The Incredible Sights of India |
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| India is a huge country with vast and beautiful landscapes. Everyone has heard of the exquisite Taj Mahal but have you heard about the colorful Meenaksi Amman Temple or the Blue City of Jodhpur? India has scores of hidden treasures. I was amazed to learn about some of these eye-popping temples and monuments. I can’t wait to visit… | ||||
| Meenakshi Amman Temple
If you travel to the city of Madurai, you can lay your eyes on the colorful Meenaksi Amman Temple. This towered temple is a vast complex of ten gateway towers, guarding the Hindu temple to the Goddess Parvati, and Shiva, her husband consort. Jantar Mantar
This colorful complex is an astronomical observatory in New Deli, built by orders of the Mahajara Jai Singh II in the 18th century. Root Bridges of Meghalaya
Surprisingly India is home to one of the wettest places on earth. The Meghalayan jungle is a mountainous subtropical forest with steady rain. The rivers are dangerous to cross so the locals creatively used nature to form a root bridge. Karni Mata Temple
Also known as the Temple of Rats, this beautiful Hindu temple in Deshnoke is home to 20,000 black rats. The rat infestation is encouraged by the locals as their presence is in memory of the Karni Mata, a Hindu sage. The Ajanta Caves
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India
“Chennai-born Raja Rajeswari is New York’s first Indian-American woman judge”…
Chennai-born Raja Rajeswari has been sworn-in as a criminal court judge in New York by Mayor Bill de Blasio, becoming the first India-born woman to be appointed a judge in New York City.
Newly appointed city judge, Chennai-born Raja Rajeswari, rises to take her place for a Judicial Swearing-In Ceremony at New York City Hall in New York on Monday.
Ms. Rajeswari, 43, who had migrated to the U.S. from Chennai as a teenager, previously worked with the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office for her entire career in several bureaus including Criminal Court, Narcotics, Supreme Court, and the Sex Crimes Special Victims Bureau, where she last served as Deputy Chief.
Ms. Rajeswari took the oath of office at a ceremony in New York City on Monday along with 27 other judges appointed earlier this month to the Family Court, Criminal Court, and Civil Court, which are part of the New York State Unified Court System.
The mayor appoints judges to 10-year terms in the New York City Criminal Court and the Family Court within the city.
“To ensure New Yorkers have access to a fair, equitable justice system, we need judges who are qualified, honest and reflective of the people of this city,” Mr. de Blasio said.
“With their wealth of legal experience, these appointees represent all five boroughs and all walks of life. From the first female South Asian-American judge in New York City to a former NYPD First Deputy Commissioner, these talented leaders truly reflect the diverse range of communities that make up our great city,” he said.
The mayor said Ms. Rajeswari has an “extraordinary, extraordinary empathy for others”.
He lauded her ability to speak in Indian, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian languages, saying she put her history as an immigrant and ability to speak all these languages to work, “helping to reach immigrants” in the Staten Island communities where she served as an Assistant District Attorney.
“And she saw as her mission to give them confidence in the justice process,” Mr. de Blasio said.
Ms. Rajeswari came to the U.S. when she was 16.
“It’s like a dream. It’s way beyond what I imagined,” she had told silive.com, a Staten Island news website.
“For someone like me, an immigrant who comes from India, I’m beyond grateful,” she had said. “I told the mayor this is not only my American Dream, but it shows another girl from a far away country that this is possible.”
Ms. Rajeswari hoped to use her new position to improve the judicial system by encouraging interpreters to have more access to aid immigrants, the news site had said.
Ms. Rajeswari had told Desi Talk newspaper that she had observed gender inequality even before coming to the US when some of her “brilliant” girlfriends in India were married off at the age of 14 and 15. “That has always stayed with me.”
As a prosecuting attorney in New York, she has come across numerous cases of spousal and child abuse with in the South Asian community in New York, Ms Rajeswari had said. “Many of the domestic violence victims have been South Asians, Sri Lankans.”
Ms. Rajeswari has served in the district attorney’s office for the past 16 years and has been the deputy chief of the Special Victims Unit for more than four years.
She has worked on cases involving women and children and said they are the ones that touched her the most.
Ms. Rajeswari said that she hopes to use her new position to improve the judicial system by encouraging interpreters to have more access to aid immigrants.
“I’m honoured to sit on a city bench and make Staten Island proud,” she said.
Currently, there are two male judges of Indian descent in civil court settings — Jaya Madhavan on the New York City Housing Court in Bronx County, and Anil C. Singh of New York County Supreme Court, 1st District, according to ethnic New India Times.
Besides her legal acumen Ms Rajeswari is an accomplished Bharat Natyam and Kucchipudi dancer who continues to perform at Indian events and temples with her troupe from the Padmalaya Dance Academy, named after her mother, Padma Ramanathan.
Source…..www.thehindu.com and http://www.ndtv.com
Natarajan
” A Bad Prank by a Pax on Board …. It Went Wrong For the Crazy Pax anyway …”
A man has been arrested over an incident on an Air India flight. Source: Getty Images
A PASSENGER attempts to chat up a flight attendant, but she resists his “charms” and walks away. What could possibly go wrong?
