But one thing is GONE now, – my expectation of financial gain, and yes, I am SURE about it.

I first pitched this idea to NDTV Imagine and exchanged a few emails with them. They asked me to furnish the full details, and it was after that, that they found a possibility of having a similar idea/concept already existing in their archive of concepts/ideas etc. [ALL THE EMAILS THAT HAD BEEN EXCHANGED ARE PROVIDED LATER IN THIS BLOG/SCROLL TO FIND]

My objective is to find a taker of the idea, to financially help myself for a cause.

Keeping the hope to find a solution, I have made the whole Idea OPEN, here in this blog. Interested TV Channels / Entertainment Companies can contact me, only if they have a system/process/will/intention to accept the idea by completing the payment process latest by 28.Nov.2009 IST 04:00PM (Saturday). All correspondence/discussion/negotiations through Email/Chat/Phone-Call are welcome.

Thank you.
Regards
Suvasys Banik.

E-Mail: suvasysbanik@gmail.com, suvasysbanik@yahoo.com
Cell:     +91 97066 61329 and  +91 98643 55550
Website:  www.opnelo.net , www.mesonance.org , http://suvasysbanik.wordpress.com

To,
Mr. Sameer Nair,
CEO,NDTV Imagine Limited
P.O. Box No. 12001
Adarsh Nagar Post Office
Andheri West
Mumbai 400 053.
 
Dear Mr. Sameer Nair,
 
Thanks to you I have come across a beautiful phrase comprised of just three words “Entertain and Delight”. Entertain people so that for thirty minutes they forget themselves (and all their mundane problems) and as a result they will be delighted and importantly, they will come back to you for the same, every scheduled hour, week after week.
 
Rakhi entertains them. They are delighted!
Rahul entertains them. They are delighted!
Shah Rukh entertains them. They are delighted!
NDTV Imagine entertains them. They are delighted!
 
Now Imagine, NDTV, you tickle their jealously guarded secret self-love and inspire. Will they not be entertained? Will they not come back to you for the same, every scheduled hour, week after week? Won’t that be a humble attempt to DELIGHT THEM WITH THEIR INFINITE HUMAN POTENTIAL?
 
But how exactly an ordinary man is to be made to feel that there might be something extraordinary in him or in his children? How he or she will get the courage to RE-NURTURE his or her buried dream?
 
Imagine, NDTV, you are listening to APJ Abdul Kalam and he is describing all the adversities he faced on the way to his missile-man-of-India status.
 
Imagine, NDTV, you are witnessing a gentle yet  emotional outburst by Kiran Bedi who always heard that police ki job ladkiyon ka nahi.
 
Here unfolds a very important, interesting and TIMELY idea for a Non-Fiction Chat Show and I have all the pleasure to pitch this concept to you:
 
Let us call all the eminently established Indians phase by phase; let there first be some general talk to begin with; let the statistics of their achievements roll out; and gradually and carefully they are pulled into reminiscence-mode, the struggles , conflicts external and internal, meeting the nay-sayers – sentence by sentence and with intensity.
 
Something in brief about me now:  I am a writer. I draw strength, inspiration and creative ideas from the Mighty Upanishads and looking for the right literary agent/publisher. Also, with equal seriousness, I am into Internet-Entrepreneurship and have founded www.opnelo.net and www.mesonance.org and looking forward to association with Angel Investors.
 
If you like the idea that I have just pitched, then I am ready to sell it. But, since, right at this stage in my life I must stand up to meet some stiff financial challenge, so I can only wait for two days for a response, else I have to re-fuel myself with new hope pitching the idea to another channel.
 
Thank you so much for the patient hearing to an absolutely unknown quantity.
 
Hope, I will hear from you.
 
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Suvasys Banik
 
CONTACT DETAILS
Postal address
KUNTALA BHAWAN
GMC House No. 2, Bishnu Rabha Path
South Sarania, Ulubari
Guwahati 781007. Assam. India.
E-Mail: suvasysbanik@gmail.com, suvasysbanik@yahoo.com
Tele: +91 97066 61329, +91 98643 55550
Web: http://www.opnelo.net and http://www.mesonance.org

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THE 1ST EMAIL REPLY FROM NDTV IMAGINE : Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 12:51 PM
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Dear Mr Banik,

Thank you for your email on the new idea and your interest in NDTV Imagine.

I work with Mr. Sameer Nair

While you have mentioned the show concept in your mail below, we’d be glad to review your idea in more detail.

In order to proceed, we would request you to mail us further details of the same.
Thanks
Amogh
 
————————————————
Amogh Dusad
AVP – Strategy, Planning & Research
NDTV Imagine,
Mumbai – 53
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MY 2ND EMAIL TO NDTV IMAGINE : Sat, Nov 21, 2009 at 12:58 PM
———————————————————————————————–

To,

Mr. Amogh Dusad,
AVP – Strategy, Planning & Research,
NDTV Imagine Limited
P.O. Box No. 12001
Adarsh Nagar Post Office
Andheri West
Mumbai 400 053.
 
Dear Mr. Dusad,
 
Thank you for taking interest in the idea/concept of the chat-show programme that I had proposed in my first email to you (addressed to Mr. Sameer Nair, CEO, NDTVImagine and cc to response@ndtvimagine.com).
 
In response to your email asking more detail of the show, I am honoured to furnish the same as attachment to the current email.
 
I am providing a glimpse here.
I have given the FORMAT of the show there with justifications. In brief, each episode will have 6 parts as described below:

1. GLORY SO FAR
==============
-Brief Biography*
-Career / profession/ craft*
-Awards*
* accompanied by suitable still photographs and video
2. WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE
===============================================
The purpose here is to make the celebrity comment on himself/herself. Everyone will speak humbly and thats the first message we are giving to the youth.
3. THEY SAID YOU CANT
===================
This segment is a highly probing exercise. The Interviewer should politely yet with great resolve dig out what/who almost dismissed the person’s efforts/struggles.
4. YOU FELT YOU CANT
==================
In Bhagavad Gita, we Find God telling mankind through Arjuna, that one is his own friend and his own enemy as well.  Based on this philosophy we will probe how the Celebrity fought with his/her own enemy to tilt the balance towards the friend-within to ultimately achieve what he/she did.
5. IMAGINE INDIA
==============
Through imaginative probing we must unlock the patriot within him/her. Everyone wants his/her country to be the best and when we hear such words of patriotism and hope from our heroes naturally our hearts feel good, our nerves become ready for challenge.
6. IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE
==========================================
This segment is the concluding one and thus may not require to be the celebrity’s field-specific talk only, rather it should bring out the child within the person. This is a lightening up session yet serious points can easily be covered. A few rounds of laughter here would be the sweet dish after a good meal.
 
