Saina Nehwal -- Guts & Glory

 "I like playing the chinese 'coz I want to beat them. I wanna beat them 'coz they're the best"
Sweat and striving make Saina Nehwal the world no.6 and India's No.1 athlete. Take a look at her arduous routine : 15 mins on the treadmill at 10.5 kph,then another 15 at 11 kph and 1/2 an hour at 12 kph. At which stage, instead of toppling off and gasping for an ambulance she wants to do a 10 min clip at 14 kph !! This is Saina's aerobic target and she has 2 sessions to get there,to run 15 kms in 70 mins burning about 1300 cals. What may look like torture to us is actually her routine.

The 1st Indian woman to win an asian sattelite event, the 1st Indian woman to win a four-star tournament,the 1st Indian woman AND the youngest winner of a super series grand prix Indonesian open in june (one of the game's 12 elite events). She is world no.6 and she's all of 19. It's badminton that has given India it's best-performing athletes, quite poetic 'coz the sport was invented here. When she gets onto the court she turns into a synthesis of energy,movement and craft. She hits with Gopichand and 2 other men,their shots echoing in the high archway of the indoor court. Endurance is the foundation of her sport : A player covers nearly 6 kms in a 75 min. singles match,compare that to a tennis match that lasts thrice as long but a player covers only 3 kms. No other sport has such diversity of movement.Badminton players leap off the ground,smash,run cross-court and bend to pick up a drop in less time than it takes to read this sentence. They raise their lower arm repeatedly,causing their hearts to work harder pumping blood upwards

Nehwal is candid "I don;t have very good skill in my strokes,but I try to pick up all the shuttles" But she's one of only 2 women of non-chinese origin in the top 10 of world badminton. A chinese website has rated her as their biggest threat and toughest competitor. She's flattered but sombre, "It's not easy to win against them" She and her family have sacrificed a lot of things to help her keep playing. She wanted to be a doctor,but could not take her exams as she had to play. Her father turned down a promotion in delhi so that his daughter could concentrate on her game. Her sis and mom deny themselves foods that Saina avoids,but which are her faves like ice-cream,chocs and chaat. But she's one tough determined cookie. In china once, her coach Gopichand told the vegetarian Saina that she couldn't be picky about food,and that she had to eat meat "if I wanted to be stronger than the chinese". She simply switched.

Her focus is unwavering,her ambition uncompromising. She thinks facebook-ing is a waste of time and saw her last movie in dec '08. She treats herself to a single ice-cream only after she wins an event. She said in response to being asked if she missed just being a normal girl "I love winning you know. I love standing on a podium rather than going out for a cup of coffee" It's a daunting sense of mission "It's not easy to be a champ" She has succeeded not 'coz of her addiction to the game,but also her appetite for a tough choice. Today she's at a stage where the margins are getting narrower,if she plays 5% better she can beat the top 8,if she plays 5% lesser 20 more players can beat her. As much as she loves winning,losing reveals her best. Hours after her Olympic quarter final loss, as coach and ward were returning Gopichand asked lightly "Training at 6 tomorrow ??" Nehwal said "plz bhaiya",Gopichand thought the joke had gone too far,but she was only requesting an extra hours sleep. They trained at 7 AM the next day. After her Indonesia win she dint sleep all night,sitting up in bed watching her medal,but she was out of bed and on the courts at 5 AM.

What makes her this way ?? She says she would feel 'sick' if she didn't play her game. Does she consider herself special ?? "Yes I'm special" One part youth and one part self belief, that's what drives her to her destiny.

The Curious Case of a vanilla allergic pontiac

This is a real story that happened with a Pontiac owner (Pontiac is a brand owned by general motors inc.) Read on :

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a
tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night,
but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the
whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive
down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a
new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.....

You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the
store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car
starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no
matter how silly it sounds "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not
start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any
other kind?" The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the
letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.

The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well
educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.

The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got
chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car
started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's
car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue
his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end
he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type
of gas used, time to drive back and forth etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: The man took less time to buy vanilla than
any other flavor. Why ? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla,
being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the
store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the
store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out
the flavor.

Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it
took less time ??

Eureka - Time was the problem - not the vanilla ice
cream !!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "Vapor lock".

It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other
flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man
got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Moral of the story : Lateral Thinking is always good. And every challenge brings with it a wonderful opportunity. Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution,What really matters is your attitude and your perception.

P.S. For the more inquisitive folks click here to read more about Vapor Lock

Haagen Dazs opens no-Indians-allowed store in Delhi.

Ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs recently opened its flagship store in India at Delhi's Select Citywalk mall in Saket. The Banner read "Exclusive preview for international travelers. Access restricted only to holders of international passports." (The last sentence in fine print) Who ever thought this was a clever piece of marketing needs to reconsider their career path asap. I would patently refuse to patronize or even enter an establishment that has such a racist, inflammatory and outrageous policy. With my sweet tooth and appreciation of good ice-cream I was actually looking forward to their entry in India, but I doubt I will ever buy this product. We've lived some 60 years without this feeling, but somehow I'm brought back to "Indians and dogs not allowed." This is complete bullshit.
Haagan Daz is not such an exclusive product after all, go anywhere else in the world and you'll see avg. middle class people eating it .I would not compare it to the exclusivity of owning a say Tag-Heuer. Secondly if the owner wanted to create exclusivity, he/she should have charged a serious premium that would only allow only certain people to consume it. But to ban Indians in India from walking into the store is complete sh*t. Do the people who favor free business think that any private company should be allowed to discriminate like this ? Some people not being able to get ice-cream is very different to a specific race not being able to get ice-cream. Ice-cream is not important, but equality is. The irony is that Haagen Dazs itself is a foreigner in Delhi. So the odd thing about the whole episode isn't that a foreign company is banning the locals from partaking, but that a local business owner is banning the locals from partaking. Does that mean he can't eat his own products ? Haagen Dazs doesn't owe anything to Indians, nor does it have any vested interest in the feelings or welfare of Indians. The only reason Haagen Dazs is in India at all is because it's a good place to make money. This is the end logic of unrestricted corporate globalization. Multinational businesses can operate anywhere they like without having any sensitivity at all to the area in which they operate.
It’s a different matter if these guys did that in their house. It’s their house, they can do what ever they want. However, This is a public place – a mall built with Indian money, by an Indian. What happens if the place gets vandalized ?? Then they expect protection from the Indian Police who employ Indians and who are paid for by the Indian Tax payer. Taking that into account, These a-holes have no right to place a banner like that. Its offensive as hell. Those who support the right of Haagen Dazs to racially discriminate based on a philosophy of private property rights and market freedom are making one of the strongest possible arguments against free-market capitalism. Choice is a deceptive word. You cant have a choice or right to do everything you want. For example, I don’t have a right to kill someone else. I don’t have a right to take someone else's property, and I don’t have a right to propagate inequality and racism. You shouldn't need a passport for an ice-cream in any country - let alone your own.

Siddhagiri museum,Kaneri,Kolhapur. Mah

Siddhagiri Gramjivan Museum (Kaneri Math) at Kaneri near Kolhapur,Maharashtra is a unique museum,probably the only one of its kind in India. The museum is called ‘Siddhagiri Gramjivan (Village life) Museum’.Around 400 km south of Mumbai.Children studying gurukul style in the shade of a tree, farmers having lunch in the fields, cowherds milking their cows...The scene is that of a typical Indian village -- yet not a soul stirs.

This museum showcases different aspects of Gramjivan (village life). ‘Gram’ means ‘village’ and ‘jivan’ means ‘life’ in Marathi language. This initiative was dream project of Mahatma Gandhi, visually and symbolically created through the vision and efforts of Siddheshwar Trust. The history of self-sufficient village life before the invasion of Mughals in Maharshtra is depicted here in the form of sculptures.Each sculpture is life-like and has a multi dimensional effect and lifestyle theme.
Unlike Madame Tussauds where wax is the main material, all the 1,000-plus images at Siddheshwar Museum have been made of rocks and bricks, stuffed with wire gauze. The images were shaped with wet cement by nearly 80 skilled masons. After the cement dried and solidified, a team of around 60 artists took over with a battery of colours. The bare minimum lighting used enhances the effects to present a natural appearance.Despite the extreme hot, cold and rainy conditions in southern Maharashtra,the museum images have withstood the ravages of the climate in the past two years since it was set up.

The museum is spread over 7 acres area and has almost 80 scenes which showcase more than 300 statues. The surrounding countryside is beautiful and is surrounded with lush greenery. Every aspect of village life has been depicted in this museum. It is a perfect blend of fact, powerful imagination and enormous hard work in getting the life-like expressions of the whole village.They painted the finest details on each subject, whether human or animal or the environment around.

There were 12 ALUTEDARS (12 main profession-based castes i.e. Professions performed from generation to generations by families) and 18 BALUTEDARS, who provided equipments to all villagers to fulfill their day-to-day necessities (domestic as well as professional).

Click here to check some the images from the place