obama's rare photos

Top 10 Interesting Facts About Barack Obama

1.) He won a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Spoken Word Recording. It was for the audio version of his book Dreams From My Father.

2.) He and his wife bought a house in Chicago in 2005. Back then it cost $1.65 million. The house has 4 fireplaces.

3.) He doesn’t like ice-cream. He worked in Baskin-Robbins as a teenager. That’s where his distaste for ice-cream comes from.

4.) He loves playing Scrabble. He never commented on how good he is, though. Do you think he would enjoy playing Angry Birds? :)

5.) He is bi-racial. He was born to a Kenyan father and a white American mother. In his book Dreams From My Father he writes that he barely noticed the racial difference between his mum and dad in his young age.

6.) He experimented with drugs. Back in his early years he tried marijuana and cocaine. According to his own words he is not proud of it and considers it a mistake as a young man.

7.) He smokes but wants to quit. After all, there is a non-smoking policy in the White House.

8.) He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii but went to live in Indonesia with his mum when the parents divorced. There he was introduced to dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper.

9.) According to his wife Michelle he is very romantic. He is not a door opener but he remembers every anniversary and brings her flowers all the time.

10.) Every night when he is at home he reads the Harry Potter books to his oldest daughter Malia.

Mahabalipuram Temple

Mahabalipuram, derived from 'Mamallapuram' (Tamil: மாமல்லபுரம்) is a town in Kancheepuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has an average elevation of 12 metres (39 feet).

Mahabalipuram was a 7^th century port city of the South Indian dynasty of the Pallavas around 60 km south from the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The name Mamallapuram is believed to have been given after the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, who took on the epithet Maha-malla (great wrestler), as the favourite sport of the Pallavas was wrestling. It has various historic monuments built largely between the 7^th and the 9^th centuries, and has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Meenakshi Temple,Madurai

Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple or Meenakshi Amman Temple or Tiru-alavai^[1][2] (Tamil: மீனாட்சி அம்மன் கோவில்/திருஆலவாய்) is an historic Hindu temple located in the south side of river Vaigai^[3] in the temple city^[4] of Madurai, Tamil Nadu,India. It is dedicated to Shiva named here as Sundareswarar or beautiful deity and his consort, Parvati who is known as Meenakshi. The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2500 year old city^[5] of Madurai. The complex houses 14 magnificent gopurams or towers, including two golden sculptured vimana(shrine) over sanctum of the main deities. The temple is a significant symbol for the Tamil people, and has been mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature, though the present structure is built during the 1623 to 1655 A.D.^[6][7][8]. The temple has 12 towers, ranging from 45-50m in height, the tallest being the souther tower, 51.9 metres (170 ft) high^[8].

Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram

Thillai Natarajah Temple, Chidambaram (Tamil: சிதம்பரம் கோயில் - Chidambaram Thillai Natarajar-Koothan Kovil or Chidambaram temple) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located in the centre of the temple town of Chidambaram, East-Central Tamil Nadu, South India. Chidambaram Thillai temple is known as the foremost Kovil to Saivites and has influenced worship, architecture, sculpture and performance art for over two millenium. The Sangam classics list chief architect Viduvelvidugu Perumtaccan as directing an early renovation of the shrine. A major shrine of Shiva worship since the classical period, there have been several renovations and offerings to Chidambaram by the Pallava, Chola, Pandya, Vijayanagara and Chera royals in the ancient and pre-medieval periods. Its 2nd century BCE bronze statues and 2nd century CE stone sculptures depicting various deities and the famous Thillai trees (Exocoeria agallocha) of the surrounding forest reflect the highpoints of early Chola and Pallava art while its famed gold plated gopuram towers are medieval structural additions by the royals Aditya I, Parantaka Chola I, Kopperunchinga I, Krishnadevaraya and Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan. King Kocengannan Chola was born following prayers his parents offered at the temple and later in his life he refined its structure.^[1][2][3] The shrine gave the town its name.

Tanjore Temple

The Peruvudaiyar Koyil (Tamil: பெருவுடையார் கோயில், peruvuḍaiyār kōyil ^?), also known as Rajarajeswaram,^[1] at Thanjavur in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the world's first complete granite temple^[2] and a brilliant example of the major heights achieved by Cholas kingdom in Tamil architecture. It is a tribute and a reflection of the power of its patron RajaRaja Chola I. It remains as one of the greatest glories of Indian architecture.^[3] The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Great Living Chola Temples".

This temple is one of India's most prized architectural sites. The temple stands amidst fortified walls that were probably added in the 16th century. The 'Vimana' - or the temple tower - is 216 ft (66 m) high ^[4][5] and is among the tallest of its kind in the world. The Kumbam or Kalash or 'Chikharam' (apex or the bulbous structure on the top) of the temple is not carved out of a single stone as widely believed^{[citation needed]}. There is a big statue of Nandi (sacred bull), carved out of a single rock, at the entrance measuring about 16 feet long and 13 feet high.^[6] The entire temple structure is made out of hard granite stones, a material sparsely available currently in Thanjavur area where the temple is located.
Built in 1010 AD by Raja Raja Chola in Thanjavur, Brihadishwara Temple also popularly known as the ‘Big Temple’ has turned 1000 years in 2010