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.

Relieved as our children are returning home safely from devastating floods in J & K.

Glad to inform all concerned that after a risky and adventurous drive through flooded streets and bridges of Srinagar today afternoon, with all communication links cut and disquieting experience at Srinagar Airport; my son, Srikanth and daughter-in-law, Ranjini have safely landed in Delhi  a few minutes ago, and are on their way home. Thank GOD! It is a great relief to all of us.

May GOD similarly help all those affected by the severe flood situation in J & K, in every possible way and keep them safe.

The floods in pictures:

http://indianexpress.com/photos/picture-gallery-others/floods-hit-kulgam-district-in-jammu-and-kashmir/#carfloods-1

The News in brief:

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/jk-floods-people-trapped-city-submerged-adminstration-missing/

Happy Teacher's Day!

This is ANISHA our dear grandniece, aged twenty months, learning to respect teachers on this very important day – TEACHER’S DAY, as our entire Nation is paying respects and expressing gratitude to Teachers:

Since times immemorial, Indians have respected and idolized their teachers. Earlier, we used to call our teachers 'Guru' and now it's the contemporary 'Sir' or 'Madam'. Nevertheless, the role of teachers has remained the same. They were, are and will continue to be our guiding light, creating conditions conducive to our overall development. We will always be thankful to them for their constructive support. It is as an expression of this gratitude that we celebrate Teacher's Day in India.

Teacher's Day is a tribute to the hard work and devotion of the teachers all year long, to educate a child. In India, Teacher’s Day is celebrated on 5th of September every year. Indian Teacher’s Day is dedicated to Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was a zealous advocate of education and one of the greatest scholars and teachers of all times, apart from being the first Vice President and the second President of India. As a mark of respect to this phenomenal teacher, his birthday came to be observed as Teacher’s Day in the country.

May this cheerfulness and happiness last forever.

Dearest Srikanth and Ranjini,

May this cheerfulness and happiness last every moment, every day and forever.

God bless you in every step, in every way and in everything you do and forever.

- Mummy and Daddy.

May Heaven’s choicest blessings be showered on this young couple and of course yours too.

- Raghu & Lalitha.