The Test of My Life: From Cricket to Cancer and Back - Yuvraj Singh

About the Book: The Test of My Life: From Cricket to Cancer and Back

A personal account of Yuvraj Singh's journey through cancer with the 2011 World Cup victory in the background

'That day I cried like a baby not because I feared what cancer would do but because I didn't want the disease. I wanted my life to be normal, which it could not be.'

For the first time Yuvraj Singh tells the real story behind the 2011 World Cup when on-the-field triumph hid his increasingly puzzling health problems and worrying illnesses. In his debut book The Test of My Life, he reveals how-plagued with insomnia, coughing fits that left him vomiting blood, and an inability to eat-he made a deal with God. On the night before the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup final, Yuvraj prayed for the World Cup in return for anything God wanted.
In this book, he lays bare his fears, doubts, and the lows he experienced during chemotherapy-when he lost his energy, his appetite, and his hair-and his battle to find the will to survive. Poignant, personal, and moving-The Test of My Life is about cancer and cricket; but more
importantly, it is about the human will to fight adversity and triumph despite all odds.
 

About the Author: Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh is a popular Indian cricketer and youth icon. He has been a member of the Indian cricket team since the past twelve years. He was the vice captain of the ODI team from 2007 to 2008 and shot to fame when he hit six sixes in an over against England's Stuart Broad at the 2007 World Twenty20. He was named the Man of the Tournament in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
In 2011, he was diagnosed with germ cell cancer in the cavity around the lungs and returned to India in April 2012 after undergoing treatment in the US. Following his recovery, Yuvraj launched his cancer charity YouWeCan to raise awareness and help people with the illness. The Test of My Life, his debut book, will be a candid and intimate account of his journey through cancer with the background of the 2011 World Cup triumph.
In 2012, Yuvraj was conferred with the Arjuna Award by President Pranab Mukherjee. He made his international comeback in a Twenty20 match in September that year against New Zealand shortly before the 2012 World Twenty20.
 

Reviews

'This is a story of a strong fightback in life. It is pure inspiration for all its readers.'— Sachin Tendulkar

'My friend Pie Chucker is the stuff of legend on and off the field. His book The test of my life is about incomparable self belief against real-life odds. I am sure it will touch many hearts and motivate many people across the world to fight cancer and other battles in life with intent and honour.'— Kevin Pietersen

'Even when he was facing some of the toughest days of his life, he kept his chin up and never allowed us to feel sad about him. He lived as a normal person, talked as a normal person and more importantly always sounded normal. This is a very rare quality.'— Virat Kohli

'Yuvraj has shown immense courage and self belief while fighting the biggest battle of his life. He is a shining example of grit and positive attitude. And with his movement against cancer I think he will achieve much more outside the field of cricket than on the field. And when I say this I know he has achieved a lot on the field as well.'— Rahul Dravid

'Hats off to him. He came out strong. His will to survive was way above any one of ours. He is a real-life Lion. He has won the battle of life.'— Harbhajan Singh

'Yuvraj is an inspiration for each one of us. His zeal and determination to fight and overcome cancer and share his experiences through this book is highly commendable. I salute Yuvraj and his fighting spirit.'— Saina Nehwal

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Book Review: Dozakhnama - Conversations in hell between Manto and Ghalib

“Manto Bhai, don’t you agree that you cannot try to write poetry? Poetry must come to you on its own. But we don’t know why it comes, or how. Do you know what I think? I think you cannot call someone a poet even if he has written a thousand ghazals, but if he can write even a single sher like a howl of pain, smeared with all the blood in his heart, then and only then can we call him a poet. Poetry isn’t a sermon delivered from a mosque after all; it is one’s final words from the edge of the ravine, face to face with death.” 
Given that it’s a time when there are more and more books that qualify as ‘quick weekend reads’, ‘breezy, one-time reads’, it is an indescribable feeling when one comes across a book like Dozakhnama: Conversations in Hell. Words cannot express the comfort this book provides - I wished that the book would never end. Meant for posterity, this is a book best consumed like a box of sweets you can nibble at everyday, and take joy from the fact that there’s still so much left to devour. 
The bonus: You’d want to take the journey all over again, just to experience those literary orgasms that came in paragraphs of sheer brilliance.
A translation of a Bengali novel by Rabisankar Bal, Dozakhnama is a story of the conversations a young writer unearths as he… sets out to translate Sadat Hasan Manto’s unpublished novel that one day, suddenly surfaces in Lucknow. 
But these are not ordinary conversations. 
They’re between… wait for it… Manto and Mirza Ghalib, two of the most enigmatic figures in literature, both of whom found fame posthumously and who continue to live on in public memory thanks to the power of their words.
Each chapter is like a monologue and all put together, the book is a conversation happening between their graves, through shared dreams. Pal (translated here flawlessly by the very talented Arunava Sinha) makes an ambitious attempt to pen the most imaginatively written biography of Manto and Ghalib, and lets it simmer in the frothy history of Indian culture. Does he succeed? Hell yeah! (no pun intended).
While Ghalib’s story captures a more ancient period in Indian history, Manto goes about sharing his life’s journey in a more modern era. The former’s frustrations and agony compound and give shape to his terrific ability for verse, while the latter’s account is those of his adventures as a struggler in the early days of India’s film industry, socializing with commercial sex workers in Bombay’s red light district. 
While neither of them try to outdo the other in the ‘my-story-is-sadder-than-yours’ routine, they incidentally show a shared passion for consuming liquor, gambling and women. There also appears to be a shared worldview about marriage being a tumultuous bed to sleep on, whereas the brothels provide opportunities aplenty for experiencing love and heart-break. (I personally had more sympathies with Ghalib’s condition than Manto’s.)
What also becomes clear, upon reading of this book, is a similar trajectory of their experience facing rejection constantly during their lifetime, and sweet redemption years after their death. 

Those who’ve read Manto and Ghalib’s works in depth may find the conversations in Dozakhnama a bit of a repetition of stories they already know, but for the others, this book is an incredibly kind and sorrowful jugalbandi of sorts, that catches two icons in a memorable conversation you’d like to listen to, again and again. Buy the book, and don’t lend it to anybody.

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Jolly LLB movie review: Boman Irani and Arshad Warsi present a befitting satire on the Indian judiciary

Finally we get a courtroom peek that won’t make lawyers – real ones – look away in despair

For all those who are expecting a courtroom drama like that in Damini, where red-eyed Sunny Deol wouldn’t stop asking for that elusive taareek, Jolly LLB might be a tad disappointing. Of course, there’s always a next taareek (date) that the judge (Saurabh Shukla) diligently jots down, but heck, that happens in a real courtroom too. What’s absent is the sheer nautanki and over-the-top dramatisation that have been loyal companions of any Indian courtroom drama…till now. So now getting a taareek isn’t the end of the world, there’s no Gita for the proverbial kasam (swear) and the witness box is just a square-meter of raised wooden platform minus railings. Get that!
With all these warnings in place, here’s the plot – Jagdish Tyagi aka Jolly (Arshad Warsi) is an advocate from Meerut who lands in New Delhi and spells ‘appeal’ as ‘apple’ in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) around which the story of Jolly LLB spins. The PIL demands further investigation into a case concerning advocate Rajpal’s (Boman Irani) big shot client who has been accused of killing six pavement dwellers in a hit-and-run case.
The case itself is an interesting one, with Boman playing the devil’s advocate and pulling every possible string to botch up the investigation process. Rings a bell, doesn’t it? Warsi, on the other side of the courtroom, keeps making things difficult for the senior counsel. We smiled.
Moving on, we have an excellent judge who burps, farts, grumbles about the tea gone cold and knows how to keep lawyers like Rajpal in check. And at times you are in awe at how this rotund judge sweet-talks the intimidating lawyer into submission. Smart fella, we say.
Subhash Kapoor has made a sincere effort to present a real courtroom to viewers. One with a flickering tubelight and a whirring fan that Rajpal thinks should be replaced with an air conditioner. And then there’s the outside of the courtroom, where the ‘chamber’ of a junior lawyer comprises a rickety table, stool and a stack of files under the open sky. And yeah, an alternate profession is a must as back-up for these strugglers who stand outside courtrooms to rope in clients just like a chaiwallah entices prospective customers on the railway platforms. Now that’s not very far from the harsh truth.
Into this hard-hitting satire and an interesting court case comes Sandhya aka Sandhu (Amrita Rao), who is Jolly’s girlfriend. And her job is to pop up for a song-and-dance sequence that makes us impatiently twiddle our thumbs while waiting for the running around the trees to get over so that we can get on with the case. You see, the legal story does get you hooked. But Sandhu is pretty persistent at times. Remember to treat those times as loo-breaks.
And then there are loopholes. Thankfully, they’re not the size of a black hole. Phew! Here’s one – the intelligent and foxy Rajpal does a shoddy job at ‘fixing’ his manipulations. Why? Isn’t he experienced enough by now to know how crucial such things are? Not very convincing, Mr Kapoor! Then there’s the whole fuss surrounding the advance notice that’s required before presenting a witness. Frankly, it isn’t that big a deal – with the judge’s permission, of course – as it’s shown out to be. But we let that pass for the want of a li’l drama in this courtroom.
The individual performances – Arshad Warsi’s acting skills are commendable. And finally it looks like B-town’s Circuit can manage serious emotions as well as comic ones. Boman Irani plays the role of an intimidating lawyer quite convincingly. And no, his role isn’t based on advocate Ram Jethmalani’s personality as suggested by rumour. Amrita Rao is bearable. And we love Saurabh Shukla.
So here’s a movie that we recommend you watch just to see how our reel life courtrooms are catching up with the real life ones. And trust us, you won’t be disappointed.

