Sruthi Hassan

Puttaparthi Saibaba

The holy abode of the legendary figure, Saythya Sai Baba, Puttaparthi is a stunning edifice of contemporary Indian Religion. A tiny locale in the Indian Sate of Andhra Pradesh, Puttaparthi has gained global acclamation as a centre of religious excellence. This remote village on the banks of the Chitravathi River is bounded by the scorched and wobbly hills. Though this tiny village does not offer any of the splendorous vistas of nature, it has acclaimed as a much desired tourist place of religious significance after the establishment of Prasanthi Nilayam, in 1950. In fact, the most remarkable attraction in this sleepy village is the Ashram complex that houses a multitude of alluring attractions. It makes every visitor astonished that in this isolated village there is everything that a metro can provide.

Puttaparthi was formerly known as Gollapalli, which means the home of cowherds. The history of Puttaparthi revolves round Sai Baba. In fact for the outside world Puttaparthi means Sai Baba himself. It is the presence of this saintly man makes this small hamlet to a thriving and vibrant city with most modern amenities. This village now houses all the infrastructure of a sophisticated town such as Airport, Railway Station, Super Specialty Hospital and an array of educational institutions. 

From his childhood days, Sathya Narayana was quite an unusual child and it is said that he had shown extraordinary qualities from his early days. By the advent of time, this boy transformed in to a spiritual figure who commands staunch followers across the whole world. His disciples are spotted nearly in all the continents, more precisely in 98 countries who regarded him as the incarnation of God. Though this man captures multitudes of skeptics, with his unbelievable power with restorative abilities, Sai Baba is the living God of millions of his devotees.

Sai Baba is widely appraised for his noble ideology of universal religion. His teachings are basically footed on the principles of truth peace righteousness love and non-violence. Sathya Sai Baba is believed to be the re-incarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi.

A drastic change of Puttaparthi from a remote hamlet to a most modern township presents a saga of wonderful transition. It is quite sure that a visit to Puttaparthi would be a treasure trove not only for the ardent devotees but also for a vagabond since this village towers all other religious destinations in every way.

History

Puttaparthi, is a religious town in Andhra Pradesh and is an important pilgrim destinations for the followers of Sai Baba. Puttaparthi, was earlier known as ‘Gollapalli’ and its historical importance revolves around the birth as well as life of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. History has it that Satyanarayana Raju was born on 23rd of November, 1926, to a couple named Sri Pedda Venkappa and Srimati Eeswaramma.

Various childhood incidences (for example he was laughing after his birth, being accompanied by a snake in infancy and many such other), made people believe him to be a reincarnation of Shirdi’s Sai Baba. His extraordinary skills at a tender age made people follow him and he became a spiritual leader, an embodiment of peace, righteousness and non violence.

Today, he is known for his virtuous ideologies and lover of all religion. Millions of tourists flock here to get the ‘Darshan’ (view) of the great saint and to listen to his devout teachings.

Travel within city

The holy city of Puttaparthi has a lot of options when it comes to traveling around the city. The city of Puttaparthi is mainly famous because it’s the abode of the Sai Baba. The various modes of inner city transport available in Puttaparthi are buses and taxis. Puttaparthi is essentially a very small city, and opting for any one among these modes can help you reach your destination easily.

Bus

Buses in Puttaparthi are controlled by the state and run to all the important locations in the city. You can opt for bus travel, as the fares are cheap and range around Rs 3 to 6. You have to ask for some help from the locals on where you should disembark, in case you do not know the general layout of the city.

Taxi

Opting for a taxi can be an easier mode of travel, though expensive. Taxis in Puttaparthi do not run on meter, however, the rates are quite fair and not too exorbitant. Taxi charges will range around Rs 15 per kilometer, and by taking up a taxi you travel around the city in minutes. Puttaparthi is a safe city, and any mode of transport can be preferred. There are no special night fares for travel.

Earth

• Pacific Plate - most of the Pacific Ocean (and the southern coast of California!)

There are also twenty or more small plates such as the Arabian, Cocos, and Philippine Plates. Earthquakes are much more common at the plate boundaries. Plotting their locations makes it easy to see the plate boundaries.

The Earth's surface is very young. In the relatively short (by astronomical standards) period of 500,000,000 years or so erosion and tectonic processes destroy and recreate most of the Earth's surface and thereby eliminate almost all traces of earlier geologic surface history (such as impact craters). Thus the very early history of the Earth has mostly been erased. The Earth is 4.5 to 4.6 billion years old, but the oldest known rocks are about 4 billion years old and rocks older than 3 billion years are rare. The oldest fossils of living organisms are less than 3.9 billion years old. There is no record of the critical period when life was first getting started.

71 Percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water. Earth is the only planet on which water can exist in liquid form on the surface (though there may be liquid ethane or methane on Titan's surface and liquid water beneath the surface of Europa). Liquid water is, of course, essential for life as we know it. The heat capacity of the oceans is also very important in keeping the Earth's temperature relatively stable. Liquid water is also responsible for most of the erosion and weathering of the Earth's continents, a process unique in the solar system today (though it may have occurred on Mars in the past).

