Wish all Msians a Merry christmas.....................
May Santa claus flood your home........................
With happiness and love in 2009 ........................
May the Lord Jesus.........................
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Bless us all with ..............................
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Health and Prosperity....................
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BrideshwarTemplehas been declared as world heritage site in 1987 AD. The temple is located in the rice bowl district of Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur. It is close to the railway station and old bus stand. The nearest city is Trichy which has an airport and railway junction.

HISTORY

Raja Raja chola ( 985 – 1014 AD ) was one of the greatest emperors of the Chola dynasty. By birth he was known as Arulmozhi Verman, the third son of Parantaka
Sundar Chola. He was trained to be a warrior to lead the cholan army in conquest against the Pandya and Sinhalese kingdoms. Aditya Chola II, the eldest son was murdered under suspicious circumstances. The theory is that he was murdered by the concubines with snake venom while engaging in an orgy session. This was a conspiracy hatched by the vanquished Pandyan King supporters ( Vira Pandya ) whose beheaded skull he paraded on the streets. He was succeeded out of turn by Uttama Chola ahead of Arulmozhi. This was under a explicit understanding that the paternal uncle will be succeeded not by his son but by Arulmozhi ( Raja Raja Chola ) But eventually blood is thicker than water, as years went by the promise was conveniently brushed aside. When he came to know regarding the conspiracy, he adopted the same trick with the help of his guru Bradbahu. The uncle and nephew were got rid of by the concubines dishing out drinks laced with poison.

VISION :

Raja Raja Chola was constantly engaged in battle with Chalukyas in the north, Pandyas in the South and Sinhalese across the shore. One day while he was engaging in the battle in Sri Lanka, he saw huge statues of Buddha. He was inspired by this beautiful statue to dedicate the BrideshwarTempleto his family deity Shiva @ Thanjavur. He commissioned the construction of the huge temple in 1004 AD. Since the scale of construction was unparalleled in the history of temple construction, it took almost 3 decades and it was completed by his Son Rajendra Chola in the year 1034 AD. Rajendra chola ( 1014 – 1044 AD ) credited the construction in his dads name even though majority of the construction was undertaken by his patronage.

TEMPLECOMPLEX:

The temple complex was built on the banks of the river cauvery, with its water diverted to the moat. The walls around the temple was constructed in the form of fortress, to protect the temple from invaders. Even today the temple has one of the highest gopuram ( 66 meters – 216 feet ) in India. The Kalash ( shikara ) which is installed on top of the Vimana weighs a massive 81.5 tonnes. A ramp was constructed from 6 kms away from the temple complex to roll over the huge shikara on to the gopuram. The entire temple is built with granite which was not available in the area. Probably it was transported from Trichy Rockfort area which is located 40 kms away. The inspiration to create the magnificient edifice seems to have been inspired by the Chalukyan architecture. The gurus advice to atone for the sins in the form of bloodshed of his rivals to the throne, by building an edifice to Lord Shiva.

It is alleged that more stones than the pyramid of Giza was transported to build this magnificient edifice dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Friends, Looking back at 2008 which has been a real coaster ride. History was created when India won the IPL 20/20 world cup in Africa under the leadership of Dhoni. This answered our prayers that India should look for young blood in the team. The first casualty seems to be our Dada, who was compelled to hang his boots.

Next came on the world stage the election of Barrack Obama, who is the first black, Muslim to be elected as President of the worlds greatest democracy. Can we look forward to outdo the historic achievement of the US democracy only time will tell. Maybe in the form of Rahul Gandhi, Sonia or Mayawati.

The share market crash and financial collapse all over the world has put a dampner to the employment market. Now the only way for the market is to look up. But skeletons keep falling out of the cupboard day in day out with more and more scams coming out in the open. I hope things will change for the better in 2009.

The series of terror attacks in India starting from Bangalore, which was trial run, leading upto Surat, wherein Modi restrained from unleashing terror on minority. Then again blasts in Jaipur and culmination of terror @ Mumbai took out the steam out of the tolerance limits of the public baying for the blood.

