Rameshwaram

Rameshwaram which is one of the shiva’s jyothirlingam (Only one in Tamilnadu).This temple town is quite crowded yet serene.One can see the divinity go hand in hand with all the turbulence.

A word of caution, please visit this temple in off season or any non holday to engulf the entire town in single visit.

We reached Rameshwaram via train from Madurai.It is easy to go from Madurai (Another temple town alias thoonga nagaram i.e Town which never sleeps).Handful of passenger trains run between Madurai and Rameshwaram in the day time but its all unreserved passenger trains. Only two early morning trains run on Mondays,Wednesdays and Thursdays at   around 2 am and 4 am.I took an unreserved train at 12.20 pm from Madurai and landed at around 4.20 pm in Rameshwaram.

Though many buses ply from Madurai yet i preferred train since i want to go on Pamban bridge.Train track over the sea is another thing you need to indulge in when rameshwaram calls you.Parallel to the track over the land you can see Anna indira Gandhi road which is a nice stretch road where you can see the part of Bay of bengal and the fishing boats parked at the end of the day.

Railway station is normal one with newly built retiring room.As people from all over India are thronging this town the entire town ranks low in cleanliness.

We visited Dr.APJ Kalam sir's house just out of curiosity.Though there are shopping places inside and beside this house, government has showcased his dedication for the nation, kids and also his knowledge.There are so many books kept almost everywhere around the house which shows his voracious reading habit.I saw almost 4-5 variations of thirukkural,bhagavad geetha. Quite a remarkable person this world had.

After that we went to the main Sri Ramanathaswamy temple (story of the temple in the later post).We entered through west gate, east gate is facing towards the sea (Agni theertham).You were not supposed to carry your mobile phones, there are many shops which has locker that keeps your mobile phones for certain amount.This temple has lot of pillars (roughly 1212 pillars ),stands so majestic in the veranda.Few are ornated with characters which are common among the temples built by same king around same period.The rock pillars are painted to emphasise the beauty.

En route to main deity story of how lord rama became reason for this temple are enacted in framed photographs around the corridor,you can mediate for few minutes inside epitaph(yogic samadhi) of saint Patanjali.One can't miss the direction boards to theertham no: N (there are 22 theertham wells inside the temple) all around the temple.We planned to do "Spadiha linga" dharshan and theerthams at next day early morning.

Based on the story, lingam built by Sita in the sand resides as main one, beside that there is one brought by Hanuman from kailash called Viswalingam which is supposed to be worshipped prior to main lingam.Beware of big queue even in special dharshan if you go there during holidays.

Since it was already temple closing time, we worshipped outside and came out for the day.

Next day we entered through East gate to the temple around 4 am for spadiha linga dharshan which starts from 5 am to 6 am.One can get token by paying 50/- for this special dharshan.A small linga made of spadiham would be kept in the main sanctum (the lingam made by sita is behind the veil for this one hour, after that spadiham will be removed and normal darshana starts for the day).

After that we went straight to Agni theertham to start our theertham counts.By taking bath in Agni theertham,one can get rid of all sins.Mind you people been throwing so many things into sea so wherever you step into Agni theertham your feet lands into clothes rather than sand.Heard that even fishermen dumps their waste there only.Municipalities effort is much needed to clean the revered sea.If you go early morning you can enjoy the beautiful sunrise amidst of all buzz.

Then you should go to queue for getting entry token tickets to theertham wells.There are totally 22 wells each one for each purpose, in some wells you will be poured on separately and in others they throw the water to the entire group.If you hire guide then you can skip standing in queue and following the crowd.The guide will take you everywhere.

Once all the wells are completed, you should change into dry cloth before worshipping deity again.This entire process in over crowded busy day takes almost 3-4 hrs.If you spend another 2 hrs you can enjoy the architecture of entire temple.

You can go to Dhanuskodi from the temple if you have time.It takes 30-40 minutes to reach.Since tar roads are built,Government buses are running now to the end of Dhanuskodi.We took a local 4 seater jeep (for 800/- to the full trip).The driver acted as a guide as well.

Quotes

Life

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." - John Adams

Thedi choru nitham thindru

The poem written by Subramania Bharati starts like "Thedi chorus nithan thunder..." is such a powerful and motivating poem for all the time.

In this poem he asks goddess sakthi "whether she thinks he leads a life full of having food by searching for it daily, hurting others through gossiping,doing things affecting others and eventually die at the old age like all puppet human beings.I ask you some wishes...." goes on.

தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று - பல

சின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி - மனம்

வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று - பிறர்

வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து - நரை

கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி - கொடுங்

கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும் - பல

வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே - நான்

வீழ்வே னென்று நினைத் தாயோ?

நின்னைச் சிலவரங்கள் கேட்பேன் - அவை

நேரே இன்றெனக்குத் தருவாய் - என்றன்

முன்னைத் தீயவினைப் பயன்கள் - இன்னும்

மூளா தழிந்திடுதல் வேண்டும் - இனி

என்னைப் புதியவுயி ராக்கி - எனக்

கேதுங் கவலையறச் செய்து - மதி

தன்னை மிகத்தெளிவு செய்து - என்றும்

சந்தோஷங் கொண்டிருக்கச் செய்வாய்...

Transliteration of above poem

Stanza #1

Search for food and eat daily 

Gossip around small stories

Feel bad about yourself and worry

Do things which hurt others

Get old and withering

Become a victim of terrible accusations

Did you think I would die at the end;

Like this pathetic human?