As it turns out, a lot!
Yousuf Sharif, 35, allegedly sparked hijacking fears on board an Air India flight from Dubai to Hyderabad, India on Tuesday. And it was all because of a very bad prank he decided to play on a flight attendant, the Times of India reports.
Sitting in business class, the Indian resident asked the crew member if she would take a selfie with him on his phone. He also asked if he could photograph the cockpit.
“He was requesting the crew member to pose for a selfie and tried to engage her in a conversation, to which she objected,” Police officer T Sudhakar, who works for Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, where the plane landed, told local news website the DeccanChronicle.
Police allege the man had been trying to flirt with the staff member and when she refused to talk to him, he decided to scare her with a hijacking prank.
“When the air hostess rejected his request and started walking away, Yousuf told her that he will hijack the flight,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Shamshabad AR Srinivas said. “She immediately alerted the pilot.”
The man was questioned once the flight touched down, no charges have yet been laid.
news.com.au has contacted Air India for comment.
He allegedly threatened to hijack the plane as a prank. Picture: Stefan Krasowski Source: Flickr
Source….www.news.com.au
Natarajan
The Blind Street Vendor Who Founded a Million Dollar Company…An Inspiring story …
“I used to be badly bullied in school.”
“Whenever I used to go around asking for help, I was told, ‘You are blind. What good can you do?’
“The only way to run a successful business is to think with your heart in the equation.
“It will take time. A lot of time. Untold sacrifice and hard work.
“But if you are doing what your heart tells you to do, you will achieve what you set out to achieve.”
Visually impaired entrepreneur Bhavesh Bhatia tells us how he overcame criticism and rejection to set up Sunrise Candles, a start-up that provides employment to other visually impaired citizens like him.
Bhavesh Bhatia was not born blind, but had little vision while growing up.
Born with retina muscular deterioration, he always knew that his sight would only get worse with time.
At 23, his eyes finally decided to give up on him and no amount of preparation could have predicted the gloom that was to come.
He was working as a hotel manager and scrambling to save money for his mother’s treatment, who was suffering from cancer.
His desperation to save his mother stemmed from more than filial love.
She was the backbone of his existence, providing the support he so badly needed to navigate life with his disability.
Bhatia, now 45, recalls, “I used to be badly bullied in school. One day I came home and told her that I wouldn’t go back from the next day. Everyone ganged up to taunt me with chants of ‘Blind boy, blind boy.’
“Instead of forcing me, or worse giving in to my demands, she gently stroked my hair and told me that the boys were not cruel.
“They want to be my friend, but are thrown off by how different I am. She told me that bullying was their way of getting my attention.
“I had a hard time believing her but did as she told me to. The following day, instead of treating them with the hostility they deserved, I approached my bullies with an offer of friendship. We became friends for life.”
He continues, “It is this early life lesson that has been my guiding principle in business as well. My poverty and disability have created insurmountable challenges for me. But her wisdom has lead me to make the right decisions.”
So, when faced with losing his mother, losing his eyesight too was a devastating blow. He was fired from his job.
His father had already extinguished all their savings on his mother’s treatment.
Without a job, and no employment prospects to boot, they couldn’t afford to give her the care she needed. She passed away soon after.
“I was bereft without her,” says Bhatia.
“She was not very educated herself, but worked tirelessly to make sure that I was. I could not read the blackboard. She would pore over my lessons with me for hours — a practice she continued till my post-graduation.”
Bhavesh wanted to make something worthwhile of himself for her. That she would pass away when he was just getting started felt like the world’s greatest injustice.
Loss
Though the loss of his mother, his eyesight and his job wracked him with grief, he found solace in what Bhatia says is, ‘The best advice I’ve ever received,’ given, unsurprisingly, by his mother.
She told me ‘So what if you cannot see the world? Do something so that the world will see you.’
” Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Bhavesh set off in search of that elusive ‘something’ which would make the world see him.
That thing was not hard to find.
“Since childhood I was interested in creating things with my hands. I used to make kites, experiment with clay, shape toys and figurines, etc. I decided to dabble with candle making because it allowed me to harness my sense of shape and smell. But mostly because I am, and always have been, attracted towards light,” he says.
With no resources, except for a burning passion, he had little idea on how to get started.
“I took training from National Association for the Blind (Mumbai) in 1999. They taught me how to make plain candles,” he recounts.
“I wanted to play around with colours, scents and shapes, but dyes and scents were beyond my budget.”
So he would make candles all night long and sell them from a cart, standing at a corner of a local market in Mahabaleshwar (a popular hill station in Maharashtra).
“The cart belonged to a friend and he let me use it for Rs 50 a day. Every day I would set aside Rs 25 to buy my supplies for the next haul.”
It was a lonely and backbreaking mode of survival.
“But at least I was doing what I loved,” says Bhavesh, firmly repudiating any expressions of sympathy.
One day, out of the blue, things started looking up.
It began when a lady came by his cart to purchase candles.
