Krishna Kiran's

This is a story told to me by Shyamrao More, the taxi driver in Mumbai about whom I have written in my last post. Once upon a time( this is how stories are started, right!), there was a priest who served in a temple for almost 60 years. One day, there was a beggar at the temple while the priest was serving the regular 'prasadam' to the devotees. The priest took pity on the beggar who was in a very bad condition of health suffering as such from starvation. He told the beggar that if he was prepared to work in the temple, he would ensure that the beggar got his meal everyday along with shelter to stay. Having not worked anywhere, the beggar asked the priest as to what he could do. The priest asked him to just sweep the temple premises everyday and keep it clean. The beggar jumped with joy and agreed to take up the job. Life was going on in this manner and the beggar in the due course of time won the appreciation and warmth of the priest including that of some of the regular de

If we seriously look around in our daily lives, there are innumerable lives that are a great inspiration. This is a small story of a taxi driver whom I came across today while I engaged him from Dadar. His name is Shyamrao More as I gather from my conversation with him and is a septuagenarian. He has been running a taxi to eke out his livelihood since 1959 and says that there was no Mumbai beyond Sion in the 50's and late into 60's. Also people did not dare to venture onto roads in those years late in the night as it was quite dark due to lack of street lights. His philosophy in life is quite simple. "Dil ko saaf rakho. Bhagavan, apna andar mei hai"(Keep heart clean. God lives inside there). He believes in working hard to keep his pot boiling and doesn't want to depend on anyone for his needs. His wife who is reportedly 66 years of age is the opposite of what he is. She has every photo of Gods across India at their home in Tilak Nagar and is an annual visitor t

Rajdeep Sardesai is asking Arvind Kejriwal "why should a voter vote for AAP, a party that has no political experience and no knowledge of governance?". I would like to ask Rajdeep these questions: 1. What are the parties with tens and hundreds of years of experience doing that a voter should vote for them? 2. What experience did any PM have before he/she became one to run a country of this size? What is required today in politics is the will to do good to people, mind that doesn't want to amass wealth and a strong character that can stand up to any negative forces. Experience is not necessarily an essential requirement.

Bravo! Aakar Patel! You dared to write on a subject that is more than emotive than anything else for crores of Indians caught in deluge. Yes. Sachin's achievements are no mean. He is the greatest, no doubt, but Bharat Ratna, I doubt and I fully agree with your column. The game already rewarded him for that with crores of money through various means. People are going crazy calling him God, giving him the highest civilian award and so on. This is more a decision that is taken on the spur of the moment and popular mood than anything else. You deserve a round of applause for having the guts to write the fact braving the sycophantic fans. The PM has given in to the pressures of the fan following in announcing this award obviously with ulterior motives. we have to now wait and see whether Sachin will start living like a Bharat Ratna, away from all the commercial pulls.

Pilgrims have gone on Chardham Yatra as Indians. Those who survived in the calamity are returning as Gujaratis, Marathas, Andhraites, Tamils, Bengalis, Kannadigas etc., thanks to our leaders' innate hunger for politicising everything and their capacity to divide and rule. This is 'amukthi' which means breaking away from Oneness while attempting to become One.

Telegram is gone and forever. I am closely associated with it primarily because my father served as Telegraph Master at Buckinghampet TO, Vijayawada and then at CTO, Abids, Hyderabad before getting into the profession of law as an advocate. I used to hear lot of stories as to how they delivered the telegrams especially those related to death at the doorstep of the recipient. Most of the times, a telegram was always dreaded. The first telegram which I received was when I got selected in the APRJC entrance in 1983. Though one could have used telegram for sending different messages, it was mostly used to send messages like- 'start immediately', 'father/mother no more', 'xyz hospitalised' etc. RIP my dear TELEGRAM. You did your bit in the evolution of human communication. You will never be forgotten. By the way, are you going to take the postal letter also with you in the near future?

For all those columnists and critics of Narendra Modi who are saying that he has copied "Yes, we can" from Obama, here are simple points to understand: 1. During our school days in the 80s at N.S.M.Public School,Vijayawada we had a Principal Bro.T.A.Joseph who gave our school the slogan "We can. We will." I am sure so many other schools in India would have had a similar slogan. 2. If you look at the tagline of Canara Bank- it reads "Together We Can". 3. The "We Can" attitude is in the DNA of most Indians. No wonder we find so many successful Indians across the globe and several of them in USA. Language is not one's property. It can be used the way he/she wants to achieve desired objectives. These words "we can" in any case are not proper nouns except the names of the persons who used them. So please end the debate on why Modi had used them at Hyderabad meet. The words neither belong to Obama nor to Modi.

