Fascinating History. Interesting Medieval Incidents from Indian and Middle Eastern past.

I have always enjoyed watching live telecast of tennis and get glued to television during the semifinals and finals of the four grand slam championships. Tennis, like other individual sports, is the epitome of technique, stamina and sheer grit. The top players climb the champions’ ladder because they just don’t give up, and this attitude is brazenly at display at a major championship. I had never found an opportunity to attend a grand slam event in my life. Therefore, now that circumstances brought me to Melbourne in January this year during the Australian Open season, I resolved to attend it for at least one day. My daughter, who resides here, bought tickets for Tuesday 28th Jan for me and her young daughter. My granddaughter has been playing tennis once a week for last many years. She is fairly good but, contrary to my wife’s hopes, will not be good enough to play a grand slam event. There are several classes of tickets to the championship. The ‘ground pass ticket’ allows one to ...

Visiting Australia this southern summer, this scribe has come experienced with the ravages of climate change and its horrific effects on the lives of people. This continent sized country has always been beset with summer bush fires. High temperatures and strong coupled with dry weather creates conditions for easy ignition and rapid spread of fires across its grasslands and jungles. However, the fires this season have been extremely alarming and the year will go down as one of the worst ever in many aspects. The statics reveal the terrible extent of damage. As of mid January 2020, fires this season have burnt an estimated 18.6 million hectares (46 million acres; 186,000 square kilometers; 72,000 square miles). That is more area than Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg combined and half the size of Germany. Fires have destroyed over 5,900 buildings, of which are 3000 homes and killed about 40 people, including many fire fighters. And the fire season is still not over. It is estimated by Prof...

Griffith is a small town in the interior of New South Wales State of Australia. It is an agricultural region with vast and numerous vineyards, citrus orchards, almond fields and livestock farms. The area, known as Riverina, lies in the northern part of the Murray- Darling basin along Murrumbidgee River, one of their major tributaries. Agriculture in this semi arid area has become possible due to the irrigation canals laid out to channelize the waters stored in Burrinjuck Dam over Murrumbidgee River and Blowering Dam over Tumut River, a smaller tributary of the Murrumbidgee. The area is the food basket of Australia and produces prodigious quantities of rice, cotton, wheat, vegetables, melons, strawberries and other agricultural products of every kind. The local industry too is farm based including chicken processing, juice extraction and ginning factories. The town and its surrounding villages have a large number of wineries. One in every four bottles of wine produced in Australia is ...

The annual Sikh Martyr Games -Shaheedi Games- are held in Griffith in the state of New South Wales, Australia on the second weekend of June, which is a three-day long weekend being Queen's birthday. The event commemorates death of thousands of Sikhs during the mayhem of 1984, unleashed by extremist Hindus in the wake of murder of Prime Minister Indra Gandhi. Having attended the games in 2007 and 2015, where I enjoyed the ambience a great deal, I happen to be here again in 2017 and spent a joyful two days surrounded by true unadulterated Punjabi culture under a sunny winter sky. The games are held in the lush green, undulating, penta-level Ted Scobie Oval with a small hill on its northern side, in the Collina suburb of Griffith. When I am here, I go to this picturesque ground regularly for my daily walk. My son in law's house, where I am staying, is across the road from this playground. Being a 'Gill', a caste that he shares with many of the local Sikhs, and a fluent P...