The Year That Was: 2006

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2006: Final farewells
Pramod Mahajan: A family tragedy

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Pramod Mahajan was the Bharatiya Janata Party's suave, sophisticated mascot. From Laptop Brigade to Five-Star Politician, Mahajan gave Indian politics new colour, new phrases, and a whole new face to a party that had till then the air of a strict, regimented lot.


He lived glamorously, organised meticulously and never bothered about the controversies that would keep cropping up around him. He was the face of the BJP's Gen Next.
He was shot by his brother, Pravin, three times at point-blank range, at his Mumbai residence on April 22. He fought a grim fortnight-long battle for his life in hospital before succumbing on May 3. Reportedly, Pravin Mahajan was angry at being ignored by his famous elder brother.

One of the five children of a humble family in Marathwada in Maharashtra, Pramod Mahajan had close ties with the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh.
His rise in the BJP started after Atal Bihari Vajpayee was impressed with his oratory skills during a political rally in 1977.

He soon became the public face of the BJP as well as the backroom boy organising the party's various activities, including L K Advani's rath yatra in 1990.

He was made the defence minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's ministry in 1996. The ministry lasted 13 days; Mahajan's effect was to last much, much longer. He was Vajpayee's political advisor in 1998 and later became communications minister. He held a number of posts, including parliamentary affairs minister, information technology minister and water resources minister.
 
2006: Final farewells
Ustad Bismillah Khan: A Legend Passes into the ages


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On India's first Independence Day, Ustad Bismillah Khan enthralled audiences with a sterling performance from the ramparts of Delhi's historic Red Fort.

The Ustad, who mesmerised generations of Indians with his music, was single-handedly responsible for making the shehnai a classical instrument to be reckoned with.
Khansaab was born on March 21, 1916, his ancestors court musicians in the princely state of Dumraon in Bihar, and he trained under his uncle, the late Ali Bux 'Vilayatu', a shehnai player attached to Varanasi's Vishwanath Temple.
Where others saw conflict and contradiction between his music and his religion, Bismillah Khan saw only divine unity. A devout Shia, he was also a staunch devotee of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of music.
In 2001, Khan became the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

The maestro has played in Afghanistan, Europe, Iran, Iraq, Canada, West Africa, the US, the USSR, Japan, Hong Kong and almost every capital city in the world.

In Ustad Khan's modest words, music was an ocean and he had barely reached its shores even after 91 years. Despite his fame, Khan's lifestyle in Varanasi retained its old world charm and he continued to use the cycle-rickshaw as his chief mode of transport. Khan was a flag-bearer of communal harmony. The maestro remained firm to his roots and fulfilled his commitment to live and die in Varanasi. He passed away on August 21.
 
2006: Final farewells
Dr Rajkumar: Kannada icon is no more


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He was the Kannada film industry's first -- and many believe only -- true superstar.

Revered as a demigod by millions of his fans, Dr Rajkumar never ran short of love, fame, adulation or media space in his five-decade long career. And he was versatile throughout, playing everything from larger-than-life historical figures to the common man.
He was born Mutturaju Singanalluru Puttaswamayya on April 24, 1929 at Gajanur, Tamil Nadu before he was christened Rajkumar for the Karnataka celluloid world by director H L N Simha, who discovered the would-be-matinee idol at a bus depot and signed him as hero for the film Bedara Kannappa in 1954.
The alias Rajakumar sat snugly on Muthuraj as he moved from the realm of mythological and historical films to the age of neo-realism, marching along with the times, polishing his skills as he went along, and marking many a milestone. His role as a village simpleton in films like Mannina Maga, Anna Thangi, Chandavalliya Thota, Doorada Betta and Mayor Muththanna bonded him with the masses. The endearing image of Rajkumar riding a buffalo, singing a popular song in the film Sampattige Saval, brought to the fore the reality of rural India.

His affinity for villages and Kannadigas transformed him into a larger than life figure, stirring up mass hysteria when forest brigand Veerappan kidnapped him. Veerappan, who ironically hailed from the same birthplace as the thespian, was fully aware of the priceless treasure in his custody when he sent out a list of demands to be met in return for Rajkumar's release. His release sparked nothing short of a state-wide celebration. Naturally, his demise, on April 12, sparked chaos, and five people were killed as distraught fans went on the rampage in Bangalore
 

bonddonraj

MP Guru
HEY RAHUL THATS REALLY GOOD ATTEMPT ................KEEP UPDATING MORE...............................................................
 

manjotdullat

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
year 2006 - death of Saddam Hussein To be

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti [ صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي ]

Image:Saddam_Hussein_at_trial%2C_July_2004.JPEG


Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti [ April 28, 1937 - December 30, 2006]
was the President of Iraq, his rule lasting from July 16, 1979 until April 9, 2003, when he was deposed during the United States-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. As a leading member of the Iraqi Baath Party, which espoused secular pan-Arabism, economic modernization, and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role modernizing Iraq and giving the country stability within the region. He was an integral part of the 1968 coup that brought his party to long-term power.

As vice president under his cousin, the frail General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Saddam tightly controlled conflict between the government and the armed forces by creating repressive security forces and cementing his own firm authority over the apparatus of government.

