Mythology made easy

Thanks to the various cartoon channels for telecasting these stories and many more thanks to the animation teams that are working on these. I was watching Sree Krishna animation movie in one of the cartoon channels and the language is soo great that kids can understand them very easily. Mythology which was at one time a boring rather uninteresting stuff for kids, is now made ready made and easy to understand. I was watching it with my Googlee, though he is too small to watch TV continuously I was in love with the movie. He was being fascinated now and then, when he was watching it.
If things are made so easy, why would someone not want it.

What is your Birth Flower?

Here is a nice forward that i received sometime back from a sweet friend of mine...

Similar to a birthstone and an astrological sign, there are birth flowers which have a corresponding meaning and character that is being attributed to the person who was born during a certain month. Check out your birth flower and consequent personality traits:

January Birth Flower – Carnations
People who are born during January have carnation as their birthday flower. It is also known as gilly flower and clove pink and is widely harvested in many different colors and varieties. The name of the flower is derived from the Greek word corone (coronation) and means 'flower of the Gods'.
Flower Meaning of Carnation : Carnations symbolize deep love, fascination, a friend in adversity and eternal fidelity.
Personality traits associated with carnation : Individuals who have carnation as their birth flower are strongly motivated to succeed and gain a position of power in life. They strive for respect and accomplishment in their careers. They are emotional and sensitive and are very responsible and protective towards their families. But the biggest barrier in their success is their communication skills; they need to learn to openly communicate their deep feelings.

February Birth Flower-Violet : People who are born during February have violet as their birthday flower.
Flower Meaning of Violet : Violet signifies faithfulness, warmth of affection, prosperity, faith, wisdom, hope, inspiration, humility and cleanliness.
Personality traits associated with Violet : People born with violet as their birth flower have an accurate intuition, a tremendous common sense, ingeniousness, and a powerful will. They can handle any difficulties in life with a smile and transcend setbacks by using celestial knowledge. Women are born with this flower as their birth flower are original, independent, beautiful, intellectual, and make good use of their magnetic sexuality to reach their purposes.

March Birth Flower – Daffodil : The daffodil is the March birth flower. The daffodil's meaning is rebirth with a promise of happiness and joy.
Flower Meaning of Daffodil : Daffodils represent optimism, reverence, kindness and warmth unrequited love.
Personality traits associated with Daffodil : Daffodil as the birth flower makes one compassionate, dreamy, artistic, independent, sensitive, loving, impractical and timid. These people can easily adapt to different situations and can handle different tasks at the same time. One of the greatest traits of these people is that they usually avoid conflict whenever possible and are inclined to act as peacemakers when others fight.

April Birth Flower – Daisy : April’s birthday flower is daisy which comes in pink and purple colors and is quite popular among flower lovers all over the world.
Flower Meaning of Daisy : It is associated with innocence, modesty, curiosity, inquisitiveness and brings a joyful, happy-go-lucky character wherever it appears.
Personality traits associated with Daisy : People with daisy as their birth flower are born leaders. However their strong and impatient desire to succeed must be controlled as hasty decisions need to be avoided. They are competitive and motivated people and they make everyone’s life beautiful wherever they stay. But they have a habit of talking too much and usually are not good listeners.

May Birth Flower - Lily of the Valley : Lily of the valley is the birth flower of May. This graceful flower was once used as an herbal medicine as a poison antidote in the ancient times.
Flower Meaning of Lily of the Valley : It represents strength of character, remembrance, infatuation and splendid beauty.
Personality traits associated with Lily of the Valley : People born with Lily of the Valley as their birth flower are beautiful, somehow stubborn and practical towards life. Strong and dominant with powerful will power, these people can courageously handle the difficulties of life. Girls born with this birth flower are beautiful, intellectual and sensitive


June Birth Flower – Rose : The Rose is the birth flower of June.
Flower meaning of Rose : The most common and beautiful flower, rose stands for passion, friendship, magnificence and love.
Personality traits associated with Rose : People having rose as their birth flower have a gift of youth, a double personality and a quicksilver mind enabling them to adapt easily to any situation. They have good communication skills and are curious by nature.

July Birth Flower – Larkspur : Larkspur is considered to be the birth flower of July.
Flower meaning Larkspur : Good luck, lightness and laughter are associated with Larkspur.
Personality traits associated with Larkspur : Family matters will always play an important role in life of people who have larkspur as their birth flower. They are perfectionists and are quite critical. Steadiness, organization, warmth, love, and charm belong to them and they are go-getters in life.



August Birth Flower – Gladiolus : The gladiolus is the birth flower of August.
Flower meaning of Gladiolus : Strength of character, marriage and family is an important sense for people born in August. These are also meanings attached to their birthday flower, gladiolus.
Personality traits associated with Gladiolus : People born with gladious as their birth flower are strongly motivated by the will to succeed. Strong and dominant, they nurture a formidable desire to organize and rule others. But their destructive outbursts of emotions and pride often lands them in trouble. Women born with gladiolus as their birth flower are stunning, intellectual and attract others with their enthusiastic power.

