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A teenage boy had just passed his driving test and asked his father when they’d be able to have a discussion about using the car.
His father said he’d make a deal with his son. “You need to bring your grades up from a C to a B-average, study the Bible, and get a haircut. Then we’ll talk about the car.’
The boy thought about that for a moment, decided he’d settle for the offer, and they came to an agreement.
After about six weeks, his father said: “Son, you’ve brought your grades up and I’ve observed that you have been studying the Bible, but I’m disappointed you haven’t cut your hair yet.”
The boy said: “You know, Dad, I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair – and there’s even strong evidence that Jesus had long hair!”
The dad nods wisely, then leans over and whispers to his son:
“Did you also notice they walked everywhere?“
Source…..www.ba-bamail.com
Natarajan
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Art
Image of the Day…” Whale Rainbow …” !!!
Whales are magnificent creatures and … they produce their own rainbows.
Rainbow above a whale in Monterey Bay. Photo by William Drumm via Oceana in May 2015.
These are rainbows made by drops from the whale’s blowholes rather than the more usual raindrops.
These are true rainbows, not iridescence like the iridescence you sometimes see in clouds. Les told me:
Iridescence can be anywhere but it is most common close to the sun. The colors are disordered and pastel.
Rainbows (at least the everyday ones!) are opposite the sun. Their colors are always in the order red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Whales’ blowholes, of course – which are their noses – are on the top of their heads. A whale breathes through its blowhole, but, contrary to any whale cartoons you might have seen, whales don’t actually blow water through their blowholes. Instead, they blow out a combination of air (they breathe out carbon dioxide, just as we human mammals do) and mucus. A whale’s out-breath is warm from the whale’s warm body, just as your out-breath is warm. In the colder and lower-pressure air above, water vapor that’s present condenses out above the whale as droplets.
It’s this spray of fine droplets, known as the blow, that creates the rainbow.
View larger. | Iridescence in the mist of a blue whale – one of our world’s most endangered species – off the coast of southern California in 2014. Image via Craig Hayslip/Oregon State University.
Bottom line: A collection of photos and a video of rainbows made by whales.
Source….www.earthsky.org
Natarajan
Sulabh International Museum of Toilets….!!!
In a quiet courtyard in the suburbs of New Delhi, inside a low-slung concrete building, the assistant curator and guides of Sulabh International Museum of Toilets eagerly awaits for visitors. The museum is small, with just one long room, but it’s possibly the world’s only toilet museum, and it’s location in the Indian capital is all the more important.
Hygiene and sanitation is one of India’s most pressing issues. An astonishing 60% of the country’s 1.2 billion people defecate in the open because they do not have access to safe and private toilets. The numbers were probably worse in 1970 when Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, a humanitarian and social worker, introduced pay-to-use public toilets in a small village in Patna, Bihar. At first the people laughed at his idea, but now over 15 million people across the country use public toilets constructed by Sulabh International, a non-profit he founded.
Photo credit: http://www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org
Sulabh International’s mission is to promote safe sanitation habits and provide public toilet facilities throughout India. It builds and maintains hundreds of public toilets in major cities, including those outside tourist attractions such as the Red Fort in Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra, as well as towns and villages across the vast nation. With 50,000 volunteers devoted to the cause, Sulabh International is India’s largest nonprofit organization.
The museum, located in the offices of the organization, traces the history and development of toilet system around the world from the brick commodes of the ancient Harappan settlement near Pakistan, five thousand years ago, through the Middle Ages to the modern day toilet with electrically controlled flush system, through a series of privies, chamber-pots, toilet furniture, bidets and water closets, accompanied by a healthy number of images, drawings, photographs, and graphics. The museum also provides a chronological account of developments relating to technology, toilet related social customs, toilet etiquettes, prevailing sanitary conditions and legislative efforts of the times.
