World Storytelling Day

Storytelling is an art.  We all have grown up listening to stories from our elders, teachers and peers right from our childhood.  'World Storytelling Day' is being celebrated on the March equinox (a day on which the duration of day and night are equal and this year it falls on Tuesday, the 20th March 2018) every year all over the world to encourage interested people to tell and listen to stories, forge and nourish the much needed international network.

Storytelling is not just for children.  The art of storytelling can influence almost all fields, including education, training, entertainment, religion, management and even politics! It promotes  creativity, communication skills, personality development, healing, planning, strategizing and what not?

Storytelling basically needs good verbal and non-verbal communication skills.  Value addition may be brought in with the help of costumes, visuals, songs and even the electronic media.

India is a treasure house of stories for all ages.  Long long ago a 

saint named Vishnu Sharma used the technique of teaching his princely students through his 'panchatantra stories'. In order to stimulate interest he created stories involving animals.  Be it the story of the mischievous monkey that got its tail caught, the tortoise that couldn't keep its mouth shut, the clever monkey that escaped from the evil plans of the crocodile or the clever hare that could kill the mighty lion.......there are lessons for all of us to learn. Obviously these stories have reached almost all corners of the world and are counted among the prides of India!

Coming to the contemporary India, R.K.Narayan's 'Malgudi Days'

caught the eyes of crores of Indians glued to the T.V. as a popular serial during mid-1980s. Malgudi is a fictional village (some say it is the combination of first three letters of Malleswaram and last four letters of Basavanagudi of Bengaluru) where the little boy 'Swamy and his friends' lived. Swamy is monitored by his strict father, loved by his mother and pampered by his grandma.  But Swamy loved freedom and time with his friends and the story unfolds in the form of 39 serials.  Swamy's hate for his school, love for cricket, exploratory visits to the nearby forests, his innocent mischiefs are all captured as short stories.  For most of we seniors, seeing this T.V. serial was almost like reliving our humble childhoods!

In the recent past, we saw two great children movies in English.  One was the famous 'The Jungle Book', based on a story written by 

Rudyard Kippling. Mowgli was a boy who grew along with wolves.  When the the wild tiger wanted to kill him, he was saved by his two friends.....a bear and a panther.

Yann Mortel authored 'Life of Pi', was the story of young Pi who had to seek refuge for survival in a life boat inside the mid-sea along with a hyena and a tiger. Enough ingredients for an exciting climax which we all enjoyed with our children.

Storytelling is all about creativity and innovation.  The familiar

story of hare and the tortoise is now twisted in three more different ways to draw new management lessons!  Look at the pic.  The repentant hare which didn't rest in the middle won in the second version, proving that fast and consistently fast wins the race.  In the next version, the clever tortoise changed the track to land-water and won the race again sending a new message....choose the track according to your strength to win.  Finally both the animals realized that it is better to 'collaborate' instead of 'competing'.  They ran the race together on land-water track, by coordinating with each other and achieved the mutually beneficial win-win!

Creativity of our great minds and their tweaking instincts 

have not even left our great epics....Ramayan and Mahabharath!

Arguably the greatest Indian novelist (Kannada) of our times Mr. S.L.Bhyrappa has rewritten these two epics giving a realistic touch.

Mr. Bhyrappa's master piece 'Parva' (published during 1979 and translated to almost all Indian languages including Sanskrit and English) is a recreated story of Mahabharat.  No miracles here and even Krishna is described as a ordinary human being who was a shrewd politician of his times. When Kauravas wanted to insult Draupadi by disrobing her, her five great husbands were helpless. Distraught Draupadi had to shout at Kauravas.....'you might have won my husbands.  Remember that Lord Krishna is on my side and he will teach you all a lesson'. Kauravas, scared of Krishna stopped pulling the saree further and Draupadi's honour was saved. This is how Mr. Bhyrappa has described the miracle of 'akshaya vastra' within the limits of reality.

Mr.Bhyrappa's Ramayan (published 2017) is renamed as 'Uttara Kaanda',  which is rewritten as a flash-back of reminiscent Seeta, of her life with Lord Ram. Seeta is not a passive lady here. Towards the end she dares questioning Ram and even refuses to join him back! She chooses to take up agriculture to make her living and dies on the field while doing her work, contrary to the popular belief that the mother-earth opened up to take her away!


So much about stories, what about great story tellers and their different forms of art?

