Saturday, December 30, 2006

"Arindhum Ariyamalum" Sloka

"Arindhum Ariyamalum" Sloka

There was one Swami (Karthik) who had expressed a bit of dejection since on a particular day, he could not wake up early and he was feeling a bit down as expressed over here. As far as my little information goes, I think, our guruswami's have taken these issues into consideration and the Arindhum Ariyamalum sloka that we recite accomodates for all these mistakes that are committed with and without our knowledge.

I searched a while to give this sloka lyric to Swami but since I could'nt get it, I have typed it myself in a Word document using a Ayyappa picture and Unicode Tamil and captured as JPG using Irfanview. I would like to share the same with other readers as well.

Om. Arindhum Ariyalum Therindhum Theriyalum
Naangal Seitha Sagala Kutrangalaiyum
Poruthu, Kathu Rakshithu Arul Puriya Vendum
Sathiyamay Ponnu Pathinettam Padi mael Vaazhum
Kasi Rameswaram Adakki Aalum
Om Hari Hara Sudhan, Ananda Siddhan Ayyan, Ayyappa
Swamiyae Saranam Ayyappa.

ஓம். அறிந்தும் அறியாமலும் தெரிந்தும் தெரியாமலும்
நாங்கள் செய்த சகல குற்றங்களையும்
பொறுத்து, காத்து ரட்சித்து அருள் புரிய வேண்டும்
சத்தியமாய் பொன்னு பதினெட்டாம் படிமேல் வாழும்
காசி, ராமேஸ்வரம் அடக்கி ஆளும்
ஓம் ஹரிஹரசுதன், ஆனந்த சித்தன்,
ஐய்யன், ஐய்யப்ப ஸ்வாமியே சரணம் ஐய்யப்பா!


[Sri Ayyappan Sloka]

Friday, December 29, 2006

Camels saved by Chennai High Court

Camels saved by Chennai High Court

With an interim order of bringing in camels from Rajastan to the state of Tamil Nadu, the nonchalant slaughter of camels in the most gruesome way in that it takes more than two hours for the camel to die and it suffers in acute pain. The camels for brought for slaughter for the coming Bakrid festival.

Chennai High Court has decided to hold a special sitting today towards this purpose. You can check out the full news over here. The petitioner has also presented documentary evidence that there is no Quaranic edict that upholds and mandates this animal sacrifice and hence this slaughter directly comes punishable as a violation of Article 51 - A 8 of the consitution alongside several other sections.

We have discussed a related animal cruelty near Rajakilpakkam Chennai and in a technical discussion forum sometime back. Here is the permalink of the URL for reference.

Stringent and Tight Schedules of December

Stringent and Tight Schedules of December

The month of December had been hectic packed with tight schedules as the report analysis from MSN Calendar. It was the Sabarimala trip to keep busy during the second week while the Alagappa University examinations to keep engaged for the third semester examinations during the last week of the month spanning from 23rd December 2006 to 29th December 2006.

Today being Vaikunta Ekadasi day, there were some good television programmes like live telecast by Podhigai (a division of Doordarshan India). Nowdays, I shun seeing all those set of private television channels since there are no useful programmes over there other than the portrayed cine obcenity revealing attire and glamor. Doordarshan with its noble logo of "Sathyam Shivam Sundaram" does a great national service from religious, social and community perspectives. Let us try and support and patronize DD for the great services of the nation at least from the New Year 2007. For those interested readers, here is the recall of our discussion on 'Social Responsibilitie s of "The Fourth Estate"'

Monday, December 25, 2006

Anna University presents "Kurukshetra 2007"

Anna University presents "Kurukshetra 2007"

A unique technical symposium is scheduled by Anna University among the engineering students of its affiliated colleges with guests hailing from eminent industry houses from various parts of India. There are a lot of contests and quizs for the students to participate, develop thier knowledge and win prizes too.

Check out Kurukshetra 2007 ("The Battle of Brains") website for more details.

Maha Manthra Nama Japam on January 1

Maha Manthra Nama Japam on January 1

While travelling towards Vadapalani sometime on Saturday, I saw the advertisement after Pallavaram about the following event by Madhura Murali on Hare Rama Hare Krishna Japam in Chennai on January 1 for world peace. For further details, you can  check out the website or the contact page over there.

Programme: Maha Manthra Nama Japam (Kootu Prayar) reciting Hare Rama and Hare Krishna.
Date and Time: 0900 to 1200 hours on 1st January, 2007.

Let us make the start of new year (Happy New Year 2007) with the service to the Lord and praying for world peace.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

It is Christmast season approaching fast and December 25, Monday; symbolizes and stands testimony of a holy day -- birth of Jesus Christ.  Let us join together and pray the Lord to bless us with prosperity and peace.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Mix of Good and Bad Restaurants in Ashok Pillar Circle

Mix of Good and Bad Restaurants in Ashok Pillar Circle

Ashok Pillar area of Chennai (Ashok Nagar with PIN Code 600 073) commands a unique place of pride in having very good restaurants and chat items besides also showcasing some of the worst examples of bad eat outs.

The best among them is largest number of Saravana Bhavan outlets. We have already covered the mouth-watering post on Hotel Saravana Bhavan sometime before. Here is the permalink URL for your quick recall. The next most exciting chat item outlet is the branch of Rajaveni Sweets near the start of Ekkatuthangal flyover (just near Indian Bank, Jafferkhanpet branch). They are one of very old sweet shops in Chennai. Their classic old shop is in T. Nagar (Hotel Sudhara Complex) at the entry point of Burkit road. Thier wings are now spread across the city alongside spreading thier glory and fragrance of mouth-watering sweet and hot delicacies.

Now turning towards the darker side in the area is one restaurant called 'Ratna Bhavan', which adores the area near the bus stand for Guindy. It was originally a vegetarian restaurant about two months back. Though it claims 'High Class Vegetarian Restaurant', if you enter, you can just find low class shacks and waiters dip thier fingers right into your chutney and sambar. With all these activities, after you take the food, they keep scratching their head near you for tips too, for the most crazy and disgusting service they had rendered. Also, the waiters are not alone. They always have thier local friends in chit chatting always to keep gazing at the eaters, heaven knows for what reason. Last month, the hotel went for renovation and we hoped that it would be cured of its maladies. Now it seemed to be back but as 'Non-Veg Chettinadu restaurant'. Hopefully, the Food and Civil Supplies department of Government of Tamil Nadu maintains a constant vigil over this hotel.

