CHIMNEYS OF LONDON

Hello World,

Long time. No see. I have been wanting to share this view since September 2015. I visited London back then and got an opportunity to roam around the city during the weekend. Among the hundreds of interesting things I saw, the London Chimneys stole my heart. I found them so interesting that I ended up taking around 1700 shots of the London Chimneys. So here is my account of London Chimneys and what I think about them. Scroll down to the end if you wish to skip the reading and check out the photos in a slide show [60 images].

Pretty much all the buildings in London have chimneys. There are so many kinds of chimneys and I think, I captured at least 30 different types. When I say Chimneys, I am referring to the chimney pots and cowls that are visible on the roof-tops of buildings.

I am not an expert on chimneys and therefore I am going to stick to just what I think about this, irrespective of its fit with what might be the fact. I however will not discount logic as I see it.

My View on London Chimneys

I see a case of centralised decentralisation in the chimney architecture [referring to their scheme and not the build]. Each room in a building gets a fireplace and so chimneys originate from different corners of the building across various levels. However, all the chimneys converge at one point on the roof. The rows of chimney pots and cowls on roof tops is the centralisation of decentralised placement of fireplaces.

From a material standpoint, having the chimneys along the walls of the building [inside] would have helped realise the capability with relatively shorter piping. From an operational standpoint, having the chimneys [the pots at top] at one place will help cleaning them less complicated. Having the chimney pots at one place to me indicates that the operational costs outweighed the material costs. While the initial investment got a bit bloated with more material and man hours, the customers have [supposedly] realized lower operational costs in maintaining those chimneys. 

On a different note, based on the limited London structures that I observed, those that belonged to the members of the royal family had lot of protrusions out of the building profiles. This included faces and borders protruding out of the building. However, the remainder of the buildings, those that of the ‘commons’ [anyone who ones real estate in London cannot be called so but let’s not get there now :)] have very conservative profiles. The protrusions/carvings/borders are towards the inside of the structures. Each side of the building will have almost flat-out profiles on all sides. Anything decorative will be a relief towards the inside of the building. The windows of such buildings stay a good 6-8 inches inside from the outer wall/plane.

Here is the slide show:

Click on the image below to open the album [60 images]

Usually, when we visit a new place, we travel there 'looking around.' In case of a travel to London, do 'look-up' when you navigate the city. The smoke vents from the past are still standing telling so much about heating requirements and how British architecture responded to them. I am presuming there are laws now that prohibit burning of charcoal/firewood for heating. The buildings use wall-mounted fluid based heating systems these days.

As strange as it sounds, I find the chimneys as a fascinating part of London. If you know anything about London chimneys, I waiting to hear. 

On a very different note [a shameless plug], if you are interested in unique tamil short films, feel free to visit https://www.summamovies.com/. I couldn't tolerate the mass masala entertainers anymore and decided I will do my best to produce content with substance. I have a long a way to go as a producer and a start-up founder, but I am glad our journey has begun. I look forward to your support. Each film on our site costs INR 15. Thanks!!!

Best regards,

WEST INDIES TO WIN T20 WORLD CUP 2016

Hello World,

I have reason to believe, West Indies has been fixed to win today’s t20 world cup. Also very soon, at least one key international tournament will be hosted by West Indies, featuring some top teams in international cricket.

I might be 70% right or 100% wrong with this claim, but I wish to stay connected with my rationale behind this belief. So for logical reasons, I am writing this post about 150 minutes prior to the start of the finals match. So my prediction will go for a toss as well. My concentration however is not on the outcome of the toss but the coin being used for it. So, let me explain why I think West Indies has been fixed win this tournament.

Image Source: http://9cric.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/229602_373675819410727_312404663_n.jpg

I recently watched the cricket documentary ‘Death of a Gentleman’ produced and directed by Sam Collins, Jarrod Kimber, Christopher Hird and Johnny Blank.

Among the many questions they raise, one of their observations stands out to me. They have observed events which seem to indicate the wealthy and influential cricket boards bully the not so rich or big boards within the international cricket market. The documentary gently points at West Indies being deliberately neglected as a punishment for their differences with the top dog cricket boards. The observations include West Indies not being included in many small-scale international tournaments and West Indies not being chosen for key international tournaments. owing to such organised sidelining, West Indies cricket had been facing troubles such as reduced funding for the development of the sport often on the grounds of no commercial opportunities within the grasp the West Indies cricket board.