India's achievement of the Only Gold Medal in Olympics has been muted with honouring our martyrs who died in the Mumbai terror. It is kudos to BCCI who contributed 3 crores to the victims family revealing why it is called the golden goose in Indian Sports. Now will they be known as godfather for all talented sportsmen in the country. The board went to honour even the chess grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand.

The only silver lining seems to be that Inflation is climbing down in the economy, with crude prices internationally providing confidence that it is here to stay. The prices of real estate is dropping to comfort zone. It does not mean that people should rush to finalise deal, it is better they act in concert and tire the real estate players to furnish the best bargain. The days of 100% margin should be bought down to 40% margin.

Looking at the ISRO s launch of Chandrayaan is more significant not because of the cost involved, but because of commercialisation of the technology. Millions of dollars are being earned by ISRO by selling communication satellelites.

The hotel industry is now desperate to lure public, but with terror strikes and war clouds looming it is in order to have muted celeberation in the new year. It will definitely send the right signal when some of our brave men are lost we should acknowledge their contribution. Let us have private celeberation not public show of cheer. Wish you all a very happy christmas & new year in advance. Cheers

Prolouge :I land from Rameswaram by train in the midnight@ Trichy and quickly check in for a slumber. I get up early morning and quickly shower and start proceeding to Srirangam by Bus. Well my co-passengers enquires where am I from I tell him I am from Bangalore. He exclaims “ Super city “. I wonder whether the concrete and glazed buildings is a term for a Super city. However I find Trichy railway station has a look of neat city. Now imagine if they just have a mono rail along the banks of the river cauvery and connecting the airport and tourist spots, Trichy too will become a fabulous city.
SRIRANGAMTEMPLE
:A checkered history of Srirangam is dished out by various historians. Who is to be credited to have constructed this massive temple which can be equated almost to AngkorWat which was built in the 12th century by Suryavarman II in Cambodia.
The temple has 7 massive enclosures, wherein the main shirne is of Lord Vishnu in his majestic avatar. The first enclosure is credited to have been built by Raja Mahendra Chola ( 1060-1063 AD ) but the contradiction here is that in 924 AD Parantaka I ( 907-953 AD ) had gifted a silver lamp for the diety.
My surmise is that the original temple seems to have been built by feudatories of Pulekesi II ( 608-642 AD) from the Chalukyan Empire. Then the temple seems to have expanded and renovated by the Chola King Mahendra Chola ( 1060-1063) adding the local elements of architecture. The Pallavas too seem to have contributed to construction of the temple, based on Mahaballipuram style. The Cholas had been for several years under the Pallavas and their domination began once Raja Raja Chola ( 985-1014 AD ) emerged on the scene with construction of the great temple at Brideswar Tanjore.

TEMPLE DESCRIPTION :The temple is located on an isle formed by the tributaries of Cauvery. The northern arm of the Cauvery is known as Kolroon, which is artificially created to protect the temple from annual river water flooding. The temple is built in seven rectangular enclosures. On each enclosure there is an enterance and exit gopuram. The main enterance of the temple is facing South, which may explain the misfortune visiting the temple. This is against the hindu tradition of Vaastu. The temple covers a vast area which is bigger than any religious place in the world. The actual area might have been larger than AngkorWat ( currently largest non functioning temple) which is encroached upon by commercial and residential area.
The temple encompasses an area with a perimeter of 8 km and covers an area of 6,31,000 sq meters. ( 156 acres ) The seven enclosures have 21 gopurams with enterance and exit archways on all sides. One of the enclosures contains 1000 pillared hall ( actual count is 953 ). Foreigners and other religious visitors can visit upto the 4th enclosure and are prohibited in the main sanctum sanctorum which is adorned with Gold Gopuram. Photography is prohibited in this area.

