DR. ANNIE BESANT

Dr. Annie Besant was born to Irish parents in London on October 1, 1847. From 1893 India was her home. She is one of the foreigners who inspired patriotism among Indians. She declared in 1918, "I love Indian people as I love none other, and... my heart and my mind... have long been laid on the alter of the Motherland". She was a woman of much energy, interests and oratory. She was separated from her husband in 1873. After this she became a member of the Fabian Society and then Theosophical Society. In 1907, she was elected President of this organization. She held that position until her death.

She founded the Home Rule League in 1917. The purpose behind it was to gain freedom of the country and revive the country's cultural heritage. She attended the 1914 session of the Indian National Congress and presided over it in 1917. She could not understand the meaning of the Satyagraha movement. As a result, she withdrew from Home Rule League, in opposition to Mahatma Gandhi's leadership. She identified the talent in young men and women. Her inspiration brought up many leaders. The world famous philosopher K. Krishnamurthy is one of them.

She lived most of her remaining years in India, rejoined at last by her son and daughter. After campaigning brilliantly for Home Rule, she died in Madras in 1933.

ABDUL GHAFFER KHAN

Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a political and spiritual leader of India. He also made a great contribution to the freedom struggle of India. He was respected for his non-violent approaches to the British. He is known as the faithful follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Those who loved him gave him various names. Some called him Badshah Khan (King of Chiefs). But the most famous name given to him is 'the Frontier Gandhi '.

Ghaffer Khan entered politics when he met Gandhi in 1919. At that time Gandhiji was involved in the agitations against the Rowlatt Acts. In the following year he joined the Khilafat movement. The purpose of this movement was to strengthen the spiritual ties of Indian Muslims to the Turkish sultan. In 1921 he was elected president of a district Khilafat committee in his native Frontier Province.

Ghaffar Khan attended a Congress Party gathering in 1929. Immediately after it, he founded the Khudai Khitmatgar ('Servants of God'). It is called the Red Shirt Movement among the Pashtuns. It was an organization that supported the freedom movement. In 1930s Ghaffer Khan had become a member of Gandhi's inner circle of advisers. Ghaffer Khan had always opposed the partition of India. He was very much hurt when the congress accepted the Mountbattan plan for the partition of India. However, he chose to live in Pakistan. His memories, My Life and Struggle, appeared in 1969.

VINOD KHOSLA

Venture Capitalist, One of the co-founders of  Sun Microsystems

Vinod Khosla, a native Indian and the world's No.2 ranked Venture Capitalist, is considered as one of the most influential personalities in Silicon Valley. He is a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Aged 50, he was among the first  venture capitalist to understand that  internet technology and fiber optics could make communications so fast, cheap and easy and spots the potential of companies that sell gear for high speed optical networks.

He was born in 1955 in a military family in New Delhi, India. He earned a B.Tech degree from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT), Delhi. After that he attempted to start his own company in India, a dream since the age of 15. Being frustrated by the experience, he gave up his mission. Then he went to United States and completed M.S degree in Biomedical Sciences at Carnegie Mellon and also earned an MBA degree from Stanford University in 1979. Vowing to become a millionaire  before 30, ambitious Khosla found a business idea and partners from Srandfrod business club. They found Daisy Systems, a computer aided engineering and design company, but failed quickly because the economics of the market went against it.

At 27, Khosla became successful when he co-founded Sun Microsystems with a German student Andreas Bechtolsheim, a multi millionaire. Khosla ran Sun until 1984. In 1986, he joined in Kleiner Perkins, a firm that funded Sun as a general Partner. During this time, Khosla has played key roles in starting companies that are involved in multimedia, semiconductors, video games, Internet software and computer networking. He conceived the idea to optimize SONET for data, a scheme that led to the creation of Cerent Corp, a telecommunications-equipment company which Cisco acquired in 1999 for $6.9 billion. Khosla was also instrumental in launching Juniper Networks, a company many thought as the next Cisco. Others include Viant, Extreme Networks, Lightera etc.

