Journal

The Rose Gown

2012-02-18T08:12:00.000+05:30

A red rose to propose.The best way to start a valentine day.So a rose or a bouquet would do for you.This valentine day the single rose and bouquet were left far behind and came the new trend ...

Ya its the rose dress.A Chinese guy Xiao Fan proposed his girl friend Yin Mi with a rose gown made of 9999 rose .Why 9999 rose instead of 10,000 because 9999 is a lucky number for Chinese as 9 represents "forever" in Chinese (how thoughtful !) I wonder how they would have kept the flowers fresh and how she manged with the gown because I feel its too heavy and fragile.

Xiao Fan proposes Yin Mi Source: Daily Mail

Some Facts about the Dress:-

The Gown consists of 9999 Red roses sewn to the dress.
The train is 5 meters long.
9999 is considered lucky number is Chinese
Number 9 represents forever in Chinese

Miss Yin Mi getting ready in her gown with help of the dressers

Another Rose gown was made my Asda supermarket chain and award winning florist Joe Massie.This Gown consisted of 1,725 Roses . Of-course its too less as compared to the gown of Yin Mi.

Dress Designed by Joe Massie Source : Bornrich

Some facts about the gown:-

Made from 1725 roses.
Designed by Joe Massie award winning Florist in collaboration with Asda- Supermarket chain
More to Read :Daily Mail

Sources:-

Pencil sculptures by Dalton Ghetti

2011-05-22T21:39:00.001+05:30

Elvis

Saw

Wonderful isn't it.These are tiny sculptures made out of pencil lead by Dalton Ghetti of Bridgeport,Connecticut, USA using just three tools a razor blade, sewing needle and sculpting knife and the most interesting fact is that he never uses a magnifying glass for creating such miniature crafts.Each piece of art requires days or even months to complete and the effort is worth it as the end result is just wonderful.He has been sculpting pencils for 25 years.

Dalton Ghetti was born and raised in Brazil. In 1985 he moved to the USA, where he earned an architecture degree from Norwalk Community Technical College in Connecticut. Today he makes his living in Connecticut as a carpenter, remodeling and modernizing homes.

One of the best sculptures of Dalton Ghetti is the chain in which the middle of the pencil is converted into 23 links.

Dalton Ghetti is currently working on a project dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 attack. He is carving over 3,000 tears from pencil leads, one teardrop for each victim. The thousands of tiny tears will be arranged to form one large teardrop.He has been working on this since 2002 making a drop a day spending an hour for each drop and the project would take 10 years.Image of sculpting of the drops can be seen (here).

Dalton Ghetti also has a collection of those pieces which broke during sculpting .He calls the collection as cemetry collection.

The sculptures are testimony to the dedication,patience and love of art of the person.

If by now you are wondering where you can get on of the sculptures then friends these are not for sale.Dalton Ghetti has never sold a piece of art he only gifts them to friends .So if you want one of these then you need to be a friend of his :D

Few more of the sculptures are below.

Alphabets .These 26 letters took him two and half years to complete

Interlinking

Keyring

Interlinked heart

Carved Heart

Hammer

Button

Goblet

Boot

Chair

Cross

Mailbox

Sources:-NewYork Times
The Telegraph

Dalton Ghetti on facebook

Mangoes

2011-02-25T10:45:00.000+05:30

Well nothing special or specific its just the mango tree next to my house which is undergoing the various stages we read in the books,the difference is I got to see the changes at close proximity on a day to day basis and I have photographed a few,so thought of sharing...

Flowering stage.The tree is full of flowers.
The photo is taken 25 days back at the begining of the season around 1st Feb 2011

Another view of it.

It's over 25 days now the flowers have turned into mangoes .
Due to unseasonal rain very few have survived a clear effect of global warming

A closer view of the lil ones :)

Sythetic petrol for just 1.50$ a gallon ( Rs 14 per litre )

2011-02-01T17:16:00.000+05:30

Onions rising to Rs60 per Kg and tomatoes following the suit.Inflation shooting faster than the rockets.

Hardly a week has passed when the price of onions came down to Rs 25(Still high on common standards) and the amm aadmi was about to feel happy but no it's not time yet.

Fuel the biggest terror on the aam admi's budget goes up.As if the oil price was not high enough the uncertainty amid large scale political turmoil in the Middle East just added to the woes .

But what has this to do with the synthetic petrol? Good question .I feel the only news which soothes the troubled minds is the news from UK .

UK-based Cella Energy has developed a synthetic fuel .The fuel is hydrogen based and produces no carbon emissions when burned. It is said that the fuel can be used in existing internal combustion engined vehicles without engine modification.
The first road tests are due next year and, if all goes well, the cut-price ‘petrol’ could be on sale in three to five years.

Professor Stephen Bennington, the project’s lead scientist, said: ‘In some senses, hydrogen is the perfect fuel. It has three times more energy than petrol per unit of weight, and when it burns, it produces nothing but water.'

Energy from hydrogen can be harnessed by burning the gas or combining it with oxygen in a fuel cell to produce electricity.

But current methods of storing hydrogen are expensive and not very safe.

To get round this, scientists from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford, University College London and Oxford University have found a way of densely packing hydrogen into tiny beads that can be poured or pumped like a liquid.

It is said that the fuel would cost just 1.50$ a gallon ( Rs 14 per litre a dream price)

Though all the above sounds interesting but it's long till we may actually get it and then who knows what the price would be finally after all production,export cost,taxes together .Also I hope this hope doesn't crash like all other claims of cheap,environment friendly fuel made earlier which either could never complete the proposed research or the claims were fraud.

And if this comes true you will soon be finding more vehicle on road and more traffic woes so the cycle of woes is none ending. :)

Source : UK Daily Mail ,American Thinker

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

2010-12-02T14:23:00.040+05:30

Magnificient is the first word you would feel like uttering when you enter the Sheikh Zayed Grand mosque.The long tall minarates,the huge compound ,the intricate self designs on the marble walls,unending series of domes,the coloured floral designs on the courtyard,huge carpets,huge and wonderful chandelier are just a few to name.

The Mosque is largest mosque of UAE and 8th largest in the world.It is named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder and first President of UAE,who is also buried there.

Some quick facts:-

It can accommodate 40,000 worshippers. The main prayer hall can accommodate up to 9,000 worshippers. Two rooms next to the main prayer hall, with a 1,500-capacity each, are for the exclusive use of women.
There are four minarets on the four corners of the mosque which rise about 115 m (377 ft) in height.
There are 57 domes covering the outside yard and the main building as well. The domes are decorated with white Bianco marble from Pietrasanta, Italy and the interior decoration is made of white marble from Laas, Italy.
The courtyard is paved with floral marble designs and measures about 17,000 m2 (180,000 sq ft).

The carpet laid out on the vast expanse is the "World's Largest Carpet" made by Iran's Carpet Company and designed by Iranian artist Ali Khaliqi. This carpet measures 5,627 m2 (60,570 sq ft), and was made by around 1,200 weavers, 20 technicians, and 30 workers. The weight of this carpet is 47 tons – 35 tons of wool, and 12 tons of cotton. There are 2,268,000,000 knots within the carpet.
This mosque also holds the largest chandelier. There are seven imported chandeliers from Germany made from gold-plated copper and fitted with millions of Swarovski crystals. The largest chandelier has a 10 m (33 ft) diameter and a 15 m (49 ft) height.

Source of facts: Wikipedia

As soon as you enter all the females are asked to wear burkha and cover there head .The burkha and the head piece are provided by the mosque people.It was indeed and experience to wear it and roam around as the burkha was too long for me and I was tripping over it every now and then .The head piece beign not pinned and to make it worse my hair style was forcing the hair out which is why most of my time went correcting my attire.I was really happy to see the level of hygiene they maintained .The burkha once used was sent for cleaning rather than given to next visitor.

Even there was that sheikh attire of white gown but that was not compulsory for males I believe.

Coming back to the architecture of the Mosque its a combination or mughal,arab and morris architecture.The pillars were decorated with golden leaf/braches of palms which was really a good thought of incopration of surrounding into architecture.

As I wrote earlier in the quick facts the main prayer hall has huge carpet covering the floors and wonderful chandeliers.The walls have intricate carvings also there was this mother pearl melted designs apart from colour marble designs.

The whole prayer hall is airconditioned and the exhaust are so well camafloged with the designs that you need to be really vigiliant to figure them out initially.

The vastness of the compound can be made out from the very fact that we lost our way to main gate .There are multiple entrances to the mosque but only one is open for tourists,we were lucky that we were accompanied by an iranian who knows a lot of the place .The mosque even though open for worship and tourists it is still under construction .

Once completed I am sure it would make a few more world records.

A sincere advice to people visiting the place to carry fully loaded camera.Donot forget to keep backup battery coz you will feel like capturing every nook and corner with the lenses.

Salem-Yercaud Trip

2010-10-15T13:30:00.000+05:30

After a long time, I went out on a tour with my parents and first time with my daughter. It was a short trip of 2 days to Salem and Yercaud.

Morning we started around 9:30 am from Bangalore to Salem in a hired vehicle.The Driver was driving it rather fast despite our multiple requests for slowing down. We reached Salem around 1 pm, had a quick lunch (a pathetic lunch) and went to see the nearby temple.

The temple seemed to be quite old one and the typical of the temples which used to built along with the forts .This Temple is built below the hill which has a fort.
The residing deities are goddess Lakshmi and lord Narshimha.First we went to the temple of Lord hanuman. The temple is of open air temple type with no roof having a huge statue of Lord Hanuman.

The tall statue of Lord Hanuman

View of the fort walls from the temple

Then moving along the temple side markets (which were initially not meant to be there as the main temple should have be clearly visible from Hanuman temple) we reached to the main temple complex.

It was a typical Stone temple. First we went to Goddess Lakshmi temple. The inner sanctum Santorum was really hot ( I pity the priests) But the goddess statue was wonderful and nicely decorated.

Then we went to the temple of Lord Narshimha.The Idol is a vivid and lively statue of Lord Narshimha.But what interested me most was the wall carvings of the temple. The Wall carvings had depiction of lord Vishnu’s avatar’s .One of the carvings which I could make out in the dim light was the Krishna avatar. The beauty is the wall carvings are colored black using oil and ash the traditional way with a little plastic paint of white and saffron done without brush. An initial look may give a feeling that the white and saffron are not plastic paint but sandal wood and kumkum but if u look closely they are plastic paints. It’s simple paint here and there but makes the overall the carvings wonderful.

One of the temples inside the temple complex

Then went round the city market for an hour and then back to hotel.Next day by 8:30 we started for Yercaud, poor man’s hill station. Once upon a time this used to a quite place with a little crowd but these days it’s really hard to get there with weekend crowds pouring in ( like us) from nearby places.

The hill station is 1500 meters above the sea level. The roads to Yercaud are okay but a heavy traffic on the rather narrow path with 20 hair pin bends.

Finally reached up there .Yercaud is a small township based around a lake which literally gives the township its name. If you are in Yercaud you will have to go round the lake to go anywhere in the town.

I believe I traversed the lake path at least 10 times that day.
We visited the various viewpoints named Gents seat, Ladies seat and children seat, also visited the rose garden and the lake (from the vehicle as it started raining and we were running out of time).From the view pints you can see earthen mounds down the hills which look like small heaps of earth. On closer look by the telescope at the view point you will find those are the bauxite mining sites.

Of all the places I loved the cave temple we visited. The temple is called Shervony temple (named after the hill range or vice versa).The outside of the temple are deceptive. It looks like a normal cement structure. But as you go in it’s a cave .You have to walk in darkness and keep your head low. It’s a small cave at the end of which the deity resides. The temple is approximately 11 Km from the lake.

By 5 we started our journey back to Salem and by 8 we started for Bangalore and reached around 11:30 .It was raining heavily.Overall a good trip....

Temple of rats

2010-06-22T13:30:00.000+05:30

30 km from Bikaner on the way to Jodhpur in the town Deshnok is the Karnimata’s Temple. Though the temple looks like any other mughal design temples of Rajasthan with intricate designs on its wall typically made of marble the only thing which makes it distinct is its inhabitants the ‘Rats’. It is the only temple of its kind in the whole world.

The temple is 500 years old and houses goddess Karni who is considered as an incarnation of goddess durga or parvati.The rats are considered as the army of the karni mata.The temple has solid silver carved doors depicting lord Ganesha and goddess karni mata.The main statue which stands in the inner sanctum is a 2 feet sliver statue of goddess karni accompanied by the image of her sister Avad Mata. The domes of the temple are made of silver and gold. The mandap and the panels above the image are golden also. Devotees usually place offerings of silver and gold when their prayers are answered.

The temple feeds and protects thousands of rats. Devotees feed the rats with milk and sweets. If a rat runs over a devotee’s foot then it is considered to be auspicious or sign of blessing. The leftover of the rats are taken by devotees as Prasad. There are a few white rats which are considered as most auspicious of all the rats and a glimpse of it is considered as fulfillment of wish. If a devotee runs over a rat and it dies then the devotee has to repay by giving a silver or gold rat. The rajputs of the area bring their baby’s for Jadula (Day of child’s first hair cut) and place them at deities’ feet for blessings.

Twice in the year Karni Mata Fair is held, once in Vaishakha (April/ May) and another in Kartika (October/ November) when devotees throng the temple.
Interesting and the amazing thing is that a rat related disease like plague etc has never spread in the region.

For further reading:-
Thomas Tomczyk Photojournalism
Wikipedia
Nat Geo

Sailing stone or moving rocks

2010-06-20T13:30:00.000+05:30

Wikimedia commons

Moving rocks or the sailing stones of the Racetrack Playa, Death Valley have been considered as mysterious over years and have raised lot of debates as the track keft by the rocks were considered as digital flicks or supernatural .

The sailing stone or gliding stone is a natural phenomenon. The rocks in the Racetrack Playa move in long tracks along a smooth valley floor without human or animal intervention. Racetrack stones only move every two or three years and most tracks develop over three or four years. Stones with rough bottoms leave straight striated tracks while those with smooth bottoms wander.

Wikimedia commons

There tracks are not always straight, they may change track suddenly.Cause of the moving of the rocks is still a research topic. The tracks are created when the Playa surface is covered with soft mud.

There are 2 popular Theories
1:-During wet conditions, strong wind gusts on the playa get the rocks sliding across the soft slippery mud. Experts speculate that, once a rock starts sliding, even more gentle winds may then be enough to keep the rocks moving for considerable distances.
2:-Rocks become embedded in a thin layer of ice and are subsequently dragged along as the wind propels the enclosing ice sheet across the playa surface.

For further reading:-

Wikipedia

Bottle cap art

2010-06-18T13:30:00.000+05:30

The only other time we would have given a second look to the metal caps of the glass bottles is when there is a prize option underneath the cap else its better be in dustbin ready to become a scrap .But people like Yoav Kotik consider this as the starting point. They know how to bring it back to life by thinking out of box.

Yoav Kotik a graduate from “Bezalel academy of art and design” in Jerusalem makes beautiful Jewellary pieces from the bottle caps under the jewellary line “precious metal”. The Precious metal in question is not gold or silver but the metal of any kind is considered precious. The artist collects the soft drink, beer bottle metal caps, polishes them and moulds them to create jewellary.

His jewellary range has necklace, pendants, earrings, braclets, broaches, and cuff links.

Apart from jewellary Kotik also uses the caps to create other items like chandelier, flowers etc. Here are a few pictures from Internet of the exhibition series called “ In the spring” held at periscope gallery in tel-aviv.

Chandelier

Flowers

Flower in a pot

Yoav Kotik’s effort is yet another example of creativity and art mixed with environment awareness creating a beautiful blend and useful commodity.

For further reading:-
Kotik

Synesthesia - The taste of words

2010-06-16T13:30:00.000+05:30

Taste of word as the topic sounds weird the neurological condition is also weird .There are few people in the world who can literally eat the words i.e. they can taste their words. For example cinema may taste of cinnamon rolls.
Synaesthesia is frequently based around colors - letters of the alphabet, or sounds are associated with specific shades - and a number of artists are thought to have had the condition .This condition is considered to be genetic and is linked to X chromosome .About one in 2,000 people are affected by synaesthesia and of these only 10% have the taste form.There are around 60 different types of synaesthesia like Grapheme – color synaesthesia, Sound → color synesthesia,Lexical → gustatory synesthesia(taste of words) etc.

The most difficult part is to establish if the patient is actually having the condition or faking as there are no established tests to confirm. The only tests till date done is by giving a list of random words to the person and ask them to write down the taste they feel immediately. The same test is conducted after 3 months to see the accuracy of the taste they feel. It is observed that they feel the same taste over time.

One of the studies suggested that the taste is triggered by the meaning of the word rather than the sound.This happens due sensory cross talk - the misfiring of information from one brain region to the next which leaves the person with the experience of tasting a certain food when he or she hears a word. It is believed these crossed sensations originate in a primitive region of the brain called the limbic system, associated with behavior and emotion. It is also the relay station for the five senses.

