Niroshtya Ramayanam

I feel privileged to share this story that I learnt from my grandfather, who in turn had heard from his father.

There was a great author by name Mariganti Singaracharyulu garu who had written Ramayanam in a unique format and it was called "Niroshtya Ramayanamu"
"Oshtyamu" is the collection of letters ప, ఫ, బ, భ, మ (प, फ, ब ,भ, म). Whenever these letters are uttered, the lips touch each other, it is impossible otherwise to utter these letters or words containing these letters.
Singaracharyulu garu has written the whole Ramayanam without the use of the letters ప, ఫ, బ, భ, మ (प, फ, ब ,भ, म). Hence it is called "Niroshtya Ramayanam"
After writing the great story, he thought hard on what to name his creation. He wasnt able to decide on a name, his view was to give a name to the story which didnt have ప, ఫ, బ, భ, మ (प, फ, ब ,भ, म).
One day while he was deeply immersed in his thoughts, his friend visited him and asked him, how his new book "DASHARATHARAJA NANDANA CHARITRA" turning out to be. Stunned by what he heard from his friend, he asked how did he know that he was writing a book and who gave him the name of this book. His friend said that an old man, whom he thought was Singaracharyula's servant was sweeping the floor while he entered the house and he said so; Singaracharyulu garu was even more stunned and he said, he was a poor bramhin and didnt have a servant, neither was there any old man around his house.
After regaining his composure, he then interpreted it as a message from the great Lord Rama himself and had named his book as "DASHARATHARAJA NANDANA CHARITRA" A title which is indeed
Niroshtyamu. Jai Sri Rama.

Talvar...a movie that troubles your heart and mind

It has been two days since I have watched ‪#‎Talvar‬, but it refuses to leave my mind. Imagining a normal Indian family to undergo such a horrible tragedy is extremely disturbing. The way the system treats parents insensitively after the murder of the their beloved child dreads the mind and you could only hope that you are nevrr involved in such situation. Is there a solution out for the grieving parents? Only time will tell. How to prevent such incidents? This is something in our hands and we all need take necessary steps collectivity as a society. Background checks, compulsory electronic transactions, home alarms are not optional anymore.
Is Dependening on the state infra good ? Well I have my own doubts; personally things never worked for me when I reached out to the state for some serious issues I faced, I only concluded then that I am paying taxes to keep the state off my back, not to gain any help when in need. Well I hope Modi/ KCR will change things and make people in govt more accountable.

Coming back to the movie, it is so bloody real! How could somebody have made such a perfect casting? How did the actors live the roles? It was terrific to watch the events unfold and each of them narrating their own version of the events that unfolded that unfortunate night. And the terrific climax when the two investigating teams try to convince other; it evokes laughter but the joke is on us, the people of this country, on the media which sensationalized the event with no shame or ethics and us who consumed it as news at dinner time.

The audiography was so amazing that you feel things happening in front of you. The noises, the cries, the chatter is all so real. Complimenting the audiography is the background score, which gives you goose bumps every moment. then there is the haunting song "zinda" in the end, a great irony to the whole story where the soul is no more there in the living bodies.

#Talvar is a must watch at least to redeem the guilt of viewing the gruesome incidents on tv as prime time entertainment with no empathy for the family. This is a harsh reality that could happen to anybody. The only way forward is for all of us to unite as a society and prevent. The question is can we all come on one page while we keep killing each other over futile matters?
~ Dinesh Kovuri

Swach Bharat - A cultural change

I  happened to see a program on TV today. There was a dialog that was said in jest but to me it seemed grossly offensive. The dialog was "adi mooti aaa leka Musi Nadi aaa". The clear assumption was that musi river is a gutter and hence the comparison that asks "are you uttering words that fit the gutter Musi". Similar references are taken to Hussain sagar lake. Who had in there first place polluted musi and Hussain sagar and how dare we further make fun of these water bodies. What if we are left with no choice but to drink water from these bodies? What are we going to do then? Make fun or start revering them?  We might think of thousands of Swach Bharat campaigns and save Hussain sagar lake programs, but if the fundamental mind set is not changed to respect water bodies, we will be condemned to die by drinking water from them.

At the moment we have a very settled mind set that we can do anything and care a damn.. it is the govt problem to supply me clean water ( probably derived from the socialist mindset that even if I don't work govt will take care of me..).  I was speaking to a group of people a few days ago. They had some land closer to gandipet lake and were worried that they wouldn't fetch a profit for the price they bought the land. They Hope that govt would convert that land as commercial and that would fetch them more money. I asked them what happens to the lake. It is so close and probably blocks water flows into the lake. One guy's response was "who cares, that is not my problem. Just throw money at the govt and they will give the go ahead for the the area to be converted into a commercial gold mine".

Such gross insensitiveness that has seeped into the people's system needs a cleanup campaign more than the symbolic cleanup of jhadooing the streets. No amount of money spent to plant trees or clean lakes are going to help.

My solution : expose the  effect of pollution directly to everyone. Govt should start distributing water from the polluted lakes and rivers. People who visit Hussain saggar lake must be asked to drink water from the lake Instead of allowing sale of costly mineral water bottles at hussain sagar lake. Lack of choice will make people to sit up and take notice. If the supply of water is short, people will throw money and get water tankers. But what happens if such provisions are banned completely and people are given the option of taking water only from musi out Hussain sagar.

To achieve cleanliness We should first experience the discomfort of uncleanliness. When we will taste bitter water every morning and keep getting itching sensations and water borne diseases.

That is when we would realize the value of our water bodies. That is when the majority will realize that our own polluting activities are directly affecting us.