As president, Saddam ran an authoritarian government and maintained power and stability in the country. During his rule the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) and the Gulf War (1991) occurred. He repressed movements deemed threatening to the his regime, particularly those of ethnic or religious groups that sought independence or autonomy along tribal lines. He was and remains a popular hero among many Sunni Iraqis and Arabs for standing up to Israel and the United States.

After the US invasion of Iraq, Saddam was eventually captured by U.S. forces on December 13, 2003. On November 5, 2006, he was convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraq Special Tribunal and was sentenced to death by hanging.[4] On December 26, Saddam's appeal was rejected and the death sentence upheld. He was reported to have been hanged, in front of doctors, lawyers and officials, on December 30 just before 06:00 local time (03:00 UTC), according to Iraqi TV sources.[5] According to media sources, Iraqi government sources plan to release photographic evidence of the hanging
 
bonddonraj said:
HEY RAHUL THATS REALLY GOOD ATTEMPT ................KEEP UPDATING MORE...............................................................

sirji, this is Prakash,,,,,,,,

Not Rahul............


Anyways wait for Updates...................

Lots More To Come ------------



Source: Rediff:bump:
 
2006: Final farewells
Naushad Ali: The day the music Died


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Regarded as one of the greatest music composers of Indian cinema, Naushad's was literally a journey from the footpath to the recording studios.
Born on Christmas day in 1919, he spent several nights on the streets of Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1930s to try his luck as a musician.
After studying under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali and Ustad Babban Saheb, Naushad repaired harmoniums and composed for amateur theatre in Lucknow. Parental pressure to wean him away from music compelled the future maestro to run away to Mumbai in search of his dream.
He assisted Khemchand Prakash, whom he considered his teacher, for a few years, and got his first break with Prem Nagar (1940). However, he was first noticed with Sharda (1942), where a 13-year-old Suraiya did the playback for heroine Mehtab. Rattan (1944) took Naushad to the top and enabled him to charge a princely Rs 25,000 a film in those days.
Naushad's forte was Hindustani classical music. His professional training enabled him to make swift adaptations of ragas into film music. This led to his coming out with major hits including Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India and Baiju Bawra. His other hits included films like Shahjahan, Dard, Dillagi, Dulari, Anokhi Ada, Barsaat and Andaaz.
Lata Mangeshkar, India's greatest playback singer -- whom Naushad gave an opportunity to sing in the early days -- once remarked that the music he composed for Baiju Bawra had surprised her. "It was entirely different from what he had done before. Different ragas were used for different situations and the purity of the ragas was maintained to the maximum possible extent," she had said.


Naushad had wept when Baiju Bawra was premiered at Mumbai's Broadway theatre. When the late producer Vijay Bhat asked him why he was crying, Naushad told him he was sleeping on the footpath opposite the theatre when he had dreamt of seeing his music brought to life here. 'It took me 16 long years to cross that footpath,' he had said.
He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Aware in 1981 for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. Naushad was the first to combine the flute and clarinet, sitar and mandolin. He was also one of the first to introduce song mixing and separate recording of voice and music in playback singing. The 86-year-old's last composition was for Taj Mahal - An Eternal Love Story, directed by Akbar Khan, which was released in 2005.
 
2006: Final farewells
Hrishkesh Mukherjee: The end for reel Legend


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Even as the highest paid actors from Amitabh Bachchan to Dharmendra to Rajesh Khanna were prepared to halve their fee to be in a film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in the 1970s, the filmmaker was gripped by self-doubt. The stars, and some of India's finest writers and composers including sitar maestro Ravi Shankar (Anuradha), loved working with him for they knew the soft-spoken but resolute filmmaker would get good work out of them. But the filmmaker wondered from time to time why he was not able to make something half good as a film by Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen or Ritwik Ghatak. While many who worked with him will remember his landmark films, they will also miss the warmth and affection he brought to the workplace.

As an editor, he worked on some of the most notable films of his time. Apart from his own films such as Anupama, a bittersweet story of a father who never could never forgive his daughter (played by a remarkable Sharmila Tagore) for a tragedy over which she had no control, he edited films such as Madhumati for his mentor Bimal Roy. Many filmmakers including Ramu Kariat (Chemmeen, the award-winning Malayalam hit) working on their ambitious projects sought him out as an editor.

But Mukherjee was not happy with his filmmaking. In 1975, he felt that he had overworked himself and was wondering if he could make a film that could win an award at a major film festival. He was afraid to make films that were really radical, he admitted.
In the 1980s, the half a dozen films he directed including Rang Birangi were non-events. In 1998, when his comedy Jhooth Bhole Kauwa Kaate starring Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla bombed, he decided he would not make any more films. He was 76.

Whether it was Rakesh Roshan (who starred in the delightful comedy Khubsoorat opposite Rekha in 1980) or Amitabh Bachchan who acted in eight films (including Anand and Mili) directed by Mukherjee, the stars felt very secure in his company.

"He maintained old-fashioned values and work ethics that you could not easily find in our film industry," Bachchan said about Mukherjee. The actor had made a terrific impact as an idealist physician in Anand, in which Rajesh Khanna gave a solid performance too, in the year 1970.

