Personal Weblog of Deepak Vasudevan

Prathishta and Samprokshanam of Sri Ayyappa and Sri Guruvayoorappa Temple in Velacherry I would like to share the information about Sri Ayyappa and Sri Guruvayoorappa Temple Prathishta and Samprokshanam celebration that I came across from the advertisements that the temple authorities have put near the Velacherry for the benefit of other Sri Ayyappa devotees. Event: Prathishta and Samprokshanam of Sri Ayyappa and Sri Guruvayoorappa Temple. Date: 14th July 2008 Temple Address: 7, 4th Cross Street, Dandeeswaram Main Road, Velacherry, Chennai -- 600 042. Temple Contact Number: +914422430329 Swamiyae Saranam Ayyappa!!

Online School Textbooks from Indian School Education Departments I actually thought of sharing this a while back but because of time constraints it has been remaining in the Write Queue for a while. Two of India's school education departments like CBSE ( C entral B oard of S econdary E ducation) of NCERT ( N ational C ouncil of E ducation R esearch and T raining) and Tamil Nadu Text Book Society have brought in innovative online websites that hosts the textbooks of various school classes. The websites are: 1. Tamil Nadu Text Books Society TextBook Online 2. NCERT Textbooks For those who have school-going kits in their homes, I am sure, now can help out them by guiding them to these informative websites too.

Innovative Time Management Helper websites The importance of time can never be underestimated. Every second is very important and we should take utmost care and precaution that we do not waste time for any unproductive activities. There are a number of utility programmes and websites that help us, in this Internet Age to support and help us in effectively managing our time. This blogger prefers ' Todolist ', which is a freeware open source utility downloadable from CodeProject . Perhaps if you are interested, check out a review of todolist in my other weblog over here . Since this is a desktop tool, the onus of remembering and carrying the files wherever you go, lies on you. Thanks to Rajesh Subramanian ( CodeProject MVP ) for sharing a nice website called ' Remember The Milk '. A quick tour of the website shows a lot of features that help us manage our time very productively. They also seem to be supporting text-message reminders for a few countries. The other exce...

Satisfying (y)our aspirations for gold jewellery Everyone loves jewellery. And the most cutest of the jewellery items are Silver, Gold, Diamond. These days there are also advertisements for Platinum jewellery all over the city. If you watch attentively the Tamil news channels from 1800 hours to 2100 hours, there is a section dedicated to 'Business News' and they have the following announcements in it: Gold/Silver Prices Foriegn Exchange Rates And these days, Gold has been most dear that we can not just walk into a jewellery showroom and purchase it. There should be a definite plan to purchase gold jewellery. A quick research on the jewellery showrooms in Chennai revealed that they all have good 'Small Savings Programme' where you pay a small amount every month to them. They maintain a passbook similar to bank passbook and give you. After paying for a stipulated period, they give you some interest for the maturity amount along with some incentive. But be careful regardin...

Tamil Nadu's Premier Diary Products Supplier comes closer to you ... I don't think anyone would be there who does not know Aavin milk . Aavin is a premier diary product supplier to everyone across the state of Tamil Nadu and I believe it is also Government of Tamil Nadu undertaking. Take the example of the city of Chennai. When you feel really tired somewhere, you need not worry about taking the carbonated water cool drinks. There should be an Aavin milk booth somewhere near you. At least, a few of them I could suggest (as I recall) over here: Broadway (near Kuralagam) Spencer Plaza Junction CMBT Chennai [I believe they have two stalls. You can get a good hot cup of milk quenching your thirst and energizing you for a tiresome bus journey] Mylapore Tank Perhaps I would say, you can check out Aavin website (which I have hyperlinked in the opening sentence of the post) for complete details. Well! Coming back to the main discussion. I just came across an advertisement in Spencer ...

Siruvachoor Madhurakaliamman Temple near Thiruchi During my Vishu Sabarimala trip this year and when we returning back to Chennai, we went to Siruvachoor Madhurakaliamman temple. While coming out of the temple, I saw the temple noticeboard where they had advertised about the website of the temple also. I noted it down but misplaced it somewhere. Today, by the grace of Goddess, I came across the website and the URL is this one: http://www.siruvachurmathurakali.org/ The page has a good design but it is little heavy because of lot of images. The website is fully in Tamil and the text also is displayed as images and that is the reason, I doubt, when I misplaced the URL, I could not spot it through a quick search engine. I just thought I would share the same to other readers so that interested can try planning a visit to the temple and get the blessings of the Lordess.

Distribution of Textbook Guides by Noble Foundation, Madurai I came to know of Noble Foundation through my college friend.. They have a very noble mission of helping out students in various schools and colleges by distributing text books and guides. I just recieved an email newsletter from them regarding this year's plan of distribution and just thought I would share out with other interested readers so that more people can participate in lending a helping hand to a needy in his/her education. " A candle lights another and in the process neither grows dimmer but brightens up the entire ambience " is a proven saying right? From the newsletter, I could gather the following information, which I would like to share: The academic year (2007-08) witnessed a distribution of text books to 54 students. Most of the students have returned their books after completion of their course. Books seems to be good and which are able to be utilized this year were stitched / wrappered. T...

