School Uniform and Merit award Distribution function – 2015

At the outset, I start with pranams to Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamigal, the ruling and 36th Pontiff and His successor designate Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Vidhu Shekhara Bharathi swamigal the 37th Pontiff of Sri Sringeri Saradha Peetham for everyone’s welfare & continued prosperity.

We will enable their dreams

Dreams are not what you see while you are sleeping. Dreams are those that keep you from sleeping – Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Shri SS Srinivasan being felicitated

Our sincere thanks to all our philanthropist sponsors and donors. With your guidance and support, for the 5th year in a row, under the aegis of Smt Alamelu Trust (Regd) and Sri Kailasanathar trust, we successfully conducted the distribution of school uniforms to 250+ school children (Class 1 to Class 8) in 2 schools and Merit awards to 32 students from these 2 schools

The schools are:

Panchayath union school in Satttanathapuram and
Harijan Welfare school in Surakadu

Physically challenged student receiving sponsorship

Merit Sponsorship

Merit sponsorship

Merit sponsorship

Uniform distribution

School Head Master Shri Rajshekar and Alamelu Trust chairman S.Jagadeesan

Merit sponsorship



Cultural programme - I

Cultural programme - II

The elders in the village and School staff spoke about the consistency with which we are helping the school children with Uniforms and Merit awards every year.

I recently read the below article from our puranas and felt like adding it to the blog section. I would like to equate the message in the below article to the support provided by our esteemed sponsers and donors.

“ when you think of the pain and needs of others and work to help them, you are doing God's work and hence God Himself takes care of you"

School children with Uniforms

Distribution of Uniforms

One day Krishna and Arjuna were taking their usual walk, when they came across an old Brahmin begging, taking pity on his condition, Arjuna gave him a bag of gold coins. The man was overjoyed and went home. On his way he was robbed by a thief in the forest. He cursed his fate and the next day set off to requesting alms again.

Arjuna and Krishna saw again and when Arjuna got to know of his story, once again took pity and gave him a large diamond. The man took it home and kept it in an old pot which had been unused for many years in order to keep it safe and went to sleep. The next morning before he could wake up, his wife went to fetch water from the river and on her way back, she slipped and her pot broke. She immediately remembered the pot at home which lay unused and brought it to fill it with water. Just as she dipped the pot in to the river the diamond escaped the pot and went in to the river. When she returned home the Brahmin was desperately searching the house for the pot and when he saw it in his wife's hands, he got to know what had happened. Dejected with what had happened, he once again left home to go begging.

Once again Arjuna and Krishna saw him and when Arjuna heard of the unfortunate incident that had happened, he told Krishna ," I don't think this man is destined to be blessed at all, I don’t think I can help him anymore". Krishna then gave the man two pennies and the man took them and walked away. Arjuna then asked Krishna," My Lord, if gold coins and diamond could not change his condition, what good can two pennies do to him?". Krishna smiled and replied, "let us see".

As the man walked home he was cursing his fate when he saw a fish that had just been caught by a fisherman and was struggling for its life, he took pity on it and thought to himself," these two pennies cannot fetch me food anyway, let me at least save the life of this creature" and he purchased the fish and was about to throw it in the river when he saw that the breathlessness of the fish was caused due to some large obstruction in its mouth and when removed it , it was the very diamond he had lost in the river. He was overjoyed and started shouting "Look what I found! Look what I found". At this very time the thief that had robbed him in the forest was passing by and heard the Brahmins shouts, he recognized the Brahmin and thought that the Brahmin too recognized him and was thus shouting. Fearing that the Brahmin may take him to be executed, he rushed to him and begged for his forgiveness and returned all the gold coins he had stolen from him. The Brahmin was happy and walked away joyfully with all his wealth. He went straight to Arjuna to narrate the turn of events and thanked him for all his help and went away.

Arjuna then asked Krishna,"My Lord, how is it that my gold and diamond could not help him but your meager two pennies did?. Krishna replied," when he had the gold and diamonds he was only thinking of himself and his needs, but when he had the two pennies he put the needs of another creature before his and so I took care of his needs. The truth is O Arjuna,

“ when you think of the pain and needs of others and work to help them, you are doing God's work and hence God Himself takes care of you"



Trust members on stage

Special and profound thanks combined with gratitude to Shri S.S.Srinivasan for co-coordinating and making all arrangements for making the event a grand success

Special thanks to Mr Somasekar Sundaresan from Mumbai for supporting the complete Merit award sponsorship for the second year in a row.

