Vishwanathan Anand - the Unsung Hero

In a country which worships cricket,cricket and only cricket, there is a world champion and World no: 1 in not so fancied game, Chess. Vishwanathan Anand, has been the most consistent sportsman in the last two decades in India. The world no:1 has been one of very few men who has taken India to world stage in Sports and has stayed at the top draw for almost a decade now.
Born and brought up in Chennai, the capital of southern state, Tamil Nadu in India, Anand had taken up chess has his career and has since then never lokked back. The fact that he has won the championships twice and had many memorable matches with the greatest champion Karpov and Kasprov from Russia.
He has won many tournaments the latest being, the Mainz tounament where he won the tournament for the 9th sucessive time. Before that was the world championships in Mexico which he won it for the 2nd time to become World No:1.
Anand has been top of the world rating list since April 2007, is one of four players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list, and has been among the top three ranked players in the world continuously since 1997.
He has won chess oscars 5 times and also won the prestiguous Indian government's awards like Arjuna award in 1985, Padma Shri in 1987 and Padma Vibushan in 2007. He also won Sportstar Millennium Award in 1998, from India's premier Sports magazine for being the sportperson of the millennium.
He has created a respectable niche around him in the sporting world and he continues to inspire a lot more people around him. We salute this great chess player and a very humble person. That's Vishy for u !!!
Excerpts and extractions from:
http://ganeshyamalabittu.tripod.com/heroes/id31.html
http://www.tnq.in/vishwa.html

Narayana Murthy - India's answer to Bill Gates

N.R. Narayana Murthy, the founder of Indian tech giant, Infosys, is perhaps the Indian answer to Bill Gates. The man who started a small software company namely, Infosys, with just Rs.10,000 obtained from pawning his wife's jewellery in company of a handful of his friends, is now a proud mentor of the company. Infosys, today is one of best buisness success stories of India.

The company today houses over 85,000 employees and almost eveyone is young and vibrant graduates from premier institutes in India. Today, Infosys holds numero uno position among many IT companies in India.

Mr. Murthy is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. The Economist ranked him 8th on its list of 15 most admired global leaders in 2005. He was ranked 28th among the world's most respected business leaders by The Financial Times in 2005. In 2004, TIME magazine identified him as one of ten global leaders who are helping shape the future of technology. He was voted the “World Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young in 2003 and as India's most powerful CEO for three consecutive years (2004 to 2006) by The Economic Times. He was chosen as the "Business Process Innovator" by The Economist in 2007.

His humble background and the towering heights that he has reached in his 26 years of hard work with Infy, is a big inspiration for all upcoming Entrepreneurs in India and also his fellow citizens.

Abdul Kalam - People's President

APJ Abdul Kalam was born in 1931 in a middle-class family in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, a town well-known for its Hindu shrines. His mother tongue is Tamil. His father, a devout Muslim, owned boats which he rented out to local fishermen and was a good friend of Hindu religious leaders and the school teachers at Rameshwaram.

Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology. Dr. Kalam made significant contribution as Project Director to develop India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of Space Club. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO's launch vehicle programme, particularly the PSLV configuration.

He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999. Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period, led by him.

Kalam observes strict personal discipline, vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. Kalam is a scholar of Thirukkural; in most of his speeches, he quotes at least one kural. Kalam has written several inspirational books, most notably his autobiography Wings of Fire, aimed at motivating Indian youth.

Kalam's probable views on certain issues have been espoused by him in his book India 2020 where he strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020.

Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam , was the eleventh President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007. Due to his unconventional working style, he is also popularly known as the People's President. Before his term as India's president, he distinguished himself as engineering visionary and was awarded India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with DRDO