He was struck by her gentle manner and lively laughter.
They struck up a friendship on the spot, conversing for hours.
“I would say it was love at first sight. But, sans the sight, the description doesn’t hold water. It was a more a connection between kindred souls.”
Her name was Neeta and Bhavesh became determined to marry her.
She felt the same way, returning to his cart every day to talk and reminisce about their life together.
Neeta faced backlash from her home for her decision to marry a penniless, blind candle-maker. But she was firm and the two soon embarked on a shared life, living in his small home in the beautiful hill station town.
Neeta was a relentless optimist. Since he could not afford to buy new containers, Bhavesh used to melt the wax in the same utensils that he cooked food in.
He worried that this would offend his wife. But she laughed his concerns off, procured a two wheeler so she could ferry her husband around town selling his candles and later, as their circumstances improved, even learnt how to drive a van so she could accommodate the larger quantities of candles that they were now dealing with.
“She is the light of my life,” smiles Bhavesh.
Struggles
That is not to say that his struggles became any easier once Neeta came into his life. But now that he had a comrade to share the burden with, the load did not seem quite as heavy.
“Sighted people were not ready to accept that a blind person could stand on his own feet. One time some miscreants pulled all my candles from the cart and threw it in the gutter.
“Whenever I used to go around asking for help, I was told to my face, ‘You are blind. What good can you do?’
“I tried to get guidance from professional candle manufacturers and other institutes. But no one helped me.”
While loan requests earned him outright rejections, even simple non-monetary requests were met with hostile reactions.
He wanted advice from experts on candle manufacturing, but received derision and scorn.
“So I would go with my wife to malls and tried to touch and feel the different varieties of the overpriced candles displayed there,” recalls Bhavesh.
Based on what his senses could accrue, and basing the rest on his talents of hustling and creativity, he tried for a greater variety in his creations.
The turning point came when he was granted a loan of Rs 15,000 from Satara Bank, where NAB had a special scheme for blind people.
“With this, we purchased 15 kilos of wax, two dyes and a hand cart for Rs 50,” says Bhavesh on what would go on to become a multi-crore business, with prestigious corporate clients from all over the country and the world and a dedicated team of 200 employees — all of whom are visually impaired.
Secret to success
Bhavesh says, “When I look back, I realise the reason so many people turned me away when I asked for a loan was because the way the world does business is ruthless. Everyone thinks with their mind and not their heart.
“I have come to realise that the only way to run a successful business is to think with your heart in the equation. It will take time. A lot of time. Untold sacrifice and hard work. But if you are doing what your heart tells you to do, you will achieve what you set out to achieve.”
Once upon a time Bhavesh, used to painstakingly set aside Rs 25 a day to purchase wax for the following day’s candle stock.
Today Sunrise Candles uses 25 tonnes of wax a day to manufacture their 9,000 designs of plain, scented and aromatherapy candles.
They purchase their wax from the UK. Their client list includes Reliance Industries, Ranbaxy, Big Bazaar, Naroda Industries and the Rotary Club.
On his decision to employ the visually challenged to run Sunrise Candles, Bhavesh says, “We train blind people so that they can understand the work and not just help us at our unit, but some day go back home to set up their own business.”
While he likes to concentrate on the creative aspects of the firm, Neeta takes care of the administrative duties of the enterprise.
She also imparts vocational training to blind girls, aiding them to become self-sufficient.
The sportsman
One would think that building a multi-crore business from scratch, especially given the challenges Bhavesh has had to overcome, would consume all of his time. But he is a gifted sportsman and manages to devote enough time to hone his abilities professionally.
Bhavesh says, “I was active in sports from my childhood. Contrary to stereotypical cliches, blindness does not mean inherent physical weakness. I take pride in my athleticism.”
He had to become disconnected from sports for a long time while building Sunrise Candles, but now that his business is in full bloom, he is rigorous about his daily training.
“After getting settled in the candle business, I once again started my sports practice (he specialises in the short put, discus and javelin throw).
“I have 109 medals (in paralympic sports events). I do 500 push ups, run eight kilometres every day and use the gym that I have installed at our factory.
“To practise running, my wife takes a 15 feet nylon rope and ties one end to our van. She gives me the other end and drives the van at my speed while I run alongside it.”
“But,” he smiles, “I have to be scared of her. If I talk in a loud voice with her, the speed of the van increases the next day.”
Dreams, goals and the future
Currently, Bhavesh is training to participate in the 2016 Paralympics, to be held at Brazil.
He is also set on conquering another world record.
“Germany holds the record for the tallest candle in the world, standing at 21 meters. My plan is make a taller one. Last April we started on a new skill — that of creating life style wax statues of Shri Narendra Modiji, Shri Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar and 25 other well-known eminent personalities.”
Having achieved all that he set out to, Bhavesh says he is far from satisfied.
“I have so many dreams, so many more goals. I want to become the first blind person in the world to climb Mount Everest.
“I want to win a gold medal for my country in the 2016 Paralympics in Brazil. But, above all, I want to ensure that each and every blind Indian is standing on their own feet.”
