Prathviraj Shetty H

Adelaide. Melbourne. Perth. Hamilton. Auckland. He’s everywhere the Indian team plays.  Yet, he has no source of income.  He’s a frequent visitor at Sachin Tendulkar’s plush Bandra residence, often sharing a meal with India’s most wanted.  Yet, he can’t remember when last he spoke to his father.  He carries a power bank to ensure his smartphone is never out of juice, you never know who might call.  Yet, he never picks up when his only sister calls.  Meet Sudhir Kumar Chaudhry, also known as Sudhir Gautam, the instantly recognisable Indian superfan.  You know him because it seems no India match actually begins till he blows his conch. You know him because no Indian century celebration is complete without him waving the tricolour as if his life depended on it. You know him because he was on the balcony of the Wankhede Stadium in the wee hours of April 2, 2011, holding aloft the World Cup trophy with Tendulkar. You know him because he is in advertise...

Motorola has launched its high-end smartphone -- Moto Turbo -- in the Indian market. Priced at Rs 41,999, the Moto Turbo goes on pre-order starting today on Flipkart.  The smartphone sports a 5.2-inch Quad HD (1440x2560p) display with 565ppi and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Powered by a 2.7GHz Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor and 3GB RAM, the smartphone comes with 64GB internal storage. Moto Turbo is designed with ballistic nylon, which the company claims is a first for the industry.  It features a 21MP rear-facing camera with an aperture of f/2.0, and a 2MP front-facing camera for selfies and video chat. Moto Turbo comes with water-repellent nano-coating.  It runs Android 4.4 KitKat and is expected to be upgraded to Android 5.0 Lollipop.  In terms of connectivity, the phone supports 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and 4G.  One of the highlights of the phone is its big capacity 3900mAh battery and turbo-charging feature that provid...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been named among the 30 most influential people on the internet by Time magazine in a list which also features US President Barack Obama.  The list, which analysed social-media followings, site traffic and overall ability to drive news, also includes British author of the Harry Potter series J K Rowling and singers Taylor Swift and Beyonce.  Time said the Indian Prime Minister has roughly 38 million followers on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook, putting him ahead of any other leaders in the world except Obama.  "And unlike many of his contemporaries, Modi recognises that social media can be invaluable when trying to reach India's 200 million-plus online population directly," the Time magazine said.  Modi, an ardent user of social media to communicate with people, announced in an unconventional way, Obama's strategic visit to India in January this year. He took to Twitter to make the announcement, "bypassing tradi...

The year 1936 when the flying was like dream, flying in air was like miracle. There were only male in the cockpit of the airplane. At that time one lady entered the cockpit of a Gypsy Moth and flew into the blue skies, and made a history as India’s first lady pilot.  The dashing, courageous, Sarla Thakral. She was only 21 year old when she achieved that sky. She had a four-year-old daughter. After obtaining the initial licence, she persevered on and completed one thousand hours of flying in the aircraft owned by the Lahore Flying Club. Her husband P. D. Sharma comes from a family which had 9 pilots, encouraged her to achieve it. She was the first Indian to get airmail pilot’s licence and flew between Karachi and Lahore.  While she was working towards the commercial pilot license in 1939, World War II broke out and civil training was suspended. Sarla, also known as Mati, became a successful businesswoman, painter and began designing clothes and costume jewellery. She died in...