John Blashford Snell

Colonel John Blashford Snell

Numero uno.

Who led the team that crossed the Darien Gap expedition first? Who led the Congo River Expedition first? The Blue Nile (in 1962), Matchu- Pitchu site (the lost Inca-City in the Andean ranges) in Peru? ‘Operation Drake’ (78-80)? And ‘Operation Relief’’ with the participation of 4000 volunteers? For all these questions as well as other 50 such queries; there is only one answer, and that is Col John Blashford Snell!

Nerve of steel.

Col Blashford Snell image courtsey: bbc.co.uk

It is said that ‘If there is a will, there is a way’, as a modern day explorer (now he is an old man in his seventies) there was will as strong as steel and a matching thirst to know what lies beyond boundaries; there was no dearth for ways, even the most unconquerable obstructions crumbled before him as a pack of cards. John Blashford-Snell was born in 1936 Hereford England as the son of an army chaplain (a member of the clergy attached to the forces). Blashford Snell too joined the army at the age of 21 and was trained at the Sand Hurst Military Academy and became a commissioned officer).

Climbing mountains fording streams.

From the very boyhood wonders of nature like great rivers, vast deserts, forests, oceans, tall mountains all haunted him like a passion. The young Blashford wandered through the Welsh Mountains as if there is some thing always new for him to see. The boy made an underwater diving setup using an old gasmask and garden hose as in imagination he went at the bottom of the ocean to see what was there. As a commissioned officer he always chose to lead teams for adventures like exploring the most remote and in penetrable locations.

A signature!

Blashford Snell image courtsey: bbc.co.uk

Colonel Blashford Snell during his expeditions always wore a special type of hard shelled hat (‘topee’ which he received as a gift from a London based firm by name Moss Bros). He used as a pan to fetch water or drain boats over and above its usual duty of protecting his precious head! The team members could easily identify their leader at a distance by this white funny contraption!

First attempt.

The first assignment Snell and his team got were to explore the remnants of the submerged ancient harbor ‘Paphos’ near Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. It was an underwater recovery project as a part of the training of ‘Royal Engineers’. The team there retrieved many trophies like potteries belonging to the ancient Rome, Greece and Byzantium Empire (containing South East Europe and Asia Minor formed from the eastern part of the Roman Empire) belonging to 15^th century BC. One of the strange things they found was a cave filled with the bones of pigmy hippopotami and elephant bones.

The Eden Garden.

In 1966 the National History Museum in London decided to fill the blanks that existed in their Ethiopian collections. It was none other than Snell who had to lead the team. A team was formed of eminent zoologists for the purpose of collecting specimens. (this company helped Snell in knowing much about animals and their habitats). In Ethiopia they stumbled upon (The Rift Valley- a virtual Eden Garden) well protected from human invasion (by stealthy swamps and high mountains) animals like zebra and giraffes grazing freely without any fear of predators (they never before had seen a human being). The team returned with thousands of specimens –the most valuable treasures any museum could get).

Blue Nile Expedition.

Blue Nile Waterfall image coutsey: wikipedia.org

It was the then ruler of Ethiopia Hailey Selassie who requested Snell to explore the Blue Nile which has the distinction as one of the most inhospitable surroundings and fierce course. The Blue Nile is a tributary of the great Nile that runs for 805 kms, through a gorge that is 1.5 kilometer deep. Snell was only happy to undertake such a daunting task which had took away the precious lives of many adventurers before.

Haile Salassie image courtsey: rastarmusic.com

Snell set-up a team with 17 zoologists and 40 servicemen with paraphernalia included aluminum assault boats, rafts made of foot-ball bladders. The journey through the river was daunting, their 40 BHP outboard engines were no match for the strong currents which kept on smashing their boats against rocks, and people were thrown out of the boats.

Finally they decided to move through the banks; there also adversities mounted, their horses got bitten by vampires, pests of all varieties were celebrating a rare occasion they got to suck fresh blood from new victims. All the way were marred by attacks from hostile tribes who never let aliens in their land. As the convoy advanced inch by inch they could realize the fact that the team has run out of ammunition (something more important than food in such a location) and they decided to return by water neglecting the fury of the Blue-Nile water! Yet the scientists could collect innumerable number of specimens to the museum.

In search of mermaids!

