Appreciate rains !! ~ மாமழை போற்றுதும் மாமழை போற்றுதும்

 

Praying and appreciating Rains !!!  ~  Silappathikaram

 

"மழை இல்லாமற் போனால்தான் மழை எவ்வளவு அவசியமானதென்று மக்களுக்கு புரிகின்றது' எனினும் மழை பெய்யும்போது பலர் தூற்றுகின்றனர். தெரிகிறது. வேத காலத்து ரிஷிகள் சூரியனை எப்படி தோத்திரம் செய்தார்களோ அப்படியே வருணனையும் பிரார்த்தனை செய்தார்கள். சிலப்பதிகாரம் காவியத்தில் சூரியனையும் சந்திரனையும் போற்றிவிட்டு, "மாமழை போற்றுதும்" மாமழை போற்றுதும்" என்று அழகாகப் சொல்லப்பட்டுள்ளது.

 

மாமழை போற்றுதும் மாமழை போற்றுதும்

நாமநீர் வேலியுலகிற்கு அவன்அளிபோல் மேல்நின்று தான் சுரத்தலான்.

 

யாம் பெரிய மழையைப் போற்றுவோம் ; பெரிய மழையைப் போற்றுவோம் ;  அச்சத்தைத் தருகின்ற கடல்சூழ் உலகிற்கு,   அவன் அளி செய்யுமாறுபோல,  மேலாகி நின்று தன் பெயலால் வளஞ்சுரத்தலால்.!!

 

நாம் என்னும் உரிச்சொல் ஈறு திரிந்தது. வேலி - சூழ்தல். அளி - ஈகை.  மழை என்பது அருளின் குறியீடு; அது தெய்வம் சார்ந்தது. வஞ்சிக் காண்டம் தெய்வீகம் நிறைந்தது; ஆகவே மழை வஞ்சிக் காண்டத்துக்குக் குறியீடு.

 

S Sampathkumar
17.10.2024

Rains, Bengaluru Test, Birds and .. .. மகராணி உன் வரவை !! ராப் பகலா எம் மனசு தேடுதடி..

Not many would have seen – Prashant / Subashri starrer ‘Enga Thambi’ released in 1993 directed by Sabapathy Dekshinamurthy.   The film was dubbed in Telugu as Allari Prema.  Yet every Ilayaraja fan would have heard this song for sure !! 

Rains have relented ! – no way closer to what it was hyped to be !! – Weather bloggers failed miserably.  Today there was not much of rains and one could get even Sunshine too ! 

Nearer in Andhra, Meteorological Department, Andhra Pradesh Disaster Management Authority said in their release :  “Heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in several places in the South Coast and Rayalaseema, with extremely heavy rainfall likely in some areas. Along the coast, wind speeds of 40-60 km/h are expected” 

The South Western Railway on Wednesday (October 16, 2024) cancelled some trains due to waterlogging over tracks following heavy rains. “The decision was taken due to waterlogging in the up-fast line over Bridge No. 114 between Basin Bridge Junction (Chennai) and Veysarpadi stations,” an SWR official said.  

New Zealand have now gone six consecutive days of Test cricket in India without any actual cricket. After the Afghanistan misadventure in Greater Noida,  where the test was abandoned without a ball being bowled – the   first day of the first Test in Bengaluru remained a non-starter as the rainy week continued. Bengaluru did wake up to optimistic news as the expected apocalyptic rain had skirted the city. However, a drizzle of varying intensity - sometimes so fine that it wouldn't result in an interruption if play was already on - continued until a big shower at 2.30pm put paid to all hopes of a toss on day one. Now that this will start as a Test of four days or fewer, a team wanting to enforce a follow-on will need to lead by 150 and not 200.  

It had rained very heavily in Bengaluru and  M Chinnaswamy Stadium had taken copious water, yet taken   the sub-air drainage system at the ground that can drain a claimed 10000 litres of water per minute gave more than a glimmer of hope. However, there was another obstacle in the course: because of the rain a day before the match, the Hawk-Eye formatting couldn't be done. This process, too, takes an hour and a half. However, it didn't come down to that as the rain at 2.30pm was heavy. The authorities will hope this formatting can be done before the second day, which by the way is forecast to be impacted by rain again. Play will start 15 minutes early on the remaining four days and end 15 minutes late so that 98 overs can be bowled every day. An extra half an hour can be added to make up for slow over-rates.  