                                                                                                                                                        Rating: 3 out of 5    


Reviewed by Latika Payak

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Hands On: Samsung Galaxy S4

 

How does one come up with a successor to the best-selling Android smartphone of all time? Samsung showed the world how it is done by unveiling the Galaxy S4. You don’t fix what ain’t broken seems to be the mantra this time as Samsung continued with the same design as its predecessor. But everything simply gets bigger and better. Read on for our first impressions of the Galaxy S4.The Galaxy S4 has a bigger 4.99-inch full HD 1080p display but the overall footprint doesn’t seem to have gotten much bigger. The phone fits as comfortably as the Galaxy S III, though surprisingly it feels much lighter. The back cover is no longer the thin, cheap plastic that has become associated with Samsung smartphones. Instead, Samsung has gone for polycarbonate plastic but it doesn’t feel at par with what you see on HTC or Nokia smartphones. Yet it feels much better than the Galaxy S III though a bit more prone to fingerprints.
I won’t delve into hardware specs, which you can find in our launch post. Instead the real beauty of the device is in the software additions that Samsung has added. Samsung has incorporated some of the best features from its rivals and then added many of its own.


Take for instance the HTC One. While the Galaxy S4′s camera doesn’t have any ultrapixels, it does have most of the software wizardry in terms of being able to remove unwanted elements from photographs as well as stitch multiple shots clicked in burst mode into one shot. It also does dual camera recording, just like the LG Optimus Pro. The touchscreen can now work even when the user is wearing gloves, a feature found in Nokia’s new Lumia smartphones.
But that’s not to say that the Galaxy S4 doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Instead, Samsung has innovated with features that could make a big difference. My favorite is a multiplayer feature that lets users to play the same song over multiple devices, which could convert into a 2.1 or 5.1 setup depending on the number of devices available.
 
The Galaxy S4 also brings the Air View feature from the Note II, the big difference being it works with fingers rather than a stylus. Smart Stay now adds Smart Pause that pauses a video if the phone detects the user is not looking at the display and resumes it when the user’s gaze returns to the display. There is also a translate feature that can provide output in both speech and text in 19 languages in real-time.
Samsung has also added a suite of sensors that can detect the temperature, humidity apart from regular stuff. Samsung is betting big on health monitoring apps and is also looking at selling accessories like monitoring bands, wireless scales and others. The phone in itself would challenge fitness device makers like Fitbit among others.
All this is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa processor with a relatively massive 2,600 mAh battery. If the success of the Galaxy S III is any indication, the Galaxy S4 would only be an even bigger hit.
Yes, it does not have a camera with a huge sensor size to take photos in darkness and it might not have a premium metal chassis, but if that was a prerequisite, then the Galaxy S III wouldn’t have been the success that it has been. Folks, all hail the new king in Android town.