Source…….Rakhi Chakraborty in http://www.rediff.com
Natarajan
How India Brought Over 5000 Indians back From war -torn Yemen …
The evacuation mission mounted by the government helped more than 5,000 Indians leave war-torn Yemen. The author goes behind the scenes to find out how this was achieved .
Evacuees from Yemen rest on the deck of INS Sumitra as they make their way home from Djibouti. Photograph: @spokespersonMoD/Twitter
General sahab, aap march kijiye (General, please march),” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, looking at former army chief V K Singh. The senior ministers, intelligence officials and three service chiefs attending the meeting hurriedly convened by Modi on March 30 nodded their assent. The situation in Yemen was dire after a coalition of countries led by Saudi Arabia had launched an offensive three days earlier against the anti-government Zaidi Shia rebels known as the Houthis.
The contours of what was to become Operation Rahaat, a massive evacuation exercise to bring back hundreds of Indians from Yemen, were discussed at the meeting and Singh, minister of state in the external affairs ministry, was asked to immediately embark for the troubled country at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. He was to oversee the withdrawal of Indians from Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, and the cities of Aden, Ash Shihr, Al Mukalla and Al Hudaydah.
Singh took the only available flight on the evening of March 31 and landed in Djibouti in Africa, from where Sana’a is an hour’s flight across the Gulf of Aden. By then, the government had pulled out two merchant ships, MV Kavaratti and MV Corals, from their regular services and directed them to leave for Djibouti, which was to become Ground Zero for the Indian rescue operations over two weeks.
On the night of March 30, Indian Navy’s INS Tarkash, a stealth frigate, and INS Mumbai, a destroyer, also left for Djibouti. INS Sumitra, which was already on anti-piracy patrolling in the Gulf of Aden, reached the Yemeni port of Aden on the night of March 31.
General V K Singh (retd) interacts with evacuees who are on their way home. Photograph: @GenVKsingh/Twitter
The control rooms of the three branches of the armed forces, external affairs ministry and Air India in New Delhi were connected with one another and with the Indian missions concerned on a real-time basis. A makeshift control room was set up at the Kempinski Hotel in Djibouti. An Indian Navy satellite was repositioned to provide minute-to-minute data on the ground situation. A navy personnel later said the satellite streaming was so flawless that those monitoring the control room could actually count the number of people moving around in Yemen, a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie.
Singh, with his years of army training, got the operation going smoothly. He held the first briefing at the Kempinski control room at 9.30 am on April 1, after which he went to meet the first tranche of 349 Indians who had arrived at Djibouti on board INS Sumitra from Aden. “After disembarking, many of them started chanting ‘Bharat mata ki jai, Indian Navy ki jai’,” recounts an official who was present at the scene. The rescued citizens rested in a commodious marriage hall at the hotel till the Indian Air Force and Air India aircraft arrived.
Indian Navy personnel help people aboard a ship. Photograph: @spokespersonMoD/Twitter
The navy official says the rescue of the first 349 passengers was one of the toughest challenges he had faced ever. The warring Yemeni factions were engaged in a gun battle at Aden and the immigration officers had abandoned the port.
This forced Indian naval troops to first secure the port before INS Sumitra could lower its boats to ferry the stranded Indians. The task was tough also because the Saudis, who had control over the Yemeni airspace, had refused the Indian Air Force permission to land its airplanes in Sana’a.
It was Air India that had to take up the task of bridging Sana’a and Djibouti. “The Saudis gave us permission to fly for only two-and-a-half hours in a day,” Singh says. “The situation in Sana’a was so chaotic that it was difficult to land two planes, segregate passengers for Kochi and Mumbai, check their papers, get them on board and fly them back within the stipulated 150 minutes.” A big problem was handling people who wanted to return home, but didn’t have relevant documents or exit visas and permission from the employers. “It was costly, but the government had to arrange emergency exit documents for them,” says Singh.
A man embarks from a plane as he returns to India from war-torn Yemen. Photograph: @spokespersonMoD/Twitter
Singh flew five times to Sana’a and even stayed a night there to get a first-hand experience, all the while remaining in constant touch with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. On his last flight to Sana’a, where around 450 Indians and 120 foreign nationals awaited to be extricated, Singh and his staff were told to turn back to Djibouti since the coalition fighter planes were bombing areas close to the airport. It was a tight situation — an Indian minister was on a flight that was allegedly encroaching into the airspace controlled by the Saudis.
An official recalls the event: “As the plane was approaching the Sana’a airport, we got the shock of our life with the news that fighter planes were carrying out bombings and the pilot of our aircraft had been asked to return to Djibouti immediately. The plane was diverted, but all of us, though very nervous, were anxious to reach Yemen. Amid all this, Singh stood up and said that there was no question of going back. He calmly remarked that there must be some funny military exercises going on and that we had to land at Sana’a to evacuate the last group of Indians and nationals of other countries waiting there.
