Surat lensman snaps up gold medal at Japanese contest

SURAT: An unknown Surti wedding photographer won a gold medal in a photography competition held by All Japan Association of Photographic Society (AJAPS) for his snaps taken during the 2006 floods in the city.

Jayesh Vinjuda (32), father of two kids, who teaches traditional dodiya during Navratri to supplement his income, had never participated in any contest till September this year. "I did a lot of offbeat photography for fun, but kept my work to myself, fearing criticism. I entered this contest after much persuasion from my photographer friends and sent a series of 10 pictures from the collection of Flood Ravaged Cities," he said.

A matriculate, Vinjuda is a lensman for the last 13 years and has worked as a helper in Saiyedpura area of the city earlier.

This year, 9,140 photographers from 42 countries sent their entries and 130 photographers were selected for the final and were awarded. Eleven entries were sent from India and 10 of them were from Gujarat; six from Vadodara. A Vadodara lensman Dimple Pancholi has been awarded a special prize in the same contest.

The photograph that won the gold medal was taken at Pandole (Near Boricha Gas Agency) on Ved Road of the city in 2006.

In their letter to Vinjuda, AJAPS said that the winning works will be displayed in all the major cities of Japan during International Photographic Salon Exhibition and they can also be seen on the home page of the website. Vinjuda will receive his gold medal and certificate in April, 2012.

Dhirubhai Ambani's family re-joined with dandiya

JUNAGADH: The Ambanis resembled every other happy family a day before patriarch Dhirubhai Ambani's 80th birth anniversary, as they congregated at his birthplace and appeared at ease, eating and praying together, and in a scene unimaginable not so long ago, even dancing with each other at the local temple.

After prayers at the local Chorwadi Bhawani temple, Mukesh and Anil joined their wives, mother Kokilaben, sister Nina, their children and other family members, all beaming and dressed up, to dance to the beats of Gujarati dance forms dandiya and sanedo.
The spirited dandiya between Nita Ambani and Tina Ambani, the general bonhomie, Anil's vigorous steps, Mukesh's characteristically shy but happy dandiya steps, the happy vibes between the generations, all seemed too true to be forced. The divided Ambani family doesn't appear so divided anymore.

The images of the estranged brothers talking to each other, their wives dancing and families mingling will reinforce perceptions that the two, prodded by their mother, have put a line under one of India's most high-profile sibling rivalries and set the stage for greater cooperation.
ANIL GROUP SHARES REFLECT MOOD

Shares in some Anil Ambani group companies reflected that optimism, rising in a weak market. Flagship Reliance Communications ended 5% higher while Reliance Media Works closed 3% up. The stage for the tectonic shift in perceptions about India's first business family was set by matriarch Kokilaben's dramatic intervention on Monday with her declaration "There is love between the brothers... We are all united".

As markets and business pundits parsed her comments, the entire Ambani family reached Chorwad, a small coastal village 420 kilometres from Ahmedabad, and immersed itself in a series of mostly closeddoor family engagements. The family is here to celebrate Dhirubhai Ambani's birthday on Wednesday, and inaugurate a memorial built for him at the housing compound where he was born in 1932.

He built Reliance Industries into India's most valuable private company during his lifetime. The bonhomie that was on display on Tuesday night appears to have been the fruit of years of struggle by Kokilaben to keep her family together. Mukesh and Anil were consumed by a bitter and longstanding rivalry not so long ago, and were known for the extent to which the billionaires would go to avoid running into each other.

Their mother has been working hard behind the scenes to end the acrimony and bring the brothers closer. One of her initiatives has been to ask her sons to have lunch with her at home every Sunday. Kokilaben confirmed to ET on Monday that the brothers have been lunching with her for weeks now.

Cold wave grips Saurashtra, Kutch

BHUJ/RAJKOT: Cold wave is sweeping across Saurashtra and Kutch with temperature dipping as low as 3.8 degrees Celsius at Naliya in Kutch on Monday. However, the cold wave hit Bhuj with somewhat lesser intensity with minimum temperature being recorded at 9.4 degrees Celsius.

