animal planet

With all the love, squabbling, self-sacrifice and rivalry found in any family, a group of meerkats struggles to survive in Africa's Kalahari Desert. Animal Planet's new 13-part series, Meerkat Manor, is All My Children meets Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Don't let their cuddly appearance fool you though — there's a good reason these meerkat families are called a "mob."
Narrated by Sean Astin of The Lord of the Rings and 24, Meerkat Manor was filmed with the assistance of Cambridge University, which is conducting a 10-year study on meerkats. From family quarrels to love affairs to backstabbing worthy of a Shakespearean tale, these fuzzy reality-TV stars pack a huge dramatic punch.
With cameras recording their every move, Meerkat Manor introduces viewers to the Whiskers, a family of meerkats, revealing their personalities over the course of the series. Researchers call the Whiskers' matriarch "Flower," but she's neither delicate nor sweet — she doesn't let anyone boss her around! Putting her newborn pups before all others, Flower isn't afraid of conflict and will stop at nothing to get her way.
Zaphod, the patriarch, defends the Whiskers at all costs — especially against the rival gang of meerkats, the Lazuli. Zaphod seizes control of the family by overthrowing his brother and taking Flower as his own mate. It's Hamlet, only hairier.
But not all of the meerkats are fighters. A true hero, a meerkat called "Shakespeare," suffers a poisonous snakebite and rescues his brother from certain death. Carlos, a male from the rival Lazuli mob, finds himself in deep trouble when he woos three of the Whiskers' leading ladies.
Check the TV Listings for future air dates.

Rahul Dravid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Editing of this article by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled.If you are prevented from editing this article, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or create an account.
Rahul DravidIndia (Ind)

Batting style
Right hand bat
Bowling type
Right arm off break
Tests
ODIs
Matches
109
319
Runs scored
9366
10303
Batting average
57.46
40.08
100s/50s
24/47
12/79
Top score
270
153
Overs bowled
20
31
Wickets
1
4
Bowling average
39.00
42.50
5 wickets in innings
0
0
10 wickets in match
0
n/a
Best bowling
1/18
2/43
Catches/stumpings
149/0
185/14
As of May 21, 2007Source: Cricinfo.com
Rahul Sharad Dravid (Kannada:ರಾಹುಲ್‌ ಶರದ್‌ ದ್ರಾವಿಡ್‌) pronunciation (help·info) (born 11 January 1973 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh)[1] is an Indian cricketer, and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team. He grew up in Bangalore, Karnataka. [2] He started his international cricket career in 1996. He is, at present, ranked among the 10 best Test batsmen by the ICC in world cricket [3] and has the highest Test batting average of any Indian batsman in history.[4] Rahul is one of only 3 Indian batsmen to have scored 9,000 runs in test cricket (the other two being Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar). [5] On February 14, 2007, he became the 6th player in history and only the 3rd Indian after Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly to score 10,000 runs in ODI cricket.[6] As of now, he is the highest ranked Indian basman in the ICC Test rankings and the 2nd highest rated Indian batsman in the ICC ODI rankings.[7]
Contents[hide]
1 Personal life
2 Early years
3 International career
4 Dravid's style
5 Personal Records
5.1 Tests
5.2 One Dayers
6 Captaincy
6.1 Achievements
6.2 Criticism
7 Teams
7.1 International
7.2 Indian first-class
7.3 English county
8 Timeline
9 Career highlights
9.1 Tests
9.2 One-Day Internationals
10 Achievements
10.1 Awards
10.2 Test Cricket Awards
10.3 ODI Matches
11 Controversies
11.1 Ball-Tampering Incident
12 Business Interests
12.1 Endorsments
13 References
13.1 External links
//

Personal life
Rahul Dravid is a Karnatakan of Maharashtrian brahmin origin. He has a brother. Dravid's father worked for Kissan, a company known for jams and preserves[8] and thus he earned the nickname Jammy from his teammates at St. Joseph's, Bangalore. Rahul Dravid has a degree in commerce from St Joseph's College of Commerce.
On May 4, 2003, Rahul married Vijeta Pendharkar, a surgeon from Nagpur[9] and on October 11, 2005, they have a son[10].

