At a time when the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana bicker about their share of river waters, the phenomenon called P.V. Sindhu makes all of them and their leaders forget these issues a while with her athletic exploits and Olympic medals.
Sindhu is a major unifying factor and is equally celebrated by both the Telugu states every time she wins.
When she won the badminton silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Telangana government rewarded her with a sum of Rs 5 crore, while Andhra Pradesh gave her Rs 3 crore and a plum state government job.
Former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu offered her the job of a Deputy Collector, which is the top job through the state public service commission's recruitment process.
In fact, a Deputy Collector's job leads one to become a conferred Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer later on in their career.
As an employee of the Andhra Pradesh government, Sindhu says she is always encouraged and helped with working leave when needed.
Will Sindhu also go on to become a senior official in the state government after completing her badminton conquests, taking a leaf out of former fast bowler and inaugural 2007 T20 world cup winning Indian team member Joginder Sharma? Will have to wait and watch for some more years.
Sharma bowled the last over of the T20 world cup to trounce Pakistan and went on to become a senior officer in the Haryana state police department.
After winning her historic second medal at the Tokyo games, becoming first Indian woman to do so, Andhra Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy hailed her as the lone Indian woman to do it.
"All good wishes and congratulations to our Telugu girl Sindhu for winning Bronze for India at Tokyo Olympics 2020," said Reddy.
He did not stop with the wishes but proceeded to reward the state government employee and Olympian with a cash award of Rs 30 lakh.
The Andhra government handed over the cheque to the badminton superstar on Friday after she met Reddy along with her family.
Minister Avanti Srinivas handed over the cheque to Sindhu in the presence of special chief secretary Rajat Bhargava and I & PR Commissioner Vijay Kumar Reddy.
Even before leaving for Tokyo, Reddy met Sindhu and handed over a cash incentive of Rs 5 lakh, along with a copy of the government order allocating 2 acre of land to Sindhu to set up a badminton academy in the port city Visakhapatnam, which will soon become the executive capital of the southern state.
On being asked when she would set up the academy, the much loved shuttler said she would do it soon.
"I am so grateful for your continuous support Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, thank you sir," said Sindhu.
She said the Chief Minister is constantly supporting her and even assured that they are always behind her, including offering whatever she needs to make sure she keeps winning.
"I am very happy. He (Reddy) congratulated me. The Chief Minister blessed and told me to definitely bring a medal and I brought a medal. The whole state has been congratulating me. Thanks to all of them," she said.
In fact, Reddy himself urged her to start the academy soon to nurture more youngsters like her.
The ace shuttler also praised the Andhra Pradesh government for introducing schemes to encourage sports-persons.
Appreciating the state government for reserving 2 per cent jobs for sports-persons in government posts, Sindhu said: "It is appreciable to know that the state government is giving YSR awards to sportspersons to encourage them."
After reaching Hyderabad from Tokyo via Delhi, Sindhu received a rousing welcome in Telangana state as well. V. Srinivas Goud, the Telangana Sports Minister, was present at the airport to personally welcome her along with other senior officials.
Goud also met Sindhu before leaving for Tokyo and playfully engaged in a short badminton game with her.
Several Tollywood actors celebrated the badminton superstar's success with equal zest, including Lakshmi Manchu, Mahesh Babu, Varun Tej, Sharat Chandra and others.
Telugu film legend and megastar from Mogalturu village Chiranjeevi said: "Congrats Sindhu on winning the medal and creating history for being the first Indian woman to bring Olympic medal twice in a row."
Outside the sporting realm, the badminton virtuoso unites both the states by embracing and revering deities in the Telugu states.
She is a regular at Lal Darwaza Mahankali temple Bonalu celebrations. Like a traditional Telangana girl, Sindhu carries the �Bonam' during the popular festival in Hyderabad.
Similarly, she has great devotion for Kanakadurgamma at Indrakeeladri in Vijayawada. She visited Kanakadurgamma temple on her return from Tokyo along with her family members.
Sindhu said she is a devotee of the deity and visits the temple regularly.
The shuttler not only unites but has also inspired a generation of young people with her sporting excellence, resulting in more youngsters taking up the sport nowadays in the Telugu states. Sindhu and her victories are leaving a lasting positive effect on both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well as the whole nation. #KhabarLive #hydnews
Gaining academic excellence and knowledge should be your ultimate goal while going to study abroad. New language, new friends, new cuisine, new insights, and new learnings come along while learning with other students from diverse cultures. Well, there is something that you should add to your profile seriously while studying abroad consciously. Yes! It involves yourself in extracurricular activities. What does that mean?? Where can I find time for them? What exactly do I need to do? How will it help? Confused? Don't worry; this blog then is just for you. Read till the end to know about extracurricular activities to do while Studying Abroad and why. Get started.