"He was tough and demanding," Bachchan said. "But he was also fair and inspiring. Working with him was something we looked forward to, film after film." Mukherjee, who directed over 40 films, was proud of a few things. "You will not be embarrassed watching my films with your family," he had said. "I could never tolerate vulgarity or violence."

Even as he had become a recluse in the last decade Mukherjee was aware of his legacy. And what a legacy it is...
 
2006: Final farewells
Kanshi Ram: Dalit Messiah is no More



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Kanshi Ram (centre in the picture, with a young Mayawati on the right) was responsible for pitchforking Dalits to the centre of Uttar Pradesh politics, leading to the decline of national parties like Congress.

Born on March 15, 1934, Kanshi Ram, of Dalit Sikh background, founded the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984.

He remained a bachelor, was an enigma in Indian politics, and strove for the spread of the Dalit movement throughout the country but achieved success only in Madhya Pradesh apart from Uttar Pradesh.

Kanshi Ram, who launched an organisation for protecting the interests of Dalit workers in government in 1978, floated a political forum -- Dalit Shoshit Sangharsh Samiti -- in 1981 and tested political waters by entering the fray in 1987 in a Lok Sabha byelection against V P Singh in Allahabad when the latter founded Jan Morcha, but failed to make it to Parliament.

He later won from Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, in 1991 and entered the Lok Sabha.
Along with his protegee Mayawati, he brought the party to power in Uttar Pradesh in 1995 in alliance with the BJP and Mayawati became the chief minister. Ram was also a member of the 11th Lok Sabha (1996-97).

Ram later developed multiple ailments like paralytic stroke, diabetes and hypertension and was virtually bed-ridden at Mayawati's residence.

His last public appearance was in March 2006 on the occasion of his 72nd birthday.
 
2006: Final farewells
Polly Umrigar: Gentle Legend's innings comes to an End

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Polly Umrigar was a heroic cricket figure from the late forties to the early sixties, almost always shining in a losing cause.

When he retired, he held the most important records for India: most Tests, most runs, most hundreds. His records stood from 1962 to 1978, when they were broken by Sunil Gavaskar.

A burly six-footer, Umrigar was a commanding figure at the crease, whether batting, bowling, directing operations as captain or standing in his usual position at first slip. He excelled in full-blooded drives, but could also hook and pull powerfully.

As a bowler, he was an accurate off-spinner and could even open the bowling, sending down out-swingers. He was also a brilliant and versatile fielder.

Whether as batsman, bowler or captain, he helped shape the few Indian triumphs of his time. For 30 years, he held the record of the highest score by an Indian on tour -- 252 not out against Cambridge University in 1959.

As a bowler, his finest hour was when he took four for 27 to help India defeat mighty Australia at Kanpur in 1959.

A shrewd captain, he led India in eight Tests, winning two and losing two before giving up the captaincy at Madras, against the West Indies in 1959 following a misunderstanding with the selectors.

He is only one of two Indian cricketers (Vinoo Mankad being the other) to score a century and take five wickets in an innings -- a feat he achieved against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 1962. Umrigar was also the first Indian to hit a Test double century.

After retirement, he continued to serve Indian cricket as chairman of the selection committee, tour manager and BCCI executive secretary.

He was born on March 28, 1926 at Solapur in Maharashtra as Pahlan Ratanji Umrigar and made his first class debut in 1944. His Test debut came four years later, against the West Indies at Mumbai, and his 59th and last Test was also against the West Indies, at Kingston in 1962. He retired from first class cricket a year later.

He played 59 Tests, scoring 3631 runs, with a best of 223 and inclusive of 12 centuries at an average of 42.22; he claimed 35 wickets, and had best bowling figures of six for 74 at an average of 42.08.



2006: Final farewells
Hanumant Singh: A prince & A Player

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Hanumant Singh, nephew of the great K S Ranjitsinhji, scored a century on Test debut against England in 1963-64 but only played 13 more Tests, registering five fifties while missing a century against a touring Australia by six runs in the following season.
Compact and correct, the 'Prince of Banswara' was prolific in domestic cricket, amassing 12,338 runs at 43.90 with 29 centuries in a first-class career that spanned over 20 years.
Hanumant was a respected ICC match referee, officiating in nine Tests and 54 one-dayers between 1995 and 2002.
He has also served as selector and coached at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore where he had a hand in the development of several of the current Indian cricketers.


Singh should have represented the country in more matches than he did, said his India colleagues.
"Hanumant was one of the finest batsmen I have played with or against. He had all the strokes. He was a perfect team man. I wish he had played more Test cricket. He was the major thorn for us against Rajasthan and Central Zone. We knew if we could get him the rest will follow," said former India captain Ajit Wadekar.


2006: Final farewells
Padmini: Southern Wonder
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The legendary actress Padmini was part of the famed Travancore Sisters -- Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini.
Padmini acted in more than 250 Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films since 1949.
Born in Poojappura in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, on June 12, 1932, Padmini made her debut in the Hindi film Kalpana. Her first Tamil film was Manamagal (1950) made by the legendary N S Krishnan.
Padmini paired with the late Sivaji Ganesan and M G Ramachandran in many films. She also starred with Raj Kapoor in Jis Des Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Aashiq and Mera Naam Joker.

