Personal Weblog of Deepak Vasudevan

Holy New Year Eve I observed this New Year Eve dedicated to the Lord. With the New Year Eve falling on the regular Saturday, the Triplicane trip remains undisturbed. Besides these, I was thinking of going to Melmaruvathur which is famous for Adhiparasakthi Temple (Siddhar Peetam) . One of my friend ( Redhy Issac ) was also willing to come and hence he joined me direct @Tambaram Railway Station. I had some work in a client's house since his desktop had some issues. I was attending to the issue and then moved towards Tambaram Station. We picked up the bus to Thirukkoiloor , which reached Melmaruvathur in about an hour and a half through Chengalput and Madurantakam etc. The temple had a bit of crowd but then it was meticulously managed by them and hence we had darshan of the Lordess in just about 25 minutes.After touring around the place for a while and having some bite at the nearby restaurant, we came to the bus stand. The return trip from Melmaruvathur is always an ordeal. Inspite...

Code4Bill -- Unique Opportunity for Student Technologists from Microsoft A contest unique in itself to get the students vested with an opportunity unique in itself with the pride of even getting the student up working in Bill Gates' Technical Assistant Team. It looks like a time-limited contest for students.Check it out at Microsoft India Code4Bill webpage.

Security of Women Under Serious Question With the incident of Prathiba Srikanth Murthy getting raped and murdered by a brutal beast driver, Sivakumar , it has come to limelight that BPO organizations and the police should wake from their deep slumbers. The more shocking thing is that the most safer, secure place of Bangalore to stage this melodrama. This is not just a blog post on some girl working in some call center. Perhaps, we need to see this issue from the perspective of Prathiba or her family. At the moment, the only thing, we can is to pray the Lord for giving mental strenght for the family of Prathiba to bear with this brutal beastly attack. The more pitiable thing is that, Prathiba's mother is a widow, having lost her husband about 5 years back. Reports claim that she is not mentally prepared to come down to Bangalore from Mysore to see her daughter's body now. Letz observe a 2 minute silence towards praying the Lord for Prathiba's soul rest in peace and for givin...

Neyyabhishekam -- The Significance The most significant of the Sabarimala Pilgrimage is the Neyyabhishekam, which means pouring of the sacred ghee brought by the pilgrims in thier Pallikattu ( Irumudi ) on the idol of Lord Ayyappa. The real essence of Neyyabhishekam is to signify the merger or amalgamation of Jeevatma with the Paramatma . After all, Jeevatma has been undergoing arduous ordeals all the way along its life suffering births, deaths and pains and the ultimate goal is merger with the Paramatma to get the supreme bliss of the Lord. Well! Pouring of Ghee on the Lord represents the Power of Lord Vishnu. Pouring of Water on the Lord (Jalabhishekam) stands as a worship for Lord Shiva (Shivashakti).  The combination of Vaishnava and Saiva powers is revealed in this Holy Abhishekams.

Operation Duryodhan India TV Group (AajTak), a prime private television news channel brought out to limelight many cases of MPs accepting bribes from people for asking questions in the Parliament. Those deemed to be representatives of the people, who were sent to the Assembly purely to represent and fetch welfare for the constituency of the people and state they represent, were in fact, also getting bribes and illegal gratification for questions to ask in the parliament. It was  very bold venture by India TV Group (AajTak News Television Channel) to send their reporters to different MPs on the pretext of people's unions, giving them cash and other compensations and simultaneously clipping snapshots in mobile cameras. Check out this URL on DNA India for a detailed coverage.  NewsKerala describes this as second incident in the Indian Parliament history. Check this out at thier article .

Good News for Pilgrims to Sabarimala State Bank of Travancore, an associate branch of State Bank of India family has recently commissioned a new ATM right at Pampa. That should provide a great help for pilgrims in need of cash, while in the pilgrimage. Check out this news link from  SBI in the News , which is actually published in CMLinks Page. With a subscription from BSNL CellOne, you are never away from a simpler communication route, since BSNL has strong BTS (Base Tranciever Stations) right at Pampa too, as this story in The Hindu , describes.  

  A friend once asked, “Why not write a post summarizing the rules for Ayyappa's 48-day observation?” So here we are. While most guidelines are oral traditions passed down from elders, I’ve kept a pocketbook (in Tamil) and a few PDFs that helped me through the years. Today, with some quiet time and sincere intent, I’m compiling the essentials in English—so future Swamis can benefit. These rules aren't about rigid enforcement—they're reminders for self-control, mindfulness, and spiritual clarity. Core Principles and Practices Dedicate all tasks to Lord Ayyappa. Every action—even work—is divine instrumentation. Bhagavad Gita echoes this too. Resist inner enemies like lust, anger, greed, and attraction. Refrain from gambling, smoking, alcohol, and non-vegetarian food. Harm no one—neither by word nor deed. Offer “Sharanam” to fellow Ayyappa Swamis. Treat them as manifestations of the Lord. Serve yo...

Girivalam Of late, you can observe in Chennai so many travel agencies that are advertising about Thiruvannamalai Girivalam . Perhaps, just I thought, I can get some basic info about this for the benefit of all readers worldwide. Giri means the hill or the hillock and Valam means circumambulation. Basically, Girivalam places an emphasis on the circumambulating the divine hill which hosts the Lord's temple and the thousands of the Siddhas and Sages who are penancing towards the Lord to invoke His divine blessings. Girivalam is normally observed during the Full Moon Day (Pournami, in Tamil/Sanskrit). Girivalam is not restricted only to Thiruvannamalai, though much hype has been given to that temple. Well! Though this religious topic need not be too much dragged into controversies, I would like to mention about the following significant temples that support Girivalam: Thiruvannamalai Arunalacheswarar Temple Sholinghur Narasimhar Temple Chennai Singaperumal Koil If you are not ...

Tips for Effective Use of Credit Cards Credit Cards is indeed a very valuable resource. It can be rightly called as a double-edged sword, since it is as useful and powerful and if you misuse it, it is equally deadly. A few tips can make your credit card really serve you excellently. Report stolen cards to the Banking institution or the ViSA/Master Card Helpline (if travelling internationally) at an earliest. The card is yours. Only you are authorised to use it. Sign the card in the back panel, as soon as you recieve it. The PIN number used for Telephonic Query/ATM Query needs to be written down in your mind and not in papyrus (paper) products or somewhere else. Transact your Credit Card to reputed websites, with only good reputation and with proper SSL arrangments. The website should also not bother about storing your credit card info. For that matter, the card number should be keyed in at the payment gateway page. At ME(Merchant Establishments), Ensure that the card is y...

A Nice website on 'Sri Vaishnavam' -- TRSIyengar.com Just casually clicking around the webpages and I came across this nice website called  http://www.trsiyengar.com , managed by one Sri. TRS Iyengar, from Matunga, Mumbai, as a service to the Lord and Sri Vaishnavites across the globe. The website is really well-organized with articles on Astrology and things needed for real life stuff. The webmaster also seems to be organizing a free matrimonial application. I have'nt gone through the application in full though.

Necessity of Basic Education and Driving it throughout our Nation, India Education should be a basic necessity and right of everyone and this is being inspired and emphasized by almost all the top personnel in India. But the fact remains that there are children who can not support themselves of even thier preliminary education and the sad feature is that there are significant number of dropouts in school and child labour for poverty reasons. I came across this website called AshaNet which seems to have a noble mission of supporting these challenged children. Check out thier website . Also, I think, a lot of people can help by going to thier My Merchandise page and help them get funds for thier noble projects and educatonal services.

Thirup Padip Pattu The 18 steps of Sabarimala, which we have discussed sometime ago, is very sacred. In fact, there is a song called Padippattu, which describes each and every step. Check out this URL http://muthiah.com/Devotional/Ayyappan/engpadipaattu.htm , which gives the Thirup Padip Pattu.

Rain lashes Chennai and Tamilnadu The melodrama of incessant rain, that has been happening through the previous month continues. Yesterday and Today, the Met Department of Chennai announced that the weak cyclonic depression located about 300 Kms from Chennai and expected to cross the coasts between Chennai and Masulipatnam (AP) sometime tomorrow morning. Whilst no cyclonic threat remains for Tamil Nadu coasts, the places would continue to recieve incessant and nonstop rainfall. As of today's morning, Nanmangalam Lake breaches. No motor vehicles past Kovilambakkam from Medawalkam - Madipakkam direction. Velacherry Lakes breaches. Route from Velacherry - Madipakkam cutoff. Tamil Nadu Fire Brigade and Rescue Services vehicles have been stationed at Kaiveli (Velacherry - Madippakkam Junction), to tackle water emergencies. The significant village town of Madipakkam is almost like an island now. This is about Southern Chennai. Northern Chennai shares the same plight as described in Tamil...

World Disabilities Day World Disabilities Day is bieng observed every year on December 3. This is basically to ensure that the people with physical and/or mental challenges are not isolated from the normal course of life and they are vested with full spirit of life to enjoy and relish upon. As I was going to the temple, I also saw a function being held by Government of Tamil Nadu in Kalaivanar Arangam, Triplicane to give awards to distinguished persons in various fields, inspite of their various physical and mental challenges. Letz swear to treat them with equal passion and fraternity relationship and make them grow along with us.

World AIDS (Awareness) Day AIDS -- the most dreaded infection that spells terror throughout the world, thanks to its might of creating a lack of proper medication hitherto, which is the power of HIV Virus, which has diversified ways of spreading through the world. Perhaps, I came across a website called World Aids Day, dedicated for this observatory day. While HIV/AIDS seems to be a terror, actual ignorance about HIV/AIDS seems to be more terrifying and spreading the infection and the impact further. Background Information HIV is the acronym of Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This is the virus known to cause AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). If someone is HIV-positive, it means they have been infected with the virus. A person may be infected with the virus but he is not still AIDS patient unless the virus has started creating havoc on the self defense system of his physiology. Propagation HIV/AIDS does not spread by the following: Casual Physical Contact Cough Sneeze Kiss Shari...