FACE TO FACE WITH NATURE

FACE TO FACE WITH NATURE

BEGINNING OF ANOTHER DAY...

GANESH TEMPLE - BESANT NAGAR
PRIOR TO THE 'KUMBHABHISHEKAM'

There are two types of energies that lurch around us – always. Positive and Negative. It is up to us which one we take.

I have been enjoying  my morning walks along the beach for last few years. Could be because your mind and body are fresh after a good night’s sleep..... And, I try to imbibe as much of +ve energy as possible. And, this is freely available in the atmosphere. Also I get lot of ideas for my blogs during  my morning Tete-a-tete with mother nature.

These days, I wear my head phone which is hooked on to my mobile – all those super duper FM Radio stations of namma Chennai…….

·         Radio City 91.1 MHz

·         Aahaa FM 91.9 MHz (Kumudam Publications)

·         Big 92.7 MHz (Anil Dhirubai Ambani Group)

·         Suryan FM 93.5 MHz (Sun Network) 

     (93.5 FM – nnA innA thereemA? TheriyAdu?   93.5, First Mark……..!!!)

·         Radio One 94.3 MHz (Mid-Day)

·         Radio Mirchi 98.3 MHz (Times Group)

·         Gyan Vani (IGNOU) 104.2 MHz

·         FM Gold (AIR) 105.0 MHz

·         Hello FM 106.4 MHz (Malar Publications)

·         FM Rainbow (AIR) 107.1 MHz

You may recall that initially there were only 'valve' radios. And, only two brands, Murphy, Philips.When I talk about Murphy, I must say how upset he was with the marketing 'consultants' who took away a major chunk of his earnings, when he put in his brains to assemble his radio sets.That was when he created the "invisible monkeys" (Don't confuse with our another friend, Adsel Murphy, who invented "Murphy's Law"). 

Any way, I don't want to go tangential, and would rather stick on to the subject of this blog.

The devotional songs, and subhashans broadcast in the various channels listed above, are usually  interspersed with the day’s prediction for the different zodiac signs, or Rasi – as is better known down south. The 'Rasi Palan', that is. The 'expert' would always predict only the nicest of nice things for your rasi, as you might have noticed. How do you know which is YOUR rasi? i.e. Mesha, Rishabha,………..Meena etc.? For this, you should know that there are 27 stars, starting with Ashwati and ending with Revati, and they are divided into 12 Rasis. If you know your birth star, things become simple. But then, there is a small problem. How to divide the 27 stars equally into 12 rasis? 

For this, you need a bit of brilliance like our Birbal, the ‘wise’ minister in Akbar’s court, who divided 10 elephants of the king equally between the king’s 3 sons – giving 3 pachyderms to each of them, and finally adjusting the remaining one as his ‘consultation’ fee. These days, we too have ministers who are ‘vice’ (?) and not wise (or too wise….!) and they too share the wealth – yours and mine, among their own kith and kin. If any of today’s ministers was asked to divide the 10 elephants, he would have first kept aside 4 (may be even 7) elephants as his fee and divided the remaining ones equally between the three sons of Akbar. 

Let me explain how the stars are divided into the 12 rasis. All the birth stars are divided into 3 pAdAs, first, second, and third. Based on which pada you are born, the Rasi is decided. For example, Aswati, Bharani, and Karthikai (1/4) comes under Mesha rasi. Karhikai (3/4), Rohini, and Makiram (1/2) comes under Rishabha Rasi. Makiram (1/2), Tiruvathirai, and Punarpoosam (3/4) comes under Midhuna Rasi, and so on......... Confusing?

OK. Forget it. There is a simpler method. Go to the link below, and type your date of birth, and instantly you get the result.

http://www.chennaiiq.com/astrology/rasi_nakshatra_calculator.asp

In case, you are interested in "Western" Zodiac sign of Aries, Taurus etc., click this link.

http://www.findyourfate.com/indianastro/rasis.htm

TOO HEAVY?

So much for now.............! I am also as much tired after generating this blog. 

May be a much simpler blog next time.

Enjoy......................

 

a n a n d . . . . .
for ever..........

    

Friendship isn't about who you have known the longest.
It's about who come and never leave your side.

Week-end Musings

The other day, I was at the beach front from 7 – 9 PM. The occasion was to hear the upcoming singing sensation Karthik who was giving a fusion concert as part of the week-long Chennai Musical extravaganza organized by Times of India every year. It was a Sunday evening. On the one side, the Bay of Bengal was entertaining the crowd with her lavish waves wetting them. On the other side was the Bay of (human) Beings….! Forget about getting a slot to park my vehicle, it was extremely difficult for me to wade through the hundreds of people who had literally occupied the sands, walkways, and even both the sides of the road. Believe me, it took me almost 15 minutes to reach the venue of the concert.

The program started off with ‘Mahganapathim’ with a western tinge neatly fused. Karthik’s troupe consisted of a Keyboard artist, Flutist, Drummer, two Guitarists, and a Percussionist (who was handling Tabla, Mridangam, Bongos, and other timing instruments in turns). This was followed with some of his popular peppy Tamil numbers. His Gazal rendered as a tribute to Mehdi Hassan didn’t evoke the expected appreciation.

Many in the audience were busy munching and enjoying the ‘sundal’, ‘Bajjis’, Chola, and fried non-veg delicacies. The crowd numbering 1000 on a most conservative estimate consisted mostly of youngsters anticipating rock, and fast music. As such, even some of the slow melodious Hindi numbers didn’t go very well with the public. The highlight however, was the ‘Abheri’ kriti ‘Nagumomu..’ aalap by the Flutist, culminating in an enthralling Swara & thani aavaartan by all the all the accompaniments. Overall, it was an evening well-spent.

Today morning, I went for my usual stroll at the same beach front which wore a deserted look. The same place which was bubbling with hundreds of people of all ages just the previous evening, had hardly 100 to 150 regular beach walkers…………. Being from Thrissur, the land of festivals, I was reminded of the pathetic sight of the Poora Parambu (venue of all the gaieties that go with the famous Thrissur Pooram), on the next day of the Pooram festival. The same town which had entertained lakhs of people just the previous day, hardly would see a few dozen people roaming about on the deserted roads…………………

More about Thrissur Pooram on a later occasion, perhaps….

Water fronts had always been favorite spots for me. During my childhood days, I would spend hours and hours swimming at the river / ponds close to our village. Even the huge well in our palatial ancestral house in Palakkad was a subject of extreme curiosity and I would peep into the nearly full Twelve Feet diameter well, during monsoon time, and keep looking at my reflection and enjoying it till my dad would silently come from behind and twist my ears till they become red, and drag me out…………….!

More about my ‘adventures’ and ‘misadventures’ on the water front in my next blog………………

ANAND..........

Friendship isn't about who you have known the longest.
It's about who come and never leave your side.