Be it the 'Harikatha' (top-left) of the south, 'patachitra (top-right) of the east, 'Pandavani' (down-left) of the centre or 'Katputhli' of the north.......they are all Indian ways of storytelling with the help of acting, songs, pictures and puppets.

How this great art of storytelling is being taken forward?

The Indian Storytelling Network (ISN) was founded by Smt.Geeta Ramanujam (director of Kathalaya, Bengaluru) during 2011. The objective of ISN includes networking with similar bodies all over the world and facilitating the development of storytelling in India. For more details one may e mail to info@indianstorytellingnetwork.org OR kathalaya@gmail.com
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Wish you all a happy Yugadi and a happy new year!


I have made references to many sites and drawn info and pictures from them.  I acknowledge my indebtedness to all of them.  

I thank you all for your patient reading.  Please send me your valuable feedback. 

klakshminarayana1956@rediffmail.com
Mob & Whatsapp No. 98455 62603
fb: Lakshminarayana Krishnappa

Bank-Loot-Run!

Our country is now reeling under the shock of one more Bank scam. This time the loot is still bigger......a whopping sum of 11,400 crores. Once again the modus operandi is the same.....'Bank-Loot-Run'!

Nirav Modi scam is neither the first nor the last of the financial scams.  In fact frauds and scams are as old as mankind!

Ancient Greek King Heiro II got made his golden crown.  But he had a doubt that the goldsmith might have done a fraud by mixing the inferior copper.  He asked his scientist scholar Archimedes to find out.  Archimedes then discovered that every irregular object (in this case crown) displaces its own volume of water when immersed and using his principle found out the fraud.  That was the historic 'eureka moment' for Archimedes! 

Kautilya (283 BC) in his famous book 'Arthashashtra' has enlisted 440 ways of looting Government money.  This goes to prove that frauds and scams were very much there during those days too. 

He has also recorded a detailed outline of methods of preventing corruption and frauds including handsome reward for 'whistle blowers'.

What happened to his 'Nobel money'?

Around 1930s, in Bengaluru there was a crooked person called Gopala Rao who had started his own Bank.  Gopala Rao Bank had one of its branches near the present Malleswaram Circle.  Gopala Rao had mesmerized people during those days by his generous acts of charity.  Impressed by his charitable acts, the then Maharaja of Mysuru had awarded the highest title 'Dharma Ratnakara' on him. Naturally people started rushing towards Gopala Rao Bank for depositing their hard earned money.  Sir C.V. Raman, the first Indian scientist to win a Nobel, too deposited all his 'Nobel money' in this Bank. Gopala Rao swindled all money of people and declared himself a bankrupt. Upset Sir C.V.Raman had then said.....'Gopala Rao is too clever.  He should have been awarded the Nobel, not me'!

Mundhra Scam_1957
Independent India's first big financial scam was strangely exposed by Feroze Gandhi, the then Congress M.P. and son-in-law of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru!

Haridas Mundhra, a Kolkatta-based industrialist and stock speculator fraudulently influenced the newly found LIC of India to invest about 1.25 crores in his six sick industrial units.  Those were the days!  Immediately the Justice M.C.Chagla committee was formed and it completed its investigation in just 24 days.  Resignation of the then Finance Minister T.T.Krishnamachari acknowledged the role of the Government too.  Mundhra was sent to jail for 22 years.


Nagarwala case - 1971

On 21st May 1971, reportedly a person called the Head Cashier of a branch of a well known Public Sector Bank (PSB) in New Delhi, imitating the voice of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and asked him to urgently send Rs.60 lakhs.  The Head Cashier 'promptly' sent money through one Nagarwala.  When it turned out to be a hoax call, Nagarwala was arrested on 26th May and major portion of the loot was recovered.  Soon the Court inquiry was held which was completed within just 10 minutes!  Nagarwala was sent to 4 years imprisonment.

Same year Nagarwala died in custody. Reportedly he wanted to reveal everything! The police inspector who conducted the inquiry too died in an accident during the same year adding to the mystery of the case!

Harshad Mehta Scam 1992

1991 was the year of economic reforms ushered in by the duo of P.V.Narasimha Rao and Mr.Manmohan Singh.  This was followed by sudden spurt in the Stock Market.

Hershad Mehta, the crooked stock broker cleverly used the anxiety of bankers to earn quick profits.  He tacitly influenced two little known Banks and made them to issue Bank Receipts (BR).  A BR is a certificate issued by a bank stating that they hold certain amount of Government Securities which they are offering for sale to a particular bank.  Mehta would take these BRs to the designated bank/s who used to release huge sums to the credit of his 'personal account'! Mehta used to invest this money to buy selected shares causing steep rise in the stock market index.  During those days within a short period of about 4 months, ACC shares rose from a mere Rs.400 to Rs.10,000!  Rumours  started about misdeeds of this man. In order to book profit and make quick money, when Mehta started selling his share holdings, markets crashed causing panic!

The amount of money swindled by Harshad Mehta was 5000 crores.  Mehta was arrested, tried and convicted in about 4 of the 27 cases.  He too died in custody during 2001 at the age of 47.

Most Banks sick during early 1990s!

The newly introduced norm of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), the other name for bad loans, exposed almost all banks, especially the Public Sector Banks (PSBs).  During that period all PSBs put together reported losses of about 50,000 crores.  Government had to bail out all these banks, by pumping in huge capital out of the honest tax payers' money!

During this period, one medium sized Public Sector Bank had the worst hit.  Probably that was the first highlighted case of unholy nexus between politicians and bankers.  This bank reported losses to the tune of Rs.1727 crores during 1995-96.  Its then chairman was later arrested, tried and convicted. But none of the politicians involved were even questioned!

History repeats!
But the problem of NPAs continues to haunt our Public Sector Banks.  At present these banks are burdened with whopping NPA figures of about 10 lakh crores (about 10% of their total loans and advances).  Not all NPAs may be because of continued reckless lending, scams and political interference. Reasons like change in market conditions, Government policies, global factors, failed monsoon also can cause NPAs. But the very survival of our Public Sector Banks is under threat. Honest tax payers money is being pumped in as capital to these banks, to provide them the oxygen of survival.  But for how long it can go on?

Silver lining on the murky horizon?
Present Central Government and RBI have dared to take the bull by its horns!  The newly framed Insolvency Act seems to be the hope for taming NPA goons. But we have to wait and watch.

Looking back at these chain of events is bound to make us gloomy and confused.  But for our certain passing thoughts and questions, there seem to be no answers.................

a) Why frauds and scams keep recurring?
b) Why there are only silly tricks behind so called big scams?
c) Why big scams occur more in Public Sector Banks?
d) Why only bankers are punished & politicians are never 
       questioned?
e) Are our auditors not accountable?
f) How to prevent fraudsters from running away?
g) Why there is no cooperation among so called developed  
       countries in effectively handling these running culprits? 
h) In a liberalizing economy, whether scams are recurring features?
i) How long Government can keep filling these banks with capital 
       which is a burden on honest tax payers money?
j) Can merger of Government banks be helpful?
k) Will removing banks from Government control going to help?
l) Is our money safe in banks?
m) Is it possible to recover these big NPAs?

Let us hope that there are reasons for cautious optimism!
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I have made references to many sites and drawn info and pictures from them.  I acknowledge my indebtedness to all of them.  

I thank you all for your patient reading.  Please send me your valuable feedback.

Valentine's Day 2018

I take the pleasure of wishing all my friends a very 'Happy Valentine's Day 2018'. May all your dreams be fulfilled soon with the blessings of the Almighty!

'Valentine' is a person with whom one is romantically involved. The most romantic pair our country adores and even worships is Radha-Krishna.

Radha was one more cowherd girl in Nanda Gokula where Krishna grew under the affectionate care of Maa Yashoda. As per some, Radha was even elder to Krishna by a few years.  Naturally Krishna used to look at Radha for guidance.  Be it milking a cow, plucking a thorny flower, Krishna grew learning things from Radha. But when Krishna too reached the teenage, it was different story.  While Radha used to dress up only to attract Krishna, Krishna too fine tuned his 'bansuri' (flute) skills only to impress Radha. But Krishna's bansuri mesmerized many other Gopikas too and slowly it became a point of heart-burn to Radha. 

One day when jealous Radha stole and hid the bansuri of Krishna, Krishna  had to sing to please Radha........

ना तेरी बैरन, ना तेरी सौतन

ना तेरी बैरन, ना तेरी सौतन

मेरी मुरलिया, मोहे सबका मन

करे तेरी कौन बुराई, बुराई रे

   राधिके तूने बंसुरी चुराई..........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGth4ISu6W0

(Listen to this Krishna's song by clicking/or copy pasting this link.
Film: Beti Bete(1964), Rafi, Shailendra, Shankar-Jaikishan)

assuring her that 'all love my music, but I love you only'!

