CNN Hero of the Year Award

Hi friends, in India we believe that offering food is the best gift among all and if this gift is offered to a needy person who is not in a position to earn it then the significance of this offering becomes multifold. To justify the importance of food offering in Hinduism, I will quote an ancient Sanskrit verse – “Anna daanam maha daanam” which means food offering is the greatest offer. In spite of world wide economic progress and development in all spheres, still there are some backward areas in different parts of the world including my own country, where some people are lacking food and shelter. When it comes to poverty, hunger and malnutrition we talk about only Ethiopia and pretending as if our country is free from these entire social issues. In this back ground, I would like to mention the selfless service of Mr.Narayana Krishnan who has been short listed for the prestigious “CNN Hero of the year” award. He is the only Indian among short listed 10 heroes from all over the world and through a public online voting system “CNN Hero of the year” will be selected in which anybody can vote through internet.Before writing this article I have already voted for Krishnan. Mr. Krishnan hails from Tamil Naadu a South Indian State and when I read his life story in an e-mail received from my friend, I have decided to write a blog post appealing people to vote for him. arayana Krishnan is from a middle class family and after completing his preliminary studies, he was about to proceed to Switzerland for higher studies which could have changed his life entirely. But, during one of his visits to Madurai Meenakshi Temple about ten years back he happened to saw an old helpless, homeless person eating his own human waste and decided to spend his life to feed hungry people. He could have become a rich NRI like many of his co country men who settled in western counties but thought of perusing a unique service to mankind in the form of hot meals supply to hungry people. Presently he is employed as chef in a luxurious hotel and along with he is carrying out his mission without any break. He wakes up at four in the morning, cooks meals to about 400 people every day, travels about 200 kilometers to feed them along with his team members who are sympathetic to this great cause. In the mean time they have established a trust called Akshaya and till date they have distributed hot meals to about 1.2 million hungry people in a span of about eight years. Apart from this, Akshaya trust carres out other free service like hair cut who need it. They are having ambitious plan like providing permanent shelter to these people but mobilizing necessary fund is a major constrain and I think the ongoing poll is a God send opportunity not only to Krishnan but rest of us because a huge sum of cash award is waiting to enter the bank account of the winner. If our vote makes him to win, then he will receive $100,000 apart from $25,000 which he entitled to get for being short listed which will be entirely utilized to fulfill the vision of his mission. I request all my friends from blogging community to visit the site http://heroes.cnn.com/vote.aspx and vote for Narayana Krishnan. The voting lines are open till November 18.