In Saurashtra, where temperature has been oscillating between 9 degrees Celsius and 10 degrees Celsius, the temperature was recorded at 8.7 degrees Celsius on Monday morning. In Junagadh, the minimum temperature was recorded at 9.8 degrees Celsius with wind blowing at 4.6 km per hour speed and humidity being recorded 79%.

Porbandar recorded the maximum temperature at 29 degrees Celsius and minimum at 9.4 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature in Mount Abu on Monday dropped to O degrees Celsius. There were thin layers of ice on leaves of the trees and on the surface of Nakki lake as well.

Saurashtra would rue Jadeja's decision to rest

Mumbai, December 26, 2011

Ravindra Jadeja's decision to rest against Rajasthan has probably cost Saurashtra a slot in the Ranji Trophy knock-out phase.

The team has thus been denied a chance to have a shot at the title as well as an attractive prize money of Rs. 2 crore.

At the conclusion of the league stage on Saturday, both Rajasthan and Saurashtra, with two wins from seven matches, finished at 16 points and the defending champion advanced to the quarterfinals with a superior run quotient.

Rajasthan defeated Saurashtra in the league, but the BCCI removed the ‘result against each other' clause a few years ago to identify the side that would proceed to the knock-out in the event of teams being tied on points.

It was during the course of the five-match ODI series against the West Indies that the 23-year-old all-rounder conveyed to his association that he need not be considered for Saurashtra's penultimate league game against Rajasthan at Jaipur from December 13 to 16.

This match was played just two days after the fifth and final ODI at Chennai.

Showing commitment

While Bengal's Manoj Tiwary reached Kolkata in time for the match against Delhi, Suresh Raina made it to Lucknow for Uttar Pradesh's encounter against Mumbai. Punjab's Rahul Sharma, too, made it to Bangalore for the match against Karnataka while Parthiv Patel went to Ahmedabad for Gujarat's game against Tamil Nadu.

Jadeja, however, asked for a ‘much-needed' rest after he had scored 68 runs in five matches (four innings), and bowled 49 overs and taken nine wickets against the West Indies. If Jadeja had played that match, he would have probably made a big difference against a side (Rajasthan) that was occupying the bottom half of the Elite Group A table with five points from as many games.

As it turned out, Rajasthan scored 396 and 241 for four declared and dismissed Saurashtra for 265 and 143 to score a resounding victory.

Rajasthan's seam bowlers Pankaj Singh (five for 64 and two for 49) and Sumit Mathur (two for 51 and six for 33) proved too hot to handle for Saurashtra, but a player of Jadeja's calibre would have performed better and made a big difference to the final outcome.

In excellent touch

In most cases, a team advances with its main player in form. Jadeja has been in excellent touch after being recalled to the Indian side for the ODI series against England in England.

Shocking decision

Jadeja smashed a triple hundred against Odisha (314), played against Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, and missed two league matches (Karnataka and Mumbai) as he was busy with the Indian team.

He made 28 and 45 and took six for 23 and four for 42 in the final league match as Saurashtra registered a big victory in a low-scoring game against Railways. Jadeja went on to top the batting and bowling charts for Saurashtra with 433 runs and 18 wickets.

Shah's opinion

“He asked for rest and it was given to him. We cannot force anyone to play.

“But, his absence alone cannot be the reason for Saurashtra's defeat against Rajasthan. The other boys should have played well,'' said Niranjan Shah, Secretary, Saurashtra Cricket Association and vice-president of the BCCI, when asked about Jadeja's decision to miss the match against Rajasthan.

After the victory against Saurashtra, Rajasthan trounced bottom-placed Odisha to gain six points, including a bonus, to be on par with Saurashtra and Uttar Pradesh, which took the first innings lead against Karnataka at Shimoga.

Boost from Bist

Rajasthan picked up 11 points in the last two matches. This was made possible by the superb efforts of Robin Bist (829 runs with four centuries and two half-centuries).

He had good support from the others, including captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar.

Seamer Mathur, too, figured prominently, taking 13 of his 19 wickets in the last two games.

