The Best Option To Ride

It was about 5 in the evening when I pulled out my Honda Unicorn and wiped a thin veneer of dust settled on it. The dust wasn't an unusual thing, given that there are several vehicles travelling through our colony, for there is a massive restructuring of paths and traffic routes all over JP Nagar due to the start of construction of a new traffic-decongestant subway at the 24th main. The route to my home from the market had just got longer, for there was the need to travel all the way down the intersection and take a U-turn for the simple task of crossing the raised median. Not too far away, I could catch the sight of a few people accompanied by a bicycle crossing the median by just crossing the cycle over the ridge. It's so very easy to sneak through with a bicycle than travel far and forth by my Honda. Add to that, the ease of pedalling and working out a few lazy, teeny-weeny muscles in your thigh, it's thousand times better to use a lovely-little-lighter frame of a chassis called Bicycle. It's like using a pencil on a moon than a specially invented zero-gravity refill pen. This perhaps is an appropriate metaphor. Simple things make things simpler, more often than not.

Bicycle, the term was coined by the French in 1860. A simple manifestation of a wheel driven by a pedalled gear, bicycle is perhaps the biggest accomplishment of a mechanical engineer who would dream of motorbikes and other transport vehicles. The chassis is a triangular frame, as in most of the cases, and the balance created on the frame is impeccable. At the first sight, the body may not generate any curiosity but come to think of it in technical terms and the mechanism which transforms the force generated by the pedal and imparted to the torque of the gear which transforms into a rotatory action, you have a marvel of a creation here. Over a long period of time, bicycle has undergone a lot of changes in its design and appearance but the charm of riding it for the very first time still remains to be matched.



Bicycle offers a vast sphere of advantage to its users. Talking of health and physical exercise, riding a bicycle gets rid of all the lethargy gained from jobs, most of which are getting more sedentary by the day. It is found that riding a bicycle for ten miles has the health benefit which is as much as the deficit of health caused by smoking a pack of cigarettes. A long ride during weekends in the verdant meadows and green country side should give you the ideal health uplift if the rest of the days are spent working at a desk at office. Cycling offers us a good alternative to catch up with some much-needed exercise compared to that obtained from a saunter in a park or a casual walk. A good amount of cycling would easily help you shed all those flaccid rings on your belly, and if you are a lean person, it would increase your hunger and thereby assimilate more.

Many would feel to see that there's no fun involved in cycling but ask someone who pedals regularly, he'd give you a perfect reason. When we pedal in using that extra bit of energy required to climb an acclivity, there's a complete breathe-in of fresh air which reaches all the way to the depth of the lungs. Breathing well is the single most important sensation to keep yourself young and feel rejuvenated over and again. Ask Yoga teachers and those who teach meditation, they would never disagree.

Coming to the hike of fuel prices, we are in the era where a barrel of crude oil costs US $126, which stood at around $99 not more than an year ago. If this increase gets more wanton and unheralded, days would not be far away when one would think more than once about their means of commuting. What could not be achieved by the Earth Hour would then be accomplished by the sheer rise in oil prices....!! Moreover, a layman would not demand the intelligence of a rocket scientist to understand the benefits of bicycle over motorbikes when it comes to maintaining the cleanliness of environment and reducing air pollution. And just imagine the pleasant sound of a cycle bell than the long clangor and din of relentless frantic honking and all sorts of noise made by automated vehicles. Noise pollution levels would come down considerably and a sense of tranquility prevails all over. It's more than in one way, useful and effective.


I take an exception to those travelling to farther places with limited time, but isn't it wise to use a bicycle if you have to commute moderate distances, in the vicinity of around 2-3 km? And for those who stay in cities like Bangalore, where there's a mandatory helmet rule in current existence, a simple pedal would save all the frowns and grimace of choking under the weight and help you keep smiling instead. For many good reasons as stated, cycling is a healthy practice. Don't feel shy of cycling, in case you do, for there's no age limit or barrier as such. Bicycle's a great gift to us from all those engineers who spent long hours designing it. They definitely deserve a special mention here. It's nothing mind-boggling but not less important indeed.

I believe that to a large extent that your views are affirmative with those of mine. And cycling is, after all, a ride to enjoy. It won't be long before cycling would be in the vogue.

Vodafone- Everyday I Want To Fly

"Everyday I want to fly, stay by my side..

Everyday I want to dream, stay by my side..

Every morning, I wish I could just play..

Wish the mornings were just days.."

Given my penchant to listen to this as many times as possible, I could just not withstand the temptation to post the lyrics. Hats off to the guys who composed this new Vodafone song in a video which shows a little girl being taken care by the responsible, cute pug, which is "Happy To Help".

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Indian Premier League -IPL-8 Teams, Without Any Players, Only Warriors!

India, as we all know is a diverse nation. Diversity is one thing you would see everywhere, be it the season, or the style of living, or simply a dish which a person relishes at his/her favourite restaurant. There are religions sundry, ranging from Hindus to Parsees. There are places several, from metropolitans to villages. There are people many, from The President to A Common Man. When there are so many different things around, there aren't many games. Yes, we do games like Hockey and Soccer, but ironically, their existence is limited only to newspapers and local clubs. And then there's Cricket- a game which some die-hard fans like me and you follow- be it the score updates following all the way to your cell-phones when in classroom/office, or the sheer passion of watching the match glued to the telly and for a moment forgetting all rest other things. Cricket has almost went on to be a religion here, for there are a billion well-thought opinions as to whom should MS Dhoni choose for the final playing eleven, and most of the opinions are interestingly being justified in an impeccable way, almost faultless. Most of us are dogmatic anyway, aren't we?

