Two weeks ago, just as dawn broke over the Ganges, a riverside resident discovered several bodies drifting into the shallows of the river most sacred to Indians. Darsan Nishad – a 35-year-old man working for a local environmental program – pulled the eight bodies out of the water. He then tied these bodies with sacks to take them away to check the cause of death. Finally, the unfortunate victims will be cremated – according to Hindu rites. “We don’t know where these bodies come from. We didn’t even know if they had any diseases,” said Nishad, pointing to the area where he and his colleagues had to carry out this difficult task. Hindus make offerings to the sacred Ganges River after scattering the ashes of their loved ones. Hundreds of bodies were found floating or buried in the river in May. Photo: Washington Post. Saddened by the experience, Nishad shared his belief in the Ganges, which Hindus revere as a sacred river. According to Hindu beliefs, anyone who has bathed in the river will be cleansed of all sins. “The river has great spiritual significance to us. Indians believe that if you dip yourself in this water even once, you will be protected for life,” said Nishad, standing a few feet from the crematorium in the river. “For us, the river is the goddess,” said Nishad. This is just a small number of hundreds of other bodies floating or buried in sand along the length of the river in the context that India suffered the second worst consequences in the world because of the Covid-19 pandemic. after America. Worried fisherman The mystery surrounding the bodies remains unanswered. Authorities have not been able to find out how many people have Covid-19 among those bodies. Many believe that some families have opted for extreme measures – dropping the bodies of loved ones in the Ganges – because they cannot afford to cremate them. Before the second wave of Covid-19 “swallowed” India, the cremation rite cost only 70 USD. However, the number has now risen to more than $400 – almost six times higher – since the end of April. In Sujabad – a large community that depends on the Ganges for a living – many people are currently without work. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the loss of jobs for river boaters carrying pilgrims and tourists. With bodies constantly dropping into the river causing pollution, local fishermen are worried about their catch and fish stocks being affected. For many people, the source of fish on the sacred river has been a way of life for a long time. The Indian crematorium burns day and night. Photo: New York Times. According to people here, the most prosperous business at this time is providing wood for the crematorium. As of May 23, India recorded more than 26.2 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 295,000 deaths. The number of new infections per day in India has recently decreased, but the average number of deaths in the past 7 days has remained high, above 4,000 people per day. The “tsunami” of Covid-19 has put the Indian economy on the brink of collapse. Like the bodies found in the Ganges – whether they died from coronavirus, heart attacks or old age – residents of communities like Sujabad are falling victim to this virus. Government gets involved Images of floating bodies prompted authorities to step in. Patrol ships are deployed across more than 2,400 kilometers of the Ganges River. State and local governments have established a network of free cremation sites – providing firewood and inviting priests to perform Masses for families who cannot afford it. Hundreds of such crematoriums have been opened across Varanasi, the holy city on the banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh state, and home to a series of steps leading down to the Ganges (called ghats). Usually, Hindus will gather in large numbers at ghats to bathe, baptize their children and scatter the ashes of the dead. However, now the ghats are uninhabited, while the crematoriums operate continuously day and night. In downtown Varanasi, officials have set up a Covid-19 “command center”. Here, thousands of staff will take calls from residents, check on patients, order ambulances for those in need of hospitalization and arrange cremation services. A large screen hung on the wall continuously displays the latest information on the number of hospital beds, oxygen supply and the number of new infections. Government employees patrol the Ganges River. Photo: Washington Post. Share with Washington Post , cleric Satindra Kumar in Varanasi could not hide his fatigue after long days of performing funeral rites. “I have performed the funeral rite 15 times in the past two days, most of the dead are patients with corona virus. People who don’t die from the disease also come here,” Kumar said. “The pandemic is so devastating! Everyone is afraid and suffering. I cannot stop what is happening, but I will continue to pray. I hope that will bring peace to the relatives of the deceased.” Even the poor still have to celebrate However, in rural areas, there is no similar service for the family of someone who has died of Covid-19 or other causes. Despite the extra cost, many people still make trips to the ghats to pray for their loved ones in accordance with Hindu custom. They believe that even with the added economic burden on their shoulders, they still have to bear to follow the ancestral traditions. Journalist of Washington Post witnessed a group of peasants reach out to one of Varanasi’s oldest ghats to perform funerals for three loved ones. Cremation platforms along the riverside. Photo: Getty. They prepare offerings consisting of pellets and spices, wrapped in large leaves under the supervision of a Hindu priest. After the bodies of three loved ones were blessed, the men stepped off the ghats, floated their offerings in the river, and began scattering the ashes. After that, besides the cremation fee, the group also had to pay the ceremony money for the ceremony just now. They anxiously counted every penny they had accumulated, plus the costs of barbers, photographers and gifts. They do not hesitate to pay expensive expenses to fulfill their religious obligations at a time of uncertainty, fear of an invisible and deadly force. “For generations, villagers have come here to perform the last rites of life,” said Lakshmi Singh, a farmer in his 60s. Bringing the ashes of unclaimed Covid-19 victims to the Ganges River Indian volunteers collect ashes from crematoriums to organize funerals for Covid-19 victims in Haridwar city.

