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Dear (s)

For the cricket fans, it has been great time. At KolkattaIndia regained lost glory with a great win by innings and57 runs with 4 centuries and a good team effort. The firstODI was win by a whisker; the second was more of aconfirmation of Sachins status as worlds most adoredcricketer. His form of recent times has been the beststreak ever though he had remained unstoppable at manypoints. After 21 years in the game, perhaps eventuallyonly his body rather than any bowler could get him and ifhe can continue to play his sixth WC, India would reachthe pinnacle of glory. At Gwalior, he batted all 50 oversand breached a barrier that none had done in the 39 yearsof existence of ODI and 2961 of games reaching 200.

Terrorism continues to haunt and the bomb blast at Puneis a great concern. The efforts to have peace dialoguesbecomes meaningless and the need for strong actionkeeps growing. More worrying is the ease with which theMaoists carried out their attack on a security camp inMidnapore district killing jawans of Eastern Frontier Rifles.

That exposed the inadequate preparation, improperinfrastructure and lack of strong will to deal with terrorism

inside. The vulnerability of the force requires firmadministrative measures to take upon the challenge andto arrest the deterioration. In the last few months, suchattacks and killings have been on the increase andexposes the weak infrastructure of the police in WB ascompared to the talented Grey Hound commandoes of AP.

The problem could not be one of resources but more ofmorale and the clear direction from those at governance.

SYMA was very active and the website had thousands ofhits especially on the day of Child Fest celebrations andthereafter. SYMA Gold Winner Child Fest 2010 attractedhuge crowds on 6th and 7th of Feb 2010 and kudos to theadministrators and Organisers for grandly organizing anevent which saw participation closer to 4000. The resultswere on web immediately and many would have read ofour activities at www.syma.in, which is unique this year.Full details of Child fest are inside.

We continue to toil towards reformation of society in ourown way and the students of SYMA Growth are about to

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take on public examinations after full fledged systematictraining. BLISS wishes them all the best and prays for allof them to come out with very good marks and continuetheir studies in progressive areas of their choice.

With regards S Sampathkumar.

SYMA has been in the field of social service for more than3 decades now and for almost 20 years we have beenconducting Child Fest. Besides our focus area of medicalarea (the running of free dispensary), education (our owntuition centre, providing uniforms to children, educationalaid), civic concerns (recent desilting and cleaning of thetemple tank, public amenity maintenance), we havealways felt the need to imbibe in children the qualities ofcompetitive spirit and participation in public events and toinculcate in them the thinking of doing something for thesociety. We have experienced that not all school childrenare forthcoming and sometimes lack the correct theenviron for pushing them ahead. May be the cooperationor support of parents and teachers could be not in theright amount.

Our competitions aimed at bringing out the best inchildren has seen the numbers growing and every yearthe no. of schools that are participating is growing. We dofind the winners in our event promptly mentioned in theSchool notice board and in their house magazines whichshows the value of a prize in our competition. We ensurethat no child returns empty handed and take special care

in taking care of the children. Each participant gets acertificate with their name incorporated, a participationgift and warmth in reception.We plan our events and have a team of volunteers inplace for proper conduct of the show and have discussionafter the conclusion to find out the lacunae. Yoursuggestions are always welcome in this regard.

Yesterday (Saturday 6th Feb 2010) milling crowd ofstudents and anxious parents marching to the venue The

NKT National Girls Higher Secondary School, Dr BesantRoad, Triplicane, Chennai 600 005.

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At 8.30 am the programme was inaugurated withinvocation of God, Presidential address by TASampathkumar. Doctors who have been renderingyeomen service at our Medical Centre and HM of MuslimHigh School who has been helping us in the tuition Centre SYMA Growth inaugurated the function by lighting thetraditional kuthuvilakku. Photos of the function would soonbe available on our website www.syma.in

The first event was the Singing competition (classical).Next was the drawing competition for 6th to 12th furtherdivided into 3 groups. At 11.30am Film songs Singingcompetition followed.

At 1.OO clock, the Quiz Preliminary round for two groups a written one at that 20 Questions to be answered andtop 4 teams qualifying for the finals was conducted. Thiswas conducted by myself, greatly assisted in preparationby my friends Sridhar Joshi, Rajaram and B Sundar. It hasbeen our endeavour to keep the children interested in theday to day happenings and develop their general

knowledge manifold. There were no questions on thetinseldom but garnished with sports (ala cricket). Aseparate posting on the Quiz can be seen in the blog,where I have posted 10 interesting Qs as well.

The much fancied competition where mother fight to outvie each other followed. This year saw more than 500children being lined up for this. The volunteers of

Soundarya Rathnamala have been of great help inorganizing these, as they had done in the past manyyears.

