Live Life Everyday

History is fascinating. It is filled with very interesting stories. Here is one such true story. You might have heard about an Afghan named Shahab-ud-Din Ghuri who invaded Delhi and was defeated by the king of Delhi, Prithvi Raj Chauhan. Shahab-ud-Din retired to Afghanistan and came back next year with another much powerful army. This time, he defeated Prithviraj and sat on the throne of Delhi. But what are the events that led to the defeat of the legendary king Prithviraj Chauhan? How did he become so weak in a year? The answer is love. Love is what made him weak and blind. Here is the story part; King Jaichand (Jayachandra) of Kannauj and Prithviraj Chauhan were not in good terms with each other. Both of them were very powerful kings. Jaichand's daughter Samyogita fell in love with Prithviraj after hearing about his heroic exploits and declared that she would marry only him. Jaichand arranged a swayavra (husband-selection) ceremony for his daughter but did not invite Pr...

Picture 1: Boats lined up at the Triveni Sangam, Prayag, Allahabad with pilgrims and tourists.  I have been to Allahabad last week and saw the site of the famous Kumba Mela at Prayag, also known as the Triveni Sangam. Hundreds of thousands of people come, as their forebears had come for thousands of years from all over India, to bathe at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical river, Saraswathi. Having visited in the winter season, I was fortunate enough to see migratory birds from Siberia playing and feeding in the Yamuna (See Picture 4). A dip at the Triveni Sangam is believed to break the cycle of rebirth and save one's soul. References to these ceremonial baths can be found in the accounts of Chinese Pilgrims who visited India some thirteen hundred years ago and even then these Melas were ancient and lost in an unknown antiquity. When you approach the Sangam from land, what welcomes you is a massive fort built by the great emperor Akbar. T...

Thrikodithanam Mahavishnu Temple  was built during the reign of the second Chera Empire in 800 AD. There is a stone fortress called  Bhoodathan Kotta  around this temple. According to local legends, the fortress was built out of a single stone, overnight, by a spirit ( bhoodam ). There is also a beautiful lake in front of the temple. Devoted to Lord Vishnu, Thrikodithanam Mahavishnu Kshetram, alias Adbhuta Narayanan Temple, is one of the five Pancha-Pandava temples in Kerala and among the 108 Vishnu temples in India. This 9th-century temple is located at Thrikodithanam in Changanacherry, 25 km from Kottayam. Adbhuta Narayanan is the chief deity and his idol along with consort Karpagavalli, in standing posture, is made of an unusual black stone called Aanjana-kallu. The temple also houses the idols of Lord Shiva, Lord Krishna, Ganapathi, Narasimha, Nagadevas, and Kshetrapala.The temple structure is an architectural excellence adorned with beautiful mural paintings....

 It was in 1805 AD, that the famed Diwan of Travancore Veluthampy Dalava made a market place at Changanacherry. The market was inaugurated by the exchange of an elephant. Now this market is one of the largest markets in Kerala and is the best attended in all of North Travancore. The chief trade is in rice, pepper, dry ginger, areca nuts and piece goods. Towards the memory of the centennial celebrations of the place in 1905, the people installed the " Anchu Vilakku" (Five Lamps) seen near the Boat Jetty at Market Road.      The lamp signifies the 'unity in diversity' of the local ethnic and religious sects - a truly fitting tribute to the ethos of Changanacherry.       Anjuvilakk                               

What is my inheritance? To what am I an heir? To all that humanity has achieved during tens of thousands of years, to all that it has thought and felt and suffered and taken pleasure in, to its cries of triumph and its bitter agony of defeat, to that astonishing adventure of man which began so long ago and yet continues and beckons to us. To all this and more, in common with all men. (Discovery of India, Jawaharlal Nehru)

An interesting story: *Where do birds go to die?*           Strange question, isn't it, but the answers are even stranger, or probably there is no answer at all.  The world is populated with flocks of birds, but strangely, one never sees bodies of dead birds lying around.   Rarely one does see bird remains left behind by a careless cat or a pigeon killed in flight by the sharp kite string during the makar sankrat kite festival. But, lying around dead from a natural cause? Never! So do birds live forever? When no answer comes to mind, what does one do? Well for many unanswered questions one does ask Google! That’s exactly what I did.  *Guess what? Google had no logical answer!*  To find the answer to my question, I browsed bird watching sites skimmed through ornithology resources but with no luck; just vague and funny answers.   Then I came across a very interesting article on ‘Dying Patter...