Khosla has won admiration because of his ability to build and fashion companies and technologies. He plays an active role and is not satisfied to sit  back and let others work the plans while he okays the progress. Though he was successful in almost all his ventures, there has been one time that Khosla  had been wrong. He backed 3DO Co, a game-maker whose shares now sell for a fraction of the initial offering price in 1993.

Vinod Khosla came from  an ordinary middle class background. His father was in army. At the age of 16, Vinod  Khosla read about the founding of Intel.  This motivated him to nurture dreams of starting his own technology company. At the age of 20, after graduating in Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi, Vinod Khosla started a soy milk company to cater to those people in India who did not have refrigerators. But his venture failed.

Vinod Khosla went to the US and did his masters in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University. His entrepreneurial ambitions attracted him to Silicon Valley and subsequently he did his MBA from Stanford University in 1980.

After graduating from Stanford, Vinod Khosla founded Daisy Systems with two other founders. Daisy systems was the first significant computer aided design systems for electrical engineers. The company went on to make huge profits but driven by the frustration of having to design computer hardware on which the Daisy software needed to be built, Vinod Khosla left the company.

In Vinod Khosla, started the standards based on Sun Microsystems in 1982 to build workstations for software developers. Sun was funded by his long time friend and board member John Doerr of Kleiner   Perkins  Caufield & Byers. At Sun Microsystems, Vinod Khosla pioneered "Open Systems" and RISC processors. He left Sun Microsystems in 1985 and joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) in 1986, where he continues to be a general partner of KPCB funds through KPX.

Vinod Khosla also challenged Intel's monopoly by developing Nexgen/AMD. He also conceptualized the idea and business plan for Juniper to take on Cisco's dominance of the router market. Vinod Khosla is also one of the entrepreneurs and professionals founded in 1992. In 2004, he formed khoslaventures  to fund knowledgeable entrepreneurs in their new "social impact" ventures.

Vinod Khosla has been interest in nascent technologies that can have a beneficial effect and economic impact on society. Presently,  he is looking into practicality of the use of ethanol as a gasoline substitute.

Khosla's  current effort is funding and managing application service provider start ups. He is chairman of two such firms, Corio and Asera. This much respected entrepreneur lives in Woodside, CA with his wife and four daughters. Khosla believes in closeness in family. His rules for life include having breakfast and dinner with his family. He is one of three billionaires of Indian origin in Forbes magazine's list of America's richest 400 people.

DR. B. R. AMBEDKAR

From the depths of a life of humiliation, an untouchable arose to touch the skies. He was Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar.

Bhimrao was born in 'mahar' caste, which was considered as untouchable. This fourteenth child of Ramji Sakpal and Bhimabai was born on 14 April 1891. He lost his mother when he was five. From a very young age, he experienced the humiliating treatment meted out to the untouchables. In the school he had to sit away from other children. If he drank water from a common well, he would be beaten up. Innumerable such experiences made him bitter towards the religion.

Later his family moved to Bombay where he attended high school. He married to Ramabai when he was 17 years old. Maharaja of Baroda granted him scholarship to study in the degree college and also further helped him to go to U.S. Of America for higher studies. After studying various subjects like political science, social science, economics, ethics etc, he returned with a doctorate in 1917.

 In spite of such high education, he received the same treatment. In 1920 he went to London to study law and set up law practice on returning back. Then he began working towards the betterment of his people. He addressed their gatherings, made them aware of their rights and he fought for them. British government granted separate electorate for the Harijans, but Gandhiji opposed it fearing that it could separate them from the Hindus, but he agreed to deserve seats for Harijans in the legislature.

Dr. Ambedkar was appointed as the first Law Minister of independent India. He was the chairman of the committee, which prepared the Constitution of India. He is called the 'Father of Indian Constitution'.

Dr. Ambedkar resigned from the post of minister in 1951. In 1956 he accepted Buddhism along with his wife and many followers. He had written many books like 'Untouchables', 'Buddha and Karl Marx', 'Buddha and his gospel' etc. He died in his sleep on 10 December 1956.

DR. A. P. J. ABDUL KALAM

Dr. Abdul Kalam, a great aero-space scientist was appointed as the eleventh President of India in 2002. He is known as the 'missile man of India'.

He was born on 15 October 1931 at Dhanushkodi in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu. He was one of the many children of a middle class Tamil Muslim family. He inherited honesty, self-discipline and deep kindness from his parents.

Dr. Kalam completed his schooling in Rameshwaram and then attended St.Joseph's college in Tiruchirapalli. In 1958 he passed his engineering in aeronautics from Madras Institute of Technology.

He joined Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Then he moved to Indian Space Research Organization in 1962. Along with his team he successfully launched many satellites. He was instrumental in developing India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV lll), which launched Satellite Rohini in 1980.

Later Dr. Kalam returned to DRDO as in charge of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. He designed and developed India's two guided missiles... Agni and Prithvi.

In 1992 he was appointed Principal Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. During this period Pokhran ll nuclear tests were conducted in 1998.

Dr. Abdul Kalam was elected the President of India on 18 July 2002. He is a great visionary and has chalked out many development plans for our country. He is most informal person, so people easily identify with him. He is very fond of small children and gives them a lot of importance as well as pays attention to their problems. Dr. Kalam pays equal respect to all the religions.

Dr. Kalam has penned many books and his autobiography 'Wings of fire' is a best seller. He plays Rudra Veena and also composes poems for all occasions. Besides innumerable scientific awards, he has been also honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990, and Bharat Ratna in 1997.

DR. C. V. RAMAN

The first Asian scientist to win the Nobel Prize was Dr. C V Raman.

Dr. Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was born on 7tg November 1888 at Thiruchirapally. His father was a teacher a scholar in physics and mathematics. Raman was considered a genius since early childhood. He completed his matriculation at the age of 12 years. He passed B A Winning a gold medal. He had a boundless curiosity to learn new things, a love for science and enthusiasm for work. He topped M A as well as Indian audit and accounts service examination from Madras University.

In 1907 he got married to Lokasundari Ammal. At the age of 19 he already was on a high government post. Then he was promoted to Calcutta as assistant accountant general. In Culcutta he began research work at the Indian association for the cultivation of science. In 1915 he left the highly paid government job to teach as a professor in science college of Calcutta. He became Palit Professor at the age of 29.

Dr. Raman’s college laboratories became active research centres as many students came him for post graduation studies. He was so dedicated to his work that he often forgot to eat or sleep.

In 1921 he attended the Congress of the universities of the British Empire in London. While traveling by sea, the scientist in him was fascinated by the deep blue colour of the Mediterranean Sea. He made research on the scattering of the sunrays by the water molecules. His work was well appreciated. He was invited to many scientific seminars and conferences all over the world.

In February 1928 he discovered that the monochromatic light on scattering does not remain monochromatic. This discovery of nature’s hidden phenomenon, ‘The Raman Effect’, earned him many honours including British government’s Knighthood as well as the Nobel Prize in 1930.

In 1933 he was appointed the director of Indian Institute of science. He established Indian academy of science in 1934 and also the Raman research institute, which is based on our ancient scientific research. In 1954 he was honoured with Bharat Ratna.

This grand old man of Indian science passed away on 21^st November 1970.

RAHUL BAJAJ

Rahul Bajaj is the Chairman of the Bajaj Group, which ranks among the top 100 business houses in India. The Bajaj Group has diversified interests ranging from automobiles, home appliances, lightning, iron and steel, insurance, travel and finance. Rahul Bajaj is one of the India's most distinguished business leaders and internationally respected for his business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit..

