'Stones are thrown at you, turn them into milestones'

Sachin Tendulkar stands atop cricket's Everest but he isn't looking down at the cricketing world. That would be unlike him for he looks upon this game as a vehicle of fulfillment, as a servant rather than a master. There is a delicious irony to it. One of the most humble devotees of the game is himself an idol to so many.

Sachin Tendulkar became the highest scorer in Test cricket after surpassing West Indian legend Brian Lara in the ongoing second Test in Mohali on Friday. Of course, he knew he was going to get there. Elbows and ankles and many lesser known joints that he brought into public consciousness were the only hurdles. He has always maintained that if he played enough he would get the record.

He winced and he grimaced but his commitment to the game he loves saw him through. Tendulkar's phenomenal success lies as much in toil and perseverance and such hardy qualities as it does in the many gifts he has been bestowed with.

Only a few are given the opportunity to spread such cheer. Through diligence and toil, and magical ability, Sachin Tendulkar has done that.

Animation.... biG futuRe ahEaD....

"THERE was this family which adopted a mouse as their second son, and the mouse was good friends with them all much to the consternation of the family cat... Remember the movie `Stuart Little', wherein the protagonist, a little mouse Stuart Little, enacts all the human qualities. Credit for all this goes to the animation team."

Welcome to the world of film animation - a world where reality meets imagination, where dinosaurs walk across silver screens. This is a world of special effects, unbelievable graphics and exotic technologies that mesh and converge to create unbelievable real and virtual experiences. It's a world that beckons creative minds to unleash their power; and it's calling you!

Animation is the art of conceiving an action by drawing inanimate objects or characters, which are made suitable for filming. It has lately become so high paying a profession that it will soon be matching the pay packets of software professionals. The Indian animation market, fairly "static" until a few years ago, is suddenly waking up to a host of global opportunities that promise a lot of "action" for the country's leading design specialists. North American film and television programme producers (that boast worldwide networks) are finding it viable to sub- contract animation production activities to independent studios overseas. The demand for animation production services from international animation studios is thus spurred in large part due to India's lower costs of animation production and technical manpower to meet 2-D and 3-D animation requirements.

Animation is a blend of the entertainment industry and technology. The range of jobs available for a computer animator can be mind boggling. There is hardly any industry that doesn't require or use computer animators.These days animation is used in almost all the industries from automobile, pharmaceutical, medicine, aerospace, civil, and architecture.IT companies like Tata, Reliance, Satyam, UTV, Pentasoft, Rhythm & Hues, have jumped into the fray. International animation houses like Walt Disney studios, Paprika Animation Studio, Technicolor labs, SONY are looking at tie-ups with Indian animation companies too.