Sri Krishna Temple, Udupi: A Temple most visited by me!

Sri Krishna Temple, Udupi, is a very popular Temple in our country and it is the most visited Temple by me! Certainly over 150 times and perhaps very close to 200 times! While I was studying Bachelor of Engineering, 5-Year Course, at Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, it was our practice to visit Sri Krishna Temple at Udupi / Udipi, every Saturday. The Temple is under 7 kms. from Manipal. This practice was started and was there among my brother, Dr. Lakshminarsu and his friends who were my seniors at Manipal, studying Bachelor of Dental Surgery at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. Every Saturday evening I used to go to my brother’s hostel and from there we used to go in a group to Udipi and visit Sri Krishna Temple and the nearby Temples. After the visit to the Temples we used to have heavy refreshments at Mitra Samaj which is close to the Temple and sometimes at other popular eating places in Udipi like Diana. When I completed my III-Year Engineering, my brother completed his Graduation and left Manipal. And then I continued this practice of visiting Sri Krishna Temple every Saturday with my engineering college - junior, Alladi Raghu, who incidentally is my friend since childhood and our neighbor at Secunderabad.

Sri Krishna Temple, Udipi, is a very ancient Temple; it came into existence towards the end of 13th century. It is said that a Ship carrying the Statue of Lord Krishna from Dwaraka sank due to a storm in the Arabian Sea, close to Malpe Village, which is 3 kms. from Udipi. After sometime when Saint Sri Madhvacharya came to Udipi for spreading his philosophy, a divine power guided him to Malpe to retrieve the Statue of Lord Krishna from the Sea. He brought the Statue to Udupi and placed it in the pond that you can see at the Temple today (Madhava Sarovar) and then on the day of Sankranti he placed it at the present Sanctum Sanctorum, where it is being worshipped since then.

The unique feature of this Temple since 16th century is that Lord Krishna is worshipped by the visiting devotees only through a window! having nine holes, called the Navagraha Kitiki. In the 16th century during the rule of Sri Vaadiraja, a devotee named Kanakadasa came to Udipi to worship Lord Krishna but he was not allowed inside the Temple as he belonged to a lower caste and was considered an untouchable. Kanakadasa sat in penance behind the Temple and worshipped the Lord, pleased with the devotion Lord Krishna created a hole in the back wall and turned to face the hole and through it Kanakadasa. Since then the original entrance is closed and the archakas enter the Sanctum Sanctorum through a side door to carry out the daily worship and rituals, and the visiting devotees have to pray through the window!

GOD’s Creation is Sublime! And Man’s, Intricate.

Flocks of Flamingos,

And countless Canoes,

One is GOD’s creation!

The other; Man’s recreation!

Both pictures are colourful!

And wonderful!

Which one is better, Sudhiksha?

Not difficult to answer, Thaatha!

The top one is orderly!

And the bottom one is disorderly.

The top one is full of life!

And the bottom one is full of strife.

GOD’s CREATION IS SUBLIME!

AND MAN’s, INTRICATE.

Let us not neglect and destroy Mother Earth.

Today, 22nd April, is Earth Day! It is a special day celebrated in more than 180 countries, since 1970. On this day, messages are propagated and events held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of Earth’s natural environment.

Our beautiful planet Earth is ageless! It was extremely beautiful and wonderful for millions of years! But unfortunately since last few decades it is suffering a lot of abuse from us. Knowingly or unknowingly we are neglecting it and destroying it. We are destroying the rich fauna, flora and what is most vital to our healthy existence, air and water.

With respect and fondness we refer to our planet as Mother Earth. And truly it is a Mother providing us countless bounties! Yet our generation is not taking good care of it.

So today is the day marked to celebrate the past beauty and wonder of our planet and to ensure that it is restored and maintained. It is the day to spread the message of peace and love and keep Mother Earth in the pink of health!

Let us observe every day as Earth Day! 

May deaths due to accidents never occur.

The visuals, the news and the stories emanating out of the plane crash near Islamabad last evening, are hurting. Yesterday, Bhoja Airlines Flight 213, from Karachi to Islamabad, tragically crashed a few minutes before reaching the destination, killing everyone aboard.

However much, our technology and safety measures advance, the fact that ‘Life is uncertain and death is certain’ remains true.  We are helpless, we have to live in the hope and pray that the risks around every individual in the world are reduced to the barest minimum. So that there are no more tears and sorrow due to such tragic accidents.

My deepest condolences to our neighbors, the families and friends of the unfortunate 127 precious children of Pakistan, who have perished in this accident.

"HYDERABAD HERITAGE FESTIVAL", 18th to 24th April 2012.

Today is “World Heritage Day”. World Heritage Day is the International Day dedicated for the preservation of Monuments and Historical Sites. It was created on 18th April 1982, by ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) and later approved by UNESCO. This special day offers an opportunity to raise public’s awareness concerning the diversity of the world’s heritage and the efforts that are required to protect and conserve it, as well as to draw attention to its vulnerability. And today happens to be the 40th anniversary of World Heritage Day.

To mark the occasion, AP State Government is organizing “Hyderabad Heritage Festival – 2012” from today; till 24th April. The AP State Tourism Department is organizing Cultural and Traditional programs at a number of heritage places like Chowmahalla Palace, Taramati Baradari and the Qutub Shahi Tombs. The week-long celebrations will see performances like Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Jugalbandis, Ghazal, Mushaira programs and Carnatic music concerts and Plays related to Hyderabad like, “Taramati – The Legend of an Artiste” and “Biryani and Haleem”! Great and popular artists like Dr. Balamuralikrishna,  Pandit Birju Maharaj, Padma Subramanyam, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat, Ananada Shankar Jayant, L. Subramanyam, Kavita Krishnamurthy and many more stalwarts would be performing. The sound and light show which is a yearlong event at the Golconda Fort will be held at Salar Jung Museum and at Qutub Shahi Tombs during this week.

Most Shopping Centers and Malls and Star Hotels in the city will take part in the Festival. Hyderabad Food Festivals are being held at these Hotels and at Shilparamam too.  

This is the first time that the Heritage Day / Hyderabad Heritage Festival is being observed in Hyderabad and that too on such a large scale ..... Perhaps motivated by the Award and Title it received from the Union Tourism Ministry, on 18th February 2012, as the “Best Heritage City of India”!

The tragedy of the Titanic teaches us to be ever vigilant!

100 years ago on this day, the night of 14th April and early hours of 15th April 1912, the gigantic luxury ship RMS TITANIC hit an iceberg and sank. And in this unfortunate tragedy, remembered even after 100 years, 1522 members drowned along with the ship, only 713 people and 2 dogs could be rescued.

Royal Mail Ship TITANIC an Olympic-class Ocean Liner was a huge one with a passenger capacity of 2435 and a crew of 892. From bow to stern, it was 882.9 feet long with four smokestacks as you can see in the above original photographs of the Titanic. From its keel to the top of the bridge, it was 104 feet that is 7 ½ stories high and weighed 46,328 tons. Its cruising speed was 21 knots with the maximum at 24 knots that is 44 kmph or 28 mph. And for this it consumed 600 tons of coal per day.  

TITANIC started from Southampton on 10th April 1912 on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. TITANIC then called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland before heading westwards to New York City. And on 14th April 1912 at 11:40 PM (time in the ship) the ship collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. The collision caused the hull plates to buckle inwards in a number of locations on the starboard side and opened five of the ship’s sixteen watertight compartments to the sea. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly filled. Many passengers travelling Second Class were left aboard due to ‘women and children first’ protocol followed by the officers supervising rescue operations. At about 2:20 AM the TITANIC broke up and sank bow-first with over a thousand people still on board. Those in the water died within minutes due to the freezing ocean. The 713 survivors on the lifeboats were rescued a few hours later by RMS Carpathia.

The huge loss of life and the tragic stories behind those who died and of the survivors continues to hurt the people of the world even today. Many families lost their bread-winners in this disaster and many survivors lost all of their money and possessions and were left to face a very rough life. Movies, novels, stories, some autobiographies and news about TITANIC are keeping the memories of this tragedy afresh year after year. All the news channels in India are telecasting about the TITANIC since a few days and especially today. And all over the world there are several events taking place to mark the TITANIC centenary and even above the final resting place of the TITANIC in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The tragedy of the TITANIC teaches us to be ever vigilant in every respect.

The underlying craze for bicycle!

Boys grow to own Motorbikes,

And then Motorcars,

With a lot of gusto!

But what thrills them most,

I think is their first LOVE!

The BICYCLE!

