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My Inspiration~~Indra Nooyi

Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi (born October 28, 1955 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is the chairwoman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, the world's fourth-largest food and beverage company. On August 14, 2006, Nooyi was named the successor to Steve Reinemund as chief executive officer of the company. She was effectively appointed as CEO by PepsiCo's board of directors on October 1, 2006. According to the polls Forbes magazine conducted, Nooyi ranks fifth on the 2007 list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women. Nooyi has been named the #1 Most Powerful Woman in Business in 2006 and 2007 by Fortune magazine.

She received a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Madras Christian College in 1974, and immediately entered the PGDBA (Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Administration) program at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. After graduating from IIM-C in 1976, she worked in India for several years (including a stretch at Madura Coats). She was admitted to Yale School of Management in 1978 for a master's degree in Management. Following her master's degree from Yale in 1980, Nooyi started at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), from where she moved on to strategy positions at Motorola and ABB.

Nooyi is a Successor Fellow at Yale Corporation and serves on the board of several organizations, including Motorola, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the International Rescue Committee, and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Among her friends are former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who describes her as a "wild New York Yankees fan."

She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut with her husband, Raj K. Nooyi.In 2007, she was awarded Padma Bhushan by Government of India. In 2008, she was elected to the fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

She joined PepsiCo in 1994, was named president and CFO in 2001. On August 14, 2006, she was named the CEO of PepsiCo, becoming the fifth CEO in PepsiCo's 42-year history.

While at PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi has played a vital role in starting Tricon, which is currently known as Yum! Brands Inc. Nooyi recommended spinning off Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, arguing PepsiCo couldn't bring enough value to the fast food industry. Nooyi also took the lead in the acquisition of Tropicana in 1998, and merger with Quaker Oats Co.

According to BusinessWeek, since she became CFO in 2000, the company's annual revenues have risen 72%, while net profit more than doubled, to $5.6 billion in 2006.

Nooyi was named on Wall Street Journal's list of 50 women to watch in 2005, and was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in The World in 2007 and 2008. She is also a member of a highly secretive group known as Bilderberg Group and attended the meeting in 2004

In 2004, Nooyi and her husband donated $27,000 to the primary campaign of John Kerry. In March of 2008, Nooyi was elected Chairman of the US-India Business Council (USIBC), a non-profit business advocacy organization representing nearly 300 of the largest US companies doing business in India and two dozen of India's global companies investing in America. Nooyi leads USIBC's Board of Directors, an assembly of 25 senior executives representing a cross-section of American industry.

Emma Watson

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is a French-born British actress who rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger, one of three starring roles in the Harry Potter film series. Watson was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having acted only in school plays. From 2001 to 2007, she starred in five Harry Potter film installments alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. She will return for the final two installments: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due to be released in 2008, and the two parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Watson's work in the Harry Potter series has earned her several awards and more than £10 million.

In 2007, Watson announced her involvement in two non-Harry Potter productions: the made-for-television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes and an animated film, The Tale of Despereaux. Ballet Shoes was broadcast on Boxing Day 2007 to an audience of 5.2 million and The Tale of Despereaux, based on the book by Kate DiCamillo, will be released in 2008.

Emma Watson was born in Paris, France, daughter of Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, English lawyers. Watson has one French grandmother, and lived in Paris until the age of five, before she moved with her mother and younger brother Alex to Oxford, England, following her parents' divorce.

From six, Watson expressed a desire to become an actress. By 10, she had starred in school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince. She had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series. "I had no idea of the scale of the film [series]", she said in a 2007 interview with Parade magazine; "[if I had] I would have been completely overwhelmed".

In 1999, casting began for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States), the film adaptation of British author J. K. Rowling's bestselling novel.[9] Of importance to the casting directors were the lead role of Harry Potter and the two supporting roles of Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Harry's two friends. Casting agents found Watson through her Oxford theatre teacher,[9] and producers were impressed by her confidence. After eight auditions, producer David Heyman told Watson and fellow applicants Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint that they had been cast as Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Rowling was said to support Watson from her first screen test.

Watson's debut as Hermione came in 2001 with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening weekend takings and was the highest-grossing film of 2001. Critics praised the performances of the three leads, often singling out Watson for particular acclaim. The Daily Telegraph called her performance "admirable", and IGN said she "stole the show". Watson was nominated for five awards for her performance in Philosopher's Stone, winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress.