I have mapped this concept to 14 eminent Indian from diverse fields and mixed age groups (first phase) : Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Mahashweta Devi, Kiran Bedi, A R Rahman, Amitabh Bachchan, Saina Nehwal, Sonu Nigam, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Baichung Bhutia, N R Narayanamurthy, Ruskin Bond, Sonal Mansingh, Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Mittal.
 
I have also given justificatiion for the selection.
 
Please refer to my first email to know why I am pitching this idea to NDTVImagine and pardon my request to reply latest by Monday evening (23.Nov.2009) with payment details if you decide to accept and embrace the concept. I offer my creative best, full-stretch, to NDTVImagine if you decide to respond according to my need mentioned in the first email.
 
In GOD we always have our REFUGE.
 
Thank You,
Regards
Suvasys Banik

e-mail: suvasysbanik@gmail.com, suvasysbanik@yahoo.com
cell: +91 97066 61329 ,  +91 98643 55550
Web-sites: www.opnelo.net , www.mesonance.org , http://suvasysbanik.wordpress.com

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2ND EMAIL FROM NDTV IMAGINE IN REPLY TO MY 2ND EMAIL WITH FULL IDEA DETAIL SUBMISSION AS EMAIL ATTACHMENT TO THEM : Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 1:02 PM
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Dear Mr Banik,
 
Thank you for sharing the ideas/concepts with us. As you are aware, we being an entertainment company, we are always in the process of brainstorming and creating new ideas/concepts, developing new concepts, etc. Infact, we have a large record of archives and collections containing numerous ideas/concepts, either created by us or recommend by other parties, just the way you have currently done. The idea/concepts in our records could be at various stages of developments, discussions and/or negotiations and therefore, there could be a high possibility that an identical or similar idea(s)/concept(s) as recommended by you may already exist in our records/archives and we may be already working/developing it.
 
We therefore clarify that we have taken this ideas/concepts with the condition that in case, we, are already in the know of the ideas/concepts or have taken steps to execute the same, prior to receipt of this e-mail/correspondence, then we shall be under no obligation to revert to you or take forward this correspondences or share any information in our records and we may continue to independently pursue the idea(s)/concept(s), without relying upon or utilizing the material/information/inputs provided by you. Needless to state, since the idea(s)/concept(s) may already exist in our records/archives, it would be unfair on your part to claim any intellectual property rights on the concept(s) and would appreciate that, prior to taking any action(s), consult us so that neither you nor we are faced with unnecessary disagreements. It is and will always be our endeavour to encourage people like you and would recommend that, henceforth, prior to you sharing such concepts/ideas with any person/company, you contact the relevant department(s) of the company and execute the necessary documentations. 
 
 
Thanks
Amogh

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MY 3RD EMAIL TO NDTV IMAGINE : Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 3:20 PM
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To,
Mr. Amogh Dusad,
AVP – Strategy, Planning & Research,
NDTV Imagine Limited
P.O. Box No. 12001
Adarsh Nagar Post Office
Andheri West
Mumbai 400 053.
 
Dear Mr. Dusad,
 
Thank you for your email. I have carefully read it a few times and have understood your message, including the condition, obligation, intellectual property rights etc., to the best of my capacity.
 
In case your achive of contents/ideas/concepts doesnt have a similar one as submitted by me I would like to hear you back by today evening, so that I can try it out with other potential entertainment house/channel/company.
 
On a personal note, I am NOT here to make money by fighting court cases. On a personal note again, I am only trying to help my condition/problem by first Offering Something and then chancing upon a possible Return.
 
In GOD we do actually have our REFUGE.
 
Regards
Suvasys

——————————————————————————————————————————————-
3RD REPLY FROM NDTV IMAGINE TO MY 3RD EMAIL TO THEM : Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 5:23 PM
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Dear Mr Banik,
 
Thanks again for your mail on the concept.
On reviewing the concept, we believe that it’s an idea with potential.
However, at this point in time, we are unable to find a fit for the same on our channel.
 
Thanks
Amogh

————————————————————————————————————————————————————
MY 4TH AND FINAL REPLY TO NDTV IMAGINE IN RESPONSE TO THEIR 3RD EMAIL : Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 8:35 PM
———————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Dear Mr. Dusad,
 
Thanks for the last reply. It was nice communicating with NDTV Imagine.
 
Regards
Suvasys

Topic  

1.         Format of the Show, Episode-Structure with Explanation

2.         Justification behind the selection of 14 Indians (phase I)

3.         Format explanation and ideas w.r.t. to Individual Personalities    

            3.1 Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam        

            3.2 Mahashweta Devi    

            3.3 Kiran Bedi  

            3.4 A R Rahman           

            3.5 Amitabh Bachchan  

            3.6 Saina Nehwal          

            3.7 Sonu Nigam           

            3.8 Ustad Amjad Ali Khan         

            3.9 Baichung Bhutia      

            3.10 N R Narayanamurthy          

            3.11 Ruskin Bond         

            3.12 Sonal Mansingh    

            3.13 Sourav Ganguly    

            3.14 Sunil Mittal

Format of the Show, Episode-Structure with Explanation

Name, Profession

GLORY SO FAR

•          Brief Biography
•           Career / profession/ craft
•          Awards

This segment will be presented with the aid of suitable Still Photographs/Charts etc.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

The purpose here is to make the celebrity comment on himself/herself from a neutral standpoint,  so that the viewers can get a glimpse of the person’s humble nature and understand the value of it.