[Imported from Blogdrive]Wedding Bells Ring

Wedding Bells RingThere is some good news to share again. One of my team member and friend is getting wedded sometime this week. The place of Wedding is again similar to Santosh's Wedding and that is the city of Pune in Maharastra for Ashutosh and Gowri.
Let us join hands to greet each of them hearty wedded life for thier respective weddings.
Happy Wedded Life to the brides and grooms!!<!--
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        Posted at 12:47 pm by Deepak Kumar Vasudevan
 

 

 

 

  Original BlogDrive Post on Thursday, December 21, 2006

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Arupadi Murugan Temple Website

Arupadi Murugan Temple Website

It was Lord's divine commandment during my Sabarimala second year pilgrimage to have a humble service to pilgrims to cover the 274 siva temples in my personal website, in a quick and easy to fashion. A lot of people helped me over phone, email and courier sending information regarding the same. You can find this section over here.

And this year, after I returned from Sabarimala on Tuesday morning, myself and my friend near Medawalkam are planning to create a website that would cover all the Murugan temples. He has already started on design work. The work is already in progress and tracked by iTeamWork. Sometime in January 2007, you can find this website going live to serve the devotees of Lord Muruga.

Wait for the holy good news about Lord Muruga website release till January 1, 2007. It is a wait worth watching!

Chennai Thiruvayaru -- Margazhi Music Festival in Chennai

Chennai Thiruvayaru -- Margazhi Music Festival in Chennai

Sometime back I saw the advertisement of Margazhi Music Festival near Guindy Kathipara and today near Velacherry Vijayanagar Terminus too. Perhaps for those interested, we have shared about Margazhi functions in the other weblog. I wanted to share the information about Margazhi Music Festival for the benefit of other readers.

Function: Chennaiyil Thiruvayyaru
Venue: Kamaraj Memorial Grounds, Teynampet (Landmark: Gemini Flyover)
Dates: December 22nd 2006 to December 26th 2006 (Five Days)
Tickets: INR 100, 250, 500 (per each day)
Season Tickets Dec 22-26  INR 250,500,1,000

You can also book your tickets online from ChennaiOnline.com.

Paving a Way For Quick and Comfortable Journey

Paving a Way For Quick and Comfortable Journey

With the amount of heavy traffic in Chennai these days, commuting to Chennai Central or Chennai Airport in time to catch the train or flight has been a herculean task. You can not depend on autorickshaws too as they vie with another in ensuring that you pay through your nose. Here comes the advantages of Call Taxis. You can just call the call center and within a maximum of 40 minutes, you can ensure that a taxi comes at your doorstep and honks to invite you to begin your journey to your preferred destination in extreme comfort and luxury.

Now these call taxis have brought in very innovative concepts and I just wanted to share with you a couple of things for your information.

  1. Roundtrip package booking to areas around Chennai like Thiruvendanthai (near Mamallapuram), areas around Tambaram etc.  Thanks to Santosh for letting me know about this after checking with FastTrack Call Taxi, the premiere call Taxi operators in South India.
  2. Online Booking. Fast Track is again a pioneer in bringing this type of facility to the desktop of its customers.

Lexical Luhn Algorithm

Lexical Luhn Algorithm

I think with the amount of complaints against erring banks like ICICI and other similar credit card issuing institutions, the message posters should exercise enough caution in that they should avoid posting credit card numbers as blog comments. We can see a significant number of comments in Arjunprabhu's blog where the author has mentioned that he has removed the credit card number posted for security reasons.

I think blog authors should devise something like Luhn's Algorithm and perhaps we can call it as 'Lexical Luhn Algorithm'. If it finds a credit card number, it would automatically mask it as ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP and CVV numbers should be masked as XYZ. This way we can protect our readers' who are innocent and enter the numbers in comments.

Luhn's Algorithm is very effective in validating credit card numbers at the clientside. However, the actual validity of the same rests with the server since it has to check in the database.

Readers: What do you feel? Share your thoughts.

Roaming Indication in Motorola

Roaming Indication in Motorola

Currently I am using Nokia 6030 while my very first mobile was a classic Motorola T190. It was pretty simple mobile but very effective and handy at least just to satisfy the basic and rudimentary aims of communication (voice and text messaging) leave alone the fancy gimmicks like GPRS and FM Radio Entertainment.

During the trip to Sabarimala this year, I found a very interesting observation or rather a useful feature in Motorola that Nokia lacks. When we roam, the display automatically shows a Triangle (Home Symbol) on top of the display. It means you are currently in a roaming (partner) network. This would again provide you a visual warning before you attempt making long voice calls or start on the text messaging spree, burning and pricking your wallet and credit card. I admit that Nokia does show both the network names (Home and Roamed Network) but I think the 'Roaming Icon' is very useful feature in Motorola mobile.

Domestic Chennai Organization Launches Global Calling Cards

Domestic Chennai Organization Launches Global Calling Cards

Following my earlier post regarding an advertisement in Guindy, I saw one more interesting advertisement for calling cards being launched under the brand name of 'V-Tel'. I searched the Internet for a while but could not find the direct website.

After a while, I figured out that the company is actually Dhanus Technologies and being a startup to issue global calling cards, they seem to offer very good quality calling cards at affodable rates. Just wanted to share the advertisement information with other readers so that they can cut down thier global calling costs from abroad to home. You can find more information in their website that has been linked above.

Telecom Giant into Life Insurance Market

Telecom Giant into Life Insurance Market

India's premiere telecom giant, Bharti Airtel is slowly stepping into Insurance domain too. I think it would be a bit of new domain adventure for them. With niche concepts and innovations in telecommunications industry, empowered by a resilent communication backbone they are premiere telephone operators in India.

We need to wait and see thier performance in thier new avtar as an Insurance company. Bharti Axa is actually a joint venture insurance company between Bharti (74%) and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (24%); the head office in India being located at Mumbai.

Let us anyway wish them good luck in their new venture. For details regarding the policies, you can SMS them 'BALIFE' at 6767. I think this SMS would be chargeable at 3 INR per message. I saw this number in a giant hoarding near Guindy Kathipara, while waiting to cross the segment in the routine traffic jam.

Thanks to cops -- Is TN getting safe?

Thanks to cops -- Is TN getting safe?

Last Friday (15th December 2006). we had our Kattu Nirai in T. Nagar to set off on our pilgrimage to Sabarimala. As the bus was expected to come to the Pooja place only at about 00:00 hours of 16th December 2006, we had a small stroll through Ranganathan street, had a sip of tea and returned back. Interestingly, it was 'Vratham from Aippasi; Irumudi in Karthigai and Pallikattu in  Margazhi'.  The delay to 00:00 hours as planned by the tour operators was due to two factors:

  1. T. Nagar roads are heavy traffic and hence parking the bus for prolonged times for an hour till all pilgrims board the bus and get set for the journey would not be affordable in the place due to traffic conditions.
  2. All permits needs to be checked since waiting at Vandipperiyar checkpost near Madurai for the entry permit is prohibitively costly in terms of money and time.

