INTERNATIONAL: ARTS & CULTURE / INDIAN AMERICAN : Maya Neelakantan: I’m representing all of India on America’s Got Talent stage

Guitarist Maya Neelakantan, who has gone viral for her America’s Got Talent audition, opens up about her dreams, representing India and friendship with legends.

For Maya Neelakantan, who is being dubbed the ‘rock goddess’ after her America’s Got Talent (season 19) audition clip went viral, fame is incidental. “I had never expected all this,” she gushes.

The young guitarist, who hails from Chennai (Tamil Nadu), feels the fusion of Indian classical music with rock and metal is “exciting and hasn’t been explored much”. “These genres are so underrated together! I want to create my own music, which is more like the AGT performance,” she shares.

The 11-year-old went on the reality show stage dressed in an embellished lehenga-kurta set, complete with traditional jewellery, and played Papa Roach’s Last Resort infused with notes of classical Carnatic music, creating an audio-visual juxtaposition. “I was representing all of India and wanted to make a place for traditional music, too. My amma helped me organise the outfit, with the earrings and everything,” says the school student.

Neelakantan, who fell in love with Carnatic music at the age of two, learns it online with Prasanna Ramaswamy (Guitar Prasanna).

Speaking about business tycoon Anand Mahindra sharing her video, she said, “I did not expect that at all. It was very nice of him to do this… I have received love and support from guitar lengends, many of whom are close friends. But for him to discover me in this way was very unexpected, and got me love from the entire country!”

Support Matters

Counting her blessings, Neelakantan says that she’s grateful for all the support she gets from her parents (Indian dad and Australian mum) and others: “I’ve received so much support from legends like Gary Holt (American guitarist), who flew all the way from Sacramento to Los Angeles to watch my AGT audition.” She enjoys good following on the internet with 15.8K followers on YouTube and 49.2K on Instagram.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: MESSAGING App. : The story of Texts.com and Kishan Bagaria its self-taught founder

Texts.com prioritizes user data security. All communication happens on your device; no sensitive data is stored on Texts.com servers. The app is currently available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Twenty-six-year-old Kishan Bagaria, a self-taught programmer from Dibrugarh, Assam, developed Texts.com. This innovative messaging app caught the eye of Matt Mullenweg, the owner of WordPress.com and Tumblr, he called Kishan a “Generation tech genius”. And Leading to a remarkable acquisition for a cool $50 million (over 400 crore rupees).

A Dreamt Solution to Messaging Chaos

Fueled by his childhood fascination with computers, Bagaria identified a problem with the overwhelming number of messaging apps. He envisioned Texts.com as a personal solution, aggregating all his messaging needs into one convenient platform. After validating the idea with friends and receiving positive feedback, he built a prototype. Word-of-mouth spread quickly on Twitter, and Texts.com gained traction among industry experts.

What Makes Texts.com Different?

Unlike traditional messaging platforms, Texts.com acts as a hub, connecting to popular services like WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, and more. It offers several unique features, all with a focus on user experience and privacy:

End-to-End Encryption: Your chats remain secure, with messages never touching Texts.com servers. Encryption happens directly within the connected platforms.

Convenience Features: Schedule messages for optimal delivery times, mark messages as unread for later follow-up, and receive summaries of lengthy group chats you missed.

Availability and Security:

Texts.com prioritizes user data security. All communication happens on your device; no sensitive data is stored on Texts.com servers. The app is currently available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

The Brains Behind the App

Kishan Bagaria’s journey is an inspiration for young developers. He honed his programming skills from the age of 12, building small Windows applications. After recognizing the limitations of a traditional education path, he decided to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams.

“I Think that everyone eventually teaches them everything”. Said Kishan Bagaria.

His move to San Francisco in 2023 placed him in the heart of the tech community, further fueling his ambitions.

A Life-Changing Acquisition

The acquisition of Texts.com was a whirlwind of emotions for Bagaria. He initially shielded his parents from the exact amount but, News outlets soon revealed the details, leaving his parents undoubtedly proud and secure.

Texts.com, under Automattic’s ownership, has the potential to revolutionize how we manage our digital communication. Kishan Bagaria’s story serves as a testament to the power of innovation and the boundless possibilities within the tech world. He showed that a college degree is optional to learn the skills when we have access to the Internet.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: DEFENCE SERVICES: For the First time in Indian Military History, 2 classmates to be Chiefs of Indian Army and Navy together

Hailing from the Sainik School Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, Admiral Tripathi and Lt Gen Dwivedi were together in the school from class 5.

For the first time in Indian military history, two classmates, Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi and Admiral Dinesh Tripathi, will be service chiefs of Indian Army and Navy.

Hailing from the Sainik School Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi and Army Chief Designate Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi were together in the school from class 5th-A in the early 1970s.

The roll numbers of the two officers were also around each other, as Lt Gen Dwivedi’s roll number was 931 and Admiral Tripathi’s was 938.