If Gemini Ganesan-Savitiri and MGR-Saroja Devi were formidable pairs in 1950s and 1960s, the Sivaji-Padmini combination was lethal in films like Utthamaputthiran and Thillana Moganambal. Movie watchers still remember her powerful dialogue delivery in Theiva Piravi. Padmini also gave stupendous performances in MGR films like Mannaadhi Mannan, Rani Samyukta and Madurai Veeran.

Padmini was showered with accolades for her performance in the Hindi film Chanda Aur Bijli with the late Sanjeev Kumar.


Nicknamed Naatiyapperoli (a great light of dance), she would completely involve herself in the characters she enacted -- whether she played a dancer in Thillana Moganambal or a middle class woman in Vietnam Veedu.

Her early Malayalam hits were Snehaseema, Umminithanga, Adhyapika, Vivahitha and Kumara Sambhavam. She ended her film career after her marriage to Dr K T Ramachandran, and left for the US, where she started the popular Padmini School of Fine Arts in New Jersey.

But she made a comeback after marriage with Malayalam films Nokkethahtadoortahtu Kannumnattu and Vashthuhara, which made her immensely popular among a new generation of film buffs.

A disciple of eminent choreographer Guru Gopinanth, Padmini hailed from an illustrious family of artistes. Besides her sisters Lalitha and Ragini, her cousins Sukumari and Ambika were also popular in the South Indian film world.



2006: Final farewells
Steve Irwin: The Croc Hunter
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Steve Irwin, the popular television presenter better known as the 'Crocodile Hunter', died the way he lived -- on the wild side.

The 44-year-old was filming an underwater documentary when he was killed by a stingray barb. An exuberant and fearless showman, he popularised Australian phrases around the world, and will be remembered for his use of the word 'Crikey!'

Also aiding his global following were his pro-conservation, environmentalist approach and his encyclopaedic knowledge and love of crocodiles.


However, he had his critics too. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals slammed him, saying it's 'no shock at all' that Irwin died the way he did. It also branded Irwin a 'cheap reality TV star.'
'He made his career out of antagonising frightened wild animals. That's a very dangerous message to send to children," a PETA spokesperson said.
 
2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Jeev Milkha Singh



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Jeev Milkha Singh broke into the illustrious list of world's top-50 golfers to become the first-ever Indian to be eligible to play in the Masters. He capped a successful season, triumphing at the Japan Tour's Nippon Series, which elevated him eight places to 47th in the world golf rankings.

Riding the form of his life, the Chandigarh pro was unstoppable this year. He won the China Open in April and the Volvo Masters in Spain in October and was crowned the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit winner after a joint-third place finish at the UBS Hong Kong Open last month.

Having won his back-to-back titles on the Japan Tour in two consecutive weeks, the Indian ace realised his dream of a top-50 entry and automatic qualification to the prestigious US Masters next April.

From a lowly 319th in the world rankings back in April, he has indeed pulled off a remarkable turnaroun



2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Leander Paes
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Leander Paes once again proved he is the pied-piper of Indian tennis.
On a charged-up afternoon in Mumbai in April, he brought out the passion and aggression and special rapport he shares with his audience to script a heady victory for India. Returning to singles action after a year, the 33 year old battled rising heat and cramps to beat Pakistan's Aqeel Khan 6-4, 7-6(4), 3-6, 0-6, 6-1 in the deciding rubber of the Davis Cup Group 1 relegation play-off.

The memorable win capped an emotional week for Paes, who became a father ahead of the Cup tie. There was individual glory also in store for Paes as he, along with partner Martin Damm, claimed the US Open doubles crown. The Indo-Czech pair beat second seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 to win their first Grand Slam.
Paes-Damm had also reached the final of the Australian Open and won the ATP Ordina Open in the Netherlands.


2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Samresh Jung
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Samresh Jung might have missed out on a record seven gold medals but the ace Indian marksman more than made up for it after being adjudged the Best Athlete of the 18th Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Jung, who won five gold medals, a silver and a bronze in pistol shooting competitions, is the first Indian to bag the honour in the Commonwealth Games' history.

The 35-year-old Central Industrial Security Force inspector from Delhi had set a target of winning an unprecedented seven gold medals in a single edition of the Games at the start of the event. But a wandering mind in a shootout forced him to settle for bronze in the 25-metre centre fire pistol individual event before a malfunctioning gun in the standard fire pistol individual competition saw him end up ninth.


More To come .....
 
2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Roger Federer


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Roger Federer

Roger Federer surprised even himself with how well he played in the 2006 season, which he rounded off in style by winning the Masters Cup. The 25 year old's dominance of men's tennis is such that the Swiss could extend his holiday into March and would still on February 26 break Jimmy Connors's record of 160 consecutive weeks as world number one.
"I think that is definitely one of the big records I've broken, maybe the biggest so far in my career," Federer said.


Federer thrashed American James Blake 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 in the Masters final, his last competitive game of 2006, to win his 12th title of the year, a feat no player has achieved since Thomas Muster in 1995. "I am out of words really to describe this performance," he said.
Federer said the pick of his dozen titles in 2006 was the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, which -- along with another US Open triumph -- took him to nine Grand Slams.