Before Covid-19 appeared, the Ganges River was once “flooded with corpses”. In 1918, when an influenza pandemic swept through India and killed an estimated 18 million people, the river’s waters filled with the smell of rotting corpses. This creepy scene is making a comeback because of a pandemic. The official death toll in India is reported to be more than 250,000, but experts say the real number is five times higher, according to Guardians. These bodies began to wash up on the banks of the sacred river, becoming a haunting symbol for the uncounted Covid-19 deaths. According to the Economist , these images also reveal the picture of Indian society with poor people struggling to cope with the pandemic and make a living. Relatives and relatives carry the body of a person who died of Covid-19 to be buried on the banks of the Ganges River. Photo: Shutterstock. No one sells firewood to cremate relatives On May 19, India continued to set a new record for the number of deaths in a day due to Covid-19: 4,529 people. This is the highest number of daily Covid-19 deaths of any country ever, surpassing the previous record in the US with 4,475 deaths in a day. To date, India has recorded more than 25 million cases and 275,000 deaths from Covid-19. However, there are no official statistics on the number of bodies discovered in the past two weeks in the open stretch of the Ganges that flows through the poor rural states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, or buried in shallow sandy graves along the riverbanks. in Uttar Pradesh. Through statistics, locals and journalists here put the number of more than 2,000 bodies. In the village of Gahmar in Uttar Pradesh, 15-year-old Raju Chaudhry, who works on a fishing boat, said he had recently seen “about 50 bodies being washed away every day, for many days”. There is no way to know if these people have Covid-19 or not, although Indian authorities have acknowledged some of the bodies as those who died from the pandemic. According to official figures released by the government, the death and infection rate of Covid-19 in Gahmar village is low. But Bhupendra Upadhyay, a priest here, said a lot of people have died in the past few weeks. Earthen vases hang from a banyan tree by the Ganges River in the village of Gahmar, each representing a person who has just died. Photo: Guardian. “I saw 30 to 35 bodies being brought into the river recently and drowned here. Many people drop dead bodies in the river because they have difficulty arranging cremation, because there are so many dead people,” he said. Upadhyay pointed to the trunk of the banyan tree where he was sitting. On the trunk, dozens of earthen pots are tied up. “Each of those vases represents a deceased person. Let’s see how many, just from the last 10 days,” he said. In the case of Shambhu Nath, his family had no difficulty in cremation, as villagers helped and attended the funeral. But after the second brother in the family died of Covid-19, they found themselves abandoned by their neighbors. “When we tried to buy firewood for our cremation, we were chased away. No one in the village could help us with the cremation because they suspected we had Covid-19. We couldn’t get the wood and didn’t know what else to do. , so we had to drown his body in the river. We did it at 11am the next morning, and only a close family came to offer condolences,” he said. What do corpses in the Ganges reveal? Sheet Economist An assessment of India’s covid-19 crisis, with images of corpses floating in the Ganges, reveals two things. One is the scale of the tragedy sweeping across the vast territory of India. In remote rural areas, far from city clinics, people are not being tested for Covid-19. Therefore, no cases or deaths were recorded. The officially published death toll is now a fraction of the true number. Economist identify. The second thing that the bodies in the Ganges reveal is that this wave of Covid-19 is ravaging the lives of the poor, who are already struggling to make ends meet. The poor are losing their jobs, starving to eat and falling victim to scams. Jammu and Kashmir State Disaster Response Force soldiers carry empty coffins to transport the bodies of people who died of Covid-19 on May 19. Photo: AP. “People borrow money to pay for medicines, or oxygen tanks, or pay extra fees for ambulance drivers because they have to carry Covid-19 patients. So they can’t afford to pay for cremation or funeral. ceremony,” Utpal Pathak, a local journalist, told Economist. After the first wave of Covid-19 swept through India in 2020, many local newspapers and research institutes tried to calculate the economic impact of the pandemic on the poor. Pew Research Institute estimates that as of January 2020, only 4.3% of Indians earn less than $2. A year later, that number had increased to 9.7%, or 134 million people. In-depth research by Azim Premji University in Bangalore shows that after the 2020 nationwide lockdown, about 230 million Indians slipped below the poverty line, which is set based on the minimum wage (about $45 a month). ). The university researchers also found that during the lockdown, 90% of the poor consumed less food. Six months later, their diets still haven’t returned to normal. In the past year, the income of Indian workers, including the lucky 10% who have a salaried job, has fallen by a third, according to the report. Economist. Shocked by the terrible impact of the pandemic and the blockade order in 2020, this year, the central government of India let the state and local governments to impose the blockade order on their own based on the actual situation. “Although the economy has not yet come to a complete standstill, the scale of this outbreak still leaves many families devastated.” Economist write. A worker helps cremate a body on the banks of the Ganges River. Photo: Getty. For many people, the biggest shock is the loss of family breadwinners. The Indian railway company has 1.2 million employees, but Covid-19 killed 1,952 employees here. In April, the state of Uttar Pradesh dispatched 1.2 million civil servants to work on local elections and counting votes. Report of Economist said this election was the cause of the large-scale outbreak. It is estimated that about 2,000 of the aforementioned civil servants died afterward, including 800 teachers. Each of those deaths cost their families weeks of grief and expensive treatment. Not to mention each person who died could have infected and made 20 others seriously ill. “In a normal year, one in 20 families is pushed into poverty due to high medical costs. What has happened in the last two months is understandable. Millions of wonderful Indian families Hope was forced to sell gold, pawn or borrow money. Economist write. In times of poverty, people are vulnerable to a variety of scams, such as healthcare workers demanding bribes to secure hospital admissions, purchasing counterfeit drugs, or even in some states, painted scams. on fire extinguishers to sell as oxygen tanks. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who has been promoting an herbal “cure” for Covid-19, last week advised Indians to eat more dark chocolate with “more than 70% cocoa” to beat the stress of the pandemic. . Bringing the ashes of unclaimed Covid-19 victims to the Ganges River Indian volunteers collect ashes from crematoriums to organize funerals for Covid-19 victims in Haridwar city.