But the turn of events proved a villain for this sublime love.  Krishna had to go to Mathura for taking on Kamsa, the demon. It is said that Krishna never returned to Nanda Gokula and never met Radha again, leaving the eternal question to we 'rasikas'.....why Krishna did not marry Radha?

Some say that Radha did the supreme sacrifice of leaving Krishna, perhaps realizing that the royal household of Mathura will never accept a cow girl. Love and marriage are two different things....love is a selfless emotion, while marriage is just an agreement or arrangement. Love is eternal and can never become extinct, just because of separation!

But Krishna's memory continued to haunt Radha.  Like many parted lovers, Radha too was eager to see Krishna at least from a distance to know how he is now? 

It is said that Radha once travelled along with other Gopis to the distant Kurukshetra as a part of Nanda Gopa's (Krishna's foster father) team. There she saw Krishna from a distance and Krishna too noticed her.  Radha started trembling.  Her heart started beating faster! Naturally all eyes were on this pair.  The two  even came close enough, but could only exchange a glimpse of each other.  On that day Krishna's eyes spoke and Radha's eyes just understood it all! 

Why the sublime romance of Radha-Krishna continues to haunt everyone even today?  After passing through the range of emotions reflected by this divine pair, perhaps every one feels that he/she too was a bit of Radha-Krishna sometime, somewhere!

Crown for love?

The dominant emotion which continues to rule even the contemporary world is 'love'. 

The entire world was dumb-struck when Edward VIII, the King of United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and the Emperor of India abdicated his Crown during 1936,  just to marry his 'valentine', Wallis!  The British Royal family and the Church authorities never approved a King marrying a divorced lady (divorced twice), whose past husbands were still alive. We have only heard that 'love is blind' and can there be a better example?

Why Valentine's day is observed? 

Saint Valentine was a priest in ancient Rome.  During those days soldiers were not allowed to marry,  by the cruel King.  But soldiers had their own secret stories of romance.  Saint Valentine used to get them married secretly.  When this  incidence came to light, the furious King got the priest killed.  Thus 'Valentine' became a symbol of love and the practice of observing Valentine's day started somewhere around 14th century.

Many in India criticize that Valentine's day is not in tune with Indian culture and it is only to propagate western culture, besides expanding the market for a range of exotic products. But the popularity of Valentine's day has caught the imagination of our people.  It has become a day for proposing and even celebrating 'love' among people from all ages!

Indian mythology too is not without its own version of 'Valentine's day'. Kamana Hunnime celebrated on coming 'Phalguna_Hunnimme (Full-moon-day)' is for glorifying Kama (also called Manmatha), the God of love and his wife Rathi who are spreading the message of love to humanity, ensuring its survival and propagation.

From Kamana Hunnime to Valentine's day, we have witnessed a great cultural change. Be it the sublime romance of Radha-Krishna,  Crown for love sacrifice of King Edward, the innumerable acts of proposing and celebrating love among our people of all ages, the spirit of love continues to charm the world.  

Long live the spirit of love!

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National Year of Millets - 2018

A couple of years ago a family friend suggested us to try millets in order to have a better control on diabetes. As I am diabetic for over a decade, my wife took special interest in this experiment.  On    day-1, as usual I had 3 rice-dosas  and checked for sugar level post breakfast, which was about '195'.  On day 2, we prepared millet dosas and I consumed 3 dosas and checked for sugar level post breakfast. We were pleasantly surprised when it read just '135'! Since then millet dishes have become a regular feature of our family diet and we are witnessing consistent results.

Karnataka leads.....
Karnataka is leading in millet cultivation.  Both the Government and farmers are taking special interest in spreading awareness about the good effects of millets consumption.  Just 4 years ago, area under millet cultivation was just 4000 hectares and today it has reached 94,000 hectares rising the hopes of Karnataka farmers!  Today in almost all grain shops in Karnataka, various types of millets are available for sale.  Shopkeepers say that the sale of millets is picking up day by day.  Buoyed by all these developments, Karnataka Government took initiative to hold the 3-day 'Organics & Millet 2018 International Trade Fair' at Bengaluru (19-21 Jan 2018).  This grand mela was well attended and the much impressed Central Government has declared the year 2018, as the 'National Year of Millets'.