Dugong image courtsey: leisurevest.com

In 1969 an organization by name ‘Scientific Exploration Society’ was formed under the leadership of Snell with the active co operation of politicians and businessmen. Their first expedition was to the Dahlak Archipelago a very rarely visited group of coral islands in the Red Sea. There; as per rumors; mermaids lived! The team reached there in the Dahlak islands to discover some sea-cows known as dugongs with human like face (mistaken for mermaids by the sailors!).

The land of the blind.

Dahlak Archipelago - The island of the Blind - image courtsey: traveladventures.org

It was the second mission of the ‘SES’ to investigate another legend of a land inhabited by blind people! Snell with members of SES went there and what they witnessed was a very painful fact. The inhabitants were a primitive community who lived collecting shells and by fishing, and percentage of blindness among them was alarmingly high, fifty percent had defective eyesight including children. Snell led Frederick Rogers an ophthalmologist to see what was wrong; the ultra-violet radiation from the sand (with high salt content) was what burnt their eyes. The team instructed the islanders about precautions to be taken and made all remedies available for the people.

The Darien Gap.

Darien Gap Expedition

The real thing which made Snell a legend is the crossing of the ‘Darien Gap’, the portion of land that is located between Columbia and Panama. It is as its name suggests is a 160 KM (100 Miles) long gap in the Trans -American highway about 26,000 KM long that stretched from Alaska to Fuego. This area of swamps, forests, mountains river-delta etc made building of road expensive and left as a gap.

A committee of the nations which benefited from the highway suggested Snell of crossing this gap. At first Snell’s view was that it was not a feasible idea, but he consulted it with a young explorer Brendan O’ Brien who submitted a report which changed his mind he said yes.

“The project must be mounted on a massive scale, and handled like a long-drawn battle, with likelihood of high casualties”

All his advices heeded and requests granted by the committee; thus the idea of crossing the indomitable Darien Gap was born. All the team-members were handpicked by Snell and all members were subjected to rigorous training for one year. On January 17, 1972 the team set off in to the gap. A massive team with 64 British and American explorers, 70 experienced personnel from the Panamanian and Columbian forces, massive air support from the US Air force, all kinds of logistic supports from the US Army and to top it all the most advanced motor vehicles of that time.

As the caravan made progress all the obstructions they expected as well as unexpected visited them one by one, the dreaded African honey-bees of the locality which attacks victims collectively were also contributing lavishly for the agonies of the team. Five members of the Columbian army drowned, almost all members of the team escaped death by sheer luck! Snell had a fall from his mule on a river ravine and he got jammed under it, his horse (named Cromwell) was bitten by vampire bats made it bleed it profusely.

At last at the end of 3 long grueling months when they emerged out the swamp in Columbia, people of all walks of life were there to receive them, messages from all heads of states came congratulating them, and one of them was the British Queen. Snell was all praise for the team-members for their whole hearted participation which ended in a magnificent victory, while scientists who accompanied the team were with as much rare specimen they could carry! The team included five women members whose roles have been subjected to great praise as they worked as hard as their male companions.

“I want to see what’s at the top of the peak, not climb it just because it is there” was what he said. Now the hunter is home from the hills and the sailor home from the seas; let us wish a happy as well active life to the veteran celebrity.

Cadillac

Cadillac - Luxury on Four Wheels

Cadillac Emblem image courtsey: velocityjournal.com

Cadillac - Leader in innovations since 1902.

Cadillac Cien image courtsey: redbrick.dcu.ie

The Petro-Dollars.

Cadillac STS image courtsey: velocityjournal.com

The later part of the nineteenth century is marked by the emergence of oil as the main driver of world economy. Development of a nation was measured by the per capita consumption of oil in that country. Bulky and oil guzzling contraptions in the name of car has become the status symbol of the rich and powerful. The Middle East nations endowed with rich oil deposits began to call the shots as oil has become a monopolized commodity. Petrodollars over-flowed throughout Gulf Nations the neo-rich people flaunted the money that automatically flowed in to their coffers.

From camel to Cadillac!

Cadillac Escalade Limo image courtsey: a1limobus.com

Proud owners of palatial mansions to reside and ‘Cadillacs’- the ultimate luxury on four wheels- for their travel, the oil barons have became a happy lot! This phenomenon came to be called ‘a change from camel to Cadillac’; a swift and seamless change nothing short of a revolution. It may be jealousy of the not so fortunate world that whispered ‘those who wandered on camel-back in the desert sun; now drive the Cadillac what a change’.

