Diary Facts

Thank you for everything, Hingis!

2017-10-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

I was a toddler when Hingis turned professional, and she wasn't that old either. FOURTEEN. Yes! looking back, She is on tour almost equal to my age.
My love for tennis started when I was young and she soon became a household name. WTA was hers for few years in singles but then the ban and the retirement. She came back and dominated the doubles.

Those days, WTA used to be even more exciting. The stars those days are the game's legends today!
It was an era where Serena wasn't the Goddess but just a player (I know many disagree with this, so, lemme end with *According to me*)

Ignoring the ban, I wished she didn't retire from singles that soon because it was only that time, I started to understand the game well (now, don't ask me if I know everything, I'm yet to explore many.)

I'm not sure if only the broadcasters from India does this or all around the world, they don't care about the doubles unless it is a final and in the final, all of a sudden, they go like they know this player for years.

I'm sure I would've missed millions of wonderful actions that had happened over the years in doubles but apart from Williams sisters, Hingis' play was something that was common on TV because she normally gets through to the final week and most of the times, to the final day of the tournament. Such a talent and class she is. I kind of loved those times she played along with Sania Mirza and those were just magical (no, don't tag that I'm *just another* Indian fan). They produced some beautiful matches, winning almost all the tournaments. Also, with Jamie Murray lately.

25th Grand Slam which Hingis won recently made me realize how long she was around. Indeed quite a long time!
Still, her every game was fresh, in means of how she constantly kept improving.
Her smile always attracted me. I used to smile along with her, I was broken whenever she lost, Every time when she retired, I always believed that she will come back but this time, It makes me feel blue. Her retirement will certainly create an irreplaceable void not only to me but also to the game.
I'm going to miss her play, her smile, that determination to fight back, Those funny poses on-court, those lovely interviews, all together I'm going to miss her. The whole tennis world is going to miss her because the game can never be the same. More than a champion, she was an inspiration!
Keeping in mind that she cannot go on forever, though I wish she could, This is a great time for her to retire. I will be rooting for her when she comes to matches as a coach(hopefully, because she said that she is ready for new challenges)/ to root for her favourites.

I love you, Hingis!

5 talk points about why the major players are skipping the tournaments nowadays

2017-09-01T09:33:00.001-07:00

We are nearing the second week of the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the year. With most of the top players rubbing US Open off their schedule due to various reasons and other top seeds are struggling, This year's US Open draw is yawning open. What are all might be the reason for this struggle?

Final major of the year- US Open

Injury:

After playing awfully a lot, it is common for the players to feel fatigue. The gruelling three season is making the players tired or leaving them injured for the final season. Top players like Rafa Nadal have already spoken about how tight the schedule is and how difficult it is for the players to stay fit while travelling around the world for the sport.

Rafa at a press conference

Change in technique:

Ever since the heavy wooden racquet was replaced by light graphite racquets, the tennis became a game of strength and power. Rather than hitting a ball with a flat stroke and driving it only forward, Players started to hit the ball with angled shots to create top spin making the shots harder to return. This game shift is making wrist injuries common among the top players.

The racquet plays major role in players injury

Djokovic with his wrist injury

Following Federer's path?

Remember how Federer did not play after 2016 Wimbledon? Remember how he came back stronger in 2017? No doubt the influence this guy has on the sport and the players are huge. May be the players are following the legend's path to the glory. That is- if you are not feeling 100%, skip the rest of the season, Take time off, practice hard, hit the gym more, stay fit and come back stronger the next season. Though most of the players disagree, this "might" be also a reason for the skip.

Federer did not play the second half of 2016

Age factor:

The years are gone where you will see the top players play hard like they did while they were in their early stages of their career. They are all ageing. They are all in their 30s where after so many years of playing tennis, you will not feel the same. your body is not going to cooperate even if your mind wants to. It is hard to accept but the truth is, they are going to grow vulnerable. They are going to fall sick more than they used to. They are going to stay off the tour to rest their body as much as they can. Take Federer again, he knows his body well and he knows how important for him to stay fit rather than playing all the tournaments. He was happy to skip the clay court season only to come back and win the Wimbledon where he feels he belong.

The conclusion:

The Next generation players

Though the fans are disappointed to see their favourite players withdrawing from the tournament, I think we should start accepting the fact that they aren't going to play forever, this is the right time for the youngsters, the gen-next players to take advantage of their absence, go deep and announce themselves. We already have few gen-next talents who are making the headlines in the recent times. It is only going to be interesting if they can make get through to the second week of the tournament.

India is a secular country which has different rights- A personal rant.

2017-08-08T12:30:00.004-07:00

When I was a student, all I knew was that India was a secular country and we have different rights. I also grew up believing it.

When I came out and had this exposure called social media, I first was excited to share my thoughts, learn new things, and be an extrovert. 

Now, I'm afraid of sharing my thoughts because I know I'm going to be questioned, degraded by one or the other.  

I saw someone expressed their thought about particular actor's movie. she was abused verbally with words, most of which I'm unheard of. I was taken aback. I never knew that the line between "right to speak" and "abuse someone"  can be taken easily. 

I was worried that many don't realize the fact that everybody has their own opinion and it has to be respected even though it is different than ours. 

I'm spiritual and I believe in God but that doesn't mean I'm a keen follower of the caste system. I'm just neutral. I always admired different practices in different religions. I was bullied for supporting the practices of other religion. I was discouraged once again, for obeying the practices of mine.  I was degraded and judged by "few" so-called activists and so-called atheists for following the traditions of mine. I was generalized based on caste and was made fun. 

I was also misunderstood just like the word feminism. Of course, Feminists are those who fight for equal rights among the genders and not the one who wants one gender to be above the other. I guess we generalized in a wrong way because people we saw are those who put one gender above the other.  When I said people that I'm a feminist, I became a meme topic for few. 

People who know me, know that I'm an ardent sports follower. There are like at least 10 people a week who asks me especially this-"I'm surprised that you are a girl and you follow sports? wow!" (I mean, when did the sports become gender biased? we have women playing it and making us proud. Oh, wait! I do have people who ask if I play the sport(if not, should I not follow one?) So, If I'm a girl and If I follow the sport, I have to be a player. Just Wow! 

Since I'm an Indian, I'm not supposed to support any other country in sports. I'm a fan of Afridi and few other cricketers from Pakistan. When I updated a status about Afridi after he won the match for Pakistan, I updated the status with a heart nearby Pakistan and yes, I was a victim of verbal abuse that day.

I'm not a supporter of any huge political party but there are leaders who inspired me in some way. When I updated a status for former CM(whose death is still a mystery and hey who cares man!) I was taunted.

When I posted something related to a reality show and the importance I felt we should have given to the "real problems" we faced, I was called an "ass." 

There have been many other situations where I was dragged, pushed down, discouraged for whatever I did. 

If you ask any of this had an impact on me, yes it did. In a positive way. I understood the art of acceptance. 

For the stuff I was taught in the school about our country, I still search that India or considering our syllabus I guess I was just born in a wrong generation.

Five talk points about the Second Semifinals- India v Australia.

2017-07-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

India v Australia at the Derby, the second semi finals was delayed by the rain and once the cover was taken off, the match was cut short to 42 overs each with not more than two bowlers bowling 9 overs.
India won the toss and without any second thoughts, they chose to bat. Australia's captain and the world no. 1 batter Meg Lanning returned to the team replacing the stand in captain Rachael Haynes.

1. The Toss:

Playing in their favorite ground, where they won all their 4 matches, India was running high on confidence coming from an empathic win against the White Ferns.

How crucial was the toss?

When Meg Lanning had no idea about what she would have chosen if she won the toss, India's skipper Mithali Raj was confident of batting first may be because all the four matches they played in Derby, they batted first and they won it all. Batting first was the right choice.

2. The Approach:

When India lost badly to the Southern Stars in their group stages, they were hugely criticized for playing slowly and wasn't able to convert the dot balls into singles.

The team which already put on a great display against the White Ferns, carrying the momentum here came off easily.

Right from the word go, the team was in the mood to attack the Australian bowlers. Even when they lost their openers in quick succession.

3. The Batting Order and Harmanpreet Kaur's Mammoth hitting:

The rotational batting order did not come good the previous time India faced Australia as the captain's decision to send Deepti Sharma at no.9 was questioned hugely.

India stuck to the batting order which proved success against the White Ferns.

