Tag: Hockey

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2023-33

About: the world this week, 13 August to 19 August 2023; a charged Trump; the Taliban; rain fury in India; caste problems; Inflation; Moon mission; brainwave music; Women’s Football, and Men’s Hockey.

Everywhere

United States

Former United States (US) President Donald Trump ‘refuses to quit’- the headlines, for the wrong reasons. He and 18 others were indicted in the State of Georgia for trying to overturn the Presidential Election Results in 2020, which culminated in his supporters storming the US Capitol Hill in January 2020. This week, the jury laid out a 41-count indictment against Trump and others.

Trump was charged with 13 counts, including violating Georgia’s RICO Act, (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations) soliciting a public officer, and conspiring to file false documents. Some of the others indicted include former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former White House lawyer John Eastman.

The RICO Act enables prosecutors to target people in positions of authority within a criminal organisation, not just lower-level people doing the dirty work. But its use was never meant to be limited exclusively to organised ‘Gangster’ crime.

On expected lines, Team Trump called the prosecutors in the case ‘rabid partisan’ and called the indictment ‘bogus.’ It’s the fourth time he’s been criminally charged in four months. Trump has maintained that the other indictments are politically motivated.

Educating The Taliban

It’s close to 700 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls and women from schools and they continue to be denied the right to an education in Afghanistan. Now, in another onslaught on women, a Taliban Official said this week, “Women ‘lose value’ if men glimpse their faces in public”. Hence the necessity for them to cover-up!

India’s Rain Fury

Intense rain and cloudbursts wreaked havoc in India’s northern State of Himachal Pradesh for the second time since July, resulting in multiple landslides that claimed more than 50 lives across the hill state.

The devastation in the Hill Station of Shimla was Biblical with buildings collapsing like the proverbial ‘house of cards’ washed away by the avalanche-like gush of water down the hill sides.

The situation was grim in the neighbouring State of Uttarakhand too, as a continuous spell of torrential rain caused three deaths and left five people missing. The fatalities have pushed the state’s rain-related death toll this monsoon to over 63, with many unaccounted for.

The extreme rain spells came during a break in the monsoon over India, when the monsoon trough runs close to the Western Himalayas, making the hill states vulnerable to heavy showers.

India’s Inflation

India’s retail inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which was relaxing around 4.81% in June for quite a while, surged to a 15-month high of 7.44% in July. Vegetable prices, notably tomatoes, and other food items are major contributors to the spike. This marks the highest figure since April 2022, when inflation was at 7.79%.

The two indices that are used to measure inflation in India are the CPI and the WPI (Wholesale Price Index). These two measure inflation on a monthly basis taking into account different approaches to calculate the change in prices of goods and services. The study helps the Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to understand the price change in the market and thus keep an eye on inflation.

The CPI analyses the retail inflation of goods and services in the economy across 260 commodities. The CPI-based retail inflation considers the change in prices at which the consumers buy goods. The data is collected separately by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation and the Ministry of Labour.

The WPI analyses the inflation of only goods across 697 commodities. The WPI-based wholesale inflation considers the change in prices at which consumers buy goods at a wholesale price or in bulk from the Manufacturer/Producer’s Factory, Mandis, etc.

India’s CPI rose, the WPI continues to remain in the negative territory for four straight months and was (-)1.36% in July 2023.

Tamil Nadu’s Caste Problems

In a shocking, brutal incident, a 17 years old student, Chinnadurai and his 14 years old sister Chandraselvi, studying in a Government-aided School, were attacked with sickles by six of his classmates at his house in Nanguneri, in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli District, late last week.

Chinnadurai is a Class 12 student of the School in Valliyur on the National Highway, near Nanguneri and belongs to a lower caste. His attackers-classmates from his own school- belonged to dominant upper castes. When the attackers barged into their house, Chandraselvi who had come to Chinnadurai’s rescue was also hacked. The neighbours gathered on hearing the commotion, the students fled the scene.

The brother suffered about fifteen cuts on his body while the sister had about five cuts, primarily on her hands. Both were treated at the Nanguneri Government Hospital and later at the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. And are out of danger.