Things to do while studying abroad that can give your CV a boost
We intend to study to gain academic excellence and an edge over the others compared to students back in your own country.
Do we understand that you must be thinking about these extracurricular activities that I need to take up? Well, they can be anything of your interest ranging from things like joining the university sports team, learning a new language, or becoming a peer mentor. It will add to your CV and display your existing skills and interests besides your academic achievements to the recruiter. It makes your personality attractive!
We bring you 10 extracurricular activities that you can think about and pick up based on your interest. However, more choices can be vast; take up anything substantial you feel will stand out in your CV!
1. Become a Volunteer
Volunteering is a great extracurricular activity to opt for. It allows you to give back to society and is rewarding as well. It proves to be an excellent addition to your CV that demonstrates to the recruiter that you have a good work ethic and possess good organizational skills, too, as you have juggled between volunteering and studying.
You can find some volunteering opportunities in the locality of your university or where you stay in case off-campus.
2. Join a sports team
Playing a sport is a great extracurricular activity. Playing a sport requires various skills that are recognized and appreciated by a recruiter. Well, you can play any sport, be it football or basketball, join a sports team and play for the team. You can find such opportunities within the university or even in your local area.
3. Join some societies.
Make an attempt to join any society, and it is going to shine on your CV. You can even boast about it to your recruiter, especially if it is a friendly society. You must be thinking, what kind of society should you be joining? Well, it can be related to your degree or future professional aspirations. You can even join a club that teaches you something completely new too!
4. Be actively involved in events related to your university
Become an active member for all events related to the university. This involvement of your university activities will showcase to the employer that you are social, possess leadership skills, take the initiative, manage time, and be a good communicator.
5. Part-time job
If you can finish your university or college work well in time and efficiently, then you can consider picking up a part-time job too. This will give definitely give your resume a boost because it showcases your time management and organization skills.
6. Peer mentor
Becoming a peer mentor if helping other students is your calling is a great extracurricular activity to try your hands on. Most of the universities have peer mentoring and tutoring schemes. In this, the second and third-year students support the first-year students to adjust to university life. You could be involved in taking the new students for a campus tour, addressing their queries over an email, and being there as a friend on campus for them.
7. Take up an internship
Internships are a great way to get into the industry's workspace that you will finally work in. It is an experience that teaches you a lot and gives you the practical experience of your theory learned.
Internships are a great extracurricular activity to add to your CV. It is because it shows your natural ambition and passion, as you have worked for free or for a negligible amount during your internship.
8. Get Political
Think what strikes a chord with you. Is it teaching someone free of cost or helping people with mental health issues. Identify the cause dear to your heart and join a political society or campaigning group to work towards that cause. You will surely come out with excellent leadership skills and an excellent addition to your CV.
9. Start your Vlog
Pick up a passion that is close to your heart, and you can start your Vlog on social media. This extracurricular will definitely showcase the commitment and education that you have towards things you enjoy to the recruiter. A great addition to your CV for sure, keeping in mind how the world is moving regarding social media.
10. Launch your podcast
This is also a new innovative extracurricular picking up nowadays. It does not require much, just a microphone, a phone, and an idea to make it unique. Identify your passion and start your own podcast. It's a tremendous extracurricular to add to your CV and implies the excellent communication skills you possess.
Remember, extracurricular activities are not only an excellent way to demonstrate your interests and individuality to the recruiters, but it also showcases to them that you have a range of valuable skills that you could apply to the job if selected. #KhabarLive #hydnews
The Credo of the Yacht Club is Dignity through Sports. The Yacht Club of Hyderabad marks 75 years of India’s Independence with a flourish of saffron white and green as part of the National Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahautsav celebrations at Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad.
It was done taking inspiration from The Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, an intensive, countrywide campaign announced by the Government of India to focus on citizen participation in nation-building, where small changes, at the local level, will add up to significant national gains.
With 86 state and national medals, multiple national titles and three of its wards being selected for the Asian and World Championships, the YCH Foundation reaffirms its dedication to the nation with a display of the tricolour lighting up the very waters that also played a key role in nurturing the four Indian Sailing Olympians at Tokyo 2021 during their formative years.
Suheim purchased a few boats when he was the Commodore at the Secunderabad Club. He then approached the Army. The Army was willing to help him park the boats but this wasn’t enough, as the sailors weren’t getting any access.
Suheim then approached the State Government for assistance. Since water-bodies are under the purview of the State Government, he explained his intentions to them. It wasn’t difficult persuading them, and Suheim soon found himself well on his way to realise his dream of making children take up sailing seriously as a sport.
Says Suheim “It seemed unfair that the city could not access the water while having such a beautiful lake in its midst. I have enjoyed the sport and the lake for so many formative years of my life.”