BCCI chose this moment opportune to mark the beginning of a new trend in the cricketing world. It was on Friday, the 14th of September 2007, that they formally announced the start of Indian Premier League, a tournament on the lines of Soccer's English Premier League and the National Basketball League of the US. Twenty20 brand of cricket just got its dream start when India won the Inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa last year in a thrilling encounter against arch-rivals Pakistan, and it was the glory and the success of this event which salvaged ICC's lost pride in the farcical World Cup '07 at West Indies. World Twenty20's encore in South Africa shot out all concerns of Twenty20 biting the dust. And a new chapter of Twenty20 is here now, waiting to write the excitement all over again. April 18 is just round the corner now, and the tournament is on the verge of entering reality, after days of Bollywood Biggies and Business Moguls spending millions of bucks to accomodate the best sixteen under their names.

Never have the Bollywood superstars have had it so much to with Cricket. It was a new sight seeing big names like Shah Rukh Khan and Priety Zinta, along with liquor baron Vijay Mallya arrive at the auctioning of the players. The next days headlines made bold statements of MS Dhoni being paid the highest of them all, with rosters of players being auctioned and stacked millions of dollars against their names.

The 59-game event will kick off at the picturesque 55000-seater floodlit M.Chinnaswamy stadium at Bangalore with the-Vijay Mallya-owned hosts Bangalore Royal Challengers pitting against Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla owned-Kolkata Knight Riders. Unequivocally, one needs such huge names clashing at each other to set the wheels rolling. The two men at the toss would be the same men who began their careers together at The Lords, way back in 1996 and rose to fame with their careers almost going hand in hand. Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly, the most respected names in an Indian cricketing fraternity, would have a go at each other in a contest which has many other stars on platter, Ross Taylor, Ishant Sharma, Anil Kumble, Nathan Bracken and Chris Gayle to name a few. That must be the contest which would see every Bangalorean and Kolkatan cheer their heroes. Bangalore's been seeing heavy preparations for the last fortnight to kick start the event in a grand way, amidst local election pressures. Cricket enthusiastic kids, with some time off from the school, are having a gala time. Red and Golden Yellow clad Kannadigas are game with the Black and Gold clad Bongs. Indian film stars Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif along with locals Upendra and Ramya have been roped in to cheer for the Bangalore franchise while Khan himself will be doing it for his team. While Kolkata has good players like David Hussey, Ricky Ponting, Salman Butt, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Bangalore has its talent brimming from a pool of players like Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis who can grind down any attack, with a hard hitting Australian Cameron White alongside Mark Boucher. Dale Steyn, fresh from his exploits in the season has it in him to hit the right areas and castle the batsmen. Praveen Kumar can bring his leg cutters to telling effect and make life difficult for the men with the willow.




Shifting our focus to Emerging Media-owned Rajasthan Royals, they have hitters like Y Pathan, Graeme Smith, Dmitri Mascarenhas and Younis Khan in their ranks. And with them, they have a world class spinner called Shane Warne who would be leading the squad which has other impressive bowlers like Morne Morkel and Sohail Tanvir. They should make a great team, with the kind of bowling they possess, usually difficult to clear the ropes. Shane Warne himself would be rallying his bowlers well with an intelligent cricketing acumen and expertise, enabling Rajasthan Royals to achieve silent glory, without any icon players as such. They also have got sensible batsmen like Mohammad Kaif and Justin Langer who can arrest any danger with their characteristic calm approach to the game.




Travelling down South, from Jaipur to Chennai, we enter the land of Chennai Super Kings, led by the dynamic and astute Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is not new to leadership. It is not for nothing he is the most paid cricketer on the arena, the Indian Cements have shelled out a whopping $1.5 million to bag him, as a matter of fact. Keeping in support with the Jharkhand Blaster is the powerful-in-form Matthew Hayden, who can clear stands with utter disdain, and a smiling ease. In Stephen Fleming and Michael Hussey, they have got calm yet attacking batsmen, who on their day can take any bowler to the cleaners. And there are men like Albie Morkel and Jacob Oram, who have the flair and the left handed bat speed required to hit even good balls. Furthermore, the bowling department looks aggressive with the names itself, men like Muttiah Muralitharan and Makhaya Ntini able do the required damage in no time at all. This is one team which has the potential to bang any other outfit, and with a thinking Dhoni at their helm, it's easier DONE than said.



Did we have a look at Delhi? The Delhi Daredevils have got Multan Marauder Virender Sehwag and another Delhiite Gautam Gambhir, both looking in ominous form. There's South African AB de Villiers, Pakistani Shoaib Malik and young Indian talent Shikhar Dhawan, who can bat according to the nature of the pitch and score freely. Bowlers like Glenn McGrath, Daniel Vettori and Mohammad Asif are unplayables when they get going. Also are allrounders like Tillekeratne Dilshan and Fervez Maharoof who have been doing good for SriLanka for the past couple of years. Delhi has got all the firepower to intimidate the opposition. The skipper is someone who warm the offside region with his gamut of powerful strokes and trademark uppish cuts which can sail all the way over third man. Akshay Kumar is the brand ambassador for Delhi Daredevils, with GMR Holdings being the owners.