Among its most prized possessions is a flush pot devised in 1596 by Sir John Harrington, a courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, a gem-studded bided of Queen Victoria, table-top toilets from England and a couple of highly decorated commodes from Austria. Some of the toilets of these period were disguised. There is a French one that looks like a stack of books, and an English one which resembles a treasure chest.
Hanging on the walls are display boards with poems, comics, jokes and cartoons related to toilet humor. But one of its most amusing displays is a full-size replica throne from the court of the French King, Louis XIII, with a hidden commode underneath it. The King used it to relive himself while still in court.
The Sulabh International Museum of Toilets was opened in 1992, and since then it has welcomed some 100,000 visitors.
Photo credit: Metro.co.uk
Photo credit: Metro.co.uk
Photo credit: http://www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org
Photo credit: http://www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org
Sources: www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org / Wikipedia / PRI.org
Source….www.amusingplanet.com
Natarajan
Message for the Day…” Lord Rama’s name cleanses all evil and transforms the sinner…”
The name Rama is the essence of scriptures (Vedas); Lord Rama’s story is an ocean of milk, pure and potent. Ramayana, the epic describing Lord Rama’s incarnation is a sacred text, reverently recited by the scholar as well as the ignorant, the millionaire as well as the pauper. Lord Rama’s name cleanses all evil and transforms the sinner; it reveals the charming form represented by the name. Ramayana must be read not as a record of a human career but as a narrative of the advent and activities of an incarnation of God (Avatar). You must endeavor with determination to realise through your own experience the ideals revealed in that narrative. God is all-knowing, all-pervasive, and all-powerful. The words He utters while embodied in the human form, the acts He deigns to indulge in during His earthly sojourn — these are inscrutable and extraordinarily significant. The precious springs of His message ease the path of deliverance for humanity.
வாரம் ஒரு கவிதை …” வள்ளுவம் வாழ்வது எங்கே ? “
வள்ளுவம் வாழ்வதெங்கே ?
வள்ளுவம் வாழ்வது எங்கே…?
வள்ளுவம் வாழ்வது இங்கே அங்கே என்றில்லாமல்
எங்கும் வாழ்கிறது வள்ளுவம் என்னும் வாழ் நெறி தத்துவம் !
தங்கத் தமிழில் வள்ளுவன் தந்த இரண்டு அடி குறட்பாவில்
இல்லாத செய்தி இது என்று இன்று வரை ஒன்று இல்லையே !
மொழி மத பேதம் மறந்து கடல் கடந்தும் பல மொழியில் ,குரலில்
ஒலிப்பது வள்ளுவன் குறள் ஒன்று மட்டுமே !..அன்னை
தமிழுக்கு இருக்காதா பூரிப்பு ? ..இங்கு அங்கு என்றில்லாமல்
எங்கும் நிறைந்திருக்கும் தன் பிள்ளை வள்ளுவனை நினைத்து !
நம் இதயத்தில் இறைவனை வைத்துக்கொண்டு இறைவன் எங்கே
எங்கே என்று தேடவும் வேண்டாம் !
திருக்குறள் நம் கையில் இருக்கையில்
வாழ் நெறி தத்துவம் எங்கே எங்கே என நாம் அலையவும் வேண்டாம் !
Natarajan
Meet the 86-Year-Old Who Has Helped 6 Lakh Patients Get Medical Treatment They Could Not Afford…
Starting with a small donation of Rs 10, this man has collected over Rs 10 crores to help 6 lakh patients who cannot afford to pay for their medical treatment. Read the story of Naginbhai Shah, an 86-year-old man who still works with the dedication of a 20-year-old to bring relief and hope to the lives of thousands in Ahmedabad.
“Everyone lives. But to live while doing something for other people is what matters the most. I get complete satisfaction, loads of blessings and a lot of happiness. This is my meditation,” says 86-year-old Naginbhai Shah about his work.
