Sunrise Magic on the Sky …. Chennai sky
K.Natarajan
06/07/2019
Nostalgia
Beauty of Sunset behind the Trees….!!!
Like Sunrise Sunset is also a beauty to watch ….captured this pleasant event recently from my home terrace .
K.Natarajan
06/07/2019
வாரம் ஒரு கவிதை ….” நெடு வாழ்வின் நினைவு “
நெடு வாழ்வின் நினைவு
+++++++++++++++++++++++
நெருநெல் உளனொருவன் இன்றில்லை என்னும்
பெருமை படைத்தது இந்த பூமி !
சில நாள் வாழ்ந்தாலும் பல நாள் வாழ்ந்தாலும்
பதிக்க வேண்டும் நான் ஒரு நல்ல முத்திரை !
வாழ்ந்தால் இப்படி வாழ வேண்டும் என்று நானும்
படைக்க வேண்டும் சரித்திரம் !
ஆயிரம் பிறை காண ஆசை எனக்கு என் நெடு
வாழ்வில் ! அந்த நெடு வாழ்வின் நினைவலைகள்
மீது விடாது தொடர வேண்டும் என் படகுப்
பயணம் …நெடு வாழ்வின் இனிய பயணம் !
என் பயணம் முடிந்தாலும் தொடர வேண்டும்
என் பிள்ளைகள் பயணம் அதே படகில்
என் நெடு வாழ்வின் நினைவலைகள் மீது !
படைக்க வேண்டும் அவரும் ஒரு சரித்திரம்
அவரவர் நெடு வாழ்வில் !
K.Natarajan
in http://www.dinamani.com dated 26/06/2019
வாரம் ஒரு கவிதை ….” கண்டெடுப்பின் காலக் குறிப்புகள் “
கண்டெடுப்பின் காலக் குறிப்புகள்
=================================
கடலில் மட்டும் முத்துக்கள் இல்லை
இந்த மண்ணின் அடியிலும் புதைந்து
கிடக்குது நம் முன்னோர் வடிவமைத்த
நகரமும் கோயிலும் அழகு சிற்பங்களுடன்
காலத்தால் அழியாத அடையாள சின்னமாய் !
எந்த தொழில் நுட்பம் இருந்தது நம் முன்னோருக்கு
அன்று ? ஆண்டுகள் பல கடந்தும் அவர் பேர்
சொல்லுதே இன்னும் !
கணிணி யுகத்தில் வாழும் நாம் முறையாக
பதிவு செய்ய வேண்டும் நம் நாட்டின்
அருமை பெருமையை ஒரு பொக்கிஷமாக !
விட்டு செல்ல வேண்டும் நம் பெயர் சொல்லும்
பாத சுவடுகளை இனி வரும் தலை முறை
பின் தொடர்ந்து நடக்க !
இனம் மதம் மொழி தாண்டி நாம் இன்று
பதிக்கும் பாத சுவடு கல்லில் வடித்த சிற்பமாய்
அடையாளம் காட்டும் நம் புனித மண்ணை
ஒரு புதிய பூமியாக என்றென்றும் !
K.Natarajan in http://www.dinamani.com dated 01/06/2019
01/06/2019
வாரம் ஒரு கவிதை …” இழந்தது கிடைக்குமா எனக்கு ? “
இழந்தது கிடைக்குமா எனக்கு ?
===================================
வீடு இருந்தது… வீட்டை சுற்றி மரம் இருந்தது
மரம் நிறைய பறவைகள் கூட்டுக்குள்ளும்,
மரத்தின் கிளைகளிலும்!!! …வீட்டுக்குள்ளே
கிணறு இருந்தது … கிணறு நிறைய தண்ணீர்!
வீட்டின் பின்னால் தோட்டம் . தென்னம்
பிள்ளையும் வீட்டின் பிள்ளைகளோடு
பிள்ளைகளாக !
என் வீடு ,தோட்டம் இருந்த இடம்
இப்போ ஒரு பெரிய அடுக்கு மாடி
குடியிருப்பு ! என் ஒரு வீடு இருந்த
இடத்தில் இருக்கு இப்போ ஒரு நூறு வீடு !