Coming at no. 4, India's best hitter, Harmanpreet Kaur was given more chance to bat and she stood for herself. When the team needed something special and extraordinary to defeat the defending champions, India's T20I captain had the answers.

Targeting the leg side for most of the runs and hitting the ball all over the ground with those "artistic" cricketing shots, Harmanpreet Kaur made sure India had enough runs on the board to overcome the Southern Stars. The Big Bash experiences came handy here.

Once in a blue moon, it takes for Australia to be on the receiving side.

It was a single woman show. Whatever Harmanpreet Kaur threw the bat at, turned gold. It was her day.
This knock, especially that unconventional way of celebrating the century will be remembered for many more years to come.

Harmanpreet Kaur in all anger, throwing her helmet after the risky two runs which almost got Deepti Sharma out.

Celebrating 150*

After scoring unbeaten 171* and taking the team to 281.

4. Bowling

With needing more than 6 runs per over, the defending champions were already on a back foot but considering the bowling attack, India had, Australians knew that runs might flow in the form of singles and two's but sixes and fours were always going to be difficult.

Shikha Pandey celebrates the fall of the first wicket

Deepti Sharma who took 3 wickets after the sharp return catch

Australian Captain walks back dejected after falling for a duck

Alex Blackwell who fought hard for her 90 runs was the last wicket to fall

Blackwell gifts her Jersey to Harmanpreet after the match

They needed something big from their openers, especially from the skipper Meg Lanning.

Shikha Pandey, who had a great run in the last India-Australia series did not disappoint here as she delivered the initial break through, to put India a foot ahead.

Dispatching Meg Lanning for a duck has to be the biggest moment of the game. The veteran Jhulan Goswami who is having a quiet tournament came good with a beautiful delivery to pick up the most important wicket.

Elyse Villani and Alex Blackwell did their best to put Australia to a decent score though the victory was far.
I'm wondering, Alex Blackwell might have made a difference if she was sent little above the order.

The fast bowlers were economical while the spinners as expected was taken for runs but was able to produce the break through when needed. Though India was in short of their sixth bowler with Harmanpreet Kaur didn't field, it did not make much difference.

The defending champions were expecting an " improved India" but they wouldn't have thought this through.
Harmanpreet Kaur stood between the Australia and the Finals.
Now, the girls go back to the country with a concern of unemployment.

5. The Conclusion

So, India goes to the Home of cricket- the Lord's for the finals.

It was Kapil Dev in 1983 at the Lord's. Mithali Raj who already became the only Indian captain to take the team to ICC 50 Over finals twice (2005,2017) can go a step forward by lifting the cup.

This team India is perfect as the team is not depending on a particular batter the entire tournament.

The top order batters had chipped in for at least a match which is a good sign,
The bowling department is always the best for the team with the presence of Jhulan Goswami and other bowlers who played their part well even the bowlers who were sitting out for the last two matches- Mansi Joshi and Ekta Bisht have decent bowling figures to show off.

The only concern for the team is the fielding.

There have been sloppy misfields and many drop catches which can make a huge difference in a crunch game.

With an improved fielding and with this kind of batting, bowling attack India surely has the potential to lift the cup which can only be the perfect tribute to the legends like Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj who are playing their last World Cup.

12 School Girls Create Solar Powered Tent to Reduce Homelessness

2017-07-18T11:38:00.003-07:00

The increasing rate of homelessness is a major concern for the Los Angeles. The people were struggling to find a solution for it. While everyone was only talking about it, these 12 school girls from the San Fernando high school of California took the effort.

The girls always wanted to do something for the high rising numbers of homelessness which touched almost 36% that year. Belonging to lower middle-class family themselves, financially helping the homeless were ruled out. They wanted to do something different.

The girls belong to a Nonprofitable Organisation called DIY girls which aim to inspire girls to pursue careers in engineering, math, science.

After receiving a $10,000 grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program, the team got to work figuring out how to create a solar-powered tent and what that means exactly. Firstly, They had many ideas finally everyone agreed with the tent.

They didn't know coding, printing, sewing or...to cut in short- They knew nothing.

Only the vision they had. Starting the project from the scratch, thanks to all the Youtube free videos and google searches which came handy.

They built a solar powered tent using some 3-D printing, coding, UV sanitization system, solar panels. Considering the experiences the homeless people has to go through, the tent has a safety locking system and it can be converted into a back pack.

It took almost a year for the girls to work on the project. They spent their holidays working together.

While everyone enjoyed their holidays and vacations, they worked hard to get the project done.

Once they got it done, the team was hugely appreciated and was asked to present their prototype at MIT, Boston.

When they almost gave up a chance of going Boston, GoFundMe campaign helped them to gather more money than they actually wanted.

Now, the girls will join the competition with 14 other teams.

Fulfilling more test plans. The friction test and durability test. Featuring @imnotpapaya

A post shared by DIY Girls InvenTeam (@diygirls_inventeam) on Mar 5, 2017 at 10:34pm PST

Going through with some of our new test plans!! Structures team (@america.s.h and Maggie) AND Materials team (@imnotpapaya) got together to conduct our "Rain Test" test plans 💪 #testplans #prototype #wegetitdone

A post shared by DIY Girls InvenTeam (@diygirls_inventeam) on Mar 4, 2017 at 10:41am PST

Working hard! #soldering #coding #prototype

A post shared by DIY Girls InvenTeam (@diygirls_inventeam) on Jan 9, 2017 at 4:32pm PST

Team that laughs together stays together #WeGetItDone #learningtosew

A post shared by DIY Girls InvenTeam (@diygirls_inventeam) on Jan 8, 2017 at 4:23pm PST

"When you dream and work towards the dream, you can achieve it one day"

10 things that happened in this Wimbledon.

2017-07-17T12:43:00.001-07:00

This Wimbledon wasn't as best as the previous years considering the retirements, injuries all happening, here are the ten things which caught my eyes this year.

1. Major Retirements and Injuries:

This Wimbledon saw record retirements with 7 players retiring in the first round and later it was Novak Djokovic who retired in the quarter finals against Tomas Berdych. There were quite a lot of injuries for the players. Andy Murray was down with injury also, the Wimbledon Runner Up Marin Cilic has to go through an injury in the finals.

2. Huge fine implied on two players:

The Wimbledon also saw two players, who are the future of the tennis were fined for their on court behavior.

Bernard Tomic who faked an injury against Kei Nishikori was fined heavily and made the headlines for his casual comments and its response. (read the full post here: https://goo.gl/riaMqK )

Daniil Medvedev who knocked Stan Wawrinka out of the tournament didn't do all well the next game. He wasn't able to control his anger in the final set against Ruben Bemelmans after a controversial decision by the chair umpire. He took coins from his wallets and threw it on the chair of the umpire. Though he apologized for his behavior, he was fined.(Read the full post here: https://goo.gl/WtnRLq )

3. Long Matches:

Wimbledon has the record of longest match remember? John Isner and Nicolas Mahut.

This Wimbledon did have some matches which were close to epic (to me)

Round of 64- Johanna Konta def Donna Vekic- 7/6,4/6,10/8.

Until the last game, it was thrilling to find who will get through as the game was toe-to-toe. Finally, it was Konta who held her nerves and the two errors from Vekic gave away the game. Being friends for at least five years now, They shared a moment at the end.

Men's Doubles finals-

Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo def Oliver Marach/ Mate Pavic - 5/7,7/5,7/6,3/6,13/11.

One of the great finals. There wasn't much to choose between the two. Both have had chances but it was Kubot and Melo at the end because only one team can win. Four and half hours of brutal tennis it was and their stats literally looked similar. Marach and Pavic's semi final match had a 17/15 finish in the fifth but still, this match has to be my favorite.

Gilles Muller def Rafa Nadal - 6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6 15-13.

In the first two sets, Muller had answers for whatever Rafa threw on to him. The king of clay as expected fought back in the next two set. The game was ordinary until the fifth set according to me. Both the players saved their best for the last set and gave it all. The weak serve of Rafa compared to Muller caused the match for Rafa.

4. Junior player was forced to change his underwear because it was blue.

The 18-year-old Jurij Rodionov was forced to change his underwear during the toss, after the third umpire had quick look on it, asked the supervisor to check then he was forced to change his underwear. The All England club's strict dress code is a concern for years now. (read more about it here: https://goo.gl/UL9Xj5 )

Kim Clijsters during her invitation match made fun of the dress code by making a fan to wear whites.

