Syed Firdaus Ashraf tries to escape the Mumbai heat in the hills of Uttarakhand and discovers the aftermath of climate change and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Can Nawazuddin Siddiqui bring Bal Thackeray's powerful personality to life? Syed Firdaus Ashraf watches the Thackeray trailer to find out.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com traces how the beating up of a man in Ghaziabad went from alleged communal attack to reported regular crime in a matter of days.
'When Etihad initiated their bid, it was conditional.' 'They said only if someone takes a 'haircut' would they be interested.'
'This is not the right way to speak about farmers. How can Kumaraswamy call farmers goondas?'
The result was so disastrous for the Congress and NCP that they lost 41 seats out of 48 to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
'There is a sense within the government and Modi that things are not as good as they were in 2019.'
'BJP has achieved its aim by making him a regional leader dependent on them.'
'It is a well-thought-out decision. I feel it is difficult for him now to step back.'
Where did the rasgulla originate from? Is the dish originally from Odisha or West Bengal?
'Every traffic police station in the city has a policeman designated unofficially as the 'cashier.' 'His job is to collect the bribes and, at the end of every month, distribute this money among the cops according to rank.'
'Many BJP MLAs and ministers tell us the police does not listen to them.'
Journalist Prashant Kanojia was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police on August 18 for a retweet and has been in custody ever since.
'While I am talking to you, I have no idea whether I'm infected or not.' 'I just want to go back home safely.'
'After Ambedkar, Dr Gail was the only writer who wrote critically on caste issues.'
'Whenever the Government of India throws the debris, they will not take such care of the mosque's debris and Muslims may object to such a move at that time.'
'...it gets a survey report that they are going to lose elections.' 'The fear of losing elections will make them immediately conduct a caste census.'
'They fear their caste privilege will be exposed if there is an OBC caste census.'
'Upper castes who complain against reservations are fighting only for their own castes.'
'They killed one Gauri, but now there will be lakhs of people who will continue to do Gauri's work.'
'Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal are the two people who have been marked and punished'
'They want to wind up Osho's Pune operation, take the money and move out of India.'
'India's treatment to a member of parliament of Afghanistan was not good and I am very upset about this action.'
'The actual amount due to Jet Airways employees is Rs 1,200 crore, and the management is giving only Rs 52 crore.'
'Punjab elections are there and so are UP elections. They must have done some calculations (before announcing the repeal).'
Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf does a comparative analysis of suicide numbers released by the NCRB. Data: Hemantkumar Shivsaran/Rediff.com.
Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala explains why he thinks Modi should be at the helm of India.
'They were certainly not practising Hinduism in the Harappan culture (which includes Mohenjo Daro and other sites).' 'There was no notion of Hinduism then.'
'Gehlot is right now doing things, which are not appreciated by the Gandhis.' 'The Gandhis have realised that their writ does not run in Rajasthan, therefore they have deflected the issue to Kharge.'
'There was outside intervention which is what led to the initial violence.' 'Once the violence started, there was a brutal lathi-charge by the police.'
The classic Marathi movie Simhasan would be an interesting watch today as it draws a parallels to the current political turmoil in Maharashtra.
'After Father Stan Swamy's death one thing has become very clear, that if you fight for justice in India you will be called a Maoist by the State.'
'The decision to supply free food grains is not an economically sound decision because the government will find it very difficult in future to charge anything for food grains.'
'We cannot believe the police encounter story at all.' 'They were in the hands of the police and they were de-weaponised.' 'They didn't have weapons. How can you kill them?'
'Verdict shows they had illegally imposed President's rule in Uttarakhand.'
'The Muslim community is disappointed with this judgment.'
'He is not acting solo.' 'The plot may have people within the Congress and outside.'
Ahead of the elections, a lot had been spoken of the large number of leaders defecting from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena. In fact, a month before the polls, more than two dozen Congress-NCP leaders quit and joined the BJP in hopes of riding high on the Narendra Modi wave. While for some the shift has brought in good fortune, for others it has brought loss. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com analyses how these defectors have fared.
A Mumbai restaurant celebrates Sanjay Dutt's release by serving Sanju Baba Chicken, FREE!
'Javed Ahmed was no mastermind of the riots, and this is not mentioned in the FIR against him either.'