For Further Reading:-
Eat your words
BBC
Science Blogs
Wikipedia
Synesthesia and synethetic experience
Synesthete
Synesthesia

The behind Bandaid

2010-06-14T13:30:00.000+05:30

Wikimedia

BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages are something even a kid knows these days. I remember the the days when band-aids were non waterproof, then came the band aids of different shapes, followed with washable once and the most cherished by kids band-aids with cartoons.

The band-aid was invented by Earle Dickson who was employed as a cotton buyer for the Johnson & Johnson when he invented the band-aid in 1921.Earle was married to Josephine who was accident prone.she used to get cuts a bruises daily . without an adhesive bandage, Josephine had no easy way of bandaging her own cuts. Earle had to cut pieces of adhesive tape and cotton gauze and make a bandage for each wound. As this became a daily affair Earle stuck upon an idea.Heprepared some ready-made bandages by placing squares of cotton gauze at intervals along an adhesive strip and covering them with crinoline. All that was required to be done to dress the wound was to cut off a length of the strip and wrap it over her cut.

Earle soon told his boss at work about his new invention and soon the first adhesive bandages were being produced and sold under the world famous BAND-AID® trademark. Earle was eventually rewarded with a position as Vice President in the company, where he stayed until his retirement.

Sales of Band-Aids were slow until Johnson & Johnson decided to give Boy Scout troops free Band-Aids as a publicity stunt. By 1924, Band-Aids were machine made, sold sterilized in 1939, and made with vinyl tape in 1958.

For further reading:-

Kilmerhouse -A blog on the history of Jhonson and Jhonson and its product invention stories.
75 Years of Band-Aid
Is a site where you find a lot of interesting pics of the early band-aid .
Official site of Jhonson and Jhonson with the band aid History
About inventions on band aid history
Bandaid timeline

Paper Bottle

2010-06-11T13:30:00.000+05:30

With large use of plastic drinking bottles and tetra packs the environment is rapidly getting polluted which needs a call on environment friendly solutions. A paper bottle is something which perfectly fits into the solution as it can decompose and it’s also possible to recycle it too.

360 paper bottles are answer to the need.Extremely innovative new packaging from Brandimage, who was responsible for everything including concept development, branding, prototyping, engineering, and product design. The 360 Paper Bottle is the first of its kind in the world, and a true environmentally-friendly solution to the problem of plastic water bottles.

Though brandimage boasts of the concept I wonder how good is a paper bottle for use of liquid and if the liquid does not soak/leak then how it can decompose? Well I think the designers of the Paper bottle 360 paper bottles must have thought of the basic requirements.

Here are few pictures of the bottle and the link to brandimage where you can get details of the bottle.

For Further Reading:-
Brand-Image

Salt Hotel

2010-06-09T13:30:00.000+05:30

Photo: Salt Hotel
Image : Tati@

Similar to the theory of Ice hotel or the igloos salt hotel of Bolivia ,Salar de uyuni is made entirely of salt bricks cut out of salt lake and cemented using salt and water.

Photo :Closer look at salt wall
Image :Phillie Casablanca

Salt is the most abundant material in this region,thus making it the obvious choice for building material .The 4,085 square-mile (10,580 square-kilometer) region is the world's largest salt desert. The desert was once a lake 40,000 years ago. 25,000 tons of salt annually from the 10 billion tons available.

The hotel is called Playa Blanca recently renamed as Salt hotel and Spa. It has a living room, dining room , 15 bedrooms ,a bar and a pool.Infact all the furniture and the roof is made of salt with the exception of billiards, toilet etc.. Even the floor is covered with salt granules. This hotel was built by salt artisians

Photo: Dining

Photo : Hallway
Image : adman_as

Photo: Pool

Photo : Salt Table by the pool

The problem with the salt hotel is that there is no way to discard the waste thus has to be manually done. Due to mismanagement leading to environmental problems the first salt hotel which was amidst of the salt plan was closed .The new salt hotels have come up near to the road with are built complying to the environmental rules.

Sources:-
Seattlepi
Environmental Graffiti
National Geographic

Art from garbage: Running the numbers

2010-06-07T13:30:00.000+05:30

Who knows better to create art from garbage and at the same time give a strong message on American consumerism than Chris Jordan?
Seattle-based photographer chris jordan's manipulated digital images tell the story of human consumption and degradation rather the American consumerism.

Jordan is dedicated to raising consciousness, through his art, of the far-reaching and destructive consequences of our everyday habits.
Running the numbers - a series of carefully rendered photographic images - takes hard statistics and turns them into art
giving a beautiful photograph at the same time giving a strong message.

gyre, 2009
image © chris Jordan

close-up of gyre
image © chris jordan

depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds
of plastic pollution that enter the world's oceans every hour.
all of the plastic in this image was collected from the pacific ocean.

detail of the top of mountain fuji
image © chris jordan

detail
image © chris jordan

Ted video:-

Further Reading:-
Chris Jordan

Strawberry crab

2010-06-05T13:30:00.000+05:30

Strawberry crab sounds like a new food recipe but no its not.Its a crab which looks like strawberry and thus the name.The crab was first spotted off the coast of southern Taiwan .
It has a red shell with white bumps on it which makes it look like a strawberry.

A similar species is found at Hawaii called Hawaiian strawberry crab or red boxing crab.The two differ in the shell size.

Source:-
Wikipedia
Straitstimes

Baby Jumping Festival (EL Colacho)

2010-06-03T21:37:00.000+05:30

As I read the name of the festival I thought to myself that this would be a festival where the babies jump but to my dismay this is a festival where a man dressed as evil Colacho jumps over the babies(born is last 12 months preceding the festival) laying on mattress. This festival is listed in worlds one of the most dangerous festival. The act is called El Salto del Colacho (the devil’s jump)

Photo : Babel

Baby jumping is a Spanish traditional festival dating back to 1620.It takes place annually to celebrate catholic feast of Corpus Christi in the village of Castrillo de Murcia.The festivals falls on a Thursday around late May or early june. The baby jumping is conducted to cleanse the babies of sin and protect them from evil spirits.
The festival continues for few days with the Sunday following the Corpus Christi as the most important day. The celebrations are arranged by the brotherhood Santísimo Sacramento de Minerva. The two main roles associated with the festival: those of el Colacho and el Atabalero are performed by the brother hood. El Colacho, who represents the devil, is dressed in a bright yellow and red outfit and mask, and el Atabalero wears a black suit and a sombrero and goes through the town with his large drum. Beginning on the Wednesday before the festival, the two characters cavort around the town chasing people, terrorizing them with their whips and truncheons and generally causing trouble.

Photo:-Impact lab

Source:-

Impactlab
Spanish fiestas
BBC
Wikipedia
whats on when

Amorphophallus titanum

2010-06-01T13:30:00.000+05:30

Photo : Wikimedia commons

Amorphophallus titanium is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. It was first discovered in the rainforests of Central Sumatra in western Indonesia by an Italian botanist Dr. Odoardo Beccari in 1878.

Photo : Wikimedia Commons

The flower is locally known as Bunga Bangkay which means Corpse flower. It is so called because of its Decaying flesh odor released by the flower in the pollination season. The name Amorphophallus Titanium is derived from 3 Greek words” Amorphous” (without form) + “phallus” (male reproductive organ /penis) + “titan” (Giant).

Photo : © Raimond Spekking / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 & GFDL

Since its discovery the flower has moved over continents and grown in may botanical gardens. The flower grows rarely in wild and even rarer when cultivated. The first time it grew outside its local environment was in the Royal botanical gardens of Kew in 1889.

Photo :Cambridge2000 Ripening seeds.

Single inflorescence contain both male and female flower. The seeding of this flower is rare because the female flowers open earlier to male and by the time pollination occurs the female flower is no more receptive. This prevents flower from self pollinating. The pollination is performed by carrion beetles as they get attracted to the odor of the rotting flesh emitted by the flower. Pollination occurs when there are 2 different flowers with male and female flower opening at the same time.
Coming to the statistics the flower has a diameter of 45 inches and height of 80 inches approximately. The tallest recorded in the Guinness book of records was 8ft 11in high cultivated at the Botanical garden of the university of Bonn in Germany in 2003.

There are 2 wonderful botanical posters available at Botany Studio which illustrates the life cycle of the Amorphophallus titanum.

Source:-
Wikipedia
Virtual Hebarium

Kumbha Mela

2010-03-15T22:45:00.000+05:30

Picture from Wiki commons

Kumbha mela is such a familiar word to all of us thanks to the yester year bollywood movies .Many of those movies were related to Kumbha mela where the siblings or the parent and child would have been seprated and reunited by a song,Chain and locket ,birth mark etc,….

Kumbha mela is back in news again this time it’s the actual event happening at Haridwar,Uttarakhand.Kumbha mela 2010 started on Makar Sankranti (14th January 2010) and will go on till Shakh Purnima Snan (28th April 2010).

This festival is considered as world’s largest act of faith as millions of Hindus flock to Kumbha Mela.

The word Kumbha Mela is a sanskrit word. ‘Kumbha’ in sanskrit means pitcher or kaalash and ‘Mela’ means gathering or fair.Kumbha is also the symbol for zodiac sign Aquarius.Kumbha mela is celebrated based on astrological calculations . According to astrologers, the 'Kumbh Fair' takes place when the planet Jupiter enters Aquarius and the Sun enters Aries. Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is a mass pilgrimage centered on the ritual of riverside bathing, it is variously called the ‘the Great Indian Bathing Festival’, ‘the Urn Festival’, ‘the Pitcher Festival’ and so forth. It occurs four times every twelve years rotating between Allahabad/Prayaga at the confluence of the rivers Ganga (Ganges), Jamuna (Yamuna) and the concealed Saraswati, Haridwar (Hara Dwar) on the river Ganga (Ganges), Ujjain on the river Kshipra (Shipra), and Nasik on the river Godavari (Gomati)

The Legend:-

Kumbha Mela Origin dates back to Vedic period .Its rigin is found in hindu theory of evolution in the episode of samudra manthan. The legend goes as –

The Gods had lost their strength, and to regain it, they thought of churning the Ksheera Sagara (primordial ocean of milk) for amrit (the nectar of immortality), this required them to make a temporary agreement with their arch enemies, the demons or Asuras, to work together with a promise of sharing the nectar equally thereafter [14]. However, when the Kumbha (urn) containing the amrita appeared, a fight ensued. For twelve days and twelve nights (equivalent to twelve human years) the gods and demons fought in the sky for the pot of amrita. It is believed that during the battle, Lord Vishnu flew away with the Kumbha of elixir, and that is when drops of amrita fell at four places on earth: Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik, and that is where the Kumbh Mela is observed every twelve years.

Source
Wikipedia
Kumbha 2010 Haridwar
archaeologyonline

According to theory Kumbha mela occurs every 12 years.There are also ardha kumbha ,purna kumbha and Maha kumbha mela.

Ardha Kumbha mela :- Occurs every 6 years..

Purna Kumbha mela :- Occurs every 12 years..

Maha Kumbha mela :- Occurs every 144 years.(12 purna kumbha mela)

But I found the theory really confusing because if u see the kumbha mela dates they have a gap of 3 years and some even only 1 year. On further checking the dates and places I realised that.Kumbha mela actually occurs every 12 years but that is specific to the location.

For instance nashik hosted Kumbha mela in 2003 and next is 2015 .

Haridwar hosted Purna kumbha mela in 1998, Ardha kumbha 2004 and now the next purna kumbha 2010 has already started .

After discussing when and why kumbha mela happens now the question is what is the mela all about? Milions of pilgrims gather at the kumbha mela .They discuss of religious topics ,sing devotional songs,mass feeding of holy and poor people,religious doctrines debated and finalized etc…Holy dips in the sacred rivers are taken thrice a day.People say that one can wash of their sins if they take these holy dips.

In the modern world it not only attracts pilgrims but media and tourists too..Lot of security and management is also put into by the government for safe and secure Mela.

The huge gathering and the massive faith show interests many media and tourist from all over the world. It also makes the work of the local government tough to provide proper security, management and establishment for such huge number, but all odds apart Kumbha mela has seen the numbers growing every year and would see the same always.

Giant Blue hole Belize

2010-03-01T14:30:00.000+05:30

The Great Blue Hole is a large underwater sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the mainland and Belize City.

The hole is circular in shape, over 300 metres (984 ft) across and 125 metres (410 ft) deep.The colour of the hole is blue as the periphery is shallow and center is deep giving rise to deep blue colour at the center of the hole

The hole is the opening to what was a dry cave system during the Ice Age. When the ice melted and the sea level rose, the caves were flooded and the roof collapsed creating the present great blue hole.These sink holes can also we called as vertical caves

It is believed to be the world’s largest feature of its kind, the Great Blue Hole is part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

This is a popular spot amongst recreational scuba divers, who are lured by the opportunity to dive in crystal clear water and meet several species of fish, including giant groupers, nurse sharks and several types of reef sharks such as the Caribbean reef shark and the Blacktip shark.

For Further Reading :-
Wikipedia-Great blue hole
Great blue hole of Belize
Legendary-Great blue hole of belize

Plastic drinking straw recycling

2010-02-18T21:19:00.000+05:30

Last time I wrote about terapak recycling and wonderful furniture made out of it.Along with the Tetra paks we usually use the Plastic drinking straws.Maybe millions of these disposable ,once use, drinking straws are used daily all over the world.This month on recycling we have plastic straw recycling products.

As always I searched for the unconventional ways of using the plastic straws and came across a few wonderful examples of furniture ,lighting and office accessories.

Starting with Scott Jarvie’s creation.Scott Jarvie’s creation is inspired by the capilliary structure of xylem of the tree(as mentioned by him in his website :P).He has created a clutch chair make of 10,000 drinking straws.

The surface of the chair is open points of the drinking straw.

What I doubt is if the chair is usable or just a piece of art also can it bear the weight of a person.Well 1 drinking straw may not be able to bear the weight of a person but 10,000 of them may be able to .Remember united we stand and divided we fall :P.If they are usable or not but they are really a masterpiece of art ,imagination ,social message and brilliant idea to put something which we rarely care to think of.

Another interesting piece created by Scott Jarvie is the Clutch light which is also made out of drinking straws .

Next inline would be the chair and ottoman featured on Promise Design .Though not much detail is available about the piece of furniture . The straws are put together and partially compacted, so it looks like they would be not only stable pieces of furniture, but comfortable, too. The chair is sized 40 x 80 x 50 cm and the stool, 40 x 40 x 40 cm.

Padlab is the partnership of Dan Gottlieb and Penny Herscovitch. They are based at Los Angeles. They use drinking straws as one of the materials for their architectural or sculptural installation.The drinking straw creations are inspired by honey comb structure.They have created a variety of stuff which includes lighting,desktop acssesories and furniture .

The only thing I doubt abt the pen holder is if the strawa come really this wide to hold pen or is the pen really slim because the standard Drinking straws aren’t that wide( the ones I have used ).

Next in the series is Inna Alesina’s 100 & 1 Straw Light consists of – you guessed it – 1000 plastic drinking straws. They are arranged around one inverted empty soda bottle, creating a beautiful fanned appearance. Alesina Design produces them in different colors, both as a floor lamp and a hanging lamp. The grace of the finished products is surprising; it’s hard to believe that these discarded plastic items could be arranged in a way that makes them look like high art.

Drinking Straw Pendant Light by Addicted 2 Decorating
Finally, a drinking straw project that you can do at home. Addicted 2 Decorating has posted instructions for their DIY project to guide any crafter through creating this eye-catching light. It takes 1500 drinking straws, and you can use different colors, clear straws, or a mixture – bonus points if you make the light with used (but thoroughly cleaned) straws.

Heart-Kun

2010-02-14T14:30:00.000+05:30

Got these pictures through forwarded email.Initially I thought the heart shape on the puppiess fur coat was painted or it was a photoshop stunt but was amazed to know that it was neither. The heart shape on the fur coat of the puppy is natural.The patterns on the fur coats of the puppy are determined by genes.The two brothers Heart-kun and Love-kun have this heart shaped pattern on their coat though their brother and sisters from the same mother donot have this. Heart-Kun was born on 18May 2007 and Love kun on Aug 3 2009. It’s really amazing to know that the same genetic combination happened twice to the mother .

The owner of these puppiess is Emiko Sakurada of Odate in the Japanese prefecture of Akita.This Chihuahua puppy became a big star world wide. The owner has no intention to sale these puppies.

Sources:-
Wikipedia-Heart-Kun
Latimesblogs
CCTV
AOL

Rainbow Eucalyptus

2010-02-12T20:30:00.000+05:30

That tree bark is not painted by any kid or advertisement.It's coloured by nature.

Rainbow eucalyptus or Eucalyptus deglupta is also know as the Mindanao Gum, or the Rainbow Gum.This is the only Eucalyptus species which grows naturally in northern hemisphere.

As the name suggests the tree trunk are covered with multicoloured streaks. Patches of outer bark are shed annually at different times, showing the bright-green inner bark. This then darkens and matures to give blue, purple, orange and then maroon tone.