All of a sudden, although I stay so far away from the televised cricketing drama, I have been noticing West Indies cricket team and cricketers being extensively publicised. If one were to pick the top 10 most happening cricketers, the list will feature West Indies players, most of them within the top 5. Advertisements and music videos have been using West Indian cricketers extensively. IPL advertisements sport them as the top entertainers. 

Now, I see West Indies in the final game of an international tournament. 

Therefore, I believe, West Indies is fixed to win this tournament and moving forward, key international cricket events will be held at West Indies. They seem to have agreed to the terms of the Big Three of international cricket or may be it is just their turn to enjoy some of the cricketing revenue. 

On a different note, thanks to the team that gave us the cricket documentary ‘Death of a Gentleman.’ It is that documentary that I use as the basis for my prediction, which, if I am not wrong, most of the audience already know as a probable outcome. For some weird reason, ordering this movie online was challenging for me and I had to order from a UK site. This might just be a case of e-commerce choices of the sellers but for some unknown reason, I wasn't able to make a paid download of this movie. I did order and receive the DVD which I watched with little amusement and a great satisfaction. [Someone, finally, had the courage to indicate the presence of ulterior financial motives behind what we watch as legitimate cricket matches on TV]

Televised cricket is sports entertainment. Let me know if my prediction is proved wrong. We never know how the betting scene fixes the outcomes of cricket matches.

West Indies women team has won the world cup. Now it is the men's team's turn to win the T20 world cup. Like I said, it's West Indies turn to gain prominence and host upcoming cricketing events.

Update as of 5th April, 2016:

As predicted, the West Indies team won the T20 world cup final. This is not the surprising fact.

How come two world cup finals were scheduled on the same day and the same country's team wins both the world cups. Also in June, a tri-nation series featuring South Africa, Australia and West Indies is scheduled to be held in West Indies. 

Right before the host nation gears for up for a big event, their team wins two major events on the same day. 

If this doesn't ring any bell, nothing will.

This is why I firmly believe, televised cricket is sports entertainment which means the show is made up [in parts or full, depends on many variables].

On a very different note [a shameless plug], if you are interested in unique tamil short films, feel free to visit https://www.summamovies.com/. I couldn't tolerate the mass masala entertainers anymore and decided I will do my best to produce content with substance. I have a long a way to go as a producer and a start-up founder, but I am glad our journey has begun. I look forward to your support. Each film on our site costs INR 15. Thanks!!!

Regards,

OPEN LETTER TO THE HINDU

Hello World,

I have been noticing something odd on my daily newspaper. We read ‘The Hindu’ at our home and lately, we have been noticing something odd about the way news are being reported. Maybe, this has been the norm and I am noticing it just now or this is a new growing trend. To clear the confusion, ‘The Hindu’ will have to clarify the facts so we do not misinterpret anything. Hence this open letter:

Dear ‘The Hindu’,

Please refer to the instances of alleged unfair reporting on your part and please clarify the reasons and facts behind them:

Instance 1:

Article Title: Madras High Court orders fresh autopsy on Monisha

Date of Publishing: January 28, 2016

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/svs-college-murder-row-madras-high-court-orders-fresh-autopsy-on-monisha/article8159701.ece 

The article ends with a mention of a person and his membership with a ‘fringe Dalit outfit’. The outfit’s name or the basis for classifying it as ‘fringe’ however did not make it anywhere on that news report.

Here are the questions:

What is the name of the Dalit outfit? Why are you not mentioning the name of the outfit?

What is the basis for classifying the outfit as a ‘fringe’ outfit?

Instance 2:

Article Title: Decades-old group rivalry revived

Date of Publishing: March 9, 2016

This report is also online: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/decadesold-group-rivalry-revived/article8329195.ece

One of the victims [of a tit-for-tat gang war] is being described as a Dalit leader without mentioning the name of the outfit he founded or was associated with prior to that. However, soon after covering his involvement in murders, the report includes victims and members of the other group by mentioning the title of the outfit they belong to. That outfit is not categorised as ‘fringe’ outfit.  

Murderers are murderers, irrespective of caste/ethnicity. When one group of murderers are mentioned only with a broad classification of their caste, the other group is mentioned with specific mention of their caste and the outfit they founded/belong to.

