Sona Bahadur's Goa currython yielded interesting results.
The biryani, happily, was the very definition of simple. light-textured, with a subtle tomato-ey twang, it reminded me a lot of a North Indian pulao. The flavour whack came from the sweet-sour Khatta Baingan simmered in a gravy of tamarind, jaggery, fried mustard seeds, and spices, served with it.
A new book by former West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi claims that former chief election commissioner T N Seshan proposed an immediate halt to the general election process after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991 and even offered to become home minister. Gandhi, who was joint secretary to then president R Venkatraman, writes that Seshan was the one who broke the news of the assassination to the president and arrived at the Rashtrapati Bhawan "super-fast" that night. According to Gandhi's account, Seshan told Venkatraman that he felt the election process needed to be stopped and that he was ready to take on the role of home minister if necessary. However, Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and Cabinet Secretary Naresh Chandra assured the president that the situation was under control and that there was no need to pause the election process. Seshan's suggestions were ultimately ignored, but he did manage to postpone the second and third phases of polling.
In what was perhaps the most critical meeting before full-scale war broke out, Shastri defined India's immediate war objectives to his defence minister, army, and air force chiefs: 'To defend against Pakistan's attempts to grab Kashmir by force and to make it abundantly clear that Pakistan would never be allowed to wrest Kashmir from India; To destroy the offensive power of Pakistan's armed forces...' A fascinating excerpt from Shiv Kunal Verma's must-read 1965: A Western Sunrise India's War With Pakistan.
Indian English is the only language that uses the expression 'non-veg' for meat, fish, and those who consume them. A fascinating extract from Shashi Tharoor's A Wonderland of Words: Around the Word in 101 Essays.
It's one big bowl of crunchy goodness.
An easy, simple breakfast or brunch, that goes well with toast.
This recipe has a wonderful royal touch.
These delightful idlis are great for breakfast or nashta.
A finger-licking dish of crabs and moringa leaves.
The ISI was taking no chances and wanted no repeat of Pulwama; it wanted to make it clear at a political level it was not involved with the revenge attack being planned, but was only giving India a friendly tip-off. A stunning excerpt from Ambassador Ajay Bisaria's Anger Management: The Troubled Diplomatic Relationship between India and Pakistan.
'But he was very quick and did a very stylish adab.' 'Of course, I didn't expect him to hug.'
Women politicians bring to politics and policy a sensitivity that most of their male counterparts, at least until a generation back, lacked.
In the ancient world there is a great deal of give and take and reciprocal learning. India was an integral and important constituent of such interchanges of goods and ideas.
The gau rakshak stated that the famine-stricken people were suffering because of their past karma and nothing could be done for them. The reply apparently infuriated Vivekananda, who told the gau rakshak bluntly that he had no sympathy to spare for societies which would not lift a finger to help human beings but wasted piles of food on birds and beasts. A fascinating excerpt from Govind Krishnan V's book, Vivekananda The Philosopher of Freedom.
The idea of weaponization got a fillip from an unexpected quarter. In the last week of October 1985, Rajiv met US President Ronald Reagan. Reagan told Rajiv, 'Pakistan has already made a bomb.' When Rajiv started talking about disarmament, the US president cut him short, 'Don't talk theory, think of your own protection.'
It sent shock waves in the party -- a political greenhorn had taken on Modi in his home turf of Gujarat. Smriti had clearly tried to choose sides, in this case Vajpayee's camp. Many felt that this would end Irani's career. A revealing excerpt from Nidhi Sharma's new book She, The Leader: Women in Indian Politics.
'These days, the whole world is out there on the Net giving a lot of gaalis to the film industry.'
'If you have read the Gita, Krishna never gives a guarantee, though that is what we, as humans, crave -- which is why we buy into the cults of occult godmen who assure us that we will surely get money, meaning, and power.' A fascinating excerpt from Dr Devdutt Pattanaik's The Stories We Tell: Mythology To Make Sense Of Modern Lives.
'Anglo-Indians have played a significant role at the forefront, meeting every challenge to the security of the motherland.' A fascinating excerpt from Barry O'Brien's The Anglo-Indians: A Portrait of a Community.
Judges Kamila Shamsie, Rohini Mohan and Margaret Mascarenhas will announce the winner in November.
Under Kohli, playing cricket will now be about winning, not avoiding defeat. India will not just be liked or admired -- it will be respected and feared. A country whose stars were labeled 'talented' or 'elegant' or 'inconsistent' now finds itself with a captain who is professional, tough, and combative, the embodiment of athleticism, aggression, and ambition. A fascinating glimpse from Pride, Prejudice And Punditry: The Essential Shashi Tharoor.
The relative ranking of castes can vary across regions and localities and depends on a number of factors including control over land, wealth, and political power. Castes have often tried to 'upgrade' themselves (a process sociologists refer to as Sanskritization), and sometimes get 'downgraded'. A revealing excerpt from Upinder Singh's Ancient India: Culture Of Contradictions.
Utkal Tubers is selling potato seeds in new areas and seizing the opportunity to create a Rs 100-crore firm.
Utkal Tubers is selling potato seeds in new areas and seizing the opportunity to create a Rs 100-crore firm.
A 'Hindu India' would not be Hindu at all, but a 'Sanghi Hindutva state', which is a different country altogether, says Tharoor in his new book The Battle of Belonging that was released on Saturday.
To be alive is to be an artist, legendary Carnatic singer T M Krishna tells the Tata LitFest in Mumbai.
'The colloquial language forced a turn to the recent past and I thought about the hangings of men like Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon.' 'Whatever their deeds, proven or still in doubt, did their deaths not deserve to be mourned by a sister, wife, or child?' A fascinating excerpt from Amitava Kumar's Writing Badly Is Easy.
Akhtaruzzaman Elias's The Raincoat describes the effect of the 1971 war on a college and on one of its teachers in particular.
Colouring books for adults are helping people loosen up and rediscover their childhood.
The author talks to the veteran photographer about his work, and some of his favourite images over the years
Almost a century before the current Sabarimala movement -- to facililate the entry of women between the ages of 10 and 50 into the Kerala shrine -- there was the Vaikom temple movement, to throw open temples in Kerala to all castes, a movement led by among others a man whose 71st death anniversary we mark today. A fascinating excerpt from Rajmohan Gandhi's new book, Modern South India: A History From The 17th Century To Our Times.
Another book on Hinduism by American indologist Wendy Doniger has come under attack from the same Delhi-based group which had compelled the publishers of an earlier work by her to withdraw the title.
'The ideal thing that should be done in Kashmir is call for an election -- before the end of the year.'
'This is the only place on earth where Elephas maximus climbs to these heights.'
Two Nobel Laureates, four listed writers of this year's Man Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists, winners of Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Crossword Prize and film stars will be the attraction at the most sought after literary event in India -- the Jaipur Literature Festival.
'...that it takes fantasy seriously as a part of real life'... A fascinating excerpt from Jonathan Gil Harris's book, Masala Shakespeare: How A Firangi Writer Became Indian.
'The issue of the larger homeland of Nagalim, the dream of the Nagas to hold sway over swathes of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, is just that, a dream.' 'The NSCN has been told categorically that the government is not going to concede on this issue.'
'They have a belief that they can go and win anywhere.'
'Now you have a full clampdown and a huge security blanket. How long are you going to maintain that? The moment you lift it, all that suppressed protest and anger will come out.'
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