India after Gandhi” has been so obsessed with Gandhi that we belittle everyone’s stature in front of the father of our nation. I remember in one of my favorite movies, the actor tells his friend that if they go to jail, they will be respected like Gandhi and their faces will be printed on the currency notes. Seriously, the writer of the movie needs to be reminded that no matter how much a person does, he will never be close to the “greatness” of Gandhi and will never get his face on the currency note.

In India, a person’s greatness is counted only after Gandhi. A popular Indian weekly even created an opinion poll titled “Greatest Indian after Gandhi”. Really! Is nobody even equal to Gandhi?. 

I am not, in any way, undermining the greatness of Gandhi ji. I just want say that India has been blessed by many great people who deserve equal respect and stature. These people are equally patriotic as Gandhi. Only thing I am saying that they should be remembered and revered as Gandhi and their faces should also appear on the currency notes.

Swami Vivekananda: 

Swami Vivekananda is the legendary spiritual personality who brought international limelight to the glory and wisdom of India. His historic speech at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1893 wherein he started with the opening statement, “Sisters and Brothers of America…” will be remembered forever. He possessed a fiery flame of renunciation and inspired countless people to wake up to the higher purpose of life. 

Swami Vivekananda was born in Calcutta as Narendranath. He was educated in the prominent British-run schools of the time like the Presideny College and Scottish Church College in Calcutta. At a young age he began the inquiring about God and this brought him in touch with Brahma Samaj of Sri Keshav Chandra Sen. Possessed with a very sharp intellect, he was not satisfied with the Samaj and searched for a man who saw God and who could show him God. This search led him to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwar. 

Narendra met Ramakrishna for the first time in November 1881. He asked Ramakrishna the same old question he has asked others so often, “Mahashaya, have you seen god?.” The instantaneous answer from Ramakrishna was, “Yes, I see God, just as I see you here, only in a much intenser sense. God can be realized,” he went on “one can see and talk to Him as I am seeing and talking to you. But who cares? People shed torrents of tears for their wife and children, for wealth or property, but who does so for the sake of God? If one weeps sincerely for Him, he surely manifests Himself.” Narendra was astounded and puzzled. He could feel the man’s words were honest and uttered from depths of experience. He started visiting Ramakrishna frequently. At first he did not believe that such a plain man could’ve seen God but gradually he started having faith in what Ramkrishna said. 

During the course of five years of his training under Ramakrishna, Narendra was transformed from a restless, puzzled, impatient youth to a mature man who was ready to renounce everything for the sake of God-realization. After the passing away of Sri Ramakrishna, Narendra and a core group of Ramakrishna’s disciples took vows to become monks and renounce everything. In July 1890, he set out for a long journey, without knowing where the journey would take him. The journey that followed took him to the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent. He reached Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent on 24 December 1892. There, he swam across the sea and started meditating on a lone rock. He thus meditated for three days and said later that he meditated about the past, present and future of India. The rock went on to become the Vivekananda memorial at Kanyakumari. 

Swami Vivekananda successfully introduced yoga and Vedanta to the West and lectured around America introducing them. After four years of constant touring, lecturing and retreats in the West, he came back to India in the year 1897. He founded one of the world’s largest charitable relief missions, the Ramakrishna Mission and reorganized the ancient Swami order by founding one of the most significant and largest monastic orders in India, the Ramakrishna Math. 

Swamiji has written a number of scholarly works on Yoga and Vedanta that remain as invaluable gems of wisdom for spiritual seekers of all times. 

Bhagat Singh:

Bhagat Singh gave a new direction to revolutionary movement in India during independence struggle, formed ‘Naujavan Bharat Sabha’ to spread the message of revolution in Punjab, formed ‘Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha’ along with Chandrasekhar Azad to establish a republic in India, assassinated police official Saunders to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, dropped bomb in Central Legislative Assembly along with Batukeshwar Dutt.

Bhagat Singh was one of the most prominent faces of Indian freedom struggle. He was a revolutionary way ahead of his times. By Revolution he meant that the order of things prevailed at that time, which was based on injustice must change. Bhagat Singh studied the European revolutionary movement and was greatly attracted towards socialism. He realised that the overthrow of British rule should be accompanied by the socialist reconstruction of Indian society and for this political power must be seized by the workers.

Though portrayed as a terrorist by the British, Sardar Bhagat Singh was critical of the individual terrorism which was prevalent among the revolutionary youth of his time and called for mass mobilization. Bhagat Singh gave a new direction to the revolutionary movement in India. He differed from his predecessors on two counts. Firstly, he accepted the logic of atheism and publicly proclaimed it. Secondly, until then revolutionaries had no idea of post-independence society. Their immediate goal was destruction of the British Empire and they had no inclination to work out a political alternative. Bhagat Singh, because of his interest in studying and his keen sense of history gave revolutionary movement a goal beyond the elimination of the British. A clarity of vision and determination of purpose distinguished Bhagat Singh from other leaders of the National Movement. He emerged as the only alternative to Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, especially for the youth. 

Mother Teresa: 

Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, the current capital of the Republic of Macedonia, which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time of her birth and was conquered by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912, when she was two years old. On August 27, 1910, a date frequently mistaken for her birthday, she was baptized as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Mother Teresa’s parents, Nikola and Drana Bojaxhiu, were of Albanian descent; her father was an entrepreneur, who worked as a construction contractor and a trader of medicines and other goods. The Bojaxhius were devoutly Catholic  and Nikola Bojaxhiu was deeply involved in the local church as well as in city politics as  vocal proponents of Albanian independence. 

In 1919, when Mother Teresa was only eight years old, her father suddenly fell ill and expired. While the cause of his death remains unknown, many have speculated that political enemies poisoned him. In the aftermath of her father’s death, Mother Teresa became extraordinarily close to her mother, a pious and compassionate woman who instilled in her daughter a deep commitment to charity. Although by no means wealthy, Drana Bojaxhiu extended an open invitation to the city’s destitutes to dine with her family. “My child, never eat a single mouthful unless you are sharing it with others,” she counseled her daughter. When Mother Teresa asked, who the people eating with them were, her mother uniformly responded, “Some of them are our relations, but all of them are our people.” 

Mother Teresa attended a convent-run primary school and then a state-run secondary school. As a girl Mother Teresa sang in the local Sacred Heart choir and was often asked to sing solos. The congregation made an annual pilgrimage to the chapel of the Madonna of Letnice atop Black Mountain in Skopje and it was on one such trip at the age of twelve that Mother Teresa first felt a calling to the religious way of life. Six years later, in 1928, an 18-year-old Agnes Bojaxhiu decided to become a nun and set off for Ireland to join the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was there that she took the name Sister Mary Teresa after Saint Theresa of Lisieux. A year later, she traveled on to Darjeeling, India for the novitiate period; in May 1931, Mother Teresa made her First Profession of Vows. Afterward she was sent to Calcutta, where she was assigned to teach at Saint Mary’s High School for Girls, a school runs by the Loreto Sisters and dedicated to teaching girls from the city’s poorest Bengali families. Mother Teresa learned to speak both Bengali and Hindi fluently as she taught geography and history and dedicated herself to alleviating the girls’ poverty through education. 

On May 24, 1937, she took her Final Profession of Vows to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. As was the custom for Loreto nuns, she took on the title of “mother” upon making her final vows and thus became known as Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa continued to teach at Saint Mary’s, and in 1944 she became the school’s principal. Through her kindness, generosity and unfailing commitment to her students’ education , She sought to lead them to a life of devotion to Christ. “Give me the strength to be ever the light of their lives, so that I may lead them at last to you,” she wrote in prayer.

However, on September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa experienced a second calling that would forever transform her life. She was riding a train from Calcutta to the Himalayan foothills for a retreat when Christ spoke to her and told her to abandon teaching to work in the slums of Calcutta aiding the city’s poorest and sickest people. “I want Indian Nuns, Missionaries of Charity, who would be my fire of love amongst the poor, the sick, the dying and the little children,” she heard Christ say to her on the train that day. “You are I know the most incapable person — weak and sinful but just because you are that — I want to use You for My glory. Wilt thou refuse?” 

Since Mother Teresa had taken a vow of obedience, she could not leave her convent without official permission. After nearly a year and a half of lobbying, in January 1948 she finally received approval from the local Archbishop Ferdinand Perier to pursue this new calling. That August, wearing the blue and white sari that she would always wear in public for the rest of her life, she left the Loreto convent and wandered out into the city. After six months of basic medical training, she voyaged for the first time into Calcutta’s slums with no more specific goal than to aid “the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for.” 

Mother Teresa quickly translated this somewhat vague calling into concrete actions to help the city’s poor. She began an open-air school and established a home for the dying destitute in a dilapidated building she convinced the city government to donate for her cause. In October 1950, she won canonical recognition for a new congregation, the Missionaries of Charity, which she founded with only twelve members — most of them former teachers or pupils from St. Mary’s School. As the ranks of her congregation swelled and donations poured in from India and across the globe, the scope of Mother Teresa’s charitable activities expanded exponentially. Over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, she established a leper colony, an orphanage, a nursing home, a family clinic and a string of mobile health clinics. 

In February 1965, Pope John Paul VI bestowed the Decree of Praise upon the Missionaries of Charity, which prompted Mother Teresa to begin expanding internationally. By the time of her death in 1997, the Missionaries of Charity numbered over 4,000 — in addition to thousands more lay volunteers — with 610 foundations in 123 countries on all seven continents. 

In 1971, Mother Teresa traveled to New York City where she opened a soup kitchen as well as a home to care for those infected with HIV/AIDS. The next year she went to Beirut, Lebanon, where she crossed frequently between Christian East Beirut and Muslim West Beirut to aid children of both faiths. Mother Teresa has received various honors for her tireless and effective charity. She was awarded ” Bharat Ratna,” the highest honor bestowed on Indian civilians, as well as the now-defunct Soviet Union’s Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee. Then, in 1979, Mother Teresa won her highest honor when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work “in bringing help to suffering humanity.” 

After several years of deteriorating health in which she suffered from heart, lung and kidney problems, Mother Teresa left for heavenly abode on September 5, 1997 at the age of 87. Since her death, Mother Teresa has remained in the public spotlight. 

Mother Teresa once said: “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world.”

Note: This list is not complete. It just shows my personal views. No offense intended to anybody. 

On 3rd October 2012, I signed a cheque for Rs 20,000.00 for withdrawing from my savings account from the ECIL branch of Bank of Maharashtra, Hyderabad. The cashier Mr.D.T.Sugander gave me Rs 10,000.00 in other denominations and wanted to give the balance in 10 notes of RS 1000.00 each. But I left the Bank in a hurry thinking that I withdrew only Rs 10000.00. I forgot about it the entire day. My wife discussed with me about the money withdrawn the next day converting into a heated discussion. Then I recollected that I brought home only Rs10,000.00 though I signed the cheque for double the amount. Immediately I contacted the Assistant Branch Manager Mr.Sarma and requested him to ask his cashier about the same. He in turn asked the cashier, who told him to tell me to come to the Bank and collect the amount. I can’t express in words how much happy I felt at that point of time. I rushed to the Bank and received the balance amount. I thanked Mr.D.T.Sugander profusely and offered Rs 500.00 as a token of gratitude, which he refused instantly. Further he told me that he searched for me for about an hour. 

I had unforgettable experience in America. An African American taxi driver by name Larry L Lee went out of his way to offer me a free trip and also serve as a guide. I wrote about him in my article ” External Appearance of People”. 

Our neighbours in Manhattan(Kansas) and in Flushing, New York( at two places) were African Americans. They were good neighbours. They were nice and friendly. We never had any problems whatsoever for almost six years of our stay in America.

We spend hours and hours of our valuable time in blaming the inefficient, lazy and corrupt Government staff and seldom appreciate and applaud the prompt and efficient job handled by at least a few of the staff in the Government. Here are such wonderful incidents experienced by me and my family members during the past 14 months.

My wife was an exchange scholar on J-1 U.S Visa. The duration of this particular Visa in her case was five years. She was supposed to stay in India for two years after the expiry of the same. She wanted to get her Visa converted into H-1 instead of returning back to India. She was supposed to obtain ” NORI” (No objection to return to India) certificate from Mumbai Passport office, A.P State Government and Central Government. Mumbai Passport Authorities  faxed the certificate in one to two weeks to the Indian Consulate in New York. My wife followed it up with Mr.Narendra Kumar and Mr. Gopabandhu Das of NORI section, Delhi for about one month on phone. They sent the necessary certificate by post to her without anyone contacting them from India. Andhra Pradesh Government staff also sent the required certificate without taking much time. My wife received all the three certificates within two months that too without any harassment whatsoever.

My daughter had to seek the same certificates from Mumbai Passport Authority, Maharashtra State Government and Central Government for converting her J-1 Visa into H-1 Visa. Mumbai Passport Authority did the job promptly as usual. I followed it up with Mr.Gopabandhu Das and Mr.Narendra Kumar on phone from Hyderabad.  They sent the certificate within two months. I followed it up with Mrs. Samant and Mr.Arun Shirsat of NORI section, Government of Maharashtra on phone. Yesterday morning i.e on 9th January 2013, I contacted Mr.Shirsat on phone after coming to know that the certificate was signed. He told me that he would immediately contact me in the afternoon as soon as the letter was ready for dispatch and that he would scan it and email it to me. He kept the promise and also asked me to send any of my friends in Mumbai to personally collect the same. What more else can I expect except to offer a MILLION THANKS to them.

I used to take active interest in a library in Mirjala guda, Secunderabad during my school days. One day I was sitting in the office of the library. A member asked me ” Secretary”. I was rather embarrassed and responded immediately by telling her that I was not the Secretary. Actually she wanted to take the Telugu book titled ” Secretary” written by the then popular female writer Yaddanapudi Sulochana Rani. 

The second funny incident happened in 1976 at the time of my job interview in the headquarters of Maharashtra State Electricity Board. I waited for my chance to be called and waited for some time. People were coming and going and none was calling me. Finally I asked the attendant or peon as to why I was not called. He enquired me about my name. I told him that my name was Sivaram. He told me to give the full name. I told him my full name. He told me that he already called my name, what he called actually was ” Pochi”. I didn’t understand, who this ” Pochi”, was. So I didn’t bother to go into the interview room. He actually cut my name into pieces and as such I didn’t understand what he meant. 

Forty years back I read a hilarious story about corruption in a Telugu weekly titled ” My Well is Stolen” . The story in brief is as below. 

A poor farmer desperately wanted to get his daughter married but he didn’t have sufficient resources. Someone advises him to approach a Bank for seeking the loan. The Bank Officer tells him that he can obtain the loan only on the grounds of constructing a ” Well”. He told the farmer that the sanctioned loan would be paid to him only after deducting the Officer’s share. The farmer was left with no choice but to agree. Loan gets sanctioned and the farmer performs his daughter’s marriage happily. Actual twist in the story starts right now.

After some time the Officer asks the farmer to pay back the entire loan amount. The farmer seeks some more time, which the Officer bluntly refuses and threatens immediate action. The farmer gets fed up and gives police complaint stating that his ” Well” was stolen. The Inspector gets the shock of his life. The farmer then shows the evidence, according to which a ” Well” of such and such dimensions was dug in such and such plot bearing such and and such survey number, which happened to be the farmer’s land and the Inspector understood as to what happened.

 This hadith and commentrary were published in a book called Tibb-i nabavî by Hâfiz Na z r Ahmad (Dihlî: Varld Islâmik Pablikeshanz, 1982), p. 226. Source: http://ipaki.com/content/html/28/1203.html 

No Traffic policeman is found anywhere. One has to show hand to cross the sea of vehicles. The flow of all kinds of vehicles appears endless. The person driving a motorcycle doesn’t even leave one mm of space for the pedestrian to walk. Footpaths are a rarity. There is utter disregard to any kind of planning. Perhaps the authorities concerned don’t know the meaning of the word planning.

