Khorāsān, sometimes called Greater Khorasan, is a historical region which formed the northeast province of Greater Iran. The name signifies "the Land of the Sun" or "the Eastern Province."Khorasan comprised the present territories of northeastern Iran, parts of Afghanistan and much of Central Asia. The province was subdivided into four quarters. Nishapur, Marv and Balkh were the centers of the westernmost, northernmost and easternmost quarters. In the north, Khorasan stretched as far as the Oxus, according to some descriptions, included Transoxiana. Along the north it extended westward to the Caspian coast. Early Islamic usage regarded everywhere east of so-called Jibal or what was subsequently termed'Iraq Ajami', as being included in a vast and loosely-defined region of Khorasan, which might extend to the Indus Valley and Sindh modern day Pakistan; the boundary between these two was the region surrounding the cities of Qumis. In particular, the Ghaznavids and Timurids divided their empires into'Iraqi' and'Khorasani' regions.
Khorasan is believed to have been bounded in the southwest by desert and the town of Tabas, known as "the Gate of Khorasan", from which it extended eastward to the mountains of central Afghanistan. Sources from the 10th-century onwards refer to areas in the south of the Hindu Kush as the Khorasan Marches, forming a frontier region between Khorasan and Hindustan. Greater Khorasan is today sometimes used to distinguish the larger historical region from the modern Khorasan Province of Iran, which encompassed the western half of the historical Greater Khorasan. First established in the 6th-century as one of four administrative divisions by the Sassanids, the scope of the region has varied during its nearly 1,500-year history; the Khorasan division of the Sassanid empire covered the north-eastern military gains of the empire, at its height including cities such as Nishapur, Merv, Talaqan, Bukhara, Abiward, Tus and Gurgan. With the rise of the Umayyad Caliphate, the designation was inherited and stretched as far as their military gains in the east, starting off with the military installations at Nishapur and Merv expanding eastwards into Tokharistan and Sogdia.
Under the Caliphs, Khorasan was the name of one of the three political zones under their dominion. Under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, Khorasan was divided into four major sections or quarters, each section based on a single major city: Nishapur, Merv and Balkh. By the 10th-century, Ibn Khordadbeh and the Hudud al-'Alam mentions what encompasses the previous regions of Abarshahr and Sogdia as Khwarasan proper, they further report the southern part of the Hindu Kush, i.e. the regions of Sistan, Rukhkhudh and Kabul etc. to make up the Khwarasan marches, a frontier region between Khwarasan and Hindustan which at the time would have been in a process of Islamization. By the late Middle Ages, the term lost its administrative significance, in the west only being loosely applied among the Turko-Persian dysnasties of modern Iran to all its territories that lay east and north-east of the Dasht-e Kavir desert, it was therefore subjected to constant change. In the east, Khwarasan became a term associated with the great urban centers of Central Asia.
It is mentioned in the Memoirs of Babur that: The people of Hindustān call every country beyond their own Khorasān, in the same manner as the Arabs term all except Arabia, Ajem. On the road between Hindustān and Khorasān, there are two great marts: the one Kābul, the other Kandahār. Caravans, from Ferghāna, Tūrkestān, Balkh, Bokhāra, Hissār, Badakhshān, all resort to Kābul; this country lies between Khorasān. In modern times, the term has been source of great nostalgia and nationalism amongst the Tajiks of Central Asia. Many Tajiks regard Khorasan as an integral part of their national myth, which has preserved an interest in the term, including its meaning and cultural significance, both in common discussion and academia, despite its falling out of political use in the region. According to Ghulam Mohammad Ghobar, Afghanistan's current Persian-speaking territories formed the major portion of Khorasān, as two of the four main capitals of Khorasān are now located in Afghanistan. Ghobar uses the terms "Proper Khorasan" and "Improper Khorasan" in his book to distinguish between the usage of Khorasān in its strict sense and its usage in a loose sense.
