Monthly Archives: February 2012

Far from the madding crowd

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Bangalore:
Love is in the air, fresh air. V-Day celebrants are headed to hill stations, with Coorg and Chikmagalur being the most popular destinations this year.

While some couples were already on their way by Monday, others left late Monday night to reach their destinations latest by Tuesday morning. After a two-day stay, they plan to head back to Bangalore, said travel companies.

“We received a substantial number of bookings from couples looking for a romantic getaway and quite a handful opted for customized services,” said Frederick Divecha of Kuoni India.

If chilled wine with dinner feature on many couples’ menu, a rose petal bath with aromatic oils is on the cards for others. Of course, most want a candlelight dinner laid out for them.

“We’ve seen a 15%-20% increase in bookings for this period compared to last year and a 10% increase for Karnataka packages,” said Neelu Singh, COO,Ezeego1.com, adding that Mysore and Coorg have seen the maximum bookings. Other preferred southern destinations are Ooty, Kodaikanal and Wayanad.

It’s Grans’ Day too

Grandparents are the people with silver in their hair and gold in their heart. It’s their ability to love and willingness to help and comfort their grandchildren that makes their roles indispensable. And thanking their grandparents on the occasion of Valentine’s Day are these tiny tots from Tree House pre-school in Shantinagar, where the children will celebrate Grandparents’ Day. The event is being organized to bring back the values of the joint family. The event will also provide an opportunity to grandparents to unite with their grandchildren. A number of programmes, including antakshari and musical events, will also be organized.

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source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / City> Bangalore / by Saswati Mukherjee / TNN / February 14th, 2012

Biggest test coming up for Indian hockey

Sports

Indian hockey is in the news these days and a lot of it has to do with the enhanced sponsorship it will be getting from the Sahara group.
For people like me who have still not lost hope in Indian hockey, the Sahara press release was exciting. It talked of a 170 per cent increase in sponsorship, which sounded huge.
Yet, when one sat with a calculator to check what it meant, the increase in sponsorship was from `3 crore per year to `8 crore per year. Compare it with the `3.34 crore per international match which the Indian cricket board has been getting from Sahara, and there cannot be a starker contrast.

India have fared well under coach Michael Nobbs
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To be sure, only someone foolish will compare cricket with any other sport in the country. We are often told that hockey is our ‘national game’ though this statement needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
In the good old days when we won Olympic gold medals with flourish on natural grass, Dhyan Chand was the true hero. He symbolised success and grace and how the Western world was mesmerised by his magic with the hockey stick.
As the statue of the man greets you at the National Stadium in the Capital, you wonder whether Indian hockey can flourish again. Let’s be sure of one thing, nobody played hockey in the old days for money.
Hockey was a passion, a junoon as they say, for many who wield the stick. Today, to complain that Hockey India cannot pay its players handsome money is nonsense. One must never forget that in terms of popularity, mass reach and TV viewership, hockey can never be compared with cricket.

Former player A.B. Subbaiah
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Yet, if Sahara is spending money on hockey, it needs to be welcomed, irrespective of the figures being spent. We all know that had it not been for the Indian government’s funding, we could have never afforded a foreign coach.
Be it Jose Brasa or current guru Michael Nobbs and his support staff, if they are here in India, it’s because of the cash support the government offers. In less than six days, the Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams will be competing in the Olympic qualifiers with hope in the heart.
The tears which Indian hockey fans shed in March 2008 cannot be forgotten as India lost to Great Britain in the Olympic qualifier in Chile. One scribe from India who had gone to cover the event still swears the umpiring then was biased and the Indians were being subjected to a lot of pressure.
In a way, this Indian men’s team is very lucky it is going to play the qualifier at home against a field which is not too tough. If you go by the international rankings, India are rated higher than their opponents – France, Italy, Canada, Poland and Singapore.

The experts say that Canada, once a potent force, is not the same. Pre-tournament predictions of India being in the final sound good, but the pressure is not going to be any lower. There are several advantages of playing at home and, having arrived in the Capital well in advance, the team is being nurtured by Nobbs. It is also a good sign that Nobbs has felt free to call in my favourite former India defender Dilip Tirkey and the soft-spoken former India goalkeeper AB Subbaiah to help out the team.