There is too much of carbon monoxide pollution emitted by the vehicles. People are compelled to cover their nostrils for the fear of getting all sorts of diseases, especially the respiratory and allergic diseases. Even Hindu girls look like the veiled Muslim girls. No one seems to understand the gravity of this kind of pollution leave alone global warming. Have they ever heard of ‘’ pollution control’’.

Everyone appear to have taken their fate for granted in the midst of all kinds of chaos. Buses are the main means of public transport. Bus transport is quite insufficient to cater to the increasing daily floating population and is disorganized. Auto rickshaws are having the field day. They simply don’t care about the meters provided for the benefit of their customers. They refuse to ply short distance and charge whatever they feel like for the long distance.

In short the condition is Appalling to say the least. I just wonder whether traffic police and R.T.O exist in Hyderabad. The public and readers apathy to a very serious problem especially the ” chaltaa hai” attitude of people is far more hurting than the attitude of the administration. Any number of people irrespective of age, caste, language, religion, gender and economical status may get either killed or get permanently handicapped physically and mentally for no reason at all. 

 

There are few films in Telugu cinema which have found a place in the history and culture of Telugu people. If Maya Bazaar occupies the mythological seat in people’s hearts, Pathala Bhairavi became the eternal movie in the genre of folklore. When it comes to socials none can beat the aura of “GUNDAMMA KATHA” which when released on June 7th, 1962 became such a success story that generations of Telugus see the film just to have fun and laugh wholeheartedly at the idiosyncrasies of a Telugu household.

The premise of the film and the subsequent story, that of two brothers marrying step-sisters and bringing a reform in their mother-in-law by staging some drama in the house, is well-known. The film which was acted by the likes of NTR, ANR, Savitri, Jamuna, Haranath, L Vijayalakshmi and SVR is as famous as any mythological story. But the impressive star-cast which commands every bit of respect were for once overshadowed by two women who just reminded everyone that this is a story which can happen in any household. Suryakantham as Gundamma and Chaya Devi as Sooramma just stole the show from the stars. Ramana Reddy as the comic-villain Gantanna added to the flavor and Rajanala in a guest role provides the thrills.

The story reminds everyone that anyone can fall in bad times. Gundamma who just despises her step-daughter, Lakshmi jumps with joy on seeing her back again after Sooramma ill-treats her. Gundamma repents her own mistakes and asks Lakshmi to take her away. That scene with Suryakantham and Savitri tells it all about the reform the director, Kamalakara Kameswara Rao was talking about. Even Saroja, spoiled daughter of Gundamma is put in hardships by her husband to reform her. On the other hand, Lakshmi who suffered all through her life without complaining is given lot of happiness post-marriage. Sooramma is taught a lesson for her boorish and lecherous behaviour and even Gantanna is mildly reprimanded for his eyes on Gundamma’s property.

Gundamma Katha was directed by Kamalakara Kameswara Rao who directed previously only mythological and folklores. This film remains as his best social movie ever. The film was made on Vijaya Productions  Banner by B Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani. Gundamma Katha happens to be the most successful commercial film of Vijaya Productions and banked on the performances of the stars rather than banking on a solid script, considering the Tamil version of the same film did not succeed as the Telugu version. The reason for its success was attributed to the star cast and the performances of Suryakantham and Chaya Devi. At one point of time, Nagarjuna and Balakrishna wished to remake the film but stopped mid-way because they could not find any replacement for Suryakantham and Chaya Devi. Such was the impact of the duo on the viewers.

The music of the film, scored by Ghantasala, remains to be a high point of the production as every song turned out to be a classic and the children who participate in the reality shows are seen singing songs from this. The melodies like, “Mounamu gaane manasu paadina” “Enta haayi ee reyi” “prema yaatralaku” “sannaga veeche challagaaliki” and the satires on the society, “lechindi nidra lechindi” “Veshamu maarchenu”, the devotional “aligina velani choodaali” and the playful, “kolo kolo anna” remain as the some of the musical classics.

The film had amazing cinematography from Vijaya’s regular DOP, Marcus Bartley. He captured the outdoor shots as beautifully as he captured the studio sets. The song “kolo kolo anna” is best remembered for its choreography of which one couple, ANR and Jamuna is placed on the first storey of the house and the second couple, NTR and Savitri were placed on the ground floor. All the four actors are never to be found in a single frame and even the shoot was done in different time zones, yet the impact on screen was magical. The direction, choreography, editing and cinematography were perfect that the viewer could never point out the reality. Such was the dedication and perfection, the technicians and artists of the day gave to their work.

GUNDAMMA KATHA remains as a greatest commercial entertainer of Telugu cinema. Generations of Telugus pass on this film as a gift to their future generations. For the past 50 years the film is getting newer fan base and remains as an evergreen entertainer.

There were two schools, Keshav Memorial High School and Vivekavardhini High School started by Maharashtrians in Hyderabad. Both these schools have grown up into big institutions. Chatrapati Shivaji and Babasaheb Ambedkar are household names in A.P. At one time Balgangadhar Tilak and Gopal Krishna Gokhale also were very popular names in A.P. There may be a million Telugu Shivajis named after Chatrapati. There are still hundreds of Telugu Tilaks and Gokhales in the age group of 60 years and above. Parents named their children Balgangadhar Tilak and Gopal Krishna Gokhale without knowing that Tilak and Gokhale are Maharashtrian surnames. As such these people have two surnames, Telugu surname at the beginning and Maharashtrian surname at the end of the name.

There are any number of streets and colonies named after Shivaji and Ambedkar in A.P. There are thousands of Shivaji and Ambedkar statues in A.P. At one time people were arguing heatedly to name a university in Marathwada as ‘’Ambedkar University’’. But Ambedkar University already existed at Hyderabad by then.  

In 1954 popular Telugu Actress Anjali Devi made ‘’Sati Sakkubai’’ in Telugu. She also acted as Sakkubai. This movie was a huge hit. She displayed the emotions of Sakkubai beautifully. This film was later dubbed in Marathi as ‘’ Sakku Ali Pandharpurla’’. In 1957 N.T.Rama Rao made ‘’ Panduranga Mahatyam’’ in Telugu. He also acted as Bhakta Pundareek. He displayed the arrogance, devotion and humility of Pundareek at various stages most delicately. The song ‘’ Jaya Krishna Mukunda Murari’’ is the highlight of this movie. This movie is evergreen and a huge hit at that time. Two Telugu movies are made on Bhakta Gorakumbhar. In one movie Akkineni Nageswara Rao(A.N.R)acted as Bhakta Gorakumbhar. This movie with Akkineni Nageswara Rao as the main character was also a big hit. Telugu film ‘’Vundamma Bottu Pedatha’’ was based on Marathi film. ‘’ Thamb Lakshmi Kunku Lavthe’’. Marathi film ”. The Telugu film’s title is literally word by word translation of the Marathi film, what can be said as ” Makki to Makki” translation.  Vahinichya Bangdiya” was made in 1953. In the year 1955 this film was remade in Telugu as ” Vadina gari Gajulu” and later in the year 1961, it was remade in Hindi as ”Bhabhi ki Choodiyan”.

Famous Marathi actor Sayaji Shinde is also a very popular character actor in Telugu movies. He dubs his voice in Telugu. As such he speaks his dialogues in Telugu. Popular Marathi actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar also acted in some Telugu films. Popular Marathi actress Rohini Hattangadi co starred with Akkineni Nageswara Rao(A.N.R) in the Telugu movie ” Seetharamaiah gari Manavaralu”(Seetharamayya’s Granddaughter) and played a very sensitive and memorable role. This movie was also  commercially successful.

Telugu Vaishyas(Komatis) migrated to the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra many decades back. They are called by the surname ” War” like ” Regundwar”. R.S.S founder Hedgewar is said to be Telugu Vaishya.

There may be thousands and thousands of Universities across the Globe. But only few hundred Universities have some kind of a good reputation for providing high standard of education that includes top quality Lecturers and Professors and best infrastructure facilities in addition to sound financial stability. Getting a Bachelor’s degree, Masters degree or doing Research and obtaining a PhD has some value in such Universities only in the light of the future prospects of the students as far as their career is concerned. Rest of them only provide the qualification i.e quantity but not quality, which has no value whatsoever for all practical purposes. So the role of a Professor is very vital in this respect. 

This article generally deals with the behaviour pattern of the Professors and doesn’t deal with the financial aspect of the course and other aspects. This article is not based on fiction but facts. The guide is a very influential person even for deciding the future career of his students. He is like ”Brahma” , ” Vishnu” and ”Shiva” combined and quite capable of making and breaking the career of his students. I only pray that they should only make the career of the students and not break their career. This is not meant to ridicule all Professors since there are decent and capable Professors also in this Universe.

The general requisite for getting a seat in PhD is by graduating in a Masters Degree in that particular field of education. But in Countries like America, one can join a PhD course after obtaining a Bachelor degree. A student may later opt for a Masters degree or continue the course and get the doctorate. The duration for getting the doctorate is said to be four years everywhere except U.K, where it’s only three years under normal circumstances if everything goes well according to schedule.

It is not that simple as it appears. It’s more like snake and ladder, push and pulls game rather than hard work on the part of the student and the guide. The PhD students are something of a prestige for the Professor. The more the number of PhD students, the bigger the Professor, who later becomes the envy of his or her colleagues. The student’s fate more or less depends upon his or her luck i.e getting an opportunity to study under the guidance of a good Professor. The student is always at his wits end since he is at the mercy of the Professor all the time.

A Professor is quite capable of playing any game he or she likes with his/her students. Many Professors get their domestic, official and sundry works done from their students at all times. They can continue to keep the student in suspense and make the student look novice so that the entire duration may sometimes exceed beyond six years. This causes mental agony to the students apart from the financial burden resulting in the dropout of many students out of sheer frustration. Those students, who dare to defy the Professor, are neither here nor there. Their fate is a big question mark.

I am personally aware of some unfortunate students, who have dropped out of the PhD course due to the misdeeds of their guides. My daughter is deprived of her much deserved PhD just because she had some bitter misunderstanding with her roommate, who in turn poisoned the ears of my daughter’s guide. Eventually my daughter had to be satisfied with a Masters degree in America even though she already has one from India. My wife’s PhD was delayed by six months in Mumbai, India only due to the simple reason that she refused to deliver a personal letter of her guide to someone in Chembur, Mumbai during the night hours. My friend’s daughter was denied the much wanted PhD by her guide in Mumbai due to some trivial reasons. She had to opt out finally.  One of the persons closely known to me got his PhD in India without putting much efforts thanks to an unethical act of his friend, who wrote his thesis. One of my close relatives is having a very tough time with his guide for the past two years in America just because he is  an outstanding student. His Professor appears to fear that he may not get another good student once this particular student leaves him after getting his PhD. As such he has tried all tricks in the trade to put all sorts of hurdles in the student’s path. One intelligent lady student has crossed all hurdles after 8 to 9 years of Research in CUNY, New York recently. There may be many more untold such instances.

I am also aware of some students, who obtained their doctorates within the stipulated period, my son, my classmate, my daughter’s friend  being some of them. I wholeheartedly appreciate the knowledge, wisdom and efforts of good Professors, who are doing wonderful job in their fields of specialization.

A simple medicine for headache is available with the brand names ‘’ Aspro’’, ‘’ Anacin’’,’’ Analgin’’, ‘’ Novalgin’’, Disprin’’ etc. All these medicines are manufactured by different companies having different brand names and are sold in medical shops with different price tags. These medicines are not prescription drugs and are available freely over the counter in medical shops. Similarly there are many medicines available for a simple illness such as fever like ‘’ Crocin’’, ‘’ Coldarin’’, ‘’ Acetamol’’ etc. The main ingredient in the medicine that suppresses the fever is called ‘’Paracetamol’’. This medicine is also available across the counter in medical shops.  The patient may get prescription from the doctor for these ailments. There are many doctors, who are out to usurp the patients at all costs, forgetting the very purpose for which their profession is meant. They generally go by the marketing strategy of the medical representative rather than using his medical knowledge, who offers the concerned doctor highest reward for prescribing their company’s medicines to the maximum extent possible. So the doctor prescribes his favourite medicines and the patients simply buy them in good faith. Sometimes a person asks the salesman in a medical shop for a particular brand and the salesman ends up in giving some other brand that fetches more profit margins to his shop.

The doctors’ profession is considered to be divine and the doctors are treated like ” God” by the patients. But unfortunately many of these doctors bring shame to their profession due to their unethical behaviour. What can one say about a Gynaecologist, who keeps on doing cesarean operations for earning fast bucks without bothering for the health of the patients when a normal delivery of the pregnant ladies could have been easily resorted to.

Headache, body aches, stomach upset and pain, Common cold, dry and wet cough and fever are the most common ailments we generally get in different seasons. We are always in a hurry to get them cured pretty fast as soon as the symptoms appear. We hardly give any time for our body to fight these symptoms and cure them in a natural way by our body resistance. So we go to the doctor, get all tests done whether necessarily or unnecessarily and finally end up taking the prescribed medicines. The doctors in India generally don’t tell the patients about the side effects of the medicines. We should understand that there is not even a single medicine that’s available without any side effects. Further we should be vigilant about the doctor’s tendency to prescribe unnecessary X-rays, tests and operations. We should always exercise our wisdom and always seek the second opinion in our own interest.

There are many small and medium scale Pharmaceutical firms in India that manufacture medicines whose motives are not based on quality. These firms may not have the high precision machinery and also are not provided with proper R & D facilities even. These firms hire Analytical Chemists and obtain approval from Food and Drug Administration for their Chemists in the field of Chemical Testing, Instrument Analysis and Microbiology etc. These approvals are statutory requirements for the manufacture of bulk drugs and medicines. These chemists are mere rubber stamps as they are paid employees and the quality control is some kind of an eye wash.

Millions are affected by High/ Low Blood Pressure and Diabetic  diseases. We shouldn’t read too much into this though they are very serious health problems. We can always live healthily for a very longer period provided we get regular health checkups, take proper diet, go in for daily quota of walking and take proper daily dosage of medicines  without fail. There is no reason for panic at all. There should be a systematic control over the intake of sugar including carbohydrates in food and salt intake as well.  That’s all that matters.

The medicines can be purchased in generic form( Their Chemical Names) at a nominal cost, if available, rather than go in for brand names, which are very expensive. In the event of non availability of generic medicines, residents of twin cities of Secunderabad and Hyderabad should spare some time and purchase their branded medicines in the the wholesale Medical Shops located in Sultan Bazar, Koti for a substantial discount to the tune of 22% instead of purchasing them from retailers.

Generally the production cost of many medicines is very very less. But the Pharmaceutical firms sell them at a very prohibitive cost and make huge profits even after considering their overheads. There certain Government stipulations, according to which the pharmaceutical firms are compelled to sell certain essential medicines such as B.P tablets to be sold at reasonable rates. As such the Government permits these firms to sell non essential medicines like vitamin tablets, capsules and tonics at a very high price as a means of compensation.

Here are some health tips for your benefit.

1) Get up early in the morning by 5 everyday and take full benefit of fresh air, which is totally free. It’s better if you can go in for morning walk.

2) Enjoy doing domestic chores and helping your wife keeping aside your ego. Treat it as part of your daily exercise with love. Your marital life and overall health will improve for better.

3) Walk always the short distances for meeting friends and relatives and also for making domestic purchases and share carrying bags to the extent possible..

4) Don’t make it a habit to visit your doctor for minor bearable pains. Your body has the capacity to resist the pain. Visit the doctor only when necessary.

5) Try to locate a family physician who is knowledgeable and firm believer in less medication and proper tests only when really needed.

The more vigilant we are, the more healthier we can be.

