Across Seven Seas and Thirteen Rivers

One of many traveletors Splendor and awe:  On July 31, 2010, while travelling from Heathrow to Kolkata, I landed at New Delhi's Terminal-3 as a transit passenger. I had a couple of hours in hand and decided to explore the facility.  The new terminal was opened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 3 July but it became operational about a fortnight later.  Prior to the  formal opening of the terminal, MSN had carried a story on the Terminal entitled: "Splendour and Awe at Delhi's New Airport Terminal 3", and on 25 June I  had uploaded a posting  on the terminal in this blog. So I was more than curious to find out for myself what it looked like and  was exceedingly happy to see that it is a truly world class facility but then I had expected no less.   Same merchandise...same brands...across the globe The construction team: Construction and management of the T3 is handled by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which is a private consortium of the GMR Grou

Tower Bridge - a sunset panorama Tower Bridge: Tower Bridge is iconic of London. It bridges London's financial district on the north bank with the Borough of Southwark on the south bank.  The picture here  is a sunset panorama with Tower Bridge in the center and the Gherkin, Swiss Re building, (which is London's first ecological tall building, designed by Fosters + Partners), to the far right. [Photo by D.Illif released under commons license @ http://bit.ly/c4JBtp]. Being located near the Tower of London, the bridge takes its name from its location and not, as it is sometimes mistakenly imagined, from its own two towers. The bridge is also sometimes mistakenly referred to as the London Bridge, which is actually the next bridge upstream that has been there, at or near the present location, in some form or other, over the past 2,000 years; the present London Bridge is a rather mundane structure that does not deserve or draw any public attention. I'm on board the HM

The occasion:   This time around, the Institution of Structural Engineers  has organized a couple of away days on board the HMS Belfast  for the it's AGM and for the meetings of it's Council and the International Interest Group. These are spread over 29-30 July 2010. On 30 July, I will be making some Headline Observations in one session, and make two presentations in another session. HMS Belfast moored on the River Thames HMS Belfast:   HMS Belfast  is maintained as an Imperial War Museum and is open to the public. The ship was transferred to the Imperial War Museum  in 1976 and since then it serves as a branch of the Museum. When Belfast was first opened to the public, visitors were permitted only on the upper decks. Today all of nine decks are open to the public.  To provide public access, a walkway connects the ship's quarterdeck with a pedestrian footpath on the south bank of the river. [Photo credit: released in the public domain by ChrisO at en.wikipedia]. Insti

In the realm of renewable energy, India is currently doing rather well in both hydro-electricity and wind power. Today, India has an installed capacity of 30,000 MW hydro-electric power, which is approximately 20% of the estimated total capacity. Similarly, India’s installed wind power capacity is 8,000 MW, which again is approximately 20% of the estimated total capacity. However, in solar power the picture is very different. At this time India’s total installed solar power capacity is a meager 100 MW, which indicates that solar power has not even begun to scratch the surface. The game stopper here is the capital cost of the equipment, which includes the solar panel comprising photo-voltaic cells, storage batteries and high lumen yet low wattage LED's. There are other challenges as well. For example, the equipment must be rugged enough to withstand the vagaries of the weather and have a long service life. Due to its high capital cost, today, it is widely acknowledged that solar

Dr. Prabha Kant Sinha, an alumnus, has contributed $2m toward setting up the “P. K. Sinha - Bio-fuel Research Centre” at IIT Kharagpur . The centre is already up and running and is engaged in researching the opportunities and challenges of Bio-fuel, such as, Bio-ethanol, Bio-diesel, Bio-hydrogen, Microbial Bio-fuels in the Indian context. Prabha earned his Ph.D. at MIT and B-Tech. at IIT KGP (class of 1970). He has been an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University until 1987.  He continues to teach sales and marketing leaders in executive education programs at Kellogg and at the Indian School of Business.  He has co- authored several books that include ‘ Building a Winning Sales Force’ . Prabha co-founded the sales and marketing  consulting firm ZS Associates in 1983 and is currently it’s Co-Chairman. Headquartered in Evanston, IL, the firm employs 1500 persons spread across offices located in many countries.  For his role in ste

For the World Cup, South Africa has used ten stadiums. My blog has already featured nine of those stadiums. Peter Mokaba Stadium is the last of those ten stadiums. Last but not in any order of merit. I simply started with Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, which is the southernmost of all stadiums  in South Africa. Then from Green Point I moved northward. Peter Mokaba being the northernmost it is the last in my series. Peter Mokaba was renowned for his struggle for emancipation of South Africa.The design  is inspired by the locally iconic Baobab tree, with the steel structure supporting the roof plane gathered together at each corner of the stadium and supported by giant ‘trunk' structures which accommodate vertical circulation ramps and service cores. It has a capacity of 42,000 spectators. [Photo credit: Official FIFA website: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup.]

This stadium was newly-built for the World Cup. Mbombela literally means 'many people together in a small space.' It has a capacity of 41,000. It has been a welcome addition to the region which otherwise did not have any major football stadium earlier. [Photo credit: Official FIFA website: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup.]