Youth Of Indian: 3 Jul 2011

‎10 REASONS WHY YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND !!!

Novak Djokovic from serbia wins wimbledon 2011 Men's singles against Rafael Nadal from spain

GREAT LINES BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE !!!

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action- Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."

Antilia is the world's most expensive home costing over US$1 billion

Antilia is the name of a twenty-seven floor personal home in South Mumbai belonging to businessman Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire Chairman of Reliance Industries.There will be 600 full-time staff to maintain the residence, which was reported in the Indian Media to be the most expensive home in the world.It has been described as the "Taj Mahal of 21st century India".

The home will house Ambani, wife Nita, their three children and Ambani's mother.

Name and Location

Antilia is named after the mythical island in the Atlantic, Antillia.

The Antilia building is situated on a 4,532 square metres (48,780 sq ft) plot at Altamont Road, Cumballa Hill, South Mumbai, where land prices are upward of US$10,000 per square metre.

In August 2008, Altamont Road was the 10th most expensive street in the world at US$25,000/sq m (US$2,336 per sq foot)

Specifications

The structure was designed by U.S. architects using principles of Vaastu Shastra, the Hindutraditional geomancy akin to Chinese feng shui, to maximize "positive energy." No two floor plans are alike, and the materials used in each level vary widely.

The home will include:

400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) of living space.
Parking space for 168 cars.
A one-floor vehicle maintenance facility.
9 elevators in the lobby.
1 helipad and an air traffic control facility.
Health spa, yoga studio, small theatre with a seating capacity for 50 on the eighth floor,multiple swimming pools, three floors of hanging gardens, and a ballroom.
An ice room infused with man-made snow flurries.

Construction

Antilia was designed by Chicago based architects, Perkins & Will. The Melbourne-based construction company Leighton Holdings began constructing it. The home was also designed to survive an 8-richter scale earthquake.

Cost and valuation

Indian media frequently reported that Antilia is the world's most expensive home costing US$1 billion.

Thomas Johnson, director of marketing at architecture firm Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates that was consulted with by Reliance during building floor plan design, was cited by Forbes Magazine as estimating the cost of the residence at nearly $2 billion.

In June 2008, a Reliance spokesman told the New York Times that it will cost $50–$70 million to build.

Upon completion in 2010, media reports again speculated that, due to increasing land prices in the area, the tower may now be worth as much as US$1 billion.

The Article about Vipul Thaker !!! A common man who did great contribution to Indian Society..

This article is dedicated to one of the many unsung heroes bringing about a change. His name is VIPUL THAKER , a simple man with simple dreams. Without going into his background, let me start from one of his birthdays. It was on that day when he decided he wanted to do something different. He decided to educate a Rabari (a tribe in Gujarat) child. A makeshift classroom was created on the terrace of his two bedroom house. As days passed by, Vipul went on to explore the talent in the slum surrounding his housing society. A few more students joined his class and subsequently the classroom was shifted to a light post on a nearby road. His class had no roof and was hence exposed to the harsh elements of the weather. The classes went on nevertheless. Every evening at around 09.00 pm the class would commence.

Within one year Vipul had around twenty children who worked in the day time and regularly attended his evening classes.

Looking at the progress of this informal school, the parents who belonged to the Rabari community came to his aid. They gifted Vipul with an empty hut to which the classes now moved. Of all the problems that Vipul faced, one was that of gender discrimination. The girls were not allowed to study. After much persuasion from Vipul, the parents were convinced and the girls walked in for the very first time. Within a month their strength doubled.

Vipul Thaker's school and students

This school wasn’t Vipul’s full time profession. He had a day job. He did receive some voluntary contribution from a few NRIs. After a point, he decided to admit his students in to a municipal school. Additionally, the evening classes were regularly conducted to ensure students did not miss out in case they didn’t go to school in the day.

Vipul had a dream to nurture – he wanted every child to get education on par with what their more privileged peers got. He negotiated with the private school principals, head masters, teachers and finally led to the introduction of a scholarship scheme. And so today out of forty students, around twenty five of them have been admitted to a school with better amenities for the students.

In the last few years, some of his students have shown their skills at the state level in the field of dramatic and graphic arts. Today he can proudly say that these children have something to look forward to. They have a future too. Vipul considers the renowned Gujarati educationist Gijubhai Badheka as his source of inspiration. He believes that Gandhian ideals too have been a prominent force behind his willingness to contribute selflessly.

The important thing, dear readers, is that this man and many more like him are actually striving to provide an identity to these children. They are providing a platform through which these children can express their ideas and needs.

Vipul and thousands of such grassroots revolutionaries are working towards bringing a constructive change in the society and we salute them for their relentless work in making a better India.

Treasure worth at least $22.3billion+ found at Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala,making it the richest temple in the world.

History

In older days Sree Padmanabha Kshetram and its properties were controlled by powerful lords known as Ettuveetil Pillamar under the guidance of Ettara Yogam. Later, Marthanda Varma defeated the Pillamar and his cousins "Kunju thampis", took over power.

