Navarathri Concert – 2104, by my granddaughter Sudhiksha.

The attached video and photographs are of  my granddaughter Sudhiksha  rendering five Keerthanas and one Mangala Harathi along with her friends at Navarathri Concert – 2014, Ramalayam Temple, Jawahar Nagar, Secunderabad, on 26th September 2014.

Children love music and to sing, we must definitely encourage this interest. Teaching Classical Music to children is very important. It plays a very big role in the development of a child. The guidelines and decorum of Classical Music discipline children and make them practice and strive for excellence. And learning Music also improves various skills like thinking, language, motor coordination and understanding emotions.

All said and done, they entertain us and the world, spread joy all around and win everyone’s admiration for themselves, their teachers and their parents’.

Hyderabad’s worst catastrophe occurred this day, 106 years ago.

A devastating flood occurred in Hyderabad due to the swelling of River Musi on 28th September 1908, causing widespread devastation, and killing over 15,000 people, rendering 80,000 homeless and affecting another 6,00,00 people in some form or the other. Apart from houses, bridges across the river and a few hospitals got washed away killing the staff and patients. This is the worst catastrophe experienced by Hyderabad, and thank GOD! Hyderabad has been safe from Musi since then, that is for the last 106 years and hope it will never happen again.

In the above photographs, you see an almost dried-up Musi as it looks today and on the farther bank the huge Osmania General Hospital which was built after the Nizam Hospital at that location got washed away in this ‘Great Musi Flood of 1908’. At the point where you see my wife, Lalitha and my granddaughter, Sudhiksha standing, the river was flowing at a height of about 12 feet above the road which means it was certainly flowing 6 feet above the head of Lalitha. And in some other inhabited areas of the City, the water was flowing at a height of 15 to 20 feet! What a frightening scenario!

River Musi is a tributary of River Krishna. Musi originates 90 kilometres to the west of Hyderabad in Ananthagiri Hills near Vikarabad town of Ranga Reddy District, and flows east almost all its course. It flows through Hyderabad dividing it into Old and New Cities. After covering a distance of 240 kilometres it joins River Krishna at Vadapally in Nalgonda District. Nowadays, barring the rainy season, the Musi in Hyderabad is almost dry and serves mostly as a sewerage canal.

The pictures below are from the internet, courtesy the owners, reflect the tragedy of 28th September 1908…flooded areas, broken bridges, fallen houses, collapsed roofs, bare walls, tangled mass of trees, the agony on the faces of the people and so on. May such calamity never affect Hyderabad again.

My son, Ch. Srikanth & Ch. Sow. Ranjini's wedding at a glance.

Our son, Ch. Srikanth & Ch. Ranjini's wedding at a glance.

The Wedding took place on 31st August 2014, at Anupuram Community Hall, Secunderabad, and the Wedding Reception on 1st September 2014, at Moksh Banquets, Secunderabad. This short video…highlighting some of the main events of the wedding was made for friends and relatives who could not attend the wedding, and to thank and share this video with friends on facebook who have overwhelmingly greeted the young couple.

- N. Lalitha & Raghu.

MOM successfully enters Martian Orbit!

We Love Circus!

We love Circus; but then who doesn’t, ladies, gentlemen and most certainly children of all ages love Circus. The excitement and happiness you see in children watching a Circus or recounting about it is a very happy experience. In short; Circus is a guaranteed; family fun and entertainment.

Our granddaughter, Sudhiksha’s Dasara vacation has started today, and we provided a highly entertaining start to her vacation by going to the Circus in our city – Jamuna Circus. Jamuna Circus is the oldest Circus of our country performing since 1901! The amusing and daring physical feats of men and women in attractive costumes and the feats of tamed animals and the acts of clowns were very entertaining.  I must point out here that many interesting acts of animals that we saw for years in the past were missing due to new regulations.

However we are glad as our granddaughter had all praise for the show and we returned home happily sometime back.

The Circus is a short break from Television shows and it certainly and will always remain a memorable experience.

The above photos are of us at the Circus and the brief video on Jamuna Circus towards the end of this article is by “Siasat”, Urdu Newspaper of Hyderabad. 

JAMUNA CIRCUS VIDEO:

Reunited Kingdom! - Scotland says NO to Independence from United Kingdom.

I have been following the Scottish Independence referendum campaign from the very beginning. I somehow did not want Scotland to sever its centuries old relation with the United Kingdom, so I was with the “Better Together Campaign”.

The referendum on whether Scotland should be an Independent Country took place yesterday, Thursday 18th September 2014, and the result is out today, that is on 19th September! - Scotland has rejected Independence from the UK in a historic vote with an unprecedented turnout. The Scots voted by a margin of 55% - 45% to stay part of the United Kingdom. This is a momentous day not only for Scotland but for the United Kingdom as a whole. And of course to people like me.

Hope the Independence debate will now be closed forever and the United Kingdom will remain united.

Bathukamma Festivities-2014 to be celebrated on a very grand scale!

