My Prediction Came True for Mumbai

You see, in developed countries if there is a probability of a Disaster occuring, there is:
Advisory,Watch,Warning.

It is this vigilance that saves lives. If it doesn't come true, you are ridiculed.
If it comes true, people look at you with disdain - did this person bring this upon us.
Such is Human Nature.

My prediction made on 22nd July can be thought of as an Advisory. Based on a few parameters.
It did not come true for Calcutta.
But it came true for Mumbai !

HIGHEST TIDES IN 100 YEARS WERE EXPECTED !

Thank God, the people were moved into safe areas.

Chance of a High Tide Today ? Are we Ready ?

I'm saying there could just be a 10% chance of a bad High Tide coming in Today.

But are we prepared on this Day of Total Solar Eclipse . Now, I havent' doen any research, but it's a split-second thought that flashed thru'. Take all the parameters that are today :

• New Moon
• Total Solar Eclipse
• A steady drizzling rain adding to the steady input into the Hooghly River
• Surge coming up through the uniquely funnel-shaped Ganges Delta
• Embankments thar are not yet repaired. Note : It is also not humanly possible.
• Data from Kolkata Port Trust

Source : http://www.kolkataporttrust.gov.in/BORE-TIDE%20YEAR%202009.pdf

July 21 shows 6 days of Maximum Range 5.05 Tide.

Old News but Golden News

This appeared in the Indian Express . Way back in June 2008.

Maybe I missed it. That's why I was way off mark in my India Lok Sabha Congress calculations.

Though in West Bengal, INC Strategy struck me as BRILLIANT, JUST BRILLIANT, the day I saw the INC - TMC Samjhauta come through.

Anyway, here's that piece of Old is Gold News -

"

The Group to Look into Future Challenges, which made the proposal in its report on intra-party reforms recently, was of the view that parties like the BJP did better in recent elections because Sangh Parivar “cadres” were able to reach out to people door-to-door, while the Congress remained hamstrung banking on its candidates’ individual abilities and resources to pull it off. The same was true for the cadre-based Left in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.

“Now our campaigns are mainly candidate-oriented. We want to make them party-oriented. That’s why the need for committed workers or cadres who can do door-to-door campaigning instead of organising meetings for the candidate or big party leaders,” said a member of the Future Challenges Group headed by M Veerappa Moily."

Am reading some stuff on this Group of Rahul Gandhi + Dr. Jairam Ramesh + V. Moily and others that's doing brilliant stuff. More I read more interesting it seems.

Reintroducing the Asiatic Cheetah back into India

As we all know, the Indian (Asiatic) Cheetah became extinct from the grasslands of India way back in the 1950's , as far as I know. Now, here's a piece of great News. There are plans to re-introduce the Asiatic Cheetah.

Source: "www.timesonline.co.uk"

"Rhys Blakely in Mumbai

The Mogul emperor Akbar was said to own a thousand of the beasts as part of his 16th-century hunting retinue. Since then, however, India’s cheetahs have turned from hunter to quarry — the last three known were shot by the Maharajah of Surguja in 1947.

That may now change, with plans revealed by the Indian Government to reintroduce the world’s fastest land animal to the sub-continent.

A meeting of international experts is to be held in Rajasthan in September. It will draw up a preliminary budget, likely to be millions of pounds, to cover the import of cheetahs from Africa and the foundation of a “breeding nucleus” site, from which the animals can be introduced to other areas of India.

“We have to get [cheetahs] from abroad to repopulate the species. We soon hope to do so,” said Jairam Ramesh, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests."

Debajyoti Dutta Roy's personal take :

This is an excellent move. Hats off to Jairam Ramesh.

But all wildlife and environmental enthusiasts have to keep many parameters in mind:

• The cheetah flourishes in uninhabited grasslands. So, one has to choose a locale where there is minimum human population.
• One has to study the FOOD PYRAMID. If the base, that is, the grasslands are abundant, one can introduce deers to sambars to the cheetah's natural prey.
• So, the natural prey of the Asiatic Cheetah flourishes.
• The cheetah has a great time. But one has to be also careful that it is not threatened by other predators bigger than it is. Or pack predators like the hyena or indian wild dogs .."dholes" they're called, as far as I remember.
• One has to study the habitat where the Asiatic Lion is still surviving. These are, as far as I remember, from an excellent site felidtag (Cat Specialist Group) - Iran, parts of Saudi Arabia, etc. Congrats to these countries for still preserving the Asiatic Cheetah.

Hope the program succeeds.

One can also have active monitoring / audiovisuals to generate interest amongst the common people.

Without disturbing the Cheetah, that is.

Yaaaawn.