Be Inspired - People I Know - 1

Presto! A thought triggered in my mind, about so many people- friends, family, acquaintances I know, and most of them are doing some extraordinarily good work. And this is my applaud in acknowledgement of the talent, effort, dedication and passion displayed by these terrific human beings.

The first to go on my "Be Inspired" People Series is Abhishek Bhaskar - The Beatboxer

I met Abhishek a month ago in Bengaluru with regard to a CSR event I was conducting for Herbalife India, a direct selling MNC dealing mainly with Nutritional & Health Products. Herbalife has been very supportive of Sports Persons and Sporting activities all over the world. 

We needed an Emcee and my specifications were for an energetic, lively and communicative youngster best suited for the event.   

A day before the event, I met Emcee Abhishek, a polite, well mannered, intelligent 18 year old waiting patiently at the office to be briefed on the next day's proceedings. He was very quick to grasp the requirements and looked confident to deliver his best. Meeting him reduced half of my stress, giving me the confidence that he will manage the show with aplomb. 

We already had some fun and meaningful activities lined up for the Herbalife Founder's Day event, which was celebrated as Herbalife Kids' Day with the Guest of Honour,  Paralympian Silver Medalist  H. Girisha, Herbalife Brand Ambassador. 

Abhishek gave some interesting inputs about some Ice-Breakers and activities that he would add and engage the participants (Herbalife employees, Special kids from Shraddhanjali Integrated School and Kids from Smile Foundation). I was very pleased with his display of enthusiasm.

In the process of our conversation Abhishek told me that he is studying Architecture, and he is a Beatboxing artist and CEO & Founder of a company called "Voice Box Productions".

I carefully listened to him and finally expressed my ignorance on "Beatbox", I found it very amusing and was eager to educate myself on this new form of talent.

Abhishek demonstrated his Beatboxing skills and explained as follows, " Beatboxing is the art of producing the sounds of musical instruments through one's mouth and nostrils. It involves the imitation of Turntablism, Singing, Horns, etc".  

Well, I realised that I did know about this art but was ignorant about the name of this art form- Beatbox.

Abhishek is involved in conducting Beatbox workshops for Corporate and Students. It is indeed a stress buster exercise. He is busy performing this art form, Emceeing, studying to be an Architect; to sum it all multitasking very efficiently. In his own words, he says "I'm living the LIFE".

Abhishek deserves a loud Beatbox cheering - KUDOS!!!

The Rising Star of World Badminton - PV Sindhu

PV Sindhu is currently ranked World No. 11 in the Women's Singles Badminton.

@ Lunch by Sindhu's parents celebrating her Macau Title

This lanky, fit, all of 5 feet 11 inches towering tall, 18 year old kid is the rising star of World Badminton from India and more specifically Hyderabad; home also to Super Champ   Saina Nehwal currently ranked World No.6; India's No. 1 & World No. 14 Men's Singles Champ P.Kashyap; Men's Singles India No.2 & World No.21 RMV.Gurusaidutt.

They all train at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy.

On Court, Sindhu is determined to go for a win. In her own words, 2013 has been her best so far and there is no stopping from here. 

She lived up to her top billing by winning her maiden Grand Prix Gold title beating Singaporean fifth seed Juan Gu in the women's singles final of the Malaysia Open badminton on May 4th, 2013.

On 8th August 2013, Sindhu defeated the defending champion, second-seeded Wang Yihan of China, to enter the women's quarterfinals at the Badminton world championships. She became the first Indian female to win a singles medal (Bronze) at the World Championships and broke into the world top-10 for a brief period. 

PV Sindhu continued her winning streak and asserted that she is indeed the rising star of Indian badminton by clinching her second Grand Prix Gold Title, the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold 2013  with a superb win over Canada's Michelle Li scoring 21-15, 21-12 in merely 37 minutes, on Dec 1st, 2013.

Sindhu was conferred with the Arjuna Award in September,2013.

She is the Icon player of the Awadhe Warriors Lucknow, one of the IBL teams. 

During my coordination of the IBL Shuttle Express Programme for School Children in Hyderabad, Sindhu launched the Hyderabad Leg at the Indus World School, the IBL School Partner here on July 16th, 2013. 

She immensely enjoyed interacting with kids and readily obliged everyone with autographs and photographs; was at ease with the media during the press conference and enjoyed her lunch at the school's dining hall.

At the recently organised "Herbalife Kids Badminton Championship 2013" , the National Badminton Coach Mr. Pulella Gopichand and his prodigy Ms. PV Sindhu readily agreed to be the Chief Guests for the award ceremony, to the delight of the winners and runners up. Being Children's Day on November 14th, I asked her to say a few words to the kids and her spontaneous shy response was, "I myself am a kid, what do I tell them" ; I was very amused and realized she actually is a kid!

Off Court, she is a normal teenager, just a kid who enjoys her glass of cola and junk food. 

Her parents Mr. PV Ramana and Mrs.Vijaya, former National Volley Ball players should be very proud and happy to see their and daughter's hard work pay off  in the form of her victories.  

More accolades are wished for this young sports person.