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Aamir Khan birthday special: The actor’s experiments with style

 

He had a tiny soul patch in Dil Chahta Hai, a bristly moustache in Talaash; he wore his hair long in Fanaa and very short in Ghajini. Happy birthday, Aamir Khan, the chameleon!

He is called a perfectionist, but there is a reason for the title – over the past few films he has become known for changing his look to fit the role. And it is not just about wearing different clothes or adding make-up, but a complete makeover, from weight to walk, from hair to heels. Everything is worked on to help the actor become the character he is portraying onscreen. For instance, in Dil Chahta Hai, he fined down his figure, got a spiky-short haircut, slid into suits straight out of yuppie style heaven, while for Ghajini he bulked up enormously, shaved his head and painted tattoos all over his body.
So what will he do next? We hear that his look in Dhoom: 3, where he plays the villain, an intellectual and a gymnast, is ‘different’, once again. This time he has toned his oh-so-adaptable body to be tough, slim, athletic, quick-moving, while his hair is short and his face fined down to show every sinew. But until we find out more, we present you with Aamir Khan, the chameleon. Which version do you prefer? You tell us!

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5 highest paying jobs in India

It's important to think of the kind of job will get and also, how much you start earning when choosing a degree. We list some of the highest paying jobs in India:
Consultancy
You will find consultants in sectors like IT, HR, supply chain, marketing, education etc. A career path of a consultant is usually:

Analyst - Consultant - Senior Consultant - Manager/Project Lead partner - Vice President/Director.
It may some years of experience to get to a high salary.
Investment banking
These profiles usually require an MBA in India.
Students should know the jobs involving six-figure salaries a month are only offered by top-end firms.
The bad news is that i) there are few jobs available in India and ii) these firms only recruit from premier institutes such as IIMs.

Interested to study an MBA, explore colleges here
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Information Technology
Outsourcing has proved to be good for Indian IT graduates who are looking for international exposure.
The con is that projects are affected by economic conditions in other countries, so when projects are stopped or come to an end, employment may be an issue.

Explore over 1500 engineering colleges in India
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Medicine
Doctors who have done postgraduate studies earn good money. The highest salaries are for those who have done superspecialisations - that is studying after their MD. 
On the flipside, entrance exams are difficult and you can expect to study for at least 8-10 years.

Interested in studying medicine? Click here
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Chartered Accountant
Chartered Accountants deal with financial documents. The good news is that you don't have to study for long and also, CAs are always in demand. 
There is demand for CAs as very few people can deal with handling figures all day long and going through obscure tax laws.

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Lava Xolo X1000 launched in India for Rs 19,999, Brings Intel’s 2GHz Medfield chip to the table

 
Lava’s sub-brand Xolo has launched its third Intel powered smartphone in India – the Xolo X1000 for Rs 19,999. It is based on the first generation Intel Atom Z2480 processor codenamed Medfield that Intel released last year. Unlike the Xolo X900, this chipset is clocked at 2GHz with hyper-threading and was previously seen in the UK bound Motorola Razr i. This also fits perfectly with what we reported a few hours back.
To supplement its processing prowess there is PowerVR SGX540 GPU, and 1GB of RAM. Intel claims that this is its fastest phone ever and we believe them however in light of newer Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU based devices we would say this phone is not the fastest one can buy in the Android landscape. Nonetheless, this chipset is quite nimble and overall performance should be quite swift.
It has a 2.5D 4.7-inch edge-to-edge curved glass screen that has a 720p resolution and delivers 314 pixels per inch. It’s also remarkably thin at 9.1mm and weighs in at just 140 grams. It flaunts an uni-body design and there is 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. The rear camera can shoot pictures at 15 frames per second and can shoot full HD 1080p video.
There is also 8GB of internal memory, a microSD card slot and a 1,900 mAh battery. Unfortunately as Intel’s chipsets are not yet optimized for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Xolo X1000 is stuck on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
This becomes even more telling when one realises Lava itself does make smartphones that run on ARM chipsets with the latest version of Android.

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