Facts about Ugadi and related info about yugas..

Ugadi (Telugu: ఉగాది; Kannada: ಯುಗಾದಿ, from yuga+aadi, yuga is era, aadi means start. The start of an era) is the new year's day for the people of the Deccan region of India. While the people of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh use the term Ugadi for this festival, the people of Maharashtra term the same festival, observed on the same day, Gudi Padwa. Sindhis, people from Sindh, celebrate the same day as their New Year day Cheti Chand.^[1]
It falls on a different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a lunisolar calendar. The Saka calendar begins with the month of Chaitra (March/April) and Ugadi marks the first day of the new year.


The years would have names in Sanskrit. The name of the one that starts on 27th March 2009 is Sri Virodhi.The one that ended is Sarvadhari.

    1. Prabhava
      2. Vibhava
      3. Shukla
      4. Pramoda
      5. Prajāpati
      6. Āngirasa
      7. Shrīmukha
      8. Bhāva
      9. Yuva
    10. Dhātri
    11. Īshvara
    12. Bahudhānya
    13. Pramādhi
    14. Vikrama
    15. Vrisha
    16. Chitrabhānu
    17. Svabhānu
    18. Tārana
    19. Pārthiva
    20. Vyaya (2006-2007 AD/CE)
    21. Sarvajeeth (2007-2008 AD/CE)
    22. Sarvadhāri
    23. Virodhi[2009]
    24. Vikrita
    25. Khara
    26. Nandana
    27. Vijaya
    28. Jaya
    29. Manmadha
    30. Durmukhi
    31. Hevilambi
    32. Vilambi
    33. Vikāri
    34. Shārvari
    35. Plava
    36. Shubhakruti
    37. Sobhakruthi
    38. Krodhi
    39. Vishvāvasu
    40. Parābhava
    41. Plavanga
    42. Kīlaka
    43. Saumya
    44. Sādhārana
    45. Virodhikruthi
    46. Paridhāvi
    47. Pramādicha
    48. Ānanda
    49. Rākshasa
    50. Anala
    51. Pingala
    52. Kālayukthi
    53. Siddhārthi
    54. Raudra
    55. Durmathi
    56. Dundubhi
    57. Rudhirodgāri
    58. Raktākshi
    59. Krodhana
    60. Akshaya 




With love..
Anil

శ్రీ విరోధినామ సంవత్సర ఉగాది శుభాకాంక్షలు!

మీ అనిల్

World's cheapest car set to roll out in India

via NewsX - Clarity in a Complex World on 3/22/09

ANIL:

Kudos to Ratan Tata for making his dream project come true despite several obstacles!

Tata Motors was set Monday to launch the world's cheapest car amid predictions the vehicle could transform how millions travel and fears it would bring more traffic jams on Indian roads.

Tycoon Ratan Tata was due to unveil the four-door jelly-bean-shaped car with tear-drop lights at a "revolutionary high-tech" audio-visual show in India's financial hub Mumbai, a spokesman said.

The car is slated to cost just 100,000 rupees ($2,000) for the no-frills version that has a two-cylinder 623 cc, rear-mounted engine with a top speed of 105 kilometres (65 miles) per hour.

Ratan Tata, an architect by training and head of the sprawling tea-to-steel Tata Group, dreamed up the car to get poor Indians off unsafe motorcycles and into safer cars.

"There's no safety in two-wheelers especially with the whole family," said New Delhi resident Ganesh Khand, 38, who now has a motorbike but wants a Nano to be able to transport his wife and two daughters safely.

But the affluent are eyeing the car too.

"This is a value-for-money car," said Hasmukh Kakadia, 39, a Mumbai investment analyst.

The basic model has a four-speed manual transmission, no air conditioning, electric windows or power steering, but deluxe versions will be available.

The launch comes at a tough time for India's top vehicle maker, hit by a slowing domestic economy, a credit crunch and a deepening world financial crisis that has hurt sales of British luxury marques Jaguar and Land Rover which it bought last year for 2.3 billion dollars.

But demand is expected to be hot for the Nano with just 30,000 to 50,000 of cars likely to be sold in the first year because of limited production capacity -- a fraction of the original target of 250,000, auto analysts said.

Dealers say they've been flooded with queries about the car whose debut was delayed by several months when violent protests over the acquisition of farmland for the project forced the Tatas to shift the Nano plant from West Bengal state to Gujarat, known as more business-friendly.

But the Gujarat plant won't be ready until late 2010, meaning production must come from existing factories, reducing output.

Earlier this month, Ratan Tata unveiled a European Nano sporting airbags and leather trim. That car will hit the market by 2011 but be costlier than in India due to extra features.

Tata has been likened by India's media to US automobile pioneer Henry Ford for conceiving the car.

"I observed families riding on two-wheelers, the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby," Tata said when showing the prototype in 2008.

"It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family."

But environmentalists fear the Nano will clog India's already crowded roads and add to choking pollution.

"Every car that goes on the road is going to use road space. We're only adding to congestion" and increasing pollution, said Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN's climate panel which won the 2007 Nobel Prize.

With love..
Anil