A 60 years old relative of the victims, who was among those holding a protest demanding police action against the suspects, fainted and died.

Chinnadurai was subjected to casteist harassment and bullied at school by students of Class 11 and Class 12 who forced him to run errands for them such as buying cigarettes and snacks. Unable to bear the harassment the boy complained to his parents-who are daily wage labourers-and stopped going to School.

Chinnadurai’s mother had taken him to school to complain, whereupon the students involved were called by the Headmaster and let off with a stiff warning. This seems of have angered the boys who confronted Chinnadurai on his way home and threatened him with severe consequences if he complained. And on the same night, the students gathered and entered Chinnadurai’s house and attacked him.

Tirunelveli has been infamous for caste clashes in schools in the past too and the Government had taken measures such as banning the use of coloured wristbands and other symbols that identify caste in schools. Like wristbands, students would sport tilaks and bindis in different colours – for instance, red and green for Dalits, yellow and red for Thevars. Such wristbands and also colourful T-shirts and trousers are banned in Schools in the region.

Moon Mission

India’s Chandrayaan-3 is flying like a butterfly and is getting closer to the Moon and this week it successfully completed all Moon-bound manoeuvres. The next step of the separation of the Lunar Landing Module-Vikram-from the Propulsion Module happened on 17 Aug 23. And subsequently, the de-boosting operations to slow down the spacecraft was also completed. Vikram is now as close as about 113 km away from the Moon, looking for a spot… to land.

And it’s over to the soft-kiss touch-down landing on the Moon…and of course the strolling when Vikram ‘opens up’ to reveal the Rover – Pragyan – tucked inside.

Land like a Butterfly! Sting the Moon like a Bee!

Music From Another Brick In The Wall

Scientists have reconstructed Pink Floyd’s iconic song, ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ by eavesdropping on people’s brainwaves- the first time a recognisable song has been decoded from recordings of electrical brain activity.

Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, published a study explaining how they reconstructed ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ by decoding electrical brain activity. Scientists placed electrodes on 29 epilepsy patients’ brain surfaces as they listened to three minutes of the song. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer models used the brain-activity patterns in each patient’s brain to help recreate the song’s lyrics, rhythm, and melody. The scientists said they decided to use music instead of voice because ‘music is universal’. Now, the success of the study could be used to help paralysed patients with neurological conditions.

Researchers found an increased reaction in part of the temporal lobe (which processes sound and memory) when playing certain notes. The scientists hope the study could help answer why some patients who struggle with speech can sing but not speak. They also believe the research could help develop devices that can do more than just rely on speech-but can instead interpret sounds and emotions as well.

The breakthrough could help tens of thousands of people who have difficulty with speech including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients and those with non-verbal apraxia.

ALS is a form of motor neuron disease, where the muscles are left ‘without nourishment’ and thereby loss of signals that nerve cells normally send to muscle cells.

The hope is that doing so could ultimately help to restore the musicality of natural speech in patients who struggle to communicate because of disabling neurological conditions such as stroke or ALS – the neurodegenerative disease that famous Scientist Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with.

Women’s Football

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is on its last legs in the joint-hosting countries of Australia and New Zealand.

Joining Spain and Sweden – last week’s Semi Finalists – were England and Australia. England beat Colombia 2-1 in regular time, and Australia beat France 7-6 on penalties, to get to the last Four. This is Australia’s first ever entry into the Semi-Finals.

In the first semi-finals Spain beat Sweden, 2-1, and in the second, England beat Australia, 3-1, to kick into their first ever final. Australia’s Sam Kerr scored a spectacular goal from around the mid-half – easily one of the best in the tournament – to level after the English scored. But Australia fumbled during an English raid, at the goal-post allowing England to slip in a goal.

The Spain versus England Final is set for 20 August 23 at ‘Stadium Australia’- Accor Stadium – Sydney, Australia. Neither have the Spanish ‘La Roja’ or the English ‘Lionesses’ reached this stage previously, and either way it will be truly be a ‘maiden win’.

The key players capable of determining the final outcome are: England’s defender Alex Greenwood, considered one of the best ball-playing centre backs in the World and along with her impeccable passing she can roar in the attacks. She will have to fend off Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso, who has a ran a total of 67.43 km in the Tournament thus far, chasing down every ball and brushing over every blade of grass to help her team win. Then there is the Ona Batlle -Lauren Hemp and Teresa Abelleria – Keria Walsh battles to look forward to.

The other stars are Spain’s Alexia Putellas and Salma Paralluelo, especially the latter. After giving up an athletics career the 19 years old has gone on to establish herself in the Spanish squad. Able to play wide or through the middle, her pace is a nightmare for opposition defenders, plus she has an eye for goals. She has scored three times in Spain’s last two games before the World Cup. Another lioness to look out for is the ‘poised for breakout’ 21 years old English star Lauren James.

England are favourites to win the Cup. The Queen of Spain is expected to watch the Finals, and maybe wave a magic wand?

The race for the Golden Boot, has Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa, at 5 goals, in the lead followed by France’s Kadidiatou Diani, at 4 goals.

Hockey

The Indian men’s hockey team won its fourth Asian Champions Trophy title, cheered on by a capacity crowd in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. They defeated Malaysia 4-3 in the finals. Now the expectations are huge for winning Gold in upcoming The Asian Games – about a month away. With this victory, India becomes the most successful team in the Asian Champions Trophy, ahead of three-time champions and arch rivals, Pakistan.

India was down 1-3, at half-time, but clawed-back into the game to secure a 4-3 win. Jugraj Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, and Akashdeep Singh scored the goals for India.

Japan beat Korea 5-3 for to finish third, while Pakistan beat China 6-1 to finish fifth.

More sticking stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Play with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-32

About: the world this week, 1 August to 7 August 2021, a Governor’s fight for his reputation, blazing fires, and fabulous stories from the Olympics.

Everywhere

With the Olympic Games now showing in Tokyo, Japan, drawing to a close on 8 August 2021, it was sporting news that galloped through the week, overwhelming and submerging most other events in the World.

New York

In New York, USA, Governor Andrew Cuomo could not lift the weights on sexual harassment, misconduct, and toxic environment creation allegations – of touching, groping, kissing, and hugging women without their consent – against him. The charges were laid on the table by New York’s Attorney General (AG) – on concluding an investigation in to the allegations. The AG said the Governor had violated State and Federal Laws.

In response, Cuomo denied doing anything out of the ordinary – whatever he did, was part of the job of being in public life, which has been misconstrued, and vowed to stay on in office. Occupational hazard?

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and the political class, added more weight, lit the fires to turn the heat on, and called for his resignation.

The great fall comes after Andrew Cuomo’s popularity reached dizzying heights in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of Americans tuned in to his daily no-nonsense TV briefings, when New York was the epicentre of the virus spread. I too, from faraway India, religiously watched his daily sermons, to learn about the pandemic and enjoyed the camaraderie that he brought to such talk, with stories of his daughters, one of his daughter’s boyfriend, and the family dog. I trusted his words more than the India’s honchos – who hardly dished out anything at all in the early days – and I believed Andrew Cuomo led by example.

I particularly admired Cuomo’s Secretary, Melissa DeRosa, who was seemingly always by his side, working her smartphone, shuffling paperwork, and offering responses to any questions passed to her by her boss. She brought a brilliant, unruffled diligence to the job and I confess I sometimes used to watch the briefings more for Melissa than Andrew Cuomo. Like her boss, DeRosa’s developed a national reputation as an avatar of competence and calm and steered the Governor’s ship awfully well, over troubled waters.

Before the sexual harassment allegations climbed-up the headlines (and down their backs), the dream team of the Governor and his Secretary were whiplashed on allegations of tampering with the data on COVID-19 cases in private hospitals. These were about under-counting COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents in New York State.

Melissa has not been affected by the sexual harassment allegations on her boss and has stood steadfastly by his side, defending him.

A skimpy brief on Andrew Cuomo: He has previously served as Attorney General of New York State and is a two-time Governor of the State. He married Kerry Kennedy, one of the seven daughters of Robert F Kennedy, and has three daughters with her. The couple first separated and then divorced in 2005. Cuomo’s brother, Chris Cuomo, is a CNN News Anchor.

Now, I am devastated that such a solid public life person could do so much harm and am left clueless on what to believe. But I still cling on to the good in Andrew Cuomo…and the brilliance of Melissa DeRosa.

Israel Strikes Again

Lebanon has multiple problems of its own making, and despite that dared to launch rockets into Israel this week. And in a first, after seven years, the Israeli Air Force carried out retaliatory air strikes on its neighbour following a second of rocket fire from across the border. Lebanon’s militant group, Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks and said it fired the rockets into ‘open areas’ of Israel. There were no casualties on both sides, but this is provocation enough to trigger ‘open’ retaliation, isn’t it?

Why do they keep doing this? This is such a fragile region that even the snap sound of a gun is enough to invite return fire!

Blazing Turkey

After stories of getting wet in the rain, swept away by floods, and carried away by landslides, it’s the turn of getting dry by fire – wildfires, turning into towering infernos.

Most than 100 blazes have erupted in the Southern parts of Turkey over the week, many of which have been watered down. The blazing fires in Manavgat, Marmaris and the inland town of Milas, prompted the evacuation of some residential areas and hotels.

Wildfires in forest in Turkey are common in summer in the Mediterranean and Aegean regions, but May 2021 was the hottest May for over 50 years and followed a drought in Turkey. There were earlier fires in Kas, Tarsus and Marmaris on 26 and 27 June, and the maximum temperature for 60 years occurred in Cizre at over 49 degrees Centigrade,

You just need to look beyond the tip of your nose to find the reason: climate change, of course. These fires follow other extreme weather conditions recently reported around the world.

The Tokyo Olympics 2020

Once upon a time, the only gold medal guaranteed for India in the Olympic Games was the Men’s Hockey Event, winning as much as eight gold medals, over the years. That was when the game was played on natural grass and stick-work mattered the most. Then astro-turf was invented, the game became faster, India could not keep pace with the change and ended up losing to smarter countries, especially Australia and Germany. This Olympics, India finally got the closest to winning gold, reaching the semi-finals and going down to Belgium. However, they got their sticks together to beat Germany 5-4, and to win the bronze medal. This is the first medal win for the Indian Hockey Team after a 41 year Olympic medal drought. Well done India.

Indian Women are known to bring Home the gold – a great Indian Family tradition – and true to nature they almost did it but ending up losing in the semi-finals to Argentina. And then the fight for the Bronze, to Britain. Whatever, the fact that they made it this far is testimony to their new-found capabilities, and are a bellwether of better outcomes in the future. Leave alone the gold medal, the women won our hearts – that’s real gold!

Wondering how India’s hockey fortunes are suddenly looking bright again? Behind the success lies the ravishing support of the Odisha State Government, who has since 2018 sponsored both the men’s and women’s national hockey teams, stepping in as sponsor when business group Sahara withdrew. Naveen Patnaik, 74, who has been the Chief Minister of Odisha for the past 21 years, without a break, is the invisible force keeping the goal – He was a hockey goalie during his school days!

This is truly a ‘high jump’ in sportsmanship. Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim, 30, and and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, 29, both cleared the highest bar of 2.37 meters (m), but when it came to deciding a winner, the two Olympic high jumpers opted not to take it to a tie-breaker. Instead, they asked to share the gold medal, prompting cheers beyond their home countries of Qatar and Italy.

After both jumpers cleared the highest bar, they attempted to match the Olympic record of 2.39 meters for sole ownership of the title. However, after three attempts, neither succeeded. The two athletes then approached a Games Official. “Can we have two golds?” Barshim asked. The Official nodded in agreement, and the rest is Olympic History.

Australian swimmer Emma McKeon won seven medals in the Tokyo Olympics. And adding to her previous medal stock of four, she now has a total of eleven Olympic medals – five gold, two silver, and four bronze – making her the most successful Australian Olympian at the singles Game events.

Amazing stories of grit, perseverance, and fortitude on display at the Olympics beginning with the determination of Japan to go ahead with the Games. Shows how much we are capable of if we lend a shoulder to ourselves. Never underestimate yourself, we are capable of doing more than we think we can.

More gold, silver, and bronze stories coming up in the weeks ahead.