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

This segment is a highly probing exercise. The Interviewer should politely yet with great resolve dig out what/who almost dismissed the person’s efforts/struggles. This segment followed by the next form the core psychological aspect of the chat show, so that viewers and young Indians in the pursuit of their dreams get motivated.

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

In Bhagavad Gita, we find God telling mankind through Arjuna, that one is his own friend and his own enemy as well.  Based on this truth aspect of life we will probe how the Celebrity fought with his/her own internal enemy/nay-sayer to tilt the balance towards the friend-within and ultimately achieved what he/she did.

IMAGINE INDIA

Through imaginative probing we must unlock the patriot within him/her. Everyone wants his/her country to be the best and when we hear such words of patriotism and hope from our heroes, naturally our hearts feel good, our nerves become ready for challenge.

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

This segment is the concluding one and thus may not require to be the celebrity’s field-specific talk only, rather it should bring out the child within the person. This is a lightening up session yet serious points can easily be covered. A few rounds of laughter here would be the sweet dish after a good meal.

Justification behind the selection of 14 Indians (phase I)

1. Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam         

The whole of India simply admires him. He brought prestige to India’s Technological capacity. He instills courage and faith in every true Indian. He is an Applied-Patriot.

2. Mahashweta Devi     

A veteran writer, activists. A voice not much heard because she prefers to silently serve and make a difference in the lives of a very silent community – the tribal.

3. Kiran Bedi   

Symbol of out-an-out courage. Indian women are motherly yet they can be tough too.

4. A R Rahman

He is Indian-Gentleness-Personified. We love his music and India would love to hear his heart too.

5. Amitabh Bachchan  

The meaning of the word Amitabh is – ‘the light that would never go off’.  At the age of 60 he is still not tired proving it right, time and again.

6. Saina Nehwal          

There is glory and recognition beyond films and modeling for young Indian girls. She is a super-fit message of that.

7. Sonu Nigam

At the time of Rafi or Kishore Kumar tele-programmes in India were none or few. But today the new generation budding singers can understand what it takes to be a Sonu and remain there.

8. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan         

There is thrill in subtle music and in difficult instruments of Indian Classical genre, but unless people actually hear it from a maestro explaining and sharing experiences, they will always keep missing a grand truth.

9. Baichung Bhutia      

What is there in football, in India?

10. N R Narayanamurthy          

India is already a global IT Superpower. He realized it when very few even saw a PC in India. See him in a crowd, he looks like just another common Indian father.

11. Ruskin Bond          

Sort of an unsung hero amidst Rushdies, Roys, Bhagats.

12. Sonal Mansingh

Classical Indian Grace.

13. Sourav Ganguly     

A leader can be a brother too…

14. Sunil Mittal

Like him or not, his story is important for future entrepreneurs.

Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India, Scientist

GLORY SO FAR

Born  on October 15, 1931, Tamil Nadu, India, usually referred to as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, was the eleventh President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007. During his term as The President, he was popularly known as the People’s President.

Before his term as India’s president, he worked as an aeronautical engineer with DRDO and ISRO. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology. In India he is highly respected as a scientist and as an engineer.

Kalam played a pivotal organisational, technical and political role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974. He is a professor at Anna University (Chennai) and adjunct/visiting faculty at many other academic and research institutions across India.

The Government of India has honoured him with the nation’s highest civilian honours: the Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Indian government..

Kalam is the Third President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the highest office, the other two being Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain. He is also the first scientist and first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

We are curious to know what Dr. Kalam thinks about Dr. Kalam. Where things could have been bettered, could have been tried in a different way may be in a much efficient way. Moreover is Dr. Kalam happy with the way life unfolded for him?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

There were many doubts, bureaucratic hurdles, problems related to time and mind sets etc. that came in your way of progress in relation to the important engineering/scientific projects. Can you recount some of those instances when serious doubts over your ability were cast by your fellow human being…people who have discouraged with words or gestures?

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

How is it to deal with one’s own internal nay-sayer? Did you have, at any time, doubt over the successful outcome of your projects official and personal? What kept you going? We want to take a look at Dr. Kalam’s mental insight for the sake of drawing strength.

IMAGINE INDIA

Is imagination more important than anything else? Do you IMAGINE INDIA as an all round Superpower ? What the youths need to imagine what you can imagine, what roles they should be prepared to play?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

The books that you would like to write and read. The scientific projects you would like to do or anything else that you would like to do.

Mahashweta Devi, Writer, Activist

GLORY SO FAR

Mahasweta Devi was born in 1926 in Dhaka, to literary parents. Her father Manish Ghatak was a poet, novelist , a social activist and deeply involved with IPTA, and elder brother of noted filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, and her mother Dharitri Devi was also a writer and a social worker. Her first schooling was in Dhaka, but after the partition of India she moved to West Bengal in India. She joined the Rabindranath Tagore founded Vishvabharati University in Santiniketan and completed a B.A. (Hons) in English, and then finished an M.A. in English at Calcutta University as well. She later married renowned playwright and actor Bijon Bhattacharya.

In 1964, she began teaching at Bijoygarh College (an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta system). During those days, Bijoygarh College was an institution for working class women students. Also during that period, she also worked as a journalist and as a creative writer. Recently, she is more famous for her work related to the study of the Lodhas and Shabars,the tribal communities of West Bengal, women and dalits. She is also an activist who is dedicated to the struggles of tribal people in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In her elaborate Bengali fiction, she often depicts the brutal oppression of tribal peoples and the untouchables by potent, authoritarian upper-caste landlords, lenders, and venal government officials.

At the Frankfurt Book Fair 2006, when India was the first country to be the Fair’s second time guest nation, she made an impassioned inaugural speech wherein she moved the audience to tears with her lines taken from the famous film song by Raj Kapoor (the English equivalent is in brackets):

This is truly the age where the Joota (shoe) is Japani (Japanese), Patloon (pants) is Englistani (British), the Topi (hat) is Roosi (Russian), But the Dil… Dil (heart) is always Hindustani (Indian)… My country, Torn, Tattered, Proud, Beautiful, Hot, Humid, Cold, Sandy, Shining India. My country.