Evergreen Memories (Album Collection) :: Recall of Takewing (3rdAgenda Parent Company) Colleagues A while back, one of my previous company (3rdAgenda -- Agenda Netmarketing P Ltd) CTO ( Rajendran Dandapani ) sent out a fond "Recall your memory" snap. He also opened up a small quiz on how many of us could guess and recall the names of the persons. Our web development company (3rdAgenda) was actually child of Takewing, which is an advertising company. Later, 3rdAgenda was acquired by SSI Technologies. I don't think either SSI or 3rdAgenda exists now since search engines don't show up anything. Thanks to Rajendran for bringing up the YahooGroups which serves as a very good discussion platform amongst the Ex-3rdAgenda colleagues. The original quiz thread is here . I could guess the following persons: Ganesh Mandalam (CEO of 3rdAgenda) Makesh (Design and Creative Head) Raja Seetharaman (He managed the finance and other sections for both Takewing and her kid (3rdAgenda)) La...

The Big List of Departures... This month seemed to be a long list of departures and farewells in my close friend's circle. A few of them are: Resignation of Santosh Kumar Sinha from Siemens, Bangalore to a small organization in Hyderabad. Resignation of Redhy Palakatil Issac to a small organization based in Egmore, Chennai When Santosh flashed a text message to me besides sending an email informing of his last day at Siemens, I called him and verified whether he was serious or just cracking another joke. For some reason, I have been not able to convince Santosh to bring a state of stable mind for him. We would normally be advised that wavering mind is always considered bad. While my ex-colleague (Santosh Kumar Sinha) has a good cordial nature, versatile technical skills but this one downside of him seems to be paining my heart like anything. In one way, I feel bad in that whether I am not able to properly correct him or convince him as a friend on making him think logically and als...

The Necessity of Focus/Attention on Task On Hand There is a well-known saying in English "Haste makes waste", which emphasizes the need for a poised, calm and collected mental state and deep attention to the task on hand. There is a related saying "Procrastination is the thief of time". When we keep delaying our activities, we then rush up to complete the tasks in the 23rd hour, which brings in unwarranted haste jeopardizing a good delivery of the schedules. I had a good learning over last weekend at Canara Bank, Kasturba Nagar branch for an unnecessary haste which I had run into. I had to visit the branch for a few cash transactions and also checking up my financial tax related advises and statements. Since it was Saturday, the following were some of the featured scenes at the bank: The bank branch works only till 11.30 hours forenoon and hence there was a good amount of push and pull besides an acutely high amount of crowd at the branch, with each one vying with...

My Akshaya Tritiya Celebrations (May 8, 2008) This year's Akshaya Tritiya was celebrated on May 8, 2008. We also have a reminder post for the same over here . The Akshaya Tritiya is a very holy day and it is considered that we need not also check for Muhurta times on this day since the entire day is holy. There is normally two things which are done: Purchase of new things on this day Starting up of new ventures This time, I actually wanted to start of the GRT Gold Tree Investment scheme, operated by GRT Jewels . The scheme works like you pay a monthly amount and then at maturity, you can purchase a good gold jewel for the maturity value. This had been in my Todolist for long and I just went to GRT and joined the scheme. There was a good gift of cool Jewel box, which was a sign of God's blessing and a good omen. As it was also Thursday, I had a quick temple trip to Triplicane too.

Akshaya Tritiya Celebrations on May 8 My Yahoo Calendar gently reminded me that I needed to plan some small purchase for May 8. What is that all about? It is the Akshaya Tritiya celebrations . You can check out my previous year Akshaya Tritiya celebrations while I was at Irving, TX then over here . I just thought of sharing this information in advance so that more interested readers too can try plan about thier celebrations for Akshaya Tritiya. I did some little research with GRT Jewellery . They have something called 'Gold Tree' savings scheme where you pay a little amount every month. GRT would also give some interest to the maturity amount. They also give some cash incentive or an equivalent attractive prize. At the end of the stipulated period (15 months), we can get a jewellery to the extent of the fund that has accumulated. I have hyperlinked their website and hence interested readers can directly contact them for more details.

My Agni Pravesham We have to harvest whatever we have sown. There is no exemption for anyone in this regard. This birth and the various bliss/curses that we enjoy are actually, as our elders say, are the fruits of our Karma that has gone in the previous birth and also in the previous years. To an extend, in our hindu mythology, it is said that when any of our ancestors are not satisfied with the pitru work , the effects descend upon upto three heirs or generations. This was the query to my Lord from me during my Vishu trip to Sabarimala : "How about my Karma effects on the current birth? I am trying to focus upon you. But mundane disturbances from all quarters keep pinging me and inundating me. Can you help?". I strongly believe post this trip the answers and corrective actions have started to rotate the time wheels in full swing. We always believe that Agni is the sole witness for us in most of our religious functions. During the weddings, Agni remains as the witness for a g...