Photos of the event are uploaded here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/112135165009821845164/albums/6184246263359904177?gpinv=AMIXal_OJP7xQKeailb-bm7S2DffTR7aZ7Wu8LAsDL4P3tA-OLkitltydqmVj8d7EmQc0mjL_BNjFDO9xNytnfKnTd3wR_KYKxYKcCHMJmfpFLAUd2oGNIQ&cfem=1#photos/112135165009821845164/albums/6184246263359904177?gpinv=AMIXal_OJP7xQKeailb-bm7S2DffTR7aZ7Wu8LAsDL4P3tA-OLkitltydqmVj8d7EmQc0mjL_BNjFDO9xNytnfKnTd3wR_KYKxYKcCHMJmfpFLAUd2oGNIQ&cfem=1

Our sincere and profound thanks to our donors
(In Alphabetical listing - after the trusts)

Sl No	Name
1	Alamelu Trust
2	Kailasanathar Trust
3	Ajit Ashok Shenvi
4	Bhooma Srinivasan
5	Cadavasal R Natarajan (USA)
6	G Manavalan
7	Gomathy Ram
8	Harini (USA)
9	Kaweri K Pattar
10	Lalitha Natarajan (USA)
11	Linea Properties
12	Mahesh Chandra
13	Meenakshi Jagadeesan
14	Ms Meenakshi Ramamorthy - Muscat
15	Praveen Baskaran
16	Puneeth Upadhyaya
17	Rajsekar D S
18	Raju MRC
19	Ramu Mahalingam - Chennai
20	Sathish Chandrasekaran (USA)
21	Shriram (USA)
22	Sivasubbarayan (USA)
23	Smt Gnanam Viswanathan - Hyderabad
24	Smt Kamala Natarajan - Chennai
25	Somasekar Sundaresan
26	Srinivas Rao Bonu
27	Srivatsa Ganesh
28	Suresh Swaminathan
29	Veena Priya Gopu

Haridwar and Rishikesh - A tribute to River Ganges

             

“OM Sree Gurubhyo Namaha”.

At the outset, I start with pranams to Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamigal, the ruling and 36th Pontiff and His successor designate Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Vidhu Shekhara Bharathi swamigal the 37th Pontiff of Sri Sringeri Saradha Peetham for everyone’s welfare & continued prosperity. 

                   
Gita and Ganga constitute the essence of Hinduism; one is theory and the other its practice.” - Swami Vivekananda

River Ganges - Hari pauri ghat

Our last leg of the tour brought us to Haridwar and Rishikesh. We went to Rishikesh first and as we traversed the holy cities, it is the River Ganges all the way in the form of River,tributary and canals. An over-whelming feeling pervades the atmosphere both internal and external. Sitting on the banks of Ganga, when I reflected for few moments in silence, the first thoughts that came to me were.

 The river Ganges has seen the past of our generations from time immemorial, is guiding us in the present and will be there in the future with our succeeding generations.

Rudraksha Tree

Lakshman Jhula

We went to 'Lakshman temple' and I understand this is the place Lord Sri Lakshman bestows his blessing and grace in an unique manner. In other temples elsewhere the Idols are always with Rama and Sita. Lord Lakshmana did severe penance and followed strict austerities here on the banks of river Ganges for 12 years in order to free himself from 'Brahmahathi Dhosa'after killing Indrajit (Meghdooth) the son of Ravana.   ( Brahmahathi Dhosa - A sin that accrues after killing a Vedic Brahmin or Sacred cow. Doing severe penance, tapas, Japa, homa and wearing of Eka Mukhi Rudraaksha are believed to help a person to get rid of this sin. The causal effect of the sin is endless cycles of re-birth ) 

We spent some time in Lakshman Jhula and moved to the next hop.