Most of the competitions organised were inter-club events, open only to club members. As for the participants, most were seniors. There were very few children.
Suheim conceptualised the Monsoon Regatta in 2009. In its first year, the event became the largest sailing event in India. Finally, Suheim had broken a barrier, which allowed only Army and Navy personnel or wealthy civilians to take part in sailing.
But Suheim really wanted to do is train a mixed batch of children. Those who couldn’t afford to sail, but had the talent. The Army only takes in jawans after the age of 18. In order to excel at a sport, you need to begin much earlier.
The first batch of 2009 saw three or four kids from a government school taking part in the program. Suheim and his team explained to the children that their education, fees and tuition would be taken care of.
“Dignity through Sports”, is what Suheim termed this initiative.
The program is simple and effective. Orphans and deprived children with diverse backgrounds like farming and labour are trained to top levels during the first six years, with their education and nutrition funded and monitored by the Yacht Club of Hyderabad. Many of these kids have decided to give back, and have become instructors at the club.
Suheim is pleased with the way the program is helping change lives. One of the kids sailed with the team for a few years, after which he joined the Indian Armed Forces. The number of batches increased, and so did the focus and drive of the children participating in it.
Inspired by the success of this venture, Suheim started a program called the “Naavika Program”, exclusively for girls. Once again, the Yacht Club of Hyderabad worked with girls from government schools.
Thus, starting with four children and three small boats, the Yacht Club of Hyderabad today has 50 odd boats and more than 50 children participating in the program. Working largely as a privately funded organisation, it focuses on deprived children of government schools, teaching them to sail at the national level.
The Yacht Club helps kids with career counselling, helping them with admission to better institutions, and providing them with nutrition, medical aid, bikes to get them to school, and academic help. The kids travel across the country to championships, and some have even ventured as far as Hong Kong and Singapore for regattas.
Suheim works with children from diverse backgrounds. Kids from affluent families also attend the program, and this has its own benefits. One turns aspirational, and the other a bit humble from the interaction. The focus of the program is to provide kids with a stable and sustainable career, and move them gradually from the vernacular medium to English, and finally into a lucrative profession of their choice.
The Yacht Club of Hyderabad works closely with the Social Welfare Department of Hyderabad, and also the Naandi Foundation. The club is actively and continuously involved in the development of the children, holistically.
Constantly upgrading infrastructure is expensive, but thankfully, having paid students in his batches helps Suheim meet the many costs that need to be taken care of. The Yacht Club hence has some of the finest facilities in the country, which is helpful in making it more revenue-stable and less dependent on donations.
Completely missing the point of Suheim’s venture, these voices of dissent discouraged him from starting the program of helping kids.
Thankfully, Suheim decided to steamroll the resistance by just carrying on with his vision. He, however, maintains that if sailing were promoted as a sport by the State Government, instead of a privately run sport, participation would increase.
If more children take up sailing, the talent-pool will increase, raising the skill-level of the sport in the country. Suheim gives us the example of the child of a house-maid, who went on to win the National Championships.
Speaking in broken English didn’t deter the participant, who beat the competition hollow. #KhabarLive #hydnews
The much hyped Bitcoin exchange platforms are the latest to join the cricket sponsorship bandwagon already in the grip of edutech and real money gaming players.
Cricket press conferences can be predictable and mundane in nature. It can be worse if the speaker, invariably a top cricketer or coach, is a poor speaker.
Recently, virtual press conference called by the title sponsors of the Sri Lanka vs India limited overs series in Colombo was one such -- boring.
But if the media had cared to grill the two new-age companies -- Unacademy for CoinDCX -- who have taken to cricket sponsorship in a big way, the session could have been more interesting.
Most reporters who logged in on Thursday had little inclination to know about why edutech and fintech companies are seriously making inroads into sports sponsorship.
Hence after a few predictable questions to Yuzvendra Chahal and even more anticipated answers, the press conference was over in about 15 minutes.
If cricket is a roaring business today, it's because of the money edutech companies like Unacademy or Byju's are spending. Fintech made its presence felt in IPL 2020 with CRED becoming a BCCI partner. Newer players like Upstox are fast emerging.
A new bred of spenders have arrived from the Bitcoin/cryptocurrency space. Whether they will catch the imagination of people is another matter but fintech companies are going full steam to display their wares through all available media channels.
Not sure if CRED were able to make an impact during IPL 2020 with a slew of TV commercials that seemingly lacked imagination and weird.
Retired cine superstars like Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit and musician Bappi Lahiri clearly didn't drive the CRED message despite consuming plenty of expensive commercial time. They were subsequently dropped.
CRED, of course, roped in former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid in their next series of TVCs. But it was not the brand but the 'Wall' who made news for his unusual "anger issues" and it was still not clear if CRED actually profited from the advertisement.
