Khiching Temple of Odisha.

This photograph was taken way back in 1971 with a camera borrowed from my friend G.Purusottam.My brother in law B.B.Panigrahi and me toured half of Odisha on a Lembretta scooter.That time i did not know the importance of this Kali temple.

The original temple was built somewhere in the 7th or the 8th century.

The old temple neglected by the local people who could not perceive the importance of it, was in bad shape as it had fallen in hands of vandals. However, the erstwhile and last ruler of Princely State of Mayurbhanj, Pratap Chandra Bhanj Deo was appalled of its state. He rehabilitated and reconstructed the temple in the year 1934, spending an approximate amount of Rs.85000, taking care not to disturb original sculptures.

One can still see the original portions of the temple.This temple is situated 50 kilometers from Karanjia of Mayurbhanj district.

HIGHWAY VIRUS

Why Ebola is back in the news?

Few years back (1995) my friend and I were skipping the pages of latest foreign medical journals in our Ispat general library of Rourkela, when my friend brought my attention to an article “The super highway virus”. The article discussed mostly on how new virus would invade mankind, kill them ruthlessly till they compromise with the host and become less virulent. With best of our efforts we simply cannot eradicate viruses as they too are as old as this universe. Starting from smallpox until this Ebola outbreak one can conclude that we should never be complacent about eradication of a particular virus because something new would appear in its place. There are many factors which are responsible for spread of the virus. Technology has taken over the mankind and we feel proud to have conquered the moon, the mars, deep sea and many more. But viruses are a very intelligent and they modify themselves to escape from our immune system. The rapid transport system, changing the eating habits, sex perversions and environment change has lead to these super highway viral diseases. That’s why Albert Einstein once said “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots”

Ebola virus tends to come and go over time. The viruses are constantly circulating in animals, birds and most likely bats. Every once in a while, the disease spills over into humans, often when someone handles or eats undercooked or raw meat from a diseased ape, monkey, or bats. An outbreak can then happen for several months. And then it becomes quiet again. Ebola can completely disappear from humans for years at a time. For example, there were zero recorded cases of Ebola in 2005 or 2006.

Ebola is both rare and very deadly. Since the first outbreak in 1976, Ebola viruses have infected thousands of people and killed about one-third of them. Symptoms can come on very quickly and kill fast: Ebola is more inimical to humans than perhaps any known virus on Earth, except rabies and HIV-1. And it does its damage much faster than either.     

                  Liberia is one of several countries battling the current outbreak, which is unprecedented both in the number of cases and in its geographic scope. It's now hit four countries: Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia have been joined by Nigeria, which this week saw its first case, after an infected Liberian man flew to the Nigerian city of Lagos, which is also Africa's largest city. There are also fears the disease has spread to the country of Togo, where that man's flight had a stopover. And the virus — which starts off with flu-like symptoms and often ends with horrific hemorrhaging — had as of July 23 infected 1,201 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, and killed an estimated 672 since this winter, according to the World Health Organization.

So what we can do to prevent its spread? Quarantine the persons coming from African countries and we must tell our travelers not to venture out of India at this moment without any purpose. Pleasure trips can wait but Ebola virus would not wait to attack us. The sign and symptoms are like any viral illness with bleeding tendency and high death rates (80 to 90%) closely mimicking Dengue hemorrhagic fever. There is no treatment except for treating the symptoms.

Sanjoy Kumar Satpathy,

Ex. Faculty for SARC countries, for infectious diseases.

VISITORS AFTER A LONG TIME----LOVE ANIMALS

A team of Languors visited our house at Patia,Bhubaneswar.India, after a long time.I offered them pressed rice(Chuda) which they refused but accepted fruit breads.Two mothers with their young ones.The boss is behind, partially hidden These photographs are taken with OlympusVG120,7.7.14

Mother and Child.This was a breast feeding week, you do not have to teach them because they know the benefits of breast milk.Those ladies who hold the banners during breast feeding week and pose for photographs, they them selves do not feed their child with their own breast milk!

The little one is asking her mother for her share.The mother with the child under her belly made a jump from another building and landed on my house top, a distance of 8 feet.Can our Olympic long jump gold medalist jump this distance with a child?

A two year old asking for his share of bread from me.I was worried if i do not give bread he may snatch my camera.Really cute .Looks like me.May be i may be his distant relative?

ODISHA CRICKET THEN AND NOW

ODISHA CRICKET THEN AND NOW:

Playing any game or participating in sports or drama was never encouraged by the parents or the teachers in the earlier days .The reason being you get hardly anything out of it except for  the love for the game.

Let’s first go to the Kalahandi Cup tournament which selects the state team. This was a inter district tournament consisting of district teams plus few important clubs of Odisha and Bhubaneswar. Teams of Paralakehemundi, Rourkela Steel Plant, Sunrise club Cuttack, Misfit Club Bhubaneswar were given special status to participate in this prestigious tournament of Odisha (Orissa),no news coverage except those which were played at Cuttack that too few lines. The worst part was the matches were played on matting wickets where as Ranji Trophy on turf wickets. I remember a match at Sundargarh, where the pitch length was 24 yards instead of 22, just to neutralize the fast bowling effect of Babu Rao. This fast bowler who earlier played for Bihar and Indian schools was frighteningly fast with a suspect action (now it would have been legal action). He was playing for RSP team. The jute mat over the years got stretched which no one bothered to check. The width too was reduced to 4 feet instead of six feet. Playing conditions were horrible. The staying facilities during this tournament where ever it may be were of cattle class still then young people were very much interested just to play against state players and to get a certificate from Orissa Cricket Association. There were strict rules, if someone does not play in this tournament he would not be selected for the state team. An interesting incident did happen during that year. During this Kalahandi Cup tournament, at Sundargarh one canteen was entrusted to give free meals to the players like today’s MDM. One team which had lost its match and was supposed to leave next day finished the evening dinner which was meant for three teams. After the other two teams came out of the cinema hall they found that the restaurant has been closed. They met the organizers who with lots of difficulty arranged some stale slice bread and some vegetable curry. The next day the owner was called by the DM for explanation. He said “sir, it will not be possible to provide 24 Roti to each player with a sanctioned amount of six rupees”. The DM laughed, by then that team had left for its destination.  The RSP team was allotted one newly constructed town hall building without any lavatory facilities to stay. If one was not careful to close the doors, then coming to the room after the match, one would find a snake or a country dog in one’s bed. The whole team was asked to sleep on the floor. To be continued…….