Body Gaurd Muneeswaran Temple-a stop without putting the brakes...

Bodygaurd Muneeswaran temple is situated in the Pallavan Salai, Chennai near Pallavan House and the Old Central Jail building. Its well known among the chennai city people and most of the Medicos, since this temple is the official landmark given in the address to the Island grounds Kendriya Vidyalaya during All India PG exams.

The history of this temple goes back to 1919, when some workers from then North Arcot district brought a idol of muneeswaran and tried to fix it near the military barrocks. Commender of that camp strongly objected, but he realised the fault very same day when he met with the road accident. By these this muneeswaran become bodygaurds for vehicles. Later a small shelter is given to the temple.

Another story behind this is...the present Pallavan house is the place where the Governor's security (Bodygaurds) camp was functioning. Since this temple is near the camps compound wall, people called it as Bodygaurd Muneeswaran.

Whatever be the story behind the temple, people have a strong beleif with this God in protecting them from road traffic accidents.

Every day we can see hundreds of two wheelers and four wheelers parked waiting for the pooja.

He is a non vegetarian God, so people can go accordingly for pooja...Whatever be the belief, drive safely on road, then all God will be in your side.

Radio-unforgettable days...

Actually the reason for writing this post is when i was reading this week's issue of Ananda Vikatan i read a article by a person who wrote his experience with the radio listening in his young days. I just recapped my experience. If anybody who has habit of listening radio will definitely have a impact.

My habit of listening radio started when i'm to my best of memory from my 7 or 8 years of age. My mom used to do the evening household listening to the cinema dialogue or some weekly serial dialogue in a small transistor radio which almost stopped its service one year back, i used to hear the same with her. After finishing the work she will go to the neighbours house to elaborate the story which she listened. I will be so irritated and i will disturb her by then only she will chase me out of the home. So that i can go out and play and she will discuss about the radio story.

Then my father, who bought a Sony 3 in 1 tape recorder for Rs.3000 when the gold was 700/soverign before my birth(ofcourse this is still working)wont even allow us to touch it. When he come home, he will start tuning to some channels raising the antennae of the radio. If he gets any signal mostly from any Srilankan channel or vivek bharathi, he will be so elated that we also will enjoy the channel without even understanding whats telecasted.

My actual craziness towards listening radio came during the age of 12. In those days radio programmes will be the virtual clock when starting to school in the morning. 7.15AM will be the news time,7.30 will be "Thirukkural" time but for me brushing time, at 7.40 "Indru Oru Thagaval" which will be the time for me to bath. At 7.50 have to tune to lankan channel for the cine song. There will be a commercial break at 8.15AM which will be the time for me to start to school.

During the Karthigai deepam festival there will bbe a live broadcast from Tiruvannamalai about the Deepam on AIR, that will be the time when my mom used to light the deepam in my home.

I still remember the Chennai test match between India and Pakistan 1999. I was listening the match on radio the last day. India was on the way to victory but atlast lost the match by 12 runs. But luckily the second test match at delhi become a history by Kumble's 10 wicket.

Then is the real part when my brother got a new transistor radio which he uses in his hostel. He will make all non sense with that to get the signal. He once bought a antennae suggested by a listener of srilankan shakthi FM on a radio programme and he installed it in my home to get the Lankan programme. Actually that listener used it tin nagapattinam to get the shakthi FM but my brother used it in Tirupattur. But really his efforts will get some tamil channels in the night. Once that antennae got the signal from the nearby police office's walky radio signals also.

In one programme some one told its very easy to start a radio channel. On hearing this, me and my brother started constructing a radio station with two FM microphone(one is original and another is what we made with resisters and diodes by seeing the original's circuit diagram). But finally we didnt get to know how to connect the tape recorder and the mic. So that idea was dropped.

The voices of Saroj Narayanasamy, Thenkatchi Ko Swaminathan, P.H. Abdul Ameed will all be awesome to listen.

