environment – Page 53 – Take off with Natarajan

Did You Know There’s a Museum Where You Can See the Amazing Gifts given to the Presidents of India?

April 3, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

The President of India receives gifts from foreign heads of state when they visit India. These gifts then become the property of the Government. Earlier, these gifts used to be on display in the Gift Gallery of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the current President, decided it would be better to have a separate museum for the gifts and other precious memorabilia, and shifted the collection out of the gallery. Learn more about this recently established museum within the Rashtrapati Bhavan premises.

Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th President of India, was instrumental in shifting the gifts given to the President of India from the Rashtrapati Bhavan gift gallery to a special museum. The Rashtrapati Bhavan museum was inaugurated on July 25, 2014.

An old horse stable, which had not been in use for many years, was converted into a museum to house these precious items.

An old horse stable was turned into the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum

Since 1950, when Shri Rajendra Prasad became the first President of India, our Presidents have received almost 11,000 gifts from various parts of the world. These gifts are stored in what was once called the Tosh Khana, a storage space within the Rashtrapati Bhavan premises.

The gifts used to be put on display for visitors in the Gift Gallery within the Rashtrapati Bhavan, on a rotational basis.

Believed to be the first gift to the President of India from the Emperor and Empress of Japan

“The layout of the present museum is indeed very interesting. Each cubicle or stall where a single horse would have been housed at some point of time, has been decorated with gifts and is marked as an enclave. All in all, there are 22 such enclaves, which are little gift galleries. One portion of the museum is called the Arms Gallery. It was here that in times of yore the food for the horses used to be stored. The coach house is the most important part of the museum. Earlier, this was where the coaches used to be kept. Now there are two coaches here and of course there is a lot more to see,” says Roshan Kumar Singh, an in-house volunteer guide at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The first eleven enclaves have on display gift items like the statue of Saraswati received recently from West Bengal and the golden dagger with precious stones presented to Shri KR Narayanan by the King of Morocco.

There is also an elephant tusk with the story of Lord Krishna carved on one side and the story of Lord Rama carved on the other.

A recent gift – the statue of Saraswati from West Bengal

One of the enclaves has gifts received from various military institutions, the President’s Standard being one of them. In the enclave that has silver plaques received by various presidents, there is a silver cigar box with gold clasps with the initials of Dr Zakir Hussein engraved on it.

“An acrylic horse was presented to Smt. Prathibha Patil to commemorate Ashwamedha 2007 in Nashik,” continues Roshan.

An acrylic horse

Two of the enclaves have replicas of temples placed in them – temples like the Uttara Malai temple and the Golden Temple. There is also a picture of the Sleeping Buddha of Dushanbe.

There is one enclave that displays various postal stamps issued by the Government of India and released by the various Presidents of India.

Replica of the Uttara Malai temple

“The Arms Gallery, which comes right after this, depicts the British Sikh War on one side and the Afghan British Battle on the other. In the next section, various important rooms of the President’s Palace are painted on the wall and old furniture used by the British as well as the earlier Presidents is on display,” says Roshan.

Replicas of the crowns worn by King George V and Queen Mary during the Delhi Durbar are placed in another gallery.

The British Sikh Battle, as depicted in the Arms Gallery

Another enclave has commemorative coins issued by the Government of India and seven ancient coins have been gifted by the Reserve Bank of India. The Blue Gallery has the original telegram sent by Harry S Truman, the President of the United States, to the First President of the Union of India. A beautiful sundial presented by the people of Uttaranchal to President APJ Abdul Kalam is displayed here too.

There are pieces of rocks from Mount Everest and the moon on display as well.

A beautiful sundial

The last section of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum is the Coach House. There is a Hunting Coach and the Victoria Coach of British times on display here. This portion of the museum tells the story of Delhi through the ages. There are ancient pictures of Old Delhi, which give a true perspective of how the city used to be.

Models of all thirteen Presidents can be seen as well.

Finally, there is a small section dedicated to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. There are a couple of pictures of him, a khadi cloth made by him, his charkha, and also some flower petals strewn over him before his body was cremated.

“Very soon, the second phase of the museum will come up right across from this building. This is going to be a lot larger and will hopefully be able to house all the other gifts of the Presidents that are presently in the storage facility,” adds Roshan.

To book a visit to the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum, log onto the official website of the Rashtrapati Bhavan –www.presidentofindia.nic.in. The museum is open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm. Entry to the Museum is from Gate no. 30, on Mother Teresa Crescent Road.

Source…..Aparna Menon in http://www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

படித்து ரசித்தது …”ஓட்டை கம்பளி …”!!!

April 3, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

ஒரு கட்டுரையில், கி.வா.ஜ., எழுதியது:

கவிதை, சங்கீதம் மற்றும் நாடகம் போன்ற கலைகள் எதுவானாலும், ரசிகர்கள் இருந்தால் தான், கலைஞர்கள் மகிழ்ந்து, மேலும் தம் திறமையை காட்டுவர். கலைஞர் உள்ளம் வெறும் பணத்துக்கோ, கொடைக்கோ மகிழாது.
மாடு தன் காதை மட்டும் ஆட்டுவதைப் போன்று ஆட்டுவது, கோகர்ண வித்தை; யானை தன் காது நுனியை மட்டும் ஆட்டும்; அதைப் போன்று செய்வது கஜகர்ண வித்தை. ஒரு வித்தையாடி, இந்த வித்தைகளை எல்லாம் செய்வதுடன், மாடு மாதிரி குரல் எழுப்புவான்; யானை மாதிரி பிளிறுவான். பலவகை விலங்குகளைப் போல நடிப்பான்.
ஒருநாள், ஓர் வித்தைகாட்டி, அரசன் ஒருவனின் சபைக்கு வந்து, தன் வித்தைகளை காட்டத் துவங்கினான்; எல்லாரும் பார்த்து மகிழ்ந்தனர். ஒவ்வொரு வித்தை முடிந்தவுடன், அதற்கேற்ப பரிசை அளித்து வந்தான் அரசன். இந்நிலையில், பார்வையாளர் கூட்டத்தில், பசு மேய்க்கும் இடையன் ஒருவன், கோலை ஊன்றி, ஓட்டை கம்பளியை தலைமேல் போட்டு, வித்தைகளை கவனித்தவாறு இருந்தான்.
பசுமாடு மாதிரி நடிக்க துவங்கினான் கலைஞன். வால் போன்ற ஒன்றை, பின்னால் செருகி, அதை ஆட்டினான்; காதை தனியே ஆட்டினான். வேடிக்கை பார்த்த இடையன், வித்தைக்காரன் அருகில் வந்து என்னவோ செய்தான். அடுத்த நிமிடம், தான் போர்த்தியிருந்த ஓட்டை கம்பளியை, அவன் மேல் போட்டு விட்டுப் போய் விட்டான்.
வித்தைகள் எல்லாம் முடிந்தன. வித்தைக்காரன் முதலில் அந்தக் கம்பளியை எடுத்து மடித்து, கண்ணில் ஒற்றி, பெட்டிக்குள் வைத்தான். அதை பார்த்த அரசனுக்கு கோபம் வந்து, ‘என்னை நீ அவமதித்து விட்டாய்…. இடையன் போட்ட கம்பளிக்கு கொடுத்த மரியாதையை, நான் வழங்கிய பரிசுகளுக்கு கொடுக்கவில்லையே… அந்த ஓட்டை கம்பளி உனக்கு பெரிதாக போய் விட்டதா…’ என்று கேட்டான்.
‘அரசே… அந்த கம்பளி கொடுத்தவர், எதை பார்த்து ரசித்தார், தெரியுமா?’ என்றான் வித்தைக்காரன்.
‘நீ மாடு மாதிரி நடந்ததையும், காதை ஆட்டினதையும் பார்த்திருப்பான்; அவனுக்கு மாடு தானே தெரியும்…’ என்றான் அரசன்.
வித்தைக்காரன் நிதானமாக, ‘அரசே… அவர் என் நடிப்பில் ஒரு நுட்பத்தை கண்டு மகிழ்ந்தார். நான் மாடாக நடித்த போது, ஒரு சிறு பருக்கை கல்லை எடுத்து, என் மேல் போட்டார். அந்த இடத்தை மட்டும், நான் சுழித்துக் காட்டினேன். அதன் அருமையை உணர்ந்து, அந்த கம்பளியை அளித்தார். ஓட்டம் அறிந்து வழங்கியதால், அதை பெரிதாக கருதுகிறேன்…’ என்றான்.