Deccan Chargers of Hyderabad. Now here's the information on the team, which, in my view, is the most dangerous team of the IPL. When there's someone like Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds in the side, you actually would not ask for more strokemakers. But add to them players like Shahid Afridi and Herschelle Gibbs and you know you are easily the most famed line up in the batting department. These are natural strokemakers, who are tailor-made for this format of the game, their mantra being "think nothing but hit everything which comes your way!". To buttress the already sound batting line up are Scott Styris, Rohit Sharma and VVS Laxman who are the men to anchor and steady the ship. Vaas is very much an intelligent bowler, with clever variations in pace and length. With Nuwan Zoysa, he has the right support to bowl to his strength. And Styris and Afridi can do the middle-overs job along with Symonds. Looking the most balanced team in the fray, I would not be surprised an inch if this team can go on to win the series. All credit to the Deccan Chronicle to weave such a wonderful blend of energy and experience. Positive predictions aplenty for this team from people and pundits around.

Preity Zinta walked into the auctioning conference with the least piece of information on cricket. But she has found a good mix of cricketers in her Kings XI Punjab. Yuvraj Singh, who has it in him to whack all the six deliveries in an over to six sixes is the Icon Player of this team, and he is well supported in the batting department with the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ramnaresh Sarwan, James Hopes and Simon Katich. All rounder Irfan Pathan can be handy in home conditions with his ability to move the ball laterally. Brett Lee, who's been in terrific form of late, is backed by bowlers like Sreesanth, Kyle Mills and Piyush Chawla. Sarwan too can prove his mettle with his slow leg cutters which are difficult to get hit out. A sound team woven around power and intellect.



Mumbai Indians, the most expensive franchise of IPL, are lucky to have some of the world's biggest names in their ranks with the batting department consisting of Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Robin Uthappa, Loots Bosman and Ashwell Prince. Shaun Pollock is a synonym for accuracy in the world cricket thesaurus, and he is being fostered by Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando. Hrithik Roshan is the brand ambassador of the Mumbai Indians and this team will get the best reception at the vociferous Wankhede Stadium. The team has Sudarshan Chakra engraved as its symbol, which denotes victory. If an opening partnership of the dream combine Sachin and Jayasuriya gets going, then there is nothing in the world stopping them. Robin Uthappa, the young batting sensation can derive all knowledge from these stalwarts and can keep batting to his usual tempo, scoring runs at will. Mumbai Indians Team is owned by leading businessman Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Group of Industries.


IPL has seen a large share of everything till date. Hypes, controversies, media wrath, celebrity participations, money issues and tremendous public attention. It's time it actually gets into the act and prove its worth. The stage is set. The arrival is anticipated. IPL's first edition will give us a clear picture as to where the game of cricket is heading towards....

The Spirit of Olympics

At the juncture of European, Asian and African continents is situated a country, capturing an area of 50,994 square miles. Surrounded by the Meditterannean Sea, Aegean Sea and the Ionian Sea, this country is considered as the matrix of Western Philosophy, Democracy, Political Science, Major Scientific and Mathematic Principles and literature. Perhaps many would have already guessed it now. Yes, I am speaking of Greece, the most learned country, as one might tend to call it. And it was here in Olympia when the Olympic Games started, way back in 776 BC.

However, Olympics went on for about 4 centuries then, played only in Olympia. A popular Greek myth says that Heracles, the creator of Olympics, started it to honour his father Zeus, the God of Sky and Thunder. It comprised of games, conspicious of religion and sacrifice, in praise of the Gods. Not surprisingly, only men who spoke Greek language were allowed to participate, unlike the modern version. Twenty games were spread over several days and later on, the number of games were increased. Much like the way it is today, Olympics were regularly held once in every 4 years and the time interim was termed as 'Olympiad'. Winners of these games were extolled and praised in honour in poems and they were deified into idols and statues.

But after a few centuries, as Romans conquered Greece and started domineering, Olympics Games declined as the new tyrants saw them against their practices. Greeks had to run the gauntlet and suffer at the hands of Romans, who left nothing unturned in their capture of Greece and denouncing their culture and festivals, and anything native of Greek was deemed as Pagan and against Christianity. That signalled the bitter end of ancient Olympics and heritage of Greece of the pre-Jesus period. Several centuries passed by and Olympics and its glory was only confined to history and ancient literature.

In the year 1859, a rich Greek nobleman by the name Evangelos Zappas sponsored the revival of Olympics. He paid for the renovation of ancient Panathenian stadium and it was in the historic year of 1896, that the first Modern Olympics was inagurated in Athens, the present day capital of Greece. 14 countries took part bringing in 241 participants. Though a small number of participants, this event was the largest international one until then. Greek public and officials are very cheerful and enthusiastic about this tradition and they even proposed to have a monopoly in organizing Olympics, which however was not accepted by International Olympics Committee, an official organizer of Modern Olympics. In 1900, it was Paris which hosted the second version of the event, and this was also the very first time that women were allowed to participate. It took notable contributions from Pierre de Coubertin who founded IOC.

Recently, in the 2004 Athens Olympics, the number of participants stood at a remarkable 11000, coming in from 202 countries. As many as 16000 media journalists and broadcasters were involved, with an estimated 3.8 billion viewers watching the game on television. An increasing size of event and participants poses a huge challenge to IOC. The sheer number of athletes, participants, journalists, media and advertizers makes it a heavy burden on the cities organizing the mega event. An updated budget of 9 billion pounds has been earmarked for the London Olympic Games to be held in 2012, making it the most expensive Olympics to date...! Although United Nations recognize only 193 countries, IOC permits several dependencies and colonies to allow their participants to involve though these athletes and competitors belong to other member nation. Countries like Hong Kong, Bermuda and Puerto Rico are some such countries being allowed to participate as separate entities. The upcoming Beijing Olympic Games has 302 events.