Singh then approached the cockpit and spoke to the pilots and told them what to convey to the Air Traffic Control at Sana’a. Having taken an arc back to Djibouti after the initial order, the aircraft did an about turn and again headed towards the Yemeni capital. “Upon landing, we came to know that the area near the airport had been bombed not long before our plane touched down,” says Singh.
Till April 9, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, and Air India jointly evacuated 4,640 Indian citizens and around 960 foreign nationals from 41 countries from the strife-torn country. They were brought in the five vessels assembled by the government to Djibouti from where they were flown to India on Air India planes and Indian Air Force C-17 Globemasters.
INS Tarkash and INS Mumbai have since returned to India, and the Indian embassy in Sana’a is now closed. INS Sumitra has returned to its patrolling duty in the Gulf of Aden.
Singh attributes the success of Operation Rahaat — the second-largest undertaken by the government of India after Operation Safe Homecoming in Libya in 2011 when 15,000 Indians were evacuated — to team work. “It was not only the government officers who worked hard to help the stranded people, but also the local Bohra community and the Indian associations there,” he says.
Source……www.rediff.com
Natarajan
படித்து ரசிக்க … சிந்திக்க …” கிட்டிப்புள் கிரிக்கெட் ஆன உண்மை …” !!!
உலகக் கோப்பை கிரிக்கெட் போட்டிகள் நடந்து முடிந்த பின் தான், இதை எழுத வேண்டும் என நினைத்தேன். உலகக் கோப்பை போட்டியின் போது, இப்படி ஒரு கட்டுரையை எழுதினால், பலரது கோபத்திற்கு ஆளாகியிருப்பேன். இத்தனைக்கும், நானும் கிரிக்கெட் ரசிகன் தான். 1971ல் பிடித்த இக்காய்ச்சல், இன்னும் என்னை விட்டபாடில்லை.
இந்தியா ஆடினால், நான் எச்சூழ்நிலையில் இருந்தாலும், ஆட்டத்தின் மீது ஒரு கவனம் இருக்கும். வெளிநாட்டில் இருந்தாலோ அல்லது ரயிலில் பயணித்துக் கொண்டிருந்தாலோ, உடன் பயணிக்கும் கிரிக்கெட் ரசிகர்களிடம், ‘ஸ்கோர்’ கேட்பேன். இவ்வளவு ஏன்… ஆடுவதிலும் ஆர்வம் உண்டு. இவ்வயதிலும், பந்து வீச வாய்ப்பு கிடைத்தால், ‘ஸ்டம்பை’ பதம் பார்ப்பேன்.
இப்படிப்பட்ட கிரிக்கெட் ரசிகராக, ஆட்டக்காரராக இருந்தும், எதற்கு இப்படி ஒரு எதிர்மறை தலைப்பு, ஏன் கிரிக்கெட்டிற்கு எதிராக ஒரு எழுத்துப் போர் என்று கேட்கிறீர்களா? அதற்கு முன், கிரிக்கெட் ஆட்டத்தின் வரலாற்றுப் பின்னணியை, சிறிது விளக்கி விடுகிறேன்.
இங்கிலாந்து கண்டுபிடித்ததாக மார்தட்டிக் கொள்ளும் இந்த ஆட்டம், நம் நாட்டின் கிட்டிப்புள்ளிலிருந்து தோன்றியது என்றால் நம்புவீர்களா?
கிட்டிப்புள் குழிக்குள் விழுந்தால் அல்லது குழியிலிருந்து ஆட்டக் கழியினால் அளந்து, ஒரு ஆட்டக் கழியின் தூரத்திற்குள், கிட்டி புள் விழுந்திருந்தால், ஆள், ‘அவுட்’ என்று பொருள். வீசுவது, வீசியதை அடிப்பது, அதுபோய் விழும் தூரத்தை கணக்கிட்டு, ஆடுபவருக்கு எண்கள் தருவது, ‘கேட்ச்’ பிடித்தால், ‘அவுட்’ ஆவது என்று எல்லாமே, கிரிக்கெட் ஆட்டத்தின் தன்மைகளை அப்படியே கொண்டிருக்கும்.
வெள்ளையன் ஆள வந்தான்… பார்த்தான் நம் ஆட்டத்தை… அடிக்கிற கட்டையை, ‘பேட்’ ஆக்கினான்; வீசுகிற புள்ளைப் பந்தாக்கி, அளவையின் அடிப்படையில், ‘பவுண்டரி’ உருவாக்கினான்; கிட்டிப்புள் குழியை, ‘ஸ்டம்ப்’ ஆக்கினான்; அப்படியே காப்பியடித்து, கிட்டிப்புள் என்பது, வாயில் நுழையாததால், கிரிக்கெட் என்றான்.
கிரிக்கெட் என்ற சொல்லின் உண்மையான அகராதி விளக்கம் என்ன தெரியுமா? ‘கத்தியபடி இருக்கிற பூச்சி’ என்று பொருள்.
