Lone Runner

@AmitShah is the second coming of Sardar Patel and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee combined. Today he has saved Bengal.

He’s is installing his emotions package

Today is the 174th birth anniversary of Raja Ravi Varma. "Raja Ravi Varma was a celebrated Malayali Indian painter and artist. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art for a number of aesthetic and broader social reasons." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Ravi…

The Bor ghat crossing has always been a challenge for engineers for the road and railway corridors, on the crucial Mumbai - Pune route. Just as the new 'Missing Link' (viaducts, tunnels) is simplifying the Bor ghat alignment for the road expressway - the new '26th tunnel alignment' simplified the railway section of the ghat back in the late 1920s. The map below provides an overview of the current (post late 1920s) alignment, and the old reversing station based alignment (1860s - 1920s). Prior to this 'new' Bor ghat alignment (which continues to this day, nearly 100 years later) - a complicated reversing station based alignment was implemented in the 1860s. This complicated alignment was needed to climb up the last stretch towards Khandala. In the 1860s when the original alignment of the railway Bor Ghat was built, the construction technology for the long 26th tunnel wasn't available. Nor were the steam locomotives capable of ascending that steep gradient. Hence the alternative was to bypass the last hill and take a 'Y' route to go around it, with a gradual ascend. This required the reversing station. See the map (black legend) for the old reversing station alignment of the railway line, and the photo of the actual reversing station tracks (this was above the old 'Amritanjan Bridge' over the road ghat). In the late 1920s, construction technology had progressed - and a new powerful traction technology was also available for the steep gradient - the electric locomotive. This led to the construction of the 26th tunnel (just before Khandala) and the opening of the present ghat alignment. Note, the 26th tunnel was built by Walchand Hirachand's company. The Deccan Queen became the first new electric train from Mumbai to Pune, starting June 1, 1930. This new alignment with the 26th tunnel and the elimination of the reversing station saved 30-45 min of the ghat journey. Much later in the 1980s - a new 3rd ghat railway line was also added - largely parallel to the existing alignment. But the last tunnel was much longer - effectively combining the 25th and 26th tunnels of the old alignment (see map). Looking at the future - a much more gradual and longer (with more tunneling) ghat alignment has been proposed recently. A gradual (less gradient and less turns) alignment will allow much higher speeds - effectively reducing the ghat travel time, even though the distance maybe a bit more. But right now, no firm plans are available on when this new alignment will be actually constructed. Similarly, a separate alignment has also been proposed for the planned 'High Speed Rail Corridor' (Bullet Train) from Mumbai - Pune. (Images - 1. Bor Ghat Map of the various rail alignments, 2. Old Reversing Station, 3. Inauguration of the 26th tunnel and the new rail alignment in 1928.)

Sounds about right 😉

There's the one and only 'Haapus' (Konkan Alphonso) ... and then there are all the other hundreds of varieties mangoes 🙂 🥭

#Pune A 100 year old ad from the 'Dnyanprakash' newspaper (Aug, 1926)! New plots for sale in the PYC Colony (near present day PYC Club, off Bhandarkar Road) (via Avinash Sowani FB)

Heavy heart and wet eyes. Irreplaceable loss! Asha Tai, you were the best, dare I say better than your sister. You were given lemon and you made a crazy, heady lemonade! This is going to be a hard day and week! #AshaBhosale youtu.be/PZzK3CVzLKo?si…

After a certain age, your parents slowly become your children. They ask simple questions, repeat stories, and depend on your patience the way you once depended on theirs. Very few understand this role reversal.What looks like innocence or inconvenience is really time coming full circle. Don't correct them harshly. Don't rush them. Care for them the way they once protected you. This is not a burden. It is repayment.

A different world indeed... pre-mobile phones, pre-online shopping, pre-social networking! Packed malls, folks looking around...window shopping, talking to each other... 🙂 Remember these scenes in the US in the 1990s as well.

stop what you're doing and look at this image. each dot is 3.2 million people. 2,500 dots = 8.1 billion humans. the grey? 6.8 billion people who have never used AI. the green? 1.3 billion free chatbot users. the yellow? 15-35 million who pay for it. the red? that tiny sliver is us. you think the AI space is crowded because you're in an echo chamber of the 0.06%. the real world hasn't even started. wrote a full breakdown on the data, the opportunity, and 7 businesses you can build from this gap today:

Technologia 🤣🤣🤣👌🏼 This talent should never leave India 😂

That time two Concorde landed simultaneously at Orlando International Airport (and cooked the runway when they took off)

We are seeing a child just 36 hours after receiving a heart transplant. Science giving him a second chance at life x.com/fluxfolio_/sta…

Thank you, Catherine O’Hara ♥️ Forever our legendary Mrs.McCallister. Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

A typical Sunday at Port Miami, the busiest cruise port in the world.

Math. Shiver. This is mathematics. 666.

Reporter left speechless after witnessing Japan's new $70 million Maglev train in action at 310 mph

@somnath1978 Are you always this thick in your skull? How insulting can you be! Log off, read some basics and come back. Do better!

🚨Exploding Trees in Minnesota & Michigan!? Extreme cold, with temperatures in the minus double digits and wind chills near -40°F in Minnesota and Michigan, freezes sap inside trees, causing it to expand by about 9% and split the bark with pops like gunshots.