“Shivaratri” , this is a great festival of lord shiva.

Held on the 14th day of the dark half of Phalguna, which was on 26 Feb in 2006 n this year it falls on 16 Feb 2007. It is a great day for the devotes of lord shive (Saivites).

This festival day is celebrated by Meditation n Fasting . And most important Prayers are done by bathing the Shiva Linga with Milk and Honey , and Lord Shiva is offered ‘BILVA Leaves’ n Fruits n specially prepared foods.Offering of BIlva leaves is considered auspicious.

Devotes chant mantras n sing hymns , OM NAMAH SIVAYA is constantly said . After fasting in the morning in the night the prayers n chanting is continued , in telugu it is called ‘jagaram’.

There are two legendry stories which support the festival .

1. Churning of the ocean of Milk - The gods inadvertantly unearthed a poison that threatened to destroy the world. Shiva saved the day by drinking the poison, which accounts for his blue throat in some Hindu art.

It is said that Shiva was strong enough to handle the poison, but he had to stay awake all night as part of his healing. The other gods helped get him through the night by entertaining him with dances and other distractions. This is commemorated on Mahashivaratri, when Shiva’s followers keep him company through the night.

2. Hungry hunter on a BILVA TREE - A hunter with the fear of ahungry lion climbed on a BILVA TREE and , the lion sat down beneath the tree and waited for him to fall. As he waited in the tree all night, the hunter plucked leaves from the Bilva tree to stay awake. The leaves, which are sacred to Shiva, fell on a Shiva linga that happened to be at the base of the tree. Shiva was pleased by the offering, inadvertant though it was, and saved the hunter. This event is commemorated on Mahashivaratri by staying up all night and offering Bilva leaves.

VARUN

Warangal, a beautiful wonderful place we had visited a week back, where our inter-medical colleges sports meet was held at Kakatiya medical college situated in the heart of the city.

We had a great experience there where our college participated for the 1st time as it is our first batch in the college.

Our cricket team went till the 3rd. round and then we lost a match and as it was a knockout tournament, we were out of it but the time we were there, we had enjoyed it.

We were 14 members including our physical director. We didn’t practice a lot, and also the team lacked fitness and that’s the reason for our failure… anyways not losing hopes for the next time next year there is a chance!

Our team included -

Me - (Wicket Keeper)
Varun
Karthik Reddy - (Vice-Captain)
Aditya - (Captain)
Arjun
Karthik B
V. Pavan
T.V. Pavan
Rizwan
Lenin
Rohan
Praveen
Kiran

I was suffering from high temerature and dry throat before our start of the tour but then recovered and gave my whole effort in the game and so my teammates did.

Good luck to my teammates for next time :D