A Cadillac among cars!

When one say ‘Rolex’ is the Cadillac among watches it is meant that is the top-most product; because Cadillac has been a synonym for luxury for more than a whole century. Yes Cadillac is a magic word that spells class, looks and reliability in the ever changing world of automobiles and not just kept pace with the technological revolutions that swept the whole world and the automobile industry in particular. Ever since its inception in August 22, 1902 Cadillac has been in the number one slot in numerous technological as well as design up-gradations.

Had been on the block.

Cadillac Escalade image courtsey: velocityjournal.com

Formerly a stagnant company of the Henry Ford stable, Ford dissociated from this company along with his close associates and this factory was put on the block. The financiers in an attempt to retrieve the money they have put approached Henry M Leland to appraise the assets. Leland studying the company profile was confident of its revival as a car maker and his proposal was accepted.

Antonie Cadillac – the father of all cars!

On August 22, 1902 the company was renamed as Cadillac and started production of its first car with Leland’s single cylinder engine. The name Cadillac was coined after the French explorer Antonie Laurmet Cadillac of the 17^th century who was the founder of Detroit Michigan. General Motors purchased Cadillac in 1909 and made one of the many assets it has, but they retained Cadillac as its premium brand and never introduced a cheaper version from its stable.

Numero Uno.

Cadillac XLR image courtsey: velocityjournal.com

There are so many firsts Cadillac has to its credit than any other car company in fact it was the first fully enclosed factory made car. Its first car (Oct 7 1902) the 10 HP Cadillac shown in the New York Auto show impressed the spectators and gained orders for thousands of cars for the company.

Ending the tyranny of the shaft (starting handle)!

Since then innovations has been a way of life as far as Cadillac was concerned. Formerly starting of the engine was a tough job with the shaft that made people sweat, the electric start system introduced by Cadillac made an end to this ‘tyranny of the shaft’ a history (this device was actually intended to please women drivers; which later became standard). Similarly shifting of the gear was an avoidable nuisance for a good number of prospective buyers, Cadillac could satisfy with its automatic transmission system (another first).

A beautician for the cars.

Cadillac DTS image courtsey: velocityjournal.com

Formerly it was the engineer’s job to design and make a car, in 1927 for the first time Cadillac left the job of designing to designers adding aesthetics in the shape; this trend was later copied by all other manufacturers. The manual transmission with synchronizers was also a Cadillac introduction. It would be funny to recall that an innovation by ‘Philips Screw-driver’ (in 1940) which saved considerable amount of time and labor was first put in to use by the Cadillac.

Only one in black ink.

In 1973 and later in 1985 when the fuel crisis gripped the glob; Cadillac had done its own share in reducing fuel consumption; its staple product ‘De Ville’ was down-sized twice in 77 and later in 85 to make it less thirsty. The introduction of Seville a small car with less ‘thirst’ was an astounding success. One more thing is that Cadillac was the only car maker who could come out with a balance sheet which reported profit even just after the period of great depression.

The everlasting saga of oil crisis.

Cadillac has won many awards for the quality and continuous innovations the company has put in its products the ‘Dewar trophy’ the annual award for advancement of the auto-industry it won in 1908 was only a beginning. The oil crisis that plagued 70s and the 80s has once again showing its ugly head once again this (oil + politics) concoction is definitely not good news to big cars however beautiful and comfortable they are.

How about a guilt-free driving.

Cadillac CTS image courtsey: velocityjournal.com

With many ideas of alternative fuels not getting a break-through; a car lover can pitch his hope towards Cadillac as it has been innovative since beginning. Let it come out a car which can run on jatropha, air, water, oxygen or hydrogen. Let the owner of a car drive without the guilt feeling that he pollutes the earth.

WWE – Stone Cold Steve Austin

His greatest rivalries.

Image Courtesy: search.com

Stone Cold Steve Austin is one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time. It was he who ushered in the attitude era of wrestling and allowed the WWE to beat WCW in the famous Monday night wars. If you take a look at almost all the greatest feuds or matches of the time, you will find Stone Cold featured regularly in the almost all of them. It is ironic to think that once Steve Austin was fired from WCW by Eric Bischoff because Bischoff felt that Austin was too unmarketable. Bischoff would later say that he wouldn’t have fired Austin if he had known what Austin would later become. Austin still remains one of the most popular WWE superstars of all time.

Over the years Austin has had some great rivalries in the WWE/WWF over the years. We are showcasing just a few of them here. Readers might have their own take on these rivalries. Please feel free to contribute your own picks on the same in your comments. But again these are our picks…you know why? Coz Stone Cold said so!!!

With Vince McMahon

Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org

This rivalry gained massive crowd support because it pitted the Rattlesnake against the evil corporate character of Mr. McMahon. The crowd took Austin’s battles against Mr. McMahon as one of the common man against the rich. At the time WWE needed it as they were involved in a bitter battle against the WCW who were leading the Monday Night Wars. Austin became a face with his aggressive attitude and doing things that a hero wouldn’t do. He epitomized the rebellion against the establishment angle.

The rivalry really started after Bret Hart’s departure. Austin became the new top superstar of the WWF. After he had won the 1998 Royal Rumble he interrupted Vince McMahon when he introduced Mike Tyson as the baddest man on the planet. Austin’s conduct on that day made Vince scorn the idea of seeing Stone Cold as the next WWE champion. When Austin went on tot win the title at Wrestlemania 14 against Shawn Michaels with the help of Mike Tyson, Mr. McMahon’s worst nightmares came true. He even tried to make the rattlesnake tow the corporate line. But all that he got in return for his efforts were a Stone Cold Salute (which is the showing of the finger), a stunner and a punch to the boss’s “Corporate Grapefruits”. Vince was incensed and went all out to screw Stone Cold in whatever way possible starting off a long and bitter rivalry.

With The Rock

Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org

This rivalry took off at a stage when Stone Cold, with his heel tactics as a face, was defining the role of a tweener in wrestling. Nobody did it as larger than life or as successfully as Stone Cold managed to do. The Rock on the other hand had just turned into a heel by becoming the exact opposite of what his earlier babyface character, Rocky Miavia, was. He started spitting venom at the crowd and made popular several catchphrases like “If you smell what The Rock is cookin'” or “Finally… the Rock has come back to ”. It was sort of inevitable that the Rattlesnake and the Rock would soon collide with such large personalities.

They first collided with each other during Austin’s title reign as the Intercontinental champion. The feud culminated with Austin defeating The Rock within six minutes at In Your House: D-Generation X in 1998. When Vince McMahon asked for a rematch the following night at Raw, Austin simply forfeited the title before handing a stunner to both the Rock and McMahon. The Rock went on to win the WWF championship and was thereafter proclaimed as the corporate champion by Vince McMahon. Austin and the Rock would feud again after the latter became the WWF champion at Survivor Series in 1998. The two would meet each other at Wrestlemania 15. Austin beat The Rock and won the title paving the way for a rivalry between the two for well over a year.

With Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart

Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org

This was the rivalry that really made Steve Austin what he is today. He had just come out with Austin 3:16 phrase and was beginning to assure in the attitude era at the WWE. But he knew that to truly cement his place he had to go after a big name. So he went after Bret Hart who was taking a sabbatical at the time. He would continuously taunt The Hitman with comments like “If you put the letter 'S' in front of 'Hitman', you have my exact opinion of Bret Hart”! Bret had no other option but to accept the Rattlesnake’s challenge and return to the ring and take him on.

The two collided at the 1996 Survivor Series. Bret Hart won the match by applying his famous Sharpshooter on Stone Cold. But to everyone’s surprise the crowd turned on Bret Hart and started cheering for Steve Austin, thus cementing his place among the fans. They continued to feud with each other until they met again at Wrestlemania 13 in a submission match. It was a match where both superstars gave it their all and went at each other. At the end of the match Bret Hart got the sharpshooter in place. But Austin refused to quit. He eventually passed out from the massive blood loss that he was suffering. This match ultimately turned Austin into a face and Bret into a heel. Although they had a bitter professional rivalry they had a good relationship personally. So much so that it was Austin who inducted Bret Hart into the WWE hall of fame

Related Reading.

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• Vince Mcmahon Death
• What is Entertainment
• Vince Mcmahon Dead ?
• Stone Cold Steve Austin
• The Montreal Screwjob
• Summerslam
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India Blogs

The Kerala Articles now features on India Blogs

The Kerala Articles is now features among the most popular Group Blogs in India.