Rain inconveniences too – especially birds – we see  birds perched and hunkered down than flying around. Not sure whether their wings are waterproof – though they can withstand rains briefly.    However, when their feathers get wet the pockets of air can fill up with water and a bird’s temperature can drop rapidly putting it at risk of hypothermia.  

Can birds fly in the rain? They can—but not very well. While it’s not impossible for birds to fly in the rain, they usually choose not to. You may see birds fly short distances in poor weather to find something to eat, but most of them prefer to stay put.  While every bird wears one feather coat, different kinds of feathers – and even different parts of the same feather – can perform various functions. The outermost tips of the main body feathers, called the contour feathers, are built so that the feather surface forms a fine, breathable but water-resistant mesh. This water-repellent property allows the downy bases of the same contour feathers, and other completely downy feathers, to stay dry underneath, allowing them to trap warm air.

 

Here is a Koel (Cuckoo / Kuyil) getting drenched in rains.  The species' binomial name is derived from the Latin cuculus (the cuckoo) and canorus (melodious; from canere, meaning to sing). The cuckoo family gets its common name and genus name by onomatopoeia for the call of the male common cuckoo.  

How far does the cuckoo fly?  -  A bird named Onon completed one of the longest migrations (over 12,000 km) ever recorded by any land bird from southern Africa to Mongolia.  The cuckoo bird  created a stunning record by flying more than 12,000 km (7,500 miles) and crossing 16 countries to migrate from southern Africa to its “native” place in Mongolia. The bird fitted with satellite tag in June 2019 “landed” at the Church Bird Banding Station in Mongolia at 3.22pm local time on May 27, 2020. According to bird conservation organisation Birding Beijing that had been monitoring long distance migration of the bird along with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia, the bird named Onon was one of the five birds fitted with satellite tags as part of the Mongolia Cockoo Project. According to the scientists Onon was the only bird that had completed a round trip from Mongolia to its winter home in Zambia and back flying over mammoth 26,000 km in the journey. 

Before completing here is the song sung by Mano & Minimini set to the melodious music of Isaignani Ilayaraja from the movie ‘Enga Thambi’

 

மலையோரம் மாங்குருவி!  மாவிலையில் பாட்டெழுதி பாடுதடி...

மகராணி உன் வரவை !! ராப் பகலா எம் மனசு தேடுதடி..

மண மேளம் காதில் கேட்குதா?  மனசோடு தேனை வார்க்குதா?

 

With regards – S Sampathkumar
16.10.2024 

it rained in Chennai !!! ~ 'வான் சிறப்பு' தடிந்தெழிலி !? !! ???

 

Arrogant collectibles dealer Charlie Babbitt is in the middle of importing four grey market Lamborghinis to Los Angeles for resale. He needs to deliver the cars to impatient buyers who have already made down payments to repay the loan he took out to buy them, but the EPA is holding the cars at the port because they have failed emission tests. Charlie directs an employee to lie to the buyers while he stalls his creditor.  .. …  Name the movie and do you know why it got such a name ??

 

3 photos in this photo – one what the weather bloggers predicted, what actually happened and the sequence now !!!

மழை உலகிற்க்கு மிக அவசியம்.  செந்நாப்போதார் தம் திருக்குறளில் 'வான் சிறப்பு' என ஒரு அதிகாரமே இதற்கு அளித்துள்ளார்.  தடிந்தெழிலி என்ன ஒரு அற்புதமான சொல்லாடல் !! எழிலி என்றால் மேகம். தடித்து என்பதற்குத் திரளுதல், மின்னல் என இரு பொருட்களையும்  கொள்ளலாம்.   திரண்டெழுந்த மின்னலடிக்கிற மேகம் என்று பொருளாகிறது இந்த சொல்.  “நல்குதல்” எனில் பெருங்கொடை. “தடிந்தெழிலி” யால் தான் கடலில் நீர் கொண்டு சேர்க்கும் பெருங்கொடையாகிய பெருமழையைத் தரமுடியும்.  இங்கே அவர்தம் குறள் ஒன்று :

நெடுங்கடலும் தன்நீர்மை குன்றும் தடிந்தெழிலி

தான்நல்கா தாகி விடின்.