The Olympic Games is best recognized by its famed symbol of Olympic Rings, being adopted in 1914. These five intertwined rings depict the unity of five inhabited continents, with the Americas being considered as a single ring. They appear in five colours of Red, Blue, Green,Yellow and Black bearing in mind the fact that each country has atleast one of these five colours to select in its national flag. The official motto adopted by Olympics is, "Citius, Altius, Fortius", which in Latin means, "Swifter, Higher, Stronger". Prior to the commencement of each Olympic event, the traditional Olympic Flame is lit in Olympia and is brought to the host city by forerunners carrying the torch in relay. This tradition was introduced in 1936. Also introduced later was The Olympic Mascot, which is an animal or a human figure essentially representing the cultural glory of host nation. Misha, a Russian Bear, was one such mascot during Olympics held in Russia in 1980.

The Olympic Games are today, the world's largest pageant of athetic skills and competitive spirit, where all countries take part in the ultimate event of glory and rich tradition. Signing off this post, I would leave you with this special Olympic Creed,

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

A Change in Telly Technology

Heading into the 21st century, we're moving into an era dominated by technology. With rapid celerity in inventions and discoveries, the entire scenario of working things up has undergone a drastic change. Major changes are observed in all sectors and fields, with those seen in information and communication being the most prominent ones. Gone were the days when everyone had to rely on telegraph messaging and fax. It was with the innovators coming up with cathode ray tube and spending long hours in the lab to develop the first ever colour television, way back in 1928. However, telly took a long time to set its foot in India, when it was introduced in early '80s.

It was a historical moment when The Independence Day celebrations were relayed live for the first time ever, in 1982, marking the beginning of new generation of technology-related services This was followed by The Asian Games later in the same year. It was Doordarshan which then dished out famous soaps like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Hum Log, Buniyaad etc. Later came the mega epics Ramayana and Mahabharatha, which were regularly relayed on weekends. And which Indian of the previous decade can forget song programs like Rangoli and Chitrahaar, with the former kickstarting a host of Sunday special programs. Doordarshan has got its own little charm of leaving us nostalgic, and possibly craving for a moment of the days of yore. That apart, media started spreading its wings into a device which was more sophisticated than a single little box called radio which comprised of a simple LCR circuit. New careers began and a brand fresh world of advertising and journalism took birth.....

In the last decade, things started changing colours, when P.V Narasimha Rao-led-government launched a series of social and economic reforms, opening up trade and facilitating market growth. This was the era of a new system of Cable Television. Star Network launched in 1991 took the nation by storm by offering programs of different hues, comprising of a bunch of channels including Star Plus, Star Sports, Star Movies and Star World. Music channels like Music Television MTV and Channel [V] were launched soon after, aimed primarily at the pop culture of Indian youth and adolescents. Likewise, channels like Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and National Geographic were specialized channels focussing on knowledge and information for people of any age group. Emerging as contenders to the Rupert Murdoch-led-Star Television Group were Zee Network and Sony Entertainment Television India, which offer a wide bracket of channels categorized into entertainment, news, sports and music. Zee TV is considered as the first private owned television network in India. To the teeny weeny tottering kids we have Cartoon Network followed by Nickelodeon and Pogo with Disney relaying fresh channels like Toon Disney and Disney Kids. Cricket, a religion in India, is being devoted an exclusive channel Star Cricket which relays nothing but cricket. On regional lines, we have the US $ 4 billion Sun Network based in South India which offers television services in 5 languages- Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Bengali. Another prominent player in this sector is the Eenadu TV network, which rolls out channels for many as 12 languages. And coming up more on the roster of regional Kannada channels are independent channels like TV9, Suvarna TV, Kasturi TV etc.




However, as technology developed, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) system gained importance which intended satellite channel reception for home receptions, reducing the size of the dish used earlier yo a great extent and making it more simple and portable. DBS facilitates both analog and digital television and radio reception, is extended to other digital television services provided including interactive and video-on-demand services. The first entrant in this newest era of television viewing is Dish TV DTH, a service offered by Essel Group. Apart from broadcasting high-quality programmes from satellites to your home, it also offers complete control of what you watch and pay for. One can extract the true potential of television set yoked with high quality DVD sound. Also included is a special feature Electronic Program Guide which gives us the entire list of upcoming programme schedule and movie timings. Parental Lock, Games, Interactive TV and Movie On Demand are other interesting features which serve as a complete set of options for viewer's delight....!



And yes, if you always loved to grouse about the quality of transmission and picture clarity, you would have a difficult time coping up with the excellent, see-true quality offered by Dish TV. With nothing else dependent on the connection, you can afford not to worry about power-cuts in other areas which usually deprive us of cable connection. So many offers being offered for much lower prices than cable connections pose a serious threat for cable operators around. Of late, we also have Tata Sky which is vying with Dish TV DTH and making rapid strides in its bid to challenge the latter. The market has already shown a positive response and increasingly demanding for more. It's getting more implausible for viewers to opt for the old incessant cable connection. The simple cross-row grid of television antenna and cables are being replaced with a tiny-yet-much-efficient dish. It's time we upgrade ourselves with technology and wish for more. Wish Karo, Dish Karo.....

