The biggest Hindu Festival: Happy Diwali दीवाली मंगलमय हो

Happy Diwali … दीवाली मंगलमय हो

The biggest Indian festival of Hindus... Diwali 2012 has arrived, carrying happiness, festivities and cheer. 

‘Discover Life’ wishes a very happy Diwali to all the visitors to our site and wish lots of name, fame and fortune for them…

God bless us all…

- Harish Jharia

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Read more about Diwali :

The Biggest Festival of Hindus Diwali: Celebrating Victory of Good over Evil

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The Biggest Festival of Hindus Diwali: Celebrating Victory of Good over Evil

© Harish Jharia 

Diwali is the festival of light that is celebrated to mark the victory of Lord Ram over the demon king Ravan and his return to Ayodhya after a fourteen year eviction वनवास.  This is also celebrated as the festival of wealth and prosperity and Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped on this occasion. The traditional Indian business communities observe Diwali as their commercial New Year and the beginning of their financial year.  Their ledgers खाता-बही are also written accordingly and the Balance Sheet prepared on the Diwali day. 

Diwali दीवाली, also called Deepavali दीपावली, is unequivocally the most important and biggest festival of Hindus. Diwali is celebrated on the ‘Kaartik Amavasya’ कार्तिक अमावस्या… that is the New Moon day of Kartik month of Hindu calendar. This is the 15th day of the dark fortnight (कृष्ण-पक्ष) of Kartik month. 

This is the 2069th year of the Vikram Calendar, initiated after the name of the famous ancient emperor Vikamaditya, which is followed by most of the Hindus of central and northern India.   

Diwali falls in the months of October and November alternately year after year on different dates of Christian calendar.  The basic reason for this error is that the Vikram Calendar and the Christian calendar are based on different astronomy that are lunar and 
solar constellations respectively. 

The only Hindu festival that falls on the same date of the Christian calendar is ‘Makar Sankranti’ that always falls on 14th January every year. Read more in the article “Why Makar Sankranti (Hindu Solstice) always falls on 14th January...?” 

The story behind Diwali: 

Diwali is believed to be celebrated to mark the victory of Lord Ram over the demon king of Lanka- Ravan. Lord Ram, the king of Ayodhya was dethroned from his kingdom out of a family dispute and expelled to live a tribal life in the wilds. Lord Ram, along with his wife Goddess Sita and brother Lakshman, left behind the royal life and set off for a fourteen year sojourn in the deep forests. 

One fine morning the demon king Ravan, in the guise of a sadhu, intruded the secured territory of lord Ram’s wild residence when Goddess Sita was all alone in the camp. Ravan begged to her for alms in the guise of a sadhu and motivated she to step-out across the secured barrier (लक्ष्मण रेखा) laid around the residential structure by Lakshman.  

The moment Goddess Sita stepped-out of her secured barrier, Ravan immediately abducted her.  He carried her on his miraculous flying machine ‘Pushpak Viman’ पुष्पक विमान and flew to his island Kingdom Lanka. He eventually put the godess under solitary confinement in his royal gardens. 

Ravan was also involved in many other criminal and inhuman activities and atrocities against innocent sadhus, yogis, devotees of God and tribal kings and their subjects. Lord Ram, who was believed to have appeared in human incarnation for eliminating evil forces, wedged an open war against the demon king. He established diplomatic treaties with all the tribal kings and with their help recruited a huge army of tribal people and predators. Lord Ram eventually conquered over the mighty and wealthy demon king Ravan after his assassination. 

After winning the prolonged war of Lanka and the at the end of the fourteen year eviction, Lord Ram returned to his motherland Ayodhya along with Goddess Sita and Lakshman. It is believed that the royal family and the people of Ayodhya decorated their houses with glowing lamps and celebrated the arrival of the lord with songs, dances and loud beats of drums. 

The day of the return of Lord Ram was ‘Kaartik Amavasya’ कार्तिक अमावस्या and thereafter Hindus adaped this day as their biggest festival and named it as Diwali दिवाली or Deepawali दीपावली. 