INVASION OF MALIK KAFUR & THUGLAK :
During the invasion of Malik Kafur ( 1310-1311) raided the Srirangam temple to loot the treasures in the Ghazni style, but majority of the idols and jewels were secretly pirated to safe haden. No ruler worth his salt was able to protect the temple and hundreds of priests laid down their lives. The temple corridors and river was flooded with blood stains much more gory than Jallianwala Massacre
After the man slaughter Kafur’s men occupied the temple and used it as a fortress. The devadasis decided to showcase their talent to save the temple from destruction. Hundreds of devadasis engaged the infidels in orgy and sexual pleasures day and night for more than 6 months. Kafur was forced to recall all his men looking into their meek pleasure seeking routine, which would make them unfit for future battle. He recalled his entire troop with a decree. Thus the tribute for saving the temple from total annihilation should go to the 100 odd devadasis who entertained the soldiers with their dance and sexual favours.

OPENS @ 6.15 amfor one hour and again there is a break and it reopens for dharsan @ 9.00 amand closes 1 pm. Again re-opens at 4 pm. So one has to be careful not to land in between. Most of the temples in TN follow a similar pattern. Vaikunta Ekadasi is celeberated in a grand manner.

Providing good motorable roads is the duty of the government of the day which has been ignored for long. The consumer or voter activism is required to focus on this fundamental issue. This feature should be made a primarly responsibility or duty of the sitting MLA in their respective constituency. In the event of neglect the MLA should be forcibly made to resign owning up moral responsibility. Providing drinking water may not be completely in his hands but ensuring motorable roads and filling potholes can be easily undertaken by the MLA's.

The recent violence erupting at the Toll booths of NICE highway is a pointer that consumers are taking law into their own hands to protest against the injustice. It is obvious that NICE highway was designed to link the city from Blore to Mysore on Non stop mode. Now with Toll collection within the city they are obviously putting breaks on the vehicle. The city connection route should not be tolled at all, which is supposed to be provided free of cost to users, since the expensive city land has been acquired at concessional price. Therefore it is essential that the benefit should be passed on to ease the pockets of the city dwellers. Majority of the connecting routes of NICE highway between various pockets are circuitous instead of saving milege, people will be travelling more distance, rather than shorter distance. The toll if at all should be on the basis of usage and load factor. A loaded bus or truck should be charged double than empty vehicle. A total relook at the toll collection mechanism would be in order.

A system of monthly pass for private vehicles, public transport should be introduced. The right tariff levels would be as follows for all interconnection points within the city :

VEHICLE PRIVATE COMMERCIAL(E) COMM(LOAD)

1. 2 Wheeler Rs 5 Rs 100 Rs10 Rs200
2. 3 Wheeler Rs10 Rs 200 Rs15 Rs300
3 4 Wheeler Rs15 Rs 300 Rs20 Rs400
4 BUS Rs20 Rs 400 Rs25 Rs500
5 Truck Rs25 Rs 500 Rs30 Rs600

The connecting point to the highway should be just double since the distance travelled will be seemless for a distance of 100 kms. A two wheeler using the highway would end up paying Rs 15/- for the entire strech of high way maybe passing as many as 6 check points. There should be no duplicity of toll collection. A monthly pass of Rs 200 will be inorder for a person travelling the distance, which may be equivalent to the monthly pass in an ordinary class by train. It will be prudent to remove the toll on city travel by NICE management and prove the fact that they are really NICE, signifying they are user friendly and a boon to the city of Bangalore Metro, who welcomed them with open arms, after the exit of the Gowda clan. They should live upto the promise they are here to bring succour to the commuters of Bangalore city and will recover their investment from highway users
and other commercial ventures which will be coming up on the free land alloted to them

I hope Kheny does not betray the people of Karnataka by charging toll on bypass users and collect toll only on the highway portion. NICE is now richer by 30 K crores in land bank. Please peg your rates @ 50% of Mumbai-pune road which is world class, concrete road. Please don t compare your roads above the concrete road.

PROLOUGE:
The cyclone Nisha struck the coastal T.N. in Nov 2008, particularly Rameswaram and its surrounding wrecking untold misery on the livelihood of the fishermen and localities. The scene on the seashore huts reminded me of the Tsunami, with water flooding into their homes. The incessant rainfall for over a period of fortnight has stalled the fishermen venturing out to sea. I land into the town at the godforsaken hour ( 3 am) into the town, to find myself an unwanted guest by many a hotels. Never in my dream could I imagine, that a single individual, will be refused a room for the fear of committing suicide or being suspected as a terrorist who has come to blow up the temple. The only option in front to me seemed to visit the temple and pray to the Lord to bless me with Shelter from the brewing storm. At 4.00 amI enter the Ramnathswami temple and find the Ayyappa devotees swarming the premise to have the holy darshan. I opt for a special darshan shelling out Rs 50/- and quickly frisked into the queue with a group of fairer sex swarming, for which I had to exhibit etiquette by offering them to bypass, and I enter last, which was my undoing. As soon as this batch finish, I was offered darshan once again and this time to my hearts content. After darshan it was hardly 4.45 and I decide to stay put at the temple complex till 5.45, when the dawn breaks out. I approach a tout, who says he will get me a slot in the open hall @ black, which I found repulsive. I decided to approach a Gujarati boarding, initially he refused to offer me a room, I requested him to allot me a common hall, which he willingly obliged looking at my plight. I was glad to have a place which was so neat and I decide not to lie down and waste the precious hours. I quickly rushed to have a cold water bath in a stormy weather, which was refreshing and energizing. My tired shoulder was literally caressed by soft water and lather of clinic shampoo. After my bathing, I ventured out to explore the ravaged town.
RAMESHWARAM :Historically, Ramnathswamy temple is one the 12 Jyothilingas in India. Epically the isle was visited by Lord Rama in his expedition to rescue his kidnapped wife from Sri Lanka. The name is therefore derived from Lord Sri RAMA who installed one of 12 linga ( phallic symbol ). A pilgrimage to Kashi is incomplete without a visit to Rameshwaram.
Strangely, the history of this temple apart from the epic is shrouded by mystery. According to historians, an ancient insignificant temple was expanded by Lankan King Parakrambahu during the 12th Century. Further extensions and pillared structure were added by the Nayaks who were feudatory to the Vijayanagar Empire. Further additions to the temple are credited to Sethupathi who were kings of Ramnad region. The main temple edifice is credited to have been built by Udyan Sethupathi with the help of Sinhalese Prince Para Rajasekhara in 1414 AD. The western gopuram is credited to Udyan, the southern to Tirumalai and eastern one to Dalvoi.
The corridor of the temple is impressive standing tall with more than 30 feet in height, and 15 feet in width. There are nearly 30 pillars in 340 meters length, with paintings on the roof. A breath taking spectacle of the grandeur in unleashed with carved pillars of lion, apsaras and and dwarpalikas. However there are large portions of the boundary wall which are under collapse, which needs urgent repair to restore its splendour and grandeur.
There are 22 theertams inside the temple or ponds wherein piligrims bathe in reverence to their forefathers and departed ones. The mineral quality of the water refreshes ones body and mind, one after another piligrims undergo the ritual, some may be exploited in the bargain. I avoided this ritual due to wet conditions, and I preferred to be drenched by intermittent rainfall.
Mahashivarathri is celeberated for 10 days in this temple. The temple opens at 4 amwith Palliyarai Deepa ardhana and later Spatika Linga Abishek. Many devotees bring the ganges water from hardwar, rishikesh and badrinath for Abhisheka.
EPILOUGE :The dream of the fishermen to have alternative livelihood in the form of adventure speed boat ride on the backwaters ferrying tourists would an ideal awaiting realization. The ride on the sand dunes of the beach front, like a desert ride in the middle east. A camp fire and stay in the tent enjoying the night skyline and listening to the waves pounding the shoreline. A massage and sun tan, on the beach would a world beyond imagination. Travelling distances on a concrete road and returning reluctantly to work station would be a dream
PN : Full post www.indiabackpacker.blogspot.c
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The recent headline in TOI points out to the startling fact that there is 30 per cent increase in divorce rates. Under 3 years of marriage is under threat of divorce.

The expectation of couples with both of them earning seems to be increasing. The very act of marrying is to have a long term association seems to be conviniently forgotton. Everybody is not perfect, there are individual habits and cravings which cannot be changed.