What are Millets?

Millets are being cultivated since more than 10,000 years especially in Asia.  Millets are a group of small seeded grasses (see pic.above) which are drought resistant and grown on dry land. They are short term crops.  Their cultivation cost is said to be very economical when compared to the high water consuming rice and even wheat! In this era of ever decreasing rainfall, switching over to millet cultivation and consumption may be the answer to fight shortage of water. As per one study 4000 litres of irrigated water is required for producing 1 Kg. of rice whereas this cost is virtually zero for millets, as its cultivation is totally rain-fed!


Presently millets are being sold in shops at a price of about Rs.70-80 per Kg giving good relief to our ever suffering farmers.  Compared to the traditional crops of rice and wheat whose cost of cultivation is very high, millet cultivation is  ensuring better profit to our farmers.

One of the pioneers in popularizing millets as staple food to control diseases and improve health, is Dr.Khader (see pic above), Food & Nutrient expert from Mysuru. He claims that switching over to millet diet for six months can totally cure type-2 diabetes!

Benefits of Millets 

Compared to rice and wheat, millets are nutritionally superior and have high medicinal value because of their high fibre content, higher protein and the essential amino acids.  They are rich in Iron, Calcium and other minerals too.  Their insoluble fibre content ensures slow release of carbohydrates enabling better control of diabetes.  The use of these grains is also ideal for fighting obesity, constipation, cancer and heart diseases too.

Millet dishes.....

There are about 6-8 different varieties of millets.  Each of them can be used separately or even as a mixture to prepare a variety of dishes like Pongal, Bisi-bele bath, Dosa, Idli, Upma etc. The methods of preparation are same as that of rice/wheat.  Even rice can be cooked from millets for meals.  With some trial and error efforts, consumers can master millet cooking. When consumed hot, the dishes would be as tasty as the preparations of rice and wheat.  But the nutritional and health benefits outweigh the taste aspects. 

Mouth-watering Millet Meals!

In southern parts of  India, Pearl Millet (jowar) roti and Finger Millet (ragi) ball meals are very popular since many years.  They are tasty and highly nutritious.

Father of our green revolution Dr.M.S.Swaminathan (see inset in the Pic) too is a great advocate of the water saving and drought resistant millets, as a great source of health and nutrition. He has recommended to the United Nations to declare 2018 as the International Year of Millets!

Therefore switching over to millets can be a win-win game for all stakeholders including farmers, traders and the consuming public. Besides it can be our country's answer to the twin challenges of  depleting water sources and the ever increasing cost of cultivation.

(Notes: I have referred to a few sites and articles.  Thanks to all of them.  Also I am neither a doctor and nor a dietitian.  Please consult your family doctor on all health related tips).
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The story of real Bahubali!

The just bygone year 2017, was the year of filmi Bahubali.  But the year 2018 is the year of real Bahubali, whose mammoth 57-feet statue can be seen above.  Bahubali, also called Gomateshwara, is a digambara Jain Saint. His statue, one of the largest statues in the world was carved out of a single rock (and hence called monolithic statue) on

Vindhyagiri hill of Shravanabelagola (Hassan Dt), about 158 kms to the west of Bengaluru in Karnataka. Bhagwan Bahubali's statue on the hill can be seen from even a distance of 25 kms all around. 

Shravanabelagola is in news now, because the most awaited Jain religious event, Mahamastabhisheka of Saint Bahubali, which happens only once 12 years is being held from 17th to 25th of Feb 2018.

The year was 1967 and I was only a 11 years old boy.  I had gone to this place (just 50 kms from my native place Hassan) for this great event along with my elder sister. Although I was too young, I was amazed to  see the gathering of huge number of people from all over the country.  Besides it was delightful to watch 57-feet Bahubali statue soaked with 'abhishekam' of large volumes of holy milk, curds, ghee, turmeric, chandan amidst the chanting of devotional prayers to the Lord!

I had asked my sister then......who is Bahubali?  why this Mahamastakabhishekam? why only once in 12 years? My sister who was a teacher too by profession had told me the story on top of the hill itself.

