Appooppanthaadi-40

A scene from The Bund

The Bund is the most attractive part in Shanghai. This is the business district of this mega city. The landmark of the city, The Oriental Pearl Tower, is situated just opposite this. The Bund is a beautifully landscapped stretch of the river bank that gives a panoramic view of the concrete jungle of Shanghai. The other side of the River Huangpu boasts of Oriental Pearl Tower and most of the very tall buildings of the city.

Orinetal Pearl is a 450 Mater tall TV tower that has three stages of sperical landings, offeres the tourists a great view of the city . We can go upto 350 meters. There are highspeed lifts to take the visitors. The slim girls who operate these lift mumble something in English -the things they have learned by heart. I rightly guessed what they say, it was all about the tower! The entry fee to reach upto the third stage is 150 yuans. The height at the 3rd stage is 350 meters. The bird's eye view of the commercial capital of China from this height is enough to cast a magical spell on the visitors.

"The Oriental Pearl Tower was designed by the Shanghai Modern Architectural Design Co. Ltd.  Construction began in 1990 and the tower was completed in 1994. At 468 m (1,535 feet) high, it was the tallest structure in China  from 1994–2007, when it was surpassed by the Shanghai World Financial Center. The Oriental Pearl Tower belongs to the World Federation of Great Towers."

River Huangpu looked to be a very busy river. This river divides Shanghai into two - Pudong and Puxi. A number of vessels were seen sailing in the river up and down carrying goods.  There were many other vessels meant for cruises offered by tour operators. The river connects the industries of the city as well as China itself to the East China Sea.


The goods from there cruise to the world's different destinations. There are a few tunnels underneath this river that are used for metro rail. One of such tunnels carry tourists on a joy ride from the Bund to the bottom of the Oriental Parl Tower. The 50 yuans ride from one bank to the other is of course a pleasure trip.

Over the top of the Tower, a walk on the transparent floor will certainly take our breath away. At 350 meters height, no floor to see under the feet makes one so frightened. What we see when we look down  are the busy roads all over and the foot of the tower. So many people scream and a few jump in excitation when they take a walk along the transparent floor. There is a restaurant and a few curio shops over there to pass time.

Shanghai's amazing infrastructure development and the disciplined way the city moves on wheels are all a treat to our eyes. Sitting in the chairs there on the top of the Tower and staring at the magnificient picture that unvails in front of us may tempt, at least for a moment, to change our mind in favour of extending the visa for a few more months...at least.

Click the link for more photos : View from The Bund and The OrientalPearlTower

Appooppanthaadi -39

Shanghai is simply superb. No wonder our rulers, cutting across idiological lines always promise their people about  sparing no efforts to turn our country like Shanghai. I only wish our netas and babus succeed in this sooner or later. In a lighter vein, we should admit that turning Shanghai into India is much easier!!

Right from the airport we get the feeling of being in a world class city. (Interestingly, the Pudong International Airport, Shanghai does not give a great look. Our New Delhi International Airport looks more world class than this)

The Maglev at the background of the Shanghai Airport

Walk down to the railway station. Catch the high speed train to the city. This train can run at a speed as high as 500 kilometers per hour. This is the world's first rail line that works on the principle of magnetic levitation. I should once again commend the Chinese. They use technology in a better way. China bashers, please excuse.

"Maglev (derived from magnetic levitation), is a system of transportation that uses magnetic levitation to suspend, guide and propel vehicles from magnets rather than using mechanical methods, such as wheels, axles and bearings. Maglev transport is a means of flying a vehicle or object along a guideway by using magnets to create both lift and thrust, only a few inches above the guideway surface. High-speed maglev vehicles are lifted off their guideway and thus are claimed to move more smoothly and quietly and require less maintenance than wheeled mass transit systems – regardless of speed"

"The highest recorded speed of a maglev train is 581 km/h (361 mph), achieved in Japan by the CJR's MLX01 superconducting maglev in 2003,^[5] 6 km/h (3.7 mph) faster than the conventional wheel-rail speed record set by the TGV"

There is an express higway road from the airport to the city centre. It was a 30 KM drive from the airport to the Punjabi Hotel in the city. It took 220 yuans by the car. The Punjabi Hotel offer a room at 300 Yuans per night. The highlight of the stay there was the restaurant. One should travel to Shanghai at least to have a lunch or a dinner at the Punjabi restaurant! There are a chain of four or five Punjabi Hotels in Shanghai.