Ganga Arthi Bhajans in Paramartha Nikethan Ashram

Paramartha Nikethan Ashram

Devotees Offering floral Thanks to River Ganges

In Rishikesh, we participated in 'Ganga Arthi' from the precincts of Paramatha Niketan ashram. I was very impresssed by the social work done by this ashram. The most notable being the 'Bio- toilets' done in participation with our Indian premier research organization DRDO, whcih is the need of the hour. Melodious and Heart-rendering bhajans were sung by devotees and a Yagna ( Fire ritual ) performed as a thanks-giving to River Ganges for all that she ahs done. This ritual is conducted every day and many foreign devotees also participate and perform the yagna. For a congregation of about 500 people hardly 5-6 floral plates were offered to the river. 

( Thanks to the ashram for this cleanliness, as unmindful dumping of flowers into river Ganges is also a main source of pollution in the down-streams - We noticed this in Haridwar)

Hari Pauri Ghat - Haridwar

Maya Devi temple - Haridwar

Myself and Dev took a long and fast paced walk to Maya devi temple. The interesting, aspect was when we enquired the way, everyone said, it is 10 mins from that point and the same was repeated in the next hop on further inquiry, and the 10 mins seemed an endless walk in the narrow and intertwining lanes. I brought back 'Ganga Jal' (water) in a big bottle and handed over for pooja in a nearby temple. The Ganga jal was used to perform abhishekam for lord Shiva in the subsequent 'Pradhosha pooja' in the nearby temple and I also participated. I felt immensely happy :-)

Devotees tonsuring their Hair in fulfillment of prayers 

River Ganges

River Ganges - The cradle of our civilization continues her journey without any reward or recognition. Let us do our duty in keeping the Ganges clean and pass the rich legacy to our succeeding generations.

I have not penned down much on Haridwar and Rishikesh as lot of content is available on the web and I do not want to duplicate myself

The request i have for the blog readers are two fold:

1) Some of these places like Haridwar and Rishikesh are physically challenging  . In a huge country like us with 1.2 billion people and good amount of disposable income these historically and religiously important places are perennially crowded. Visit these places when you are young and energetic and do not procrastinate. When we are aged, the Spirit may be willing, but not the flesh

2) All of us took a vow to keep all our rivers clean and we request you to do the same.

And, that ends my interesting saga for our visit to Ninital, Binsar, Corbett , Haridwar and Rishikesh. Hope you enjoyed as well.

Jim Corbett Nationl Park - Home Sweet home for the wild !

“OM Sree Gurubhyo Namaha”.

At the outset, I start with pranams to Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamigal, the ruling and 36th Pontiff and His successor designate Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Vidhu Shekhara Bharathi swamigal the 37th Pontiff of Sri Sringeri Saradha Peetham for everyone’s welfare &     continued prosperity. 

The river that flows in you, flows in me as well - Kabir

River view - Ramganga ( Kosi River)

Moving on with from the snow-clad peaks of Himalayas which was a picture perfect setting of our break-fast family rendezvous, we moved on to Corbett National park to enjoy the beauty of wild-animals in their natural habitat. We had a unbelievable welcome, where-in we had hi-tea on the river side. Our stay was in River-view retreat and post check-in we were asked to join-in for hi-tea on the banks of river Kosi ( Ramganga). The resort is situated on the banks of Kosi and an exit leads you to the river directly

Cooling off near the river side

Light Music party in hotel

The sparking and crystal clear water of Kosi river attracted us and we spent lazing around the river banks and indulging in idle conversations. Video shows and light music were organized and a singer sang priceless Hindi songs of yesteryear's and brought us back to our child-hood days.

Massive Bee-Hives in a tree

A Scavenging Jackal

A Sambha Deer eating Mud - for Minerals

Jim Corbett park is situated around in  park area of 500 +Sq km’s and adjoining the another park Sonanvadi wild-life sanctuary. An buffer area is also ear-marked and in total the animals have around 1300 Sq km to freely tress-pass. On the high-way we can see multiple sign-boards “ Animals ( elephants and Deers) have the right of way” . The message was loud and clear, “we were in their home”.

