'Never lose your optimism. Never lose your aspiration and never -- even if India becomes a prosperous consumer society -- never ever lose that shining light in your eyes,' advises Dr Peter McLaughlin, headmaster of the Doon School.
PM Modi on Friday pitched for a BJP govt in UP to promote politics of development but skipped any mention of the raging controversy surrounding Dalits.
In markets such as Mumbai, prices have gone beyond Rs 1.5 cr to Rs 2 cr which is beyond reach of most of the salaried class
'The Pakistani military has encouraged and supported terrorist organisations, especially in Kashmir, as a means of waging proxy war against the Indian military and the country's superior economic resources.' 'The evidence is irrefutable with the recent killing of 46 paramilitary troops being just the latest example.'
Curfew has been lifted from Surat city after no untoward incident was reported from there since Wednesday night.
The real Kathmandu is different from the Kathmandu of the news stories, writes Patrick Ward.
Four Indians and an American, were killed during the five-hour long siege that ended early Thursday morning.
'Studying History, we come close to all of the messiness of human life -- we understand what motivates people, what makes them get along or go to war, what dreams they had for themselves and their futures.'
People flock to electronics shops to buy air conditioners.
'Freedom of expression is not a freedom to abuse those who do not agree with you.' 'It is also about being liberated from prejudices and intolerance.' 'To me, freedom is the right to be who I am and what I am without hurting the same rights of others.'
A temple on the mountain top. A lake and a waterfall. All in one day!
'Modi and Shah know their politics. That is why the alarmed switch to reservations, and raising the threat from 'vote bank' politics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
At the Facebook townhall, Modi again showed a side of him that is at odds with his tough-as-nails public persona.
When the high court delivered the stringent norms, which in no way eliminated the fun of the proceedings but made it safer, by requiring proper safety measures, there was an undercurrent of defiance. Sensing the adverse implications of loss of a mass contact platform, the government persuaded itself to seek a review, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
'Tying somebody to the jeep is not the military way, but the officer was able to come out of the situation without any bloodshed.' 'I am not supporting him, but I am also not criticising him.' 'He had to use some mechanism to save the uniformed personnel, many of whom were Kashmiri boys of the J&K police,' points out Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retd), who was instrumental in the surrender of a record 1,267 terrorists in Kashmir.
Aseem Chhabra lists the top 10 films at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.
From the Syrian civil war to the Ukrainian crisis to the terror unleashed by the dreaded Islamic State, there was no lack of news in 2014. In this five-part series,rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world.
In 2012, with one million deaths, China reported the highest toll from PM2.5 and PM10 pollution. At the time, India followed, reporting 621,138 deaths, nearly 10 per cent of the global toll associated with outdoor and indoor air pollution
'A few people have begun to dictate what the country should wear, think, see, go about its lives. That is the real Indian bak****.'
What used to be confined to homes as a winter garment has become a political and cultural symbol, with most leaders and many citizens donning the long cloak at offices and their places of work, observes Athar Parvaiz.
Bearing in mind how full India's pitcher is with ethnic and communal complexities, only the greatest circumspection can hold this country together in a willing union.
From Feroz Khan-Danny Denzongpa's bare skin to Ranbir Kapoor-Ranveer Singh bare soul, Sukanya Verma's super filmi week saw it all!
'The real danger in India right now is that identity politics is being stoked in extremely dangerous ways.' 'The narrative you get about churches in the mainstream Indian media and the narrative you get in the social media is very different.' 'Many Americans today want to appropriate Indian culture. They want yoga, but they say yoga has nothing to do with Hinduism. They want Ayurveda, but they say it's got nothing to do with Hinduism.' 'Hinduism has been failed by political constituencies in India -- seculars and the right-wing.'
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Expressing happiness over the turnout at his concert in Srinagar's Shalimar Bagh, renowned music conductor Zubin Mehta said performing in Kashmir was a dream come true for him. The Mumbai-born music conductor and German Ambassador Michael Steiner, who organised the concert, spoke to CNN-IBN over what motivated them to come to Kashmir.
Be prepared to bump into some special people at the pandal.
On the occasion of the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's 125th birth anniversary, Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com visits his residence of 16 years, and comes away marvelling at his enduring legacy.
A group of high-powered individuals led by Anand Mahindra have come together to set up Krea university. The campus is expected to be ready by 2019 and the first batch of 100 to 125 students will commence classes in August next year.
Ronit Roy talks about the second season of Adaalat and his upcoming Hollywood and Bollywood projects.
The middle class's long push to force the state to retreat from the economy may be reversing, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
For Aanchal Malhotra, the stories of Partition were stories that needed to be told; they needed to be chronicled.
Xi Jinping has accumulated great power, but he faces trials that are just as great, says Claude Smadja.
The British administration ignored the mounting evidence of violence between Hindus and Muslims... Military historian Barney White-Spunner traces the countdown to the tragedy in his book, Partition.
In his approach to national problems and issues Vivekananda was perhaps the first one to call for a national struggle against the challenges of material existence. While recognising the need for re-discovering and rekindling the spiritual aim of existence, the Swami did not neglect to recognise the demands of the other existence as well, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
'Why would the Communists do this? I have three possible answers: One, they are specifically opposed to the Global Education Meet that the ambassador organised. Two, they are beginning to realise their days are numbered in Kerala. Three, the standard modus operandi of leftists is anarchism because they are not constrained by any codes of ethics. Roughly, the bad, the good, and the ugly,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
'Though she was deeply religious, she was against communalism. Whenever she got the chance, she did speak out against the communalisation of society.'
Resettlement of refugees elsewhere is not the morally correct solution to the problem for it lets the perpetrators off the hook.
There is too much focus on building, infrastructure, the number of teachers (as opposed to quality), number of laboratories and so on, says Vineet Gupta.
Authorities alerted people to avoid staying outdoors and L-G ordered to halt all civil construction activities across the city till Sunday.
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.
Here's your weekly digest of the craziest stories from around the world.
