Rajinikanth daughter Soundarya and Ashwin (Son of K.N.Venkatram & Co owner Ramkumar’s Son) marriage held at Rani Meyyammai Hall on 3.9.2010 at Chennai. On 2.9.2010, the nichayathartham function held at the same venue. For this function Carnatic Singer Anuradha Sayeeram vocal music arranged. For reception held on 3.9.2010 evening Veena Kacheri was arranged. In the morning Soundarya was draped in Green silk sari and for evening reception her cocoa colored glittering sari is superb. Ashwin dressed in a brown suit looked fabulous. Both Soundarya and Ashwin looked wonderful and they welcomed all guests with a loving smile.

The following big shots attended the Rajinikanth daughter marriage are: C.M.Karunanidhi, Ministers Duraimurugan, Arcot Veerasamy, Alagiri, Chidambaram, Cho, Andhra former C.M.Chandrababu Naidu, Anbumani Ramdoss, VaiKo, etc. The film personalities are Kamalhassan, Suriya, K.Balachander, A.R.Rahman, Director Shankar, Aishwarya, Abhisek Bachan, Sri Devi, Boney Kapoor, Vairamuthu, Suman, Ramya Krishnan, etc.

On November, 22^nd Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra’s marriage held in a grand manner near Mumbai at Khandala.  Shilpa look gorgeous in her red burgundy sari and Raj Kundra also looked nice in his Sherwani.  Many celebrities attended the wedding ceremony.  A grant reception will be held at London.

In Mumbai, Shilpa Shetty – Bollywood famous Actress engagement ceremony took place as a family function.  Shilpa Shetty and her fiancé exchange rings.  Shilpa’s fiancé Raj Kundra is a multi-millionaire and he is doing business in London.

Shilpa’s engagement sari was designed by Manish Malhotra and it is a beautiful pink sari with red border.  Anmol Jewellers designed her engagement jewellery.  In the month of December, 2009, the wedding will be in December.

Gandhi Childhood

Mahathma Gandhi was born in the year 1869 October 2nd. Here I have a list of pictures right from his child hood till his demise is in the year 1948. Gandhi was instrumental for India’s Independence from the British and from there on India has been excelling in all the fields and is a potential threat for all the countries.

Today is the birthday of Gandhi and it is a national holiday all over India. He is fondly called the “Father of India” and is well known for his method of non violence and using which he got Independence to India. Happy birthday Gandhiji.

This is post is about the World coming to an end the by the year 2012. Many people say this is a joke and some are extremely scared about this. I am not going to talk about whether we will be alive after 2012, but in this post I am going to talk about the speculations and the theories surrounding the World’s destruction in the year 2012. The Mayan Calendar as marked this date as the last day for the humanity on earth. When you type in Google “Dec. 21, 2012″ it is giving millions and millions of result. Personally I don’t have belief in these theories but it is interesting to know the predictions that where made long back and I cherish the moments of reading about them.

If you are one such person who is very much interested to know more about these weird stuffs then you should first search about Mayan calendar. A calendar with 260 days is the most famous calendar and this is just a preview about them . Search in Google or Wikipedia to get more information about Mayan calendar.

Buddhists celebrate many festivals like Ashadhi Punima, Ashwin Purnima, Vasant Panchami, etc.  The following are the important festivals celebrated by them.

Baisakhi Purnima: The full moon day of Baisakh is the day Gautam Buddha was born.  He also attained enlightenment on this day. This day is, therefore, celebrated by the Buddhists with great fervor.  Photographs of Lord Buddha are taken out in procession.  The Buddhists observe fast and say prayers on this day.

Ambedkar Jayanti: This is celebrated on 14^th April as Dr.Ambedkar’s Birthday.  Prayers are offered in honor of Dr.Ambedkar and Lord Buddha.  Neo Buddhists eat sweets on this day.

Vijaya Dashmi: This festival coincides with the Hindu festival of the same name.  It is important because on this day Emperior Asoka announced that he would never use force to win or conquer people.  On this day, in 1956, Dr.Ambedkar with many followers embraced Buddhism.  Processions are taken out with garlanded photographs of Lord Buddha and Dr.Ambedkar.  Prayers are also said in prayer meeting in the public participation.

Deepavali: This festival coincides with the Hindu festival of the same name.  It ends the period of 3 months during which Buddhist Monks are required to stay at one place.  In the evening lamps are lit and prayers offered to Lord Buddha.

Most Indian women have, for centuries, not had economic independence and are wholly dependent upon a man for their sustenance, status and protection.  No wonder then, despite modernization and education, Indian women observe fasts and special prayers for husbands, sons, fathers and brothers.  They fast o special days like Savitri, Teej, Haritalika, Nombu and Karwa Chauth, all festivals dedicated to the benign goddess Parvathi, the wife of Shiva, who bestows good luck and fortune upon  women.  On such days women wear henna, new clothes, green or red glass bangles for luck and exchange gifts.  They fast, praying for the long life and good health of their men folk, and eat tender coconuts, fruits nuts, milk products and certain permissible food, depending upon the customs of each community.

Haritalika: A day before the great Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Maharashtra, women celebrate a special occasion.  They welcome Harita Gowri or Suvarna Gowri, the green and gold goddess of food harvests, a beautiful form of the goddess Parvathi, the mother of the learned Ganesha.

They wear new green glass bangles, green saris and flowers in their hair.  Gold ornaments, decorative bindis and every kind of ornamentation is used by women to dress up and pray for the welfre of their families.  The flowers fruits and fresh vegetables of the season – such as green coconuts, sugarcane, ladyfingers, ridge gourd, bitter gourd, the golden ears of rice, marigolds and mango leaves are offered to the goddess at the special celebration.  Most women fast till the worship is over.  And they have special food after pooja

Though today, a large number of Indian women are highly educated and often eminently successful at their careers, these cultural roots are so deep that they consider marriage and filial ties to be sacred and often hold their families together by their devotion and patience.

Navaratri Celebration

The Sindhis celebrate the same festivals as other Hindus celebrate.  In addition there are few festivals which are peculiar to them.

Chetichards:  Chetichards celebrated on Sindhi New Year Day which falls in March-April.  This also coincides with the Gudi Parwa or the Maharashtrian New Year and is celebrated with great gusto.  The Sindhis observe the day as the birth anniversary of Uderolal (an incarnation of God Varuna) who is revered as the River God who saved the Sindhis from the tyranny of the Muhammadan ruler of Sind.  A procession is taken out ultimately reaching the river bank.  Five line poems ‘pajara’ are sung in praise of the River God.  The Sindhis dance the ‘chef’ with wooden sticks in their hands.  The processionists carry the symbol of the God’s temple with his lit-up picture.  At the river bank, the ‘Bahnas’ are consigned to the water.  Seven ritual things are carried by the processionist during the festival, (a) lamp – symbol of Uderolal (b) a big metal pot containing boiled rice for distribution, (c) priestly dress, (d) a sword. (e) water pot, (f) a drum stick for performing the chej dance (d) the darbha grass.

Mahalaxmi festival is observed in September-October in the hour of Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu.  Sixteen days before the festival, all members of the family used to tie a thread of 16 yellow threads with 16 knots, around the wrist.  In case of unmarried people, two such threads are ties.  Nowadays however, the threads are only ties for one day.  One of the day of the festival, the people untie the threads, go to the house of a Brahmin with sweet cakes and lamps.  The Brahmin recite the story of ruler and his two queens who are connected with the festival.  The sweets are left behind with the Brahmins as offerings.

Railway authorities here on Saturday said that the death toll in the derailment of the Coramandel Express has increased to nine and more than 150 were injured. The Chennai bound train derailed near Jajpur-Keonjhar Road Station on Friday night.

The authorities struggled to cope up in the derailment site and said that it would take at least two days to repair the tracks at the derailment site. Union Minister of State for Railways Mr.R.Velu arrived at the spot on Saturday morning. A high level inquiry has been ordered to identify the cause of derailment.

A passenger who escaped the accident with minor injuries stated that poor track conditions and overloading a high speed train must have caused the accident. Mr.R.Velu also visited the government hospital at Jajpur to find out about the treatment for the injured passengers. He also said that all treatments to the passengers will be free and the Ministry will pay Rs.5 lakhs to those killed in the accident and job to any one of the family members of those killed. Also a pay of Rs.50,000 to the seriously injured and Rs.10,000 to those injured will be given to the injured passengers. Apart from Mr.Velu many other dignities also visited the injured passengers.

The sub-committee of the Sri Lankan Tamils welfare and Rights form made an resolution to urge the center to move the United Nations into the Sri Lankan issue to cause immediate ceasefire of the war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army.

Talking to the reporters the PWD minister Mr.Durai Murugan also the organizer of the committee said the committee members would soon meet the president Pratiba Patil and the UPA’s chief Sonia Gandhi and the external minister Mr.Pranab Mukherjee to explain the need of approaching the UN into this issue. He made it clear that the committee would do anything to prevent the Tamils of Sri Lanka from being killed the war goers. He also said the committee has planned to meet ambassadors of different countries to seek help in this issue.

The other members of the committee were Union Minister Mr.Raja, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, S.mohan, P.R.Gokulakrishan, A.K.Rajan and Samidurai attended the meeting