LAW - Isn't it time to have full form for this word? LET ALL(read criminals) WALKOUT. What country are we living in? A country where age matters more than the intensity of the crime? The rascal will walk out in 27 months and who can say there will be no more Nirbhayas due to this animal. Aren't we killing poisonous snakes whether they are small or big on noticing them in our neighbourhood? A snake is far better than such humans, it doesn't bite unless you get in its way. The first option is to hang such criminals. The last is to keep them in dark underground cells till they breath their last. If society could be treated as a human body,what is needed is amputation of such elements so that rest of the body could live in peace, at least notionally.

You walk on any road in India, we come across liquor shops named Tirumala Wines, Lakshmi Wines, Venkateswara Bar and Restaurant, Krishna Wines, Durga Wineshop,etc. They sound so unusual. Such businesses will run well irrespective of what name one gives. The least the promoters could do is avoid naming them that way. Why can't the governments ensure exclusion of these Proper nouns while giving permits to do such businesses? Some suggested names: Drink and Die wines, Dance wines, Forget wineshop, Burn Your pocket wines, Don't Care wines, Love You Wines.

"Why are there so many Gods in Hinduism?" is one question that most people following Hindu religion are asked. This is also a question that keeps hitting Hindus too,again and again. One simple explanation for this. Take the case of English language. It has 26 alphabets. All these come together in different permutations and combinations to make some sensible and understandable words which are used in written and spoken communication. Out of these 26 alphabets,five of them are more important than the others for obvious reasons. The alphabet A has got its own importance being the first one. Similarly we cannot do away with any alphabet if the language has to be complete in its full sense and each one has its own importance. Hinduism is also the same. You may have crores of Gods but they are all parts of one Whole . There may be innumerable languages, religions, castes, states,etc., but don't all of them make one great country called INDIA and several countries with varied pr

Why can't we get India rid of liquor and tobacco? They may be filling the coffers of our governments but aren't they the prime reason for several people getting into coffins? Lot of problems in this country whether it is rapes, loots, court cases, road accidents, health and family issues, children not being able to attend school,etc.,can be attributed to either of these two, not withstanding the fact that there may be other factors too. But these are the two main products causing majority of destruction. When we say that consumption of these is injurious to health, why are the successive governments cheating us by not banning them? Because most politicians are into these businesses and they don't want to lose easy way of making money.

The total 'donations' received by six major political parties in India between 2004-12 is Rs.4,895.96 cr out of which 'donor' details are submitted to IT and EC only for 8.9% of this amount. They are not disclosing the details for Rs.3,674.50 cr. Congress is not diclosing details for Rs.1,956 cr (82.5% of total collected), NCP for 91.58% and BJP for 73%. Why can't the PM aspirants RaGa and NaMo take the lead and clear the air on this?

Aga Khan one of the world's richest men(his personal fortune estimated by Forbes at $800m) in a media interview - "Freedom has been taken to a point where unethical behaviour has become acceptable. That is what I am apprehensive about and we see it in many parts of the world. That kind of freedom enables the individual to behave in ways that are unhelpful to society, to its institutions. You can see it in the banking world, you can see it in the media world, and you can see it in social relations." Holds a mirror to the reality of current times.

AN INDIAN'S PERSONAL LETTER TO GANDHIJI. Dear Gandhiji  Pranaams! Hope you are doing well and not troubling any British wherever you are. They have physically quit India, thanks to you and your team, but continue to rule the mindset of our rulers.  Here are a few things that are happening in post-independence India:  1.You are the Father of the nation and your birthday is celebrated reverently every year and is a holiday for all. No need to work on this day. Thank you for the same.  2.All our 'great' rulers offer their prayers to you at Raj Ghat/elsewhere and try to wash their political sins by uttering your name. 3.Your image is printed on every Indian currency note but unfortunately the notes end up in the pockets/Swiss bank accounts/lockers of the corrupt and do not reach the needy. 4.Your statue/photo is in every state Assembly and Parliament but these halls are mostly used for trading allegations instead of discussing the peoples' problems/issues.  5.The

"10 Golden Rules for a democratically healthy and progressive governance: Rule 1 - Every citizen > 18 years to enroll as a voter and get ID Rule 2 - At the time of elections, cast vote for Mr.Loot Maar of caste X Rule 3 - If Rule 2 is broken then go to Rule 4 Rule 4 - Vote for Mr.Loot Maar II of caste Y, a close associate of Mr.Loot Maar Rule 5 - In case of no choices, wait till next elections to follow rules 2 to 5. Lose vote. Rule 6 - Always bear in mind there are no rules and rulers, there are only moving political goalposts and one can only do either of the two - vote or not vote. No Veto. Rule 7 - Enjoy what is in hand(vote),even if it gives a momentary feeling of being powerful. Rule 8 - Understand that nothing changes,only the governments do. The voters are always left with a 'change'. Rule 9 - Don't change the Change until Change changes itself. Rule 10 - Live. For every vote counts and nothing else matters" Yours votefully M.Krishna Kiran

