The history of freedom movement in India, often is  summarized in one pithy sentence: "Mahatma Gandhi gave us freedom through non-violence." For sure freedom was not that easy and there were so many sacrifices of persons with varied thought processes. The best and the bravest men and women of an enslaved nation hastened the demise of the mighty British empire by resisting them tooth and nail in the trenches of every part of the Nation.  They were brutally crushed by the Imperialist regime and have been relegated, not getting their due share in history. 

 

Give Me Blood! I Promise You Freedom!!   The British are engaged in a worldwide struggle and in the course of this struggle they have suffered defeat after defeat on so many fronts. The enemy having been thus considerably weakened, our fight for liberty has become very much easier than it was five years ago. Such a rare and God-given opportunity comes once in a century. That is why we have sworn to fully utilise this opportunity for liberating our motherland from the British yoke.  The first phase of our campaign is over. Our victorious troops, fighting side by side with Nipponese troops, have pushed back the enemy and are now fighting bravely on the sacred soil of our dear motherland. ~ excerpts of speech addressed at a rally of Indians in Burma, July 4, 1944 – the very famous words of one of the greatest sons of this soil - Subhas Chandra Bose,  very popularly known as Nethaji (lit. "Respected Leader").  From history books, we read that the great person Nethaji was born on 23rd Jan 1897 and lived till  18th Aug 1945 [this will remain disputed as the Nation yearns to know of the reality, the mystery shrouding his disappearance !] 

Shri Narendra  Modi government recently  decided to constitute a high-level committee headed by home minister Amit Shah to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The panel will work out activities for year-long commemoration starting on January 23. History records that Subash Bose, whose success in Indian National Congress was not accepted by Mahatma Gandhi had their last face-to-face meeting and ‘long conversation’ in June 1940 before Subhas’s imprisonment and daring escape. Subhas made ‘a passionate appeal to Mahatma to come forward and launch his campaign of passive resistance’. Gandhi was ‘ non-committal’ because he felt ‘the country was not prepared for a fight’.

Interestingly, do you know that he was conferred with Bharat Ratna but the award was subsequently withdrawn. The award was established by the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad, on Jan 2, 1954. The original statutes did not make allowance for posthumous awards but later added in 1955 statute. Subsequently, there have been  posthumous awards, including the award to Subhash Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal technicality, the only case of an award being withdrawn. It was withdrawn in response to a Supreme Court of India directive following a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Court against the “posthumous” nature of the award. The Award Committee could not give conclusive evidence of Bose’s death and thus it invalidated the “posthumous” award.

A few years Union Home Ministry declassified files of Nethaji kept with National Archives – the files did throw open some dirty secret. For two decades, between 1948 and 1968, the government placed the Bose family members under intensive surveillance. Sleuths intercepted, read and recorded letters of the family of a freedom fighter who was Nehru's political co-worker for 25 years. IB sleuths discreetly tailed family members as they travelled around India and abroad, recording in minute detail who they met and what they discussed. The surveillance was exactly as it would be today on a wanted terrorist's family-rigorous, methodical yet unobtrusive. The revelations have shocked the Bose family. "Surveillance is conducted on those who have committed a crime or have terrorist links. Netaji and his family fought for the freedom of the country, why should they be placed under surveillance?" asked his grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose. 

Hidden in government and police lockers for years, 64 classified files with over 12,000 pages are now  on display at the Kolkata police museum.  "We know the birth date of Netaji but not his death date. It's unfortunate and unbelievable. One such intelligence file revealed in 1997 reports that eight months after Netaji purportedly died in an air crash in at Taihoku in Taiwan on 18 August, 1945, Mahatma Gandhi had publicly said he believed Netaji was alive. Four months after he made the statement at a prayer meeting in Bengal, Gandhiji wrote an article: "No reliance can be placed on such unsupported feeling". The intelligence file - dated 8 April, 1946 - noted that Gandhiji ascribed the feeling to "an inner voice" but Congressmen believed it was based on secret information he got. The file adds: "There is a secret report which says Nehru received a letter from Bose, saying he was in Russia and that he wanted to escape to India... It is probable that the letter from Bose arrived about the time that Gandhi made his public statement."

Secret documents declassified by the West Bengal government revealed  that all letters addressed to and from Netaji's Elgin Road residence in Kolkata were intercepted, photographed and records of the same were maintained. A separate file on Mr Amiya Nath Bose, maintained by the Special Branch of the city police, contains copies of the intercepted letters and records of all the meetings he attended as well the speeches made in those meetings.  The files also reveal police keeping records of meetings attended by Mr Amiya Nath, the son of Netaji's older brother Sarat Chandra Bose. Also an eminent lawyer, he was India's ambassador to Burma in the 1970s.