பறவைக்கூடு போல நானும் ஒரு வீட்டுக்குள் !
தொலைத்து விட்டேன் என் பெரிய வீட்டை
கை நிறைய காசு , அடுக்கு மாடி சொகுசு
என்னும் மாய வலையில் சிக்கி !
தாத்தா நான் புலம்புகிறேன் இப்போ
தொலைத்து விட்டேனே ,தெரியாமல்
தொலைத்து விட்டேனே என்று !
என் புலம்பல் கேட்ட பேரன் கேட்டான்
தொலைந்தது என்ன என்று சொல்லுங்க
தாத்தா …நான் தேடி எடுத்துக் கொடுக்கிறேன்
உங்களுக்கு என் கூகுள் தேடல் வழியே !
நான் என்ன பதில் சொல்ல என் பேரனுக்கு ?
K.Natarajan
25/04/2019
IconsOfIndia: Murphy Radio & the Baby That Got All of India Glued to News!!!
This Republic Day, we take a look at the iconic objects that collectively defined the Indian experience over the past 68 years. From things that brought the world to our living rooms to tasty treats, take a nostalgic journey down memory lane!
Members of the Joshi family would gather around their prized possession at 7 every evening. The main door of the house was open–it wouldn’t be long before the neighbouring kids, their parents and maybe even grandparents joined the regular party.
A beautifully knit blue-green cover protects the wooden radio box which is only taken off when the radio is switched on and tuned in. One member of the family reaches the top shelf to pull out the long antenna of the radio and turns the two knobs till the radio frequency sets perfectly.
In the 1960s and 70s, when the television was still a rich man’s luxury, it was Murphy Radio that brought people together.
Although the radio set was a device even the upper-middle-class boasted on owning, it was still more accessible and affordable than the TV.
The Murphy Radio was founded by Frank Murphy and E J Power in 1929. The radio company had manufactured sets for the British Armed Forces to use during the Second World War, but they aimed to make radio sets “a homely gadget”, one that did not need military expertise to operate.
In a 1931 advertisement, Murphy had said, “Your wireless set should not be a “gadget” which only “Father” can work. It should be something which can be used and enjoyed by everybody in the family. That is why, I made it my business to see that all Murphy sets are extremely simple to use, cheap to maintain and always reliable. The constant high standard of reproduction is an outstanding feature of all Murphy sets.”
Although the founder left his company in 1937 to establish another called the Frank Murphy Radio or FM Radio, the name ‘Murphy’ stayed.
This brand debuted in Indian households in 1948–just a year after we got independence and even before we became a republic!
Immediately, it became a popular source of news and entertainment.
Jyoti Sohini, a 70-year-old homemaker from Pune, fondly recollects the ‘Murphy days’. “It was a very popular brand in those days. The Murphy Baby calendar especially was very famous. The radio set was a common possession where I lived, but even then, there would be a huge crowd at our place, eager to listen to the cricket commentary,” she tells The Better India.
Adding to the programmes that they listened to in that era, Jyoti says Radio Ceylon, Binaca Geetmala, Vividh Bharati and Pune Kendra (a local news bulletin) were popular.
Much like this family in Pune, India fell in love with the brand and its adorable mascot–the Murphy baby or Murphy Munna. Print ads featured the chubby-cheeked Rinpoche, looking inquisitively, with a finger placed near his lip, instantly garnering the adoration of Indian families.
The three-year-old Kagyur Tulku Rinpoche fascinated many mothers or expectant mothers of that era. For millennials like me, the perfect reference point is Anurag Basu’s 2012 film, Barfi, where Ranbir Kapoor’s reel life mother names him after the Murphy because “Murphy Munna jaisa lalla, Amma ka tha sapna” (Mother wanted a baby just like the Murphy’s).
Speaking to the Hindustan Times about this shot to fame, Rinpoche said, “I was three years old and used to reside in Manali. Everyone in Manali knew about the ad.
The makers wanted me in the ad, as the original Murphy baby who was a girl, had died. They were looking for someone identical.”
Rinpoche went on to become a monk for about 20 years before marrying Mandakini, an actress. But that is a story for another time.
