Capital set to celebrate Navratri with Garbas and Dhoklas

NEW DELHI: The capital is set for a colourful and lively Navratri with garbas, dhoklas and traditional Gujarati dresses expected to dominate the festivities in the first year of Narendra Modi's rule.

Gujarati organisers of Navratri festivals in Delhi expect high footfall of revellers and audience to watch the traditional garba dance and dandiya performances and to feast on Gujarati delicacies such as khaman, dhokla, khakhra and fafda as curiosity about Gujarati culture has increased significantly after Modi became the prime minister.

Photo by India times

"It's a proud moment for Gujaratis," said Mohit Parikh, president of Shree Delhi Gujarati Samaj, which organises Navratri celebrations at Delhi's Civil Lines. "Definitely, there will be an increased participation this year and we should have anywhere between 600 and 1,000 people every day to participate in the garba and dandiya," he said.

There will be more than 22 places, including Dwarka, Gujarat Vihar, Kirti Nagar, Civil Lines, Jehangirpuri and Paschim Vihar, where Delhiites can celebrate Navratri the Gujarati way.

Some of the organisers have allocated space for sellers of traditional Gujarati dresses and jewellery for garba, which is traditionally performed during Navratri to honour goddess Durga.

Jagdip Rana, president of Gujarat Education Society that runs Sardar Patel Vidyalaya and organises a month-long training workshop for garba and dandiya, said interest amongst non-Gujarati people to learn traditional Guajarati folk dance is on the rise. "This year we had 500 people who came in the workshop to learn Gujarati dance compared to 300 a year ago," he said.

Rana and Parikh are among organisers who have invited Modi, the first prime minister from Gujarat in 35 years, to visit their event. "We want to felicitate Modi since he became Prime Minister and Navratri is the right occasion for the same," Parikh said.

But, with the prime minister away in the US in the first half of the nine-day festival, BJP president Amit Shah, Union HRD minister Smriti Irani and other BJP leaders have been invited for 'aarti' by many organisers.

Organisers said they have been getting calls from general public and expats for passes and short training classes for dances. "This year the phone calls have not stopped since we printed the invite. Daily over 1,500 people can participate in the festivities," said Neeraj Sheth, general secretary at Gujarat Vihar in East Delhi.

Among garba organisers in the capital is Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit whose wife Mona hails from Gujarat. They will organise a two-day festival at Pandara Road on September 26 and 27 along with the Gujarat Education Society. "This is one festival which cuts across caste, class and creed and you are like one big family on the ground," said Mona Dikshit.

It is for the first time that Garba is expected to attract revellers in large numbers in the capital where the Gujarati population is about 1.25 lakh. But the crowd here will be nothing in comparison to some venues in Gujarat where over 35,000 revellers dancing before audience of more than 70,000.

Industrial houses like Reliance, Essar, Adani and Torrent formed Gujarat Industries Navratri Festival Society (GINFS) to organise Gujarat's largest garba shows that Modi used to inaugurate every year. This year, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel will do the honour.

By India times

9 Special Colours For 9 Days Of Navratri

Navratri is a festival that last nine days during which we worship Goddess Durga in nine different forms. Each of the Navdurga avatars have their own significance and style of worshipping. Also, the colours for Navratri are designated to each of these nine devis of Navratri. 

Maa Durga  ( pic by Gold Sky  )

The colours for goddess Durga are very special and each of these colours must be worn on the stipulated day. Navdurga avatars are all parts of Goddess Durga. However, these Devis are worshipped separately because each of them has a particular significance and 'vidhi' or procedure for their puja is different. 

 There are nine colours assigned to the nine devis who are part of Navdurga. The Goddess is dressed in a particular colour but it is not necessary that her devotees must be dressed in the same colour.  For example, Goddess Chandraghanta wears orange but her devotees must wear white on the third day of Navratri.

These are the nine colours for nine days of Navratri. If you want to please the Goddess Durga, then wear the right colours on the respective days. 

First Day:  Yellow Colour The first day of Navratri is called the 'pratipada'. On this day, devi Shailapurti Mata who is the first Devi of the Navdurga is worshipped. You must wear yellow on this day when 'ghatasthapana' for the puja is done. 

Second Day:  Green Colour The second day of the Navratri is called the Dwitiya. Green is the colour of nature and Devi Bramhacharini commands that her devotees be decked up in green.


