Calcutta: Khamosh! he cried. And khamosh they were through his hour-long speech.

Actor-turned BJP parliamentarian Shatrughan Sinha - Shotgun to fans for his quick wit - regaled the audience with stories of his life since his childhood in Patna at the 45th ISAAME Forum 2017 of the International Association of Lions Clubs, held in association with The Telegraph, at ITC Sonar on Tuesday.

His parents had named their four sons Ram, Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughan. When asked to name the brothers of Lord Rama in school, a friend of the youngest one wrote: Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughan Sinha.

Sinha's father had studied at Pennsylvania University and Kansas University. "In those days not many travelled to the US to study," said the MP, clad in a black sherwani with a red garland around his neck. "My father wanted his children to be doctors and scientists. And so my eldest brother Dr Ram has worked at NASA, Lakshman is an aviation scientist and Bharat is a doctor in the UK."

What about him? Shotgun said he "wasn't good enough to be a compounder".

At Science College in Patna, Sinha often found his name on the notice board. "Roll No. 210 of BSc has been fined Rs 25 for misconduct and if there is any repetition of the same, he will be removed from the college," read a notice.

Much to his regret, copies of the notices would be sent to the departmental heads and one would be pasted on a wall in the ladies' common room.

Calcutta played a key role in Sinha's foray into acting and his subsequent success - he had applied to study at Pune's Film and Television Institute of India from the city and has Mrinal Sen to thank for making it big in the industry.

"Those who say I am not good, I send them to Mrinal Sen," the actor said. After passing out of the Pune institute, he had to struggle for a spot in Bollywood. But during all his travails, Sinha never made "any changes" to his appearance. "All I had was confidence."

One day he met Jayprakash Narayan and decided to shift from the reel to the real life. He later joined the BJP, which was in Opposition. It was the best place to learn, he said. Then, after a lot of struggle, the BJP came to power under Atal Bihari Vajpayee and "for the first time a star from Bollywood became a Cabinet minister".

Sinha held two portfolios in the Vajpayee government - health and family welfare and shipping.

Sinha also recounted how he had given up smoking and pledged to do all he could to spread awareness about tobacco and its effects.

Feeding the needy

Months after an Iskcon temple was unveiled in Bangalore in 2000, two men came visiting. They - Mohandas Pai of Infosys and his friend Abhay Jain - asked the religious order to do something for the underprivileged.

Years before, Iskcon founder Srila Prabhupada, after inaugurating a temple in Nadia's Mayapur, had decreed that no one around the shrine should go hungry.

Iskcon monk Chanchalapati Dasa Prabhu recounted the two tales at the 45th ISAAME Forum on Monday to tell the story of the birth of Akshaya Patra, a community kitchen that feeds 1.6 million children daily with a nutritious and healthy mid-day meal.

"We started with feeding 1,500 children from five schools on the outskirts of Bangalore.... Today, 70 per cent of our expenses are funded by the Indian government," the monk said.

Akshay Patra, an initiative of Iskcon Bangalore, has 34 kitchens in 12 states.

Ravinder Singh of Khalsa Aid, another speaker at the session, recounted his experience of running humanitarian work since 1999. Khalsa Aid runs 25 international emergency relief missions in disaster areas and civil conflict zones such as Albania, Turkey, Rwanda, Syria and Odisha and Gujarat.