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The context in which Christianity, and thus Christmas, was formed was the Roman Empire. The Romans honored Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture, each year beginning on December 17.

In a festival called Saturnalia, they glorified past days when the god Saturn ruled. This festival lasted for seven days and included the winter solstice which by the Julian calendar fell on December 25. During Saturnalia the Romans feasted, postponed all business and warfare, exchanged gifts, and temporarily freed their slaves. Such traditions resemble those of Christmas and are used to establish a link between the two holidays. These and other winter festivities continued through January 1, the festival of Kalends, when Romans marked the day of the new moon and the first day of the month and the beginning of the religious year.

As Isaac Asimov comments in his Guide to the Bible, “[C]onverts could join Christianity without giving up their Saturnalian happiness. It was only necessary for them to joyfully greet the birth of the Son rather than the Sun.”

In 207, during the reign of Emperor Aurelian, Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun) became the official god of the Roman Empire. Sol Invictus was based upon the Persian sun god, Mithras. Romans celebrated the birth of the sun on the Winter Solstice with festivities in honor of the rebirth of Sol Invictus or with rituals to glorify Mithra.

The Roman priesthood preserved the festival and many other traditions and beliefs in its transformation to Christianity and formation of the Catholic Church. All extant evidence indicates that Christianity was generally adopted as the official religion decades after Constantine’s death in most parts of the Roman Empire.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Christmas is not included in Irenaeus’s nor Tertullian’s list of Christian feasts, the earliest known lists of Christian feasts. The earliest evidence of celebration is from Alexandria, in about 200 CE, when Clement of Alexandria says that certain Egyptian theologians “over curiously” assign not just the year but also the actual day of Christ’s birth as 25 Pachon (May 20) in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus.[2] By the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, the Alexandrian church had fixed a dies Nativitatis et Epiphaniae. The December feast reached Egypt in the fifth century. In Jerusalem, the fourth century pilgrim Egeria from Bordeaux witnessed the Feast of the Presentation, forty days after January 6, which must have been the date of the Nativity there.

At Antioch, probably in 386 CE, St. John Chrysostom urged the community to unite in celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25, a part of the community having already kept it on that day for at least ten years.

Some scholars maintain that December 25 was only adopted in the 4th century as a Christian holiday after Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity to encourage a common religious festival for both Christians and pagans. Perusal of historical records indicates that the first mention of such a feast in Constantinople was not until 379 CE, under Gregory Nazianzus. In Rome, it can only be confirmed as being mentioned in a document from approximately 350 CE but without any mention of sanction by Emperor Constantine.

Early Christians chiefly celebrated the Epiphany, when the baby Jesus was visited by the Magi (and this is still a primary time for celebration in Spain and Armenia). Historians are unsure exactly when Christians first began celebrating the Nativity of Christ. At times it was forbidden by Protestant churches until after the 1800s because of its association with Catholicism.

Some Christmas traditions, particularly those in Scandinaivia, have their origin in the Germanic Yule celebration. Christmas is still known as Yule in many Scandinavian countries.

A stroll inside the Vasantha colony revealed that the percentage of satisfied living was high and still growing. There are 435 houses that comprises the Vasantha colony and the amount of involvement that every amount of house puts has developed to enable Vasantha colony a self content Association, pride Mr. P.Chandrasekaran, President of Vasantha colony welfare Association.

Apart from being just a living colony, the association has gave a little further by adding to social causes. The association maintaining an educational trusts therby-providing education to the deserving and has at many occasions donated cycles to the poor and needy.

The colony has also put together Rs.72, 000 towards Tsunami relief. This self-content colony has all facilities like water, E.B, roads etc. Five-drop gates open by the police commissioner Vijayakumar during 2001,positioned at various ends of the colony solves the major portion of secured living.

The colony has appreciated enough workers to maintain the cleanliness and security of the residents.

Vasantha colony – A self-content colony indeed.

The adage ‘practice makes man perfect’ is particularly true in managing things in a workshop or similar establishment. However, people are more complex and managing them can often be difficult. There are various theories, both old and not recent; to be recent ones aired by management Pundits and psychologies. This can very well be easily adopted and such varied places were activities involve people.