 Third Day:  Grey Colour Devi Chandraghanta is the Goddess of peace and serenity. She is dressed in white for the Gowri Vrata that is done on this day. The devotees should wear grey on the tritiya of Navratri. 

Fourth Day:  Orange Colour On the Chaturthi of Navratri, the Goddess Kushmunda is worshipped. She is dressed in red and is the creator of the universe. In her honour, her devotees must wear read. 

Fifth Day:  White Colour The fifth day of Navratri is called Panchami and Skandamata is the avatar of the Goddess that is worshipped on this day. She slays all demons and you must wear white to please this goddess. 

Sixth Day:  Red Colour Shashti is day when all mothers pray for the well-being of their children. On this day, Katyayani is worshipped, you must wear red coloured clothes in her honour.

 Seventh Day:  Blue Colour On the day of Saptami, the Utsav puja happens. Mata Kaalratri is worshipped on this day. Her devotee must wear blue coloured clothes so that she protects them from evil. 

Eighth Day:  Pink Colour On the day of Durga Ashtami, Maha Gauri Puja is done. It the day when Mata Saraswati is worshipped by the devout. One must wear pink on this special day of the Navratri. 

Ninth Day:  Purple Colour On the last day of the Navratri, Diddhidatri Mata is commemorated. Her devotees must be dressed in purple to attain 'siddhi' on this holy day.

By Gold Sky 

New Formula Could Cut Pollution from Concrete

Concrete is the most-used construction material in the world and a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. But by using a different chemical formula to make the material, new research suggests it's possible to significantly reduce concrete's carbon footprint.

photo by scientific american

Concrete has a complex molecular structure made of a mixture of sand, gravel, water and cement. The cement is made by heating a calcium-rich material, typically limestone, with a silica-rich material, typically clay, at temperatures of around 1,500 degrees Celsius. This process, usually fueled by coal, produces a hard mass that's then ground into a powder. Making cement accounts for a significant portion of concrete's overall greenhouse gas emissions.

More than 20 billion tons of concrete are produced each year and contribute up to 10 percent of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide production. A report released yesterday by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests that reducing the ratio of calcium to silicate in cement would enhance the strength of the material, reduce material volume and cut the emissions associated with concrete by more than half.

At present rates, concrete usage is estimated to be three times that of steel, according to Roland Pellenq, MIT senior scientist and author on the report. "There's no other solution to sheltering mankind in a durable way—turning liquid into stone in 10 hours, easily, at room temperature. That's the magic of cement," he said.

Stronger and glassier
The ratio of calcium to silica in conventional cements ranges from 1.2 to 2.2, with 1.7 as the accepted standard. By creating a database of all possible chemical formulations, the MIT research team found 1.5 parts calcium to every 1 part silica to be the "magical ratio," according to Pellenq.

With this mixture the material can achieve "two times the resistance of normal cement, in mechanical resistance to fracture, with some molecular-scale design," he said.

Since concrete production is highly greenhouse gas-intensive, any reduction in calcium content in the cement will have a positive impact on emissions. According to Pellenq, reductions could be as much as 60 percent.

Using this formula would also improve the mechanical strength of concrete and give the material a glassier and less crystalline structure, which would make it more fracture-resistant. The oil and gas industry has a particular interest in using stronger concrete around well casings to prevent leakages and blowouts.

Researchers will now carry out further testing on the new formula to prove their findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, translate from the molecular scale to the engineering scale for applications such as infrastructure and buildings.

Water on Earth predates the solar system, and even the sun

Some of the water molecules in your drinking glass were created more than 4.5 billion years ago, according to new research.

That makes them older than the Earth, older than the solar system — even older than the sun itself.

In a study published Thursday in Science, researchers say the distinct chemical signature of the water on Earth and throughout the solar system could occur only if some of that water formed before the swirling disk of dust and gas gave birth to the planets, moons, comets and asteroids.

This primordial water makes up 30% to 50% of the water on Earth, the researchers estimate.

“It’s pretty amazing that a significant fraction of water on Earth predates the sun and the solar system,” said study leader Ilse Cleeves, an astronomer at the University of Michigan.

This finding suggests that water, a key ingredient of life, may be common in young planetary systems across the universe, Cleeves and her colleagues say.

Scientists are still not entirely sure how water arrived on Earth. The part of the protoplanetary disk in which our planet formed was too hot for liquid or ice water to exist, and so the planet was born dry. Most experts believe the Earth’s water came from ice in comets and asteroids that formed in a cooler environment, and later collided with our planet.

