Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Karuna charities -A non-profit organisation



Karuna charities,a Non profit International charity organisation for helping the poor and needy was founded by Mrs Lekha Sreenivasan,wife of Former Ambassodor of India to the UN Mr T.P.Sreenivasan.

Since its inception in NewYork in 1993,karuna charities has been headed under the able guidance of the founder and permanent chairperson Mrs Lekha Sreenivasan.
Karuna chapters had been set up in Washington DC,Dallas,Texas,Nairobi(Kenya),Vienna(Austria) and also in Trivandrum(Kerala,India)by the sincere efforts of Mrs Lekha Sreenivasan.

This organisation has helped thousands of people in India,USA and Kenya.It is a now a leading non-profit organisation with more than 500 members.

Operated entirely by volunteers,karuna charities works solely to provide help for extremely destitute and poor.With absolutely no administrative costs associated with its functioning,all the contributions made to Karuna is fully utilised for charitable purposes for the deserving cases.


In Nairobi,it has built a home for street children which is run by Don Bosco Fathers that now houses over 120 children.

Kerala has been a huge beneficiary of various karuna projects.
The Newyork chapter of karuna charities shipped a container of clothes and 9000 eyeglasses each in 1994 and 2000 which was distributed to the deserving ones throughout the state through the Lions and Rotary clubs.

In 1996 karuna funded the marriage of 22 poor girls in Trivandrum.
In 2002,The Vienna chapter established a vocational training centre for the destitute girls in Trivandrum .

karuna has helped many charity institutions like oldage homes,homeless and battered women's shelters,orphanages and handicapped schools and hospitals.It has also helped individuals for the treatment of various diseases and helped hunreds of cancer and other patients.

With the help of all chapters , karuna Charities helped the Regional Cancer Association to build a waiting hall at the Regional cancer Centre which was opened in November 2005.

Money is distributed through karuna now and then to deserving patients at the Regional Cancer Centre(RCC)in Trivandrum.

The Dream of Karuna is to build an Oldage Home and Karuna is also looking out for a short stay home close to the RCC,for the relatives of the patients admitted here.

karuna celebrated its 11th Anniversary in Trivandrum with a cultural programme on
7th october 2007 in which the princess of Travancore Palace also tookpart.
The highlight or the programme was the solo Bharathanatyam performance by the Chairperson Mrs Lekha Srinivasan.

A few words about Mrs lekha Sreenivasan:

She is undoubtedly a down-to-earth person.

She is an accomplished Bharathanatyam dancer and has performed in more than 25 countries.She has also trained children of different nationalities and choreograghed many dance forms.

She is a true artist.
Her house in Trivandrum is a just to her artistic excellence which exibits her various works of art,including ceramic,acrylic paintings,mural paintings,aluminium embossings etc.
A fine collection of Lord Ganesha and cute elephant figures of different countries gives a warm welcome to their living room.

She has also mastered in Yoga and Reiki.

She has exhibited her works in several countries and all the proceeds from her artistic pursuits,Yoga classes and dance perfomances are pumped into Karuna charity.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Courtallam Water falls-The Spa of south-India.


Have u ever been to the Courtallam waterfalls which is known as 'Spa of south India'?
If not please make it this season which begins by the end of may and lasts till september.
You can enjoy the heavyflow of water in the waterfalls only during these months ie when the southwest monsoon sets in.

Tourists from allover the world throng to the waterfalls during this season since it is not only an excellent tourist spot but also believed to be an excellent healthresort.The place is also famous for the oil massage.
It is believed that courtallam water has lot of medicinal properties,which can cure physical ailments,since the water passes thro the forests which has lot of medicinal herbs.

You can enjoy yourself by having bath in the different kinds of waterfalls in this place which are named as main falls,old falls,five falls,tiger falls,honey falls,small falls etc.They are all situated close to each other.You can walk,go by bus or hire a vehicle to visit all these falls.You can also enjoy the pranks of the monkeys.

Courtallam is situated at an elevation of about 167m on the western ghats in Tirunelveli District(Tamilnadu).It is about 50km from Tirunelveli and about 7 km from Tenkasi.You have plenty of buses to Tenkasi,Tirunelveli and directly to Courtallam from allover Tamilnadu.Train services are also available upto Tirunelveli and Tenkasi.

After refreshing yourselves in the waterfalls you can visit the Thirukutralanathar(Lord Shiva) temple which is located very closeby.You can also visit the famous Kasiviswanathar temple in Tenkasi(which means south kasi).


If you get achance to visit SouthIndia,don't miss to visit the lovely chain of Courtallam waterfalls.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Drench in Agasthiar falls,papanasam to get rid of summer


Want to get rid of the hot summer????????????????

Visit the Agasthiar falls in papanasam,get drenched and enjoy yourself.
This Agasthiar falls is located in papanasam which is about 50km from Tirunelveli.It is surrounded by the Western ghats which gives you a beautiful scenic look.

