this bbc feature looks at the appalling state of obstetric services in the subcontinent. it is quite shocking that india continues to lag behind many poor african, central and south american nations in maternal and neonatal mortality despite its much vaunted 10% per annum economic growth and aspirations of super-power status. afghanistan and nepal are desperately poor countries which have been ravaged by armed conflicts and power struggles recently and as is usual in these situations, women and children suffer first and longest. also note that sri lanka is missing from these statistics- despite civil war and other hindrances, sri lanka has always had better health and social outcomes than its neighbours.
of course, some of the blame can be attributed to silly superstitions, a topic i wrote about last year. but most of the preventable maternal mortality can be squarely attributed to the fact that basic pre- and peri-natal care is financially and physically out of reach of the vast majority of rural indian women. it is a deplorable situation, especially if you go to a city like bangalore; to cater for the burgeoning, newly successful IT class, the city is increasingly being cluttered with western style malls stocking the most exclusive fashion labels, trendy bars, nightclubs and premium car dealerships. drive 100km out of the city in any direction and you find yourself in rural india, where mothers and babies dying because of lack of simple obstetric services is just day-to-day life....
Thursday 18 October 2007
cricket, cricket, cricket...
the india-australia odi series (future cup) finished yesterday; once more, it was a non-cricketing issue that made the headlines. the monkey chants directed at andrew symonds have become the main talking point of the cricketing world.
it initially began in vadodara, a match that symonds single-handedly dominated. the australians, after raising the allegations of racist crowd behaviour bizarrely decided not to pursue the issue and instead stated that they were confident that the indians would "deal with it". the bcci and vadodara cricket officials, basically washed their hands clean of the whole affair by saying that either it didnt really happen, it was a misunderstanding on the part of symonds or in fact, monkey chants in india are not derogotary. whilst i do feel that the icc's stance that all cricket boards must appoint anti-racism officers is misconceived, the bcci's reaction was appallingly inappropriate. it vindicated those people who were involved in the chanting and all but provided official encouragement for that sort of behaviour in future matches. and sure enough, the mumbai crowd obliged.
the bcci has its hands tied now- they have to act. i hope that rather than rhetoric and token gestures, some serious action is taken. now that photo evidence is available, life bans for those involved are a must. also, i believe that the culprit cities (mumbai and vadodara) should be given lengthy international bans of at least 3-4 years. the bcci will no doubt point fingers at australian cities where black south african cricketers were subjected to similar racial abuse in 2005/06 and escaped any real punishment. but that is a pockmark on the australian authorities, who have almost always supported their own regardless of right or wrong. india should not try and emulate australia in this particular regard, especially when australian cricket has so much to offer as they demonstrated in this series.
in any case, focussing on the cricket, the 4-2 scoreline really flatterred india, i felt. in fact, a 6-0 scoreline not only would've been more in accordance with the quality of cricket played, but it also would've given india a much needed reality check. as such, the indians are probably thinking that a little bit of luck in nagpur or hyderabad and the series would've been a draw. in reality, the contest was nowhere near that close. india came into the tournament thinking that they were playing against a team who were their equals, in light of their recent T20 success. but clearly there was nothing equal about the teams. there are some serious concerns for this indian team, especially with the imminent retirements of sachin tendulkar, rahul dravid and anil kumble. the batsman, buoyed by their T20 exploits, crashed down to earth spectacularly. major technical flaws were exposed in yuvraj singh, robin uthappa and ms dhoni. they only have a short time to rectify these faults before the australia tour, where any weakness will be ruthlessly exploited on fast pitches. the bowling was atrocious, especially the spinners. all the pitches used in the future cup (maybe except the bangalore pitch) were spinner-friendly yet only in mumbai did an indian spinner dominate- compare this to the performances of brad hogg and andrew symonds with the ball. the pace bowlers were equally poor. sreesanth and rp singh were profligate with wides and loose deliveries, more than erasing any credits they earnt with some superb wickettaking deliveries. zaheer khan was a lone ranger with his accuracy, but more will be needed from him in australia. pathan made a strong comeback, but has lost his wickettaking edge in a quest for control (this is understandable but one wonders how much of that is reversible). and the worst aspect of the indian performance was fielding. easy catches were dropped in every game; there were frequent misfields and poor throws; and runout opportunities were fumbled at crucial stages. much of the good work in the leadup to the T20 world cup has apparently been undone. how often can it be said that sourav ganguly was one of the most mistake-free fielders in the indian team???
