Lord KABALISWARAR with Peacock Ambal.

KABALISWARAR temple has been one of the real landmarks of our Singara Chennai city. I had visited the temples many times, but each with visit of mine to this temple; I am overawed by the structural beauty of this magnificent temple. I had recently gone to this temple along with my parents had a great darshan of the Lord Siva and Ambal. After darshan of the main deities we can actually have a view of all the gopurams by standing in one of the corners of the outers praharams (Outer passages of the temple). This corner of the temple passage has a temple bell over it.

There are other small temples around the main temple. I was actually surprised to see one Siva temple containing a peacock statue near it. Usually one would be able to see Nandhi (bull) standing in front of Lord Siva. I then read the history of the temple written on the main door of the temple. The story goes something like this- "Long time back when Lord Siva and Parvati were having a chat, Parvati noticed a beautiful peacock, was enticed in its beauty and therefore did not listen to what Lord Siva was speaking. This angered the Lord and he cursed the goddess to be re-born as a peacock in her next birth. Goddess asked the Lord to forgive her and then a cooled down Lord told her to take the next birth as a peacock and worship Lord at a particular place. So the goddess took the avatar as a peacock and worshiped the Lord. The Lord pleased by goddess devotion gave her darshan and mukti". So the name of this place where this temple is situated was named Mylapore (Peacock City). So next time when you guyz go to the temple you can worship the Lord and Ambal knowing the superb history behind it.

I also visited the Vellishwarar (Silver Lord Siva) temple which is situated right behind the Kabali Temple. This temple has Lord Siva in a silver Lingam form, a real treat to watch. This temple also contains Lord Sarpashwarar (head of a lion and body of a snake) and Lord Sukrashwarar (Lord Sukran worshiping Lord Siva). This temple is a must watch especially on Sunday 4.30 PM to 6 PM when we have Rahu kalam pooja for Lord Sarpashwarar. I hope to visit the famous Chitra Kulam nearby the Kabali temple. So next time you are in Chennai, don’t miss these superb temples and also the huge pond at the back of the Kabali temple.

The Mystery Muder Case...

Whenver I see any news channel on TV, I keep hearing this news or news related to it everyday. The Aarushi murder case has meandered thru the twists and turns that would make a very good thriller movie script and it’s also one which would even have challenged the best in murder investigation business.

The murder of this young gal with her head smashed by a hammer and her throat slit by a surgical knife has sent shock waves thru everybody in our country. It’s a gory murder by any stretch of imagination. Then started the drama of the servant being suspected and his body found in the home’s terrace 2 days later. The case twisted even further where the police accused the father of committing the murder as he saw his daughter close with his servant. Unfortunately the police were not able to recover the murder weapons.

I believe the media too placed a lot of HYPE on the case and this immensely pressured the investigation agencies. On the whole the young gal’s life has been analyzed to the most extent by the MEDIA and the police. With the CBI taking over the case I believe the case would be closed soon with the real culprit caught soon.

But the whole point behind the case is why anybody would do that to a fun loving kid like Aarushi. I have a cousin sis that age and this case has shocked, saddened and angered me on the way it’s handled by the MEDIA and the investigation agencies. I request the newsprint and the other people in association with that to be more sensitive while sharing information to the outside world. I hope the world becomes a better place to stay where such incidents don’t happen. My deepest condolences to the Aarushi family.

My Saviour Mantram..

I had been an atheist till my 12th standard. But somehow, I had gone to temples to pray for my 12th results. I could hear an inner voice whenever I used to visit the temples. Then thru my college days, I did not visit temples often. In the 7th semester of my BE, we had campus interviews. All of us were very keen to get into any one of the big IT firms. After my disastrous interviews with INFY and WIPRO, I was devastated. I can still remember how time literally came to a standstill. That’s when my dad told me how he used to visit a temple (Shivili Maharaja Siva temple) at his native place, Tharuvai and he asked me to pray to lord. My interview with TCS clicked for me and from that moment my devotion towards god increased. I visited that temple and me and dad performed pujaas.

Though I would go to temple once in a while, I never used to pray at home. But that changed after a big incident. I had been preparing for my GMAT for quite sometime. But I was not getting the desired scores in my practice tests. The situation at my workplace also was not very rosy and also I had big-time health problems. Facing such a big strain and pressure from all ends, I was mentally and physically exhausted and I got affected with viral fever. At this point of time, an uncle who resided above my home provided me with homeopathy medicines and also told me a story which changed my life completely.