These two men carry with them loads of experience, so the Indian team will definitely benefit from their valuable tips. A lot has been written about the exclusion of Rajpal Singh and how in Sandeep Singh and Ignace Tirkey, we have two seasoned players who could play a big role in India’s campaign.

If one goes through India’s performance under Nobbs, it has been okay but not brilliant. While the frontline has the punch, the defence still comes under the scanner. Having won the Asian Champions Trophy last year in Ordos, China, the team then finished runner-up in the Champions Challenge I.

More recently, the team played against South Africa in a Test series and won three out of the five matches.
All this would tend to suggest Indian hockey is in fine health but we need to wait till the end of the Olympic qualifier to see how good we are. We have to win the final if we are to seal a berth at the London Olympics.

Old-timers I spoke to are not willing to hazard a guess and say they are keeping their fingers crossed. Nevertheless, if one is looking at the future of hockey in India in a macro sense, we must qualify.
The outrage after failing to qualify for the Olympics in 2008 hasn’t been forgotten. And if you compare hockey with other disciplines where Indians have qualified for London, it is clear this team must deliver.

We all know how hockey’s popularity has dipped and the nurseries in Punjab and Jharkhand see fewer people playing the sport. If hockey has to have a future in the country, India has to make the Olympics grade.
Nobody is going to watch or support a sport where we are not doing well. At the same time as the men’s team, the women will also be trying hard to qualify in a relatively tougher field. The big advantage is playing at home.

Good crowd support and finding rhythm early on will be crucial. Till then, let’s leave aside all talk of why hockey gets less in terms of sponsorship from the corporates.

source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ India / by S. Kannan/ February 12th, 2012

They’re old enough

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg

It is not my intention to cause a sudden dip in morale in the Indian armed forces, a dip so vertiginous that when the Chinese are amassed at the Mehrauli crossing, our soldiers will be able to do nothing. But the crisis that reached its climax last week involving the date of birth of India’s army chief strikes me as being incredibly banal. How many angels can dance on a pin head being replaced by how many candles should be there on our army chief’s birthday cake on May 10?

Don’t get me wrong. The fact that the spat between the ministry of defence and the army chief — which in institutional terms means the hand-to-hand combat between the Government of India and the Indian Army — was played out in public must have been disconcerting for patriots on both sides of the civilian-military border. On following the spat in the Indian media, the aforementioned Chinese must have plied themselves with endless mai tais and gleefully quoted from Du Fu’s ‘Ballad of the Ancient Cypress’, lines that only Vikram Seth would be able to faithfully translate as “If a great hall should teeter, wanting rafters and beams,/ Ten thousand oxen would turn their heads towards its mountain’s weight.” That a quarrel had broken out between the army and the civilian government was serious. But what surely can’t be is the reason for this dangerous eyeballing: whether the army chief was bluffing about his age.

Here’s the source of the fracas in a nutshell: General VK Singh insisted that his date of birth is May 10, 1951 — and not May 10, 1950, as according to the service records that Singh had himself provided when he had applied for the National Defence Academy (NDA) when he was 14 (which means that he must have been then 13). I’ve conducted similar age-propping strategies when I was 14 (but was actually 15) to cover up the fact that I had lost a year when getting into school for the first time. I hope to dear god that by constantly repeating my real age for the last decade or so to people, especially to ladies who profess a fondness for older men, I have made amends.

So at best, Singh was guilty of some minor age-shuffling so that he could get into the NDA a year early. Today, that has come to bite him in his rear formation. This, to me, could have been easily sorted out by some clerical whiz in the government, if the civvies in the defence ministry wanted. Instead, it became an infructuous contest which even the Supreme Court labelled as being “a vital matter for the entire nation”. A vital matter for the entire nation. Really?

I’m told it’s about ‘honour’. In August 31, 1959, army chief General KS Thimayya offered to resign after a spat with defence minister VK Krishna Menon over, among other things, the latter’s refusal to consider the chief of army staff’s plans for preparing for a looming India-China conflict — which Menon thought was only gathering force in the brain of a restless military man. Nehru did manage to convince Thimayya to stay on as army chief till the latter retired in 1961 — even as the PM backed the wrong horse Menon into the winter of ’62.