But also in the media, it is seen that every morning, hundreds of Indians in the midst of the pandemic go to bathe in the Ganges River. No masks. No spacing. They hardly know or need to know what a Pandemic is… Peaceful Ganges! That’s the real India! Peaceful India is a country of religion! The etymology of the sacred Ganges is “Ganga”, the embodiment of the goddess Ganga – the daughter of the Himalayas – the guardian deity – the great mother of the country. Legend has it that in order to save the people from the severe drought, the god Sihva pulled a river from the sky above the heavens to flow through his hair for thousands of years and then poured down to earth. In the Vedas, there are also the most solemn words praising the Ganges River, which has the function of dissolving all sins and cleansing all impurities. According to Hindu beliefs – the majority of the Indian continent, bathing in the Ganges River means that all sins are washed away. If you drink river water before you die, it is a good omen for both the living and those who return to heaven. Many Hindus also ask to be cremated on the banks of the Ganges and then scatter the ashes into the river. Throughout history, since the legend, every morning, at dawn, tens of thousands of Indians flock to the banks of the Ganges River to bathe, meet, share, and chat. For them it is a great gift of life, so no power can take it away, not even the scary but invisible COVID virus… In the symbol of humanity, “water” which symbolizes the purification of desire directs people to the bright and benevolent domain. Because it is a flow, “river” is a symbol of renewal and rebirth. Moreover, it is also a symbol of purity (because of being purified) and an instrument of liberation. But with Indian culture, the holy Ganges River has a higher symbolic meaning than “giving prosperity and blessed salvation”. Therefore, those who bathe in the Ganges river will be “transmitted purity into their hearts” by the goddess. Most Hindus certainly believe so! The Ganges River becomes the patron god of the life and people of India, the mother river that flows cultural flows into the body of Indian society. Where there is lack of spiritual water from that spiritual flow, that place is not India! The most primitive legend tells that the goddess Ganga was always standing on a sea monster, which was her means of transportation. Her holy face was both stern, tolerant, kind, and holy. Her figure shows a symbol of strength, nobility, courage. She always wears a crown to reveal her high, pure, bright forehead. She always wears a necklace low down to her bountiful breasts symbolizing her ability to bestow prosperity… This legend is the fulcrum for two immortal epics, “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata”, the most massive ancient epics in the world. The “Mahabharata” alone is 7 times the length of the “Iliad” and “Odyssey” combined. A Battle on the banks of the Ganges in “Ramayana”! It can be affirmed that the structure of the massive “Mahabharata” epic is the structure of the great Ganges river flow because the river is like an artistic symbol expressing the spiritual life of the main characters, who govern and direct the people. as a spiritual leader. The opening part of the epic tells about the origin of genealogies with the main core being that the Vasus family sinned against the Taoist Vasita, so they were reincarnated into the world as the children of the goddess Ganges and King Santanu. As soon as they were born, they were thrown into the river by their mother (goddess) to free them from the Taoist spell. This is a great and constant archetype so that everyone wants to bathe in the Ganges River in the future with the desire to wash away sins. The motif of bathing in the sea and sacred river water becomes a common symbol for human culture talking about renewal and rebirth. God of Fire in Greek mythology was a naughty, hyperactive boy who once provoked Dot, so he was thrown into the sea, unfortunately, he