Well! Coming to our mainstream discussion, as we were strolling through the Ranganathan street, we found the police patrol van slowly inching through the roads. We were anyway surprised that the entire stretch of Ranganathan Street was experiencing a pin-drop silence as there is a new statute by the police that all shops need to be closed by eleven for maintainance of law and order. The lady cop in the van was also constantly announcing from her mike asking people near Pan Parag and other shops to disperse off and asking them reason on why they should crowd during midnights?

Well! This is very much a laudable attempt by the Government of Tamil Nadu and Tamil Nadu Police. Otherwise, one can find heavy traffic near T. Nagar even during wee hours and odd times of the day. Pocket pickers and eve-teasers find themselves with plenty of booty and keep walking in a princely march.

By the way, the caption of the post says 'TN'. It stands for both 'Tamil Nadu' and 'T. Nagar'. Besides these, I also observed that there are lot of patrol vans that roam in the city near Madipakkam, Tambaram and regularly inspect the vehicles to ensure that law-breakers are not roaming around.

 Let us appreciate the startup good efforts of Tamil Nadu police in making nights safer for people to rest and sleep in peace.

A date with Hutch on Last Friday

A date with Hutch on Last Friday

I strongly feel that Hutch mobile operator in India is just only doing a puppet show with toy mobile phones and attached with zero utility value. Time and again, I have experienced and have heard of the most disgusting levels of GSM service from there. Whenever you call any Hutch number, there is a high probability that you would be greeted with "The subscriber you are trying to call is unreachable".  I think, even if Airtel in that perspective has some good network infrastructure, nevertheless, they also figure top in all sorts of shady activities. But let us leave alone to thier personal pleasures as we only need a good network for quicker, reliable and effective communication purposes.

Last Sunday, I was starting to Sabarimala and just after starting from workplace, I remembered that Sesadri wanted to give a bit of cloth to be kept near Manjamatha and returned back. When I went near Ashok Pillar to call him, his Hutch cellphone was experiencing deep slumber even in the most busy arterial place of Ashok Nagar -- a kind of GSM spectrum blackout. A couple of more calls to my other friends to get his landline number proved futile as they were using Hutch too. Finally, I got his landline number when I called my other friend with Airtel mobile and then called him over that number to get the cloth to start off on my pilgrimage to Sabarimala.

This is not an isolated incident. A lot of times text messages to Hutch from  Airtel would take about six to seven hours to deliver.  I think, TRAI should consider imposing some minimum baseline criterion for message delivery, voice quality to improve the services of cellular spectrum in the country.

Singapore President offers prayers at Lord Venkateswara Shrine, Tirumala

Singapore President offers prayers at Lord Venkateswara Shrine, Tirumala

Amidst the furore of political hallabaloo prevailing over the various issues in Tirumala - Tirupathi, by virtue of Andhra Pradesh government political gestures, it is heartening and encouraging news that sometime during last Tuesday (December 20), the president of Singapore (S R Nathan along with his wife Mrs. Urmila Nandey) has offered his prayers to Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala.

On his arrival, he was accorded a warm reception by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam temple management. After prayers, the priests invoked the lord`s blessings. The TTD Board Chairman B Karunakara Reddy then offered him a sacred silk cloth and prasadam.

Temple sources told a news agency that this was Nathan`s second visit to the shrine, the earlier one being on December 11, 2004. The most coveted and impressive saying of the president is that "It is a private visit to the sacred hills. I have come here to seek the blessings of Lord Venkateswara and not to make any political statements.".

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

A Moving Film -- Payanangal Mudivathillai

A Moving Film -- Payanangal Mudivathillai

As a followup of my other post over an observation in Tambaram Railway Station today, after I got a Villupuram - Chennai bus to Guindy, I started watching the DVD stereo movie that was being screened in it. The film was "Payanangal Mudivathillai", starring Mohan and Poornima.

The film is really excellent and showcases the true love of Mohan to Poornima in that he did'nt want her or her father (Poornam Vishwanathan) to know about his terminal illness (leukamia/blood cancer at the final stage) and his counting days. With this intent, he was planning to create a gap from Poornima. However, Poornima and her father intrepreted him badly as if he had changed his mentality after becoming rich. They were depressed because he become rich from a pauper stage only because of Poornima and her fathers opportunity to him to give a lot of singing opportunities to him. The opening file "Raaga Deepam ..." is really touching. It reflects his acute mental depression that Nature goes against him by showering heavy rains when his first concert has to take place in the open air auditorium.

Coming back to the main discussion, Poornima and her father would realise the real cause of change of Mohan's mind only after Rajesh (the doctor who attends Mohan) tells about his sickness. Rajesh beleives that Mohan does not know but Mohan has eavesdropped the report while Rajesh was discussing in his clinic.

The story reaches climax with the suicide of Poornima and Mohan in that their journey through music continues even after thier worldly life. The movie is filled with good amount of songs tuned by Illayaraja and true love that ensures that the loved party should not even be mentally disturbed. Try to watch the movie if possible.

An Ever-Moving Film -- Payanangal Mudivathillai

A Moving Film -- Payanangal Mudivathillai

As a followup of my other post over an observation in Tambaram Railway Station today,  after I got a Villupuram - Chennai bus to Guindy, I started watching the DVD stereo movie that was being screened in it. The film was "Payanangal Mudivathillai", starring Mohan and Poornima.

The film is really excellent and showcases the true love of Mohan to Poornima in that he did'nt want her or her father (Poornam Vishwanathan) to know about his terminal illness (leukamia/blood cancer at the final stage) and his counting days. With this intent, he was planning to create a gap from Poornima. However, Poornima and her father intrepreted him badly as if he had changed his mentality after becoming rich. They were depressed because he become rich from a pauper stage only because of Poornima and her fathers opportunity to him to give a lot of singing opportunities to him. The opening file "Raaga Deepam ..." is really touching. It reflects his acute mental depression that Nature goes against him by showering heavy rains when his first concert has to take place in the open air auditorium.

Coming back to the main discussion, Poornima and her father would realise the real cause of change of Mohan's mind only after Rajesh (the doctor who attends Mohan) tells about his sickness. Rajesh beleives that Mohan does not know  but Mohan has eavesdropped the report while Rajesh was discussing in his clinic.

The story reaches climax with the suicide of Poornima and Mohan in that their journey through music continues even after thier worldly life. The movie is filled with good amount of songs tuned by Illayaraja and true love that ensures that the loved party should not even be mentally disturbed. Try to watch the movie if possible.


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Narrow Misses Yesterday Night

Narrow Misses Yesterday Night

Sometime back we were discussing about pros and cons of Late Night Driving and particularly for nights that accompany with rains. Yesterday night I started late from office and hence needed to take a cab service to drop me at home. The route from Guindy to Tambaram via Madipakkam and Keelkattalai is a very short route for me but at the same time, unless the driver is experienced and has full control over the steering, the journey would be turbulent. Nevertheless since I was feeling sleepy and the driver too in an excitement took this route.

