Mystery behind your calendar

Have you ever had a thought of who might be the creator of the calendar/photograph(depicting Goddesses lakshmi & saraswati)pasted inside your safety locker or in the puja mandir.Well,if you really wanna know,who he is?
Raja Ravi Varma
would be the answer.
He was an Indian painter from Kerala State who achieved recognition for his depiction of scenes from the epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. His paintings are considered to be among the best examples of the fusion of Indian traditions with the techniques of European academic art.His dazzling oil paintings of India’s ancient glory and his mass reproductions through oleography reached out to the Indian populace in an unprecedented scale.

Born on April 29,1848,in Kilimanoor,a small hamlet in the southern state of Kerala,he was not the only person popular in his family,his whole family was busy in different art forms.
Ravi Varma used the indigenous paints made from leaves, flowers,tree bark and soil.He cleverly picked the particularly touching stories and moments from the Sanskrit classics.His exposure in the west came when he won the first prize in Vienna Art Exhibition in 1873.
The small town of Kilimanoor was compelled to open a post office, as letters with requests for paintings arrived from every where.
He was convinced that mass reproduction of his paintings would initiate millions of Indians to real Art, and in 1894 he set up an oleography press called the Ravi Varma Pictures Depot. For photo-litho transfers, the Pictures Depot relied on Phalke's Engraving & Printing whose proprietor, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, became famous as dadasaheb of Indian Cinema a few years later.

From 1888 to 1894,Ravi Varma and his younger brother C.Raja Raja Varma took a tour around India,in search of images and landscapes for inspiration.On his return from the second tour,Ravi Varma painted a batch of pictures especially for reproduction at his new press, the Picture Depot.The aristocratic orientalism in his imagery was now replaced by a little more folkish, more iconic and more marketable forms.And there was no looking back for this legend.
Raja Ravi Varma died of diabetes on October 2, 1906, in his Kilimanoor Palace home filled with friends,relatives,dignitaries and the media.
Ravi Varma is particularly noted for his paintings depicting episodes from the story of Dushyanta and Shakuntala, and Nala and Damayanti, from the Mahabharata.
Village Belle
Lady Lost in Thought
Damayanti Talking to a Swan
The Orchestra
Arjuna and Subhadra
Lady with lemon
The Heartbroken
Swarbat Player
Shakuntala
Lord Krishna as Ambassador
Jatayu, a bird devotee of Lord Rama is mauled by Rawana
Victory of Indrajit
A Family of Beggars
A Lady Playing Swarbat
Lady Giving Alms at the Temple
Lord Rama Conquers Varuna
Nair Woman
Romancing Couple
Draupadi Dreading to Meet Kichaka
Shantanu and Matsyagandha
Shakuntala Composing a Love Letter to King Dushyanta
Girl in Sage Kanwa's Hermitage (Rishi-Kanya)

Are some of the popular paintings of him,which I am sure you have seen before,but will start recognizing after reading this piece.

MALGUDI TIMES

Still remember the time when I was regularly following the serial on doordarshan "MALGUDI DAYS".It was the serial which won the heart's of all ages,shown at the primetime,almost equally popular with that of rangeela.
It was also included in the curriculum of primary education.
Let's see what the magic of Malgudi days was.
Malgudi Days is a collection of short stories by R.K.Narayan that focused on the trial and tribulations of a small Indian town of Malgudi. According to R.K. Narayan, Malgudi is a town "habited by timeless characters who could be living anywhere in the world".
It was an attempt by the Government of India to popularize the powerful medium.The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting invited independent producers and directors to shoot television serials on a regular basis,Malgudi Days was one such television serial.
The serial was directed by the late Kannada actor and director, Shankar Nag in 1987, and was shot entirely near Agumbe in Shimoga District, Karnataka. The music was rendered by L. Vaidyanathan and was produced by T.S. Narasimhan of the Padam Rag Films.

It was not that R.K.Narayan,was only poplular for the MALGUDI DAYS,infact he was also popular for his work in literature,simple language and stories of village life,gentle humour.
The characters in his novels were very ordinary, down-to-earth Indians trying to blend tradition with modernisation, often resulting in tragi-comic situations.

The good news is that the National Film Award-winning film-maker Kavitha Lankesh was recently hired by Doordarshan to re-shoot the serial in an effort to resuscitate it. Currently,she is creating 26 new episodes of "Malgudi Days" in Hindi based on R.K. Narayan's short stories/novel.