To have semblance of order and to be of convenient to thechildren, we have divided the prize distribution into two.

The winners of the Fancy dress competition werepresented the awards on 6th itself. The main function is to

take place today.

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The Prize Distribution function started at 6.30 pm. Itstarted with a prayer song rendered by Mrs PremaKrishnamohan of Soundarya Rathnamala. The programmewas compered by S Sampathkumar, Editor BLISS (Yours

Truly), TA Sampathkumar made the presidential address.

The Guests of Honour were 1) Mr Gopinath of Vijay TVNeeya Naana fame and 2) Mr V Jayaprakash, Sr VP ofStar Health & Allied Insurance Co Ltd.Gopinath enthused the children with his speech. Headvised that Indian parents have to learn appreciatingmore. He said that the gene factor ensured that Indianchildren were far intelligent than their counter parts inother countries but here the parents have the habit ofthrusting their dreams and aspirations into the child andsometimes impede their natural growth. The child must begiven the space to develop in the area of his choice.Whilst parents do appreciate for the achievements of theirward, they do not appreciate naturally and do not supportthe children in small things unconditional appreciationwould take the child to greater heights. Whenever thechild achieves something, the society would appreciatebut in preparation of that, it should be the parents. Indians

tend to become obese which is not good for their health.

His speech perhaps would have made the parents rethinkon what they had been doing to their children. Mr

Jayaprakash, the Insurance Expert spoke briefly butimpressively.

Mementos were presented to them by Sanjeevi who is thecoordinator of this programme and our Secretary MASadagopan. Secretary SR Ragunathan gave the vote ofthanks.

The prize distribution followed. The function ended withNational anthem.

This day we had scheduled only 3 events. The Drawingcompetition for Lkg to 5th Std; Instrumental Fusion andDancing competition. The Prize Distribution was slated inthe evening.

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Drawing competition being the individual entry, alwaysdraws largest number of participants and in some waystough for the Organisers. This year we did have plans inplace. There were three groups : A of Lkg & Ukg; B of 1st &2nd standards and C of 3rd, 4th & 5th standards. Eachpresented problems in their own unique ways. The Firstgroup was that of crawling babies and the parentsintervention would be extraordinary, the second wouldallow their wards but would be too anxious. The third onewould be high volume, a bit unruly coupled with somefostering parents.

Though the event was to commence at 10.00 am, millingcrowds gathered in at the front of the school slowly fillingeverywhere. The registration form required for collectionof student details was distributed at very many places byour volunteers. People were getting unruly and at timesimpatient. We had 3 different blocks for the differentgroups. The first block abutting the ground was the venuefor 3,4 & 5. We ensured that the entry (to be moreprecise the to be exit point be only one, so that childrenwould not escape from all sides).

The kids of Lkg & Ukg were grossly managed bySoundarya Rathnamala, the 1st and 2nd in the block afterthe gallery. We tried to usher in systems by regular

announcements over the loud speaker still someconfusion prevailed.Each room was to have one room coordinator who wouldcollect the Registration slips, hand over the chart to thechild, ensure that details are filled in write theparticipation certificate and handover to the child the giftand participation certificate. Fine on paper.After the start of the event also, children were pouring andeven after an hour, some parents were arguing that they

had travelled long distance and hence the late.Would it not be fair to be at the arena in time schoolchildren ; can they afford to go to school so late.Fostering parents who would reel out reasons kept cominglate though some did sound genuine. We were notprepared to disappoint the children and kept extendingthe time line though this tested our infrastructure and thetemperament of the volunteers at service. Sanityprevailed. Then we were faced with acute shortage of

certificates. Some of us would have walked the lengthand breadth of corridors very many days seeking whetherthere could be some excess some where. In the end,

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simply there were not enough certificates and somechildren had to come down without certificates. Theparents and children were anguished.SYMA can never tolerate this and we had some specialXerox made. This 150 vanished into thin air. I did not losecool and kept assuring every body that all that wasexpected from them was to wait for some time and wewould ensure certificate for every participating children.Satyam Lay out responded in style speedily and soon wehad more than required numbers; some volunteers werereadily at the desk, jotting out cleanly the certificates forthe waiting children. SYMA apologises for the small glitchwhich made some children (& their parents) wait. Therewere some uncharitable remarks from some parentsthough most cooperated well.

Then we had the Instrumental Fusion, organized for thefirst time. This was very interesting. The concludingprogramme was the Group Dance for children upto 5th

standard which had tough competition in 14 teams outdancing each other. This has been a popular event.Special mention for the children from Corporation MiddleSchool, Triplicane who come from a very low strata ofsociety and big hand to the teachers of the schools whoexhibited total commitment.