But this theory leads to more questions. Among them: Where did the water preserved in the comets and asteroids come from?

8

To find out, scientists turned to chemistry. Here on Earth, about one in every 3,000 molecules of water is made with a deuterium atom instead of a hydrogen atom.

A deuterium atom is similar to a hydrogen atom except that its nucleus contains a proton and a neutron, instead of a lone proton. (Both atoms also contain a single electron.) That makes deuterium twice as heavy as hydrogen, which is why water molecules made with deuterium atoms (HDO) are known as “heavy water.”

At the time that our sun was born, the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen throughout the universe was about 1 deuterium molecule to every 100,000 hydrogen molecules. But for water in the solar system, the proportion is significantly higher.

Water with a high deuterium content can only form under specific conditions. The environment needs to be very cold, and there needs to be enough energy to power the reaction that binds hydrogen, deuterium and oxygen. Over the past several decades, researchers have come up with two possible — and competing  — explanations of how this heavy water took up residence in our solar system.

The first is that it came from interstellar water ice that formed in the huge cloud of gas that gave birth to our sun and the solar system. Stellar nurseries can be found throughout the universe, and they are rich in both heavy water and regular water (H20), the researchers said.

The second possibility is that the violence and energy of star birth ripped apart that interstellar water, and its building blocks got reprocessed within the protoplanetary disk that would eventually coalesce into the planets and other heavenly bodies.

For the past several years, Cleeves has been trying to determine just how much energy was able to penetrate the cold, dense region of the planet-forming disks around stars.

“This study was kind of a side project,” she said. “We realized that if the amount of energy in the disk is as low as we think, that means the water in our solar system couldn’t have formed here, and it had to come from somewhere else.”

Using computer models, she and her colleagues concluded that the disk was certainly cold enough for heavy water to form. But the gas would have been too dense to allow X-rays to enter, and the solar winds and magnetic fields would have had no trouble deflecting cosmic rays.

Without these energy sources, Cleeves said, deuterium and oxygen couldn’t have formed heavy water.

But it would have been easy for cosmic rays to penetrate the gas cloud before it collapsed into the protoplanetary disk, she said. There, those rays could have helped heavy water get made.

“People have wondered for a while how much of the water in comets is inherited and how much was made in the proto-planetary nebula,” said Geoff Blake, a professor of cosmochemistry and planetary science at Caltech who was not involved in the study.

He said the paper successfully demonstrates that the young solar wind would have kept cosmic rays out of the disk entirely, making the chemistry inside too slow to produce heavy water.

“And if that’s true, much of the water in the solar system today had to be inherited,” he said. 

Ted Bergin, an astronomer at the University of Michigan and co-author of the Science study, said the results suggest there may be an abundance of ancient water in young planetary systems throughout the universe.

Most stars and their solar systems are formed in water heavy stellar nurseries similar to the one that birthed our sun. If interstellar water can survive the trauma of our sun’s birth, it is likely it can survive the birth of other stars as well.

“They are all made out of very cold material, with water, and that is being provided to planets as they are being born,” he said.

Asian Games 2014: Indian men flatter in volleyball, but women advance to quarter-finals

Photo by cricket country

Indian volleyball teams had a mixed day with the women spikers entering the quarter-finals but their male counterparts losing their final preliminary group encounter at the 17th Asian Games here Friday.

The women’s team recorded a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Maldives in the last-eight qualification match, winning 25-12, 25-7, 25-11 in 54 minutes at the Ansan Sangroksu Gymnasium.

The Indian team raced away to a comfortable lead right from the start. Tiji Raju top scored with 16 points. India take on China in the last-eight clash Saturday. But at the Songnim Gymnasium centre, India’s male spikers went down fighting 0-3 against Iran in their last Group C match, losing 22-25, 22-25, 18-25 in one hour 11 minutes.

The Indians put a brave fight but lacked the edge as they were narrowly defeated in all the three sets. Lavmeet Katariya top-scored for the team with 11 points but it wasn’t enough. The men’s team is second Iran in the group with two wins out of the three matches. They had earlier beaten Hong Kong 23-25, 25-18, 25-16 and 25-21 and Maldives 25-10, 25-19, 25-17.