Monitor Lizard resting in its burrow

The park is named after the famous British Jim Corbett and stories abound on his prowess in shooting down man-eating tigers and leopards. He had single handedly brought down 30 of them (which were man-eating) and was being revered as ‘God’ in helping the tribal villages from the prowling nocturnal beasts. After retirement, he has actively focused his energy in “forest conservation” and keeping a habitat for our National Animal. Records indicate the tiger population in the wild has picked-up and conservation endeavors are yielding desired results.

I wanted to pen- down the below instance of Bird and Animal behavior which we observed.

Black faced Langur - Alpha Male

Submission to Alpha Male ?

Spotted Deer

          The Monkey’s ( Rhesus monkey )and Deer’s are most of the time spotted together. The monkey perched on top of the tree branches pluck the leaves and keep feeding the Deer’s beneath ( Spotted deer’s and barking deer are a common sight). The barking deer which has acute sense of smell warns the monkey’s and other animals if case a tiger or cheetah is around by making a barking sound continuously. On our Safari, we noticed a deer, was barking continuously on the impending danger and the monkey’s and birds were running helter-skelter by making various types of sounds. 

We definitely have a lessor or two to be learned from our wild-cousins. ‘Stay together and help each other”



Red whiskered Bulbul

A pair Indian Horn-Bill in playfull mood

Oriental Magpie Robin

We spotted different Himalayan species of birds namely parakeets, different breeds of king fisher, Green bee-eater. The cynosure of all eyes was a the playful ‘grey Indian hornbills

Indian Peacock

Two peacocks were in hot pursuit in attracting a pea-hen. The mighty one displayed it’s plumage and was able to hold-on for a longer time than the other one. The pea-hen ran a distance of 30-40 meters towards it’s partner and they disappeared into the bushes. Peacocks were seen in plenty

An Elephant herd

At one stretch, we saw a herd of about 20 wild elephants making a cross. The herd got split into 2. Elephants are a matriarchal society and this was very evident in the crossing. The matriarch stayed behind, ensured the young calf’s have safely crossed the road, checked on all sides for any threats or impending danger and then joined the herd on the other side

Girija Lakshmi temple on the banks of Ramganga River

The authorities have taken cognizance to the fact of keeping the local community engaged in wild-life protection. The wild life safari park nicely supports good local employment opportunities. The locals are also trained on wild life conservation and heavily depend on tourists for their income and livelihood. This has resulted in good awareness resulting in a win-win situation . We visited the Corbett National park museum and Girija devi temple. 

Binsar - Flora and Fauna - Nature @ it's best

Binsar : Travelogue

At the outset, I start with pranams to Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri SriSri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamigal, the ruling and 36^thPontiff and His successor designate Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Vidhu Shekhara Bharathi Swamigal the 37^th Pontiff of Sri SringeriSaradhaPeetham for everyone’s welfare and continued prosperity.

Himalayan snow capped peaks - A picture perfect setting

Mrigthuni peak

To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books.”

-Dan Brown in ‘The Lost Symbol’

From Nainital we moved into the 2^nd leg of our tour covering Binsar. Binsar is located in Almora district. Our stay was in ‘Grand Oak Manor’ inside the Binsar wild life sanctuary. Binsar wild life sanctuary is located in central Himalayan region. Tourists need to get permission for entry into the sanctuary and there are time restrictions.

The Kumaon region was under the control of Chand Kings and they used the Binsar region as their summer capital. During the colonization the nearby Raniketh town became a cantonment and the Almora district ( also known as Kumaon) was a key administrative town and the commissioner of Kumaon operating from Almora district. Sir Henry Ramsey moved the administration to Binsar during the summer months in 1866. He built a residential bungalow in Binsar which served as his office and residence. Sir Henry Ramsay endeared himself to the people of Kumaon through his affable and compassionate style of functioning winning the hearts and minds of the local population. Almora remained loyal to British and Sir Henry Ramsay administered the region for 26 years. He wanted to settle in Binsar post retirement and however, was called back to England by the British.

Grand Oak Manor nestled in the mountain ranges

A Grand oak tree

His residential home changed hands and is now converted to a heritage hotel namely ‘Grand Oak Manor’ .

