/> Mahesh Bhatt is strangely quiet on the death of mentor, guru and dear friend U.G. Krishnamoorthy.

After some prodding he speaks up reluctantly.

"Since UG rejected divinity and didn't want to be remembered after his death I see no point in talking about him when he's no more. It sort of defeats what he believed in. But I'll say this. The story of UG is the story of an ordinary man who refused to be treated like God. He scoffed at the "god factory", and repudiated the lies churned out in the lie factories that run civilization."

Mahesh had the privilege of spending ten days in Italy with UG before his death. "And those ten days mean more to me in terms of experience and enrichment than the thirty years that I've known him.

It'll take me more than a lifetime to sift through, understand and process that thoughts and opinions he shared with me during those ten days. It'll be a long time before I actually start talking about those glorious and heartbreaking days."

It was left to Mahesh to do UG's last rites. "He gave me the responsibility to make sure he was allowed to die the way he wanted. And the greatest task I was given to perform was to cremate him.

He died on a sunny afternoon at 2.30 in a villa in Vallecrossia in Italy. Only I and my two American friends were with him when the end came. He had asked all the others to leave. I cremated him on the 23rd March. By Subhash K Jha

Mahesh Bhatt is strangely quiet on the death of mentor, guru and dear friend U.G. Krishnamoorthy.

After some prodding he speaks up reluctantly.

"Since UG rejected divinity and didn't want to be remembered after his death I see no point in talking about him when he's no more. It sort of defeats what he believed in. But I'll say this. The story of UG is the story of an ordinary man who refused to be treated like God. He scoffed at the "god factory", and repudiated the lies churned out in the lie factories that run civilization."

Mahesh had the privilege of spending ten days in Italy with UG before his death. "And those ten days mean more to me in terms of experience and enrichment than the thirty years that I've known him.

It'll take me more than a lifetime to sift through, understand and process that thoughts and opinions he shared with me during those ten days. It'll be a long time before I actually start talking about those glorious and heartbreaking days."

It was left to Mahesh to do UG's last rites. "He gave me the responsibility to make sure he was allowed to die the way he wanted. And the greatest task I was given to perform was to cremate him.

He died on a sunny afternoon at 2.30 in a villa in Vallecrossia in Italy. Only I and my two American friends were with him when the end came. He had asked all the others to leave. I cremated him on the 23rd March.