Manimala River

Manimala River, or Manimalayaar in the local language of Malayalam, flows through the central part of Kerala. The 92 km (57 mile) long water body is one of the 44 rivers that crisscross the small state of 38,863 sq km (15,005 sq miles). For a comparison, India's land area is 3.2 million sq km (1.2 sq miles).  

The above video was taken from this bridge (below) in Mallappally town.

Lockdown hobby brings her a national award

We all found some way to engage ourselves during the enforced stay-at-home period spanning many months last year.

For Beneetta Varghese, a 10th grade student, it was making toys from naturally available materials like leaves, bamboo, areca palm, plantain stem etc.

She used to post their photos on her WhatsApp status, and that caught the attention of her teachers who encouraged her to take part in a national competition, Kala Utsav, organised by the India government's Ministry of Education.

This student of St Joseph's Higher Secondary School, Kallody, Wayanad, Kerala, cleared the block level, the district level and the state level, and reached the national level, where her passion was rewarded with the first prize.

This is the news in today's The Hindu, Thiruvananthapuram edition.

(This post is part of the monthly We Are The World Blogfest that goes out on the last Friday of every month to highlight the positive stories around us. On Facebook and on Twitter.)

Glory at Gabba

After the Indian cricket team pulled off a sensational win at The Gabba, Brisbane, today, the feeling was as if the team had won the World Cup! Not without reasons.

This India tour of Australia has been like never before. Not because of the pandemic, but because of so many cricketing reasons. 

The series saw India's lowest moment (when the team got out for a paltry 36 in the 1st Test at Adelaide on Dec 19) and the highest moment (registering today's unexpected 3 wicket win after notching up 329 for 7 when only three overs were remaining).

Here are the highlights of the breathtaking final day's play.

When the day's play began, India resumed at 4 for no loss, needing as many as 324 more runs to win, or bat through the day to ensure a draw, which would suffice for them to retain the Borer-Gavaskar Trophy that India had won against all odds during the previous Aussie tour.

The Indian team has been known to perform poorly in away tours and also crumble in the face of pressure while chasing to win. So, the prayer was not for a win, but for a draw - ironically, even when the gritty batsmen were going full blast aiming for a victory.

The odds were all stacked against India. That's why the victory is so sweet.

• The highest score a team has managed in the 4th innings till now was 236 for 7 by Australia way back in 1951.
  
  
• The last time Australia lost at The Gabba was to the mighty West Indies in 1988. 
  
  
• Most of the members of the Indian team that scripted this brave chase were standing in for senior players who are out of action because of injury.

This match, especially the final day's play, will be remembered forever.

One similar ending to a cliffhanger was on August 25, 2019, when Ben Stokes scripted a breathtaking 135 not out to snatch an unexpected one-wicket victory for England against Australia at Headingly. I blogged about it here.