One unit of electrical energy equals 1000 watt hours. Using a 100 W bulb for 10 hours equals 1000 watt hours or 1 kilo watt hour (1kwh). The Electricity Utility Company charges approximately Rs 3/- per unit in Andhra Pradesh, India for domestic consumers. A 40 W fluorescent tube light provides better light emission than a 100 W regular filament lamp, which is an eye sore for reading. Further the ambience of the room looks bad. Usage of a fluorescent lamp is somewhat expensive when compared with the cost of a 100 W filament lamp but saves energy consumption by 60% and as such the energy bill gets reduced drastically. Usage of a 26 W energy efficient day light bulb in place of a 100 W filament lamp or a 40 W fluorescent lamp is a much better option for saving energy consumption. Energy efficient bulbs are much more expensive compared with the cost of filament lamps but save plenty of money and energy consumption in the longer run. They also have longevity of life and can last up to 5 years. There have been many occurrences of adverse weather conditions of late due to global warming. Use of energy efficient bulbs by each and every one of us, in addition to resorting to certain other measures, saves electrical power in bulk and helps in reducing the global warming to some extent.

The normal domestic fan can be considered as equal to a 60 W filament lamp for calculating the billing. Electrical consumption of a refrigerator depends upon its capacity. Further a thermostat is provided in the refrigerator for maintaining the required temperature. As such it is difficult to give its exact wattage. However we can consider it as equivalent to a 400 W filament lamp for a 180 litre refrigerator. The duration of its usage may be taken as 6 hours per day for calculation purpose. Its energy consumption per day can be worked out as 2.4 units. We may consider TV as equivalent to a 150 W filament lamp. Similarly the consumption of an electric iron, geysers/ water heaters and air conditioner depends upon their capacity in watts and their usage. The fans continuously operate for 12 to 13 hours a day. So the energy consumption of one fan for 13 hours per day equals 780 watt hours. It means 78% of one unit. The monthly energy consumption can be calculated in this way.  We should remember that regular usage of appliances like geyser, air conditioner, refrigerator etc. results in high billing. The amount of the energy bill is directly proportional to their usage per day.

Many unnecessary lamps are kept glowing in the offices, factories, Banks, shopping malls and other establishments etc. It is nothing but sheer wastage of electricity and also wastage of money at the same time. We can conserve a lot by keeping off the unnecessary lamps. Many lamps are found to glow outside the apartment complexes during broad daylight and sometimes even street lamps are seen glowing during broad daylight even though these lamps may be provided with the sensors. It means that the sensors are not working at all. The concerned officials should take proper action under such circumstances. Each lamp may be of 200 or 300 wattage. Its use for 1 hour amounts to 0.2 to 0.3 units depending upon its wattage.

It appears that many establishments generally use one switch which controls many lamps for the ease of working. It’s not a good idea. It results in switching ‘’ON’’ unnecessary lamps also when not needed. As such it amounts to the wastage of electricity. Even in our homes we tend to keep lights and fans ‘’ON’’ in one room and sit in some other room while doing something else. We should avoid such incidents as far as possible so that our energy bill gets reduced and also helps in saving of the electricity.

It is very important to go in for the earth leakage protectors like miniature circuit breakers in independent homes or ownership apartments. These miniature circuit breakers protect a person from getting an electric shock due to the improper earthing of home by tripping i.e switching off all the lights and thereby protecting the person from getting the shock. The necessity of the earth leakage protectors is felt more during monsoon when the walls of our homes get wet. As such there is every possibility of getting an electrical shock. It is always in our interest to have proper earthing system rather than repent later.

History of Kallas Community 

 Introduction:

The backward tribes, Kallas, who were the very first settlers, in Tamilnadu, the successors of the Chola Kings have participated in the rulings and also served in their military. In due course of time, Tamilnadu has witnessed the regimes like Muslim Sultans, Vijaya Nagara rulers, Bhamini Sultans, Maratiya rulers, Nayakas and then British regime. Because of these frequent changes of the rulers, the Kallas were compelled to give up their jobs like political and military administration. They served long term in the military because they could not get the jobs other than the military. So they were forced to participate actively in some unlawful activities.

The Tamil kingdoms couldn’t oppose the English because they are very strong in their intellectual subtlety and modern ammunitions; this would eventually lead them to dissolve their military.

 Is any inclination to them to choose the unlawful deeds?  

No, because of the military dissolution, the men who were in the service have lost their jobs and also get frustrated. The soldiers who owned lands could engage themselves in the agricultural works  whereas the rest were compelled to  take up the unlawful activities such as robbery and theft.

Criminal Tribes Act (VI of 1924)

The Britsh Goverment introduced the criminal tribes act (VI of 1924). This act affected the innocent kallas community. The entire cast suffered lot that can be expressed in words. According to this law there are 89 casts like kallas, maravas, piramalai kallaas, valaiyar, kepmari, agamudaiyars that come under the purview of the law.

(Criminal Tribes Act 1871)

The British constituted this act; this act was framed by James F. Stephen.

The gist of this act:

‘’Tribes whose ancestors were criminals from time immemorial, like weaving, carpentry, we speak of professional criminals. Destined the caste to commit crime and offend law. The whole tribe should be exterminated, like Thugs’’.

The version clearly shows the British government’s view to curtail the whole tribes without taking any precautions about the welfare of these tribes. The notorious dacoits and robbers namely ” Thugrees ” played havoc in North India during 17th century.  They became a headache to the British Government as they were challenging the Government. The British empire then decided to eliminate them. So they introduced an act called ” Criminal Tribes Act 1871. The Government could permanently eliminate all the 3000 dacoits with the help of this Act. After achieving success, the Government extended these rigorous acts to the Southern parts with some amendments. This act is known as Criminal Tribes Act (VI of 1924).

Under this act, (CTA as amended in 1911) the power of the District Collector was enhanced to declare, which castes were to be decided as the criminal tribes. According to the act of 1871, whenever a caste was to be declared criminal under the purview of this act, the local authorities would assure the sustenance of the people as earlier. In spite of this, act 1911 omitted the above said clause.

Sub-clauses of the act 1911

i) This act adjudicated the powers to the Magistrates and the Dist. Collectors and also the subordinate officers. This sub- clause enhanced powers to the authorities that due to which the castes would be included in this act.

ii) Proclaimed men or women criminals, under the act, would be enrolled in the Police registers, and they would be the closely watched persons, by the Police Officers.

iii) This act forbade the men, women or an individual or the whole castes to move the Judiciary to challenge the orders of local authority for including them in the list of criminals.

iv) The people who were marked as the criminals in the Police registers were not entitled to enjoying the civil rights as the common man.

v ) If a person refused to be assigned as criminal or neglected or in control, it might be a punishable offence.

After, the declaration of the District Collector, to whom the members of the Kallar community in the criminal publication list might get registration in the concerned police station, with his or her thumb impressions. This practice challenged the self-respect of the innocent Kallar communities. They got aversion on these rigid rules. This triggered torch in Perungamanallur revolution.

This realized in India that the various branches were derived from the main cast, having their own customs and practice. For instance, in Tamilnadu so many castes and sub-castes prevailed. However, the Kallar caste titled as common, in spite of this, they have been identified in various sub sects. The sub-sect Piramalaikallar deviated from the main caste and also having the separate conventions.

Even now a days, in their marriages the bride-groom is decorated with jasmine- veiled and does the horse riding procession. They also have the practice of sunath like Muslims.

One who is reading this can easily understand that there are various sub sects in the kallars.

Those, who are having the lands and who pay the taxes are respectable persons in the society. But it is not common for all. However, the people who took up job of theft and robbery for their day to day survival didn’t get the respect as the farmer. It is important to know that the British Government had mistaken overlooking their officer’s advice. In this matter, the Government independently took decisions without any consideration or discrimination for including all people in the criminal list. This added fuel to the Perungamanallur revolt.

Anyone familiar with the history of modern India is likely to be aware of April 13, 1919; of General Dyer and of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call the Perungamanallur killings, which took place on April 3, 1920, as the south Indian Jallianwala Bagh.

The black pillar with a burning torch on top in Perungamanallur tells the heart rending story of villagers who fought for their rights against an Act.

What is Surya Namaskar?

Its literal meaning is Sun Salutation. Basically it is a simple set of few body postures combined amazingly well with spirituality, pranayama and yoga, to comprise into one of the most simplified packages towards healthy mind, body & soul. Different Yogic scholars have put forth slightly different variations of the sequence and combinations of simple asanas to be done every cycle. A cycle may consist of 10 steps to as much as 24 steps. There are probably more than 40 variations of Surya Namaskars that are practiced across different parts of our country. Of course, each variation may have its own advantages and special reasons for doing it a particular way. However, from regular practitioner perspective, what is important is to do it consistently and methodically along with recommended breathing pattern and chanting of mantras for leveraging the maximum benefit out of this legacy that have been handed over to us by our forefathers.

What are benefits of Surya Namaskar?

Physical Benefits of performing Surya Namaskars include increase in blood oxidation, obvious increase in body flexibility, better sleep at night time, digestive system tune up and strengthening of nervous system.

Mental Benefits include increased concentration, Stress reduction, memory sharpening and enhancing of ‘mind-body’.

What are the Mantras to be recited while performing Surya Namaskar?

Dhyaan Slokam (Starting Sloka)

Dhyeyah Sada Savitru Mandala Madhyavarti – Narayanah Sarsijasana Sanni Vishthah |

Keyurvan Makar Kundalavan Kiriti – Haari Hiranmaya Vapur Dhruta Shankha Chakrah ||

Meaning : Always worship the Sun (Our Energy Source) sitting at the centre of galaxy, on lotus, wearing Keyur, Makarkundal Crown, holding Conch and Chakra and having glittering golden body.

Mantras to be recited for each set

1. Om Mitraay Namah – The Friend of All
2. Om Ravaye Namah – The Shining One
3. Om Suryaay Namah – The One who induces Activity
4. Om Bhaanave Namah – The One who Illuminates
5. Om Khagaay Namah – The One who moves quickly in the Sky
6. Om Puushne Namah – The Giver of Strength
7. Om Hiranyagarbhaay Namah – The bright Centre of All Energy
8. Om Mareechaye Namah – The Lord of Dawn
9. Om Aadityaay Namah – The Son of Aditi
10. Om Savitre Namah – The Benevolent Mother
11. Om Arkaay Namah – The One who is fit to be Praised
12. Om Bhaaskaraay Namah – The One who leads to Enlightenment
13. Om Shree Savitru Suurya Naaraayanaay Namah – The Surya (Sun)

Phal Shruti (Ending Sloka)

Adityasya Namaskaran, Ye Kurvanti Dine Dine Ayuh Pragna Balam Viryam, Tejas Tesham Cha jayate ||

Meaning : Those who regularly perform Surya namaskaras attain healthy long life. They become strong, knowledgeable and have courage to fight with valour. They possess

Who should not do Surya Namaskar?

• People suffering from back conditions should seek proper advice before commencing Surya Namaskar.

• Pregnant women should not practice this after third month of pregnancy.

• Women should avoid Surya Namaskar during menses.

• Patients of Hernia and high blood pressure are warned against this practice

How to perform Surya Namaskar?

Couple of videos below explain all the steps in very good details. Of course, you may also try to visit some experienced or trained practitioner in your vicinity to learn in person.

Readers are requested to listen to the divine voice of the one and only Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao singing the praise of the Sun God in Sanskrit. This video is placed below.

Beautiful Video explaining meaning of Mantras

It was the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress at midnight of December 31, 1929 – January 1, 1930, that the Tri-Color Flag was unfurled by the nationalists and a pledge was taken that on January 26 every year, “Republic Day” would be celebrated and that the people would unceasingly strive for the establishment of a Sovereign Democratic Republic India.

On 28th August 1947 a Drafting Committee was appointed to draft the permanent constitution under the chairmanship of Sri Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. A draft constitution was prepared and submitted to the Assembly on 4th November 1947. The 308 members of the Assembly finally signed two copies of the Constitution (one each in Hindi and English) after many deliberations and some modifications on 24th January 1950. The President of India put the final seal on 26th January 1950.

The professed pledge was successfully redeemed on January 26, 1950, when the Constitution of India framed by the Constituent Assembly of India came into force, although the Independence from the British rule was already achieved on August 15, 1947. It is because of this fact that August 15 is celebrated as Independence Day, while January 26 is celebrated as Republic Day.

The Republic Day celebrations of India have rightly become world famous as one of the greatest shows on earth drawing thousands of eager sight-seers from all over the country and many parts of the world as well. No other country can draw on such a wealth of tribal traditions and cultures, with so many regional forms of dances and dress. And, no other country in the world can parade so many ethnically different people in splendid uniforms, all united in their proven loyalty to the Government elected by the people and in their proud traditions and legendary gallantry.

Note: In 1947 Smt M.S.Subbulakshmi and Sri Dilip Kumar Roy cut a 78 RPM Disc with a duet rendition of the famous nationalistic song “Vande Maataram” set to a different Ragamalika (the Desh version was not yet popularised then) including all the additional stanzas which are not sung any more. As an Republic  Day Special, we offer you that rare recording, and possibly the only complete version of “Vande Maataram” ever recorded

[See post to watch Flash video]

[See post to watch Flash video] 

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is a Noble selfless fighter against Imperialism and is a legendary figure in India even today. Subhas Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897. His father was Rai Bahadur Janakinath Bose, a prominent lawyer of Cuttack, Orissa. His mother was Prabhavati Bose, a remarkable example of Indian womanhood. Later, the world came to know him as Netaji. After completing his early studies at the European Protestant Collegiate School in Cuttack, he came to Calcutta to study at Presidency College in 1913. He completed his graduation with a first class in philosophy. He left India for England in 1919 to appear for the civil services examination. He was declared 4th in order of merit for the exam conducted in 1920. He was disturbed by the Jalianwallah Bagh massacre. So he left the apprenticeship of civil services midway in 1921. Thus he resigned and returned to India on the call of Chittaranjan Das.

Subhash Chandra Bose was very much influenced by the Mahatma Gandhi. So he joined the Congress party and even became President of Congress party in 1938 and 1939. He believed in the complete unconditional independence of India. The Congress party believed in achieving freedom in phases through Dominion status. He had ideological differences with Gandhiji. He was not happy with the Gandhi-Irwin pact. He believed that Gandhiji’s policy of achieving independence through non-violence doesn’t work. Subhash Chandra Bose formed a separate political party called ” The All India Forward Block”  and continued to call for the complete independence of India from the British rule.

He felt that young militant groups could be molded into a military arm of the freedom movement and used to further the cause. He formed the ” Azad Hindu Fauz” or ” Indian National Army” to fight the Britishers. Gandhiji opposed this ideology because it directly conflicted with his policy of ahimsa (non-violence). The British Government in India perceived Subhash as a potential source of danger and had him arrested without any charge on October 25, 1924. He was sent to Alipore Jail, Calcutta and in January 25, 1925 transferred to Mandalay. He was arrested 14 times by the British Government in his fight for achieving the complete freedom for India. He is well known for ” Give me Blood and I will give you freedom.”

Subhash was one of the few politicians who sought and worked towards Hindu-Muslim unity on the basis of respect of each community’s rights. Subhash, being a man of ideals, believed in independence from the social evil of religious discord.

In 1941, when the British learned that Bose had sought the support of the Axis Powers, they ordered their agents to intercept and kill Bose before he reached Germany. A recently declassified intelligence document refers to a top-secret instruction to the Special Operations Executive (SOE) of British intelligence to murder Bose.

The decision was extraordinary, unusual and rare, and it seemed that the British took Bose much more seriously than many had thought. In fact, the plan to liquidate Bose has few parallels, and appears to be a last desperate measure against a man whose uncompromising radicalism had seriously worried the leadership of the British Empire.

Officially, Bose was declared to have died in a plane crash over Taiwan, while flying to Tokyo on 18 August 1945. However his body was never recovered and many theories have been put forward concerning his possible survival. One such claim is that Bose actually died in Siberia, while in Soviet captivity. Several committees have been set up by the Government of India to probe into this matter.