Stanza #2

I ask for talents 

Give them to me today

Shall all my mistakes of the past

Die without a rebirth

I will be a new live being 

Make me feel no worries

Make my mind brilliantly sharp

Make me feel bliss and content - forever.

Subramanian Swamy

Subramanian Swamy is born in Mylapore,Chennai.There was a brave,patriotic poet,writer and independent activist named "Subramania Bharati" popular called as "Mahakavi Bharati".Our subramanian swamy also a brave,straightforward politician.This makes me to wonder the immense power of the name drawn to the person.

He is a secular person although he firmly believes in Hinduism.His wife is a parish,his younger daughter Suhashini haider (print and media journalist,worked in CNN IBN) married to Nadeem Haider,a follower of Muslim religion,yet she follows her own religion.This shows his family's view on religion.

He has completed his PhD in Economics from Harvard university.He seems like liability to any political party as he goes against corruption by any people and lodges a case against any person.Tamilnadu's CM Ms.Jayalalitha,Indian national congress leader Mrs.Sonia Gandhi,Rahul Gandhi are few people against whom he has filed cases.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

China faced a most turbulent situation once the majestic Han 

dynasty fell.The "Middle kingdom" was now separated as 

"North","South west" and "South east".These three kingdoms 

fought for their internal power,survival and warfare that are 

captured in numerous historical and fictional works.

Among all these "Romance of three kingdoms" is very famous and 

worth mentioning.The Main character of this story is the most 

eminent and brilliant military strategist from south western state 

shu han.He was Zhuge Liang,chancellor of Shu Han state.

The year is 208 C.E and the army of northern china's wei state is on its way to capture the southern part of china to make the middle kingdom again with this empire.When it reached the mighty yangtze river it camped there and awaited for the battle to happen.


Across this yangtze massive river lays the shu and Wu states.Sensing the threat from northern empire,being outnumbered by the north these two states made a temporary coalition to counter attack them.

Zhuge Liang was given a task of coming up with the strategy to save the south landers of china.Generals of Shu and Wu were waiting for him to formulate a plan.

The Wu army asked zhuge to arrange for 100,000 arrows to attack the northern army.They told him that since it seems like impossible task we give you 10 days to come up with a plan of getting 100,000 arrows.zhuge calmly said just give me three days and no more.

He spent 2 days in preparing 20 swift boats with 30 soldiers in each boat.He surrounds the group of soldiers with dummy soldiers like scarecrows.

Third day he went with these boats towards Yangtze river.Heavy fog was near the enemy side and it seemed like blanket on the river.Zhuge asked his soldiers to make a noise by beating battle drums.Frightened by this ruckus and blinded by fog,enemies started firing arrows endlessly towards the direction of noise.

Finally loaded with 100,000 arrows the boats headed towards their home shore.Upon asking how he came up with this brilliant plan he answered as:
“A good general must be well versed not only in battle strategy, but also in astronomy, geography, divination, and the principles of yin and yang,” Zhuge replied. “I foresaw the heavy fog three days in advance, and so formulated my plan.”

Proxy Wars

Cold war is actually fought between two super powers,USSR and USA.Cold war is actually a grudge feeling against each other after WWII.This term is used to describe the relationship between these two countries although they never fought with other.

Proxy wars are war happened between other countries but with each side getting support from different super power.E.g: Vietnam war,Korean war etc.

Korean War
One  can see korean war as a result of the cold war or animosity between two super power nations(USA and USSR) emerged at the end of WWII.At the end of WWII,Japan lost the war and relinquished the power to hold Korea.And hence it ended up as northern part of korea occupied by USSR became north korea and southern parts occupied by United states became South Korea.

USSR has different ideology which claims on communalism so north korea became communist whereas South korea occupied by US became Capitalist.Naturally there was tension among these two super powers fearing that other would occupy the entire korean peninsula.

Both sides thought that the division is temporary and the outcome of elections would bring the unified korean government.Whereas soviet did not trust the UN monitored elections of 1948.Democratic government was set up in South whereas in north self declared communist leader became supreme power.Both US and USSR stepped out in 1948-49 by giving control to these governments.It's the fate of korean country that the separation for ever became salvage as a result of the non korean super powers in the World.That enmity between two nations still on going without realising the fact that it all started by the people who don't belong to Korea itself.

At the same time,there was a revolution going on in china,communist occupied north korea started supporting china by giving refuge to the leaders escaped from china.Whereas US supported nationalists who were fighting against Communist.At the end,Communist won china in 1949.This boosted the communist guerrillas and took up the next task of acquiring the south korea.They won the territory.This brought US,USSR and China into the war,though none of these nations declared war against each other.

After nearly 4 years of the war,the sides moved back to the 1949 arrangements in an armistice signed in 1953 that also provided for a DeMilitarize Zone (DMZ) between these two rivals.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

 NATO is formed to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through Political and military means.It was formed in 1949 specifically for collective security defence strategies after WWII.

NATO was formed to counter the soviet union during the cold war.There was a fear that soviet union would attack European countries during cold war and thus NATO came into existence.

NATO accepts members of Europe and North America continents.It provides a unique link between these 2 continents for consultation and cooperation in the defence and security and the conduct of multi national crisis management.

The main players of NATO are its member countries only.There are currently 28 members.

Collective Defence

It's committed to the principle of attack on one or many of its member countries are considered as an attack against all.This is the principle of "Collective defence".It is mentioned in Article 5 of the washington treaty.So far,article 5 has been invoked once-in response to the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Non NATO members of EU countries:

Among the European union,there are few countries which are not members in NATO.They are Ireland,Finland,Sweden,Austria,Malta and Cyprus.