The Rockies of Eastern Ghats @ Ranipet Dist
E Ghats & beginning of W Ghats@ Salem
This is the route by train to Coimbatore. The eastern ghats travels along with you from Sholighur TN, though it comes from beyond TN till starts tapering around Salem and finally joins Western Ghats @ Coimbatore. Thus forming a garland making Eastern TN a the rain shadow region.
Pretty Birds of Vallam Kulam- Kovai
Pheasant
A Hawk with its catch
Yellow beak Babbler
A cloudy day in Kovai with chill winds blowing across the Vallam kulam lake early morning around 7 am with very few walkers. A perfect day for bird watching undisturbed. It looked like the babbler n Pheasants were posing as they saw me taking pics in my smart phone. I've taken pics only a few there are many more including egrets, king fisher etc.
There are a few fisherman on small boats going around spreading their nets. Hope the Municipality is aware that as much as humans the birds too have a right to life. These are few nature spots left to preserve for the next gen to inherit and that is more valuable than jewels and real estate.
A beautiful and serene pond right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a busy town.
Every time I visit the town I make it a point to visit this place early morning and take a few pics. A variety of birds frequent this water way. The only issue is that there is lot of growth around this pond and it is teeming with rats that frequently scurrying in and out of the hedges to every ones utter consternation. Its important that we both the community and the authorities to continue maintain this gift of nature in good condition as it is the pride of the town.
Visitors frequenting the place must refrain from littering the place as it is impossible for municipality to continue to clean it especially when it is difficult to access. My suggestion is that there should be no kiosk or food carts anywhere near the place so people coming there are not tempted to eat and litter the place. After all people come there to enjoy a peaceful time after the hard grind at their work place either at office or at home and certainly not to eat.
Only a hundred grams daane! Why not adjust!
The
dis-qualification of Vinesh Phogat , a wrestler who was sure to get a gold in
the Olympics 2024 has raised a storm in the Country, Bharat, that is India. The lady was not defeated by a better opponent
but was by dis-qualification, that too for weighing a 100 gms more! The whole
nation was shocked at this gross injustice meted out to a third world athlete
who otherwise would have allowed to compete had she was from a European nation,
really? The athlete said to have gained
a few kgs of weight in two intervening days without proper supervision either by
her coach or the dietician in controlling her diet. Realizing the mistake all
efforts were made to reduce her weight including cutting hair to bloodletting
and skipping. It didn’t help. And it was not the first time the lady was
participating in the international competition either to be ignorant of the
rules.
A standard
response from many was, “Oh very unfair. Only a hundred grams daane, so what?”
True a plastic ball point pen of ten bucks would have weighed a bit more than
that. “Why was the standard of weight so strictly enforced?” Wasn’t some margin of error permitted? The
opposition demanded an explanation from the Government. Accusations flew fast and
various conspiracy theories made rounds. Well known columnists wrote center
page articles to the effect that how winning was not important and how the
person was truly golden even if she had not won the gold. “P You is truly gold
of the Nation” said one. The Prime Minister personally wrote a note saying that
she is the treasure of the Nation and her pain was understandable but that she
should move on. Fine, it is important that we should be sensitive and not hurt
the person who is already down and who apologized to the whole country for
disappointing them. We all stand with Phogat for her great contribution to the
sport for over a decade as she had inspired hundreds of girls to take up sports
especially in States of Haryana, UP and Bihar where it is still very difficult
for girls to take up professional career by breaking social taboos. But what most of us seem to miss is the how
tough it is to adhere to rules when it is expected of us.
What comes
to my mind is when compulsory helmet rules was enacted it took years to
implement that too after Courts intervention. Even after that people went on
agitation against the implementation of the rules. All types of excuses were
churned out, that it would lead to hair loss and that it would cause some
issues to one’s brain. Never mind the very purpose of introducing the helmet
was to protect the very same matter inside one’s head. Even after years people
somehow evade wearing the helmet. The riders of some communities don’t wear it
and so are women who sit behind the rider as if woman’s head does not matter.
Similarly when seat belts were introduced most of the drivers refused to put it
on and later on the pain of heavy fines, only front seat passengers wear it and
rear seat people rarely put it on. Why? the attitude is“ oh its Ok.”
Turning to academics
its again the same “adjustment” attitude prevails. Not just schools but
professional colleges a few marks short would immediately invite demand for “only
a few additional marks” so that the candidate would get through. It’s now a
practice that the examiners and colleges even without any request would add a
few required grades to help the candidates to get through so that the
reputation of the institution as a premier one remains unsullied and not get
into trouble with accreditation.
Well again
to extend this adjustment logic in lighten vain the experience very one would
have gone through during travel. If in train it’s a rule that all those seated
should “adjust” to those who get into the coach in subsequent stations without
reservation. Sometime it would be an
elderly person or families with children. It is but natural to adjust and allow
them to sit on the pain of being called selfish, insensitive and so on.
It is said humorously that in Bangalore some
enterprising auto drivers have painted in the back of their vehicle in bold
letters “swalpa adjust maadi .”
S.S.Vasudevan.