(Read more about it here: https://goo.gl/THrW8K )

5. Bethanie Mattek Sands bad fall.

Just a devastating scene at Wimbledon as Bethanie Mattek-Sands goes down with an injury. pic.twitter.com/kqY6wQAcbS
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 6, 2017

During her singles match against Sorana Cirstea, When Sands moved to the net, she had a bad fall. She kept shouting, " Oh! please help me, please help me".

Justin Sands-her husband, Cirstea and Cirstea's trainer were the first to surround her. The medical attention came 10 to 15 minutes later. She was take off the court in an ambulance.

Mattek Sands's doubles partner Lucie Safarova was seen going to the hospital with tears along with the ambulance.

Later on, the India's Sania Mirza and Sorana Cirstea visited her in the hospital.

Sands later left a video message saying that she is doing fine to all her fans who were worried.

Here is the team Bucie(Sands and Safarova)'s improved dance moves!

6. Andy Murray stood against the sexism, yet again!

Injury prone Andy Murray who lost his Quarter finals against Sam Querrey in a five setter attended the press conference where the reporter asked him about Sam being the first US player to reach semis.
Murray corrected him, "first male player". This video was widespread and applauded by the legends and the fans around the world.
(read more here:https://goo.gl/aQv9Ji )

7. Garbine Muguruza's Cooking disaster.

The Wimbledon Champion who became the first person to defeat both the Williams sister in the Grandslam finals loves cooking and oreo brownie is her favorite. When she cooking the red meat, There was smoke and the fire alarm started much to the panic of all.
(Read more here: https://goo.gl/8qxDWs )

Saltaron las alarmas! The alarms went off!! 😂🤣🤣🤣

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on Jul 7, 2017 at 4:55am PDT

8. Just Roger Federer things!

Federer crossed 10,000 aces,

Played his 100th Wimbledon match (was against Raonic)

Semis-record 12th time.

Finals-11th time.

The first man to win 8 Wimbledon titles.

The first man to win 19 Majors.

Oldest champion.

9. The finals.

Here are your winners!

Singles:

Men: Roger Federer

Women: Garbine Muguruza

Doubles:

Men: Lukasz Kubot/ Marcelo Melo

Women: Elena Vesnina/ Ekaterina Makarova

Mixed Doubles: Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis

Junior Championship:

Singles:

Girls: Claire Liu
Boys: Davidowich Fokina(First champion from Spanish in 50 years)

Doubles:

Girls: Juvan/Danilovic

Boys: Geller/ Hsu

Invitation Doubles:

Women: Cara Black/Martina Navratilova
Men: Lleyton Hewitt/Mark Philippoussis

It was fantastic to be back out there for the Invitational Doubles this week at @wimbledon with my good mate @mark_philippoussis Winding back the clock! #Wimbledon #Scud #Aussies 🇦🇺

A post shared by Lleyton Hewitt (@lleytonhewitt89) on Jul 16, 2017 at 1:17pm PDT

10: The Winner Dinner:

As Muguruza wanted, it was Federer who was her dance partner the dinner night. All the winners along with their family attended the dinner.

Bring it on, champ 🕺💃 @GarbiMuguruza https://t.co/QKwRoCQ3jR
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) July 16, 2017

Vesnina and Makarova- The Doubles Champions

Rod Laver

Marion Bartoli

Boys Champion-Davidowich Fokina

Jamie Murray

Martina Hingis

Tommy Haas

Roger Federer - men's Champion

Garbine Muguruza- Women's Champion

Here is the final picture!

Hasta pronto Wimbledon! See you soon Wimbledon 🏆 #championsdinner

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on Jul 17, 2017 at 2:08am PDT

Serena Williams lauds Andy Murray

2017-07-17T04:46:00.003-07:00

The world is used to the Gender bias, Sexism, and the sports isn't an exception. Women tennis players face the more criticism, the poll says.

Recently, John McEnroe's comments about Serena Williams wasn't well received as Serena was quick to respond to the comments.
The tennis legend said it in an interview that Serena would be ranked like 700s if she played on the men's circuit.

Serena had a reply on her twitter page about it.

Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based.
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017

I've never played anyone ranked "there" nor do I have time. Respect me and my privacy as I'm trying to have a baby. Good day sir
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017

McEnroe did regret his comments and said that it was misunderstood. He added that he thinks Serena is an incredible player and always respected her.

With all these news going around, Andy Murray recently was applauded by everyone during his press conference after the Quarter final loss against Sam Querrey.
The world No.1 was quick to correct the reporter that Sam Querrey was the first male player from the USA to reach the Semi finals since 2009 but not the first player, keeping in mind the players like Serena, Venus and others.

This video went widespread, His mother, Judy Murray was undoubtedly proud with his reply.

That's my boy. ❤️ https://t.co/ldZUQ2wbZj
— judy murray (@JudyMurray) July 12, 2017

When asked about it to Serena Williams, she said.

"I don't think there is a woman player- and there really shouldn't be a female athlete- that is not totally supportive of Andy Murray.

He has spoken up for women's issues and rights, especially in tennis, forever and he does it again. That's one thing that we love about him. "

She is also all praises for his mother, Judy Murray.

"He has such a wonderful mother who's been such a strong figure in his life and he's done so much for us on our tour, so we love Andy Murray," Serena said who is out of the tour as she is expecting her first child.

This is not the first time Murray stood against the sexism.
During this Year's Wimbledon, Murray also called on schedulers to give women more opportunities to play on the main show courts, which have featured a disproportionately high number of men's matches.

So, When a man stands up for a woman, it takes him places but when the woman stands up for her own rights, most of it doesn't go well ending up under the tag called "ego".

Meet the lone voter from the Gir Forest

2017-07-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

Mahant Bharatdas Darshandas lives in the middle of Gujarat's Gir forest, home for Asiatic lion. He is the lone voter from the place for whom the entire election team is set for every election.

In his mid 60's Darshandas is living in a small house, looking after the ancient Shiva Temple which is located nearby.

He is the only worker from the village Banej, located in Junagadh district.

When asked about this to the Junagadh collector, "We are only following EC guidelines" he said to IANS over the telephone.

Election commission mandated that no voter should travel more than 2 km to cast his/her vote.

So, 4 to 5 officials of election commission accompanied by the forest guards reach the place in SUV from Una, the day before the "voting day" arranges everything, including the voting booth.

Normally, the voting takes place for the entire day but here the officials wrap it up once Darshandas votes.

Darshandas has been a regular voter. He did cast his vote in the similar fashion for past 5 elections.

Living in a nation where the most of the youngsters find it difficult to vote, here he is using his "right to vote" in a proper manner.

Here is the video of him, voting.

15 Facts you need to know about the Wimbledon Champion Garbiñe Muguruza.

2017-07-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

The Wimbledon Women's finals did not live up to the expectations of the final as it was pretty one sided game. Spain's Garbiñe Muguruza outclassed the five time Wimbledon champion-Venus Williams with a bagel in the final set, Muguruza won the match 7-5,6-0.

Here are 15 facts you need to know about the champion.

Yes!!!! pic.twitter.com/evqTlwOaRf
— Garbiñe Muguruza (@GarbiMuguruza) July 15, 2017

Holds dual citizenship

Bonita velada celebrando el 40 aniversario del torneo Porsche! Lovely night Celebrating 40th anniversary of Porsche tennis. 💋

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on Apr 25, 2017 at 12:11am PDT

She wasn't born in Spain, but in Caracas, Venezuela on 8th October 1993 to a Spain father and Venezuelan mother.
She moved to Spain in 1999.
She chose to represent Spain in the championships.

She started her training at the age of three.

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on May 1, 2017 at 1:27pm PDT

She started very early at the age of three. She was then trained at an academy near Barcelona.
Her first main draw appearance came in 2012.
She was given a wildcard at Miami open.
She went on to beat Vera Zvonareva, the world no.2 that time and Flavia Pennetta before losing to Agnieszka Radwanska.

She defeated Serena Williams at the French Open not once but twice.

She defeated Serena in the second round of the 2014 French Open.
She was only 20 years old back then.

She became the first Spanish woman since 1998 to win the French Open.

🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on Jun 6, 2016 at 12:19am PDT

She was 22-year-old when she won the title.
It was Sanchez-Vicario who was the French open 19 years back.

First person to beat both the William sisters in the Grandslam finals.

2016 French Open- Serena Williams
2017 Wimbledon- Venus Williams
Both her wins came in straight sets.

She is Superstitious!

Mama!