Naginbhai is the founder of Dardionu Rahat Fund, an organization based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He has taken up the responsibility of helping patients who cannot afford medical treatment in hospitals – those who have no money to pay for their medicines, check-ups, surgeries, etc.
The Fund was born in 1964 with a small donation of Rs. 10 and, since then, Naginbhai and his group of volunteers have collected over Rs. 10 crores! They have helped with the treatment of more than 6 lakh patients.
Naginbhai (centre) with patients and volunteers
“My son was about three years old when he fell sick and had to be admitted to the hospital. I was a middle class man back then and was searching for a job. I didn’t have the money required for his treatment,” recalls Naginbhai about the time when he first became motivated to do something for the underprivileged.
He had his asthmatic son admitted to the hospital for treatment and went to an old friend to borrow some money. On returning with a sum of Rs. 25, Naginbhai encountered a woman who had come from a nearby village. She was there with her eight year old son and was weeping when Naginbhai met her.
“I asked her why she was crying. After some hesitation she told me that her child needed an operation and the doctor had informed her that the total expenditure would be Rs. 25. She had come with only Rs. 10 from her village. And now, she was left with just Rs. 6. I don’t know what came over me but without thinking for a second I immediately gave her the Rs. 25 that I had borrowed,” he says.
Naginbhai had to go out and borrow some money for his son once again but he was happy that the child he helped recovered after the operation.
Providing for the needy
“My son recovered too. And after some time I got a job as well. After that, I started believing that my job and my son’s health were all the result of the blessings of that woman,” he adds.
It was sometime around then that an idea began to take shape within him. “What if I came to the hospital for half an hour each day and helped one or two people with whatever money I could arrange?” he thought. The year was 1964. Naginbhai discussed the idea with some friends. He was amazed when he asked if they would be willing to help with Rs. 10 — they gave him Rs. 51 instead. “I was surprised. I was asking for small amounts and people were giving a lot more,” says Naginbhai.
And that’s how it all started. Naginbhai would regularly ride his bicycle to the hospital near his home, identify the people who needed help and take care of all their medical expenses with the money he had collected from his friends.
Naginbhai giving medicines to patients
Today, after about half a decade, this generous man is still dedicated to his service. He has a team of five volunteers and they go out every evening at 5 pm to Sheth V. S. General Hospital, Jivraj Mehta Hospital, and some other hospitals in Ahmedabad. In the general wards of these hospitals, they move from one bed to another, talking to the patients there. They chat with them to find out where they are from, their professions, how much money they make, etc.
In this manner, they are able to identify those who need their help the most.
A beneficiary
“We ‘adopt’ these people and help them with everything they need — be it an MRI, a CT Scan, some medicines, an operation, or anything else. But we make sure that the patient does not go home untreated.” The small team raises money by speaking to people across the city — friends, acquaintances, family, strangers – anyone who can help them with funds. “Sometimes, when we reach the hospital, we find the doctors, staff and some patients waiting for us. The doctors ask those who cannot afford treatment to wait till we come,” says Naginbhai.
“We know what we do is just a drop in the ocean. We cannot go out and help every poor person who cannot pay his/her medical bills. But we have decided that whoever we help, we will help completely and won’t leave that person’s treatment half way. The money involved could be Rs. 10,000 or Rs. 50,000, or more. But once we tell a person we will help, we don’t back out,” he adds.
Naginbhai lives with his son who is working in Ahmedabad. He is extremely frugal with his expenses.
His team works with him for free and there are three trustees who help him take care of the finances of the Fund.
My family does not support me a lot. But I have stopped expecting anything from them. The people support me. Donors send in money blindly. Last year, I collected Rs. 1.55 crores and spent Rs 1.48 crores on the patients. No money is spent on administration.”
His team also provides patients with fruits, hearing aids, artificial limbs, etc. It is mostly by word of mouth that donors reach Naginbhai. One such donor is Suresh Ruparel. He’s been associated with Naginbhai for the last five years.
