Mohammad Sajjad salutes the memory of Mushirul Hasan -- historian, thinker, academic, institution builder, -- who passed into the ages this week.
From reaching out to the Jat community and requesting them to not harm the country's assets to trying to mediate on behalf of the women protesting against Shani Shingnapur temple authorities, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has made his presence felt. Nikita Puri examines the rise of the New Age guru.
'From the beginning (I have told her) "Whatever it may be -- you are losing or winning -- on the ground you're not going to cry!" She never cried.' '"I don't want you to project that you are a loser. You are a winner".' Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com speaks to Leela Raj about her famous daughter, now in the West Indies for the women's T20 World Cup.
Nek Chand, who attained worldwide fame as the creator of the unique Rock Garden in Chandigarh, passed away due to a cardiac arrest at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. He was 90-years old.
'What is the future of ISRO?' Professor Rao asked from his hospital bed. 'What we see now is the continuation of programmes we started long ago.' 'What are we planning in the space science arena?' 'What is our plan for human space flight?' Former ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair recalls his last meeting with Professor U R Rao, the pioneering Indian space scientist who passed away on Monday, July 24.
'As the night wore on, we could hear insects, see fireflies and slowly, the stars took over the naked sky.' 'For those of us who spend the largest part of our lives in a cement jungle and wake up to machine sounds, this was music.'
5 things you must know about this scientific trailblazer.
'General J S Aurora, the commander of the Indian forces in the East, asked General Sagat Singh to withdraw his troops who were on the move to Dacca -- but he refused.' 'He said, "Jaggi, over my dead body".' 'Therefore, I say the creator of Bangladesh was General Sagat Singh.'
'This was our country, after all, our India, humara Hindustan -- why would we go anywhere else?'
Professor Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao is the third scientist to be awarded the highest civilian award -- Bharat Ratna, a crowning glory of his inexorable list of outstanding achievements.
"A writer must be like a sponge. I absorb everything from different parts of life."
'I had once gone to Kashmir with him and his wife. He would talk to the boatmen, the watchmen, at the dargahs he would ask so many questions. He always had a notebook and would write down everything... He was an intellectual and he was fun. He loved people, loved life and had the spirit of enquiry. He used to advise me, "When you write - inform, provoke, abuse".' Sadia Dehlvi on her 30-year-old friendship with Khushwant Singh.
'In my personal life, I honestly find it very difficult to express my anger.' 'And then, when you are a public figure, you feel watched that much more and then you are all the more careful.' 'Begum Jaan, therefore, was the answer to my angst.'
'Today, everybody is on the computer, everybody on the mobile.' 'There is very less physical activity.' 'The treatment most effective in reducing heart disease is exercise.' 'It is very, very, important.'
Shobha Deepak Singh, whose association with the legendary Kishori Amonkar, spanned 35 years, shares her memories of the musical genius.
Lieutenant General Harbakhsh Singh, GOC, Western Command, disobeyed the then army chief and took on a superior Pakistani armoured column. The Indian Centurion tanks outgunned the more modern Pakistani Patton tanks in the battle at Khem Karan, that proved the turning point of the 1965 War. Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) salutes the Soldiers' General.
'We know many things are going to happen.' 'People should be preparing for sea level rise, for increased cyclonic activity, for drought.' 'One reason I wrote the book is to alert people to the dangers that they face.' 'For example, Mumbai faces enormous threat.'
'It is not about women today; it's about men.' 'We need to focus our energy on a war footing on men.' 'Let us start with a boy who is 10 years old.' 'If you don't concentrate on your son, the safe spaces for women will shrink further.'
A month ago, Jasmeet Gandhi set out to cycle 1,000 kilometres to raise money for children afflicted with eye cancer. At the end of the journey from Mumbai to Bengaluru, during which he raised Rs 23 lakhs, he received a gift that changed his life.
For developing technology that is at the heart of high speed WiFi and 4G mobile systems Arogyaswami Paulraj receives one of science's highest honours, the Marconi Prize 2014.
In an interview to HarmonyIndia.org, the artist, who had famously said that he lived to paint and painted to live, spoke of what the 'bindu' meant to him, about his friend M F Husain and the legacy that he will leave behind.
Hers is a rags-to-riches story for the ages, peppered with risks, determination and strokes of luck.
'Imagine how secure are our seaports and airports that 10,000 objects can leave every decade and our custodians are not even aware?' 'This kind of targeted looting when thieves pick and choose the best of Indian art and steal on an industrial basis will eventually impoverish our great land.'
Friends and colleagues pay rich tributes to the "charming, approachable, and very accessible" Indian Constitution scholar Granville 'Red' Austin.