so there is a tremendous amount of work to be done if india are to repeat their 2003/04 performance where they matched australia in all aspects of the game and denied steve waugh a farewell victory with that famous 705 in the first innings of the sydney test match.
it initially began in vadodara, a match that symonds single-handedly dominated. the australians, after raising the allegations of racist crowd behaviour bizarrely decided not to pursue the issue and instead stated that they were confident that the indians would "deal with it". the bcci and vadodara cricket officials, basically washed their hands clean of the whole affair by saying that either it didnt really happen, it was a misunderstanding on the part of symonds or in fact, monkey chants in india are not derogotary. whilst i do feel that the icc's stance that all cricket boards must appoint anti-racism officers is misconceived, the bcci's reaction was appallingly inappropriate. it vindicated those people who were involved in the chanting and all but provided official encouragement for that sort of behaviour in future matches. and sure enough, the mumbai crowd obliged.
the bcci has its hands tied now- they have to act. i hope that rather than rhetoric and token gestures, some serious action is taken. now that photo evidence is available, life bans for those involved are a must. also, i believe that the culprit cities (mumbai and vadodara) should be given lengthy international bans of at least 3-4 years. the bcci will no doubt point fingers at australian cities where black south african cricketers were subjected to similar racial abuse in 2005/06 and escaped any real punishment. but that is a pockmark on the australian authorities, who have almost always supported their own regardless of right or wrong. india should not try and emulate australia in this particular regard, especially when australian cricket has so much to offer as they demonstrated in this series.
in any case, focussing on the cricket, the 4-2 scoreline really flatterred india, i felt. in fact, a 6-0 scoreline not only would've been more in accordance with the quality of cricket played, but it also would've given india a much needed reality check. as such, the indians are probably thinking that a little bit of luck in nagpur or hyderabad and the series would've been a draw. in reality, the contest was nowhere near that close. india came into the tournament thinking that they were playing against a team who were their equals, in light of their recent T20 success. but clearly there was nothing equal about the teams. there are some serious concerns for this indian team, especially with the imminent retirements of sachin tendulkar, rahul dravid and anil kumble. the batsman, buoyed by their T20 exploits, crashed down to earth spectacularly. major technical flaws were exposed in yuvraj singh, robin uthappa and ms dhoni. they only have a short time to rectify these faults before the australia tour, where any weakness will be ruthlessly exploited on fast pitches. the bowling was atrocious, especially the spinners. all the pitches used in the future cup (maybe except the bangalore pitch) were spinner-friendly yet only in mumbai did an indian spinner dominate- compare this to the performances of brad hogg and andrew symonds with the ball. the pace bowlers were equally poor. sreesanth and rp singh were profligate with wides and loose deliveries, more than erasing any credits they earnt with some superb wickettaking deliveries. zaheer khan was a lone ranger with his accuracy, but more will be needed from him in australia. pathan made a strong comeback, but has lost his wickettaking edge in a quest for control (this is understandable but one wonders how much of that is reversible). and the worst aspect of the indian performance was fielding. easy catches were dropped in every game; there were frequent misfields and poor throws; and runout opportunities were fumbled at crucial stages. much of the good work in the leadup to the T20 world cup has apparently been undone. how often can it be said that sourav ganguly was one of the most mistake-free fielders in the indian team???
so there is a tremendous amount of work to be done if india are to repeat their 2003/04 performance where they matched australia in all aspects of the game and denied steve waugh a farewell victory with that famous 705 in the first innings of the sydney test match.