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Link to Discover Life's Diwali 2012 Greetings:
The biggest Hindu Festival: Happy Diwali दीवाली मंगलमय हो
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Use Switch-Less 5 Amp Wall Sockets: Suitable For Cordless Telephones, Laptops, PSPs, Computers and Other Delicate Electronic Appliances…

© Harish Jharia

 I had a bad experience with electric wall sockets when I used them for operating cordless telephones. I have been using cordless phones for almost last 12 years since the days this appliance entered the Indian markets. I usually had problems with the adapters that are used for specified power supply from the house wiring to the base units of cordless phones. These adapters are meant for converting 250 Volts electric supply to the specified input voltage of 6 Volts or 9 Volts, depending on the capacity of the particular base units or the charging cradles for cordless phones.

I had mainly two problems with the wall sockets at my home. The first one was the poor longevity of the adapters that used to breakdown within months. The second problem was the interference in the wireless reception as there was audio interference while talking on the phone.

I have recently experienced that these two problems were due to the switches provided with the wall sockets at which I used to connect the base units and chargers of the cordless phones. It is known to most of us that that whenever an electric switch is operated like putting it on or off a spark is generated at the time of each operation that results into many problems like sudden voltage upsurge and interference in radio frequencies. These are the two reasons that result in breakdown of adapters and disturbance in audio output that affect the quality of voice heard on the cordless phones.

Eventually I removed switches from all the 5 Amp wall sockets and connected the base unit of my cordless phone to one of the switch-less wall sockets. Now my new cordless phone is working fine with the new configuration, giving crystal clear audio output and prolonged life to the adapter.

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Disclaimer:
This article / Story / fiction is written based on my personal observations. My intention for publishing the same is to provide healthy reading and intellectual entertainment and not for educating the visitors. Names of people, societies, communities and description of faiths, beliefs, incidents are imaginary and fictitious. They have neither any relevance to the prevailing entities and traditions nor have any similarities with ongoing lifestyles, political ideologies and legal doctrines. The contents of this creative work has not been written with any intention to criticize, condemn or oppose anything what-so-ever present in reality in any country in the world. No literature or authentic books have been referred for writing the contents of this article. The visitors are advised not to refer the contents of this article for any research or testimony on scientific, geographical, political, civic or legal purposes. The visitors are further advised to consult relevant experts before adapting any information from this article. The author or the website are not responsible for any errors, mistakes, or omissions there in.
- Harish Jharia
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Single Unit Electric Geyser (Electrical Water Storage Heater): Used in Indian Subcontinent and Asian Countries…

© Harish Jharia

Wide range of ISI marked storage water heaters are manufactured in India and used by Indian consumers in their day-to-day life. ISI is a standardization mark allotted by The Bureau of Indian Standards for its quality, reliability and safety. 

In western world central heating system is used for heating water and supplying warm water to different parts of houses, factories and offices from a centralized water heating plant. On the other hand single unit of water heaters are installed in India for the same purpose because, expect in the Himalayan hilly areas, the temperature does not go below 0 degree Celsius and the duration of winters extends between 40days to 90days. 

Single unit water heater can be used on "as required"  basis for saving electricity and using it only at places and times where and when they are required. Rest of the water heating units can be kept put-off when they are not required.   

These water heater are available in many sizes and capacities like of 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 25, 35, 50 liters. High capacity units like 100 liters & above can be manufactured on special orders. Manufacturers / dealers offer these water heaters in various colors and models. 

Some of the features of single unit electrical water heaters are as follows: 

1. Metal or Plastic outer body: Plastic / Fiber Glass body lasts longer whereas metal body has a shorter life as it perishes as a result of rusting and physical damages.
2. Copper or Steel inner tank: In high rise building of 10 floors or more, the water pressure in lower floors is extremely high as compared to the water pressure in the top floors. Water heaters fitted with Copper tanks should be used where there is high water pressure. Metal tanks are suitable for normal water pressure and will develop cracks when water at high pressure is heated inside the tank
3. Pressure Valves: In addition to Copper tanks the water heaters used under high water pressure should also be provided with additional safety device called ‘Pressure Valves’, obviously for reducing the water pressure before its entry inside the tank.  the
4. Heating Element: Heating element is fitted inside the water tank and connected to power. The element gets heated when connected to electric power.
5. Thermostat: Thermostat is fitted on water heater for controlling temperature of water at which it should be heated. The maximum temperature range provided on thermostat is 65 degree Celsius. We should make it sure that the maximum temperature of 55 degree Celsius should be adjusted at the time of installation. This temperature suits to the synthetic hose pipes and washers used in the valves and taps. At higher water temperature these components and other synthetic accessories in the pipeline will perish faster. 

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Why do Single Unit Electric Geysers blast: Deadly accidents my take place if proper care/precautions are not taken...
http://www.discovery-of-life.com/2012/11/why-do-single-unit-electric-geysers.html
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Why do Single Unit Electric Geysers blast: Deadly accidents my take place if proper care/precautions are not taken

© Harish Jharia

Single unit electric geysers are widely used in India and in other Asian countries.  An introduction to this electric appliance has been given in another article titled “Single Unit Electric Geyser (Electrical Water Storage Heater): Used in Indian Subcontinent and Asian Countries". In continuation to this article I am going to discuss about possible deadly accident that might occur as a result of a blast in the storage tank.

Today there was a news headline in New Delhi newspapers about a blast in a geyser that resulted in serious injuries to inmates of a girls’ hostel in Modi Nagar, near New Delhi. Incidentally I too had experienced a similar accident when a geyser in my bathroom had burst with a loud blast. No one was injured because there was nobody in the bathroom at the time of the blast. All of my neighbors heard the loud sound of the blast and ran towards the spot suspecting a possible blast of a cooking gas cylinder. 

The 6’x 8’ bathroom has a window and an exhaust fan is fitted on its panel. At the time of the blast the doors of the bathroom were closed and the exhaust fan was in shut-off state. The geyser was in a switched-on state. When the blast took place the steam generated had such a high pressure that it shattered the geyser in many pieces. The small windowpane was pushed open and the exhaust fan fitted on the same also broke into pieces.  

Onlookers saw a blast of high pressure steam gushing out of the window. The false ceiling of the bathroom, made of asbestos sheet, was smashed with the blown up upper crown of the body of the geyser, making a 2’x1’ irregular hole in it. On opening the door we found the bathroom was filled with steam, so much so that nothing was visible inside the bathroom. 

Probable Reasons:

I think excessive generation of steam inside the geyser might be the reason for the blast. The water heater might have started malfunctioning and turned into a boiler before the high pressure steam blew it off. There might be the following reasons for the above malfunction:

1. The thermostat might have broken down and stopped controlling the desired temperature
2. The pressure valve might not have controlled the input water pressure in the high rise building
3. The safety valve that is mounted on the geyser did not blow-off and released the pressure buildup inside the geyser. 
4. The storage tank might not have the desired strength to withstand the high pressure built up in the water pipes in high-rise buildings 
5. Precautions for evading blasts in geysers:
6. It is better to replace the geyser after 5 years rather than going for repeated repairs
7. Replace the geyser whenever the storage tank is required to be replaced
8. The pressure valve should be checked periodically
9. The safety valve / safety plug should be checked periodically and be replaced every 12 months

In high rise buildings the water pressure is excessively high in the lower floors. We should always remember that there are special geysers manufactured for high rise buildings with stronger storage tanks, duly fitted with pressure valves. As such, we should go for these special geysers if we live in high rise buildings.  

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Disclaimer:
This article / Story / fiction is written based on my personal observations. My intention for publishing the same is to provide healthy reading and intellectual entertainment and not for educating the visitors. Names of people, societies, communities and description of faiths, beliefs, incidents are imaginary and fictitious. They have neither any relevance to the prevailing entities and traditions nor have any similarities with ongoing lifestyles, political ideologies and legal doctrines. The contents of this creative work has not been written with any intention to criticize, condemn or oppose anything what-so-ever present in reality in any country in the world. No literature or authentic books have been referred for writing the contents of this article. The visitors are advised not to refer the contents of this article for any research or testimony on scientific, geographical, political, civic or legal purposes. The visitors are further advised to consult relevant experts before adapting any information from this article. The author or the website are not responsible for any errors, mistakes, or omissions there in.
- Harish Jharia
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