“Once I visited a hospital and asked if I could donate money for someone and how I could find a genuine case. The hospital staff told me about Naginbhai. Actually, my mother died in that hospital and I could not reach in time. That’s why I really wanted to help someone there. Naginbhai maintains a very good relationship with all regular donors. I keep aside a portion of my salary for him every month,” he says.
Naginbhai sure has the blessings of the woman he first helped with Rs. 25. And many more now. We wish this 86-year-old a long life and many more years of dedicated service.
Source….Tanaya Singh in http://www.the betterindia.com
Natarajan
Message for the Day….” Right from this moment , embark on a new life giving up bad thoughts and evil qualities …”
Embodiments of Love, God is present in everyone. He resides in every heart. So do not confine God to a temple, a mosque or a church. Where a human is, there God is. God takes the form of a human (Daivam manusha rupena). As you forget and do not realise this important fact, you indulge in criticism of others. Whom are you criticising? Whom do you adore? Enquire for yourself. God is present in all. If you criticise others, you criticise God. Whoever you salute, it reaches God (Sarva jeeva namaskaram Keshavam prati gacchati) and whoever you insult or ridicule, it also reaches God! (Sarva jeeva thiraskaram Keshavam prati gacchati). Right from this moment, embark on a new life giving up bad thoughts and evil qualities. Purify your heart. Let your thoughts, words and deeds be sacred. Only then will your life be blissful.
Image of the Day…Mars Rover Opportunity up high ….!!!
Mars rover up high, spies a dust devil
After making the steep-ever climb of any rover on Mars, Opportunity looked back along its own tracks toward a swirling Martian dust devil in the valley below.
View larger. | From high on a ridge, NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity recorded this image of a swirling Martian dust devil on March 31. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech.
During its recent uphill drive to the top of Knudsen Ridge on Mars, the tilt of the Mars Opportunity rover reached 32 degrees, the steepest-ever for any rover on Mars. In this image – taken on March 31, 2016, the 4,332nd Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars – you’re looking backwards along the rover’s tracks, with its camera aimed toward a dust devil twisting through the valley below.
In the image, the rover – which was launched from Earth in 2003 – has just climbed the north-facing slope of Knudsen Ridge on Mars. The ridge forms part of the southern edge of Marathon Valley.
Why is NASA’s image in black and white, by the way? It’s because it was taken with the Navcam on Opportunity, a camera that’s essential for enabling the rover to make its way across the surface of this alien world … but which doesn’t have a color camera.
Look below to see how artist Don Davis remedied the lack of color with some processing here on Earth:
Color view of Opportunity’s great dust devil shot, by artist Don Davis. Read more on Davis’ Facebook page.
NASA commented:
Dust devils were a common sight for Opportunity’s twin rover, Spirit, in its outpost at Gusev Crater, but Opportunity has seen them only rarely.
Just as on Earth, a dust devil is created by a rising, rotating column of hot air. When the column whirls fast enough, it picks up tiny grains of dust from the ground, making the vortex visible.
Artist’s concept of the rover Opportunity on Mars. This rover – and its twin rover Spirit – were launched from Earth in 2003. Image via NASA
Bottom line: Mars Opportunity rover image of a dust devil, from a perch on Knudsen Ridge on Mars, part of the southern edge of Marathon Valley, acquired on March 31, 2016, the 4,332nd Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars.
Source….www.earthsky.org
Natarajan
படித்து நெகிழ்ந்தது ….” பெரியவா பிரசாதம் …என்ன செய்தீர்கள் …” ?
எனது நண்பர் திரு. சுவாமிநாதன் ( ஜீ டிவி } அவர்களின் அனுபவம் … இமெயிலில் அவர் என்னுடன் பகிர்ந்து கொண்டதை நான் உங்களுடன் பகிர்ந்து கொள்கிறேன் .