fell on an island and lost his leg. Since then, the Fire god has been limping (flashing like fire!). In Egyptian mythology, Prince Morann, son of the king of Cairpe, was born a mute monster and was thrown into the sea. Fortunately, the sea water broke the monster mask so that later the prince became a great judge… But among those episodes, the meaning of bathing in the Ganges river is the most enduring, followed by many people. Best. And maybe forever as long as there is the Ganges! When epic wars occurred, the Ganges River served as a witness to history. Only in the space of the Ganges can the characters “enlighten” the truth and morality as well as the principles of Indian spiritual life, of the Indian spirit of peace and selflessness. Sacred water helps them return to their human roots to neutralize hatred. In front of the Ganges, the sinner will realize his sin and repent… There is an event that no one will miss when reading “Mahabharata” when the villain Aswatthama fled to the banks of the Ganges with the most cruel revenge of killing the Pandava family’s grandson still in the womb. but this action was nullified by the god Krishna. Then the whole Pandava family forgave him… It turned out that the Ganges had sanctified people. Since then forgiveness has become an Indian character, an Indian spirituality. At the end of the war, despite the victory, there is no victory song, because the war is destruction anyway, on both sides. King Yudhisthira triumphantly ascended the throne, but there were no grand festivals. Just a ritual sacrifice: “The king went to the Ganges River and according to the traditional custom of offering sacrifices to pray for the souls of the deceased to rest.” It should be said more clearly that the king prayed for all the dead souls, both on this side, on the other side, regardless. This detail shows more clearly the human meaning of the king’s enthronement without the corresponding ritual. It’s an Indian identity! And yet, King Yudhisthira is also depicted when standing in front of the Ganges River, he is like standing in front of a sacred, sacred and extremely mysterious cathedral, and then the mood rises with torment about what he has caused suffering to people. other. He repented. He judges and punishes himself. He became a symbol of endurance and patience… This symbol entered Indian culture and became a living and action maxim: “Patience is the highest virtue!”, “Tolerance is fame, endurance is glory!”. The Indian cosmology is also: “All things operate according to the principle of endurance!”. So we understand the modern Indian revolution based on the principle of non-violence! Because the moral concepts of endurance and patience have become the spiritual foundation of Indian society! In the epic “Ramayana” the characters always pray and bow to the Ganges. The character always considers the river a fulcrum of strength, a moral fulcrum for action. It is a creed as constant in each character. Legend has it that King Xagara sent sixty thousand sons to find the lost sacrificial horse. Those sons traveled all over the world, finally finding the horse near Kapila. They immediately thought that He was a thief. Enraged, the god Kapila burned all the children of King Xagara. The king’s grandson, Angxumana, received advice: “You must make offerings to the sacred water of Ganga. Okay, then the ashes of these sixty thousand people will go to heaven.” Indeed, when offering water to the Ganges River, the souls of the dead are liberated to the high land of bliss. Legend is deeply ingrained, imprinted in the Indian mind: When you die, you will be cremated on the banks of the Ganges River is a happiness! Tradition must always be in sync with the present for people to enter civilization. To hold on to tradition is to be conservative. The whole world is making the best efforts to prevent the epidemic … but in India it is not yet. That’s the lesson: A traditional gem in the light of modern science will shine even brighter!

