Milestone of India - Special pujas mark Varalakshmi Vratam.

KHAMMAM: Varalakshmi Vratam, Ashtothara Satha Namarchana and other special pujas and rituals were organised in the town on the auspicious occasion of Sravana Sukravaram on Friday and also some parts of India.

Women and girls clad in the traditional attire thronged the temples all over the town and performed special pujas seeking the blessings of Goddess Sri Lakshmi Devi, considered to be the harbinger of wealth.

The member of Vasavi Vanitha Club offered special pujas at Sri Vasavi Kanyaka Parameshwari temple in the town. Ashtothara Satha Namarchana and other special rituals marked the occasion.

The devotees participated in Sahasra Kalasabhishekam and other holy rituals held at Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temple at Kamanbazar.

The devotees worshipped Goddess Sri Lakshmi at various other temples including the famous Sri Seetharamachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam, Sthambadri Narasimha Swamy temple in Khammam in the district.

MAY THE BLESSINGS OF GODDESS SRI LAKSHMI AND MAHA VISHNU

ENTERS EACH AND EVERYONE IN THIS WORLD.

Milestone of India - Saina to be Andhra Pradesh Brand Ambassador.

HYDERABAD: Saina Nehwal will be the brand ambassador for Andhra Pradesh tourism henceforth, according to Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary to A.P. government (Tourism).

Mr. Ranjan said there was no specific time span for the draft agreement between the government and the champion shuttler which is to be finalised very soon. “The agreement effectively means that Saina will promote tourism whenever it is possible. She will be given all the material including CDs as part of the efforts to put Andhra Pradesh on the world map,” he added.

“We expect Saina to speak about the richness of A.P. Tourism, if possible arrange a meeting of all the tour operators whenever the champion is available in the State to highlight the historic places of the State,” Mr. Ranjan explained.

“It is made explicitly clear that Saina can don the role of A.P.'s brand ambassador without we disrupting either her training or tournament schedule,” the Tourism Secretary said.

Milestone of India - Eye care centre at TTD hospital soon.

TIRUPATI: Sri Srinivasa Sankara Nethralaya Trust (SSSN), floated by the Tirumala Tirupati Devsthanam (TTD) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Medical Research Foundation (MRF), Chennai, for setting up an Eye Care Center at the TTD's Central Hospital, Tirupati and provide ophthalmological services through Sankara Nethralaya (SN).

The outpatient (OPD) facility inaugurated in the SSSN in September last by Chief Minister K.Rosaiah is said to have examined so for more than 4,800 patients.

As part of the pact between SSSN and MRF, the services have now been expanded to provide further OPD diagnostic procedures, cataract surgical procedures and optical services. Plans are underway to conduct rural outreach programme in and around Tirupati and ferry rural indigent patients for quality ophthalmic surgical care (Cataract) at the base hospital in Tirupati. In addition, the center will provide specialised treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy by Lased Coagulation, a note released by the TTD said.

Meanwhile, an operation theatre and inpatient services unit were formally inaugurated at SSSN by TTD's Executive Officer I.Y.R. Krishna Rao on Thursday. The theatre, it was claimed, would enable the centre to perform around 20 cataract surgeries daily.

Dr. S.S. Badrinath and Dr. Prabhakar of SSSN were present.

Milestone of India - NRI sings his way into Guinness Book. (Andhrapradesh - India.)

HYDERABAD: Singing away into the annals of Guinness Book of World Records is no new feat. People have sung hours and days for a place in the prestigious tome. However, a Non Resident Indian has done it differently this time by entering the book not with the number of hours but the variety of languages!

Sai “Psychuk” Mannapragada earned this fame by singing the patriotic song ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam' in a mind-boggling 265 languages. What's more, in an innovative gesture, he attempted to share the record with over 3,000 listeners!

It took one year of research of the world languages for him to compose the lyrics which he crooned at an event called Symposium of Business, Music and Art.

The event was held jointly by the Psymphony Inc. and his sponsor Manjeera Constructions Group at the Mayfair Community Centre in San Jose, California on May 16 this year, a press note said. The rendition had been reportedly heard by many local community leaders, city and state officials, and local Bay Area music and dance patrons.

After the singing, it took a drill of three months for the adjudicators of the Guinness World Records Limited to examine the evidence, and make sure he sang only in existing languages! After that, Mr.Mannapragada was duly presented with the certificate, by the Grand-Marshal of the Federation of Indian Associations' Independence Day Parade and Bollywood actor Aftab Shivadasani and Chairman and Convenor of for FIA Festival of India celebrations Romesh Japra on August 15.

In a unique gesture, Mr. Mannapragada not only broke his own record at the certification event by singing the same lyric in 300 languages, but also made everyone from the 3000-plus audience sing along with him, thereby giving each one of them an opportunity to claim a record of their own, the press note said. He said it was wonderful to share the record with the entire community.

Based in San Francisco, Mr.Mannapragada is the Chief Technology Officer of Picogen Inc., the CEO of Psymphony Inc. and the chairman of a non-profit organisation Folklore Arts Research and Music Institute.

Milestone of India - State Owned OVL records highest Production from Foreign Assets.

NEW DELHI: The overseas arm of state-run ONGC Ltd has reported its highest-ever production of over 8 million tonnes from its foreign hydrocarbon assets last year, parliament was informed on Thursday.

"The consolidated production of ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) of Oil plus Oil-Equivalent Gas (O+OEG) during the year 2009-10 was 8.870 million tonnes, recording highest ever oil and gas production from its overseas assets," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The minister said that OVL has a presence in 15 countries, out of which nine projects in seven countries have oil and gas production.

The largest investment by OVL was of $3.8 billion in Sakhalin-1 project in Russia, followed by the acquisition of London-listed Imperial Energy and shares in Sudan oil blocks.

Milestone of India - When Raj Bhavan flies the Tricolour and celebrates a Catholic Feast. (Goa - India.)

Not many states in the country mark Independence Day the way Goa does. Reason: August 15 is also the feast of the Assumption, the day Catholics commemorate the assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus, into heaven body and soul.

As early morning mass timings clash with flag hoisting, Catholics try and combine the two. This happens also at the Raj where the feast is celebrated with mass at chapel in the estate.

It is the day the Raj Bhavan comes alive as hundreds of people pour in through the gates to attend mass in the almost 500-year-old chapel and many others line the road in the estate selling candles and flowers, as gun-totting policemen keep a watchful eye on all.

The chapel sits in the corner of the Raj Bhavan estate, and attentively listening to the homily during the mass is Joel D'Silava, 34. "I like the idea behind this grand feast, the crux of it is liberation of two kinds'”India's and Mother Mary's," says D'Silava.

Taleigao parish priest Fr Aquileo Gomes speaking to TOI also makes an important connection between India's Independence and Mother Mary. He said freedom does not mean we have the right to do everything but it's about what we should do. "We ought to be politically free and free from sin," Gomes says. "People come here all the way from Salcete, the prayers are meant for the country and Mother Mary," he adds.

People flock in from different parts of Goa to the Raj Bhavan on this day and it's not just for the feast. Sharmila hastily walks through the crowd, tightly holding her 7-year-old son hand. "I have been coming here every year for the last eight years, the chapel opens to a beautiful view, it feels perfect." A resident from Velsao, some 25km away from the Raj Bhavan, Kankonkar says the bus journey is the most tiresome part of the day.

Students stroll in after the flag hoisting ceremony in their schools. "it's fun, we get pocket money to come here and buy whatever we want, sweets, jewellery, bags. More than anything else we feel free on this day," says one of the kids from among a group of children from the neighbouring Our Lady of the Rosary High School.

Shalifa Periera, 14, has been coming with her family from as long as she remembers, "My dada says it opens only on this day every year and that our prayers will be heard."

Historian Percival clears the misconception that the chapel is open for just one day of the year. "

There was a governor some two decades ago that kept the Raj Bhavan chapel open only once a year on August 15. Now the chapel is open to the public on other days as well."

Not many turn up on other days, and many who celebrated the feast on Sunday, will only return next year on August 15 for another celebration.

Milestone of India - Pakistani saves life of Mumbai Businessman caught in Nigerian Fraud.

MUMBAI: A city-based businessman lost Rs 7 lakh to a Nigerian fraud in an African nation, where he was called for a business deal but came away unscathed with the help of a Pakistani national.

The latter guided him to an Indian community office and the local police who saved his life. Several other traders had been murdered by the same Nigerian gang, local cops told P Chandra Sekaran. Sekaran has now penned a script to make a documentary on the Nigerian scam.

Sekaran started an export business in 2007. He got an email from an organization, Shepherd Aid Network, purportedly working for the war-affected people of Benin, a country neighbouring Nigeria.

Sekaran went to Berlin at the invitation of the organisation's director, John Ndaba, to complete legal formalities for the business. Sekaran was received at the airport by a Nigerian representative.

The following day, he was taken to a seven-storeyed building where the organization had an office. Sekaran was asked to deposit Rs 7 lakh with the finance department of the company. Ndaba promised to take him on a tour of their rehabilitation centre. But his calls to Ndaba, the next two days, went unanswered.

The third day, he managed to reach the organization's office alone but was turned away. He then started to inquire about the organisation but locals understood only French.

His four hours of effort ended when a man introduced himself as a Pakistani. Abdulla guided Sekaran to the community office in Beni, where he narrated his story to community officer Manglani Gobind who contacted the police. Sekaran then received a call from Ndaba, asking him to take back his money.

Gobind and Sekaran along with a team of policemen raided the organisation's office. The police then provided armed protection to Sekaran for three days till he flew back to India.

"I am lucky I survived. I approached the president and senior ministers to make a documentary on my script,'' said Sekaran.