நடராஜன்
12 04 2016
துபாயில் நடந்த 151-வது அனுஷ சிறப்பு வைபவத்தில் கலந்து கொள்வதற்காக சமீபத்தில் அங்கு சென்றிருந்தேன். மார்ச் 28 அன்று அனுஷம். அன்றைக்கு மாலை அங்கே நடந்த சிறப்பு பூஜையில் கலந்து கொண்டேன். துபாயில் இந்த வைபவத்தைத் தொடர்ந்து நடத்தி வருகிற என் அன்பு நண்பர் சூர்யா அவர்களின் அழைப்பின்பேரில் இந்தப் பயணம் வெகு சிறப்பாக அமைந்திருந்தது.
அனுஷ தினத்தன்று சூர்யா அவர்கள் எனக்கு ஒரு வேஷ்டி – புடவை வழங்கினார். இது அவர்கள் வழக்கமாம். ஒவ்வொரு அனுஷத்தின்போதும் ஒரு தம்பதிக்கு அவர்கள் இதை வழங்குவார்கள். துபாயிலும், உலகின் பிற இடங்களிலும் இருக்கிற மகா பெரியவா பக்தர்கள் போட்டி போட்டுக் கொண்டு இந்த வஸ்திரங்களை சூர்யாவுக்கு அனுப்பி, ‘இந்த பாக்கியத்தை இந்த முறை எங்களுக்குத் தாருங்கள்’ என்று அன்புடன் போட்டி போடுவார்களாம். அந்த வகையில், சிறப்பு அழைப்பாளனாக நான் அங்கு சென்றிருந்ததால், இவற்றை எனக்கு வழங்கியதாக சூர்யா அவர்கள் அந்த பூஜையிலேயே அறிவித்தார்.
துபாய் பயணம் முடிந்து சென்னையும் திரும்பி விட்டேன். ஒரு வாரம் கழித்து, சூர்யா எனக்கு ‘வாட்ஸப்’பில் ஒரு தகவல் அனுப்பி இருந்தார். ‘உங்களுக்கு ஒரு வேஷ்டி – புடவையும் பெரியவா பிரசாதமாக வழங்கினோமே… அதை என்ன செய்தீர்கள்? இப்படிக் கேட்கிறேன் என்று என்னை தவறாக நினைத்துக் கொள்ள வேண்டாம்’ என்று கேட்டிருந்தார்.
நான் பதிலுக்கு, ‘இதில் தவறு ஒன்றும் இல்லை. மகா பெரியவா பிரசாதமாக அனுஷ தினத்தன்று வழங்கி இருக்கிறீர்கள். எனவே, அவற்றை நானும் என் மனைவியும் எங்களது பயன்பாட்டுக்காக வைத்துக் கொள்ளலாம் என்று தீர்மானித்திருக்கிறோம்’ என்று செய்தி அனுப்பிய அடுத்த விநாடியே, ‘உங்களுடன் இப்போது பேசலாமா?’ என்று செய்தி அனுப்பினார்.
ஜீ தமிழ் படப்பிடிப்பு முடித்துத் திரும்பிக் கொண்டிருந்தேன். ‘பேசுங்களேன். நான் ஃப்ரீதான்’ என்று பதில் அனுப்பினேன்.
சூர்யா பேசத் துவங்கியபோதே அவரது நா தழுதழுத்தது. ‘கடந்த மார்ச் 25-ஆம் தேதி வெள்ளிக்கிழமை சென்னை சாலிகிராமத்தில் ஒரு திருமணத்துக்குச் சென்றிருந்தீர்களா?’ என்று கேட்டார்.
நான் ரொம்ப ஞாபக மறதி பேர்வழி. யோசித்தேன். சூர்யாவே ஆரம்பித்தார். ‘அன்றைக்கு அந்தப் பெண் வீட்டுக்காரர் உங்களுக்குச் சொந்தம்’ என்று எடுத்துக் கொடுத்தார்.