மேகம் கடலிலிருந்து நீரைக் கொண்டு அதனிடத்திலே பெய்யாமல் விடுமானால், பெரிய கடலும் தன் வளம் குன்றிப் போகும்.  பரிமேலழகர் உரை:   மிக பெரிய அளவிட இயலாத அளவு அகன்ற கடலும் தன் இயல்பு குறையும்; எழிலி தான் தடிந்து நல்காது ஆகி விடின் - மேகம் தான் அதனைக் குறைத்து அதன்கண் பெய்யாது விடுமாயின்.  உலகில் உயிரிகளுக்கு, பயிர்களுக்கு, மனிதனுக்கு மட்டுமல்ல - கடலுக்கும் மழை அவசியம். அத்தியாவசியம். 

Earth is truly unique in its abundance of water. Water is necessary to sustaining life on Earth, and helps tie together the Earth's lands, oceans, and atmosphere into an integrated system. Precipitation, evaporation, freezing and melting and condensation are all part of the hydrological cycle - a never-ending global process of water circulation from clouds to land, to the ocean, and back to the clouds.  "Water is at the heart of both the causes and effects of climate change." 

Rain is liquid water in the form of droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then become heavy enough to fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle. A monsoon often brings about thoughts of torrential rains, similar to a hurricane or typhoon. But there is a difference: a monsoon is not a single storm; rather, it is a seasonal wind shift over a region. The shift may cause heavy rains in the summer, but at other times, it may cause a dry spell.  

The way  Print, digital & social media hyped it, commoners started fearing as though it would rain 100 cm a day –  there were apprehensions of rain water inundating everything and areas getting submerged.  It rained but nowhere close to what it had been made out to be – yet there was water logging at places.

The IMD report puts the rainfall from 8.30am Oct15 to 5.30am Oct 16 (in mm) at:   

Nungambakkam (Chennai): 139.0 mm

Meenambakkam (Chennai): 116.4 mm

Cuddalore (Cuddalore): 36.0 mm

Tirupattur (Tirupattur) (upto 1730): 28.0 mm

Puducherry (Puducherry): 26.0 mm

Tiruttani (Tiruvallur) (upto 1730): 22.0 mm   .. .. and lesser !!!

Now the sky is clear with light drizzling and may be some weather blogger by afternoon would report that it is a hot day out there !!!   The news about the depression is – it is moving away !!

The depression over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 12kmph during the past 6 hours and lay centered at 5.30am over the about 360km east-southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu), 390km east of Puducherry and 450km southeast of Nellore (Andhra Pradesh). It is likely to move west-northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu - South Andhra Pradesh coasts between Puducherry and Nellore, close to Chennai during early morning of October 17.

The movie plot described at the start is ‘Rain Man’ a very famous movie directed by Barry Levinson released in 1988. It tells the story of abrasive, selfish, young wheeler-dealer Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed virtually all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), an autistic savant of whose existence Charlie was unaware.  

The movie was a blockbuster and won International accolades also winning the Golden bear at the  39th Berlin International Film Festival. The film grossed $354 million (on a $25 million budget), becoming the highest-grossing film of 1988, and received a leading eight nominations at the 61st Academy Awards, winning four (more than any other film nominated): Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Hoffman), and Best Original Screenplay.

Though named ‘Rain Man’ – the movie was not about rains or weather.  Raymond (played by Dusti Hoffman) autistic has great abilities to instantly perform complex calculations and count hundreds of objects at once, far beyond the normal range of human abilities. Charlie Babbit later realizes that Raymond had lived with the family as a child and was the "Rain Man" (Charlie's infantile pronunciation of "Raymond"), a comforting figure Charlie had remembered as an imaginary friend.

So most people would have only breads, biscuits and other food items bought in huge quantities and stored !!

With regards – S Sampathkumar
16^th Oct 2024.

 

TN seamers set up innings-win against Saurashtra

 

Are you following domestic season; unlikely you recognize this Cricketer !!

 

You may have felt happy knowing that Tamil Nadu beat Saurashtra  -  Tamil Nadu, which typically relies on its spinners to dominate at home, had its pacers to thank this time, as they produced a disciplined performance, taking 15 of the 20 wickets.  All credits to ground staff for making the match happen despite heavy rains in Coimbatore.  It was a lanky debutant who claimed a six wicket haul in the emphatic innings & 70 runs victory. 

For Tamil Nadu, Ranji trophy title has been a pipe-dream save on two occasions : 1954-55 & 1987-88.  They have been runners-up 10 times, the last being 2014-15 season. 