 Rahul Bajaj is an alumnus of Harvard, St.Stephen's and Cathedral. He took over the reins of Bajaj Group in 1965. Under his stewardship, the turnover of the Bajaj Auto the flagship company has risen from Rs.72 million to Rs.46.16 billion. Rahul Bajaj created one of the India's best companies in the difficult days of the licence- permit raj. He established factories at Akurdi and Waluj. In 1980s Bajaj Auto was top scooter producer in India and its Chetak brand had a 10- year waiting period.

The initiation of liberalization in India posed great challenges for Bajaj Auto. Liberalization brought the threat of cheap imports and FDI from top companies like Honda. Rahul Bajaj became famous as the head of the Bombay Ckub, which opposed liberalization.  The scooter sales plummeted as people were more interested in motorcycles and the rivals Hero Honda was a pioneer in it.

                 

The recession and stock market collapse of 2001 hit the company hard and it was predicted that the days of Bajaj Auto were numbered. However, Bajaj Auto reinvented itself, established a world-  class factory in Chakan, invested in R&D and came up with Bajaj Motorcycle.   Bajaj Pulsar is currently a leader in its segment.

                    

Rahul Bajaj was elected to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.

DYAN CHAND - THE HOCKEY WIZARD

Major Dhyanchand is regarded as best hockey player ever ….. Wizard of hockey.

He was born on 29^th August 1905 at Prayag in Uttar Pradesh. Now this day is celebrated as the national sports day. His father was Subedar in the army. Dhyanchand grew up in Jhansi and joined army in 1922 as a sepoy of Punjab Regiment.

His hockey skills were noticed in 1927 in a match against the English team at London Folkston festival. He was selected to represent the Indian hockey team in 1928 summer Olympics at Amsterdam. Dhyanchand scored two of the three goals that India made and helped India win gold medal in Olympics.

Dhyanchand’s game skill was so outstanding that the ball appeared to be sticking on his hockey stick. The Tokyo officials even broke his stick to check any magnet hidden inside. At the next Olympics our team again struck gold by defeating the US team by 24 – 1. This record is yet to be broken.

Along with his brother Roop Singh, Dhyanchand formed a formidable base of the team. He scored 201 goals out of the total 584 goals (in 42 matches) during the 1935 tour of New Zealand and Australia. Dhyanchand was also fast that Don Bradman commented that ‘He scores goals like runs in cricket.’

He captained our team in 1936 Summer Olympics at Berlin and scored three of eight goals scored by India. Dictator Adolf Hitler left the match midway, as he couldn't see his team loosing. It is said that Hitler called Dhyan chand for a meeting and offered him a post or place in Germany team. But he refused to leave India.

He continued to play till the age of 42 and retired in 1948, He is the only sportsperson in India to have his statue erected in his honour. One in even in sticks, indicating his control over the ball. In 1956 he retired from the army as a Major. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in same year.

Sadly he was penniless and uncared for his last days. He died on 3^rd December 1979. The government of India has installed a sports award in his memory.

CHATRAPATI SIVAJI

A few centuries ago, some self respecting men stood up against 
Mughal rule. Shivaji Raje Bhosle was prominent amongst them.

Shivaji was son of Shahaji Bhosle, a general in court of Adilshah of Bijapur. Shivaji was born in 1630 on the fort Shivneri in Sahyadri ranges of Maharashtra. His mother Jijabai, a brave, proud and wise lady, brought him up. She appointed Dadoji Konddev who trained Shivaji in martial arts as well as state administration.

Shivaji along with his Marathas captured forts and established his independent rule. So Adilshah of Bijapur sent his giant general Afzal Khan who tried to strangulate Shivaji by cunning. But a well prepared Shivaji used hidden steel claws to kill the enemy.

Later Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb sent his uncle Shaiste 
Khan with army. But with his usual guerilla tactics, Shivaji over came this trouble too. This infuriated Aurangazeb and he sent vast army under Raja Jai Singh. Shivaji had to surrender and sign Purandar treaty by which he had to give most of his territory and forts to the Mughal Emperor.

Shivaji was then called to Agra where he was treated insultingly by Aurangazeb and was kept under house arrest. But Shivaji escaped from there disguise. After that he lay low and collected his army. Once again he led military campaigns and recaptured his entire lost kingdom.

In 1647 he was officially coronated as Chatrapati or the king of Hindavi Swaraj. Later he expanded his rule upto Jinji and Vellor in south. He was a good administrator and tolerant towards all the religions. He built many forts and even water forts on the west coast line.

He later developed a knee problem and died in 1680. 

AUROBINDO GHOSH

A great patriot, a revolutionary freedom fighter, a poet, an author, a linguist, a teacher, a yogi….Aurobindo Maharishi was all this and much more.

He was born on 15 August 1872 in Calcutta. His parents were Krishnadhana and Swarnalata Ghosh. He studied at a convent school in Darjeeling. Then did his further studies in England and returned after 14 years in 1893. He taught at Baroda and later at Calcutta. For him English was just like his own mother tongue. He had a great impact on his students with his high moral character, blending of East and West philosophy and his great patriotism.

Then he got involved in the freedom struggle. He identified more with the revolutionary ideas of Lokamanya Tilak. Aurobindo too believed in absolute autonomy and agreed that it was essential to fight for the freedom rights.

During the agitations against the partition of Bengal, he was one of the main revolutionary opposing the partition. Writing through his ‘Bande Mataram’ he spread awareness of activities of freedom struggle like, boycotting the foreign goods and using swadeshi. Several times he was jailed for his activities.

According to him, to gain the political freedom, spiritual awakening in the people was needed. With his inclination towards spiritualism, he retired from the politics and founded an Ashram at Pondicherry in 1926. He wished to bring an awakening in the new generation through Yoga, spiritualism and Vedanta.

Aurobindo wrote many books on spirituality, philosophy and Yoga, some of which are, The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays Divine and Human, Savithri, The Human Cycle etc.

He died at Pondicherry on 5 December 1950. His Ashram ‘Auroville’ was looked after by his French disciple who was called ‘The Mother’.

ARYABHATTA

Our country has been pioneer in many fields from art, culture to science. When the rest of the world wasn’t even aware of many concepts, out sages invented and established quite a few facts.  Aryabhatta was one such great Indian Mathematician. 

Aryabhatta was born in Kerala in 476. He studied at Nalanda University. In 499 he wrote a book Aryabhatiya, which gives Hindu mathematics of that time. Subjects like astronomy, spherical trigonometry, arithmetic, algebra and plane trigonometry are dealt with in this book.

Aryabhatta also worked for the areas of a triangle and a circle. He was well appreciated . The Maurya ruler Buddhagupta appointed him as the head of the university . Aryabhatta was the first one to put forward the theory that our earth is round and day and night are created because it rotates around his own axis.

At that time it was believed that Rahu swallows the sun or moon, thus creating solar or lunar eclipses. But Aryabhatta cleared the misconception and declared that the eclipse are caused by the shadows cast by the earth and the moon. He also stated that the moon is dark and it shines only because of the sunlight.

However he also gave some wrong conclusion like the formulae for the volumes of a sphere and pyramid. He also wrongly claimed that the earth is centre of universe.

He was a great mathematician, the first one to give the ‘table of sines'. He was the  one who derived the value of pi as 3.1416 and claimed that it was an approximation.

Our first Indian satellite was named after him as Aryabhatta.

AMITABH BACHCHAN

                                                                     

Many sons of our motherland have bought fame to our country. It is Amitabh Bachchan who raised our nation’s name high up on the map of World’s cinema.

Amitabh was born on 11^th October 1942 in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. He is the son of renowned poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Teji Bachchan . He studied at the Sherwood boarding school of Nainitlal and did his college studies at Delhi University. 