One State Many Worlds

India is blessed with a mixed landscape ranging from frigid mountains to rainforests, deserts, plains, flat terrain, hills and plateaus. With a coast stretch running for over 7000 km, India lies on the peninsula that protrudes into the Indian Ocean, making it a cynosure of all eyes, ones which travel high distance on top and some which globe-trot on a simple school-atlas. One can imagine, how pale a look the subcontinent would have worn, if it was without India. The 7th most largest country in the world has everything to offer, and it's not all that amusing to know why people from abroad cash in their money to have a look at what our nation offers, both in natural and cultural aspects. We have come across the exotic Alps of Switzerland, the sub-zero forests in Canada, the flat mountain ranges of Mexico, the Southern Alps of New Zealand, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and the Atacama Desert of Chile. But when it comes to diversity, it's India all the way. To have such a varied pattern of land distribution in an area of just over 3 million sq.km is fantastic!

The northern half of India comprises to a large extent of arable land, courtesy the mega rivers Ganges and Yamuna and innumerable rivulets and streams. These are rivers which have a history of thousands of years, perenially flowing as the water from Himalayas melts down to gush forth. It was primarily for this reason that Aryans migrated here and flourished with agriculture. Coming South, we have an excellent mix of conditions which make the plateau, a complete showcase for visitors and travellers. Being encompassed with water bodies on all the three sides, the peninsula comprises of palatial Western Ghats stretching its grasp from north Maharashtra to down bottom Kerala, scenic Eastern Ghats bordering all the way from West Bengal to Tamil Nadu, and not to forget the Vindhya and Satpura ranges in the heart of the plateau. What more can a person eager with his mountain expedition paraphernalia can ask for?




Amidst all these, Karnataka has got a large share in its offerings. The three important geographical zones in the state are The Hilly Malnad region/Western Ghats, The coastal Karavali region and the Bayaluseeme region of plain plateau. Rivers Kaveri, Krishna, Tungabhadra and Sharavathi are the prominent ones, catering to the growing water and irrigation needs of people here. With about 20% of the land area covered with forests, most of it in the Western Ghats, the state has rich sources of natural resources, flora and fauna. The average rainfall is about 1100 mm, with the differences showing in Malnad region and Bayaluseeme range. Soil shows a significant distribution and variety, with almost 11 different types of soil being recorded. And to talk of temperature, the variation is well pronounced, from 2-3 deg.C to 45-46 deg.C. You just cannot afford to pack off your sweaters or T-shirts once and away.........

Come with your bags packed with all the travelling stuff, you would least like to sit forlorn when Karnataka offers you so many tourist destinations. No matter what kind of a person, he/she always finds a wide bracket of options which include ancient sculptures, temples of famous realms, modern-buzz-choc-a-bloc cities, serene forests, calm meadows, old ruins, dry plains and long stretch of coast-line.

Lots of dynasties ruled over the region in the past, with The Badami Chalukyas, The Hoysalas and The Vijayanagar Empire being the most notable ones. Many ancient monuments are situated at historic places like Pattadakal, Aihole, Badami and Bijapur. Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal (the other one's at Hampi) and the sylvan ancient caves at Badami are agreeably the major edifices of the era passed by, with inscriptions in Sanskrit scripted on them. Coming to Hampi, now recognized as the World Heritage Site by UNESCO, we get to see the impressive ruins of the past, along with the most memorable Ugra Narasimha temple and the Vittala temple. At Bijapur, the hub of Urdu and Persian literature, we have the world famous Gol Gumbaz sepulcher which is the world's second largest dome. Down south at Mysore, we have a place which defines Karnataka by its style. It was here that the formers vassals and chiefs of Vijayanagar empire chose to start an own dynasty. The famous Mysore Palace, which hosts the pompous Dasara (which is the official festival of the state) is a must-watch, showcasing the full glory of Karnataka in its true splendour. Other famous historic places include The Fort at Chitradurga, ancient sculptures at Belur and Halebeedu, artistic old ruins at Srirangapatna. Places of public interest also include Sringeri temple, Shravanabelagola Monolith, Sirsi, Dharmasthala, Kollur temple, Subramanya temple, Kudalasangama, Udupi Krishna temple, Murudeshwar temple, MM Hills, BR Hills, Kemmannugundi hills and Kudremukh Hill Station, near Chickmagalur.

Coming to the more scenic Western Ghats, one must not fail to catch a glimpse of Sharavathi river, which falls from a height of 829 feet to create a visual-treat for spectators gazing in awe. Sheer beauty. You would love to go on mountain-climbing if shown places like Mullayyangiri, which is the acme of a peak in Karnataka, standing tall at 1925 metres. For a person who hasn't been on a high, he must take a short trip to Yana, an elysian destination, a breath-taking one, very hard to describe, no words at all........! Perhaps He Himself created it, just nothing can explain how beautiful it can get. It is surrounded by two little falls, Magod and Satod, beautiful ones, which make a good trip for a couple of days.

The coast line, stretching off from Karwar all the way Mangalore has got some interesting places to visit. Temples at Gokarna, Murudeshwar are flocked by throngs of people, all round the year. Maravanthe, Malpe and Ullal are the more known beaches. A light house beach at NITK, Suratkal is a great place to be, with a tall light-house stationed here, adding colour to the college nearby which houses close to 2390 students.

There are several other less known picnic spots in the state which deserve attention. Dandeli, near Karwar, is a good place for forest buffs wildlife freaks. And more of little places near a lovely little town of Sakleshpur in Hassan district, more easily approachable from Bangalore and Mysore via road and rail, has got plenty to offer. Nearby places see lots of trekking and visitors who would like to take some time off the busy humdrum routine at the office.

And for those who would love to visit Karnataka, take a long leave, for it's not a place to be seen within a short period of time. It's got an entire gamut in store. One State, Many Worlds........

Sudoku Puzzler

Numbers are hypothetical values processed in our mind when we use to quantify things. The magnitude of a number is called as a numeral, which denotes the number in both its idea and quantity. Numbers are used to measure things, record count, indicate sizes and extents, compare values, store content, chart statistics, secure passwords, communicate information and encrypt data. They were found to be used as early as 30000 years ago and Egyptian and Mesopotomian civilizations have secure records in the form of writing tablets and clay slates. Man also used numbers to play games and amuse himself. We understand that he was more interested to whet his quantitative approach and replenish his skills, than gratifying himself by the useful little sense obtained by just using them to denote and save track. Haven't we come across infants playing abacus, a testimonial to the fact that man enjoyed being with numbers and took them game.

In perhaps what has been the most-creative-irrefutable-logic-yet-so simple-puzzle ever perceived, Sudoku stands handsomely tall and smart among myriad innumerable number-games. Its speciality and flair arises from the truth that it's pleasingly simple but tantalizingly draining nonetheless. Though it became an international only in the last few years, the concept was found long back.

To start off, Sudoku is a number placement based game accompanied with logic. Noted mathematician Leonard Euler invented a class of game called Latin Squares which required the player to complete every row and column of a NXN grid with numbers 1 through N, without repeating. In the daily newspaper Sudoku, one has to fill in a 9X9 matrix in such a way that every row, every column and every 3X3 matrix in the entire grid contains numbers 1 to 9 only once. This game was first seen in Dell Magazines in the year 1979, when American architect Howard Garns published them as a puzzle called "Number Place". However, the name Sudoku was given by Nikoli when it was introduced in Japan later. In Japanese, 'Su Doku' means 'Single Number'. A retired judge and computer programmer from Hong Kong, Wayne Gould developed a computer program which could generate and solve Sudoku puzzles. A few years ago, he requested to publish his sudokus in London Times, which went on to prove a big hit.

For someone who's keen to know about the statistics, here's an interesting piece of information. The number of possible 9X9 Sudoku combinations is 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960. Now, can I imagine someone finishing on that count? He would do that entire lifetime and still fall short!

In India, the very first Sudoku was published in May 2005, in Hindustan Times and a month later, Times of India too started rolling out its version. Initially, it was seen as an enigma for people well nurtured with mathematics only, but later, many kids, students and even the elderly began growing hungry. Logic being the only thing involved, it has nothing to do with mathematics or operations. All it takes is a little enough brainwork to give a feeling of satisfaction when the puzzle is complete, taking less time and skill that required to solve a crossword, for instance. Perhaps this was the prominent reason which made people prefer sudoku over crossword, although these require two entirely different sets of skill and knowledge.

The exercise of solving Sudoku puzzles has got its own advantages. It stops memory decline, improves logic, enhances reasoning skills, allows us to think in multiple ways and even halt the progress of Alzheimer's disease. Now that is something that the doctor does not ask. In schools, kids are being taught to solve sudoku to energize their mental batteries and increase the flow of thoughts, which enables them to perform better at studies. The initial fluster notwithstanding, they come up with good reasoning and solve their way to happiness. And one can imagine the sense of a little victory over a tiny yet thinking puzzle.

Next time when you come across a Sudoku when you're free, try solving it. Your brains will thank you for your time and letting it sharpen. It still is a short-simple game, after all.....

Rbk- I Am What I Am

The era of late 18th and early 19th century assumes tremendous importance in history. And there are no prizes for guessing why. For it was during this period that the great Industrial Revolution kicked off in North America and Europe, especially Britain. It all started with James Watt inventing the famous Steam Engine in 1781. The manual-labor-driven economy gradually started making way to a machinery-automation-driven one. The change was not very fast but was effectual nevertheless. A few prominent inventions in this era include the Electric generator by Michael Faraday, Steel Plough by John Deere, Lead Acid Battery by Gaston Plante, Cathode Ray Tube by William Crookes, Wireless Telecommunication by Nicolas Tesla and many more. What makes it interesting to observe that these inventions were the results of improvisation of scientists and engineers on various new discoveries of effects and properties. Engineers then designed methods for large-scale manufacture of products and the upshot of this was the emerging of new factories and industries and thus, business companies.

And to introduce you all into this, this is something about the advent of a shoe industry. The first known shoes date back to 7000 to 8000 years before this. But it was not before the year 1895, a new industry called Mercury Sports was found by Joseph William Foster. 63 years thereafter, it was renamed as Reebok by siblings Joe and Jesse Foster, derived from the word (which Joe found in a dictionary won in a race), 'rhebok', an African word for an antelope. Later, it took special efforts from Paul Fireman to procure distribution rights in North America.

It was in the year 1982, when people started taking interests in fitness and aerobics. As a popular American actress and political activist, Jane Fonda, in her set of well known fitness videos, of the Workout Series and in the much-famed Workout Book, released in 1982, acknowledges that fitness craze was in the air and it was the same force which resulted in a record sale of more than 17 million copies of her book. Jobs became more sedentary and there was an increasing awareness to catch up with the missing fitness. Games like Baseball and Basketball started garnering enthusiasm among the stay-fit-folk and their rapid accretion appeared imminent. Throngs of people crowded gymnasiums and fitness centers to keep themselves in good shape. Who doesn't want to have a supple and flexible body, after all?

