Short biography of Smt Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917, in Allahabad, India , she grew up in an intensely political atmosphere. Despite the same last name, she was of no relation to the statesman Mohandas Gandhi. Her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a prominent Indian nationalist leader. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of Independent India. She was brought up in an environment with great exposure to the political figures of the day, and was particularly influenced by her father.  Gandhi served three consecutive terms as prime minister, between 1966 and 1977, and another term beginning in 1980. In 1984, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.

In 1937, she passed the Oxford entrance exam and studied at Somerville College, Oxford. At university she was often subject to ill health, and returned to India without completing her degree – though later she was conferred an honorary degree by Oxford.

Smt. Indira Gandhi was the first lady Prime Minister of our country. She became Prime Minister after the death of Sri Lai Bahadur Shastri and she took active part in the freedom struggle. She was President of the Congress party. She was married to Sri Feroz Gandhi and had two sons- Rajiv and Sanjay. Sri Firoz Gandhi died in 1960. Sanjay Gandhi used to help her in her work but he died in a plane crash in 1980. Then Rajiv Gandhi started helping her and after her death on 31st October, 1984 he became the Prime Minister of India.

During her Prime Minister ship, India won the Bangladesh war in 1971. She was a great social worker and had introduced several schemes for the country. She was a great patriot. We are proud of her.

In 1999, she was voted the greatest woman of the past thousand years in a poll carried by BBC news, ahead of other notable women such as Queen Elizabeth I of England, Marie Curie andMother Teresa.

However, she was returned to office in 1980. But, in this period, she became increasingly involved in an escalating conflict with Sikh separatists in Punjab.

On October 31, 1984, a trusted bodyguard, who was a Sikh, pulled out a .38 revolver and shot her point-blank. Another bodyguard, also a Sikh, then took out an automatic weapon and shot 30 rounds into her body. Gandhi died on the way to the hospital.

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Short biography of Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid was born on January 11, 1973 in a Maharashtrian Deshastha Brahmin family in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

His family later moved toBangalore, Karnataka, where he was raised. Dravid's father worked for a company that makes jams and preserves, giving rise to the later nickname Jammy. His mother, Pushpa, was a professor of Architecture at the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), Bangalore.Dravid has a younger brother named Vijay. He did his schooling at St. Joseph's Boys High School, Bangalore and earned a degree in commerce from St. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore. He was selected to India national cricket team while studying MBA in St Joseph’s College of Business Administration.

 He is a former Indian cricketer and captain, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.

He is also useful wicketkeeper.  He started playing cricket at the age of 12 and later represented the state team at the under-15, under-17 and under-19 levels.

With his technical efficiency and stylish strokes, he soon became a pillar of the Indian cricket. Initially, he was considered good for only Test cricket but later, he proved himself to be very useful in One-Days too.

He was in brilliant form in 1999. He was named 'Widen Cricketer the year' in 2000. For his sheer consistency, Dravid has few equals. He is maintained a Test career average of over 50. His promotion as the ice-Captain was widely acclaimed. He was in a very good form during the cricket World Cup 2003 and scored very consistency.

As of October 2012, Dravid is the fourth-highest run scorer in Test cricket, after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis, and is only the second Indian cricketer, after Tendulkar to score 10,000 runs both in Tests and in ODIs and he holds the record for the most number of catches taken by a player (non-wicket-keeper) in Test cricket, with 210.

In August 2011, after receiving a surprise call in the ODI series against England, Dravid declared his retirement from ODIs as well as Twenty20 International (T20I), and in March 2012, he announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket. He appeared in the 2012 Indian Premier League as captain of the Rajasthan Royals. Dravid made his Ranji Trophy debut in February 1991, while he was still attending college.

For his consistency and temperament Dravid is dubbed as 'The Wall'. The book traces the illustrious career of one of cricket’s all time greats. It examines the various attributes of the man who started his cricketing career in 1996 and finished it as a legend.

This book is a tribute to a man who has retained his humility and graceful conduct while still scaling incredible heights in his profession, a man who is appreciated both by his own teammates as well as the opposition. He is not just respected as a player, but also as a person.
The book contains reminiscences and tributes from his teammates, mentors, seniors, peers, and opponents. It also includes some exquisite photographs that have captured various moments in Dravid’s life.

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Short biography of Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma was born on 2 September 1988, in Delhi (India). He is an Indian cricketer. He is a right arm fast –medium bowler. At the age of 18, Sharma was called to join the Indian squad for the tour of South Africa in 2006–07. In reference to his height and lean physique in his Under-19 days, the bowler was nicknamed Lambu.

Ishant Sharma started his career with domestic cricket. Ishant plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and has taken 21 wickets in four first class games. Ishant first toured England with the India Under-19s in 2006 and Pakistan in 2006–07. In May 2007, he was selected in the test team for the Bangladesh tour and played as a replacement for the fast bowler Munaf Patel.

On 10 February 2008, Sharma bagged four important wickets in the 4th ODI of CB Series against Australia. He ended the match with figures of 4/38 and named man of the match^. He scalped two important wickets on 18 February 2008 versus Australia in the 7th ODI of CB series.

In 2011, he became the fifth youngest player to take 100 Test wickets. Against South Africa in 2013, Ishant Sharma became the fifth quickest Indian to grab 100 ODI wickets.

Although he had little success, the management retained him for the third Test match at Perth. On the fourth day of the match he bowled an exceptional spell to Australian captain Ricky Ponting that resulted in his wicket and helped India claim victory^.He used the pace and bounce of the WACA wicket to trouble the batsmen. In the following test played in Adelaide he picked up two wickets and impressed everyone with his bowling. He finished the tour of Australia with figures of 6/358, an average of 59.66 and a strike rate of 101.0.

On 10 February 2008, Sharma bagged four important wickets in the 4th ODI of CB Series against Australia. He ended the match with figures of 4/38 and named man of the match^. He scalped two important wickets on 18 February 2008 versus Australia in the 7th ODI of CB series.

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Short biography of Baichung Bhutia

Indian footballer, Baichung Bhutia was born on December 15, 1976 in Tinkitam, Sikkim. He is considered to be the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena. He is currently the captain of Indian team and plays for Mohun Bagan Club.

 He got his basic education at St. Xaviers School, Pakyong, East Sikkim. Since the very beginning he showed his serious interested towards the game of Football, and encouragement from his uncle Karma Bhutia helped him move forward towards his destiny. He went on to play for several school and local clubs in his home state of Sikkim.

 Due to his extra-ordinary capabilities in the game of Football, Bhutia got a scholarship from Tashi Namgyal Academy, a well known school in Gangtok at the age of 9.

In 1993, at the age of sixteen, he left school to join the professional East Bengal Club in Calcutta. In 1995, he moved to JCT Mills, Phagwara, which went on to win the India National Football League that year. Bhutia was the top scorer in the league, and was chosen to play in the Nehru Cup. He was named "1996 Indian Player of the Year" and has won numerous other awards since then.

Baichung Bhutia is probably the most famous and popular Football player India has ever produced. Also known as the “First Poster Boy of Indian Football”, Bhutia has contributed a lot to make the game popular among the young crowds of the nation even in the places where the game of Football has not been much popular.

In 1997 he returned to East Bengal, and became team captain in the 1998-99 seasons. Baichung Bhutia has the unique distinction of scoring the only hatrick in the Derby Clashes between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, when he registered the same in East Bengal's 4-1 triumph in 1997 Federation Cup Semi Final. . He continued to play for East Bengal till the end of 2005-2006 seasons. In 2006, he joined Mohun Bagan AC and has remained with them since then. He has recently renewed his contract for a further two years from 2008 to 2010 with the Mohun Bagan. He played in the Goal 4 Africa match held in the Allianz Arena, Munich on 12 July 2008 for the Edu team led by Clarence Seedorf and scored twice.He scored twice in the AFC Challenge Cup against Turkmenistan. He was also selected as the most valuable player of the tournament.

Bhutia has been honored with Indian Player of the Year award twice in the years 1995 and 2008. In the year 1999 he was bestowed upon the Sikkim State Award, and Arjuna Award. In the year 2008, he has been conferred upon the Padmashree Award.

Bhutia comes from a Buddhist Bhutia background but is, by conviction an atheist.

He married his longtime girlfriend Madhuri Tipnis on December 27, 2004 in his native village of Tinkitam in South Sikkim.

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