India Blogs from Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspiration


India Blogs 1.0 is a project from one of India’s premier blogger Amit Agarwal. Amit is a technology analyst, speaker, geek and professional blogger. Amit blogs at Digital Inspiration on computers, software, consumer technology and internet. India Blogs 1.0 is a blog compilation of the most widely read blogs in India and is part of an ongoing effort to showcase some of the best Indian blogs and also bloggers from India.

India Blogs 1.0 - The Most Widely Read Indian Bloggers


The project gives insight into the Indian blogosphere and helps you find new blogs that are not much heard of till now but are definitely worth checking out. The fact that this is a human edited list and the editor is an Engineering degree holder in Computer Science from IIT and is the first professional blogger in India makes the list all the more credible.

Thank you Amit We’re honoured.

Feel free to Submit your blog to the Indian Blogger Directory

WWE – The Montreal Screwjob

The Most Controversial Incident of All Time

Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org

One of the major reasons why people watch WWE is the underlying kayfabes (the events that are a part of a storyline). This makes the matches or feuds between two superstars take a whole new interest by putting in some drama to all the mayhem that is shown on the ring. However there have been occasions when real life tensions between the superstars have caused the matches between them to be viewed with a lot more interest. We are showcasing one such rivalry and how it all culminated in one of the most controversial and real incidents in sports entertainment.

Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart have been rivals from their tag team days itself with Bret as part of the team ‘The Hart Foundation’ and Shawn as part of ‘The Rockers’. At one point The Rockers had even won the World Tag Team title from The Hart Foundation. But the two became intense rivals around the time of Wrestlemania 12 in 1996. Bret was the reigning WWF champion. The match was stipulated to be a 60 minute Iron Man Match where the man with the most submissions or pins becomes the winner. After 60 minutes of high intensity, the match ended 0-0. But the WWF President Gorilla Monsoon entered the ring and ordered the match to continue under sudden death rules. Michaels won the match and the title shortly thereafter. After the match Shawn Michaels is alleged to have told The Hitman to “get the f**k out of my ring” and the seeds for a bitter and personal rivalry were sown.

Image Courtesy: derok.net

After Wrestlemania 12 Bret took some time off and during that time he was offered a big contract in the WCW. But out of loyalty towards WWF Bret chose to stay back and signed a 20 year deal with them. Shawn was widely believed to drop his title to Bret at Wrestlemania 13. But instead he vacated the title just a few months before Wrestlemania 13 in his infamous ‘I lost my smile’ speech. He claimed that his doctor had told him that his knee injury would be career ending. Bret Hart on the other hand felt that he was faking it as Shawn had always said that he wouldn’t do anymore jobs for anyone in the territory. Bret went on to win the title again by winning Fatal Four Way match involving Austin, Vader, the Undertaker and himself.

In the meanwhile Vince McMahon, the owner of WWF, made a U-turn and came back to Bret Hart and asked him to reconsider the offer made by WCW. Vince said that since the WWF was in a tight financial situation at the time and that he will not be able to afford the earlier contract. After a lot of deliberations Hart finally signed a contract with WCW for an alleged figure of $ 3 million a year. Thus it was decided that the 1997 Survivor Series in Montreal would be his final match in the WWF.

Image Courtesy: search.com

Vince McMahon wanted Bret to drop the title to Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series before moving on to WCW. However by this time the feud between Shawn and Bret Hart had reached a personal level and Bret was unwilling to drop the title to Shawn Michaels. Both of them had made several personal comments about each other in the build up to the match. While Bret questioned Shawn’s sexual preferences, Shawn made a comment that Bret was having a lot of Sunny days lately. This was in reference to alleged relationship that Bret was having with WWE diva Sunny. However this comment led to a major fight between the two in the locker room.

When Vince persisted for the title to be dropped at Survivor Series Bret said that he was willing to drop the title to anyone anywhere other than to Shawn Michaels in Montreal. One of his reasons was that since Shawn has always been unwilling to do a job for anyone else Bret would not reciprocate either. Second, since Bret by this time was a big national icon in Canada he didn’t want to lose over there.

After a lot of arguing it was finally decided that the match would end in a disqualification. Vince in the meantime called a meeting at his hotel room with his confidantes and Shawn Michaels and allegedly set into motion the screwjob. Bret’s confidantes also advised him to be careful and not to let his guard down during the match. Bret insisted on having his friend Earl Hebner to officiate the match so the he can be in the match without any fear of a double cross. Hebner swore upon his children that he would not double cross Bret.

