Navarathiri Day 4

                                 On the fourth day of Navarathiri, the beginning of the three days meant for Lakshmi, the Ambal is decorated as Sri Mahalakshmi with Sri Venkatachalapathy.

                           It seems to be most the befitting as today is Purattasi Sani.
 

Sri Venkatachalapathy and Sri Mahalakshmi

Navarathiri Day 3

                 Today on  the third day of Navarathiri, the Ambal of our temple is decorated as Bala Thiripura Sundari, the youthful form of the Goddess.

                                            

Bala Thiripura Sundari

Navarathiri Day 2

            Sri Brahmi is the Alangaram of the Mariamman on the second day of Navarathiri.

                Brahmi is said to be the kind and benevolent form of the Mother Godess.

                      From the very name Brahmi, we can assume that she must be associated
                        with the creator God Brahma as his Shakthi meaning Power.

                          Brahmi is one of the seven Mantrikas, similar to our Sapthakannihaihal.

                                                                  

Sri Brahmi

Navarathiri Day 1

                    Today is the first day of Navarathiri.The first three days, as per the tradition,I make Poojas to Goddess Durga.
               Navarathiri is celebrated in a very grand manner in all most all the Amman temples of Coimbatore.There are special Alangarams and Poojas even in some of the Vinayagar,Shiva, Murugan temples in the shrines of Devi.
               Similarly in the nearby, Siddhi Vinayagar temple, there is a small shrine for Goddess  Mariamman.The Goddess is decorated very aesthetically in different forms on all the ten days.The temple wears a festive look.
              Today the Ambal is decorated as Gaja Lakshmi seated on the lotus, flanked by two white elephants on either sides.

Gaja Lakshmi

The Search

                                     My search for a particular text book for more than 2000 minutes came to an end just within 2 minutes,making me ponder over it from a few angles. 

                                      One of the text books, prescribed for the elective paper for our PG course was not available, both at the local stores and with the two popular online sellers.I had a talk with my counterparts of three colleges and the reply was that they had chosen a different elective as the book was not available and nothing relevant could be down loaded from the net.One of them even suggested me to change the elective,highlighting the advantages of the paper, they have opted.

                                 On making a request to one of my colleagues to help me through her spouse who works in an other college,the reactions were,

       Did you check in our library?
       Why can't you try with the Amazon?
       May be it's available with the Flipcart!
       Give me the name of the Publishers as many of them are known to me during my
       course of research.

                  Again, a few acquaintances were contacted with the request and two of them replied within a couple of days that the book was not available.Still, even after a week, the response is pending from the other two persons.The tenth call was to a counterpart, who told me about her ordeals on going for the same text.It was decided mutually to help each other.

                 With the frantic search for four days, while relaxing at 5.00 P.M. back at home, a thought flashed in my mind. The prescribed text being a book, related with communication skills, might also be available in the reputed Engineering College, where a nephew of me, is a faculty. He sits in his department even after the working hours,busy with his research work.On calling him,he said,'' Athai ( aunty ) I 'll call you back in 5 minutes. " But he called me back within a couple of minutes.

              The list of books of their library,being available in the systems of all their Departments, he called me in two minutes and handed the book in 2 hours.

              My Odyssey for more than 2000 minutes happily ended within 2 minutes, making me really thankful to him.

             Can this be interpreted that there is truly something to be called the 
" right time" whatever might be efforts.Had I contacted my nephew  first,the related experience and the lessons learned from the search could have been missed.

           Let us get ready to learn from any search or an experience and enjoy!

                         

                                         
                

The Andal temple

                              The majestic towers of the popular Andal Kovil of Srivilliputhur greets the devotees well in advance before they reach the town.We visit the temple at least once in a year but only during our latest visit, the grandeur of the gopuram was captured in the camera.

                             It is a matter of great joy and pride for my mother in law that the Rajagopuram of the Andal temple of her home town, Srivilliputhur is the official emblem of our state.Naturally the town happens to be the birth place of my spouse and his two sisters.The Andal Ther is very magnificent to look at on the move. Really blessed and fortunate are those, outside the town, who can make to that occasion on the day of Thiruadipooram,the birth day of the great Vaishnavite saint and composer,Andal, whose Pasurams vibrate in the dawn during the month of Margazhi.

                       An ancient Siva temple at Madarvilagam, 2 km. from the Andal temple is also worth seeing. The town of Srivilliputhur is also well known for its pure milk sweet,called Palkova.No visitor to the town returns without the Palkova.

                     

A Big Congrats

                                A big congrats to the the great men and women who were honoured with the medals, citations and cash certificates by the CM for their exemplary services, on the occasion of the Independence Day.Really, their courage and service to the state is to be lauded and they are going to be role models and sources of inspiration to the people with the similar bent of mind.

                         Mostly, the Independence Day for me,like every one is a day of joy,honestly speaking,because it is a holiday.At times, we plan for an outing or a picnic.This year the festive mood of the people could be witnessed from the crowded bus stands and traffic on the the highways with ID falling prior to the week end.

                      With no plans, today morning, sitting in front of the TV and watching the ID
celebrations in Chennai, these bureaucrats, elected people and the  entrepreneurs felicitated by the highest authority of the state  moved me and made my day.