Syed Firdaus Ashraf spends a week in Goa in pursuit of his favourite dish, and discovers a few other things about the state as well.
'On the drive to the airport, the streets are lined with men in battle camouflage carrying assault rifles and bearing familiar faces -- Tamilians, Bengalis, Punjabis, feared by the locals and in turn fearing them,' notes Aakar Patel during a visit to Srinagar.
Vandals on Monday defaced a memorial to the victims of July 7, 2005 London bombings hours before survivors and relatives were to gather there to pay tributes on the ninth anniversary of the attack.
Technology can certainly gain India membership in the comity of modern nations in the 21st century.
'It promises to get much, much darker before the dawn.' 'But at least dawn has a fighting chance,' says Mitali Saran.
'Nationalism has been defined for us. It is what the BJP and Modi bhakts decide, not me, you or Salman Khan. If you don't agree with their view, you are a Pakistani agent and an anti-national. Period. No more argument. The discussion ends there.'
"I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation," May said.
UP and Bihar contributed 105 seats to the BJP's tally in 2014. It has now lost 8 Lok Sabha by-polls in the last four years, including three successive losses in UP and two seats in Rajasthan.
Arsh Ali's work is about getting reliable evidence about the ancient Buddhist link between India and Egypt, discovers Veenu Sandhu.
'I wish him well in whatever he does and I will do so if he enters politics too.'
'Why exclude those who are curious about our faith but not born into it, to experience the temple?'
Sharat Pradhan secures exclusive access to the Justice Vishnu Sahai report and discovers it blames two BJP MLAs, a former BSP MP and his cohorts, local intelligence officials and the media for the horrific Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, but attributes no blame to the Samajwadi Party government in the state.
Dr Kalam, the scientist with the poet's heart, started the journey of his life from a small town in Tamil Nadu.
Police said they have recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy. An investigation was launched into the incident.
'Her death has left a small hole in me. That little space that her songs and her screen image always filled in me. She had not worked in films for years, but somehow I always sensed she was there, somewhere in Bombay where movie magic is made.'
After landslide victories in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the BJP is hoping to crest the tide in Jammu and Kashmir, confident of both Hindu and Muslim votes
It has been rated second after Cambodia's Angkor Wat.
'He will always live in the hearts of the millions of children who have studied in schools and colleges established by him and the faithful Hindus to whom he was a symbol of the invincible spirit of glorious Hindu Dharma,' says Tarun Vijay.
Heavily-armed gunmen shouting Islamist slogans stormed the Charlie Hebdo (a satirical newspaper) office in Paris on Wednesday and shot dead 12 people including its editor-in-chief Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb.
'He never had anything to substantiate his allegations while dropping names. It was done more to divert the investigation,' NIA sources tell Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
The NGO had given donations to an allied entity of RGF in 2011 which engages in promoting girl education and providing money to needy for meeting hospital expenses.
Beijing was chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday, becoming the first city to be awarded both summer and winter Games.
'I was told by everyone who mattered that it was dangerous for me to be an out-of-the-closet lesbian, who is a Pakistani in America. But I've never played by the rules.'
'The Gujarat model was never an economic model; it was essentially a governance model.'
'Mr Modi identified what would help him win votes and got it done, like 24x7 power in three phases, better roads, more water, etc.'
'Good economic governance at state level is quite different from good governance at national level,' points out T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
The Simulia madrassa, on the outskirts of Bardhaman town in West Bengal, allegedly had links with Gulshana Bibi and Amina Bibi, the women arrested after the October 2 blast in the town. The NIA alleges the madrassa trained poor Muslim women in jihad. The madrassa had an unwritten convention: The women trained there would be married only to men who were on the same 'mission.'
'There is nothing wrong in accepting Rama as a God.' 'You will not get to read a story as deep as Valmiki's Ramayana in which he talks about complex relations, strong emotions, pain, desertion and unconditional love. Whether you depict Rama as a human being or a divine person, the Ramayana is an epic with a great human story.' 'It is not religious intolerance at all; this is part of political power and polarisation. A religious person will never act intolerant towards another religion.'
'Unity in diversity is a dated notion as India, today, is more unified and cohesive and yet more pronouncedly diverse than ever in its history,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
Did you know that samosas, idlis and coffee are not originally from India?
'There are people clicking beautiful photos with a phone camera that others fail to achieve even with a DSLR' says Amit Mehra.
'Unless we change and we see a change in the direction we are taking, times can only get worse.'
'If Mr Modi continues growing as a Hindu Hriday Samrat, better that it is done by restoring ancient temples than demolishing medieval mosques,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Mohan Bhagwat said the temple would be constructed in the same grandeur as it existed before, using the "same stones" under the guidance of those who were the flag-bearers of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for the last 25 years.
Should India engage Pakistan's generals directly, bypassing Imran? Ambassador G Parthasarathy, India's former high commissioner to Pakistan, ponders Delhi's diplomatic dilemma.
'So a number of people are drawn in along with members of their friends' circle or their relatives.' 'A number of individuals find that they have more in common with the 'imagined community' that they discover online as opposed to their own physical community and indeed, even the majority Muslim community elsewhere.'
Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence.
'I have only this to say to those who talk about Mewar rulers and Akbar's brutality -- do you expect a king to not expand his kingdom?' 'You have entire cities named after Muslim rulers. It's time our heroes got their due.'
Favourite movie homes, comparing Amitabh-Shashi's beds in Kabhi Kabhie and discovering the truth about Salman Khan's 1990s chartbuster... All in Sukanya Verma's Super Filmi Week.
The movies that impressed, puzzled and stunned Sukanya Verma at MAMI this year.
Annabel Mehta, Sachin Tendulkar's mother-in-law, has dedicated her life to working with the Beautiful People of the other half of Mumbai without whom the city would neither exist nor thrive. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel met the amazing lady who was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire for her service to underprivileged communities.
The Al Qaeda, the Islamic State or Daesh, as it is also called, will continue to exploit the fault lines and the many contradictions in the approaches of different countries, says Hardeep Puri.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances