Image Source: Lively Streets

The dolls are usually displayed in the hall with decorated plank steps consisting from 3 steps to 9 steps. The mouth of the kumbham jar with fresh water is covered with a silk cloth, mango leaves are placed on top of it with coconut in the center. This is kept on the first step. In the first three steps, Gods idols are arranged, the next three steps are meant for saints like Sai Baba, great men like Vivekananda, devotees like Meera Bhai, national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, etc. The seventh step is for marriage set, temple set, dancing dolls, etc., the eighth step is for businessman and his wife, also called as Chettiar dolls which are placed along with commodities like rice, pulses, vegetables, etc., and the ninth step is for traditional wooden dolls dressed in colorful shining clothes, dolls of animals, birds and other forms.

The pooja is performed every evening on all nine days. Neighbours, friends and other relatives are invited to view the decorated Kolu. Married women exchange bags containing a small mirror, haldi, kum kum, comb, beetle leaves with supari and a fruit along with a small pack of gift. After the ceremonial aarti and prayers on the 10th night, the dolls are put to sleep and are packed carefully the next day and preserved it for the next year.

Images Source: Backpakker

10 things to know about Anna Hazare and Jan Lok Pal Bill

1. Who is Anna Hazare?
An ex-Army man. Fought 1965 Indo-Pak War.

2. What’s so special about him?
He built a village Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra.

3. So what?
This village is a self-sustained model village. Energy is produced in the village itself from solar power, bio-fuel and wind mills.

In 1975, it used to be a poverty clad village. Now it is one of the richest village in India. It has become a model for self-sustained, Eco-friendly & harmonic village.

4. Ok,…?
This guy, Anna Hazare was awarded Padma Bhushan and is a known figure for his social activities.

5. Really, what is he fighting for?
He is supporting a cause, the amendment of a law to curb corruption in India.

6. How that can be possible?
He is advocating for a Bill, The Jan Lokpal Bill (The Citizen Ombudsman Bill), that will form an autonomous authority who will make politicians (ministers), beurocrats (IAS/IPS) accountable for their deeds.

7. It’s an entirely new thing right..?
In 1972, the bill was proposed by then Law minister Mr. Shanti Bhushan. Since then it has been neglected by the politicians and some are trying to change the bill to suit their theft (corruption).

8. Oh.. He is going on a hunger strike for that whole thing of passing a Bill! How can that be possible in such a short span of time?
The first thing he is asking for is – the government should come forward and announce that the bill is going to be passed.

Next, they make a joint committee to Draft the Jan Lokpal Bill. 50% government participation and 50% public participation. Because you cant trust the government entirely for making such a bill which does not suit them.

9. Fine, What will happen when this bill is passed?
A LokPal will be appointed at the center. He will have an autonomous charge, say like the Election Commission of India. In each and every state, Lokayukta will be appointed. The job is to bring all alleged party to trial in case of corruptions within 1 year. Within 2 years, the guilty will be punished. Not like, Bofors scam or Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, that has been going for last 25 years without any result.

10. Is he alone? Who else is there in the fight with Anna Hazare?
Baba Ramdev, Ex. IPS Kiran Bedi, Social Activist Swami Agnivesh, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and many more.

Prominent personalities like Aamir Khan is supporting his cause.

10. Ok, got it. What can I do?
At least we can spread the message. How?
Make everyone aware of this issue by putting status messages, links, videos, changing profile pics.

Forward this to save ourselves

Anna Hazare says bring back the Black Money.

Do u know what will happen if 1,456 Lac Crores comes back?

1. India Financially No.1

2. Each district will get 60000 crores & each village will get 100 Crores

3. No need to pay taxes for next 20 yrs.

4. Petrol 25 Rs, Diesel 15 Rs, Milk 8 Rs.

5. No need to pay electricity bill.

6. Indian borders will become more stronger than the China Wall.

7. 1500 Oxford like Universities can be opened.

8. 28,000 kms Rubber road (like in Paris) can be made.

9. 2,000 hospitals (with all facilities) all medicine Free.

10. 95 crore people will have their own house.

Love all, Serve all, Help Ever, Hurt Never – Sathya Sai Baba

Eswaramma and Ratnakaram Peddavenkama Raju were living in a remote village called Puttaparthi in Andrapradesh. Least they knew then that the child they will give birth to will one day claim to be the reincarnation of God.

It was Sathyanarayana Raju, born to this couple on 23rd of November 1926 who after 14 years of his birth declared that he was the reincarnation of Shridi Sai Baba who in turn Siva was born in Gothra of a Sage, Siva gave boon to.

Claiming the conception itself to be miraculous, his mother described him to be intelligent beyond standard measurements and charitable from the bottom of his heart. Satyanarayana also displayed his talent in different aspects like composing poems, writing plays, dancing and participating in Dramas. But, the best of all, he had a special reputation for materializing objects out of thin air.

It was in March 1940, that the real Sai Baba was born. Sathyanarayana was stung by a deadly scorpion and was unconscious for a few hours. The following days, he went into a kind of silence displaying an entirely different behavior much to the surprise of the entire family members and the ones living nearby. Though not educated in Sanskrit, he was able to sing the verses in Sanskrit. His sudden change and silence worried the family members and hence were visits to doctors, priests and sometimes tantriks. All these visits could not bring in any changes.

Worrying parents got the final answer when on the 23rd of May 1940; he created out of thin air, a candy and other items which angered his father. He felt that his son was influenced by ghosts and hence with a weapon, he approached the agitated Sathya and enquired who sole it was in him. He got the answer as “I am Sai Baba”.

Sai Baba was a saint who lived in Shirdi, Maharastra and passed away (attained Samadhi) in the year 1932. He was known for his teaching, bringing together the beliefs of Hindu and Muslims.

Sathya, who declared himself as reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba walked out declaring his detachment to worldly association. Like a sage he set out on visits to other places and soon started attracting large crowd with his speech. Thus followers have gathered wherever he went.

Four years later, in 1944, he returned to Puttaparthi and his followers built a temple for him which is even now called as old mandir. Sai Baba stayed in the mandir and continued his services. As the funds from devotees accumulated, he decided to enlarge the ashram and hence built “Prashanthi Nilayam” in 1950. From there on it is just one way for this saint who took to public service and built an empire around him. The name and fame of Sai Baba now fondly addressed as Puttaparthi Sai Baba or Sathya Sai Baba. Spread across the world and by 2002 someone took up a study to reveal that his followers numbering more than 10 million were spread across 178 countries with 1200 plus Sathya Sai Baba centers active in around 114 countries. The followers range from poor to rich including the powerful like President and Prime minister of India.

Sathya Sai Baba, made it clear to the world that the service to human is service to God. His prayers and preaching always led towards spreading love and peace. With the funds he received, the first thing did was to construct a hospital for free medical support to the villagers of Puttaparthi in 1954. Later, a super specialty hospital was built in the same premises equipped with the latest of equipment to carryout any kind of medical treatment.

His project of bringing drinking water to the entire Anantapur district was an exercise even the Govt. was thinking twice to venture on. But, now the 1.5 million people in that area could vouch for the benefits the project brought to the place and people. It was mooted and funded by Sathya Sai Baba.

He also ventured on to build Sathyam, Shivam and Sundaram temples in different parts of India. The Sathyam is in Mumbai which was built in 1968 followed by Shivam in Hyderabad in 1973 and Sundaram in Chennai in 1985.

The poor in Bangalore also are indebted to him where he built his second super specialty hospital in 2001.

Thus he was continuously busy in the public service in India that he never felt like visiting countries abroad. However, there was only one trip to Uganda, an African country, which did not have any agenda except preaching Love to the people.

In the year 1963, Sathya Sai Baba suffered a stroke. It was then, he announced the worried followers that he would be re-born as Prema Sai Baba in the neighouring state Karnataka. He claimed that a sage was given a boon by Siva-Sakthi and thus Siva was born as Sai Baba of Shirdi and later created Sathya Sai Baba in the same lineage. It is in this chain that the next will be Sakthi’s incarnation as Prema Sai Baba.

So, as he passed away today (April 24, 2011 at 7:40 AM IST), while the millions of hearts pray for his soul to rest in peace, there is also sincere hope from the same millions of devotees around the world that one day they will be able to see Prema Sai Baba.

All the images used are copyright of International Sri Sathya Sai Organization

If you are the person who has interest in learning more about the ancient history of Arabs this museum in Dubai will be of interest to you. So when you visit Dubai don’t forget this place where you can find the diverse collection of life size dioramas that depict the everyday life of Arabs in the days before the discovery of oil. The porch recreates the scenes from the Creek, traditional Arab houses, mosques, date farms, the souk, desert and marine life.

Dubai Museum is located at Al Fahidi Fort which was built in 1787 and is the oldest existing building in Dubai. It was opened by the Dubai ruler in 1971 who took a proactive approach to exhibit the traditional way of life in UAE. Here I present some of the interesting pics which are well worth a watch.

Tanoura dance is a form of folkloric dance which is very common in Egypt. It’s indeed one of the highlights of Dubai desert safari as well. Tanoura means skirt in English and it is usually performed by Sufi men for the Sufi music, who spin continuously like the dervish dancers in the Levant and Turkey. The Tanoura beat is religious in nature and the performers aim is to reach spiritual inner purity and to enter a trance-like state during the performance, being at one with God. The long swirling colorful skirts that the performers wear make spectacular patterns as they twirl around in circles. Due to the excitement in the crowd, they loudly gasp and hold their breath together saying ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ when the performers stun them with lights and then fire. That’s when lots of more cameras click. The performers stop spinning at the end of the performance apparently showing no signs of dizziness or discomfort. It’s amazing to watch!

The photographs were captured in the pleasurable overnight camp in the deserts of Dubai.

Marine fish aquarium is a place that creates a refreshing and relaxing mood. It’s my personal experience during my journey underwater. As I stepped in Sharjah Aquarium, I enjoyed the nice little walk through the aquarium by watching the rare species of sea fishes in the rock pools, lagoons, coral reefs and mangroves. It’s an experience of lifetime where I could see a variety of aquatic animals like black tip reef shark, stingray, puffer fish, star fish, lion fish, pretty purple climber crab, sea turtles, jelly fish, eel, shells and varieties of exotic tropical fish. Thanks to the authorities who have shown keen interest in bringing the world’s aqua life under one roof. Chill out while watching these aquatic creatures of deep sea.

SRIDEVI-DIVYA BHARATHI

Sridevi ruled the roost in South for three decades (1967-1996) and was active in Bollywood from 1983-1997. She started her film career at the age of four in 1967 through the Tamil film ‘Kandhan Karunai’ and did hundreds of films in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi languages with almost all top heroes in the above mentioned languages. Her first film as heroine was the Tamil film ‘Moondru Mudichu’ in 1976 and her debut film in Hindi was ‘Julie’ (1975) as child artist and ‘Himmatwala’ (1983) as heroine.

Divya Bharati is an Indian actress who entered into films through a Telugu film ‘Bobbili Raja’ (blockbuster) in 1990, acted in about 20 films in Telugu and Hindi and delivered several hits and super hits. She died in a tragic accident after falling from a 5 storey apartment building in 1993.

AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN-SNEHA ULLAL

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is former Miss World (1994) and an Indian actress. She started her film career in 1997 with a Tamil film titled ‘Iruvar’ directed by Mani Ratnam featuring opposite Malayalam superstar Mohanlal and appeared in dual roles. She acted in about 40 films in Hindi, Tamil and English languages put together. She won two Filmfare Best Actress Awards-‘Hum Dil De Cheke Sanam’ (1999) and ‘Devdas’ (2002).

The actress has been the most popular face of Indian cinema internationally. She appeared on the cover of TIME magazine, Asia edition in 2003 and the TIME magazine chose her as one of the world’s ‘100 Most Influential People’ in 2004 and again in 2010. This apart, in October 2004 Rai’s was figure was displayed in Madame Tussaud’s wax museum in London. This World’s Most Beautiful Woman became the international brand ambassador of L’Oreal, Andie Macdowell, Eva Longoria and Penelope Cruz in 2005.

Aishwarya Rai dated Salman Khan from 1999-2001 and end the relationship with him. Later she was married to Abhishek Bachchan, who hails from the legendary Bachchan family. Although 2009 was a dull year for her, the year 2010 has brought back her lost glory with two consecutive hits ‘Enthiran/Robot’ and ‘Guzaarish’.

Sneha Ullal is a Mangalorean born in Muscat, Oman and is best known for her role in the Telugu film ‘Ullasamga Utsahamga’. She made her movie debut in 2005 through a Hindi movie ‘Lucky: No Time for Love’ opposite Salman Khan. Since then, she was noted for her physical appearance with Aishwarya Rai.

BHUMIKA CHAWLA-PREETI JHANGIANI

Bhumika Chawla aka Rachna Chawla is an Indian actress who acted in about 30 films in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Bhojpuri and Punjabi. She made her debut as heroine in the year 2000 through a Telugu film ‘Yuvakudu’ and is best known for her critically acclaimed performances in ‘Kushi’(Telugu), ‘Okkadu’ (Telugu), ‘Missamma’(Telugu), ‘Simhadri’ (Telugu), ‘Tere Naam’ (Hindi), ‘Anasuya’ (Telugu), ‘Naa Autograph’ (Telugu), ‘Satyabhama’ (Telugu), ‘Gandhi, My Father’ (Hindi), etc. Hailing from Punjab, Bhumika married a Yoga teacher Bharat Thakur in 2007. She recently established a production house named ‘Downtown Productions’ and produced a youth oriented film on college backdrop titled ‘Thakita Thakita’.

Preeti Jhangiani is a Mangalorean and an actress cum model. Rajashri Productions introduced her to the film world through their music album ‘Yeh Hai Prem’ opposite the handsome hero Abbas. Later she endorsed Nirma Sandal soap and continued to be the brand ambassador of that product for quite long. Although her 1st film was the Malayalam film ‘Mazhavillu’, the turning point of her film career was in 2000 through a Bollywood flick ‘Mohabbatein’, which became super duper hit film. Over all she acted in about 5 languages-Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi and Urdu as well. In March, 2008, she got married to Parvin Dabas and now lives in Bandra, Mumbai.

TRISHA-BHAVANA

Trisha Krishnan is a famous actress cum model in South India who mainly appears in Tamil and Telugu films. ‘Mounam Pesiyadhe’ (2002) was her first film in lead role which also won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Later Tamil films like ‘Saamy’, ‘Lesa Lesa’, ‘Ghilli’, ‘Enakku 20 Unakku 18’, ‘Thirupaachi’, ‘Kireedam’, ‘Unnakum Ennakum’, ‘Abhiyum Naanum’, ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya’ and Telugu films like ‘Varsham’, ‘Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana’, ‘Athadu’, ‘Aadavari Matalaku Ardhale Verule’, ‘Krishna’, etc., have earned her good name and fame. In 2010, she also made her debut in Bollywood through ‘Khatta Meetha’ opposite Akshay Kumar.

Born to Tamil parents, Trisha ventured into modeling career and appeared in many TV ads like Fanta, Vivel, Tata Indicom, etc. Trisha was thrice the winner of Filmfare Best Telugu Actress Award besides winning the prestigious AP State Nandi Award and various other awards. Right now, the actress is on cloud nine as her forthcoming Tamil flick ‘Manmadha Ambu’ (Manmadha Baanam) is going to hit screens by end of December 2010. She is very excited about this film as she was cast opposite her favourite star Kamal Haasan which was her long time dream. This apart, she is presently shooting a Telugu film opposite Pawan Kalyan, which is a remake of ‘Love Aaj Kal’.

Bhavana, whose real name is Karthika Menon, is a south Indian actress who appeared so far in over 45 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada launguages. She made her acting debut through a Malayalam film ‘Nammal in 2002, which also fetched her many honors and critical acclaim. This Keralite is a daughter of assistant cinematographer G Balachandran Menon. She has acted with almost all heroes in Malayalam and won a Filmfare award for the Tamil film ‘Chithiram Pesuthadi’, two Kerala State Film Awards-‘Nammal’ and ‘Daivanamathil’ besides winning several other awards.

MEERA JASMINE-SUJITHA

Meera Jasmine is a south Indian actress who acts in films that includes Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. She made her debut in the Malayalam film ‘Soothradharan’ in 2001 and won Bharathan Award for Best Female Debut Actress. In 2002, she made her debut in a Tamil film ‘Run’ and won Filmfare Best Female Debut award. In 2003, Malayalam film ‘Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam’ earned rave reviews and also National Film Award for Best Actress, Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress and Asianet Award for Best Actress. This apart, she won Tamil Nadu State Special Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film ‘Kasthuri Maan’. Her debut film in Telugu was ‘Ammayi Bagundi’ (2004) and in Kannada ‘Maurya’ (2004). Meera Jasmine is said to be one of the finest actress in the generation today who had won several awards without a break right from the beginning of her film career.

Sujitha is a leading South Indian TV serial actress, who acts in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam serials. Besides this she also acted in a few films in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. She made her debut as child artist through Chiranjeevi starrer ‘Pasivadi Pranam’ and acted in several films as child artist. She also acted in films ‘Katrukkenna Veli’ and ‘Jathi’ as heroine. Besides that, she played sister to heroes like Ajit, Nagarjuna, Balakrishna, etc. But in real she is the sister of director Surya Kiran, who married actress Kalyani. Her best movie in Malayalam was ‘Wanted’ in which she shared the screen with superstar Mohal Lal. Sujitha married ad film maker Dhanush in Pallachi and still continuing her acting career.

KAREENA KAPOOR-ANUSHKA

Kareena Kapoor, born in a first family of Bollywood is an Indian actress, who is noted for her works from contemporary romantic dramas, to comedies, period films to major commercial films. Youngest daughter of Randhir Kapoor and Babitha and sister of Karishma Kapoor (all belonging to Hindi film industry) made her acting debut in 2000 through ‘Refugee’ opposite Abhishek Bachchan who was also a debutant. Her melodrama ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’, her portrayal of a sex worker in ‘Chameli’, her noted performances in critically acclaimed films like ‘Dev’, ‘Omkara’, romantic comedy like ‘Jab We Met’, thriller film like ‘Kurbaan’ and the highest grossing Bolywood film of all time ‘3 Idiots’ all have given her lot of accolades. Altogether she won 5 Filmfare awards of which two were Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. Kareena is still the hot and happening heroine in Bollywood with three films in her kitty.

Anushka Shetty, one of the most happening heroines in Tollywood presently, was born in a Bunt family of Bellipady in Mangalore. Interestingly, after completing her education in Bangalore, she was yoga instructor and has trained under yoga guru Bharat Thakur, Bhumika Chawla’s husband. In 2005, Anushka stepped into the glamour world through ‘Super’ opposite Nagarjuna and became familiar with SS Rajamouli;s ‘Vikramarkudu’ opposite the crazy star Ravi Teja. Similarly, ‘Rendu’ costarring Madhavan also fetched her some recognition in Tamil. The right break to her film career came in 2009, when she delivered a block buster hit ‘Arundathi’. She had not only received rave reviews for her performance in this heroine centric film, but also won many awards including the AP state Nandi Award and Filmfare Best Actress Award. From then onwards there was no stopping her. Today, she is the most wanted heroine in Telugu and Tamil as well. She is one actress who is said to be perfectly suitable for any kind of role, be it a glamour role or an off beat role. Two of her films ‘Nagavalli’ and ‘Ragada’ are slated to release in this month only. ‘Nagavalli’ would be yet another challenging role like ‘Arundathi’ for Anushka.

As the root further grows, more and more bamboos are added to provide direction so that it reaches the other side of the valley crossing dangerous rivers below. These roots grow very slowly, at times a few millimeters in a few months and hence a small bridge of say about 40 feet takes a period of 23 years. This being the case, imagine how much time would have taken to build a double decker bridge as shown in the picture.

The locals say that it has taken 500 years to form this bridge that can withstand 90 people at a time without any sign of fear. Since the roots are continuously growing with their other end firmly set the strength of the bridge only gets enhanced as the days pass by. This bridge receives a good amount of tourists who have to trek quite a distance. Now this has become a trend in that area where the present generation creates a facility so that the next generation can use the same to cross the valleys in Meghalaya.

Image Source: Fun On The Net