Chennai weaves world's costliest sari at Rs 40 lakh

Chennai: A palanquin arrived amid much fanfare at Chennai Silks, a textile house in Tamil Nadu, to give a princely welcome for an outfit that's fit for a queen – a sari studded with gold, diamonds, emeralds and other precious stones.
The textile house has woven what it claims is the world's costliest sari, one that costs Rs 40 lakh and weighs around eight kilogram.
“The most special thing about the sari is the Ravi Varma painting which has been woven into it. All the intricate details in the painting have been replicated like the curly hair of the ladies and the jewels they are wearing,” Assistant General Manager of Chennai Silks K V Sriram said.
While it has already entered the Limca Book of Records, the company says it will try to enter the Guiness Book as well.
It took 30 weavers around seven months to make the sari and its launch was also star-studded with actors Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Shobhana and Jeeva attending the event. So, was the attempt just for a record?

“This sari can be worn. Normally also it can be used, so it’s not just for a record,” Sriram said.
The director claims they have already received enquiries regarding the sari and hopes that it will be sold soon.

Amazing Art bu USA army!!!!!!!!!

Cursed Indian gem on display in UK

London : The Delhi Purple Sapphire, a gem that is believed by many to be "cursed", will go on public display at the vault in the Natural History Museum in London, on Wednesday.
A spokesman of the museum said today that the Sapphire was brought to the UK by a Bengal cavalryman, Colonel W Ferris, after being looted from the Temple of Indra in Kanpur during the war of 1857.
The soldier thereafter lost money and health, and his son who inherited whatever was left subsequently lost it, too.
A family friend who possessed it for a short time committed suicide.
Edward Heron-Allen, a scientist and friend of wit and playwright Oscar Wilde, was the last owner of gem.

He was given the stone in 1890 and was immediately beset by misfortunes. He twice gave the stone to friends who had asked for it; one "was thereupon overwhelmed by every possible disaster", and the other, a singer, found "her voice was dead and gone and she has never sung since."
Heron-Allen even claimed to have thrown the gem into Regent's Canal only for it to be returned to him three months later by a dealer who had bought it from a dredger.
By 1904, Heron-Allen had had enough.
Declaring, "I feel that it is exerting a baleful influence over my newborn daughter", he had it shipped to his bankers with instructions that it be locked away till after his death.
At the risk of sounding far-fetched, even scientists are not immune to the power of the story of the Delhi Purple Sapphire.
Seven years ago, John Whittaker, former head of micropalaeontology at the Natural History Museum, took the amethyst to the first annual symposium of the Heron-Allen Society, an organisation founded to discuss the man's life.
On the way home, "the sky turned black and we were overtaken by the most horrific thunderstorm I've ever experienced," Whittaker said.
It was so bad "we considered abandoning the car and my wife was shouting, 'Why did you bring that damned thing?'"
Whittaker was taken violently ill with a stomach bug the night before the second symposium of the society and he missed the third when he developed a kidney stone.
The fourth symposium in 2004, was held at the museum. "We were all a bit apprehensive on the eve of the meeting," he said.
Heron-Allen was one of the most multi-faceted individuals ever associated with the Natural History Museum. He trained as a solicitor while simultaneously learning the art of violin-making -- his book on the history of the instrument, published in 1884, is still in print. He studied Persian and wrote a popular prose translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
But it was as a scientist that he forged the strong bond with the Natural History museum that would ultimately see the "cursed" amethyst wind up in South Kensington.

Amazing World Records

GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS
ENGINEERING FEATS







Basilica of our Lady of Peace, Yamoussoukro o. Inside sitting capacity………..18,000 Outside overflow capacity….100, 000



WORLD'S BIGGEST INDOOR SWIMMING-POOL


World Water Park…..Edmonton, Albert, Canada…………..SIZE….5 Acres



WORLD'S BIGGEST OFFICE COMPLEX ………… CHICAGO

Chicago Merchandise Mart…..Illinois, USA


WORLD'S BIGGEST SHOPPING MALL




South China Mall, Dongguan, China………892,000 meter-square
Shops on 6 floors



WORLD'S BUSIEST AIRPORT……………NEW YORK



J.F.K International Airport , New York………………..USA



WORLD'S WIDEST BRIDGE………AUSTRALIA


Sydney harbor bridge, Australia……..16 lanes of car traffic…..8 lanes in the upper floor, 8 in the lower floor


WORLD'S LONGEST BRIDGE……………CHINA



Donghai Bridge , China ……………………32.5 kilo meters



WORLD'S BIGGEST PASSENGER-SHIP


MS Freedom of the Seas……4300 passenger Capacity Inside



WORLD'S BIGGEST PLANE……………AIRBUS


Airbus A380………..555 Passengers





WORLD'S BIGGEST BUS


Neoplan Jumbo -cruiser……..2 in 1 bus….double deck bus……170 passenger capacity



WORLD'S HIGHEST STATUE…………….BRAZIL

CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE…..RIO.D.J………BRAZIL


WORLD'S TALLEST BUILDING………DUBAI




Burj Dubai……….900 meters high. To be finally completed 2008



WORLD'S LARGEST PALACE………………….ROMANIA


Palace of the Parliament…..Bucharest, Romania ………. more than 500 bedrooms, 55 kitchens,120 sitting rooms



WORLD'S BIGGEST STADIUM……….BRAZIL


MARACANA STADIUM………… RIO D.J…………BRAZIL……………CAPACITY…199,000



WORLD'S COSTLIEST STADIUM………ENGLAND



New WEMBLEY STADIUM, London….90, 000 capacities…………….cost…..$1.6 billion



MOST COMPLEX INTER-CHANGE………TEXAS


Interstate 10 Highways Interchange……Houston, Texas.