2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Fabio Cannavaro


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Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro gained individual recognition for his performances in this year's tournament in Germany when he was named European Footballer of the Year.
The Naples-born central defender moved from Juventus to Real Madrid following the Azzurri's success in July and finds himself in the unusual position of winning the Golden Ball in a year when his club side was relegated.
Cannavaro became the third defender to win the European Footballer of the Year award after Germans Franz Beckenbauer (1972, 1976) and Matthias Sammer in 1996.
The 33-year-old defender, who proudly captained Italy in their triumphant World Cup campaign, won the vote by 52 journalists organised by France Football magazine.

"It is late recognition for our World Cup victory," said Cannavaro, the first Italian player since Roberto Baggio in 1993 to win the award.
In his position as captain of Italy at the World Cup, Cannavaro's behaviour was exemplary. He was firm in the dressing room, intensely loyal to coach Marcello Lippi and not afraid to speak frankly in public about the team's approach.
The award reflects Cannavaro's huge influence on Italy's success at the World Cup -- he was rock solid in the final against France, won on penalties, but his best display was in the semi-final victory over Germany.
In those 120 minutes in Dortmund the former Parma defender, who has 105 caps for his country, showed the very best of his qualities in positioning, timing and reading of the game.


2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Tiger Woods

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This year, personal tragedy scarred Tiger Woods, who lost his father Earl in May after a long battle with cancer. On his eventual return to competition, Woods missed the cut at the US Open.
His consequent victory at the British Open was testament to extraordinary willpower, technique and the ability to focus exclusively on the job at hand.

Woods concluded that the unusually hard fairways after prolonged hot weather and the profusion of bunkers demanded accuracy rather than length. Accordingly he used his driver only once in four days, winning by two strokes from Chris DiMarco and breaking down in tears after the final hole.
Even Woods, who won his 12th major with a five-shot victory at the PGA championship, could not prevent Europe beating the United States for a record third successive time in the Ryder Cup.
 
2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Sania Nehwal


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Rising badminton star Saina Nehwal received a major boost ahead of her Asian Games campaign in Doha as she jumped seven spots to reach a career best ranking of 27 in the latest women's singles chart.
Saina, who won the India international tournament in Mumbai before reaching the final of the World Junior Championship,has witnessed a meteoric rise since her Philippines Open win this year.
The 16 year old had an incredible year with some remarkable performances on the international stage.
The teenager is delighted with her performance during the year, adding that she never expected that it would be a turning point in her career.
"I never thought that I could win any international tournament and that too so early in my career. It is like a dream," she said.
"This was my first year in international circuit and I wanted to break into the top-40 in the rankings which I have already achieved. Now I would aim for the top-20 next year."


2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Mohammed Yousuf

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Mohammed Yousuf

Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf joined the ranks of cricketing greats by setting several records in the third Test against the West Indies. He broke West Indian batting great Vivian Richards' record of 1,710 runs in 11 matches, set in 1976, by reaching 1,788.
Yousuf, who has scored nine hundreds in 2006 in 11 Tests, also established a record of most hundreds in a year. The record was held jointly by Richards and Sri Lankan Aravinda de Silva, who scored seven hundreds each.

During the course of his second innings, Yousuf also established a new mark for the highest aggregate in a three-match series with 665 runs, surpassing the previous best of 583, held by compatriot Zaheer Abbas in a home series against India in 1978.
Yousuf scored 102 and 124 in the final Test against the West Indies, and became only the sixth Pakistani batsman to score two centuries in a Test match.

With his 23rd career hundred, he now has seven centuries against the West Indies in eight Tests. The 32 year old scored six hundreds in his last five matches, one century more than South Africa's Jacques Kallis, who made five hundreds in five matches.

Only Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq have scored more Test runs for Pakistan than the player formerly known as Yousuf Youhana until he converted to Islam last year.

2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Ricky Pointing
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Having scored 142 and 49 in the second Test against England at Adelaide, Ponting moved up from sixth to joint-third in the all-time batsmen's rankings, past England's Peter May and level with another great England batsman, Jack Hobbs.
Ponting's century at the Adelaide Oval was his 33rd in Tests and his eighth in his last nine matches. The 31-year-old Tasmanian needs two more tons to equal Sachin Tendulkar's record of 35 Test centuries, the most by a batsman in the history of cricket.

Ponting was also voted the ICC's Test Player of the Year and Cricket's Player of the Year at the ICC Annual Awards in Mumbai.

2006's Birghtest Sports Stars
Shane Warne
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Cricket will be poorer without Shane Warne. The spin wizard will retire from international cricket after the final Ashes Test against England in Sydney in January.
The 37-year-old leg spinner said he was quitting to spend more time with his children and pursue a new career, possibly as a commentator.
Warne, who retired from one-day internationals in 2003, is the world's leading Test wicket-taker and arguably the most famous cricketer since legendary compatriot Don Bradman. The Sheikh of Tweak is the first bowler to reach the once-unimaginable 700 Test wicket mark.


He revealed he would probably have retired after the 2005 Ashes in England if Australia had won the series, but said defeat inspired him to play on to help his country regain the urn. He said he made up his mind to retire after helping Australia regain the Ashes from England in Perth. He claimed the final wicket that gave Australia an unbeatable 3-0 lead.