Image Courtesy: derok.net

Before the match it was decided that Michaels would put Hart into the sharpshooter hold while the referee would be unconscious. Hart would grab Michaels' foot and reverse the hold, putting him in the sharpshooter. Michaels would tap out, but the referee would still be unconscious. Michaels would then hit Hart with his finisher, Sweet Chin Music, and make the cover. A second referee would then run to the ring with Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith following close behind and the referee would be prevented from making the count. When the original referee starts again Bret Hart would kick out and the match would ultimately end in disqualification.

During the match the ref was knocked out cold. Shawn Michaels put the sharpshooter on Bret Hart. But the ref suddenly stood up and asked for the bell to be rung even though Bret had not tapped out. Vince McMahon who was on the ringside asked the timekeeper to “Ring the f**king bell”. The time keeper rang the bell just as Bret reached over grabbed Michael’s leg and thus breaking the hold. Shawn Michaels’ theme music began to play and he was announced the winner and the new champion. Hebner exited from the ring straightaway and was driven to his hotel room, from where he went to take the first flight out of Canada.

Everybody involved was still in shock when Bret recovered and spat directly into the face of Vince McMahon. Vince ordered a seemingly irate Michaels (it was later revealed that he too was in on it the whole time) to “pick up the f**kin' belt and get the f**k out of here!” Vince too exited the ringside quickly, while Bret went on a rampage and destroyed the equipments on the ringside before he was clamed by his brother Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith. Before going to the dressing room Bret signed “I Love You” and “WCW” to the fans.

Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org

Backstage he confronted Michaels who swore he had nothing to do with what had just transpired. Many WWF superstars backstage were pissed off at the treatment meted out to Hart, a veteran of 14 years in the WWF. Undertaker went into Vince McMahon’s dressing room and told him in no uncertain terms to apologize to Bret Hart. When Vince went to meet Bret Hart, the latter punched the living daylights out of Vince and gave him a black eye in the process.

All the major players in the Montreal Screwjob have got on with their life. Bret went on to WCW had a brilliant career there before suffering a concussion at the hands of Goldberg, due to which he retired from wrestling. Shawn Michaels suffered an injury in the very next PPV and was out of action for almost 5 years. Bret has recently said that he has forgiven Earl Hebner though his animosity with Michaels still continues. Vince McMahon and the WWF went on to buy out the WCW and Vince became a billionaire. He also spawned the Mr. McMahon character out of the entire episode. But the incident can never be erased from the minds of any of these people or the millions who watched it.

Related Reading.

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• WWE - Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
  
• Vince Mcmahon Death
• What is Entertainment
• Vince Mcmahon Dead ?
• Stone Cold Steve Austin
• The Montreal Screwjob
• Summerslam
• Royal Rumble
• Wrestlemania
• Undertaker
• WWE - Fake but Entertaining

Death Valley

Death Valley, The Land of all Extremes.

Wait to get frightened!

Don’t get frightened by the name ‘Death Valley’ as there are many more places with far scarier names in this valley which give tourists real thrill, perhaps one of the most thing to visit these places may be their scary names. It is three million acres of barren and rocky land about 400 km north east of Los Angeles in the State of California This valley was originally inhabited by the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe (some of these tribals still live here). Its very name invokes rough and tough land scape with beautifully carved sand dunes.

Two rivers and a lot of sand.

Death valley sand dunes image courtsey: legendsofamerica.com

The Death Valley is located between Amargosa and Panamint Ranges at east and west and The Owl’s Head Mountain and The Sylvania in the north and south respectively. There are two rivers flowing through this region, they never reach anywhere as all the waters get sucked by the ever-thirsty desert-sand! These sand-dunes are capable of swallowing a hundred rivers, two feeble streams are small fries!

‘Gold Man’, Frank “Shorty” Harris.

Frank Shorty Harris image courtsey: nps.gov

Frank ‘Shorty’ Harris the pioneer in discovering gold deposits here made it big, but the news about his bounties spread as wild fire giving rise to the ‘gold-rush’. It is a land mark in the history of America when greed took the front seat people rushed to this land forgetting all ethics and shame; they were everywhere California was swarmed by these greedy fortune seekers.