In May 1956, a four-man Indian team (known as the Shah Nawaz Committee) visited Japan to probe the circumstances of Bose’s alleged death. The Indian government did not then request assistance from the government of Taiwan in the matter, citing their lack of diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

However, the Inquiry Commission under Justice Mukherjee, which investigated the Bose disappearance mystery in the period 1999-2005, did approach the Taiwanese government and obtained information from the Taiwan Government that no plane carrying Bose had ever crashed in Taipei. The Mukherjee Commission also received a report originating from the US State Department, supporting the claim of the Taiwan Government that no such air crash took place during that time frame. There are theories of political effort to classify information on the death mystery. In fact, according to some, Nehru did not wish to unveil the mystery behind Bose’s disappearance and led to the rumour about hushing of some important documents. The Mukherjee Commission submitted its report to the Indian Government on November 8, 2005. The report was tabled in Parliament on May 17, 2006. The probe said in its report that Bose did not die in the plane crash and the ashes kept at Renkoji temple do not belong to him . However, the Indian Government rejected the findings of the Commission.

Unfortunately he  didn’t get the due recognition as National Leader for his selfless efforts and is overshadowed by Mahatma Gandhi for achieving independence of India.

Courtesy: Various Websites information.

[See post to watch Flash video] 

“India is my Country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my Country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall always try to be worthy of it.” This is the pledge we take in our schooling-Of course no one remembers it now. No one understands its meaning in their childhood; when we grow old we don’t have a need and trail to. Do we really have?

Our pledge in the school literally means: India is Very rich and has varied heritage of which we should be proud of. What it explains is no one’s concern today. The fault lies with our Education system. We find no patriotism and National interest being taught throughout our studies. It never advises us, suggesting us to take care of one’s own Country. Instead, it’s sniffing us towards foreign Countries exhibiting paradise in our fingers. Education system was very effective. Not a single student’s education went in vain unlike present day education- we learn and get educated about something; do something else. India had a great culture and heritage. It was destroyed in foreigners’ attacks and invasions. Let’s have a look at those conditions once.

One among the many destructions occurred to our Mother land, is the Greek invasion-earliest invasion ever recorded in history.  It destructed and distracted us, distracted from the path towards further development, made such a great and deep wound on India that it was unable to heal the wound. This destruction continued for centuries. Today, we are the ones who are facing its consequences.  Have you ever imagined, how it would be like if we still had that education in our hands-perhaps we might have setup our colonies on the Mars by now. Few people tried to heal it.

One among those is Vishnu Sharma or Kautilya or Chanakya-whatever you call him. Chanakya is the person of fame even today; in spite of this busy and ‘developed’ civilization. What was the thing that gave him so much fame that, he’s alive even after two thousand and five hundred years! Let me give the answer:   We remember him for his Arthashastra and his famous “Chanakya Shapadham” (Chanakya pledge). Yet we know very less about him-we should accept this fact. Very few of us know that he is a gem, a professor, a HOD of the famous Takshashila University. Let’s learn the consequences and conditions prevailing at that time.

Alexander ‘The great’ – I don’t know why they call him the great despite destroying everything in his style- had his teacher (Guru) as Aristotle; one of the earliest scientists in Greek history, to teach him. Aristotle mastered his arts and sciences from Plato institute-established somewhere in Greece. Plato studied at Socrates institute and Socrates studied from some other institute. Foreigners classify the Greek philosophy into post-Socrates and pre-Socrates. The earliest school of arts and sciences was established by a Greek man by the name Henclites. Xenophanes is the scholar who learnt under him. Both of them are considered as part of the seven famous sages of Greek mythology. Thus, the first school established is believed to be of their origin. Somewhere, I read that Empedocles had the powers to control the storms, winds, fire etc… He was commented to be a wandering monk: wandered everywhere around the world. He was one prominent person in Henclites’ institute. But, if we observe carefully, every one’s -who are said to be related to the school- origin and description dates to not more than 600 B.C. They have no literary or substantial evidences to state that there were scientists, mathematicians of the time predating 600 B.C. in their Countries.

But we have the evidences, philosophies and theories in support of it. (First of all we Indians are not ready to accept that Dwaraka actually existed, despite of the underwater diggings found at Dwaraka. It’s waste of time speaking about Indian government’s negligence towards them). The best example is both the civilizations relate to the Banks of River Indus-Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Both reflect our great culture and heritage. If one seriously reanalyzes and dates the Takshashila in contrast with other Greek philosophers, they find that both exist at same time approximately.

The Takshashila University was at its peak during 500 B.C and 220 B.C. Many scholars around the world visited the place: Takshashila. People were fond of it-just like people are fond of Oxford University or MIT these days. It was very famous; famous for its innovations and intellectuals. It is said that Pythagorean visited this place and learnt his entire mathematics from the University (Westerners don’t accept these kind of facts, because they don’t want to get a feel that their civilization is inferior to that of Indian civilization). Even Xenophanes is said to have visited this place. Problem is that, we don’t have any evidences in support of that-not even literary evidences directly stating their names-unlike the case of Chanakya or Charaka. People from China and many other places visited the place to learn human sciences, geometry, Economics, commerce, Military sciences, Chemistry, Medicine, Earthy sciences, Political sciences, literary sciences, and Civil engineering etc. It offered a wide variety of subjects.  Each department (Sakha) had a HOD, deputy head, Organizer and many such concepts nevertheless  of  modern day universities.

The exact date of establishment of Takshashila University is not known. It may have been established at least 500 years before the period of its fame.  There is a story which states that the university laid its foundations during the time of the time of king Taksha, the great grand son of king Bharata. I don’t know whether it’s a fact.

To know its greatness lets take, one gem who belonged to it, Chanakya. Charaka, AryaBhatta, etc are his contemporaries or his seniors in this institute. Let’s move back to the political situations prevailing during those days. Let’s keep a side what the Westerns taught us, let’s take the context of the Indian versions of the great epic.

Aristotle, who was the guru of the Alexander, studied under Plato academy. Plato studied under Socrates, who was a good scholar at Takshashila. He worked as a lecturer at Takshashila and later established his own institute at Athens, Greece. It was a very reputed institution to the western world-even today it persists. Today they assume they are superior to us and treat us worst than their slaves. What a pity!

It is said that Alexander’s father died trying to reoccupy his capital and kingdom. Alexander regained his kingdom under the guidance of Aristotle. Aristotle was good at Political sciences, Military and Economic sciences. He guided Alexander at a very early stage, till he was 16. It makes me wonder: Alexander was able to conquer the whole world in his twenties. Alexander wanted to regain the kingdom and power. He rose to his feet, returned strongly on behalf of his father. He didn’t stop with that. He conquered all the Countries and kingdoms of the ancient world. One fine day Alexander decided it’s time to conquer India. He came to India and was ready to attack India-India was a united India in those days (Pakistan, Bangladesh, half of the Afghanistan, Bhutan and Nepal were included). Chanakya warned the King about the political situations prevailing in Indian kingdom. He warned him about the impending Alexander’s attack. But the Emperor was careless, in return insulted Chanakya. Chanakya got angry and took a vow to dethrone the Emperor. He approached a young man, who later came to be known as Chandra Gupta Mourya of ‘The Great Mouryan Empire’. He guided Chandra Gupta to conquer the throne.

During Alexander’s invasion, India was divided into small kingdoms to protect themselves against the Alexander’s attacks: Alexander’s plans and army was very powerful and undefeatable. He established his Roman philosophy and Jewism in India. He forced people to inculcate it. But Chanakya was too quick for that. He eradicated the Jewism with its roots from the Country.  He used all his intellectual abilities to recapture and bring back India’s glory.

Alexander died soon after capturing India; at the age of 32. Chanakya was able to do everything, but something was beyond repair. It was the University of Takshashila. (Google for the Takshshila: The present day Taxila. You will find that it’s on the way from Delhi to the west). The whole university was destroyed by the invaders, the scholars and teachers escaped to various parts of the World. Many reference guides, libraries, etc were lost in those invasions. There was a rumor spreading that Aristotle stole the entire books concerned-with the help of his followers during the attack- with all the Education of India. That’s the base for the people who argue that there is vigorous development in west only from past two thousand years and nothing before that! Even though thousands of years of have been passed after the evolution of present human being!  It is still a question mark. Same people state that we were already developed and heavily educated before they we knew how to count. Most of the material related with our education and sciences was looted and destroyed beyond repair.  

I question, if it is true that people studied under Xenophanes-who is a direct descendent of God- to evolve to present situation, then I question them, what was their God doing before that. Was he playing hide and seek with his angels-with due respect towards their religion! Because, humans evolved and assumed the present form thousands of years before the incident happened. How is it that God showed his mercy only then? How is it that human brains didn’t grow before that, while it has grown this much in the past 200 years? Were there that many ignorant ones existed before Xenophanes? Or is it that they are just ignorant people for not noticing the other civilizations of the world. Dwaraka, Kurukshetra, Panchala and the most famous Egyptian civilization, I suppose.

 Coming back, Chanakya influenced Chandra Gupta Mourya to such an extent that no one dared to touch or attack the kingdom, not anymore as long as he is alive. They ruled almost the entire India and became the Emperors of the Emperors. They just made sure everything was under their control in the Country. Chandra Gupta’s great grand son is the great Emperor Ashoka, who was very fond of wars. He envisaged a war, what we call today as ‘the great kalinga war’, which left more than a million people dead on both the sides. It was very bloody war. It is said that a nearby river flowed, filled out of the warfare blood-The present day Mahanadi river in Orissa. He didn’t even feel sad for killing the civilians, but later opted to Buddhism. He is the main reason for such a vast spreading of Buddhism in the East. It’s the second largest religion in the world now. It’s entirely due to his credit.

Takshashila never recovered again after all its literature and shelter were lost. It was just like a skeleton hanged over without muscles, for all its teachers gone. There were no scholars and students. Ashoka, after his war, converted himself completely into Buddhism. Buddhism was given higher priority than the other departments at Takshashila. That made the Universities still more unpopular, because people used to like arts and sciences rather than mythology and psychology. Students started dropping from Takshashila and going to west-to the Plato and Socrates academies. If there is anything wrong that the great Emperor Ashoka did, it’s this deed. As students turned up in the west, those people turned superior. We took a step backwards, fell into a trap laid by ourselves. To compensate it, Ashoka did nothing. Sources say that he tried to bring the lost glory to the Takshashila by reuniting the fled scholars and rebuilding the forts. But, his efforts went futile. But, some body else was destined for that work of reuniting.

His name is Sakraditya. He did his intense research. He found out most of the lost talent. He discovered various people in and around the world studying the arts generated at Takshashila. They might have passed on to them by their ancestors. They were at different locations. He united all of them at a place and established a great grand university which is to become ‘the greatest university ever’.  Not only he was able to recover the distributed arts but also few texts which survived the exploitation. That University is what we call ‘’ Nalanda University’’.  It operated for almost thousand years without any flaw. It was very famous; its present location is in Bihar. But, how much ever it tried; it couldn’t attain the heights of Takshashila in terms of the quality and depth of the subject it explained. Glory lost was lost and couldn’t be recovered.

We should also consider the fact that teachers taught their wealthiest skills only to the students who are more obedient to them. We can take an example of ‘Marma kala’ of Kerala, sustained till today.

Soon after there was the downfall of the Mouryan empire, there were small and big kingdoms, but none of any greater significance. Nalanda University was at its peak during 7^th to 8^th century A.D. Then entered the Muslim invaders into India, lead by Bhakthiyar Khilji in 1193. They invaded entire India. They also destroyed the Library at Nalanda University completely and left it clueless. It is said that, the library was so big and contained so much stuff that, even after the invaders set the fire to the library, it continued to burn for months together. Imagine how huge the library was. Descriptions say it was nine floors high. (Refer Wikipedia for description of University and Library). The wound burnt again before it was completely cured. What a pity! At the same time, the science and the art rise to its peak in the west. People started understanding the importance of science and started learning it.

People fled away from Nalanda after those invasions and never returned back to Universities. If Muslim invaders would have looted us with wealth or anything else we could have recovered it very easily, instead they looted our culture and knowledge. In fact, they looted in all the possible ways. That’s what left us reeling. It changed the entire way of living, culture and made us puppets in the hands of few people. Normal people were not allowed or capable of getting education-perhaps because they were not wealthy or ineligible or their life wasted earning rather than learning. That’s when drastic changes took place in India. People became ignorant and their IQ dropped.

Still, we had some half-completed, half-known knowledge with us-at least with few wealthy and tough people. Very few among the general public knew it and mastered it. As it was half, it soon turned void. British entered India learning from the books written by their travelers many years ago. They tried and tried for centuries to reach India after the land route was sealed. Finally, they succeeded and took control of India; looted like none did ever in history to anyone.

 They declared openly that our knowledge is waste and useless. They were unable to understand the fact that those texts were way beyond the then prevailing conditions. It was way beyond their sciences during that time. It was very much advanced and they just treated it as equal to impossible. A simple example is the concept of flying. We described about Airplanes while they merely dreamt of it. Since they had no idea of them, they were treated as foolish. Its widely accepted fact that, they are the ones who said, watching something that happened at some point of time in past is impossible. And, now it’s them who are watching Television and invented the television kit. So, what do they speak now? It fills me with humor when they answer this with, Technology advanced and human brain developed, while we did it some hundreds of years ago. They were never advanced; in addition to that, laughed at the people who were advanced hundred years than them.

 Our texts are advanced than 500 years from today, and still our own people don’t believe and accept it. We don’t accept our heritage and neither do we know its value. What a shame!

Our texts are well framed and most technologically advanced than they could ever dare to imagine, applicable even to the present day educational standards. We dreamt about flying soccer, apparition, foresight of future, (Gyana and divya drishti) divine and knowledge eye and situations happen under the command of our mouth(Vaak Shuddhi), sukshma rupa dharanam – turning bigger and smaller, parakaya pravesham- leaving the body we possess and take the form of other bodies, shila dharanam- turning one’s self into a stone etc… Man reaching the moon etc… is made possible now then why aren’t the above impossible. That’s to say that We, Indians are the most advanced clan of the whole Earth.

 But, we are not interested in our texts and always speak less of us: we feel that we are inferior. So, it’s our duty to act upon our ability to be worthy of the culture once we lived in. It’s just the way of living we inculcate based on the environmental conditions and weather factors etc that separate us from them, makes us worthy of our heritage, graces us a happy and comfortable life. Let us feel that never ever foreigners are superior to us. We were and are never inferior to someone. We should be proud of our culture and history. We should always try to be worthy of our heritage. Remember, Takshashila and Nalanda are not the only ones we had. We had the great Vikramshila University, Acharya Nagarjuna University and many other such glorious institutions. 

 Thus the statement “India is rich and has varied heritage. We should always try to be worthy of it” is justified.

[See post to watch Flash video]

[See post to watch Flash video]

Children’s day is special day for the children. Universally, Children’s Day is celebrated on 20th November, every year.But in India it is celebrated on 14th November, because the date marks the birth anniversary of legendary freedom fighter and independent India’s first Prime Minister – Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru.

As a tribute to Nehru and his love for children, Children’s Day is celebrated on his birth date.

This day reminds to each and every one of us, to renew our commitment to the welfare of children and teach them to live by their Chacha Nehru’s quality and dream.

 The video  from the Tamil film ‘ Kuzhanthaiyum Deivamum’ is removed by the up-loader unfortunately. Baby Padmini played twin sister’s role. The song compares the chidren with God. Its meaning is as below.

‘ ‘God and children are pure souls. God always forgives people’s mistakes as told by elders. A man is open minded in childhood. The child is equivalent to God due to innocence. Clouds block the rising sun. Anger blocks man’s wisdom. Wind blows away the clouds. So does the peace and friendship between two angry persons. The children become elders when they grow up. The grown up people lose dignity when they fight. All the children are great people because of innocence”.

[See post to watch Flash video]

[See post to watch Flash video]

[See post to watch Flash video]

[See post to watch Flash video]

In Countries like India, migration from villages to the towns and especially cities to make a better living is the root cause of all problems. The very definition of better living is changed drastically over a period of time.

Villages are neglected most. The Government hasn’t bothered to provide even certain basic amenities like  good roads, good schools and clean drinking water at least forget about uninterrupted electric supply.  As such real the builders and real estate agents have taken undue advantage of the people’s migration to the towns and cities and exploited their weakness by increasing the cost of the land exponentially high.

Gone are the days of possessing independent houses as far as middle class families are concerned. Matchbox type apartments at sky rocketing prices have come into picture. The definition of entertainment and life style have changed over the years. Gone are the days of joint families and enter nuclear families. Quality living conditions is overtaken by artificial status living conditions. Now everything revolves around status that is interlinked with money. Aping everything western has become the accepted standard of living.

In the changed circumstances the struggle starts right from the honeymoon whether they can afford it or not. Later they think of having some decent furniture. It is the beginning of their instalments journey. They buy the furniture in instalments after renting an apartment. They tally the balance sheet. Then they buy a vehicle (mostly two wheeler) in instalment. They tally the balance sheet once again. They may wait for a year or two to have a child. Now the family of two becomes a family of three in addition to recurring furniture and vehicle payments. Their monthly expenditure gets increased. The process of tallying the balance sheet continues. In the mean time they may get annual increment and even promotion depending upon their educational qualifications, performance and also depending upon the employer’s financial status.

They face the immediate problem of their child care when they are at work. It is not necessary that every parent has their parents to take care of the grand children. Invariably they either engage a baby sitter exclusively for them or keep the child at a day care centre. Baby sitters are doing their job out of economic compulsions and not out of affection for the children. So the problems of the parents and that of the child gets compounded.

Indian male is far more egoistic than his wife. He considers himself as a king and treats his wife like a servant. A working woman is not a robot but after all a human being. She has to perform the balancing act of the circus practically everyday. How can she handle domestic chores,take care of her husband and the child/children , work in office and be happy,cheerful and patient all the time. A working woman undergoes all the problems faced by a working male in addition to some other hurdles. Her husband needs to be compassionate. He should help her in the domestic chores. He is doing no favour to her but contributing for their mutual happiness. Then only marital life will be happy,cheerful and peaceful.

It is left to the mercy of the baby sitter whether to give the entire food to the child handed over by the parents or to give part of it. The baby sitter may or may not take care of the child properly. Most of the time the baby sitter may ignore the child under her care in all respects. The child can’t express his/her dissatisfaction being very small. The child’s problems keep on increasing. The parents may resort to changing the baby sitters quite frequently if available. Picking up the child from baby sitter is another headache due to ever increasing traffic problems or due to the problems of public transport or their vehicle. The tension keeps on increasing.

The couple may think of buying an apartment after some years. Buying an apartment in the prime locality is beyond their means. So they buy a match box type of an apartment at a slightly far off place that too on instalments. Again the tallying of the balance sheet and the struggle to survive continues. In the mean time they have their own ego hassles. They quarrel for silly reasons which they consider as huge problems. The child is grown up a bit. The child has problems in school, baby sitter problems and the problem of parents due to frequent quarrels. The parents may eventually break up and the child’s future goes for a toss. The child develops inferiority complex mainly due to baby sitter’s attitude and lack of parental care to begin with and slowly all other problems get added. The child is sure to end up either as a failure in life or lead an average or below average life in future. This is the bitter fact of modern life of a middle class family in a city or a town.

Blessed are those people who are lucky to have their aged parents with them to take care of their grand children. Unfortunately some couples ill treat their parents forgetting how their parents took care of them with affection for bringing them to this stage.

Marriage is not a sexual time bound contract. It’s a divine bonding between a male and a female blessed by the elders to live a long life together with respect, mutual understanding, care and affection. It’s a heavenly experience which has many ups and downs in life.

No one is 100 % good or 100 % bad in this life. There are shades of good and bad qualities in everyone of us. Only percentage varies. In the marriage system if the wife yells the husband is not supposed to yell back. The number of such occurrences may end up in a divorce causing endless problems. Many couples have broken up due to silly egoistic fights and made their lives miserable.  In the event of one person yelling the other person should calm down else they may get entangled with physical beating also.

One has to understand that marriage is nothing but compromise. No two different personalities match 100% on one to one basis. Personalities are bound to clash. It simply doesn’t matter whether it is an arranged marriage or love marriage. Love marriage is mostly  based on infatuation and temporary understanding rather than true love. Love marriages will certainly be effective if the love birds indulge in thorough understanding and develop long lasting bonding rather than fulfilling sexual urge.

Working Parents should realize that they should never ignore their kids in their race for earning the money lest they lose their kids for ever. Their earning will end in endless mess for their family. No matter however busy the Parents may be,they should spend some quality time with their children everyday. They should also understand the difference between pampering and loving the kids else it’s the end of their happiness.

Just now i.e on 1st December 2011, I saw on American TV that a baby sitter was arrested in east Harlem, New York after she disappeared with a toddler for 8 hours keeping the parents under extreme tension not even answering the telephone calls. This is just one instance. There were, there are, there will be numerous such instances detrimental to the very purpose the baby sitters are meant.

“Marriage is like a bullock cart. If one of the bullocks is imbalanced that’s the end of the story . Have a nice understanding of marriage and live like friends for lifelong. This is the success mantra of blissful MARRIAGE”

Most of us love to watch movies for entertainment in our mother tongue for thorough understanding of the dialogues, acting and narration of the story. That’s the main reason why we are allergic to watching movies in any language other than our native language. We are akin to ‘ koopastha mandooka’ way of life – a frog thinks the well is its entire world. Our thinking gets narrowed and we can never get to know other cultures, acting and other techniques and we remain where we are all the time.

Watching movies in different languages is like adding different foods made out of various recipes to the taste buds and enjoying it to the heart’s content. We need not understand each and every dialogue. We can easily follow the movie entirely provided we have the patience to watch it from the beginning till end and appreciate the action through facial expressions of the actors and enjoy the narration of the story, music etc. We may take the help of sub titles if required.

English:

•The Sound of Music: - This film is a musical made in 1965. Julie Andrews played the role beautifully of a governess who transforms indisciplined children of a parent played by Mr. Christopher Plummer. She inspires the children to completely change themselves into well behaved persons with her pleasant attitude. This movie is directed by Robert Wise.

•The Blind Side: – This film is made in 2009.This film wonderfully depicts the story of a poor innocent African American boy played by Quinton Aaron. He is adopted by a Good Samaritan lady wonderfully played by Sandra Bullock. She and her family members show affection to this boy who in turn becomes a famous Footballer (American Football) and reciprocates the affection. This film is directed by John Lee Hancock.

Hindi:

•Bawarchi: – This film is made in 1972. Rajesh Khanna played the role of a good natured cook to perfection. He deliberately enters the disturbed families as cook and transforms these families as affectionate ones. This movie is directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

•Tamanna( Desire) : This film is made in 1997. Paresh Rawal played the role of eunuch(hijra) to perfection. This film exceptionally depicts the difficulties experienced by a hijra in bringing up a girl adopted by him. This movie is directed by Mahesh Bhatt.

•Black : - This film is made in 2005. Amitabh Bachhan played the difficult role of a tutor to perfection. In this film he takes up the challenge of tutoring a blind, deaf and difficult girl and does the job successfully. The grownup girl’s role is excellently played by Rani Mukherjee and her childhood character is beautifully played by Ayesha Kapoor. This film is directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. This movie has won many awards and appreciation by critics  and ordinary movie goer as well.

•Do Ankhen Barah Haath(Two eyes and twelve hands) :- This film is made in 1957. Producer and director V.Shantaram plays the challenging role of a jailor to perfection. He takes up the challenge of transforming the dreaded criminals through experiment in an open jail. The prayer song in this movie has an universal appeal and can be sung by the followers of all religions without any doubt whatsoever. V.Shantaram directed the movie superbly. Every scene in this film is a treat to watch. This film has won many awards including National award.

Sparsh(The touch) : This film is made in 1980. This movie shows the love of a Principal towards his school. This is a special film. The principal is blind and the school is for blind students. He doesn’t like anyone showing sympathy towards his students. He wants people to treat them as normal persons. He is very passionate about his school. This sensitive role is played superbly by Naseeruddin Shah as only he can. This wonderful movie is directed by Sai Paranjpye.

Saaransh(Essence) : This movie is made in 1984. This film describes the misery of an old man struggling to obtain the ashes urn of his lost son from the authorities concerned. An young Anupam Kher, 28 years, played the character of a doting father of a grownup son  combined with various emotions and sentiments very efficiently at the beginning  of his career. This film is  marvelously directed by Mahesh Bhatt.

Telugu:

•Sankarabharanam :- This film is made in 1979. This film is considered as the best Telugu film made till now. This film beautifully depicts the plutonic relationship between a classical musician and a classical dancer. The musician’s role is played by J.V.Somayajulu and the dancer’s role is played by Manju Bhargavi. Both have played their roles exceedingly well. Kalatapaswi Kasinathuni Viswanath is the director of this movie. Audience thronged to the theatres as if they are temples. People watched the movie any number of times. This movie was dubbed in all south Indian languages while retaining the songs as it is. The movie ran in entire south India at least for six months at a stretch and it was a huge commercial success as well. This movie has won many awards including National awards and also won International acclaim. K.Viswanath directed a series of glorious movies in Telugu based on Classical Music and Dance that will be remembered for ever.

•Sagara Sangamam : – Kamal Haasan played the role of a classical dancer to perfection who in turn transforms a budding arrogant classical dancer Sailaja into a dedicated classical dancer. Jayaprada and Sarat Babu excelled in their roles. This movie is directed by ” Kala Tapasvi ” , the one and only Kaseenathuni Viswanath. This film has won many awards.

Kamal Haasan is regarded as an Actor’s actor. No actor in the world, including Hollywood,Bollywood and Tollywood, is as good as Kamal Haasan as far as acting excellence is concerned. The variety of  characters played and excelled by him in various Indian languages is simply mind blowing. 

For the benefit of film lovers here are some movies, wherein Kamal Haasan excelled in acting. They are 16 Vayathinile(Tamil), Indrudu Chandrudu(Telugu), Michael Madana Kamarajan(Tamil), Saagar(Hindi), Maro Charitra(Telugu), Aakali Rajyam(Telugu), Nayagan(Tamil) , Sigappu Rojakkal(Tamil), Raja Parvai(Tamil), Chachi 420(Hindi), Pushpak( Dialogueless  movie), Devar Magan(Tamil), Mahanadi(Tamil) etc.

•Swathi Mutyam: - This film is made in 1985. Kamal Haasan does an excellent job as an innocent, illiterate and mentally affected person who dedicatedly takes care of a widow and her child after marrying her. Kamal Haasan is a trained dancer. In this film he plays a character who doesn’t know how to dance. It must have been very tough for him to do that. Radhika played the role of a widow to perfection. The one and only P. Susheela has sung the most beautiful lullaby of all time in this film. This movie is directed by K.Viswanath. Movie magician Vishwanath has woven magic web with his series of inspiring movies ” Apadbhandhavudu”, ” Sruthilayalu”, ” Sirivennela”, ” Swarnakamalam” and ” Siri Siri Muvva” in Telugu and upheld the Indian Culture in the best way possible. 

•Gitanjali : - This film is made in 1989. Nagarjuna played the role beautifully of a patient suffering from a chronic disease who in turn loves another chronic patient. Girija Shettar played the character of his lady love beautifully. This movie is directed by Mani Ratnam.

Tamil:

•Anjali :- This film is made in 1990. This is a beautiful film about a mentally challenged girl. Baby Shamili played the difficult character to perfection. Mani Ratnam directed the movie.

•Moondram Pirai : – This film is made in 1982. Kamal Haasan wonderfully played the role of a lover who takes care of his beloved with dedication and affection. His lady love behaves like a small child due to some accident. Sridevi played this role to perfection. Balu Mahendra directed the movie. This movie is later made in Hindi in 1983 as ‘ Sadma ‘ with the same cast.

Marathi:

Umbartha : The movie’s theme is to show the difficulties faced by a woman in the society when she steps out of her house against the wishes of her family members. This film made in 1982 depicts the story of a house wife who has a comfortable life with a very compassionate husband and a loving daughter. She lives in a joint family. She is not comfortable sitting idly at home. She takes up a challenging job with the support of her reluctant husband but without the support of rest of the family members. She does her job efficiently but lands in all sorts of troubles due to politics involved in it. Her marital life gets disturbed on account of her separation from her husband and daughter. Smita Patil played the character of the heroine depicting various emotions delicately. The director of this movie is Jabbar Patel.

Devrai : This film is made in 2004. This movie can be said as a poem on celluloid. This film revolves around an eccentric man who is obsessed with a sacred grove in his village. He waves so many stories around the grove. He is generally violent in behaviour. His sister is very fond of him and takes care of him with affection by bringing him to the city where she lives with her family much to the disliking of her husband. She tries her best to get him professional help. Atul Kulkarni displayed superb acting skills to perform the difficult character to perfection. Sonali Kulkarni transformed herself as his sister by doing a circus balancing act showing intricate conflict. This movie is directed by Sumitra Bhave.

Both Kulkarnis and Smita Patil in Umbartha have shown to the world of what stuff Marathi actors are made out of.

Kannada :

Tabarana Kathe : This film was made in  1986. This movie depicts the endless trauma of a retired employee to get his pension. This movie goes into detail lethargy and inhuman behaviour of management staff and politicians towards retired persons. Kamal Haasan’s brother Charu Haasan played this character to perfection. Girish Kasaravalli directed this wonderful film.

Here are some inspiring movies. 1) 3 Idiots 2) Taare Zameen Par 3) Chalo Dilli 4) Khubsoorat 5) Abhimaan 6) Satyakaam 7) Ardh Satya 8) Koshish 9) Prahaar 10) Ghar,11) Aalaap all in Hindi. The Telugu movies are 1) Yogi Vemana 2) Panduranga Mahatyam(old) 3) Akali Rajyam 4) Tyagayya 5) Vasantham.  

Two videos of ” Sankarabharanam” , one video of ” Sagara Sangamam”, one video of ”Sadma”, Hindi version of ”Moondrum Pirai” , one video of ” Bawarchi” , one video of ” Anjali”, one video of ” Devrai”, one video of ”  Do Ankhen Barah Haath” and one beautiful lullaby from ” Swathi Mutyam” are placed below for the reader’s pleasure.

Diwali is one of the biggest festivals of Hindus, celebrated with great enthusiasm and happiness in India. Each year on the Ammavaasya in the month of Ashwayuja the glittering lamps, the dazzling fireworks, sounds of crackers announce the arrival of the most vibrant festival of India-Diwali. Originally, the name was Deepavali, which has its origin from Sanskrit, meaning “Rows of light”. This festival is still called Deepavali in South India. Of all the festivals celebrated in India, Diwali is by far the most glamorous and important festival.  Enthusiastically enjoyed by people of every religion, its magical and radiant touch creates an atmosphere of joy and festivity. The festival of Diwali is not only significant to Hindus, but, has importance in Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism as well. Diwali is considered auspicious for shopping, inaugurations of new homes, business deals or for starting any new ventures and projects.

Historically, the origin of Diwali can be traced back to ancient India, when it was probably an important harvest festival. However, there are various legends pointing to the origin of Diwali or ‘Deepavali.’ Some believe it to be the celebration of the marriage of Lakshmi with Lord Vishnu, whereas in Bengal the festival is dedicated to the worship of Mother Kali, the Goddess of Strength. Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed God, the symbol of auspiciousness and wisdom, is also worshiped in most Hindu homes on this day. In Jainism, Deepavali has an added significance to the great event of Lord Mahavira attaining the eternal bliss of nirvana. Diwali also commemorates the return of Lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshmana from fourteen yearlong exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and burst crackers.
Hindus make preparations to welcome Goddess Lakshmi by drawing rangoli and  also Her footsteps (Paduka) at the entrance that would allure Goddess Lakshmi to visit one’s home and bring prosperity along with Her.

Diwali celebrations spread across five days, with each day having its own significance and set of rituals.Dhanteras sets the beginning of the festival and then comes Narakachaturdasi, which symbolizes Lord Krishna’s victory over Narakasura. The main Diwali day is devoted to the worship of Goddess Lakshmi. The fourth day is celebrated as the New Year Day. The last day or Bhai Duj is observed as a symbol of love between brothers and sisters.The festival of Diwali is truly a “Festival of Lights”, as it not only involves lighting of lamps but it also brings the light of happiness, togetherness, spiritual enlightenment and prosperity for everyone. The festival of Diwali indeed fills the atmosphere with an aura of goodness and a heaven like atmosphere with the sounds of crackers killing all bad omen, the lighted lamps- lighting the lives of people, the prayers and pujas creating an atmosphere full of goodness and purity.

All the simple rituals of Diwali have significance and a story to tell. The illumination of homes with lights and the skies with firecrackers is an expression of obeisance to the heavens for the attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace and prosperity. According to one belief, the sounds of fire-crackers is an indication of the joy of the people making the gods aware of their plentiful state. Still another possible reason has a more scientific basis: the fumes produced by the crackers kill a lot of insects and mosquitoes, found in plenty after the rains

In each legend, myth and story of Deepavali lays the significance of the victory of good over evil; and it is with each Deepavali and the lights that illuminate our homes and hearts, that this simple truth finds new reason and hope. From darkness unto light — the light that empowers us to commit ourselves to good deeds, that which brings us closer to divinity. During Diwali, lights illuminate every corner of India and the scent of incense sticks hangs in the air, mingled with the sounds of fire-crackers, joy, togetherness and hope. Diwali is celebrated around the globe. Outside India, it is more than a Hindu festival; it’s a celebration of South-Asian identities. If you are away from the sights and sounds of Diwali, light a diya, sit quietly, shut your eyes, withdraw the senses, concentrate on this supreme light and illuminate the soul.

[See post to watch Flash video]

Viswanatha Satyanarayana, the Poet Laureate of Andhra Pradesh and winner of Jnaana Peeth Award, is undoubtedly one of the greatest scholar-poets of Andhra Pradesh.  He was actively involved in literature even as an an octogenerian with continuous and untiring activity extending over six decades, Viswanatha Satyanarayana has had the good fortune of living in the era of excellent writers of three generations.

Viswanatha Satyanarayana was born on September 10, 1895 in a Vaidiki Shaiva Brahmin family to Shobhanadri and Parvatamma in Nandamuru village, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh. His father was a philanthropist and a devotee of Lord Shiva. In 1902, he brought an idol of Shiva Linga from Benaras and built a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in Nandamuru. Thus, Lord Sri Visweswara became their family Deity. Viswanatha wife was Varalakshmamma.

He had his primary education in Nandamuru, Indupalli and Pedapadu villages and higher education in Bandaru City. He was lucky to have the great scholar Chellapilla Venkatashastri as his Telugu teacher in Bandaru High School. Pingali and Katuri, the twins, were seniors to him by one year. He too had a poet companion in Kodali Anjaneyulu and some of the earlier compositions came out with the two in one name “Satyanjaneyakavulu” with the pen-name ‘Girikumara.’

After finishing his BA, he joined Bandaru High School as a teacher. He continued his studies part time in the pursuit of MA and graduated from Madras University. He resigned from his teaching position to paticipate in Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement. Later he took up various teaching positions at Bandaru National College (1928), Gunturu Christian College till 1933, a private college in Vijayawada 1933 to 1959, and Karimnagar Arts and Science College (1959).

Viswanatha’s style of poetry was classical in nature. The parallel “free-verse” movement in easy prose of Telugu literature criticized him as a bigot who hung onto the strict rules of prosody such as Yati, Prasa and Chandassu . In scholarship and learning he can be classed with ancient scholar-poets. In tradition he is in line with Nannaya, Tikkana and Srinatha, the great masters of Telugu poetry.

Satyanarayana started his career as writer in 1916 with “Visweswara Satakam,” a devotional poetic composition as a tribute to his family Deity Lord Visweswara (The God of the entire World). At the same time, he wrote “Andhra Pourusham,” a patriotic poetical composition. A drama “Dhanya Kailaasam” and a novel “Antaraatma’ are part of his devotional works written by him at that time. He wrote ‘Kinnerasaani’ songs,’ Nartanasaala’, ‘Sringaaraveedhi’, and ‘Anaarkal’i in 1921-23. He wrote his famous composition “Veyipadagalu” in 1933-34 for which he was awarded with titles and awards, such as “Kavi Saamraat (Emperor of Poets)’ and an award by Andhra University. Later he wrote ‘Ramaayana Kalpavriksham,’ Paamu paata’, ‘Pillala Ramaayanamu’ etc.

Andhra Pradesh Government felicitated him with various awards for his literary contribution. Telugu People felicitated him in 1942, during Sankraanti festival with an elephant ride and celebrated his 60th birthday festival in 1956 in Gudiwada. He served as vice president of Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy in 1957 and as a nominated member of Legislative Council in 1958. Andhra University celebrated his achievements by awarding him with “Kalaa Prapoorna” title in 1964. The Government of India honored him  with “Jnaan Peeth” award for his Ramaayana Kalpavriksham in 1971 and the Andhra Pradesh government honored him by hiring him as the State Poet.

He wrote scores of novels, radio plays and critical features.He was notoriously famous for his inflammatory speeches wherever invited, He aroused jealousy as well as admiration in the Telugu literary world. His “Nannayagari Prasanna Katha Kalitartha Yukti” struck a new path in the realm of literary criticism. By this time’ Ayodhyakanda’ was also completed. As a result he stood aloft as a pillar of traditional poetry. Many writers, young and old, earnestly solicited his opinion and forewords for their much-cherished literary compositions. The opinions he expressed and the forewords he wrote stand out as masterpieces of criticism. To a superficial observer some of his important works smack of obsolescence as they are based on religion, tradition and superstition. Some say his works are devoid of modern social awareness and progressive outlook. It is true, if modernism means atheism and political opportunism. Whether old or modern, his works stand for eternal truths and godliness clothed in various literary forms. He was sometimes sharp, pungent, frank and very strong in his literary outbursts. It is this quality which has made him lose many friends.and it is the same quality which helped gather his staunch followers and disciples. But in general his friends and foes alike agree on one point, that he was some superhuman, tempestuous and titanic poetic genius. In his own words he is a “Yugabhrashta.”

Viswanatha was the first Telugu to receive the federal Jnaana Peeth award. He also received Padma Bhushan title from Indian Govt in 1970. He won the Central Sahitya Academy award in 1963. Viswanatha passed away on 18th October, 1976 leaving behind more than one hundred works that include poetic compositions (15), Satakas (6), Song collections (13), Dramas (20), Novels (60), Sanskrit dramas (10), literary criticisms (10), and many essays and radio speeches.

Some of the famous writings of Viswanatha are .
• Aru Nadulu
• Akasa Raju
• Amrita Sharmisthan
• Andhra Prasasthi
• Anarkali
• Anta Naatakame
• Antaratma
• Beddanna Senani
• Bhramara vaasini
• Bhrashta Yogi
• Chandra guptuni swapnam
• Cheliyali Katta
• Chitlee Chitlani Gaajulu
• Dharma Chakramu
• Dhanya kailaasam (a drama)
• Dhooma Rekha
• Eka Veera
• Girikumaruni Prema Geetalu
• Gupta Pasupatamu
• Jebu Dongalau
• Jhansi Rani
• Kadimi Chettu
• Kasmira rajatarangini
• Kinnerasani Patalu
• Kokilamma Pelli
• Lopala Bayata
• Ma Babu
• Mihirakuludu
• Mudu Taralau
• Nartanasala
• Pravahamu
• Purana vaira grandha mala
• Pulula Satyagrahamu
• Punarjanma
• Sasidutam
• Satyagrahamu
• Sri Krishna Sangeetamu
• Srimad Ramayana Kalpa Vrikshamu
• Sringara Veedhi
• Swarganiki Nichhenalu
• Trisulam
• Tallileni Pilla
• Varalakshmi Trisati
• Vishnu Sarma Englishu Chaduvu
• Visweswara Satakam
• Veyi Padagalu
• Veera valladu
• Vena Raju

United States of America has been the dream destination for couple of centuries for people universally to make it big in their life till recently. The population of America is about 310 million. The total area is about 9.83 million square kilometres. The Country is third and fourth largest in the  World in terms of population and total area. It has 50 States and a federal district. Its Independence Day is celebrated on July 4th every year. America is not just one Country. People from all over the Globe have settled here as citizens and are therefore called Americans. Many people out side America think it is the richest Country in the world,certainly not. Many  Americans are also very crazy about lotteries like Indians may be because of financial insecurity. The fact is that global currency revolves around American currency since Global business is Dollar- Centric.

Spanish speaking population is said to be 1/6 th of America’s population. There are about 50 million Hispanics in America. This is an immigrant Country. All languages of the World are spoken here. This Country is unique in this respect. People are attracted to visit and settle in America mainly because of the huge difference in the currency exchange rate and also due to the better quality of life irrespective of severe and adverse weather conditions. Each locality is a Country by its self especially in a City like New York. It is extremely difficult to find an English speaking person in a Chinese large provisional stores. Even Bank ATMs are equipped with their language facility for ease of operation. Bank clerks and officers are mostly Chinese in their area. It is true in the case of Koreans even. It is shocking to know that millions don’t even care to learn to speak in English where the National language is English. American spelling, usage of words, phrases and pronunciation of English is different from that of British English.

There are various time zones in America. The commonly well known time zones being Eastern Standard Time, Central Standard Time and Pacific Standard Time. 8 am in New York (Eastern Standard Time) equals 5 am in California State (Pacific Standard Time) and 7 am in Chicago (Central Standard Time). There are many places worth visiting in America which include Niagara Water Falls, Statue of Liberty, Disney World, Yellow Stone Park, Grand Canyon, Universal Studios etc. There are numerous museums here. America is a very fascinating country in this respect.

Like any other Country , America also is the Country of illiterates, school dropouts and semi literates in plenty.  Highly qualified people are in minority. Lack of higher education among the majority of the citizens is the main problem of America. America’s overall progress has suffered a lot since majority don’t meet the required qualifications for getting jobs that need higher educational qualifications in spite of technological advancement. Non Americans have benefited much due to this reason. America has also benefited from their contribution but it doesn’t help solving the employment problem of Americans in this regard.

The general standards of the Students in Public Schools is bad especially in mathematics. They don’t even memorize multiplication tables. The Students totally depend upon the calculator for petty calculations even. It is always better to learn as per the traditional method rather than being surrounded by too many electronic gadgets and learning practically nothing.They struggle in the College since their foundation is very weak. The College education is highly expensive and make the students debt ridden. Unlike Indian Municipal Schools American Schools are well equipped with computers but not helping their progress since the students seldom exercise their brains.The general standards of some Private Schools is said to be good but majority of the middle class People can ill afford to send their children to the Private Schools. The standard of education in certain Universities like Columbia, Stanford, New York University, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, M.I.T, Princeton and Harvard is said to be excellent. Some Universities may offer scholarships for certain PhD programmes.

The Americans in general don’t have saving culture. American life is based on Credit Card culture. Majority of the Americans are neck deep into Credit Card debt that include College  Fee debt, Car debt, Furniture debt, Apartment or Independent house debt so on and so forth. Even the big retailors like Macy’s and Old Navy gives discounts only on their Credit Cards. So Credit Cards get accumulated. Its a big vicious circle.

The Wars have become a big economic burden. They have not yielded expected results. American People are openly expressing their frustration about the Wars. The unemployment and under employment has increased considerably. The unemployment rate is 9.1% in this present economic crisis.

Car manufacturing industry is one of the major Industries in America apart from Pharmaceutical and Airplane industry. There is no Public Transportation facility in Towns. This is the biggest lacuna here. Villages are called Towns. The Towns are generally provided with basic infrastructure such as shopping malls etc unlike India. People are compelled to purchase some kind of a Car for their transportation in Towns else they would be at the mercy of Taxi companies or their friends who may offer a free ride if possible. It is difficult to find People walking on footpaths in Towns. There is no such problem in big Cities like New York, Chicago etc which are far less in number where Population is more and also there is a provision of Public Transport by Buses and Metro Trains. Americans are said to use almost one fourth of the Cars used in the entire World. The number of Cars in use are said to be around 250 million. There is no parking space available in places like New York. People park their Cars on either side of the road. The major pollution that bothers Americans is vehicular pollution. However the Industries are located far away from the residential localities. However Industrial Pollution is another worrying factor worth looking into more seriously.

American life is based on the policy of consumer spending. They believe that the more the money is in circulation the more is the possibility of worker retention, job creation and more productivity. Consumer cheap goods that are available are generally made in China. It is extremely difficult to find the goods made in America.

Banks pay practically no interest on Saving and Checking Accounts thereby compelling the People to invest in the Stocks who can afford it. The profit from the Stock market is completely unreliable as experienced in India even due to the fluctuating Markets, the profit of the Companies and expansion thereof and prevailing economic situation in the World etc.

People entering America on any type of Visa have to be careful while obtaining Cable and Cell Phone connections. They should discuss minutely with the concerned Companies regarding various packages and contract period offered. One should be very careful while purchasing certain goods online. The authenticity of the web site should be checked. There are certain web sites which keep on using the Credit Card information available with them and then dump the material time and again which is not ordered. Some web sites may not even deliver the material.

Tenants can easily get Gas, Water, Heating and Electricity connection and disconnection in no time in their names, without any harassment and without paying any bribe, on phone. Apartment owner should provide compulsorily a huge Refrigerator and a Cooking Range comprising an Oven and four Stoves in the Apartment. The Apartment owner should also provide heating facility wherever required. Hot Water and Cold Water arrangement should be provided in the Apartment. Quality of life is far better than India since there is no other pollution except vehicular pollution. Middle class People can afford to have the luxury of Air Conditioner during summer. Roads are generally neat. Almost everyone has some kind of a Car. Many varieties of food free from adulteration is available at reasonable rates. Buses and Trains are provided with Air conditioners,Heating etc.

Summer is extreme in Texas State. The temperature even crosses 40 degree Centigrade. Winter is severe in Chicago and Milwaukee where it goes up to minus 30 degrees Centigrade. In New York it is around minus 15 degree Centigrade during winter. Frequent snow falls are quite common in these places. California State and Florida State weather is mostly like coastal weather in India.

America is a country of wastage. There is hell lot of use and throw here. People keep costly appliances outside their homes even for minor problems like loose Electrical connection since majority have no idea how to rectify them. The labour charges are very expensive since they have to call the concerned Company representative for everything which they can ill afford. So they prefer purchasing new Appliances rather than go in for repairs.

The unemployment problem in America can be solved to some extent if the firms of various Appliances provide training to People on a large scale and give an authenticated certificate so that they can carryout the necessary repairs at reasonable rates through out the Country and also avoid legal implications.  Therefore huge National wastage can be avoided and also it helps in solving unemployment problem to a certain extent. Hundreds of thousands of jobs can be created since America has 50 States and a Federal district.

Indian provisions are available in most of the places. There are many Indian restaurants in big Cities. Americans in general  are very much fond of Indian food. In places like Chicago and New York a complete street is exclusively meant for selling the Indian goods including Sarees, Jewelry, Indian provisions, Bangles, Indian Film DVDs etc. Some Theatres in big Cities show latest Hindi and Telugu films regular shows.

Readers can have a better idea of America after reading my articles ” External Appearance of People” and ” Positive Side of Western Culture”.

Readers may enjoy watching the Videos of Niagara Falls during night on the American side and also Statue of Liberty placed below.

http://youtu.be/AAoyCPgzUIo

http://youtu.be/l9e3rIUILUg

Tadipatri Raghavacharyulu or Ballari Raghava was one of the greatest Telugu drama artists. He was born on August 2, 1880 in Tadipatri, a village in Anantapuram district. His father was Narasimhachari and mother was Seshamma.He finished his Matriculation in Ballari High School and graduated from Christian College, Madras. He was married to Krishnamma, daughter of Lakshmanachari of Kurnool. Besides being a versatile actor, he was also a busy lawyer and an ardent social worker .All his earnings were spent in development of the art that was his passion and for the uplift of the down-trodden. As a man he was incomparable.

Raghava practiced law after graduating from Madras Law College in 1905.Very soon he became rich and popular as a criminal lawyer and well known for his cross examination tactics. The British Government recognized his talent and appointed him as a public prosecutor and also awarded him the title “Rao Bahadur”. From his childhood, he was very interested in drama and started his acting career at the age of 12. His uncle Dharmavaram Ramakrishnamachari, who was a pioneering dramatist in Telugu, initiated him on the stage. He founded Shakespeare Club in Ballari and played Shakespeare dramas. Raghava portrayed main characters in various dramas in Sreenivasarao Kolachalam’s group called Sumanohara in Bangalore. Harischandra, Padukapattabhishekam, Savitri, Brihannala, Ramaraju Charitra, Ramadasu, Tappevaridi( Who’s mistake), Saripadani Sangatulu, etc. were his famous dramas. He acted as Ramadasu, Hiranya Kashyapa, Duryaodhana,Yama, Arjuna , Othello, Makbeth, Hamlet and Chanakya etc.He visited various countries like Sri Lanka, England, France, Germany and Switzerland and gave seminars and lectures on Indian drama art. He was also invited to America and Russia, but he was unable to go to these countries.

Raghava was an accomplished actor of extra-ordinary caliber he is known for supreme mastery of expression. Expressive eyes set in a mobile face; he could modulate his visage and resonant voice to suit the emotion appropriate to any role. He was very famous for delivering the dialogues spontaneously in a very appropriate manner even while facing the most awkward unexpected situations in a drama scene. The following incidents highlight his extraordinary skills.

Once he was playing a particular scene in which his character Chanakya gets insulted by the King Nanda. At that time unexpectedly a dog entered the stage. Everyone on the stage got perplexed except him. He addressed it instantly and said ‘ O my friend do you also intend to humiliate me further’. The audience applauded him for his presence of mind.

On another occasion Raghava was playing the role of the king Duryodhana getting insulted in Maya Sabha( Building of illusion) got built by his rivals Pandavas. He was so much involved with his role he slipped and was about to fall. He gets recovered and delivered this particular dialogue while entering the real swimming pool ‘Earlier I thought it was a pool. Now I presume it’s a pool.’

Raghava was equally at home in plays in English, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi; his three main centers of activity were Bellary, Bangalore and Madras. At Bangalore he founded the Amateur Dramatic Association of Bangalore in 1909. He advocated and developed the naturalistic style in acting. He was very particular that women should always play the female roles on the stage.

Eminent people like Mahatma Gandhi and artists like Ravindranath Tagore were impressed by his dramas. He was very popular among the common people as well. He encouraged women to participate in drama. His students who later became very popular included female artists like Kopparapu Sarojini, Kommuri Padmavathi and Kaikinada Annapurna, male artists like Vasudevarao K.S., Apparao Basavaraju and Banda Kanaklingeswar rao etc . He flirted with film industry briefly. In 1936, he played Duryodhana in H.M.Reddy’s “Draupadi Maana Samrakshanam.” He also acted in Raitubidda and Chandika. However, he quit the film industry quickly. His Film Raitu Bidda was burning issue of the times, oppression of the peasants by the Zamindars. Raghava brought a realistic touch to his portrayals and was a huge success on stage. Somehow he couldn’t fit into film acting.

Raghava was influenced by a spiritual master Pandit Taranadh who established an ashram on the banks of Tungabhadra River and contributed a lot to this ashram. He used to provide financial help to anyone in need. He was against traditional extravagant marriages. He lived a simple life, in spite of his tremendous wealth. He believed that music should be down played in drama and social dramas related to social reforms should be given more importance. He advocated that drama should bring some social benefit to the society, in addition to entertainment. He continued his interest in drama until his last day on April 16th, 1946. A prestigious award “Ballari Raghava Puraskaram” was instituted in his memory and is awarded to talented artists who contributed to drama and cinema.

Note: Information gathered from various sites.

Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao (S.V. Ranga Rao) was born on July 3, 1918 at Nuzvidu town in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, when the  first World War  was drawing to a close. His mother, Lakshmi Narasayamma, a staunch devotee of Lord Venkateshwara, named the boy after Him – Venkata Ranga Rao. His father, Koteswara Rao, was an excise inspector.

The possessive father sent S.V.R. to the erstwhile Madras presidency where he completed his schooling at Hindu College. At an early age of 12, the boy showed immense interest in stage acting.  The mind of youthful S.V.R. was always preoccupied with the thoughts of stage-plays and film acting even while studying B.Sc. Immediately after graduation S.V.R.  got a job in the Fire Service as an officer. Two objectives were still clear in his mind, to do MSc and to take active part in dramas and films. S.V.R.’s relatives and family members ridiculed him by telling that he was a fool to go after chances in cinema by shunning the government job. Legendary L.V. Prasad gave S.V.R. the real break and provided all the moral support and encouragement. He is one of the best actors of Indian cinema.

S.V.R. got an invitation from one of his relatives, B.V. Ramanandam, to play the hero in his film “Varoodhini”. He immediately abandoned the job, and left for Salem to join the celluloid world. In fact, it was a great beginning for the young man. The film “Varoodhini” was released and in a few days people began to forget that they had ever seen such a movie. No producer dared to offer a role to him. Soon S.V.R. was disillusioned with the film industry and left the Madras presidency and reached Jamshedpur. He was employed as a budget assistant with the Tata Company there. However his love for dramas began to bloom multifold. At this juncture, he was married to Leelavathi Vadeti on December 27, 1947. In the days that followed S.V.R. was given an opportunity to play the villain in the film, “Palletoori Pilla,” produced by B.A. Subba Rao. Unfortunately, when S.V.R. was about to take a train to Chennai, his father expired. After performing the final rites, S.V.R. reached Chennai, but somebody had knocked away the villain role, so they  offered him a secondary role.  Later he did a small role as Sunnam Rangadu in Vijaya’s  “ Shavukaru(1950).

Luck tapped at S.V.R.’s door through Vijaya Pictures. Vijaya Pictures  offered him the most memorable “Nepala Mantrikudu” role in “Pathala Bhairavi(1951). Initially the role was offered to “Mukkamala” who was already popular as  “ Mantrika” in Swapna Sundari (1950) and Mayala Mari (1951).  K.V. Reddy the director of this movie finalized SVR for this role. S.V.R took this opportunity seriously.He became very famous with this role. He got an offer in “Pellichesi Choodu” (1952)  immediately afterwards. Its Tamil version was also played by him. Within a short time S.V.R. received appreciation from both Telugu and Tamil film viewers. He played almost every historical character. He showed a kind of recklessness and arrogance in his dialogue delivery. The iconic status did not reach him so easily. He struggled a lot initially and from that struggle was born a great actor of all times. Maya Bazaar(1957) and Missamma (1955) are among his famous movies. His dialogue delivery cannot be matched by any film personality in the world as he could deliver dialogues even written in Sanskrit with ease and with complete emotions that no one can ever come close to him in this aspect. It is said that even N.T.R & Shivaji Ganeshan who were great in delivering dialogues in Telugu & Tamil respectively used to stammer in front of S.V.R.  His performance in Bhakta Prahlada (1966) was stupendous as demon king “ Hiranya Kasipa” showing his love towards to his son Prahlada and hatred  towards his enemy Lord Vishnu. 

His compatriot Gummadi once exclaimed “Fortunate are we to have SVR born in India but SVR is unfortunate to have born here… if he were born in the West he would have been one of the top 5 actors of all time in the world” .

The very mention of “Maya Bazaar” brings the picture of S.V.R. as Ghatothkacha in the minds of Telugu people and Tamilians. His role as “Nepali Mantrika” in “Pathala Bhairav(1951)i”  and as Kotayya  in “Bangaru Papa(1954)” will continue to be remembered by millions of his admirers. As Keechaka in “Narthanasala(1963),”   Duryodhana in “Pandava Vanavasam(1965)”,  and Ravana in “Sampoorna Ramayanam(1971)”  S.V.R. proved himself to be the king when it comes to acting the mythological films.  

He was a passionate game hunter sporting an excellent fire-arm that he procured from a friend in the British Indian army. One day, he was hunting a deer. But suddenly, the deer stopped running and looked straight into the eyes of S.V.R., as if questioning rd “What will you get, if you kill me?” And thereafter S.V.R. never took up the gun again.

He won the Best Actor Award for his portrayal of Keechaka in Narthansala at the Indonesian Film Festival. It was the first time an Indian actor received an international award in acting. Surprisingly  this fact is not well-known among many people.  He felt very sad after getting the award that his own country couldn’t honor his talent even though it is accepted by all Indian film fraternity that no one can ever match to SVR acting talent. SVR passed away on 18th July 1974 leaving his memories.

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Language has been the master tool which man, in his endless adventure after knowledge and power, has shaped for himself, and which, in its turn, has shaped the human mind as we know it. It has continuously extended and conserved the store of knowledge upon which mankind has drawn. It has furnished the starting-point of all our science. It has been the instrument of social cohesion and of moral law and through it human society has developed and found itself. Language is the house of Being. Language has been the soul of mankind. No one understood the significance of all this better than Charles Philip Brown.

British rule in Andhra had both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side of the coin, we have eminent people like Charles Philip Brown who re-energized the Telugu literature. Charles Philip Brown made a phenomenal contribution to the development of Telugu language and literature in the 19th century. If you go to any bookshop in Andhra Pradesh today, you can easily buy a copy of Vasu charithra, Manu charithra, Vemana Satakam, and many other immortal classics in Telugu literature. We enjoy this privilege today mainly because of the tireless exertions of one outstanding scholar called C P Brown.

Charles Phillip Brown’s father Reverend David Brown, a Christian missionary, came to Calcutta in 1786. Reverend Brown learnt several Indian languages to understand the culture and religion. Charles was the second son of Browns, born on November 10, 1798. The family went back to England after the death of Reverend Brown. Charles studied Sanskrit in college with an aim to work for East India Company and obtained a gold medal in Sanskrit Studies. East India Company sent him to Chennai (Madras). 

Charles arrived in Chennai on 4th August 1817. At that time he didn’t even know that there existed a language and nationality called Telugu or Andhra, just like anybody outside India even today. He joined St. George College to learn Telugu from Kodandarama Pantulu. He became proficient in Telugu within sixteen months at the time when Telugu Pundits didn’t know any English at all. 

In 1820 Sir Thomas Monroe came to Chennai as governor and ordered that every official of the Company should be proficient in the local language and perform their duties in the local national language. ( I wonder about current situation today: Many officials feel shy to speak in Telugu in State government offices. Central government officials have a right not to speak Telugu. Even the kirana merchant in Hyderabad treats you like an ignorant villager if you speak in Telugu. English or Hindi or Urdu works wonders in Hyderabad, the Capital City of Telugus). 

Charles started his career in Kadapa (Cuddapa) as an assistant to the Collector, Mr. Han Bury. The collector used to speak very fluent Telugu. (Many collectors in Andhra Pradesh today are non-Telugus and don’t speak Telugu at all). Mr. Bury became the role model for Charles. Charles tried to emulate him. Charles Brown established two schools in Kadapa and arranged for free education in Telugu and Hindi with Indian teachers. He arranged for free meals to the school children. He also started two more schools in Machilipattanam providing free food for students. 

He got interested in Vemana’s literature in 1824. He studied Vemana’s and other Telugu literature and Telugu meter and grammar under the guidance of Tippaabhatla Venkatasivasastri and Vatthayam Advaitabrahmasastri. Charles Brown was transferred to Rajahmundry in 1825. He continued his study of Telugu literature. He collected the written scripts of Telugu Kavyas (poems) that were on the verge of extinction. He hired some copyists/writers (raayasagaallu) to prepare fresh copies. He reprinted Andhra Mahabharata and Andhra Mahabhagavatam etc. He found a shelter for the destitute Goddess Telugu Saraswati and was able to redecorate her like a married Indian woman.

 He went to London on vacation (during 1835-38) and collected 2,106 hand written books in South Indian Languages from the Indian House Library and sent them back to Chennai Library. He edited and published several Telugu and Sanskrit books after he came back from London. He collected sayings, stories, and poems etc. that were popular at that time among common population. He also wrote several grammar books and learning materials for English people who were interested in learning Telugu. Madras Oriental Library hoards several of C. P. Brown works. 

Charles Brown spent his own money for the development of Telugu and even took loans for the same. He saved every penny for the development of Telugu. Even in the tough financial times he didn’t give up his Telugu development programs. He retired in 1854 and settled in London. He worked at London University as Telugu Professor for some time. He died in 1884 on December 12 at the age of eighty-seven. His selfless service to Telugus and their culture and literature is unparalleled even among Telugu people. Every Telugu speaking person should remember his services to Telugu culture and its preservation. 

“C. P. Brown, the savior of Telugu Culture and Literature, rekindled the dying lamp of Telugu literature with his friendship and service-  Janamadhi HanumaChchastri”

Adi Shankara spoke about dispassion, detachment, and renunciation. However, he foresaw that if he only talked about renunciation, people might start liking and encouraging sadness. He did not want people to stop appreciating beauty, so he sang a hundred verses on beauty.

Beauty has three levels: indication, expression and exposure. Spirituality indicates, art expresses, and science exposes.

The Divine is beauty, and beauty is Divine. Deva means one who loves to play, one who is effulgent, glorious, and one who plays. Demons fight, men live in peace, and Gods play. Playfulness cannot happen if there is no beauty; they go together. Enthusiasm, the same force that is beauty, creates playfulness. Beauty is associated with shyness, and shyness enhances beauty. For example, a small child sometimes makes a very shy face. When everyone notices and appreciates the child, he just hides his face. Likewise, shame is a part of ugliness. Shyness softens you; ugliness or shame hardens you. When a person feels ashamed, he becomes hard inside and becomes violent. 

The way of Gods, the way of the wise has always been indirect. There is a saying in Sanskrit, ‘Paroksha priya hi vai devaha?’ which means, ‘Gods love indirect methods’. Poetry is indirect. It is exaggeration. The heart always exaggerates, while the mind puts the fact forward. Fact is intellectual. But when it comes from the heart, the fact is decorated. It becomes doubly beautiful.

Direct expression is necessary when one is not awake. With the Awakened, hints and indirect expression make it all the more charming. But it does not mean that something is good or something is bad. Everything has its place and its time. Total exposure is not the language of the heart. Total exposure provokes and concealed beauty invokes. That is why this nature conceals the whole creation during the night inside itself, and reveals it the next morning.

Love is at its peak when no effort is made to express it. It is not that you should not express it sometimes- otherwise you may burst! There is beauty in not expressing it completely. In that secretiveness and the unveiling of Love, there is knowledge, there is opening, there is joy, and there is beauty. That is a Divine quality. Intellect has its place and poetry has its place. Both make life fuller. That is the beauty.

See people beyond their expressions. What a person expresses is not what he is all about. There is a lot of unexpressed love in each life. Just recognizing this fact, you expand. Your heart expands. With this knowledge you would never dwell on what someone says or does. What someone says is very small, and what someone does is just the ribbon on the package. If you do not like the ribbon, just take it off and look inside.

Everybody is a packed gift. Look at more than just the wrapper. Inside each person is a very precious gift. Some packages have firecrackers! Some packages have sweet candies. No box is empty. There is place for everybody in the heart of the Divine. That is what Jesus meant when he said, “there are many rooms in the house of my father”.

So do not worry that there are so many people. Do not ask how you can be close to God. Do not worry about how you can belong there. There are many rooms, and each one of you will have your own private room! And Jesus promises, “if there are not many rooms, I shall make room for you and then come to take you there”. The mind cannot appreciate the abstract; It is so used to looking at concrete things and promises. The mind needs promises. When you love somebody, you want a promise from him or her. You ask, “Do you promise me? Do you really love me? Tell me for sure!”

The second aspect of beauty is gratefulness. When you don’t feel that you lack something, then you feel grateful. You cannot be grateful and feel that you lack something. The two cannot go together. You can experience both, but only at different times. When you feel you lack something, the grumbling begins. With the knowledge you have, you become grateful. When you are grateful, by natural law you will be given more. As Jesus has said, “those who have will be given more. Those who have not, even what little they have, will be taken away from them.”

Whoever you want to love, first of all, know they love you very much. If you doubt in somebody’s love, your doubt grows no matter what, you receive from him or her. If you want to be close to someone, first begin to feel they are already close to you. When you ask people whether they trust you, you already doubt their trust. You grow in doubt. There is no limit to it; there is no end to convincing people of one’s love, one’s trust, one’s goodness. That is why it is said that those who have not, whatever little they have will also be taken away from them. And those who have will be given more, and more, and more. This is the very law of nature.

Not having is just an attitude in you. It is the direction you are moving in. Whatever is inside you is what grows. The seeds are already there. You sow the seeds and the seeds will grow. They become plenty. If the seed itself lacks something, how can anything grow? Open your eyes and see what you have been given! When you recognize what you have been given, you become grateful. In that gratefulness, life grows.

Why did Communism fail? It was a great policy to give to those who did not have. When everyone was provided for, the people became poorer and poorer in the material plane and in consciousness. Without knowledge, without wisdom, there is no progress.

This power, this energy, this beauty, this wealth has been given. It is permeating the whole Creation and without it not a blade of grass can move. However clever the devas, or angels are, they cannot move, cannot do anything without the power of consciousness and this life. Without life there is no beauty. A body is beautiful because there is life in it. The entire creation, the trees, the birds, animals, stones, and rivers are full of life. Life is not just biological life. Life includes the consciousness that permeates much beyond.

In creation there is beauty, in the operation of creation there is beauty, and in the destruction of creation there is beauty. You can see it in nature all the time. Spring has its own beauty; in mid-Summer everything is green; during Fall all the leaves fall and it looks spectacular! The Niagara Falls are so beautiful. To maintain these ancient falls year after year, a certain process is required. The clouds have to rise, and rain on the Great Lakes; and the Great Lakes have to flow. Only then the Niagara Falls can remain forever. Otherwise, if the water only flows down once, there is no more water to flow. If it does not rain, the whole beauty is gone!

Underneath creation’s beauty is a maintenance principle that maintains it time after time, for centuries. Even a dead log of wood has its record embedded in it; its beauty, in the past and present, is recorded in its genes and particles. Even in transformation there is beauty. Even in anger, there is beauty. Just look at somebody who is very upset. The best awards in the film festivals go to the actors who show intense emotions like anger and frustration. All emotion that gets exhibited is appreciated.

Just imagine somebody yelling at the top of his voice, grinding his teeth, holding his fists, with red eyes and all the veins in their throat popping out. Just looking at them is such fun! Without them, the whole world would be very dull. Imagine everybody walking around with an “air-hostess” smile all the time. It is no fun! It is the same thing when children cry. There is some beauty even in crying. When they laugh or smile, there is beauty in it. If they are angry, there is beauty in it. Beauty is all-pervasive. You only have to open your eyes and see the reality that is there.

Author:Sri Sri Ravi Shankar( Founder of the Art of Living)

We don’t like someone to preach us. We think that we are masters of our lives. Unfortunately not. We are mere mortals. We indulge in all sorts of silly things and we never agree that we have blundered time and again.  

We accuse others for no reason. We don’t like others to point out our follies even. We never seem to learn from our mistakes and commit the same mistakes any number of times quite often. We laugh at others when we are supposed to smile at them. We think that the other person is ignorant when we are ignorant ourselves.  Many people make all kinds of gestures at other people for no reason whatsoever. They don’t care how badly other people get affected if they are very sensitive and can’t retaliate. The person suffering from these repeated gestures may go into depression and may never lead any normal life. This sort of attitude shouldn’t be tolerated. 

Majority of people love poking fun at others, ridicule others to the extreme and poke their nose into other people’s affairs. That’s the reason why yellow journalism is that popular in the World. What should a person do when humiliated due to colour, attire, physical and mental deformity,way of walking and way of talking?.Is this person supposed to spit back when spat, physically attack when attacked or meekly surrender, spend sleepless nights, blame the fate and ultimately commit suicide. How long a person can tolerate insults and to what extent?.

Ragging or bullying is the one of the worst things that is happening in schools and colleges all over the globe irrespective of sex. Many students suffer silently. The student at the receiving end is asked to do all sorts of humiliating things. The affected students either dropout of school or college or may commit suicide even. No one has got any right to ruin a student’s life. The authorities concerned should handle such issues firmly and show no mercy to the bullies. 

How is that we don’t apologise whenever we commit mistakes and hurt the other people. Why don’t we realise that our ego is ruining our lives forever. Why do we think that others are out to malign us instead of thinking as to what went wrong with our behaviour?.

I reproduce below a Poem written by Saint Vemana in Telugu and then give its meaning in English.

” Vuppu Kappurambu okkapolikathonundu,

Chooda Chooda  Ruchula jaada veru,

Manushulandu Punyapurushulu verayaa,

Viswadaabhirama Vinura Vema”

” Salt and Camphor look alike. But their tastes are different. Similaraly in men Good People are different from Bad People. Listen Vema”.

We love to talk about the things we and our kith and kin have done but when other people talk about their achievement then we consider it as boasting. Why this hypocracy?.

Why can’t we be grateful to the people, who have helped us in need. Why do we take them for granted. If helping people is that simple and easy then why don’t we do it?.

Please give it a serious thought and share your views. The readers will understand and appreciate it better.

Dadabhai Naoroji, of Bombay Parsee origin, is the “Grand Old Man of India” and the “Father of Indian Nationalism” who worked with perseverance and unshakeable faith towards the goal of swaraj was the first Indian to claim self-government for his people. Dadabhai Naoroji was also the first Indian to show that India was being drained of its wealth under the British rule and thus was fast succumbing to poverty. He played a key role in founding the Indian National Congress in 1885 and was associated with the organisation till his death

Dadabhai was born at Khadak in Bombay,  the present Mumbai, on September 4, 1825. The pain suffered by his mother in the process of ensuring that Dadabhai received good education made this great leader a zealous supporter of free education especially to children. He stepped out of his college ,the Elphinstone Institution, with a host of academic honours and became a partner of the first Indian commercial company set up in Britain. In England itself, he began the task of exposing the miseries India was suffering under the British administration. To further his aims, he joined W.C. Banerjee to found the London Indian Society.

In 1867, he called for admitting Indians to the civil service. He also suggested that the civil service examinations should be held in India also. His “Evidence relating to the Efficiency of Native Agency in India” upheld the capability and integrity of Indians when appointed to posts of trust and responsibility. His labour proved fruitful with the govern­ment’s decision to include Indians in the civil service. In 1876, he published his paper titled “Poverty of India”—a prelude to Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, published in 1901. He held the British government responsible for India’s poverty.The drain of India’s wealth to England was taking place at a time when the country was in dire need of industrialization and other economic reforms, he pointed out.

To secure justice for India, Dadabhai brought out the monthly, ‘The Voice of India’. He was a key factor behind the introduction of the Ilbert or Criminal Jurisdiction Bill that allowed courts in India to try Europeans under Indian judges. In 1885, Dadabhai became the vice-president of the Bombay Presidency Association. Dadabhai also became the first Indian to be elected to the British Parliament. Dadabhai left for heavenly abode in Bombay on 30th June 1917 at the ripe age of 92 years.

Baking soda works magic when it comes to eliminating odours. Put an open container of it in the fridge to absorb its odors. Sprinkle it on ashtrays, shoes, socks, cooling containers and thermos and inside vacuum cleaners to decrease bad odour. In addition to this, it eases cleaning as well when combined with water. Pour a cup of baking soda to the toilet, leave it for an hour, and then flush. Not only will it clean the toilet, but it will also absorb the odour. Putting a spoonful of it to the dishwasher will ease scrubbing dishes. Baking soda is great for getting rid of grease from pots and pans and the inside part of an oven. Laundry detergent can be strengthened by adding a handful of baking soda to the dirty clothes load. Those dirty canvas bags can be rubbed clean by using baking soda. Also, if you’re encountering a major cockroach problem, put some under sinks and inside cabinets to repel cockroaches and ants.

Orissa unlike many other parts of India has the prized distinction of possessing an uninterrupted series of temples illustrating the history of the well-defined Kalinga (former name of Orissa) from its very inception to decline, and the Sun Temple of Konark marks the highest point of achievement.  Konark, the seat of World famous Sun Temple, located in the District of Puri, forms one of the three points of the “Golden Triangle of Tourism” in the State of Orissa, the other two being Bhubaneswar, the city of Temples and Puri, the abode of Lord Jagannath. This Temple chariot of the Sun God on the golden sands of the Bay of Bengal is a 13th Century architectural marvel. To-day Konark is not merely a symbol of Orissa’s great architectural craftsmanship, it is also the most sought after centre of attraction for tourists all over the World. It’s serene atmosphere coupled with a quiet but majestic sea-shore is today regarded as an ideal place for holidaying by domestic as well as foreign tourists.Konark is situated at confortable distance from the famous religious and tourist centre of Puri (35 K.M.) and the capital city of Bhubaneswar (65 K.M.).  The alignment of the Sun Temple is on the east-west direction. The Temple is located in natural surroundings, abounding with casuarina plantations and other types of trees, which grow on sandy soil. The environment is by and large unspoiled. Gentle undulating topography around the Sun Temple lends some variation to the landscape.     

The main Temple was called by European sailers “The Black Pagoda” as it formed an important landmark for them in their coastal voyage. Contrasting to this , the white washed Temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri was known as the white pagodaThe main Temple was called by European sailers “The Black Pagoda” as it formed an important landmark for them in their coastal voyage. Contrasting to this , the white washed Temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri was known as the white pagoda.    

 ”Konarka” , the place bears a name composed of two World elements : Kona meaning corner and ARKA meaning the Sun. The Sun god worshipped in Ark Kshetra is also called Konark. In ‘Brahma Purana’ the Sun God in Ark-kshetra has been described as Konaditya. So it is evident that the place where the Kona aditya (or Kona-arka, the Sun god) was worshipped was also popularly called Konark. It is described in Purusottam Mahatmya that Lord Vishnu after killing the demon Gayasur, to commemorate the glory of his victory, placed his Sankha (cronch) in Puri, Chakra (disc) in Bhubaneswar, Gada (mace) in Jajapur and Padma (lotus) in Konark and they were later known as Sankha Kshetra, Chakra Kshetra, Gada Kshetra and Padma Kshetra respectively. This corner on the east sea coast houses the ruins of a temple, exquisitely built to resemble a gigantic chariot with impeccably carved wheels , columns and panels. It stands as a mute reminder of the times when Orissan architecture has reached its pinnacle.        

The Sun Temple built in the thirteenth century was conveived as a gigantic chariot of Sun God, with twelve pairs of exquisitely ornamented wheels pulled by seven pairs of horses. Majestic in conception, this Temple is indeed one of the most sublime monuments of India, famous as much for its imposing dimensions and faultless proportions as for the harmonious integration of of architectural grandeur with plastic allegiance. It is admittedly the best in Orissa. Its fine traceries and scroll work , the beautiful and natural cut of animal and human figures, all give it a superiority over other temples. The chief quality is its design and architectural details. The Sun temple belongs to the Kalinga School of Indian Temples with characteristic curvilinear towers mounted by Cupolas. In shape, the Temple did not make any major departure from other sikhara temples of Orissa. The main sanctum which (229 ft. high) was constructed alongwith the audience hall (128 ft. high) having elaborate external projections. The main sanctum which enshrined the presiding deity has fallen off. The Audience Hall survives in its entirely but of the other two viz the Dancing Hall(nata Mandir) and the Dining Hall (Bhoga-Mandap), only small portions have survived the vagaries of time. The Temple compound measures 857 ft. by 540 ft.    

A shallow pool of water is known as the Chandrabhaga, where even now crowds of pilgrims take a purificatory bath before sun rise on the seventh day of the bright half of the month of Magha (January-February). A fair also takes place on this occasion. Once in the year the deserted holy place of Surya thus throbs with religious emotion. This is likely a survival of an ancient practice following the construction of the temple. Magha-Saptami is mentioned in the Madala Panji as one of the festival of this holy centre. It is also referred to the Brahma Purnima in connection with the description of Konark.      

As the legend says that, King Narasimha Deva-I of the Ganga Dynasty had ordered this temple to be built as a royal proclamation of the political supremacy of his dynasty.A workforce of 12 hundred artisans and architects invested their creative talent,energy and artistic commitment for an exhausting period of 12 years. The king had already spent an amount equivalent to the state’s revenue receipts of 12 years..However the completion of the construction was nowhere near sight. Then the king issued a final command that the work be completed by a stipulated date.The team of architects headed by Bisu Maharana was at its wit’s end.It was then that Dharmapada the 12 year old son of the chief architect Bisu Maharana arrived there as a visiting onlooker.He became aware of the anxiety looming large among the architects. Although he did not have any practical experience of temple construction, he was thorough in his study of the theories of temple architecture.He offered to solve the confounding problem of fixing the last copping stone at the top of the temple.He surprised everyone by doing that himself.But soon after this achievement the dead body of this adolescent prodigy was found on the sea beach at the foot of the temple.Legend says that Dharmapada laid down his life to save his community.      

The Sun Temple of Konark marks the highest point of achievement of Kalinga architecture depicting the grace , the joy and the rhythm of life all it’s wondrous variety. There is an endless wealth of decoration from minute pattterns in bas-relief done with a jeweller’s precision to boldly modelled free standing sculptures of exceptionally large size. Under the crackling wheels of past events , the Sun Temple has lost its main sanctuary but the remaining structure and the ruins arouns testify till today the boundless creative energy of Orissan artistes and their impresive contribution to the treasury of Indian Art and building technique. Standing majestically on the sandy coast of the Bay of Bengal, the porch, in its solitary grandeur is an eloquent testimony of a gracious and mysterious past. Dedicated to Sun God, this temple was constructed by Raja Narasinghs Deva-I of the Ganga Dynasty was dazzling supreme in the political firmament of India.    

That the fame of the this temple as a wonderful monument has spread far beyond the limits of Orissa in the sixteen century is amply borne out not only by the great Vaishnava Saint Chaitanya’s (AD-1486-1533) visit to the place but also by the following pithy description which appeared in the A’in-i-Akbari of Abu’l-Fazl, the famous chronicler of the court of Akbar (AD-1556-1605).Near Jagannath is a temple dedicated to the Sun. Its cost was defrayed by twelve years revenue of the province. Even those whose judgement is critical and who are difficult to please stand astonished at its sight.”