It was during my first Pre-degree days. Me and my cousin sister were shopping at Trivandrum and were inside a small Ladies store, when suddenly a guy came barging inside, all excited. I could see that he had left a bunch of his friends outside. To my horror he came right up to me and asked me.
“Aren’t you so and so?”
I replied yes. I just couldn’t place this guy.
“Do you remember your class mate Sunil in school?”
I think I was too shocked to think or remember and just stood there like an idiot. Still fresh from school and in the big city (for me!) it was already giving me a jitter.
He left.. much disappointed.
And then I remembered. Yes he was Sunil and he left our school when he was in the 8th Standard if I remember. He was known as Sunil Gavaskar during those days. I think he had contacted my brother who was also studying in Trivandrum and came to know that I was in Trivandrum.
I still regret and feel hurt that I never recognized him. I tried to see him later but could never catch him.
If ever I get to see him again, I would like to apologize.
I know it gives us great pleasure to see our class mates. Even now I keep searching for mine through batchmates.com and alumini.net.. in vain. None of my school mates have registered in those sites, though I have made contacts with a few of my seniors and juniors.
Random Thoughts, Ramblings.....
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Adam’s Bridge
Lord Rama built this bridge to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana but little did he think that it would create wide spread protests and traffic jams so many years later!
Adam's Bridge, known in India as Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu, is a chain of limestone shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India. The bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only 3 ft to 30 ft (1 m to 10 m) deep. This seriously hinders navigation. It was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel: temple records seem to say that Rama’s Bridge was complete above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480 AD.[citation needed] This landbridge once connected Sri Lanka to South India during the Wisconsin glaciation
Space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. The recently discovered bridge currently named as Adam´s Bridge is made of chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long.
The bridge´s unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the a primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago
According to the legend of Ramayana, the land bridge was constructed by large numbers of monkey like beings under the supervision of Rama, who according to Hindus is a personalized almighty incarnation. The purpose of the construction was to reach Srilanka (across the sea) from the Indian mainland to rescue Rama's wife from the demon king Ravana. Ramayana, according to the Hindu time calendar, is supposed to have taken place in Tredha Yuga (The ancient scriptures in Hinduism discuss about events in terms of Yugas (Time phases of evolution) numerically four namely Sathya (17,28,000 years), Tredha (12,96,000 years), Dwapara (8,64,000 years) and Kali (4,32,000 years)). The current phase according to the calendar is kali, out of which 5000 years are supposed to have passed by. This means that Ramayana, to have relevance with the bridge, should have taken place between 8,69,000 to 21,65,000 years back (between the time period 0.869 - 2.165 million years).
The controversial Sethusamudram project
The route under the project,which involves dredging over a width of 300 metres and depth of 12 metres on Adam's Bridge, though inaugurated by Prime Minister on July 2, 2005, was approved as far back as October 2002 during the NDA regime.
"In fact, the project was vetted and endorsed by no less than 4 ministers of the previous NDA government - Arun Jaitley on March 9, 2001, V P Goyal on October 29, 2002, S Thirunavukkarasar on October 25, 2002, and Shatrughan Sinha - hence objections to the project are completely baseless," the Centre said.
It also rejected another contention of the petitioner that Adam's Bridge could qualify as an ancient monument and said there was no scientific basis to this contention. It was only a ruse to stop the project that would generate revenue from fees obtained from traffic passing through the channel. It said Taylor's proposal in 1860 was followed by similar proposals from Townsend (1861), Parliamentary Committee (1862),William Deninson (1863), Stoddart (1871), Robertson (1872), Sir John Code (1884), South Indian Railway Engineers (1903) and Robert Bristow (1922).
Adam's Bridge, known in India as Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu, is a chain of limestone shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India. The bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only 3 ft to 30 ft (1 m to 10 m) deep. This seriously hinders navigation. It was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel: temple records seem to say that Rama’s Bridge was complete above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480 AD.[citation needed] This landbridge once connected Sri Lanka to South India during the Wisconsin glaciation
Space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. The recently discovered bridge currently named as Adam´s Bridge is made of chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long.
The bridge´s unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the a primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago
According to the legend of Ramayana, the land bridge was constructed by large numbers of monkey like beings under the supervision of Rama, who according to Hindus is a personalized almighty incarnation. The purpose of the construction was to reach Srilanka (across the sea) from the Indian mainland to rescue Rama's wife from the demon king Ravana. Ramayana, according to the Hindu time calendar, is supposed to have taken place in Tredha Yuga (The ancient scriptures in Hinduism discuss about events in terms of Yugas (Time phases of evolution) numerically four namely Sathya (17,28,000 years), Tredha (12,96,000 years), Dwapara (8,64,000 years) and Kali (4,32,000 years)). The current phase according to the calendar is kali, out of which 5000 years are supposed to have passed by. This means that Ramayana, to have relevance with the bridge, should have taken place between 8,69,000 to 21,65,000 years back (between the time period 0.869 - 2.165 million years).
The controversial Sethusamudram project
The route under the project,which involves dredging over a width of 300 metres and depth of 12 metres on Adam's Bridge, though inaugurated by Prime Minister on July 2, 2005, was approved as far back as October 2002 during the NDA regime.
"In fact, the project was vetted and endorsed by no less than 4 ministers of the previous NDA government - Arun Jaitley on March 9, 2001, V P Goyal on October 29, 2002, S Thirunavukkarasar on October 25, 2002, and Shatrughan Sinha - hence objections to the project are completely baseless," the Centre said.
It also rejected another contention of the petitioner that Adam's Bridge could qualify as an ancient monument and said there was no scientific basis to this contention. It was only a ruse to stop the project that would generate revenue from fees obtained from traffic passing through the channel. It said Taylor's proposal in 1860 was followed by similar proposals from Townsend (1861), Parliamentary Committee (1862),William Deninson (1863), Stoddart (1871), Robertson (1872), Sir John Code (1884), South Indian Railway Engineers (1903) and Robert Bristow (1922).
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