Krishna Kiran's

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