Monolith surfaces in Ahmedabad, but sans mystery
Ahmedabad: A `monolith', the likes of which have appeared and vanished in different parts of the world since November, has now emerged in a garden in Ahmedabad city, Gujarat.
This is the first appearance of a monolith, a structure made of shiny steel sheets, in India.
However, unlike in other parts of the world, the mystery around the object did not last long as it was disclosed that a private company has installed it.
The triangular prism-shaped structure, around seven feet tall, became a hit among city dwellers after it was spotted in a garden on SG Highway on Thursday morning.
The garden is jointly managed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Symphony Ltd. Situated near Gurudwara in Thaltej area, it was one of the attractions inaugurated by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani recently.
"The monolith has been placed there by the Symphony Ltd which takes care of the garden. The structure has been installed by the company for the visitors. People can see their reflection on the shiny surfaces of the structure and take selfies too," said Director, AMC's Garden Department, Jignesh Patel.
The first such three-sided steel monolith appeared and disappeared after a few days in a remote desert of Utah, United States. Later, similar structures were spotted in around 30 countries.
The monolith was installed at Symphony Forest Park on December 29, but it gained popularity on Thursday with people flocking to the garden.
Apparently to keep mystery alive, the company did not make any announcement except sharing some photos of the structure on the Forest Park's Facebook page on December 29.
"This is really amazing that the monolith actually appeared in our city. Since these structures tend to disappear in some time, I have come here with my friends to click selfies," said one youngster.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