Sunday 14 October 2007
an inconvenient truth
i was very disappointed with the nobel foundation for awarding the 2007 peace prize to al gore. i think it really cheapens the whole concept of the nobel peace prize and lessens the achievements of some of the more deserving winners in previous years.
whilst gore has raised some very important issues and brought much needed widescale publicity to the global warming debate, he has done so in a manner that is manipulative, sensationalist and at times, dishonest.
so i think in light of all this, to have awarded the nobel peace prize to al gore was a hasty, ill-conceived decision on part of the nobel prize committee. there are so many doubts and holes in al gore's position that he has just ignored and covered up with hyperbole, savviness and deception....
whilst gore has raised some very important issues and brought much needed widescale publicity to the global warming debate, he has done so in a manner that is manipulative, sensationalist and at times, dishonest.
so i think in light of all this, to have awarded the nobel peace prize to al gore was a hasty, ill-conceived decision on part of the nobel prize committee. there are so many doubts and holes in al gore's position that he has just ignored and covered up with hyperbole, savviness and deception....
Thursday 4 October 2007
More on cricket
Dileep Premachandran has written an excellent article on cricinfo about the farcical sledging controversy that has arisen out of the current India-Australia ODI series. Whilst everything he has written is quite accurate and relevant, i think he has missed the main point.
when the west indies were the undisputed world champions in the 70's and 80's, they were respected, not just for their cricketing talent, but truly respected as gentlemen, the sort of respect that the current australian team craves and probably feels entitled to. yet their offensive on-field behaviour and sledging antics have ensured few people appreciate them beyond their admittedly awesome cricketing abilities.
when the west indies were champions, young cricketers around the world looked up to them as role models. viv richards, gordon greenidge, michael holding, joel garner and co. inspired a whole generation of young cricket players in the 80's- and what role models they were. a generation later, in the mid-late 90's, australia replaced the west indies at the top of the heirarchy. but they have not exactly been the most complete role models- sure they're great cricketers, perhaps even better than clive lloyd's team, but their unsporting behaviour and hypocrisy have caused as many headlines as their cricketing successses.
so moving forward into the 21st century, when the australian team walks out to play against india, and particularly guys like sreesanth and harbhajan, they see a reflection of themselves and are decidedly uncomfortable with it. these behaviours have been inspired by the champions australian team- this, of all things, is their legacy to world cricket. and that i think is the root cause of the whole unpalatable affair being played out in india at the moment. this sort of thing would not have been seen in 80's and 90's, when the great west indians were the leaders of the cricketing world.
when the west indies were the undisputed world champions in the 70's and 80's, they were respected, not just for their cricketing talent, but truly respected as gentlemen, the sort of respect that the current australian team craves and probably feels entitled to. yet their offensive on-field behaviour and sledging antics have ensured few people appreciate them beyond their admittedly awesome cricketing abilities.
when the west indies were champions, young cricketers around the world looked up to them as role models. viv richards, gordon greenidge, michael holding, joel garner and co. inspired a whole generation of young cricket players in the 80's- and what role models they were. a generation later, in the mid-late 90's, australia replaced the west indies at the top of the heirarchy. but they have not exactly been the most complete role models- sure they're great cricketers, perhaps even better than clive lloyd's team, but their unsporting behaviour and hypocrisy have caused as many headlines as their cricketing successses.
so moving forward into the 21st century, when the australian team walks out to play against india, and particularly guys like sreesanth and harbhajan, they see a reflection of themselves and are decidedly uncomfortable with it. these behaviours have been inspired by the champions australian team- this, of all things, is their legacy to world cricket. and that i think is the root cause of the whole unpalatable affair being played out in india at the moment. this sort of thing would not have been seen in 80's and 90's, when the great west indians were the leaders of the cricketing world.
Wednesday 3 October 2007
Milford Sound 21/09-22/09
The day began in Te Anau, a small town on the southeastern banks of Lake Te Anau, at 5am. Milford is about 120 km north of Te Anau through some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. We were forewarned to start early because the temptation to stop and admire and take photos and drive slowly would be irresistible......