Reebok grew famous in this generation, especially with its Free-Style Athletic series, designed for women. Being a prominent player in the industry of its kind, Reebok dishes out several sport accessories, apparel and athletic footwear. Another particular series of footwear was The Reebok 'Pump' Series which was designed for comfort of ankle. It was incorporated with a special air bladder, capable of being inflated using an internal mechanism. And the tag line was more interesting, "Pump Up, Air Out". Initially used by basketball players, this brand grew more in demand and it wasn't long before 'Pump' hit the tennis and soccer arena. Some zealots used it to flaunt and at the same time, improve their gait. And few others displayed a penchant to wear wrist-bands with the famous vector logo on them.

In as many as 14 countries, we can find Reebok's factories. It's China which tops the list with 51% of the Reebok products being manufactured, followed by US, Indonesia and Vietnam. The workforce employed is close to 76000. The assessment of production, marketing and operating costs have been carefully carried out and set-up accordingly. Customers and users from Asia and Europe have welcomed Reebok products well, looking at the consumers statistics displayed on a geographical basis.

One can see that Reebok covers many international sportsmen from a host of games when it came to endorsements. Talking of cricket, Indian skipper MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Gautham Gambhir and many other players like Shoaib Malik and Chris Gayle have been roped in. Come to soccer, French striker Thierry Henry and Ukraine champ Andriy Shevchenko have been great ambassadors. As many as 5 teams in the Australian Football League have been sponsored of late. This apart, Reebok has sponsored many singers, Rapper Jay-Z and 50 Cent to name a few. Not to forget the "Lost in Translation" beauty and Golden Globe Award winning American actress Scarlett Johannson.

Reebok is what Reebok is. Much in reflection with its special unique selling proposition "I Am What I Am"....

The Wonder Metal

Spanish- TITANIO.
Croatian- TITANIJ.
French- TITANE.
German- TITAN-R.



Wondering what all these are? These are the different ways how folks name the 'Wonder Metal'-TITANIUM.

Let's jump back to the year 1791. In the nether regions of Ural Mountains in Russia, is situated Ilmen lake, encompassed by Ilmen Mountain Range. Concentrated into layers by "Magmatic Segregation", Ilmenite forms a primary mineral in mafic igneous rocks. Ilmenite also occurs in pegmatites, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks. William Gregor, a British mineralogist, came across Ilmenite deposits at the Manaccan Valley. After several studies and processes, scientists came upon a greyish metal which was found to be light, strong, lustrous and corrosion-resistant. Later, it was Martin Kaproth who isolated the same metal from a mineral called Rutile. Paying respect to the great Titans of the Greek Mythology, Kaproth christened the new metal as Titanium.

Titanium occurs in many ores namely anatase, brookite, ilmenite, perovskite, sphene and many iron ores. Of these, rutile and ilmenite are considered as two primary ores. Rich ilmenite deposits are found in India, Norway, New Zealand, Ukraine, Canada and Australia. In the American continents, North and South, a very good quantity of Rutile is found, and traces in South Africa together add up to 90000 tonnes of Titanium extracted every year. The estimated amount of Titanium is about 600 million tonnes, thereby making it the seventh most abundant metal accounting for 0.63% of earth's crust by mass. It has been observed that Titanium was found in the rocks obtained from moon and in trace quantites from meteorites. Reports suggest the presence of traces of the metal in the sun's crust too. Now that is something which throws light on the universal existence of transition metals.

Kroll's Process and FFC Cambridge Process are the most important processes involved in the production of Titanium, though there are several other by-processes. The reason why it cannot be obtained by reduction of its dioxides is that the metal reacts with oxygen at higher temperatures.

A striking speciality observed in this new metal is that it possessed an excellent strength-to-weight ratio. The density of Titanium when compared with that of other metals of similar strength was found to be much low. When it was seen that pure titanium metal gave a strength of 434 MPa, which is equal to some of the other steel alloys, the weight was seen to be 45% less. Now that is a marked advantage waiting to get improvised upon. Add to that the high melting point of 1900K, we have a metal here which can also be used as a refractory material. Another interesting feature of Titanium is that it has a good resistance to corrosion. One would find it difficult to believe that Titanium has got similar resistance properties as that of Platinum. Acids, moist chlorine and salt water solutions have negligible effect on Titanium. This said, it is found to dissolve in concentrated acid solutions. However, Titanium is thermodynamically, a very reactive metal. It forms a passive oxide coating when exposed to elevated temperatures in air. Found to be paramagnetic, it possesses good electrical and thermal conductivity.

What crowns Titanium over its transition counterparts is the variety of application involved. Titanium dioxide is used as a permanent white pigment in paper, toothpaste, paints, enamel, laquer and plastic. However, the metal is seen to be used almost anywhere and everywhere. It is used in propeller shafts in jet engines, aircrafts, armour plating, naval ships, spacecrafts, missiles, helicopter exhaust ducts, hydraulic systems, shafts and rigging of heat exchangers of desalination plants, heat chillers for salt water aquariums, fishing lines, diver knives, human implants, bone supports, matrix composites, thin wall condenser tubing, topside water management systems, flue gas desulphurization for pollution control, PTA plants for polyester production, pressure vessels, hydrometallurgical autoclaves, substrate for hard-disk drives, lacrosse stick shafts, spectacles frames, anodes, cell-covers, surgical instruments, bicycles, clocks, tennis racquet and many more.