Today India celebrates Sri Rama Navami. On this occasion it is important that we understand what Rama stands for as a human being. Rama is an embodiment of dharma which means that he fulfilled his duties and responsibilities irrespective of the troubles and turmoil he had to undergo in the process. He never reneged on his word and is also known as "poorva bhashi" . Normally, we find these days that people placed in high positions of power and money do not wish first those whom they think are lower in stature to them. But, Rama was always the first to say hello to whom he came across. He never distinguished between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless that is the reason he is known as "poorva bhashi". He was very brave right from childhood and very obedient with elders which we find lacking these days in most children who are learning to be so from their parents. He respected his teachers though he himself was their savior at times of crisis.

This is a comment that I made on an article in Mint "The Narendra Modi joke you have never heard" on 18th April 2013. Is it a crime to be humorless? In any case, what does a democracy want? Jokes? We need leaders who are serious about their job. What if this writer worked in the office he is employed as humorous person without doing his job of writing( for which he has been hired by this newspaper), will the editor say" oh! we have a wonderfully humorous reporter among us, there is no need for him to contribute".? What the Indians need is jobs, food, health care, education for all and security. Humor comes only when the stomach is full, not when you are hungry. When so many people are still below the poverty line, there is no proper drinking water for millions, no roads, no power, what do you want, humor? Come on, give us a break. We need leaders who will deliver first. Humor and jokes can take a back seat till then. We have been reading since our childhood that

Almost all humans want two things for sure: one is happiness and the other is health or beauty. Whether it is the rich living in princely mansions or the poor living on the footpaths of busy roads, all want to look beautiful and be happy. I travel daily from my home in Chembur to my office in Mahalakshmi which is almost a 14 km journey. I pass by a station called Chinchpokli. It is not uncommon to find several families making the footpaths as their homes in Mumbai but what is interesting is the way they eke their lives on these footpaths. At this footpath outside the Chinchpokli station, I see this family everyday. The woman of this 'house', probably in her 40s,has a burnt body as is evident from her burnt neck and face. She has set up a nice pedestal with proper shelter on a wooden box adjacent to the parapet wall for pooja on which are seated the photos of a few Hindu Gods,prominent of them being Lord Ganesha. The iron railings separating the main road and the footpath act

24-05-2006 (Wednesday) On this day we started off to go to Collegio Rio Branco at 7.45 am. Incidentally this college/school is the best managed in Brazil and the Director is one Mr.Gunter who looked like a professor out of the novels that we read. He is quite a serious man and he gave us the information about the college. This college was started in 1946 by 20 like-minded Rotarians and now has 5000 students on the rolls and operates from two places namely Granjavienna and Higienopolis. The college offers from KG to High School and also runs ITAE( Institute for Advanced Technical Education) in addition to running a special school for the deaf children. Mr.Gunter whose name sounds like the place Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, India has been in marketing since 1953 and has a keen eye for details. We were informed that the school gets around 1000 titles of magazines for the school library and Estado de Sao Paulo carries two pages of children related articles on every Monday. The contents al

23-05-2006 (Tuesday) On this day,we were taken to the SETESP which is a 70 year old transporters union with 6000 companies and 40000 employees in the Sao Paulo state. The number of vehicles managed are a stunning 3,00,000. This is the second biggest such union in the world with the biggest being in LA,USA. The main vehicle being the truck. It was learnt that 8 per cent of the goods are transported by trucks in Brazil. The union works to ensure that the system is in place. In Brazil, there are several restrictions and the trucks are not allowed to go off the main road and enter the city limits. The entry tax is also a huge 55 per cent. The union spends 12 per cent of their income on satellite tracking of the vehicles, sending armed escorts and GSM technology. The number one tyre brand in Brazil is Goodyear followed by Michelin, Firestone and Continental. There was a big and gigantic personality here with whom I had a photo just to show how big he is. From here we proceeded to th

22-05-2006 (Monday) On this day I was picked up by the driver of a taxi engaged for our travel Mr.Benedito. What I noticed was the moment someone meets another on a morning they ask “Did you sleep well last night?” I have experienced this almost with all Brazilians I met and Mr.Benedito was no exception. I felt that it was a good way to start the day in so many ways. We visited Cobram which is a marketing agency for several big multinational brands like Petrobras, Ford and Abor. We were introduced to Mr.Mario who is the Director-Corporate Communications of the company. His job description included Event Management, and TV/Radio productions that promote brands. One of the major achievements of their company was the Sigabem program of Petrobras. Sigabem means "have a nice trip” and the program is aimed at the drivers. The company has been dealing with Petrobras for the last 14 years and there was good synergy between the two. The Sigabem program was advertised in 212 radio stati