According to him, Proper Khorasan contained regions lying between Balkh in the east, Merv in the north, Sistan in the south, Nishapur in the west and Herat, known as the Pearl of Khorasan, in the center. Improper Khorasan's boundaries extended to as far as Hazarajat and Kabul in the east, Baluchistan in the south and Khwarezm in the north, Damghan and Gorgan in the west. Before the region fell to Alexander the Great in 330 BC, it was part of the Persian Achaemenid Empire and prior to that it was occupied by the Medes; the land that became known as Khorasan in geography of Eratosthenes was recognized as Ariana by Greeks at that time, which made up Greater Iran or the land where Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion. The southeastern region of Khorasan fell to the Kushan Empire
Martin Methodist College is a private Methodist liberal arts college in Pulaski, Tennessee. For many years it was a junior college but is now a baccalaureate institution providing more than thirty academic majors; the college has an MBA program. The school has several intercollegiate sports programs and is a member of the NAIA. Martin Methodist teams, nicknamed athletically as the RedHawks, are part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Division I level competing in the Southern States Athletic Conference. Men's sports include: baseball, bowling, golf and tennis. Competitive cheerleading is offered as a co-ed sport. Competitive trap and skeet shooting was added as the department's 15th varsity sport in the fall of 2013; some of the sport teams' accomplishments include: Women's Soccer – Two-time NAIA National Champions. Nine consecutive TranSouth Athletic Conference championships, nine consecutive NAIA National Tournament berths, 24 NAIA All-Americans and the 2005 and 2007 NAIA Player of the Year awards.
Men's Soccer – On Dec. 7, 2013, the RedHawks defeated Auburn University at Montgomery 2-1 in overtime to claim the program's first NAIA national championship. Despite entering the 32-team tournament as the lowest seeded squad, the RedHawks vanquished some of the NAIA's premier competition to claim the title. In their opening-round matchup, the RedHawks avenged an early season loss with a 2–0 victory over Bryan College. In the second round, the RedHawks thrashed No. 1 overall seed Grand View University 5-0, highlighted by a second half natural hat trick from eventual tournament Offensive Most Outstanding Player Sean Dong. In their quarterfinal matchup, the RedHawks knocked off defending national champion Belhaven University 2-1 in double overtime; the victory marked the third time in 2013 the RedHawks had beaten the defending national champion Blazers.. The RedHawks defeated the Blazers 1-0 to claim the 2013 Southern States Athletic Conference Championship a month prior. In the national tournament semifinal, the RedHawks scored with just under four minutes left in regulation to force overtime against Ashford University before advancing in a penalty kick shootout.
RedHawk goalkeeper Stephen Lunney, named the tournament's Most Outstanding Defensive Player, made a stop on the second Ashford penalty before taking and making the fifth and final penalty to send the RedHawks to the tournament final. In the title match, the RedHawks struck for an early goal against Auburn University at Montgomery, but allowed a second half goal from the Warhawks. In overtime, RedHawk midfielder Jonathan Remond took a pass from Kenneth Monge just outside the Warhawk box and finessed a left-footed shot into the back of the net to give the RedHawks the national title. Official website Official athletics website
Cuckoo is a 2014 Tamil romantic drama film written and directed by Raju Murugan and produced by Fox Star Studios. The film stars Dinesh and Malavika Nair as a visually challenged pair, while Aadukalam Murugadoss plays a pivotal role; the film was released on 21 March 2014 and received positive reviews. "Kaabil" was influenced by this film, in which the main character couple is blind. Tamizh is a visually-impaired young man. During one of the weddings he performs at, he meets Sudhanthirakodi, a young woman, studying to become a teacher and is visually-impaired. Tamizh teases her, causing her to leave him waiting for her as she presents her wedding gift to the newlyweds and leaves; the following day, he bumps into her on the train and asks his friend to mislead her into getting down at a wrong station. As a result, Kodi is late for her first day of teaching practice, she and her friends go after whoever who tricked her. The next time he gets on the train, Tamizh candidly talks to his friend about how they played a prank on Kodi the other day, not realizing she is right in front of him.
