Prakash Padukone: An Ace Who Stops@Nothing

A former badminton player who hails from Karnataka, Prakash Padukone is a name everyone is familiar with, especially as he is one of the most famous badminton players in India. He has an exemplary record and has won several championships for the country, the most honored being the All England Championship where Prakash Padukone became the first Indian to achieve such a feat.

Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi have founded the Olympic Gold Quest – a foundation which has been built for promotion of sports in India. Prakash started playing the game at a young age when he was introduced to the game by his father who had served as the Secretary of Mysore Badminton Association. Prakash played his first official tournament at the Karnataka State Junior Championship in 1962 and inspite of losing the very first round he did not give up and two years later he won the state junior title.

His playing style graduated to a much more aggressive style in 1971 and he went on to win the national junior title the very next year. Not only that. He also managed to capture the senior title the same year, which is a mean feat by any standards. It’s amazing to note that Prakash went on to win the Indian national titles back-to-back for the next seven years until 1979. Prakash managed to win his first international title in 1978 when he won men’s singles gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. The very next year, he won the Evening of Champions at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He went on to win many other national and international titles as well.

Prakash Padukone retired in 1991 and after that he served as the chairman of the Badminton Association of India for some time. He also coached the Indian national badminton team in the years 1993 and 1996. Among other coveted honors, Prakash was the esteemed recipient of the Arjuna Award in 1972 and later on the Padma Shri in 1982.

Ratan Tata:A Jewel So Rare

Think Ratan Tata and one gets the image of a humble man who, despite hailing from a super rich family, continues to remain a symbol of strength, simplicity and humility. Born in 1937, it’s been a long battle of making a unique place for himself apart from his family’s heritage. Ratan Tata is the present chairman of Tata Sons and thus, Tata Group which is India’s largest corporation founded by Jamsedji Tata. He is also the present Chairperson of major companies under the stable of Tata such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, to name a few.

The famous Tata family belongs to the Parsi family and undoubtedly Ratan Tata was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. However, such is his greatness that he never let this family tag come in the way of working hard and carving a niche for himself in the world. Jamsedji Tata’s grandson, Ratan’s life was not one without its own set of struggles. He had a difficult childhood and his parents separated when he was a mere child of seven years. He had to see his mother leaving the family and both Ratan and his younger brother were raised by their grandmother.

Ratan Tata is a dynamic and vibrant businessman and is considered to be one of the best managers and is well-known among business circles to never compromise on ethics and customer care. A businessman par excellence, Ratan joined the Tata Group in December 1962, soon after turning down a job with IBM on JRD Tata’s advice. He went on to work at Tata Steel in Jamshedpur where he worked along with other blue-collar workers on the factory floor, shoveling limestone and handling the blast furnaces. He is regarded as a shy man who is renowned for his simplicity and generosity despite the vast wealth that he has amassed over the years, adding to the family’s fortunes, most of which goes into philanthropy.

He was the recipient of the 2010 Business Leader of the Year Award at the Asian Awards in 2010 apart from featuring in TIME magazine’s 2008 edition of the World’s 100 most influential people.