And how right this warning turned out to be. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to Milford Sound. But before I get ahead of myself here's some of the incredible sights on the way...
The perfect reflections of the mirror lakes....
The approach to the Homer tunnel....basically there's a steep granite mountain that blocks the way to Milford Sound, so the New Zealanders blasted their way through- it only took 30 years!! Initially the Homer tunnel was a project designed to provide employment during the depression but it turned out to be much more work than anyone imagined...
The first half of the road to Milford is fairly standard NZ scenery- lush farmland, rainforest, pine plantations, the Lake of course, and lots of sheep. But it begins to change once the road winds onto the Eglington river valley. Suddenly, as you enter the Fiordland National Park, there are steep snow-capped mountains rising up on either side and the thick forest arches over the road creating a claustrophobic atmosphere. There is no farmland anymore, only forest, and grassland on the valley floor.
On the other side of the tunnel, however, it's a whole new world. There are numerous avalanches, icefalls and treefalls. The rivers and creeks are narrow and fast-flowing. The bends in the road are sharper and there are ominous "NO STOPPING- AVALANCHE ZONE" warnings everywhere. Steep granite walls rise up all around whilst fog covers the valley floor. The roar of the rivers is surpassed in volume only by the procession of tourist buses. As the road winds down towards Milford, the vegetation only seems to get thicker, just like the heavy morning mist.
At Milford Sound, we decided to join a kayaking group and see the Sound up close, as it was a dry, warm day (by Fiordland standards of course). It turned out to be a brilliant decision because no sooner had we pushed our kayaks into the water that we were greeted by a family of bottlenose dolphins. In between large servings of whitebait, the dolphins frollicked around our kayaks, coming much closer to us than we would dare go to them. As we paddled further out into Milford Sound, we passed by some of the area's permanent waterfalls, as well as sites of old treefalls, a fairly common occurence on the steep, densely wooded sloped.
After a quick lunch on the water, we were headed across to the northern bank when we came across a group of penguins, also after whitebait. Unfortunately, penguins are not as trusting of humans as dolphins. We had to keep our distance because the penguins were very shy and would swim away quickly if we came too close....
On the rocks of the northern bank of Milford Sound, we found a whole bunch of NZ fur seals. Apparently they like to bask in the sun during the day and hunt fish at night!! That sounds a bit bizarre to me, but thats what the locals said. These seals are lazy!! They just sit there and stretch and yawn and sleep. But at least they're completely unfazed by humans. We were able to get really close to these seals, only one seal even flinched, and even he went back to his nap almost immediately.
As we headed back to the harbour, passing thru Bowen falls, we were all incredibly sore. Kayaks are a great way to see Milford Sound, but they're not gentle on your back and legs. It was great day out on the water, with more to come on the next day....
We woke up to a stormy sky- everything was shades of grey. The heavens had opened up and it was pouring down....not what you want on your holiday. Unless you're going on a Milford Sound cruise!!! The clouds and the rain brought the whole place to life. There were waterfalls everywhere you looked. The permanent waterfalls had all doubled and tripled in size. The wind whipped the fog into a frenzy creating marvellous visual effects with the mountains in the background.
As the cruiseboat headed out to sea, we began to feel the full brunt of the weather conditions. The cold, stinging rain drove everyone inside and the boat rocked ominously. But this is definitely the best way to see Milford Sound, from outside in. You can really appreciate the steepness of the mountains that seemingly arise directly from the Tasman Sea. It is easy to see why numerous sailors including James Cook missed Milford Sound on their journeys down New Zealand's west coast- the inlet curves sharply to the north, the first of many curves.
On the way back, we stopped by a few more waterfalls with some people opting to get drenched. Then it was smooth sailing all the way back into the harbour....
[The only downside of Milford Sound was the sandfly bites- they're really painful, and itchy for days afterwards. We'd been talking about getting repellant for days beforehand but never got around to it. If your going to Milford Sound, the two things you should not forget are your camera and insect repellant!!]
