Not quite the Golden Gate

Signs of Progress

 A Wi-Fi enabled bus-stop in Calicut, Kerala

Summer Temperatures & Vacation Timings in Muscat

Height of laziness in journalism? Today’s (28 July 2010) Times of Oman carries an article titled ‘Summer heat irks school kids’ on the front page of its local section (B1 or pg 17). The article seems to be nothing but a compilation of a few readers’ letters in the last week. The end result is an article that is highly biased and lacking in any understanding of the facts.

The gist is this: Indian Schools in Muscat region have summer vacations from end-May to end-July. International and Omani schools in Muscat, and Indian schools in the rest of GCC have vacations in July and August. Certain parents want the vacations to be rescheduled to July and August.

The two main complaints by a few parents are:
•    Indian students have to go to school during July & August, which are the hottest months
•    The vacations of the parents working in government or private institutions do not coincide with those of their wards studying in Indian schools.

Both arguments are baseless. The reporter has not taken any efforts to dig any deeper on this. No effort seems to have been taken to get the other side of the story either. As in, why are the vacations kept in June & July in the 1st place? What are the benefits of such an arrangement? No one seems to have spoken to any of the school authorities either, to get their side of the story. A couple of vague sentences that close the article seem to have been put in just to give a semblance of balance.


Here’s what is false about the article, or has not been looked into:

•    The hottest months in Muscat are May & June, not July, and definitely not August. It is July and August in the rest of GCC.

The rest of Oman also generally seems to follow the Muscat trend. Buraimi is similar to other GCC countries. Salalah has its peak temperatures in May & June. And appropriately the Indian school there closes for those months.

So the Indian schools seem to have got it right when scheduling their holidays. The question really is then why do other schools close during July – August, and operate in June when the heat is maximum. The European and American schools have merely synchronised with calendar in their home countries, where the academic years begin in September. Not sure why the Omani schools also keep the same calendar.

•    Most offices do not have a fixed vacation period for their workforce. Educational institutes may have it. Maybe some other organizations as well. But the bulk of employers will not want all staff to take vacation at the same time. Clearly no commercial establishment shuts down completely for 2 out of 12 months.
•    Under the current setup once sees many Indian staff take vacations in June and the Omani & European staff in July – August. Think this is a better solution than all vying for the same time slot.

There are other benefits of the schools having staggered vacations
•    June, being the hottest month, will also likely be the month with maximum per head electricity consumption. Would be interesting to study what the impact on power generation would have been if all the residents of Muscat were in the country during the month of June. I am not certain if we would have been able to avoid blackouts.
•    Road traffic is a bit relaxed all through from June to August, since a sizeable part of the population is out for each of these months.
•    Airlines are able to manage better with the peak load spread over a greater period. Oman Air for instance, has a high load from Muscat to the sub-continent during June. During July this load continues with the transit passengers from other GCC countries. Ditto for the return leg, with the load spread from July to September.


Funnily the online version of this article credits the story to Reuters!


Some further links for reference.

Oman Temperatures
http://www.holidaycheck.com/climate-wetter_Oman-ebene_rid-id_281.html
http://www.worldweather.org/030/m030.htm
http://www.climatetemp.info/oman/
http://www.wunderground.com/global/OM.html
http://www.worldtravelguide.net/country/213/climate/Middle-East/Oman.html
http://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayNORMS.asp?AirportCode=OOMS&StateCode=&SafeCityName=OOMS&Units=none&IATA=&normals=on

Muscat Temperature
http://www.worldweather.org/030/c00112.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT002670
Sharjah http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT002910
Bahrain http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT002020
Kuwait http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT002530

Cute football quotes

Mostly picked up whilst following the World Cup. Some from memory.

The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes. That's fact. Everything else is pure theory. 

- quoted in 'Run Lola Run'. Original - Sepp Herberger.

Three years ago, Spain decided to keep the ball -- and the side still hasn't given it up. - Sid Lowe

If you have a Ferrari and I have a small car, the only way I can win is by putting sugar in your petrol tank. 

-Jose Mourinho

The best players of the world (and Xavi) - WTF headline from Daily Mail

I'm sure I saw him give the ball away once. - Alex Ferguson jokes about Xavi.

The Netherlands is a team in which six players defend, three attack, and Dirk Kuyt runs about. -

Jonathan Wilson

He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right.

- George Best on David Beckham

You always lose when your opponents score and you don’t. - Raymond Domenech, who's mastered the art.

Pele should go back to the museum. We all know what the French are like and Platini as a Frenchman thinks he knows it all.

- El Diego

Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the end Germany always wins. - Gary Lineker

I always score 1 against Germany. - Lineker after scoring 1 run in a cricket match. 

The Spanish Grandmasters

Watching Spain plod through the World Cup rounds, I keep getting the feeling that they play football, similar to a grandmaster playing chess. Xavi in particular being the mover.

• The score is usually 1-0.
• They play a series of small moves, and suddenly the whole layout has dramatically changed.
• They play moves and lines that you just couldn't see until they showed it to you
• Everyone but the aficionado gets bored watching them
• They know they have 90 minutes to win the game, and don't try to hurry it. Thus not giving the opponent a chance to capitalize on any error.
• No useless shots at goal (checks). One is good enough to win most games.