From the video taken by the US Navy, a J-15 carrier-based aircraft landed steadily on the flight deck of the Liaoning ship. On the rear flight deck of the Liaoning ship, there are parked eight J-15 carrier-based aircraft, in addition to Zhi-9 search and rescue helicopters and Zhi-8 carrier-based helicopters. This clearly shows the state of the Liaoning ship performing combat missions at any time. Under this deck standby aircraft configuration, the Liaoning ship can release a wave of 8 J-15 carrier-based aircraft at any time to conduct sea assault missions. There are also 2 J-15s capable of escorting air defense patrols and direct -9 search and rescue helicopters. For emergency search and rescue when the fighter was released, the Zhi-8 helicopter carried out anti-submarine and radar warning.

At the take-off point on the front deck of the Liaoning ship, there is also a J-15 carrier-based aircraft on standby for take-off at any time. Careful netizens have discovered that every time the Liaoning ship deploys a J-15 ready to take off on the front deck, there will always be a flipped “board” standing behind the ship. What is this for?

The scientific name of this board is the deflector, also known as the “flame baffle”. The deflector is a key component of the aircraft carrier deck aviation protection system. When placed in parallel, it is a part of the flight deck. It has all the functions of the deck, and personnel and equipment can pass from above; and when it is erected to work, it must face the tail of the aircraft. The high-temperature and high-speed flame of the flame washes away.

The deflector can block the tail flame of the carrier-based aircraft when it takes off. Before the carrier-based aircraft takes off, the jet engine is already running at full speed. At this time, it jets a stream of high-temperature and high-speed gas backward, which is very harmful to the aircraft and personnel behind it. The deflector is not placed vertically when in use, it is usually opened at an angle of 60 degrees. This placement method can refract and deflect the gas at the rear of the F-15 to the greatest extent, thus ensuring the least impact on other carrier aircraft.