பூச்சிக்கும், கிரிக்கெட் ஆட்டத்திற்கும் என்ன சம்பந்தம்? எனவே, இது, காரணப் பெயரே அல்ல; தமிழிலிருந்து திருடப் பெற்ற ஒரு பெயர். உதக மண்டலம், வெள்ளையனின் வாயில் நுழையாததால், ஊட்டி என்றானே… அக்கதை தான் இதுவும்!
அதே போன்று, இங்கிலாந்தில் வெயில் நாட்கள் குறைவு; வெயிலோ, இவர்களுக்கு மிகப் பிடித்த ஒன்று. எனவே, வெயிலில் கிடக்கப் பிரியப்பட்டு ஐந்து நாட்கள் வரை ஆடும் ஆட்டமாக மாற்றிக் கொண்டனர். இங்கிலாந்து நாட்டில், கிரிக்கெட் அரங்குகளில் கூரையெல்லாம் பிற்காலத்தில் வந்தது தான்.
இது, இங்கிலாந்திற்கு பொருந்தும் ஆட்டம் தான். ஆனால் நமக்கு!
இந்திய அணி, ஆண்டிற்கு, 80 முதல், 100 நாட்களாவது கிரிக்கெட்டில் ஈடுபடுகிறது. இவ்வளவு நாட்களும், இந்திய மனித பலம், கும்பகர்ணனைப் போல, உறங்கப் பார்க்கிறது. எத்தனையோ கோடி இந்தியர்கள், தங்கள் கடமைகளை மறந்து, வேலையை புறக்கணித்து, ‘டிவி’ முன் அமர்ந்து, நேரத்தை ஏகமாய் தொலைக்கின்றனர். பெண்களின் நேரத்தை சீரியல்கள் விழுங்க, ஆண்களின் நேரத்தை, கிரிக்கெட் தொடர்களான, ‘சீரிஸ்’கள் கபளீகரம் செய்கின்றன.
இதனால், மாணவர்களின் படிப்பு பாதிக்கப்பட்டு, மதிப்பெண்கள் குறைந்து போக, பெற்றோர், சில மதிப்பெண்களுக்காக, பல லட்சங்களை கொட்டிக் கொடுக்க வேண்டியுள்ளது. இவையெல்லாம் கூடப் பரவாயில்லை; ஒரு பேட்ஸ்மேன் செஞ்சுரி அடிக்கவில்லை என்று பல மாணவர்கள் கலங்குகின்றனர்; சோர்ந்து போகின்றனர். இதனால், இவர்கள் போட வேண்டிய செஞ்சுரியில் (மதிப்பெண்) பாதிப்பு ஏற்படுகிறது.
கிரிக்கெட்டின் தீவிர ரசிகர்கள், இந்தியாவின் தோல்வியில் சோர்ந்து போய், மனநலம் பாதிக்கப்பட்டு, உற்சாகமிழந்து, சோகமாகின்றனர். இதயம் பாதிக்கப்பட்டு இறந்து போன வரலாறுகளும் உண்டு. இந்தியாவின் வெற்றி வாய்ப்பு 60 சதவீதம் மட்டுமே! அப்படியானால், 40 சதவீத கவலையை இவர்கள் சுமக்கத் தான் வேண்டுமா? இதைப்பற்றி கவலைப்பட வேண்டியவர் தோனி தானே!
கிரிக்கெட் நம் பணிகளையும், மனநிலையையும் பாதிப்பதை, ஒரு எல்லைக்கோடு போட்டு நிறுத்துவோம். நிறுத்தினால் தான், வாழ்க்கையில் நாம் சிக்சர் மழை பொழிய முடியும்!
லேனா தமிழ்வாணன் in http://www.dinamalar.com
Natarajan
படித்ததில் பிடித்தது …” நதிகள் சுத்தமாகும் நாள் நமக்கு நல்ல நாள் …” !!!
ஏப்., 14 தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு
தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு அன்று, ஆறுகளில் நீராடினால் பாவம் நீங்கும் என்பர் முன்னோர். புனித தீர்த்தங்களில் நீராடினால் பாவம் நீங்கும் என்றாலும், சிலர், இந்நதிகளில் நீராடி, ஊருக்கு திரும்பியதும், மீண்டும் பாவச் செயல்களை செய்ய ஆரம்பித்து விடுகின்றனர். இவர்களுக்காகவே சொல்லப்பட்ட புராணக்கதை இது:
கங்கையில் நீராட, மகான் ஒருவர் வந்தார். கெட்டவர்கள் மட்டுமே நீராடி, பாவங்களைக் கரைத்து விட்டு போகும் நிலையில், நல்லவர் ஒருவர் தன்னில் நீராட வருகிறாரே என, கங்கா மாதா பெரும் மகிழ்ச்சி அடைந்தாள்.
அவர் தன்னில் கால் வைக்கப் போகிறார் என, அவள் எதிர்பார்த்திருந்த வேளையில், கங்கையை அடைந்த முனிவரின் முகம், அஷ்ட கோணலாக மாறியது. காரணம், சிறிது தொலைவில், கங்கையில் சாக்கடை கலந்து கொண்டிருந்தது. இதனால், குளிக்காமல் கிளம்பினார் முனிவர்.