No sooner did the limits of Madipakkam crossed and we were to enter the Kovilambakkam Panchayat limits, there were some perils and evil spirits waiting to attack us there. A fierce glare from the opposite vehicle accompanied by a furore of showers took our vehicle into a virtual quicksand. It almost hit the big barricade of stones that have been piled near the center of the road. I learnt by experience that we ought to tighten our seat belts since it was a narrow miss that we escaped yesterday else in all other cases,  I should be blogging this from my laptop connected via Wi-Fi at TamilNad Hospitals (which is near Medawalkam).  Well! Thanks to my Lord, Swamiye  Saranam Ayyappa we crossed into Kovilambakkam stretch.

But again, I really don't know whether it was our subconscious fear because of the earlier trauma or something really hit the vehicle from the back (since nothing was there), we could keep hearing some friction sound. The road from Keelkattalai to Medawalkam Koot Road looks deserted.  And hence the driver managed to pull the vehicle till Koot road to inspect it but nothing was there.  If the sound was audible to me alone, the driver confirm it too but there were nothing before and after. With little forests only on one side and a couple of cemetry (graveyard) on the other side of the road for a stretch of one km, I don't think it would be wiser to stop the vehicle there and inspect too too for fear of ghosts or highway robbery.

Did some ghost come to meet us? Even as I type this weblog, I get a light shiver recalling this experience. Thanks to my Lord Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa for saving us yesterday night from a strange mystery.

Superstar Rajinikanth turns 57 today

Superstar Rajinikanth turns 57 today

Superstar Rajinikanth celebrates his 57 birthday today. An humble actor to start in the cine field, he has been successful in a lot of films. There is a tamil song "Superstar yaarune kaettu, Chinna Kuzhanthaiyum sollum" ("If you ask Who is Superstar, even a little kid will say?")

His service in educational field along with his spouse (Latha Rajinikanth) is also laudable.

Let us wish him all success in all spheres of life.

Top Honor in Community Credit (December 12, 2006)

Top Honor in Community Credit (December 12, 2006)

Just casually clicked to Community-Credit. Just found that my name is currently figuring on top of the 'Top Honors' left hand navigation pane. I have attached the screenshot of the same over here:

Monday, December 11, 2006

State Bank of India Wins "Best Bank Award"

State Bank of India Wins "Best Bank Award"

India's most safest and reliable banking and the bank on which the nation banks, State Bank of India. has one more feater to adore its crown. They have been recently bestowed with a privileged award of "Best Banking Award" in the division of Internet Banking for Corporate Customers.

Let us wish them and thier associate banks more success in all the quarters.

Hot Chase of Bus Today

Hot Chase of Bus Today

Today I started to work a bit early since I had some important deliveries pending. When I came to Bus stand, the preferred direct route bus, 51L just passed off. By the time, I walked to the bus stand, the next quick route bus (51S) was just starting off. So I had to walk till Kamarajapuram since otherwise, no yellow board buses would stop at my place. It was really a wise decision and the superfast bus, B51 came there. It was actually superfast since even after missing 51L, I could entrap it near the place I alight after waiting for half an hour.

We have actually talked about quick B51 services sometime over here.

Vijay TV joins in SharanaGosham for Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa

Vijay TV joins in SharanaGosham for Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa

Sometime back, we were discussing about Sharana Gosham on AsiaNet Channels. I learnt from K.R. Suresh, Bangalore, that Vijay TV is going to telecast the Tamil version of "Swami Ayyappa" teleserial from 18th December (Monday to Thursday) at 1900 hours.

You can also see this message from KR Suresh in Sri Ayyappan Yahoogroups over here. Any of similar programmes in other languages like Kannada or Telegu, if readers, you are aware of, please share with us in this or the YahooGroups URL as comments for the benefit of other readers.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Sri Ayyappan Pancharatna Mala

Sri Ayyappan Pancharatna Mala

Thanks to Kapil Singh Swami, that we pilgrims were able to get Sri Ayyappan Bhoothanadha Stotram, which is also known as Sri Ayyappan Pancharatna Mala. Every Sri Ayyappa book would be having this Stotra and it is very benefecial to keep on telling the sloka everytime you find some break or leisure. I would like to give this stotram lyrics for the benefits of other devotees as well.


Lokaveeram Maha Poojyam
Sarva Rakshakaram Vibhum
Parvathi Hridayanandam
Sastharam Pranamaamyaham

Vipra Poojyam Viswa Vandyam
Vishu Shambho Priyam Sutham
Skhipra Prasada Niratham
Sastharam Pranamaamyaham

Matta Mathamga Gamanam
Karunyamritha Pooritham
Sarva Vigna Haram Devam
Sastharam Pranamaamyaham

Asmath Kuleswaram Devam
Asmath Satru Vinasanam
Asmadishta Pradatharam
Sastharam Pranamaamyaham    

Paandyesa Vamsa Thilakam
Kerale Keli Vigraham
Aartha Tharana Param Devam
Sastharam Pranamaamyaham

Bhootha Natha Sadananda
Sarva Bootha Dayapara
Raksha : Raksha : Maha Bahoo
Sastre Thubhyam Namo Nama


Saturday, December 09, 2006

Helpful Traffic Jam near Kathipara

Helpful Traffic Jam near Kathipara

Today while coming to my workplace sometime around 4 PM, I found that there was a very heavy traffic snarl near Kathipara. The ongoing route from Kathipara towards Ashok Pillar was witnessing slow moving serpentine crowd of vehicles for unknown reasons. I thought, it would be waste to catch a bus for the few yards and I would rather walk off the distance. Good decision, I made. Why? Read on.

As I walked a few steps, I saw D70 Express stopping in the traffic jam. Since the two wheelers were haphazardly waiting to escape from the traffic jam, I had to practice monkey jumps to make my way out of the traffic jam. Perhaps some form of 'Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution' going back. :)

The rear side of D70 had an advertisement carrying an information. "Ayyappa Celebration on December 16 (Margazhi 1) in Meenakshi College Grounds". I could only quickly grasp this information and thought I would share with other readers, who  might be in intending to take up pilgrimage for Sabarimala. I would try and get more details and update over here in the meantime.

Sri Ayyappan Malar Pooja

Sri Ayyappan Malar Pooja

Sri Karumari Amman Tourists are organizing a Sri Ayyappan Malar Pooja in thier office premises. The details of the programmes are hereunder:

Date: 27th December 2006
Time: 1900 hours

Interested devotees attend the programme and get the choicest showers of blessings from the Lord. The address of the tourist operator is:

Sri Devi Karumari Amman Tourist,
Old No. 11 (New No. 29), Ramasamy Street,
T. Nagar,
Chennai -- 600 017.