The Prize Distribution started at 6.20 pm. The eventstarted with prayer. S Sampathkumar {Yours Truly}(Editor BLISS) compered the programme. I started witha tamil poem which meant that sweet words are alwaysthe need of the hour as none would feel happy with harshwords; the sea would ebb on seeing the cool moon andnot in the presence of the hot sweltering Sun. This was acomparison to our happiness in seeing a large turnout for

the prize distribution function.Our President TA Sampathkumar rendered the WelcomeAddress and dwelt at length about SYMA and mainly aboutour Hospital and Education programme the Growth. Hespoke of our cherished ambitions in graduating into a selfsustained education training institution and more plans.

The Chief Guests of the day were Mr M Murali of SriKrishna Sweets and Vivek the famous cine comedian.Our Secretary SR Ragunathan introduced Vivek of his

education at American college, Madurai; his winning theFilm Fare award 4 times, Asia Net award and the PadmaShri in 2009.

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Mr Murali is no stranger to SYMA and has made financialcontributions in the past. He was introduced to theaudience by me. Sri Krishna Sweets is almost as old asindependent India, having been started in 1948. Muralihas won Visveswaraya Award; hailed as the Best BusinessPerson in 2006 by Indo American Business community atNew York, Newjersey, City of Pearl & Minnesotto Statehonoured him for his commitment to quality andexcellence. A very benevolent person, he is associatedwith almost all good activity in the State, exhibits specialcare in carnatic music and is a member of very manyorganizations like Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Chinmayas,Hamsadwani, Exonera, Chamber of Commerce, Ramabaktha sabha, Red cross and much more.Mementoes were presented to Vivek by Durai @ Seshardriour VP and to Murali by our Treasurer Sudarshan.SYMA is 33 years young and is ageing gracefully. Theaverage age has been going up. This time it has changedprimarily due to Sanjeevi Ragunathan and his energeticteam of volunteers a teeming group of girls and workingboys. This time their vigour and hard work was greatlyvisible. Kudos to their commitment and planning. Thisyoung brigade was called on to the stage and honouredwith special gifts.

Soundarya Rathnamala is a zealous group headed by MrsPrema Krishnamohan and this group excels in whateverthey do. Besides performance in more than 500 stages,they actively do social service in the form of helping theblind students and more. Mrs Prema herself has donatedblood for over 30 times. This group was also honoured onstage.SYMA has a face, a web of its own : www.syma.in. ChildFest has a voice also our land line 28441078 is known to

all as schools and parents contact this no. for all detailsincluding the results. Mrs Vasudha Bakthisaran whohandles this was also honoured.

This time we placed the results on web dynamically andtoday alone the count of visitors is more than 2200 ;yesterday another 700 had clocked in.I quoted another tamil poem which meant that for greatwork one had to cut down sleep, for fame render goodmusic and for posterity in another world, should do lot of

donations and good things. This is apt for Mr Murali whohas the adage society cannot change by itself unlessevery individual contributes to the change. He has been

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doing lot towards social causes and he was invited tospeak. He spoke very briefly.Another tamil poem which meant that for checking therice in boiling pot, one rice check would do and peoplecould be determined by one word that falls out of theirmouth. Vivek has expressed enough in cultivating thesociety. Vivek had a thundering applause and delivered avery entertaining speech. He said Murali made peoplewalk in one way by starting the day with morning walk,making others think that if such a busy man finds time forwalking, why not all ? in another way, the sweets causedrise in sugar and people were advised to walk to controlthis. advertisement is required for bringing product intolimelight and publicity so for man. The greatSubrahmanya Barathi lacked publicity with which he couldhave commanded respect of the entire world and shouldhave easily won a Nobel Prize. He praised the vision ofBharathi. He queried as to who the Superstar in T Nadu(obvious reference to Rajni) in Andhra (Chiranjeevi) andsaid the Supreme star of India was His Honble A P J AbdulKalam. Just as there are days for Mother, Father, lover,Children etc., he suggested that we should celebratingAPJs birthday as students day. He entertained theaudience with some short anecdotes - a story of mother

urging the boy to do some good; the boy wiping out theblood of an aged person and attending to him medicallyand then removing a bolster from the middle of the road the mother appreciated the gestures without knowing thatthis boy had thrown that big stone which in fact hadinjured the old man. He went on to repeat another storyof honest agriculturist who gets back his lost axe alongwith silver & gold ones by an angel. He added the manlosing his wife and telling yes to the first present of a cine

actress and later telling that if he were to be honest andangel giving him all he would suffer. He quoted BillGates as saying :if you are born poor, it is not yourmistake but if you die as one, it is yours. He quoted APJ assaying that waves are always inspirational not becausethey fall but because they rise after every fall. Herendered a medley querying as to how AR Rahman wouldrender the famous vadai story and had it to the tune of jaiho. The crowd did enjoy.