Rising to the occasion

The experienced Pankaj and newcomer Rituraj Singh rose to the occasion while leg-spinner Vivek Yadav also chipped in.

Mumbai, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana from the Elite league and Maharashtra and Hyderabad from the Plate league will figure in the knock-out stage while Saurashtra and Jadeja will have to watch from the sidelines.

Mirrorored fabric and birthday cake in Bhuj

We had been lucky enough to go to the Calico Textile Museum in Ahmedabad not once, but twice so we'd had plenty of time to be convinced of the wonders of Gujarati textiles which, according to our rather scary guide, would die out unless we went to Bhuj. Gosh.

We also quite liked the description in our guide book of a little-visited town that contained several palaces in various states of ruination after the 2001 earthquake alongside cute bazaars and friendly people. Gujarat is an earthquake zone and there have been regular earthquakes throughout the state over the years but in 2001 Bhuj was particularly unlucky to be at the centre of a rather large one which knocked down most of its buildings and killed 10% of its population. What a jolly place, we thought, let's go!

Arriving in Bhuj off the overnight train from Ahmedabad we checked into the Hotel Gangaram

. It was one of three places recommended in Lonely Planet and the only one that sounded nice. It being very early in the morning we couldn't be bothered to look for alternatives. This turned out to be a very good move as the hotel actually deserved its good write-up (unusual for LP) and as we wandered around the town we didn't really see many alternatives.

The first day was spent sleeping (long journeys seem to give me a headache, so I'd not slept that well on the train) and mooching about. We looked around one of the old, mostly ruined palaces, which was very scary. I've never been somewhere before where I've been so convinced I was surrounded by ghosts - we had a horrid crawling creepy feeling wherever we went. The palace has been left to further ruin after the earthquake so in addition to the crumbling walls and broken windows there are decaying stuffed lions and deer, frayed furniture, dusty vases, discoloured mirrors and paintings that are gradually flaking away. Pigeons flutter in and out of the sunbeams filtering through the windows making you jump out of your skin at every turn (and worry you're about to get pooed on...). We walked around pretty quickly...

The second day we arranged to go and visit some local villages that produced the famous textiles

. This turned out to be pretty much a day of shopping by tuk-tuk in the desert. We'd pull into a village to be welcomed by a bloke, or sometimes a woman in tribal dress, who'd show us into their house. This (lo and behold!) doubled as a shop. They would then show us a rediculous amount of blankets, shawls and other fabric-based things. We would often then buy some. Sometimes before the shop and sometimes afterwards we'd be briefly shown how they were made - with impressive hand looms, block printing or girls embroidering (finally, something women seemed to do in addition to cooking and cleaning and having babies!). We would probably have found out lots of interesting in-depth information about the crafts, but unfortunately didn't speak the language. This seemed to come as some surprise to the villagers - 'you no speak Gujerati? no Kutchi even?'. Now how we'd have learnt Kutchi - the local language that doesn't even have a written form - I have no idea, but we were clearly a bit of a disappointment. Oops.

The next day, which happened - in spite of me trying my hardest to forget - to be my birthday, we had decided to go to the seaside to do Not Much and have a nice lunch. We'd hoped to get away with that being the only thing we'd have to do. However, it was not to be. 1) we had to work out how to get to Udaipur the next day, which turned out to need two buses and took several hours to convince the travel agents that we didn't want to go somewhere else and 2) the hotel had noticed from my passport that it was my birthday and I was congratulated heartily by all the staff who insisted I be back at the hotel that evening

. Uh oh....

We got to Mandvi for a late lunch and headed to a posh beach resort. It was really really (really really) quiet - just a few maharajah-goes-camping style tents and a palm-leaf thatched hut for the restaurant, right on the beach. There were a couple of other people finishing off their lunch when we arrived, but for most of the time we were there on our own, looking out at the most pristine, deserted stretch of sand we'd encountered on our trip. Which is very surprising for India - where we'd seen an article in the paper in Mumbai arguing that rubbish bins were unsightly and should be banned. We were then informed that if we wanted to sit on the beach we'd have to pay 150 rupees each. Ah ha, that'd be why it's pristine and quiet then! We were happy sitting on the comfy chairs in the restaurant...

