Neer Mahal

#ashokasays Did you know 164:

Neer Mahal

If you are thinking that Palaces inside lakes are limited to Rajasthan then you are absolutely wrong .... You should visit Tripura to experience this place.. Neer Mahal...

Rudrasagar lake is situated roughly 50 Km outside Agartala near Melaghar with 5.3 square kilometers water area. The famous lake palace of Tripura known as “Neermahal” is built in the centre of the lake. Neermahal translates as the Water Palace. Just like the palace in the centre of a lake in Jaipur, Jal Mahal, which also means the water palace, Neermahal is grand and majestic.

The lake is a reservoir for a large number of migratory birds  who make it home every winter. Each year a boat race is organized around July/August during Manasa Puja. People need to take a boat accross the Rudrasagar lake (named after Shiva) to reach the palace. The boats can enter the palace. The white marbled structure have huge spaces with good air flow. The serene atmosphere around is very soothing.

Neer Mahal was built in 1930 by Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya as summer resort . The palace took 9 years to be built by Martin &  Burns Co. The Antar Mahal has 15 royal rooms, courtyard, a room for playing chess and a meeting room where the king addressed his people, among others.

This spectacular monument still reflects the splendour of its past glory and leaves one spellbound.

INCREDIBLE BHARATHA

AMAZING HAND BLOCK PRINTING

#ashokasays Did you know 163:

HAND BLOCK PRINTING

If you are looking for some amazing handicrafts there is no dearth of the stuff you find in India. Take a look at this. Hand block printing....

Hand block printing is an inseparable part of cultural heritage of Rajasthan.
There are 2 types of block printing which are famous
1. Sanganeri - printed on white background
2. Bagaru - printed on black and red background

Each village in Rajasthan boasts of the Chhipa caste engaging in block printing- be it mud resist or discharge or wax resist process. This stable tradition is still very much in fashion, despite the accessibility of modern techniques like screen-printing. The Chhipas hand over their craft skills down the generations, from parent to child, the expertise remains within the family.

Block Printing is an ancient craft form of Rajasthan that is being practiced since time immemorial. Natural colors are used in Block Printing. Rajasthan is well known for the art of block printing that is hugely practiced there even till date. The process of doing block printing flourished since the 12th century when the art received a royal patronage from the kings of the era. Block Printing is done on cotton fabrics. Rajasthan is an important center in India where block printing has gained a good prominence and the designs of the block printing that originated in Rajasthan are considered the most popular and best of all other designs.

INCREDIBLE BHARATHA

Gwalior Fort

#ashokasays Did you know 162:

Gwalior Fort

The Gwalior fort spreads out over an area of 3 square km, surrounded by concrete walls of sandstone. The Gwalior fort encloses three temples, six palaces and numerous water tanks. At a point of time Gwalior fort was regarded as North and Central India's most invincible fortress. The fort was built by Raja Man Singh Tomar in the 15th century. The fort of Gwalior has seen many ups and downs of history. In the course of almost five hundred years, the Gwalior fort went from one ruler to another.

From the Tomars it passed to the Mughals, Marathas and the British. The Gwalior fort finally went to the Scindias from the British. The Teli-ka-Mandir is the most famous of all the temples of the Gwalior fort. This temple was built in the Dravidian style shrine and is notable for its generously sculpted exterior. The Saas-Bahu Temples (two pillared temples which stand next to each other, one larger than the other) are also fascinating.

The Man Singh Palace is one of the most amazing palaces of the Gwalior fort. It was built by Man Singh in the 15th century. It was in the same palace the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb imprisoned and later murdered his brother Murad. Then there is gruesome Jauhar Kund, where the women of the harem burnt themselves to death after the defeat of the king of Gwalior in 1232. Other significant palaces within the Gwalior Fort include the Karan Palace, the Jahangir Mahal, the Shah Jahan Mahal and the Gujri Mahal (built by Man Singh for his favorite queen, Mrignayani).

INCREDIBLE BHARATHA

Incredible skydiver - Shital Mahajan

#ashokasays Did you know 161:

Shital Mahajan

Shital Mahajan Rane, a resident of Pune is an Indian extreme sportsperson, skydiver and the holder of eight world records in the sport. She is known as the first woman to perform an accelerated free fall jump over the Antarctica from 10,000 feet, the youngest woman to jump over both the North and South Poles, and the first woman jumper to perform it without trials
.
The Government of India honored Mahajan in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.

