Hoover Dam

A ride in and around the Hoover Dam gives an in depth knowledge of how the dam was built. One cannot comprehend the engineering marvel.

 After listening to the complete history of how the Dam was built, what amazed me was the 50 feet diameter diversion tunnels that were built on either side to divert the Colorado river from the construction site. 

Building of the dam itself was epic.

How much of concrete has gone into the making of the dam can be gauged by this picture below.

The three pictures below show the size of a nut and bolt that was used in the construction.

From the table below it looked like the shovel operators were the highest paid.

The above picture shows the back of the dam. The gust of wind is very powerful at this point. My cap was blown away while taking this picture.

At its base (where the maximum water pressure is 45000 pounds per square foot) are these generators that could produce 3 million horsepower and provide electricity for three states.

A dash of green in the desert.

A statue depicting a worker in action. A total of 112 deaths were associated with the construction of the dam.

Some more statues indoors showing people at work.

I liked Hansen’s sculpture of the two winged figures flanking a flagpole.

You can drive your vehicle over the dam which can be seen in the video below.

The view of the dam from the air is clicked by Snakefisch in 2005 and reproduced in Wikipedia. The bypass bridge came later in 2010 in the wake of the terrorist threat and even today enclosed box trucks are not allowed on the dam.

The real wonder of this Dam was that it was completed 2 years before the scheduled time !!

This catapult (sling) caught my attention at the souvenir store. Reminded me of my childhood where we always had a “catty” tucked in our back pocket. We used to make it from the yoke cut out from a tree and the rubber from discarded tubes. The material for the sling came from the leftover leather thrown away by the cobbler. Total cost ? Absolutely nothing. Now the same are sold in fancy stores for $ 14.      

While driving away from the dam (to the Grand Canyon) we could gauge the temperature in the Arizona desert as can be seen from the picture above.

The video is below:

Ethiopean food

This was the first time I was having Ethiopian food and I must say I was mighty impressed in the variety. Like their site says “come taste and enjoy”

Our friends took us to this place named Walia in San Jose, California. Even though we were late for lunch (as per the normal lunch time) I was surprised that we were served with some excellent and tasty food.

The guys who run the place were warm, friendly and informative.

As we waited for the main course to arrive nursing our drinks, I was observing the ambiance.

I liked the drawings that adorned the walls.

The Injera with mixed vegetables was what we ordered. It comes in a very big plate which was shared among five of us. The items that went into the plate were:

Vegetarian:

Misir Wot (red lentils)

Alicha Wot (split yellow peas)

Shiro (chick peas)

Gomen (collard greens)

Atkilit Wot (cabbage carrot)

As they added the items to the plate our eyes widened.

Poultry:

House Doro Wot (chicken stew)

Lamb:

Yebeg tibs (Lamb tibs)

The Injera is made by mixing Teff flour with water and allowing it to ferment for several days.  It is served in rolls. The brown coloured base that you see in the big plate is also Injera.
The Injera rolls kept coming and we polished them quick and clean.

The five of us made sure that we did justice to the food and this was what was left in the plate.

Joseph was kind enough to give me the list of delicious items that was spread out (reproduced above)
A good place to have food and if I ever visit San Jose again, my first stop will be Walia.

PS:
Mail from Mr Joseph of Walia :

Joe,

Thank you so much for the write up. I can't wait till i put the link or Facebook page. We are very excited. We hope to see you very soon.

Warm regards,

Joseph

Sent from my iPad

Cemeteries in Pune

They say that one of the places to look for the historical path that a city has taken, is the cemetery. There are 146 World War I soldiers burried in St Sepulchers cemetery near Hadapsar Rd, Pune. 

It is very rare that we go to cemeteries to click pictures, but that is what I did this morning.

Had been to this cemetery in Pune a few days ago for the funeral of my friend’s dad, and that was when I noticed the beauty of this cemetery.

It was very spacious, and well organised. There were some tombstones that was really old like the one of Cpl Francis George Gregory from the 11^th Armoured Company who died in 1924. This was probably erected by his comrades as his family must have been back in Britain. 

Or the Dy. Examiner, from Military Accounts Dept who died in 1933. Probably the Dy. Examiner was a big post to be put on a tombstone.

I found that these graves were smaller and realised that it was a section  for infants

 But the best part about this cemetery is the birds. And when I am talking about birds, I mean our national bird.

There were plenty of them and they were freely roaming around. Their favourite place was to perch on the tombstone or the crucifix. Maybe that gave them a better view of their prey on the ground. (I believe they feed on insects and reptiles)

This guy was doing the peacock dance for a long time which gave me a chance to click him from all sides.

I was wondering why he was holding on for so long when I saw these pea hen close by. No wonder. He knows he has to work extra time to beat the tough competition.

This one was peeping from behind the bush to see if I had left the place. (maybe he is suitor number two)

Found this grave with no markings, no dates and no name. But the placement of that neem tree over the grave somehow caught my eye. Gave me a feeling of eternal shelter and protection for the nameless person.  Very poignant.

Some of the tombstones are nice and colourful like this one with four from the same family

Or some with meaningful words

Or some with some pretty statues

Which brings me to the grave of my friend Vilas’ dad.  Mr Prabhakar Bhalerao would have been 90 years old this November.

The irony of the fact is that Vilas lost his mother just eight days after his dad expired.

I remember meeting this elderly couple on Vilas’ 60 th birthday. That was just 10 months ago. I had the privilege of covering the event.

The small speech given by Vilas’ father was very touching. He mentioned about the time when they got lost in the outskirts of Pune while they went hunting (about fifty years ago) and spend the night in the jungle comforting each other.

 When the programme was over, he called me and wifey and spoke to us for some time. Then he kept his hands on our head and blessed us. Believe me, blessings from old people go a long way.

The wordings put on the grave are apt for him “Lived in peace, died in peace”