Men have become impatient with their partners to a large extent. In the days of professional excellence, many a times one has to stay back at office to put in extra work. This is the only way one can satisfy their bosses. If men stay back at office women are supposed to understand, but the reverse is not true, if women stay back men tend to suspect their need. There is a real danger that young and impressionable female gets carried away.

The comparison between partners performance and his attitude towards family takes predominence in relationship. One must understand that giving space to each other is important in marriage. Many a times, misunderstanding arises due to finance, despite both earning.

One has to realise that marriage is meant to compromise with each others mistakes or undoing. One has to learn to forget shortcomings, such as not sharing the burden of house work etc. Many a times, if the husband does not shoulder responsibility of house work, it becomes a sore point in relationship. One has to be prepared to sweep, swab, clean bathroom, cook sometimes, etc inorder to qualify as good husband.

Try to time ones entry into the house simultaneously from work, so that one does not get frustrated waiting for each other. The best way for a man to improve relationship is to try and pick up his wife from the office even if he has to travel extra mile. Commuting causes lot of stress, if one has to wait for partner to return home.

Looking after children, may be easy for the men folk. Particularly dropping them to school and ensure that their ward studies at home. Most of the divorces take place even before the couple has a kid.

My advice for the couple who want long term marriage is to have a kid as early as possible. Once they postpone having a kid, the discord begins to widen. A kid is binding factor for stability of marriage. One has to be clear about this fundamental truth for successful marriage. I hope Bangalore drops another dubious distinction of highest divorce rate in India.

The writing on the wall is very clear i believe. Dravid is the third batsmen to have scored 10 k runs after Sunny and Sachin. After sept 2007 when he gave up the captaincy his form seemed to be loosing sheen. He has captained Royal challengers to disastrous results, making Mallya fume too.

Oh my dear, certain facts which i did not even know was that Dravid was born on 11 January 1973. His parental ancestory is that of Iyers from Thanjavur. He was bought up Bangalore. He speaks both Marathi and Kannada. Dravids dad worked for Kissan products, that is how Dravid got his name Jammy boy, and he also acted for endorsement. On 4th May 2003 he married Dr Vijeyta, a surgeon from Nagpur.

He was selected to play Ranji trophy in 1991 along with team mates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath. He was spotted for talent by Keki Tarapore, who is god father for many cricketers. His initial career he was keeping wickets but stopped on advice of Gundappa and Keki.

Dravid was selected by G R Vishwanath, to be part of Indian team in 1995.

SOME OF HIS RECORDS
Dravid is the 3rd Indian (6th in World) to score more than 10,000 test Runs Has been involved in the most century partnerships in Test history - 72 (28th March 2008). Has the best away Test batting average among those who have scored over 10,000 Test runs. Scored nearly 23% of the total runs put up by India (with a batting average of 102.84) in the 21 Test matches won under Ganguly's captaincy. This is the highest percentage contribution by any batsman in Test cricket history in matches won under a single captain where the captain has won more than 20 Tests. 2nd longest streak of consecutive Tests since debut (93 + 1 in ICC XI) missed 95th test at Ahmedabad due to fever, behind Adam Gilchrist (96). Only player to score a century against every Test playing nation away from home. Involved in highest partnership made away from home for any wicket for India with vice captain Virender Sehwag of 410 runs vs Pakistan at Lahore in 2006 (also, the highest partnership between a captain and the vice captain). He is the 4th fastest (in terms of innings) to reach 10000 runs in Test cricket after Brian Lara,Sachin Tendulkar and Ponting. Dravid is one among the only three batsmen to hit Test centuries in four consecutive innings. The other two are Jack Fingleton and Alan Melville. Dravid achieved this by hitting scores of 115, 148, 217 and 100* in three successive matches against England and one against the West Indies. Only Everton Weekes, with centuries in five consecutive innings, has achieved a longer sequence of consecutive Test hundreds. With scores of 50 or more in 7 consecutive Tests Dravid is behind only to Tendulkar(8) among the Indian batsmen. IVA Richards holds the record for most with 11. He is currently 2nd among batsmen who have scored most away runs in Tests (5968 as of April 2008). Only Sachin Tendulker(6726) has scored more away Test runs. He has played 150 innings off 94 tests at number 3. He has scored 7677 runs at the position. Both of these two feats are world records. 2nd Indian batsman to score twin hundreds in a Test thrice, after Sunil Gavaskar. Gavaskar, Dravid and Ponting are the only batsmen to score twin hundreds in a Test thrice. One of only two Indians to score 5 double hundreds.(each bigger than the previous 200* vs Zimbabwe, 217 vs England, 222 vs New Zealand, 233 vs Australia, 270 vs Pakistan ). He has taken the highest number of catches (180) by an Indian fielder (non-wicketkeeper) in test cricket and 2nd behind Mark Waugh (181) in the world. Has the best away batting average in tests among the current batsmen (with at least 5000 away runs). Partnering with Tendulkar, has scored more runs than any other pair, excluding opening pairs. They are the 3rd best in terms of total number of partnership runs scored by a pair in test cricket.
It is now to take the break, and decide your retirement plans. I feel Dravid should be given an opportunity to retire in New Zealand against whom he has been most successful. With his retirement, he will pave way for youngsters to take over the mantle. Particularly with Yuvi trying to cement his place in the Indian test cricket.

