Can’t thank Tesla enough for the 2025 variant Juniper!!! Loving this!
Unfortunately I am only middle class Indian who will never get to see this beauty in India and even if its going to be there, not sure if I can afford it! Its okay. Just the name is enough and this made my day!
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!
Hearty congratulations to D Gukesh, who at 18 beat Kasparov’s record and became the youngest ever world chess champion. Earlier this year, both the men and women’s teams from India clinched the world cup. What a composure and maturity for his age. Proud he is from Chennai. Chennai has just given the world the second world chess champion, after V Anand. His mentor’s tutelage and the chess academy VACA founded by him no doubt played a vital part in the making of the world chess champion. Congratulations to the entire Chess team of India! You made us all immensely proud!
A leader is someone who does not gloat and stay smug in his own success. A leader is someone who cultivates followers after him who can go further miles than him who he watches with pride.
Gukesh hails from a middle class Chennai family with working parents. An only child to his parents, he attended the same school as Praggnandhaa, another chess prodigy from Chennai who is 19. The reaction of Gukesh’s father on learning his son’s win over Ding Liren of China is priceless. Down to earth, so grounded. Probably Gukesh got his temperament from his father.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXaZxjWoUV0
Congratulations to Ding Liren, the defending champion from China who Gukesh won against. They were both very worth opponents.
The 45th World Chess Olympiad was underway in Budapest, Hungary that was watched avidly by chess lovers around the world. India today created a world record winning twin golds for both men and women category emerging at the top of the table.
Wow what a moment for India! Extremely proud of the young guys who made our dreams come true! Hearty congratulations to both the teams and especially the local Chennai boy Gukesh Dommaraju and Arjun Erigaisi who are both under world top 5. India easily outclassed Russia, China and the USA. One more Chennai boy Pragnaanandaa and Gukesh are both under 20 years. Prag’s sister Vaishali Rameshbabu is a member of the women’s contingent. Siblings on world record to have a ranking below world top 20. Me a mere follower of Chess developments here, nothing more 😀 The wins highlight the soft power that is India that conquers the world with holistic means such as Yoga, Meditation, Chess, Spirituality, Classical art forms along with world’s best and No.1 nutritious and yummy cuisine!
We have to keep in gratitude the chess academies of India that made this feat possible in the first place with their right grooming. Diamonds do need polishing with cutting edge technology.
Mixed race kids can be OCI card holders. OCI stands for Overseas Citizen of India. This card is like the American Green Card. India does not allow full fledged dual citizenship for security reasons. So a kid who is an American citizen is allowed maximum to hold only OCI card in INdia which is good enough. With this card, the kid has lifelong green card/residency status in India while retaining his/her American citizenship. The children are entitled to the fair legal share of inheritances. Can opt to live for lifelong in India with both passports. Can own/buy/sell real estate property in INdia, operate bank accounts, work or whatever. No restrictions on owning real estate or holding bank accounts in the US. Will have to file two tax forms (IT returns) that’s all! What is ruled out for OCI guys is only the VOTING RIGHT. The OCI cardholders cannot exercise their adult franchise casting their ballot in the Indian national parliamentary elections. Other than that practically the OCI/NRI (non resident Indian) children can enjoy the benefits of dual citizenship upto some 99%.
Benefits for kids: OCI card holding kids of Indian origin/mixed race with one parent having been born in India living in America, may be eligible for admit into choicest academic institutions under NRI quota. Which means they can get payment seat in esteemed private medical universities under this quota. We have friends’ kids with OCI who have done this. The children went back to the US for their residency alone on having completed their medical degrees in India in premium private medical colleges in the city. A couple of kids even attended A class residential schools that follow international curriculum and also teach Indian fine arts and culture such as Carnatic/Hindustani classical music, Bharatnatyam – the classical dance of India. Apart from this Yoga and meditation are mandatory in these schools. The kids have holistic all round development.
Check out these residential schools in Chennai – around for decades.
Mixed kids can have best of the both worlds. India gives them the cultural connect.
Hue and cry over Vinesh Phogat getting disqualified and denied the opportunity of winning the gold for India in the Paris Olympics wrestling. Before the finals, Phogal was found weighing 100 gms over 50 kg that led to the disqualification. The matter is in courts to get her a silver. But the Olympic committee wondered where to draw the line. Meanwhile speculations are rife in India laying the blame at the Indian govt’s doorsteps for thwarting the gold for Phogat because of her political involvement (into which I wouldn’t want to delve). Most athletes and sportspeople have come in support of Phogat including some international sportsmen. Many of them have also taken a careful stance expressing sympathy and not indulging in wild speculation. But it remains a fact that body weight is of key concern in the wrestling category.