Early years
Having started to play cricket at the age of 12, Rahul played at the state level at the under-15, under-17 and under-19 level.[11] Rahul first came to prominence whilst attending a summer coaching camp at the Chinnaswamy Stadium where his talents were spotted by former cricketer Keki Tarapore who was coaching at the clinic[12]. He went on to score a century on debut for his school team[13] . Along with the batting, he was keeping wickets. However, he later stopped keeping wickets on advice from former Test players Gundappa Vishwanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel and Tarapore.
He was selected to make his Ranji Trophy debut in February 1991 against Maharashtra in Pune (while still attending college at St. Joseph's College of Commerce in Bangalore), alongside future Indian teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, scoring 82 in a drawn match after batting in the No. 7 position[14]. His first full season was in 1991-92, when he scored two centuries to finish with 380 runs at an average of 63.3 [15], and was selected for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy [16], for whom he has been subsequently chosen annually.

International career
Dravid had a disappointing start to his career making his debut in one-dayers against Sri Lankan cricket team in the Singer Cup in Singapore immediately after World Cup in March 1996, replacing Vinod Kambli. Subsequently he was dropped from the team until he was picked again for the tour of England when Sanjay Manjrekar was injured.
With Manjrekar sidelined, he then made his debut in the Second Test against England along with Sourav Ganguly, scoring 95 [1]. He held his position on Manjrekar's return for the Third Test, scoring 84 [17]. After moderate home series against Australia and South Africa, Dravid broke through on the 1996-97 tour of South Africa. He batted at No. 3 in the third Test in Johannesburg, scoring his maiden century with 148 and 81, the top score in each innings to claim his first man of the match award [2]. He also finally made his first half-century against Pakistan in the Sahara Cup in 1996, scoring 90 in his 10th ODI [18].
In the 18 months ending in mid-1998, he played in an away series against the West Indies, home and away series against Sri Lanka and a home series against Australia, he scored consistently, with 964 runs at an average of 56.7. He scored eleven half-centuries but was unable to convert them to triple figures [3]. He scored his second century in late 1998 against Zimbabwe in a one-off Test match, top-scoring in both innings with 148 and 44, but was unable to prevent an Indian defeat [4]. He then became the third Indian batsman after Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar to score centuries in both innings of a match during the 1999 New Year's Test match against New Zealand with 190 and 103* to force a draw [5], batting for a total of 653 minutes [19]. He had a moderate subcontinental season in early 1999, scoring 269 runs at 38.42 with one century before scoring 239 at 39.8 including a century against New Zealand in late 1999[6]. This was followed by a poor away series against Australia and another poor home series against South Africa, accumulating just 187 runs at an average of 18.7. He then scored 200*, his first double century, against Zimbabwe in Delhi which along with 70* in the second innings helped India to victory. It was the first time he had passed 50 in 12 months and he followed this with a 162 in the following Test, giving him 432 runs in the two match series at an average of 432 [7].
Dravid and the Indian cricket team had a dismal 2007 Cricket World Cup Campaign. Dravid had scores of 14 (Bangladesh), 7* (Bermuda) and 60 (Sri Lanka).

Dravid's style
With a strong technique, he has been the backbone for the Indian cricket team. Beginning with the reputation of being a defensive batsman who should be confined to Test cricket, he was dropped from ODIs as he was slow in making runs. Of late, however, Rahul Dravid has defied early perceptions to become the mainstay of the Indian batting line-up in ODIs as well as in Tests. His nickname of 'The Wall' in Reebok advertisements has now become a tribute to his consistency. Dravid has scored 23 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 58.75, including 5 double centuries. In one-dayers though he has an average of 40.05, and a strike rate of 70.70. He is one of the few Indians who average more at away matches than at home, averaging over 10 more runs a match abroad than on Indian pitches. As of 9 August, 2006, Dravid's average in overseas Tests stood at 65.28 as against his overall Test average of 58.75, and his average for away ODI stands at 42.03 as against overall ODI average of 40.05. In matches that India has won, Dravid averages 78.72 in Tests and 53.40 in ODIs.
Dravid's sole Test wicket was that of Ridley Jacobs in the fourth Test against the West Indies during the 2001-2002 series. While he has no pretensions to being a bowler, Dravid often kept wicket for India in ODIs. He has since delegated the wicket-keeping gloves, first to Parthiv Patel and more recently to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dravid is now purely a batsman, one who has averaged 63.51 in matches played since 1 January, 2000.
Dravid was involved in two of the largest partnerships in ODIs: a 318-run partnership with Sourav Ganguly, the first pair to combine for a 300-run partnership, and then a 331-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, which is the present world record. He also holds the record for the greatest number of innings since debut before being dismissed for a duck. His highest scores in ODIs and Tests are 153 and 270 respectively. Uniquely, each of his five double centuries in Tests was a higher score than his previous double century (200*, 217, 222, 233, 270).
Also, Dravid is the current world record holder for the highest percentage(%) contribution of runs scored in matches won under a single captain, where the captain has won more than 20 Tests. [20] In the 21 Test matches India won under Sourav Ganguly's leadership, Dravid played his part in every single one of those wins, scoring at a record average of 102.84 and piling up an astonishing 2571 runs, with nine hundreds - three of them double-centuries - and ten fifties in 32 innings. He contributed nearly 23% of the total runs scored by India those 21 matches, which is almost one run out of every four runs the team scored

MADHURI DIXT

'I didn’t want to feel weak while doing a song with ‘Prabhudeva’
There is something about Madhuri Dixit-Nene. A girl who came from a middle-class Maharashtrian background, she would have probably ended up a microbiologist had the Rajshris not discovered her.
Abodh was just a teaser into the Madhuri mania that went on to envelop the nation. She fired the screen with her acting abilities and her excellent dancing skills.
Yet, it has been a long, arduous journey for the actress who joined the industry in 1984. A journey that resulted in her transformation from gawky youngster to successful star.
She learnt to deal with the trappings as well. Be it her link-ups or her marriage, she dealt with both in a dignified manner.
In this interview, she talks to Sukanya Verma about her husband, her soon-to-be-released film and her future.
Let's begin with Pukar. Can you tell us something about the movie?
The film is basically about two people, Anjali and Jaidev. Both have different backgrounds, as a result of which both look at life differently. Anjali is besotted with Jai -- that's Anil Kapoor. She's been in love with him ever since she was a child.
She has only one dream that, when she grows up, she is going to marry him. And now, she has grown up. But Anil falls in love with someone else. She is totally shattered. In her anger, she makes a mistake which puts Anil in a lot of trouble.
The film also sees the whole situation through Anil's point of view; through the character of the jawan who is played by Anil is in the film. Anjali's actions get him into a lot of trouble because of his military background. He also has to fight his own personal trauma because he is the kind of man who will fight for something he believes in over his own self; and one such thing is his country.
As for Anjali, she makes a mistake. But she redeems herself when she realises it and takes a stand and fights for her country. This is the part where they both come together.
Does this mean that your role has negative shades to it?
I don’t know whether to call it negative because everybody has his or her weaknesses. If you call that weakness negative, then there is probably a negative shade. But I would rather call it a weakness. Everyone has their moment of weakness, when they do something that is wrong.
There is a thin line between right and wrong and that thin line is erased when you do something you will probably regret later. That is what happens with Anjali, that is what happens to her character in the film.
So Anjali is a rather grey character?
It is not even grey. I think it's human. It is, like, she does something that is a mistake, something that she should not have done. But she doesn’t realise she is not supposed to do it.
What about the much talked about Que sera sera song? What was it like to match the flexible Prabhudeva, step for step?
It was great. It is one of the nicest experiences I’ve had because he is such a good dancer. We had already shot the song twice, but we kept feeling we had not got it right; that there was something that was not working in this song.
The first time we shot, we felt it was the costumes that were not looking nice. And Boneyji is the kind of producer who’ll go all out to make his film look good. So it is like, “Okay, we will scrap that version and do it again.”
We did it again. Then they realised it's not the costumes or anything, it is the song that’s not working because this is the moment that introduces Anjali in the film. So it had to be a song which says what kind of person she is -- because, when she is introduced through a song, one is not going to be able to show what her character is like or how she interacts with Jai or what her relationship with Jai is. That is when they realised, “Oh, that is the blunder that we are making with the song.” So they decided to re-do it.
I think it takes a lot of guts for a producer to do that. I can’t think of any other name or any other producer who would do that for his film. I think Boneyji was quite gutsy, he went ahead and recorded a new song with Rahman (A R Rahman) and we said, "Yes, this is the song which has to be shot."
Then the next question was, “Who is going to do it to make it look different?” I have worked with many choreographers, I have done a lot of songs, so this one had to be different; it had to grab people’s attention. It shouldn’t be like, “Awww, Madhuri has done that before.” It had to look different.
I think Boneyji hit upon this idea of asking Prabhudeva to do it. It was very sweet of Prabhudeva to agree. He has choreographed the song and danced in it himself and he done a brilliant job in the film.
The first schedule we started, I fell sick (laughs). I was so worried about how I was going to match his steps. We had to cancel the schedule. A month passed by. I had caught viral fever and I didn’t want to feel weak while doing a song with ‘Prabhudeva.’ So I took rest and then we started shooting the song.
And it’s shaped out well?
Oh, I love it (smiles).
Do you prefer working with co-stars whom you have already worked with in the past?
It’s nice to work with them because it makes you feel comfortable. You are not on tenterhooks about how you are going to manage. But that doesn’t mean you don’t want to work with newcomers. Because, sometimes, working with newcomers also gives you an insight to a new side of acting, a new style of acting, new reactions.
Working with Anilji has been a lovely experience from the very beginning. We have done Tezaab together, we did Beta and a lot of other films where we have done different kinds of roles. I can confidentially say Pukar will again bring out a different aspect of our acting and to the relationship you will see on the screen. The whole chemistry you will see is very different in Pukar. It is on a different level altogether.
The next film I do with Soorajji has to be a step ahead
RELATED FEATUREMadhuri unplugged! In RealAudio

CRICKET

Sachin Tendulkar – Master Blaster!
Sachin Tendulkar, is one of the greatest players ever born in India, who played more than 300 ODIs & 38 centuries, achieved so much at very small age. He is the youngest man ever to play 100 test matches for India... No need to guess the person who when starts batting, everyone stops other activity and watches it delightfully. No need to guess the person whom the world calls "Master Blaster", who absolutely destroyed many and have set his own records those others, can only imagine of!

Sachin Tendulkar, is one of the greatest players ever born in India, who played more than 300 ODIs & 38 centuries, achieved so much at very small age. He is the youngest man ever to play 100 test matches for India.

With eyes on ball, powerful hands, perfect footwork and great timing, lightning fast reaction, Sachin Tendulkar is a batsman who can play almost any ball and send it across the boundary lines. Almost any shot, right from cover drives, straight drives, mid-on, mid-off, mid-wicket, square leg, gully, reverse sweep, pull, hook played by this great batsman is a spectacular moment to watch. His cracking shot and the sound that is created when his bat makes a perfect contact with the ball kissing it and dispatching it to the boundary, has made his fans go crazy.

Sachin has reached a level in cricket world which very few cricketers can attain in their lives. Sachin has passed and set many records, he has records for maximum centuries in Tests that surpasses the record set by legendry Sir Don Bradman, maximum runs in ODIs, he became only the third person to cross 1000 runs in World Cup Cricket, he has a record of maximum records ever made by any Indian in ODIs, he has passed Desmond Haynes’s record of most centuries in ODIs, has a record of having maximum number of runs in a single season and there are many more things that Sachin Tendulkar has achieved.

Sachin Tendulkar is not only a great batsman, he is a man with great ethics and rules as well. Sachin is believed to be very polite and soft spoken player in Indian team, who is always ready to learn and share knowledge. No one can forget the sportsman spirit he showed when in England during the World Cup, hearing of the death of his father, he flew to India and was back on his duty for the next match with Kenya scoring unbeaten 140 runs and navigating India to next stage. After the disastrous tour of Australia, Sachin announced that he was owning moral responsibility for the teams performance and resigning the captaincy. Being an international player, he never mind turning down the Mumbai Cricket Team captaincy and play under the captaincy of Sameer Dighe in the Ranji Trophy (Domestic cricket championships in India). He never liked pressure on himself and is happy playing as a player instead of playing as a captain, he always believed in reality. He always tries to live up to his own expectations and set targets which are achievable and try and live up to that.

Sachin has dominated every match he has played one or another way, he almost destroyed attacks of any bowler in cricketing world. He became nightmare for world champions (Australia) and their ace bowlers like Shane Warne, who used to see Sachin sending his balls out of stadium along with him in his dreams, Sachin smashed and brought almost every bowler to level of frustration, not even a single bowler from Pakistan could dominate Sachin. Almost any bowler is slotterred by the little master blaster.

Above all, Sachin’s First class & domestic Cricket debuts were spectacular, maximum man of the match awards, maximum runs in World Cup Cricket, maximum runs in a calendar year, youngest to gather first 1000 runs in Tests, unique debut in domestic Cricket, holds world record partnership, received "Maharashtra Bhushan" award (By Indian government) for year 2000-01, received the "Arjuna Award" (By Indian government), named as a ‘Cricketer of the Year By Wisden Almanack’, received "Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award" (By Indian government), received "Padma Shri" award (By Indian government) are some of his magnificent awards. Sachin will surely attain to the ultimate height in his cri

animals

THIS ARE THE PICTURES OF BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS WHO ARE SURVING THEIR EXISTENCE.I REMEMBER LATE STEVE IRWIN USE CATCH REPTILES,CROCODILES AND DIFFERENT ANIMAL SPECIES .PLEASE HELP THIS ANIMAL SAVER EFFORTS.

TAJ MAHAL

VOTE FOT TAJ MAHAL AS ONE OF THE 7 WONDERS OF THIS WORLD.AS THEIR IS STIFF COMPETITION AS TO KEEP TAJ MAHAL AS ONE OF THE 7 WONDERS.PLEASE TRY THAT EVERY INDIAN SHOULD VOTE FOR IT AS SO THAT WE WOULD FILL PROUD ABOUT IT.TAJ MAHAL IS A MONUMENT OF LOVE BETWEEN MUGHAL EMPEROR SHAHJAAN AND HIS BEOVED WIFE MUMTAZ.I HOPE THAT EACH INDIAN WILL VOTE FOR IT AS ONE OF THE MONUMENT OF THIS WORLD.

bollywood

MADHURI DIXIT IS ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS OF BOLLYWOOD.MUMBAITES ARE FAN OF MADHURI DIXIT NENE.NOW THEIR IS A NEWS OF HER COME BACK IN HINDI MOVIES.I WISH HER BEST UO LUCK IN HINDI MOVIES

cricket

INDIA HAS BEATEN SOUTH AFRICAS TWICE IN THREE MATCH SERIES.SACHIN TENDULKAR WAS THE MAN OF SERIES .THOUGH HE FAILED TO SCORE CENTURY 2 TIMES I WISH HIM GOOD LUCK IN FUTURE.