Much like Rinpoche, Mohammed Rafi composed a tagline jingle for the brand to attract more customers.
“Murphy ghar ghar ki rounak, tarah tarah ke Murphy radio, la deten hain ghar mein jaan (Murphy is the pride of homes, different kinds of Murphys bring life to the home),” played as an advertisement while superstars like Sharmila Tagore, featured in print ads.
68-year-old Kamlesh Chawla speaks to The Print about his childhood when he threw a tantrum to get a Murphy Radio after the Sharmila Tagore ad.
Catchy phrases that spoke of the Murphy Radio as something that “delights the home” and “sets the standard” added to the aspirational sentiment.
Kamlesh says, “I used to be a calm child. But I can only recall one instance where I had cried for many days insisting [that] my father buy a radio. He bought the radio set on Diwali. I still have a memory of placing the radio right next to the black-and-white Keltron TV set in our sitting room.”
Writing for the Caleidoscope, Levine Lawrence says, “Those were the glory days of BBC, Voice of America, Radio Moscow and our own All India Radio. Vividh Bharati, the colourful movie songs and trivia programme was transmitted by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation due to a ban on film songs on Akashvani!”
Eventually, the radio gave way for black-and-white TV, which in turn, was replaced by the colour TV and now, the Internet.
Even as we surf the web to find such fascinating stories about the times and technologies of the past, the simplicity of the radio and the magnificent events it covered–right from Nehru declaring India’s independence in the speech that still gives us goosebumps to the wars that India fought later–can hardly be replaced.
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)
Source……Tanvi Patel in http://www.the better india.com
Natarajan
What a 60 ft Bridge in Salem meant for Script writer Karunanidhi ….!
The dialogues Karunanidhi penned from the bridge made cinema halls reverberate with claps and whistles of movie buffs and catapulted him to greater heights in filmdom and in politics.
Even after he became a Chief Minister and a national leader, M Karunanidhi never forgot his humble beginnings. Despite his hectic schedule, Karunanidhi would make sure to travel to a 60-foot bridge on the Yercaud Ghat road from time to time.
He often reminisced of the days when he used to sit there and pen unforgettable dialogues for iconic films like Mandri Kumari.
The dialogues he penned from there made cinema halls reverberate with claps and whistles of movie buffs, and catapulted Karunanidhi to greater heights in filmdom and in politics.
After he moved to Madras, it seemed he missed the panoramic view of Salem city from the mountain heights and the fresh air that he used to enjoy at the 60-foot bridge and longed to return to his favourite joint.
The 60-ft bridge on Yercaud Ghat road where Karunanidhi used to sit and write.
His colourful film career took flight right at Salem. In 1949-50, M Karunanidhi stepped into Modern Theaters as a dialogue writer on the recommendation of poet-cum-lyricist KM Sherif, writes R Venkatasamy, who wrote Mudhalalli, a biography of TR Sundaram, the legendary producer and the owner of Modern Theaters.
Karunanidhi had worked in Coimbatore Central Studios and at many other studios in Kodambakkam, but it was Salem’s Modern Theaters that gave him his big break into the world of Tamil cinema.
The writer of the film Ponmudi, which was under production, had left his work unfinished and TR Sundaram decided to assign Karunanidhi the task of completing it. Sundaram liked his work and Karunanidhi was employed at a monthly salary.
Karunanidhi had with him the script for a stage play based on Tamil epic Kundalakesi. TR Sundaram was impressed by it and figured that it would make a good movie if it was adapted. And this was then converted into the legendary Mandri Kumari.
American movie master Eliss R Duncan, who was the stable director of Modern Theaters, directed the movie. It was a box office hit and made Karunanidhi into an instant celebrity. The film also gave future Chief Minister MG Ramachandran a big turn in his career.
At first, Eliss R Duncan was hesitant to cast MGR as the hero in Mandri Kumari because of a minor curve on his chin. However, Karunanidhi strongly recommended MGR, suggesting that a short moustache can hide the flaw. The idea was accepted and the film took MGR to great heights in his film career and thus forged a lasting bond between him and Karunanidhi, and both, despite becoming political rivals, had a deep mutual respect for each other.