Earth's atmosphere seen at the limb

The Earth's atmosphere is 77% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, with traces of argon, carbon dioxide and water. There was probably a very much larger amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere when the Earth was first formed, but it has since been almost all incorporated into carbonate rocks and to a lesser extent dissolved into the oceans and consumed by living plants. Plate tectonics and biological processes now maintain a continual flow of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to these various "sinks" and back again. The tiny amount of carbon dioxide resident in the atmosphere at any time is extremely important to the maintenance of the Earth's surface temperature via the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect raises the average surface temperature about 35 degrees C above what it would otherwise be (from a frigid -21 C to a comfortable +14 C); without it the oceans would freeze and life as we know it would be impossible. (Water vapor is also an important greenhouse gas.)

View from Apollo 11

The presence of free oxygen is quite remarkable from a chemical point of view. Oxygen is a very reactive gas and under "normal" circumstances would quickly combine with other elements. The oxygen in Earth's atmosphere is produced and maintained by biological processes. Without life there would be no free oxygen.

The interaction of the Earth and the Moon slows the Earth's rotation by about 2 milliseconds per century. Current research indicates that about 900 million years ago there were 481 18-hour days in a year.

Earth has a modest magnetic field produced by electric currents in the outer core. The interaction of the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field and the Earth's upper atmosphere causes the auroras (see the Interplanetary Medium). Irregularities in these factors cause the magnetic poles to move and even reverse relative to the surface; the geomagnetic north pole is currently located in northern Canada. (The "geomagnetic north pole" is the position on the Earth's surface directly above the south pole of the Earth's field.)

The Earth's magnetic field and its interaction with the solar wind also produce the Van Allen radiation belts, a pair of doughnut shaped rings of ionized gas (or plasma) trapped in orbit around the Earth. The outer belt stretches from 19,000 km in altitude to 41,000 km; the inner belt lies between 13,000 km and 7,600 km in al

Paper or Plastic?

or plastic, plastic is the environmentally responsible decision.

Paper or Plastic? How do you answer?  If you give what you think is the 'correct' answer, you say ‘paper' or you've brought your own bags.  Let's examine that choice.

The paper bags used in the grocery stores begin in the forest, with the clear-cutting of forests.  Even though trees are a renewable source, there is more to producing new paper than planting new trees.  The paper industry is one of the dirtiest industries we have.   The chemicals used in the paper pulp process include sulfur, bleaches, and acids.  The process uses huge quantities of water, which must be treated and cleaned, a process which also uses chemicals.  According to a representative of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, paper manufacturing also receives a larger number of complaints than refineries on ‘nuisance odors ‘ which is a term meaning that the facilities emit very strong, disagreeable odors, as unpleasant to live near as a feedlot.   Processing facilities must control odors to the same extent that they must control pollutant emissions.

Paper has a limited ability to be recycled.  On each trip through recycling, paper must be chopped and shredded, which shortens the fiber length.  Eventually, the fibers become too small to use and must be land filled, as do the manufacturing byproducts.

What about plastic?  Grocery stores bags are made of polyethylene, which begins as the ethane component of natural gas.  The only emissions from polyethylene manufacture are from natural-gas fired heaters, which supply heat or steam for the process.  Natural gas is the cleanest burning fuel, and natural gas wells are clean and low-profile - a valve sticking up out of the ground as opposed to the ‘pumping units' associated with oil wells.  The conversion of ethane into polyethylene is close to 99% efficient.  Additionally, polyethylene can be recycled almost infinitely.  Even though the molecular weight of the polymer chains will change with recycling, it's still the same plastic and can be reused.   It is also inert- in some locations, polyethylene has been chopped into sand-sized bits and incorporated into heavy clay soils, to lighten them as you would do with sand.

Transportation adds more cost to the paper product than to plastic.  Paper is heavier, so trucking costs are higher, as is the amount of pollution from the gasoline needed to transport the denser product.

The option with the least environmental impact is to carry reusable shopping bags, which are made of polypropylene, or carry personal bags.  However, if you are faced with a choice between paper

Abuse usage of plastic

More and more people around the world are becoming aware of the environmental issues surrounding plastic bags. Considering their somewhat placid appearance, the impact of plastic bags on the environment can be devastating.

Here are some facts about the environmental impact of plastic bags:

• Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistaken them for food
• The manufacture of plastic bags add tonnes of carbon emissions into the air annually
• In the UK, banning plastic bags would be the equivalent of taking 18,000 cars off the roads each year
• Between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year
• Approximately 60 - 100 million barrels of oil are required to make the world’s plastic bags each year
• Most plastic bags take over 400 years to biodegrade. Some figures indicate that plastic bags could take over 1000 years to break down. (I guess nobody will live long enough to find out!). This means not one plastic bag has ever naturally biodegraded.

                                   

• China uses around 3 billion plastic bags each day!
• In the UK, each person uses around 220 plastic bags each year
• Around 500,000 plastic bags are collected during Clean Up Australia Day each year. Clean Up Australia Day is a nationwide initiative to get as many members of the public to get out and pick up litter from their local areas. Unfortunately, each year in Australia approximately 50 million plastic bags end up as litter.

Fortunately some governments around the world are taking the initiative to deal with the environmental impact of plastic bags by either banning plastic bags or discouraging their usage.