In the modern radio, that is FM era, the awesome, lovely voice is from the RJ Suchitra. All will think Suryan FM is the first commercial FM started in chennai but Radio Mirchi started its telecast two days before Suryan with Suchitra's 3hrs programme in evening. Her night programme will be too nice that you will feel sleepy but wont feel to miss her voice by sleeping. Many full days had passed for me just by listening the FM during my college days.Kodai FM and Suryan FM in salem are unforgettable part of my college days.

Radio is such an wonderful media which our media legends wasted it on commercials. Ofcourse thats the reason Kodai FM is getting best prize every year for best AIR radio station. The Lankan radio are the best if we want to listen nice programme. Ofcourse internet live streaming helps a lot to get those channels.

Anna Centenary Library- Book Treasure....

Yes!!! Chennai got one more feather to its crown. Anna Centenary Library, built across 3.75 lakh sq ft of floor space with a total of 8 floors (yet to be completed) is giving its elegant giant look in Kotturpuram, which almost taken 180 crores expenditure.

Another dream project of the CM Karunanithi has come true and the library was opened on September 15 of 2010. A perfect front elevation filled with glasses gives the library a corporate look is guarded by series of security personnel at each check point. After giving our official entry by signing the register , a huge wall carving welcomes us- LETS READ THE WORLD IN BOOKS, LETS READ THE WORLD AS BOOKS. Of the functioning 5 floors, the ground floor holds the Brailey section, first floor holds the kids’ section and dailys, magazines, the second floor holds the tamil literature, the third floor English, Computer Science, Engineering, etc., and the fourth holds the Medicine, Agriculture, Management, etc.,

The kids’ section looks as though we are inside Just Born or Odessey’s kids’ corner. Hats off to the art director Thotta Tharani , who has designed this floor. Almost all available books for kids are arranged in short shelves. This section also has a play area. The computer terminals provided in this floor has interactive flash programmes for Play n Learn activities.

The medicine section housed in the fourth floor has almost 17000 books (Statistics) has almost all books catering all the branches of the medicine. But only one copy is available for each subject. Copies needed to be increased.

The entire library is fully computerized and centrally air-conditioned. The accesses of the books are made easy with the computers available with the assistant librarians available at each floor. The entire floor area inside the reading section is either covered by carpet or plywood. This library is connected with other libraries in the state and the state of art Connemara Library. This library also connected with almost all the international libraries around the world. Thus this library becomes second of its kind in the country having such a network.

This library’s construction is personally supervised by the School education minister Mr. Thangam Thennarasu, who for this work will remain popular in the party till his political life ends.

Once this library becomes fully functional after the pending civil work, this will be the hang out for all the book lovers provided the government irrespective of the political party maintains and there is no scam in the maintenance contract.

Anna Centenary Library, another landmark achievement by Karunanithi’s govt which the history will speak in feature.

Patna - India's history sleeps here...

I went to this historical place on a cool season which changed my entire opinion on India. The first thing i noted in this place is the dietary habit which the rest of the country loosing. The habit of going with nature, every vendor in the train or railway platform is carrying a natural eatables. No chemicals.

But the next thing which i saw made me to frown. Every station in the state is filled with a row human creatures lying asleep in the night. These people dont have a shelter. Still the constitution is not fully established in this state.

At that momemt, kerala based railway employee, gave a information that human lives are not considered a matter. Illegal activities are very common and its very unsafe to go out in night. So not even Gandhi's dream came true.

Transport is one of the horrible one in Patna and the entire Bihar. No public transport system, neither govt nor private operated. Only cycle rickshaw, auto rickshaw...The reason is very funny...No citizen is willing to pay money for the travelling ticket...But the people are dedicated in their work...but no one seems to have a good IQ (Person driving the car only on second gear, a crowd inside the ATM centre, travelling in roof top with the entire van empty)

The only thing which makes us feel is the feel that the Indian history started in Pataliputra. The oldest Nalanda university, Buddha gaya, Jamshedpur steel city, and many more to mention...If we want ot write anything on India's history both ancient and modern, patna will find a first mention.