Awards

1979: Sahitya Akademi Award (Bengali): – Aranyer Adhikar (novel)

1986: Padma Shri

1996: Jnanpith Award – the highest literary award from the Bharatiya Jnanpith

1997: Ramon Magsaysay Award – Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts 

1999: Honoris causa – Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)

2006: Padma Vibhushan – the second highest civilian award from the Government of India

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

Do you feel satisfied? Do you feel ‘work-done’? Do you get awestruck at your own self?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

Writing, publishing as a woman writer in pre-television era and that too in India might have been challenging. How were the days of early life challenges? How people discouraged you? How people tried to limit your evolution and flight?

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

How Mahasweta di deals with her internal enemies? There must have inner proposal for compromise and remain in a comfort zone.

IMAGINE INDIA

Please tell us about your social activities, dalits etc and when you imagine a better India do you see them rubbing shoulders with privileged Indians?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

The books you would like to write or how you want to give shape to your social activities etc.

Kiran Bedi, Activist, first woman IPS

GLORY SO FAR

Kiran Bedi (born on 9 June 1949), is an Indian social activist and a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. She became the first woman to join the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972, and was last posted as Director General , BPR&D (Bureau of Police Research and Development, Ministry of Home Affairs).

During her service, she was also the Inspector General Prisons of Tihar Jail, – one of world’s largest prison complexes, with over 10,000 inmates, from 1993 to 1995, and her prison reforms policies lead to her winning, the 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Subsequently, she has founded two NGOs in India: Navjyoti for welfare and preventive policing in 1987 and India Vision Foundation for prison reforms, drug abuse prevention, child welfare in 1994.

She did her schooling from the Sacred Heart Convent School, Amritsar, where she joined the National Cadet Corps (NCC). She also took up tennis, a passion she inherited from her father, a tennis player. Later, she obtained her B.A. in English (Hons.) (1964-68) from the Government College for Women, Amritsar. She then earned a Master’s degree (1968-70) in Political Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh, topping the University.

Even while in active service in the Indian Police, she continued her educational pursuits, and obtained a Law degree (LLB) in 1988 from Delhi University, Delhi. In 1993, she obtained a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the Department of Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, where the topic of her thesis was ‘Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence’.

Kiran Bedi is a keen tennis player. She won the Junior National Lawn Tennis Championship in 1966, the Asian Lawn Tennis Championship in 1972, and the All-India Interstate Women’s Lawn Tennis Championship in 1976, besides this she also won the all-Asian tennis champion, and had won the Asian Ladies Title at the age of 22.

She began her career as a Lecturer in Political Science (1970-72) at Khalsa College for Women, Amritsar, India. In July 1972, she joined the Indian Police Service. On her web site, she states that she joined the police service “because of my urge to be outstanding”.

She served in a number of tough assignments ranging from Traffic Commissoner of New Delhi, Deputy Inspector General of Police in insurgency prone Mizoram, Advisor to the Lieutanent Governor of Chandigarh, Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau and also on a United Nations deputation, where she became the Civilian Police Advisor in the United Nations peacekeeping department, and for which she was awarded with the UN medal. She is popularly referred to as Crane Bedi for towing the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s car for a parking violation (the PM was on tour of United States then).

Kiran Bedi influenced several decisions of the Indian Police Service, particularly in the areas of control over narcotics, traffic management, and VIP security. During her stint as the Inspector General of Prisons, Tihar Jail (Delhi) (1993-1995), she instituted a number of reforms in the management the prison, and initiated a number of measures such as detoxification programs, yoga, vipassana meditation, redressing of complaints by prisoners and literacy programs. For this she not only won the 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award, but was also awarded the ‘Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship’, to write about the work done at Tihar Jail.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

There must have to be some feeling of awe! Are you happy with what Kiran Bedi have achieved and done so far.

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

You took many challenges: control over narcotics, traffic management, VIP security, Tihar reform process, and might have met people discouraging you. How you dealt? Tell us some specific instances.

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

How the super-cop won over her own internal conflicts, doubts and weakness if any?

IMAGINE INDIA

If you are to address the whole nation to come forward to take up challenging jobs what inputs would you be giving?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

What are the jobs you would like to embark on?

A R Rahman, Composer, Singer

GLORY SO FAR

Allah Rakha Rahman, born on January 6, 1966 as A. S. Dileep Kumar in Chennai, is an music composer, record producer, musician and singer. His film scoring career began in the early 1990s. He has won thirteen Filmfare Awards, four National Film Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards.

Working in India’s various film industries, international cinema and theatre, by 2003, Rahman, in a career spanning over a decade, has sold more than 100 million records of his film scores and soundtracks worldwide, and sold over 200 million cassettes, making him one of the world’s all-time top selling recording artists.

Time magazine has referred to him as the “Mozart of Madras” .

He initially composed music jingles for advertisements, Indian Television channels and music scores in documentaries, among other projects.

In 1992, he was approached by film director Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for Ratnam’s Tamil film Roja. The debut led Rahman to receive the Rajat Kamal award for Best Music Director at the National Film Awards, the first time ever by a first-time film composer. Rahman has since then gone on to win the award three more times (for his scores for Minsaara Kanavu (Electric Dreams, Tamil) in 1997, Lagaan (Tax, Hindi) in 2002, Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek, Tamil) in 2003, the most ever by any composer.

Rahman has been involved in several projects aside from film. He made an album Vande Mataram (1997) on India’s 50th anniversary of independence to commercial success. He followed it up with an album for the Bharat Bala–directed video Jana Gana Mana, a conglomeration of performances by many leading exponents/artists of Indian classical music. Rahman has written jingles for ads and composed several orchestrations for athletic events, T.V. and internet media publications, documentaries and short films.

Skilled in Carnatic music, Western classical, Hindustani music and the Qawwali style of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahman has been noted to write film songs that amalgamate elements of these music systems and other genres, layering instruments from differing music idioms in an improvisatory manner. Symphonic orchestral themes have accompanied his scores, where he has employed leitmotif.

His first soundtrack for Roja was listed in TIME’s “10 Best Soundtracks” of all time in 2005.