But that's not stopping fintech companies from jumping into the cricket sponsorship bandwagon. A financially struggling Sri Lanka was perhaps a perfect starting point for CoinDCX. They are the title sponsors of the three-match T20 Cup.
Ramalingam Subramanium, the marketing head of CoinDCX, admitted Bitcoins were new in India and the sponsorship was part of the plan to build awareness.
"Cricket has a mass appeal and it pans across generations. As we see crypto evolving in India, awareness and education is key for sustainable growth. By partnering and sponsoring the tournament, we believe we'll be able to bring right kind of awareness in the category," said Subramanium.
Sumit Gupta, the CEO of Coin DCX says: "Almost 30-40% of the audience that watches or follows cricket in India is in their early 20s or 30s and with that viewership as the base, we aim to reach out to the millennial and Gen-Z populations in the Indian market, who have either already invested in cryptocurrency or are curious about or interested in them and hence most likely to consider investing in crypto assets."
While CoinDCX will be the title sponsors, another company in similar business, WazirX will be co-presenting sponsor for the live streaming of the Sri Lanka vs India series.
Unacademy, which are the title sponsors of the three-match Sri Lanka vs India ODI series, seems to be leveraging its brand name better. It's marriage with education has been boosted by meaningful association with former cricket stars like Sourav Ganguly.
Unacademy is an IPL sponsor, too. They even wanted to be the title sponsors of IPL 2020 but fantasy cricket operators Dream11 outbid them in a close fight.
"Edutech and sports are actually a natural fit, not just in terms of the demographics but also the way the new generation consumes content. Both students and their parents follow sport, and cricket in particular is massive with a cumulative audience northwards of 400 million for an IPL season alone," said Karan Shroff, Unacademy's chief marketing officer.
"Add to this the fact that the younger generation's involvement with their mobile and computer screens (whether for learning or for entertainment) and their involvement in sport are not mutually exclusive, and we have a winning proposition of reaching out to these new learners who are breaking free of the traditional modes, in their natural habitat in a sense," explains Shroff.
There is a huge probability that edu and fintech companies may rule sponsorship in the Indian market, if not globally. With real money gaming facing uncertain times in high courts and even the Prime Minister's Office, operators like Dream11 and MPL may become increasingly circumspect.
Dream11 and MPL, of course have deep pockets with big investors backing them. Both are heavily involved with Indian cricket but deep down they know the honeymoon can end if the government equates the real money gaming business as betting or gambling.
MPL is already exploring the Esports market very seriously and has even tied up with the Indian Olympic Association ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
From an ease of business point of view, these fledgling fintech and edutech companies have a clear vision, says Bhairav Shanth of ITW.
"The new age tech companies are more open to innovation and know what is the outcome or brand impact they are seeking. Since they operate in a digital environment where everything is trackable, the outcomes can be optimised by selecting the right property," explains Shanth.
ITW is a leading player in securing sports sponsorships and brand promotion. ITW works with some of the top cricket boards of the world and is also a partner of Sri Lanka Cricket too.
Shanth says: "Typically the brick and mortar brands mainly want brand visibility and are generally risk averse. Digital companies are agile and adaptive, they can tweak or adjust a campaign based on how it is delivering on their desired outcome.
"On the contrary, traditional brands have more of a legacy approach with preset ways of running a campaign. To use a music analogy, we can say one is consistent, sort of like legendary rockers Pink Floyd, while the other is evolving and agile, a bit like the K-pop chart busters BTS."
The traditional sponsors are surely on their way out. Coca-Cola, associated with football and the Olympics, are long-term global players with billion dollar deals with organisations like FIFA and International Olympic Committee.
The cricket ecosystem is much smaller compared to football or the Olympics. In keeping with the changing times in cricket and a proliferation of Twenty20, the likes of Unacademy, CoinDCX et al are expected to play smart and get the mileage they want. #KhabarLive #hydnews
As natural mood-enhancers go, there is nothing that can quite beat adrenalin. The body’s fight-or-flight response in extreme situations, whether dangerous or exciting, is exemplified nowhere better than in sports and racing. As India turned global, fitness not only grew into an industry, but also drew an eclectic range of experiences, attracting hundreds of well-informed players, and some that forged lonely paths. Featured here are some healthy, interesting and even inspirational ways in which to achieve the high that only a sweating, heart-thumping race can give. Parkour’s missing because actor Akshay Kumar probably has the only Parkour gym in India and the Mutants, a Delhi-based group-of-six, are still expanding. Crossfit, which already has a cult following in the US and takes fitness to quite another level, is yet to arrive. Meanwhile, other sources of adrenalin rush are readily available, and are no less addictive. Here’s to achieving what author Robert Pirsig evocatively called, “the equilibrium between restless and exhaustion”.