Of the handful of Cricketers from Tamil Nadu who have played for India, there have been very few pace-bowlers (includes medium pacers) starting with CR Rangachari, KJ Gopalan, the fastest from the State Thirumalai Ananthanpillai Sekar, Bharat Arun, Robin Singh, Laxmipathi Balaji, T Natarajan.  So the team’s reliance on spinners that would include Vaman Kumar, Srinivasan Venkatraghavan, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, WV Raman, M Venkatramana, mercurial GOAT Ravichandran Ashwin & Washington Sundar.   There have been players like R Vasudevan who excelled for the State but could not get a chance to play for India. 

Looking back, in Apr 1973 when Venkat led side lost to Wadekar’s Bombay in the finals – the new ball attack was Kalyanasundaram and P Mukund.  In Mar 92, when we lost to Delhi,  it was Diwakar VAsu and Robin Singh.  In Mar 2015 when Karnataka humiliated TN by defeating by an innings & 217 runs, new ball was shared by Lakshmipathy Balaji and Prasanth Parameswaran.                                                           

Going back even further there was this Triplicanite – MJ Gopalan, a double-international.  Morappakam Josyam Gopalan  from the village of Morappakam in Chingleput district, was discovered by C. P. Johnstone, one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket.  He was employed by  Burmah Shell then moved to  Triplicane Cricket Club.  He was a fast medium bowler who moved the ball both ways. In his  first class debut in the Madras Presidency tournament, he took five wickets in each innings.  He dismissed Jack Hobbs   in both innings in match against Vizianagaram; in the second he clean bowled the great man with a leg-cutter that pitched on the leg stump and took the off bail. Against Ceylon in 1933, he took a famous hattrick, the first in Chepauk.  When Ranji Trophy was inaugurated in 1934, Madras and Mysore (now Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) played the first match.  The very first ball of the tournament was delivered by legendary MJ Gopalan.    His only Test match was against England at Calcutta in early 1934. In 1935, he toured New Zealand with the Indian hockey team which enjoyed enormous success.  He missed out Berlin Olympics whence    team captained by Dhyan Chand,   won the gold medal. 

Getting to the present Saurashtra was captained by Sheldon Jackson, who played for KKR, a veteran in Ranji, a reliable batsman, excellent fielder and a wicket-keeper too, he has played for Chemplast in Chennai 1^st division league.  

 

The man at the start is Gurjapneet Singh, aged 25 bowling left arm medium fast, he debuted at Sri Ramakrishna College grounds at Coimbatore against Saurashtra.  Andre Siddarth, Navneet Vora, Paraswaraj Rana & Sonu Yadav too debuted. 

The debutant pacers Gurjapneet and Sonu Yadav bowled out Saurashtra.  Left-arm quick Gurjapneet Singh finished with 6 for 22 in the second innings, while right-arm pacer Sonu Yadav bagged 3 for 29. Tamil Nadu won by an innings and 70 runs, as Saurashtra folded for 94 in the second innings.  Brief scores: Saurashtra 203 & 94 (Gurjapneet Singh 6/21) lost to Tamil Nadu 367 (N Jagadeesan 100, Sai Sudharsan 82, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 49, Jaydev Unadkat 6/61) by innings & 70 runs. Points: Tamil Nadu 7, Saurashtra 0. 

Out of the 20 Saurashtra wickets the seamers took, 15 – including nine in the second innings. These are still early days into the season, but Tamil Nadu are beginning to reap rewards for starting their preparations early. In May, when the whole of India was busy with the IPL, a 19-member Tamil Nadu squad went on a 27-day tour to the UK, where they featured in multi-day and 50-over matches against club sides. Though the IPL regulars were not available, seven of those who were part of the squad for their match against Saurashtra were part of the trip.

 

For a team that is looking to end the Ranji drought with their last title dating back to 1987/88, their job only gets tougher this season. For the next match in Delhi, they will miss the services of their captain R Sai Kishore as also B Sai Sudharsan and Baba Indrajith – their batting mainstays – for India A’s tour of Australia.  Tamil Nadu knows their biggest challenge will commence from Round 2, when they face Delhi at the Kotla. With as many as four away fixtures this time and all in the northern part, without key batsmen in their ranks, it will be a huge test of character. 

Hope TN beat the odds and realize the dream of winning Ranji title again.

 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
15.10.2024