Shanghai is famous for its skyscrappers, wide roads, large flyovers bulit all over the roads and neatness. The infrastructure development is amazing. One may be easily blown over by the charm of Shanghai. 

Amidst this jungle, some live trees also grow. Most of the arterial roads and also many busy roads are having thick array of maple trees on both sides. While the man made tall trees look to reach out to the sky, these nature's gift just stand dwarfed.

This is Dubai's concrete jungle...looking from the aircraft 
that just took off

Of course, there is no comparison. Nature's creation is more beautiful than man's. Perhaps if there were no maple trees, Shanghai would just have looked like Dubai.

Shanghai's concrete jungle..looking from Oriental Peral Tower

Whereever we look, we see only high rise buildings. All well built with so much of architecture and meticulous engineering went into them. In fact, Shanghai is a concrete jungle with excellent planning of roads and public transport system.

To view more photos click : https://picasaweb.google.com/ppnatesan/Shanghai39?authkey=Gv1sRgCOLd38WRxobfPg&feat=email

Some News...Some Views -16

There are different kinds of Bandhs in our country. Ever since the court ruled that Bandh is illegal, the name has been changed to Hartal. Now, Hartal is observed area wise. Ward harthal, Pachayat hartal, Taluk harthal, District hartal and state wide harthal. People in Keralam virtually celebrate harthals on a daily basis.

Harthals are now patronised by the people themselves. Little effort needs to be put by the organisers of the strike to make a harthal a total success. They have to just announce the date of harthal. No need to give a reason for which they call for a harthal. People taken the call with both the hands and ensure that not even a single public transport vehicle hit the road on that day.

Click the link :Harthal in Kerlam

People on the eve of the harthal day go on shopping spree, collect all essentials.Gear up for the big day that follows. The most essential things for the dwellers of the God's Own Country are IMFL and beef.

People make longer than normally long queues in front of the Beverages Corporation outlets very patiently to collect the main thing that makes a harthal day a celebration. It is really saddening and even shocking to see the people so obsessed with strikes and harthals in a state that was blessed with abundant natural resorces and sceneic beauty. 

February 28, 2012 was the mega strike day. Almost all trade unions called for a general strike on that day all across the country. The strike was only successful in Keralam. It did not evoke much response even in West Bengal. Here is a picture on the right side that was taken at 9 am on the stike day in Chennai

There will never be any control over harthals in Keralam. People are used to it. In fact they crave for it. They get what they deserve.

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The Indian hockey teams are qualified for the Olympics. 2012 Olympics is round the corner. The controversy surrounding the Dow Chemicals is yet to settle. Dow is otherwise called Union Carbide-the killer company that caused death of thousands of people way back in Bhopal. There is increasing demand for India to mark their protest against Dow sponsoring the Olympics.

Nothing will happen. No one is going to listen to India's voice. Here, human life is the cheapest commodity. Death and distruction are nothing so big in our country. More over, we never have any diplomatic clout over any major players in the international politics.

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No Commander gets into a war that he is sure to lose. Here, the young and dynamic commander led the war right from the front, without even knowing the terrain or the enemy. The more shocking thing was that he used some of the most ineffective cannons like Digvijaya Singh and Salman Khurshid to fire at the enemies.

 The result was nothing unexpected. Now, the Gujarat election will take place in the end of this year and the parliament election sooner than expected. We can only pray, the same team that campained in UP does it again in the forthcoming elections. If people like Rahul, Digvijaya Singh and Salman Khurshid are there, Congress Party does not need any enemies!

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It is better we leave those Italian maries to Italian justice. It is hard to believe that Italy do not have any criminal justice system that does not have punishment for murder. They will do speedy trial and hand out justice in a more systematic, professional and less corrupt way.

