Biography-

1972–89: Early life and introduction to cricket-

Sourav Ganguly was born on 8 July 1972 in Calcutta, and is the youngest son of Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly. Chandidas ran a flourishing print business and was one of the richest men in the city. Ganguly had a luxurious childhood and was nicknamed the 'Maharaja', meaning the 'Great King'. Since the favourite sport for the people of Calcutta was the game of football, Ganguly was initially attracted to the game. However, academics came in-between his love for sports and Nirupa was not very supportive of Ganguly taking up cricket or any other sport as a career. By then, his elder brother Snehasish was already an established cricketer for the Bengal cricket team. He supported Ganguly's dream to be a cricketer and asked their father to get Ganguly enrolled in a cricket coaching camp during his summer holidays. Ganguly was studying in tenth grade at that time.

Mrs. Ganguly– The Dancing Queen –

Dona Roy Ganguly, the only child of Sanjeev and Sapna Roy was born on August 22, 1976. Dona hails from a well-known Bengali family; who live next door to the Gangulys. Dona also hails from a well-off family and her father, like Sourav's runs a flourishing printing business in Kolkata. Infact, the two families were once business partners. A yellow colored building next to Sourav's red one, Dona's home has a spacious lawn, a swimming pool and a small wall that seperates the two neighboring houses. Dona was a student of Loreto Convent and pursued her career in classical dance. Dona is known as “Mrs. Sourav Ganguly” around the world, but she would prefer being known as Dona, the Odissi danseuse. In fact, she had become famous long before she married Sourav. Dona pursued dance from a very young age and wanted to become successful in her chosen area of specialization. Her dream was to set up a dance school  for youngsters who were interested  in  this  type of classical dance. Dona began with ‘Kathak’ under the tutelage of Birju Mjaraj’s disciple, Rajen Basubut but after he fell ill, she started Odissi lessons under Giridhari Nayak.

Influenced by her mother to become a dancer, Dona is one of the youngest disciples of the great Late Kelucharan Mahapatra. She began to learn classical dance from Amala Shankar, wife of world famous dancer Uday Shankar. The turning point in Dona’s dancing career came when she shifted to Odissi under the guidance of Guru Giridhari Nayak. The most significant development however, was the encounter with Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, one of the greatest exponents of Odissi. Under the direct guidance and intensive coaching of the great Guru, Dona has developed her skill and has already proved her talent in Odissi Dance at a number of functions in India and Abroad, to mention a few.

Her performance at the India International Centre in Delhi before a distinguished gathering in 1993 was greeted with splendid reviews in Delhi Press. The “Hindu” states, “The young Odissi dancer groomed under Guru KelucharanMahapatra in the sculpuresque anga suddhi of her dance brings to mind Sanjukta Panigrahi dancing at a tender age.” Dona also performed with great success at the Russian Consulate at Gorki Sadan, PAMEX ’91 Conference at Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta. Raj Bhavan, Dover Lane dance festival, for the English speaking Union, Dover Lane Music Conference 1995, 1997, Salt Lake Music Festival, Konark Festival, the Indian Museum & for many different international conferences and many other Dona won a silver medal from late Prof. Nurul Hassan, the Governor of West Bengal, in appreciation of her performance at Raj Bhavan in 1991. She also displayed high performance in Odissi Dance at the Antiquity Festival of Fine Arts held at the Victoria Memorial Hall in Calcutta. Dona also received the prestigious  “Jadubhatta   Puraskar”   awarded   by   the   Salt    Lake   Cultural   Association in Recognition of her performance at the 7th Salt Lake City Music Festival held in January 1994. She received this award from Shri Raghunath Reddi, Governor of West Bengal. Among her other awards are: “Lions Kalakar Award”, “R. D. Burman Memorial Award”, “Uttam Kumar Award”, “Bharat Nirman”, and “Satyajit Award”. She also received a gold medal for her final year Examination of Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh. Dona has also performed several times in the USA and UK. She received number of awards for her outstanding performance. Perhaps the most prestigious day in her career as a Odissi dancer was  Frank M. Jordan, the mayor of Sun Francisco city declared July 8, 1995 as "Dona Roy Day". She has been accepted as an Honorary Citizen of Metropolitan Nasville on the 22nd June 1995. She has also received the certificate of Honorary Citizenship from the city of Memphis and also from Shelby Country Tennessee. The Mayor Jim Rout also declared June 24, 1995 as “Dona Roy Day” in Shelby Country. She was invited by the 15th North American Bengali Conference held in New York from June 30 to July 2, 1995 where her performance was appreciated by the 10,000 audience as well as the American Press. She performed all round USA in many cities. The city of Pleasanton welcomed Dona Roy as its Honoured Guest and so did the city of Sunnyvale California. She also participated in the Twentieth Anniversary of Kallol of New Jersey. She performed with great success at the 19th North American Bengali Conference held in San Francisco in 1999. She and her troupe performed in the “Bishwa BangaSahitya Sanmelan” held in Calcutta in 2000 with success. She also performed with great success at the Eastwood Theater Hall in Glassgow in Scotland along with a couple of shows in Central London like the Bharatiya Bidya Bhavan and Logan Hall in Central London during the summer of 2000. She is an “A” graded artist and a regular performer of CalcuttaDoordarshan. She now runs a Yoga, Dance and Music Centre called “DIKSHA” where she herself teaches Odissi Dance. Dona admits that she was never a great fan of cricket but of course of Sourav, her next-door neighbor. But, now she has to live with cricket. "I am getting used to it", she says. "However, Maharaja has always been supporting me in dancing". Sourav once admitted that Dona did not like too much of cricket as that kept him away from her for long. When asked if Sourav discusses cricket with her, Dona replied: If I start talking cricket, he asks me to shut up.