WORLD'S BIGGEST EXCAVATOR


Built by KRUPP of Germany………….45,500 tons……95 meters high……215 meters long



WORLD'S LARGEST MOSQUE………………PAKISTAN


Shah Feisal mosque…..Islamabad……Pakistan
Inside hall capacity ….35, 000 outside overflow capacity…… 150,000




WORLD'S BIGGEST HOTEL………LAS VEGAS



MGM Grand Hotel….Las Vegas….6, 276 rooms



WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE HOTEL …DUBAI…U.A.E


Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai….only 7 Star Hotel in the World
Cheapest room…$1000 per night.…..Royal suit…$28,000 per night



WORLD'S BIGGEST CHURCH BUILDING………NIGERIA



Winners` C hapel…….Canaanland ………. Otta…..…Nigeria
Inside Sitting Capacity……50,000 Outside Overflow Capacity……250,000





WORLD'S BIGGEST ROMAN-CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL…………IVORY-COAST

Amazing 11-yr-old filmmaker

Mumbai: Imagine making a film when you are 11 years old, and then actually getting complimented by the man who made Life is Beautiful. That dream turned into reality for Bangalore boy Kishan Shrikanth, who took his directorial debut project Care of Footpath to the Gifoni International Children's Film Festival.
Kishan, whose directorial debut at age 11 made headlines in India was determined to meet his idol, filmmaker Roberto Benigni. So while in Italy at the festival, he announced on European television channels that he wanted to meet Benigni to make his life beautiful and his tactic worked.
“Benigni got in touch with the Gifoni people. And then he decided on a secret location where we would meet. Then we got into the vehicle and drove and for me to see him was unbelievable. Then we kept saying to each other that it's an honour to meet up with you,” Kishan said.
Kishan's Italian trip turned even more dreamlike when Benigni actually offered him a film. He is to be cast in Benigni's version of Rudyard Kipling's classic Kim. Though, no dates have been fixed yet, the child prodigy is still hopeful.
“Last I spoke to him over e-mail and he said that wait a while, we will soon start the project,” Kishan said.
While taking part at Gifoni, Kishan also ran into Hollywood actor Danny DeVito.
“He pointed to the photo on the brochure that is towards Jackie Shroff and said, ‘why did you cast him in the film? Why didn't you give the role to me?’” Kishan said.
Looking ahead after his Italian holiday, Kishan is now learning sound engineering. His film Care of Footpath will soon be dubbed in Hindi.

Amazing Women Nails

Half man-Half tree - Courtesy DISCOVERY CHANNEL

An Indonesian fisherman who feared that he would be killed by tree-like growths covering his body has been given hope of recovery by an American doctor - and Vitamin A.
Dede, now 35, baffled medical experts when warty "roots" began growing out of his arms and feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident.

The welts spread across his body unchecked and soon he was left unable to carry out everyday household tasks.
Sacked from his job and deserted by his wife, Dede has been raising his two children - now in their late teens - in poverty, resigned to the fact that local doctors had no cure for his condition.
To make ends meet he even joined a local "freak show", parading in front of a paying audience alongside victims of other peculiar diseases.
Although supported by his extended family, he was often a target of abuse and ridicule in his rural fishing village.
But now an American dermatology expert who flew out to Dede's home village south of the capital Jakarta claims to have identified his condition, and proposed a treatment that could transform his life.

After testing samples of the lesions and Dede's blood, Dr Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland concluded that his affliction is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection that usually causes small warts to develop on sufferers.Dede's problem is that he has a rare genetic fault that impedes his immune system, meaning his body is unable to contain the warts.The virus was therefore able to "hijack the cellular machinery of his skin cells", ordering them to produce massive amounts of the substance that caused the tree-like growths known as "cutaneous horns" on his hands and feet.Dede's counts of a key type of white blood cell are so low that Dr Gaspari initially suspected he may have the Aids virus.But tests showed he did not, and it became clear that Dede's immune condition was something far rarer and more mysterious.Warts aside, he had enjoyed remarkable good health throughout his life - which would not be expected of someone with a suppressed immune system - and neither his parents nor his siblings have shown signs of developing lesions."The likelihood of having his deficiency is less than one in a million," Dr Gaspari told the Telegraph.

Dr Gaspari, who became involved in the case through a Discovery Channel documentary, believes that Dede's condition can be largely cleared up by a daily doses of a synthetic form of Vitamin A, which has been shown to arrest the growth of warts in severe cases of HPV."He won't have a perfectly normal body but the warts should reduce in size to the point where he could use his hands," Dr Gaspari said."Over the course of three to six months the warts should be come smaller and fewer in number. He will be living a more normal life."The most resilient warts could then be frozen off and the growths on his hands and feet surgically removed.Dr Gaspari hopes to get the necessary drugs free of charge from pharmaceutical firms. They would then be administered by Indonesian doctors under his supervision.Still intrigued by the origins of Dede's peculiar immune condition, the doctor would like to fly him to the United States for further examination, but fears the financial and bureaucratic barriers would prove too difficult to overcome."I would like to bring him to the US to run tests on where his immune condition has come from, but I would need funding and to get him a visa as well as someone to cover the costs of the tests," he said."I've never seen anything like this in my entire career."* "Half Man Half Tree", part of the "My Shocking Story" series, will be shown on the Discovery Channel at 9pm on Nov 15.