I hope your childhood memories are cherished with this.Its so simple to bring back that good old days,simply read/watch the stories/novels.
Ta na na tana nana naaa
Ta na na tana nana naaa
Also try out the remix of malgudi days by crazy frog.

HARE KRISHNA HARE RAM

Last 3 times when I was in bangalore I didnt missed the chance to pay a visit to ISKCON temple in bangalore.Let me share some intresting things about this temple.
ISKCON stands for International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Founder of ISKCON: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Its temples,organizations,activities are spread across the globe.The one which I liked the most was that of bangalore's temple.
This temple looks nothing less than a MNC building.As soon as you enter the ISKCON bangalore temple you find find shrine's of lord Narasimha swamy & lord Venkateswara(balaji).While you are in a queue for darshan,a unique and different way is followed at one place,which is,108 tiles are placed(at a distance of 1 feet),and devotees are asked to chant the divine mantra on each tile before moving on to other tile.

The echo of the maha mantra reaches every corner of the temple.After the darshan at both shrines,you head towards the main temple where the idols of Radha Krishna,Krishna & Balaram are worshipped.
This temple is visited daily by thousands of people,and this no shoots upto nearly a lakh at weekends & festivals.Temple premises also has shopping complex & food stalls where you can find all things related to lord Krishna ranging from Rs10 to Rslakhs.All the earnings here are used for the programs conducted by the trust.It has also got a Annakuta-vegetarian restaurent(dont miss) and a Dwarakapuri-kalyan mandapam,kolleru etc.
Also dont miss the prasadam after the darshan.

Some of the programs/activities of ISKCON are
Akshaya Patra(providing food to under privileged school children)
FOLK(Friends Of Lord Krishna-program for youth)
Scholarships
Shri Krishna Kalakshetra's sangeeta seva
It has a rule that nobody in the radius of 10km from temple should be hungry,so everyday food packets are distributed.
And numerous other activities from time to time are also organized.

MAHA MANTRA-
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Let's start DREAMing

I still remember last time,when I was along with some of my friends discussing the questions asked to us in the Hr round.The one common question was "who is your role model?".Amazingly 80-90% were projecting A P J Abdul Kalam as their role models.
Its very much understandable if someone of my age takes a personality from films,sports,music,arts etc as a role model.
But on the contrary,Kalam sir has left aside all these people & emerged as YOUTH ICON(perhaps thats the reason why he was nominated for MTV YOUTH ICON).
For all those people who criticize saying that youth is getting spoiled and getting inspired by bad elements,this is an perfect example to show that their notion is completly false.
Many still think that he was succesfull and popular after 1998,but let me make you clear that he brought meaning to his life before I was even born.

Journey of my lifetime

Some times job transfers turn out to be good.Taking my case,due to my father's transfer we once had to stay in a place called EZHIMALA.I can't stop myself telling you about this town in God's own country Kerala.

Ezhimala meaning seven hills(ezhi-seven,mala-hills)
Ezhimala (286 m above sea level) is in Kannur district of Kerala, south India and was the capital of the ancient Mooshika kings and is considered to be an ancient historical site. It is a conspicuous, isolated cluster of hills, forming a promontory, 38 km north of Kannur. A flourishing sea port and centre of trade in ancient Kerala, it was one of the

Time for some movies

I still remember those days of my childhood,when I was singing and dancing to the tunes of bollywood with my friends.One of the movie I still enjoy is the KARAN ARJUN.
This film stars 2 superstars of bollywood Sharukh & Salman Khan,and is a musical,action,sentimental movie,(paise vasool type).
Cast
Rakhee Gulzar ... Durga Singh
Salman Khan ... Karan Singh/Ajay
Shahrukh Khan ... Arjun Singh/Vijay
Kajol ... Sonia Saxena
Mamta Kulkarni ... Bindiya
Johnny Lever ... Lenghaiya
Amrish Puri ... Thakur Durjan Singh
The story is about two brothers Karan Singh (Salman Khan) and Arjun Singh (Shahrukh Khan) being raised by a single mother Durga Singh (Raakhee) in a rural Indian village. One day, when the brothers visit their rich grandfather at his mansion for the first time in twenty years, they are killed by the jealous Durjan Singh (Amrish Puri), who wishes to