Rahman is involved in various charitable causes. In 2004, he was appointed as the Global Ambassador of the Stop TB Partnership, a project by WHO. He has shown support to charities including Save the Children.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

You are not A R Rahman, not even a musician, what would be your thoughts on A R Rahman then?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

Nay-sayers are no-where now. How did you silence them? Can you recall some heart-breaking comments or gestures of the past?

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

How you deal with your own inner challenges, how you draw strength, how you manage internal negativity?

IMAGINE INDIA

It is said ‘Visualize and it will materialize’, how important you feel it is to visualize one’s own success and how to work regarding that? What is your message to the musical talents of our country? Some words of encouragement and caution please.

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

The musical subjects you would like to dedicate yourself in or any other forms of creativity, charity, social work, personal growth.

Amitabh Bachchan, Actor

GLORY SO FAR

Amitabh Bachchan was initially named Inquilaab, inspired from the famous phrase Inquilab Zindabad, during the Indian independence struggle, but was re-christened Amitabh which means, “the light that would never go off.”

He attended Allahabad’s Jnana Prabodhini and Boys’ High School (BHS), followed by Nainital’s Sherwood College, where he majored in the art stream. He later went on to study at Kirori Mal College of the University of Delhi and completed a Bachelor of Science degree. In his twenties, Bachchan gave up a job as freight broker for the shipping firm, Bird and Co., based in Calcutta now known as Kolkata, to pursue a career in acting.

Bachchan made his film debut in 1969 as one of the seven protagonists in Saat Hindustani. Though the film was not a financial success, Bachchan won his first National Film Award for Best Newcomer.

 Rise to Stardom: 1973–1983

Zanjeer , Abhimaan , Namak Haraam, Chupke Chupke, Deewar, Sholay, Amar Akbar Anthony , Kabhie Kabhie Trishul , Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Shaan , Lawaaris, Shakti  et al.

While filming Coolie in 1982, Bachchan suffered a near fatal intestinal injury during the filming of a fight scene. The whole nation went frantic in their prayers for his recovery and he recovered, slowly.

A 15 year press ban against Bachchan was imposed during his peak acting years by Stardust and some of the other film magazines. In his own defense, Bachchan claimed to have banned the press from entering his sets almost till the end of 1989.

In 1988, Bachchan returned to films, playing the title role in Shahenshah, which was a box office success due to the hype of Bachchan’s comeback. After the success of his comeback film however, his star power began to wane as all of his subsequent films failed at the box office. The 1991 hit film, Hum, looked like it might reverse this trend, but the momentum was short-lived as his string of box office failures continued. Notably, despite the lack of hits, it was during this period that Bachchan won his second National Film Award, for his performance as a Mafia don in the 1990 film Agneepath. These years would be the last he would be seen on screen for some time. After the release of Khuda Gawah in 1992, Bachchan went into semi-retirement for five years. In 1994, one of his delayed films Insaniyat was released but was also a box office failure.

Bachchan turned producer during his temporary retirement period, setting up Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, Ltd. (A.B.C.L.) in 1996, with the vision of becoming a 10 billion rupees (approx 250 million $US) premier entertainment company by the year 2000. ABCL’s strategy was to introduce products and services covering the entire section of the India’s entertainment industry. Its operations were mainstream commercial film production and distribution, audio cassettes and video discs, production and marketing of television software, celebrity and event management. Soon after the company was launched in 1996, the first film was produced by the company. Tere Mere Sapne failed to do well at the box office but launched the careers of actors such as Arshad Warsi and South films star Simran. ABCL produced a few other films, none of which did well.

In 1997, Bachchan attempted to make his acting comeback with the film Mrityudaata, produced by ABCL. Though Mrityudaata attempted to reprise Bachchan’s earlier success as an action hero, the film was a failure both financially and critically. ABCL was the main sponsor of the The 1996 Miss World beauty pageant, Bangalore but lost millions. The fiasco and the consequent legal battles surrounding ABCL and various entities after the event, coupled with the fact that ABCL was reported to have overpaid most of its top level managers, eventually led to its financial and operational collapse in 1997. The company went into administration and was later declared a failed company by Indian Industries board. The Bombay high court, in April 1999, restrained Bachchan from selling off his Bombay bungalow ‘Prateeksha’ and two flats till the pending loan recovery cases of Canara Bank were disposed of. Bachchan had, however, pleaded that he had mortgaged his bungalow to Sahara India Finance for raising funds for his company.

Bachchan attempted to revive his acting career and had average success with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998), and received positive reviews for Sooryavansham (1999) but other films such as Lal Baadshah (1999) and Hindustan Ki Kasam (1999) were box office failures.

In the year 2000, Bachchan stepped up to host India’s adaptation of the British television game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? entitled, Kaun Banega Crorepati. As it did in most other countries where it was adopted, the program found immediate success. The Canara Bank withdrew its law suit against Bachchan in November 2000.

In 2000, Amitabh Bachchan appeared in Yash Chopra’s box-office hit, Mohabbatein, directed by Aditya Chopra. He played a stern, older figure that rivalled the character of Shahrukh Khan. Other hits followed, with Bachchan appearing as an older family patriarch in Ek Rishtaa: The Bond of Love (2001), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and Baghban (2003). As an actor, he continued to perform in a range of characters, receiving critical praise for his performances in Aks (2001), Aankhen (2002), Khakee (2004), Dev (2004) and Black (2005). Taking advantage of this resurgence, Amitabh began endorsing a variety of products and services, appearing in many television and billboard advertisements. In 2005 and 2006, he starred with his son Abhishek in the hit films Bunty Aur Babli (2005), the Godfather tribute Sarkar (2005), and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (2006). All of them were successful at the box office. His later releases in 2006 and early 2007 were Baabul (2006), Eklavya and Nishabd (2007), which failed to do well at the box office but his performances in each of them were praised by critics. He also made a guest-appearance as himself in the Kannada movie Amruthadaare, directed by Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar.

In May 2007, two of his films Cheeni Kum and the multi-starrer Shootout at Lokhandwala were released. Shootout at Lokhandwala did very well at the box office and was declared a hit in India, while Cheeni Kum picked up after a slow start and was declared an overall average hit.

He is a Padma Bhusan award winner and has countless other popular awards to his credit.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

How ‘Big’ you feel Big B is? Would you have been a fan of this fabulous actor? Is he a bigger actor or a bigger fighter to life’s challenges?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

Your life and career saw many ups and downs. Tell us about the instances that almost demoralized you, took all your strength and how you slowly overcame those and silenced nay-sayers.

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

How Big B deals with Big internal doubts and conflicts? How the ever angry young man fights pessimism?

IMAGINE INDIA

How India can be a cinematic super power? How more and more literature centric movies can be made? Do you think India should rely heavily on quality literature to compete with world cinema?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

The roles, the books, the subjects you would like to immerse in.

Saina Nehwal, Badminton Champion

GLORY SO FAR

Saina Nehwal born march 19 is an Indian badminton player. Currently ranked number 6 in the world by Badminton World Federation, Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics and the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. Saina Nehwal scripted history on June 21 2009, becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament after clinching the Indonesia Open with a stunning victory over higher-ranked Chinese Lin Wang in Jakarta.

Previously coached by S. M. Arif, a Dronacharya Award winner, Saina is the reigning Indian national junior champion and is currently coached by Indonesian badminton legend Atik Jauhari since August 2008.

Saina was born in Hisar, Haryana, India and spent her complete life in city of Hyderabad. Her foray into the world of badminton was influenced by her father Dr. Harvir Singh, a scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and her mother Usha Nehwal, both of whom were former badminton champions in Haryana.

In December 1998, Saina’s father took her to meet Coach Nani Prasad at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. Seeing potential in the girl, Prasad asked Singh to enroll Saina as a summer trainee.

Harvir Singh and Saina, who was 8 yrs old at the time, would wake up at 6 every morning and head to the stadium which was 20 km away. After two hours of practice, Singh would drop Saina to school on his way to work. Saina would often fall asleep on these journeys which prompted her mother to accompany them for the next three months.

Traveling nearly 50 km a day in order to accommodate the training schedule, Singh eventually decided to move closer to the stadium in 1999. This however didn’t end the traveling ordeal as Saina was asked to attend evening training sessions as well. With the extra training sessions, traveling expenditure rose phenomenally. Added to the cost of equipment including shuttles, rackets, shoes, gutting and expenses rose to over Rs. 12,000 per month.

In order to keep up with the rising cost of her training, Saina’s father withdrew money from his savings and provident fund. The tight-rope walk continued until 2002, when sports brand Yonex offered to sponsor Saina’s kit. As her status and rankings improved, the sponsorships increased. In 2004, BPCL signed the rising star onto their payroll, and in 2005 she was spotted by the Mittal Champions Trust.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

Tell us frankly, you feel happy what Saina have done so far? If you were not Saina Nehwal would you have admired a bollywood heroine more than a teenage badminton champion?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

Road to champions podium is studded with challenges at every step. How this young daughter of India managed to smash her nay-sayers out of court? Who discouraged you, what were the instances?

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

Every champion’s strongest support and stiffest challenges are both internal. Everyone has two voices within – one that cheers and supports, other that boos, what is your game-style in the inner indoor courts?

IMAGINE INDIA

India’s sports infrastructure is still not at par with International standard. Would you still IMAGINE INDIA as an Olympic superpower down the years? What India needs to do to achieve that?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

Would you still be playing badminton or would you like to embark on something else?

Sonu Nigam, Singer

GLORY SO FAR

Sonu Nigam began his singing career at the age of three. He moved to Mumbai with his father to begin his Bollywood singing career at the age of 19.

Over the years, Sonu has become a major force in the Indian music industry. He has provided playback singing for a large number of Hindi movies and won many awards. He is recognised for his versatile voice as well as excellent emotion range. Sonu has sung with clear pronunciations, in many languages besides Hindi, including Bengali, Oriya, Kannada, Punjabi,Tamil, Telugu, English, Bhojpuri, Urdu, Nepali and Marathi.

In November 2007, at the inauguration of Harvard University’s 28th president, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, Sonu sang with the Harvard College Sangeet the late Mahatma Gandhi’s favorite bhajan, ” Vaishnav Jan To Tene Kahiye”.

He has several Filmfare and other popular recognized  awards to his credit.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

Would you have been a Sonu Nigam fan?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

Tell us about comments and gestures that were insulting and discouraging. How you dealt with them?

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

Did you ever felt enough-of-this-struggle in your formative years? What were you own inner turmoil? How you dealt with all those?

IMAGINE INDIA

Your message to the young talents.  How important is it for the music-entrepreneurs to know/understand music and why?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

What Sonu Nigam will devote him into?

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Classical Sarod Player

GLORY SO FAR

Khan was born to Hafiz Ali Khan, is the sixth-generation sarod player in his family and his ancestors have developed and shaped the instrument over several hundred years. His forefathers came from Afghanistan to India’s relaxed music atmosphere and brought the Rubab which later developed into Sarod.

Khan has developed a unique style of playing the sarod. The key innovations in his style are compositions based on vocal music, the technical ability to play highly complex phrases (ekhara taans), at times with ascending or descending volume scales on the sarod spanning three octaves with equal emphasis on the composition.

Amjad’s playing places much emphasis on percussive right-hand plectrum work characteristic of the Afghan rabab-based idiom of the early sarod players. His chief innovation are his ekhara taans (complex high speed staccato passages), something which many sarod players find very difficult to do. Paraphrasing his words “I asked my father why the sarod could not keep up with sitar when it came to taans….my father explained that the sarod was a much more difficult instrument to play, not having frets … it is then I resolved to develop a style where I could match sitar like taans…”.

Khan has had a successful career spanning over 40 years and continues to be one of the busiest classical musicians in India.

 Awards

Khan received the three national Padma Awards: Padma Shri in 1975, Padma Bhushan in 1991, and Padma Vibhushan in 2001, and was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1989.

He was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2004 and on April 8, 2007, he was honoured with the Key to the City award by Kathy Taylor Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma state, for his long-standing contribution to the Indian Classical Music.

