'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
The list of the prestigious Padma Awards 2016 awardees is out and superstar Rajnikanth is set to be honoured with the nation's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan.
'Every time I step on stage, I feel like I'm performing the play for the first time,' Manoj Joshi tells Sadiya Updade.
'Tehran senses that the Modi government is inexorably gravitating toward the US-Israeli-Saudi axis, jettisoning India's traditional independent Gulf policies,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'With his stature as a playwright and actor, Girish Karnad was one of the voices of modernity for not just Karnataka but the entire country.'
The 70-year-old reality TV star has strongly refuted reports of any relationship with Putin and has said he has never met the Russian president.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
'The book has immense value because it reveals the inner workings of the think-tank which appears to provide facts and insights to Modi, though he himself takes the final decisions and articulates them in his characteristic rhetorical style,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
What must India do now?
'There were assurances that Jaish-e-Mohammad was being reined in as was the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, but Pakistan's security forces could not risk opening too many dangerous new fronts,' notes former foreign secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran, who has just returned from a visit to Lahore.
Pravasis have created a great impression among Americans about their maternal country, India, says Dr Joy Cherian, the first Asian American to be appointed to a sub-cabinet level position in the US government.
In bilateral interfaces relations with China have also to be given due weight, opines Premvir Das
The title alludes to Socrates willingly drinking poisonous hemlock as his punishment after he was convicted of corrupting the minds of the young and impiety in ancient Athens.
Ambassador Venu Rajamony, who served as press secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee during his tenure, salutes the statesman and political legend, who passed into the ages on Monday.
How can a State be so criminally neglectful towards the safety of its citizens, asks Tarun Vijay.
'If only Cariappa/Thimayya/Chaudhari/Manekshaw were given a free hand, there'll be no PoK, the Chinese would have been taught a lesson, 1965 would have slain the Pak demon and in 1971 just another fortnight's fighting after Bangladesh and West Pakistan would have been occupied.' 'No authoritative military account suggests anything remotely like any of these...' '...Chronologies, names, even periods get mixed up, but, never mind, because the point -- strong Army denied by cowardly Congress -- is made.' 'This is where Modi is coming from,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
John Elliott, the author of Implosion: India's Tryst with Reality, on his Riding the Elephant blog, says the sacking of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata and Sons was in line with Ratan Tata's personal style of dealing with executives
India and Japan are natural partners at sea, and Narendra Modi's recent visit underlined the need to keep the association going
Over two years since the Nirbhaya rape shook the nation women in New Delhi feel no safer than they did before. With safety apps to self-defence classes on the rise, Ritika Bhatia takes a look at what working women in Delhi are doing to keep themselves safe.
'It was almost as though there was widespread relief that the defence bureaucracy, and the minister, could find someone willing to shoulder the blame for everything that had gone wrong with the services under Antony's charge -- the poor preparedness of the forces, slow acquisitions caused by indecision, cancellation of contracts and whimsical blacklisting of defence contractors over the tiniest suspicion that they may have paid speed money or kickbacks.'
'They have realised that class war is not possible in India, so they are trying to bring about a caste war.'
Israel is no longer the valiant and beleaguered underdog, but increasingly seen as an increasingly arrogant oppressor seeking to crush another old nation under its jackboots, says Mohan Guruswamy.
Football fans were treated to a month long diet of mainly breathless, intoxicating action in Brazil but their team collapsed in the final stages.
Firms that should borrow abroad do not do so enough, and those that should not borrow abroad do.
'Once you set up a tweet-storm of vilification, labelling individuals anti-nationals, traitors, blasphemous, and foreign agents, you are creating enough justification for somebody with a gun to kill, or for a mob to lynch,' warns Shekhar Gupta.
Israel is very good at creating innovation engines, India less so.
'Devyani represents some of the best things about the Indian mission -- our ambassadors of soft power. Young, humane, open to ideas with a deep commitment to her country and the work she does.' Human rights activist Suchitra Vijayan on the Devyani Khobragade she knows.
The government's leaks to the media and General Singh's very vocal comments on the charges against him have played right into the hands of separatists and their cross-border sponsors, says Nitin Pai
The need of the hour is not a divisive, slanging match of accusations and counter-accusations, but a call for sanity,' says Vivek Gumaste.
'What will be achieved by the prime minister's condemnation of each and every unfortunate incident? Will just the PM's condemnation bring about closure to these cases,' asks Sudhir Bisht.
Dubbing the driver of superstar Salman Khan as a 'liar' for telling the court that he was driving the car and not the actor when it rammed into a bakery shop in September 2002, killing one person, the prosecution on Monday sought action against him (the driver) for giving false evidence.
The new government has to make conscious efforts to rebuild social equality and bring the people together.
AMU has once again been pulled into a crossfire of crass political opportunism. In these post-truth times, that the university also had political stirrings not subscribing to the Muslim League is chosen to be forgotten, says Mohammad Sajjad.
One thing Beijing must understand is that India is not obsessed with being a threat to China but only wants a rightful place for itself in the world, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
The euphoria of Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar will fade quickly if the Modi government does not raise its game, and focus significant monetary resources and managerial skills on making India's infrastructure truly world-class, says Ram Kelkar.
'Never trust a cab or rick driver.' 'Never share personal information.' 'Never hide your whereabouts from your family.' 'Don't party late with strangers or 'just met' friends.'
Modi has the ideas for a new, hopeful India, and an idiom in which to sell optimism to voters. But he doesn't yet have the team for it, and soon enough, questions will begin to be asked by an impatient, non-ideological, I-don't-owe-anybody-anything generation of Indian voters, says Shekar Gupta.
As the news of Kalam broke, condolences and tributes poured in from all corners of the country, reflecting the huge popularity he enjoyed both in and out of the highest office of the country that earned him the sobriquet of the "people's President."
They gave voices to sexual assault & harassment survivors across the world.
'The BJP has not moved on since its 2014 victory. There is nothing new to offer. There is far too much negativity about the other side and far too little about what has been achieved by its government.' 'That may have worked when the BJP was in the Opposition but if they believe that the people of India will continue to hold them to such a low standard of expectations, they are really taking the voter for granted or misreading his pulse.'
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