The debutant politician, Chiranjeevi, said like his entry into films, his decision to enter politics too was a spontaneous one.

Interacting informally with journalists here on Thursday ahead of his birthday on Friday, which he intends to spend with his family and away from the public glare, he said there was no single factor that made him enter the field. When asked whether it were issues like price rise, uprooting of people due to SEZs and other major projects, etc, that moved him, he said: "I cannot say it is this particular reason or that which pained me and forced me to jump into politics. But I can say that the problems like hunger and the apathy of the rulers towards the poor, have really troubled me a lot," he said.

"It is always small things and ordinary people that have had serious bearing on me. I would love to become small to catch up with them," he said. Never a reader of great books, the actor, however, singled out one book, 'Don't Sweat the Small Stuff' by Richard Carlson, (a bestseller of the nineties) that helped him unclutter his mind and life.

Chiranjeevi maintained that his entry into politics was not premeditated. "Like my entry into the movie world, my entry into politics too was not preplanned." Nevertheless, he said certain forces working at the subconscious level might have driven him into public life.

Saying that he is fascinated by ordinary people, he said he noticed every ordinary fan wanting to communicate something to him when they watched him from afar at film functions. "I do not know what they wanted to communicate to me, But this new life is giving me an opportunity to interact with them. So far, I have not been one among them. Now, I want to become one," he said.

Interestingly, the star, who is yet wear the trade mark khadi, had no icon among the contemporary politicians. "We like one leader for one type of quality. I take inspiration from good qualities in all the leaders," he said. However, he named former president A P J Abdul Kalam as a recent inspiration to enter public life.

"Though mingling with the masses is not new to me, this new experience is uplifting my mood, I hear so much from them. I love this," he said.

Tirupati to be under Chiru siege on Aug 26

HYDERABAD/TIRUPATI: Even as newly-turned-politician Chiranjeevi plans to have a quiet birthday with his family on Friday, the tempo of activity is picking up in Tirupati ahead of the public meeting on August 26 with his fans attempting to practically take over the temple town in the run-up to the meeting. The preliminary assessment of the intelligence department is that approximately 3 lakh people would turn up for the meeting.

Special trains and buses are being arranged and hotels in Tirupati, Renigunta and Tiruchanur, as well as guest houses and kalyanamandapams have already been booked. And in a development on Thursday, Charanjeevi fans are reportedly requesting several private marriage parties who have booked the various function halls in these areas for the last 10 days of August to either shift the venue or put it off till the meeting is over.

One fan, on condition of anonymity, told TOI that they are making such a request to the marriage parties because "we need all the available space to accommodate those pouring in over the next three days". In all, there are 30 huge kalyanamandapams in Tirupati and many other private ones in the nearby towns. Many auspicious days fall in the last 10 days of August because of which several weddings are slated to take place during that period.

Another worrying factor for officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanams is that there may be a deluge of fan-pilgrims before and after the public meeting for darshan of Lord Venkateshwara. Even if the authorities make special arrangements for the Chiru fans, it would take a minimum of 12 hours for the darshan to be completed. "We can at best squeeze in about 80,000 pilgrims per day, but even for that, we need to make special contingency plans," one TTD official said. But the intelligence department's assessment is that over a lakh of the three lakh who come for the political rally would climb up for darshan of the Lord. This would mean that it will take some 36 hours for the darshan.

Meanwhile, the railway authorities have decided to run 11 special trains to Tirupati from the coastal areas of Rajahmundry, Eluru, Kakinada, Narasapur, Chirala, Ongole and Anakapalli. These trains will operate on full tariff rates, one official said, and added that the organisers had sought 16 such trains for the meeting.

The Road Transport Corporation (RTC) too has arranged 250 buses from the Chittoor depot as against the requisition of 1,350 buses. The buses will be hired at the rate of Rs 28 per km. Similarly, 26 buses have been sanctioned from West Godavari, 56 from Ongole, 200 from Nellore and 150 vehicles from Krishna. The requests from the other districts are being looked into, the authorities added.