Celebrations in Mutharamman Temple in Kulasekharapattinam, a coastal town in Tamil Nadu, have devotees visit the temple in an avatar of their choice. They could be dressed as kings or beggars, monkeys or demons, but the more popular is different forms of the Devi.
There are about 2 million eligible Indian origin people that can vote.
And it's that time of the year again. The time for accolades, the time for awards. But these are the awards you would rather not be the recipient. We are of course giving these awards to celebrate the most awesome or awful achievements a person could attain, and of course, these are being given out in absentia.
In Yogi Adityanath's Uttar Pradesh wayward Romeos would all be in the lock-up, says Sunil Sethi.
Asaduddin Owaisi opens up to T S Sudhir on his party's plans for the elections in Uttar Pradesh next year and why he thinks both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party have vitiated the secular atmosphere in the state.
Ab Tak Chhappan 2 is so terribly obvious in its deviousness, there's not even a smidgen of surprise to expect, says Sukanya Verma.
Amit Shah's sustained campaigning against slaughterhouses has unnerved UP's leather and meat export industry.
Giant effigies of 10-headed demon king Ravana, his son Meghnad and brother Kumbhakaran went up in flames marking the triumph of good over evil as fervour marked Dussehra festivities across the country on Thursday.
We need to clarify the rules for legal slaughterhouses and make sure that these can be enforced.
The competition for the 'Oscars' in the photography world is heating up in the National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest. Entries have been a mixture of breathtaking beauty, magical wildlife moments captured from around the world and amazing aerial views offering us a different perspective of our world. The Grand Prize Winner will receive $7,500, publication in National Geographic Magazine, and a feature on National Geographic's Instagram account. Here's our third feature showcasing the best images of Mother Nature.
The chief operating officer said that the carrier will surmount the present crisis very soon.
Sebi has prohibited firms, including Greenworld Agro Industries, Mass Infra Realty, Orchid Cultivation Projects India, Aditya Global Industries and Real Tulip, from raising funds from investors through issuance of securities.
In a statement signalling a change of regime at the Centre in the coming months, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said in Gandhinagar on Friday that the country is looking forward to a "constructive" change within the next 182 days.
What is required is boring leadership that ensures that the basics are right and not genius leadership that dreams of bullet trains, says Aakar Patel.
NFL players, owners defy Trump on anthem protests as feud ramps up
Most Indians have an Ambassador story. Avishek Rakshit chronicles what made this car such an indispensable part of India's cultural psyche.
In spite of an overall healthy rise in exports, there are many traditional sectors which used to be the mainstay of India's exports in the past, but are now suffering from significant weaknesses, says A K Bhattacharya.
As smartphones penetrate through the country, apps are getting more and more localised, democratised.
In an all Dalit village in Muzzaffarnagar, three girls who do mazdoori after finishing the day's chores, will cast their vote for the first time. Opening their home and heart to Archana Masih/Rediff.com, they say all they want is a high school, a vehicle to take them to the main road and a sewing machine.
'The BJP is so keen to use this opportunity to make its foray in a state where it hardly exists, says Amulya Ganguli, that it has silenced the vociferous animal rights activist in its ranks -- Maneka Gandhi.'
British royal couple Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton on Thursday visited the Kaziranga National Park in a jeep safari.
On Friday, he clarified that he was referring to Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh where no such incident had taken place. "We do not justify anarchy and hooliganism," he said, adding that the incident in Alwar did take place and an FIR has been registered against six persons.
In a pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the experts suggested timely implementation of the BJP's election manifesto promises to fix higher support prices. They also favoured a Kissan TV channel, an efficient procurement policy, priority for farm mechanisation and the linking of rivers.
New York-based photographer Mark Bennington recently released his collection of beautiful photographs depicting the typical Bollywood life in a coffee table book called Living the Dream: The Life of the 'Bollywood' Actor.
Stating that English, Chinese and Hindi will rule the digital world in the coming days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday noted that the language market was huge and companies can cash in on it by developing apps at the earliest.
Trade sanctions on Russia by Europe and the US offer an opportunity for India, but the devaluation of the rouble may play spoilsport
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan dashed off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention for repealing the measure. He said the Centre's decision amounts to an "intrusion" to the rights of the states in the country's federal structure.
Farmer suicides have nearly doubled in the drought-hit Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
There is hope for us non-vegetarians. At least some enlightened judges believe diet is a personal choice. Here's to Maansh Wapsi.
Three hate crimes have deepened the fear among South Asians that Trump's rhetoric encouraged violence against them, but there is no evidence that Indians have been specifically targeted, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Naidu was an ABVP activist during the Emergency and was arrested and jailed.
'Amul has never replaced premium ingredients with cheap ones.'
'For the last two months, the menace of stray dogs has gone to scary proportions in Kerala' 'What will you do if you cannot walk on the road without fear?'
Section 377 is a colonial relic of a law that makes it criminal to have "carnal intercourse against the order of nature," says Mitali Saran
In little over 24 hours, the wildfires, which erupted on Sunday and forced the evacuation of about 80,000 people from Fort McMurray in the Canadian province of Alberta, have grown tenfold.
National Geographic has released a final selection of entries from the magazine's 2016 Nature Photographer of the Year contest and, as you might expect, they're breathtaking.
It also chided Gujarat for not filing an affidavit on the matter, saying "just because you're Gujarat doesn't mean you can do whatever you like."
'Our great Indian nationalists are rousing passions against their own people, not against another nation. Our fraud nationalists go after their own citizens for their religion, or for their views. Their concern and their passion is the enemy within. That is not love of nation or love of anything else. It is hatred and it is bitterness,' says Aakar Patel.
Any city that imposes a ban on food of any kind to appease the sensibility of a particular religion has lost any right to be called cosmopolitan and progressive, feels Tanmaya Nanada
A red fox in a derelict schoolroom, a Bengal Tiger in the forests of Bhutan and walruses are just a few of animals featured in the photos shortlisted for this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year. While we wait for the results to be announced, here are some of the contenders in the contest.