Their bonding was strong from the initial days in the school and they remained in touch all along, even though they were in different forces.

A defence official who knows both the officers said that strong friendships among the senior leadership in the military matter a lot in strengthening the working relationship between the forces.

“This rare honour of nurturing two prodigious students, who would go on to lead their respective Services 50 years later, goes to Sainik School, Rewa, in Madhya Pradesh,” Defence Ministry Spokesperson A Bharat Bhushan Babu said in a tweet.

The appointments of the two classmates have also come around the same time, in a gap of around two months.

Admiral took over the command of the Indian Navy on May 1, while Lt Gen Dwivedi would be taking over his new appointment tomorrow.

Lt Gen Dwivedi has had a long tenure as the Northern Army Commander where he has had long exposure to the ongoing operations in the military standoff on the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

Born on July 1, 1964, Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi was commissioned into the Jammu & Kashmir Rifles of the Indian Army on December 15, 1984. (ANI)

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: SPORTS / CRICKET: Stats – India FIRST Team to Win the men’s T20 World Cup unbeaten

India also joined West Indies and England as the only sides with two men’s T20 World Cup titles in the bag.

1 – India became the first team to win the men’s T20 World Cup without losing a game all tournament. India won all eight matches they played in the tournament, and had one washout: the first-round game against Canada.

India’s eight consecutive wins in completed games is the joint-longest winning streak for any team in the men’s T20 World Cup. Australia won eight successive games across the 2022 and 2024 editions, while South Africa was on an eight-match winning streak before Saturday’s defeat.

8-1 – Win-loss record of the teams winning the toss in the finals of the men’s T20 World Cup. The only team to lose a final despite winning the toss was Sri Lanka against Pakistan in 2009.

It is only the third instance of a team winning a men’s T20 World Cup final while defending a total. India against Pakistan in 2007 and West Indies against Sri Lanka in 2012 won the final while batting first.

2 – India is now the third team to win the men’s T20 World Cup for the second time, having won the inaugural 2007 edition. West Indies were the first team with two titles, having won in 2012 and 2016, while England won in 2010 and 2022.

9 – Players to be part of two men’s T20 World Cup final wins – Rohit Sharma was added to the list on Saturday. Eight West Indies players were part of their both title wins – Daren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Dwayne Bravo, Samuel Badree, Andre Russell and Denesh Ramdin.

176 for 7 – India’s total against South Africa on Saturday is the highest by any team in the final of the men’s T20 World Cup. Australia’s 173 for 2 in a run chase against New Zealand in 2021 was the previous highest. The 345 runs scored in Bridgetown is the joint-highest aggregate for a men’s T20 World Cup final.

23 – Balls Heinrich Klaasen needed for his fifty against India, the fastest in any men’s World Cup final. The previous quickest was off 31 balls by Mitchell Marsh against New Zealand in the 2021 T20 World Cup final.

16.95 – Per cent of the target that South Africa needed at the start of the 16th over with six wickets in hand – 30 runs out of 177. It is the second-lowest percentage of the target runs any team failed to chase in the last five overs (16-20) of a men’s T20I with six or more wickets in hand, where ball-by-ball data is available.

New Zealand needed 15.06 % of their target at the start of the 16th over – 141 for 3 chasing 166 against South Africa in 2012. They ended up losing by three runs, finishing on 162 for 7.

16 – Player-of-the-Match awards for Virat Kohli in the T20I format – the most for any player in men’s T20Is, surpassing Suryakumar Yadav’s 15. Eight of Kohli’s 16 match awards have come in the men’s T20 World Cup, while no one else has more than five.

37y, 60d – Rohit’s age on Saturday, making him the oldest captain to win a T20 World Cup. He is also the second-oldest captain to win an ICC tournament final, behind Imran Khan, who was 39 year and 172 days old when Pakistan defeated England in the 1992 ODI World Cup final.

8-0 – Rohit’s win-loss record as captain in T20 finals – six with Mumbai Indians and two for India. Only MS Dhoni has won more men’s T20 finals as captain than Rohit, nine out of 15.

This is also the 11th T20 final where Rohit was part of the winning side of the 12 he has played. Only Dwayne Bravo (17), Kieron Pollard (16) and Shoaib Malik (15) have more men’s T20 final wins than Rohit.

49 – Wins for Rohit as captain out of the 62 T20Is where he led India, the most for anyone in men’s T20Is, surpassing Babar Azam’s 48. India have lost only 12 T20Is under Rohit’s captaincy, while another game ended in a tie, which India went on to win in the Super Over.

2 – Number of players, including Kohli, to be part of the winning team in the finals of all three ICC white-ball events (ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy). MS Dhoni was the first to be part of all three, and he did it as a captain.

source/content: espncric.info.com / Sampath Bandarupalli (headline edited)