Unlike courtallam where the season begins by the end of May and ends by August,september depending on the southwest monsoon,there is continuous flow of water in Agasthiar falls throughout the year,which many people are not aware.

After a Wonderful drench in the Agasthiar falls,you can visit the Beautiful Papanasam Temple situated in the banks of the river papanasam.The presiding deity of the Temple is Papavinaseswarar(Lord Shiva).It believed that if u have a dip in that river and pray the presiding deity of that temple your sins will be forgiven(papam+vinasam=papavinasam ie papanasam).

It is also learnt from our puranas that.... Since the Great Sage Agasthiar was not able to attend the marriage of siva-parvathi,Paramasivan and Parvathi gave darshan to Agasthiar at this place in the western ghats and that is where the temple is built.A sculpture in the Temple also depicts that.

If u go further beyond after having a bath in the Agasthiar falls and visiting the temple,you can visit the Papanasam Dam.
Boat riding facilities are also available there.U can just have a boat ride and get back orelse u can get down at the other end of the river and walk for half a km so that you can have a drench in another falls there.But you should be very careful there since the flow of water will be very heavy there.Kids are not allowed to have bath there and timings are also restricted.

So.....enjoy the beauty of the western ghats,drench in the agasthiar falls and forgive your sins by visiting the temple there.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The sacred Nava Tirupathi Temples and Tiruchendur

The 9 sacred vaishnava temples located in and around Tirunelveli are called Nava Tirupathis.

Of the nine temples,Srivaikundam and AlwarTirunagari are very famous temples.
Alwar Tirunagari is the birth place of the famous Alwar called Sri Nammalwar.

Starting from Srivaikundam or Alwar Tirunagari one can visit all the
nine temples in a single day.You can hire a taxi or van either from Tirunelveli or from Alwar Tirunagiri at a reasonable rate to cover all the Temples in a single day.
They are all very ancient Temples of south India which are to be visited atleast once in your life time.When u get to go there u will be really excited to see those huge temples, built by rocks on those days,their sculptures and their architecture.

You can also visit the famous Sea shore Temple of Lord subramania situated in Tiruchendur during ur trip.Tiruchendur just takes 1 hour drive from Srivaikundam.

Tiruchendur is one of the six famous temples of Lord subramania(lord Muruga).It is also called GuruSthalam.
Kanda Shasti is the famous festival of Tiruchendur.It is a festival of 6days. It is learnt from our puranas that lord muruga killed the demon Surabadhman on the 6th day,which is called as the famous Surasamharam.
Devotees throng to the temple from allover the world,especially from malaysia,Srilanka for this six day festival.Good boarding and lodging facilities are available there for the devotees.Some of the devotees fast on all the six days and have food only after the Surasamharam.Some of them take up mounavridam.(ie They don't speak during these 6 days).
Children can also enjoy by playing on beaches,can have bath in the sea if intersted.
On the whole it'll be a good leisure trip and a pligrimage trip.

Infopark Cochin - Technopark Trivandrum

For the Information Technology companies in India as well as the world, who are struggling to cope with the scarcity - scarcity for qualified people, good office space, infrastructure, there is a (literally) fresh hope! Infopark and Technopark.

Technopark, Kazhakuttam, Thiruvananthapuram:

Technopark is built on fringes of Trivandrum city on the NH 47 highway - about 20 Km from the city and has attracted quite a few good compaies in the IT space like Infosys, TCS, UST global, Toonz Animation, IBS, Nest etc.

With several Engineering colleges in the Trivandrum city as well as nearby places in Kerala, talent pool is not scarce. However, as with any other place, the companies need to train the freshers well.

IT infrastructure needs a good communication network - especially Internet. There are several players offering good internet services like -Asianet DataLine, BSNL, Airtel, VSNL.

While Asianet DataLine is a Regional player, their proximity to the TECHNOPARK is a major advantage. Asianet Dataline is also India's No.1 Private ISP for the last 18 months and has major share of customers in Technopark. The service is priced competitively. They have a technical person based inside the technopark.

For IPLC lines or domestic leased lines, VSNL and Airtel are preferred.

Technoaprk already has major blocks called Nila, Bhavani,Gayathri, Tajaswani, Pamba, Periyar,Padmanabha and expansion is in full swing to cater to more IT companies.

Trivandrum is also a good place for emnployees' accommodation and childrens' education. Employees have good weekend getaways in Kovalam etc.

Trivandrum is well connected with International Airport and Railway station and a sea port is coming up at Vizhinjam


Infopark, Kakkanad, Cochin

Infopark is about 200 Km away from Trivandrum and is close to Ernakulam in kerala.Major IT companies like WIPRO, TCS have already started operations in Infopark.

IT infrastructure is provided by various companies like VSNL, Asianet, Airtel, Bharti etc.

Kochi also has International Submarine cable landing stations and is well connected by Air, Sea Rail and Road.

Office blocks Vismaya, Tapasya, Tejomaya, Leela IT offices are already operational.

please visit http://www.infoparkkochi.com/ for further details