Tuesday, April 10, 2012

An unforgetable journey

                                     An unforgettable journey
                  It was the beginning of the summer vacation in1982.We had planned a  trip to North India  2 months back and had prepared an itinerary.It was a pilgrimage cum sight seeing tour programme. Myself,my wife,our  2 children ,my father,mother and younger  sister were in our group.We started by the KK express to New Delhi on the 2nd of April 1982 from Ernakulam.It took 42 hours to reach New Delhi.
New Delhi and Old Delhi (5days )
              We joined a group of tourists and arranged a vehicle for visiting the important places in New Delhi and Old Delhi.As I had my sister in Delhi,there was no difficulty for stay there.We visited the RajGhat, Shantivan,Parliament house,Rashtrapathi Bhavan, India gate,Safdarjung Tomb,Qutab  Minar,Iron Pillar,RedFort,Lotus temple,PuranaQila,Suraj Kund,Chandni Chowk,Karol Bagh ,Juma Masjid,Humayun’s tomb,Birla Temple,Conaught place,Jantar Mantar,RK Puram etc.
Benares ,Sarnath and Allahabad(5days )
                        From Delhi we went to Lucknow  and from there to Benares ,both by bus.We stayed in a shelter there for 2 days.During the stay there ,we visited the Kasi Viswanath temple,Harischandra Ghat,PanchGangaGhat,DasaswamedhaGhat,ManikarnikaGhat,Mother India Temple,ThripuraBhairaviGhat,ThulsiManasMandir,SriDurgaTemple,KalaBhairavtemple,PanchMukhSiva,
 Benares HinduUniversity,Gaikwar Library in BHU compound etc .From there we went by tonga to the neighbouring VyasaKasi and then to Sarnath.Benares is a highly congested place but Sarnath is a very beautiful and well planned town.Sarnath has some worth seeing  places like Golden Image (idol )of SriBuddha,archeological museum,Ruins of Sarnath,the Lions capital where we find 4 lifelike lions in the  roaring mood.We also have Dhamekh Stupa where SriBuddha is believed to have given his first sermon,Buddha image in the China temple,Mulgandha KudiVihara(believed to contain  relics of  Buddha’sbody.   From Benares we proceeded to Allahabad ThriveniSangamom and had a bath in the Sangamom .From there we returned to Delhi by train.
Fatehpur Sikri,Agra,Mathura,Vrindavan(1 day )
                       Our next trip was to Agra and Mathura by package tour.After visiting Akber’s tomb, Fatehpur Sikri,AgraFort,TajMahal and Mathura we returned  by night  to Delhi.
Hardwar,Rishikesh,Kankhal,Dehradoon ,Mussorie( 5 days )
   As my father had been to Hardwar and Rishikesh before, he preferred to stay back in Delhi along with my sister and return to Kerala by April end.But my mother accompanied us during our trip to Hardwar .
     From Delhi we started for Hardwar by bus .  (2 ½ hours) .In Hardwar we visited the MansaDevi temple,MrutyanjayaMahadeva statue,RamaKrishnaAsram,BhimGoda temple,BHEL unit  Ranipur, Parmarth Niketan,Gitabhavan Asram,SaptaRishiAsram,Pawandham temple,Har-Ki-Pouri(Brahma Kund ).
  Kankhal is only 4 km from Hardwar.We visited SatiGhat,SatiKund,Daksh Mahadev temple,Avdhoot Mandal etc.From there we proceeded to Rishikesh by bus (2 hours).We visited the Sivanandasram,Swargasram,SatyaNarayana Temple,Bharat temple,GitaBhavan,Kailas Nikethan temple,Lakshman Jhula,Thriveni Ghat,Kanua RishiAsram,Neel Kanth Mahadev,Muni Ki Reti, Thirteen Storey temple,HindustanAntibiotics plant at Virbhadra,and BabaKale Kamli Wale Chhettar.
      Dehradun is 43 km from Rishikesh and the travel was by train.Indian Forest Research Institute,Indian                     MilitaryAcademi,Robbers’cave,Sericaturecentre,Sahasradharahotsprings(sulphur),Gurudwara,Tapovan,Dakpather hydro electric project,etc.
      From Dehradun we went to Mussoorie by bus (36 km,2 ½ hours )enjoying the delightful mountain scenery.We went up a hill there by ropeway trolly,and visited LuxmiNarayan temple,Clock and TV tower,Gandhi Dwar,Gandhi Chowk,The Camel’sBackRoad,Depot Hill ( the highest point in Mussourie,Mossey water falls,Surkanda Devi temple.Snow covered mountains,LalBahadur Sastry Academy,Campty falls,Moral paintings etc.
   From Mussorie we came back to Hardwar and from there to New Delhi.My father,mother and sister left for Kerala by the first week of May.