Aman Sehrawat the wrestler who won bronze for India in 57 kg category being just 21, shed 4.5 kg overnight reportedly to ensure his eligibility. In an interview he says he ate only the food from India and not the mess food while in Paris. His coach made him shed kilos of weight just the previous night before the round for his bronze. Here is a copy-paste job from Google.
Indian wrestler Aman Sehrawat won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the victory didn’t come easy to him. Following his semifinal defeat to Japan’s Rei Higuchi on Thursday, August 8, the 21-year-old faced a daunting task—losing 4.5 kilograms to meet the 57kg category limit within 10 hours
Apparently two Indians have done that: Mary Kom for her gold in 2018 and Aman Sehrawat for bronze in 2024: shedding kilos of weight in hours to make it to the medal round. Saina Nehwal was the only sportsperson to say that the responsibility of body weight maintenance lay with the athlete. If indeed politics is involved it is a shame.
Phogat’s could have been the only gold for India after some let-downs.
For Neeraj Chopra who went from gold to silver, once you peak that is how you exit step by step. Even without injury matching Arshad Nadeem’s new world record in javelin would not have been a cakewalk. As Neeraj himself said, the day belonged to Nadeem. Lets close the chapter at that. But its still magnanimous on Chopra’s part not to explain his silver with the injury, not even announcing his injury in the event, and not to dim Nadeem’s light. This is the real sporting spirit.
As for Aman who was orphaned at 11 and raised by grandfather and uncle, the bronze is just the beginning. He becomes the youngest athlete in Indian history to win an Olympic medal. His story is incredible like that of Arshad Nadeed from Pakistan. Even Phogat’s story is unbelievable. I really feel sorry for her and that’s such a cliched word.
India’s Olympic rally has been good. For a nation like ours, bagging 6 medals at world level is still a feat. One or two of them must have been gold. Clear near misses. And a half a dozen fourth places which is no mean achievement. 10th in Steeple chase. We neither have the amenities nor the resources for even coming up to this stage. Its entirely upto our sportspeople to make theirs a success story.
Meanwhile there is more: Japan’s gold medalist wrestler Rei Higuchi who lost his gold to being overweight by 50 gms extends his support to Phogat. Did Modi stop even this gold medal.
Phogat has won everyone’s sympathy and the moral gold. Even the Sanghi capabilities have a limitation. They cannot extend as far as France or to the Olympic committee.
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Meanwhile our Nita Ambani never shy of stealing anyone and everyone’s thunder also posed with Manu Bhaker, the twin medalist in Paris.
Neeraj took a silver and his mother said, Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan who took the gold in javelin throw also is like a son to her. The beauty is, Neeraj never mentioned his injury anywhere that still got him silver. Its magnanimous on his part not to draw the media or world attention to his injury. He goes on to say the day belonged to Nadeem. It takes a big heart and real sportsmanship to do what he did. Neeraj is the kind of sportsman not only India but the world can do with. Respects for him. Its also unfortunate that Vinesh Phogat got disqualified for weighing 100 g in excess during the final. Even if one eats a plate of biriyani the body weight will increase overnight by 1 kg. Hopefully she is awarded at least a silver. Right now the hearing on the court case is on. Is it too much to expect to wake up with a medal news? Further hope there is no politics involved in getting her disqualified. India is very unlucky this time around. So far 5 bronzes and 1 silver but too many near misses for bronze. The famous 4th place for Indians in many categories. It still means they are the world’s 4th best. Unfortunately that is hardly a comforting thought. At least 6 more medals lost to India by whisker.
I am not watching the Paris Olympics. But this is super news. Media should also give equal credit to Sarabjot Singh who won the second medal for India with her.
Three Indians now figure in the world top 10 in Chess. What an amazing feat! The soft power that India is. Conquering the world with brains, hard work and soft skills like Yoga and Meditation. Hindu Dharma. REason for Indian temperament laying strong foundation on non violence.
Gukesh and Prag are from Chennai. Waiting for them to become world no.1 in near future. Too young they are. Gukesh and Prag are not even 20. Extremely proud of them. God bless. The poor country that mine is, whenever anyone excels by sheer talent, it totally touches me. These guys could not even get proper sponsors in initial stages.