Going by the Thirukkural that one has to thank in a bigway for even small compassions received, we thanked all

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We are arranging a farewell meeting for our students of

GROWTH(SYMA TUITION CENTRE)ON 13th Feb 5pm at NKTBOYS HIGH SCHOOL. Mr.K Ramachandran, Educationistand senior manager communication, Cognizant willinteract with students.pl attend.presidentWith regards

Communication skill Test for emp at brit council. Story ofcarpenter at US house on leaving. House given to him.

Whatevr we do do with involvmt. Not for others. Selfrealisation.We do for others wheb it comes to doing for self. Reality issomthng else. Leaders do hardwork. Sachin is 10th butexceptional in his sphere. Whr we work look at yr admnrs& leaders. Draw inspiration frm around. Old timers gotonly book then radio newspapern tv now evrthg evrwhr.How much u use is in yr hands. When to read is prsnt dayweAkness. Continuous evaluation. Life complicated. Too

mch of cinema distrbnce. Tk the right thing frm what uget. Small q leave sum space useful whn u do revision.Underlining. Scanned. & on net. A small margin cd mk diff.Aim high at centum

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In all instnts ther is rspct for all good qlfn. Natnl instt ofdesign. Tend yr innate talent. ISRO inst at tvm - physlscience. It is difficult to fail now a days due to opportunsavbl. Official historian of Ford.He is the anchor. Ford success story. MIT students studyhistory, growth of orgnns , how evolved. National sciencefoundation of US - indians outsmart chinese. Insprn isinside. U r bldg yr own house - don't regret later. U can'tfail. Rday hindu editorial. St annes univ i- brit leave aftermany wrongs. Pass mark of 1/3. Is a low benchmark. Raiseit frm demeaning levl. Science is indisputae fact. Suboptimal limitation. Growing world specialisation is theneed. See dr now super specialities. At a lower lvl go forsubstantive fields. Don't narrow dn yr chances by splselectionBasic fndn mus be very strong. On exam day don't readnew things. A small % wd be frm outside book. Prepare forwhat u know. Keep playing & exercising

Q :

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This section introduces you to the National IdentityElements of India. These symbols are intrinsic to theIndian identity and heritage. Indians of all demographicsbackgrounds across the world are proud of these NationalSymbols as they infuse a sense of pride and patriotism inevery Indian's heart.

National Flag National Bird National Flower National Tree National Anthem National River National Aquatic Animal State Emblem National Calendar National Animal National Song National Fruit National Game

River Dolphin is the National Aquatic Animal of India. Thismammal is also said to represent the purity of the holyGanga as it can only survive in pure and fresh water.Platanista gangetica has a long pointed snout and also

have visible teeth in both the upper and lower jaws. Theireyes lack a lens and therefore function solely as a meansof detecting the direction of light. Dolphins tend to swimwith one fin trailing along the substrate while rootingaround with their beak to catch shrimp and fish. Dolphinshave a fairly thick body with light grey-brown skin oftenwith a hue of pink. The fins are large and the dorsal fin istriangular and undeveloped. This mammal has a foreheadthat rises steeply and has very small eyes. River Dolphins

are solitary creatures and females tend to be larger thanmales. They are locally known as susu, because of thenoise it makes while breathing. This species inhabits partsof the Ganges, Meghna and Brahmaputra rivers in India,Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, and the Karnaphuli Riverin Bangladesh.River dolphin is a critically endangered species in Indiaand therefore, has been included in the Schedule I for theWildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The main reasons for

decline in population of the species are poaching andhabitat degradation due to declining flow, heavy siltation,

http://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_flag.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_bird.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_flower.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_tree.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_anthem.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_river.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_aquatic_animal.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_aquatic_animal.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/state_emblem.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_calendar.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_animal.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_animal.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_song.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_fruit.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_game.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_flag.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_bird.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_flower.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_tree.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_anthem.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_river.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_aquatic_animal.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/state_emblem.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_calendar.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_animal.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_song.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_fruit.phphttp://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_game.php

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construction of barrages causing physical barrier for thismigratory species.

Move aside gharial, the Gangetic dolphin, a fresh watermammal facing extinction, has made its big leap.

The Centre on Monday declared the river dolphin as the'national aquatic animal' on a proposal moved by BiharChief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Bihar, where the animal is known as Sos, accounts forthe largest number of Gangetic dolphins, whose numbercould now be only a few hundred. Besides the Ganga, theriver dolphin is also found in the Brahmaputra, the Indus

and their tributaries.The smooth-skinned, grey-black dolphins come with longsnouts.