                Jammu and Srinagar ( 7days )
.
After 2days of rest in Delhi we (4 )started our journey to Jammu and from there to Srinagar.Upto Jammu we travelled by train and from there by J & K state bus.We had a night’s stay near the Benihal (Jawahar) tunnel.In Srinagar we stayed in a houseboat for 1 day and in a lodge the next day.We visited the Sankaracharya temple( on a hilltop),Shalimar Garden,Nishat garden,Kokernag Springs,Chasma Shahi(glass house )HazratBal Shrine,,Nehru Park (floating park ),Mughal garden,HazratBalShrine,Harvan lake etc The sight of shikaras used for selling goods near the house boats is very beautiful.There are  many houseboats both in the Jhelum river and the Dal lake.During our return from Srinagar,we visited the Raghunath temple in Jammu.
    From Jammu we returned to New Delhi by train.
               Mumbai
                                We spent a few days more in Delhi, visiting places and meeting close relatives.We started for Mumbai by train on 10th May 1982.
Chennai,Trichy,Rameswaram,Madurai,Theckadi

                                After visiting several places in Mumbai and suburbs we started our return jouney via Chennai.Stayed in Chennai for a day and saw the important places.From Chennai we went to Pennadam (near Vriddhachalam) to visit a close relative.From there we went to Vridhachalam,Trichy etc.During our stay there an idea to visit Rameswaram  was mooted ,and we dicided to go there.From Trichy we went to Rameswaram by direct train.After bathing in the various Theerthas there (22 ),we visited the famousRamanatha  temple  ,which is famous for it’s long corridor.
    From Rameswaram we went to Madurai where we visited the various temples and palaces,including Thirupparam kundram temple.We visited the famous cave also.Our next journey was  from Madurai to Theckadi.We spent a day there for boating and sight seeing .

By May 26th night we boarded from Theckadi to Perumbavoor and reached home on the 27th before sunrise. On opening the gate I found the notice regarding the commencement of poojas in the SriRama Bhajana Madam after it’s renovation.After taking bath, we rushed to that and participated in  the sacred ceremony.
   This journey that lasted for 56 days covering places of diverse geography and importance instilled in me a strong desire to work vigourously and do the best of I can for the people around me.But I have only partly succeeded in that mission .Many opportunities slipped out of my hands .But I am satisfied with what I could do.I have not wasted the time left with me on any such occasions.I had dreamt of making the BhajanaMadam premises a place similar to the Pavandham temple in Hardwar.But what I could do is to visit the Pavandham temple in Hardwar for a second time in 1992.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

KNOW YOUR NOSE

                                                               Know your nose
                          Of all the sense organs in our body  it is the nose that gets the scantiest regard.Though we care very much for our eyes and ears,we virtually neglect our nose.Even after we start wearing  glasses and hearing aids we have very little trouble with our nose.
     Have you ever spared time to think about the services rendered by this natural air conditioner ?Every day ,the average nose cleans and conditions about 530 cft of air,enough to fill a small room.Whether the day is chilling cold or fiercely hot ,this air conditioner delivers air at about the same temperature of 35oC and about 80% saturated.The nostrils clean out impurities before they can reach the lungs.This filtering of air is done in two stages.First a barrier of thick hair traps larger particles of grit and pollen.Anything that beats this hair growth comes in contact with the mucous membrane.To provide moisture for the air and to give a sticky coating to the membrane,the nose secrets nearly a litre of moisture every day.The sticky mucous traps the bacteria and kills them using the enzyme lysozyme.To keep the mucous fresh and sticky the nose produces fresh batch of mucous every 20 minutes .An army of microscopic brooms called  cilia ,poke through the mucous coating and with almost 1000 strokes per minute,sweeps the old mucous to the throat.This debris go into the stomach where digestive juices destoy most of these bacteria .
          Besides it’s  major role as air conditioner the nose also gives the voice resonance.It also identifies on an average 4000 different scents.In the case of blind and mute persons the nose is more sensitive and can detect nearly 10,000 different scents.
       

Monday, April 2, 2012

Fearlessness at it'speak

Who is tha man/woman without any conscience or fear ?After several days of intense analysis I got the answer.A person who swindles temple money is the one who should be most dreaded.His act of stealing or swindling temple wealth is one which is committed without even an iota of fear or rependence.All other thieves will offer a part of the stollen property to the God as an act of compensating for his "sin'.But a temple thief has no such prick of conscience.He is there looking for every opportunity to snatch away as much as he can by utilising every opportunity that comes on  his way.It may be by spearheading the various temple activities like holding festivals,Prasadam oottu,Counting of money from the Hundials.He is very clever in having innovative means of raising funds from the believers.In appearance he will be like a Siddhan wearing yogic dress,long beard and chanting God's names very loudly so as to get the attention of all Bhaktas.He will speak like a Godman and can easily trap most people.His true colour will come out secretly through manipulations against the people who know his ulterior motives and do not go with him.

List of Donations

                                LIST OF DONATIONS RECEIVED FROM/THROUGH ( + )SAMOOHAM MEMBERS FOR THE RENOVATION OF THE BHAJANA MADAM (1982 ),PURCHASE OF STEEL CHAIRS & TABLES (1984 ) AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DINING HALL ON THE NORTHERN SIDE(1995 )                                                                               
                                                                                  BMRF(1982               Chairs (1984 )                      SDF 1995
AnantharamanR. Dr                                                              --  /                        -- /                                 1001
AnanthanarayananKS                                                      15/                                --/                                         --
Anantha narayanan (Mumbai )                                    101/                             --/                                      --        
Appaswamy P.                                                                   51/                                 --/                                          --
Balakrishnan G                                                                177/                         -- /                                     --
Balasubramoniam E M.                                                    41/                        -- /                                           `1001
Bhageerathi Rama Iyer                                                          --/                        600/                                         --
Bhaskara Iyer RM (pala )                                                 101/                              --/                                          --   
Chandrasekharan P.                                                         101/                               --/                                          --   
Chidambara Iyer S                                                               -- /                       60/                                                 --  
Ganapathy P                                                              25 + 130/                                --/                                         --
Ganapathy R.                                                                     100/                                --/                                           --
Ganesan K                                                                             51/                               60/                                      1001
Gopal J.                                                                                301/                               --/                                       1001
 Gopalakrishnan .M                                                                   --/                         --/                                         501
Harihara Iyer K(KP madam )                                                  25/                        --/                                           --
Harihara Iyer M.                                                      188 + 152/                             --/                                           --
Harihara Iyer S (Malika Madam )                                      75/                       --/                                               --
Harihara Iyer TP                                                                    51/                             --/                                            --
HariharaKrishnan PS.                                             200+ 1751/                       120/                                        --
Hariharan AN                                                                      500/                  120/                                     500
Hariharan C                                                                           -- /                    -- /                                       250
HariharanG.                                                                     501 + 550   /                        120 /                       2000
Hariharan K ( Advocate )                                               501 + 153 /                          240 /                                       --
Hariharan K/Sankar   T N                                                             --/                              60/                                         --
Hariharasubramoni N  (Chandra bldgs )                                   --/                              -- /                         1000
Hariharan R ( Advocate)                                               51 + 1410/                              -- /                            500
Hariharan R ( Near TB )                                                                   51/                                  --/                                    --
HariharanS                                                                                          25/                                  --/                                     --         
HariharanV                                                                                201/                             60/                              501
Hariharan VS                                                                 501  + 715/                           300/                            1001
Harihara Raman S                                                                      25/                                          --/                                   --
HariharaSubramoniam.S                                             500+3700/                               --/                                       1001
Hariharan TS    (Sharathu )                                                       -- /                                --/                            5002          
Iyer  PS ( UnionBank)                                                             101/                                        --/                                   251
Iyer PSS                                                                                         51/                                         --/                                      --
Janardana Iyer V                                                                               --/                                 60/                                  --
JayarajSD                                                                                 101/                             150/                              500
Jawahar T                                                                                 401/                            120/                            1000
KannapiranR                                                                                     25/                                   --/                                     --
KrishnaIyer AK                                                               251  +70/                            120/                                               --
Krishna Iyer  H (VP Madam)                                                 101/                              60/                             1001
Krishna Iyer H (AP Madam )                                                   -- /                               20/                                 --
KrishnaIyer K  ( Chirangara Madam )                         .101+65/                                    --/                                  --             
Krishnan K (Bangaluru )                                                        101/                               --/                                  --                     
Krishna Sounder (Abudhabi )                                                 51/                              -- /                                  --
Krishna Iyer N(AyyappaSaranam )                                       50/                               --/                                   --          
Krishna Iyer R (CA –EKM )                                                             1000/                    -- /                       2500
Krishna Iyer R (UnionBank )                                                  301 +135/                 120/                       1001
KrishnaMoorthy.C                                                                               20/                    --/                            --
KrishnaMoorthy G                                                                               51/                           60/                             --
KrishnamoorthyN (Apollo Tyres )                                                   150/                   -- /                            --
KrishnaMoorthy R                                                                              201/                  60/                           --                            
KrishnanS (Parasuram )                                                           250 +200/               300/                            --  
Krishnan S R                                                                                           50/                 - - /                            --
Krishnan N (NarayanaVilas )                                                             101/                          --/                             --
Krishnan N (Kalpana Electricals )                                          101 + 814/                    -- /                           --                
Krishnan N ((SRNC 1976 )                                                                  135/                             --/                           --  
Krishnaswamy R                                                                                   100/                    -- /                         --
LakshmiAmmal ( Varikkatt )                                                                    5/                            --/                          --
Lokanathan P.                                                                                        201/                    -- /                         --
MahadevaIyer P.(Dwaraka )                                                                  51/                     -- /                        --
Mahadeva Iyer S                                                                                      10/                     -- /                        --
Mahadevan VR                                                                                         75/                     60/                   1000
Mangalambal M.                                                                                        5/                     -- /                        --
Mani HS (Mavelikkara )                                                                           50/                    60/                        --
Mani KKS (Bangaluru )                                                                           150/                              -- /                        --
Mani RS                                                                                                     101/                     -- /                        --
Mani Iyer TA                                                                                             501/                  285/                        --
Mani HVS (Manian sar )                                                                            51/                   60/                         --
Mohanan TS(Sharathu )                                                                             --/                    --/                      1001
Muthukrishna Iyer S ( AP Madam )                                                       101/                   -- /                          -- 
Muthukrishnan S                                                                                        61/                               --/                         --
Muthukrishnan S (Mumbai )                                                                101/                        --/                       --
Narayana Iyer G ( Sreevaraham )                                                           -- /                       60/                       --
Narayana Iyer KP                                                                                      25/                                  --/                        --
Narayana Iyer KS(NS Mani )                                                                  501/                               --/                        --
Narayanan SS                                                                                            -– /                      120/                      --
Narayana Iyer VH                                                                                    225/                                   --/                       --
Narayanan G ( (Union Bank )                                                                 500/                       60/                       --
Narayanan R                                                                        ,       101 + 1100/                       60/                                    --
Narayanaswamy R (BOC )                                                                       501/                      300/                10001
Narayanaswamy R (Ch bldgs )                                                                 25/                         -- /                        --
Narayanaswami VH                                                                                  251/                        -- /                   1001
Padmanabhan PS                                                                        251  + 4573/                     120/                        --
Parameswaran TK                                                                                     101/                       60/                                     --
Parameswaran N                                                                                       250/                       60/                        --
Ramachandran G                                                                                     1001/                       30/                        --
Ramachandran PS                                                                                       101/                      60/                   1000
Ramachandran S (ayoddhya )                                                                   101/                        -- /                      --
Rama Iyer G                                                                                                    51/                        --/                        --
Rama Iyer K (Bangaluru )                                                                            101/                       -- /                       --