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on Jul 1, 2016 at 11:30pm PDT

She once asked her parents not to come to her matches. It happened during 2015 Wimbledon where she was on a winning streak and she doesn't want to change any routines.
She got off the bed with the same leg, she brushed her teeth at the same time during the tournament since she didn't want to change anything.

She played tennis because of her brothers.

Donde todo empezo! Where everything started! ⏳👬🇻🇪 #familyalbums

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on Nov 2, 2016 at 12:28pm PDT

Muguruza has two brothers- Igor and Asier.
They were her inspiration. Now, they gave up tennis and have traditional jobs.
Igor-Economist, Asier-Engineer.
They played for Venezuela while Muguruza chose Spain.
They were the reason why the family moved as the Spain has better opportunities in tennis.

Fulfilled her family dreams.

Since her brothers gave up tennis, she was the last hope for the family.
She says that she fulfilled her family dream of becoming a tennis professional just by playing the game for fun.

She is one of the tallest players.

✌🏼️Elena Arzak la mejor cocinera del mundo!!

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on Dec 6, 2015 at 9:12am PST

She is one of the tallest players in the circuit.
She stands 6 feet tall.

She relaxes by cooking.

3 Muguruzas + holidays + Christmas + LA =⚠️

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on Dec 13, 2016 at 9:46pm PST

She loves to cook especially desserts.
Oreo Brownie is her favorite.

She almost ended with cooking disaster at the Wimbledon this year.

She was cooking red meat. While doing the nice steaks, there was huge smoke and the fire alarm was right under where she was cooking.

She accused the French crowd as "disrespectful"

Muguruza 41 days ago. Impossible to stress how much the FO title burdened her, impossible to stress how quickly tennis players must move on. pic.twitter.com/Es5PR7le1P
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) July 15, 2017

The local star Kiki Mladenovic ended her title defense this year, she was in tears and accused the crowd as "disrespectful"
During her tearful press conference, her coach Sam Sumyk described the crowd as pathetic.

She becomes the second player Spanish woman to win the Wimbledon.

Conchita Martinez was the first player.
Martinez also joined the team of Muguruza filling in for Sam Sumyk who has missed this year's Wimbledon due to his wife's pregnancy.

Doubles player.

Next time! Próxima vez será!👍🏼

A post shared by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on Aug 11, 2016 at 5:21pm PDT

She is also a good doubles player as well with 5 titles in her 10 finals.
She plays doubles with her country mate and good friend Carla Suarez Navarro.

Kim Clijsters makes fun of the Wimbledon dress code!

2017-07-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

As everyone knows, Wimbledon has the strict dress code compared to other tournaments. The players are continuously annoyed by the rules implied on the clothing by the All England's club.

Recently, during a boy's match, the Austrian Jurij Rodionov was forced to change his underwear since it was not white but blue.

(read the story here -http://diaryfacts.blogspot.in/2017/07/a-junior-player-forced-to-change-his.html?m=1)

The tennis legend Kim Clijsters who is doing a remarkable job in the commentary box with her witty replies and pointing out the illegal coaching on the court in the Wimbledon played this year's invitation match.

The invitation doubles match had Kim Clijsters and Rennae Stubbs as one team while Conchita Martinez and Andrea Jaeger the other.

Stubbs and Clijsters took a set lead and at 4 all with Clijsters serving 40-0, the funny moment happened.

Clijsters was asking where she should serve, wide or down the middle. The man from the crowd suggested "body serve".

Clijsters stopped in laughter, asked the man to come forward to the court and receive the serve.

"I'm happy with my all whites, " said Clijsters as the man was wearing blue shorts and a green t-shirt. and the crowd were elated. Clijsters did not stop with that, she quickly ran to her bag, took a skirt and helped the man to wear it.

It was funny as the man tried to put on the skirt. He finally made to change in all whites, with a white t-shirt and the skirt.

He wasn't able to return the serve and Clijsters won the game. Later, all the four ladies took pictures with the man in his skirt.

Here is the video link of the incident.

The crowd had a wonderful time watching the legends play and I'm sure that they would have had a good laughter.

It took only 4 tweets for Chinmayi to shut the people who boycotted ARR concert.

2017-07-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Chinmayi is not a new name when it comes to slamming and shutting the haters down.

The singer who won the state award recently wasn't clearly entertained by the boycotts and the tweets against the Mozart of Madras- A.R.Rahman's concert 'Netru Indru Naalai' in the UK.

The Indians at the UK were expecting more Hindi numbers and they were disappointed as the concert had more Tamil numbers.

They walked away from the show and tweeted their anger.

The entire story is trending for right from the incident, till now.

There have been so many tweets in support of the Maestro.

Chinmayi Sripada, who was introduced by A.R.Rahman, took the twitter to shut down the haters. Here are the four tweets by her which created a buzz among the boycotters.

The first tweet:

The second tweet:

The third tweet:

The fourth tweet:

These tweets rocked the twitter soon and there were few other interesting replies.

Here is my favorite:

You go, Girl!

Triple H keeps up his promise, gifts the IPL 10 Champions Mumbai Indians

2017-07-14T03:08:00.002-07:00

WWE COO and superstar Triple H is known for gifting customized championship belt for the winners from different sports.

Mumbai Indians who defeated Rising Pune Supergiants in an epic thriller to win the 10th edition of IPL. This is the third time, Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians winning the trophy.

When the Mumbai Indians tweeted about their victory, Triple H was promised for a "gift". He tweeted.

Congratulations, @mipaltan. @WWE has something headed your way! @WWEIndia https://t.co/Isjf4gmh1T
— Triple H (@TripleH) May 22, 2017

Not more than two months, he kept up his promise. He shared the picture of the customized Mumbai Indians belt on his Twitter page yesterday.

.@MIPaltan @ImRo45 as promised, the @WWE Title is on its way... Congratulations! @WWEIndia pic.twitter.com/Zkq3bSmPah
— Triple H (@TripleH) July 13, 2017

The belt reached the Mumbai Indians camp today and the Captain Rohit Sharma was more than happy to wear it for the picture.

😲 This is unreal, to be holding this championship belt from the champion himself. Lot of fond memories. Thank you @TripleH & @WWE @mipaltan pic.twitter.com/AMONfJn7tB
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) July 14, 2017

Mumbai Indians tweeted the picture of the captain with the belt, today morning.

Paltan, doesn't the WWE Championship belt look amazing with Mumbai Indians on it? 🙌🏻 #CricketMeriJaan pic.twitter.com/mZo8ka3URU
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) July 14, 2017

Triple H previously has sent personalized belt as a token of appreciation to various teams.

The @NBA Championship is back in the Bay...and @KDTrey5 is going to have his hands full with all this gold. #MVP Congratulations @Warriors! pic.twitter.com/d4AQZLJls1
— Triple H (@TripleH) June 13, 2017

Back-to-back @NHL Champions
...gonna need a bigger trophy case in Pittsburgh. Congratulations to the @penguins! pic.twitter.com/zImlFdiKuF
— Triple H (@TripleH) June 12, 2017

From @WWE to @FCBayern:
Five years @bundesliga_de...
....ONE Champion!
This is headed your way @David_Alaba & @FranckRibery #MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/nrFVxcS4Cz
— Triple H (@TripleH) June 6, 2017

Congratulations to John Terry and @ChelseaFC on winning the @PremierLeague! pic.twitter.com/22G7R32emY
— Triple H (@TripleH) May 20, 2017

This is one way of keeping up his fan base growing! Surely the Mumbai Indians team deserved it this time.

With their rivals, Chennai Super Kings who suffered two-year ban is returning to IPL, the coming season, so do the former IPL Champions Rajasthan Royals, No doubt, IPL 11 is going to be a blast for the viewers.

A junior player forced to change his underwear during the match!

2017-07-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

Jurij Rodionov, the 18-year-old Austrian tennis player was getting ready for his match against the Australian Blake Ennis today.

When the both players came for the toss, the third umpire made a strange request to Jurij. Jurij was forced to show his underwear.

I've never been more popular among British reporters here than when I started talking about underwear...here's the first check... #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/rrppYa2eoE
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 13, 2017

When the third umpire found that the underwear was in blue/purple, he called the supervisor to check on it.

The supervisor explained the rules to the young lad, he was arranged for different underwear and was forced to leave the court to change.

...and here was the supervisor who came out to look at his underwear yet again. He (Jurij Rodionov) then left court to change. #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/rU1q7tpqDo
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 13, 2017

This is not the first time Wimbledon has forced someone to change their outfits. Wimbledon follows a strict dress code and doesn't allow the players to show off any other color other than white.