Warne is largely credited with revitalising the dying craft of wrist-spin after an era dominated by fast bowlers. He made an inauspicious start to his career, taking one wicket for 150 on his Test debut in January 1992 in Sydney against India, but quickly set about tormenting the world's best batsmen and rewriting the record books over the last 15 years.

Despite being dogged by sex, drugs and gambling scandals throughout his career, his performances on the field never waned.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland summed up Warne's story best: 'There are a generation of Australians who were privileged enough to see Bradman. We are the generation that will always say we were privileged to see Warne.'
 
GenNext's View: Two Sides of the Quota Row


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Few issues rocked the country this year like the United Progressive Alliance government's announcement of plans to provide reservation to backward classes in institutions of higher learning.
There were angry, widespread protests, especially from the student community who feel the move will kill merit. Some, however, said the protests were 'media managed.'
In this yearend special, we present both sides of the story, narrated by the one entity whose future is at stake: Young India.

Image: Left: Medical students at an anti-reservation rally in Kolkata.
Right: A pro-reservation demonstration in New Delhi.


The Government Doesn't Care About Student's
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Dhruv Suri, law student, Delhi.
"I am not at all happy with the government response and their insistence on including the creamy layer for reservations. Now that it has become a law, one can challenge it only in the court of law," Druv rues, and pins his hopes on the public interest litigations filed in the Supreme court.
"Though the government does not care about the student community or give a damn about their demands, I am still not going to settle abroad. Because that does not solve the problem.
"I wish the government had done some in-depth studies and found out whether or not the communities for whom reservation was implemented had benefited or not.
"Everything in this country begins and ends at the political level. Decisions taken by politicians guide the future of youth in this country."


Image: Dhruv (left) and other representatives of United Students -- Gursimran Khamba (second from the left), Devika Malik (second, right) and Aditya Raj Kaul (right) -- after meeting President A P J Abdul Kalam in New Delhi, May 4.


Reservation Will Help Elevate us from Economic Backwardness
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Rahul Kamble, student, Mumbai.
"The anti-reservation protests are in itself pro-reservation," says Rahul. "The general category students want to reserve or protect their seats from being grabbed by others.
"I wanted to become a mechanical engineer. But I could not pay Rs 10,000 for the seat. Belonging to the backward class certainly proved to be a disadvantage. My father used to earn Rs 450, but the family expenditure used to be as much as Rs 700. The lack of opportunities forced two of my father's brothers to take up farming. I pursue my BA and work as a salesman for a waterproofing firm to make ends meet," he says.
"Equality will only be achieved when everyone is given equal opportunities to come up in life. Indian society is still guided by caste norms. People are hesitant to work under a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe officer. Even in cities, people follow these norms religiously. So, the argument of equality does not hold ground.

"Reservation will help elevate us from economic backwardness," continues Rahul, the Mumbai president of the Students Federation of India. "This in turn will help change social dynamics -- people who manage to get to good posts can save their kin from brutalities back in their village. We don't want to grab anyone's share. Why should we lose out on the opportunity to do well in life just because we are unable to afford education? People need to understand that even if we gain entry into higher education using reservation, we still have to give the same course examinations and get the same question papers that others do. Reservation is no ticket to success, it is merely a tool," he adds.

"The media has been very biased," Rahul continues. "It has always projected the anti-reservation protests. Rarely has any television channel analysed the issue in an impartial manner. And, obviously, the audience develops a mindset that reservation is indeed anti-merit or anti-general category. Nobody bothered to hear our part of the story.
"Politicians have turned reservation into a political issue. Even V P Singh introduced the Mandal commission when he found his chair was tottering."
What is his solution?

"One of the solutions can be to increase the number of seats in higher educational institutions. Successive governments have been urged to hike the budgetary allocation for education to 6 per cent of the GDP. However, it continues to languish at 2.94 per cent.
"Also, unless the citizens of the country are educated about the need for reservation, any move that the government makes in this direction will continue to be eyed with suspicion."


There were No Answers
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Bhuvaneshwari Balasubramaniam, medical student, Mumbai.
"Looking back at the anti-quota protests, we were never against individuals," says Bhuvaneshwari, a member of Youth for Equality, an organisation that was at the forefront of the anti-reservation protests.
"We just questioned the government about the basis on which they wanted to increase the reservation for OBCs. The government wasn't willing to offer an explanation and we had to take to the streets in protest.
"Of the 12 recommendations of the Mandal Committee for the social upliftment of the backward classes, none of the other recommendations have been implemented. So, we also wanted the government to say what they have done about the recommendations. And anyway, how successful were the reservations? If it had succeeded, what was the need for the government to increase the percentage further?
"There were no answers.
"But we had to stop all protests after the Supreme Court intervened. Otherwise the protests would have gone on till the government responded," says Bhuvaneshwari.


"Even now, we haven't given up. The Supreme Court has asked the government to explain clearly what the current situation is before implementing the OBC reservation. We are waiting to see what the government says. If it is not satisfactory, we will continue to protest in the New Year too."
Image: An anti-quota demonstrator at a silent protest march in Kolkata in August.
 
The Protets Were a Media Creation



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Shivam Viz, student, Delhi.