Mandri Kumari was also the first time that the dialogue-writer of the movie was given credit on the movie posters, writes Venkatasamy. Karunanidhi was one of the few celebrities recognised for his signature dialogues.
Karunanidhi’s contemporaries in Modern Theaters were lyricist Kanadasan, MGR and Janaki. The latter two became chief ministers as well. NT Ramarao, who also worked for Modern Theaters, became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
A rare photo of Karunanidhi with his colleagues at Modern Theaters, including late lyricist Kanadasan
Such was the platform that Modern Theaters gave to talented people. It was a one-of-its-kind studio outside Kollywood that made 118 films in all South Indian languages as well as in English. It produced the first colour film in Tamil – Albabavum Narpathu Thirudarkalum. TR Sundaram was seen as a towering figure and Karunanidhi, MGR and Kanadasan who were celebrities, used to call him, “Mudhalalli” (master), writes the biographer.
What remains of Modern Theaters today is only the iconic arch on the Yercaud Road in Salem.
Karunanidhi’s association with Salem’s Modern Theaters remembered by garlanding a poster on the iconic arch.
There is hardly anyone still alive who remembers Karunanidhi’s life in Salem at Sanathi Street in Fort Salem except Vekatasamy (79). The tiny tiled house where he lived survived till recently.
Whenever Karunanidhi came to Salem, he would drive past the arch to the sixty-foot bridge and spend time there alone, remembering his humble beginnings. For the old-timers, a stopover at the bridge will surely conjure up the unforgettable song “Varai, nee Varai,” as it was here that the song was shot.
The spot on Yercaud Ghat road where Karunanidhi used to sit and write.
The last time he was reported going to the place was in 2009 when he came to inaugurate the hi-tech government hospital in Salem.
Source…..G.Rajasekaran in http://www.the newsminute.com
Natarajan
10th August 2018
The Meteorite That Crashed Into A Car…..
The Peekskill meteorite car sitting at a collector’s garage in Peekskill. Photo credit: Ryan Thompson/Flickr
On October 9, 1992, a brilliant fireball flashed across the evening sky over eastern United States startling thousands of spectators attending the weekly high school football matches being played across the East Coast. The fireball, that witnesses described as being brighter than the full moon, was travelling almost horizontally and heading northeast. In just forty seconds, the meteorite had crossed four states travelling 700 kilometers through the atmosphere. The intense heat and friction broke the space rock into more than 70 pieces, several of which were large and fast enough to produce their own glowing trails. A considerably weighty chunk of the meteorite, about the size of a bowling ball, eventually touched ground at Peekskill, New York, with a loud boom.
17-year-old high-school student Michelle Knapp was watching television in her parents’ living room when she heard a thunderous crash outside. Knapp ran outside to investigate the noise. There she found, standing on the driveway, her 1980 Chevy Malibu. The Malibu’s trunk was twisted and battered with a hole through it. A sizeable rock over 12 kilograms in weight lay under the car, embedded in the asphalt. It was still smoking and smelled of rotten eggs. The rock had narrowly missed the fuel tank.
Understandably, Michelle was not happy; she had recently bought the car for $400 and now it was totaled. Michelle did what anybody else would have done—she called the cops and reported an act of vandalism. It was a neighbor who reasoned that vandals can’t throw rocks through cars and surmised that the rock was from outer space. The suspicion proved correct when the very next day, a curator from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City confirmed that the object was indeed a meteorite, the same one that streaked across the northeastern sky distracting coaches and parents from their kid,s football games.
Michelle Knapp in the driveway with her Malibu taken only days after the historic impact. Photo credit: John Bortle
It was this impeccable timing of the Peekskill meteorite that made it one of the most witnessed and most recorded meteorite events in history. Dozens of spectators to the high school football games had brought camcorders with them, and when the meteorite flashed over their heads many of these cameras turned skywards, towards the brief but more exciting event. As many as 16 different observers from various locations recorded the event on tape—a record that was not broken until 2013 when a meteor exploded over Russia. The sixteen videos of the fireball taken from multiple perspectives made it possible for scientists to determine the exact trajectory of the meteorite. Indeed, Peekskill is one of the few meteorites whose orbit is precisely known.
As for the car, Michelle spent no time securing a deal with a renowned meteorite collector for an amount that was nearly two orders of magnitude more than what Michelle had paid. Since then, the car has been on display in numerous cities throughout the world, including Paris, Tokyo, Munich and more.
Source……Kaushik in http://www.amusing planet .com
Natarajan
The Pigeons who took Photos ….
At the turn of the last century, when aviation was still in its infancy, a German named Julius Neubronner submitted a patent for a new invention—a miniature camera that could be strapped to the breast of a pigeon so that the bird could take flight and snap pictures from the air.
Julius Neubronner was an apothecary who employed pigeons to deliver medications to a sanatorium located near his hometown Kronberg, near Frankfurt. An apothecary is one who makes medicines. A pharmacist is a more modern word, but in many German speaking countries, such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland, pharmacies are still called apothecaries. 
Apothecary was Julius Neubronner’s family profession. His father was an apothecary, and so was his grandfather. In those days, homing pigeons were used extensively to carry messages and small supplies. It was Julius’s father’s idea to use pigeons to receive prescriptions from the sanatorium and send out medicinal supplies in a hurry—a practice that continued for more than half a century until the sanatorium closed.
One day, Neubronner let out a pigeon on an urgent errand but it didn’t return. When several days passed and there was still no sign of the bird, Neubronner assumed the pigeon was lost, or it got caught and killed by predators. A month later, the lost messenger showed up unexpectedly at Neubronner’s place. The bird appeared well fed, which got Neubronner into thinking. Where had he gone? Who had fed him?
Neubronner decided that he would start tracking his pigeons’ future travels.
Julius Neubronner with one of his pigeons.
Being a passionate do-it-yourself amateur photographer, it didn’t take long for Neubronner to fashion a miniature wooden camera which he fitted to the pigeon’s breast by means of a harness and an aluminum cuirass. A pneumatic system in the camera opened the shutter at predetermined intervals and the roll of film, which moved along with the shutter, took as many as thirty exposures in a single flight. The entire rig weighed no more than 75 grams—the maximum load the pigeons were trained to carry.
The pictures turned out so good that Neubronner started making different models. One system, for instance, was fitted with two lenses pointing in opposite directions. Another one took stereoscopic images. Eventually, Neubronner applied for a patent, but the patent office threw out his application citing that such a device was impossible as they believed a pigeon could not carry the weight of a camera. But when Neubronner presented photographs taken by his pigeons, the patent was granted in 1908.
Aerial photograph of Frankfurt.
Neubronner exhibited his photographs in several international photographic exhibition gaining him accolades. In one such exhibition in Dresden, spectators watched as the camera-equipped carrier pigeons arrived at the venue, and the photos were immediately developed and turned into postcards which they could purchase.
The technology was soon adapted for use during the First World War, despite the availability of surveillance aircraft then. Pigeons drew less attention, could photograph enemy locations from a lower height, and were visibly indifferent to explosions on a battlefield.
Neubronner’s avian technology saw use in the Second World War too. The German army developed a pigeon camera capable of taking 200 exposures per flight. The French too claimed they had cameras for pigeons and a method to deploy them behind enemy lines by trained dogs. Around this time, Swiss clockmaker Christian Adrian Michel perfected a panoramic camera and an improved mechanism to control the shutter. Pigeon photography was in use as late as the 1970s, when the CIA developed a battery-powered pigeon camera, though the details of the camera’s use are still classified.
Today, aerial photography has been replaced by aircrafts, satellites, and more recently, by affordable drones. But the legacy of Julius Neubronner’s pigeon photography lives on in these images which are among the very early photos taken of Earth from above.
Bonus fact: So what happened to Neubronner’s pigeon who stayed away from the owner for a month and returned fattened up? It had flown away to Wiesbaden, some twenty kilometers away, and was taken care of by a restaurant chef.
Source…..Kaushik in http://www.amusingplanet .com
Natarajan
Take off with Natarajan 