Social media can't make or break your day: Sania Mirza's advice on handling trolls
Bengaluru (PTI): "Social media cannot make or break your day," said six-time Grand Slam Champion Sania Mirza while speaking with Indian cricketer Richa Ghosh during a fireside chat at the Future Makers Conclave (FMC) in Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025.
Moderated by sports journalist Mayanti Langer, Mirza shared her hard-earned wisdom.
"There are a couple of ways to handle it. She (Richa Ghosh) is still young, and my advice to her is just be as somebody who has faced and grown up in an era where electronic media and social media were coming."
"When I was coming up, we were about just newspapers, and Sportstar was the only kind of window to sports. But then electronic media started coming, the tabloids started coming in. It started getting boring to talk just about forehands and backhands, and then they wanted to start talking about, you know, other things of an athlete's life just to make things interesting, and then comes the criticism that you lost a match because you were out for dinner somewhere," she added.
Recalling the absurd comments that she used to face back then, Mirza said, "It made me very thick-skinned. So, I actually find it quite humorous. I actually find it quite funny that people who have never held a cricket bat or a tennis racket or a boxing glove in their hand can have such a big opinion about what you do professionally."
"And I feel really sad for them sometimes, because I'm like, you must really be unhappy with your life to hate someone you've never met who's trying to represent the country at the highest level," she added.
Pitying the comments that criticises her online, she said, "You don't take the good to heart, and you don't take the bad to heart. Because social media or media cannot make or break your day. It cannot be that important. What can make or break your day is what the people you love feel about you, who you love feels about you, what communication you have with them."
Ghosh, a young cricketer of the Indian women's cricket team who grew up in the social media era, had different perspective when asked about the way she handles social media criticism.
Gosh said she sees criticism as an indicator of growth in women's cricket.
"To be honest, I take it very positively, because earlier in women's cricket we didn't have that many followers or fans. But now, as the numbers grow, the criticism will also grow. So I try to take that part positively," she said.
Ghosh said the bigger we get the criticism, the more people come to watch the game.
"I take that as a positive sign, because it means more people are watching, they're liking what women's cricket is doing, and they see the value in it. And in cricket today, the bigger it gets, the more people come to watch."
The three day 28th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit, themed "Futurise," was organised by the Department of Electronics, IT & Bt, Government of Karnataka, concluded on Thursday at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC).
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Karnataka issues nutrition advisory for govt events; recommends millets, healthier options
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Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka government on Monday issued a nutrition advisory recommending healthier food and beverage options at meetings, functions, and other official gatherings held in the state.
The advisory has been issued by the Department of Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Services to promote healthy dietary and nutritional habits among officials and staff, noting that food, refreshments and beverages served in government offices and official programmes are "often not aligned with nutrition standards."
The advisory recommends serving snacks such as millet-based, low-fat and low-sugar foods, fresh fruits, vegetable salads, sprouts, roasted nuts and seeds during in-house office meetings and breaks.
Beverages such as green tea, low-fat buttermilk, and locally filtered or boiled water served in glass bottles or steel flasks have also been suggested.
According to the advisory, for larger government events, conferences and exhibitions, departments have been advised to include at least one millet-based item during snacks and a minimum of two millet dishes in meals, along with local cuisine and at least one regional recipe.
It also recommends the use of brown rice instead of white rice, freshly prepared vegetable salads, and fresh fruits or low-sugar fruit juices.
If non-vegetarian food is served, it should consist of well-cooked lean or white meat, the advisory stated.
In eateries operating within government office campuses, the department has recommended millet-based foods, fresh vegetable salads, boiled pulses such as horse gram or chickpeas, and low-fat beverages.
It suggests serving food using reusable metal plates and glasses.
The advisory also recommends avoiding microwave-heated food, industrially processed food, fried snacks, high-fat or heavily spiced dishes, carbonated drinks, high-sugar fruit juices, and alcoholic beverages.
It further discourages serving milk-based tea or coffee and plastic-bottled water during official events.
“Overall, hygiene and cleanliness should be maintained while serving food and water. Local cottage industries, self-help groups, prison kitchens, nutri-gardens and others should be preferred for placing food and beverage orders,” the advisory added.
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