The trains of Mizoram

There have been some advertisements regarding various rail mega projects which will link the remotest borders by rail.

Here we look at one such project which may be completed relatively quickly.

The present railhead for Aizawl (and the whole of Mizoram) is Bhairabi, on a branch from Katakhai Jn which is between Badarpur junction and Silchar. This was opened over a decade ago. As was the general practice, the station of Bhairabi was built just over the border between Assam and Mizoram. The MG line was converted to BG in 2016 as part of the extension further into Mizoram.

Bhairabi in metre gauge days.

Bhairabi at the time of conversion to BG.

For an overview of this project, see this (in Hindi with some English subtitles):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9mq7gBiSA&ab_channel=FactsMarketGLP

The line is to extend 50.5 km to Sairang, which is about 21 km short of the centre of Aizawl. It is not expected to be extended to Aizawl, due to steep gradients as well as land acquisition problems.

Here is the list of stations according to the RBS tables:

The link to the “rest of India” is Badarpur, so we also give the stations between Badarpur and Bhairabi.

In 1947, the terminus was at Lalaghat near the present station of Lalabazar.

Note the district HQ of Hailakandi. This was part of Sylhet district which, along with Karimganj sub-division, remained in India while the rest of the district went to East Pakistan.

Let us see if there will be an Aizawl Rajdhani.

You can trace the path of the new line from Bhairabi on this map:

https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/Bairabi,+Mizoram/@24.1820813,92.5436294,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x374e03e98bcd8d27:0xaabba20e26eb562!8m2!3d24.1853491!4d92.5371264

Update: No passenger trains have started running at the time of writing (Sep 2022). Some months earlier there were clashes between the security forces of Assam and Mizoram. The present target date for completion is Nov 2023. This is strange, considering that the stations have already been entered into the RBS database.

Vice-Presidents of the US

As you know, Kamala Harris is the 49th Vice-President of the US (while Joseph Biden is the 46th President).

Here we see pictures of all 49 Veeps:

Many of the faces would be unfamiliar, unless they went on to become President.

This helps you to keep track:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vice_presidents_of_the_United_States

Here is an expanded version of the above collage:

See the heading, which states that a woman of color

Would have been a slave until Andrew Johnson’s time (1865; he succeeded Lincoln as President)

Could not vote until Calvin Coolidge’s time as VP (1921-23)

Had to attend a segregated school until Richard Nixon’s time as VP (1953-61)

And could not have her own bank account until Spiro Agnew’s time (1969-73), when Nixon was President.

Though it should also be pointed that both of Ms Harris’s parents first came to the US in the 1950s and 60s.

Also note: Walter Mondale, who was Jimmy Carter’s deputy in 1977-81, died recently at the age of 93. Carter is the longest-lived President, who is now over 96.

The Carter-Mondale pair lived for over 40 years after their terms concluded in 1981.

Thomas Marshall, Woodrow Wilson’s deputy in 1913-21, was known for his dry sense of humour:

“Marshall was known for his quick wit and good sense of humor. On hearing of his nomination as vice president, he announced that he was not surprised, as “Indiana is the mother of Vice Presidents; home of more second-class men than any other state”. One of his favorite jokes, which he delivered in a speech before his departure for Washington, D.C., to become vice president, recounted a story of a man with two sons. One of the sons went to sea and drowned and the other was elected vice president; neither son was ever heard from again. On his election as vice president, he sent Woodrow Wilson a book, inscribed “From your only Vice”.”

The longest-lived Vice-President was John N Garner (1933-41) who lived to be almost 99. Levi Morton (1889-93) lived to be exactly 96.

Tail Piece: Walter Mondale was probably the only US Vice President to inaugurate a Winter Olympics (in 1980).

Cricketers Deaths-2020

There are two lists here.

First for Test players:

and then for others (including prominent limited-overs players, female players, domestic players and others connected with the game):

The most well-known Test players here include ED Weekes, JH Edrich, JR Reid, DM Jones and CPS Chauhan.

Some of the deaths were clearly linked to Covid, notably that of CPS Chauhan.

A point of interest is that JE Manners was the longest-lived first-class player at the time of his death at 105. Another centenarian Vasant Raiji passed away at 100. For a few months he was the longest living first-class player.

Rajinder Goel was one of the leading wicket-takers in Indian domestic cricket but was unfortunate to play at a time when there were too many established spinners competing for Test places.

“Chuni” Goswami had a good record in domestic cricket but he was better known for his soccer skills. He captained India to a rare gold medal in the Asian Games besides playing in the Rome Olympics.

Events on April 21

Many people in India and elsewhere will be celebrating the birthday of someone born in Austria on Apr 20, 1889. Instead, we now look at April 21.

April 21 is “Civil Service Day” in India.

Births:

1864: Max Weber, sociologist

1882: Percy Bridgman, physicist

1915: Anthony Quinn, actor

1922: Alistair Maclean, writer.

1926: Queen Elizabeth II

1945: S. Venkataraghavan, cricketer

Deaths:

1910: Mark Twain, writer

1946: John Maynard Keynes, economist

1971: Francois Duvalier, dictator of Haiti

2013: Shakuntala Devi, show business

2015: J. B. Patnaik, politician

Note: There was some speculation as to whether Queen Elizabeth would abdicate on her birthday following the death of Prince Philip. April 21 is her actual birthday, while it is an official celebration in June to make it a more convenient public holiday.

Who was Raghunath Chandorkar?

The name would not have been familiar even to sports writers in Mumbai until recently.

The basic information about his first-class career is here:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/raghunath-chandorkar-27863

Note that he has a younger brother, also a first-class cricketer, who is living at 87.

Now there is nothing remarkable about his cricket career (except perhaps that he played along with DB Deodhar and Vasant Raiji, the only other Indian f-c cricketers to cross 100). He played in 7 f-c matches.

In June 2020, he became India’s longest-living first class cricketer following the death of Vasant Raiji. Later in 2020 he celebrated his 100th birthday. Following the death of NZ player Alan Burgess in early 2021, Raghunath became the world’s oldest living first-class player.

This article seems to have the most recent picture of him:

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/sports-news-raghunath-chandorkar-becomes-third-indian-cricketer-to-complete-a-century-of-birthdays/364928

This live link gives the list of all first-class players who lived to be over 100:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_oldest_cricketers

If he is still living a little more than a year from now he will become India’s longest-living f-c player (after Deodhar). By July 2026, he would have become the oldest such player from all countries, (after John Manners). On the way he would pass the record of N Gordon, the only Test player here who lived to be a little over 103.

He may not be fully aware of his and other’s records, as he has been a patient of Dr Alzheimer for some time. He lives in an old-age home in Mumbai.

Update: He died on Sep 5, 2021 at the age of 100 years and 288 days.

Highest scores in losing ODI chases

Fakhar Zaman made 193 in a losing ODI chase, thus making a new record.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/pakistan-tour-of-south-africa-2021-1251556/south-africa-vs-pakistan-2nd-odi-1251573/full-scorecard

Here we look at the record high scores in unsuccessful ODI chases:

Until now the record was 175 by Tendulkar against Australia in 2009. Oddly enough, the previous highest score in this category for Pakistan was ALSO by Fakhar Zaman (138 v Eng in 2019).

From the above table you can see that India is well represented.

For India alone, the highest scores in unsuccessful ODI chases are: