source:::: glasbergen.com
natarajan
Author: Natarajan
Kitchen That Feeds 100000 Daily …
Free kitchen in India run at the Sikhs’ holiest shrine produces 200,000 flat breads and 1.5 tonnes of lentil soup daily.
Two hundred thousand rotis (Indian flat bread), 1.5 tonnes of dal (lentil soup) and free food served to 100,000 people everyday are what makes the free kitchen run at the Golden Temple in the western Indian city of Amritsar stand apart.By all measures, the kitchen (called langar in Punjabi ) is one of the largest free kitchens to be run anywhere in the world.The concept of langars was initiated centuries ago by Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion. At the Langar, no one goes hungry – and everybody gets a hot meal regardless of caste, creed and religion. All Sikh Gurudwaras (places of worship) have langars, but the one at Golden Temple – Sikhs’ holiest shrine – has little parallel. “Anyone can eat for free here and on an average we serve food to 100,000 people. On weekends and special occasions double the numbers of people visit the langar. The langar never stops and on an average 7,000 kg of wheat flour, 1,200 kg of rice, 1,300 kg of lentils, 500 kg of ghee (clarified butter) is used in preparing the meal every day,” says Harpreet Singh, manager of this huge kitchen. “The free kitchen uses firewood, LPG gas and electronic bread makers for the cooking and we use around 100 LPG cylinders and 5,000 kilograms of firewood every day,” he adds. The kitchen is run by 450 staff, helped by hundreds of other volunteers. Sanjay Arora, 46, from New Delhi, comes to volunteer at the langar two days a month. “This is seva (service) for me. I feel happy after doing this service. This is not just free food because here you forget all the differences that separate humans from each other,” he says. Volunteers also wash the 300,000 plates, spoons and bowls used in feeding the people. The food is vegetarian and the expenses are managed through donations from all over the world. The yearly budget of the langar runs into hundreds of millions. |
 /Showkat Shafi
The “langar” or free kitchen at Golden Temple in the Indian city of Amritsar is perhaps the world’s largest free eatery. The Langar or free kitchen was started by the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak  /Showkat Shafi
Around one hundred thousand (100,000) people visit the langar every day and the number increases on weekends and special days.
 /Showkat Shafi
People from all over the world especially ” Sikhs” visit Golden temple at least once in their life time.
 /Showkat Shafi
Everybody is welcome at the langar, no one is turned away. It works on the principle of equality between people of the world regardless of religion, caste, colour, creed, age, gender or social status.
 /Showkat Shafi
People sit on the floor together as equals and eat the same simple food at the eating hall of the Golden Temple langar.  /Showkat Shafi
Langar teaches the etiquette of sitting and eating in a community situation.
 /Showkat Shafi
People from any community and faith can serve as volunteers.
 /Showkat Shafi
The lines of status, caste and class vanish at the langar. Everybody is treated as equals.
 /Showkat Shafi
The meal served is hot but simple: comprising roti (flat Indian bread), lentil soup and rice.  /Showkat Shafi
The utensils are washed in three rounds to ensure that the plates are perfectly clean to be again used.
 /Showkat Shafi
Running the kitchen also means washing and cleaning thousands of plates, bowls and spoons.
 /Showkat Shafi
Some 450 staff and hundreds of volunteers help to run the kitchen.  /Showkat Shafi
Five thousand kilograms of fire wood is used every day for preparing the meals at this langar, that runs 24/7.
 /Showkat Shafi
A Sikh volunteer prepares the dal (lentil soup) that will be served for the meals at the langar.
 /Showkat Shafi
Around 200,000 rotis are prepared every day at the langar which is served to the people.
 /Showkat Shafi
Wheat flour being put in a contraption that acts like a dough maker. The dough will be used for making rotis (Indian flat bread).
 /Showkat Shafi
Rotis (Indian flatbread) are cooked over electric machine .
 /Showkat Shafi in Alzazeera .com
natarajan
Women play an important role in the preparation of meals. Volunteers make stacks of rotis that will be served at the free kitchen.
|
Cheetahs on the Bonnet !!!
On the plains of the Serengeti our safari columnists have an unforgettable, heart-stopping encounter with a cheetah family
Bush Telegraph Column :::: In The Telegraph UK
On the face of it you would be forgiven for thinking that the ‘bush’ is the ‘bush’ and that the places where the wild creatures of Africa still roam look much like one another. But like that evocative word ‘wilderness’, the terrain and the variety of the ecosystems involved vary hugely in terms of both geography and geology.
In southern Africa, where we have spent much of the last year, the ‘bush’ includes the shrublands, riverine forests, grasslands, floodplains and sand islands of Botswana’s Okavango Delta at one extreme and the desert mountains of Namibia with its populations of desert-adapted elephant, lion and rhino on the other. In between lies everything from the Nyika plateau in Malawi where leopards and antelope roam across a landscape that could easily be mistaken for Scotland to the fever tree forests of the northern Kruger in South Africa.
But there is nowhere that reflects the ‘Out Of Africa’ image of the popular imagination better than the hills and rolling savannah grasslands of the Serengeti in northern Tanzania alongside, of course, the game parks and reserves of Kenya itself where Karen Von Blixen’s classic was written.
Savannah grasslands have the distinct advantage that the big cats can be followed in a game vehicle and seen from afar off. Watching a kill, for example, from start to finish is a very rare event at the best of times but in dense bush it is more or less impossible. In the open savannah, however, particularly during the wildebeest migration, it is a real possibility.
While not of a kill (thankfully for us), the accompanying film demonstrates how intimate an experience an encounter with wild cats can be in the Serengeti. Cheetah, like this mother and her year-old cub, favour the wide-open spaces where they can keep an eye out for their arch enemy, lions, and use that extraordinary acceleration to get quickly out of trouble.
This particular cub, whose juvenile mane or ‘mantle’ can still be seen on his neck and down his back, will soon be leaving his mother for a solitary existence on his own and is demonstrating his adolescent bravado to the full.
Film shot on a Panasonic HC-X920
source::::Richard and Sarah Madden’ in The Telegraph UK
Natarajan
” என்ன காப்பி சாப்பிட்டாச்சா …. !!!!”
மஹான் கொடுத்த காப்பி
காஞ்சிமாமுனிவர் கேரள மாநிலம் கொல்லங்கோடு என்ற ஊரில் முகாமிட்டிருந்த சமயம். அப்போது அங்கே வேதத்திற்கான ஆய்வு சபையை அவர் கூட்டி இருந்தார். விஷ்ணுபுரம் வேதபண்டிதர் ஒருவரும் அந்த சபைக்காக அங்கே அழைக்கப்பட்டு இருந்தார்.
மடத்தில் அன்புக்கட்டளையின்படி, காப்பி என்பது தவிர்க்கப்பட்ட பானமாக இருந்தது. உடலின் நன்மைக்காகவும் மற்றும் ஏதோ ஒரு தெய்வ சூட்சுமத்தை அறிந்ததாலோ என்னவோ மடத்து சிப்பந்திகளும் காப்பி தயாரிப்பதையோ, அருந்துவதையோ தடை செய்து, மிகவும் கடுமையான நியமமாக மஹான் ஸ்ரீமடத்தில் கடைப்பிடிக்கச் செய்திருக்கிறார்.
இருந்தாலும் காப்பி பழக்கம் தவிர்க்க முடியாத ஒன்றல்லவா? தொடர்ந்து பல வருடங்களாக அந்தப் பானத்தை அருந்துபவர்களுக்கு, குறித்த நேரத்தில் அது கிடைக்காமல் போனால் தாங்க முடியாத தாபம் ஏற்படுவதுண்டு. இதே நிலையில் தான், விஷ்ணுபுரம் பண்டிதரும் அந்த அதிகாலை காப்பிக்காக ஸ்ரீமடத்தில் தவித்துக்கொண்டிருந்தார்.
அப்போது யாரோ ஒரு அன்பர், அவரை மட்டும் தனியாக வெளியே அழைத்துச் சென்று, இவர் கேட்காமலேயே சூடாகக் காப்பியைக் கொண்டுவந்து கொடுத்தார். பண்டிதருக்கு ஒரே ஆனந்தம். போன உயிர் வந்தது போல் மகிழ்ச்சி. சிறிது நேரத்தில் வேத சபை கூடியது. மஹான் சபைக்கு வந்ததும் அவரை நமஸ்கரித்துவிட்டு இந்த பண்டிதர் அவர் அருகில் சென்றார்.
“என்ன காப்பி சாப்பிட்டாச்சா?” பெரியவா தனக்கே உரிய தெய்வீகப் புன்சிரிப்போடு கேட்டதும், ஆடிப்போய் விட்டார் பெரியவர். யாருக்குமே தெரியாதென்று தான் செய்த காரியத்தை, மஹான் தன் தவறை சுட்டிக்காட்டுவது போல் கேட்டதும், அவருக்கு மனதில் பயம் தோன்றிவிட்டது.
“வந்து வந்து ஏதோ கொடுத்தான்” என்று பட்டும்படாமலும் , பளிச்சென்று சொல்லாமலும் குற்ற உணர்வோடு இருந்தார்.
“நான் தான் உங்களுக்குக் கொடுக்கச் சொன்னேன்” என்று சிரித்துக்கொண்டே மஹான் சொன்னபோது, தன் மீதுள்ள கரிசனத்தை அறிந்த அந்த முதிய பண்டிதர் ஆடித்தான் போய்விட்டார். மடத்தில் உள்ளவர்கள் சாப்பிடக்கூடாது. வெளியே இருந்து இங்கே வருபவர்கள் ஏன் தங்களின் பழக்கங்களை மாற்றிக் கொள்ள வேண்டும்? இதை நன்றாக அறிந்த மஹான் தான் விஷ்ணுபுரம் வேதபண்டிதருக்கு, விதிவிலக்கு அளித்திருந்தார்.
இப்படி வேண்டியதை வேண்டியவாறு எல்லோருக்கும் அருளும் மாபெரும் தெய்வமான காஞ்சி மஹானை நாம் சரணடைய வேண்டாமா?
source:::: http://www.periva.proboards.com
natarajan
Message For The Day…”Our Burden Of Karma Can Be LIfted only By Bhagawan …”
Message For The Day…” Never Be Egoistic of Your Knowledge… “
|
Educare guides a person to be humble, it grants a sense of discrimination endowed with wisdom. Why should anyone feel proud in being educated? Ultimately isn’t what he or she has attained a fraction of all learning? Never be egoistic of the knowledge you have acquired. Education is true, only when you direct it to render service to the society. Humility must be the crest jewel ornament of an educated person; it is truly the essence of education. It must reflect in our daily conduct and behavior, and should not be simply limited to occasional verbal expressions. People with humility, and obedience to parents and elders will achieve great success in their lives. Through your own words and actions, you must manifest the latent values by engaging yourselves in appropriate acts.
|
” He Wanted to Carry Some Money When He Is Dead !!!… In check or cash ? !!!” …
Money for the Dead!
An old miser, due to his terrible cheapness, had no friends nor family. Just before he died he called his doctor, his lawyer and a minister to come see him. They complied, and gathered together around his bed.
“I always heard you can’t take it with you, but I am going to prove you can,” he said. “I have $90,000 cash hidden underneath my mattress. It’s in 3 envelopes of $30,000 each. I want each one of you to grab one envelope now and just before they throw the dirt on my grave, you throw the envelopes in.”
Weeks later, the three attended the funeral, and true to their word, each threw in their envelope into the grave. On the way back from the cemetery, the minister said, “I don’t feel so good about this, I am going to confess, I deperately needed $10,000 for a new church we are building, so I took out $10,000 and threw only $20,000 in the grave.”
The doctor said, “I, too, must confess. I am building a clinic and took $20,000 and threw in only $10,000.” He looked ashamed.
The lawyer said, “Gentlemen, I’m surprised, shocked and ashamed of both of you. I don’t see how you could in good conscience hold on to that money. I threw in a personal check for the entire amount.”
source:::: ba-ba mail site
natarajan
How A Small Kid Can Inspire a Billion People …
In under 2 minutes, this cute little video achieves what filmmakers struggle to infuse in their work: emotion, empathy and a crystal clear call to action. This social experiment was conducted in Khao Galli, Mumbai .
The video strikes the right chord coz you can’t impose social responsibility on anyone, but you can surely inspire.
And the best part: you need not be a person of clout to inspire, you can just be a school kid.
source::::You Tube & Storypick
NATARAJAN
Jokes For the Day… ” One For the Day For Every One …” !!!
1. A day without sunshine is like night.
2. On the other hand, you have different fingers.
3. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
4. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.
6. He who laughs last; thinks slowest.
7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
8. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.
9. Support bacteria. They’re the only culture most people have.
10. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
11. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.
12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.
13. How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.
14. OK, so what’s the speed of dark?
15. When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
16. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.
17. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?
18. Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.
19. What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?
20. Why do psychics have to ask you your name?
21. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, ‘What the heck happened?’
22. Just remember — if the world didn’t suck, we would all fall off.
23. Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
24. Life isn’t like a box of chocolates. It’s more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your butt tomorrow.
source::::joke a day.com
natarajan
Message For The Day…” Live Happily in the Present …Past is Past …Forget …”
We either think of the past or the future and ruin the present. Past is past, forget it. The past which is dead and gone, is useless. Work for your progress by living in the present, and in the moment. Future does not always bring happiness. And so far as the past is concerned, how much happiness have you experienced in it? Therefore, live happily in the present. What should we do in the present? Follow this maxim: Less luggage more comfort makes travel a pleasure. We should not worry about the past at all. Thinking about the past will not do any good to us. Therefore we should lead our life in the present and achieve all-round progress