Wanted to record this post hot, hot! A while since the world cup came home! After Dhoni, very well deserving for Rohit and Virat and of course the entire team to be bringing the trophy to India all the way from West Indies. Watched only the matches played by India in the WI. What beautiful locales. Have to thank the windies for being such gracious hosts and conducting the tournament without hickups. We can see the reasons: sponsors such as Aramco! Before congratulating our men, I would like to record my displeasure and distaste for having this Jay Shah at all as BCCI sec and as ICC Director. Its a shame for the entire nation that money and power can play such an obvious and vulgar role in our midst and we have to stand watching the entire tamasha without a comment. Its also very disrespectful for the game of cricket to have women starting from Mandira Bedi to analyse the game along with experts without actually having played it. There are dozens of Indian women cricket players who can fit the bill. Glamour seems to rear its ugly head up over talent and merit. Otherwise very proud of the cool way India handled the tournament. They were very much there in every single game they played and remained unbeaten. Match was almost lost when South Africa had to score just 30 out of 30 balls and victory was well within their grasps. An iota of hope against hope sneaked in as the batsmen were tailenders. Bumrah and Hardik reined in the last few overs. The Suryakumar catch reversed the fortunes and at that point India found the foothold to get back into the game. Had it been a sixer with Yadav dropping the impossible catch, the match would have gone the South African way. SA played a great game as well and it felt bad watching their players weeping in the tv. Equally winners no doubt about that. Its also a satisfying victory for India who tamed Australia and Pakistan. The other arrogant nations are Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Australia kicked out of the tournament without having a berth in the semi finals probably taught them a lesson. The Pat Cummins comment in the last final we toughed it out, that he would make entire India go silent still reverberates in my ears.
Finally cricket is just a sport. The popularity of the game has a lot to do with the masses of the subcontinent taking to cricket, playing it out in the streets without having to spend a naya paisa. The reason cricket is a huge obsession is that its not sophisticated like tennis or any other sport. To a large extent you can enjoy playing the game without having to spend much – unless otherwise you want to be a professional. IPL has made cricket very much a financially viable option for our youngsters who nowadays don’t even want to play for national team! I stopped watching IPL because to me its overkill. It can either make the players extraordinarily fit or fatigue them completely. Besides, the commercial sports somehow never seem appealing to me.
As for Pakistan, they have to come out of their denial first. For them every single Indian win is match fixing. Only if you admit that you are not competitive enough, you may want to work on yourselves. For me, Indian win is mainly based on strategy. India focuses on batting line up instead of on bowling attack. Our poor stamina is one plausible explanation. Our tropical climate being next. Its instrumental to build ourselves stronger first than trying to destroy others. The focus must be on the self.
As the tournament was in progress, Dipa Karmakar won the gymnastic gold for India in artistry for seniors at Asian level, for the first time in our history. Neeraj Chopra won few more golds in javelin throw. At least 2 to 3 in world top 10 in chess are from India. Impressive that Indian athletes have qualified for Paris Olympics. To get on to this stage is a feat as we all know. Cricket does shadow every single individual success in alternate sporting fields and events. Its sad. But the masses relax with cricket like with no other game. In the April-May heat wave see our stadiums packed with kids for IPL. Cricket is also A class fitness.
We have the younger generation who cannot be under the sun for 10 minutes. Real physical fitness and stamina is the ability and endurance to be under the scorching tropical sun for hours. That way I find that cricket shall keep our young men and women healthy. For every other sport you have to pay out of your wallet – cricket is free until upto a stage. May the poorest of this country enjoy the game that is reaching their drawing rooms without them having to pay a single penny for it. May the urchins keep breaking window glass panes playing street cricket with tennis ball. Indian team also is seeing a lot of players in recent years who are making it big from small towns. Dhoni being the prime example.
Anyway, what an evening today! Quality entertainment!
Blue army, the Bharat army deserved to win. They really were in the game throughout. They played a disciplined game and were a balanced team. Their temperament was good. As the venue was not India, I think the pressure was off them. Very noble of Virat Kohli to announce his retirement in time unlike Sachin Tendulkar and even Dhoni who blocked the younger players for years. Retiring with grace is important to infuse flesh blood into the team.
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School time memories: Huge fans we girls were of Viv Richards and Geoff Dujon! Cannot forget the time they toured India and were in Madras too in the ’80.
Really enjoyed their match hahaha! Lasted some 12.2 seconds! Highly satisfying to note that I am equal to Bill Gates at least in this one department or may probably be even better (by a whisker only)! I too have no strategy up my sleeve, make my moves without thinking hard! Besides, these blitzes get my heart pounding. I get stressed by Chess which is why I have reduced my playing. Open for 20 min or 30 min tournaments. Not that I am a rated player hahaha! My range is only from 720 to maximum 1150. If i am lucky I sail upto 1100. If I am on bear mode, I fall drastically and touch new lows. Used to play online regularly for years. Play my sis who plays lot better chess. She is the winner always. My childhood friend Harsha has a rating of 1600 which is the highest of someone known to me when it comes to chess. Anyway enjoy the coup:
Will it be possible for me to play a game of chess with Bill Gates! We may be evenly matched!
vijiravindran's 