September Birth Flower – Aster : The aster is the birth flower of September. In ancient times, it was believed that burning the leaves gave special powers, as the scent would drive away evil. The aster flower symbolizes afterthought and was laid on the graves of soldiers.
Flower meaning of Aster : Aster or morning glory is known to have rich and deep colours that radiate beauty to its surroundings. It symbolizes love, daintiness, contentment and unpredictability.
Personality traits associated with Aster : People who were born with aster as their birth flower are believed to have a strong devotion to life and are filled with light. They are intellectual, very critical and picky and tend to work hard. They are masters of communication and will always combine logic and intuition in dealing with life. Astrologically they have been classified as the “perfectionists”.

October Birth Flower – Marigold : The marigold or calendula is the birth flower of October. In India, the flower was placed around the necks of holy statues, as it was considered most sacred.
Flower meaning of Marigold : Contentment, excellence, gratitude and love for nature are characterized by the marigold.
Personality traits associated with Marigold : People born with marigold as their birth flower are strongly motivated by a desire for justice and always create harmony in all areas of your lives. They have a gentle personality and love to take challenges. They are 'peacemakers' and usually don’t like to fight with others. Being a good communicator they usually tend to convince people and are considered to be born leaders.

November Birth Flower – Chrysanthemum : The chrysanthemum is the birth flower of November. According to an old myth, a single petal of this flower placed at the bottom of a glass brings forth longevity.
Flower meaning of Chrysanthemum : Chrysanthemum represent cheerfulness, sensitivity, compassion and wealth.
Personality traits associated with Chrysanthemum : Strong, private and dominant, the individuals who have chrysanthemum as their birth flower are born with a practical mind and an acute intuition. They are interested and aspire only for the truth. The women are sensual, intellectual, reserved, and super magnetic.

December Birth Flower – Narcissus : A sweet fragrant, bulbous white flower, Narcissus is the birth flower of December. As per Greek mythology, Narcissus was the most beautiful boy on Earth and as he saw his own reflection in a near by lake, he learnt over to kiss his mirrored image and fell in and drowned. When he was discovered by the God Apollo, he turned Narcissus into a beautiful flower, so his beauty could be remembered forever.
Flower meaning of Narcissus: Narcissus symbolizes celebration, egotism, wealth and success.
Personality traits associated with Narcissus : People born with narcissus as their birth flower tend to be fortunately blessed, strong willed. They hate disagreements, are careful, unobtrusive, systematic and confident. Extremely hard working, independent and self-confident, these people respect traditions. They are very much attached to their family and can go to any lengths to protect them from the world.

25 Health Benefits of Lemons

Lemon is one of those super foods with a myriad health and cosmetic benefits. There are a few persons for whom it is an allergen, so make sure you are not allergic to this natural product, before you start enjoying the many benefits.

1. Lemon being a citrus fruit , fights against infection. It helps in production of WBC's and antibodies in blood which attacks the invading microorganism and prevents infection.
2. Lemon is an antioxidant which deactivates the free radicals preventing many dangerous diseases like stroke, cardiovascular diseases and cancers.
3. Lemon lowers blood pressure and increases the levels of HDL (good cholesterol) .
4. Lemon is found to be anti-carcinogenic which lower the rates of colon, prostate, and breast cancer. They prevent faulty metabolism in the cell, which can predispose a cell to becoming carcinogenic. Also blocks the formation of nitrosamines in the gut.
5. Lemon juice is said to give a glow to the skin.
6. A few drops of lemon juice in hot water are believed to clear the digestive system and purify liver as well.
7. The skin of lemon dried under the sun and then ground to make powder can be applied to the hair for a few minutes before bath which relieves head ache and cools the body.
8. Applying lemon juice to acne dries the existing ones and prevents from getting more.
9. Lemon juice acts as a natural hair lightner and skin bleach which reduces the pigment melanin and prevents the risk of chemical allergic reactions which is common with hair dyes and bleaches.
10. Lemon juice is given to relieve gingivitis, stomatitis, and inflammation of the tongue.
11. Lemon juice is given to prevent common cold.
12. Lemon juice is given to prevent or treat urinary tract infection and gonorrhea.
13. Lemon juice is applied to the sites of bites and stings of certain insects to relieve its poison and pain.
14. Lemon juice relieves colic pain and gastric problems .
15. Lemon juice soothes the dry skin when applied with little glycerin .
16. Lemon juice used for marinating seafood or meat kills bacteria and other organisms present in them, thereby prevents many gastro-intestinal tract infections.
17. Lemon juice with a pinch of salt (warm) every morning lowers cholesterol levels and brings down your weight.
18. Lemon juice is the best drink to prevent dehydration and shock in case of diarrhea.
19. Lemon juice can also be used as a mouthwash. It removes plaque, whitens the teeth and strengthens the enamel.
20. A table spoon on thick lemon syrup everyday relieves asthma.
21. Lemon juice relieves chilblains and itchy skin.
22. Gargling lemon juice relieves throat infection and also used as a treatment for diphtheria.
23. Lemon juice is an excellent treatment for dandruff and greasy hair .
24. Lemon applied over the face removes wrinkles and keeps you young.
25. Lemon juice helps to prevent and cure osteoarthritis.

Beauty of colors

A cute presentation on the Beauty of colors

Water Falls again

This is my second article on water falls. (First one on Niagara Falls )This time the Talakona falls in the Nallamalai forest range in Chittor District of Andhra Pradesh. It was a wonderful experience :). The falls is located 76kms from Tirupathi.

Once we have crossed the villages on the way, we enter the forest and hill area in Nallamalai. It is one of the film shooting places.

On the way to Talakona

Then the place where the actual waterfall area starts is a lord Shiva temple. And here are the cottages of the AP tourism also.

At this place the waterfalls area starts and there is the forest department check point. And then after going for a kilometer inside we need to park the vehicles and start walking towards the falls. The area is filled with monkeys. There are so many of them that they start surrounding the vehicles to see if they can get anything to eat and surround the people to scratch anything in their hand. So we need to should not carry anything to avoid the monkey attack. Once you show them your empty hands they never bother to come to you.

Monkey on the railing

When we keep walking and climbing small but many steps (natural stone ones not the tiles) crossing the water flow, we come to the place where the water falls on the ground. The falls is actually on the rocks so we wont observe a direct fall as in Niagara.

Then from here we can climb up to one of the nearest point into the falls. But this time the steps are more narrow and more uneven. We need to take the rock support on one side and on the other side is the valley down. Though it has railing it is not a good support to rely on and walk.

It needs energy to climb up and then we get the falls. Beware here we need to walk barefoot for the rock floor is soo very slippery because of the continuous water flow. We did not remove them as we were not aware of it and went to a point near the drizzle. We did not go into the falls. I started holding the unreliable railing and looking down. I was then told not to do so as it was the edge point where one could easily slip and fall down into the flow.

There is a path further up onto the top of the hill but that was deadly narrower path. Then was climbed down the path.

On the return way to the forest area check point we find a Giant Climber. This is climber is 4 kms long and very old. It takes the support of other trees around which die in due course. So imagine how old this might have been.

Talakona is one of the best places where nature is at its best.
Need to take care of the following while going to this place:
1. Always go in a group as the entire path is lonely.
2. Beware of monkeys and try not to carry anything in hand.

3. Be careful not to go to the edges as the railing is not enough to support at some places.

4. Do not go with footwear near the falls.

New Place - New Experience

Heard of Golden Temple ? hmm.. yes.. Amritsar... hmmm... but now we have one more that is the Sripuram temple - South Indian Golden temple of Godess Lakshmi that is located at Tirumalaikodi around 8kms from Vellore of Tamil Nadu. The temple is very beautifully constructed.

The entire temple is in gold

The path to reach the temple is in the star shape of around 1.5 - 2 kms long. Preachings of Gita, Bible and Khuran have been written on display boards on either side of the path (Blue arrows path into the temple and pink path out of the temple)

There is water around the temple and in the night due to the lights, the temple reflection is seen in that water.

The temple was initiated by Narayani Amma, (31yrs old person) and constructed by seeking donations from people. The total area is around 100 acres and a cost of more than rupess 300 crores was spent. The estimate is around 600 crores once the entire project is completed. The temple was open for darshan in august 2007.

It is a very noble and wonderful gift to the mankind.

For more info check out :

http://www.sripuram.com/

http://www.narayanipeedam.org/

Life before the current Computer Age :D

My Sweet Keyboard

Having done my schooling in a missionary school, we had singing classes every year where sisters (nuns) used to teach us catholic songs like When I was just a little girl... Que sera sera, .... i started getting interested in the piano. I always wished to play one.. then once i got a casio keyboard as a gift from one of my cousins. I loved it a lot and started learning small songs.. i dont remember them now at all... And even now my passion for keyboard/piano still continues and recently I have bought one. And that is PSR-E403, one of the latest models on Yamaha. I will be soon learning it and would continue my interest in music. :).

Niagara Falls- a wonderful experience

I have been to the Niagara Falls from Toronto in August 2005 and it was a wonderful experience, one that i cannot forget for the rest of my life. I have been there along with my brother who came from US and we had a wonderful experience. I loved the falls and would love to visit it 'n' number of times. This gorgeous falls is also called as Horseshoe Falls. There will be a boat ride to go into the falls. It's The Maid of the Mist. And this will be a lovely feeling where we can feel the falls as if there are water droplets on us. The sound of the falls is soooo great... There is the Skylon Tower and the view from it will show the actual horseshoe shape of the waterfall. The falls is said to be more beautiful and visible from the Canada side than the US side. There is also an aerial view of the falls from a helicopter.




View from the top - there you can see the Maid of the Mist boat


View from the Maid of the Mist


Lost in the waterfalls




The bridge connecting US and Canada
this is one of the lifetime achievements that one can have :). In case you ever get to visit Canada or USA, do visit the falls.