A centimeter of different color clothing isn't allowed here.

Who can forget the famous "one match wonder" shoe of the maestro Roger Federer?

The master was forced to change his shoes which had orange at the base of the shoes.

Venus Williams was also a victim of this, where she was forced to change the inner wear which apparently was pink.

Boys doubles players- Piros and Yibing were forced to leave the court to change their clothing under their shorts which were black.

Though many players have expressed their discomfort about this, They have no other go than to follow the rules and the strict dress code implied by the All England Club.

Mithali Raj-The Girl who inspired many!

2017-07-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

Coming from the school where the girls are punished if they talk to boys,
Coming from the country where most of the parents believe that playing with the boys or playing cricket will make your "girly quality" disappear,
Coming from the place where the most of the people believe that girls are expected to do only household chores,
When you see someone who does a great job for the country, surely make you feel glad.

She, who left the dancing to take up the cricket career literally holds a special place in the hearts of many for following the passion against all the taboos the country can put in front of her.

Thanks to her parents, who not like other Indian parents falling to those taboos and made Mithali follow her dreams.

Women's cricket was never as popular as it is now. We now get to watch live matches, well at least one or two.
Those days, we never had the facility like cricketing apps to at least know the scores. Only the important world cup matches usually get telecasted and that is the only time we support the team and the team those days, flunked badly and that is it.

Once the World Cup was over, we neither tune into women's game nor we had the facility to.

We learn about the cricketers only during the world cup matches and the names keep changing for every world cup.

Two to three names stood strong for the past three world cups and Mithali Dorai Raj is the most familiar name.

The 16-Year-old girl when debuted would have never had the idea that she would survive this long. Over the years, she has gained the reputation that she can single-handedly drive the team to victory.

Whenever I update the status about the scores, most of the times I write her name first in the "highest score for India column" then I go to check the team's score. The faith she has created in us is something impeccable.

People say that 30's are the time when your movements slow down, you will be the oldest among the team and it will be difficult to cope up with the running, fielding kind of stuff but I have never seen her backing down at this age.

This 6000 runs, consecutive 50s, and other records are just like adding a cherry to the cake. For her fitness level and her form, I wish she goes past 10,000 runs.
Hey.. but wait, Indian women don't get as many matches as the other team or the Indian men's cricket team do. This now makes all her achievement even more special.

The cool captain she is, I never saw her angry at any moment of the game. That day, when the match was very critical, even the people who watched it from the home were tensed, she was there reading a book as casual as one could be on a beach.
If this doesn't inspire young players, I don't know what will it take to.

If she isn't there on the team now, I cannot imagine how big the impact will be and who will take the responsibility to fill her shoes.

I guess she is irreplaceable when it comes to the Women's cricket. It will be a huge loss and it will take years for India to recover from it if she retires any soon (she says that she will retire only after lifting the world cup for the nation).

I have never seen a player who plays almost every shot with at most perfection. I, like every other Women's cricket fan, fall in love with her, whenever she plays. There are so many things one can learn from her.

India is not known for their great opening partnerships. Most of the times, there will be a fall of wicket very early and we will be in a desperate need of a batter who can play long innings. When everyone around is tensed and the opponent is all pumped up, Mithali will walk in without any fear, builds her innings slowly, plays a solid knock and takes the team to a decent total while all the other players failed.

If India scored only 100 runs on the board, Mithali would have contributed around 70. This is how she was/is for India.

She never feared to speak her mind out. Her straightforwardness does make her even more special. Her press conference sessions are indeed a treat to watch. Remember the recent incident when the reporter asked who was her favorite male cricketer was? Almost every press meeting of hers goes this way.

All I wish for is, A county player in the men's cricket gets more recognition, salary than the captain of India in India while the other main cricketing nations are inspired by her.

She deserves more.
More for not giving up that easily.
More for being a role model.
More for being that backbone of the Indian cricket.
More for staying calm, composed and playing great knocks when India needed her.
More for taking India to places.
More for carrying India's pride for all these long.

Does the Camera Really Add Ten Pounds?

2017-07-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

Being a crazy Friends series fan(I mean, I know most of us are) When I watched the series for like the nth time, I had this doubt. This scene.

So in this scene, Monica says that the camera adds 10 pounds to the weight. Do they really?

Well, when I googled the same, I had loads of answers which says that It does. The camera does add pounds(not ten pounds, exactly! ) but it does.

According to a famous photographer, when he tried taking a picture of a model with different lenses, he had different outputs. The different lenses did add and reduce the weight to the model's face. Here is the GIF added to show how the different lenses gave different output.

It is because of the change in the distance of the object and the camera lens which some call as focal length.

From the GIF, it is seen that 20mm lens made the face to look thinner while 200mm lens worked exact opposite to 20mm lens and somewhere like around 50mm, is the equal-to-perfect" output.

The photographer says that it is merely the perception and exposure to exact light and lens will help us to capture a perfect image.

Most of the times, we would have felt that we look thinner in the mirror than in the photograph. It is because our brain recognizes things which we see through two eyes while the camera has one lens to capture the image. This makes the difference.

This video from the "Scishow" gives a more clear view about the topic.

Hope you liked it!

So far- In Sports

2017-07-10T02:33:00.000-07:00

England is the place to be as far as the sports are concerned in the month of June and July. With so many tournaments happening, here is the gist of what had happened this week in sports.

I cover three sports in major, and the Indian achievements. Hopefully, I cover more in the future.

Normally this is something I update on Sunday but I had to wait for the Asian Championships to get over. so, Here it goes.

These are the matches that happened in the past week: (3 July- 10 July)

Cricket:

Women:

ICC WORLD CUP:

Match 1

India vs Srilanka.

India beats Srilanka by 16 runs.
India women-232/8. Deepti Sharma 78. Mithali Raj 53.
SS Weerakkody-3 wickets.

Chasing 233 to win, Srilanka ended with 216/7 in 50 overs.
Manodara-61.
Jhulan, Poonam Yadav - 2 wickets
Deepti, Bisht - 1 wicket

Match 2

England vs South Africa.

England won by 68 runs
England- 373/5
Beaumont-148 and Taylor 147
Kapp - 3 wickets.

Chasing the total,
RSA-305/9 in 50overs.
Wolwaardt scoring 67, Lee 72, Tryon scored 26 balls 54
Hazell - 3 wickets and Knight- 2 wickets.

Match 3

Pakistan vs Australia.

Australia won by 159 runs.
Australia - 290/8.
Perry - 66, Villani - 59, Healy- 63*
Mir took 3 wickets.

Chasing the total,
Pakistan 131/9 in 50 overs.
Mir scored 45.
Gardner and Beams took 3 wickets each.

Match 4

New Zealand vs West Indies

New Zealand win by 8 wickets
Windies- 150/10 in 43 overs
Knight-41.
Kasperek and Tahuhu- 3 wickets each.
Chasing the total,
NZ made 151/2 in 18.2 overs.
Captain Suzie Bates scored 40* off 43
Rachel Priest 90 from 55 balls.

Match 5:

India vs South Africa.

South Africa win by 115 runs.
South Africa- 273/9 in 50 overs.
Top scorers- LEE-92, Van Niekerk 57.
Wicket takers for India- Shikha Pandey-3, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Ekta Bisht-2

Chasing the total,
India-158/10 in 46 overs
Deepti Sharma-60, Jhulan Goswami-43*
Wicket takers- Van Niekerk-4, Khakha-2

Match 6:

New Zealand vs Pakistan

New Zealand win by 8 wickets.
Pakistan- 144/10 in 46.5 overs.
Sana Mir-50
Wicket takers - Rowe 3, Kasperek, Tahuhu, Kerr- 2, Devine - 1

Chasing the total,
New Zealand-147/2(15 overs)
Devine- 93 from 41 balls which included 9 sixes and 7 fours. <3
Wicket takers- Diana and Sandhu- 1

Match 7:

England vs Australia:

England win by 3 runs.
Eng: 259/8 in 50 overs.
Beaumont 49, Brunt 45*, Villani 3 wickets.

Chasing the total,
Aus: 256/8 in 50 overs.
Perry 70, Lanning 40.
Gunn, Hartley, Brunt: 2 wickets each.

Match 8:

West Indies vs Srilanka

Windies win by 47 runs.
WI: 229/9 in 50 overs.
Aguilleira-46*, S Weerakody 3 wickets.