Agni Nakshitram starts on May 3 and ends on May 28 The peak summer period of South India, which we call in Tamil as Agni Nakshitram (அக்னி நக்ஷத்திரம்) has the following calendar days of significance this year: Starts on: May 3, 2008 Ends on May 28, 2008 I just thought of sharing it with other readers so that we can prepare ourselves to greet the summer with as much precautions as possible to avoid sun-driven h ealth hazards and to stay cool indoors. You can also check out our earlier discussion on Summer 2007 over here . Source Courtesy: HosurOnline Tamil Calendar

My Town My Pride I keep it clean and green All along the state of Tamil Nadu, nowdays you can see this board that is being put up by the Municipal Administration and State Administration. We should actually appreciate at least the token gesture of the state administration in realising the need for afforestation. Sometime back we also discussed about Gramotsavam . I think we should all support whole-heartedly the movements on afforestation for safeguarding our Mother Nature.

Chithirai Vishu Special Sabarimala Yatra by Sri Devi Karumari Amman Travels (5 Days) I have compiled a few information about the Sabarimala Yatra that is being organized by Sri Devi Karumari Amman Travels for Chittirai Vishu and have published over here. 10th April 2008 Kattunirai at 1900 hours and starting off 11th April 2008 Vellore Ratnagiri Temple, Sripuram Golden Temple Sri Lakshmi Narayani Amman Temple, Bhavani Sri Sangameswarar, Night halt at Guruvayoor 12th April 2008 Guruvayoorappan Temple, Chottanikkara, Yetramanoor, Erumeli, Holy dip at Pampa, Night halt at Sannidhanam 13th April 2008 Chittiraikani Darshan and Neyyabhishekam, Aryankavu. Night halt at Kutralam 14th April 2008 Bath at Kutralam Falls, Sri Kutralanathar Temple, Tenkasi Temple, Sri Villiputhur Andal temple, Night halt at Palani 15th April 2008 Palani Temple, Thiruchi Worayur Vekkali Temple, Melmaruvathur Adhiparasakthi, Night arrival at Chennai Tariff per head: INR 1000 [Additional charges apply for Irumudi] The...

Chennai Bloggers Meet in May 2008 I just visited IndiBlogger and learnt that they are planning to organize a Chennai Bloggers meet sometime in May 2008. Currently, a tentative date of 17th May 2008 has been announced. The venue has not been announced yet. IndiBlogger has dedicated a separate page for Chennai Meet over here , where you can also register and confirm your attendance to the meet. Chennai blogger meet 17/05/2008 at 16:00 For those who need more details, IndiBlogger has also published a Chennai contact number +91-44-45018949 to dial and get more details.

A friendly recall of VEC Days (1997-98) Today while travelling to work and while I was near Rajakilpakkam bus stand, I had an opportunity to wait near the college bus of Sathiyabama University . Just some how, my mind jumped back to about eight to nine years back to those VEC days when we were staying first near Virudhampet and then subsequently at Gandhi Nagar Seventh Main Road (near Don Bosco) and commuting to college either from Silk Mill Bus stop or RoundTana. The time wheel spins so fast waiting for none as we discussed sometime back here. The green college days where you have the complete freedom and assumes responsible behavior learning into a professional is always great to cherish. You get the best of friends over here. I also fondly recall the lyrics of the song "Mustafa Mustafa" from Kadhal Desam which says the departure from college days (farewell party) is only in tears and also there is one more line which says the college is truly heaven on earth. I am quoti...

A Good Versatile Astrologer in Nanganallur I just thought of sharing with other readers regarding consultation services of a very good versatile astrologer in the neighborhood of Pazhavanthangal - Nanganallur. His name is 'Arikesanallur Venkatraman'. We actually came to know of him from the TCP ( T ambaram C hromepet P allavaram) cable channel where he used to give astrological predictions till a few days back. I thought I would share the contact details so that other people who are in need of astrological contact services can benefit from his blessings and services. Contact Details: Arikesanallur K Venkatraman , 11/1, Thillai Ganga Nagar 24th Street, Nanganallur, Chennai -- 600 061. (Near to Anjaneya and Karumari temples) (Accessible easily from Pazhavanthal Railway Station) Telephone Number: +914422671614 While I had only the telephone number thanks to TCP channel, the address was the courtesy of BSNL Web Directory services .

Second Prize Winner of Community-Credit March 2008 I am happy to share the information that I have again won the second prize in Community-Credit September 2007 contest. You can check out other Prize winners and prize details over here . It is a sheer pleasure of helping peers in various technology forums and knowledge sharing and a recognition to cherish for ever.