By Cricket country 

Indian women save blushes, nail bronze

Incheon :  India’s unheralded women shooters nailed the bronze in team double trap at the faraway Gyeonggido range in the 17th Asian Games on Thursday, the seventh medal in the discipline gained by the country so far.

However, for the second successive day India drew a blank at the nearby Ongnyeon pistol and rifle range where hot shot Gagan Narang made his appearance and flopped individually as well as collectively with his team-mates in 50m rifle prone event.

photo bye free press journal

Pistol shooters Gurpreet Singh, Mahaveer Singh and seasoned Samaresh Jung too disappointed.

Had it not been for the bronze won by the double trap women’s trio of Shagun Chowdhary, Shreyasi Singh and Varsha Varman, the shooting events would have ended for the day without a medal.

Their combined effort fetched them a score of 279, which was far behind gold medal winners and world record setters China’s 315 or silver medal winners Korea’s 324.

Earlier, there was a medal drought at the nearby shooting range. Gagan Narang failed to live up to his reputation after starting off with a bang – two 10.8s in the 50m rifle prone qualification – before going off target and finishing with a disappointing score of 618.4, which could get him only the 14th place out of 52 starters.

Joydeep Karmakar, shot much better and ended up 10th with 621.2 while the third Indian in fray – Hariom Singh – proved out of depth and gained the 29th slot with 613.2.

Karmakar later said that the last five shots proved to be his undoing. “The last few shots made the difference. For 25 years in shooting I was inhaling (when pressing the trigger) and now I am exhaling.

“I am still not fully comfortable, but am sure will feel confident in due course of time. This is the best technique adopted by the world over,” said the 35-year-old Bengal shooter. 

Asian Games 2014: Saina Nehwal runs into her great wall, once again

China’s World No.3 Wang Yihan is deceptive on court because of her crafty wrists. In eight of the previous nine matches between Wang and Sania Nehwal, the former prevailed because she hoodwinked the India No.1 by playing late and changing the direction of her strokes at the very last second. On most of those occasions, Saina was left guessing because of the unpredictable nature of her opponent’s shot-making. 

Saina Nehwal ( By Indian Express )

So the Indian’s plan before her Asian Games quarterfinal against Wang was to play the waiting game by committing late to strokes. Till the first game, the strategy seemed to be working well. Saina watched Wang closely but moved swiftly to produce sharp, uncomfortable returns.

 It was an intriguing tactical duel that lasted 25 minutes. Saina would retrieve from every impossible angle Wang would find. Saina wrapped up the game 21-18.

After the rousing start by the Indian, came the tame surrender. The intensity of the first game had taken its toll on both players. One of the perils of playing long rallies on slow courts, like the one at the Gyeyang Stadium here, is that it can be extremely energy-sapping.

Wang, sensing an opportunity, dug deep into her energy reserves and started doing what she does best — outwitting an opponent with skillful racquet guile. Wang’s sharp half-smashes troubled Saina, who could not muster any resistance. She lost the next game 9-21 and the decider 7-21. It was her second consecutive quarterfinal exit from the Asian Games.

Despite Saina’s inferior head-to-head record against this particular Chinese opponent, what restricted her progress on Friday was poor movement on court. She later said that improving her agility was on top of the agenda when she decided to move to Bangalore — from Hyderabad — and train under Vimal Kumar ahead of the Asian Games. At the World Championships last month, Saina realised her movements, front and back as well as lateral, were getting stiff. She couldn’t move at all, as a result of which she could not retrieve quite a few shots.

The two weeks she spent at Prakash Padukone’s academy in Bangalore, before leaving for Incheon, were dedicated to rectifying this aspect of her game. “Vimal sir made me do that (on-court movement) again and again. And he made me do it fast. It will take time to improve my endurance. Usually it takes around four weeks to do that. But I am trying,” she said.

She will most likely be heading to Bangalore again instead of Hyderabad. The work on her movements is only half done. “I’m happy that I am improving so I would like to spend some more time (with Vimal). We have to discuss again and it is not an easy decision,” she said.

By Indian Express

Revealed: What sets tectonic plates in motion

There are eight major tectonic plates that move above the earth’s mantle at rates of up to 150 millimetres every year and Earth is the only planet in our solar system with such a system in place.

The geological record suggests that until three billion years ago, the earth’s crust was immobile so what sparked this unique phenomenon has fascinated geologists for decades.

Photo by Indileak

“We suggest it was triggered by the spreading of early continents and then eventually became a self-sustaining process,” said Professor Patrice Rey from the University of Sydney’s school of geosciences.

In simple terms, the process involves plates being dragged into the mantle at certain points and moving away from each other at others, in what has been dubbed “the conveyor belt”.

Plate tectonics depends on the inverse relationship between density of rocks and temperature.

At mid-oceanic ridges, rocks are hot and their density is low, making them buoyant or more able to float.

As they move away from those ridges they cool down and their density increases until, where they become denser than the underlying hot mantle, they sink and are dragged under.

But three to four billion years ago, the earth’s interior was hotter, volcanic activity was more prominent and tectonic plates did not become cold and dense enough to spontaneously sink.

“So the driving engine for plate tectonics did not exist,” Rey added.

Instead, buoyant early continents erupted in the middle of immobile plates.

“Our model shows that these early continents could have placed major stress on the surrounding plates. Because they were buoyant they spread horizontally, forcing adjacent plates to be pushed under at their edges,” Rey pointed out.

The article appeared in the journal Nature.

By Indileak

Destination Mars: Mangalyaan enters the last leg of its journey

Photo by India times

It is a tiny spacecraft by interplanetary standards, but size does not matter in this endeavour. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is not trying to do exotic scientific experiments on Mars at the moment.

This mission is simply to test the organisation's ability to take something all the way up to Mars, keep it in good health during the journey, and make it go around the planet. Doing experiments while orbiting Mars is useful, but it is not the core part of the mission.

 
On Monday next week, ISRO will face one of the biggest tests of this complicated project. It will switch on the engine that has been lying dormant for 10 months, and fire it for four seconds to slow down the spacecraft.

If it fires and performs well, ISRO will fire it for a longer duration two days later and ease the spacecraft into an orbit around Mars. If it fails to ignite on September 22, the space organisation will nudge the spacecraft's path towards a Martian orbit by firing eight  smaller thrusters on September 24. In either case, barring completely unexpected situations, the Mars orbiter is expected to reach its destination within a week.

Apart from a small glitch a few days after launch, the mission has gone very smoothly. The spacecraft has completed 98 per cent of its journey, and its trajectory is so close to the intended path that ISRO did not have to do a correction exercise planned for last month. 

"We have crossed several situations that we have not faced before," says ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan. "We are now preparing for all contingencies on September 24."

The Mars mission, as planned by ISRO, was a sophisticated exercise. Compared to other Mars missions, ISRO had a smaller rocket and payload. This reduced the cost significantly but increased the mission's complexity. Other Mars missions are not planned this way.

The Maven spacecraft of NASA, which will reach Mars a  few days before ISRO's orbiter, was on its way to the red planet directly after launch. All it required was a fiveminute push from the powerful upper stage of the rocket, just 27 minutes after lift-off. 

By India Times

Advani qualifies for Indian Open

Pankaj Advani along with five others qualified for the Indian Open Championships after winning their respective knockout matches on Thursday.

In the qualifiers, which concluded at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana tables, Advani blanked Rafat Habib 4-0. India No. 5 Faisal Khan shocked India No 2 Kamal Chawla 4-2 in a two-hour encounter.

India No. 3 Brijesh Damani, Neeraj Kumar, Dharminder Lilly and Sumit Talwar also qualified.


Asian snooker gold medal-winning team member Faisal won 4-2 (68-24, 131(103)-00, 25-75, 78-51, 13-77(72), 78(59)-12) In the deciding frame Chawla led 12-0.

In another interesting match, Lilly of Punjab blossomed late in the seventh frame to make a comeback and scrape past Laxman Rawat 4-3 (74-11, 60-34, 10-64, 61-03, 05-60, 00-83, 64-50).

Rawat was 8 point up after which he missed a brown. Lilly had a break of 22, after potting brown, blue, pink and black to turn the tide in a two hour 30 min thriller. In the last frame Lakshman was up 8 points and missed on the brown. Dharmendra played calmly to clinch a break of 22 points potting brown, blue, pink and black to win the match.

In another closely fought match, Sumit Talwar of Chandigarh upset seasoned Alok Kumar of PSPB for the top spot winning 4-3 (67-22, 51-69, 33-69, 15-51, 62-16, 59-47, 59-56).

In the decider frame Alok Kumar led 31-7, Sumit Talwar made a unbeaten break of 46 to come back a score a creditable 3 point win.

