Why do birds stand on one leg ?

Have you ever seen birds standing on one leg. Of course yes. If you have not, well, time to look around you and see how beatiful and mysterious our nature is. Coming back to one leg striking pose, it vividly prompts us to compare them with Yoga poses (which most of us seldom do even in imagination).

Of course these avians looks perfectly balanced, serene and in tranquil state with an occasional professional glance, towards us. Their gaze seems to be speaking to us like "Can you do like this - stand on one leg for so much time". Jokes apart, lets get to the reason for this behaviour.

The reason for this adaptive pose is to regulate the heat loss of their bodies. Upper body is covered with feathers so its always warm from outside temperature variation. As their legs are bare, so they are prone to outside mercury changes and consequently, they become pretty cold. So, by bringing one leg up, the bird don't lose as much heat and they stay warm and comfortable for long.

TRP - What does it mean

We have all heard about TRP ratings of a program in news or papers or advertisements. Have you ever wondered what does it mean and how are the ratings calculated. Lets find out.

What exactly is TRP ?
TRP stands for Televison Rating Point is a tool to judge the viewership of any channel or programme for a period of 30 days. It gives an index of the choice of people and thus helps in recognizing the popularity quotient among different age groups.

How is it calculated ?
There are two methodologies used for TRP calculation :

A device called as People's Meter is attached to a TV set in a few thousand viewers houses across varied demographies. This device would store all relevant statistics about the viewership and sends the data to a central server periodically. After a month, an average is taken to judge the ratings score.

Another way of calculating the TRP is via picture monitoring technique where a specific signal is transmitted through satellite channels at particular intervals, which is then decoded at a central server station.

Who calculates TRP ?
In India it is calculated by INTAM (Indian Television Audience Measurement)

Shree Attukal Amma Devi Temple

The Attukal Bhagavathy Temple is a famous temple at Attukal in Trivandrum, Kerala. Goddess Bhadrakali is the main deity in this temple. Bhadra means good and Kali means goddess of time. So, she is often referred as Goddess of prosperity, time and salvation.

Attukal Pongala is the main festival of this temple. It is a 10 day festival (Feb - Mar) months, which begins on Karthika star with the deity adorned with Kappu (Bangles). Millions of women gather and prepare Pongala (rice cooked with Jaggery, Ghee, Coconut etc.) in the open in small pots to please the mighty Goddess - Sri Attukal Amma. This annual festival has figured in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest gathering of women for a religious activity.

Attukal Devi is often worshipped in 3 forms :

Maha Saraswati (Goddess of Knowledge)
Maha Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth)
MahaKali/Durga/Parvathy (Goddess of Power)

Mythological Stories about Temple
The story of Kannagi, who was married to a wealthy merchant, Kovalan. After marriage, Kovalan spent all his riches on a dancer, forgetting his wife but later when we was penniless, he came back to his wife. Kannagi had 2 precious anklets, so they went to King of Madurai to sell one of the anklet. At the same time, the Queen's anklet was stolen, so when Kovalan tried to sell it to King, they mistook his for thief and killed him.

When Kannagi heard the news, she got very angry and went to King with the second anklet, and proved that the mistaken anklet was not of Queen. It is said that such was the anger of Kannagi that she burned the city of Madurai. It is said that Kannagi attained salvation later and resided on Attukal temple, as Goddess Kodungallooramma (bhadrakali/Kannagi).

Another story says that Sri Attukal Devi is Bhadrakali, born from the third eye of Lord Shiva to kill the demon king Daruka.

May Attukal Devi Amma bless all of us with her grace, divinity and ashirvadam, and help us conquer our inner demons so that we can always be blissful and righteous in our lives.