This is the case with Srikanth,

And in a different Continent; Srinath!

Bicycle is certainly one of the best ‘Childhood Gifts’. The memories of those days, of adventures and life with the bicycle will remain with me forever. As a child I went to School by School-Bus for few years, and then by Cycle Rickshaw and from 7th Class to 12th Class I went to school and tuitions by bicycle. Though I learnt to ride a bicycle at a much younger age I was permitted to go to School on bicycle from 7th Class onwards. As I am writing this article, I remember a number of my experiences with the bicycle, starting from the days when I learnt to awkwardly bicycle, I say awkwardly because I was not tall enough to easily mount or reach the pedals adequately!

Thereafter commuting by Scooters, Motorbikes and Cars took over, but occasionally whenever there is a chance to ride a bicycle even for a few feet, I love it. And this has become the case with my two grownup sons. Bicycles have paved the way for procuring faster vehicles, Motorbikes and Cars, but then the underlying craze for bicycles has made them procure some modern bicycles for recreation. Based on this interest in our family and in general with many others my wife has posted the above status on facebook with the picture of Srikanth’s recent bicycle. 

Memorable pictures with rhythmic posts on facebook! by Lalitha, today.

Who stole the tail?

Of these monkey infants!

No! No! This is about a fairy tale!

Of Srinath and Srikant’s!

As depressing as the tale of Humpty Dumpty;

Is the story of our kitchen garden,

It has turned from Umpty to Empty.

The pumpkin you see is from our extinct garden:-(

The above status updates on facebook are by Lalitha, my wife, a few hours ago, today. The accompanying photographs from the past, immensely memorable to us are of our sons Srikanth and Srinath. I am reproducing the facebook clippings here as I wanted the followers and other readers of my blog to see them. 

P.S. Few more similar interesting facebook posts .....

 Sudhiksha and Simba look so good!

And like ‘Two peas in a pod’!

Another baby in our family,

With a Lion’s mane!

No doubt she is lovely!

Do you know her name?!

Mesmerizing performance by duo!

A drummer and dancer combo!

Amusing themselves!

And entertaining others!

One is a Rajasthani drummer,

And the dancer a doctor!

GOOD FRIDAY! BREAKING NEWS!

GOOD FRIDAY! BREAKING NEWS!

The saga of crucifixion continues!

A sincere and upright Anti-Corruption Officer pursuing truth for the welfare of the country and the innocent common men has been crucified to protect the criminal, corrupt, greedy, politicians who rule us by coming to power by all possible dubious means, such as appeasement through false promises, caste and religious based considerations, idiotic freebies and through money, liquor, muscle power and every possible foul strategy.

How long will this evil continue. How long will the innocents be punished to protect the sinners. Will we ever get good rulers!

When and how will this RABANDHULA RAJYAM end?

Indian Premier League Cricket / IPL 2012 / IPL Season 5.

The annual ‘Indian Premier League Cricket Tamasha’ will commence from tomorrow. It will go on until 27th May 2012. And during these 54 days of Twenty20 cricket, 76 matches will be played in various cities of the country. There are 9 teams participating in the tournament, all teams sponsored by some bigwigs. They seem to be representing some provinces in the country but have very few players from the province but more from all India and international participation. And in each season these players keep jumping from one team to another based on whoever pays them better or buys them for more money. This form of cricket is very little cricket and more of Tamasha, every throw has to be hit as in Baseball and Gilli Danda or as one chooses. In contrast to the dignified white dress the cricket players have worn for generations, in these matches the players wear colorful dresses which make them look like jokers. But they are no jokers, because they earn fortunes in these few weeks and make grounds for getting sold for a much bigger price in the next season. To add to this Tamasha are the cheer girls dancing to loud music and the crazy and noisy cricket fans who are never tired of cricket in whichever form and between whomsoever it is played and for whatever purpose!

In the last four seasons I have watched a few matches. Especially the second season, IPL 2009 played in South Africa was interesting to me as our so called local team Hyderabad Deccan Chargers have won the Championship. This season too, I am not very excited about watching all these cricket matches. I may occasionally see some matches briefly and if our local team Deccan Chargers are doing well I may take some interest in the game!  

April Fools' Day!

Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness! So don’t be worried of April Fools’ Day!

Enjoy the attached video, an evergreen Hindi song!  based on April Fools’ Day!: