Name:Vikas Agrawal
Email:vikasagrawal@hotmail.com
Nomination: A B Vajpayee.
Reason why: Hie is a strange politician in India who stands by his words and principles, and is also able to enforce it on his associates. The examples he has set in life are great.

We have seen all and sundry -- from Nehru to the farmer and the anywhere-but-in-India PM I K Gujral -- but this man is from a different mould.

He knows and reacts to international politics faster and better than the incumbent, know the common man better than the farmer and the Nehru family and, like Chanakya, also take politically astute decisions as in the case of UP.

He is an Indian to the core.

Name: BrownBoy
Email: brown-boy@usa.net
Nomination: Sonali Bendre
Reason why: Sonali has brought countless millions of Indian males pleasure and joy. Knowing that Sonali's pictures are always available is a comforting experience.

Name: Kedar
Email: kediyer@hotmail.com
Nomination: Inder Kumar Gujral
Reason why: He led India when it was in turmoil, but he wasn't lucky enough to remain at the Centre for long.

Name: Srinath Kastala
Email: threat34@hotmail.com
Nomination: Mother Teresa
Reason why:I would nominate Mother Teresa as the Indian of the year because of two things.
1.) We cannot nominate her next year.
2.) I do not think there is a person in India who has given such dedication and commitment to his or her work.

Name: Radha
Email: raadh@hotmail.com
Nomination: Dr Abdul Kalam
Reason why: He is one rare silent achiever, leading by example and dedicating his life for technology and for the security of India. A true patriot.

Name: Andy Ramanand
Email: andyram@netvigator.com
Nomination: Arundhati Roy
Reason why: The significance of The God of Small of Things lies in the fact that its author carries little historical or cultural baggage from over 200 years of British rule. The leitmotif of the narration has an Indianness that has been woefully ignored by contemporary writers in India and abroad. Roy has succeeded in projecting an Indian theme not as a piece of exotica -- the common fallacy of the Western literati but as a brilliantly narrated tale. That she has succeeded and been fabulously acclaimed for it makes her achievement all the more laudable.

Name: Srinivasa Raju Rallabandi
Email: rajubandi@hotmail.com
Nomination: Nara Chandrababu Naidu
Reason why:Everything is hi-tech.

Name: Vivek Shanbhag
Email: vshanbhag@lucent.com
Nomination: Dr A P J Abdul Kalam
Reason why: A model of quiet achievement in a time when priorities are skewed, mediocrity is rewarded, and accountability is dead. A role model for the scientific community in the manner he has come up from purely home grown origins to the forefront of scientific research management with no hint of personal corruption. For his grit and determination to succeed in the face of several odds.

Name: Raja
Email: Chigurupati@msn.com
Nomination: Sri L K Advani
Reason why: He is a leader with foresight and vision. He understood correctly that our ancient civilisation with its noble ethos of tolerance, peace, non-violence, secular and democratic culture should be the philosophical basis and foundation for our identity and on which strong and modern India should be built.

It is essential that we are liberated from our slavish mentality because of the past 800 year foreign rule, subjugation and destruction of our psyche. It is high time that we reclaim and renew our glorious past with pride. Advani is the finest exponent of our political culture.

Name: Bharat Puri
Email: bharatpuri@hotmail.com
Nomination: Ramakant Desai
Reason why: As chairman of the cricket selection committee, he's kept the nation entertained by his deep insights into the game and its players. For chairing a committee whose collective wisdom would make Laloo Prasad Yadav seem like Einstein in comparison.

Name: Sridhar Rajan
Email: rajans@mmgnet.com
Nomination: Vishwanathan Anand
Reason why: The only Indian to be ranked consistently in the top five in the world in any sport in my memory. He has added to his already formidable reputation with his performance in the recent games in Groningen, having reached the seventh round with little difficulty and providing some delectable games in between. I was sorely tempted to name Leander/Bhupathi but Anand's task seemed to have been much more difficult.

Name: K V Prabhakaran
Email: kvpkaran@hotmail.com
Nomination: Shri K R Narayanan
Reason why: The way he conducted himself during the UP crisis, bringing glory to the high office he holds is just an appetiser for the starved Indian minds. He surpassed himself by being neutral and ordering general elections, thereby avoided horsetrading. Last but not the least is the manner in which he tried to defuse the simmering troubles between the election commissioners. He is my Indian of the year and he is ahead by miles!

Name: Ram Balakrishnan
Email: ram.balakrishnan@usask.ca
Nomination: Finance Minister P Chidambaram
Reason why: The man who brought out the dream budget amidst great struggle and who sincerely and wholeheartedly still works for the good of the nation when his continuance in the ministry is uncertain in the new year.

Name: From: Richa Nagpal
Email: rnagpal@hotmail.com
Nomination: I nominate: The Indian Woman
Reason why: The Indian woman has proved that she indeed can steal the hearts of all the people of the world and also shown her wits, courage, talent and confidence --- be it as Mother, as Arundhati, as Diana, as Kalpana or as the common woman of the country. The time is ripe when the Indian woman should get her due recognition -- and I am not saying this because of my gender.

Name: Rupesh Kaslay
Email: Rupesh.Kaslay@unisys.co.jp
Nomination: The Common Man
Reason why: He is the only one who goes about his life peacefully while every body else is destroying the country in every possible way. The common man has endured a lot and his courage must be recognised.

Name: Selvakumari
Email: kadazan 97@yahoo.com.
Nomination: M Karunanidhi
Reason why: For his bold step of abolishing leaders' names from government bus corporations

Name: Anand Ekbote
Email: anand_ekbote@hotmail.com
Nomination: Rajat Gupta, head of McKinsey worldwide
Reason why: First, my criteria:
The person should have excelled internationally
The person should have nothing to do with politics (we Indians give our politicians far too much importance and attention, way beyond what they deserve)
The person should embody a typical "Indian" strength
Rajat Gupta is successfully leading McKinsey, the world's most respected Consulting company, has nothing to do with Indian politics; he embodies "thinking power" (an Indian strength as against, say, "doing power")

Name: Krishna Moorthy
Email: krishna@imbank.co.ke
Nomination: Dr A P J Abdul Kalam
Reason why: Despite severe resource constraints, he led his team from the front to achieve what 950 million plus people are proud of. Dr Kalam has endeavoured to give India the edge.

Name: Jaychandar Muthu
Email: muthu@worldnet.att.net
Nomination: Dr A P J Abdul Kalam
Reason why: His dedication and perseverance to promote self-reliance in science and technology has no comparison.

Name: Mukul
Email: mukul@iprolink.ch
Nomination: Madhuri Dixit
Reason why: Mmm... so many years and still oozing with sex...

The politicians and bureaucrats of India have pushed the living standards of the average Indian to below sub-Saharan levels. They ought to be caught by the collar and shot on the roads. But power has irreversibly passed into the hands of rogues and rascals and there is no hope.

No one but Madhuri Dixit... makes my mouth water...

Name: Palanisamy Gounder
Email: palisamy@hotmail.com
Nomination: Dr Abdul Kalam
Reason why: He has dedicated his life to the Indian space program and has made India great in space technology.

Name: Amit Mukherjee
Email: amitxm@cyberdude.com
Nomination: A P J Abdul Kalam
Reason why: For he could reach the heights of success, coming from a humble background despite all the mediocrity and nepotism surrounding him.

Name: Sanju Burkule
Email: sanjur@hotmail.com
Nomination: T N Seshan
Reason why: He is the man having the ability to show daylight to India and awaken her and her children just to say, 'Look, forget our differences, let us unite and make progress and show to the world that there indeed, is a country called India which can make a big difference to the world in all fields.'

Name: Rathnakaram Chandrasekhar
Email: rvasanthi@msn.com
Nomination: Dr Abdul Kalam
Reason why: He is the one who did all the things that every NRI engineer and scientist dreamt of doing.

Name: Rathnakaram Vasanthi
Email: vasuratna@hotmail.com
Nomination: Dr Abdul Kalam
Reason why: He is the one with true Indian spirit.

Name: Rallabandi Vijayalakshmi
Email: vijaya@hal.cs.olemiss.edu
Nomination: Dr Abdul Kalam
Reason why: He is the one who is still sticking to the national pledge that we all took in our school days.

Name: Mandava Asha
Email: amandava@olemiss.edu
Nomination: Dr Abdul Kalam
Reason why: He is the one who is creating wealth for our nation rather than robbing what we have.

Name: Ravi Sankar
Email: ravis@hpsgns1.sgp.hp.com
Nomination: Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupati
Reason why: In a nation starved of resources, the duo have done well in keeping the Indian tennis flag flying high with pride.