9.18 kms

 

9.18 kms in humid weather in Mumbai. Saving grace was that there will little headwinds at times. Have a great day folks.

West Africa

 

The last part of the BBC four part series on Lost Kingdoms of Africa. Art historian travels to West Africa to discover the ancient history of Benin, Mali, Nigeria etc. 

He starts off at Benin where he discovers bronze sculptures dating back to more than 2000 years ago. The craftsmanship and technology to produce such exquisite pieces of art were very much present in those times. 

Next stop for him at Timbuktu in Mali, which was at one point of time a busy trading hub with traders from Arab coming to sell their wares and take home local items. Timbuktu has entered into a state of decline for many centuries now. 

Djenne and Jenne Jena which are nearby and Timbuktu did have some olden bronze & pottery sculpture history some evidence still being retained because Jenne Jena is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are evidence of archeological remains at these places. The sculpture is unique in the sense that lot of animist influences have been found in the form of shapes of snake, leopard, etc. in the sculpures. The locals revere the animism because they feel that the animals protect them. 

Djenne has got some Islamic influences because of the Arab traders who built a Grand Mosque in the city. All the houses in the city are made of mud and each house has a separate and distinct style of architecture depending upon the number of females in the household and the number of children. 

Dogon country in Mali is another place which has a rich cultural history. Interesting series this and not boring at all. Dr. Gus has kept it nice short and crisp and being an expert himself he dwells into more detail at each level of his visit. 

dairy terms on food labels

 FSSAI has issued a press release dated 3rd september, 2021 advising that use of dairy terms on the labels of plant based beverages and food items are not allowed under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 as encapsulated in its ‘General Standards for Milk and Milk Products’. The Food Business Operators will be given 15 days' time to improve/ modify their labels, failing which enforcement action will be initiated against them.

Gist of the circular is given below:

The Food Regulator, in a recent order, has directed the State Food Safety Departments to investigate and identify specific instances for violation of the use of dairy terminology for non-dairy or plant based products by Food Business Operators (FBOs).

In case of any violation, FBOs may be granted 15 days’ time to suitably improve/modify their product labels and strictly comply with the relevant provisions of FSS (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011 before the Food Safety Departments take any enforcement action. This step will ensure an appropriate enforcement action against such defaulting FBOs as per the provisions of Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006 and Rules/Regulations made thereunder.

As per the ‘General Standards for Milk and Milk Products’ under the ‘Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011’, use of any dairy term(s) for a product which is not milk/ a milk product or a composite milk product (e.g. plant based products / beverages) is prohibited and any such action is in contravention of the said Regulations. Further, the term ‘curd’ is also not considered a dairy term exclusively for such products, and has been associated with non-dairy products such as ‘soybean curd’ in our regulations which also is in consistency with the relevant Codex standards.

Enquiry

 

A fast paced thriller from Dick Francis "Enquiry" does'nt disappoint.

Its his favorite theme, horse racing and he excels at writing about it. Kelly Hughes is a race jockey and he has just ridden a favorite horse into second in the Miltonfizz Cup. The horse trainer is Dexter Cranfield. 

What follows is straight outside the box. They both are implicated at throwing the race and their licenses cancelled. Cranfield is a sulky kind of a guy and he goes into his shell, depressed. 

But Kelly Hughes is made of sterner stuff, he decides to fight back and find out who among the owners, trainers, stewards, race bookies had them implicated falsely. In the process, he had himself almost killed, wrecked in a car crash, through attempted monoxide poisoning.

Its a murky world out there - in horse racing, with jealousy, ego, blackmail, hatred all aplenty. In the meantime, Kelly gravitates towards the 19 year old Roberta, daughter of Dexter Cranfield. So there you are, plenty of thrills, excitement in this rollicking novel by Dick Francis. Goodreads 5/5  

Great Zimbabwe

 

BBC four part series on the lost kingdoms of Africa, this is part 3 where Dr. Gus Casely-Hayford goes to Greater Zimbabwe. 

Greater Zimbabwe is a city in the southern part of Zimbabwe which was the capital of a kingdom but not certain which king ruled here. They have stone walls with narrow passages that had some significance. 

Before that he went to Manyikeni an architectural site in Mozambique which has got some connection with the Greater Zimbabwe style of buildings. 

The Kingdom of Mapungubwe in present day South Africa is also another place where gold trading used to take place and there were links to the Swahili Coast of East Africa. Its a world heritage site 

Two other places that Gus visited were Kilwa Kisawani and Rhapta and both were gold trading centres. Kilwa Kisawani is in Tanzania and now a World Heritage Site. Moroccan traveller Ibn Batuta apparently visited Kilwa and was mightily impressed by it. Lot of trade used to take place in the ancient past between the east coast of Africa and the Gulf Arab regions, India and China. 

Good series to watch so far. 

8.35 kms

 

8.35 kms of which 3.5 kms in tempo pace. Weather was OK, got a bit of drizzle in the 6th and 7th kms each for a few seconds each. Have a great day folks. 

Ethiopia

 

A BBC four part documentary on the lost kingdoms of Africa takes us to Ethiopia, known as the cradle of civilisation from where ostensibly the first human beings came out of Africa and traveled by foot to various parts of the world. 

Ethiopia has a rich history dating back to pre Christian times when King Solomon and Queen Sheeba's son had connections with Ethiopia. There are legends that it is the birth place of Judaism. 

Dr. Gus Casely-Hayford, art historian and narrator of this documentary takes us to various places in Ethiopia which could possibly show the connection to King Solomon and Queen Sheeba. The kingdom of Aksum probably contains the ark which is zealously guarded by the local administration there. 

Dr. takes us to Harar, Lalibela, Gondor, Dire Dawa which has rock cut caves dating to the pre historic and pre Christian era. Ethiopia has more religious history behind it and tied to it are the monuments of the past built by the kings of that era. There are rock buildings carved out of a single piece of rock, like those found in Hampi and Ajanta in India and hieroglyphics giving messages of the kings of that era. Interesting documentary to watch.