Deep down in my mind are etched the figures of some of the people I met during my life. From my experience I can say that I have met more memorable people from ordinary people than from celebrities. Among celebrities I find Mahatma Gandhi is one person whom I admire. He preached whatever he practiced. When I was young I used to admire Maharana Pratap, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose. But as I grew-up I started admiring Mahatma Gandhi more and more, as I realized that it requires more courage to fight for your principles without using force. Another character among great people was Lal Bahadur Shastri. I do not know why congress party does not pay homage to him. He was the follower of Mahatma Gandhi in true sense. Third person whom I admire is a sports person, World Badminton Champion Gopichand. He is a sports person in real sense. He refused the advertisement of Coco-Cola stating that he did not find anything good in the product for sports persons or for children that he should become a brand-master for their product. He told them that he will become brand-master only if company can tell him something good about the product for children & sportsman. Most of the sport people have become brand-masters for different products like Whiskey, Cigarette, Aerated drinks like Coco-Cola, Thumps-up etc. etc. I do not understand why no Govt. in the World introduces a law against Brand-masters when they are charging very heavy fees for advertisement. Even Govt. has formed laws for protection of patients against Doctors. A patient can file a suit against the Doctor if he feels that Doctor has failed in his duty. Why not against Brand-Masters? Brand-Master should be prosecuted for wrong advertisement along with the brands which they advertise wrongly.

I have been lucky enough to have good school teachers in my school days. In our days school teachers were interested in students and not in making money. I remember to have asked Mr. Dewan our English Teacher to give me tuitions in English as I had just joined the school in Pune and he refused to give me tuition he said he does not give tuition. I felt very bad at that time. But as I went to higher classes he became one of my favorite teachers. In 8th Std. he used to teach us French. He used to make French Language very interesting. French people are very fond of food and he described their food in such a nice way that water come in our mouth after listening to his description. He had a unique way of teaching. He used to tell us to translate sentences from English into French. After our translation he used to point-out how many mistakes we had made. Then tell us to correct our mistakes. After we corrected our mistakes he used to tell us, "See that you know it but you are not applying your mind". He taught us how to apply our mind and when I went to SSC he used to take extra classes for weak students without charging any fees. I take my hats off to him.

The other teacher which I remember was Mr. Watchmaker he was our Principal. One day a boy stronger than me beat me and I complained to him. He told me that "He can fire the student but what will happen when I grow up and have to face such situations; you must learn to solve your problem on our own". He taught me to stand on my own legs.. I met Mr. Watchmaker as a Lecturer for LIC. As a Salesman you are not marketing a product but your personality. You should put your personality while marketing your products. I take my hats off to him.

Another person I remember was a Key Maker used to make keys for the locks. One day I and my friends went for the movie and one of my friend lost the key, we approached one to two key makers they told us they will charge four annas for making the key. They could not make it. Then we found a Key Maker reading a book in Marathi. We approached him and asked him how much he will charge. He said "six annas". We told him that other Key Makers are charging four annas why you are charging six annas. He said I will charge only six annas. If you want it I will make the key and he started reading the book. The person who has lost the key agreed for six annas on condition that he will make it within 3 minutes. He said okay. He made the key in 3 minutes. Our friend wanted to pay eight annas. He refused to take eight annas and took only six annas. We asked him how he is doing business in this style. He said I get my business because I know my profession well and never over charge or under charge anybody after replying he again started reading the book. I admired his outlook and learned that in business you should not overcharge & undercharge anybody.

After a long time I went to Bombay by taxi somewhere in 1974-75. I passed over Thana Creek Bridge. I was the supervisor from the contractor side for the work of road connecting Thana Creek Bridge to Bombay. Shadows of the past started coming before my eyes throwing the present in the background. Yes, I could see him, old man wearing a white turban, gray coat and white dhoti with a weather beaten face, looking solemn of medium height wearing a Kolhapuri Chappals, standing serenely and supervising with his loving eyes. Yes, he was a labor mukadam of whom I was very fond of. Yes, etched in my memory is the figure of labour mukadam. I do not remember seeing him getting irritated with his workers. He had a marvelous eye and could locate potholes on the road very easily. After spreading the stones on the road and when rolling was being done his man used to spread gravel on the road under his instructions. Almost no potholes used to remain after that. One day I asked him, how he was able to spot such small potholes. He said it was a question of interest and concentration. Nobody can teach you this job but your concentration and keen eye and your interest in the work. The shadows from the past kept on creeping and I went back to the time when he had come and told me that from Saturday he wants a price increase otherwise he will not do the job. I talked with my boss and told him to increase the price. Boss refused to increase the rate. On Saturday he collected the payment and left our job along with his gang of workers. Again after 3 months he came back and asked for the work. I told him that we have not increase & the rate. He told me that he had only asked for the work and not for the rate increase. I asked him why he has come back. He said that he could not get a good work for his workers. If it would have been a question of his own stomach he would not have come back, but it was question of his workers who were like children to him. He could not see them going hungry. I felt ashamed and told him that I will give the rate you want and I fought with my boss and got him the rate increase. I learnt from how to take care of your workers. Have we any leaders who lead like this ?

Another character that I remember is of a character described to me by one of my room-mate in the lodge. He told me that one day he was feeling very lonely and he went to a prostitute. Then he felt embarrassed because he never visited prostitutes. He did not know what to do. He told the prostitute that he was feeling lonely as he was not from Bombay but from another city and he wanted to talk to remove his loneliness. He sat next to holding her and talked with her for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes he felt little easy and wanted to pay her for her kindness and wanted to pay her money. Prostitute refused the money saying that she will not accept the money. You have not done anything with my body and I only charge money when I offer my body to the person. I do not charge for showing humanity to another person. He was astonished to hear this from a needy and poor prostitute and he said that see what a beautiful this prostitute was. I take my hats off to this lady.

Another character I remember is a famous person and national award winner Mr. Devan staying in Cochin an expert in Kath kali. I had gone along with my friend to Cochin. There in the newspaper I read about Mr. Devan holding a dance program and explaining the nuances about Kath kali Dance Form. We decided to go and see the program. We walked out of the Hotel and reached the theatre. I thought that the show will be houseful. When we reached there, there was no body. An old man and a lady were sitting on the chair in the Bungalow and I asked him where is Mr. Devan's Kath kali program. He told me he was Mr. Devan and introduced us to his wife and told us to sit-down on the chair. I was really surprised and we bought tickets for the show. There was nobody present I asked him whether the show would be held or not. He said whether audience is there or not I carry on my show. I have organized theatre for promotion of Kath kali dances. I explain to the people the specialty of the Kath kali dance, their make-up and dresses. Then at the show time bell rang and we went inside the theatre. There make-up was being done on one of his dance student by the make-up man and Mr. Deven himself explained to us the importance of the make-up. Then he came on the stage without make-up and showed us different mudras of the dance and with his eye expression showing all the sentiment like anger, jealousy, love, sorrow and etc. etc. He also told us the importance of the make-up and how make-up of the face highlighted different sentiments. Then his student performed the dance. We enjoyed the dance because we would now understand the importance of the dress, make-up and nuances of the dance. I take my hats off to this person for carrying on the mission for promoting the Kath kali dance. Though he was a National Award winner he had no ego and was ready to perform even for 2 persons and promote the dance. After the dance I had a photograph taken along with the troupe members and Mr. Devan. I take my hats off to him and his troupe.