Houston and Nashville has conferred him honorary citizenship in 1997. Massachusetts has declared April 20 as the ‘Amjad Ali Khan Day’ in 1984. Tulsa is the third US city to confer honorary citizenship to him.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

What you learn and what in him inspires you the most?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

Technically you did many improvisations in your musical-craft and even modified the instrument up to a great deal as we learn. These are something very Subtle, but you must have found some dismissing-comments on your efforts and experimentations. We would like to hear from you comments/incidents that wanted to keep you just as an ordinary sarod player from becoming one extra-ordinary giant.

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

If you would have not done many modifications to the set patterns of style and also in the instrument we would have perhaps not know still that those were possible. You could have not done those, but you did. Were there some calls to ‘leave-it’ from within which you ignored and overpowered?

IMAGINE INDIA

What would take a Sarod to be as popular as a Guitar?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

How you can make the world musically better? What other activities you would like to take up which your busy schedule doesn’t let you pick up despite having interest?

Baichung Bhutia, Footballer

GLORY SO FAR

Baichung Bhutia  was born on 15 December 1976. He is considered to be the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena. Currently the captain of the Indian team. He is often nicknamed the Sikkimese Sniper because of his shooting skills in football. Three-time Indian Player of the Year I. M. Vijayan described Bhutia as “God’s gift to Indian football”.

When he signed up to play for the English club Bury in 1999 he became the first Indian footballer to play professional football in Europe. Afterwards he had a short loan spell at the Malaysian football club Perak FA. His international footballing honours include winning the Nehru Cup, LG Cup, South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship (three times) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup. He is also India’s most capped player, and in the 2009 Nehru Cup he received his 100th international cap.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

Would like to be a Baichung-fan?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

From a village-boy in Sikkim to the India’s most capped player who helped India win some important tournaments and also the first Indian to play for an International club, the journey must have met many who smiled at you not with encouragement but with ridicule. How you dealt, how you scored? Tell us some specific instances that challenged you inner strength.

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

Technically and emotionally when you yourself were your hardest tackler? How you managed to dodge and still score? How to deal with one’s own inner fears of failure? What were yours?

IMAGINE INDIA

What would require India to be a Global power in football like a Brazil or Argentina or Germany? Is it possible ever? If yes, how?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

What you would visualize yourself doing?

N R Narayanmurthy, Entrepreneur

GLORY SO FAR

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy  better known as N. R. Narayana Murthy, is an Indian industrialist, software engineer and one of the seven founders of Infosys Technologies, a global consulting and IT services company based in India. He is currently the non-executive Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys. He was the CEO of the company for 21 years, from 1981 to 2002. After stepping down as CEO in 2002, he has broadened his scope of activities to social services as well as promoting India globally.

In 2009, his lectures delivered around the world have been published as a book titled A Better India: A Better World .

Born into a Kannada Madhva Brahmin family in Mysore, India on August 20, 1946, Murthy graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore in 1967 after attending government school, and received his master’s degree from IIT Kanpur in 1969.

He started his career as a computer programmer before forming Infosys.

He is also a member of the Advisory Boards and Councils of various well-known universities – such as the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Corporate Governance initiative at the Harvard Business School, Yale University and the University of Tokyo’s President’s Council.

Murthy serves as an independent director on the board of the DBS Bank of Singapore. This is the largest government-owned bank in Singapore. He also serves as a director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India, as the co-chairman of the Indo-British Partnership, as a member of the Prime Minister’s council on trade and industry, as a member of the Asia Advisory Board of British Telecommunications plc. and as a member of the Board of NDTV, India. He also serves as an independent director on the board of the European FMCG giant Unilever. He is an IT advisor to several Asian countries. He is also an Independent Director on the board of HSBC.

He has several awards to his credit:

Padma Shri – Government of India

Padma Vibhushan – Government of India

Officer of the Legion of Honor – Government of France

Order of the British Empire

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

Do you feel Narayanmurthy has done the most to take India into the global map of IT-superpower? Who is greater – Murthy the entrepreneur or visionary?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

What were the criticism, doubts, disbelief, non-trust that were deleted systematically and patiently. Tell us about the resolve it required to do. What were the challenges?

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

Life and thoughts are never one-dimensional and even the bravest of soldiers tend to surrender to comfort and safety. In your case what were the moments of your own unsure, little lack of faith in the capacity of what actually you were capable of achieving? How you dealt with your own inner nay-sayers, how you silenced them?

IMAGINE INDIA

Can India rule the Global Operating System market one day? Can India make applications that others would be programming on? Do you see corporations coming up in India to challenge a Microsoft or an Oracle down the line? How it can be achieved?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

Will he be associated to IT or venture into something else?

Ruskin Bond, Writer

GLORY SO FAR

Ruskin Bond, born 19 May 1934, is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children’s authors and a top novelist. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children’s literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Mussoorie.

Ruskin Bond studied in Bishop Cotton School in Shimla is one of the oldest boarding schools in Asia, having been founded on 28 July, 1859, by Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton.

Most of his writings show a strong influence from the social life in the hill stations at the foothills of the Himalayas, where he spent his childhood. His first novel was “The Room On the Roof”, written when he was 17 and published when he was 21 was partly based on the experiences at Dehra in his small rented room on the roof and his friends. The “Room On the Roof” brought him the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written over three hundred short stories, essays and novellas (including Vagrants in The Valley and The Flight of Pigeons) and more than 30 books for children. He has also published two volumes of autobiography, Scenes from a Writer’s Life, which describes his formative years growing up in Anglo-India, and The Lamp is Lit, a collection of essays and episodes from his journal.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

What aspect of the personality will inspire you the most?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

Every successful man is in debt to a few harsh comments given on him. What were yours?

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

How a writer bleeds within that we never understand? Did you ever feel you are creatively finished? How you fight with your own lack of faith in yourself at times?

IMAGINE INDIA

Indian has the most diverse culture in the World and so does the literary works. Yet India’s publishing industry is not organized and not at par with International standards. All publishing giants are US or UK based, what would it require to change it in favour of India?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

What would you like to read and write etc.

Sonal Mansingh, Classical Dancer

GLORY SO FAR

Early life and background

Sonal Mansingh was born in Mumbai, second of three children to Arvind and Poornima Pakvasa, a noted social worker from Gujarat and Padma Bhushan winner in 2004. Her grandfather was Mangal Das Pakvasa, a freedom fighter, and one of the first five Governors of India .