"Like the tiger as national animal and the peacock asnational bird, we have declared the dolphin as the nationalaquatic animal. It represents the health of the rivers,particularly the Ganga," environment and forest minister

Jairam Ramesh said after the first meeting of the National

Ganga River Basin Authority chaired by PM ManmohanSingh.

After the declaration, the government is expected tounveil a 'Project Dolphin' aimed at saving the rarefreshwater species from extinction. The animal figures inSchedule-I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The species is very different in shape, size andcharacteristics from the sea dolphins.

The endangered Ganges river dolphin has been declaredIndia's national aquatic animal. This was communicated bya spokesperson of the Ministry of Environment andForests.According to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Indiastatistics, there are only about 2000 Ganges dolphins leftin this aquatic system. And, this step would surely ensure

more protection to this species.

Stating the main reasons behind the drop in dolphinnumbers, the spokesperson said, "Poaching and habitat

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degradation due to declining flow, heavy siltation andconstruction of barrages causing physical barrier for thismigratory species are the main reasons for its decline innumbers".Earlier, the government had taken the decision to declarethe Ganges river dolphin as India's national aquatic animalon Oct 5 last year during the first meeting of the newly-constituted National Ganga River Basin Authority.According to the WWF, the dolphins are sparsely found inrivers of seven states such as Assam, Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and WestBengal. Their ideal habitats include the Ganga, Chambal,Ghaghra, Gandak, Sone, Kosi, the Brahmaputra and Kulsirivers.

The spokesperson also said that the Ganges river dolphinshave been included in the Schedule-I of the Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972, which would enable themthe highest degree of protection.

A WWF, India spokesperson said, despite this, theabsence of a coordinated conservation plan, lack of

awareness and continuing human pressure are posing anincessant threat to the existing dolphin population".He also said, Financial and technical assistance is (being)provided to the state governments under centrallysponsored schemes for conservation and protection ofwildlife including dolphins and their habitat.""Financial assistance is (being) provided for conducting

scientific research on the habitat, behaviour, populationstatus of river dolphins," he added.

The Ganges river dolphin has a powerful, yet flexible, bodywith large flippers and a low triangular dorsal fin. It weighsup to 150 kg. The females grow up to 2.67 metre andmales up to 2.12 metre in length. The calves are chocolatebrown at birth and become greyish brown in adulthoodwith a smooth and hairless skin.

Males mature earlier than the females and the femalesattain sexual maturity at an age of 10-12 years. The

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gestation period of the dolphin is 9-11 months and afemale gives birth to only one calf, once in 2-3 years.

A trip to kodikarai

When raghu asked me we are going to kodikarai thisafternoon. are you game?i wanted to say yes yes butmanaged to say will call you back. The reason, I hadplan with my family members for that days; It was easy toget permission from meera!! difficult was to explain tomy daughter shriya why she cannot join this trip !!! Ongetting the green signal, called raghu to confirm.

We left at 4.00 in the afternoon by car driven by raghujoined by sudarshan and Krishna. It was a long enjoyabledrive ending at nagapattinam at 12.00 midnight, knockingat the door of a government guest house to let us in. Thecombined snoring level in the room would have subdued aFerrari f1 car at its full rev !! Left at 4.30 the next morningand reached kodikarai, some 65-70 kms fromnagapattinam. On the way saw some teams with torchlight and binocular surveying the areas for bird population.

Then it dawned on me that there is purpose in raghuselecting this place and date; the census of migratorybirds by the forest department was ongoing. We reachedpoint calimere bird sanctuary at vedaranyam coast ataround 6.30 am and, thanks to the guidance of the locals,reached the area where the birds congregate. Raghustarted shooting the birds, not with a gun, but with hiscamera. That day I realized how heavy the camera is withthe lens attached. Few minutes later the Wild Life Wardenand a friend of raghu, who has a doctorate in studying

migratory birds, reached that place in a Jeep and took usa km or so inwards to the sandy shore. We had to walk ina small swamp, muddy shore negotiating thorns andpebbles to where we could have a closer look at the birds.For me it was something like thousands of large birds,birds with huge wings, brown crows, yellow beaked bird,orange legged ones, whistling ones, birds flying information etc. but our learned friends identified them asGreater Flamingos, Grey Pelicans, Painted Storks, Marsh

Sand Pipers, Pintail Ducks, Brown headed gulls etc. etcand their nationalities, Mongolia, Russia, Australia,Siberia, Pakistan. The birds from Pakistan and india were