He acted in theatre; he was also a radio announcer. Later he worked as an executive in a shipping company at Culcutta. As he was always interested in acting, he decided to try his luck in cinema. Director K A Abbas gave him his first break in ‘Saat Hindustani’. Later his acting talent was appreciated in ‘Anand’ and ‘Namakharam’, opposite then phenomenon Rajesh Khanna. Then film ‘ Zanjeer ‘ made him famous as the ‘ Angry young man‘. This was followed by many more super hit films.

Amitabh married Jaya Bhaduri  a very talented actress . They have two children, Shweta and Abhishek. In 1983, while shooting for a movie ‘Coolie’, he had a near fatal accident. Because of his close association with prime mister Indira Gandhi’s son Rajiv Gandhi, he entered politics and was elected to the Parliament from his hometown Allahabad. But he soon left politics due to controversies.

He launched Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited ABCL, which was involved in all the aspects of cinema industry. During the 90s he had to face a lot of difficulties on personal as well as professional fronts. But he bounced back with the television quiz show ‘Kaun Banega crorepati‘. Then there was no looking back.

The Indian government has honoured him with Padma Shri . BBC News poll announced him as an ‘Actor of millennium‘. He is the first Asian actor whose wax model displayed at Madame Tussaud’s Museum in London. 

AMARTYA SEN

Among the Indian Nobel prize winners, prof. Amartya Sen is a prominent one. For his work in welfare economics ‘he received the prestigious Nobel prize in 1998.

He was born 3^rd November 1993 at Shantiniketan in west Bengal. Rabindranath Tagore named him ‘Amartya’ meaning ‘Immortal’. He studied at Ahantiniketan, now the Viswa Bharathi University, and then at Precidency College, Culcutta and Delhi school of economics. Later he went for higher studies at Trinity college , Cambridge. There he finished Ph.D in 1959.

After that he taught economics at University of Culcutta, Jadavpur University and also at Oxford and Harvard universities. Then he was the master of Trinity College, Cambridge from 1997 to 2004. At present Prof. Sen teaches at Harvard University. 

He has done extensive work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, underlying mechanisms of poverty and political liberalism. His bestwritten work is ‘Poverty and Famines : An Essay on Antitlement and Deprivation’, which was published in 1981. Here he has shown that famine doesn’t occur due to lack of food, but from inequalities built into the mechanism of distributing the food.

Dr . Sen separated from his first wife Nabaneeta Devi, they had two daughters. His second wife Eva Colorni died of stomach cancer in 1985. They had a son and a daughter. Now his third wife’s name is Emma Rothschild.

In 1999, government of India awarded him Bharat Ratna .

ACHARYA VINOBA BHAVE

Sarvodaya Movement and Bhoodan Andolan cannot be separated from the name Acharya Vinoba Bhave …. The saintly freedom fighter who for the strave social, economical and religious equality.

Vinoba or Vinayak Bhave was the first child of father Narahari and mother Rugmini Bhave. He was born on 11^th September 1895 in Godode village of Colaba district in Maharashtra. He was influenced by the simplicity and spiritualism of his mother. He remained unmarried and a devout all through his life.

Vinoba was excellent in studies. Later he went to Kashi. He was very much interested in Vedas, Upanishads and other ancient Hindu scriptures.

In 1916 he joined Mahathma Gandhi’s Sabarmathi Ashram at Ahmedabad. He became Gandhiji’s disciple and worked very hard at the Ashram. With his deep knowledge of Bhagavat Gita, he conducted discourses at the Ashram.

Later, on Gandhiji’s suggestion, Vinoba took charge of the Wardha Ashram, which was founded on industrialist Jamnalal Baja’s insistence. Vinoba took part in the Nagpur flag sathyagraha and then temple entry movement. Many times he was imprisoned during the freedom struggle. He conducted long distance Padyatras, visited several villages, worked for the Harijans and spread awareness of freedom struggle. He maintained strict discipline and Gandhian ideals at his Ashram.

Vinoba wished that every village should be totally independent and should produce all the necessary things within itself. He introduced the concept  of Bhoodan … taking taking donations of lands from the landlords and distributing them among the poor landless farmers. The Sarvodaya Movement initiated by him insisted on equality among all.

In the later years he retired to the Pavnar Ashram near Nagpur and continued his spiritual activities. On 15^th November 1982 he died at the age of 88. Government of India honoured him with Bharat Ratna. 

THE WALL IN THE WORDS OF LEGENDS

Rahul Dravid, "The Wall" was the backbone of Indian cricket team that evolved from nothing to a team that believe in itself. Even though Sourav Ganguly is credited for leading the team to great heights, he could'nt have done it without Dravid, the cement that held the foundations firm while flair players expressed themselves. Here are some quotations made by some legends about Rahul Dravid.

• "If you can't get along with Dravid, you're struggling in life" - Brett Lee
• "Try to take his wicket in the first fifteen minutes, if you can't then only try to take the remaining wickets" - Steve Waugh
• "All this going around is not aggression. If you want to see aggression on cricket field, look into Rahul Dravid's eyes" - Matthew Hayden
• "Time and tide wait for nobody, except Rahul Dravid" - MTV India
• "Dravid could play attacking cricket like me but I could never play like him" - Chris Gayle
• "Team in trouble? Whom do you turn to? Rahul Dravid!" - Ian Chappell
• "Nothing can beat experience" - Brad Hogg
• "Rahul Dravid is a player who would walk on broken glass if his team asks him to" - Navjot Singh Sidhu

WHY CRICKET BOOM IN INDIA?

Cricket is undoubtedly the most famous sport famous sport in India. The boom of this game in the hearts of Indians was very rapid. Indian fields got transformed into cricket ground. Rather different from hockey which was once the greatest game in India, cricket was able to gain extreme popularity in every nook and corner of all Indian villages. The rules of this ‘bat and ball game’ are an essay able topic for every chap in this country.

Cricket is believed to have originated from the leisure time activities of Shepherds of northern England. As the time rolled out, there came a lot of rules and changes in the game and is now known as ‘The Cricket’. Cricket was introduced in India during the colonialization period of the British. Though the British showed footballing it couldn’t gain much popularity as that of cricket. Then what made cricket boom in India..?

The most important reason for the popularity of this sport is undoubtedly the winning of the 1983 cricket world cup by the Kapil’s Devils. The surprising victory of a below average team against the former world cup champions (West Indians) supercharged the spirit of Indian cricket. The dailies throughout the world enjoyed the incredible victory. People began to see India as a growing super power in cricket.

The formation of ‘Asian Cricket Board’ after the world cup victory also helped cricket in India. The Indian camp had to face many difficulties during the world cup tour. This triggered the then BCCI (Board for Control of Cricket in India) members to take an initiative to form the Asian Cricket Board. This united the cricket of Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan etc. The newly formed board enabled the Indian cricket to express their voice and acquire their rights.

The vast amount of money the BCCI made through advertizing also helped the growth of Indian cricket. The players got big salaries apart from the achievements they made individually and their standard of living was lifted to a higher level. Rather than becoming a sport cricket became a business as an effect of this.

The names such as Dawood Ibrahim was very important once in Indian cricket. Money flooded in the cricket fields like anything due to gambling and other third rated activities. Though this remains as a black mark, it helped in the growth of cricket up to a large fraction.

Another important reason is the coming up of world class cricketers like the Fabulous Five – Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. These players of impeccable records are also among the top class cricketers of all time. They inspired the whole cricketing world and was always epitomes in field as well as in life.

The galleries which were once empty got filled up. The overpopulated audience also helped in the performance of players and also brought huge money.

Cricket academies like the National School of Cricket, MRF Pace foundation, Cricket India Academy etc, helped in developing good cricketers through high quality coaching and use of modern equipment and facilities. Rather than becoming a part time cricketer these institutions provided the talented, a career of vast opportunities.

Definitely the ‘Men in Blue’ has inspired as a lot during the last thirty years of cricketing. The game once played by the privileged class of the society has now become the game of all, the game of common man.

Related links:
God in the words of legends.

DECEMBER 14-PERSON OF THE DAY-RAJ KAPOOR

Whom else should we select as the person of the day?? Even google celebrates his birthday by making him the google doodle. Mere words cannot express how much he had given to the Indian Cinema. His works played of the most important role in framing our cinema world. 

Ranbir Raj Kapoor, the famous Indian film actor, director and producer was born on December 14 1924 at Peshawar, (modern Pakistan). So basically, he a Pakistani-Indian actor. He was born as the eldest among the 6 children of Prithviraj Kapoor and Ramsarni Devi Kapoor,as a part of the great Kapoor family. His brothers too were actors.

His debut film was Inquilab, 1935. But his break came through the leading role in the movie Neel Kamal, 1947. 

Raj Kapoor is appreciated both by film critics and movie fans. Film historians and movie buffs speak of him as the "Charlie Chaplin of Indian cinema," since he often portrayed a tramp-like figure, who, despite adversity, was still cheerful and honest. His fame spread worldwide. He was adored by audiences in large parts of Africa, the Middle East, the former Soviet Union, China, and Southeast Asia; his movies were global commercial successes. Raj had the knack of getting the best out of any one, since he had mastered all departments of film making and even marketing them.[peacock term] When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru died in 1964 coinciding with release of Sangam, he took the opportunity to create a scene when Gopal ashes were immersed in Ganges, like Pandit Nehru described in his poetic will. His films reflected the Era in which it was made.

He had a great understanding of the public taste and a great sense of Box-Office. He was one of the pioneers of the Indian cinema, who talked about the potential of Hindi cinema emerging as a great revenue earner from the world market in fifties, which has become a reality today.

For his complete filmography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raj_Kapoor_filmography

On this day.. We the crew of Hotdogs.. Wish him a Happy Birthday..

take care..

THE DOWN TRODDENCE-METAL FROM KERALA

Guys, everybody would have heard about Linkin Park,the best Metal Band,according to me.. But, have you  ever heard of  'THE DOWN TRODDENCE'. You may not have...

The Down Trodence aka TDT is a gang of six youngsters who finds the ecstasy in music. This crazy guys put forth a brave idea to start a Metal band in Kerala where people are not familiar with foreign music. We have personnel interest in these guys as we both are from same place, Kerala, a state in South India. The band consists Munz(vocal), Varun Raj(Guitar), Nazer Ahmed(Bass GUitar, Backing Vocals), Sushin Shyam(Keyboards,Backking Vocals), Ganesh Radhakrishnan(Drums) Advaith Moha(Guitar).

Their debut album was "How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You" which was released on January 1st of  2014. But They got their breakthrough from their hit album "Shiva" which is a remake of a Shiva sthuthi.  Their uniqueness lies in their magiucal fusion of Heavy Metal and Indian Folk which we Indians really love.. They include folk art forms, particularly, Theyyam in their music videos. the band also incorporates a lot of traditional folk sounds and instruments in the form of ambient layers in their music. Rhythm structures used in their songs too are primarily inspired by folk music.

Lyrically the band indulge on strong social issues like inequalities, injustice, oppression of lower cast people which has always prevailed in India. 

The upcoming band has so far done their job beautifully and let us hope they come up as a leading band all over in the world.

link to their youtube profile: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM3PlBjvkpQS2_6uhkvyk_A

link to the famous album Shiva: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jj37KEQofU 

link to their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thedowntroddence

Take care..