Source….www.dinamalar.com

Natarajan

படித்து நெகிழ்ந்தது …” மே /பா காமராஜர் தலைவர் சத்திய மூர்த்தி பவன் “

April 3, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

எட்டயாபுரம், பா.நா.கணபதி எழுதிய, ‘நினைவுகள்’ நூலிலிருந்து:

ஒரு முதிய காங்கிரஸ் தியாகி, சென்னை அரசு மருத்துவமனையில் சிகிச்சைக்காக சேரும்போது, தன் பெயருடன், மே/பா. காமராஜர், தலைவர், சத்தியமூர்த்திபவன், சென்னை என, பதிவேட்டில் எழுதி கொள்ளும்படி கூறினார்.
ஒருநாள், அம்முதியவர் திடீரென்று இறந்து விட்டார். அவர் தந்த முகவரிப்படி காமராஜருக்கு தகவல் தரப்பட்டது. அதைக் கேட்டு அதிர்ந்து போனார் காமராஜர். ஏன் என்றால், இறந்தவர் யார் என்றே அவருக்கு தெரியாது.
‘இறந்தவர் காங்கிரஸ் தியாகி; என் முகவரியை தந்திருக்கிறார். அவருக்கு என்னிடம் அவ்வளவு நம்பிக்கை! தியாகியின் இறுதி சடங்கை நல்ல முறையில் செய்ய வேண்டும்…’ என்ற கடமையுணர்வு அவரது உள்ளத்தில் மேலிட்டது.
மருத்துவமனை சென்று, இறந்தவரின் உடலை பெற்று, நல்லடக்கம் செய்யும்படி, செயலர் வி.எஸ். வெங்கட்ராமனிடம் தெரிவித்தார். அன்று, தன் வழக்கமான நிகழ்ச்சிகளை ரத்து செய்தவர், செயலற்றவராக, ஈஸி சேரில் சாய்ந்து விட்டார்.
சடலம், மூலகொத்தளம் சென்றடைந்து, எரியூட்டும் சமயம் அங்கு சென்ற காமராஜர், ‘இந்த தியாகி யாரோ… வீடு, வாசல், மனைவி, மக்கள் எல்லாவற்றையும் துறந்து, காங்கிரசில் சேர்ந்து பல அவஸ்தைகள் பட்டும் கூட, அக்கட்சியிடம் நம்பிக்கை இழக்காத இவர், மரணம் அடையும் முன், காங்., அலுவலக விலாசமே தந்துள்ளார். இவருக்கு நாம் எல்லாருமே கொள்ளி போடுவோம்…’ என்று, நா தழுதழுக்க கூறிய வார்த்தைகள், அனைவரையும் கண்ணீர் விட செய்தன.
ஒரு எளிய தியாகிக்காக, தியாக சீலரான காமராஜர் சிந்திய கண்ணீர், தூய்மையான அன்பின் வெளிப்பாடாக விளங்கியது.

Source….www.dinamalar.com

Natarajan

Message for the Day…” Pain is a part of Life and must be accepted at any cost …Pleasure s an interval between two pains …’

April 3, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

The life of Prahlada is a testament of real devotion to God. Though severely tortured by his father, Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada stood firm as a rock, steadfast in his devotion to Vishnu. At a tender age, Prahlada planted God firmly in his heart and withstood every storm and stress. Physical afflictions had no effect on him and did not reduce his devotion. The mind steeped in the Love of God is beyond any shock and strain like the chloroformed patient who is oblivious of the incisions made by the surgical instruments. Only Love of this kind can ultimately be victorious. But today, the devotion of the people wavers with every trying circumstance. When our wishes are fulfilled, we install many photographs for worship; and when our wishes are not fulfilled, we throw out the photographs. Pain is a part of life and must be accepted at any cost. Pleasure is an interval between two pains.

Sathya Sai Baba

Image of the Day…” 40000 feet over Greenland ” !!!

April 2, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

A clear day over one of the world’s two great ice sheets.

A science mission called the Oceans Melting Greenland field campaign is flying NASA’s G-III aircraft at about 40,000 feet over Greenland. On a clear day, this altitude also provides a stunning perspective of one of the world’s two great ice sheets (the other is Antarctica). The flight Saturday, March 26, 2016, over the northeast coastline was one of those clear days. Read more about this image. Image via NASA.