Sad, Nethaji did not get the full honours that he deserved.  Remembering the great martyr, freedom fighter Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose today.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

23.1.2021.

dynamically lit Napier dazzles !!

Can you connect these ancient Shiva temples -  1)  Tiruvirkolam, 2)  Ilambaiyankottur, 3)  Thiruverkadu – if your line is correct, you can add  Koyambedu temple also.   

The Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848 occurred in a year replete with revolutions and popular revolts. It commenced on 12 January 1848, and therefore was the first of the numerous revolutions to occur that year. Three revolutions against Bourbon rule had previously occurred on the island of Sicily starting from 1800: this final one resulted in an independent state surviving for 16 months. .. .. can it be connected with our city of Chennai in any manner ?

In this aerial photo [the original full sized one] – one could zoom and see the bridge over river Coovum ~Singara Chennai.

Rajnikant starrer ‘Billa’ (to name a movie after a hardcore criminal was in poor taste)  released in 1980s ran packed houses – the hero, chased by police (DSP Balaji) – escapes in a police car, winds through narrow lanes, hits obstacles, straddles on a horse ….. and nearer marina beach, shot by Police – jumps into Coovum river from this bridge ……… Arjun in Mudhavan also jumps into the very same coovum …. In the Madhavan movie ‘Run’ – Vivek coming to the city from a village is duped into bathing in the muddy Coovum river – much water has flown under the bridge in the past few decades.  Coovum no longer looks a river – with its pollutants it looks so ugly and more at the estuary after Napier bride.

Napier, the governor of Fort St George (Madras Presidency) built the iron bridge across Cooum river in 1869.  Francis Napier, a  colonial administrator, served as a Governor of Madras from 1866 to 1872; he also acted as the Viceroy of India from February to May 1872, temporarily though arising out of the assassination of the Earl Mayo….

Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier and 1st Baron Ettrick, KT, PC (1819 – 1898)  was a Scottish polyglot, diplomat and colonial administrator. He served as the British Minister to the United States from 1857 to 1859, Netherlands from 1859 to 1860, Russia from 1861 to 1864, Prussia from 1864 to 1866 and as the Governor of Madras from 1866 to 1872. He also acted as the Viceroy of India from February to May 1872. He did not complete his graduation. Instead, he mastered foreign languages and served as a diplomat in foreign missions. In 1866, he was appointed Governor of Madras and served from 1866 to 1872.   Napier died at Florence, Italy on 18 December 1898 at the age of 79.

Due to his fluency in multiple languages, Napier's lack of educational qualifications was overlooked and he was appointed to the British embassy at Vienna and later, Constantinople, where he served as an attache.  The Governor of Madras earlier, served as the Acting Ambassador for a period of eighteen months in Naples, when Italy was embroiled in the Sicilian insurrection. 

Chennaites cross this  bridge leading to Fort St. George / War Memorial overlooking island grounds which  is named in his honour.  Napier Bridge connects the erstwhile British settlements [Fort St George / Parrys] to other southern parts of city of Chennai.  The landmark bridge was built in 1869, later transformed into a wide-concrete structure in 1943 for vehicular traffic, inaugurated by Arthur Hope and  widened to two pronged lanes in 1999.    An Island bridge was projected by Yale in 1690, wasn’t built until 1715, connecting the Fort to the Island, was damaged over and over again and was later removed because there was a diversion of the stream on which it was built. The Triplicane Bridge and Napier Bridge were built across the river Coovum, which was earlier known as Triplicane river.

The Greater Chennai Corporation has  launched a dynamic lighting system on   37 bridges and subways.   It generates  millions of colours using the combination of red, green and blue.  The dynamic lighting  highlights architectural aspects of bridges and is really a treat to watch. 

Here are some photos of the illuminated Napier bridge across Coovum (earlier known as Thiruvallikkeni river),   one of the shortest classified rivers draining into the Bay of Bengal. This river is about 72 km in length, flowing 32 km in the city of Chennai (urban part) and the rest in rural part. The river is highly polluted in the urban area (Chennai). Along with the Adyar River running parallel to the south and the Kosasthalaiyar River, the river trifurcates the city of Chennai and separates Northern Chennai from Central Chennai.

Three ancient Shiva temples are located at the source of the river. The first is Tiruvirkolam, in Cooum village, and the other is at Ilambaiyankottur. The third is Thiruverkadu Shiva temple. Koyambedu temple is also in its banks. These temples have been featured in the Thevaram sung by the Saivite saint Thirugnana Sambandar.  In ancient Tamil Nadu, under the Chola Empire, the river Cooum was referred to as Kashtabudhyotpathihi. They all form a group of villages called "padhinaru nattham".  The major islet in the course of the river is the Island Grounds in Chennai less than a kilometre from the mouth. The river splits into two near Chinthadripet and encircles a piece of land isolating it from the surrounding land before draining into the eastern sea.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

17.1.2021.