Chasing the total,
SL-182 ALL OUT IN 48 Overs.
Shashikala Siriwardene-33.
Anisa Mohammed-3 wickets.

Top 4 teams:

England-1st
Australia-2nd
India-3rd
New Zealand-4th

Men's

India vs West Indies 5th ODI:

India won by 8 Wickets.

WI-205/9 IN 50 Overs.
Shai Hope-51, Kyle Hope-46
Wicket-takers: Shami-4, Umesh Yadav - 3

Chasing the total,
India-206/2 in 36.5 overs
Kohli-111, Dinesh Kartik-50

India win the series: 3-1

Only T20I:

West Indies win by 9 wickets.

India-190/6 in 20 Overs.
DK-48 Pant-38
Taylor and Williams-2 wickets.

Chasing the total,
West Indies- 194/1 in 18.3 overs.
Lewis 125*, Samuels-36*
Kuldeep yadav-1 wicket.

England vs South Africa

1st test:

England win by 211 runs.

First innings: England: 458 all out.
Root: 190, Moeen Ali:87.
Morkel-4 wickets,
Philander, Rabada- 3 each

SA: 361 all out.
Bavuma 59, Elgar-54.
Moeen Ali: 4 wickets.
Anderson, Broad, Dawson 2 wickets each.

England 2nd innings:
233 all out,
Cook 69, Bairstrow-51
Maharaj-4, Rabada, Morkel-3 wickets each.

SA 2nd Innings:
119 all out,
Bavuma-21.
Moeen Ali- 6 wickets.

England leads the 4 match series 1-0

SRILANKA VS ZIMBABWE

4th ODI:

Zimbabwe win by 4 wickets (D/L Method)

Srilanka-300/6 in 50 overs
Dickwella-116, Gunathilaka-87
Wicket takers-Mpofu and Waller-2
Zimbabwe needed 219 from 31 overs.
Mire-43, Ervine- 69*
Zimbabwe ended 219/6 in 29.2 overs.

5th ODI: Zimbabwe win by 3 wickets.

Srilanka: 203/8 in 50 overs.

Gunathilaka:52, Gunaratne: 59*

Wicket takers: Raza-3, Cremer-2

Chasing the total,

Zimbabwe :204/7 in 38.1 overs.

Masakadza-73,Mire-43

Wicket takers:Dhananjaya-4, Malinga-2

Zimbabwe win the series 3-2. Their first overseas series win since 2009.

TENNIS:
THE WIMBLEDON:

With record retirements and two humongous fine implied, the second week of the Wimbledon looks amazing!

Tomic was fined for his unsportsmanlike behavior on court.
Daniil was fined for throwing coins at the chair of the umpire.
Mattek Sands suffered a huge leg injury where she fell down while playing and she was taken to hospital by ambulance. She had players like Sania Mirza, Sorana Cristea visiting her.
Federer crosses 10,000 aces in his career.
Nadal recorded 29 consecutive set wins.

ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS:

India ends the 4-day Asian championships at the top, with 29 medals (12 Gold, 5 Silver, 12 Bronze)
China ends 2nd and Kazakhstan in the 3rd spot.
This is India's best performance.

BERLIN PARA SWIMMING:

Suyash Jadhav came 1st in the heats to clinch silver medal in the 100M butterfly style at IDM Berlin 2017

ASIAN SNOOKER TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP:

Pankaj Advani and Laksman Rawat wins the Asian team snooker championship 2017. They defeated the Pakistani duo - Bilal and Babar

This is all I could cover this time.

TIA! :)

That one song!

2017-07-09T04:38:00.001-07:00

Music has an impact on the people they say but have you ever felt something about a particular song?

One song in particular which used to belong to you and your loved one. Whenever you hear the particular song, that special someone's thought, the moments you had together, the memories you made together glares and makes you smile.

Whenever you miss that person, this number makes you feel that they are with you. It affords you so much that you literally feel that the special one is with you.

You tune onto the television which you usually never do simply to listen to that song.

You start your day, end your day on the same song. Though the song is only a usual number, it is that person who comes to your mind whenever you hear it makes it special.

Your day plainly gets better with that song. You can never get over this song, you think and it never makes you feel empty, you think.

Things take a drastic shift when that person who gave you so much stops talking to you, leaves you or you leave her/him for some reason.

You cannot stand that song anymore. When people who don't know the things come recommending you to hear that because it is great, you end up disapproving them and pretend as if you hate it so that they will not hear it when you are around. You literally start to running away from that song.

The song, which you thought will be there for you, Makes you feel bad now.

When you come across something that reminds you of them which you needed not even in the last place, in that "heart-mind" fight, that five-minute song somehow wins the situation and helps you to rewind all the memories.

You are afraid to see television because that song pops up from nowhere whenever you turn it on, you say.

The truth is, you do know the exact timing of that song being played on the different channels. So you end up seeing it in a place or other.

You secretly love getting lost in those memories even though your heart knows that this isn't right.

Those memories are the best so far in your life which has given you the spirit that nothing else/no one has done before.

Things might change, memories can be replaced but this song, keeps you reminded of that person though you don't feel the same anymore.

Dada, Happy Birthday!

2017-07-07T14:14:00.002-07:00

This is not going to be a big post because it is Dada!

If I have to write, I will end up writing a book on how this guy has an impact on me. There are so many great moments he has given me that If go in deep, There will be no end because more than memories it was the feel.

When Dhoni taught me how to rule, It was Dada for me who taught how to lead. Though Dhoni's Indian team did win more, the basement for the rise of the team was set under him.

Again, I watched Dhoni when I actually knew more about the game but It was Dada who taught me what the game was.

I might be like three years old, I was that kid who never used to go to school if I didn't hit two or three balls. My mother used to bowl to me with that sponge ball and with a small bat I used to play indoor cricket.

I went to school in rickshaw those days, and the rickshaw uncle would wait for me till I hit. It was the time when Sachin and Dada used to open for India. I was instantly attracted by Dada's play at that age and started to play left and bowl right like he did. It was indoor, terrace, street cricket after all.

There started the attraction towards him. When I was like three years old.

Before Sehwag, it was Dada who was the attacking batsman.

All those sixes and fours especially every single shot he played, especially on the off side. I know, I'm not the only fan of it.

I remember how I ran to shop to get those labels of him for my notebooks. I still have that collection of cricket cards which came free with chewing gum.

I was around 11 years, It was that time when the cricket playing cards were a thing. Ganguly's 183 were one among big scores and it was like "card Ganguly kudu kudu, most of the times"

I never knew that people had those middle name. Chandidas was the first I knew and I used to say like, "Chandidas super ah aadaran la" to my street friends and confuse them. "Hey yaaru pa adhu sollu" they used to beg and I utilized it most of the times making them give stickers, cards to me though this is making me laugh now, it was a great achievement back then.

He became the captain soon and India was introduced to aggression. When he became the captain, India wasn't even a "team" and a huge failure when it came to overseas matches while other teams like Australia were at their best.

We never stood a chance against them those days. It was not a competition of the "equals". It was not until his captaincy, the favorite five or six legends I should say, grew and his finds are the players who are taking care of the team now.

2000 to 2005 saw the real growth of the team. It can never be easy to form a team, take them from 8th position to 2nd considering the quality of the opponent. Like how people go crazy for India's achievements now, it was more than that those days.

I mean, those days, winning was something unheard of for the team. We were completely a failure. When someone showed that aggression and passion towards the game, making the team to win for the first time, taking the team to a world cup finals, you can only admire him.

Yes, We have almost all the Cups now but that doesn't feel the same. For me, I feel that the quality of the opponents wasn't the same.

When Flintoff took off his shirt at Wankhede, It did hurt as a cricket fan but some revenge is sweet. Taking his shirt off at the Lord's has to be the best moment for me. I remember shouting and celebrating with the same aggression.

He did give me that void feel when he retired. Cricket which I watched and worshipped those days wasn't the same now. I miss that aggression, I miss how players were afraid to sledge. I miss how he made Steve Waugh wait for the toss. I miss those cricketing shots. I miss how team India grew and Every match we played was thrilling. I miss those tension filled India vs Pakistan contests. I miss how the match was those days, how I used to celebrate every win. It doesn't feel the same now. I miss that dominance. I miss Him.

There are times when I sit and watch matches just because he is the commentator.

