When I was elected President of the USA in January 1993, there were only 50 websites on the world wide web! ❤️

India vs South Africa

Final One-Dayer @ Nagpur

Shocking betting racket unearthed! 😢

When India’s decision to field (after winning the toss) raised eyebrows!

First Official Visit by US President to India in 22 years

Bill Clinton Visits India on a five-day state visit!

19th March 2000

#memoriesfromdiaries

Little did we realise on this particular day, that this particular match [and this series as well] will go down in history for all the wrong reasons!

Only on 7th April 2000, things began to unwind, when Delhi Police Crime Branch revealed match-fixing allegations involving S. African Cricket Captain Hanse Cronje and Sanjay Chawla, a kingpin in the betting racket in India!

Before the one-day series began, Hanse Cronje had been receiving continuous calls from Sanjay Chawla, requesting him to fix matches in lieu of a huge sum of money.  

It seems Cronje was offered $140,000 (approximately Rs. 63 lakhs, 24 years ago!!!), when one dollar was Rs. 45/- approx.. for this fifth ODI if Gibbs scored less than 50, Williams went for more than 50 and South Africa scored around 270!

It was later revealed that, Hanse Cronje, South African Cricket Team’s Captain had more than 70 bank accounts across the world! ☹

India were staging a lovely comeback, with such fighting spirit, when to everyone’s surprise, they lost all wickets, with ten runs to get in ten balls!

Over to the main news of the day - 

US President Bill Clinton was on his first official visit to India, when Shri Vajpayee was our Prime Minister. 

US President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea with our President and our Prime Minister

Bill had visited the Taj Mahal along with his daughter, and then he also paid a visit to a village named Nayala near Jaipur in Rajasthan to know more about our Panchayati Raj system and its administration.

It was indeed a historic visit, since the last time an American President visited India, was in the year 1978 under Jimmy Carter.

After visiting various cities in India, including New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bill went to Bangladesh and to Pakistan as well.

You may want to listen to his address to the business community in Hyderabad, on YouTube HERE.

Some of the thoughts that he shared in this Address are really prophetic!

Sample this –

When I was elected President of the USA in January 1993, there were only 50 websites on the world wide web!

Today [as of March 2000!] there are over 50 million! And it is the fastest growing communications medium in history.

In India the number of Internet users is bound to grow more than ten times in the next four years.

10 years ago, India’s hi-tech software industry generated software and computer related services worth more than 150 million dollars. Last year that number was four billion dollars.

Today this industry employs more than 280 thousand Indians. In jobs that pay almost double the national average!!!

Little wonder then, as the Minister said, Hyderabad is now being known as Cyberabad!... 

Bill continued!