So, rather in trepidation I must say, we arrived back at the hotel and scuttled back up to our room to freshen up and steel ourselves for whatever over-exuberance awaited. There was a big Swedish group staying who had taken all the seats in the restaurant area (about 12) so we hung about in the courtyard wondering what we should do. Eventually we were noticed by the proprieter - a very jolly man who got quite excited that I'd arrived. Turns out they'd ordered a cake with my name on it! He rounded up the Swedes and after the most awful bout of singing you've ever encountered (no one knew my name, and the Indians didn't seem to know any more than the first line of 'Happy Birthday To You', which they just repeated over and over again with growing uncertainty and out of key until Hugh took the initiative and finished it off!) I blew out the candle, dished up cake for everyone (I was fed some by the owner, in the Indian way - thank goodness I knew about this tradition or I'd have wondered what on earth he was trying to do!) and the ordeal was over. Phew. Still, such a sweet thing for a hotel to have done!

Little Rann no longer worth its salt?

SURENDRANAGAR: It is the area that produces more than 25% of India's total salt. Little Rann of Kutch is among the major areas where salt pans exist in the desert and not on sea shore, thanks to high salinity in water. The industry, however, is now experiencing a setback due to shortage of water that has led the salt pan owners to start digging deeper and farther in the Rann.

Vijay Patel, 43, a salt pan owner at Satapar village near the Rann, said that earlier the water was available around 10 kilometers in desert and they had to dig up 10 to 20 feet to get the water deposits that could be used for the salt production. "However today, we have to go as far as 40 kilometers in search of underground saline water and the dig as deep as 55 feet. Yet, there is no guarantee of finding water," he said.

Patel is not alone. Salt industry is the biggest employment generator for the area for the past 40 years. Around 13,000 workers get direct employment and other fringe industries such as transportation and packaging generate 15,000 more jobs. The areas around the Rann had more than 1,200 saltpans functioning five years ago. However, the number has gone down to 750 since.

Salt pan owners had formed an association last year for negotiation with the buyers and government. Dharamshi Thakor, president of the association, told TOI that one bore well used to be sufficient for a saltpan that produces 400 to 500 tons of salt.

"Today, we require four bore wells to produce the same quantity. As we have to depend on generators to bring water to surface from such a depth, the cost works against the industry. Today we are selling a ton of salt at Rs 2,500. The price will soon shoot up if the problem persists," he said. Ambubhai Patel, a community member from Kharaghoda village and expert on saltpan workers, said that the problem partially lies in the overuse of saline water.

"I remember that saline water used to be found at four feet in 1972. A pair of bullocks was enough to get the water for business. Today, many have jumped in the fray and it has resulted in the decrease of water level," he said.

Patel said that simple measures can solve the issue. "We've been urging the state government for years to provide us with a canal from Malia Hati village, the starting point of Little Rann near gulf of Kutch that brings water in the desert. The canal will solve problem of the saline water in the area. However, the proposal has been gathering dust in the government files," he said.

According to industry sources, earlier Surendranagar ranked first in production of salt, thanks to Kharaghoda area. However, over the years, areas in Kutch and Saurashtra have raced ahead of the district.

Mumbai-Bhuj private train in the pipeline

 

AHMEDABAD — After a prominent businessman recently submitted to the railway ministry his plans for a private train between Mumbai and Shirdi, a popular religious shrine 300km away, a study is being conducted on the feasibility of a proposal to start a private train between India’s commercial capital and Bhuj in Kutch district of Gujarat.

The demand for a Mumbai-Bhuj private train was raised by a group of Mumbai-based wealthy Kutchi businessman when they went to New Delhi and met Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, also a Gujarati and technocrat Sam Piroda, adviser to the railways.
A local railway official told Khaleej Times that there had been scattered efforts and proposals in the past from various businessmen and individuals, but it was the first time that the ministry is exploring various options with Pitroda having already asked railway experts to prepare a detailed project on the 860km route.