Source…..www.earthsky.org

Natarajan

Message for the Day…” Never forget God under any circumstance,however difficult it might be

April 2, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

True learning is like an X-ray camera, which lays bare the innermost details with perfect fidelity. Our mind should be like an X-ray with Love as the film, such that it captures the entire personality of a being with accuracy. An X-ray machine without film is of no use, as nothing can be captured then. Love must be abiding and eternal. But today the love of people is transient and ephemeral, and may expire at any time. It is not at all worthy of being called Love. True Love endures trial and turbulence, loss, and pain, and transcends every trying circumstance. Never forget God under any circumstance, however difficult it might be. Our Love for God should survive every onslaught, and resist all the ravages of time and the vicissitudes of life. Our Love should not change and float with every passing wind. The lives of great devotees demonstrate to us how firm and strong our devotion should be

Sathya Sai Baba .

Joke of the Day…”Now there are two …” !!!

April 2, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

There was a farmer who grew watermelons. He was doing pretty well, but he was disturbed by some local kids who would sneak into his watermelon patch at night and eat his watermelons.

After some careful thought, he came up with a clever idea that he thought would scare the kids away for sure. He made up a sign and posted it in the field. The next night, the kids showed up and they saw the sign which read, “Warning! One of the watermelons in this field has been injected with cyanide.”

The kids ran off, made up their own sign and posted it next to the farmer’s.

When the farmer returned, he surveyed the field. He noticed that no watermelons were missing, but the sign next to his read: “Now there are two!”

Source….www.ba-bamail.com

Natarajan

Message for the Day…” Avoid causing harm to others…Do not speak of ill of anyone…”

April 2, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Sathya Sai Baba You spend a great deal of time to acquire some material object or other. How much time do you devote to thoughts of God? You shed tears profusely to experience a pleasure related to the senses. Do you shed a single tear for experiencing God? How then can you realise God? Today Bhakthi (devotion) has become a mass-produced manufactured product. But are the devotees practicing what they profess? Without practice, can the fruits of devotion be realised? The 12th Canto of the Bhagavad Gita clearly describes the qualities of a true devotee. The primary virtue is absence of hatred towards any living thing: Cultivate Universal Love (Advesta-sarva-bhutanam). Avoid causing harm to others. Do not speak ill of any one. Give up pride and egoism. Cultivate purity of thought, speech and action. Spirituality is not separate from other aspects of life. Spirituality permeates everything.

Top 10 Steps to Deal with Negative Persons …

March 31, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.“

You may interact with negative people daily, be they friends, family members, a partner or a colleague. You love them, you care about them, you can’t just cut them out of your life, but they are negative and their negativity is eating away at you. What can you do?

The best way of dealing with life’s challenges is to take a good look at ourselves and take responsibility for what we think, feel and do.

Never give your power away by blaming others for what you have or don’t have, what you feel or don’t feel. Once you do so, you’ll become a victim of circumstance, and instead of using your time and energy to beat life’s challenges, you’ll sink to a dark and miserable place.

Here are 10 smart, positive and effective ways of dealing with the negativity of the people close to you:

1. Give up the need to complain

Make sure you are taking responsibility for your feelings and mood. Don’t go complaining that other people’s negativity is affecting you, because it will only create more negativity. Take responsibility for your thoughts and feelings and see what you can do to make yourself feel better and change the existing situation.

“Whoever has limited knowledge of human nature and seeks happiness by changing everything but his own attitude, will waste his life in futile efforts.”
– Samuel Johnson

2. Similarity Attracts

Good brings about good, bad brings about bad, and whether we want to or not, we pull into our lives events, situations and people that reflect our internal state. Ask yourself: “How am I feeling? Am I happy, excited, thankful and calm? Or am I anxious, frustrated and judgmental?”

You may find that you radiate misery to the environment and that part of the negative energy surrounding you is in fact a reflection of yourself.

3. Don’t believe everything you think

This is definitely one of the hardest things to learn. Look closely at the negative people in your life. What is it about them that gets you going? What affects you so much? Is what they are doing really that bad or is your brain playing games with you?

Remember, the brain is configured to look for trouble, and it focuses on other’s negative qualities. It’ll be very hard to get it to see the positive side of things, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

4. Focus

Ask yourself: “Am I ready to find the good in these people? Am I able to see their good qualities?” Let the answers come naturally, and make sure you are being honest with yourself.

If you feel like you’re insistent and won’t change the way you are looking at people and situations, don’t give yourself a hard time. This takes time and patience, and when you are ready, you’ll take this step. Remember, we all have good in us.

“It’s so hard when I NEED to do it and so easy when I WANT to do it.”
– Annie Gottlier

5. Don’t make their problems YOUR problems

For their sake and yours, make sure you are not adopting their problems and becoming negative about them yourself. If you want to cure negativity, sliding down right along with the negative person won’t help, it will just make it worse by validating their thought and behavioral patterns. Rather, focus on solutions, not problems. Offer that and nothing else.

6. Taking ownership

Instead of being a victim and judge, you need to take full responsibility for your thoughts and feelings, and take a different approach.

“Everything that annoys us in others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.”
– Carl Jung.

Don’t waste your time obsessing and thinking: “They are ruining my energy, making me miserable, their negative energy is infecting my own…” Instead, say to yourself: “How can I use this to my advantage? Is there something I’m doing wrong? How can I improve the situation and increase my positive energy to be stronger than their negative energy? What do I learn from all of this?”

7. Come with your own positive energy

Focusing on negative energy cannot create positive energy, and the other way around is also true. Focus on making yourself happy, enough that you have great positive energy, and you will see the negativity cringing away from it.

Remember, energy is contagious!

How to put up positive energy? Focus on the things you like about the negative people, focus on things you love about yourselves, life and the world around you. Think of loved ones, of things that make you happy. That way, you will increase the positive energy exponentially.

If you incur negative energy by thinking about bad things, the opposite is also true, and you’ll be able to hopefully ‘wake up’ your fellow workers. You can’t focus on both of them at the same time, so choose one – happiness or misery.

8. Be part of the change you’d like to see

The world is no more than a reflection of who we are, deep inside. Try to go for a feeling of well-being, to live a positive life, a merry life, one that has love, trust, and the pursuit of happiness. We cannot change others, but only ourselves. This is the only way to change the world.

Think of it this way: When you are happy, the world seems happy, and the sky is open and blue. When you are sad, the world seems sad as well, and the sky is grey and uncaring, leaving you alone to deal with your pain.

Flow with life events, don’t resist them, live in harmony and be the change you wish to see in the world.

“Never underestimate your power to change yourself. Never overestimate your power to change others.”
– Wayne W. Dyer

9. Awareness and acceptance

Work on understanding life’s inevitable duality – accept the negative with the good. Don’t harp on people’s negativity, don’t judge or fight them. Let them be, look and accept. Remember, your world is no more real than a reflection of who you are, deep inside. Don’t try to bring everyone into your own world, accept theirs as no less real than yours, and their point of view as no less valid.

The hardest part of acceptance is accepting that, sometimes, some people cannot be changed. Their negativity is something they will defend to the last drop. Not because it gives them pleasure, but because they think it is a natural part of themselves.

Even though it’s never too late to try and change that point of view, some never will. It is up to you to either accept their negativity and react accordingly, or take your distance from them. This is especially hard when it is someone we love.

“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of others.“

10. Move forward

Dealing with negativity and trying your best to dispel it can be exhausting, and at some point, you have to move on with your life in a positive way. Find a path that allows you to go on with your life without the negativity of others, but also, without the regret that leaving a loved one or friend behind may cause you.

Make your feelings known to them, make them understand they are hard to be around, and slowly decrease your contact. If they want you to stay in their lives, they will be forced to at least pretend to be less negative, and pretending is the first step to actually becoming less negative. The more we act a certain way, the more we believe in it.

Image courtesy of: Michal Marcol / freedigitalphotos.net

Source….www.ba-mail.com

Natarajan

Message for the Day…” Place your Trust in God…”

March 31, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Sathya Sai Baba

Without faith in God, all other possessions are of no avail. Take the example of Duryodhana, who was the lord of an empire. Both Duryodhana and Arjuna went to Krishna before the Kurukshetra battle. Duryodhana wanted only Krishna’s army on his side. Arjuna was content to have Krishna alone on his side. This was enough to secure for him victory in the war. All the armies Duryodhana had were of no avail. Duryodhana relied on the clever strategies of his uncle, Shakuni. He had no faith in the divine intelligence of Krishna. The lesson that everyone must learn from this episode is that they must rely, not on their cleverness but on the guidance of their higher intelligence, which transcends ordinary reason and thinking. They should seek the support of That which sustains everything in creation. Place your trust in God.