We need a cultural shift to achieve swach bharat. The realization of threat to one self will create a detterance to pollute. No amount of money poured in will ever help us realize our dream of clean India.

And that is when the culture of disrespect would also end and the dialogs equating ones gibberish talk to the gutter musi will never ever be uttered again....

Why does a school Matter most?

A couple of weeks ago I was travelling to London on business. I reached the Hyderabad airport and checked in and was waiting for the boarding gates to open. Meanwhile I was looking around the stores that were recently opened and was checking out the stuff. A person approached me and recognized me instantly. He told me that he was my junior at school. Although I couldn't fully recognize him, the familiarity with which he approached me and was chatting amused me and I started talking to him. As we spoke, I got to know that he was employed in the airport and was in charge for a store. It was really wonderful to hear that a lot of his batch mates had settled well and were doing good in their lives. I wished him all the luck and boarded my plane. I reached my destination several hours later and settled with my work immediately.

The next day I met an old friend of mine again from my school whom I knew since the age of 3. He was fully settled here and also raised a family. It was already in my agenda to meet him and was mighty glad when we met. We chatted for a long time and had dinner together too. I met him twice again in the subsequent days once being at his workplace.

I finished my work and was travelling back home. At the airport in London, I checked in and sat at a corner waiting to board my flight. Right next to me sat a person whom I could instantly feel very familiar. I introduced myself and asked him if he was the same person I thought, he told me he was his younger brother and he looked very similar to the person I thought he was. We started chatting and I found that he too was a alumni of my school and was a couple of years junior to me. I was glad to see another alumni of my school on this trip. We started chatting and I got to know that he was in London for about 8 years and had settled decently. He was on a trip to Hyderabad for a couple of weeks for a vacation with his family. He gave me good company until we reached Hyderabad and we left after exchanging each other's contact info.

During the course of my encounter with all the 3 people I met during my trip I found that all the 3 had an immense state of gratitude towards our school. Although I am sure none were keen to have any interest during the actual course of study, but they did realize what school did to them later in their lives.
A school friend of mine whom I met a few years back told me that what he was today was purely because of the foundation laid at school. This guy was never serious in studies nor had an inclination to achieve something. He never attended the graduation college classes too and solely attributed to passing the graduation exams because of the "English" he learnt at school.
I had heard similar feedback from the 3 people and also heard them wish they could attend school again.
Well whatever has happened in the past, I am glad they made some amends later and are decently settled.

There are a few students who are at the top and are generally called as the creamy layer, then there are the rest. Often the rest are perceived as failures when at school, however the grooming does come in handy later and most of them rise in life and make it very well. They may not have blossomed at school but there are some late bloomers who realize their potential later in life at then reset their sights to achieve success.

My school has been able to fill up the students with enough potential to fight it out in the real world. This potential is realized by a few of them early in life and for some of them later..but it never goes waste.To put in simple words..nobody can be written off!

My school has been providing free education to a majority of students since 1955. It usually caters to the people having a poor background. I realized the potential of free education when I met these 3 guys.Couple of them I know are from a not a well to do background, but the strong foundation they had at school lifted them a few notches on the economic status. They did good for themselves as well as their families and now are also contributing to the world economy. Imagine the exponential benefits our country (and the world) had since 1955 with thousands of students contributing to the economy!

This is a humble tribute to my Alma Mater St Marks Boys Town High School, Hyderabad.

Views on Books - Escape to nowhere, Amar Bhushan

Review Date: 14 Nov 12

An inside view of the agency

It would have been a tight rope walk to write this book given the sensitivity of the subject matter and the emphasis on adherence to law. The book gives an inside view of how the agency works and how one needs knack more than process to get the work done. The IB and RAW are the unsung heroes who are preventing major attacks and infiltration in our country despite so many constraints, one can only hope they are strengthened with every possible means and they continue shielding the country from the crooked elements. There were a few typo errors which need to be corrected when reprinted

Views on Books - India After Gandhi:The History Of The World's Largest Democracy, Ramachandra Guha

Review Date: 28 Aug 2012
Partial towards Nehru-Gandhi family

This books is a definite must read for all those want to know India. Although not humanly possible to include every bit, the effort made by the writer is clearly evident. Some points have been taken very casually.. like he said "Ram"s existence is not proved. Well i found it ironic that "Ram"Chandra Guha still believes Rama is a myth despite so many scientific evidences provided. Chandrasekhar was mentioned as a lameduck prime minister, but his efforts to secure loans by pledging India's Gold to England has not been mentioned or probably ignored.He along with Subramanian Swamy made the blueprints for the economic reforms is missed out. Indian diplomacy to Historic reopening on the manasarovar pilgrimage for Indians was ignored.
Emphasis was laid more on Nehru and his blood successors and author was clearly very partial to them as if this is a Congress sponsored history

Views on Books - Chanakya's Chant, Ashwin Sanghi

Review Date: 28 May 12
The graph just rises

The history of chanakya available in general domain is more about his book the great arthashastra or his political wisdom and not much about his personal life. Chanakya's story and the way he plays his chess to make sure that Chandragupta becomes the Emperor of India is well presented. The current day version in the novel I thought was a little simplified for the sake of convenience of presentation although the author took great pains to to make the readers understand the intricacies of contemporary politics, What was really impressive was the way it was subtly conveyed that for the greater good of the society a small disadvantage/damage caused to an individual(s) is a sacrifice that sometimes becomes unavoidable.
I recommend a thorough read. I wish someones makes this into a movie, somehow I was imagining Paresh Rawal for Ganga sagar/Chanakya and Nana Patekar for Ikram Bhai. Hritik Roshan for Chandragupta and Chitrangadha for Chandni