Rama IyerKH ( Bangaluru )                                                                          150/                       -- /                      --
Rama Iyer PK                                                                                                1280/                    600/                   750
Rama Iyer V                                                                                            756 + 51/                       --/                       --
Ramakrishna Iyer K                                                                                        101/                        25/                    --
Ramakrishnan V (mani )                                                                                301/                       120/              1001
Ramanatha Iyer  G                                                                                          279/                      120/                 500
Ramanathan.  H                                                                                                 11/                        120/                  --
Ramanathan   V                                                                           15/                              -- /                       --
Ramanatha Iyer VH                                                                   200/                              --/                        --            
Raman Potti K                                                                             101/                              --/                      120                                                         
Ramaswamy PR                                                                            51/                               60 /                     --                                 
Ramachandran KV                                                       1101 +1847/                             300/                      --    
 Ranganathan N                                                                         + 85/                                         - - /                      --
Ravikumar M (Sharathu )                                                             -- /                               60/                      --
Sankaran S                                                                                     25/                                 --/                       --
Sankaranarayanan A H                                                              100/                                  60/                    --
Sankaranarayanan KA (Lavanya )                                               51/                                  60/                    --
SankaranarayananV /Viswanath V (Mumbai )                       101/                                   -- /                    --
Sesha Iyer R                                                                                   101/                                120/                   --
Sesha Iyer H                                                                                      25/                                  --/                   100
Sharma RN                                                                                      501/                                  60/                    --
Sharma RR (Tejus oil )                                                                      -- /                                   -- /                  500
SreenivasanR                                                                                     50/                                   --/                     --
Sivaramakrishnan (Broadway )                                                         5/                                   --/                      --
Sivaramakrishnan                                                                                5/                                   --/                      --
Sivaramakrishnan KG                                                                         51/                                  60/                     --
Sivaramakrishnan N                                                                           25/                                   -- /                      --      
Sivaramakrishnan P                                                                            25/                                    -- /                      --
Subbalekshmi Ammal                                                                         10/                                    --/                      --
Subramonia Iyer CY                                                                             50/                                    60/                    --
Subramoniam G                                                                                 101/                                     --/                      --
Subramoniam H (LekshmiNivas )                                                      50/                                   120/                    --   
 Subramonia Iyer N (BOC Bldgs )                                                      15/                             -- /                          --
Subramoniam PR                                                                               201/                             -- /                          --
Sunderesa Iyer T A                                                                               91/                              -- /                         --
Subramoniam S                                                                                  101/                               -- /                        -- Subramoni V ( KP Madam )                                                                 -- /                                -- /                    250
SreeRama Printing Press (Bangaluru )                                            200/                                -- /                       --
Subramonia Iyer N                                                                                -- /                                --/                     300
V eeramoni Iyer VD (Mumbai )                                                          25/                                 -- /                      --
Venkatarama Iyer S (Palakkad )                                                          51/                                 --/                      --
Venkitarama Iyer C Y                                                                            51/                                  -- /                     --
Venkatesh R(Gokul                                                                                -- /                                  -- /                   501
Venkiteswaran PV                                                                                  --/                                   60/                  501
Venkateswaran PV (Calcutta )                                                500+ 300/                                    --/                     --
VenkitachalamH (KP Madam )                                                            -- /                                    60/                    --
Venkitachalam H (Malika madam )                                             88+76/                                    60/                    --
Venkitachalam N (Parambi )                                                                -- /                                    60/                     --
Venkitachalam R                                                                                   26/                                     --/                      --
Viswanatha Iyer K                                                                                251/                                  120/                 250
Viswanathan VR                                                                                     25/                                      --/                    --