Dr Kalam, The Dalai Lama, M F Husain. Mrinalini Sarabhai. Dancer Astad Deboo lists his favourite Indian treasures.
A highly respected figure in the field of music, Balamuralikrishna featured in the popular national integration song "Miley Sur Mera Tumhara" in which he rendered Tamil lyrics.
You don't need a gym or heavy equipment to train your body to lose fat.
Hazare began his fast on January 30 at his native Ralegan Siddhi village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, demanding appointment of anti-corruption watchdogs at the Centre and in Maharashtra and resolution of farmers' issues.
'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.'
'If there was no sign that Loya suffered a heart attack, then what made the judges who were accompanying him believe that he had a heart attack'
'There are different kinds of risk.' 'It is a very powerful value. Your ability to de-risk the risk is also as important for risk taking.'
A recipient of Padma Bhushan and Karnataka Ratna awards, the seer was in a serious condition for the past two months and had undergone a surgery at a private hospital in Chennai about two months ago for his liver related complications.
"I am an academic and I have always made it clear that my ultimate home is in the realm of ideas," Rajan said in a letter to staff.
Senior freedom fighter, social worker and former Union Minister Dr Mohan Dharia passed away on Monday morning. He was 88. Dharia was a close associate of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar and was among the Young Turks of the Congress during the late 60s.
Senior journalist Ram Bahadur Rai, former news editor of Hindi daily Jansatta, replaces Chinmaya Gharekhan.
'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.
Fascinating insights about PeeCee from her mom, Dr Madhu Chopra.
R K Laxman was suffering from a prolonged illness.
'Some Indians take the extreme view that everything was known to our ancients, but others go to the opposite extreme and consider everything Indian was superstition and rubbish.' 'Indian science was perhaps more rational than the European science of the time.'
Kalam, who received seveeral prestigious awards including Bharat Ratna, played a crucial role when India tested its nuclear weapons at Pokhran in 1998 when the Vajpayee government was in power.
The top posts on social media from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
'I may not indulge in chest thumping to express my patriotism every day.' 'I may be cynical about many things happening in our country.' 'I may not roar Bharat Mata Ki Jai at the top of my voice. But I still love my country, just as one loves one's parents with all their weaknesses.' 'Does that make me any less of a patriot?' asks Shobha Warrier.
The arguments remained inconclusive and would continue on Friday.
Cancer surgeon Dr Ramakant Deshpande answers the most crucial questions on the disease. And offers very important advice on ensuring yourself a healthy, everyday life.
Can we make high speed 4G Internet available at 10 cents per GB, and make all voice calls free of cost -- that too in a large and diverse country like India? Can we make high-quality but simple breast cancer screening available to every woman, that too at the extremely affordable cost of $1 per scan? Can we make a portable, high-tech ECG machine which can provide reports immediately and that too at the cost of 8 cents a test? Can we make an eye imaging device that is portable, non-invasive and costs 3 times less that conventional devices? Can we make a robust test for mosquito-borne dengue, which can detect the disease on day 1, and that too at the cost of $2 per test? Amazingly, says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, all this has been achieved in India, not only by using technological innovation but also non-technological innovation.
Her great grandfather began sugar co-operatives in Maharashtra. Her grandfather was an eight time MP. Her uncle is currently leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly. Her cousin joined the BJP on Tuesday, March 12. Nila Vikhe Patil, who could one day become prime minister of Sweden, unravels her India connections in an e-mail interaction with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
The year is coming to an end and overall, it's been one hell of a year! We have had our share of ups and downs and we look forward to a better 2020. While we count down the days to the new year, let's also reflect on those who gave us strength to stand up in what we believe, the courageous who didn't bow down and the ones with gumption who inspired us to be better. We, Rediff.com, have selected 26 personalities, who we think are worthy of the title -- HERO OF THE YEAR -- and we want you, dear readers, to choose your hero!
'Communal tension and violent mobs have been part of our country, whichever government is in power. What has happened since the BJP came into power is that individuals or group activities asserting Hindutva have become louder, more aggressive.' 'Now we are finding ourselves in a country where reasoning and thinking have no place, the power lies with the goons.' 'I find any ban, whether on what we write, what we eat, how we dress etc, absolutely abominable. They have no place in a democracy.' Shashi Deshpande on why she joined the writers' protest against the growing intolerance in India.
R K Laxman immortalised the passive, hapless common man with an uncanny perception
Mark Tully on the India he loves.
Akkineni Nageswara Rao was one of the people instrumental in bringing the Telugu industry to Hyderabad from Chennai in the 1990s. Radhika Rajamani salutes the thespian, who passed into the ages on Wednesday, January 22.
How Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar find themselves in a huge controversy.
Indian scientists who wrote to the PM last week are not entirely rejecting GMOs but instead asking for caution and further testing to establish their safety.
A football fan, Kamil Hamied is known to be a calm and quiet person who wants to do something for society, like his uncle Yusuf.
'... for two reasons: the poor quality of education, and the low rate of female participation in the labour force.' 'Unless something is done quickly to remedy these problems, India will just have a large population of low-skill, low-wage, males trying and failing to feed their families adequately.'
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.
This cult of speed reaches its crowning glory during that peculiar Indian spectacle called medical camps. Medical camps are an activity in which doctors from cities travel to underserved areas, often on weekends, where the poor are then herded in hundreds for deliverance, photo-ops and freebies. In their more evolved form, there are surgical camps where bewildered and overawed patients are put onto operating tables and, much like an assembly line, a series of operations are performed in rapid succession. The surgical instruments are often magically sterilised in minutes between procedures, says Dr Sanjay Nagral.
'The middle class is already alienated.' 'If the stockmarket is destabilised, the BJP is finished; the party will lose in every town.' 'And if the stockmarket crash happens now, the BJP will not cross the 150 mark in 2019.'
'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.'
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.
'There is a point near the hill where you kill the engine and park your vehicle in neutral.' 'The vehicle automatically slides a few inches, which the locals believe is due to the magnetic power of the hill.'
When is the last time our government recognised a twenty something entrepreneur for introducing a break-out innovation?
'There could be some aberrations here and there. This has nothing to do with the government or the ruling party. The government machinery is put in action when atrocities take place. They are not sitting silent.' 'Beyond making sensational news, what purpose does returning the awards serve?'
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.