We thank you wall for the unique perspective you bought to cricket. Now it is time to show your talent off the fields. Either in coaching, commentary or may be in starting an academy.

A new scary scenario is panning out in Bangalore. The Horses seem to have caught pnumonia. If it mutates and breaks into cow and human chain it may cause devastation beyond repair.

Is it some sort of Bio-logical warfare unleashed by terror mongers is matter of speculation. The BTC is worried about race horses catching the dreaded virus. I remember my mom when she caught pnumonia she nearly died, but for timely donation of blood platelets by a soft ware guy.

The horses which are used for public transport from the british times, are now the cause of this pandemonium. The break out of Bird flu in Assam too is scary. Assuming the horse power is eight times stronger than human beings it is bound to be a real danger.

I hope the health authorities quickly quarantine the equestarians and give them treatment so that they don t end up harming the population in general. The need for investigation to rule out bio-logical warfare too emerges from this break out. We cannot ignore this deadly break out of pnumonia.

Next time around when you check in with your beloved for a vacation. Don t be surprised that a security personnel Peeps into your room, in the name of security. The face of hospitality is changing forever on the Indian landscape with star hotels panicking on tightening the screening procedures.

In the name of screening suspect tourist from the neighbouring countries, they will be subject to in camera room, where each and every move will be screened along with voice recording. The management will be free to refuse rooms for people who want to check in.

Recently a couple, who have been checking in from chennai in star hotel in the capital regularly was subject to background checks. It is obvious that the couple may be having suspicious antecedents, earlier too, but the hotel ignored their presence earlier inorder to maximise their revenue.

None of the foreigners are now a welcome guest it is better now these star hotels concentrate of undertaking wedding and corporate seminar. Staying in the hotel will mean that the hotel itself is in danger of survival. Despite screening of the baggage, RDX etc can be easily smuggled in from the car park subsequent to the check in. There is no security that will guarantee such smuggling.

It is high time for the next one year the hospitality industry concentrates on renovation of rooms, change of mattresses bedsheets, carpets, furnishings, etc which needs change over every 3 to 4 years. These hotels have been milking profit beyond imagination by esclating tariffs beyond imagination in the name of inflation.

Well the days of having a buffet at 5 star hotel @ Rs 250 may be a reality now. The wedding expense may less for the couples, who tie the knot and throw a party to the guests. Birthday parties can be celeberated @ 5 star hotels with reasonable budget. The management will be happy to host day time guest rather than night time prowlers, on whom they have to keep a vigil in the name of security. Hospitality industry will now be forced to change the norm with espionage thrown in as free. No more extra maritial affairs or private escapades will be brushed under the carpet. So men beware when you check in.