According to Peter Ducker, ‘Management is practice’. It is practice of dealing with people, getting things through them where involvement of others is implied for mutual fund. I our day-to-day life, we keep on influencing and managing. It thus becomes an art and science of acquiring and practicing social skills. However, ‘Social skills’ is not physical or chemistry, where both theory and practical exits for ready reckoning.

Elton Mayo, father of human relation movement held the view that the study of sociology or psychology does not readily equip the student with the social skills.

Then how to acquire these social skills that equip one with arts and science of managing people? There are theories; concepts, laws and rules brought out over the years and these are qualitative in nature that can greatly benefit the student practicing such social skills. There are thumb rules and may considered as a source of reference to get out of confusion, disappointment and chaps.

Management Continue…
By P.C. Aravamudhan

The model of the sinking Titanic ship is being exhibited in Asiad colony and the story along with it is sure to sink many hearts as well. The Asiad colony association has purely organized this exhibition to help R.Krishnamoorthy, aged 20 years, a resident of villivakam, Sengundram road 56/17.Krishnamoorthy who is suffering from a chronic heart ailment is to undergo a surgery on 2.01.06 at Sri Ramachandra hospital for which an amount of Rs 2,20,000/- has to be generated.

The Asiad colony association has arranged to collect Rs.20/head to experience the exhibited Titanic ship and all the amount-collected in turn would be used for the above said purpose. The colony president Mr.Ratina Singham also added that others could also generously contribute and help save a life. The contributions can be sent to the president Asia colony.

The Chennai plus team sincerely wishes Mr.Krishnamoorthy a speedy recovery and also conveys its regards to the president and members of Asiad colony for their noble gesture.

Society for Information Technology Development is a registered society, which is reaching heights in the field of educational developments in Information technology. SITD has constantly put itself under various measures to enhance the standard of education so as to keep pace with the growing demand. SITD feels that the teaching methods prevailing now do not meet the requirements of the fast growing world with sophisticated technologies. They feel that people never reach even a minimum standard of awareness though IT and Computer are being introduced in school level itself.

Realising the present situation, SITD has launched certain new package, which may compete with any rapid and gradual change in the IT field. The SITD research wing under went a detailed research in the subject and found a new project that could adapt to the present and future needs called as Computer Teacher’s Training Course.
While speaking to Mr. N. Sreekumar, Director of SITD, Anna Nagar branch, he stated that the concept of CTTC is to initiate steps to raise the standard of Computer education and also fulfill the Computer literacy for total development.

He also claims to have maintained high academic standards quoting that twenty of the twenty five students who attended the CTTC last year have been placed in jobs and majority of the current 60 students of the batch are sure to go high in flying colours.

Duration of CTTC is one year. SITTD provides an approved syllabus for CTTC program. During the training period a teaching practice is introduced for all subjects. The next batch of the course starts on January 2006. For registration Contact: No.160, 1st Floor, T.V.S. Colony Anna Nagar (West Extn), Chennai - 600 101. Ph: 55273585.

Pandit Subramanian, M.A, M.B.A is a renowned Vaastu expert based in Chennai. After thirty years of managerial experience in companies like Madura Coats and S.Kumar’s, he is now a renowned Vaastu consultant providing ample solution to Vaastu related problems.

He has authored Power of vaastu, The vaastu for Prosperity, Valam tharum Vaastu etc., and all the works highlight on the various aspects of Vaastu.Heis popular for his weekly column in the Economic Times, wherein he advises and informs on how Vaastu Shastra if followed can bring in health, wealth and prosperity into one’s life.

Pandit Subramanian has attained his Phd., in Vaastu Shastra approved by the Madras University. He has travelled extensively in India and Abroad giving lectures and attending seminars on the subject. He is also a member of the Vaastu study centre organized by the Indian Institute of Engineers.

Coming in the line of martial arts that are practiced as sports is the safety Nunchaku. Due to the immense dedication of Grand Master Shihan S Kothandan, the safety Nunchaku is fast on its way for becoming recognized as a sport. The belief that Japanese alone are experts in Martial arts is fast changing and Indians are also being recognized for their martial arts expertise thanks to people like Nunchaku Grand Master Shihan S. Kothandan.

In the Film ”Enter the Dragon” Bruce lee has introduced the Nunchaku weapon (Two sticks connected by a chain or rope) to the world.

Though this weapon has been known to be used even before this film, the credit for popularizing this weapon to the entire world goes to the incomparable material artist and actor Bruce lee. Though the legend is long dead, the weapon he brought out to the whole world still exists as a self-defense weapon in many parts of the world.
Nunchaku is one of the very effective material arts. A person well trained in Nunchaku can effectively defend and attack 3 to 4 people at the same time. But the fact remains that most people do not train in Nunchaku for more than 2 or 3 months after which it remains just as a showpiece.

There are many reasons for Nunchaku not being very popular even though it is a very effective self-defense weapon and is used in different parts of the world.
The main reasons are Nunchaku is generally made of metal or wood and connected by an iron chain and are very heavy.

Hence many people hesitate to learn this, compared to other weapons, it is very tough for the people who practice due to this weight and could also cause joint pains, shoulder pains and pain in their arms. There is also a possibility of serous injury while practicing manuals, there are no proper grading systems as in Karate, since it has been used by antisocial elements in some countries have banned the usage of Nunchaku, since nobody has converted this art as sports, since no one has researched properly there are no proper training abilities.

Grandmaster in Nunchaku, head of Shito-ryu-school of Karate in India, 37 years of experience in Karate, trainer for more than 50,000 students in Karate, coach for sportsmen who have won 37 international medals in Karate and more than 200 National medals in Karate are some of the achievements of the internationally acclaimed 7th Dan Karate Black Belt, Shihan S. Kothandan. He has researched on Nunchaku for many years from different countries. His effort in developing Nunchaku as a sport deserves to be praised by all patriotic Indians.
Shihan S. Kothandan 7th Dan Black Belt can be contacted at Kokino Shito-ryu Karate school of India – National head quarters, No 84, 6th Avenue, Anna Nagar, Chennai – 40. He can be reached by phone at 91-44-26185283. Alternatively, he can be reached by email at kokino.shitoryu@vsnl.com.

Some twenty years ago no one ever imagined that computers would be so wide spread in use and adopted as it is today. The same applies to mobile phones. You can visually see that computers and mobile phones have made a marked improvement in the quality of life. In the same way GIS, GPS and RS have started creating a silent revolution – just that we cannot see it.

Our scientists and engineers have launched satellites that provide us with photographs of the earth to study cropping patterns, our forests and to monitor floods and movement of cyclonic depressions etc. These phenomenal technologies that our scientists have given us would be in vain, if we do not put them to good use. As the saying goes, “We can only take the horse to the water, we can not make it drink”. So let us understand these technologies and use them for sustaining our resources for our future generations.

GIS has started to pervade all walks of life because “Geography” links us to everything around us - our thought process is also definitely spatial, not just in X & Y directions but also in elevation (Z) and Time. A GIS can link a wide variety of data with the common thread of Geography. Precisely for this reason, a GIS can improve our visualization of the features in the real world, to manage them better and take informed decisions.

The human mind, so powerful a system that has no match on earth today, uses GIS in its own way to find the best route you would take to reach your office or school through the maze of roads and chaotic traffic. This is revealed even in caves where pre-historic men drew pictures of animals they hunted with track lines and tallies that seems to depict paths of movement of these animals and other details. The pictures of animals and details correspond closely to the basic two-element structure we use in GIS today:

1. a geometric object at a certain location on the earth and
2. the descriptive information about this object.

Modern GIS has its beginnings in the research many wise people started in the early 1960s. Today many user communities use GIS in numerous areas - including mapping our ocean beds and surface of Mars. The “Geographical Information System” is now also referred as “Geographical Information Science” - with some universities offering GIS, Remote Sensing and GPS in their curriculum.

A GIS can capture, store, retrieve, analyze and output data in an organized manner. Capturing information on the earth’s surface can be achieved by satellites in the form of images (digital photographs), and processed by image processing software to decipher the land cover patterns. Other data inputs come from physical surveys (using GPS, Theodolites, Total Stations) and existing paper maps that could contain a lot of information. This information is logically grouped into various thematic layers while they are stored in a GIS database. For example all roads can be grouped into one layer as they are of similar geometry (line) and other characteristics (number of lanes, surface type etc.). The land cover map obtained from a processed satellite image will be a layer containing polygons (areas) depicting water bodies, agricultural land, forestland, built-up land, marshland, etc. In short, all information on the surface of the earth can be organized into 3 basic geometric types: points, lines and polygons.
Indian Geoinformatics Center, established as the first “Authorized Learning Centre” of ESRI India, offers education in the field of Geographical Information System (GIS). ESRI Inc., USA (founded in 1969) is the pioneer and world leader in GIS technology. GIS, Remote Sensing and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are being used the world over and also in India for multifarious applications by many user communities - Forestry, Agriculture, Environment, Defense, Health, Banking, Insurance, Education, Retailing, Marketing, etc, as a Decision Support System. Our vision at Indian Geoinformatics Center is to equip our user communities, to manage information scientifically using GIS, RS and GPS technologies to make “Informed” decisions. To this end we offer regular and part time training programs to anyone who wishes to apply GIS in their domain of activity.

Indian Geoinformatics Centre, W 23, Main Road, Anna Nagar, Chennai 600 040.
Telefax: 3052 2020 Email: indiangeo@vsnl.net Web: www.indiangeo.org.in

Valliammal was established in the year 1968 by the Founder Late. Thiru. A.M. Paramasivanandam. The School has come a long away since inception, growing both in stature and status. This school could sustain such rapid growth largely due to the unstinted support and encouragement extended by the Honourable President Sri. A.P.Manikandan and the Correspondent Sri. A.M. Arivudai Nambi who are a constant source of support and guidance in the day to day activities.

Valliammal draws its strength from its band of dedicated teachers, who assiduously yoke out all energies in the direction of academic excellence coupled with human development. They play a pivotal role in moulding and shaping children and helping them develop right attitudes towards life. Values such as responsibility, integrity, commitment and patriotism are old but they are certainly not obsolete. They have stood the test of time and will be here for ever. At Valliammal, the teachers make sure that these values are given in doses to the children as a part of their curriculum.

The school is a premier institution devoted to the cause of students education. Music, Dance, Creative Drama, Yoga, Vedic Chanting, Transcendental meditation are a part of the curriculum. Value Education is an integral part of the school curriculum. The school follows a few innovative methods in students to promote the process of continuous improvement and to instill in every student realisation that each one has to compete with himself and no one else.
At Valliammal, they dedicate themselves to bring out the best in every child and shape their future. The school is located at Anna Nagar East, Chennai - 600102.

Dr. Asana Andiappan is a highly accomplished yogi of International repute. He first trained in Yoga with Yogacharya S. Sundaram of Bangalore as a child, and later developed his own sequence of curative asanas based on the teachings of Sage Thirumoolar.

He was endowed with the title of “Asana” by Swami Sri Sankaracharya for his unrelenting pursuit of yogic therapy for common ailments. This privileged title is passed down the generations.

After completing his Yoga Teacher Training at the ICYER in Pondicherry, Dr. Andiappan established the “Sundara Yoga and Natural Living Trust”. This is a popular and immaculately run yogic healing centre in South India that administers desease-specific therapy through a yogic discipline endorsed by leading medical practitioners.

Dr. Andiappan was awarded the Yogarathna Jewel of Yoga for his distinguished yogic achievements, and has been especially commended for his approach to yoga in curing senility and dementia, and quite recently for his immaculate research on yoga for a healthy heart.
Today, Dr. Andiappan is the Founder and President of Asana Andiappan College of Yoga, with thirteen centres in South India that cater to clients, students and teacher trainees from all over the world.

Dr. Andiappan has trained and motivated hundreds of yoga teachers around the world in the powerful and therapeutic techniques of Sage Thirumoolar.

Dr. Andiappan was recently recognized for his tremendous contribution to Yoga with the 2003 Gandhi Award. A prestigious award in India, this is the first time someone has been acknowledge in the field of Yoga. Such recognition, along with the medical validation of his research, the popularity of his televised yoga series around the world.