Interestingly, it is seen that Titanium is also used in modern designer jewellery. Titanium rings- including engagement rings and wedding bands are the fastest growing segments in titanium jewellery segment, because of its ability to withstand strength even after grooving and carving. Some jewellery also include diamonds with titanium, especially of the bezel type.

The golf industry has found that the lightweight titanium club heads can be bigger than those made of steel, enlarging the "sweet spot" of the club and thus increasing distance and accuracy. That would be a golfer's delight.

It's not surprising to know that Titanium is famously known as the 'Wonder Metal'। A marvel of a metal indeed.

A celestial ladle....!!!

December 15th, 1997. It was a calm, quiet evening. The sun had made his way well beyond the horizon and the birds were returning to their nests, after a long day in search of food.
Not far away, at my home, the mood was frenzy, as it was my birthday and me and my brother were into preparations. My friends Satish, Subramaniam, Avinash and Vijay (my cousin brother, best pal and alter ego) were to come to my place and I was mentally occupied with the things to do to make the evening more colourful. Cake, Candles and Coke were ready and waiting to get in action. The stage was set and the ambience was refreshing. My parents gifted with a brand new Hercules MTB that day, which made me all the more cheerful.

From my verandah, I could descry some bicycles heading towards my path. And within minutes, I was surrounded by my pals, with each of them dressed up sprucely and eager to flaunt. I took them up to the first floor to my home. You can imagine how incessantly we were chatting with each other and having fun. We just had finished with our mid-term exams and were in a lighter mood. The mood to enjoy was not light though, it was filled with lots of enthusiasm and charm.

I lit off the lights and cut the cakes, followed by them singing the birthday wish and soon enough, we were munching cakes and sweets, with lots of chocolates and spicy mixture. "Fizzzzz........!!!" sounded the coke jar when I opened it and poured it out to glasses. We finished having them and now it was time for us to go to the terrace. It was a sky which was clear and surprisingly enough, there wasn't even a bit of haze, so usual to find on a December evening. The light breeze only made the visit more inviting and lively.

We cast our sight in to the illimitable sky and kept watching. The view was magnificent and made us more longing towards a stroll in the space. We had just learnt about different constellations and stars-clusters at the school and here we were with the sky showing up all its splendor and pulchritude. Satish and Vijay came along to spot Andromeda and we managed to catch "The Hunter" or more specifically, "The Orion". Rigel, a prominent star in this bunch, was shining in its full glitter and the other seven tried to overcome her flair, but in vain.

As we looked on, we reminded ourselves about the much-famed "Big Dipper" or "The Plough" as they call it in UK, "Sapta Rishi" (seven stars) in India or "The Casserole" (saucepan) in France. We were eager beavers when it came to explore and find things rather than rote-learning. Having said that, we continued to gaze but found it difficult to find the "Big" Dipper. One of us pointed out to the tiny kite-resembling cluster and mistook it to be the one. Our efforts notwithstanding, we never were able to spot it. Perhaps the fact that we never had any realistic clue of its size made it more difficult to find it. Riding on our bent to find it, we stood there thinking when one of us spotted two stars, far from each other though, joined by a thin trail which seemingly resembled a line. And when we were able to find another one and ultimately the entire bunch of them. How lovely it was to find one such beautiful constellation. It wasn't a small cluster, which is what made it all the more tough to spot. But once found, it was easily to be noticed again. Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid really combine well to form one of the most resplendent of the myriad clusters dazzling out there.

"The Big Dipper" is an asterism formed within a constellation called Ursa Major, one of the 88 officially recognized constellations. Being circumpolar, that is to mean never setting below the horizon, it is always visible in the northern skies. There are lots of different mythological stories and beliefs related to this constellation. And Greeks are the first people who come to mind when we think of myths. They have a strange story of Zeus swirling and throwing two bears, one big and one small into the sky to make them immortal and safe. The bigger and the smaller bears today are the parts of the constellations, Big and Small Dipper respectively. Some native Americans associated the colors of autumn leaves, poured out by the fall with the bowl upside down.

Keeping myths apart, Sapta Rishi has also been of tremendous help when it came to the concerns of sailors and navigators. Some of them were exact enough to predict the time of the night by watching the positions of Sapta Rishi. The charming constellation has also made things much simpler to those who search the star Polaris, or more commonly known as The Pole Star. It has been observed that the two stars of the constellation, the ones situated far away from the tail end of the dipper point towards the Polaris. Polaris being a fainter star is situated much farther (at about approximately five times the distance between the pointers themselves). And more surprisingly, North is more accurately marked by Polaris than the usual magnetic compass....

Alaska's provincial flag is more diaphanous to the above fact। And in Ireland, this constellation is known to be the political symbol. Hmm, the choosers of the symbol were pretty innovative and novel in that aspect. Of the seven stars, Mizar is the most closest to earth, at 78 light years and Dubhe is the most farthest at 124 light years. "The Big Dipper" has lent a cherubic presence to the night sky, it has been beautiful, helpful and charismatic. I had a splendid time on my birthday, and we all had the actual look at the stars and groups about which we learnt in the text-books. It was as if as we had been taken on a space ride. The experience was simply, fascinating...!!!!