World Cup Round 1 review part 2

Group E
The Dutch have a tendency to self destruct. So no saying when they will undo all the good work . They have been looking good so far. Add Robben to the mix, and you have genuine title contenders. Though Van Persie at times reminds on of the forwards in Chak De India. He just refuses to pass!
Japan were very impressive with their organized play. Danes disappointed. They were not able to put their pace and height to good use in the key matches.

Group F
I think it was Gatusso who said, "With all respect to the other teams, if you can't qualify from a group that contains New Zealand, Slovakia & Paraguay, you need to have tomatoes thrown at you." Or something to that effect. What more can I say?

Group G
Argentina packed their team with so many forwards, that they had to play some of them in the midfield. Brazil played some defenders in their midfield. And at the end of every match, Dunga would complain that they didn't score enough goals because the opposing team wouldn't let them! With the likes of Kaka, Maicon & Robinho they could have put on quite a show if they wanted to. If.
Not to be outdone, Portugal played even more defensively. They split the playing ground into - Ronaldo covers the opponent's half, and the other 10 will cover their own. They were more open in the game against North Korea, where virtually every shot they took went into goal.
North Korea were impressive on 2 counts, despite the thrashing they took in a couple of matches. They held Brazil quite well to a very large extent. And they played a relatively clean and positive game. Cote d'Ivoire were unlucky to be in this group. They'd probably have topped if they were in C or E.

Group H
In the biggest shock of the round, the methodical Swiss beat the flamboyant Spaniards in the 1st round. Thus avenging all the losses a flamboyant Federer has had to take against the methodical Nadal. After that they failed to score at all, and got knocked out.
Spain recovered, and went on to play some of the most pleasing, but not effective, football and top the group. Torres joined the likes of Messi, Kaka & Rooney to have note scored at all so far. Chile were the only ones to take the game into the Spanish half, though they were not able to sustain it beyond the 1st 25 minutes.

Round up.
On the looks of it, the best 4 teams seem to be Argentina, Brazil, Netherlands & Spain, in  ascending order. Since Brazil could meet the Dutch in the quarterfinals, (and hopefully lose:) the 4th semifinal spot is most likely to be filled by Uruguay. The other contenders Germany & Portugal.

World Cup Round 1 review part 1

A brief look at the teams at the end of the 1st round.

Group A

The big story here was France. Am surprised people expected more of them. Raymond Domenech has achieved nothing of significance since taking over in 2004, bar the 2006 qualification and World Cup 2nd place. That too was largely courtesy Zidane and his troop of retirees. Don't know why the French persisted with him for so long. Once qualified, he doesn't include the likes of Karim Benzema & Samir Nasri in his squad. And then leaves Henry & Malouda on the bench. What can Ribery do on his own? It's a bonus they got a point out of Uruguay.

Uruguay looked solid in defence, and Forlan was the 1st player to show that the Jabulani can be controlled for long range shots. Deserved toppers.

Mexico should regret not having tried harder against Uruguay. Topping the group would have given them a pretty good shot at reaching the Semifinals. Would like to have seen a bit more of Javier Hernandez.

South Africa performed better than expected against both Mexico & France.

Group B

Probably the most photo mileage in the group was achieved by a certain Diego Armando. Messi mesmerized all including the goal posts, which he struck at regular intervals. Argentina playing with 3 out-and-out strikers was breathtaking. Made even their match against the sleep inducing Greeks worth watching. 

Korea were impressive with their pace and lack of fear. Park Ji Sung especially impressed. Nigeria disappointed, as all other African teams this time. Enyeama though was outstanding under the bar. The Greeks, with every game, make 2004 look like a miracle.

Group C

Beckenbauer is right. England are idiots to not have topped the group, and pass out on a golden opportunity to stroll into the Semis. In the 1st couple of games they couldn't even get simple passes right. Even Algeria out-possessed them! The only players to earn their place were Gerard, Ashley Cole, Barry & Johnson. Rooney couldn't hold on to a single pass. Whatever Heskey apologists say, forwards score goals. And unlike Rooney, he is not even out of form. This is the norm. If you must play him, play him as a midfielder. And then get a decent forward into the team. Lampard was anonymous. No idea why Capello didn't substitute him at all. Fellow Chelski players might call JT the greatest thing since sliced bread, but he was pretty average. Was totally out of depth in the 1st 2 matches. Too many unnecessary passes back to the goalkeeper.

USA impressed, especially Donovan and Bradley. However as a team overall they seem to lack tactical acumen. Thanks to England's magnetic repulsion of the ball, they now have a good shot at repeating their achievement of 1930.

Group D

The German youngsters showed a lot of promise to start. However they now face a tough run with England next, possibly Argentina after that, and if they make it past that, Spain or Portugal for place in the finals.

Ghana salvaged some African pride. Serbian players seem to suffer from flaying arms. The Aussies are a team a lot of people love to hate. Especially other cricket & rugby playing nations. Not many were sorry to see them lose.