Nehru had told Parliament in September 1959, the House agitated over a army chief-defence minister quarrel, that the issues involved in Thimayya’s attempted resignation were “rather trivial and of no consequence”, and that they arose “from temperamental differences and did not include promotions”. I can bet my 21st battalion that the spat didn’t arise because of promotions etc but because of the matter of Menon shrugging his shoulders each time Thimayya uttered the word ‘China’.

Now that was a spat I can understand where honour must have crept in. What loss of honour was General Singh worried about? That he’s been branded a liar by AK Antony and his para-militaries? But according to his own logic, he must have lied at least once — either when he was 13 or 14, or now when he’s 60 or 61. He told the court that he would resign in 48 hours the moment the government accepted he was 60. The problem for the court was trusting a man’s sense of hours when he’s mixed up 365 days. But, most incredibly, the court said that it was “not concerned with determining his age” and went on to utter something four days before Valentine’s Day about understanding the “pain in your heart of having your date of birth not being corrected”.

I think I just heard a gaggle of tipsy but sure-about-their-ages Chinese generals roll with laughter on the red carpeted floor while quoting one of Sun Tzu’s five dangerous faults that may affect a general — which Vikram Seth would faithfully translate as “A delicacy of honour that is sensitive to shame.”

Bean Here Bean There

Coffee News

As international coffee chains head to India, let’s not forget the humble filter kaapi, which started it all

The announcement about the arrival of Starbucks in India later this year has been greeted with a sense that the country of tea drinkers is finally set to wake up and smell the coffee. Nothing can be further from the truth. Of course, India consumes about 10 times more tea than coffee per capita and even Djibouti, Kiribati, Moldova and Lithuania drink more coffee per person than us.

India does not even figure in the top 100 coffee-drinking countries. But those nuggets of data only convey a part of the India coffee story. There is yet another statistic from the Coffee Board of India which puts this story in perspective: from the mid-1990s until 2010, India’s coffee consumption more than doubled to about 1,08,000 tonnes from 50,000 tonnes.

It would, however, be doing injustice to the wondrous brew to relegate its significance to mere numbers and ignore the romance behind it. Coffee came to India some 400 years ago and for large sections of the population south of the Vindhyas, filter kaapi is as much a religion as their rice, sambar and curd. Generations of moms have painstakingly brewed decoctions in steel filters every morning and evening and produced steel tumblers full of perfectly steaming hot and frothy servings of the bitter-sweet liquid, without which life would seem incomplete.

Restaurants and street-corner coffee shops added style to the cup by adding a slightly larger but shallow steel bowl to hold the tumbler and to mix and cool the brew before sipping it. Most of us loved the arrangement, especially when the coffee was slurped with a sound effect that would complete the sensory orchestra. One step higher in the pecking order was the restaurant that served coffee in white porcelain cups and saucers. This introduction of class did not ruin the experience. In fact, it could heighten it if the coffee was poured into the saucer and savoured slowly.

But this drink itself was mostly unidimensional. It’s called “filter” coffee as the liquid was brewed in a two-piece steel cylinder where the powder is put in the upper half and hot water poured onto it trickles through tiny holes and collects as coffee decoction in the lower half. The measures could increase or decrease depending on how potent the cup needed to be, with “strong coffee” being the popular keyword to a more bitter and acidic concoction, known for its powers to help defy sleep, to memorise tomes ahead of exams or fight the after-effects of a heavy meal.

That, however, was all the variation there could be, apart from the addition of chicory root powder to milder Arabica coffees to make it “stronger” at a lower cost. Brooke Bond was one major coffee powder brand, which had 70 per cent coffee and 30 per cent chicory. Dozens of regional coffee roasters played on the mix to cater to the taste buds of the more discerning consumers. And then came along Nescafe and Bru, soluble coffee powders, which could be mixed directly with water or milk, doing away with the filtering process. But they could never compare to the power of filter coffee and no self-respecting south Indian coffee home dared depend on them.

