Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

Lavishing praise on the Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Indian team for winning the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar said Indian cricket was now in safe hands. Tendulkar, along with ageing stalwarts Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid , had opted out of the Twenty20 event while Dhoni was named captain of a young side that went all the way to win the title beating archrivals Pakistan. Tendulkar hailed the win as a complete team effort and singled out Dhoni for special praise. "It was a brilliant team effort and along with the players, the entire nation is celebrating. Dhoni led the team to a fabulous victory and I can say that Indian cricket is in safe hands," he said. India's 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev said with this win, Dhoni and his teammates had become part of Indian crick et lore. "I can guess that they are now so overwhelmed in joy that it will take time before the feeling sinks in. When they come back, they will realise

Jubilant Indian cricket team celebrates with the World Twenty20 trophy after defeating Pakistan in the final at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg on Monday. Indian players shared their ‘Chak de’ moment with Shah Rukh Khan , who had flown in just to watch the match. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s young Team India snatched the inaugural Twenty20 world title after defeating archrivals Pakistan by five runs in a rousing final on Monday. The Indians, restricted to 157/5 after electing to take first strike in good batting conditions, fought back to bowl out valiant Pakistan for 152 before a sell-out crowd of 32,000 at the Wanderers. Man of the Match: Irfan Pathan Man of the Series : Shahid Afridi

Tokyo: Moderate Yasuo Fukuda easily won the election as President of Japan's ruling party on Sunday, assuring his selection as the new Prime Minister in a parliamentary vote later this week. Mr Fukuda won 330 votes to former foreign minister Taro Aso's 197 votes, the party announced, giving Mr Fukuda 63 per cent of the ballots. Mr Fukuda, 71, the son of a prime minister from the 1970s, has vowed to keep his country in the fight against terrorism, improve relations with Asia and address inequalities. Mr Fukuda vowed after the vote to rebuild the popularity of the LDP, which has plunged under a year of scandals and policy mis steps by outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been hospitalised since announcing on September 12 that he would resign. "You have chosen me even though I do not have much experience. I am prepared to do my utmost to live up to my responsibilities," a determined-looking, an unsmiling Mr Fukuda said.

Prashant Tamang , a constable in the West Bengal police was crowned Indian Idol after vanquishing his rival Amit Paul in a grand finale. Tamang, 24, from Darjeeling, is a former member in the police band in Kolkata. The finale was an all North east affair as Tamang took on 24-year-old Amit Paul , who hails from Shillong. The results were announced at a gala in New Delhi with the final witnessing a seven crore people sending in their votes. As Bollywood actor John Abraham announced Tamang the winner, the constable thanked his mother in a voice choked with emotion. "I thank my mother, public and the Bengal police for granting me the permission for participating in the show," he said. The contest saw the entire Northeast coming together irrespective for their ethnic differences in support of the two singers. Meghalaya which has a history of violence between the tribals and settlers, especially Bengalis, rallied behind Paul, who is a Bengali.

NBC Universal said that it would soon permit consumers to download many of NBC's popular programs free to personal computers and other devices for one week immediately after their broadcasts. The service comes less than three weeks after NBC Universal said it was pulling its programs out of the highly successful iTunes service of Apple Inc. That partnership fell apart because of a dispute over Apple's iTunes pricing policies and what NBC executives said were concerns about lack of piracy protection. NBC's move comes as companies throughout the television business search for new economic models in the face of enormous changes in the business. Networks continue to lose audience share, and viewers - especially many of the highly prized viewers under 30 years old - are increasingly demanding control of their program choices, insisting on being able to watch shows when, where and how they want. At the same time viewers are finding more and more ways, like TiVo machine

LAS VEGAS -- O.J. Simpson was freed from a Las Vegas jail Wednesday after a judge granted him $125,000 bail on charges he took part in an armed robbery of his own sports memorabilia. Simpson, who was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend in 1995 in a sensational double-murder trial that left his reputation in tatters, did not enter a plea to charges of armed robbery, assault and kidnapping during a brief hearing before a Las Vegas judge. A scrum of media and a crowd of supporters as well as protesters were on hand in Las Vegas to catch a glimpse of yesteryear's national hero, who was acquitted of killing his ex wife Nicole and her friend in a verdict that sparked out rage. "Set the ‘Juice' loose!" yelled one supporter outside the Clark County Detention Center, referring to the football legend's sporting nickname, while another woman shouted "Justice for Nicole!"

Yuvraj Singh Video of 6 Sixers in over & Fastest Fifty in Twenty20 Durban: Indian batting star Yuvraj Singh has always exuded the kind of confidence that champions possess and it was only a matter of time that he carved out a niche for himself in world cricket. But few would have imagined that his name would go down in the annals as the first man to hit six sixes in Twenty20 cricket. The likes of Shahid Afridi and Justin Kemp were bigger names when it came to the kind of bludgeoning one would relate to such a possibility. Yuvraj, 25, has never been a slogger but still whacks the ball real hard. "I any day prefer to play in the 'V', Yuvraj had said before the start of the Twenty20 World Championship, referring to the direction from the batsman's bat that coaching manuals teach you to hit in at the beginning of the innings. And though he sent the ball in all directions in that Stuart Broad over, they were all authentic shots. Yuvraj was known for his sixes