'We often assume that Ayodhya is Ram's property and Hastinapur is Yudhishthira's property when, in fact, it is their responsibility.' 'A king exists, as per Hindu philosophy, only to ensure that other people's property is safe,' explains Devdutt Pattanaik.
The CM said he was proud that he was born in a country which had the "best communication system" and "best culture" in the whole world.
Nothing would please our adversaries if the court verdict sees triumphalism on the part of the majority and sullen anger of the minority, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
We have our own problems for sure and they are not trivial, but for now, our economy is in not too bad a shape, our politics is as personality-driven and authoritarian as that of most countries in the world. We must make the best of what we have and not be excessively unhappy looking at the grass on the other side of the septic tank which may not be greener after all!, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
Shooting from the lip... Kapoor style!
'In the 30 years since the Ayodhya movement began, the RSS has created a generation of Hindus who are the mirror image of those fanatic Muslims who take to the streets at the slightest, even imagined, 'insult to Islam,' argues Jyoti Punwani.
'John Lasseter gave me such good advice. He said the reason why he wanted me to tell the story was because it was about my dad and me. He said if it is a father and son story, it will relate universally.' Star Pixar animator Sanjay Patel tells Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com the back story behind his new film, Sanjay's Super Team, which features Hanuman, Vishnu and Durga as superheroes.
His remarks that some people suffer from diseases such as cancer because of sins committed in the past and that it is "divine justice" have sparked sharp reactions.
His songs were the anchor, the substratum, if you will, upon which life unfolded day after day, decade after decade -- across villages, towns, cities, and regions. Siva Sankar pays tribute to S P Balasubrahmanyam, the legendary singer who passed into the ages on Friday.
Chennaiites are proud that they are a culture-loving people.
Tamil film Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham is a pathetic first attempt, according to S Saraswathi.
People from all walks of life and political inclinations, budding and aspiring poets and lyricists, looked at Vaali for inspiration, writes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Siva Sankar looks at S P Balasubrahmanyam's fantastic repertoire.
'In a nation where safety standards are the lowest in the world, why make compliance expensive?' asks Aakar Patel.
Kainchi, near Nainital, attracts devotees from near and far, 42 years after the death of its spiritual leader, Neem Karoli Baba.
'Patriotism is a sentiment, a feeling of belonging to a place.' 'Nationalism is an ideology, and like all ideologies, it is absolute and restrictive in nature,' Ashis Nandy, arguably India's leading social thinker, tells Geetanjali Krishna.
'The appointment of 60 priests from the Dalit community is a historic moment.' 'Imagine this is happening in Kerala when Dalits are not even allowed to enter temples in some states even today.'
'The strange thing about the Karnataka election is that the BJP looks more like the Congress of the past and vice versa.' 'Siddaramaiah has been able to out think the BJP almost every single day on every single issue.'
Yes, Aurangzeb was a tyrant who ill-treated his subjects. But was he the only Mughal emperor guilty of this, asks Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
Historian Stanley Wolpert, author of several books on India, passed into the ages recently. We remember Professor Wolpert with Rajeev Srinivasan's March 1997 interview published on the occasion of his controversial book on Jawaharlal Nehru.
Eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri winner Dalip Kaur Tiwana decided to return her award protesting "recurrent atrocities" on Muslims in the country, as another Kannada writer joined authors giving up their Sahitya Akademi Awards against "growing intolerance".
Meet 28 year-old Dusyant Sridhar who is a techie by day and an Upanyasakar after work, giving discourses on ancient scriptures.
'Naik is an outcome of an image-centric Islam, which is linked to the technological changes introduced by new media.' 'English educated upper middle class Muslims embraced Naik's image-centric Islam in the 1990s.' 'Television converted him into a religious object.'
'This is India, bhai. This kind of country does not exist anywhere in the world.'
'Our daughter's name is ANITA-BRIGITTE. She should actually bear the name of AMITA, but the German authorities would have certainly objected to such an unusual name so we chose the name Anita which is almost sounding like Amita.' 'Brigitte was chosen by me because its short form in German is Gita.' Netaji's family had no idea that he had married and had a child till his brother Sarat Chandra Bose received a letter from Emilie Schenkl. A fascinating glimpse from Madhuri Bose's book, The Bose Brothers and Indian Independence, An Insider's Account.
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