Angered, she hits him with her walking stick. Tamizh is angry when his friends tease him about the incident. However, Kodi feels bad for what she apologizes to him the next time they meet; as their friendship grows deeper, Tamizh falls in love with Kodi. With the help of his friends, he composes a romantic poem for her which he records in a CD; when he goes to meet her at her school, he slips the CD into her bag, only to learn from her best friend that Kodi dreams of marrying a person who can see. She has always hoped that Vinod, the young man who volunteers reading to her at the service center will propose to her. On that day, Vinod takes Kodi out for lunch to show her a surprise. Thinking that he is going to propose, she follows. However, she is heartbroken when Vinod introduces her to his fiancé, who plans to make Kodi her charity case; when she returns home, she is touched when she listens to it. Tamizh goes through much difficulty to find Kodi's favourite clock with her late father's voice recording as the alarm.
Realizing how much Tamizh is in love with her, Kodi learns to love him back. However, her greedy elder brother had promised to marry her off to someone else in return for a favour, forcing her and Tamizh to elope. Tamizh manages to obtain enough money to pay off Kodi's brother, but he is tricked by a group of corrupt policemen before being hit by an oncoming van. Unknown to him, Kodi is in the van on the way to meet him; as they are both silent throughout the journey, neither of them realize the other is in the van. When Tamizh has recovered from the accident, he finds that Kodi has left Chennai to stay away from her brother's family. After a period of time, a reporter friend tells him Kodi. Tamizh goes to the city in search of his one true love and they are united. Fox Star Studios in association with The Next Big Film Productions launched the film in July 2013, marking the debut of director Raja Murugan, who had assisted Linguswamy in Bheema and Paiyaa and worked as a writer for Ananda Vikatan magazine.
Nandita Swetha was selected to portray the character of Sudhanthirakodi, before she was replaced by Malayalam newcomer Malavika Nair. The team completed the making of the film by November 2013, with Dinesh revealing his satisfaction on how the film shaped up. Actor Kamal Haasan revealed the first look of the film in January 2014, with a teaser trailer released thereafter; the music was composed with lyrics written by Yugabharathi and R. K. Sundar; the soundtrack album was launched on 21 February 2014 at Chennai. The event was attended by Kamal Haasan, Lingusamy, Vijay Sethupathi and many other promising young directors such as Atlee, Karthik Subbaraj, Pa. Ranjith, Vetrimaaran and Naveen; the cast and crew of the film were present and received the applause that they received for their work on the movie. A trailer and two songs from the movie were screened at the event and a live "Acapella" performance from Santosh Narayanan's team kicked off the show, where actor Suriya gave a standing ovation for this mesmerizing performance.
All lyrics are written except where noted. Santhosh Narayanan's work was well received by audiences. Behindwoods gave 3.5/5 star rating for the album and stated that the album is "alluring and immersive". Baradwaj Rangan in his review described the music as "great", while Sify wrote that the "outstanding music and BGM" was a "major plus" IANS wrote, "Santosh Narayanan's life-affirming music makes you ignore fewer flaws you may across in the film". Times of India rated the album 3.5 out of 5. MusicAloud rated the album 8.5 out of 10, reviewing it as "The best soundtrack that composer Santhosh Narayanan has produced yet!" The satellite rights of the film were sold to STAR Vijay. Cuckoo received positive reviews from critics. Rediff gave it 4 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Cuckoo is a heartwarming love story between two visually challenged individuals that keeps you engrossed with its brilliant performances, sensational music and stunning visuals a must watch"; the Times of India gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "What is refreshing about the film is that it treats the disability of the lead characters in a matter-of-fact way and resorts to manipulation....what makes the film feel unique is the setting and the array of interesting supporting characters that the director has created".
However he added, "in the climatic portions, Dinesh...is made to go melodramatic