In Vrindavan, work is on to build the world's tallest religious structure, a new temple for Krishna by ISKCON-Bangalore
This is something that Modi's critics are reluctant to accept: He is the most popular leader that India has seen since Indira Gandhi, says Vir Sanghvi.
The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh battles its own and Opposition over the community's 'victimisation' and alleged preference to the Rajputs. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
'The Mughals became completely Indian in every sense and united the vast Indian subcontinent, not only territorially, but also the hearts and minds of people with multiple religio-cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversities' 'The Mughals, arguably, made India an enviable superpower in the then world.' 'Are the Hindutva rulers of today scared of acknowledging Mughal accomplishments?' asks Mohammad Sajjad.
'It looked as if India had been a major player in science at that time, raising the question when and why things changed,' says distinguished aerospace scientist Professor Roddam Narasimha.
As the Opposition leader in the state assembly, M K Stalin has to fend off the ruling AIADMK on the one hand and prevent the re-emergence of a non-Dravidian Opposition on the other -- but his immediate challenge comes from within, in the form of his wheelchair-bound octogenarian party leader and father M Karunanidhi, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Narendra Modi can pick up a tip from the Samajwadi Party ramlila. If he doesn't want L K Advani as President, he might anoint him Bharatiya Bhishma Pitamah, suggests Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
These trips will fill you with wanderlust.
'It smells like a case to silence my voice at this important time in the #metoo movement but in the larger context it could be a ploy to muddy the waters and sabotage the entire movement altogether.'
The Supreme Court asked on Friday as it said it would examine the issue of entry ban on women of menstrual age in the historic Sabarimala temple on the basis of constitutional parameters.
'We have lost one of music's most revered and prolific visionaries.'
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad took a potshot at Narendra Modi on Monday calling him a Dhritarashtra who is not only "blind" but also "deaf and dumb" and a "coward", as the chorus of criticism against the prime minister's "silence" on Dadri lynching grew louder.
As Kerala gets into the festive mood, police are maintaining tight vigil with the army receiving information that there may be a terror attack in southern parts of the country.
As you spruce up for Dussehra puja this year, we have a suggestion for you! How about looking at your finances in a whole new way?
'There is space for many faces and many tongues in this Republic of ours. But it only has one Constitution, and its citizens are vigilant,' says Mitali Saran.
Siva Sankar looks at S P Balasubrahmanyam's fantastic repertoire.
In 2017, the former Union minister called Modi "neech aadmi" following which he was suspended from the Congress party.
We should all bow before the legend that is Leander, says Rahul Jacob.
Ahmedabad's cultural scene would not have gone beyond the garba, but for Mrinalini Sarabhai's pioneering efforts.
The 2 countries signed 15 agreements including one on defence cooperation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held 'productive discussions' with President Joko Widodo.
'It is a great misfortune that the Nehruvian Stalinists of India have colluded with the grand project of demeaning and destroying Sanskrit. Today, the number of Sanskritists in India is low, and falling,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
More than Guru Dronacharya, the cult of his wife, Kripi, runs stronger in Gurgaon.
'It is best that an amicable solution to the dispute is found outside the precincts of the courts of law,' says former Union home secretary Dr Madhav Godbole.
As male bovines today account for only 28 per cent of India's cattle, it clearly shows that it is the bulls and not the cows that are mostly being butchered. This makes it clear that cow slaughter is not a problem but the slaughter of male bovines is whose main utility today is in the value of their meat, says Murad Ali Baig.
No new ideas, please, we are Indian. Seventeen years into the 21st century, we are still fixated by the ideas of the 20th century.
'As the film progresses, you tire of the been-there seen-that spectacle.' 'You want a story. You want good dialogue, not the corny words you are hearing.' 'You want an emotional connect. You want a tighter film.' 'Sadly, with Padmaavat, that's not what you get,' says Savera R Someshwar.
'For some South Asians, it may be tempting to think "I'm not Muslim, this doesn't really affect me".' 'But please know, it affects all of us,' says Arun Venugopal, a reporter at WNYC in New York.
'You can't go on creating division and rhetoric of hate.' 'It comes to roost. We are seeing the first glimpses of that in the state elections.'
'Living in Brazil, I had internalised the football mythology of that country, the way I had learnt Mahabharata stories in my childhood. The tragedy at the Maracana stadium in 1950, when a confident Brazil had lost to Uruguay in the finals. They tell the story of this debacle, this 'Hiroshima' that hit them, like the Shias lament the death of Ali. It led to the Brazilian team burning their white uniforms and switching later to Yellow and blue symbolising their national colours,' says Ambassador B S Prakash, India's former envoy to Brazil.
'Children should be brought up connected to our culture and should be introduced to characters from our mythologies. What is this Baa Baa Black Sheep?'
'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.
Books like Sunil Khilnani's Incarnations: India in 50 Lives, simple and straightforward though they appear, are instead powerful arguments for complexity, for empathy, and for curiosity
'For years American academia has used the concerns about Hindutva in India to almost completely trash the concept of Hinduism.' 'In the American debate, Wendy Doniger's point of views perpetuated Hinduphobia.' 'Americans were willing to change... Indian intellectuals let us down badly.'
'Here was a man who played a major part in helping the Bengalis of East Pakistan create a new nation, secured the merger of Sikkim into the Indian dominion and built R&AW into a formidable outfit, comparable to the best in the world.' Rameshwar Nath Kao shunned the limelight, hated to be photographed and preferred to work behind the scenes. A revealing excerpt from Nitin A Gokhale's much awaited book, R N Kao: Gentleman Spymaster.
R K Laxman immortalised the passive, hapless common man with an uncanny perception
'My age? It keeps changing every year. I can't remember it. I don't like ageing at all,' dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, who passed into the ages on Thursday, told Jasmine Shah Verma in October 2004. Reproduced with kind permission from Harmony - Celebrate Age magazine.
Take a look at some of the most striking images from the contest, and see a full gallery on Smithsonian's website.
Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre examines the Marathi film industry, which annually produces around 190 dissimilar films that requires an investment of Rs 400 crores.