இதைக் கண்ட கங்கை, ஒரு சாதாரணப் பெண்ணாக வடிவெடுத்து, ‘மகானே… ஏன் கங்கையில் குளிக்காமல் செல்கிறீர்?’ என்று கேட்டாள்.
முனிவர் சாக்கடையை கை காட்ட, ‘ஐயனே… மக்களின் பாவக் கரைசலை விட, இந்த கழிவுநீர் பெரிய விஷயமே அல்ல. கங்கை பாவங்களை மட்டுமல்ல, இந்த சாக்கடையையும் தன்னுள் வைப்பதில்லை; அதைக் கடலில் தள்ளி விடுகிறாள்…’ என்றாள்.
உடனே, கடலரசனிடம் சென்று, இது குறித்து விசாரித்தார் முனிவர். அவனோ, ‘பாவங்களை நான் வைத்துக் கொள்ள மாட்டேன்; அது, சூரியனால் மேலே எடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்டு விடும்…’ என்றான்.
முனிவர், சூரியனிடம் கேட்டபோது, ‘அதை, மேகங்களிடம் அனுப்பி விடுகிறேனே… அவற்றைக் கேளுங்கள்…’ என, தப்பித்துக் கொண்டார்.
முனிவரும் விடாப்பிடியாக மேக மண்டலத்திடம் விசாரித்தபோது, ‘மகானே… மக்களின் பாவங்கள் மீண்டும் அவர்களையே அடையும் வகையில், மழையாகப் பொழிந்து விடுவேன். பாவத்தை செய்த மக்கள், அதையே மீண்டும் அனுபவிக்கின்றனர்…’ என்றது!
இக்கதை உணர்த்தும் உண்மையை புரிந்து கொண்டால், ஆறுகளை அசுத்தப்படுத்த மாட்டோம்.
தமிழ் புத்தாண்டாகட்டும், இதர விழாக்கள் ஆகட்டும், புனித தீர்த்தங்களில் நீராடச் செல்லும் போது, மனதில் நல்ல எண்ணங்கள் நிறைந்திருக்க வேண்டும். ‘இந்த தீர்த்தத்தில் மூழ்கும் நான், இனி, பாவச் செயல்களை செய்ய மாட்டேன்…’ என, உறுதியெடுக்க வேண்டும். இல்லாவிட்டால், நாம் செய்த பாவங்கள், நம்மையே திரும்ப வந்தடையும்.
இன்று, நாட்டில் உள்ள அனைத்து புனித தீர்த்தங்களும் பாழாக்கப்பட்டு வருகின்றன. கங்கையை சுத்தம் செய்ய, பல கோடி ரூபாய் தேவைப்படுகிறது. காவிரி, தாமிரபரணி, குற்றாலம் போன்ற புனித நதிகளும், கேளிக்கை பொருட்களாக மாறி விட்டன. நீர்நிலைகளை சுற்றுலா கண்ணோட்டத்தில் பார்க்கின்றனரே தவிர, எதிர்காலத்தில் குடிநீருக்கும், விளைச்சலுக்கும் பயன்படும் இடமாயிற்றே என்ற எண்ணம் இல்லாமல் போய் விட்டது.
புதிய ஆண்டிலாவது, நீர்நிலைகளைக் காக்க உறுதியெடுப்போம். இதை, ஒரு இயக்கமாக மாற்றி விட்டால், எல்லாரும் வளமாக வாழலாம்.
தி.செல்லப்பா in www.dinamalar.com
Natarajan
Unique Kailas Temple @ Ellora Caves Complex….!!!
This is the world famous Kailasa temple at Ellora and let’s look objectively into who could have built this amazing structure. By the end of this video, I hope you will agree with me that our history is completely wrong, and that this temple was built by a very advanced civilization.
What is so special about this temple? This temple was not constructed by adding stone blocks, but an entire mountain was carved to create this temple. This is the only example in the whole world where a mountain was cut out from the top, to create a structure. In all the other temples and caves, even in Ellora and the rest of the world, the rock was cut from the front and carved as they went along. The whole world has followed a rock cutting technique called “cut-in monolith” while Kailasa temple is the only one that has used the exact opposite technique called “cut-out monolith”.
To see why this rock cutting technique is so different, let’s take a look at this pillar that is over 100 feet tall. See how small human beings look when compared to this pillar. Normally, to create such a huge pillar, it would take years of work, carving accurately on the huge rock. But this pillar was carved by scooping out all the pieces of mountain around it. You can imagine the amount of rock, which has been removed to create this pillar.
Historians and archaeologists are confused because of the sheer amount of rock that was removed in this temple. Archaeologists confirm that over 400,000 tons of rock had to be scooped out, which would have taken not years, but centuries of human labor. Historians have no record of such a monstrous task and they think that it was built in less than 18 years.
Let us do a simple math and see if historians could be right. I am going to assume that people worked every day for 18 years and for 12 hours straight with no breaks at all. I am going to ignore rainy days, festivals, war time and assume that people worked like robots ceaselessly. I am also going to ignore the time taken to create intricate carvings and complex engineering design and planning and just focus on the removal of rock.
If 400,000 tons of rock were removed in 18 years, 22,222 tons of rock had to be removed every year. This means that 60 tons of rock was removed every day, which gives us 5 tons of rock removed every hour. I think we can all agree, that is not even possible today to remove 5 tons of rock from a mountain, every hour. Not even with all the so called advanced machines that we have. So, if it is not humanly possible, was it done by humans at all? Was this created with the help of extraterrestrial intelligence?
Now, forget about creating such an extraordinary structure. Can human beings at least destroy this temple? In fact, Aurangzeb a Muslim king employed a thousand workers to completely demolish this temple. In 1682, he ordered that that the temple be destroyed, so that there would be no trace of it. Records show that a 1000 people worked for 3 years, and they could only do a very minimal damage. They could break and disfigure a few statues here and there, but they realized it is just not possible to completely destroy this temple. Aurangzeb finally gave up on this impossible task.
Note that this attempted destruction is very similar to another mysterious structure called The Menkaure’s pyramid in Egypt. Another Muslim ruler wanted all the pyramids to be destroyed, and started his work from the Menkaure’s pyramid. After years of trying, he was only able to make a small dent on the pyramid. He gave up too. Were all these indestructible structures around the world created by extraterrestrials? Is that why human beings are not even able to destroy them?
In fact, archaeologists agree that Kailasa temple was created before any other temple in the Ellora cave complex. Could this have been built centuries before human beings started carving other temples nearby? Is this why the architecture, the design, and the size is so much better and bigger than other temples? If it was built by humans, it is logical to expect that the rock cutting techniques and design would become better over time. People would gain more experience and knowledge and make better structures in the future. However, the Kailasa temple is the oldest and the biggest temple carved with engineering perfection.
Unlike other temples, the Kailasa is the only temple that is visible from the air. Out of 34 temples, all carved side by side, Kailasa stands out and you can see it while flying over it. Is this just a coincidence? Or was it designed for people to see it from the air, like Nazca lines of Peru? Even on Google earth, the aerial view of Kailasa temple clearly shows an X mark. This is how it looks from the top; you can see a circular design that is studded with 4 lions that create this huge X mark. Was this created as a signal for extraterrestrials, who can spot the location while flying?
Source……..www.you tube.com
Natarajan
” Vishyanand”…A Planet Named After Viswanathan Anand …!!!
The Indian Chess grandmaster, Viswanathan Anand adds another feather in his cap with a minor planet being named after him. The planet was discovered back in 1988 but had not been formally named until recently. The news about a minor planet being named after him should excite Anand who recently fell to Magnus Carlsen in the recent World Chess Championship.
The minor planet is located roughly between the orbits of planets Mars and Jupiter. The discovery of the planet happened on October 10, 1988 thanks to the works of Kenzo Suzuki in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture in Japan.
Typically, the discoverer retains the rights to suggest a name for the discovered minor planet for 10 years. However, the final authority to assign a name to a minor planet rests with a committee within the International Astronomical Union.
When time came to formally name the numbered minor planet discovered in 1988, Michael Rudenko of Minor Planet Center, a committee of the International Astronomical Union, decided to give the minor planet the name of the chess grandmaster Anand.
Why Anand got his name the planet
According to Rudenko, the idea of naming the numbered minor planet after Anand was actually his own. However, he took some matters into consideration in arriving at the name. Rudenko selected Anand because he considered him a great chess player. Further to that, he selected him because he is an astronomy enthusiast.
How the naming happened
Therefore, when it came to giving the numbered minor planet a formal name, Rudenko proposed “Vishyanand”. The name itself was based on some set of rules that govern the naming of such objects. For one, the rule requires that the proposed name should have 16 characters or less. The naming rule also requires that the proposed name should not have spaces.
In addition to the name proposal, a brief citation that explains the reason for the proposed name should be supplied. Rudenko did all that to get “Vishyanand” through as the name of the numbered minor planet.
Anand is excited
Anand tweeted about his excitement for a planet being named after him. He also thanked Rudenko for taking the trouble to get his name to the outer space.
Source……… www .pc-tablet.co.in
Natarajan
IIT Mumbai ‘s Prank on April 1….Goes Viral…A Good One … Watch …
Screengrab from YouTube video uploaded by IIT Bombay
On April Fool’s Day, Google pranked users with its Pacman doodle, Uber said it has launched supercars and Ola launched a fictional helicopter ride service for Rs. 499/hour.
But, guess whose prank is still getting major online props, even two days later?
It’s the one by IIT Bombay, whose video has been viewed over 3 lakh times on YouTube.
Students used hidden cameras to film others on campus picking up 100-rupee notes lying on the ground. When they unfold them, there’s a bit of a twist.
Watch the video here to find out (or scroll down if you just want to read about it)
The currency notes have a message on them-“It takes equal effort to pick up a piece of garbage. #PickItUp.”
Well played, IIT Mumbai, well played.
Source:::: http://www.ndtv.com
Natarajan
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