Pankaj Advani of PSPB secured a easy win over Rafat Habib od Railways winning 4-0(84-51, 62-21, 69-05, 75(75)-00); Advani's teammate Brijesh Damani scored a 4-2 (53-57,51-41,81-414,68-36,14-72,49-04) win over Delhi's Anuj Uppal, while Railwayman Neeraj Kumar stopped the winning run of PSPB's Manan Chandra 4-1(79-16, 70-55, 86-28, 41-55, 83-37).

By Pune Mirror 

Asian Games 2014: Where mind is without fear

Deepika Kumari lets out a wry smile when you mention London and mental toughness in the same breath. At 18, she was among the youngest members of the Indian contingent at the Olympics two years ago.

Deepika Kumari ( Photo by Indian Express )

 The then world No. 1 was also the country’s brightest medal prospect. But in front of packed stands at Lord’s – a venue far too familiar to the Indians – the dramatic mental disintegration of the archer was astonishing. Unable to adapt to the windy conditions, she failed to hit a single bulls-eye and went down 2-6 in the first round to Englishwoman Amy Oliver. She hasn’t forgotten that morning, yet. “I haven’t been allowed to forget it,” she quickly adds. 

London wasn’t a solitary moment of failure for Deepika. It triggered a prolonged lean patch in her fledgling career; her staggering slump as dramatic as her prodigious rise. And it’s likely that those memories will come rushing back when she lines up against Asia and world’s best at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field. The windy and overcast conditions here left creases on her forehead.

This time, however, she insists she is better prepared. “The windy conditions will be the same for everyone. It will depend a lot on how I feel that day, my body condition and mental state,” she says, as she checks into the Games Village, clinging on to a giant teddy.

How well she adapts to the conditions will be the key in determining where she finishes on the podium – if she finishes on the podium. It’s solely for this purpose that the archers were the first to reach South Korea, a good two weeks before the others. India’s Korean coach Lim Chae Woong brought the team to Gwangju, nearly 250km from Incheon, to train with some local archers.

For a couple of days, even reigning Olympic and world champion archer Ki Bo-Bae joined the Indian contingent. “It has helped a lot in terms of preparation. I have worked on a few specific aspects like playing in front of crowds and keeping a cool mind. We have practised in front of crowds. Even though the atmosphere at the Asian Games will be quite different, it helped. Let’s see how things unfold during competition,” Deepika says.

You can sense that the lost confidence is slowly returning. Deepika says it’s the return to her old coach and old bow that has done the trick. A few months ago, she slipped to 19th in the rankings following a string of poor results this year and failed to make it to the senior squad for the Stage I and III World Cups.

To arrest her slide, she returned to Dharmendra Tiwary, who coached Deepika in the early years of her career. The reunion was more to prep her psychologically than technically, Tiwary says. “She gets nervous before big matches. Even before the continued…

By Indian Express

Asian Games: Shooter Abhinav Bindra 'used to' federations messing up

 India's only individual Olympic gold medallist, Abhinav Bindra has expressed anguish and disappointment over the seeming apathy of the country's sports administrators, saying he has "got used" to such things.

Abhinav Bindra ( Photo by First post )

He wanted to check into the Asiad Games Village early but could not make it till yesterday evening, two days after his preferred date, as the event organisers were unable to send accreditation cards for Bindra and other members of the Indian shooting squad because the national federation had not sent their entries on time.

The rifle ace was in for disappointment on arrival too, as no Indian official was at the airport to receive him and hand over his accreditation card. He had to complete customs formalities for the release of his equipment on his own.

"What can I do? But it would have been nice to come in early," Bindra said.

He added: "I have got used to these things. Nothing surprises me anymore."

He said he can only concentrate on his event and give his best.

Bindra had won a historic gold medal in 10-metre Air Rifle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

India's shooters are hoping to extend their success at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where they won 17 medals, including four golds.

At the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, India participated in 35 sports and won 65 medals, including 14 golds.

Hockey India slams Govt for cutting down on support staff

New Delhi: Hockey India on Wednesday described the government's decision to exclude their four key support staff, including a coach, from the Asian Games-bound contingent as "distraction", leaving their High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans in a state of "shock".

India's national game also had to face the brunt of the government's decision to prune down the Indian contingent for the Incheon Asian Games to 679 from 942 after men's team coach Jude Felix and scientific advisor Matthew David Eyles, and women's side physiotherapist Gaurav Mehra and video analyst Amutha Prakash were not cleared for the September 19 to October 4 quadrennial event.

