RANDOM THOUGHTS

VISIT TO THE RANN OF KUTCH   I must admit that The Almighty has been rather kind with me . Ever since my Childhood Days and More so with my Father being in a Senior Position in the Indian Railways I have had the Good  Fortune to Stay and Visit many places of Interest across the Length and Breadth of the Country .  I have covered my International Travels in many of my Blogs . One place that I seem to have missed thus far is the Rann of Kutch in India  and to be more precise , it is Baroda , Somnath and Dwaraka . This is in the West which is on the Gulf along the Western Coast in the form of the " U " in the illustrated Map . Self with my  Better Half and my Two Brother In Laws with their  own Better Halves have planned a visit to these Exotic Places which primarily have a special Spirutual Meaning attached to them . I have been informed by my parents that I was  as an infant  brought up  in an Exclusive Railway Saloon ( A full Railway Coach which is more or less a HOUSE on whe

   Today the 13 th of Feb is the          WORLD RADIO DAY  I had an occasion to come across an Original Vintage  Marconi Radio Set in my son's neighborhood at Ajax in Canada,   This has opened the floodgates of many fond memories of my youth with these instruments of Marvel . I am not sure if many of you  have heard of the term Valve Radio Receiver Set .  It used to be the sole mode of entertainment by way of listening to Music or News  via the Radio Signal through what used to be called an Aerial which was usually a gauze of copper wire from one end to the other and connected to your Radio Set at Home . It came with features which included Medium Wave + 3 or 5 Bands . More the Bands , higher the prices and better the reception.  FM did not even exist in those days . All India Radio and Vividh Bharathi came a very poor second to Radio Ceylon which had a huge audience in both Hindi and Tamil Languages . Being a commercial broadcaster , its ads for Indian Products were the only ones

    A RECORD OF SOME SORT  There have been various factors which have stood in the way of our meet with Lakshmi , my Niece for close to 8 years now . My 6 Month visits to Canada and hers to the US have  always been  a dampner .  We were often on either side of the Border with the Visa being always an issue.  Back home  , distance to Hyderabad and more recently to Coimbatore and other factors went on to be the dampner . Ayyappan and Lakshmi arrived at Agasthiarpatty by bus at 5.00 AM , in pitch darkness and were accorded a Vociferous Welcome with the Street Dogs Joining in a Chorus . It took a big  effort on my part   with a big Stick in my  hand to get them safely home . Lakshmi is always a  bubbly self who would go out of her way to make any ensemble as lively as possible . Lakshmi and Ayyappan's visit to our place was a truly memorable one . Being a visit specially earmarked for the  FAMILY DEITIES , it had us visiting a record number of  Temples in a short  span of 48 hours whic

    2023 RVS ANNUAL VILLAGE                    FESTIVAL With the present and past  political dispensations in power for almost half a century now ; The concept of a Village Agraharam and all that one associates with it has gradually seen a sea change ,  so much so that it is now  almost impossible to find an Agrahaaram in all its true sense . RAVANASAMUDRAM , a small and tiny  village in the Tenkasi  District of Tamilnadu is still among the few Villages still left  which  retain many aspects of the Agrahaaram Concept . This village on the banks of the Ramanadhi River and close to the Western Ghats is almost 40 Kilometers from Tirunelvei or Tenkasi on either side . The green paddy fields surrounding the village is always a treat to the eyes. Give or take a few , this village of 150 odd houses in its Sannadhi  Street and Two Mada Streets are the abode of LORD  CHOKKANATHAR AND MEENAKSHI AMBAAL . The Annual Temple Festival to consecrate these deities is held each year with the utmost devo