Patna museum has a plenty of good old sculptures aging from 2A.D. brought from all part of India, afganistan, Burma, China, Srilanka, etc., collections of Rajendra Prasad, Nehru, etc.,

But in recent years, Patna and Bihar as a whole had a reasonable developments. Many villages which has not experienced electricity is glowing now, a few flyovers in the city, wide railway stations, many many government schemes and many to mention.

Recent surprise is out of elected 243 MLA, 19 where Doctorate holders. Another thing to mention is, Bihar is one of the state which gives the nation more number of IAS officers.

The final opinion after the visit to Bihar is, we can't declare India as a developed one without sufficient contribution to and from this part of the country.

Higginbotham's - the place for book worms...

The Third important landmark in Anna Salai of Chennai is Higginbotham's Book Shop in front of the LIC Buildings.

The Higginbotham's is an Indian company of book sellers and publishers based in the city of Chennai. The main bookstore at Mount Road, Chennai has the reputation of being India's oldest bookshop in existence.

The Higginbotham's was established by an English librarian named Abel Joshua Higginbotham.It is alleged that he arrived in India as a British stowaway. In fact he was born 1 February 1819 and baptised 7 March at cannonore, Madras.

In the 1840s, he was employed as a librarian with a bookstore named Weslyan Book Shop run by Protestant missionaries. However, the store suffered heavy losses and the missionaries who ran the business decided to sell their shop for a low price. Higginbotham purchased the business and set up his own store and called it "Higginbotham's" in the year 1844. The Higginbotham's is, therefore, India's oldest bookstore in existence. Soon, it gained a reputation for quality. John Murray, in his Guidebook to the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay in 1859, describes Higginbotham's as the "premier bookshop of Madras".

The Higginbotham's started selling stationery and also publishing and printing their own books from the 1860s onwards. When the British Crown took over the governance of India from the British East India Company by the Queen's Proclamation of 1858, copies of the Proclamation were printed in English and Tamil and distributed all over the Presidency by Higginbotham's. he Higginbotham's were appointed as the "official booksellers to His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales" during the latter's visit to India in 1875. Abel Joshua Higginbotham served as the Sheriff of Madras in 1888 and 1889. From 1890 to 1920, the Higginbotham's were the sole suppliers to the Connemara Public Library. James Higgs, who was the Managing Director from 1890 onwards, was a prominent Freemason who had previously served as the Grand Deacon of England and the Deputy District Grand Master of Master.

Abel also involved his son C. H. Higginbotham in his business. On Abel's death in 1891, the firm passed on to the hands of his son C. H. Higginbotham. C. H. expanded the business beyond Madras. Higginbotham bookstalls were established in Southern Railway stations. In 1904, the Higginbotham's moved to a new building that has been specifically built for the firm. In 1929, the Higginbotham's had as many as 400 employees.

In 1921, Higginbotham's was purchased by John Oakshott Robinson who added the store to his group the Associated Publishers. Associated Publishers was bought by S. Anantharamakrishnan of Amalgamations Group in 1945 and has since remained a part of the conglomerate. Some of Higginbotham's famous customers were Clement Attlee, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and S. Radhakrishnan. Rev. Miller, who established the Madras Christian College, was another regular at Higginbotham's.

The Higginbotham's was the largest bookstore in India till the 1990s. In 1989, renovations helped restore the original look upon the building.


The Higginbothams has a chain of 22 outlets spread across the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.

You will wonder, Higginbotham's working hours are very narrow. 10.00AM to 8.00 PM Never opens on sundays. You will always find a security at the entrance round the clock(In 2005, ofcourse, Higginbotham's was stealed by its own security personnel).