To an award show that's famous for honouring artists belatedly, we have sent as our official entry one of our major film-makers's weakest work yet, feels Sreehari Nair.
With Islamabad rejecting New Delhi's claims that it was involved in the deadly attack in Uri, where 17 Army soldiers lost their lives, India on Monday asserted that it did not need Pakistan's clarifications, as their involvement in the terror strike was concrete.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni lavished praise on his bowlers after India beat Australia by 27 runs in the second Twenty20 International at the MCG on Friday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
''83 is a once in a lifetime story.' 'I often say that sometimes, I feel that you don't choose stories, stories choose you.' 'Why for the last 37 years was the story not made?' 'It's staring at our faces, the greatest sporting triumph for India ever.'
'... and committed.' 'Priyanka had so much happening in her personal life...' 'Once we started, Priyanka rose to it.'
The PM hailed the armed forces in context of Kargil Vijay Divas and paid tributes to the fallen heroes.
Thirty years after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, coerced collective amnesia envelops the Chinese nation about that horrific event. Claude Arpi glances back at how the student uprising could have changed the Middle Kingdom forever had the Chinese Communist party not traveled on the route of martial law.
The ceasefire violations and firing from across the Line of Control are "quite serious" and the government wants a "quick resolution" of the problem there, IAF Chief Arup Raha said.
'The genetic thing is not in your control. The virulence is not known.' 'The only thing is if you can avoid it.' 'Once you get COVID-19, none of it is in your control.'
'... That they should emerge as role-models to be emulated by the fellow countrymen; and that the middle classes should not stick only to hate-filled and scornful criticism and condemnation against the state of affairs,' remembers Mohammad Sajjad.
''We had three positive cases, but our success was the three not going up to 30 or 100.' 'Also, all the three survived the virus,' says Kerala's Health Minister K K Shailaja.
Though it is a little too neat and a little too light, Rubaru Roshni is important because it is telling us stories of people who have experienced an 'Inner Migration' in their lives, notes Sreehari Nair.
The announcement comes days after senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead in Srinagar.
The emperor has no political power, yet he enjoys a unique place in Japanese society, notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
Every psychiatrist and psychologist Rediff.com spoke to said one thing: Avoid news channels and social media.
'I had to convince myself that I was steely enough to operate on a cold-blooded killer.' 'For all my medical experience, this was something I had never done!' 'If something happened to Charles, I knew my fate was sealed for me.' 'I would be called Doctor Death until I breathed my last.' 'Success was my only hope of escaping that fate.' A fascinating excerpt from heart surgeon Dr Raamesh Koirala's Charles Sobhraj, Inside The Heart Of The Bikini Killer.
'If the BJP thinks they can suppress the farmers' movement by opening fire, they are wrong.' 'It will create a boomerang effect which will be very difficult to manage.'
But the question before the leadership will be whether to retain the BJP alliance or dump it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'You have the home-cooked food. But on top of that you are having the sugary drinks, the junk food, the mithais and whatever else....' 'People should not be frying in this sunflower oil, corn oil or eating any foods fried in this stuff.' 'They should cook in butter or ghee or olive oil. That is much healthier.'
'On January 17, we had our first meeting with the Cabinet secretary.' 'Different secretaries belonging to different departments attended it.' 'It was only two weeks when China had said there is a new disease.' 'So, we gave the quickest response.'
'It is purely based on real-time hard intelligence.' 'Timing is important. When you are attacking at 3.30 am, then everybody will be in the academy of terrorists.' 'If you attack at 10 am then someone will be out, so timing is very important.' 'Therefore, 3.30 am is the time when every terrorist is sleeping.'
'He was capable, concise, calm, sublime, and profound, and perhaps that's also why Irrfan's passing felt 'personal' to many.'
Cardiologist Dr BK Goyal's greatest gift was that he gave his patients a calming reassurance their doctor truly cared for them, says family friend Gitanjali Gurbaxani.
Armed forces and the police can only ensure that violence is kept under control but for any kind of lasting peace, politicians will have to find an answer to the perception that the Indian State is anti-Islam. Therein lies the biggest challenge to the Modi government, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retired).
At least 60 militants were killed on Wednesday in precision bombing by air force jets on Taliban targets in Pakistan's restive tribal region on the Afghan border, military officials said.
In the shock after Nathuram Godse murdered Mahatma Gandhi that January evening 72 years ago today, a young American diplomat rushed to capture the assassin. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel traces the memorable life of Herbert Reiner, who History has sadly relegated to a footnote.
Compassion and concern from family and friends can help prevent the suicide of a loved one.
Fake news, much like the golden deer in the Ramayana, is leading the world into chaos, says Arundhuti Dasgupta.
... And sometimes, that's enough, says Sreehari Nair.
'In 2019, in Modi we have a leader who has not shied away from showcasing a robust and aggressive response to the Pulwama and Uri attacks,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'The situation is so bad that they are now sleeping on bridges or footpaths.' 'Therefore, they want to go and die before their parents or wife in case they get infected with COVID-19.' 'Workers don't want to die a dog's death in cities.'
'The IAS officers are after the rich people, the IRS officers are after the middle class and the IPS officers are after the poor. This is the new varnashrama created by the bureaucracy.'
'Villages are much better prepared than towns as far as COVID-19 is concerned.'
At 70, going by hospital records made public, most age and health-related arguments put out against super-star Rajinikanth's entry into politics, before he withdrew citing a 2016 kidney-transplant, hold good for Sasikala, too, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'I lived in a chawl for 33 years, aur potty ke liye line lagaya, holding a dabba in my hand (I would queue up to go to the loo, with a bucket in my hand). Even after I became a hero, I had to stand in line. It has become so ingrained in my bones that it cannot come out easily.'
The deaths of Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi within months of each other neutralises any sympathy factor their parties may hope to gain from. What's more, by removing charismatic leaders from the fray, it also levels the field for others, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The court also said that it is to be ensured that no life was lost there and posted the matter after two weeks, saying it will wait for normalcy to return.
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was among six militants killed in a US drone strike on Friday in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region.
'Dawood and Tiger Memon will neither come on their own nor we will ever bring them back,' says Suresh Walishetty, who investigated the March 1993 attacks.'
Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin does not face any threat to his full-fledged succession as DMK chief, just now. If he were to face any threat, it would only be against 'non-performance' as the party boss, N Sathiya Moorthy.
