As we celebrate women achievers who are excelling in their careers, here are incredible tales of hard work and perseverance to inspire you this week.
'We used to get Rs 250 for a Test match, and if the match was over in 4 days, 50 rupees were cut.'
'New Delhi is not naive about its foreign policy choices.'
'The government's priority is not farmers.'
'Surgical strikes or air strikes, or both, are likely on the table.'
'...without massive amounts of force.'
24 hours before campaigning ends in Thiruvanathapuram, Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers Shashi Tharoor and his BJP rival Rajeev Chandrasekhar are busy getting their message across to voters.
'We are now in a situation where our country is not yet free.' 'China is still very strong and militarily powerful.' 'In such a situation, we need the Dalai Lama to bring about a resolution to the cause of Tibet.' 'That's one of the main reasons that at age 90, he has accepted that there should be a 15th Dalai Lama after him.'
'5465 was over 17,000 feet -- our eyes were out of the sockets by the time we got to the top.' 'We had not eaten in 2-3 days and climbed in extremely difficult terrain.' 'I was there for 5-6 days, but had to be evacuated because I started vomiting blood.'
'Something very drastic must have happened.'
Every Indian must visit the National War Memorial in Delhi where every soldier who made the supreme sacrifice for the Motherland is remembered in gold letters.
'The precision strikes were well planned and excellently executed. The world will be studying this operation.'
'Trump's sons, and the son of Trump's Mideast envoy Steven Witkoff, are in the crypto business and recently signed deals with Pakistan's crypto council.' 'It may not be coincidental that not long before the Trump-Munir meeting, the head of Pakistan's crypto council met with Trump's White House crypto policy czar.'
Acharya Jonas Masetti, a Vedanta scholar from Brazil, was awarded the Padma Shri for teaching the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, Sanskrit, Yoga, Meditation and Indian spiritualism abroad.
'The Pacific crossing was the longest and toughest leg.' 'Temperatures dropped near zero and they navigated through two cyclones.'
'It brings precarious peace because the red lines have shifted. 'The next Pahalgam attack would mean a full scale war.'
'Please don't worry about casualties. It is a professional hazard beyond our control,' wrote Kargil Hero Major Padmapani Acharya in his last letter from the battlefield.
Fort Kochi's charm lies in its oldness. Put on that cap, lace up your sneakers and those 10,000 steps are easy-peasy!
What tasks they accomplished, how they stayed fit, what did they eat, whom did they meet, what they brought back... amazing stories from an epic voyage.
'It was pitch-dark when we rounded Cape Horn. The waves were coming in full force. It was like a washing machine - -both of us and our boat Tarini.' Naval officer Lt Cdrs Dilna and Roopa describe their amazing voyage around the globe.
'Pakistan will also try to turn Bangladesh into a base for terrorist attacks on India.'
'Munir hopes to solidify his hold on power.'
'Trump is likely being purposefully vague, hoping that this lack of clarity will pressure India, fearing the worst, to agree to scale back its imports of Russian oil.'
Biman Basu, the senior-most Marxist leader in the country, pays homage to a comrade he has known and admired since the 1980s.
'Although China has been ruling over Tibet for past 75 years, it has no legitimacy.'
'Diplomatic and economic responses are first announced and then implemented. A military response is announced only after it is done.'
'People were asleep when they heard a loud noise and then a huge deluge of water accompanied with boulders and trees hit their homes.' 'Locals say around 400 houses have totally vanished in the landslide and floods.'
'On October 12-13, he started shivering from fear in his tent.' 'That was the time he wrote a letter to my mother to conduct Ganeshji's Atharvashirsha.' 'The moment he finished writing that letter, he told us, he felt serene calmness.'
'Indian Army officers always lead their men into battle or combat. Pakistani officers are seldom seen at the front.'
'We need to be very vigilant as we are passing through some fraught times.'
'I will win the election. The Congress and BJP are fighting for second place.'
'No military offensive by Pakistan will end the insurgency in Balochistan without simultaneous, concerted efforts toward political dialogue to de-escalate tensions.'
'Decline of the UN did not start with the Trump administration. It has been happening over the last two decades or more.'
'The switch can't be shut off by an accidental brush of the hand, but needs effort, conscious physical action to operate it.' 'Was it the software of the aeroplane that caused the switch to turn off?' 'Was it the hardware of the aeroplane?' 'Was it both software and hardware put together?'
'A few answers for the reason of the crash will be known -- whether it was a technical fault, design issue, human error etc.'
'When compared to many of America's treaty allies in Asia, Modi 3.0 is on a much stronger footing.'
'India is using Hasina to warn the Yunus government because there is a ground support for the Awami League in Bangladesh.'
'It was the toughest of roles because he had to change quickly behind the sofa and come out in the next dress!'