Here are the questions:

What is the basis for avoiding a Dalit outfit’s name and including a Caste Hindu outfit’s name, when members of both outfits have been involved in the same murder case being covered in the report?

The report includes this phrase: “…, who had nurtured himself as ‘saviour of Dalits’ by orchestrating a few attacks.”

What does ‘few attacks’ signify? How many attacks are being included as ‘few attacks’? What is the factual data behind those attacks that establish the individual’s effort to become ‘saviour of Dalits’? 

When the rival group has committed similar retaliatory murders, why aren’t they being classified as someone nurturing themselves as similar ‘saviour of Caste Hindus’?

Overall, I see this trend of classifying minorities as ‘fringe outfits’ while exclusively mentioning caste-hindu groups in your reporting. May be, this has been happening for a long time and I remained unaware. Irrespective of the frequency of occurrence and history, the reporting style followed by ‘The Hindu’ is outright unfair.

The final interpretation is:

‘The Hindu’ is deliberately allowing the negative representation of minorities [in this case the Dalits] and positive representation of caste-hindu groups.

                                                       OR

‘The Hindu’ doesn’t really care how minorities are being mentioned in its reports and therefore knowingly tolerates such unfair reporting styles from its reporters/writers.

Irrespective of what it may be, here are the final questions:

Is ‘The Hindu’ following such unfair reporting styles to get the favour of the ‘Hindutva’ movement?

What is ‘The Hindu’ getting from caste-hindu groups for such negative representation of minorities?

In my opinion, ‘The Hindu’ is operating as a ‘divisive media partner’ that can support the ‘divide-and-rule’ tactics, irrespective of who is trying to apply them. 

The questions for you, ‘The Hindu’, 

Are you really missing out on such negative reporting styles or this is all part of your larger design for a divided society that can crumble at the snap of a finger?

Why is your reporting looking to breed contempt and retaliatory hatred among ethnic groups within the market you operate?

I don’t think anybody from ‘The Hindu’ is going to reply, however, as a human being who believes in equality, I cannot allow a media house play spoilsport unasked and unquestioned.

I still believe, if all kids go to school and college and if the education they receive are of decent standards, we might end up with a society that can at least be taught to practice equality. With millions of citizens remaining illiterate/uneducated, we as a country are building a society of blind followers who can be manipulated by those who practice sectarian governance through inter-ethnic hatred, something supported by media houses such as ‘The Hindu.’

If you think this is an issue that needs to be curtailed, please consider signing this Change.org petition below and share the same with your friends and family:

Stop Discriminative News-Reporting Against Dalits

 Thanks for the help!!!!

Update as of 21-03-2016:

'The Hindu' published a follow-up report on the same incident and this time, both the organisation titles were mentioned. However, the Caste-Hindu individual's position/rank within his organization is mentioned but the Dalit individual's position/rank is not covered. The Caste-Hindu individual is mentioned as the 'President' but the Dalit individual is mentioned as the 'leader'. In spite of a forced response for fair news-reporting, the reporting style still holds minority groups at least one step below the Caste-Hindu groups. 

Here is the follow-up report as it was published today:

So the questions to you 'The Hindu' are:

What makes dalits so inferior that you are so desperate, not to mention the rank/position of the Dalit individual covered in the report? 

If the Caste-Hindu individual is the 'President' what was the title held by the Dalit individual? 

If you have the journalistic prowess to cover one group in such detail, why is that you wilfully neglect the finer details of the Dalit individual?

This is the true indicator of how deep and hard the anti-dalit prejudices are imbibed within the society in Tamilnadu, as of 2016. I am almost suspicious if there is a deep inner voice among these anti-dalit mentalities which keeps screaming 'Don't let the Dalits stand-up as equal. Keep them a step below you and that is how it should be.' In my honest opinion, it is this deep caste differentiation that is causing such unfair news-reporting styles.

A word of thanks to those few individuals who signed the petition. Some of them are not Dalits but still they have the heart to support equality. My deepest respects to those human beings.

Summing up, @'The Hindu', there is very little you can do about this. You have hundreds of reporters working for with hundreds of prejudices each. Given that your own editorial group has been flying away from you citing unfair management practices, there is very little evidence that you actually have any fair thought behind your news-reporting strategy. 