Telephone: +91 44 4207 0962

Sabarimala Pilgrimage by Sri Karumari Amman Tourists

Sabarimala Pilgrimage by Sri Karumari Amman Tourists

Similar to Sri Ranga Travels, here is another group organizing pilgrimage to Sabarimala. I have attached the details here under. Interested pilgrims can contact the tour operators.


Sri Devi Karumari Amman Tourist (Sabarimala Mandala Pooja/Makara Jyothi) Programmes

  1. Thiruchendoor - Sabarimala - Palani
    1. Days: 4
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 950
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 3rd December 2006: (Night) Kattu Nirai and Starting off.
      2. 4th December 2006: Samayapuram Mariamman, Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, Thirchendoor (Night Halt)
      3. 5th December 2006: Starting to Erumeli. Reach Pampa in the evening. Night Halt at Sannidhanam.
      4. 6th December 2006: Neyyabhishekam. Start back to Palani in the afternoon. Night Halt at Palani.
      5. 7th December 2006: Palani Darshan. Reach Chennai in night.
  2. Thirunallar - Rameshwaram - Sabarimala
    1. Days: 5
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1050
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 8th December 2006: (Night) Kattu Nirai and Starting off.
      2. 9th December 2006: Chidambaram Vaitheeswaran, Kumbokonam Sooriyanar (Navagraha Temple), Swamimalai, Thirunageswaram, Oppiliappan. Night halt at Thirunallar.
      3. 10th December 2006: Thirunallar Sani darshan. Rameswaram. Proceed to Thiruchendoor.Night halt at Thiruchendoor.
      4. 11th December 2006: Reach Erumeli via Kutralam, Aryankavu, Pampa.
      5. 12th December 2006: Sannidhanam - Neyyabhishekam. Night halt at Palani.
      6. 13th December 2006: Palani Darshan. Reach Chennai in night.
  3. Express Service :: Guruvayoor - Sabarimala - Palani
    1. Days: 4
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 950
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 15th December 2006: (Night) Kattu Nirai and Starting off.
      2. 16th December 2006: Thiruchi, Kumuli, Pampa, Sannidhanam. Night halt at Sannidhanam.
      3. 17th December 2006: Neyyabhishekam. Start to Guruvayoor. Night halt.
      4. 18th December 2006: Reach Palani via Pollachi. Reach Chennai in Night.
  4. Express Service :: Guruvayoor - Sabarimala - Palani
    1. Days: 4
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 950
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 19th December 2006: (Night) Kattu Nirai and Starting off.
      2. 20th December 2006: Bhavani Sangamam Guruvayoor, Pampa, Sannidhanam. Night halt at Sannidhanam.
      3. 21st December 2006: Neyyabhishekam. Reach Palani via Kumuli. Night halt.
      4. 22nd December 2006: Reach Palani via Pollachi. Reach Chennai in Night.
  5. Guruvayoor - Sabarimala - Thiruvananthapuram - Rameshwaram
    1. Days: 7
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1250
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 19th December 2006: (Night) Kattu Nirai and Starting off.
      2. 20th December 2006: Melmaruvathur, Bhavani Sangamam, Night halt at Guruvayoor.
      3. 21st December 2006: Guruvayoor Darshan. Chottanikkara. Etramanoor. Erumeli, Pampa. Night halt at Sannidhanam.
      4. 22nd December 2006: Start to Thiruvananthapuram.
      5. 23rd December 2006: Darshan of Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy. Night halt at Rameshwaram.
      6. 25th December 2006: Kumari Amman Darshan. Madurai and Thirupparankundram. Night halt at Palani.
      7. 26th December 2006: Palani, Samayapuram, Rech Chennai in Night.
  6. Mandala Pooja Special
    1. Days: 5
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1050
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 22nd December 2006: (Night) Kattu Nirai and Starting off.
      2. 23rd December 2006: Melmaruvathur, Bhavani Sangamam. Guruvayoor.
      3. 24th December 2006: Erumeli, Pampa, Sannidhanam.
      4. 25th December 2006: Mandala Pooja, Neyyabhishekam.
      5. 26th December 2006: Start to Palani.
      6. 27th December 2006: Palani Darshan. Samayapuram. Reach Chennai in Night.
  7. Mandala Pooja - Sabarimala - Rameshwaram
    1. Days: 6
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1150
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 22nd December 2006: (Night) Kattu Nirai and Starting off.
      2. 23rd December 2006: Melmaruvathur, Bhavani Sangamam.
      3. 24th December 2006: Guruvayoor Darshan in the evening.
      4. 25th December 2006: Pampa, Sannidhanam.
      5. 26th December 2006: Mandala Pooja, Neyyabhishekam. Start in the evening to Thiruchendoor.
      6. 27th December 2006: Sri Subrahmanya Swami Darshan. Rameshwaram Samudra Snanam.Ramalingeswarar Darshan. Night halt at Palani.
      7. 28th December 2006: Palani darshan. Samayapuram. Reach Chennai in Night.
  1. Days: 4
  2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 950
  3. Travel Itinary:
    1. 2nd January 2007: Kattunirai and Starting off to reach Pampa via Thiruchi, Erumeli, Kumuli.
    2. 3rd January 2007: Sannidhanam. Night halt.
    3. 4th January 2007: Neyyabhishekam. Night halt at Palani.
    4. 5th January 2007: Palani darshan. Reach Chennai at Night.

Express Bus :: Bhavani - Sabarimala - Palani

  1. Days: 4
  2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 950
  3. Travel Itinary:
    1. 6th January 2007: Kattunirai.
    2. 7th January 2007: Bhavani Sangamam, Guruvayoor, Pampa. Night halt at Sannidhanam.
    3. 8th January 2007: Neyyabhishekham. Night halt at Palani.
    4. 9th January 2007: Palani darshan. Reach Chennai in Night.