All that changed with the arrival of the modern coffee shop in the mid-1990s. The first of this avatar started off as a giant “cyber cafe” on two levels on Bangalore’s snazzy Brigade Road. Every half hour of browsing came with a complimentary latte, a big mug of milky coffee which connoisseurs eyed suspiciously. Contrast that with coffee shops offering free Wi-Fi internet and charging a bomb for a cuppa now and you realise the coffee-Internet story has come a full circle. Be that as it may, it is this outlet that spawned the successful Cafe Coffee Day or CCD chain which is today India’s largest, with more than 1,200 coffee shops.

CCD has been followed by Barista, Costa Coffee, Gloria Jean’s, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and several local chains, all of which specialise in a common range: the popular cappuccino (one part coffee, one part milk, one part milk foam), the latte (one part coffee and two parts milk), the espresso (one part coffee, consumed neat), the americano (one part coffee, two parts hot water) and the macchiato (espresso topped with just a spoon of milk foam). And then there are the cold coffees and ice coffees, which are just coffee-flavoured coolers. The cafes have also introduced us to toppings such as cinnamon, nutmeg or chocolate powder that can be sprinkled on cappuccinos or lattes to give them a sweet/spicy twist.

Much of the coffee in these outlets — barring the well-bodied espresso/macchiato crafted from the superior Peaberry — is uniformly unimpressive. A survey conducted four months ago by Harish Bijoor, a Bangalore-based independent consultant and former coffee professional, found 67 per cent of coffee sold at cafes in India were cappuccinos and lattes, or “dumbed down coffees” as he rightly calls them. Another 13 per cent were cold coffees and the remaining 20 per cent were espresso/macchiato/americano, or “real coffees”. But the cafes have been successful because they also offer other beverages such as teas, coolers and snacks, and more importantly have become a hip hangout for the young. Although the coffee is a bit incidental, it has gained because new consumers have been introduced to the beverage who have then pursued it at home and elsewhere.

The venerable Starbucks is set to join these worthies. Quite a few books have been written to explain the success of this Seattle-headquartered chain and while there may not be unanimity over the reasons, the rise of Starbucks coincided with the jump in coffee consumption in the US and the company rode that wave by rapidly expanding from coast to coast while maintaining the consistency of its coffees. I have been to less than half-a-dozen Starbucks outlets in different countries and have not found them any different from coffee shops at home. Friends in the US who have more Starbucks experience call their coffees “average”, “overpriced” or “over-roasted”, among others. Bijoor thinks the price point of Starbucks coffee in India will be a key factor in the chain’s success or otherwise. Price has been a critical element behind the success of CCD and the struggles of Barista, and in that sense, India has already woken up and smelt its coffee, even if it is the dumbed-down variety. Starbucks too can ride this wave if it can offer a bang for the buck.

Filter coffee

* Pick a mild, 100 per cent Arabica/Peaberry powder for a medium-body coffee or a 80-20/85-15 coffee-chicory blend for a darker, deeper flavour.

* Use 3-5 teaspoons (depending on strength desired) of the powder per cup and put the powder uniformly in the top half of the steel coffee filter after removing the plunger.

* Place the plunger atop the powder and pour 100 ml of freshly boiled water per cup onto it and close the filter lid.

* Allow the coffee to brew for 4-5 minutes and percolate into the lower half of the filter. If the powder is coarse, percolation may take longer.

* Pour the coffee decoction or liquor collected in the lower half into cups or mugs and add about 150 ml of freshly boiled milk from a reasonable height to produce a foaming cup.

* Add sugar to taste.

* Never reheat the decoction or heat the milk and coffee again after they have been mixed as the decoction tends to get bitter with reheating.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / IE> Story / by Y.P. Rajesh / Sunday, February 12th, 2012

5 lakh education loan for ST students: Deo

Education

Chamarajanagar, February 11 2012, DHNS:
‘Take tribals into confidence prior to Project Tiger implementation’
Union tribal and panchayat raj minister V Kishorechandra Deo said more funds would be earmarked for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the Union budget to be presented on March 16.

Speaking after performing ground breaking ceremony for construction of Ekalavya model residential school built at a cost of Rs 12 crore at Ramanagudda near Mangala in Kollegal taluk on Saturday, he said loans up to Rs five lakh would be advanced at an interest rate of six per cent for ST students pursuing post-graduation.

They need not produce any guarantee and loans would be disbursed based on the annual income mentioned in the ration cards.