Binsar mainly consists of Oak, Cedar and Pine trees with an amazing variety of flora and fauna. The area was declared wild life sanctuary in the year 1988 for the conservation of forests and wildlife. Within the sanctuary there is no electricity (as wild animals like elephants and leopards may get electrocuted). Power is provided for 2-3 hours in the grand oak manor via gensets in the evening. When we lose a comfort-zone, the power of the human mind to adapt and plan to the availability of resourceis amazing.

On our day of landing in Binsar, there were dark clouds and the wind was howling. The net impact brought down the temperature further down and all of us scurrying for extra protection. The rains sheeting against the mountainous backdrop was amazing to watch.

Nanda Devi and Nanda Devi East peaks

Next day morning, when we sat in the break-fast table a look outside the windows was breath taking. The clear sky show cased the snow-capped Himalayan peaks. Imagine having break-fast with the grand and magnificent ‘Himalayan peaks’ in front of you as the setting. Awesome and overwhelming

Trek to Zero point - Himalayan peak -Trishul Parvat

I did an early morning trek to a place called ‘Zero point’ to have a closer look into the Himalayan peaks. It is suggested to this early morning to get a clear view of the peaks in the morning sky. 

Sher Singh and Sundar enjoying the Trek

Chestnut bellied rock thrush - Himalayan bird species

On the way, we saw Wild boars, Deer, mountain goats and different species of birds namely Chestnut bellied rock thrush, Rufous Sibia, Himalayan Bul-Bul, Red billed Blue Magpie etc. I repeated this along with Sanjay the next day using a different route and we saw many species of Himalayan birds. The guide Mr Sher Singh was very knowledge and adept and adroit in maneuvering tourists in the rough mountain terrains.

We did a 1 day trip to Jageshwar, Pre-historic cave painting of Lakhudiyar, Chitai temple and Kasardevi temple. 

Cedar tress in the Jageshwar temple complex

Jageshwar temples 

Jageshwar has been an important pilgrimage center and consists of a cluster of 125 temples built during the 7th and 18th century AD. Jagadguru Adi Shanakaracharya ( 790 to 822 AD) has visited this place and has re-established the sanctity of many of the temple. The area has served as the main transit center or 100+ years when spiritual seekers were visiting the holy Manasarovar in the Tibetan plateau by foot across the Himalayan Mountains. 

Lord Mrithunjaya

The temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva ( Yogeshwar, Jageshwar, Mrithyuanjaya, Lakulish, Surya, Kedarnath, and Goddess Navadurga, Prushti Devi, Kalikamba, . Special mention needs to be made for Lord Lakulish as the the statue is an exact replica of Buddha and one can see the integration of cultures between Buddhism and Hinduism . This statue is available in the museum. Do visit the museum opposite the temple, wherein ASI has preserved the rare stone sculptures for preservation and safe-keeping from Jageshwar temple. The 2 huge imposing Cedar trees in the temple complex standout.

Pre-historic cave painting in Lakhudiyar

In Lakhudiyar, the cave paintings captures the images of the daily life-style of the pre-historic people with drawing of animals, lizards, deer and hunting patterns.

Dev and family in Chitai temple

Sundar and family in Chitai temple

We visited Chitai temple ( A temple of bells) where one can find tens of thousands of bells being offered by devotees to fulfillment of their wishes and prayers. A statues of the Chand dynasty ruler is found in the temple as guardian of Justice.

Kasar Devi temple

Shiva Temple atop Kasar devi hills

An interesting fact of the Kasardevi temple is that it dates back to the 2^nd century AD. Swami Vivekananda has meditated and has captured his experience in his diaries. The Shiva temple atop the Kasar Devi hills is built by a person from the south named as ‘Rudra’ son of ‘Vaithi or Vaithili’. The stone epigraph in the temple captures the details.

Group photo with Sindhoor and Shikka

The stay in Grand oak manor was pleasant. The current owners  Mr Sindhu and Mrs Shikka Sindhu are very friendly and their suave mannerisms automatically attract people towards them. They and their team have imbibed the statement of belief ‘Hospitality is our creed”. The team treats the guests as their family and makes you feel at ease. We were treated to authentic ‘Kumaoni food’ with a variety of local spices for dinner and the taste buds relished it and craved for more. 

Floara @ its best

We left Binsar with a vow and resolve that we would come back to enjoy the Nature and the Nurture of the team in Grand Oak Manor J