Photo by IBN live

Even though the move didn't go down well with Oltmans, he said both the men's and women's teams are focussed to deliver the goods despite the absence of the specialists.

"I am shocked. In 30 years of my professional career, I haven't encountered such a scenario. It is impossible to manage a team without people in specific roles," Oltmans said on the sidelines of sending-off ceremony for the teams held at HI secretary Narinder Batra's residence on Wednesday.

"We were supposed to leave tomorrow but we still don't know when we are flying because we haven't got our tickets yet. These are all distracting us and throwing our plans haywire.

"Our main focus now is to stay away from all these distractions and make sure that we perform to the level which we are capable of and if we do so, we have a fair chance," the legendary Dutchman said.

Indian men's team's chief coach Terry Walsh is also "disturbed" and "surprised" by the last-minute problems.

"I just heard about some of these possible issues. Seems somewhat far-fetched to me. I can't control any of that so leave it to the people who can," he said.

"Well this makes me really disturbed. We still don't know as to which day we leave and it is really important, that's actually is quite critical. It's another of those issues which we can't control but we are working around. It is somewhat surprising that these things are happening at this stage of preparation," Walsh said.

"We have got plans but things get changed. We don't get too bothered by it we just have to deal with the situation put in front of us."

By IBN live 

Mary Kom ready for the Incheon challenge

Women’s boxing superstar M.C. Mary Kom is an ageless beauty on the canvas. A mother of three, the 31-year-old Mary Kom has redefined the scope for an Indian woman athlete by making two comebacks after child birth.

A five-time world champion and a London Olympics bronze medallist, Mary Kom is now stretching herself to the limit at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here in order to be fighting fit for the upcoming Incheon Asian Games.

Mary Kom ( photo by The hindu)

Returning to action after a two-year layoff, which witnessed the birth of her third child and two surgeries, Mary Kom is neither physically affected nor mentally exhausted.

“My dream (of winning a gold medal) was not fulfilled in the last Olympics. That’s why I came back.

“I am trying my best to fulfil my dream. After (London) Olympics, I had a baby.

“The comeback was faster than the last time as the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games were approaching very fast. I am happy that I have regained fitness,” Mary Kom told The Hindu.

“After remaining out of the ring for two years, it was very hard to return. I had two surgeries — one for the delivery and one for the removal of the gall bladder. We face so many problems in life, but fight back. This is my passion and this is what I love to do. I always try to win a medal for the country, but even if I do not win a medal I enjoy the experience.”

Asked about her expectations at Incheon, Mary Kom, a bronze medallist in the 2010 Asiad, refrained from predicting anything.

“I cannot say anything about the competition. Anything can happen.

“I have a lot of experience and I will manage (even without any competitive exposure prior to the Games). In the Asian Games all the opponents from different countries are the same.

“I just train hard and keep focus.”

Mary Kom, who will compete in the 51kg category, said she did not have any butterflies in her stomach even as she was about to take part in a top-level competition after a long gap.

“When I go into the ring, I do not have any different feeling. I have been practising and now I am hundred per cent fit and in my old form.”

Mary Kom asserted that she felt as young as ever while stepping into the ring.

“I have no idea about the age factor. I will go for the Rio Olympics and let’s see what happens in between,” she said.

by The Hindu

We are capable of doing well at Asian Games: Dipika Pallikal

Fresh from her exploits in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games where she got a gold in the women’s doubles with Joshana Chinappa, squash ace Dipika Pallikal is confident that the Indian team can win medals in each of the four categories at the Sep 19-Oct 4 Incheon Asian Games.

“We can win medals in all categories, but it’s wrong to say it’s going to be easier than the Commonwealth Games. For example there is Nicol David, who is the world no. 1 and favourite for the women’s singles title,” said Pallikal at the launch JSW Indian Challenger Circuit.

photo by indian express

India’s no. 1 female player, who was present at the media conference along with top men’s player Saurav Ghosal, said other strong Asian contenders like Malaysia and Hong Kong would pose a tough challenge in the continental Games.

“India are seeded third in both men’s and women’s team events. Malaysia and Hong Kong will be there but we are capable of doing well. On a good day anything can happen,” said the Chennai-based player who is currently ranked 12th in the world.

Ghosal, the world no. 16 who lost in the men’s singles bronze medal contest in Glasgow to finish fourth, is the top seed in the Asian Games but has a tough draw in front of him.