There is a big difference from my country’s Liaoning ship. The Indian aircraft carrier Chao Riwang does not have a take-off deflector (flame baffle). Some netizens discovered that the Indian aircraft carrier Super Sun King did not have a take-off flame shield. When the MiG-29 carrier aircraft took off, the rear flight deck had to be emptied.

The “Super Sun King” is a good rear independent mast of the aircraft carrier, and this aircraft carrier immediately rises tall, because the American Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is also such a mast. Every time I see a new Indian carrier-based aircraft landing, I feel that my heart is tight and tight, and I am quite worried that the Indian pilot will hit the ship island head-on.

The Indian aircraft carrier “Chaoriwang”, formerly the Gorshkov aircraft carrier built in the Soviet era, is equipped with the Yak-38 vertical take-off and landing carrier aircraft, because the Yak-38 is a vertical take-off and landing, and only needs to take off and land. The flight deck at the point needs to be reinforced and treated with high temperature resistance. No deflector plate is required, so no deflector plate is installed.

When the Gorshkov was refitted, in order to save trouble and cost, Russia did not suggest that India install a deflector, and India actually agreed.

The deflector is taken off and landed by 6 crank arms. The copper pipe under the plate introduces 400 tons of seawater per minute for rapid cooling. The board can be lowered from 400 degrees to 150 degrees in 2 minutes, and the second plane can be smoothly laid down. Taxi to the take-off point. The deflector can guide the tail flame to both sides and above, preventing the jet flame from the fighter jet from scorching the deck and other carrier-based aircraft behind it, and it can also ensure that the take-off area and the landing area do not interfere with each other. It is conducive to deploying more carrier-based aircraft on the deck, and can also quickly release carrier-based aircraft.

It looks like a small deflector, but the structure is actually very complicated. In order to cool down quickly, the deflector shows that it is coated with a high-temperature resistant coating, and the back is water-cooled. There are many huge copper pipes behind the deflector, and the water pump drives a lot of seawater here. Circulate the flow to reduce the temperature of the deflector itself. Such a board integrates the functions of heat insulation, non-slip, and impact resistance. In addition, since the deflector has been in service in the marine environment for a long time, it should also have corrosion resistance. The deflector board needs to simultaneously solve many technologies such as board surface lifting, high temperature resistance, seawater circulating cooling, and maintaining flatness with the runway. The design is very complicated and not easy.

A close-up of the combination of the brake wheel block and deflector of the Liaoning ship.

When the Russians modified the Gorshkov for India, if the deflector was installed, an opening was required on the deck, and water cooling and driving equipment were installed below. Copying the aircraft carrier Kuznetsov does not work either. It requires a whole new set of modified designs, and the cost must be high. Therefore, the Russian side deliberately “forgot” the deflector of the aircraft carrier. Fortunately, India did not force it, so everyone was happy and stopped.

The “Choriwang” aircraft carrier lacking a “drift plate” made the carrier aircraft very awkward when it took off. Its long take-off point is very far behind, behind the carrier fuselage is the sea, and the hot tail flames emitted by the carrier aircraft are directly discharged outboard, so deflectors are not needed. The short take-off point on the front deck is no way. When the MiG-29 takes off, the rear deck must be cleared. But at the same time, the short take-off point is usually on standby, which is in contradiction with deck shutdown operations. So in fact, there is only one real take-off point for this aircraft carrier in India.

In addition, it is reported that the Vikrant, the first domestically-made aircraft carrier in India, does not have a flame shield. Why is this? India does not need it, or is it technically restricted. But since this new aircraft carrier is a brand of IWC, there should be no shortage of this technology. Is it because the Ganges River has a better cooling effect?