House Sparrows Going Extinct?

We have been used to be woken up by the staccato chirping of the house sparrows that jump and trot around the windows in the mornings. They have always been lovable small birds living in our roofs spending the full day with us, but over the years their numbers are getting less and lesser and in most of the towns and cities of India their morning alarms are almost non-existent. Environmental experts all over the world have expressed the fear of the sparrows getting extinct and the species already figure in the endangered list.

Proliferation of the mobile phone towers and increasing pollution are believed to the main reasons for this sad happening. Concrete apartment blocks replacing the traditional independent houses could also be seen as another factor. 

While in Guwahati, Assam we were lucky to see a lot of sparrows in their normal gait and talkativeness, but definitely not to the extent as earlier. But in Nagaon, just two and half hours journey by road from Guwahati, the chirping birds are totally absent despite there being more traditional houses and not many mobile phone towers. In Mumbai the sparrow is extinct and the reasons are all there to see. Crucial factors are likely to come to light as experts go on analyzing.

We did not take them seriously when they were all around us. Now we miss them! We want them to come back and continue waking us up in the morning. 

One Assamese song by Biren Dutta (a famous singer of Assam) of yore comes to the mind. "O’ ghansirika (meaning sparrow, also called gharsirikawhere ‘ghar’ means house), O’ ghansirika mor sotalot umalohi O’ ghansirika..." (Come O’ my little sparrow, come and play on in my courtyard…).

 

The Biggest Indian Tennis Fight: Blackmail, Compromises And Suspense!

We have always heard about the Indian cricketing superstars dictating terms to their controlling Board on when they need rest or which format of the game they need to play and so on. But what the Indian tennis players have been doing to their selectors would make the cricket superstars look like silly brats! Both sets of players show a common characteristic though—self interest first and the pride of the nation later.

Leander Paes, the best international doubles tennis player for India, wanted the next best Indian to pair him so that the chances of getting an Olympic medal in London got maximized. The All India Tennis Association (AITA) toed his line from the very outset. But a crisis situation developed when the next best players—Mahesh Bhupathi—refused to play with Leander. The IATA then hooked up Rohan Bopanna, the next best seeded player, for pairing with Leander. But Bopanna also refused and agreed to play only with Bhupathi. The Indian Sports Ministry tried to intervene by suggesting a double-team option and by appealing to the players again to consider pride of the nation first. The final decision on the matter was left to the IATA.

Meanwhile Leander Paes kept on saying that he would never pair with a lower seeded player as that could nip Olympic medal hopes in the bud. He was even hinting at withdrawing from the Games if his wishes were not fulfilled.

With just hours before the deadline of making the tennis Olympic entries the IATA finally declared two men’s doubles tennis teams for the London Olympics-2012. Vishnu Vardhan, seeded 206 internationally, was selected to pair Leander. Bhupathi was allowed to be the second team with Bopanna. A decision that must have pained Paes and elated Bhupathi and Bopanna. 

To placate Paes the IATA offered a concession that Sania Mirza, the lady tennis star of India, would pair only with Paes for the mixed doubles if, of course, she managed to get the wild card to participate in the Olympics. The IATA also declared that disciplinary action against the bullying players was not thought about at the moment since the Olympics was a huge occasion when all concerned ought to concentrate on making their country proud. One factor that also came in favor of IATA’s compromises or rather helplessness was the fact that unwilling players could not possibly be forced to show results or win medals for India.

But the biggest fight was far from over. The offended Paes had stopped communicating to IATA and his father became his spokesperson indicating the likely withdrawal of Paes from the Olympics. Paes was also reported of demanding a written assurance from IATA that only he would play with Sania in the mixed doubles. No doubt, he has been the greatest tennis player of India, but the greatest showing of power and clout is just not making his fans happy. As the fight starts to degenerate into a blackmail drama the suspense keeps everyone guessing.

An aghast nation waits disbelievingly for the sordid drama to end and the Indian Olympic campaign begin in the right earnest. All players who come in the way must be quickly and effectively brought to book, the cries seem to get louder and clearer.

Massive Fire At Mumbai Secretariat!

A massive fire gutted three floors of the Maharashtra State Secretariat or Mantralaya in Mumbai just before 3pm today. The headquarters of one of the richest state administrations of the country supposedly had all the modern security equipments including fire detection and alarm systems. Yet, the fire that reportedly started from the clichéd reason of ‘short circuit’ raged on for hours gutting the 4^th, 5^thand the 6^th floors that housed the offices of the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister and of several important cabinet ministries like Home and Urban Development.

While it was a big relief that the all-important block of the city of Mumbai had been evacuated quickly, all trapped people rescued and the fire was brought under control by the joint efforts of the state and central fire fighting authorities basic questions arose about the possible destruction of crucial documents relating to land scams, housing society scams and other pending proposals. Such questions led to speculation about the actual reason of the fire, and, a sabotage theory slowly developed which threatened to transform into another raging controversy.

The Secretariat is located at the plush Nariman Point in South Mumbai which could be the most expensive urban area of India, where an inch of land costs a fortune and a mere square foot of a flat runs into thousands of bucks. The financial capital of India and the hub of the film industry Mumbai has been a city of dreams, but the city holds no guarantee how many of them would be fulfilled. Mumbai witnesses only population that goes on multiplying; only dreams that go on multiplying and only greed and sins that go on multiplying. When these quotients reach unbearable proportions Nature wreaks her vengeance on the indifferent city and attracted by the bland display of dirty wealth terrorists strike at will here.

Mumbai thus is a city where anything is possible at any time. No point crying conspiracy if the original documents of the Adarsh Society Scam and other crucial schemes have been destroyed, because more Adarsh scams will be created and more lucrative deals will be realized by the city’s unstoppable cycle of wealth in an inevitable way. Creating wealth is the city’s religion and the cycle of destruction keeps it under bearable limits. That’s all.

Yet, the life in Mumbai goes on, as usual. The common man goes on struggling to earn the bread and the butter—unmindful, unperturbed and perhaps resigned to Mumbai!

As per reports that came in late three charred bodies had been recovered from the sixth floor of the secretariat, thus putting the toll at three dead and around fifteen  injured.