It was perhaps over-enthusiasm that prompted the Indian investigative agencies to take a private jet to Dominica to bring back fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi. Predictably, the eight-member team had to return empty-handed after almost a week-long wait. The agencies were banking too much on the "state-less" status of Mr Choksi, as Antigua, which had given him citizenship in 2017, wasn't willing to take him back. Thus, the calculation was that Mr Choksi would be whisked away from the Dominican courtroom to the waiting plane. The reason for the optimism was also because Antigua is friendly territory for India.
'We don't need to hinge India-UK relations on shared hostility toward China,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
This is a national leadership gone so wrong that India's most powerful prime minister in four decades has personally taken charge of medical oxygen shortages, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The hounding of Rhea Chakraborty in the Sushant Singh Rajput case is a drug that is being carefully pumped into India's veins to make it comfortably numb as it is wracked by economic ruin and disease, notes Sumit Bhattacharya.
'The only good thing that has come out of our current situation is that it has brought communities closer.' NRIs describe the impact coronavirus is having on their lives.
'On a daily basis you are saying, you do this, you do that, but where is the blueprint of the war?' 'How many isolations actually we need per hundred thousand people?' 'How many ventilators will we need for 100,000 people?'
'Even though a lot of horrible things are being said about me on the electronic media,' says Rhea Chakraborty, 'I refrain from commenting on the advice of my lawyers.' 'Satyamev Jayate, the truth shall prevail.'
Changing with the times and in compliance with social distancing norms, customers are now picking up their parcels, speed posts and registered letters within the city themselves after they are informed on phone.
'Behind the BJP's anti-Congress crusade is an attempt to divert attention from the Ladakh standoff,' explains Amulya Ganguli.
Aseem Chhabra lists his 10 favourite non-Indian shows streaming in India -- classics as well as recent shows.
It is entirely conceivable that Modi began realising at some point that it will be a liability for India if he is seen as Trump's fellow traveller, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Baba Ramdev may be controversy's child, yet he has a fan following not just in India, but almost all over the world. Sanjeev Nayyar recounts why he is fida about Patanjali products.
'It is a ticking time bomb if the authorities don't come forward to help these hapless people.'
Dhoni presently endorses a healthy 25 brands, and found himself in fifth place on the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list last year, with earnings worth almost Rs 136 crore. How much of that is set to change, given that Dhoni has chosen to call time on his international career?
Ashutosh Gowariker's Everest is made so tackily, it hurts, says Raja Sen.
T Thomas, former chairman of Hindustan Unilever, passed away March 2.
'"We have lost our jobs, we have lost our savings, we have been beaten up for being on the streets, we have walked for a thousand kilometres, we have seen our children starve or die because nobody came to help us".' 'For such people, the relationship with the government has gone,' notes Aakar Patel.
In a communication to all states and union territories, the NDMA said due to several weeks of lockdown and the closure of industrial units, it is possible that some of the operators might not have followed the established standard operating procedures.
Subtle and sharp, sarcastic and self-deprecating. And sometimes just downright rude. There are wife jokes, husband jokes, boss barbs, Modi jibes, weight gain worries and the inevitable China insults. Humour in all forms is the panacea it seems for people around the world who are united in their need to laugh or at least crack a smile in these troubled times.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a day-long tour of his Lok Sabha constituency on Friday.
Guess who else features on the Variety500 list?
'Every day, I give you some or the other reason.' 'But we should not do politics over the need to bring about change in society.' 'We should follow a collective responsibility and you will see that things will change,' says Narendra D Modi.
Brands are turning up the pitch on voter participation, targeting millennial consumers.
'What motivated us was that a lot of people, especially youngsters, had a negative image about India.'
The group has been encouraging people to sign a petition calling for the withdrawal of the notes as vegans and vegetarians continued to express outrage at the use of tallow, a substance derived from animal fat.
'Gujarat is number one in public relations and marketing. Gujarat's PR is strong, it washes like a strong washing soap... The third phase is ours. It is our family and household elections, let him come there... Banaras and UP have taken on the challenge.' Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav tells Rediff.com contributor Neeta Kolhatkar how he plans to keep Narendra Modi at bay.
Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday sharpened his attack on the Congress in general and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in particular at a rally in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
The problem is not that more people are not watching more TV, but that they are not finding anything of interest on Hindi television, says Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
'What will this supposedly more business-friendly government do if it gets a second term?' 'Important labour law and land reforms remain off the table.' 'Witness the arm-twisting of foreign players in e-commerce and all but one player in telecom -- and it is very hard to justify this perception that the BJP is business friendly.' 'There will also remain the real risk of ideas seemingly gleaned from the pages of Amar Chitra Katha, overlaid with PowerPoint presentations,' predicts Rahul Jacob.
For now, the BJP's strategy for Khushbu seems to be one of denial -- denying the rival Congress in the state and also at the national-level a Muslim voice acceptable to Hindu audiences and TV news-watchers. This is much less than the induction of DMK veterans like Duraiswamy and Selvam, who still have a greater chances of winning assembly seats,, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Premature lifting of the lockdown will spread the disease from asymptomatics, and those undetected, to the whole community, ushering in prolonged misery, preventable and avoidable deaths, famine and social unrest,' warns Dr Debashish Danda.
'If we cannot handle an epidemic of that strata, (causing that kind) of excessive calamity, then we really have to prevent it.' 'If we become complacent in even preventing it, then we are in for a disaster.'
'If this is how the audience likes me, I will continue doing it.'
Imran Khan will always be first and foremost the enigmatic 'Kaptaan', who pulled off the impossible -- transform an immensely talented but fractious bunch of cricketers into world beaters.
'For every epidemic, it takes a peak and then it comes down.' 'Usually, infections peak in 14 days, and you give another week's time after the peak.' 'That is why the lockdown is for 21 days.'
From food to skin, allergies in India are rapidly on the rise, says Nikita Puri.
'New Delhi feels that given the internal dynamics in Pakistan and the overwhelming powers wielded by the army, one will have to wait for better times to see any meaningful progress in the India-Pakistan relationship,' says Ambassador G Parthasarthy.
The government's new initiative appears to be timely for health and hygiene players, battling low awareness and the lack of use of branded products.
Mythological and historical shows are lapped up not just by the young, but equally by grown men and women.
We take it as a given and allow a free run to those who deserve to be reined in by a simple democratic act: vote decisively, and if the television has made a farce of itself, use the remote control, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