"The reservation protests this year were a media creation. The moment Arjun Singh made the announcement, the media started shouting 'Mandal II,' playing and replaying Rajeev Goswami's self-immolation attempt during the Mandal agitation, provoking 21st century India's youth: why aren't you coming on to the streets for Mandal II? For 10 days the protest was largely on the Internet, and it took some time for one newspaper to come up with a lead story that said, 'Mandal II is being fought in Cyberia.'
"Of the nearly 20 days that the protest at AIIMS took place, I spent three on campus. The Youth for Equality posters sought to bind the discourse over reservations in a binary of Merit and Politics, keeping caste out of the conversation. My central problem with the anti-reservationists is that they begin their argument after presuming that caste is not a problem. If that were the case, 40 per cent OBCs in India would mean that 40 per cent students in AIIMS would be OBC by default. That there are not even 4 per cent is indication that they have been left out.

"The anti-reservation protestors were fuelled with corporate money and I heard rather immodest statements like, 'We're creating history.' They famously circulated fake SMS-es that 96 fasting students had fainted. And they swept the streets to try and say, 'This is what we will be reduced to doing if our seats are taken away.' But what's wrong with sweeping the streets for a living? The lack of dignity of labour in India does stem from caste.
"The government was smug about the protests, as they knew that TV was hyping it up for TRPs and that the OBC votebank would be happy anyway. But there are many reasons why the Congress is not going to win any love of the OBCs, not least because the farmers committing suicide across India are largely OBC. There was a lot of maligning of the Mandal Commission report. That Mandal used 1931 population 'data' Was just one of the falsities that was propagated. The least the government could have done was to put the full text of the Mandal report online. But the government was not interested in engaging in a debate with the anti-reservationists. Sadly, not many of those who supported reservations came out on the streets. Those who did lacked media savvy. A large group of pro-reservation doctors was wilfully ignored by 12 OB (outdoor broadcast) vans parked there. I hired a camera and recorded them one day; it was telecast on a channel as a 'citizen journalist' story. They then asked, as if they were asking themselves, 'Has the media been biased?'

More To Come !!!!!!!!
 

bhavin_3

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
prakash_dudes said:
sirji, this is Prakash,,,,,,,,

Not Rahul............


Anyways wait for Updates...................

Lots More To Come ------------



Source: Rediff:bump:

Well prakash great work down there buddy.!! :big_grin:
 
2006: Business Icons
Ratan Tata


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2006 has been a year of highs and lows for Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata. He won an award for making social responsibility an integral part of his commercial success -- the eighth head of an international corporation to receive the award -- and his group signed one deal after another throughout the year.

But the Tatas were in the news this year mostly because of their car project in Singur, West Bengal, where farmers are agitating against the 'wrongful acquisition' of their land by the state government for the project. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has thrown her weight behind the farmers, launching a hunger strike against the land acquisition for Tata's new small car. The car is expected to cost just Rs 1 lakh.
This year, Tata Motors and Fiat also decided to invest over Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) in a joint venture to make cars and engines in India.

Controversy also dogged Tata Steel's bid to acquire Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus, the world's eighth largest producer. The Tata bid ran into rough weather as Brazilian company CSN became Corus's favourite suitor in the second week of December.


Meanwhile, the Tatas bought Brunner Mond Group Limited, UK; JEMCA, Czech Republic; Eight O Clock Coffee Company, USA; Energy Brands Inc., USA; and a 7.5 per cent stake in Delhi-based budget airline SpiceJet.


2006: Business Icons
Narayana Murthy
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Software czar N R Narayana Murthy retired as the Infosys CEO when he turned 60 in August, continuing as non-executive chairman and chief mentor of Infosys.

Relinquishing all executive power at Infosys is 'like giving your daughter away in marriage,' Murthy told reporters. 'You are happy because she has grown up to be what she is -- a confident youngster, that she has joined somebody with whom she finds joy, happiness and all of that. At the same time, you remain anxious about her; you feel a sense of loss.'

Announcing the beginning of the silver jubilee celebrations from the Infosys Mysore campus this year, Murthy said, 'We have completed 25 years and look ahead, ready to face challenges. A healthy sense of paranoia and respect for competition prevents complacency and ensures organisational learning continuously.'

Murthy was also vehemently against the government's move to implement its new reservation policy. 'Perhaps we are the only nation in the world where people fight to be called backward,' he said.




2006: Business Icons
K V Kamath
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It has been a lucky year for Kundapur Vaman Kamath, managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank. He was chosen Business Standard's Banker of the Year for 2005-06, and bagged CNBC-TV18's India Business Leader Award.

Under Kamath's leadership, ICICI Bank won the Global Finance Award for the World's Best Foreign Exchange Bank and the World's Best Trade Finance. Apart from this, Kamath's bank also won Global Finance Awards for being the Best Integrated Consumer Bank Site in Asia, Bill Presentment and Payment in Asia, Best Consumer Internet Bank in India and Best Corporate/ Institutional Internet Bank in India.

Guided by Kamath's strength, ICICI won Reader's Digest's Most Trusted Brand Award for 2006.

In an outstanding career -- -- which he began in 1971 at ICICI, the parent organisation of ICICI Bank -- Kamath has transformed an organisation steeped in tradition into a globally competitive business. He revolutionised Indian banking by adopting technology, and made loans affordable.


