Thiruvallikkeni Kodai Uthsavam 3 - 2024 : **தேசும் திறலும் திருவும் உருவமும்**

**தேசும் திறலும் திருவும் உருவமும், மாசில் குடிப்பிறப்பும் மற்றவையும் – பேசில்**

 

எம்பெருமானை நினைத்த மாத்திரத்திலே, அவனது - தேஜஸ்ஸும், பராக்ரமமும், செல்வங்களும்,  அழகிய ரூபமும், குற்றமற்ற நற்குலமும் மற்றுமுள்ள நன்மைகளும், நம்மை நலம்புரிந்து வந்தடையும். 

 

At Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam, it is ‘kodai Uthsavam’ ~ though associated as a festivity in summer – it actually is towards the end of summer season – in the Tamil month of Aani.  It usually rains too during this period.  Today is day 3 of Kodai Uthsavam.   

Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons -  the days are longer and the nights are shortert, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice.  In Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” a sweeping, seven-part composition inspired by Earth’s neighbors in the solar system, the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its supposed astrological character.  

The third in the structure is ‘Mercury’  -    and is marked vivace throughout.  Mercury is a mere activity whose character is not defined".  This movement, the last of the seven to be written, contains Holst's first experiments with bitonality.   It is the shortest of the seven movements, typically taking between 3+1⁄2 and 4 minutes in performance.  

Elsewhere in USA -  An area of high pressure lingered in the upper atmosphere over the U.S. Midwest and Northeast in June 2024. This pushed warm air toward the surface and trapped it there—a weather phenomenon meteorologists call a heat dome.  It’s only the beginning of the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere, but Earth is already roasting.  

Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies recently reported that May 2024, the hottest May in NASA’s global surface temperature analysis, marked a full year of record-high monthly temperatures. Likewise, NOAA recently reported that January through May 2024 ranked warmest on its 175-year temperature record. On June 19, 2024, the Northern Hemisphere was running 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, according to an analysis of meteorological data from Climate Reanalyzer.  

In this context, early summer heatwaves in the Northern Hemisphere have been fierce. Just as Central America and the southwestern and eastern United States saw blasts of heat in May and June, temperatures also soared in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The series of heat waves has contributed to large numbers of deaths, strained power grids, and challenged meteorological records.  

Heat domes put the brakes on convection and suppress clouds and precipitation. This allows sunlight to reach Earth’s surface relatively unhindered and further elevate air temperatures. As a result of the June heat dome, people in the Midwest and Northeast saw a string of days with sweltering temperatures that tied or broke calendar-day records in several states.  Extreme heat doesn’t just make people uncomfortable. It can have serious health consequences, particularly for older people.  

Heat waves like the June event have become more frequent in the United States in recent decades, according to researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Using a NASA modeling system called MERRA-2 (Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications-2) to analyze long-term trends, the NASA team calculated that summer heat waves in the U.S. roughly doubled in number between 1980 and 2023, increasing from an average of two to four per month. NASA have pointed out that the frequency and intensity of heatwaves have increased in recent decades because of the rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They expect these increases to continue in the future.  

At Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam, it was day 3 of Kodai uthsavam – at 5.30  pm, Sri Parthasarathi Perumal and ubaya nachimar in separate kedayam had chinna mada veethi purappadu, kulakkarai via Venkatrangam Street, Gate aam – in the purappadu it was Moonram thiruvanthathi of Sri Peyalwar.

 
Here are some photos taken during the purappadu.
 
adiyen Srinivaa dhasan
Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
8.7.2024