Loan will be provided under the National Scheduled Tribe Development Commission and it can be repaid within 20 years after securing job after completion of the course, he added.

He appealed to the legislators for judicial implementation of Forest Rights Act in their respective constituencies and to provide opportunities for tribal people to collect and sell forest products.

Though tribals have been living in forest for centuries, they do not cause damage to the forest resources. It is only the greedy urbanites who are looting natural resources, he criticised.

Commenting on the Tiger Project, he said tribals and experts should be taken into confidence before implementing the project.

The residential school will provide opportunities for students from 6th to 12th standard and 50 per cent of seats will be reserved for girls, he stated.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> District / Chamrajnagar / DHNS / February 11th, 2012

Nikitha to act with Jayaram

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

It looks like actor Nikitha Thukral has her plate full these days.

The actress, who has been juggling Tamil, Kannada and Telugu films, is all set to add a Malayalam film in her juggling act. The Saroja girl is all set to play the female lead in the movie Mantrikan, opposite Jayaram.

This film is from the same makers of the runaway hit Beautiful. The film will also have Innocent and Jagathy playing important roles. The film is scheduled to take off later this month, and will be shot in and around Coorg in Karnataka. This will be Jayaram’s second continuous film with a beauty who dazzles Tamil, Telugu and Kannada screens.

He’s currently shooting for Thiruvambadi Thampan, in which he plays the role of an elephant contractor. Coincidentally, the heroine of that film is Nikitha’s Muran co-star Haripriya.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Entertainment> Regional> News & Interviews / by Sunayana Suresh / TNN / February 08th, 2012

Sunil: a key forward and a special player

Sports

One of the strengths of the Indian hockey team is its attack from the right and incisive striker S.V. Sunil is an important member of the swift forwardline.

The alarming speed with which he goes past rival defenders and the way he delivers his stinging shots make Sunil a special player. In India’s quest for an Olympic berth, the lean forward from Coorg (Karnataka) is all set to play a crucial role.

After the Test series against South Africa, chief coach Michael Nobbs had underlined the value of Sunil. Nobbs had said that if the experienced Rajpal Singh had to find a place in the team, he had to replace Sunil and it was very hard considering the Karnataka player’s present form.

A player who made his debut in the 2007 Asia Cup in Chennai (where India won the title), Sunil could not make a mark until recently. A major injury in his right knee just before the 2010 World Cup forced him to take a break of one year.

IMPRESSIVE

After undergoing a surgery, he impressed everyone with his performance since returning to the international scene in the Azlan Shah Cup last year. “It was a very bad injury. I could not even climb the steps. Thanks to Dr. B.K. Nayak and physio Shrikant Iyengar, who helped me a lot in overcoming the injury,” said Sunil during an interaction, here on Wednesday.

“The Sports Authority of India also helped me by bearing Rs. 4 lakh spent on my surgery,” he added.

HIGH POINT

The Champions Challenge in Johannesburg last year was a high point of Sunil’s career. He scored four goals, the most by an Indian striker in the tournament, and created several opportunities. “Right now, I am going through my peak. However, I am working on improving my receiving skill and accuracy in scoring,” said the 24-year-old.

One of the assistant coaches in the National camp, Clarence Lobo, heaped praise on the shy forward. “He is fabulous with his raids and tires the opponent defenders out by applying constant pressure. Besides, his sharp one-touch game inside the circle is too good,” noted Lobo.

Right-out Sunil is humble enough to acknowledge the support of right-in Sarvanjit Singh and right-half Birendra Lakra on and off the pitch. “I take their advice when they make a point. I have got a good rapport with Sarvan.”

Now, Sunil hopes that he will be able to contribute a bit in India’s campaign in the Olympic qualifier.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Sports> Hockey / by Principal Correspondent / New Delhi, February 09th, 2012

Awareness on road sense held

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Sports

Mysore:

Teresian College Adventure Sport Club organized a traffic awareness programme for its students at its auditorium here on Tuesday. To bring awareness on safety measures on road use and dealing with traffic, Teresian College had arranged a seminar on traffic rules and regulations. Traffic official sub-inspector C Ravi Kumar talked about road-sense using a Power-Point presentation and on road signs, drunken driving etc. Over 550 students from primary, high school, PU college and first grade college, were present.

Trekking

The adventure clubs of Teresian College and SBRR Mahajana First Grade College (NCC) have organized a day-long trek to Thadiandamol, Virajpet on Wednesday. The adventure club committee students will be accompanied by club convener Anthony Moses and Lt BR Nikhil Coy Commander along with 55 NCC candidates belonging to SBRR Mahajana First Grade College.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Mysore / TNN / February 08th,, 2012

Plea for photos of Fd, ML. Cariappa and Gen. Thimayya in Sainik Welfare office

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders

Mysore, Feb.2:

The newly-floated Ex-servicemen`s Consultancy Services (ECS), Narayan Shastry Road, has urged the Deputy Director, Dept. of Sainik Welfare and Resettlement, Mysore, to display the photographs of Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa and General K.S. Thimmaya at the Sainik Welfare Office in view of their remarkable achievements.

S. Somashekara, Chief Consultant of ECS, has stated in a press release that these two were the only two Kanndigas who had made it to the top in the Indian Army with Field Marshal Cariappa becoming the first Commander-in-Chief of Indian Armed Forces and General Thimmaya occupying the post of Chief of Army Staff.

Stating that Field Marshal Cariappa`s bust had been installed at the entrance of Sainik Welfare Head Quarters in Bangalore and his life size photogr-aph was displayed at the Sainik Welfare Director`s Office in Banga-lore, Somashekara has urged the officers concerned at the Sainik Welfare Office in Mysore to follow the precedent set by the Director of the Department.

He has also suggested the Dy. Director to display the photographs of valiant war heroes who are either born in Mysore District or studied and settled down in Mysore after being decorated with gallantry awards such as Veer Chakra, Param Veer Chakra and Maha Veer Chakra.

source: http://www.Mysoretrendz.com / via source: www.StarofMysore.com / February 02nd, 2012

Dilip Tirkey’s presence at camp is a boon: Sandeep Singh

Sports

New Delhi:

India hockey players feel the presence of former captain Dilip Tirkey and goalkeeper AB Subbaiah as part of the back-up staff is helping them prepare better for the 2012 London Olympics qualifiers to be held February 18-26.

Tirkey, a government observer in Hockey India (HI) selection committee, has been helping out the defenders on the essentials of tackling and recovery once beaten. Tirkey, who played in three Olympics (Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004), was one of the most competent defenders in the world because of his tight marking skill near goal post.

Tirkey has also been assigned the task of analysing the strength and the weaknesses of all the participating team in the qualifiers.

As for Subbaiah, he has been with the Indian team on and off and the two goalkeepers skipper Bharat Chhetri and P Sreejesh have been exchanging notes with the former India goal tender as he is yet to join the camp at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

Senior player and ace drag-flicker said Tirkey’s experience is helping the team.

“Tirkey’s experience is helping us enormously as he has gone through the drill for a number of years, and we realise his knowledge of situational play is far more than what we have,” said drag-flicker Sandeep Singh.

“For instance, he has explained to us how to organise defence on a counter-attack and how to avoid panic tackling inside the striking area as a mistake there invariably leads to penalty-corner or even a more severe infringement,” he said.

“Defence is very important because of late we have conceded crucial goals under pressure. He is helping us on how to stop counters and what to do in pressure situations,” Sandeep added.

India coach Michael Nobbs said Tirkey is helping the players to fine tune with their skills.

“Dilip has joined the camp a few days back and he is taking care of the defensive line. We have brought him to fine-tune this area. In the next 4-5 days we will complete the analysis of all the participating teams,” he said.

“Penalty corner is a very important aspect in modern day hockey. They can win or lose you a game. We are getting better and better in penalty corners. We have 3-4 best drag-flickers in our team,” the Australian added.

Chettri said Tirkey’s experience is helping the team in handling pressure.

“Dilip is working hard with the defenders and his experience will be very handy. He is working on every aspect of defence,” he said.

Chettri said he is also in touch with Subbaiah.

“He is yet to join the camp but both me and Sreejesh we are in constant touch with him. We discuss the different techniques and how to keep ourself cool under pressure,” he said.

source: http://www.TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com / Home> Sports> Hockey/ IANS / February 07th, 2012