Sri Sabarimala - Rameshwaram - Kanyakumari (Nadai Thirappu) - Periya Pathai

  1. Days: 7
  2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1250
  3. Travel Itinary:
    1. 29th December 2006: Kattunirai.
    2. 30th December 2006: Melmaruvathur. Samayapuram. Pudukottai Bhuvaneswari Amman. Night halt at Rameswaram.
    3. 31st December 2006: Ramalingeswarar Darshan. Thirchendoor. Night halt at Kanyakumari.
    4. 1st January 2007: Kumari Amman Darshan. Suseendram. Thiruvananthapuram Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Darshan. Erumeli Pettai Thullal. Optional Peruvazhi. Pampa.
    5. 2nd January 2007: Peruvazhi
    6. 3rd January 2007: Peruvazhi, Pampa. Night halt at Sannidhanam.
    7. 4th January 2007: Neyyabhishekam.Night halt at Palani.
    8. 5th January 2007: Reach Chennai at Night.
  4. Sabarimala Special :: Less Days Peruvazhi (Thiruchi - Pillayarpatti - Devippattinam - Rameswaram - Thiruchendoor - Nava Thirupathi - Kutralam - Palani - Samayapuram)
    1. Days: 6
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1200
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 6th January 2007: Kattunirai
      2. 7th January 2007: Thiruchi, Pillayarpatti, Devippattinam, Rameswaram. Night halt.
      3. 8th January 2007: Thiruppullani Adhi Jagannathap Perumal, Thiruchendoor. Night halt.
      4. 9th January 2007: Nava Thiruppathi (Nammazhwar Mangalasasam Kshetram), Then thirupperai, Thirukkaloor Azhwar Thirunagari, Sri Vaikuntam, Varaguna Mangai, Thulaivilli Mangalam, Perungulam, Thiruppuliyangudi, Kuttralam. Erumeli. Peruvazhi
      5. 11th January 2007: Neyyabhishekam. Night halt at Palani.
      6. 12th January 2007: Palani. Reach Chennai at Night.
  5. Peruvazhi Nadai Darshan
    1. Days: 7
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1250
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 6th January 2007: Kattunirai. Melmaruvathur. Samayapuram, Rameswaram.
      2. 7th January 2007: Ramalingeswarar Darshan. Thiruchendoor. Night halt.
      3. 8th January 2007: Kanyakumari Amman Darshan. Suseendram. Thiruvanathapuram Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Darshan. Erumeli Pettai Thullal. Optional Peruvazhi. Pampa.
      4. 9th January 2007: Peruvazhi
      5. 10th January 2007: Peruvazhi. Pampa. Night halt at Sannidhanam.
      6. 11th January 2007: Neyyabhishekam. Night halt at Palani.
      7. 12th January 2007: Palani. Reach Chennai at Night.
    Sabarimala - Guruvayoor - Palani 
    1. Days: 5
    2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1050
    3. Travel Itinary:
      1. 5th January 2007: Kattunirai.
      2. 6th January 2007: Melmaruvathur, Bhavani Sangamam, Night halt at Guruvayoor.
      3. 7th January 2007: Chottanikara, Erumeli, Pampa, Night halt at Sannidhanam.
      4. 8th January 2007: Neyyabhishekam. Night halt at Kutralam.
      5. 9th January 2007: Sri Villiputhur, Palani Darshan. Night halt.
      6. 10th January 2007: Samayapuram. Reach Chennai in the evening.

Sabarimala - Guruvayoor - Palani

  1. Days: 5
  2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1050
  3. Travel Itinary:
    1. 5th January 2007: Kattunirai
    2. 6th January 2007: Melmaruvathur, Bhavani Sangamam, Guruvayoor.
    3. 7th January 2007: Chottanikkara, Erumeli, Pampa. Night halt at Sannidhanam.
    4. 8th January 2007: Neyyabhishekam. Night halt at Kutralam.
    5. 9th January 2007: Sri Villiputhur, Palani. Night halt.
    6. 5th January 2007: Palani darshan. Samayapuram darshan. Reach Chennai at Night.

Rameswaram - Kanyakumari - Sabarimala (Makarajothi)

  1. Days: 7
  2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1050
  3. Travel Itinary:
    1. 10th January 2007: Kattunirai
    2. 11th January 2007: Melmaruvathur, Samayapuram, Pudukottai Sri Bhuvaneshwari Amman, Night halt at Rameswaram.
    3. 12th January 2007: Ramalingeswarar Darshan, Thiruchendoor. Night halt at Kanyakumari.
    4. 13th January 2007: Kumari Amman Darshan. Erumeli. Pampa. Optional Peruvazhi.
    5. 14th January 2007: Peruvazhi
    6. 15th January 2007: Jothi Darshan.Pampa, Sannidhanam. Night halt.
    7. 16th January 2007:  Neyyabhishekam.Night halt at Palani.
  4. 17th January 2007: Reach Chennai at Night.

Padi Poojai Special (Less Days)

  1. Days: 5
  2. Tariff per head in Video Coach: INR 1000
  3. Travel Itinary:
    1. 14th January 2007: Kattunirai
    2. 15th January 2007: Melmaruvathur, Bhavani Sangamam, Kadampuzha. Night halt.
    3. 16th January 2007: Kadampuzha Bhagavathi Darshan. Muttu Irakki, Guruvayoor, Chottanikkara, Etramanoor, Erumeli
    4. 17th January 2007: Pampa, Sannidhanam, Neyyabhishekam. Padi Pooja Darshan.
    5. 18th January 2007: Kutralam. Night halt at Palani
    6. 19th January 2007: Samayapuram. Reach Chennai at Night.

Notes from Organizer:

  1. It is the responsibility of the pilgrims to note the timings from the bus drivers from Nilakkal.
  2. The travel company rules and regulations are binding in all respects.
  3. Irumudi charges extra.
  4. Contact Details:

    Sri Devi Karumari Amman Tourist,
    Old No. 11 (New No. 29), Ramasamy Street,
    T. Nagar,
    Chennai -- 600 017.

    Telephone: +91 44 4207 0962


Friday, December 08, 2006

Ayyappan ThiruVilakku Pooja at Sembakkam

Ayyappan ThiruVilakku Pooja at Sembakkam

Yesterday there was a small pamplet in my house which was distributed by a small Ayyappan Mandali based in Sembakkam. They are planning a ThiruVillakku Pooja today till early morning tomorrow continously. I am trying to share the information over here for other devotees' quick reference.


Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa

Sri Kaliyuga Varadan Ayyappa Bhaktha Bhajanai Mandalai
219, Velacherry Main Road, Sembakkam, Chennai -- 600 073.

 

Eighth year Ayyappa Vilakku Pooja

Date: 9th December 2006 (Saturday)
Place: Sembakkam

Sri Kaliyuga Varadan Ayyappa Bhaktha Bhajanai Mandalai is conducting the eighth year Ayyappa Vilakku Pooja this year from today morning and continuosly throughout the night till the dawn of 10th December 2006 (Sunday). We would invite all devotees of Ayyappa to participate in the function and get the choicest showers of blessings of the Lord.

Programme:

9th December 2006

0400: Ganapathi Homam
0700: Sri Ayyappan Prathishtai (Sri Navagraha Vinayaga Temple :: Procession from Chamraj nagar)
0800: Laksharchanai
1130: Deeparadhana

1230: Food offerings to attendees

1500: Paalak Kombu Procession (Sri K. K. Krishnakkutti group would start from Mahalakshmi Nagar Puttruk Koil with all musical instruments)
1600: Nrithulaya Dance School students performance
1630: Procession reaches the venu. Deeparadhana
1930:  Thayambaka (Thiruvillamalai) (Sri K. K. Krishnakkutti, Manikandan brothers and Sri Sukumaran group)
2100: Bhajan by Iraiarul Shakthi Shanmuga Raja
2330: Udukkuppattu (Sri Karthikeyan and Sri Sukumaran, Thrissur, Kerala)

10th December 2006 [MidNight of Saturday to Early Morning of Sunday]

0130: Ayyappan Jananam, Karpoora Deeparadhanai
0200: Bhagavathi Palkindi Procession (Procession starts from Sembakkam Sangu Udhaya Amman temple to reach the venue)
0430: Thri Uzhichal
0530: Ayyappan - Vavar vettu thadavum

 

  1. Pilgrims who are interested to participate in the Laksharchana can pay INR 71/- (Indian Rupees seventy one only) in advance and book thier names.
  2. Pilgrims can also help and donate in the Annadhanam.
  3. The organizers would sincerely like to thank all those who made the previous years' function a grand success and they hope for the same type of support and patronage for this and coming years.
  4. If you want Ayyappa Pooja and/or Bhajans to be scheduled in your homes, you can contact the organizers by paying any amount of INR 301 (Indian Rupees three hundred and one only).
  5. Organizers' Contact Address:

    New No. 219, (Old No. 161), Velacherry Main Road,
    Sembakkam,
    Chennai -- 600 073.

    Telephone: +91 98410 30591/+91 98847 04227/+91 98415 97514


Thursday, December 07, 2006

Online Application for GameShow

Online Application for GameShow

Gone are the days when television boxes were called as Stupid Boxes. Now each of the individual private and prasar bharati owned television channels are competing with each other to provide high quality programmes and increase the number of viewers for them. Towards these goals and from Tamil language channels spectrum, I would put that Jaya TV and Vijay TV rank on the top on the basis of the following parameters:
  1. Superior Quality Telecast
  2. Neutrality of News
  3. Unbiased and focuses all aspects of the society like a balanced presentation of Politics,
  4. Sports, News, Entertainment etc.
  5. Healthy talk shows and competitions like 'Neeya Naana'.
  6. Truly Competitive Spirit Game Shows like Jackpot.

While casually browsing through the websites of these television channels, I found the online application form for 'Jackpot' Game Show in Jaya TV website. Though it is an online application form, you ought to print it and have it signed by all the willing participants and send across as a post or courier to Jaya TV office. The programme is really very excellent for the following reasons:

  1. Brings out the latent knowledge of women and make them feel confident.
  2. The terms and conditions of the gameshow also stipulates that more number of female participants are preferred.
  3. The participants must be friends circle and not tied up in blood relation. This is to ensure a free-and-fair game show and also support development of friendship.
  4. The anchor (Actress Khusboo) who conducts the gameshow also is calm and does not do much pompous shows.
  5. The sponsor (Arokya Milk Diary) gives free milk packets to all audience also besides rich gifts for the participants.

Tell your near and dear friends and relatives regarding the same. Let them also try participating and win prizes.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Good News for CADD Aspirants

Good News for CADD Aspirants

There is some news for CADD Aspirants from Chennai. CADD Center is organizing a CADD Quest 2007 entrance examination and those who qualify in the examination would be eligible for a rebate in the CADD course in the form of scholarship upto INR 25000.

You can check out the website for details or can contact CADD Center Chennai at the following number: +91 44 28474959. Share it with your friends and relatives too, who might be aspiring for a course in CADD.

Sabarimala Temple Opening and Closing Dates for 2006-07

Sabarimala Temple Opening and Closing Dates for 2006-07

My sincere thanks to K P Gangadharan Nair for sharing the Excel sheet carrying the information on Sabarimala opening and closing dates for 2006-07. For the benefit of other devotees, I have converted them into a JPG format and have attached them below. Also refer our earlier year schedule here.


I humbly hope that this would be useful for devotees in planning thier pilgrimage to Sabarimala.

Sri Ayyappan Suprabhatham Downloads

Sri Ayyappan Suprabhatham Downloads

[Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa]
Special thanks to Dr. P.N. Damodaran for having searched, compiled and uploaded Sri Ayyappan Suprabhatham for the benefits of millions of devotees and having taken pains for uploading those tons of information to RapidShare. Interested readers can check out this hyperlink to access the download URL. The web group is accessible to members only and hence your membership is subject to moderator approval.

I have also uploaded another version of Sri Sastha Suprabatham, which I have uploaded to the YahooGroups Files Section for the benefit of millions of devotees. My humble and sincere thanks to Redhy Issac, for spending his night hours on his home Airtel Broadband in getting the download for me.

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa!
Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa!

Maha Satsang by Poojya Sri Sri Ravishankar Today

Maha Satsang by Poojya Sri Sri Ravishankar Today

Just wanted to recall and remind about the Maha Satsang by Poojya Sri Sri Ravishankar ji that is being organized in Anna University Grounds today. We have discussed about this in detail over here.

This, I hope, would be a greatest of the great treasure event for Chennaiites in getting the blessings of Poojya Guruji, whose events Sanskar TV used to telecast almost on a everyday and sometimes on a every hour basis.

Mark your calendars and try to attend the event to get the blessings of Poojya Guruji.

Do Your Duty Sincerely

Do Your Duty Sincerely

My Inbox.com recieved a very interesting email yesterday quoting something negative about Community-Credit.  The content of the mail was rather informative that Community Credit does not offer any shipment of prizes to India, it would mean waste of Internet bandwidth and time.

At the same time, my stand of using Community Credit is not for just prizes. It gives me an extreme pleasure of knowledge sharing and learning in the process of colloborative development effort. As the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 (Karma Yoga), I am truthful to myself and my conscience in the assigned duties and helping others in the service of the Lord.

I just don't care the damn thing about anybody mocking on me on whatever be the case. Mocking and laughing at the back is just thier own Swadharma and I don't want to interfere in it. I would rather thank my inbox.com for promptly delivering such messages to 'Spam' folder instead of wasting my precious time, since my Calendar shows more tasks in hand to be completed.

Do Your Duty Sincerely

Do Your Duty Sincerely

My Inbox.com recieved a very interesting email yesterday quoting something negative about Community-Credit. The content of the mail was rather informative that Community Credit does not offer any shipment of prizes to India, it would mean waste of Internet bandwidth and time.

At the same time, my stand of using Community Credit is not for just prizes. It gives me an extreme pleasure of knowledge sharing and learning in the process of colloborative development effort. As the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 (Karma Yoga), I am truthful to myself and my conscience in the assigned duties and helping others in the service of the Lord.

I just don't care the damn thing about anybody mocking on me on whatever be the case. Mocking and laughing at the back is just thier own Swadharma and I don't want to interfere in it. I would rather thank my inbox.com for promptly delivering such messages to 'Spam' folder instead of wasting my precious time, since my Calendar shows more tasks in hand to be completed.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Thiruvannamalai Deepam Today

Thiruvannamalai Deepam Today

The world famous 'Thiruvannamalai Deepam' is lighted today in the hills of Thiruvannamalai. Morning was today is 'Bharani Deepam' and towards evening they would light the 'Maha Deepam'.  We have earlier discussed the greatness of Thiruvannamalai and its peer towns like Thiruvarur, Kasi (Varanasi), Chidambaram over here.