This is a tall tree which grows very fast.It is grown these days as pulp wood or for ornamental street plant due its beautiful bark.

This tree doesnot produce oil that the other eucalyptus trees produce .

For further reading:-
Wikipedia-Eucalyptus

Pamukkale - Cotton Castle

2010-02-08T14:30:00.000+05:30

Pamukkale is a turkish word which means "Cotton Castle".In the south western Turkey there is a city called "Pamukkale" which is famous for its hot springs and traventines terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water.

These are amazing white terraced pools of water at Pamukkale.In this area, there are 17 hot water springs .The water that emerges from the spring is transported to the head of the travertine terraces and deposits calcium carbonate . When the water, supersaturated with calcium carbonate, reaches the surface, carbon dioxide degases from it, and calcium carbonate is deposited. The depositing continues until the carbon dioxide in the water balances the carbon dioxide in the air.Calcium carbonate is deposited by the water as a soft jelly, but this eventually hardens into travertine.

This reaction is affected by the weather conditions, ambient temperature, and the flow duration.

Tourisim over a period of time affected the natural balance of the place leading to damage of the site.After this place was recognised as world heritage site it was closed for tourists.

For Further Reading :-
Wikipedia-Pamukkale
Government of Denenizli Pamukkale Official website
Pamukkale official website
Photos of Pamukkale & Hierapolis

Pencil as canvas

2010-02-05T14:30:00.000+05:30

As I surfed through the internet for unconventional art I stumbled upon this beautiful ,cute and innovative art by Ghostpartol.Artists used pencil to draw over canvas ,we also saw Jennifer using pencil as a whole to create her sculptures’ ,here is someone who uses pencil as canvas .

Ghostpartol is and Australian artist who creates beautiful piece of art using pencil as canvas. His work ranges from fine ink drawing, street-art, commissioned murals and soft sculpture.

Wooden boat from wooden knife

Tartan Overture

Skeletor Money box

Reclne bear control

Reaching Key

Raising deer forest

Leaving pencil forest

Hostage throat cut

Falcor

A book is good

For further reading:-
Ghostpartol

Moserbaer

2010-02-01T20:30:00.000+05:30

The other day when I was planning to take a backup of my photos I searched my cupborad for the stack of blank DVD’s but found that it was empty.So the next thing I did was to add the item on my list for shopping and what did I write was “moserbaer-10”.

Well that meant 10 dvd’s of moserbaer, so convinent and acceptable.We use these moserbaer CD’s ,DVD’s so very often as a trusted brand in DVD’s( Optical storage Media) but did we ever wonder where is it manufactered. I was astonished to know that Moserbaer is an Indian company.I mean the name is so deciptive.
The company was founded in New Delhi in 1983 by Mr. Deepak Puri. It started as a Time Recorder unit in technical collaboration with Maruze Corporation, Japan and Moser Baer Sumiswald, Switzerland.I believe the name is borrowed from Moser Baer Sumiswald ,Switzerland.

In 1988, Moser Baer India moved into the data storage industry by commencing manufacturing of 5.25-inch Floppy Diskettes. By 1993, it graduated to manufacturing 3.5-inch Micro Floppy Diskettes (MFD).

In 1999, Moser Baer India set up a 150-million unit capacity plant to manufacture Recordable Compact Disks (CD-Rs) and Recordable Digital Versatile Disks (DVD-Rs). The strategy for the optical media project was identical to what had successfully been implemented in the diskette business - creating a facility that matched global standards in terms of size, technology, quality, product flexibility and process integration. The company is today the only large Indian manufacturer of magnetic and optical media data storage products, exporting approximately 85 percent of its production.

Source:-
Moserbaer India
Wikipedia-Moserbaer

Halebidu

2010-01-29T22:08:00.000+05:30

Few years back I had an opportunity to visit Halebidu .I went on a roundabout tour from Bangalore – Hassan –Coorg – Bangalore,Halebidu being one of our stops.When we reached there we didn’t expect much but when we went nearer to the temples we understood why it was so famous. The carvings on the walls of the temple are so detailed and wonderful. No two carvings are alike. The temple base is star shaped .Temple wall starts with 9 different panels of sculptures .You can find carvings of musicians , scenes from Mahabharata, Ramayana etc… My suggestion would be to visit the temple and take a guide to go around it. The guide charges Rs100 but you will find that worth.

Halebid ( pronounced Halebeedu ) which means Old City was called Dwarasamudra, and it used to be the capital of the Hoysala kings during the 12th Century. The Hoysalas shifted the capital to Belur.It has beautiful temples amidst picturesque hilly land.

Halebid’s temple is one of the finest examples of the Hoysala style of architecture. It is made of soap stone, and the structure stands on a star shaped platform . This temple has 4 doors, and is unique coz it has 2 Garbha Grahas or Sanctum Sanctorum.

Temple Front View

Temple Side View

The Hoysaleshwara temple is full of intricately carved sculptures and has two shrines one dedicated to Shiva and the other to Santaleshwara.This temple is not being worshipped now.

Hoysaleshwara

Dwarpalaka of the Temple are Apsara's

The exteriors of these temples are beautiful, decorated with panels of warriors, dancers, horses, elephants, mythical creatures.Each carving differs from the other.

Panels

There are beautiful apsaras, and there are several sculptures of hindu deities, and scenes from Mahabharat, Ramayan and Bhagavat Gita. The sculptures here are 3 dimensional.

Lord Brahma ,Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Shiva parvathi.

Dancing Ganesha

Shiva inside the belly of Elephant

Mahakali

Dancing Goddess Lakshmi

Emblem of Hoysala Dynasty

Archer

Pictures taken by my mom :)

Sources:-
Wikipedia-Halebidu
Halebidu.com

Chocolate wonderland,Beijing

2010-01-25T20:30:00.000+05:30

“Chocolates” the word it self makes you feel happy about a possible treat.Just imagine a world of chocolates where everything around you is edible chocolate.This reminds of the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Robert Dahl where the chocolate factory has a room called chocolate room having everything edible the pavement,bushes,trees made of taffy that grow jelly apples, bushes that sprout lollipops, mushrooms that spurt whipped cream, pumpkins filled with sugar cubes instead of seeds, jelly bean stalks etc.

The chocolate wonderland ,we dreamt it,we read it,we saw it in movies and now we gonna walk through it.Yes walk through ,the Chinese capital Beijing is set to open a Willy Wonka-style theme park, complete with a chocolate replica of the Great Wall of China and a life-size edible Terracotta Army.

The ‘World Chocolate Dream Park' is set to open on 29th January 2010. Its a 20,000-square-meter (215,000 square-foot) "chocolate wonderland" will feature 5 temperature-controlled indoor areas and two outdoor sites where chocolate items, such as the replica of Great Wall, will be on display.The park will be located in the Olympic Green, which also includes the iconic Bird's Nest stadium and the Water Cube Aquatics Centre - all used during the 2008 Olympic Games.

Children will also be able to learn how to make chocolate and taste their creations with their parents.The Park would open in January and would be closed by April when the weather will begin to get warm.It will reopen next January with all new displays.

For further reading:-
Yahoo-Chocolate amusement park

Giant Crystal Cave

2010-01-22T18:46:00.000+05:30

The first sight of the above photograph and a superman fan would recognise it as the home of superman.Well its not the sets of the superman movie,but these are the natural Giant crystals at Naica Mine of Chihuahua, Mexico.

This wonderful crystal cave was first discovered in 2000 when miners were pumping out flooded water out of the mine.The crystals found here are huge rather Giants.These are large crystals of selenite (gypsum) as large as 4 feet in diameter and 50 feet long.Temperatures hovered consistently around a steamy 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius), and the cave was filled with mineral-rich water that drove the crystals' growth.The cave is horse shoe shaped with crsyatlline floors.

Naica is a lead, zinc and silver mine.As a matter of fact the mount naica itself is a product of volcanic activity due to which it has huge reserves of metals and minerals.

The temperature and humidity inside the cave is perfect for the formation of crystals at the same time this atmosphere is dangerous for humans.The Giant crystal cave is now sealed from rest of the mine and preserved against further mining operations.

For Further Reading:-
National Geography - Giant Crystal Caves mystery solved
National Geography - Gaint crystal cave comes to light
Crystalinks
Earth Magazine
Discovery channel - Crystal caves
Wikipedia

Tetra Pak Recycling

2010-01-18T14:56:00.000+05:30

Tetra Pak is a word very common to the present generation.Everyone of us would have used it ,be it a fruit juice or milk etc we would prefer a Tetra Pak as it convinient to carry.

But have you ever thought what happens to those packs after use.Simple we throw it to grabage :D.Well I meant to ask what happens about the recycling.Everyday millions of Tetra Paks are used over the world which need to be recycled.

The recycling of the Tetra Packs is not that simple as Tetra paks have multiple layers of different materials.It is a polycoated container,combining three different materials in seven different layers where 70% is paper.The details of the various layers are:-

Layer 1
The food contact surface - is made of polyethylene and seals in the liquid.

Layer 2
Polyethylene adheshion layer needed for lamination process.

Layer 3
Aluminum foil, providing a barrier against the harmful effects of air and light.

Layer 4
Polyethylene adheshion layer needed for lamination process.

Layer 5
It is the paperboard layer that provides stiffness and shape.

Layer 6
Printed Design gives product information.

Layer 7
It is made of polyethylene and provides protection against outside moisture.

How cartons are recycled?
1.Baled cartons are dropped into a pulper, similar to a giant domestic food mixer,
2.Filled with water, and
3.Pulped for around 20 minutes.
4.This breaks down the packaging to produce a grey-brown mixture.
5.The aluminium foil and polyethylene are separated from the fibre,
6.The fibre is recovered to make new paper products.
7.The remaining mix of plastic and aluminium can then be used in furniture,to generate energy or even separated out into pure aluminium and paraffin.

Here is a wonderful video showing the Tetra Pak recycling.

The major recycled product is cardboard called " HB composite board " or Cai'le Board.Cai’le Boards are product made by pressing, heating, and extrusion molding of the shredded recycled packages. The board materials can be used in the architecture and furniture sectors.

Here is craft idea for reuse of Tetra Pak.">Tetra Pak Wallet.You can try your hands on this ...

For further reading:-
Tetra pak recycling

Uttarayan-The Kite Festival

2010-01-14T14:31:00.000+05:30

The International Kite Festival (Uttarayan) is held every year during Makar Sankranti at Ahemadabad Gujarat. Uttrayan is the name given to this day because it is this day from where the sun starts moving towards the uttar or north and so it means sun moving towards the north.

Uttarayan is celebrated at international level.This year the 20th International kite festival is celebrated on the riverfront of Sabarmati at Ahemadabad,Gujarat in which 34 countries of the world have participated.Every state of India has also particiapated.It is said that the enthusiasim of the festival is so high that you can imagine from the very fact that ina population of 6 million on the day of uttarayan there would be approximately 4 million kites in the sky

For further reading:-
Kite Festival

Leaning temple of Huma

2010-01-11T18:43:00.000+05:30

Leaning Temple byVarun

Huma is a leaning temple, situated near Sambalpur.It was established in the year 1670.It is believed that the temple was built by the King Baliar Singh, the fifth king of the Chauhan dynasty of Sambalpur. It is popularly known as the Leaning Temple of Huma, as it does not stand upright and is tilted towards one side.The temple is located on the banks of Mahanadi River, at a distance of about 23 km from the Sambhalpur district of Orissa.

There is no recorded evidence available to indicate the reasons for the leaning character of the shrine. Whether it was originally built leaning or it became like that later due to weak foundation or for some other reason is also not known. However, a close look at the site indicates that the foundation of the temple is not weak and hence the possibility of the temple leaning later due to weak foundation is remote.

Another attraction of Huma is the abundance of Mahasir fish, locally known as "Kudo Fish" found in the river Mahanadi . They are so tame that they take sweet meats from the hands of the visitors .A cruise by country boats is an additional pleasure. The scenic beauty of Huma, especially during sunrise and sunset around the river is fantastic.

That was the fact file of Huma the leaning temple of orissa.Long back when I was in standard 2 I had been to this wonderful temple of Huma on a family picnic.Then I knew the temple at Huma is the place where you can see the big fishes in the river running next to it.These fishes had gold nose rings and they were really big ones of there kind.The interesting thing is no one did fishing there as they pray them.There are vendors who would sell you fish food and you can feed these fishes.

I remember on the picnic ,one of the uncles was playing with his new motorcycle keys while feeding the fish .The fishes mistook the keys as feed ,snapped it and went into the water.The was a lot of chaos for a few minutes and the person who lost the key was in a shocked state but after a while the fish came back and left the keys on the steps to the river.

For further reading:-

Wikipedia-Sambalpur

Rafflesia Arnoldii

2010-01-08T18:10:00.000+05:30

Rafflesia arnoldii worlds largest flower is found in the rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo, Indonesia.It's blossom attains a diameter of nearly a meter and can weigh up to 11 kg.It is an endangered species.The flower is also called "Corpse flower" due to the bad odour of rottening flesh.This scent attracts insects such as flies which then pollinate the rare plant.

It lives as a parasite on the Tetrastigma vine, which grows only in primary (undisturbed) rainforests.Rafflesia lacks any observable leaves, stems or even roots.The buds of the flower take months to develop but the flowers last for few days only.

The following photos were taken by Mr. Davis who formerly maintained a web site called SumatraFlora - On-Line Nursery. This site is no longer available, but at the time he provided a number of photographs of interesting plants from Sumatra, including Rafflesia arnoldii.

Flower bud, with scales still unexpanded.

View from inside a Rafflesia flower.

View from inside a Rafflesia flower.

Closer view of the flower showing the diaphragm surrounding the floral opening.

For further reading:-
Parasite plants - Rafflesia Arnoldii
Wikipedia - Rafflesia arnoldii

Lego Sculptures

2010-01-04T19:13:00.000+05:30

Many of us would have used Lego Bricks in our childhood to play.I remember I had two different sets of Lego's one of which had Lego bricks which could be used to make buildings having arches,also I could make helicopter etc...With the growing years I lost those Lego bricks only to remember now when I was searching toys for my baby and stumbled over Lego sculptures online.

‘Think’ Image by:Ceslava

Though most of us would have left the Lego Bricks behind and moved further in life there are a few artists who use LEGO Bricks to build awe-inspiring art.Some artists have become Lego Certified Professionals they are artists that use Lego bricks as their medium.

This is done at a level that The Lego Group recognizes their efforts and they have the ability to not only use the Lego name and copyrighted logo, but have earned a special, in-depth relationship with the company. They are Robin Sather, Dan Parker, Sean Kenney, Nathan Sawaya, Rene Hoffmeister and Nicholas Foo.

Structures by Robin Sather.Pictures are from Brickville

Structures by Nathan Sawaya.Pictures are from The Art of Brick

Stubby Pencil

Green

Blue

For Further Reading:-
Brickwiki
LEGO Certified Professionals

History of Tea Bag

2010-01-01T21:52:00.000+05:30

Ah a new morning of a new year.As usual I started the day with a cup of tea.Poured a little hot water a cube of sugar and 1 tea bag,but did you ever think how this useful little stuff came into existence.

Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea importer, mistakenly invented tea bags in 1908 when he sent the loose leaves to clients in small silk bags to cut costs. In turn, they steeped the entire bag to make their brew.This saved them from messy affair of straining the leaves out to a clear tea.

As a result, his buyers were more interested in having their brew pre-packaged in silk sacks than they were receiving the leaves in loose form.

Sullivan didn't realize this until many of his most important clients started to complain that the orders they received were not in bags. Since silk was too expensive, he opted to used gauze sacks to package his blends and fulfill his orders.

The first tea bags were made of hand-sewn muslin. Modern tea bags are typically a paper fiber that is heat sealed. Heat sealing teabags was invented by William Hermanson. In its early years, teabags resembled small sacks. In 1944 the rectangular tea bag was invented.

The first tea bag patent dates as early as 1903. First appearing commercially around 1904, tea bags were successfully marketed by tea and coffee shop merchant Thomas Sullivan of New York, who shipped his tea bags around the world.

Thomas Lipton incorporated the Lipton Tea Company in 1915. Lipton Tea patented a novel four-sided tea bag in 1952 called the flo-thru tea bag.

For further reading:-
Learn about Tea
About.com
Wikipedia-Tea bag

Dhanu Yatra

2009-12-26T20:52:00.000+05:30

Dhanu Yatra is the Worlds biggest open air theatre (festival) held annually at Bargarh in the western part of Orissa in Paush month (December – January).This year Dhanu Yatra 2009 started from December 21 and would end on December 31, 2009.

This festival is based on Lord Krishna’s visit to Mathura to witness the fair organized by uncle Kansa as mentioned in the Bhagwat Puran.The entire story is re-enacted.So what's new in the reenactment.

The uniqueness of the festival lies in the fact that all the episodes of ‘Kansa Vadh’ (The killing of Kansa) takes place in different parts of the town making it the largest open air theatre in the world.