Click the link : kerala-police-italian-vessel-enrica-lexie-kerala-coast

The hue and cry we raise over the killing of the fishermen is much disproportionate with the value we ourselves give to a human life in our country. Hundreds of people are killed in road acidents in our country everyday. 99% of all these accidents are happening due to sheer negligence. The people at the wheels give no value to human lives.

Look at the way five young men were shot dead in Chennai. They were suspected to have participated in two bank robberies in Chennai. No concrete evidence about it.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/chennai-5-suspects-in-bank-robbery-shot-dead/232830-3.html

The police did not even know who were holed up in that apartment when they knocked the door. They delivered instant justice...death sentence for suspected bank robbery! The more shocking fact is that men on the street sound to be approving of such reckless acts by the powers that be. What happens tomorrow if the police knock my door??? Frightening....

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It looks, Albert Einstein is still right. There is no particle that can travel faster than light. The 'discovery' by some French scientists that, particles called Neutrinos could travel faster than light looks to be wrong.

Click the link : Einstein-was-right-all-along

They blame it on the equipment for faulty measurement of speed of neutrinos. They raised a hoax and became famous. Anyway, the immortal scientist is unbeatble. Long live Einstein...

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Team Anna lost its face in this elections. Arvind Kejrival and Sisodia, the most vocal members of the team failed to vote in the UP elections. This implies that Anna and his team do not beileve in democracy.

In that case they can join Naxalites or the proponants of the idea of Martial rule in our country and stage an armed struggle. I regret my act of going hungry for a full day when Anna sat on fast in Delhi a few months back

It looks Anna thinks with his heart rather than with his brain.....

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Appooppanthaadi - 38

The citizens of China can not own land in that country. The government owns the land. Citizens can take land on long term lease and construct buildings that include houses. Every piece of land is government's and they take back from the lesse whenever it needs to do some developmental activities.

A Housing complex in Harbin

Real estate business in many cities is a booming business. So many multi storied buldings are sprouting across the lengths and breadths of the cities. As we look, the buildings grow and take gigntic sizes. The skyline of HarbinCity is filled with tower cranes all over.

Owning a house is one of the pre-reequiste for a boy to get a girl in his life. Girl friends may never commit into a wedlock if the boy doesn't own a house. Alternately, if the girl or her parents are rich enough, then the boy's job is made easy. Due to strict single child policy, whatever the parents have, goes to the single child. The inherited properties of both the parents confluence into a single person. That may be  one of the reasons, we are able to see so many number of black Audis on the road there!

Catchy advertisements on the walls of an upcoming housing comlex

There are so many real estate promoters in every cities. They too, like in our country, give colourful advertisements and conduct property melas in shopping malls to lure customers.

Brainwashing through images and models of palatial apartment buildings is so common in China. The promotors offer all trappings of a modern day life style in these apartments. There is no dearth of customers too.

Prices, like in any other part of the world is unbearable. One sqare meter of an apartment may cost anything around 15000 yuans in Shanghai and nothing less than 5000 yuans in Harbin and always on the rise day by day.

The apartments we hired during our stay in Tianjin city costed us in the range of 3000 to 4000 yuans that included all furniture and electrical and electronic equipment. The house had a big LCD TV, airconditioners in all the rooms, beds, and posh visitors' room. The Harbin house was equally good. The Chinese spend a lot on their houses.

A posh apartment complex in Shenyang

In addition to all expenses to decorate their houses, heating up the house during the winter is another big expene they have to meet every year. Heating the houses is centralised in cities.

Huge quantity of water is heated at certain places by the city autorities and is circulated through the pipes laid all over the city. The users have to pay a fixed amount based on the area of the building to the city authority in advance to avail this facility.

The large  apartment complex in Tianjin (here we lived)

Pipes are rooted to the houses and other buildings. There are radiators installed in every rooms that dissipates the heat from the hot water circulating in the pipes.

Even in the extreme cold weather, we can remain in plain clothes inside the rooms, thanks to the planned heating system in the Chinese cities. This type of a centralised heating system could not be found in Europe. There they heat up their houses using fire woods. Gentle smoke emanating from every chimney at the back drop of the snow white surroundings is a treat to watch in Europe during winter...