Today, while coming through Tambaram, I could see a record number of buses crowding and all bound for 'Thiruvannamalai'. All roads lead to Thiruvannamalai today! For Sri Vaishnavite, the variant of Thiruvannamalai Deepam, which is observed as Pancharatra Deepam is celebrated on 5th December 2006.

Now the greatness of Thiruvannamalai can be seen right through your desktop too. They have launched a website called 'Om Arunachala'. Check out the website for full details about Girivalam, Maha Deepam, Temple History, Travel Details etc.

Hotel Saravana Bhavan -- Enchanting Food Empire

Hotel Saravana Bhavan -- Enchanting Food Empire

This weekend, Hotel Saravana Bhavan (HSB) seems to be my favorite haunt elsewhere and here in Chennai. Yesterday before starting off to Mahalingapuram Ayyappan temple in the evening, I had a chance to peep into the new air-conditioned restaurant of HSB. It was well-maintained and the food was served with a good ambience. Sometime last week, I was also looking out for the telephone number of Hotel Saravana Bhavan but could not immediately get it. Well! We somehow managed to get it via 1947 Helpline directory services too.

While paying the bills yesterday, we got the following quick reach telephone numbers of HSB, which I would like to share with the readers too.

  1. Dial-O-Dine -> 1 901 425 5577 (This I guess is a toll number only but all-India. This number is reachable, I guess, only on BSNL/MTNL telephone lines).
  2. The rest of the branch numbers are available in thier website.

The food served is really relishing and also is served clean and pure. Of course, I admit that HSB is relatively expensive but they try maintaining the quality of the food served at higher levels. HSB is also very good in thier very friendly advertisements. They don't show very pompous and obscene advertisements. A friendly wedding advertisement and a melodious music adds a big plus for them. The line in their ad song ("Ullam Kollai Poguthe. Hotel Saravana Bhavan suvaiyilae") better reflects the slogon on the website ("Mouthwatering Website"). The actual meaning of the word is "You (Hotel Saravana Bhavan) enthrall us with the mouth-watering dishes".

Since currently I am in Sabaraimala vratham, I need to be extra careful with respect to the food that is being taken. Since by virtue of the fact that Saravana Bhavan is at my vicinity, I personally feel that the food is from safe hands. HSB Managament is very religious concern too. Any HSB branch, you can see the pictures of Lord Muruga and Thirumuruga Kripananda Variyar. We need to humbly appreciate them for the Kripananda Variar website sponsor too. Even HSB management sponsors for orphanages on holy festivals like 'Krithigai' etc.

With its wings spread across the globe, I don't think we are away from the homely Tamil dishes wherever we are. Even for employees, I think Hotel Saravana Bhavan is very friendly. You can check out Mali's weblog on Hotel Saravana Bhavan to get a glimpse of the same.

Let us wish them all success and further growth and try to best use their services.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Saturday Schedules

Saturday Schedules

Today being Saturday, relatively free and also due to late returning home yesterday night following the http://deepak.blogdrive.com/archive/186.html, I started from home a bit late. I got down at Vijayanagar. The bus I took from Camp Road to Vijaya Nagar was a very interesting thing. Normally the 5A route is classified as superfast but I think the driver that was steering the bus today was a skunky punk and the way he was taking the bus was really a hilarious comedy. For every two kilometers, the way he changed and applied gears turned the journey really turbulent.

I wanted to take a printout of Sri Ayyappa High Resolution Picture since we were planning a pooja sometime this week. Even this week, while hunting to take a color printout of this photo, I encountered very interesting people with very interesting and rather cheap and base mentality. To summarize and recap a few of the persons and from the location they are hailing from:

  1. Browsing Center at Rajakilpakkam 25 INR for printout and 20 INR for browsing. We don't take direct URLs. Pay for browsing one hour even for one page only. Only black and white. What is the difference?
  2. Browsing Center at Velacherry No color printout. But he offered to take the URL only.
  3. Browsing Center at Egmore (Connemara Public Library Premises) This guy was busy on the mobile phone flirting with his girl without caring for the waiting persons and we had to come out immediately.

Fortuanately, today I got one more browsing center in Velacherry again called REMSS. They are actually a DTP cum Tally Insitute and also doing web designing, color printouts, xerox, Internet Browsing etc. While the girl sitting at the browsing counter was barking similar to the one at Rajakilpakkam, after transferring the file to DTP unit, the guy sitting over there was very compassionate. At the first inspection of PDF, he was skeptical over whether the PDF would print properly or margins cut off. He suggested that we could open in Corel and try doing something. But since I was uneasy in editing the picture, he tried researching with the print properties of PDF reader and voila, he got the printout crystal clear. All with the blessings of the Lord. He was very happy and me too. I have linked the high resolution picture in this post for the benefit of other readers and Sri Saranam Ayyappa devotees too.

After taking the printout, before boarding the bus for Ekkaduthangal, it was the order of the Lord that I should enter the Sri Yoga Narasimha temple at Velachery. It was a great time since they were conducting the Pavithrotsavam for the Perumal. I also got a pamplet from the temple and I would try blogging them shortly in my Sri Vaishnava Network weblog and update the URL here as comments.

Friday, December 01, 2006

An Event of Self-Introspection and Self-Development

An Event of Self-Introspection and Self-Development

Today while commuting to workplace in the morning, I had some other schedule to be adhered to. The New Internal Affairs Ministry had some health developments and hence he needed to have himself accompanied to a doctor near Tambaram Sanatorium. The bus which I took to reach Tambaram was again a humourous route. I took the bus 51L on its return journey to Tambaram.

While checking the communication route from Tambaram to Sanitorium, I found the hoarding near Tambaram subway indicating a workshop by Shri Ravishankar of "The Art of Living Foundation". Here are the details of the course:


  1. Maha Satsang by Guruji Sri Sri Ravishankar,
    Date: 5th December, 2006
    Time: 1830 hours Indian Time
    Venue: Anna University Grounds, Chennai.
  2. Health and Happiness Course
    Dates: 6th to 8th December 2006
    Time: 1830 hours to 2030 hours Indian Time.
    Venue: Anna University Grounds, Chennai.

If you are interested to volunteer, please contact the following:

  1. S. I. Nagarajan +919841580075
  2. Sriram +919884088788
  3. Ranganath +919841034247

The Art of Living, Tamil Nadu website: http://www.artoflivingtn.org/Index.htm

The organizers have also setup an Online Payment Gateway to purchase Donor Passes. Click here.