The Bargarh town becomes the epic town of Mathura the birth place of Krishna, the town's million-odd people are literally living life back in time.It awakes to the vibrations of drums, bugles and shehenais.The people not only dress up in styles dating back to the mythological period but different places, settlements and even rivers are addressed by classical names adopted from the Mahabharata.

The neighboring Amapali village becomes “Gopa Pura” the place Krishna immortalized with the “Bala Lilla”. The river Jira, which flows between Bargarh and Amapali, becomes “Yamuna” for the time being.

The Panchayat Motel turns in the royal palace of Kans and the Durbar is a pandal erected at Hatpada in the heart of the Bargarh town. The local Radha Krishna temple serves as the prison house of Vasudeva and Devaki.

During this 11 days long drama, King Kamsa virtually rules the town.Interestingly the festival not only re-enacts mythology but also provide amusements to the people. As Kans goes around the city every day the people regardless of, who they are bow before him. The District Collector and Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and other administrative officials who visit Kans Darbar are treated as the King’s employees and local MLAs, MPs and Ministers are projected as his representatives.

He summons the district officials including the collector and the SP in his durbar if he notices anything amiss. He catches offenders on the streets and slaps a fine on them. He enters government offices and pulls up indisciplined officials. Of course, everybody obey him. There are even instances of King Kamsa summoning the State’s Chief Minister and many V.I.Ps also to his durbar.

The drama begins with the marriage of Lord Krishna’s parents, Devaki and Vasudeva, and ends with Kamsabadha, the killing of Kamsa by his nephew Lord Krishna. As the different sequences of the play (yatra )— celebrated in this town for 58 years — are performed at different places, one has to move around to take in everything. Throughout the Dhanu yatra, King Kamsa is the centre of attraction as he is the supreme authority in the town.

According to scholars, the origin of “Dhanu Yatra” is obscure. Some say it was very popular in the 18th century while others argue that is started in the 16th century. It is also believed that the yatra was restarted during the British regime.

Video Reference:-

For further reading:-
Bargarh Official website
Wikipedia-Dhanu yatra

Cardboard Sculptures

2009-12-05T18:20:00.000+05:30

Chris Gilmour is an English artist specialising in the creation of life-sized sculptures made of cardboard and glue, using both plain packaging cardboard and recycled packaging material. His works replicate in painstaking detail many objects and machines out of our ordinary lives.

Apart from Chris Glimour there are some more artist worth mention like Alex Uribe,Sylvie Reno,Junior Fritz Jaquet,Peeta etc...

Further Reading :-

Chris Gilmour

Miniature Garden

2009-12-01T13:02:00.000+05:30

I got another forward picture email.This time it was pictures of garden of miniature models.So I started my search on the same.I thought this was picture of some only miniature park in some country but I was astonished to find that it was not the one of the kind there are so many miniature parks in the world.

We used to make models during our school days but never thought it could be made of this magnituted.

There are miniature parks devoted to monuments in particular continent,monuments all over the world etc...

There is also a trade organisation representing the leading miniature parks and model villages of the world and it is called IAMP: The International Association of Miniature Parks

The pictures I was talking about were of the park called Minimundus at Klagenfurt in Carinthia, Austria. It displays around 140 (the homepage says so)miniature models of architecture from around the world, built at a ratio of 1:25.The park boasts of models made out of original material like marble ,granite etc...Miniature train also runs in the park.There are miniature ships too.Most of the models are transportable and are moved to other areas during the Winter break.

This park started in 1958 .The proceeds benefit the children's help organization Rettet das Kind ("Save the Child"), which owns the park.

Here are a few pictures of the models at park picked from internet :)

Taj Mahal,India

St Peter's Basilica

Borobudur Temple

Opera House Sydney

Leaning Tower of Pisa

For Further Reading:-

IAMP: The International Association of Miniature Parks

Wikipedia- Miniature Parks

Chewing Gum sculptor

2009-09-04T13:33:00.000+05:30

Chewing gum is something most of us would have chewed but making art of it is something we never would have thought.Italian artist maurizio savini uses Pink chewing gum for making his art.He creates amazingly detailed sculptures out of this chewing gum.

Underwater Museum - Alexandria

2009-09-03T13:31:00.000+05:30

The above picture looks like a scene from some futuristic science fiction but it is the artist impression of the underwater museum in progress at the bay of Alxendria.The museum is to showcase the artifacts of cleopatra's kingdom underwater.

The museum is proposed to be built at New Library of Alexandria, where the famed queen of Egypt is believed to have sheltered herself with her lover Marc Antony before taking her own life.

The proposed museum would be both inland and underwater. The dual nature is intended to create an experience like that of a traditional museum while also allowing visitors to witness artifacts in their submerged states.

The proposed museum is planned to be underwater not only for aesthetic value but also because it follows the 2001 UNESCO convention for the preservation of underwater heritage.

The convention decided that submerged artifacts should ideally remain on the seabed out of respect for their historical context and, in some cases, because water actually preserves artifacts.

But building directly over submerged artifacts could damage them—just one of a number of logistical issues that a feasibility team of archaeologists, architects, engineers, economists, and bureaucrats will examine in the next two years.

For Further Reading :-
National Geographic channel
UNESCO

Hotel for Goldfish

2009-09-02T12:40:00.000+05:30

Well hotel for luxury is now common what's uncommon is luxury hotel for your goldfish.D-Reizen travel agency has opened anaquarium hotel at Amsterdam airport.

Olympic long-distance swimming champion Maarten van der Weijden opened the fish-sitting service at the airport in June 2009. The initiative is part of a campaign by the travel agent that uses fish in its advertising.

A large aquarium looking like a hotel - including a tennis court and a pool with slide - with 80 permanent residents will be visible to passengers travelling through Schiphol. Goldfish dropped off by travellers will get private suites, so that they don't get mixed up and catch each others' diseases, D-reizen director Steven van Nieuwenhuizen explained.

And if a fish happens to die when its owners are away, D-reizen will not swap the pet for another one without telling the owners. They will be able to take home another one from the tank.

Commercial for the Hotel

Watch at youtube

Making of the Aquarium Hotel

Watch at youtube

Barbie Thumbelina - video links on youtube

2009-09-02T11:27:00.001+05:30

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,
Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,
Part 7, Part 8

For Further reading :-
Barbie Thumbelina - Wikipedia

History of Pencil

2009-09-01T12:52:00.001+05:30

We have been writing with pencils ever since childhood but have we ever wondered what does the word pencil stand for ? How pencil is made? etc....

Pencil stands for :-
The word pencil is derived from the Latin pencillus which means "little tail".

History of Pencil:-
Since early cave man man had been in search of writing material.To draw on cave walls man used soft stones and chalks.

In ancient Rome, scribes wrote on papyrus (an early form of paper) with a thin metal rod called a stylus, which left a light but readable mark. Other early styluses were made of lead. Today we still call the core of a pencil the "lead" even though it is made from nontoxic graphite.

The origins of today's pencil goes back to 1565, when a grey-black glistening substance was found in Borrowdale, in the Cumberland hills of England. It was said to be a 'lead' coloured material, greasy to touch an quick to stain the fingers. This substance became known as black-lead, and was found to be more convenient for a writing an drawing than pen and ink, as it's marks could be rubbed out easily.

In the late 18th century, Swedish chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele identified the substance as a crystallised form of carbon, like diamond, however structurally very different. He named it Graphite, from the Greek word for writing, 'Graphein'.

In 1761 cabinetmaker Kaspar Faber settled in Stein, near Nurenburg, in Germany to make his first simple pencils. Graphite was cut into narrow sticks and glued between two pieces of wood which were cut and planed smooth. The family dynasty of pencil makers had begun.

Oldest Known Wood Cased Pencil – Faber-Castell collection

How is Pencil made?

Pencil consists of a core writing material glued to a wood or outer structure for easy holding or gripping.

Process:-

Powdered graphite is mixed with clay, shaped into thin rods (or leads) then fired in a kiln at high temperature. The greater the graphite content the softer and darker the lead. The greater the clay content the harder and lighter the lead.

The wood used to encase the graphite must be soft enough for sharpening, yet stable enough that it will not bend. Red cedar is the most popular timber chosen for this purpose. The timber is first milled into slats about seven inches long, by two inches thick.Round grooves are machined along one side to accept the graphite leads. Then two such grooves are glued together with the lead in between them. After the glue has cured, the pencil is cut to shape and painted.

Video:-
Faber Castell Pencil Production

For Further Reading:-

Early Office Museum
Wikipedia-Pencil
Pencil.com
Faber-castell Pencil history

Menton Lemon Festival

2009-08-16T15:46:00.000+05:30

Every year in February the Lemon Festival (Fête du Citron) takes place in Menton,France.The festival follows a given theme each year; past themes include Viva España, Disney, Neverland, and India.

The festival lasts a few days, with different bands passing through Menton's streets on foot or on truck trailers. The Casino Gardens in the centre of town are decorated in the theme of the festival, using lemons to cover the exhibits, and huge temporary statues are built and covered with citrus fruit.

The festival is enjoyed for three whole weeks along with a daily Citrus Exposition, parades on Sundays,Corsos Nocturnes with fireworks on Thursday nights, and Jardins de lumières on Fridays.This year Menton hosted the 76th Lemon Festival from February - 13 to March 4 2009 with the Theme "Music of the world".

Further Reading:-
Fête du Citron Official site

Savandurga

2009-04-19T19:03:00.000+05:30

Savandurga a massive granite hill range which rises to the height of 4000 feet above the sea level is surrounded by 6000 acres of forest.It is 60 km from Bangalore and 20 km from Magadi.

At the foot hill there are temples of Sri Narasimhaswamy,Sri Veerabadharaswamy and Sri Basaveshwara.

Lake at the foot hill

It is a great place for rock climbing,Trekking,Boating,Bird watching and weekend getaway.This place also has a history of Magadi Kempegowda the founder of banaglore.

Savandurga can be added to the list of weekend gateway from Bangalore.

I had been to Savandurga long back (approximately a year back) on a team outing.As it was tailored outing we didn't have much of adventure but yes the outing was a good one.

On our way to Savandurga for breakfast we halted at the Big Banyan.Big Banyan is approximately 28 km south east of Bangalore.

It is a 400-year-old banyan tree which covers an area of 3 acres.

It is home to a large number of monkeys,so we had a great time saving the eatables from monkeys for ourselves.

After breakfast we headed for Savandurga.On reaching there we went for trekking,boating,Rappling etc.....
It was a great fun and finally we were exhausted .

For Further Reading :-
Wikipedia-Savandurga

Navakalevara

2009-04-02T19:32:00.000+05:30

Puri, Orissa which has Shirmandir the abode of Lord Jagannath is considered as one of the 4 Dhams (holy place) of the Hindu religion. The idols deities of Puri Shrimandir , Lord Balabhadra ,Goddess Subhdra ,Lord Jagannath and Sudarshan are made of Neem(Margosa) Wood. These Idols are replaced every few years (approximately 12 Yrs) by a ritual/ceremony called Navakalevara .

Navakalevara is derived from Sanskrit words “Nava” means new and “Kalevara” means body, thus Navakalevara stands for Newbody. Nabakalebara symbolizes the basic human philosophy of life and death in order to realize the eternal truth of life. As it has been illustrated in the Bhagavad Gita that just like the Atma of a living being takes a new birth leaving its old body so also the Lord change their old wooden body and take a new form. The ritual of Navakalevara occurs in a year which has two Months of Ashadh as per the Hindu calendar.

The preparation of the ceremony starts in Chaitra.The oldest person of the dayitapati family travels to Kakatpur, which is 60 km. Northeast of Puri. After taking bath in the River Prachi they pray to the Goddess Mangala, who is the presiding Deity of Kakatpur, asking her to help them find the sacred wood.

Goddess Mangala of Kakatpur
The priests then sleep in front of the Goddess with their face down (locally known as adhia posture) and the Goddess Mangala comes in their dreams to tell them of the exact locations of the sacred neem trees for all the Deities.

The priests then travel on foot to the locations given in their dreams. They locate the correct trees by identifying all the prerequisite signs, which qualify the sacred tree for the Deities. These prerequisites include the following:

Conch mark on the Tree

                            Chakra mark on the tree.

1. They must have a wheel (chakra),conshell,mace and lotus sign on them.
2. Poisonous snakes like the Cobra must be hiding under them or in a nearby ant hill.
3. A tamarind tree must be in the vicinity.
4. A funeral yard must be in the vicinity of each tree.
5. Each tree must have 4 to 7 branches over the main trunk.
6. From ground level up to 10-12 feet, the trunk should be straight and solid.
7. There must be no nest of birds on the treetops.
8. Shiva’s Temple and a pond should be nearby.
9.The Varuna tree(protects against snakes also is considered to destroy pride and anger),Sahada tree (power to forget onself),Vilua Tree (Has power to cure any disease like cancer,leprosy…) should be around the Neem tree.

Tree being worshipped before cutting the Tree

Cutting of the Tree by the woodcutter

After the trees are found a small hut is constructed nearby in which they will now reside. A great fire sacrifice is performed there to invite all demigods to give their blessings and cutting of the tree can start. First only the golden axe can touch the tree, then silver and after that iron axe can finish the work. 108 names of the Lord are chanted continuously. A small cart with four wheels is then constructed from the smaller branches of each of the trees, and the main trunks of the trees are thereby transported on the carts to Jagannatha Puri. The cart is pulled all the way by the devotees of the villages it passes through.

After reaching Puri, the wood enters the Jagannatha Temple through its northern gate, just before the scheduled date of the annual bathing ceremony of the Deities (Devasnana Purnima). On the next day after the bathing ceremony, the Deities are carved out of the trunks, in secrecy and according to the proscribed specifications. The work is done at a specified place inside the temple premises, known as Koili Baikuntha.

Photo of Lord Jagannath Vishakhapatnam

Before Asadha Chaturthy night the new Deities are completed. On this night during the midnight hours, the Brahma Padarth (the Supreme Matter) is transferred from the old to new Deities. Old Deities are placed in front of the new ones and three oldest members of Dayitapati family transfer "Daru-brahman" to the new Deities .Not even the head priest can be there during this time. During the process of transfer of Brahma from the old wooden body to be kept in the new body, which is carved and in the darkness the sevakawith his eyes and hands closed bound with new cloths for which he is not allowed to feel or touch the Brahma directly. It has been said that the Brahma of Sri Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra are rare Salagrams where as it is quite different in Lord Sri Jagannath.

While Buddhists describe the Brahma Padartha as being the tooth of Buddha, Vaisnavas understand it to be the live Salagrama. According to the Shabaras people, Zara Shabara pierced the feet of Sri Krsna at Mahendragiri with an arrow, thereby causing His death. Arjuna instructed the crying Zara to cremate the body, but Zara could not bear to burn Krishna's body completely. The navel portion remained unburned, and was kept inside the initial Deity form worshipped by the tribals as Nilamadhava. This element is transferred from old Deities to new ones in the dead hour of the night by a hereditary sevayat (servant) of the temple. The sevayat is completely blindfolded, and his hands and feet are wrapped with thick layers of silk ribbons so that he can neither see nor feel anything about the element being transferred.

Nava-kalevara-yatra is actually this transformation ceremony during which all present have very intense experiences as they blindfolded transfer "life force" to the new Deities. Old Deities are buried in a place known as Koili Vaikuntha. Koili means "burial ground" and Vaikuntha means "Heaven".

They may also occur in 16 or 19-year cycles. The last four Navakalevara ceremonies for Their Lordships were celebrated in these years: 1733, 1744, 1752, 1771, 1790, 1809, 1828, 1836, 1855, 1874, 1893, 1912, 1931, 1950, 1969, 1977 and 1996. On these occasions, countless throngs of devotees make their way to Jagannatha Puri in order to be present for this ecstatic event.

For Further Reading:-
Orissa gov magazine
Wikipedia
Fullorissa
India Divine

Sleeping Beauty:Rosalia Lombardo

2009-01-28T20:04:00.000+05:30

This is the picture of Rosalia Lombardo who seems to be dozing in the picture, dozing beneath the glass front of her coffin in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Italy. Thanks to Dr. Salafia's embalming techniques, the body has been well-preserved and appeared so lifelike that until recently, locals believed she must be a doll. X-rays of the body show that the organs are remarkably intact. Rosalia Lombardo's body is kept in a small chapel at the end of the catacomb's tour and is encased in a glass covered coffin, placed on a marble pedestal.

Rosalia Lombardo was an Italian girl who died of Pneumonia in 1920 at age 2

Her father was sorely grieved upon her death and approached Dr. Alfredo Salafia, a noted embalmer, to preserve her.

Alfredo Salafia, a Sicilian taxidermist and embalmer who died in 1933.Recently, the formula was found from a handwritten memoir of Salafia's. The formula apparently consisted of

1. Formalin to kill bacteria
2. Alcohol to dry the body
3. Glycerin to keep her from over drying
4. Salicylic Acid to kill fungi, and the most important ingredient
5. Zinc salts to give the body rigidity.