And how right this warning turned out to be. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to Milford Sound. But before I get ahead of myself here's some of the incredible sights on the way...
The perfect reflections of the mirror lakes....
The approach to the Homer tunnel....basically there's a steep granite mountain that blocks the way to Milford Sound, so the New Zealanders blasted their way through- it only took 30 years!! Initially the Homer tunnel was a project designed to provide employment during the depression but it turned out to be much more work than anyone imagined...The first half of the road to Milford is fairly standard NZ scenery- lush farmland, rainforest, pine plantations, the Lake of course, and lots of sheep. But it begins to change once the road winds onto the Eglington river valley. Suddenly, as you enter the Fiordland National Park, there are steep snow-capped mountains rising up on either side and the thick forest arches over the road creating a claustrophobic atmosphere. There is no farmland anymore, only forest, and grassland on the valley floor.
On the other side of the tunnel, however, it's a whole new world. There are numerous avalanches, icefalls and treefalls. The rivers and creeks are narrow and fast-flowing. The bends in the road are sharper and there are ominous "NO STOPPING- AVALANCHE ZONE" warnings everywhere. Steep granite walls rise up all around whilst fog covers the valley floor. The roar of the rivers is surpassed in volume only by the procession of tourist buses. As the road winds down towards Milford, the vegetation only seems to get thicker, just like the heavy morning mist.
At Milford Sound, we decided to join a kayaking group and see the Sound up close, as it was a dry, warm day (by Fiordland standards of course). It turned out to be a brilliant decision because no sooner had we pushed our kayaks into the water that we were greeted by a family of bottlenose dolphins. In between large servings of whitebait, the dolphins frollicked around our kayaks, coming much closer to us than we would dare go to them. As we paddled further out into Milford Sound, we passed by some of the area's permanent waterfalls, as well as sites of old treefalls, a fairly common occurence on the steep, densely wooded sloped.
After a quick lunch on the water, we were headed across to the northern bank when we came across a group of penguins, also after whitebait. Unfortunately, penguins are not as trusting of humans as dolphins. We had to keep our distance because the penguins were very shy and would swim away quickly if we came too close....
On the rocks of the northern bank of Milford Sound, we found a whole bunch of NZ fur seals. Apparently they like to bask in the sun during the day and hunt fish at night!! That sounds a bit bizarre to me, but thats what the locals said. These seals are lazy!! They just sit there and stretch and yawn and sleep. But at least they're completely unfazed by humans. We were able to get really close to these seals, only one seal even flinched, and even he went back to his nap almost immediately.
As we headed back to the harbour, passing thru Bowen falls, we were all incredibly sore. Kayaks are a great way to see Milford Sound, but they're not gentle on your back and legs. It was great day out on the water, with more to come on the next day....
We woke up to a stormy sky- everything was shades of grey. The heavens had opened up and it was pouring down....not what you want on your holiday. Unless you're going on a Milford Sound cruise!!! The clouds and the rain brought the whole place to life. There were waterfalls everywhere you looked. The permanent waterfalls had all doubled and tripled in size. The wind whipped the fog into a frenzy creating marvellous visual effects with the mountains in the background.
As the cruiseboat headed out to sea, we began to feel the full brunt of the weather conditions. The cold, stinging rain drove everyone inside and the boat rocked ominously. But this is definitely the best way to see Milford Sound, from outside in. You can really appreciate the steepness of the mountains that seemingly arise directly from the Tasman Sea. It is easy to see why numerous sailors including James Cook missed Milford Sound on their journeys down New Zealand's west coast- the inlet curves sharply to the north, the first of many curves.
On the way back, we stopped by a few more waterfalls with some people opting to get drenched. Then it was smooth sailing all the way back into the harbour....
[The only downside of Milford Sound was the sandfly bites- they're really painful, and itchy for days afterwards. We'd been talking about getting repellant for days beforehand but never got around to it. If your going to Milford Sound, the two things you should not forget are your camera and insect repellant!!]
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