எனக்கு நினைவு வந்தது. என் மனைவியின் குடும்பத்துக்குச் சொந்தமான நண்பர் ரமானந்த் அவர்களின் மகள் திருமணம் அது. ‘ஆமாம்… நான் போயிருந்தேன்’ என்றேன் நினைவுக்கு வந்தவனாக.
சூர்யா ஆரம்பித்தார். ‘கல்யாணத்துக்குப் போனபோது மணமகன் வீட்டாரை நீங்கள் சந்திக்கவில்லை போலிருக்கிறது. மணமகனின் தாயார் பெயர் பட்டு சீனிவாசன். அவர்கள் எங்கள் துபாய் அனுஷ குரூப்பில் இருந்து வருகிறார். அவரிடம் ஓரிரண்டு நாட்களுக்கு முன் யதேச்சையாக பேசும்போது, ‘பையன் கல்யாணம் நல்ல விதமாக முடிந்ததா?’ என்று கேட்டேன். ‘எல்லாம் நன்றாக முடிந்தது. ஆனால், ஒரே ஒரு வருத்தம். அன்றைக்கு சொற்பொழிவாளர் சுவாமிநாதன் இந்தக் கல்யாணத்துக்கு மனைவியுடன் வந்திருக்கிறாராம். எனக்குத் தெரியவே இல்லை. அவர் வந்து விட்டுச் சென்ற பின்தான் எனக்குத் தெரிய வந்தது. ஆஹா… அவரை நாம் பார்த்திருந்தால் ஒரு வேஷ்டி – புடவை வைத்துக் கொடுத்து நமஸ்கரித்திருக்கலாமே என்று தோன்றியது. எனக்கு ஏனோ கொடுத்து வைக்கவில்லை’ என்று வருத்தத்துடன் சொன்னார்.
பிறகு என்னிடம் பட்டு சீனிவாசன் கேட்டார்: ‘இந்த அனுஷத்தில் ஒரு தம்பதிக்கு வழங்குவதற்காக வேஷ்டி மற்றும் புடவை அனுப்பி இருந்தேனே… வந்து சேர்ந்ததா?’ என்று கேட்டார்.
‘வந்து சேர்ந்தது. அதை வழங்கியும் விட்டேன். யாருக்குக் கொடுத்தேன் என்று சொன்னால் நீங்கள் ஆச்சரியப்படுவீர்கள்’ என்று சொல்லி இருக்கிறார் சூர்யா.
‘சொல்லுங்கள்… யாருக்கு?’ என்று பட்டு ஆர்வத்துடன் கேட்க…
‘25-ஆம் தேதி சென்னையில் நீங்கள் கொடுக்க முடியவில்லையே என்று கவலைப்பட்ட சுவாமிநாதனுக்கு 28-ஆம் தேதி துபாயில் கொடுத்து விட்டேன். நீங்கள் சென்னையில் விருப்பப்பட்டதை மகா பெரியவா இங்கே முடித்து விட்டார். நீங்கள் அனுப்பிய வஸ்திரம் பெரியவா கிருபையால் இப்போது அவரிடம் போய்ச் சேர்ந்திருக்கிறது’’ என்று சொல்ல… பட்டு சீனிவாசனுக்கு ஆனந்தம்.
இதனால்தான், ‘அந்த வஸ்திரத்தை என்ன செய்தீர்கள்?’ என்று சூர்யா கேட்டிருக்கிறார்.
மகா பெரியவா பக்தர்கள் என்றைக்கு எதை விரும்பினாலும், நினைத்தாலும் அதை அந்த மகானே முடித்துத் தருவார் என்பதற்கு இதை விட என்ன சாட்சி வேண்டும்?!
நன்றி திரு சூர்யா, திருமதி பட்டு சீனிவாசன்.
மகா பெரியவா சரணம்.
அன்புடன்,
பி. சுவாமிநாதன்
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