Dear Black Money, I am your weaker sibling, white. How are you? I am fine here in India and I hope you are enjoying your stay in Switzerland. I am writing this letter as I have heard that you are coming back to India. Is it true ? If it is, then I will suggest you to please reconsider your decision. Black, do you remember the days when we were together and there was no difference between you and me. We were simply, Money without any discrimination of black and white. But then some corrupt politicians and cruel businessmen separated us forever. Since that day, you have been growing in numbers and I am left on the mercy of salaried employees who do not have the privilege of you. People often call me No.1, but it’s you who went places- from Mauritius to Dubai to Switzerland, while I was locked in FD, Post Office or in PF. While I suffer from high rates of Income Tax, Service Tax, VAT, Property Tax, Entry Tax, you are immune to each one of them. You will be glad to know that today...

Highlights of Mohanlal's upcoming movie 'Odiyan' (also starring Prakash Raj - 'Iruvar' reunion - and Manju Warrier): In the film, Mohanlal plays the role of Odiyan Manikkan, the last surviving member of a tribal community in Kerala. Odiyan was a tribal community of Palakkad-Malabar region, which has now become extinct. The members of the Odiyan community made a living by scaring people in the dark for others. Odiyan, set in the pre-electricity era, is said to become the most expensive film in the history of Malayalam film industry and will be shot using 3D technology. The movie will be directed by debutant director VA Shrikumar Menon, who will also helm Mohanlal’s Rs 1000 crore project, The Mahabharata.

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Animal Farm is an allegorical novel by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union.  Orwell, a democratic socialist,  was a critic of Joseph Stalin and hostile to Moscow-directed Stalinism, an attitude that was critically shaped by his experiences during the Spanish Civil War. The Soviet Union, he believed, had become a brutal dictatorship, built upon a cult of personality and enforced by a reign of terror. ------------------------------ Animal farm: a fairy story (George Orwell) - Your Highlight at location 36-54 | Added on Thursday, 25 May 2017 10:49:11 "Comrades, you have heard already about the strange dream that I had last night. But I will come to the dream later. I have something else to say first. I do not think, comrades, that I shall be with you for many months longer, and before I die, I...

This is one of my favorite books and here are some of the highlights from my Kindle.   “Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so." The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) - Your Highlight at location 282-282 | Added on Friday, 19 May 2017 15:52:35 ==========   "One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continually stating and repeating the very very obvious, as in It’s a nice day, or You’re very tall, or Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you all right? At first, Ford had formed a theory to account for this strange behavior. If human beings don’t keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months’ consideration and observation, he abandoned this theory in favor of a new one. If they don’t keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working."  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Dougl...

Invictus is a poem by William Ernest Henley. This poem was one of the favorite poems of Nelson Mandela.  While incarcerated at Robben  Island prison , Nelson Mandela  recited the poem to other prisoners and was empowered by its message of self-mastery. Invictus   Out of the night which covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning of chance My head is bloody but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find me, unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. {Poem and the image is taken from the internet and is the property of their respective owners}

The story of 'Da' and 'Di'. Ever wondered how these two words came into use? It all began in Kerala in1942 when Ms. Bridgith, a British officer's wife started sending him telegrams from London. She used 'Da' for the word darling. In return,  He telegrammed her using 'di' for dear. An English speaking servant of the officer used to secretly read these telegrams.  He thought it was the best way of addressing each other. He started calling his wife 'Di'. His wife, while they were alone started to call him 'Da'. Thus began the use of Da and Di in Kerala. (Dr poppoyi's book of history) ----------------- Dr. Poppoyi is the self-proclaimed authority in history. He has a number of self-awarded PhDs to his credit. There is nothing that he doesn't know.You cannot win an argument with this self-centered bastard. so, don't even try.    © Josbin Itty

“Travel is an obsession Embrace the richness        Fall in love by all forms " Imagine, how you will feel, to sit alone near a pond in midst of crowd, breeze blowing over your body, and your face and mind filled with a sense of peace and tranquillity. I will call it as an overwhelming, breathtaking and soothing experience. That was the feeling I gathered in one of the Ancient temples of India, Madurai Meenakshi temple. So it all happened overnight. Ashwin, my travel mate and I were planning a journey and Madurai , Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi came to our heads. Obviously, it was not a pilgrimage. The place came to us randomly and we decided. That was it. Our country is blessed with a very good railway network. It is the third largest railway network in the world. It connects every corner of the country with the other. The journey started from Trivandrum. We went to Punalur to catch the Punalur-Madurai passenger train . We reached Madurai around 5.30 am....