The oldest optical illusion in the world is in Tamil Nadu’s Airavatesvara Temple. The rishabha-kunjara (bull and elephant in Sanskrit) carving from Chola architecture is said to be 900 years old. In the carving, a bull and an elephant share the same head. The bull is Nandi, the sacred vehicle of Lord Shiva, while the elephant, Airavat, symbolizes the divine mount of Lord Indra, the king of heaven. The temple, located in Kumbakonam, was built by Rajaraja Chola II and is on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list of Great Living Chola Temples.

The post The oldest optical illusion in the world is in Airavatesvara Temple appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Odanthurai in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu was a non-descript panchayat in India. But it is now a model for self-governance and income-generation. Winning many awards, it has attracted dignitaries like the President of the World Bank, ministers from South African countries, researchers, government officials and students from 43 countries.

The panchayat, nestled in the foothills of the Nilgiris, has won accolades for supplying drinking water to all its villagers, providing housing to all, tapping renewable energy and for adopting several green measures. It also has a corruption-free administration and its annual income has grown multi-fold.

The credit goes to R. Shanmugam, who took over as the panchayat’s president in 1996, though he had studied only up to the tenth grade.

The pilot project of the late Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s Pudhu Vaazhvu Thittam (Poverty Reduction Scheme) was first executed here. They have implemented the state government’s Green House Project Scheme under which more than 850 houses were built, the highest in the state, and handed over to the poor. The panchayat was then declared hut-less.

Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.

The post A Model Panchayat President appeared first on The Teenager Today.

There are many studies being done to understand our connection with this universe. Some even state that, “There are similarities in the working of the two systems completely different in scale — the network of neuronal cells in the human brain and the cosmic web of galaxies”.

I guess our ancestors also had a similar thought process as we do now, even though it is hard to find any written documentation of their studies. But we have our festivals, especially the harvest festivals. This festival is named and celebrated differently in different parts of the world. For Tamilians, it is Pongal which means “to boil, overflow”, and it marks the end of the winter solstice.

As the saying goes, “Where there is a will, there is a way”. The mind is a very powerful tool which has to be channelled with care. So yes, we have tried to form a connection with the universe through our mind.

We all know that the earth is the only known planet to have living beings, since we have the right mix of seasons. Hence, by the end of the winter season which is also known as the Tamil month of Margazhi (December to January), in the southern parts of India and Sri Lanka, where the Tamilians in the Sangam era were living, they observed ‘Pavai Nonbu’.

‘Pavai Nonbu’ was part of the Thai Niradal celebration, a major festival during the reign of the Pallavas (4 to 8 century AD). During this festival, people prayed for rain and prosperity for the country. Throughout the month, they observed self-restraining standards to help awaken their senses and concentrate their energy towards a good cause by focusing their mind towards it. They ended their penance on the first day of the month of Thai, which is January to February. This was to bring abundant rains so that the paddy crop would flourish and grow. These traditions and customs of ancient times gave rise to the Pongal celebrations.

Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.

The post Pongal: The Harvest Festival of Tamilians appeared first on The Teenager Today.

The 12-year-old bride came to stay with her husband, Perumal, in Pullucheri, Madurai district in Tamil Nadu. Chinna Pillai used to go along with women from the village to work in the fields of the high caste landowners. Exploiting the vulnerability of these landless dalits, the wealthy landowners paid them below normal wage. Their pleading for an increase in their daily wages went unheard.

To make ends meet, these hapless labourers were forced to borrow at a high interest of 300 per cent from moneylenders. Chinna Pillai, now a mother of two sons and three daughters, also became a victim of this oppression.

Local MP Vasimalai had an idea to save these poor rural folk from the slavery of the powerful moneylenders. The former student of the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) had given up an attractive job to work at the grassroots level. Later, he headed the Dhan Foundation. Vasimalai asked the women to form groups of 20; everyone had to deposit Rs 20 monthly. The cumulative amount was then lent to one of the group members at an interest of 60 per cent. Though this interest too sounds big, compared to the 300 per cent interest of the moneylenders, it was much less.

Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.

The post Lady Leader of the Landless appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Sharan Karthik, a class IX student of Sri National School, Gobichettipalayam, Tamil Nadu, has invented a circuit that conserves electricity.

Many do not take up the responsibility of reducing the power consumption. Quite often street lights can be seen glowing even during the daytime possibly due to the carelessness or forgetfulness of the staff in charge.

Sharan, a budding scientist from Sri National School, considered this a serious issue that needed to be addressed. He had seen streetlights still glowing while going to school every morning but did not know whom to speak to about this.

Sharan decided to invent a device for automated street light control. He decided not to use imported products opting instead for Indian-made components only.

His automated street light control device consists of a circuit with a light sensor. The streetlights will turn on when the device detects darkness and will automatically turn off when brightness is detected.

He was determined to try out his invention. One evening Sharan and his physics teacher connected the circuit and waited for the sun to set, desperately hoping that the circuit would light up. Around 6 p.m. the sun finally set and as it was getting darker, the bulb in the circuit lit up! The next morning, the bulb automatically went off at sunrise even though it was cloudy that day.

Sharan’s circuit has now been installed all over the school campus. Sri National School has once again shown that its vision is to make good citizens for a better society.

The post Sri National School student invents circuit to conserve electricity appeared first on The Teenager Today.