On a very different note [a shameless plug], if you are interested in unique tamil short films, feel free to visit https://www.summamovies.com/. I couldn't tolerate the mass masala entertainers anymore and decided I will do my best to produce content with substance. I have a long a way to go as a producer and a start-up founder, but I am glad our journey has begun. I look forward to your support. Each film on our site costs INR 15. Thanks!!!

Best Regards,

COST OF COLONIALISM: BLOWING IN THE WIND

Hello World,

I had noticed something very interesting when I visited the Andamans in 2012. This year, I visited Andamans again and visited the same spot to cover the experience. I am referring to to something I noticed in Ross Island, a small island visible from Port Blair, the current capital of Andaman & Nicobar islands. Ross Island was the first British headquarters set up in the archipelago and this island was even invaded by the Japanese. 

My experience has to do with the pre-independence colonial timeline when India was under the British rule.

We need to look at what I saw to get started:

Long story short, these are the people whose graves have been captured in the pictures above:

1. Benjamin Lewarn A.B., Died at the age of: 25 years and 6 months
2. Anne Elizabeth of Lahert, Died at the age of: 21 years, 3 months and 10 days
3. W.H. Eales, Born at Kingston, near Brixham Devonshire, Died at the age of: 38 years, 5 months and 29 days
4. Benjamin Kelton, Died at the age of: 35 years
5. James John Elder, Born at Liverpool, Lancashire, Age at the time of death: Unknown, 
6. James Wyness Esq., Died at the age of: 38 years
7. John. W. Wood, Died at the age of: Unknown [probably 29 or 29]
8. Name: Unknown, Died at the age of: 23 years and 27 days
9. William Collins, Died at the age of: 28 years
10. Samuel Smith [Pensioner], Died at the age of: 67 years
11. John Edwards, Died at the age of: 28 years
12. Benjamin Welton, Died at the age of: 35 years
13. Lawrence [Infant son of Lawrence and Jessie Jemima Carthy], Died at the age of: 22 hours

These are some of the graves at the cemetery on Ross Island. 

With 22 hours and 67 years as clear outliers, the age at the time of death is largely between 21 years and 38 years. 

Young men and women are lying under the ground in a lonely Island in the Bay of Bengal. All because someone decided to colonise India. I have no idea if the family of these people knew about their death. I wonder if someone, many generations later now, have ever visited Ross Island to see their grave. May be because most of these individuals died at a very young age, they never had the opportunity to bring their next generation into this world. 

This is just the minuscule part of the human capital invested by the then British administration in the effort to colonise India. Based on the very little I understand, the then British administration, used its taxpayers money to recruit and deploy their own sons and daughters on a land very far away, only to leave them dead under the ground, when it realised the complexity in keeping country under its control by force. 

Since 1644, when the first British fortress [Fort St. George] was founded in Chennai, the administration did not or rather was not willing to realise the infeasibility of a never-ending colonisation of a sovereign state. My interpretation is therefore directed towards the assumption that the then British administration never really cared about its own citizens or at least not up to the level of what might constitute anything related to fairness.

So the question, we as the current survivors of the race called mankind need to answer is, did all this investment of human capital really benefit those who engaged in colonialism? You consciously paid for the spices, minerals, opium and agricultural resources with your sons and daughters, some of whom are under the ground of this sovereign state to this day, rather dissolved or decomposed, but under the ground in a foreign land anyways.

The dark comedy is, of those who came to India for spices, hardly ever use them in their cuisines. Cinnamon made it to coffee, cardamom and saffron made it to some foods. The other agri resources were mostly consumed for the purpose of further colonisation. I am unaware but very skeptical of colonial wheat and rice feeding the citizens of the colonial state. Even if that were to be a fact, was it all worth the sons and daughters you left buried under foreign lands, which now are sovereign states similar to yours????????

Next time we draft random men, women and transgenders to be deployed on foreign lands for military operations, we as the race called mankind, will have to think a few hundred times to assess the benefit we will realise by sacrificing the humans for the sake of monopolised control over resources in foreign lands [includes democracy and fundamental rights]. 

Desperate times calls for desperate measures and desperate measures require high value investments. It is impossible to avoid it but we can definitely act based on the fair assessment of long-term impact on mankind rather than deciding on the short term diplomatic relations and control over alleged ‘aggressors’ for the sake of regional security that is then bartered for oil or something much more trivial than something nothing can replace: human life.

As for an answer to these questions, all I recall are Bob Dylan's words: “….the answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.” 

Best Regards,