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not fighting and were coexisting in the marshy area. Wewere told that the birds flew to srilanka for breakfast, backfor lunch!! Raghu was clicking faster than if he had a AK-47 and when the bullets, la memory sticks, wereexhausted we left the place, not before eating somebiscuits and fruits given kindly by the forest officials whilerefusing their kind offer to make us walk 55 kms of theshoreline to watch more birds!! We finished off the tastypuliyodarai prepared by raghus mother and left kodikarai.On the way took a break at nagapattinam, an example forreligious harmony with Sri Nagai temple, Nagore Durgahand Velankanni nearby. Enroute to Chennai enjoyed therustic scenes, the newly built Karaikal port, pubs,palappazham and cashew nuts on the panruti roadsideand the marketplaces. Raghu exploited the excellentroads of NH-45 and drove with the single aim ofovertaking all the vehicles, taking advantage of the shortcuts his GPS suggested and dropped me home around8.00 pm. That night I was dreaming I was bird and flyingto all the exotic locations in the world.

Chennai city is growing at alarming pace and traffic isbecoming maddening. The Corporation of Chennai is theoldest municipal institution in India formed in 1688 by thethen Governor Elihu Yale, by a Royal Charter issued in1687 by King James II including territories not exceedingdistance of ten miles from the Fort. After theParliamentary Act 1792, the Madras Municipal CorporationAct 1919 gave the statutory authority for theadministration. The city has been growing in size and

population. The number of territorial Divisions have grownfrom 30 in 1919 to 155. Now the population of the city hasgone up almost ten fold from 5 lakhs in 1921. Likewisethe area has increased from 27.6 sq.miles in 1921 to 174sq.kms. The population is only expected to grow furtherand better management and planning of civic amenities isthe need of the hour.

Generally, fragmenting into smaller units is suggested for

better administration. However, there is now arecommendation to expand the municipal limits of thecity. A committee set up to examine has recommendedto choose either a greater Chennai Corporation spread

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over an area of 800 sq.km similar to the large citycorporations of Hyderabad (650 sq.km) and Bangalore(700 sq.km) or expand the city to a limited size of 420sq.km and create two new Corporations with Avadi and

Tambaram as headquarters.

The move to expand Chennai and create a larger urbanagglomeration on the lines of Greater Bangalore andGreater Hyderabad is intended to develop outlying areasof the city.As many as nine municipalities, includingAmbattur, Alandur, Maduravoyal, Manali and Tiruvottiyur,eight town panchayats, including Puzhal, Porur,Meenambakkam, Perungudi and Sholinganallur, and 25village panchayats in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuramdistricts will thus be brought under the present Chennai

Corporation limits, raising the citys population to 56 lakh(as per the 2001 census) from the present 43 lakh.

The boundary of the expanded corporation will be drawnin 2011 after the term of the elected councillors ends. Thecity limits will expand up to Uthandi on East Coast Road,Sholinganallur on the IT corridor, Kathivakkam andMadhavaram in the north, and up to Meenambakkam inthe south.

A well developed city such as Chennai needs less capitalexpenditure while the new ones will need largeinvestments that will serve relatively lower density ofpopulation. This proposal, for many, is an opportunity toget better services. The Chennai MetropolitanDevelopment Authority held public hearings in Tambaram,Ambattur and Tiruvottiyur for feedback on the proposals.

Finally, the state Cabinet, which met last week, took themiddle road to chart out a relatively modest expansion ofthe city.

Do you remember Salil Ankola or test no. 1127 played atNational Stadium, Karachi on 15th Nov 1989. That was theseries captained by Krishnamachari Srikkanth whensomething dawned for India. At Sialkot on a green and

seemingly live pitch, Indians struggled against Wasim andWaqar. Vivek Razdan playing his second test matchbowled a lively spell and Indians were 74 ahead. A youngone, not even a major (he was 16 y & 205 days). was

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tested with barrage of bouncers but batted like achampion of three and a quarter hours. He was hit on thenose by Waqar was bleeding, got up, wiped away thegushing blood; though medical assistance denied keptplaying eventually getting out for 57.

At Peshawar, the ODI slated on 16/12/09 was abandonedwithout a ball being bowled and to satiate the hugecrowds a friendly match was arranged. Indians had notdone great especially in Paki land and this 16 year oldplayed, perhaps it was not an official match. Course of 18deliveries changed everything for 53 (unbeaten) runs weremade, Mushtaq Ahmed went for two huge sixers and thenthe great Leggie Abdul Qadir was taken 27 runs in oneover with 3 sixes in a row. Now who this little geniusis !!!

Recently I read about Mongoose bat the innovation inT20 which claims to pack unprecedented power that willgive the edge and thought struck me that more recordswould be rewritten.

Reems have been written on this 37 year young man who at times had received unfair criticism about his

ageing, not scoring centuries in winning matches etc.,For the cricket crazy nation, Sachin means so much to somany millions; he is icon, part of national pride, nationalconsciousness; when he plays the Nation almost comes toa grinding halt. The journey that began at Sialkot wayback in 1988 is streaming still. In the vast land, throughevery nook and corner he could stir emotions and bringsmiles on the faces of millions.He virtually owns all possible batting records ; in ODIs has

scored 17598 runs with 46 centuries. A few months backat Hyderabad, Aussies amassed massive 350 and Sachinalmost single handedly handled the chase scoring 175.Indians were close to victory requiring 19 off 17 the restchoked and critics blamed him for not completing task.

There was some unfair criticism that many of his hundredshad not helped the Team to win. How untrue !! the factis that 33 of them (out of 46) have come in winningmatches.

He has amassed 13447 runs in tests with 47 centuries andmore than 17500 runs in One dayers. At Gwalior, today, a

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barrier that has never breached in 2961 One dayInternationals finally fell fittingly to this genius. (a smallstatistical revelation at the end of this story). Yes the 200mark was breached, Sachin scored an astonishing 200 in147 balls with 100 of them in boundary hits alone perhaps another record of maximum four in a single ODIinnings. He did not get to face many in the last 5 (9 out of30) yet finished unbeaten with 200. This innings cameagainst a classy attack who were ruthlessly decimated clueless as to bowl where, varied their length, pace anddid everything but kept conceding runs. Tendulyadominated each bowler. This assault left the Pretorians indisarray and the chase was never on, even for a teamwhich successfully chased a world record 434 atWanderers in 2006.

Arguably this would rank as the best innings in 39 years ofODI cricket eclipsing the individual highest of Saeed Anwarand Charles Coventry as Sachin unfurled all shots in hisrepertoire taking the total past 400 mark. With a shortpast backward point off Charles Langeveldt, he raised hisbat, took off his helmet and looked up heavenly a landmark had been reached. There were two 100 +partnerships but they will be put to oblivion by the

individual brilliance of Sachin. Back home, millionswatching the match were getting restless even as Dhonitore into Steyn hitting 17 off 49th and retaining the strikein the 50th and hammering the first ball for six. There wasstill time for the little master to complete the magic.

Some tributes on his 200I think if you ask Saeed Anwar, he would say he's happythat Tendulkar broke his record. The reason for his

success is that he has a great respect for the game." -Aamer Sohail, Saeed Anwar's good friend and openingpartner, pays a fitting tribute to the new record-holder"He should aim for more. Maybe a Test innings of 450 oran ODI knock of 250. And then he himself wants to winnext year's World Cup. There is a little boy in Tendulkarwho wants to keep playing. That spirit keeps him going.It's absolutely incredible how he keeps going." - Keepingwith the Mumbai ways, Sunil Gavaskar

"Come on Sachin my friend get your 200. World record toplease! You deserve it Nervous for my good friendSachin everything crossed for you mate Glad I'm notbowling to him today ha ha ha." - Tendulkar's old

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pal Shane Warne tweets his excitement as he nears thedouble-century"It shows his mental and physical toughness. He's a playerwho does not throw away his wicket once he's set. Healways places a huge price on his wicket." - DilipVengsarkar salutes the attributes that such a knock needs"Sachin - the greatest ever player ever - without anydoubt I salute Sachin... World's greatest sportsman. Wecan see him only rise. (He is an) inspiration to us all. He isthe best." - IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi waxes beyondeloquent, on his twitter page"What an innings it was. He had come close to achieving ittwice. I always felt that Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriyaare capable of doing that." - Kumar Sangakkara has notforgotten Tendulkar's recent dazzling form"He is my favourite player. I had said that one day hewould go on to break all batting records and now you seehim scoring runs and runs." - Javed Miandad kinda saw itcoming"Whatever record is seen to be impossible to achieve, hemakes it possible. That's all I can say. It seems as he'sgetting older, he is becoming more and more mature. Nowonder Sir Donald Bradman saw himself in the way Sachinbats." - King of parsimony Bapu Nadkarni is not

parsimonious with his praise.

Just as accolades continue to pour in, a woman hadachieved this feat long back that too on Indian grounds.

Yes, Belinda Jane Clark of NSW, Aussie is the first personto score a double century in a ODI. On 16th Dec 1997 atMumbai Bandra ground, in Hero Honda Womens WorldCup match, she tore the Denmark attack and amassed229 off 181 balls with 22 hits to the fence.

With regards S Sampathkumar.

Kolkatta is a very special place for Indian cricket against Aussies in 2001,we came back to win due to a marathon special by VVS and great displayof spin bowling including a hat trick by Bhaji. Yesterday it was anothergood performance which enabled India retain its place in ICC rankingladder. The fight was nerve wracking and obtained late in the day at atime when cows were returning home.

We could not get Amla out and the tail frustrated India a lot whenshadows lengthened and end was drawing closer, Morne Morkel fell toHarbajhan with just 9 balls to go for the stumps and victory achieved. Wehave had 28 victories by a margin of an innings + runs there are 16

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above this; still this would rank very high coming it did against a qualityopposition after having lost the First test badly.

Occasions where India won by an Innings + more than 100 runs

Margin Opposition Ground Match Date Scorecard

inns & 239 runs v Bangladesh Dhaka 25-May-07Test # 1833inns & 219 runs v Australia Kolkata 18-Mar-98Test # 1409

inns & 144 runs v Sri Lanka Kanpur 24-Nov-09Test # 1935

inns & 140 runs v Bangladesh Dhaka 10-Dec-04Test # 1725inns & 131 runs v Pakistan Rawalpindi 13-Apr-04Test # 1697

inns & 119 runs v Sri Lanka Lucknow 18-J an-94Test # 1244

inns & 112 runs v West Indies Mumbai 9-Oct-02Test # 1616

inns & 109 runs v New Zealand Chennai 6-J an-56Test # 420

inns & 106 runs v Sri Lanka Nagpur 27-Dec-86Test # 1063

inns & 101 runs v Zimbabwe Nagpur 21-Feb-02Test # 1589

inns & 100 runs v Australia Mumbai 3-Nov-79Test # 860

Every tour opposition would have a winner and this the 27 year old fromDurban Hashim Amla stood out stranded on a fighting 123 following hisfirst innings one and unbeaten 253 at Nagpur. In olden days, by fifth day,wicket would be a vicious turner but this time victory was hard earned andIndia sorely missed Zaheer. There were grave apprehensions due to theloss of more than 3 and a half on Wednesday. Wayne Parnell delayed itfor long and at 264 for 9, all followers were looking to a wicket every ball they had to wait for long for more than 20 overs. The final set displayedremarkable discipline and frustrated the bowlers before the moment of

pride came.The score card in brief for posterity would read : India 643 for 6 dec(Sehwag 165, Laxman 143*, Dhoni 132*, Tendulkar 106) beat South Africa296 (Amla 114, Petersen 100, Zaheer 4-90, Harbhajan 3-64) and 290(Amla 127*, Harbhajan 5-59, Mishra 3-78) by an innings and 57 runs.

The match was a remarkable display of grit as India had 98 overs to get 7but more than 5o where played off by Amla. Mishra did bowl well andproduced a special one to get AB De Villiers just before lunch. In theabsence of Zaheer, Ishant sprayed a lot but preserved to get somethingimportant. Last time against Aussies, Sachin had weaved magic but could

not make much impact this time.

This test win is very laudable and Indians could remember this for long.Here are some interesting statistics.

Victory margin over 200 runs

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Margin Opposition Ground Match Date Test No

320 runs v Australia Mohali 17-Oct-08 Test # 1889

280 runs v South Africa Kanpur 8-Dec-96 Test # 1344279 runs v England Leeds 19-Jun-86 Test # 1047272 runs v New Zealand Auckland 7-Mar-68 Test # 634

259 runs v Sri Lanka Ahmedabad 18-Dec-05 Test # 1778255 runs v West Indies Chennai 11-Jan-88 Test # 1089

235 runs v Sri Lanka Colombo (SSC) 27-Jul-93 Test # 1228222 runs v Australia Melbourne 30-Dec-77 Test # 812216 runs v New Zealand Chennai 26-Nov-76 Test # 787

212 runs v Pakistan Delhi 4-Feb-99 Test # 1443victory margin of 10 & 9 wickets

Margin Opposition Ground Match Date Test No

10 wickets v Pakistan Mumbai (BS) 13-Nov-52 Test # 357

10 wickets v Pakistan Chennai 15-Jan-80 Test # 86910 wickets v New Zealand Hyderabad (Deccan) 2-Dec-88 Test # 111110 wickets v England Mohali 3-Dec-01 Test # 157410 wickets v Zimbabwe Harare 20-Se -05 Test # 176710 wickets v New Zealand Hamilton 18-Mar-09 Test # 1915

10 wickets v Bangladesh Dhaka 24-Jan-10 Test # 19509 wickets v Bangladesh Dhaka 10-Nov-00 Test # 15129 wickets v England Mohali 9-Mar-06 Test # 1788

Avid cricket fan - S Sampathkumar