She started learning Manipuri dance at age four, along with her elder sister, from a teacher in Nagpur, then at age seven she started learning Bharatnatyam from various gurus belonging to the Pandanallur school , including Kumar Jayakar in Bombay

She has “Praveen” and “Kovid” degrees in Sanskrit from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and B.A. (Hons) degree in German Literature from Elphinstone College, Bombay.

Though, her real training in dance started when at age 18, despite her family’s opposition, she went to Bangalore, to learn Bharatanatyam from Prof. U. S. Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi  at age 18, and later started learning Odissi from Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra in 1965.

 She founded Centre for Indian Classical Dances (CICD) in New Delhi .

Over the years, dance has taken her all over the world  and brought her many awards, including the Padma Bhushan (1992), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987 , and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s the second highest civilian award, in 2003; making her the first woman dancer in India to receive such an honour . This was followed by Kalidas Samman of Madhya Pradesh Government, in 2006 and on April 21, 2007, she was conferred with Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by G.B. Pant University, Uttarakhand at Pantnagar .

To mark the completion of her 40 years in dancing in 2002, noted Hindi film director, Prakash Jha made a documentary film on her, title Sonal , which also won the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film for the year .

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

Do you feel the dancer in Sonalji could bring out all the artistic potential to the foreground?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

Who were the ones and what were their comments that could have broke your hearts but ultimately succumbed to your will power to perform and excel?

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

Had there been any call to ‘stop and relax’ from yourself to you? What were the instances when you could not initially back yourself up properly? How you won over the inner-critic who was always ready to dismiss you?

IMAGINE INDIA

How deep-rooted and diverse Indian classical forms of art, music, dance can bring about a global movement? Can Bharatnatyam or Oddissi  become a craze among youngsters as is pop culture right now?

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

What Sonalji will dance for and express?

Sourav Ganguly, Cricketer

GLORY SO FAR

The youngest son of Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly, Ganguly was born on 8 July 1972 in Kolkata.

Following a prolific Ranji season in 1990-91, Ganguly made his One Day International debut for India against West Indies in 1992, and scored three runs. He was dropped immediately.

Captained India in a record 49 Test matches

Led India to a record 21 Test wins

His Test average has never been less than 40.

Hold the record of most 200+ ODI partnerships (6 times) along with Sachin Tendulkar .Holds the record, shared with Sachin Tendulkar, for most 1st wicket ODI partnerships of 175+ runs (7 times).

Holds the record, shared with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the second highest score by an Indian cricketer in an ODI — 183, against Sri Lanka in 1999.

Was involved in the first 300 run ODI partnership with Rahul Dravid.

Sixth on the all time list with 31 man of the match awards.

He is also the only player to win 4 consecutive man of the match awards in ODIs.

India’s most successful ODI captain.

First Indian to score an ODI century against Australia in Australia.

Highest ODI runs scorer in the world (in a calendar year) in 1997, 1999, and 2000.

Third in the list of hitting maximum number of sixes in ODIs.

Second in the list of highest number of centuries in a single calendar year ever. 7 centuries in 2000.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

Who would have inspire you the most – Ganguly the Cricketer or the Captain or the Fighter?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

You have plenty of nay-sayer right from the beginning of your career. How you managed drive them out of boundary? What comments and views were most heart-breaking yet made you more determined?

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

There must have been some moments when you yourself told Saurov that he might not be able to make it this time? What were such moments and why and how you flared in your own internal difficult-pitch-to-bat-on?

IMAGINE INDIA

You have been a great support to young talents like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Bhajji, Kaif etc. What is your message to the present day youngsters in all fields who are working hard and trying to excel and who are fighting all odds? Do you see India as a sports-super power down the line? Tell us how it can happen.

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

How Ganguly will serve the nation and inspire again.

Sunil Mittal, Entrepreneur

GLORY SO FAR

Graduated in 1979 from Punjab University with a Bachelor of Arts and Science.

The son of a politician Bharti Mittal, Sunil Mittal is from the town of Ludhiana in Punjab. He has built the Bharti group, along with two siblings and became India’s largest mobile phone operator in just ten years. The UK based telecommunication giant, Vodafone and Singapore’s SingTel both own stakes in the recently renamed flagship company Bharti Airtel. The group also has partnerships with Axa for insurance and with the Rothschild family.

Residing in Delhi, he is married and has three children. A first generation entrepreneur, he started his first business in April 1976  at the age of 18, with a capital investment of Rs 20,000 (U$500) borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers.

In 1980 he sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to Mumbai.

In 1981, he purchased importing licences from exporting companies in Punjab. He then imported thousands of Suzuki Motors’s portable electric-power generators from Japan. The importing of generators was suddenly banned by the then Indian Government and just 2 licences to manufacture generators in India were issued to 2 companies.

1984, he started assembling push-button phones in India.

In 1992, he successfully bid for 1 of the 4 mobile phone network licences auctioned in India. He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area. His plans were finally approved by the Government in 1994  and launched services in Delhi in 1995.

He is superstitious about the number 23, as he was born on the 23rd and also got married on the 23rd. He also becomes vegetarian before any big venture.

He is opening a Football academy in Haryana or Goa to help India send a team to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Mittal has also been working towards educating India through the Bharti Foundation

In November 2006, he struck a joint venture deal with Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, to start a number of retail stores across India.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF BEING SOMEONE ELSE

Does Mr. Sunil Mittal inspire you? Do you see him as your role model?

THEY SAID YOU CAN’T

Tell us people who did not believe in your ability, their stinging comments and how you proved them wrong with time.

YOU FELT YOU CAN’T

Could you have ever imagined what you have so far done? Didn’t there have been some moments in your life when you yourself were a source of discouragement to your faith and strength?

IMAGINE INDIA

What would require India to become world’s economic and technological superpower? Is it possible? What role the youth should play in that regard? Please share some wisdom and thoughts in that regard.

IF A HUNDRED MORE YEARS ADDED TO YOUR LIFE

What role you see for yourself contributing to Indian Industry and in other fields.