'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.'
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan introduced their daughter Maxima to the world with a beautiful and thoughtful letter.
Rediff.com presents some of the oddest Guinness world records held by Indians.
Chennai born Meera Mitun landed her first modelling break when she least expected it.
Drones are of course, remotely controlled and modern ships are also chip-driven.
Atheela Abdullah, who grew up in a small village in the Malabar region of Kerala shares her inspiring success story.
Sreehari Nair wasn't impressed with Rangoon at all. But find out which film tops his list!
'Hillary Clinton is no friend of India,' says Rajeev Srinivasan. 'Not that Trump is necessarily one, but at least he gets the benefit of the doubt.'
'In my hospital, there must be at least 150, 200 Indian nurses. There are other hospitals nearby, and my calculation is that there may be at least 600, 700 Indian nurses working there.' 'All of us are worried. I want the Indian government to help us get out of here,' says an Indian nurse working at a maternity hospital in the Saudi Arabian city of Najran which was shelled early this week by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants.
A young Mumbai artist brings the city alive.
Prashant Lingam and Aruna Kappagantula are changing the way houses are being built in India.
What inspired, engineering graduate Pooja Mor to quit her career and take up modelling?
Indian billionaires do not believe in sitting on their wealth.
Shyamvar Pinturam Rai and Pradeep Waghmare. Both erstwhile employees of Peter and Indrani Mukerjea. In the witness stand on Monday, Waghmare came across as a cheerful, straightforward man who is attempting to clamber his way towards prosperity. In the witness stand on Friday, Rai shed his customary jauntiness and broke down weeping, begging forgiveness from CBI Special Judge Jayendra Chandrasen Jagdale.
'One per cent of wealthy people have been handed over 99 per cent of our nation's resources. The rest are mute, helpless and very frightened spectators to this loot.'
Aseem Chhabra mourns the passing of the gentle and knowledgeable Mr K D Singh, who owned a quaint bookshop in New Delhi.
All of 22 and straight out of college, Pavithra YS (pictured below) decided to make a difference and look what she's achieved!
But the supermodel has a secret instagram account!
Nargis Fakhri is really fun to be around, discovers Patcy N/Rediff.com.
'As citizens of this country, we often expect sweeping changes here, but find the smallest of abdications that we may ourselves be called upon to make far too inconveniencing.' 'Think about it deeply -- about the move and the reactions it has gathered -- and we will actually learn a lot about ourselves,' says Sreehari Nair.
Investigators in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case are not ruling out the "honour killing" angle after it came to light that both Peter Mukherjea and main accused Indrani allegedly disapproved of the "relationship" between his son Rahul and the victim.
At 19, he quit everything to work in a tribal village for free.
'I was in love and so I got married very early. Love makes you do crazy things. If I had not married then, my life would have been different. Today, I see women balancing their careers and homes. They are giving equal importance to their personal desires and their families, and that is great. I haven't been able to find that balance.' Bhagyashree, close and personal.
Business should be pleasure, not pressure, believes Thrissur-based T S Kalyanaraman.
Three years ago Kevin Rebello made a promise to his parents and sister-in-law. That he will bring his younger brother Russel home, alive -- and, as hopes faded with each passing day -- or dead. That promise was fulfilled February 22, 2015, when sailor Russel's mortal remains were buried in a cemetery, close to a place where the two brothers spent their childhood. Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com reports how a family faced its worst moments.
'Male domination is not coming down but women have started standing up and questioning the authority of men.' 'I was attacked in such a crude manner only because I am a woman. Had this been written by a man, he would not have been attacked like this.' 'If at all the fascists are using this as a stick to attack Islam, it is not because of my post but because of the intolerance of those who abused me in foul language.' V P Rajeena, who created an online stir by claiming that a madrassa teacher had sexually abused her, says what she wrote on her Facebook page is just a sample, more will follow.
How a mother's search for a suitable boy gained global coverage.
Samuel Stokes made India his home and participated in the freedom struggle. He was the only American to be imprisoned for sedition; the British CID maintained a special file on him.
'I live in a privileged city, I have a privileged life, I was in a car.' 'If it can happen here, then there is literally no hope for women in rural India or smaller cities.' 'If more women think we can help ourselves, we can survive, and men would be a lot more hesitant to try something like this.'
'I am a human being, I was surely nervous, I am competing against a lot of people, but even when I played cricket there is not a single match where I was not nervous.' 'Lots of mothers, lots of sisters are so sure that no matter what happens, Sree will stand by them.' 'I will go to any length to help people.' 'If it is important to save somebody I will save him even if I have to die.'
Vat Vrikshya -- banyan tree in Sanskrit -- helps tribal women, with absolutely zero formal education, set up businesses.
'We had decided that if the audience liked Stree, then after two or three years we would plan a sequel.' 'Because of the kind of reaction we received for the film we have already started work on it.'
U R Ananthamurthy was one among the most creative triumvirate of Modernist Kannada literature of the late sixties and seventies (the other two being the late P Lankesh and K Poornachandra Tejaswi). He will be missed by all who care to step out and fight for justice and human rights of ordinary people in India despite being surrounded by the consumerist fog, says Shivanand Kanavi.
Deepti Priya Mehrotra, who documented Irom Sharmila's struggle for peace in Manipur in the book Burning Bright, puts the icon's electoral loss in perspective.
"Everyone knows me because of that terrible tragedy. My memories of Mosul only bring me sadness. How can I be proud about my fame? I lost everything there," Harjit Masih told Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt over the phone.
'When we became a Rs 100 crore company in October, we celebrated in grand scale. We have grown from producing 10 packets a day in 2005, with just my cousin managing the kitchen, to 50,000 packets a day with 1,100 employees in 10 years.' 'If you have the passion to start something, do it immediately. Don't wait for tomorrow.'
The futures of thousands of undocumented Indians who were taken to the US as children are in danger after Donald Trump's repeal of the DACA program.
Against all odds, the young and determined Varun Sharma has taken up the responsibility to bring electricity, education and empowerment to a remote tribal village in Odisha, says Manu A B.
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