A year later, Watson again starred as Hermione in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second instalment of the series. Though the film received mixed reviews because of its pace and direction, critics were positive about the performances. The Los Angeles Times said Watson and her peers had matured between films,[16] while The Times criticised director Chris Columbus for "under-employing" Watson's hugely popular character. Watson received an Otto Award from the German magazine Die Welt for her performance. In 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released. Watson was appreciative of the more assertive role Hermione played, calling her character "charismatic" and "a fantastic role to play". Although critics turned away from Radcliffe's acting talent, labelling him wooden, Watson continued to be praised; The New York Times lauded her performance, saying "Luckily Mr. Radcliffe's blandness is offset by Ms. Watson's spiky impatience. Harry may show off his expanding wizardly skills ... but Hermione ... earns the loudest applause with a decidedly unmagical punch to Draco Malfoy's deserving nose". Although Prisoner of Azkaban remains the lowest-grossing Harry Potter film as of January 2008, Watson's personal performance won her two Otto Awards and the Child Performance of the Year award from Total Film.

With Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), both Watson and the Harry Potter film series reached new milestones. The film set records for a Harry Potter opening weekend, a non-May opening weekend in the US, and an opening weekend in the UK. Critics praised the increasing maturity of Watson and her teenage co-stars; the New York Times called her performance "touchingly earnest". For Watson, much of the humour of the film sprang from the tension among the three lead characters as they matured. She said, "I loved all the arguing ... I think it's much more realistic that they would argue and that there would be problems." Nominated for three awards for Goblet of Fire, Watson won a bronze Otto Award. Later that year, Watson became the youngest person to appear on the cover of Teen Vogue. 2006 found Watson playing Hermione in The Queen's Handbag, a special mini-episode of Harry Potter in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday.

The fifth film in the Harry Potter franchise, 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was a financial success, setting a record worldwide, opening-weekend gross of $333 million. Watson won the inaugural National Movie Award for Best Female Performance. As the fame of the actress and the series continued, Watson and fellow Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint left imprints of their hands, feet, and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on 9 July 2007.


Watson's first non-Harry Potter role was in the 2007 TV film Ballet Shoes. She played Pauline Fossil. She said of the project, "I was all set to go back to school after finishing Harry Potter [and the Order of the Phoenix] but couldn't resist Ballet Shoes. I really loved it". A BBC adaptation of Noel Streatfeild's novel of the same name, the film stars Watson as aspiring actress Pauline Fossil, the eldest of three sisters around whom the story revolves. Director Sandra Goldbacher commented, "Emma was perfect for Pauline ... She has a piercing, delicate aura that makes you want to gaze and gaze at her". The role required Watson to bleach her hair white-blonde. Ballet Shoes was broadcast on Boxing Day in the United Kingdom, to an estimated audience of 5.2 million (22 percent of the viewing total).The film received generally poor critical reviews, and The Times described it as "progress[ing] with little emotional investment, or magic, or dramatic momentum". However, the performances of its cast were generally praised; The Daily Telegraph wrote the film "was certainly well done, not least because it confirmed how good child actors are these days".

Watson will star in the animated film The Tale of Despereaux, released in December 2008. She will voice the character of Princess Pea in the film, a children's comedy which also stars Matthew Broderick and Tracey Ullman.

In June 2008, Watson signed a contract, reported to be worth £3 million, to advertise with Chanel, a prominent French fashion house. She will become the public face of Coco Mademoiselle, one of the label's perfumes, replacing Keira Knightley.

Despite rumours that she had refused the final two Harry Potter installments, Watson signed for the sixth and seventh films in March 2007. She explained the decision was tough as filming would continue to dominate her life for three to four years, but in the end "the pluses outweighed the minuses". Filming for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth film, began in late 2007. Although Radcliffe and Grint have confirmed their commitment to acting, Watson has expressed uncertainty about her future. Speaking to Newsweek in 2006, she said, "Daniel and Rupert seem so sure ... I love to perform, but there are so many other things I love doing."

Watson's extended family has grown as her divorced parents both have children by new partners. Her father has identical twin girls, Nina and Lucy, and a four-year old son, Toby. Her mother's partner has two sons (Emma's stepbrothers), who "regularly stay with [her]". Watson's full brother, Alexander, has appeared as an extra in two Harry Potter films, and her half-sisters were cast as the young Pauline Fossil in the BBC's Ballet Shoes adaptation.

After moving to Oxford with her mother and brother, Watson attended The Dragon School, a private preparatory school, until June 2003 and then moved to Headington School, an private all-girl school, also in Oxford.While on film sets, Watson and her peers were tutored for up to five hours a day; despite the focus on filming she maintained high academic standards. In June 2006, Watson took GCSE examinations in 10 subjects, achieving eight A* and two A grades; she was a target of friendly ridicule on the Harry Potter set because of her straight-A exam results. The following year she received four A grades in her AS levels (advanced level examinations) in English, geography, art, and history of art.

Watson's work in the Harry Potter series has brought her more than £10 million,and she has acknowledged she will never have to work for money. However, she has declined to quit school to become a full-time actress, saying "People can’t understand why I don’t want to ... but school life keeps me in touch with my friends. It keeps me in touch with reality".She has been positive about working as a child actress, saying her parents and colleagues helped make her experience happy.Watson enjoys a close friendship with her fellow Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, describing them as a "unique support system" for the stresses of film work.

Watson lists her interests as dancing, singing, field hockey, tennis, art, fly fishing, and donates to WTT (Wild Trout Trust).She describes herself as "a bit of a feminist",and admires fellow actors Johnny Depp and Julia Roberts.

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal Parera (born June 3, 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player, who has won five Grand Slam singles titles. He has won the French Open in four consecutive years (2005–08), and Wimbledon in 2008. He is currently ranked world number two, a position he has held for a record 156 consecutive weeks. As of July 28, 2008, Nadal is currently on a 28-match winning streak, winning five tournaments during this time, including the French Open and Wimbledon.

From April 2005 to May 2007, Nadal won a record 81 consecutive clay court matches before being defeated by Roger Federer in the 2007 Hamburg Masters final. This is the longest winning streak of any male player on a single surface in the open era. Nadal is undefeated at the French Open, having won all 28 matches and four single titles he has played. These achievements have led some to regard Nadal as the greatest clay-court player in the history of the sport.

Nadal has a storied rivalry with Roger Federer, most notably for defeating the world number one at the French Open in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, so far denying Federer a Career Grand Slam. At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, Nadal defeated Federer in the final, ending the latter's run of five consecutive wins, with Nadal becoming the first player since Björn Borg in 1980 to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. He is also only the second male Spaniard to win the Wimbledon title and the first in 42 years.

Born in Manacor, Mallorca, Spain on June 3, 1986, Rafael Nadal Parera began playing tennis at the age of five with his uncle Toni. Encouraged by the promise spry Rafael (or "Rafa," as his fans and countrymen call him) showed, Toni began training his nephew on the courts.

Before Rafael was even 10 years old, it was clear the boy had a future in tennis. His uncle became his coach and he began serious training, quickly capturing Spanish and European junior events. In 2002, at the age of 15, he won his first ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) match, becoming only the ninth player in the Open Era to win an ATP game before his 16th birthday. Playing mostly Futures events, the young Spaniard compiled a 37-3 record and won six titles in his homeland.

The next year, Nadal had his breakthrough season, as he had successful runs on both the ATP and Challenger circuits. The run included his first semifinal appearance in an ATP event, as well as his first Wimbledon appearance, where he made it to the 3rd round. To top off 2003, he won his first doubles ATP title in Umag, and took home the Newcomer of the Year Award.

While 2004 marked the year he won his first ATP title (at the Idea Prokom Open) and beat a top-ranked opponent (Roger Federer), it was his 2005 summer run that proved he was among the tennis tour's best. In winning nine singles titles, including an incredible victory at Roland Garros, Nadal rose to a no. 2 ranking in the world, behind only Federer. At only 19 years old, this clay-court specialist has bested himself year after year since joining the ATP tour, and he looks to conquer tennis time and again in Grand Slam events to come.

Birthday

Birthday or B'days is the name given to the date of the anniversary of a person's birth. People in many cultures celebrate this anniversary. In some languages, the word for birthday literally translates as "anniversary". Birthdays are traditionally marked by celebrations including a birthday party or, in some particular cases, a rite of transition.

It is thought the large-scale celebration of birthdays in Europe began with the non-Christian cult of Mithras, which originated in Persia, and was spread by soldiers throughout the Roman Empire. Such celebrations were uncommon previously so practices from other contexts such as the Saturnalia were adapted for birthdays.Because many Roman soldiers took to Mithraism, it was distribution widely and its influence was spead throughout the empire until it was supplanted by Christianity.

The celebration of birthdays is not universal. In the Christian world, some communities do not celebrate Birthdays. For instance, Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate them, because their origins are pagan and the festivities are contrary to Christian practice, along with some of the festive customs associated with Christmas and Easter.Orthodox Christianity prefer celebrations of name days. Some communities may celebrate both naming days and birthdays, as is the norm among Catholics in many communities in the Hispanic world.

The Jewish perspective on birthday celebrations is disputed by various rabbis.In the Hebrew Bible, the one single mention of a celebration being held in commemoration of someone's day of birth is for the Pharoah.The bar mitzvah of 13 year old Jewish boys, or bat mitzvah for 12 year old girls, is perhaps the only Jewish celebration undertaken in conjunction with a birthday, however, the essence of the celebration is entirely religious in origin (the attainment of religious maturity according to Jewish law) not secular, despite modern celebrations where the secular "birthday" elements predominate. With or without the "birthday" celebration, the child still automatically attains his or her bar or bat mitzvah, and its celebration may be any date following his 13th or her 12th year anniversary of birth.

The birthday cake is traditionally highly decorated, and typically covered with lit candles when presented, the number of candles signifying the age of the celebrant. The person whose birthday it is may make a silent wish and then blow out the candles. It is also customary for the person celebrating their birthday to cut the initial piece of the cake as a newlywed couple might with a wedding cake.Birthday cakes date back as far as the Middle Ages when the English would conceal symbolic items such as gold coins, rings and thimbles inside their cakes.Each item was associated with a prediction. For example, a person finding a gold coin in a birthday cake would supposedly become wealthy; a person discovering a thimble would never marry.Sometimes special candles are substituted for the many individual candles in the shape of a numeral. For example, on the fifth birthday, there may be one candle on the cake in the shape of the numeral five, and on the fiftieth birthday there may be two candles on the cake, one in the shape of the numeral five followed by the other in the shape of the number zero.

In addition to parties, it is often common for people to receive gifts on their birthdays. There are also traditions of surprise parties.In addition to parties, it is often common for people to receive gifts on their birthdays. There are also traditions of surprise parties., it is expected of the person celebrating their birthday to treat their party guests instead; this varies depending on the local culture and may involve party gifts or other gestures.

In most English-speaking countries it is traditional to sing the song Happy Birthday to You to the honored person celebrating a birthday. The Happy Birthday song tune is thoughtto be the most frequently sung melody in the world. Similar songs exist in other languages such as "Lang zal hij/zij leven" in Dutch, "Õnne soovime Sul" in Estonian, "Zum Geburtstag Viel Glück" in German, "Que los cumplas feliz" or "Feliz cumpleaños a tí" in Spanish, "Parabéns a você" in Portuguese, "Sto lat" in Polish, "Lá Bhreithlá Shona Duit" in Irish, "Joyeux Anniversaire" in French, "Tanti Auguri a te" in Italian and "Iyi ki dogdun, Mutlu Yillar Sana" in Turkish.

In some Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries such as France, Hungary, or Greece, it is common to have a 'name day'/'Saint's day'.This is celebrated in much the same way as a birthday, but is held on the official day of a saint with the same Christian name as the birthday person; the difference being that one may look up a person's name day in a calendar, or easily remember common name days (for example, John or Mary); however in pious traditions, the two were often made to concur by giving a newborn the name of a saint celebrated on its birthday, or even the name of a feast, for example, Noel or Pascal (French for Christmas and "of Easter").

People born on February 29, which occurs only during leap years, often celebrate their birthday in other years on February 28, or March 1 (the first day they have, measured in whole years, a new age).People born on February 29, which occurs only during leap years, often celebrate their birthday in other years on February 28, or March 1 (the first day they have, measured in whole years, a new age).

A person's birthday is usually recorded according to the time zone of the place of birth. Thus people born in Samoa at 11:30 PM will record their birthdate as one day before Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and those born in the Line Islands will record their birthdate one day after UTC. They will apparently be born two days apart, while some of the apparently older ones may be younger in hours. Those who live in different time zones from their birth often exclusively celebrate their birthdays at the local time zone. In addition, the intervention of Daylight Saving Time can result in a case where a baby born second being recorded as having been born up to an hour before their predecessor

More Deadly Bomb Blasts Rock India

A day after serial bombings in India's high-tech hub, Bangalore, there have been numerous blasts in Ahmedabad, western India's commercial and cultural capital. Authorities report at least 29 people are dead and more than 100 injured there following 16 separate explosions in and around the capital of the state of Gujarat.

As investigators in Bangalore were seeking clues amid the debris from a series of low intensity explosions there, a similar group of blasts hit another Indian city Saturday evening.

The latest target: the capital of the state of Gujarat. While only one person died in the Bangalore bombings, the number of dead and injured in Ahmedabad is much higher. Authorities say the explosive devices were placed in lunch canisters on bicycles which were parked at crowded markets. One bomb also exploded at a trauma center where some of the injured had been taken.

Television stations say just before the first blast in Ahmedabad they had received a 14-page long e-mail warning of an attack from a group calling itself "Indian Mujahedin." The little-known group has previously claimed responsibility for bomb blasts in other cities.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil says whatever resources are needed to render aid and investigate the attacks will be committed.

The cabinet minister says whether it is Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore or Ahmedabad the government will not play the blame game because to do that will not help the people.

His comments are a reference to the finger-pointing between the national and state governments over accusations they are not doing enough to prevent such attacks.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for Indians to "maintain communal harmony." The fear is if radical Islamic groups are blamed for the bomb blasts that Hindu activists may attack minority Muslims in retaliation.

Gujarat is especially sensitive because six years ago more than 1,000 people died there during rioting between Hindus and Muslims which threw the entire state into chaos for weeks.

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