Monday, August 31, 2020

It is interesting to know that India has been able to produce many talented billiards players who have captivated the world audiences with their genius and artistry despite billiards not being one of the most popular games in the country. Three names that come to mind are Michael Ferreira, Wilson Jones and Geet Sethi. Michael Ferreira was born in Bombay on 1st October 1938. He studied in St. Joseph’s School at Darjeeling. He became interested in billiards at Darjeeling. He went to college at St. Xavier’s in Mumbai. He later studied law at the Government Law College in Mumbai. He is a lawyer by profession. Michael Ferreira started playing billiards in 1954 at the age of sixteen. Wilson Jones was the first player of billiards who represented India at an international level. Michael Ferreira went one step beyond him by not only representing India but making his presence felt for a long time to come. He won the World Amateur Billiards Championship four times. For the first time in 1960, he participated in the Indian National Billiards Championship. In 1964, he represented India in the World Amateur Billiards Championship at Christchurch in New Zealand where he went up to the semi finals and lost narrowly to Wilson Jones. He had to wait for thirteen years. Perseverance paid dividends as in 1977; he won his first World Championship Title at Melbourne. He followed it up with another title the next year. In 1978, he became the first amateur to break the barrier of a thousand points in the National Billiards Championship and created a World Record by scoring 1,149 points. Michael Ferreira earned the Shiv Chhatrapati Award in 1971, the Arjuna Award in 1973 and the Dronacharya Award in 2001 for his coaching achievement in billiards and snooker. The difference between billiards and snooker is that billiards is played with white, red and yellow balls. The white and yellow are the cue balls and the objective is to score set points. Snooker is played with fifteen red, six coloured balls of various colours and one cue ball. The player has to pot a red ball first, then a coloured one and again a red and so on. Michael Ferreira is known as the `Bombay Tiger’ and a rebel with a cause. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1981 when he won his Second World Amateur Title but he refused to accept the award because he felt that people connected with the sport of cricket and hockey were heavily favoured, hinting particularly at Sunil Manohar Gavaskar getting the Padma Bhushan that year. He ultimately got the Padma Bhushan Award in 1983 when he won his Third World Championship Title. He is known as a true rebel who has always fought for equal opportunities like facilities and encouragement to be given to other sports and games apart from cricket and hockey in the country. Michael Ferreira has achieved a lot in his life and he is currently involved with a Company called QNet that believes in helping people. He is working with their marketing operations under the team label of `Faith’. He is helping others gain their financial freedom. His achievements at the national and the international levels have been instrumental to give impetus to the game of billiards in India. He has been a role model for young, aspiring billiards players in the country including Geet Sethi who has also kept India’s head high in international competitions by winning three Amateur and five Professional World Championship Titles. Michael Ferreira loves big cars, good food and wine. His favourite pastime is reading, listening to Western Classical Music and writing.

Robotic vacuum cleaners are made to make your life easier and simpler by giving you a helping hand with your house work when you have busy schedules throughout the week. They have many unique features that make them ideal helpers in the maintenance of clean floors. They will maintain your floors in a wonderful way and you will not even miss your uprights vacuums. There are two good brands and people always weigh Roomba vs. Bobsweep when they go out to choose their first robot vacuum. The important thing to remember is the type of flooring. Some cleaners struggle on carpeting which is tall and others have height limitations but not Roomba or Bobsweep. Things to consider when buying Robot Vacuum Cleaners When there are pets in the house, people tend to consider machines that have anti-tangle brushes that are created for the removal of pet hair which clings. Some people may have dust allergies and they try to look for cleaners with HEPA filters. These filters are for high efficiency particulate absorption. There are various criteria that you may look for when you are hunting for robotic vacuums. The first major factor is their performance. The time it takes to clean is an important concern when you want to make a purchase decision. The top of the line cleaners will have operation times of a couple of hours. The more passes a cleaner will make over a spot, the more thorough the cleaning process will be. The Performance of a Roomba Cleaner Many robotic cleaners provide different kinds of cleaning patterns. Roomba reviews indicate that they are equipped with more than five patterns that include random, back and forth and spiral movements. They will also have sensors which are able to plot out a room and keep in their memory where they have already gone, making sure that they do not miss out any spot in the room. A Roomba can make multiple passes for cleaning. It has a remote control sensor facility for people who have difficulty bending or lifting. It also has extra cleaning brushes which are located on its sides apart from the main cleaner brush. These extra brushes pick up the dust from places along walls or corners which are hard to reach. Comparing Bobsweep with Roomba Bobsweep is considered as the biggest competitor to Roomba. There are many similarities between both when you compare Bobsweep vs. Roomba. Both these cleaners can help you clean even the gutters, the pool and they can mop or scrub your room floors. Both provide compelling solutions as ideal cleaners for your house. They have schedules which are programmable. They have HEPA filters, dirt detectors and they return to the dock automatically. Another essential feature in both these brands is the one-year warranty. The Dual Filters of Roomba 790 The sweeping powers of Roomba vs. Bobsweep attract some people but the opinion is divided between both these brands. Few people find the overall value of Bobsweep to be attractive. In any case, both the machines perform admirably in your house while helping you save that precious time. The iRobot Roomba model 790 has a longer run time and a remote control as you will find in this comparison at http://www.viewpoints.com/expert-reviews/2014/01/23/bobsweep-vs-roomba-battle-robots/. You will value the importance of a clean house if anyone suffers from dust allergy. Pet hair and dust can trigger asthma or respiratory problems. The Roomba model also provides a dual HEPA filter to offer twice the power of filtration when compared with other cleaners. Model 790 filters are known to even capture the small particles that can damage lungs.