Due to the life like preservation/mummification of the body the it got the name of “Sleeping Beauty”.Rosalia Lombardo corpse was the last to be added to the catacombs of Palermo.

Further Reading:-

Wikipedia
Encyclopedia
National Geographic Channel
Tribe net
Google books

Barbie in a Christmas Carol

2009-01-27T21:16:00.000+05:30

On Christmas Eve, Barbie tells Kelly the story of a girl named Eden Starling, a glamorous singing diva who owns a theater and doesn't believe in Christmas. On Christmas Eve, she orders everyone who works for her to sing on Christmas. Then she is visited by three spirits who try to change her perspective on Christmas forever who are sent by Eden's dead aunt. Barbie tells this story to Kelly for having Christmas spirit.

Video Links on youtube:-

Part 1,Part 2,Part 3

Part 4,Part 5,Part 6

Part 7

Nilgiri Mountain Railways

2009-01-19T20:20:00.000+05:30

At the height of 2,600m stands Udhagamandalam (Ooty). The ‘Nilgiris toy train’ connect Mettupalayam, at the foot of the Nilgiris to Ooty.

We had planned for a trip on this train but due to time constraint the journey couldnot materialise.After reaching Ooty we came to know that the train further travels till Coonor.

Quite delighted over the oppurtunity of journey on this world heritage train we wasted no time and got the tickets for the train.The cost of the general ticket was just Rs 5 and 1st class being a lil costly Rs67(comparitive to the general ticket it seems costly).As the train was fast approaching the station we got a general ticket immediately and rushed.A ticket doesnot guarantee a seat,but fortunately we got window seat :)

Ooty railway Station

The Nilgiri Toy Train

Before I write more on my travel here is short history of Nilgiri toy train.

The Nilgiri Mountain railway is one of the oldest mountain railways in India. Under consideration since 1845, the line was finally opened by the British in 1899, and was initially operated by the Madras Railway Company. The railway is one of the few in the world dependent on steam locomotives.

In July 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the World Heritage Site of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the site then became known as "Mountain Railways of India." after it satisfied the necessary criteria, thus forcing abandonment of modernisation plans.

For Further reading on Nilgiri Mountain Railways:

Indian railway

Nilgiri Mountain railways Wikipedia

Further continuing with my travel log:--
There are 4 trains running daily from Ooty to Coonor and vice versa.There are five stations between Coonoor and Ooty too. Through Wellington, Aruvankadul, Ketti, and Lovedale are still functional, Fren Hill, the last one, was closed down a few years ago.

As the train hooted its way through the hills via tunnels we could see the beautiful lush greenery of Nilgiri mountain range unfold before us.A lot of terrace farms covered the hills with the fresh green tea plantations.

Making its way through the stations the train reached Coonor.With every passing tunnel the crowd in train cheered and ecohed hurray.

The journey was a real memorable once.

Some pics of the journey are here below.

Laguna Colorada

2009-01-01T20:19:00.000+05:30

Laguna Colorada (Red Lagoon) is a shallow salt lake in southwest of the altiplano (a highland plateau of the Andes)of Bolivia near to the border of Chile. It is nearer to the Uyuni Flats.

The lake contains borax islands, whose white color contrasts nicely with the reddish color of its waters, which is caused by red sediments and pigmentation of some algae

James’s Flamingos abound in the area. These are pink flamingos which feed on the red algae of the lagoon.

Barbie and the Diamond Castle - video links on youtube

2008-09-21T10:52:00.000+05:30

Part 1,Part 3,Part 4
Part 5,Part 6,Part 7
Part 8

Part 2 on youtube seems to be corrupted.

La Tomatina

2008-08-29T20:46:00.001+05:30

La Tomatina is basically a Food festival which goes on for a week. The main attraction of the festival is the Tomato fight festival or war of over ripe tomatoes which is held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain.

The festival is in honor of the town's patron saints, Luis Bertràn and the Mare de Déu dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless), a title of the Virgin Mary.It started in the year 1945.

Around 30,000 to 40,000 people turn up to take part in the tomato fight.
In preparation for the dirty mess that will ensue, shopkeepers use huge plastic covers on their storefronts in order to protect them from the carnage.
The festival starts early in the morning when everyone turns up and dines on a breakfast of Chorizo and Rose wine.

Around 10 am many trucks haul tomatoes into the center of the town, Plaza del Pueblo.The tomato comes from Extremadura.
A wooden pole is greased. The pole is approximately two storeys high. A ham is kept at the top of it .People try to climb to it to get the ham.

Officially the tomato fight should start after people get hold of the ham. But even though people cannot get to it the festival starts.

By 11am in the morning water canons are fired to mark the start of the fight..
From this point the event turns into a tomato slinging war for the next 1 hours in which around 110-130 tons of tomato are squashed and thrown. Everyone is supposed to adhere to a small number of rules:

• You must squash the tomato before throwing it
• You are not allowed to throw anything other than tomatoes.
• Encouraged to wear goggles.
• No cloth tearing (rarely followed).

After exactly 1 hr the fight stops by firing of the water canons.
Fire trucks are used to clean the streets.

Well all these looks good but when you contrast it against the starving people starving you may not like the festival anymore for its wasteful nature i.e. the wasting of so much food an water for fun .NOM

For Further reading:-

La tomatina
Wikipedia
More on La tomatina

Sanchi Stupa

2008-08-13T10:44:00.000+05:30

Sanchi is a small village in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh.It is 46 km NE of Bhopal,Capital of Madhya Pradesh.It is famous for it houses Buddhist monuments called "Stupas" dating to 3rd century BCE."Stupa" in Sanskrit stands for "heap",Stupas are large hemispherical domes or mound like structure containing a central chamber, in which the relics of the Buddha were placed.

This Stupa is an early prototype of Buddhist stupas found today.It was originally built with bricks and was about half the size.The Stupas contained the remains of Buddha , no Statues of Buddha existed initially because people worshipped the stupa as a symbol of Buddha instead.

Canopy layers known as Chatra at the top of the stupa represent Buddha’s past, present and future.

There are four gateways known as “Torana” at each side of the stupa in four directions east ,west,north,south. The decorative relief portrays the world of ancient Buddhism.

East Gate
On the east gate A Yakshi Goddess is carved on the Torana. She is a Goddess of the Forest worshipped long before Buddhism.

West Gate
On west gate the Yaksha, a God of the Forest was carved . He is believed to be the origin of the later God figure, Vaisravana.There’s an image of a wheel and people worshipping it in the centre of the West gate. The wheel is known as the “Wheel of Law”, which represents Buddha and his teachings.

North Gate

On the North Gate there are carvings of people worshipping the stupa . It depicts people making offerings, playing instruments and worshipping.

South Gate
On the South gate shows how people fought over the Buddha’s remains. After the war they were divided into 8 parts, and later divided into 84 thousand parts. This process allowed Buddhists to build numerous stupas throughout Asia.

Initially the Stupas did not contain any image of Buddha,thus Buddha was depicted in various forms for example his foot prints,wheels etc.Later statues of Buddha were used to worship.

Apart from the hemispherical dome and four ornated gates the stupa is surrounded by railings.The main Stupa has a path for circumbation.

The gateways are ornated with the "Jatak" stories.

In one of the carvings Buddha is shown deep in meditation, surrounded by evil beings at the moment he achieves enlightenment. Buddha is represented here as a linden tree, the place where he attained enlightenment.

For More Reading:

UNESCO
Wikipedia

Morning Glory Pool

2008-05-14T13:22:00.001+05:30

Morning Glory Pool. Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

Morning Glory Pool, is a hot spring in the Upper Basin of Yellowstone National Park in the United States.It is one of the most popular and beautiful pools in Yellowstone National Park.

It was named as Morning Glory Pool in 1880's due to its deep blue coloration and likeness to the Morning Glory flower.

Morning Glory Pool was once reached by car, bringing it fame as one of the first features visitors would see entering the Upper Geyser Basin. Over the years visitors tossed coins, trash, sticks and rocks into the pool, causing its vent to clog and the flow of water to decrease. This lead to drop in temperature in the pool , allowing the growth of the red and yellow microbes that formerly only survived at the fringe of the pool to grow toward the center.

Cause of the various colours at the fringe of the pool:
The vivid colors in the spring are the result of pigmented bacteria in the microbial mats that grow around the edges of the mineral-rich water. The bacteria produce colors ranging from green to red; the amount of color in the microbial mats depends on the ratio of chlorophyll to carotenoids. In the summer, the mats tend to be orange and red, whereas in the winter the mats are usually dark green. The center of the pool is sterile due to extreme heat.

Cause of the deep blue colour
The deep blue color of the water in the center of the pool results from a light-absorbing overtone of the hydroxy stretch of water. Though this effect is responsible for making all large bodies of water blue, it is particularly intense in hot water because of the high purity and depth of the water in the middle of the spring.

Twisted Balloons Fashion

2008-03-07T00:18:00.000+05:30

The first picture that comes in our mind when we say balloons is birthday balloons ,round in shape in different colors.Balloons blown into shapes are something we remember to have seen our bought in some fair.

But at KimTom international clown festival, Shanghai ,China 2007 balloons were blown not to make simple shapes for fun but designer dresses.Designers came up with eye-catching dresses made entirely of balloons.

Each dress consists of around 300 modeling balloons twisted together and took about ten hours to make. Most of the balloons are 60 inches long and either one or two inches thick.Dresses ranged around £1,000, even though they are 1 wear or so.

Dresses were done by following artists:
Asi cohen -Israel
Katie Laibstain -USA
August Coh -Slovenia
Rie Hosokai -Japan
Steven Jones -USA
Debbie stevens -USA
Shonna Flanigan -USA
Mark Verge -Canada
Ken Stilman -USA
JoAnn Gray -USA
Romana Kolenc -Slovenia
Niko Fric -Slovenia
Mark Byrne -USA

Here are some photos of Balloon dresses:

Dress by Asi Cohen modeled by Katie Laibstain at the KimTom clown festival Shanghai China

Dress by Niko Fric modeled at the KimTom clown festival Shanghai China

For more twisted Balloons:
www.nikoloon.com(Niko Fric)
Blow fish balloonhq(Asi Cohen)
www.balloonhq.com

Shivarathri

2008-03-05T20:57:00.000+05:30

Lord Shiva and Devi Parvati's Statue at Kailash Giri,Vizag,Andhra Pradesh,India


            Aum Trayambakam Yajaamahey
            Sugandhim Pusti Vardhanam
            Urvaarukamiva Bandhanaath
            Mrutyor Muksheeya Maamritaat

Meaning: We worship the three eyed One (Lord Shiva) who is fragrant and who nourishes all beings; may He liberate me from death, for the sake of immortality, even as cucumber is severed from its bondage of the vine.

Maha Shivarathri or ‘Shiva’s Great Night’is an auspicious Hindu festival that is celebrated on a moonless night in the Hindu month of Phalguna that corresponds to February - March in English Calendar.

Somnath Temple

There are many stories and legends describing the origin of this festival.

One of it states that during the churning of the ocean(samudra manthanam) by the gods and the asuras(devils), malicious venom emerged from the ocean .To protect the world from its evil effect, Shiva drank the deadly poison but held it in his throat instead of swallowing it. This made his throat turn blue, and he was given the name Neelakantha, the blue-throated one. Shivaratri is the celebration of this event of protection graced by Shiva.

People keep fasts the whole day ,some devotees do not even take a drop of water. They keep vigil all night. The Shiva Lingam is worshipped throughout the night by washing it every three hours with milk, curd, honey, rose water, etc., whilst the chanting of the Mantra Om Namah Shivaya continues. Offerings of bael leaves are made to the Lingam. Bael leaves are very sacred as, it is said, Lakshmi resides in them.

Hymns in praise of Lord Shiva, such as the Shiva Mahimna Stotra of Pushpadanta or Ravana's Shiva Tandava Stotra are sung with great fervour and devotion. People repeat the Panchakshara Mantra, Om Namah Shivaya.

Spritual Significance:
The ocean is compared to the human mind and the process of churning to meditation. In the hours of meditation, the sadhaka or spiritual aspirant churns his own mind. There is a constant war between the devas and the asuras, that is, between the good and the bad tendencies (samskaras) accumulated in the sub-conscious mind. During the process of churning of the mind, both good and bad tendencies surface to the conscious mind. Spiritual aspirants pay and seek the blessings of Shiva (who is none other than their own divine Self) to digest all these poisons without getting affected by them. Then alone will they be able to manifest their divine nature and obtain the pot of nectar – Amruta Kumbha – that is immortality.(Reference:Online Bharatnatyam Academy)

Further Reading:
Sivaratri
Wikipedia
Maha Shivaratri
Shivaratri(Kashmiri Pandits)
Shivam

Shiva Slokas with meaning:
Slokas on lord Shiva

Free Shiva sloka Download(mp3)
sloka mantra
Vedamantram

Singing Ringing Tree

2008-03-03T22:58:00.000+05:30

Designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu

'Singing Ringing Tree' is a metallic sculpture set in the landscape of the Pennines overlooking Burnley, in the north west of England.It is on the crown point.This tree is made up of galvanished steel pipes as the branches of the tree.The pipes are carefully tuned to so that the tree sings in harmony.The music is created by the wind whistling through its 'branches'.

Video on youtube showing the "Singing ringing tree" and the music created by it.

In 2007, the sculpture won (along with 13 other candidates) the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for architectural excellence.

The other three sculputres of the series are:
The AtomJune 2006

ColourfieldsSeptember 2006
Haslingden HaloSeptember 2007

References:
Panopticons
Wikipedia

Barbie as the Island Princess-video links on youtube

2008-03-02T12:52:00.000+05:30

You can watch this movie on youtube.It is there in 11 parts.
Part1 ,Part2 ,Part3 ,
Part4 ,Part5 ,Part6 ,
Part7 ,Part8 ,Part9 ,
Part10,Part11

But if you want to own the DVD you can buy here:-

The Barbie as the Island Princess Rosella Doll
wears a necklace which when you press would sing a melody.

You can buy the book here.

Woman-Well expressed

2008-03-02T11:51:00.000+05:30

This is a beautiful article(email-forwards):

The woman in your life...very well expressed...

Tomorrow you may get a working woman, but you should marry her with these facts as well.

Here is a girl, who is as much educated as you are;
Who is earning almost as much as you do;

One, who has dreams and aspirations just as
you have because she is as human as you are;

One, who has never entered the kitchen in her life just like you or your
Sister haven't, as she was busy in studies and competing in a system
that gives no special concession to girls for their culinary achievements

One, who has lived and loved her parents & brothers & sisters, almost as
much as you do for 20-25 years of her life;

One, who has bravely agreed to leave behind all that, her home, people who love her, to adopt your home, your family, your ways and even your family ,name

One, who is somehow expected to be a master-chef from day #1, while you sleep oblivious to her predicament in her new circumstances, environment and that kitchen

One, who is expected to make the tea, first thing in the morning and cook food at the end of the day, even if she is as tired as you are, maybe more,and yet never ever expected to complain; to be a servant, a cook, a mother,a wife, even if she doesn't want to; and is learning just like you are as to what you want from her; and is clumsy and sloppy at times and knows that you won't like it if she is too demanding, or if she learns faster than you;

One, who has her own set of friends, and that includes boys and even men at her workplace too, those, who she knows from school days and yet is willing to put all that on the back-burners to avoid your irrational jealousy, unnecessary competition and your inherent insecurities;

Yes, she can drink and dance just as well as you can, but won't, simply
Because you won't like it, even though you say otherwise

One, who can be late from work once in a while when deadlines, just like yours, are to be met;

One, who is doing her level best and wants to make this most important,
relationship in her entire life a grand success, if you just help her some
and trust her;

One, who just wants one thing from you, as you are the only one she knows in your entire house - your unstinted support, your sensitivities and most importantly - your understanding, or love, if you may call it.

But not many guys understand this......

Please appreciate

Floating Volcanic stones

2008-02-19T21:33:00.000+05:30

This is another interesting piece of information which i got through the mails.The incident occured in august 2006 and was caputred on camera of the crew of yacht "Maiken".The report can be found on the blog Federick and crew on yacht Maiken

Here is the pictorial depictions of birth of a new island in the ocean by volcanic eruption.

          Sea of volcanic stones

     Floating coarse volcanic stones

     Trail left by yacht MAIKEN

     Smoke rising from volcano

       Formation of new island

        Photo by George Leslie

References:
Fredrik and Crew on Maiken: Stone sea and volcano
Fox News
International Herald Tribune:

Sisupalgarh

2008-02-11T21:20:00.000+05:30

Sisupalgarh,Khurda,Orissa

Sisupalgarh is one of the series of ancient sites of India .It lies South east of Bhubaneshwar(Capital of Orissa).The site was first excavated by Archeological Survey of India in the year 1948 and again in 1950.After the initial excavation in 1950 the actual reasearch on this site started late in 2000.

