Amazing video!

Watch this most amazing acrobatics performance!

It's difficult to say which feat is the best. I liked the stunt at 3:56, when the topmost boy on the right of the screen jumps up in air and another takes his place, just before the boy in the air falls down and stands on the shoulder of the newcomer.

The Amazing History of the Battle of Pratapgad!

It's a long time since a great movie like Gladiator has been released. I love to watch the battle of Germania scene from Gladiator. It watched it a few times today. Then I watched this interesting re-creation of the battle of Stirling Bridge. The battle of Stirling Bridge is one of the most memorable battles in first war of Scottish independence. On September 11, 1297, Scottish forces led by William Wallace trounced the English, although the Scots were outnumbered 1:4!

The history of battle of Stirling Bridge, reminded me of a slide show on the battle of Pratapgad prepared by a retired school teacher in Mahabaleshwar. The slide show was one of the most interesting experiences on my pilgrimage to Pratapgad in 2001. Like the Scots, Shivaji's forces were heavily outnumbered by Afzal Khan's strong army. The slide show narrated the incredible rout of Afzal Khan's army at the hands of Shivaji's Mavalas. Here's a brief excerpt of the story of Pratapgad from wikipedia:

Battle
After starting from Bijapur, Afzal Khan began by destroying the temple of Bhavani at Tuljapur. He moved on to the Vittal temple at Pandharpur. He was trying to entice Shivaji out of the mountainous areas he occupied and onto the plains.
Hand to hand combat of the forces
Maratha troops commanded by Shivaji's captain Kanhoji Jedhe, swept down on Afzal Khan's 1,500 musketeers; resulting in a complete rout of the musketeers at the foothills of the fort. Then in a rapid march, a section of Adilshahi forces commanded by Musekhan was attacked. Musekhan, Afzal Khan's lieutenant, was wounded and subsequently fled the field.

Meanwhile, Moropant led the Maratha infantry toward the left flank of Adilshahi troops. The suddenness of this attack on Afzal Khan's artillery at close quarters made them ineffective in providing artillery cover for the main portion of their troops. And as a result of this the rest of their troops rapidly succumbed to an all out Maratha attack. Simultaneously Shivaji's Sardar (captain), Ragho Atre's cavalry units swooped down and attacked the large but unprepared Adilshahi cavalry before they were able to be fully geared up for battle and succeeded in completely routing them in short order.

The Maratha cavalry under Netaji Palkar pursued the retreating Adilshahi forces, who were attempting to join up with the part of their reserve forces stationed in the nearby village of Wai. They were engaged in battle before they could regroup and were defeated prior to reaching Wai. The Adilshahi forces not withstanding the onslaught of the Marathas started retreating towards Bijapur. The Maratha army chased the retreating army and on their way captured 23 Adilshahi forts. In fact, the Adilshahi Killedar of the Kolhapur fort himself handed over the keys to the Marathas.
Aftermath
Adilshahi forces lost their artillery, 65 elephants, 4000 horses, 1200 camels, jewels worth 300,000 Rupees, 1,000,000 Rupees, heaps of precious cloths, tents to the Marathas. They also lost their money and grain stored at Wai. 5,000 Adilshahi soldiers were killed and almost as many were wounded. 3,000 soldiers were imprisoned, and the remainder were allowed to go home in defeat.

The battle of Pratapgad took place on November 10, 1659. It marked the beginning of the end for Adilshahi and laid the foundation of benign rule of Shivaji, and eventual independence of our nation from tyrannical foreign rulers.

Good article on China

Here's a good article on China in Supply Chain Digest.

Read it and let me know your views.

Inflation in India

How to park a bicycle - method #132

Swimming and (no) sauna

I went swimming after a long time. I couldn't do sauna as I had to return back home quickly for my daily call with my team member working in India. Daily official calls are getting longer these days. Work is getting more hectic.

By the way, wet sauna is my latest discovery. It's a new addition to things I enjoy. 24-Hour Fitness Center, where I go swimming, has sauna rooms and jacuzzi, besides the pool. I had tried jacuzzi long time ago and enjoyed it. But for some reason I didn't try sauna for a long time. Once I tried the dry sauna, but I didn't like it so much. For long I didn't try wet sauna. Only recently I tried it.

I loved it the moment I stepped inside the wet sauna room. It was so hot and humid that I started sweating the moment I stepped in! It felt so much like home!! :-) I often say to Poornima that my definition of cold weather is when you are not sweating! When you are sweating, it's normal temperature! After all, I am from Mumbai!

I am wierd - I miss sweating, just as I miss noisy places! Mumbai does that to you.

Of Snakes and Dinosaurs!

Three large dinosaur eggs besides a river. One hatches and an infant dinosaur pops out. A snake, three and a half meeters long, encircles the hatched egg to make a meal out of the new born dinosaur. A storm blows and drowns the the snake and the dinosaur in debris of mud, causing instant death for both. There their bodies remain for next 6 crore 70 lakh years. Then one fine day someone discovers the two caracasses and the two unbroken eggs of species extinct long long ago. What an amazing discovery it would be!!