Shital Mahajan is a holder of five world records, 14 national records.

Having performed more than 655 jumps, adventure sports enthusiast Shital is a skydiving coach too. United States Parachuting Association has certified her with A, B, C and D licenses and coach ratings, which makes her eligible for skydiving all over the globe.

1. Shital Mahajan is the first woman to perform a free fall jump over the South Pole, which was completed on 15 December 2006.

2. She also became the first woman to perform successful jumps over the North and South Poles, without trials, when she completed her jump over the South Pole.

3. The attempt also made her the youngest woman to achieve the feat at the age of 24.

4. The first Indian woman to perform a wing suit jump.

5. Mahajan is a US certified A, B, C and D skydiver and trainer and is the first Indian civilian woman diving coach.

6. Mahajan was a part of the team that created a world record as the first team to perform free fall parachute jump over Antarctica.

7. She has also led a team of 85 Indian skydivers to achieve a record for maximum tandem jumps in an hour, the jumps performed on 25 August 2014 at Spain.

8. Her jump from 13000 feet performed on 19 April 2009 is also a record for the height in women's category.

9.  She is also credited with a free fall jump from a hot air ballon at 5800 feet and a jump at 24000 feet.

INCREDIBLE INDIAN LADY

Mesmerizing Lakes in Sikkim

#ashokasays Did you know 160:

A trip to part of Sikkim

A trip to Sikkim is not complete without a visit to North Sikkim, which has some of the most spectacular valley views of the Yumthang Valley, most picturesque villages -- Lachung and Lachen and the Gurudongmar Lake -- one of the most beautiful, spectacular and sacred lakes surrounded on all sides by snow clad mountains.

Located at a height of 17,000 ft, the journey and the destination defy description. The 7-8 hour journey from Gangtok is through lush greenery and waterfalls as one reaches the Lachen village, which is the base for this trip. The excursion to Gurudongmar begins with a 4-5 hour drive through snow clad peaks and mountains till one reaches the Gurudongmar Lake.

Gurudongmar Lake at a height of 17100 ft, is among the top 15 highest lakes in the world and is the second highest lake in Sikkim as well as in India, the first being Cholamu lake at a height of 18000 ft, also situated in Sikkim.  Being the second highest lake in India, the panoramic and scenic beauty of the place is a sight to behold. Named after Guru Dongmar, the lake has a religious appeal.  The view of Mount Siniolchu and Khanchendzonga is breathtaking from that point. The beauty of the lake is awesome and out of the world spectacle. Surrounded by snow clad mountains and crystal clear icy water, it is considered to be a very sacred lake.

It takes around 8-9 hours drive from Gangtok to reach Gurongdmar Lake. This lake is in enroute to Lachen, a small town in North Sikkim located  at a height of 10000 ft.

INCREDIBLE BHARATHA

The Treeline lady

#ashokasays Did you know 159:

She is called Saalumarada Thimmakka in her village.  She got the honour of being named Saalumarada, for the work she has been doing for a long time. The word ‘Saalumarada’ means ‘row of trees’ in Kannada language. Today, she is a renowned environmentalist who held the recognition of being one, who planted and tended 284 banyan trees along a four kilometer stretch of highway. And that is no mean achievement!

It is said that some people are born with an extreme vigour – a vigour that conquers the pain born with an unfulfilled desire. And with great enthusiasm they can reshape a wish too. Saalumarada Thimmakka and her husband are not any different here. The pain of not having children for more than 25 years of their marriage yielded in an idea of planting the banyan saplings along the highway.

One fine day, Thimmakka’s husband decided to plant trees and nourish those like their own children to overcome the sadness. And that particular thought is the beginning of Saalumarada Thimmakka’s great afforestation project.

They found a road in their neighbouring village Kudur, suitable for their purpose, since the road did not have a single tree and that caused immense hardship for the traveler during summer. Initially they planted ten saplings of banyan tree in the first year and the numbers increased with each passing year. In 1991, Saalumarada Thimmakka’s husband died but the tragedy could not restrict her to carry the project ahead. And it is surprising to learn that today, the asset value of the trees stands at more than 1.5 million rupees.

Saalumarada Thimmakka did not confine her work only to planting trees. She has been raising her voice in other social activities too. Situation and determination turned Thimmakka to a crusader Saalumarada. A crusader, who believes in the philosophy: if you want to fill the void of emptiness then plant a dream and nourish it like your own baby.

INCREDIBLE BHARATHIYA

Ramanarayanam-Srimadramayana Pranganam

#ashokasays Did you know 158:

Ramanarayanam-Srimadramayana Pranganam temple one of the most beautiful temples built in Modern India. This one is located at a distance of 35 kilometers from Vishakhapatnam enroute Vizianagaram.

Situated in a sprawling 15 acre expanse near Vizianagaram, Ramanarayanam-Srimdramayana Pranganam, is built in the share pf a Bow & Arrow: the temple took more than a decade to build.

The entire story of Ramayana is sculpted in 3D for the most life like experience in understanding Valmiki Ramayana.


The structures built in the shape of ‘Rama Dhanuvu’ (the sign Sagittarius in the zodiac) has two floors with Sri Maha Vishnu temple on the one and Sri Rama temple on the other. Linking both the temples in the shape of a bow is the ‘Pranava Margam’ that bears all-important ‘khandaas’ of Saint Valmiki’s Srimadhramayana in visual forms.

With Lord Vigneswara temple at the entrance, the path in the shape of an arrow leads to the complex that has colour fountains. At the tip of the arrow, a 60-feet-high Hanuman statue has been installed which is visible even from a distance of 1km. In foreground of the two-floor complex, Sri Lakshmi and Sri Gnana Sarswati idols have been installed.

It is one of the very few places in the world which has a "Veda Patashala" run by TTD.

You can know more about this place and also go through a virtual tour of the place on http://ramanarayanam.org/home.aspx

INCREDIBLE BHARATHA

Lost in Kumbh Mela? Meet him..

#ashokasays Did you know 157:
You read about the Kumbh Mela yesterday. And I'm sure you have seen a lot of Hindi movies where brothers get separated in Kumbh Melanie and are rejoined after many years with some kind of mark on their body.. blah blah blah..

Don't forget to meet this man incase you visit Kumbh Mela...

Fondly known as "Bhule Bhakte Tiwari", Rajaram Tiwari founded Bharat Seva Dal and made it his life's mission to ensure that families found their way to back to each other if they were separated at the Kumbh Mela.

The "Khoya Paya Shivir" camps set up by Tiwari have helped reunite roughly 1 million adults and 20000 children with their family members, while simultaneously breaking clinched Bollywood stereotypes.

Incase you want to read more about him you can visit

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/02/world/la-fg-india-festival-lost-20130303

INCREDIBLE BHARATHIYA

Kumbh Mela

Did you know 156
Kumbh Mela

Kumbh Mela is organized every three years on a rotation basis in Allahabad, Nashik, Haridwar and Ujjain. It is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Sangam, meeting place, of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasvati, and on the banks of Godavari, Ganga and Kshipra where bathing for purification from sin is considered especially auspicious.

It’s the world’s biggest fair

The festival is billed as the "biggest gathering on Earth"; in 2001 more than 40 million gathered on the busiest of its 55 days. The 2001 mela was unusually significant due to the planetary positions at the time, a pattern that repeats only once every 144 years.

Kumbha Mela is held at all the four places

Ardha Kumbha Mela: Held at Haridwar and Prayag (Allahabad), every 6 yearsPurna Kumbha Mela: Only at Prayag, every 12 years

Maha Kumbha Mela: Only at Prayag, every 144 years

Various sadhus (hermits) visit the Mela; including Nagas, who do not wear any clothes; Urdhwavahurs, who believe in putting the body through severe austerities; Parivrajakas, who have taken a vow of silence; Shirshasins, who stand 24 hours and meditate for hours standin on their heads; Kalpvasis, who bathe thrice a day.
It’s a spectacle to behold various akharas making it to the river for the great bath on Kumbh days. An akhara is a wrestling arena. It is an organization of the different sects of saints, vairagis, and yogis who have renounced the world. Akharas are divided into different camps according to the concept of God they worship. Shaiva Akharas are for followers of Lord Shiva, Vaishnava or Vairagi Akhara are for followers of Lord Vishnu and Kalpwasis are for followers of Lord Brahma. An Akhara is further divided into 8 davas (divisions) and 52 marhis (centers). Each marhi performs its spiritual activities under a Mahant. The central administrative body of the Akhara is Shree Panch (the body of five), representing Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. Shakti and Ganesha. The five-member body governing an akhara is elected during every Kumbh Mela for a period of 4 years.

:

INCREDIBLE BHARATHA

NH-22

Did you know 155:
National Highway 22 (NH 22) is a 459 km (285 mi) National Highway in Northern India that runs from Ambala through Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh up to Khab on the Tibet border. It is also known as Hindustan Tibet road.

The construction of Hindustan Tibet road in Himachal Pradesh began in 1850. It is an exquisite feat of human endeavor, on one of the highest ranges of the world. The half tunneling, done manually through the rocky stretches, speaks volumes of determination and dedication with which the highway was built. The tunneling done through huge rocks at "Khimring Dhankh" or cliff, on the Hindustan Tibet road is still considered to be the largest stretch tunneled for a road through the rocks.

This road has been featured in the History Channel as one of the most “Deadliest Road” in the world. Built in 19th century, the Hindustan-Tibet road, also known as the Silk route or the National Highway No. 22, begins from Ambala in Haryana, as an offshoot of NH.1.

Go for a thrilling drive and enjoy the experience..

INCREDIBLE BHARATHA

Arunachalam Muruganantham - The Menstrual Man

Did you know 154:
Arunachalam Muruganantham - The Menstrual Man

Meet the man who started India's sanitary napkin revolution. His dream? Affordable, hygienic napkins for all.

A true visionary, Arunachalam Muruganantham began the sanitary pad revolution in India. Venturing dangerously close to a topic most men steer clear off, he was shocked when he discovered that women in rural India cannot afford hygienic sanitary napkins. Instead they are forced to use cloth, sand, leaves and even ash!

Today, Muruganantham has developed a low cost, functional and affordable sanitary napkin. He aims to make India a 100% sanitary napkin country.

A school dropout from a poor family in southern India has revolutionized menstrual health for rural women in developing countries by inventing a simple machine they can use to make cheap sanitary pads for which he has secured a patent.

Out of 943 entries which went for a national innovation award, this machine came first. He was given the award by the then President of India, Pratibha Patil - quite an achievement for a school dropout.

The man went through many kinds of troubles from being rejected by his own family members, people whom he tried to interact with suspected him with many suspicions, wife and mother left him, no money to deal with etc. But still he was able to get over all this.When he made to the lime light he not only received all kinds of respect and love from the country, even his family members are back with him.

You should surely read about his inspiring story onhttp://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26260978. Don't miss reading it.

INCREDIBLE BHARATHIYA

Vijay P Bhatkar

#ashokasays Did you know 153:
Vijay Bhatkar is an Indian computer scientist and a Padma Shri andPadma Bhushan awardee. Dr. Vijay Bhatkar is one of the most acclaimed and internationally acknowledged scientists of India. India's computer magazine Dataquest has placed him among the star pioneers who shaped India's IT industry.

Dr. Bhatkar is best known as the architect of India’s national initiative in supercomputing where he led the development of Param supercomputers. When India was denied the supercomputer by USA, Dr.Bhatkar took the challenge of developing an indigenous supercomputer in a record time of 3 years and delivered Param 8000 in 1991 and went on to develop terascale Param 10000 in 1998, propelling India into the exclusive club of select nations, who possess this strategic technology. Based on the Param series of supercomputers, he built the National Param Supercomputing Facility (NPSF) which has been now made available as a grid computing facility through Garuda grid on the National Knowledge Network (NKN) providing nationwide access to High Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure. Today, Dr. Bhatkar has once again taken the lead in proposing the National Mission on Development of Exascale Supercomputing Capability, Capacity and Infrastructure on National Knowledge Network.

Dr. Bhatkar is also widely known for bringing ICT to the masses through a wide range of path - breaking initiatives, such as the celebrated GIST multilingual technology covering India’s 22 official languages with 10 diverse scriptsthat has dissolved the language barrier on computers once for all; MKCL’s computer literacy programme that made a world mark by creating 7.5 million computer literates within a decade; Education to Home (ETH) initiativefor bringing the benefits of ICT to school education, in learning, teaching, administration, governance and communication & collaboration.


In the 80’s, Dr Bhatkar substantially contributed to the ushering of electronics revolution in India. He led the development of several innovations such as India’s first fully solid state colour television, colour TV broadcast during Asiad in 1982, distributed control systems for Indian power plants and process industries,traffic control systems, automationof security systems, defence simulators and the like from the component level upward that contributed to building the indigenous foundation of India’ electronics industry which was to become India’s IT industry later.

He is presently the Chancellor of India International Multiversity, Chairman of ETH Research Lab, Chief Mentor of I2IT, and National President of Vijnan Bharati.

INCREDIBLE BHARATHIYA