Bahubali and Bharata were the sons of the Jain King Rishabhanatha who later on became the first thirthankara of the Jain religion. Later Bharata became the King of Ayodhya, whereas Bahubali became the King of Paudanapura in deep South.  Ambitious Bharata started conquering all Kings around and annexed his Kingdom by leaps and bounds. His 'digvijaya chakra' rolled all over without any inhibitions. But it got struck at the main entrance of his Kingdom 

itself!  Priests reminded him that he is yet to conquer his own brother Bahubali.  Bahubali, a born fighter, gifted with super-strong arms offered one-to-one fight in the form of dhristi-yuddha, jala-yuddha and finally malla-yuddha.  In all the three events Bahubali emerged victorious.  But he was pained by the violence and killings of war and felt like renouncing worldly pleasures! He gave away all his Kingdom to his younger brother Bharata.  Bahubali became a digambara sanyasi  and stood in 'tapas' for one year seeking 'moksha'.  He was so deep in tapas that all over his limbs creepers coiled and ant-hills grew around his feet! Finally he attained 'moksha' and became a revered Jain Saint. The statue of Bahubali reflects the mood of his deep tapas.

During 10th Century, it was the rule of 'Ganga dynasty' in the South.  Chavundaraya, the commander of Gangas who was a jain by religion got the 57-feet statue of Saint Bahubali carved in his town Shravanabelagola during the year 981 A.D. Mahashilpi Aristanemi is said to be the sculptor who carved this statue of Bahubali in a single rock. (Thus the 85th Mahamastakabhisheka which was held during 1981 marked '1000 years' for the world famous statue of Bahubali).

Priests advised Chavundaraya to conduct the Mahamastabhisheka for the mammoth statue befitting its size and the tradition started. Since then this religious event is being held once in twelve years. The ensuing event is said to be the 88th one.  

Swasti Shri Charukeerthi Bhattarakka Swamiji of Shravanabelagola Jain Math is the man behind these celebrations.  With the active support of State and Central Governments, elaborate arrangements are being made for grand celebration of the event.  More than 10 lakh jain piligrims, other devotees and tourists from all over India and the world are expected to take part.


I appeal to you all to mark your days for attending this great event. You can also include the nearby,  equally ancient, world 

famous Belur (above) and Halebeedu (below) temples in your program. 

In a single day return-trip, one can cover all the three places from Bengaluru.

Let me conclude with a couple of stories connected with Mahamastabhisheka event.  Chavundaraya, who was the first to conduct the event

during 981 AD faced acute shortage of milk.  Therefore he sent a 'dangura' (order by beat of drums) among his people to contribute a tumbler of milk from every household for the event.  As it was the local kings order, every family head came forward with a tumbler of milk. They all stood in the queue to pour the milk into the big vessel kept at a central place.  Only one citizen stood with a tumbler of 'water' , as he wanted to save milk for himself and he had thought that it won't make any difference when every one is contributing milk. Next day when the chieftain checked the vast vessel, he was surprised to see that the entire vessel was only water, not milk!  Obviously all people had thought on similar lines, and in order to save milk for themselves, had only poured water silently!  The message is loud and clear.  In any big event in our organization, we all have to contribute our mite without fail.  We should not fail in our duty,  hoping that all others will do the needful. Little drops of water  make a mighty ocean!

The picture above is the statue of the the deity Kushmandini devi  on the Bahubali hill in Shravanabelagola.  She had come to the first ever Mahamastakabhisheka as Gullakayajji (an old woman) with a small bowl of milk as her contribution, to test the local chief.  Dwarapalakas refused to accept her milk and she was sent out. At that time success probably had gone to the head of Chavundaraya and he was beaming with pride of accomplishing the historic task. When Chavundaraya performed abhishekam with all his huge volume of collected milk, the sacred statue could not be soaked beyond the thigh portion.  Worried leader consulted his priests, who told him about the insult meted out to Gullakayajji.  Chavundaraya with all humility searched the old lady and did the abhishekam with her bowl of milk.  The chieftain and all devotees gathered were dumb-stuck to witness that with that small bowel of milk, mammoth statue of Bahubali and even the entire hill were soaked with milk!  This incident reminds us not to ignore the contributions made by small people at the lower level.  Irrespective of great achievements, one should remain thankful and humble to one and all. I humbly thank my colleague and the learned Professor Shri. Keshava murthy for reminding me about the story of Gullakayajji, but for which my blog would have been incomplete.

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1.My e mail id..... klakshminarayana1956@rediffmail.com

2.Mobile No. 98455 62603 (and also whatsapp number)

3.You can also reach me on facebook at 'lakshminarayana krishnappa'