Gujarat

Gujarat (/ˌɡʊdʒəˈrɑːt/ Gujǎrāt  [ˈɡudʒ(ə)ɾaːt]) is a state in the western part of India known locally as Jewel of the Western part of India. It has an area of 196,204 km² (75,755 sq mi) with a coastline of 1,600 km (990 mi), most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula, and a population in excess of 60 million. The state is bordered by Rajasthan to the north, Maharashtra to the south, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea, as well as the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west. Its capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. Gujarat is home to the Gujarati-speaking people of India.

The state encompasses major sites of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, such as Lothal and Dholavira. Lothal is believed to be one of the world's first seaports. Gujarat's coastal cities, chiefly Bharuch and Khambhat, served as ports and trading centres in the Maurya and Gupta empires, and during the succession of royal Saka dynasties from the Western Satraps era, whose geographic territories included Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, South Sindh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh states.

Gadani ship-breaking yard

Gadani ship-breaking yard is the world's third largest ship breaking yard. The yard consists of 132 ship-breaking plots located across a 10 km long beachfront at Gadani, Pakistan, about 50 kilometres northwest of Karachi.

In the 1980s, Gadani was the largest ship-breaking yard in the world, with more than 30,000 direct employees. However, competition from newer facilities in Alang, India and Chittagong, Bangladesh resulted in a significant reduction in output, with Gadani, today, producing less than one fifth of the scrap it produced in the 1980s. The recent reduction in taxes on scrap metal has led to a modest resurgence of output at Gadani, which now employs around 6,000 workers.

Over 1 million tons of steel is scavenged per year, and much of it is sold domestically. In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, a record 107 ships, with a combined light displacement tonnage (LDT) of 852,022 tons, were broken at Gadani whereas in the previous 2008-2009 fiscal year, 86 ships, with a combined LDT of 778,598 tons, were turned into scrap.

Gadani

Gadani is a coastal village of Lasbela District located in the southern part of Balochistan along the Arabian Sea, Pakistan. It is also a Union Council of Hub Tehsil and is just a 1-hour drive away from Karachi, Sindh. The population of Gadani was estimated to be around 10,000 in 2005. More than 97% of the population is Muslim with a small Hindu minority. The majority of population speaks Balochi and there is a small Sindhi speaking minority. In Gadani majority of the population speaks a language named Balochi, this language is derived from Iran. They belong to Sanghur, Kurd, Sajdi, Muhammad Hasni, and Bezinjo tribes.

Many prehistoric shell-midden sites were discovered along the shores of a small bay, near Gadani. They are characterized of heaps of fragments of marine and mangrove shells among which are flint and jasper tools and stone querns. The first radiocarbon dates obtained from these middens indicate they result from the activity of people who settled along the coast both during the seventh and the fifth millennium before present.

Oil tanker

An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries. Product tankers, generally much smaller, are designed to move refined products from refineries to points near consuming markets.

Oil tankers are often classified by their size as well as their occupation. The size classes range from inland or coastal tankers of a few thousand metric tons of deadweight (DWT) to the mammoth ultra large crude carriers (ULCCs) of 550,000 DWT. Tankers move approximately 2,000,000,000 metric tons (2.2×10⁹ short tons) of oil every year. Second only to pipelines in terms of efficiency, the average cost of oil transport by tanker amounts to only two or three United States cents per 1 US gallon (3.8 L).

Some specialized types of oil tankers have evolved. One of these is the naval replenishment oiler, a tanker which can fuel a moving vessel. Combination ore-bulk-oil carriers and permanently moored floating storage units are two other variations on the standard oil tanker design. Oil tankers have been involved in a number of damaging and high-profile oil spills. As a result, they are subject to stringent design and operational regulations.

Taarak Mehta

Taarak Mehta is an Indian columnist, humorist, writer and playwright who is best known for the column Duniya Na Undha Chasma in the Gujarati language. He has translated and adapted several comedies into Gujarati, and has been well-known figure in the Gujarati theatre.

The humorous weekly column first appeared in Chitralekha in March 1971 and ever since has been looking at contemporary issues from a different perspective. He has published 80 books, over the years, three books are based on the columns he wrote in Gujarati newspaper, Divya Bhaskar while rest were compiled from the stories in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.

In 2008 SAB TV, a popular entertainment channel in India, started a show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah that is based on his column, and soon it became the flagship show of the channel.

Personal life

Taarak Mehta comes from a Jain family. He lives in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where he moved in 2000, with his second wife, Indu, of over 30 years. His first wife, Ila who later married Manohar Doshi, (died 2006), also stayed in the same apartment building. He has daughter from his first marriage, Ishani, who stays in US, and has two children, Kushaan and Shailee.