II had the opportunity of interacting with Dr. V Mohan of the Dr.Mohan's Diabetes Foundation. He is an ardent devotee of Sathya SaiBaba. He narrated an incident relating to Sai Baba in his life. The New building at Gopalapuram in Chennai was to be opened that evening. One of the then Ministers was to open it.At noon, Dr Mohan met the media. He made an avoidable remark inadvertently and there was a word of protest from one media-person, who dragged the name of Sai Baba, whose photo was displayed at the Press Conference venue. Dr. Mohan apologized profusely. He had arranged for a huge cut-out of Sai Baba for the inaugural function. He rang up the workshop (which was to make the cut-out) and told them not to send it to the venue. As soon as he reached home the Minister telephonically informed him of his inability to attend the inauguration, since the Chief Minister had called him for a meeting. The inaugural plaque had the Minister�s name! Utterly shocked, Dr. Mohan went into the Pooja Room, prayed to Baba. In another fifteen minutes, the Minister called him again over the phone and told him that the meeting with the Chief Minister had been postponed and that he would attend the inaugural function. Dr. Mohan came to the venue at 4 pm and to his surprise found that the illuminated cut-out of Baba was already there, in spite of his instructions to the contrary! It turned out that the cut-out was sent to the venue at 9 am, whereas the Doctor had telephoned only by noon. And, in Chennai, the shop sending the cut-out seven hours in advance? That is the miracle!

I attended a media-meet by Mr. Mr. Ajoy Chawla, Vice President, Titan Industries Ltd, in Chennai recently. Answering a question from one of the media representatives, he said that though Titan Watches were being sold almost uniformly in all the States across the country, more watches were sold in the South. "South Indians seem to have a better sense of time", remarked a media-person!



I respect my colleague Mr. S Subramanian, the Admin Chief of Chennaionline especially for his sharp sense of wit. I received an interesting email from him, which I would love to share with you all:

A gentleman once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idollying nearby.

Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage."

The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked." There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work.

"Where are you going to install the idol?" The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.

The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I know it and God knows it!"

The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excel at a task today - not necessarily for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction.