A happy New Year! Grant that I May bring no tear to any eye When this New Year in time shall end Let it be said I've played the friend, Have lived and loved and labored here, And made of it a happy year. ~Edgar Guest
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~Benjamin Franklin.
The best Christmas gift is a sense of belongingness, togetherness and strengthening family ties. Hold these dear to your heart in this festive season and years ahead.
Embrace all hearts with love and let mercy and joy touch your life with a miraculous wand. Merry Christmas to you, your family and your Neighbours.
Amorphophallus Titanum (Rio Blanco , Veracruz , Mexico ) Thursday, October 8, 2009 The largest flower in the world was blossoming in Rio Blanco , Veracruz , Mexico . Two meters high and weighing 75 kilos, it has the peculiarity of blooming only during three days every 40 years. You'd only see it once or twice in a lifetime!
Amorphophallus titanum (Araceae), also called "cadaverous flower" has the pecularity of blooming only during three days every 40 years, a privilege that Mother Nature bestowed on this town in Veracruz .
Around the world millions of children are not getting a proper education because their families are too poor to afford to send them to school. In India, one schoolboy is trying to change that. In the first report in the BBC's Hunger to Learn series, Damian Grammaticas meets Babar Ali, whose remarkable education project is transforming the lives of hundreds of poor children. At 16 years old, Babar Ali must be the youngest headmaster in the world. He's a teenager who is in charge of teaching hundreds of students in his family's backyard, where he runs classes for poor children from his village. Read More
Thanks to Shri.Suryanarayanan Krishnamoorthy for sharing this information.
Younger generation today needs to get love, blessings, treasure of knowledge from our Senior Citizens. Let us show our gratitude to the elders for all that they have given us in our life. The World should know that we Indians have a rich heritage, culture and we keep our senior citizens not in old age homes but make temples around them.
With our Respectful Pranaams to all the Senior Citizens of the World - Jaigurudev.
The below link goes to prove the point made by Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam about preserving Water !!
Aurangabad (Bihar): Bihar has declared 26 of the 38 districts drought-hit and the water crisis in the state in now turning dangerous with farmer guarding their water sources with guns.
After scanty rainfall in many districts, the battle for water is being fought with guns.
"We are farmers. It has not rained properly this year. There is little water in the canals that we use. So we have to protect the water. We carry our agricultural equipments and guns together. When we are in the fields we use our agricultural equipments and when the need for the guns arises, then we use the guns," says Bal Bhushan Sharma, a farmer in Aurangabad which is one of the worst-hit districts.Read More
RASIPURAM: In a rare gesture, the old students of a school here have shown their gratitude to one of their teachers by having a two-storey house built for him.
The old students of Sengunthar Mahajana Higher Secondary School at Gurusamypalayam village, who are living in Namakkal district, hit upon the idea of donating a new house, after they found that their 83-year-old former Tamil teacher V. Venkataraman was living in a small rented house.
Smt Kala Kaarthikeyan, wife of Shri D R Kaarthikeyan, former director CBI, left for heavenly abode in the night of 2nd August 2009. Cremation will be held at 4 pm on 4th August 2009 at Lodhi Road Crematorium, New Delhi. The entire family is devoted to Guruji and Smt. Kala Karthikeyan was an Art of Living Teacher. She has been a noble soul and a great source of inspiration to many. We always cherish her words of appreciation when we started our Light House E-Magazine from Coimbatore. . " Dear Thiru Gopalakrishnan JAI GURUDEV! Thankyou very much for sending Light House Magazine so promptly. I am a native of Coimbatore district no wonder I have lot of attachment,affection,admirationfor my native place.I think this (in Tamil)"man vasanai" gets into one'sheart very intense,when one is away from home. Though I have been getting all the news about aolcbe I am very glad to receive LIGHT HOUSE. My heartiest congratulations to one and all for the superb seva you are doing. aolcbe has become an ideal example for everyone to emulate.I am very proud of my native place for all its beauty,culture,courtesy,hospitality and honesty but I am all the more proud as you have made a prominent place in the worldmap of AOL. My best wishes to one and all Yours sincerely Kala "
It is a great loss for all of us. We convey our deepest condolences to Shri.D.R. Kaarthikeyanji and other members of his family.
This is a flower from Thailand. It is also a protected species and is not allowed to be exported. This will be the only way we will be able to view this flower.
A FLOWER ALL THE WAY FROM THAILAND . . THE VERY RARE PARROT FLOWER
Rice is Life - traditional rice farming in China
For farmers of Southern China, rice is more than just food - it is the very basis of their culture, however, it's a way of life that could be under threat as the spectre of genetic modification (GM) creeps up on the planet's most important food crop.
Photographs and story by John Novis. Additional photographs individually credited.
Coimbatore: It’s uncommon to find anyone doing something without expecting any return. And quid pro quo is the order of the day.
With little money and less recognition, if one were to plod on doing what he thinks good for the society, it is V.V. Parthasarathy.
For a doctorate in Bio-chemistry, writing books eminently suitable for those with religious bent of mind, that too both in English and Tamil quite a lot interspersed with Sanskrit as well, it is an extraordinary combination.
I remember when I was in 6th Std our English Teacher Mrs. Fernandez took my entire class to see this movie. It was a memorable occassion all 42 of us sitting in the balcony and seeing this movie munching pop corns. The best impressions of it still remains.
Lyrics
Let's start at the very beginning A very good place to start When you read you begin with A-B-C When you sing you begin with do-re-mi
Do-re-mi, do-re-mi The first three notes just happen to be Do-re-mi, do-re-mi
[Maria:] Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti [spoken] Let's see if I can make it easy
Doe, a deer, a female deer Ray, a drop of golden sun Me, a name I call myself Far, a long, long way to run Sew, a needle pulling thread La, a note to follow Sew Tea, a drink with jam and bread That will bring us back to Do (oh-oh-oh)
[Maria and Children:] [Repeat above verse twice]
[Maria:] Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do So-do!
[Maria: (spoken)] Now children, do-re-mi-fa-so and so on are only the tools we use to build a song. Once you have these notes in your heads, you can sing a million different tunes by mixing them up. Like this.
So Do La Fa Mi Do Re [spoken] Can you do that? [Children:] So Do La Fa Mi Do Re [Maria:] So Do La Ti Do Re Do [Children:] So Do La Ti Do Re Do [Maria:] [spoken] Now, put it all together.
[Maria and Children:] So Do La Fa Mi Do Re, So Do La Ti Do Re Do [Maria:] [spoken] Good! [Brigitta:] [spoken] But it doesn't mean anything. [Maria:] [spoken] So we put in words. One word for every note. Like this.
When you know the notes to sing You can sing most anything [spoken] Together!
[Maria and Children:] When you know the notes to sing You can sing most anything
Doe, a deer, a female deer Ray, a drop of golden sun Me, a name I call myself Far, a long, long way to run Sew, a needle pulling thread La, a note to follow Sew Tea, a drink with jam and bread That will bring us back to Do
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do Do Ti La So Fa Mi Re
[Children:] Do Mi Mi Mi So So Re Fa Fa La Ti Ti [Repeat above verse 4x as Maria sings]
[Maria:] When you know the notes to sing You can sing most anything
[Maria and Children:] Doe, a deer, a female deer Ray, a drop of golden sun Me, a name I call myself Far, a long, long way to run Sew, a needle pulling thread La, a note to follow Sew Tea, a drink with jam and bread That will bring us back to
[Maria:] [Children:]
Do . . . So Do Re . . . La Fa Mi . . . Mi Do Fa . . . Re So . . . So Do La . . . La Fa Ti . . . La So Fa Mi Re Ti Do - oh - oh Ti Do -- So Do
Rice is daily food for half of the world's population. Genetically modified (GM) rice, on the other hand, is a threat to our agriculture, our biodiversity and a possible risk to our health.
At present, GM rice is not grown commercially anywhere in the world. But Bayer, the German chemical giant, has genetically manipulated rice to withstand higher doses of a toxic pesticide called glufosinate, which is considered to be so dangerous to humans and the environment that it will soon be banned from Europe.
In just a few weeks, the European Union will decide whether or not this GM rice can enter EU countries, appear on supermarket shelves and end up on our dinner plates. If the EU approves the import of Bayer GM rice, farmers in the US and elsewhere may soon start planting it.
Sign the petition We ask all governments around the world to protect consumers and farmers, their crops and fields by rejecting Bayer’s GM rice, and to stop GM rice field trials.
Our very own "Thoppukarnam" has so much power Lord Ganesha loves it and so to please him we do this in front of his idol. In my school days I had been very good at it as it was a form of punishment yet I enjoyed it. Hope today's children too enjoy doing it and also know its benefits.
"The moment I heard Vikram Hazra's version of 'Achchutam Keshavam..." I was transported. I forgot the heat... the traffic..... my persistent headache.That is the magic of music ... it can heal and soothe. And tonight I needed solace.... a gentle touch.... a reminder of my own vulnerability.
He effortlessly combines all these marvelous sounds and weaves them into sanskrit shlokas... Surdas... Pali couplets. It has a mesmerising effect on listeners... as was evident that night. Oh well... I have reluctantly come back to earth. But who knows... I may wake up singing 'Achhutam Keshavam...' tomorrow morning. Read More
His Holiness SriSri Ravi Shankar, Founder of the Art of Living Foundation, leads a group of students in meditation, and answers questions about the meditation process and stress relief. Shankar sp...
Painted prayers that protect homes:
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Several years ago a friend of mine from W.B came on a visit to Chennai. He
was engaged in the study of the electro-magnetic vibrational energy field.
I...