2006: Business Icons
Indra Nooyi
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PepsiCo Chairperson and CEO Indra Nooyi was ranked 28 in Forbes.com's list of The 100 Most Powerful Women this year. Last year she was ranked 11.
She took over the reins of Pepsi from former chairman and CEO Steve Reinemund last October. She is the first woman to head Pepsi and is one of the leading women in corporate America.

Nooyi is responsible for all of PepsiCo's corporate functions, including finance, strategy, business process optimisation, corporate platforms and innovation.
In her sterling career with Pepsi, Nooyi has played key roles in the Tricon spin-off, the purchase of Tropicana, the public offering of Pepsi Cola bottling group and the merger with Quaker Foods.

A graduate of Madras Christian College with a degree in chemistry, physics and math, Nooyi earned a master's degree in finance and marketing from the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta.

She also holds a master's degree in public and private management from Yale.
 
2006: Business Icons
Vijay Mallya



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Vijay Mallya, the flamboyant chairman of United Breweries Group, was nominated for the MTV Youth Icon award this year. He lost out to movie star Shah Rukh Khan, but Mallya can take consolation from ranking 746 on Forbes's list of The World's Richest People this year. In November, Whyte & Mackay boss Vivian Imerman denied reports that his company had been sold to Mallya's UB Group, but said Mallya had made an unsolicited bid. A month earlier, Mallya's bid to acquire the whisky company had hit a stumbling block over the 600 million pounds Imerman wanted for the company. Mallya had put a price tag of 473 million pounds on the Glasgow-based company.

Mallya, never found wanting in style, took over as chairman of UB Group in 1983. Since then, the group has grown into a multinational business conglomerate of over 60 companies.

Mallya owns 26 homes across the globe, a stud farm with over 250 race horses, 200 classic cars -- Jaguars, Ferraris, Alfa Romeos, Mercedes Benzes, you name it he has 'em -- a castle in the UK and several yachts and private jets.

He also owns Kingfisher Airlines.

In December he ran for elections to the Royal Western India Turf Club, which controls Mumbai's racing, but fared poorly.

That setback, however, won't keep him down for long!

2006: Business Icons
Naresh Goyal

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Next on our list is also someone who is a high flier, Naresh Goyal -- the founder and chairman of Jet Airways, India's largest domestic airline. Jet currently operates over 320 flights daily to 48 destinations, of which five are international. Goyal also figures in Forbes's list of Indian billionaires.

The biggest event in Jet's history -- the merger with Air Sahara, which fell through as the latter toughened its stand against Jet's proposal for revaluation of a $510 million deal -- happened this year. Jet and Air Sahara moved court against each other.

Interestingly, as the sparring between Jet and Sahara continued, Vijay Mallya jumped into the race to acquire Air Sahara.

In May 1974, Goyal founded Jetair (Private) Limited to look after sales and marketing operations of foreign airlines in India.

In 1991, when the Indian economy was being opened up, Goyal took advantage of the open skies policy of the Indian government and set up Jet Airways, which started commercial operations on May 5, 1993. And it has been one long, successful flight since then.

2006: Business Icons
GMR
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Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao -- also called GMR -- chairman, Delhi International Airport Private Ltd, won the contract to modernise the Delhi and Mumbai airports in the second half of this year.
He won the bid after the Supreme Court rejected a petition filed by Anil Ambani's Reliance Airport Developers Ltd, which was also in the airport modernisation contract race.

Rao runs one of India's most happening infrastructure businesses with a clutch of power plants, a couple of national highway projects and an airport development project under its belt.

The 57-year-old media-shy chairman was a small-time jute trader from Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh. He started his career as an engineer in the state's public works department.

GMR's rules are simple: you must have the money before you jump into a new project. Besides a razor-sharp brain, the man is also deeply spiritual. He talks passionately about his gurus -- Sri Sri Ravishankar and Swami Sukhbodananda -- and presents first-time visitors to his office with CDs of their teachings.

His sons GBS Raju and Kiran Kumar Grandhi, as well as son-in-law Srinivasa Bommidala, look after the day-to-day operations of his business.


mORE tO cOME !!!!!!!!
 
Top 10 Bollywood Flims, 2006

Top 10 Bollywood Flims, 2006

10. Pyaar Ke Side Effects


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Director: Saket Choudhary

Starring: Mallika Sherawat, Rahul Bose, Ranvir Sheorey, Sharat Saxena
This came out of nowhere. Debutant director Saket Choudhary -- you may know him as the man who wrote Asoka -- started off with a bizarre casting combination, bringing together The Woman Of Bosom and The Man Of Bluster. Not a promising film in any way, this one sprung a whammy giving us a romantic comedy that was actually both romantic and often uproariously funny: not usual Bollywood fare at all.

Yes, the jokes were predictable. Yes, a lot is scooped out of Hollywood rom-com standards, including the flavour. Yet it's amusing and new to desi cinemas, and very watchable indeed. Mallika Sherawat is an absolute revelation -- the woman can act, and has sharp comic timing -- and the film is worth it just for Ranvir Sheorey's brilliance. Try and sit through the painful Frank Sinatra lift (My Way, no less!), because The Scoreboard is one of the best written comic scenes on screen this year.
 
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