His voice, his smile, his aggression, his dominance, the way he writes off his critics, his press conferences where he was always been straight forward with his answers, the way he used to adjust moving left before hitting the ball offside, his bowling action, his gamble decisions, how he backed up Dhoni, how he promoted Sehwag to open, how he decides to bowl every time the team needed a wicket. His opening stands with Sachin.

It is almost 10 years now since his retirement, I don't think he lost even a fan till date. Once the king is always the king.

Whoever comes and lead the team, I will love them but not as much as I love Dada. For me, He is the best captain, my favorite captain.

To sum up everything, this line from the bookie shows how he was to the team.

Once when a bookie was asked whether Dada was also involved, he replied, "We want him. But no one has guts to approach him."

A champion is not always someone who never fails but someone who comes back stronger. After his drop in form and drift with the coach, he was down and out but he never gave up, came back stronger, played some wonderful matches.

I know I have been blabbering something all these while but I mean, You cannot normally write about a person who gave you that feel which you cannot explain with words. If it isn't Dada, I don't know if I would be an ardent cricket fan. Sachin was/is my favorite but Dada was something different to me which again, just like every other fan, I cannot explain.

Happy Birthday, Dada.

with love,

Your follower!

Happy Birthday Dhoni.

2017-07-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

Growing up watching India play, I remember how the team lacked a perfect wicket keeper who can hit the ball hard and also can bat through with the tail enders.

I always wanted a keeper more like my favourite-Gilchrist.

2004, a year after the hefty loss against the mighty Australian team in the World Cup finals.

The team was forced to free Dravid from the wicket keeping position so that he could concentrate more on his batting without pressure.

There was a huge void in the team as the two other keepers-Dinesh Karthik(DK) and Parthiv Patel lacked consistency in the ODIs. Though they continued to keep wickets for the test matches.

Way back-in 2004, I don't remember the exact date.

When I was looking through the newspaper, I saw a new name in the squad for the tour of Bangladesh. Being an ardent fan of Tamil Nadu boy DK, I was like "yaara ivan, Dhoni?"

Thanks to his India-A performances which caught the eye of Captain Dada and the selectors.

I was keen to watch this guy play because he seemed odd with that hairstyle. It was a disappointment for me because he got out for a duck on his debut and the entire series was a flop for him.

Still, Dada backed him up believing in his hard hitting abilities. He was selected for the Pakistan series. I was not okay with that as I was rooting for DK.

I remember this Pakistan series.

This match particularly, the second ODI.
Dada took the gamble of sending Dhoni right after Sachin got out.
One end, it was Sehwag.

I can still picturise how nervous Dhoni was at the beginning. When Sehwag started to hit hard at one end, Dhoni became comfortable at the other end and started to establish himself.
I furthermore remember how Inzamam has to bring Afridi even when the field restrictions were on due to the pressure. It made it easy for Sehwag to score freely.

When Sehwag got out, Dhoni got another great company in the name of Dravid who made him feel even more comfortable. Dhoni went on to score 123-ball 148.

Those days, run-a-ball knock was itself a great deal. When someone comes and plays a knock like this, considering particularly the opponent, our arch rivals, it cannot go unnoticed.

I can recollect how every newspaper, news channel covered his story.
I used to read W.V.Raman's column regularly in the Hindu newspaper. I still remember the bits of his article about the match. The headlines read as (I remember it vaguely) something like, "Huge leap by Dhoni"

Though I wasn't wholly impressed by him, I adored his fearlessness.

There was this interview I remember, where he said, "It is in my nature to be aggressive."
I was surprised to hear something like that because aggression isn't really a common thing that time.

As I penned earlier, I always wanted a keeper who can play knocks like Gilchrist. That one knock and people already began to compare him with the Australian legend.

Though I wasn't charmed with that comparison as it was too early. I was eager enough to see whether Dhoni proves the comparison worthy.

Then came this series. India vs Srilanka.
I remember the date too. October 31, 2005. I was on my vacation that day to my cousin's place and we were all lying there watching the first innings where the Lankans scored almost 300.
Those days, scores above 250 weren't as easy as it is now.
So it was going to be a tough chase I knew. It was that time of Indian's cricket, when our top three collapsed, we used to turn off the television. Similar way, there wasn't much contribution from the top three batsmen that match. My whole family gave up on the match and went to have their noon nap.

I'm always that person who believes miracles do happen. I never switch off the tv even if we need 13 runs from 1 ball. I also remember telling this,"avanga keeper dhaane century adichan(referring to Sanga's ton), namma keeper'um adipaan paarunga"

As always, no one bought me. So, I was the only one who was watching the match. It was only when Venugopal Rao came in, my family woke up to feel bad for what they have missed- One of the greatest knocks under pressure. 183* off 145 balls.

I was happy for this guy and was fascinated with the way he took his team to the victory.

Personally, I was more happy with my prediction that day. Normally you know, it fails.

The year 2007, and it was the first T20 world cup.
Not many took T20 seriously those days and also thought that it was the game for youngsters. Deciding to move forward with a young team, India needed a captain.

For almost every 90's born cricket fan and those who saw him play, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was unarguably the best and almost everyone was his fan. I mean, few might not agree but still, the fan following he had/has is indeed impeccable. For me, Sachin was/is everything.
When Sachin spotted a talent, that guy has to be special. The captaincy crown was given to Dhoni and the rest is you know, history.

I wasn't able to see any other matches live except the India vs NewZealand.
The score updates in the news channels were the only possible way and we had telecast only for the finals. How many would have thought that this team will reach the finals?

"In the airrrr, Sreesanth takes it, India wins" every time I hear this, I get that feeling which I cannot put it in words.

There started his great career of captaincy.
Soon he took over the captaincy in every format. He was able to captain in such a way that the team went on to win almost all the tournaments.

Once a ticket collector, through his sheer hard work he became "the thalaivan" for his fans. Thanks to the IPL and CSK, he did win fans along with the cups.
I always wondered who will take over that stardom among the fans, when Sachin retires. Dhoni obviously not have replaced the stardom of Sachin but he did create one for himself.

Though he captained and helped the team to win many matches and tournament, The World Cup which he won for his country, for Sachin is always my favorite moment.

"Dhoni finishes off in style" will remain ringing in my ears.

Personally, I'm not a "big fan" of Dhoni, not a hater either. Being the die hard fan of SRT, Mumbai Indians was/is my favorite but certainly I cannot hate CSK. I was/is always blue or yellow for me.

I loved the way,

He kept cool in the pressure.

He was ready to take those risks- take 2007 world cup final over-Joginder Sharma preference over Bhajji.

He finished matches with great ease- still 183* is my favorite.

He groomed and gave chances for Rohit, Ashwin in ODIs.

He proved that comparison with Gilly is worthy now.

He mastered the helicopter shot which Sachin failed to after playing it once or twice.

He silenced his critics with performances.

He was able to do stumpings at that speed like faster than speed of light.

There are many things in which Dhoni have inspired me. I'm failing to write here because I don't find the exact words.

Happy Birthday, Dhoni!

Daniil Medvedev fined for his unsportsmanlike behaviour on court!

2017-07-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

Daniil Medvedev, the 21-year-old Russian who was the talk of the town on day 1 of the Wimbledon after causing a huge upset when he defeated US Open champion Stan Wawrinka, made the headlines for all the wrong reasons on day 3 of the tournament.

During the match

He is facing disciplinary actions from the tournament officials as he threw the coins at the chair of the umpire as an outcome of his anger.

The player was angry and reacted in an unsportsmanlike way for the series of controversial calls made in his second round match against Ruben Bemelmans where he lost in a five setter.

Suffering from meltdown, he pleaded to court supervisors to change the chair umpire, Mariana Alves. He also opened the wallet and threw coins at the chair of the umpire at the end of the match.

Unsurprisingly, many questions were raised at his post-match interview.

During his interview

"I was frustrated so it had no meaning. I will personally apologize to Alves if I see her" he said in the interview.

"It would be really stupid," he claimed. "It was stupid, but it was not like this. It was just that I was packing my things and I saw my wallet.

In the heat of the moment, I did a stupid thing. I was ready to leave the court, but that's what happened. I don't even remember what the coins were," he added.

The world no.49, who wasn't able to justify his behavior said that he immediately regretted it.

"I was disappointed with the result. It was frustrating after a big win. The match was not going well for me. In the heat of the moment, I did a bad thing. I apologize. Sometimes you are unhappy with the call. Sometimes it's in your favor. It happens," he said.