Bathukamma Panduga! – A unique and popular festival of Telangana region, celebrated with great enthusiasm, devotion and gaiety by its people – Hindu women and girls, here and all over the world; is just a few days ahead. The nine days festivities will start on 24th September 2014 and go on up to 2nd October 2014. The main festival called Bathukamma Panduga or Saddhula Bathukamma will be celebrated very grandly on 2nd October 2014.

This being the first Bathukamma festival in the newly formed Telangana State, it has been officially announced that it will be a State festival and will be celebrated on a very grand scale in all districts of the State with huge financial and infrastructure support from the Government, and such support will continue forever. You may see the below newspaper clipping for more details of this year’s festivities.

Here are links to my earlier SIX COLOURFUL BLOG-POSTS on Bathukamma festival and a YouTube video which you may see by clicking on the following links:

All About Bathukamma Festival!

Saddhula Bathukamma Festival - 2010.

Bathukamma Panduga 2012 - Photos.

First Day of Bathukamma Panduga - 2013.

Bathukamma Festival - 2013.

Procedure to Arrange Bathukamma.

Medak Bye-election Results Are Out.

About Medak Bye-election Results:

Every political party criticized every other party in every possible way,

Some parties resorted to all evil means to misguide and influence Voters,

The media, some good and mostly bad played confusing roles,

Voters listened to all of them with apt enthusiasm,

Then they analyzed all inputs and cast their Votes,

They elected a leader with unbelievable majority!

This proves the wisdom of the Voters,

And the foolishness of bad politicians and critics of Voters.

Results: TRS-5,71,800, INC-2,10,523, BJP(TDP)-1,86,334 Votes.

- N. Raghu.

Happy Engineer’s Day!

Happy Engineer’s Day! Today is Engineer’s Day in India!

Engineer’s Day is celebrated in India on 15th September, in honour of Bharat Ratna Sri Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (Visveswaraiah), an outstanding Engineer. He was born on 15th September 1860 and after his demise on 14th April 1962, his date of birth is being observed as Engineer’s Day. Today is the 47th Engineer’s Day. Every year many events take place on this day at Engineering Colleges and National level organisations like ‘The Institute of Engineers’ to commemorate the extraordinary service rendered by Sri Visvesvaraya and to felicitate present day Engineers who are contributing in a great way and to discuss current engineering achievements and challenges facing the country. The observation of Engineer’s Day serves as a great inspiration to Engineers.

Sri Mokshagundam Visveswaraiah was the most popular, prominent and great Engineer of his times. He was born to a Telugu speaking Brahmin family of Srinivasa Sastry and Venkatalakshmamma, at Muddenahalli village, 65 kms. from Bangalore. After graduating from Madras University with a B.A. Degree, he studied Civil Engineering at the famous College of Engineering Pune. After graduating as an Engineer he joined the Public Works Department of Bombay. He later joined the Indian Irrigation Commission and implemented an extraordinary irrigation system in the Deccan area. He designed and patented a system of automatic Weir Water Floodgates and installed it in 1903 at Khadakvasala Reservoir near Pune. With the success of such a design, similar Floodgate system was installed at Tigara Dam in Gwalior and KRS Dam near Mysore. He actually supervised the construction of  Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) Dam across River Cauvery from concept to inauguration. This was the biggest reservoir in Asia at that time. For this and other contributions of his as Chief Engineer and later Diwan of Mysore Government and for establishing - The Mysore Soap Factory, The Parasitoide Laboratory, The Mysore Iron and Steel Works, Government Engineering College – Bangalore, Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Institute, Bangalore Agricultural University, The Century Club, Mysore Chambers of Commerce and many other Industrial ventures, he was called ‘Father of Modern Mysore State’. He is remembered in Andhra Pradesh for the design and construction of the Ghat Road over Seven Hills between Tirupati and Lord Venkateshwaraswamy’s Temple atop the hills at Tirumala and The Flood Protection System for Hyderabad against the fury of River Musi and for the protection of Visakhapatnam Port from Sea erosion.

Sir Mokshagundam Visveswaraiah has received many Awards and Honours. For his innumerable contributions, the British Government appointed him as Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) and later knighted him as Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE). After India achieved independence, he was awarded our nation’s highest honour, the Bharat Ratna. He was awarded honorary Membership of London Institution of Civil Engineers for an unbroken 50 years and a fellowship of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He was awarded several honorary and doctoral degrees like D.Sc., LL.D., D. Litt., from eight Universities in India. And in honour of his memory, several educational institutions, museums and a University are named after him.

Welcome Home Srikanth & Happy Birthday.

Dear Srikanth,

Yesterday was a stressful day for us, as you were amidst floods in Srinagar with very poor; almost absent phone connectivity. Your adventurous and circuitous route to Srinagar Airport along flooded roads and bridges and then your wait for your delayed flight to takeoff which ultimately got cancelled kept us terribly worried. Thank God, you were accommodated on a late evening flight to New Delhi and have finally come home today evening.

Welcome Home And Wish You A Very Happy Birthday And Many Many Happy Returns Of The Day. GOD Bless You.

With Love,

Daddy.