The last major renovation of the temple was done by King Marthanda Varma, Maharaja of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore. He dedicated his kingdom to the deity, and pledged that he and his descendants would serve the kingdom as Padmanabha Dasa, meaning "servants of the Lord Padmanabha". With this, Sri Padmanabha became the nominal head of the state of Travancore, assuming the title Perumal, the Emperor. The British Government saluted the Lord with a 21-gun salute, a military tradition of colonial days, which was continued by the Indian Armyuntil the abolition of the privy purses by Government of India with Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister.

The royal insignia of the Lord, The Valampiri Shankhu or dextral conch-shell, served as the State emblem of Travancore and even continued so for some time after the re-organization of the States. Sri Padmanabha is still regarded as regional deity of Travancore.The two annual festivals of the Temple culminate in a grand procession, in which the three deities (Sree Padmanabha, Narasimha Swamy andKrishna) are carried on flower-deck and aesthetically decorated Garuda Vahanas to the Shankhumukhom beach, for 'aaraattu' (sacramental ablution). The 'aarattu' days are declared as local public holidays in Thiruvanathapuram. The Idol is made of Kadusarkkara Yogam, an ayurvedic mixture, with Lord Vishnu sleeping on Anantha with his head pointing towards south and facing east.

TREASURE OF PADMANABHASWAMY TEMPLE

Even as priceless treasures found from cellars of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here is estimated to be around Rs 90,000 crore, the discovery has sparked a debate on how to protect and preserve the royal legacy which has surpassed everyone's imagination.

Opening of the long-locked chambers, on Supreme Court orders, which began on June 27 has so far revealed a large number of gold ornaments, gold and silver coins, stone studded crowns, idols and figurines inlaid with precious stones and jewels.

The exercise to assess the value of the articles, undertaken by a seven-member panel of observers, including two former High Court judges, will continue tomorrow after a day’s breather today. Emergence of the temple as one of the richest Hindu shrines in the world has also thrown up security concerns with police as an interim step deploying two platoons of armed personnel.

According to the temple sources, the treasure trove has been so far estimated at around Rs 90,000 crore. The question nagging historians, academics and enthusiasts of temple culture, however, is how to safeguard the treasure considering its immense historical and cultural values.

Many of them say the treasure symbolised the honesty and simplicity of erstwhile Travancore kings, who did not take away a single item from the pile whose existence they were aware of. While similar treasures possessed by many other princely states in pre-colonial India were plundered by attackers, or wasted on luxuries by members of the royal houses themselves, the Travancore kings have zealously guarded them as reserves of the state, they said.

Narayanan, former Indian History Congress president said utmost care and thought should be given to protect the treasures. "The state or Central government cannot take over these assets as they are part of the temple coffers according to the system followed by the Travancore kings," he said.

"We have the examples of many temples before us which have been taken over by the government and later plunged into mismanagement and irregularities. It should not happen to this shrine also," he said.

"In my view, a temple museum can be set up and some selected articles, recovered from the cellars, can be catalogued and exhibited. Other articles should be kept in a safer place. I Historian and writer M G Sasibhushan opined that the rare treasures, kept for centuries in the secret chambers of the shrine, should be preserved for future generations.

Coins from other princely states like Vijayanagar Empire and European countries have also been found which might be part of the gifts received by the rulers of the time. The coins also reflect on the revenue received by the royal state through its maritime spice trade. While all major temples of the area were handed over to the Travancore Devaswom Board after merger of the princely state with the Indian Union after 1947, control of Padmanabhaswamy temple was retained by the royal house through a covenant with the government.

Though the last royal ruler Sree Chithira Tirunal Balarama Varma left the entire treasure untouched he was made 'Rajapramukh' (status equivalent to Governor) after the merger Meanwhile, outfits like VHP and community organizations like Nair Service Society and Sree Naryanad Dharma Paripalana Yogam have warned against any attempt on the part of the state to take over the treasure and wanted them to be declared as the temple asset.

Treasure trove

In 2011 the Supreme court of India directed the authorities from the the fire services and archeology department to open the secret (sanctum sanctorum) chambers of the temple for inspection of the items kept inside.On July 2, 2011, approximately 500 billion rupees ($11.2 billion US) worth of gold, jewels, and other treasures were unearthed in the vaults of the temple. Several antiques such as 18th century Napoleonic era coins were also discovered at the temple. Finds also included a golden idol of Mahavishnu and ceremonial attire for adorning the deity in the form of 16-part golden anki weighing almost 30 kilograms as well as golden coconut shells, one studded with rubies and emeralds.India's Supreme Court recently ordered the temple be managed by the State to ensure the security of the temple and its treasures.

This revelation has solidified the status of the Padmanabhaswamy temple as the most wealthy temple in India, with the Tirupati Temple(previously thought to be the most wealthy) having some 320 billion rupees in gold, coins and other treasures.

It is estimated that the value of the total monumental items are over 100,000 crore (US$22.3 billion) , making it the richest temple in the world.

The inventory has been thought to have been in the temple for more than a hundred years after being put there by the maharajahs ofTravancore. It was called "Sri Pandaram" and the items were known as "Sri Pandaram Vaka" (Lord's Treasure).