The Death Valley National Park.

At present The Death Valley National Park has been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the rare fauna and flora very exclusive to this area. Over and above this body has the job of maintaining and protecting the area as well as promoting tourism to this locality.

A shortcut to hell!

Among many of the early gold seekers who tried to cross the Death Valley and had to pay heavily for their ignorance! They had to pass through a virtual hell (many perished in the horrendous effort) those who survived named it the ‘Death Valley’ and all other land marks with apt names; no one will dare to pass through it (even if it is a ‘gold studded river bed’).

Extreme names to extreme locations!

Death Valley image courtsey: photoatlas.com

Funeral Mountain, Coffin peaks, Hell’s Gate, Starvation Canyon, Dead Man’s Pass, Devil’s Hole, Furnace Creak, Bad Water Basin are all place names of this strange horrible valley. It is the hottest (temperatures rise above 128 degree Fahrenheit during summer), driest (in this aspect it is world’s one of the top), and lowest (the Bad Water Basin here, it is 282 feet lower than sea-level only ‘Laguna Del Carbon’ of Argentina is lower than this) (all words denotes extreme conditions) place in the American Continent.

Devils hole pupfish image courtsey: wikipedia.org

Devil’s Hole is a flooded cave with sheer sided ridges of about 10 meters deep (well protected by fences with sensors tourists are not welcome in to this fenced area) in the north east corner of the Ash meadows where lives the ‘Devil’s Hole Pupfish – a unique fish of about 2.7 cm in length, an inhabitant of this are since 60,000 years in this sizzling pool filled with algae! Its numbers (present population about 38 where as it was 500 in the early 90s) are fast depleting and such a variety of fish is not found else where in the world (reason for the high security cover).

Ash Meadows is comparatively wet area in the in this desert areas with about 40 springs, enchanting pools with crystal clear water and some small lakes like Crystal Reservoir with flat shores (where free swimming allowed to visitors)

Ash Meadows image courtsey: americansouthwest.net

Funeral Mountain is a short and arid range (considered to be a sub-range of the Amargosa Ranges) that forms the eastern border of the Death Valley National Park.

Funeral Mountains image courtsey: carto.net

Bad Water is the lowest point in North America (282 feet below sea-level) extremely salty and the water is not edible (hence the name ‘bad water’ but many animals and plants live in it (pickle weed, some aquatic insects, the Bad water snake etc).

Bad water image courtsey: cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de

Scotty’s Castle is an enormous fantasy palace built by Albert Mussy Johnson a Millionaire from Chicago in his Death Valley ranch, who allowed his mining partner Scotty to live in it as a guest and thus the castle got the name Scotty’s Castle (it is said that Scotty boasted as he had built it).

Scotty’s Castle image courtsey: nps.gov

Furnace Creek is mainly rocky and in the hot sun the rocks get red hot giving ample justification to the strange name this creek posses, this point in Death Valley has the credit as the highest level of ground temperature (201 degree Fahrenheit), where the air temperature keeps pace with a sizzling level of 128 degree Fahrenheit.

Furnace creek inn image courtsey: neuro.caltech.edu

Rough and tough but charming!

Death valley map courtsey: desertusa.com

The above descriptions may create an impression that this valley is ugly and not good to look at but that is not the case, there are much to see in this biosphere like numerous springs, small lakes, colorful rocks, unending sand dunes, and a good agency (Death Valley National Park) for helping tourists as well as managing preservation of the exclusive flora and fauna unique to this area.

A short lived spring!

Death Valley generally has a sunny and clear atmosphere as the rainfall is dismally low (about 2.5 inches per annum). When it rains as the soil is not adapted to retaining of water there may be flashfloods. The Death Valley turns in to a beautiful garden after the rains as the seeds of the unique plants germinate and blooms presenting unforgettable scenes to the spectators.

Macho Valley.

One may perhaps think ‘it is improper to name a place and many locations it has with words like Death Valley, Funeral Mountain etc, they should have been given good and sweet names instead. ‘Flower Valley” or something like that’, but wait the name death valley, devil’s hole, dead-man’s pass, starvation canyon etc are an asset to this locality, no sweet words can add so much appeal to places like this, in fact a sizable number of tourists flock to here attracted by these eerie names! Giving charming names to Death Valley locations may look like a gentle man walking in a ladies gown! Wishing Death Valley and the tough locations bright and sunny days!