The archeologist were trying to correlate the artifacts collected from the site with the large amount of documentation found on stones,metals etc.According to the researchers the city of Sisupalgarh was a flourishing city for 1000 years from 3rd BC to 3rd AD.


City existance:3rd BC to 3rd AD
City Size     :130 hectar(approx)
Population    :25000(approx)
Pillars found :18 (community center structure)
Gateways      :8

This city is considered to be fortified city with moats of water around the city wall.Huge amount of pottery,terracota ornaments like finger rings etc have been found.The pottery found are polished and have ownership marks.During the recent excavtion and research 18 pillars have been excavated.It is considered to be one of the biggest city excavated in India.

The excavation brings out the facts like well built city with fortified gaurded mud+stone walls populated with a huge population.Road system(roads cut each other at 90 degrees ),Pottery etc.

Some historians consider sisupalgarh as the capital Kalinganagar of the Kalinga king "Kharavela".Kharavela belonged to a dynasty called the Chedi or Mahameghavahana .During the 13 Year rule of Kharavela Kalinga Empire reached its peak.The inscriptions found on a rock hanging in the Hathigumpha at udayagiri hills speak of the achivements of Kharavela.Also some scenes from his life are depicted in the paints of the walls of the cave called Ranigumpha.

According to the Mauryan inscription after the famous Kalinga war by Ashoka when Kalinga became a part of Mauryan Empire.The headquaters in Kalinga for Mauryan Empire was called Tosali.Some historians consider Sisupalgarh as the Tosali mentioned in Mauryan inscriptions found at Dhauli hils(3Km from the site).
The discoveries at Sisupalgarh are quite similar as described in the Arthasastra.

Translations from the Arthasastra about the description of fortified town are given in the following passages.

"… the king may have his fortified capital as the seat of his ….in a locality naturally best fitted for the purpose. Such as the bank of the confluence of the rivers, a deep pool of perennial water or a lake or a tank, surrounded with an artificial canal of water connected with both land and water paths."

" Above the rampart, parapets in odd or even numbers and with an intermediate space from 12-24 hastas from each other shall be built of bricks."

"Demarcation of the ground inside the fort shall be made first by opening three royal roads from west to east and three from South to north…"

These references from the Arthasastra are corroborated by Archaeological findings at Sisupalgarh e.g The presence of a square (Chaturasara) settlement.Fortification walls oriented along the cardinal directions.A moat around the fortification fed by a perennial stream.The fortification comprising a rampart and over lying brick walls with intermediary earthen fillings.Three royal roads running east-west and north and south
So far there are two differences:

There are two major roads in east-west and north-south direction. May be due to Sisupalgarh not being as large a settlement as envisaged in the Arthasastra.

The Arthasastra describes about twelve major gateways where as Sisupalgarh has only eight.

References:
The Hindu
The Times of India
Researches of Monica L.Smith

Konark or The Black Pagoda

2008-02-09T09:47:00.000+05:30

Shrimandir Jagannath Puri,Sun temple Konark and Lingaraj temple Bhubaneshwar form the Golden triangle of Orissa.Though I had been to Lingaraj temple and Shrimandir many a times I had never been to Konark until 2004.Konark is situated on the seashore, about 33 km north of Puri and 64 km from Bhubaneshwar and just 1.5hrs from my college. So when I was going to my college after vacation my family accompanied me to Puri and we all went to Konark too.

It was a hot summer day and the mercury was rising like anything. By the time we reached Konark we were fully drenched with sweat. I rather thought of dropping the idea, but one sight of the temple and I found myself willing to go further. The architecture is so beautiful.

Approach to Konark Temple

The name Konark is derived form the words Kona - Corner and Arka – Sun.Konark is one of the grandest sun temple of India. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1984.The Sun Temple of Konark was built in the thirteen century by Ganga ruler Narasimha Deva.It’s form is of a chariot drawn by seven galloping horses. The horses are not visible, some are scattered in the surrounding garden. The massive structure, now in ruins.The temple now comprises only of the sabhamandap and the natamandir.

The Lion guards

The main temple crumbled down many years ago. Two lions guard the entrance of Bhog-mandap, crushing elephants that in turn is on a man.The lion represents power and the elephant man is overcome by them. A flight of steps lead to the main entrance. The nata mandir in front of the Jagamohana There are three images of the Sun God, positioned to catch the rays of the sun at dawn, noon and sunset

A view of Konark Temple

The massive structure is surrounded by drifting sand. Today it is located two kilometers from the sea, but originally the ocean came almost up to its base. Until fairly recent times, in fact, the temple was close enough to the shore to be used as a navigational point by European sailors, who referred to it as the 'Black Pagoda'. The sea shore is called chandrabhaga beach which is now 3km from the temple.The entire temple was designed in the shape of a colossal chariot, carrying the sun God, Surya, across the heavens.

The main idol of the Sun God on which the suns rays fall in the morning is said to have been removed by some Portuguese navigators.

There is a sun temple inside the Shrimandir/Jagannath Temple Puri campus towards the west.This temple has a broken idol of Sun god which is believed to be the main idol worshipped at Konark long ago.As the idol is broken there is a screen veiling the broken idol and a new idol is kept just in front of it.The original idol is made of black granite stone.It is a life size statue.

How the temple got demolished has many beautiful explanations but the most scientific and accepted explanation is the following.It is said that the temple top or the kalash had a massive magnet which used to attract the navigation compass used by vessel from a great distance,thus affecting there movement.Instead of showing exact north the north of the compass showed the direct to konark temple.

One western scientist while commenting on the scientific achievements of the past has praised the knowledge of our forefathers about architecture and magnetism.

One of the 24 wheels
The huge chariot has 12 pairs of wheels.The wheels are the crowning glory of the temple which imparts a monumental grandeur unique in the realm of art.
The wheel is decorated with beaded rings, lotus petals. The thin spokes have a row of alternate beads and disc and the broad ones are roughly diamond shaped. These disc although small contain the daily routine of a court wife, dances etc. They represent the 24 hours in a day(24 wheels), the 12 months(12 pair of wheels) in an year and in ancient times used to tell the time. Just put your finger on the axel and the sunlight directs the shadow to the hour and minutes on the wheel. It has become the trademark of Orissa .The chariot itself tells time with the seven horses believed to be signifying the seven days of a week

Kakatpur

2008-02-07T20:21:00.000+05:30

Kakatpur, a small town/moderate village, is situated in the "Puri" district of Orissa, approximately 65 km from Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa. From Bhubaneshwar to pipili one can take a bus, and from there to Kakatpur, there are some inconvenient public transport systems. If affordable, its suggested to take a taxi. Kakatpur is famous for Maa Mangala temple.

                       Road to Konark

Though I planned of visiting Kakatpur for four years of my engineering but the plan never materialised.Kakatpur is just at a few hrs from my college. It was in the final year just before final semester that we finally planned to go to Kakatpur.

I with few of my friends boarded the local bus from the bus stop in front of our college. The bus was as usual overcrowded; forget for a seat if you got a place to put your feet then you are lucky. After a journey of 1.5hrs we reached Konark.from there we had to take another bus as the bus we boarded wont go further. Finally after a journey of another 1.5 hrs or so we reached Kakatpur Mangala.

The temple isn’t a very huge once but nevertheless it’s of high religious significance and a very nice once. As one of our friends was from Kakatpur she became the guide for us to go round the temple. After performing puja we had the lunch at temple.

                       Kakatpur Temple

Then we went to our friend’s house. The local press is run by our good friend’s family. She showed us the local high school. It’s a really nice school. Typical bookish look school.

                       School

On our way back to college at konark bus stop we got down and went to the sea beach of Konark.famously known as Chandrabhaga beach. Unlike Puri beach this beach is quite deserted with few tourist scattered here and there. The beach is quite dangerous because one step and you will be going down some 5ft.the beach is not that uniform.

            Collecting Shells

After spending some time on beach we started for the local shops to buy the handmade stuff but it started to drizzle so we rushed to bus stop and cached the bus to college.

       Lighthouse at chandrabhaga

Hyderabad and Secundrabad

2008-02-07T01:10:00.000+05:30

Hyderabad and Secundrabad are known as the twin cities or the city of pearls.

Hyderabad is the capital city of Andhra Pradesh. It is not only famous for pearls
but also for the dazzling lac and stone bangles, bell metal statues, diamonds (Kohinoor was found while digging for the construction of golconda fort .Kohinoor now adore the crown of Queen of Britain), hyderabadi biryani, the fast growing IT industry and many more. These cities have moved swiftly from Nizams era to become the present IT hub of India.

Hyderabad has many beautiful places to see thanks to the rich heritage as well as the new developments. This city adjusts so easily with the new changes that one should rather call this city a dynamic city. This city shows a perfect blend of tradition, culture and technology.

There a lot of places to hold the interest of all kind of tastes of people be it historical, religious, entertainment , technology, shopping …………..

Hussainsagar
Starting with the beautiful Hussainsagar Lake which connects secundrabad and Hyderabad. This lake adds life to the city.

This is the oldest excavated lake in the city. It came into existence even before Hyderabad was built. A large monolithic statue of the Buddha has been erected on a 'Rock of Gibraltar' in the centre of the lake. Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation has a host of boating facilities on the lake.

The road around the lake is called necklace road. You can find here a lot of joggers in the morning. It links the twin cities by connecting the Sanjeevaiah Park, Secundrabad, with Khairatabad in Hyderabad. The Necklace Road has a 3-acre people's plaza which hosts several events and celebrations.

PLACES AROUND HUSSAINSAGAR LAKE

NTR Garden

Developed on the shores of the Hussainsagar lake, the 34-acre garden is a memorial to late N.T. Rama Rao, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Birla Mandir
As the name indicates, Birla Trust constructed the temple. Built with white marble, the temple is located on to the south end of Hussain Sagar. The temple is dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara. The sanctum sanctorum of the temple is a replica of Venkateshwara temple at Tirupati.

It is a very beautiful place. A place must for most visitors .From here you can have a view of Hussain Sagar and the necklace road and from another side you can have a view of part of the city. At night the view of the lake and necklace road is really magnificent with those flickering lights of the vehicles glittering like diamonds in the necklace.

Lumbini Park
The name comes as the park is right across the Buddha Statue and is within what was called the Buddha Poornima Project. A large floral clock at the entrance greets visitors and there is a musical fountain that enthralls visitors.

Prasad movie hall(IMAX)
This place is a treat for movie lovers.L.V Prasad group along with the IMAX group started this multiplex in 2003.Prasad's IMAX multiplex is spread across an area of 2,35,000 sq ft. The project cost is about 61.5 crores.

This hall has 5 screens in total 4 of which are 70mm screens and the 5th one is the IMAX screen which is a 29 meters wide and 21.93 meters long screen.IMAX also features 3D movies.Along with the screen, the Prasad's also has food courts and shopping malls that are spread over three floors.

OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST

Charminar

It is the principal landmark of Hyderabad. In 1591, Mohamed Quli Qutub Shah built Charminar to commemorate the end of a devastating epidemic. Charminar, which means four towers, stands 56m high and 30m wide creating four arches facing each of cardinal points. The four minars rise to a height of 180 feet with circular staircases going up.

These days because of the huge traffic around Charminar the monument is getting hit by pollution and quite difficult to reach to.A visiting tourist may get irritated by the time he or she gets to the monument.

Mecca Masjid

It is located diagonally opposite the Charminar, Bricks for the main arch were brought from Mecca and thus the name, This huge mosque can accommodate at least 10,000 people at 'Namaaz'.

Salar Jung Museum

A major attraction for art lovers, Salar Jung Museum was put together by Mir Yousuf Ali Khan (Salar Jung III), the Prime Minister of Nizam Osman Ali Khan. One of the largest private collections in the world that covers exhibits from every part of the world, it comprises of wood carvings, sculptures, Persian miniature paintings, weaponry and a library of books. My favourite being veiled Rebecca statue and the watch.

Golconda Fort

This fort, originally built by the Kakatiyas, the rulers of the neighboring state, was made with mud. Later, the Shahis converted it into a marvelous piece of architecture using advanced acoustics wherein sound signals could pass from the entrance of the fort to the top without the use of any electric gadgets. The fort is famous for its acoustics and ingenious water supply and drainage system The saga of Golconda is told through a sound and light show of unmatched quality and excellence.

Qutub Shahi Tombs

The royal cemetery of the Qutub Shahi kings lies about 2km from the Golconda Fort. The tombs are a scattered group of large domes and terraces. Perhaps this is the only place in the world where one can see so many tombs in one place. All the Qutub Shahi kings except Abdul Hassan Tana Shah who died in captivity in Daulatabad are buried here. These graceful domed tombs are surrounded by landscaped gardens. These tombs have an architecture which is a combination of Persian, Pathan and Hindu styles of architecture.

Nehru Zoological Park
One of the top zoo parks in the country it is four decades old and spreads over 350 acres adjacent to the Mir Alam Tank. It is the first zoo to have open and moated enclosures for animals instead of putting them in cages. Visitors can thus see the animals in near-natural habitat. It is among very few zoos in the country to have a lion safari, tiger safari and bear safari enclosure.

Public Gardens
In the busy area adjacent to the Hyderabad (Nampally) Railway Station are the Public Gardens amidst which are the Jubilee Hall, State Archaeological Museum and the Jawahar Bal Bhavan.

Hi-Tec City
This modern tall structure 'Cyber Towers' houses the offices and work stations of international IT giants. An ultramodern annexe has come up next to the Hi-Tec City.

Durgam Cheruvu

Located amidst the rocky terrain in Jubilee Hills, this 'secret lake' is now a haven for visitors with boating facilities, quietitude and fishing activity with a Restaurant. It is just next to Madhapur, where the Hi-Tec City is located.

Ramoji Film City

Proclaimed to be the biggest such venture in world, it is a make believe world of its own on a sprawling 1,500 acres. It has star hotel accommodation, restaurants and a special section for children. Ramoji Film City offers special packages for different groups and has a daily tour too. It is located in Hayatnagar on the city outskirts.

Runway-9
It is said to be the largest go-karting track in the country with a length of 711 metres. Snooker tables too help pass the time. It is located near Medchal, about 20 km from the city.

Shopping
The city of Hyderabad is a shopper's delight. From the world famous pearls to traditional arts & crafts; from textiles of all the modern brands to ethnic wear the city offers an astounding variety in shopping.
Some major shopping areas are Koti,abids,charminar’s Lad bazaar(for lac bangles),Sultanbazaar(for wholesale stuff).There are many shopping centers too like the Hyderabad central,Big Bazaar,metro etc……………

Lad Baazar

The Lad Bazaar is on one of the streets of the four roads that meet the charminar. The markets around charminar are famous for the dazzling lac bangles.These bangles are made by studding artifial diamonds on lac. Once you are into the streets of these markets you are sure to be mesmerised by the beauty of the bangles and buy a few of those.

Hyderabadi biryani
Any description of hyderabad without the mention of hyderabadi biryani is not complete.It is a must for all visitors.Mirchi ka salan(salan means curry) and Dahi raita are a combination with Biryani.Few places good for biryani are Hyderbad house,Paradise,Pista house ……

Bhimashankar

2008-02-07T01:09:00.001+05:30

We started our journey to Bhimashankar from Pune by road in a Qualis around 9.00a.m and reached at 12 noon at Bhimashankar. By the way before I continue with my travel tale I would give a small introduction of the place Bhimashankar and its importance.

Bhimashankar is located in the lush green Shayadri hills of Western Ghats, in the district of Pune; Maharastra.It is famous for the temple of lord Shiva as it is the seat of one of the 12 Jyotirlingas.It is associated with Shiva Destroying the demon Tripurasura.

The journey from Pune to Bhimashankar was a matter of three hours but the memories will last for decades .The greenery of Shayadri with the yellow flower beds were enchanting.

Yellow flower Beds on our way to Bhimashankar

When we started from the Pune city we thought it would be like another hill shrines in the midst of hills but the Shayadri’s had more to give us, it was more than just the hills. Once we were into the Shayadri’s we felt we were in the lap of Mother Nature .the scenery was one of like paradise. As the altitude rose the nature greeted us with flowers and showers. It was the month of October and the Shayadri’s was surrounded by the clouds of retreating monsoon.

On reaching Bhimashankar we felt we were actually at paradise meeting lord Shiva as the clouds were just sweeping past the shrine and we were walking through it.

Our journey through mist

The visibility was almost nil. We were wading through the clouds making our way through the unknown to the lord. It gave us a feel of Kailash the aboard of lord Shiva in Himalayas.

To reach the temple of Bhimashankar we had to climb down a flight of steps made of stone.
On the steps to shrine

The shrine is located in the valley of Shayadri hills.

The Temple is built in the Nagara style of architecture. It is a modest temple yet graceful temple and it dates back to mid 18th century. As with other Shiva temples in this area, the sanctum is at a lower level
The structure here is fairly new, but the shrine Bhimashankaram (and the Bhimarathi River) have been referred to in literature dating back to the 13th century.