I had my upanayanam (thread ceremony) when I was studying my 10th std. But I did not comply with the rituals associated with that. One of the important part of the ritual is the recitation of Gayathri Mantram for 108 times. Now this was the same thing that the Homeopathy doc uncle had told me lot of time before. I actually never took it seriously. But that day when I was sick he told me a story about this gayathri mantram.

"Long time ago, during Akbar’s rule, Akbar and Birbal would go around the city secretly at night to check the needs of their people and stuff. Now they noticed a beggar who approached them for alms saying that he had not eaten for 2 days. Akbar spoke to the beggar, enquired about him and gave him alms. On the way back to the palace Akbar taunted birbal by saying that the beggar was a Brahmin and that muslim people don’t beg for alms. Birbal didn’t reply to this. The next day he called for the beggar and told him that he would give him 25 paise if he would recite "Gayathri Mantram" 10 times. The beggar was overjoyed and promised that he would start reciting the mantram. Slowly the Brahmin noticed lots of changes in his life. He started getting food and alms without asking. After a month birbal called the Brahmin and asked him to recite the mantram and that he would pay him 50 paise for it. The Brahmin accepted the offer and started praying big-time. Now it happened that people who came and told the Brahmin their problems had their problems solved. Birbal had called the Brahmin again and asked him to recite the mantram for 1008 times and told him he would give him 1 rupee for that. The Brahmin told birbal that he would recite the mantram and he would not need any money for that. Soon the Brahmin kept on reciting 1008 times Gayathri Mantram and Goddess Gayathri gave him darshan and he became a saint. Whoever told the problems to the saint, their problems vanished and so the Saint’s popularity grew and Akbar got to hear about this saint. Akbar decided to meet the saint and he along with Birbal went to seek the Saint’s blessings. The Brahmin and Akbar had a discussion and Akbar sought his blessings. On the way back he asked Birbal on how they missed having the darshan of this saint before. Birbal asked Akbar whether he had seen the Brahmin saint before in his life. Now Akbar was very confused and said no. Birbal then replied saying this is the same person who once sought alms from them and the power of Gayathri Mantram had changed him. Hearing this Akbar was very astonished."

When the uncle told me this story, for the first time I kinda quite believed it. I started reciting Gayathri Mantram daily and it had an immediate effect. I could see my scores in my GMAT prep test increase, my health and my office problems lessen. I started reciting 1008 times the Gayathri Mantram everyday before my exam and this directly reflected in my exam where I got 710. The most interesting part of this is that I had expected only in the range of 610-620(my friend Vikram would know about this for sure ;) ) and that I have had heard many people getting higher scores in preparatory tests and low scores comparatively in the real tests. But I guess for me it came the other way round.

The Gayathri Mantram:
"Om Bhur Bhuva Suvah
Tathsavithur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi
Dhiyo Yo Naha Prachodayat"

U can also view this site : "http://thillasthanamsabha.freehosting.net/Gayathrijapam.htm"

The Raja of Remakes..

The Remake Raja or the "Raja of Remakes", however you call him has come back with a hit again in his latest movie – Santosh Subramanium. The master director ‘Raja’ had given 3 big hits in the form of ‘Jeyam’, ‘M Kumaran- Son of Mahalakhsmi’ – my favourite and the 2006 release ‘Something Something-Unakkum Enakkum’. I agree with the facts that he has copied the scripts, location and everything for each of his movies, but still there is something in him which makes him choose the correct movies. How many of us can recollect a director who has given 4 hits continuously??

I believe that eventually he will make a movie of his own script and that will also be a big hit, if not a good family entertainer. The Raja-Ravi combo has been renowned for the blazing hits they have given. I didnt like the first movie ' Jeyam' that much but I loved 'M Kumaran' and ' Something Something'. The mother- son relationship shown in M Kumaran is something close to my heart and the 'Neeye Neeye' song makes my eyes moist considering the fact I would be away from my mom for two whole years. 'Something Something' Trisha was awesome. Clad in a davani she looked very cute and the story of bro-sis-love was great entertainer.

Next in line to these great movies has come Santosh Subramanium which is a great story on a father-son relationship taken from the original "Bommarillu" which ran 200 days in Andhra. Sidharth was at his THE BEST in that movie. The comparison between both the version of the movie though inevitable have started. The tamil version has been pictureized beautifully and probably is an exact replica of the telugu version with little deviations.

I believe that this movie too would scale the heights of his previous movies. Anyways I am great fan of this mastercraftsman whose worth would surely be tested in the coming years.I hope Raja will soon prove his detractors wrong and come up with a high successful movie.. of his own script .. :)

Best Host.. Great Communicator - Neeya Naana

I have admired the communication skills of the very successful people all round the world. I guess I would place Gopinath, a TV show host in that league. He presents "Neeya Naana" (U or Me) debate show on Vijay TV. He takes up a topic every week and has two groups of audience who take part in it. The specialty of this show lies in the way that he conducts the show. He starts off by talking about the goody goody things and then slowly turns on the heat on both the teams. He sides with one team for sometime and then with the other. It’s sometimes funny to see how he controls the proceeding in that show. I guess a man of utmost confidence can only do that. :)

The topic last week was "whether who is more successful in life - an educated person or and uneducated person". Gopi as usual started it off asking how successful each person in his own business. This brought in lots of stories of rags to riches story. And the war of words started with the issue that uneducated people take more risks and educated people wouldn’t want to learn in their job as they have the feeling that they have learned more. This really turned off the educated team audience with even Gopi supporting the uneducated audience team. Then the tables turned with Gopi asking the uneducated team as to how many people were successful in their own business and how they would be cheated if they don’t have enough knowledge on their job which may come through education. The debate was very lively and fiery also. And as usual Gopi was at his fluent best, crisscrossing the various points through this debate.

During the course of this and other discussions on this show, I have got to learn so many new and interesting things from the audience and Gopi himself. Do lookout for the next show of Neeya Naana on Vijay TV.

Hot.. Hotter..Hottest.. GW

The above picture says it all. As most Chennaites know, the city has been reeling under high temperatures. The sun has been unforgiving and people believe that the worst is yet to come. I would attribute the rise in temperature to GLOBAL WARMING also.

I saw a report in NDTV today where it was reported that the coral reefs around Lakshadweep islands had nearly disappeared. As coral reefs form an important link in the fragile marine ecosystem, the near disappearance of these reefs has also affected the entire marine life. I believe there have been many other severe consequences of global warming of which I have stated just one.

On this "World Earth Day", I would like to request everybody to use resources like electricity, water judiciously as each and every effort counts while saving our dear earth. I believe that we as residents of our planet can save our world for our future, as little drops of water make up an ocean.

So shall we take a pledge to do simple small things to save our dear earth??

The Loooooong Admit Journey - Final Part!!

The final and the most antagonizing part of the MBA admission process is, waiting for RESULTS!! Anybody who has had that experience would speak about how they would get up early in the morning to check for elusive admit mail in their inbox. I had applied to five universities-Kelley, Purdue, Katz, Fisher and Eller Schools of Business. I had got an admit from Katz (Pittsburg) and was quite buoyed up. But as I enquired from the present students of Katz, I understood the fact the placements at Katz faced stiff competition from Carnegie Mellon School which was right round the corner. So I eventually decided not to take up Katz.

After my good interview with Fisher Adcom, I was expecting a definite call. I in-fact got a mail from Fisher stating that I would be considered for admission irrespective of my application submission date. I put together my best essays in the available time; though it was far short of the perfect essays I would liked to have sent. After I sent in my admission packet to Fisher, I eagerly awaited for the results. Day after day, it became a ritual for me to get up as early as 6 in the morning, to check my gmail inbox for the admit mail. Suddenly one day I logged into the Fisher admission site, only to find that I had been put on waitlist. :(

The waitlist at Fisher hit my quite hard, as I had been expecting highly from that school and had not given much interest to other schools. I believe, its better not to put all the eggs in one basket... With rejects from Kelley and waitlist from Purdue, my only hope hinged on Eller school of business. I had sent in my financial document little late and so my admit decision also came little late. I got an admit call from Eller with a very good scholarship! With the VISA process over in a month's time, hopefully I should be on my way thru to Eller.

So I guess I have learnt a lot in this pre-MBA journey, more importantly it has helped manage time better, focus my attention on creating a road map for attaining my future goals and also helped make great friends at my IMS class!!