Psycho

Iconic

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Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is probably one of the most iconic movies in the history of cinema. If ‘Jaws’ made you afraid to go into the sea, then this movie must have given the chills to anyone who stepped into a shower during the initial days of its release. This is the movie that is most identified as Hitchcock-ian in its suspense and treatment.

The movie starts off with the two lovers, Marion Crane and Sam Loomis, sharing an intimate moment at a downtown motel room in Phoenix, Arizona. We learn that Sam is a divorcee and because of his alimony payments his finances are none too good. Unless his financial state improves he will not be able to marry Marion.

Desperate to improve the situation that they are currently in Marion steals $ 40,000 from her place of work and absconds to find Sam, who lives in a California town, by embarking on a road trip. Marion is raked by the guilt of her stealing the money and becomes paranoid along the way. Her behavior attracts attention including that of a police officer, who finds her dozing off in her car that is pulled over to the side of a road. She even changes her car and buys a new one at a second hand dealership in a bid to avoid attention and continues on her journey to meet Sam.

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As night falls Marion finds herself driving in the dark and totally exhausted. To add to her woes there is a pouring rain too. She gets off the road and finds a motel called “Bates Motel”. There she meets Norman Bates, the young owner who looks after the hotel. She learns that he lives along with his ailing mother in the mansion near the motel. She feels sorry for Norman because she believes that he is wasting his time at the sinking motel. As she retires to her room and begins to take a shower a shadowy woman like figure appears with a knife and stabs her to death.

Norman finds the body and believes that his mother murdered Marion. He quickly disposes off the body, along with the car and all her belongings (including the money, which Norman has no knowledge of) in a swamp nearby. He also wipes out all evidence of the heinous crime. Thus Norman believes that mother is well protected. But what he does not know that there are people looking for Marion who would soon reach the Bates Motel with disconcerting questions. How they reach there and what becomes of them as well as Norman Bates forms the rest of the movie.

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I have often wondered what it would have been like to have watched the movie during the times when it was first released. It must have been quite a shock for the audience to see the biggest box office draw in the movie killed off with more than half the movie still to come. Even before I had watched the movie I had already been exposed to various scenes and references to it in pop culture. So it, in a way, robbed me of the feeling of surprise in seeing one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history. Mind you, that didn’t in anyway reduce the terror of the brutality in that famous shower scene.

Alfred Hitchcock is at his peak as a storyteller in this movie. He knew that for the audience to truly appreciate the movie they will have to come into the cinema halls with no inkling of what is to come. So he went to elaborate lengths to ensure that the movie’s suspense and twists were not revealed. He implored the audience not to do so in almost all the posters. Even critics were denied private screenings in a bid to preserve the plot. He also enforced a ‘no late admission policy’, which denied late comers from entering the cinema hall. He contented that the audience would be unhappy if they entered late and not see Janet Leigh, the star of the movie and who plays Marion in it.

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Hitchcock shot this movie entirely in black and white as he thought that the audience would be put off by the color of blood in the shower sequence. Irrespective of whether he is right or not, there is no denying that having it shot in black and white enhanced the creepiness of the entire setting of Bates motel and the Bates mansion. In the hands of Hitchcock every shadow takes on a horrifying identity and enabled him to create the proper feel of the movie. And the music just enhanced the horror of the shower scene. So much so that it is as identifiable as the scene itself. What made it even more iconic were its quick cuts and the symbolisms used in the shot like that of the blood going down the drain or the close up of Marion's open eyes which conveyed nothing but horror.

The actors all do a brilliant job in the movie. So much so that most of them became typecast in their roles. Anthony Perkins who plays the role of Norman Bates played it so effectively that he almost defined the way it should be played. It was as if he was living the role rather than playing it. As a tragic offshoot he found that he couldn’t get any work other than those that had a similar characterization of Norman Bates.

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He also uses innovative narrative techniques. When the movie starts we are led to believe that its main focus is on the relationship between Marion and her lover. Then we feel that the story is about Marion’s theft and her subsequent guilt over. It is not until Marion is killed that we realize that the main protagonist of the movie was not Marion in the first place. Hitchcock keeps us all on tender hooks till the very end, with an astounding revelation in the climax. Psycho is truly one of the most thrilling and iconic movies of all time.