The official did not accept his conduct and has fined him for his actions.
He has to pay three fines- $3000, $4000, $7,500 for his actions on the court.

This is not the first time he was involved in a fight with the official. During a challenger event, when he was playing against Daniel Young, he was disqualified for the racist comment he made against the official.

Bernard Tomic is fined for faking injury during his first round loss

2017-07-06T04:26:00.003-07:00

This year's Wimbledon is seeing it all. Right from record first-round retirements to filthy fines.

Once the disciplined game is suffering from the unsportsmanlike act of the youngsters.

Bernand Tomic, the 24-year-old Australian who once considered as the future of the sport, came out with worst comment possible to the sport made the headlines recently.

The legends bashed his comments and said that he is an embarrassment to the sport.

Tomic is fined for faking injury

His comments came right after his "casual play" against the veteran Mischa Zverev which led to his first round exit. He faked back injury during the match. When asked about it, he said that he wasn't bothered by it. It was all mental disrupt. He felt "bored" on the court and winning the cup or losing early doesn't matter to him anymore.

He also added that he doesn't care if he loses in the fourth round or the first and he will play tennis for ten more years so that he doesn't have to go to work. This first round lose fetched him $35k and he already earned 4 million from the game.

This comments did not go well with the sporting greats and Hall of Famers.

The former champion and the tennis great Pat Cash confessed that “I don’t think Bernie by a long shot represents everybody, Australian players,” Cash told the BBC. “He can do a lot worse than that to ruin the image that we’ve created. But a lot of ex-players are cringing, Aussies, especially the guys who started this pro circuit. We wouldn’t be here without these guys.”

Australian six-time grand slam doubles champion Rennae Stubbs labeled Tomic’s comments a disgrace. “You’re an embarrassment to yourself, and not only to the sport but to Australian tennis,” Stubbs told the BBC.

The Nine-time Wimbledon winner Martina Navratilova said Tomic should get out of the sport if that’s how he feels. “It’s disrespectful to the sport and disrespectful to the history of the sport. If you can’t get motivated at Wimbledon it’s time to find another job. The spectators paid good money to come here and watch Wimbledon and the guy shows up and doesn’t try, he can’t be bothered. Just stay at home.”

the highlighted comments are taken from the website www.TheGuardian.com

Now, the player is fined a heavy amount of 15,000$ for faking an injury during the match.

The 24-year-old who was already a hit when it comes to controversy where he once said Hewitt wasn't enough for him to practice, he was arrested for trespassing in Miami though later he was cleared of all the charges and there are few other controversies to his name but this is the first time he has been implied with a high amount.

Panda Shaped Super Adorable Solar Power Plant Goes Online!

2017-07-05T12:23:00.001-07:00

What else can turn a boring sight of black and white interesting?

Rightly named as Panda Power Plant and taking the shape of the country's most treasured animal-Panda went online in China, recently.

This adorable solar plant's construction started in 2016, by Panda Green Energy Group Limited (formerly known as United PhotoVoltaics Group Limited) under an agreement with United Nation Development Program(UNDP) to advocate for Renewable Energy.

The first phase of the plant offers 50 Megawatts of green energy and it is connected to China's power grid. The entire project will cover up to 1,500 acres and will produce about 100 Megawatts of clean green energy once it is completed, saving millions of coal.

This reduction in the usage of coal will bring down the Carbon emission by humongous amount.

Picture Courtesy-Google

The black color of the Panda is comprised of monocrystalline silicone solar cells, while the grey color comprises thin film solar cells.

This plant when completed can offer around 3.2 billion hours of electricity replacing the regular energy.

In the next five years, the company has planned to construct more plants under their "Panda 100 program".

The company is also conducting activity center for the school children in order to educate about the renewable energy and how the energies can be used in a more efficient way.

UNDP also shared their idea to promote the solar power plants outside China. Maybe in next 25 years, we will have more plants.

When it comes to renewable energy, China is way ahead of other countries.

Recently, they have launched the largest floating solar panel and in the last month, the entire area of Qinghai was run for a week using only clean energy.

Tuesday's Tips and Tricks

2017-07-04T07:26:00.002-07:00

Few of the top life hacks which you might find helpful.

1. Removing permanent marker stains.

White vinegar for carpets
Hand sanitizers for clothes
Milk for Furniture
Pencil eraser for the whiteboard.

2. If you pay $65 and register your dog as "Emotional Support Animal" it will be illegal for your landlords to refuse to rent to you.

3.Use the chrome extension TLDR if you are too lazy to read long articles. This extension will give you quick summaries and hints of the long articles online.

4. Put the silica packets inside your tool box to prevent them from rusting.

5. Shelterpups.com makes personalized stuffed dog toys. Send them your dog pictures and they make the stuffed toy of your dog. It costs around 50$.

6.There a website called Wolframalpha which is an answer engine that solves nearly all the mathematical equations.

7. In order to find whether the chewing gum is sugarless, fold the gum. if it breaks, it is sugarless. If it contains sugar, the gum bends.

8. Traveling on the road with more stoplights? Go at the speed limit it will likely help you in hitting the green light often.

Thanks for the read! :)

This Pakistani bowler had her dream come true after meeting this Indian Legend.

2017-07-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

The rivalry between India and Pakistan cricket team is not something people hasn't heard of.

The heat was always been there for years. Especially the fans goes gaga everytime the country faces each other irrespective of the sport.
India-Pakistan rivalry is also marked as one of the best rivalry and the crowd puller of all time.

Though there have been fights regularly, some moments do make us feel good.

One such moment was when the Pakistan fast bowler Kainat Imitiaz shared this beautiful picture of her with India's very own Jhulan Goswami on her Instagram account.

Kainat, who missed the game against India where her team lost by a hugh margin, Shad a fan girl moment after the match with the star. Kainat's reaction says it all-How memorable this moment would be for her.

Kainat's Instagram caption reads as follows

'Let me share a story with you all.
In 2005 I saw the Indian cricket team for the first time as the Asia cup was held in Pakistan. I was the ball picker during the tournament. I saw Jhulan Goswami. The fastest bowler of that time. I was so impressed that I chose cricket as my career, specifically fast bowling.
Its a proud moment for me as after 12 years today in 2017, I'm playing this ODI world cup with one of my inspirations and getting more inspired.'

Jhulan Goswami, who is now the leading wicket taker of the women's cricket has been an inspiration for most the young cricketers out there and Kainat isn't an exception.

So far, in the world cup every team has played three matches.
Pakistan has lost all their matches in the tournament so far, while India sits at the top of the table.

Catch the live matches on star sports and hotstar.

Medicinal uses-Tulsi

2017-07-03T11:17:00.001-07:00

Tulsi-The Queen of the Medicinal Plants

Our ancestors are brilliant that they always gave a religious touch to every good thing in this world. Growing tulsi plants in the house is not an exception. I guess they did that because they believed that their children will follow the good deeds like say, planting tulsi if they come under the tag of God.

More than being a "religious" plant, Tulsi is one of the most important medicinal plants.
Here are the few benefits of this plant.

For Skin

They are detoxifying, cleansing and purifying agent in and out.
They can be used to cure pimples and other facial issues.
Rubbing them on your face gives you a younger look as they clean up the dust and other particles on your skin.
Can be used to cure wounds, cut and boils.
Heal skin irritation, itching, and other skin diseases

For Hair

Treats hair loss.
Removes Dandruff and Improves growth.
Treats hair thinning.
Helps against grey hair

For Stomach

Improves digestion.
Cures kidney stones.
Cleans and maintains the uric acid level in the body
Improves immunity

For Dental purpose

Removes bad breath
For healthy gums and cures gums disorder

Fever and Cold

Prevents and Cures a cough, cold and fever.
Effective especially against malaria and dengue fever.
Respiratory problems.
Helps against a sore throat.

Diabetes

Tulsi can maintain the sugar level and act as a cure for diabetes.

Helps in quit smoking

Well, not exactly but Chewing tulsi keep you distracted from smoking. It has the powers to cure the damaged cells caused due to smoking.

For Pain relief, stress relief and against headaches.
Prevents heart diseases, Helps in weight loss.

How to grow?

Keep in mind that it should be planted before the monsoon season. Tulsi needs more sunlight and moist soil which is rich in elements. For better growth, grow the plant inside the house till it is 5 to 6 inch tall then transfer it to outside. Planting them few centimeters inside the soil is enough for them to grow.

How to consume?

One more great quality of them is that they can be consumed in any of their forms.