The temple has been mentioned in the Dwadasha Jyotirlinga’s in Sanskrit sloka.

SAURASHTRA SOMNATHAM CHA SHRISHAILE MALLIKARJUNAM ||
UJJAINYAM MAHAKALOMKARE MAMMALESHWARAM ||
PARLYAM VAIJNATHAM CHA DAKINYAM BHEEM SHANKARAM ||
SETU BANDHE TU RAMESHAM NAGESHAM DARUKA VANE ||
VARANASYA TU VISHWESHAM TRIBAKAM GAUTAMITATE ||
HIMALAYE TU KEDARAM GHURMESHAM CHA SHIVALAYE ||
AETANI JYOTIRLINGANI SAYAM PRATAHA PATHENNARAHA ||
SAPTA JANMA KRITAM PAPAM SMARANEN VINASHYATI ||

The names of the twelve Jyotirlingas as given in the sloka are Somnatha, Mallikarjuna, Mahakala, Omkara, Kedara, and Bhimshankara. Vishvanatha, Tryambaka, Vaidynatha, Nagesha, Rameswara and Ghushnesha.

On reaching the temple we got to know that shrine was about to be closed for the afternoon worship offering .We got there just in time and were not only lucky to have a glimpse of lord but perform puja (abhishek) over there. I say lucky because the shrine closed just after the puja.

While returning from the shrine it was already lunch time and we were hungry. We found a lot of sweet shops (Milk product or sweet called Peda) on our way back to the top of the hill where our vehicle was parked.

We had the sweets to our heart content. Took our lunch in a Dhabba (road side country restaurant).The food was hot and tasty.

On our return journey in the nature’s lap with wide coverage of wild flowers and thick greenery. For a moment we forgot the urban concrete jungle of civilized world. But alas we had to leave those green jungles and return to concrete jungles.

Rathayatra

2008-02-07T01:05:00.000+05:30

The Annual cart festival known as rathyatra takes place in the month of Ashadha(June-July).It is the main festival celebrated in orissa and has been attracting lakhs of devotees and pilgrims since time immemorial. The holy Rathyatra takes place in which Lord rides his chariot to Gundicha Temple (Mausi ma temple) along with his brother and sister for a vacation of a week and then back to his own abord.

The name of the chariots and their colours are:
Lord Balabhadra – Taladhwaja – Red and Green
Devi Subhadra - Devadalana – Red and Black
Lord Jagannatha - Nandighosha - Red and Yellow
Each chariot is around 40 fts in height.

The return yatra from Gundicha Temple (Mausi Ma temple) to Shri mandir is called Bahuda yatra.This takes place on the eighth day of rathyatra.

This yatra is one of the most auspicious. To see the Lord on the Chariot on the Rathayatra day is to secure salvation from the cycles of birth and death.

This is the time when the Deities come out of the temple for all to see.There is no caste or creed bar.This was done to facilitate the downtroden ,foreigners and common people to worship the supreme Divinty.

Snana Purnima marks the begining of ratha yatra.The ratha yatra starts by moving the 6ft long real wooden idols of lords (which are decorated with flower Tahiya (flower Crowns)) from garbha gruha to the chariots.This procession from garbha gruha to the chariot is called Pahandi yatra.The significance of the Pahandi is that the common people can touch the real idol of Supreme Divinity.

After the idols are installed on the chariots the king of puri (Gajapati) comes and sweeps the chariots with golden broom and the priests sprinkle holy water and flowers.This sweeping ritual is called "Chera Panhara" where Chera is Sprinkling of holy water and Panhara is sweeping in Oriya.The king worships the god(Aarati is conducted) and the rathayatra starts.The Chariots are pulled by the devotees but in ancient days it was pulled by elephants.

Further Reading and Information:
Rathjatra.nic This one has live link to view rathayatra on internet
Stephen-knapp

Shrimandir

2008-02-06T17:17:00.001+05:30

Picture of Shri Mandira .This photo has been taken standing at Grand hotel terrace resturant

The temple of lord Jagannath is known as Shri Mandira.It is made of beautifully carved sandstones.The Temple top is called Dadhinauti and the mast on which the flag (Patitapawana bana) is hoisted is called Nilachakra(The Blue Wheel).

The temple architecture follows the pancha ratha style i.e Sanctum Sanctorum (Garbha gruha), hall of audience (Jagamohanam), Hall of dance (Natya mandir), Hall of offering (bhoga mandap), and Temple of entrance (mukhashala).

This temple has two layers of boundaries with one gate in each direction.
The outer boundary is called Meghanada pachir and the inner is called Kurma Bedha.
The four gates are:-
North – Elephant (Gaja Dwara)
East – Lion (Simha Dwara)
West – Tiger (Byaghra Dwara)
South – Horse (Aswa Dwara)

The east gate opens to Badadanda or Grand road. Now a day’s people enter and exit temple by the east gate. But earlier people used to enter by east gate and exit by any of the other three gates.

Photo of Lord Jagannath Vishakhapatnam

Lord Jagannath Resides in this temple with his elder brother lord Balaram and younger sister Devi Subhadra.They say it’s the trinity of Brahma ,Vishnu and Maheshwar.The idols of lord are made of Neem wood. But the legend says that the idols were not always made of wood but they were actually worshipped as stone idols.

The kitchen of Lord is called Rosashala, The cooked food is called Mahaprasad and the dining place for the common people to eat Mahaprasad is called Anand bazaar.Mahaprasad consists of 56 variety of dishes .These dishes contain all the Indian vegetables i.e. the vegetables only which were grown in India and don’t have foreign origin.

The Annual cart festival known as rathyatra is the main festival celebrated and has been attracting lakhs of devotees and pilgrims since time immemorial. To see the Lord on the Chariot on the Rathayatra day is to secure salvation from the cycles of birth and death.

Puri

2008-02-06T17:16:00.001+05:30

The word "Puri "in Sanskrit stands for "city”. Puri is special in many ways. It is more famous as Jagannath Puri, the abode of Lord Jagannath or Purushotham, the Lord of the Universe or the Supreme Personality of the Universe.

Jagannath Puri Dham or Jagannath Puri or even Puri as it is called, is situated on the sea shore of the Bay of Bengal in the State of Orissa (India).Puri was know by the name of Nilakandara which literally means “Blue mountain”. The word Nila means Blue and Kandara Means Mountain in Oriya language. Long back Puri was a hill area rather than a plain as we known now. These hills were covered by trees for which it got the name Nilakandara

It is one of the four Holy Kshetras of Hindus including temples at Rameshwaram, Dwaraka and Badrinath.

Puri is famous for
• Lord Jagannath Shrine or Shri Mandir
• Bata Mangala
• Rathyatra
• Beautiful beach
• Lokanath Temple
• Beleshwar
• Baliharchandi
• Konark
• Kakatpur Mangala

Vishakhapatnam

2008-02-06T17:11:00.000+05:30

View of City of Destiny from Kailash Giri.

Visakhapatnam or Vizag as it is now known was earlier known as Waltiar.Many people recognizes this beautiful port city as a major railway junction while on journey to southern India. It is known by many names like Vishakhapatanam, Vizag, Waltiar, City of Destiny, and Port City etc...

When I first time heard of Vizag I remembered the geography classes in which I studied that in India ships were built in Vizag.As a kid I expected to see huge ships being built every where in the city. When I reached Vizag I was disappointed for not getting what I expected. But slowly I fell in love with the city.

This city has every thing .It is one of the fastest growing city of Andhra Pradesh which is on he verge of become another Metro city. It is marked by the Beautiful beaches with wonderful marine drives (for a long drive), Temples, Hills (dolphin nose), the Kailash giri, Vuda park ,R.K Beach,Rishikonda beach ,Kali Temple,Jaganath temple ,Bhimunipatnam or Bimli,etc................

Visakhapatnam holds the office of Eastern Naval Command of India. It also holds the major port of India, The mechanized and computerized steel plant called the Vizag steel plant,the zinc factory called The Hindustan Zinc limited, Petroleum Refinery of HPCL and Essar steel plant. Recently it has started to become an IT Hub.

Dolphin Nose

Dolphin nose with furious sea

The above photo is of Dolphin Nose.This hill derives it name from the shape it has which looks like a dolphin nose.It houses the light house as it protrudes into the sea and helps the ships to sail safely into the harbour which is very near to this hill.If you view the photo carefully you can spot the ships entering into harbour and also some of them anchored in the harbour at the foot of the dolphin nose hill.The photo is taken from R.K Beach.

Kailash Giri

Lord Shiva and Devi Parvati's Statue at Kailash Giri

The city of Vizag is situated between the hills of Dolphin Nose and The Kailash Giri.
Kailash Giri derives its name from the aboard of Lord Shiva And Devi Parvati the Kailash Mountain in Himalaya's,as this hill houses the tall statue of Lord Shiva And Devi Parvati.This hill is the center of attraction and a must vist for all the tourists to Vizag.From the top of the hill you can see the aerial view of bay of bengal and Vizag city in the valley of the eastern ghats.One can view Vizag city on one side of the hill and on the other we get a view of Kalinga Ghati.

A child enjoying the Children's park at Kailash Giri

Recently government of Andhra Pradesh has developed this hill and has added many things like the Rope way,Lots of lighting , Gardens ,Children parks with swings,food stalls,streams in front of the statues,View points to get a better view of Eastern Ghats.

The aerial view of Eastern Ghats meeting Bay of Bengal

Friendship SMS

2008-01-27T23:04:00.001+05:30

Friendship is not
How you FORGET,
But how you FORGIVE.
Not how you LISTEN, but how you UNDERSTAND.
Not what you SEE, but how you FEEL.
AND
Not how you let GO, but how you HOLD ON.
********************************************************************
FRIENDSHIP is about three things
1. Winning
2. Lossing &
3. Sharing

WINNING your friends heart,
LOSSING your self ego,
SHARING joys and sorrows.
*********************************************************************
“Few Relations on Earth Never Die”
Want to know what ????
Read again……….

Few
Relations on
Earth
Never
Die
***********************************************************************
Old friends are like GOLD.
New friends are like DIAMOND.
But when you get new friends don’t forget the old once
Because to hold diamond you need a gold base.
***********************************************************************
Sometimes in life we tend to run so fast,
That we don’t notice FRIENDS are running with us.
We notice them only
When we fall & they stop to pick us.
************************************************************************
Friendship is not finding
Gold and silver among the rocks of life.......
It's accepting each other as coal,
Till diamond's are formed.
************************************************************************
Making a million friends is not a miracle,
Miracle is to make a friend ..
Who will stand by you
When millions are against you ....
************************************************************************
Who is a friend ???
:
:
:
A push when you are stopped...
A touch when you are lost...
A word when you are quiet...
A smile when you are sad...
And
A shoulder when you cry ...
*************************************************************************
Na zindagi ke liye,
Na dosti ke liye,
Waqt rukta nahi pal bhar ke liye.
Kadam do kadam to sabhi chalte hain...
Sath chalta nahi koi zindagi bhar ke liye.

Exam Fundas SMS

2008-01-27T23:02:00.000+05:30

It takes 15 trees to produce
the amount of paper that we
use to write in one exam .
Join us in promoting the
noble cause of saving trees.

!!!SAY NO TO EXAMS!!!!!:)
***************************************************
SAGAR jaisa SYLLABUS hai!
BALTI jitna PADHTE hain!
MUG jitna YAAD rahta hai!
BUND jitne MARKS milte hain.
***************************************************
Rules for exams :-
Har sawal se datkar ladna,
Fekne mein kami na karna,
Mauka mile to age piche bhi dekhna,
or ek baat yaad rakhna,
RAM NAAM JAAPNA aagewale ka paper aapna.
***************************************************
It takes 15 trees to produce
the amount of paper that we
use to write in one exam .
Join us in promoting the
noble cause of saving trees.

!!!SAY NO TO EXAMS!!!!!:)
***************************************************
SAGAR jaisa SYLLABUS hai!
BALTI jitna PADHTE hain!
MUG jitna YAAD rahta hai!
BUND jitne MARKS milte hain.
***************************************************
Rules for exams :-
Har sawal se datkar ladna,
Fekne mein kami na karna,
Mauka mile to age piche bhi dekhna,
or ek baat yaad rakhna,
RAM NAAM JAAPNA aagewale ka paper aapna.
***************************************************

Arbre du Ténéré

2007-10-26T22:06:00.000+05:30

"Arbre du Ténéré" or "Tree of Ténéré" ,an acacia tree in Sahara desert in northeast Niger .This tree became famous as it was considered the most isolated tree.This tree stood lone.There was not a single tree in 400 km radius.

This tree is the last of the trees which stood there before the desert was not so parched.It was the landmark for the caravans.The roots of the tree reached 33-36 meters.

This tree no more exists.In 1973 the tree was hit by a drunk driver. The dead wood was taken to the Musée National du Niger and replaced with a metal sculpture.

"One must see the Tree to believe its existence. What is its secret? How can it still be living in spite of the multitudes of camels which trample at its sides. How at each azalai does not a lost camel eat its leaves and thorns? Why don't the numerous Touareg leading the salt caravans cut its branches to make fires to brew their tea? The only answer it that the tree is taboo and considered as such by the caravaniers. There is a kind of superstition, a tribal order which is always respected. Each year the azalai gather round the Tree before facing the crossing of the Ténéré. The Acacia has become a living lighthouse; it is the first or the last landmark for the azalai leaving Agadez for Bilma, or returning."

- Michel Lesourd, of the Service central des affaires sahariennes, 1939

For further reading:
Wikipedia-Arbre du Ténéré
L'Arbre du Ténéré

Pencil Sculpture

2007-10-14T20:15:00.000+05:30

AURORA

LUNA

OZMA

ASTERIDAY

Beautiful but prickly sculputres.These sculptures are created by artist Jennifer Maestre.Sculptures were originally inspired by the form and function of the sea urchin. The spines of the urchin, so dangerous yet beautiful, serve as an explicit warning against contact.She creates these sculptures combining coloured pencils,nails and stiching

To make the pencil sculptures, she takes hundreds of pencils, cut them into 1-inch sections, drill a hole in each section, sharpen them all and sew them together.

GHITM,Puri

2007-09-27T23:26:00.000+05:30

Ghanashyam Hemalata Institute of Technology and Management or in short GHITM. The Institute is located on Puri Konark highway, popularly known as Marine Drive, about 15 km from Puri. The Institute campus is spread over approximately 152 acres of picturesque land at Rasnanda Jena Vihar & is surrounded by a high security wall for providing adequate safety. The land is lush green & provides for the ideal ambience for dedicated pursuit of knowledge. The aim of the Institute is to strive for excellence in the field of Technical Education.
The Institute is duly recognized by Govt. Of India, approved by AICTE and affiliated to Biju Patnaik Technical University.
What makes this institute to stand different from other engineering institutes in the country?
GHITM is run by GHVM Society (Ghanashyam Hemalata Vidyamandir Society).
This is Society run by the working class or majdoor union (FCI). Sj G.S.Jena is the Founder Chairman of FCI Workers Co-op. Credit Society Ltd. & Ghanashyam Hemalata Vidyamandir Society. The motto behind GHVM was to increase literacy and bringing prosperity to the working class by educating the children of the working .It started with a residential school at Puri, now the society boasts of the ownership of chain of schools and the technical institute GHITM.All the Institutions are financed & patronized by the workers belonging to the various unions of FCI .The labourers of FCI from all over India have given there 1 days pay to bring up this dream college.
The college is open to all the students but has special scholarships and subsides for children of FCI employees.

Inside view of college building

Road to hostels

Boarding school

GHITM Temple

Shri Ganeshaya namaha

2007-09-22T19:22:00.000+05:30

It is an ancient custom to start letter or any writting with following three lines

            ||Shri Ganeshaya namaha||
            ||Shri Saraswatyai namaha||
            ||Shri Gurubhyo namaha||

We follow this sequence invariably till date.But why is it written and why is this sequence.

To understand anything we need intellect.Once we gain the knowledge we need medium to express like words.Thus we need to learn the words.

First we need to gain knowledge Lord Ganesh is the Bestower of Intellect (Buddhidata). Hence, ‘||Shri Ganeshaya namaha||’ should be written first.

Medium to express knwoledge.It is Goddess Saraswati’s role to put into words the Knowledge gained through the intellect. Hence, ‘||Shri Saraswatyai namaha||’ should be written next.

We need to learn the way to acquire knowledge and express thus we need some one to teach us.The Guru/teacher acts as the medium for gaining Knowledge and putting it into words. Hence, ‘||Shri Gurubhyo namaha||’ should be written third.

108 Names of Lord Ganesha and the meanings

2007-09-16T00:42:00.000+05:30

1. Akhurath: One who has mouse as his charioteer
2. Alampata : Ever eternal lord
3. Amit : Incomparable lord
4. Anantachidrupamayam: Infinite and consciousness personified
5. Avaneesh: Lord of the whole world
6. Avighna: Remover of obstacles
7. Balaganapati: Beloved and lovable child
8. Bhalchandra: Moon-crested lord
9. Bheema: Huge and Gigantic
10. Bhupati: Lord of the gods
11. Bhuvanpati: God of the gods
12. Buddhinath: God of wisdom
13. Budhipriya: Knowledge bestower
14. Bhudhividhata: God of knowledge
15. Chaturbhuj: One who has four arms
16. Devadeva: Lord of all lords
17. Devantakanashakarin: Destroyer of evils and asuras
18. Devarata: One who accepts all gods
19. Devendrashika: Protector of all gods
20. Dharmik: One who gives charity
21. Dhoomravarna: Smoke-Hued lord
22. Durja: Invincible lord
23. Dvaimatura: One who has two mothers
24. Ekaakshara: He of the single syllable
25. Ekadanta: Single-Tusked lord
26. Ekadrishta: Single-Tusked lord
27. Eshanputra: Lord Shiva's son
28. Gadadhara: One who has the mace as his weapon
29. Gajakarna: One who has eyes like an elephant
30. Gajanana: Elephant-Faced lord
31. Gajananeti: Elephant-Faced lord
32. Gajavakra: Trunk of the elephant
33. Gajavaktra: One who has mouth like an elephant
34. Ganadhakshya: Lord of all Ganas (Gods)
35. Ganadhyakshina: Leader of all the celestial bodies
36. Ganapati: Lord of all Ganas (Gods)
37. Gaurisuta: The son of Gauri (Parvati)
38. Gunina: One who is the master of all virtues
39. Haridra: One who is golden colored
40. Heramba: Mother's Beloved son
41. Kapila: Yellowish-Brown coloured
42. Kaveesha: Master of poets
43. Krti: Lord of music
44. Kripalu: Merciful lord
45. Krishapingaksha: Yellowish-Brown eyed
46. Kshamakaram: The place of forgiveness
47. Kshipra: One who is easy to appease
48. Lambakarna: Large-Eared lords
49. Lambodara: The huge bellied lord
50. Mahabala: Enormously strong lord
51. Mahaganpati: Omnipotent and supreme lord
52. Maheshwaram: Lord of the universe
53. Mangalamurti: All auspicious lord
54. Manomay: Winner of hearts
55. Mrityunjaya: Conqueror of death
56. Mundakarama: Abode of happiness
57. Muktidaya: Bestower of eternal bliss
58. Mushikvahana: One who has mouse as charioteer
59. Nadapratithishta: One who appreciates and loves music
60. Namasthetu: Vanquisher of all evils and vices and sins
61. Nandana: Lord Shiva's son
62. Nideeshwaram: Giver of wealth and treasures
63. Omkara: One who has the form of OM
64. Pitambara: One who has yellow-colored body
65. Pramoda: Lord of all abodes
66. Prathameshwara: First among all
67. Purush: The omnipotent personality
68. Rakta: One who has red-colored body
69. Rudrapriya: Beloved of lord Shiva
70. Sarvadevatman: Acceptor of all celestial offerings
71. Sarvasiddanta: Bestower of skills and wisdom
72. Sarvatman: Protector of the universe
73. Shambhavi: The son of Parvati
74. Shashivarnam: One who has a moon like complexion
75. Shoorpakarna: Large-eared Lord
76. Shuban: All auspicious lord
77. Shubhagunakanan: One who is the master of all virtues
78. Shweta: One who is as pure as the white colour
79. Siddhidhata: Bestower of success and accomplishments
80. Siddhipriya: Bestower of wishes and boons
81. Siddhivinayak: Bestower of success
82. Skandapurvaja: Elder brother of Skanda (Lord Kartik)
83. Sumukha: Auspicious face
84. Sureshwaram: Lord of all lords
85. Swaroop: Lover of beauty
86. Tarun: Ageless
87. Uddanda: Nemesis of evils and vices
88. Umaputra: The son of goddess Uma (Parvati)
89. Vakratunda: Curved trunk lord
90. Varaganapati: Bestower of boons
91. Varaprada: Granter of wishes and boons
92. Varadavinayaka: Bestower of Success
93. Veeraganapati: Heroic lord
94. Vidyavaridhi: God of wisdom
95. Vighnahara: Remover of obstacles
96. Vignaharta: Demolisher of obstacles
97. Vighnaraja: Lord of all hindrances
98. Vighnarajendra: Lord of all obstacles
99. Vighnavinashanaya: Destroyer of all obstacles and impediments
100. Vigneshwara: Lord of all obstacles
101. Vikat: Huge and gigantic
102. Vinayaka: Lord of all
103. Vishwamukha: Master of the universe
104. Vishwaraja: King of the world
105. Yagnakaya: Acceptor of all sacred and sacrificial offerings
106. Yashaskaram: Bestower of fame and fortune
107. Yashvasin: Beloved and ever popular lord
108. Yogadhipa: The lord of meditation

Pookalam : Floral Carpet

2007-09-06T22:26:00.000+05:30

"Poo" means flower and "Kalam"means special shape in Malyalam.

Pookalam also called Athapoo is an intricate floral mat laid in the front courtyard by maidens of the house. This is done to welcome the holy spirit of legendary King Mahabali whose spirit is said to visit Kerala at the time of Onam.Onam is the harvest festival celebrated in Kerala,India.It is a 10 day celebration.Flower carpets are created throught these celebrations.

Usually, the flower carpet on the first day is done with single type of flower, on the second day, two types of flowers, on the third day three types of flowers and so on till the 10th day. On the tenth day, people decorate the flower carpet with 10 different kinds of flowers.Thumba is the most auspicious flower that takes predominance in the flower carpets.

White Pyramids

2007-09-05T21:01:00.000+05:30

When we think of Egyptian Pyramid the prompt answer that pops up in mind is a large mountain like brown piles of stone uprooting from the desert having a rough contour.

This is obvious because now they look this way but they were not so when they were built.When first constructed around 2500 BC,the pyramids were white in colour and had a smooth surface(unlike present rough surface).This white colour and smoothness was due to a coating of limestone on the surface of the Pyramids.During Arab invasion of Egypt around AD 500,the Arab invaders stripped the pyramid of it's smooth limestone which was used to built a huge section of Cairo. Many of the Mosques and Palaces of Cairo consist of the Ancient stones of the pyramids.

Scientific Verification of Vedas

2007-09-02T18:28:00.000+05:30

While searching for videos related to vedic maths in youtube I came across these series of videos related to Vedas.These three videos speak of the truth behind Aryans,Indian civilization,Veda,Saraswati river,Dwaraka,Vedic maths etc.This documentary is different from other talks on Vedas as it cites proof in Satellite imaging,excavation ,Vedas etc.........

This documentary is real eyeopener for those who know little of Indian civilisation.
It speaks of how British scholars deliberately propagated the Aryan invasion theory and how they made Indians to feel that everything west, English and European to be superior, and anything that had to do with Indian culture and history as inferior, unscientific and stupid.

Macauley introduced the English education system in India which enforced these thoughts about western superiority and Indian inferiority in the minds of the Indian children.

Max Muller propagated the myth of Aryan invasion theory in an aim to divide north and south India on the lines of Aryan - Dravidian basis saying Aryans invaded India from Europe at around 1500 BC and pushed down the local Dravidian's down south. Modern archaeology citing puts these theory as false. Max Muller also wrote off Vedas as ‘waste stuff’ only to be commented later by world’s renowned indologists as ‘this only shows the pre school knowledge Muller had about Sanskrit’

The archaeological excavations of Harappa, Mohen Jo Daro, the discovery of the city of Dwaraka in the seas of Gujarat, the satellite imagery and geological evidences about tectonic plate shifting of the sub continent supporting the existence of Saraswati river mentioned in the Vedas, the Kausambi and Hastinapur flooding excavations, all have proved beyond doubt that there has been no invasion from outside in 1500 BC by Aryans.

Instead Aryans were an indigenous race inherent to India for the very simple fact that all above mentioned evidences date back existence of Aryans in India to even before 3500 BC.not a single evidence of Aryan existence or literature has been found outside the Indian subcontinent and all locations, rivers, cities, kingdoms etc mentioned in the vedic scriptures have been mapped inside India - the India mentioned in Vedas include current India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Burma.

It says if the Aryan theory of invasion was true and that the Veda was written by Aryans then the two statements are contrary to each other and ambiguous.

why so?

Aryan theory states that Aryan invasion occurred around 1500 B.C and the Vedas were brought along to Indian subcontinent by Aryans.
#If we consider Vedas were written by Aryans then it is impossible for Aryans to invade the subcontinent in 1500 BC because the Vedas have mention of river saraswati which was existing in 3000 BC and had dried by the speculated time of Aryan invasion.
#If Aryans were from other continent then why the Scripture does not have a mention of there homeland?

This documentary speaks high of Vedas.It says Vedas are the greatest scientific text ever written.It says that Vedic Hyms use the power of vibrations.The chanting of mantras for certain number of times ,days by certain number of people creates sound energy which has a profound effect on mind and body.

Vedic mathematics is the best form of mathematics taught all over the world today to speed up calculations.
Einstein said, if not for Indians who invented ZERO and place value system, the science and technological achievements of the world would have been ZERO!

It's worth marking that Sanskrit is the only language spoken by humans which can be easily used as a computer programming language.Had Indian's not developed ZERO what would have happened of IT.

Ayurveda is the world’s oldest medicinal system and has absolutely no side effects on the body, it hits right at the source of the illness. It prepares your body to be strong enough to counter health.

Oppenheimer, father of modern atomic bomb suspected that Mahabharatha war was a nuclear war based on the accurate descriptions of nuclear weapons and its effects found in Bhagavadgeeta.When asked about the first nuclear blast He replied saying that this is the first nuclear blast of the modern times not the first on earth.

Watch the following video documentary:

Journey of Indian Flags

2007-09-01T11:33:00.000+05:30

1906: First tri colour flag.Three colours: Saffron with eight half opened lotus across, white with Vande Mataram in Devanagari and green with moon to right and sun to left. This flag was proposed by Schindra Prasad Bose.Also called The Calcutta Flag, as it came up during protest against Bengal Partition.

1907: Three colours: Green at top ,Saffron in middle and Red at bottom.Top Green colour for Islam with eight open lotus for eight Indian provinces.Saffron representing Hinduism and Buddhism and the Vandemataram written in devnagari.On the lowest band, towards the hoist of the flag was a crescent, and towards the fly a sun. The flag was jointly designed by Bhikaiji Cama, Veer Savarkar and Shyamji Krishna Varma.It is also known as Bikaiji Cama Flag.

1917: Two colours: Red and green, with five red and four green stripes. Emblem of Great Bear. Union Jack at top left. In vogue during 'Home rule days'.

1921: Three colours: White, green and red, with Charkha across all colours. Sponsored by Mahatma Gandhi at the Bezwada Session of the Indian National Congress (this flag was informally used at all sessions of the Congress till 1931, though not officially accepted/adopted by the Congress).

March, 1931: One colour: Saffron with Charkha at top left. This flag was proposed by a committee appointed by Working Committee after Karachi Congress. This flag was not approved by Working Committee.

August, 1931:Three colours: Saffron, white and green, Charkha in blue colour in middle across white strip. Length and breadth in proportion of 3:2. Proposed by Congress Working Committee. Form of Flag suggested by Mahatma Gandhi retained with slight changes in order of colours and position of Chakra. Accepted by AICC officially in Bombay in August 1931.

August 15, 1947: The present tricolour National Flag was adopted.The flag is a horizontal tricolour of "deep saffron" at the top, white in the middle, and green at the bottom. In the centre, there is a navy blue wheel with twenty-four spokes, known as the Ashoka Chakra, taken from the Ashoka pillar at Sarnath. The diameter of this Chakra is three-fourths of the height of the white strip. The ratio of the width of the flag to its length is 2:3.
Saffron:courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation
White :purity and truth
Green :faith and fertility.
Chakra :Wheel of law
The design of the National Flag was adopted by India's constituent assembly on 22nd july, 1947.

For further reading:

Wikipedia
Indian Flag history

Bamboo flowering or famine

2007-09-01T10:48:00.000+05:30

Gregarious Bamboo flowering is a rare incident as it takes place once in many years. During this time all the bamboo trees of same species irrespective of there ages flower simultaneously.

Bamboos belong to the Grass Family. They look like tall grasses. Species found in India is Melocanna baccifera (Muli bamboo) and Bambusa tulda, which grows abundantly in Mizoram and other parts of the northeast. Different species of bamboos have different flowering ages. Some flower after 20 years, 15 years yet others like Bambusa tulda (thorny bamboo) and Melocanna baccifera flower in 48 years.

People do not look forward to this rare event, rather they dread this event .Bamboo flowering is followed by famine. Now how is bamboo flowering associated with famine? When bamboos flower in mass they produce a huge amount of grains. These grains are fed by rats. The rat population grows due to abundance of food. By the time the flowering season is over the rats would have grown in exponential proportion. Soon the grains stock are exhausted .They then turn to the fields and start feeding on the crops.This leads to destruction of crops and thus leading to famine. The story does not end here. Once the crops are over the rats start starving and dieing out of starvation. Huge number of rats dieing and unattended lead to plague. Thus famine and diseases start spreading.

In Mizoram famine followed bamboo flowerings in 1862, 1881 and in 1911-12.The famine associated with the last flowering in 1959 caused so much distress that it resulted in an armed uprising by the Mizo National Front (MNF).

Another cycle of flowering was expected in 2003.To combact this situation officials took many steps one of which was to reward locals who killed rats.The local administration tried to curb the proliferation of rats by offering a monetary award for killing rats—equivalent to U.S. $2.50 for every 100 rats killed. The rats' tails were submitted to officials as evidence that the animals have been killed.

For further reading:
megforest
nationalgeographic

Seashells Temple Taipe,Taiwan

2007-08-24T23:37:00.000+05:30

There is a small temple in the northern Taiwan,in the hills close to San Chih.This temple is near Lukan city."Pei Khe Miao" is the chinese name of the temple.The wall of this temple is covered with sea shells.

At the back of the temple there is a small tunnel lined with buddhist gods.This tunnel gives an underwater feel.The pictures on the wall of the temple are made of Seashells and Corals.

See this video to have a feel of the place.

Seashell Temple

Finger credit card!

2007-08-23T08:21:00.001+05:30

Paper cash or metal cash are gradually giving place to plastic cash.Credit cards,debits cards........culture.Soon these plastic cards will be history.It would no more be required to carry cash as your finger will do the work of the cash cards.

Scientists have developed a cashless, cardless payment system that allows a person to make purchase simply by scanning their finger.

The system uses the unique vein pattern under the skin of a person's finger as a form of identification and then ties it to biometric to credit card information.
This would help reduce fraud and identity theft.

To use the system, customers would first enrol with a participating bank and open an account in much the same way they would to receive a debit or credit card. Along with filling out the appropriate paperwork, they would also provide finger scans of two or three fingers.

To make a purchase, the customers would have to slip their finger into a holder to keep the digit steady.

A light illuminating the veins would then record the pattern, and the image-processing software would convert the image to a number uniquely linked to the person's account.Once the software matches the number to the account, the purchase is authorized.The system could also be used in addition to a PIN for an added layer of security.

This finger vein authentication system is developed by Hitachi.A trial of this is going to start by next month by Hitachi employees for paying cafetaria bills.Hitachi along with Japanese credit card company JCB are going to start this trial.

Source:epaynews,Hitachi

Dry Cell creation by ancient indians

2007-08-20T22:34:00.000+05:30

"Sansthapya Mrinmaye Patre Tamrapatram Susanskritam
Chhadyechhikhigriven Chardrarbhih Kashthpamsubhih
Dastaloshto Nidhatavyah Pardachhaditastah
Sanyogajjayte Tejo Mitravarunsangyitam

Anen Jalbhangosti Prano Daneshu Vayushu
Evam Shatanam Kumbhanamsanyogkaryakritsmrita "
-Agasthya Samhita
An ancient Indian text called "Agasthya Samhita" describes the manufacturing of dry cells as follows:

“Place a well-cleaned copper plate in an earthenware vessel. Cover it first by copper sulfate and then moist sawdust. After that put a mercury-amalgamated-zinc sheet on top of an energy known by the twin name of Mitra-Varuna. Water will be split by this current into Pranavayu and Udanavayu. A chain of one hundred jars is said to give a very active and effective force.”

Mitra = cathode
Varuna = anode
Pranavayu = oxygen
udanavayu = hydrogen

When a cell was prepared according to Agastya Samhita and measured, it gives open circuit voltage as 1.138 volts, and short circuit current as 23 mA

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

2007-08-12T11:52:00.000+05:30

Don't think that I am just typing in some letters.This word really exists.It consists of 35 letters.Ironically "Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia" means "Fear of long words"."Fear of long words" is know by many names.Sesquipedalophobia is another word used for the same.
People usually mispell it as "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia" with the extra 'p' maybe to increase the length bit longer.It is the second largest word in the dictionary after pneumononoultramicroscopicsili.These words are not found in Oxford and Chambers dictionary.

Source:wiktionary
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