“I am the no. 1 seed and am drawn to meet Ahmad Al-Saraj of Jordan (world no. 105) in the second round and then Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal (world no. 42) in the next round and then Ong Beng Hee (Malaysian world no. 35) in the semis. If I progress to the final I could be up against Max Lee (Hong Kong), who is seeded second,” explained Ghosal.

Asked when he was scheduled to leave for Incheon, Ghosal said, “I am supposed to leave on the 15th so that I would be there on the 16th, but I am yet to get my flight ticket.”

By Indian Express

UN Predicts Climate Change-Induced Disasters by 2050

 September 2 (RIA Novosti) - The United Nations’ meteorological agency has launched a series of videos that show what weather forecasts may look like in the future, as the effects of global warming become more pronounced.

“WMO [World Meteorological Organization] invited television weather presenters from around the world to imagine a ‘weather report from the year 2050.’ What they created are only possible scenarios, of course, and not true forecasts,” UN’s meteorological agency writes on its website.

The series’ first video, published by the WMO on Monday, paints a grim outlook for the future. “Miami South Beach is under water,” one presenter says, while another reports that the “mega-drought in Arizona has claimed another casualty”.

According to the organization, the scenarios are based on “the most up-to-date climate science” and show a compelling picture of what weather forecasts could look like in just 36 years if the world fails to take action against climate change.

Another 14 videos will be released throughout September on WMO’s website. The project is aimed to raise awareness before the UN Climate Summit on September 23.

News by Ria

‘Smart’ neurons in human skin can crack complex calculations

Neurons in human skin perform advanced calculations which scientists previously believed that only the brain could carry out, a new study has found. 

Researchers from the Umea University in Sweden found that neurons in skin not only send signals to the brain that something has touched the skin, but also process geometric data about the object touching the skin. 

Photo by TOI

A fundamental characteristic of neurons that extend into the skin and record touch, so called first-order neurons in the tactile system, is that they branch in the skin so that each neuron reports touch from many highly-sensitive zones on the skin. 

Researchers found that two types of first-order tactile neurons that supply the sensitive skin at our fingertips not only signal information about when and how intensely an object is touched, but also information about the touched object's shape, said Andrew Pruszynski, who is one of the researchers behind the study. 

The study also showed that the sensitivity of individual neurons to the shape of an object depends on the layout of the neuron's highly-sensitive zones in the skin. 

These peripheral neurons, which are engaged when a fingertip examines an object, perform the same type of calculations done by neurons in the cerebral cortex. 

Somewhat simplified, it means that our touch experiences are already processed by neurons that are present in the skin before they reach the brain for further processing, said Pruszynski.

News by TOI

Robotic birds that look and fly like the real thing

Photo by Indian express

A Dutch designer has come up with unique remote-controlled robotic birds that look and fly exactly like the real creatures and act as a deterrent to flocks of nuisance birds.

Brainchild of Nico Nijenhuis from Clear Flight Solutions in The Netherlands, the ‘Robirds’ actually flap their wings to fly, and in a way that makes them remarkably similar to the real thing.

“Birds are beautiful creatures. However, if you work in aviation, waste management or agriculture, you will be aware that birds can be a very tough problem to deal with. Birds are not only a nuisance, they can also be a serious threat to safety in aviation,” the creators wrote on their website.

The Robird is an environmentally-friendly solution for all such bird-related problems, they wrote.

According to the creators, the Robird can fly in and around problem areas, encouraging nuisance birds to leave by exploiting the natural instinct of birds to avoid predators, particularly through silhouette and wing movement recognition, ‘Gizmag’ reported.

The creators claim that as the system is fully remote controlled by an operator on the ground, difficult birds can be persuaded to leave by singling them out with the Robird to chase them away.

Targeted bird populations learn to avoid what they perceive as the active stalking grounds of a bird of prey and that bird numbers in the areas of Robird operation drop by 50 per cent or more, according to the creators.

The Robirds virtually eliminate the chances of nuisance bird flock habituation in the long term, the report said.

With a body length of up to 58 cm and a wingspan of 120 cm the peregrine falcon model can reach 80 km/h and is designed to act as a deterrent to birds of up to 3 kg.

The eagle model is even more intimidating. With a body length nearly twice the length of the falcon and wingspan of up to 220 cm, this robot bird is designed to scare off any type of bird.

News by Indian Express