Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car
NANO, the world's cheapest car is to hit India's streets in July 2009. The car will retail for just over $2,000 and can be yours, if you live in India and are very lucky, by July, Tata Motors said Monday.
The car, aptly called the people's car was to be on the roads just for Indian Rs.100,000 as planned by Ratan Tata. But the manufacturing schedule of the car was delayed due to the problems Tata Motors' Nano Car Plant in West Bengal faced in 2008, because of which the plant had to be closed down and relocated outside West Bengal. Though tagged at Rs.100,000, it could cost Rs.130,000 for the standard version when it is on the road. Read the initial hiccups NANO faced because of the problems in its plant.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Announcing General Elections in India - tusker
Announcing the General Elections in India , the largest democracy in the world !!, originally uploaded by Vanajai.
The author of this photo ads: Elections to the 'Lok Sabha' the lower house of Indian Parliament has been announced! The 15th general elections are scheduled to be conducted between 16th April to 13th May 2009!
(Photo taken at Guruvayoor, waiting for a while to snap this trumpeting posture! Thank you tusker!!)
Guruvayur, also spelt as Guruvayoor, is a busy temple town in Thrissur district of Kerala, India, 25 km to the northwest of Thrissur city. It is a major pilgrimage town in India.
Guruvayur is famous for the many centuries old Guruvayoor temple, one of the most important temples in Kerala. The temple's deity is Lord Guruvayurappan (Lord Krishna in the form of a child).
A major tourist attraction is the elephant sanctuary, Punnathur kotta, near the temple where jumbos (tuskers) are trained for temple processions. The sanctuary has more than 60 elephants, given as an offering to God by the devotees of Lord Guruvayurappan.
Getting there - buses ply every few minutes from Thrissur city. Buses also operate from Ernakulam, North Paravur, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Pamba/ Sabarimala, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kodungallur and Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram). Passenger trains operate from the station to Thrissur and Kochi, as well as an overnight express train to Trivandrum and further to Chennai. Cochin International Airport, the nearest airport, is some 80 km from Guruvayur. The other International Airport in Kerala is the Trivandrum Airport.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat speaks during the launch of the Third Front
Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPI (M) or CPM - General Secretary Prakash Karat speaks during the launch of the Third Front, ahead of Lok Sabha polls, in Dobbespet, about 60 KM away from Bangalore on Thursday.
If the third front becomes successful in putting up candidates in most of the constituencies, it can turn the fortunes of most of the candidates of the current ruling front lead by Congress and the opposition front lead by BJP, even if the third front cannot pullout a majority of its own. The result will be post-poll realignments and a new coalition of unlikely partners and possibly a Prime Minister the least expected by the political pundits in India.
PTI Photo by Shailendra Bhojak
Manmohan Singh meets Somnath Chatterjee
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee at the latter's official residence in New Delhi on Thursday.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Prediction for General Elections 2009 by Arun Nehru
Arun Nehru's prediction for General Elections 2009 published by Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, India.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Holi celebrations across India
Holi, the festival of colors, is a popular spring festival observed in India, Nepal, some of the South East Asian countries, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad, the UK and many other parts of the world. During the celebrations people apply colors on each other, light bonfires, distribute sweets and other delicacies, perform prayers, and they sing, dance, dine and make Holi an enjoyable celebration.
Holi is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Phalugna (Falguna or Phalgun Purnima), in the late February or early March. It is a major festival in most of north India, while in other parts Holi is celebrated with slight variations.
As legends say, the bonfires are lit to celebrate the miraculous escape of young Prahlad, the son of the demon king Hiranyakashipu, who had ordered his sister Holika to carry Prahlad into the fire and burn him. But Holika was burnt and Prahlad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu was safe due to his devotion.
Another legend is regarding Kamadeva (Kama), the god of love. He shot his arrow of love and lust at Lord Shiva to help Parvati to marry Shiva. But then Shiva opened his third eye, the power of which burned Kama to ashes. But for the sake of Kama's wife Rati (passion), Shiva restored him as a mental image, representing true emotional and mental state of love rather than physical lust.
In Vrindavan and Mathura, where Lord Krishna grew up, the festival is celebrated for 16 days to mark the divine love of Radha for Krishna. Lord Krishna is believed to have popularized the festival by playing pranks on the neighborhood girls. Legend says, Krishna complained to his mother about his dark color and his consort Radha's fair color, when Krishna's mother applied color on Radha's face, and that is the basis for applying color on the occasion of Holi. The Holi is in spring, the celebrated season of love.
In Mathura, the birth place of Lord Krishna, this day is celebrated with special prayers. All over the Braj region and its nearby places like Hathras, Aligarh, Agra Holi is celebrated in more or less same way as in Mathura, Vrindavan and Barsana.
Bengalis celebrate Holi as Dol Yatra or the swing festival where the idols of Krishna and Radha are placed on swings and women sing devotional songs, throw colors and perform dances as devotees take turns to swing the idols.
In Orissa people celebrate Holi in a similar manner but the idols of Lord Jagannath, the deity of the Jagannath Temple of Puri, replace the idols of Krishna and Radha.
Holi is celebrated with great fanfare in Gujarat with colors, singing and dancing. In Maharashtra, Holi is mainly associated with the burning of Holika and the fun of playing with colors.
In Manipur, in northeastern India, Holi is celebrated for six days. Introduced in the eighteenth century with Vaishnavism, it soon merged with the centuries old festival of Yaosang.
Civilians as well as the Indian security forces celebrate Holi in Jammu & Kashmir. Holi, the festival to mark the harvesting of the summer crop, is celebrated by the throwing of colored water and powder and singing and dancing.
In south India Holi is an outcome of the influence of the media, movies, marketing and migration. There are lots of people from north India living in different parts of southern Indian states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka and they celebrate Holi and the locals too join them in the celebrations.
The spring season may cause viral fever, cold, etc. due to climate changes. So applying natural colors has a medicinal significance. The colors used for Holi celebrations are traditionally made from medicinal plants like Neem, Kumkum, Haldi, Bilva and other medicinal herbs. And such colors can cure seasonal ailments. But commercialization of the celebration brought in artificial colors, which can contain toxic chemicals, and these are to be avoided.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Students smeare each other with color powder during Holi
Students smeared each other with color powder during Holi celebrations in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta. The tradition of Holi heralds the beginning of spring and is celebrated across India. Photo- Jayanta Shaw:Reuters, originally uploaded by johnhanscom.
Students smear each other with color powder during Holi celebrations in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta, India. The tradition of Holi heralds the beginning of spring and is celebrated across India.
School children celebrate Holi
School children throw coloured powder as they celebrate Holi, the Indian festival of colours, in the Indian city of Ahmadabad. [bbc], originally uploaded by johnhanscom.
School children throw colored powder as they celebrate Holi, the Indian festival of colors, in the Indian city of Ahmadabad in Gujarat.