'I would like to vote for Kejriwal. He is an aam aadmi like us. He has good middle class values. Corruption is the most important issue of this election. I don't like Modi because of his past.' Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel and photographer Uttam Ghosh travel to Nagpur, Maharashtra's third most populous city, to assess the mood among young voters.
'I think Ratan felt he had to do everything that he could to retain control of the company started by his forefathers, because that was the first priority and nothing else mattered compared to that.'
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel, who attended Zubin Mehta's mesmerizing concert at the picturesque Shalimar Bagh in Srinagar, describes those enigmatic moments when harmony returned to the heaven on earth, Kashmir.
'We lost our place in being first in the epidemic, when it hit India so hard, but we were actually the epicentre of the epidemic from essentially April 2020, for almost an entire year. We had such high cases. We were the country that had the most mixed response.'
'SARS-CoV-2 is going to change to avoid/overcome any thing thrown at it.'
Mumbaikars jumped out of vehicles to take a closer look at the 'aam aadmi' hero. They WhatsApped images of him, requested selfies. Arvind Kejriwal swept Mumbai off its feet on Wednesday, and how! Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports on the metropolis's response to the man of the masses.
'We live in India and anything can happen. Every day you read about stuff happening to girls, a child, women.' Vaihayasi Pande Daniel's daughters discuss the year that has gone by as their mother listens in.
'If the navy was part of the ministry of defence then, of course, the defence minister would have been jointly responsible for everything that happened. But that is not so. The defence minister can shrug his shoulders and say, "Look I don't know what is going on in the navy, so let the chief handle it". The politician is free to do what he feels. If his conscience hurts him, he is welcome to quit,' former naval chief Admiral Arun Prakash tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
The aircraft crashed in the river island around noon, soon after taking off from the Jorhat air base
When the Indian brunost bravely ventured into the international cheese arena in Spain, along with 4,000 others from 45 countries, before 230 judges, its sterling desi pedigree spoke for itself, winning a silver in the brown cheese category and giving India a berth on the global cheese map.
As Star India pulls the plug on Channel V, we take a trip down memory lane.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq discusses the difference between peace and normalcy and his vision for Kashmir, in an interview with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel, who is in Srinagar for the Zubin Mehta concert, gets a feel of the emotions at play on ground zero
'There are dark sheep all over. But can we have any other form of governance other than democracy?'... 'There cannot be two sets of rules -- one for the common man and one for the privileged political person.' Digvijaya Singh in a candid interaction with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
'Parsis are brought up with a great sense of the importance of truth and speaking your mind.'
'It was unfair to expect him to continue to keep on supplying vaccines without being given a firm commitment or a financial grant of any sort.'
Chaturvedi, a 1966 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, will have a term of two years, an official statement said.
Tell us how you are helping the chirpy friends.
Mumbai's Catholic community is outraged by Vinod Pande's film.
'My film talks about the eternal battle between Christ and Satan,' says director Vinod Pande.
Dates like 9/11 should never be allowed to pass by forgotten because terrorism is not to be borne, inhumanity is not to borne.
A look at his T20 Internationals numbers and one wonders why M S Dhoni was dropped for the T20 series against the Windies and Australia. His T20I numbers are quite decent and there is no sudden dip in his form, notes Rajneesh Gupta.
Bollywood, and the high drama that invariably accompanies it, totally overtook the Jaipur Literature Festival on its second day, reports Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
'The reality of this virus is that as long as it is circulating, it can mutate into new variants and by the time you realise that this is a new virus, which is more dangerous, and more transmissible, it is too late.'
Discussions on other issues are in progress, Pawar said after the meeting, held at the Nehru Centre in Worli.
Kashmir was the place I knew it would be. Delightful. Unforgettable. It is also a place all of us Indians need to experience, says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel after a recent visit to Srinagar.
'The Indian and Israeli rabbis were singing a small departure song for brave little Moshe, who had spent many, likely, heartbreaking but bittersweet hours at this home of his babyhood, looking at the drawings his mother had made for him, that were still up in his room.'
Admiral Arun Prakash, who was the chief of naval staff from 2004 to 2006 and is today a leading strategic expert, feels that one should patiently wait for the Navy to finish the inquiry into the explosion and fire aboard the INSSindhurakshak before jumping to any conclusion. "For the media to speculate on unsubstantiated rumours is not correct," he tells Vaihayasi Pande Daniel on the telephone from Goa, where he has been living post-retirement.
'There are only two bottlenecks for universal vaccination.' 'One, is availability of the vaccine.' 'Two, is the logistics for administering the vaccine.'
Among the 17 new AICC secretaries named so far, 10 are below 50 years of age, indicating the generational change in the 132-year-old Congress being brought in by 47-year-old Rahul, reports Amit Agnihotri.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has sought the help of Gujarat police to trace a top police officer, who is an accused in the fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others.
'Some fear that Gujarat's tourism potential will be lost. That's wrong. Gujarat has such wonderful places. And they have developed such a wonderful system of tourism for the Asiatic lion. That will continue.' Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel discusses the April 15 Supreme Court order -- where a pride or two of lions will move from the Gir forest in Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh, with Dr Asad R Rahmani, director, Bombay Natural History Society.
Two months after he retired, Ratan Tata remains a personal enigma despite the millions of words written about him. In this exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel, architect Ratan Batliboi reveals Ratan Tata the caring, honest, funny, simple, man behind the legend.
On the second anniversary of the 26/11 attacks, Vaihaysi Pande Daniel takes a look at the activity around the Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba, Mumbai, one of the prominent sites of the horrific terror strikes.
For Vaihayasi Pande Daniel, the granddaughter of a freedom-fighter, Jallianwala Bagh is the most important pilgrimage. The spot where 94 years ago more than 1,000 people were killed in cold blood, was a must-do on her life's itinerary, she writes after a recent visit to the hallowed garden
'If the government has not listened to scientists, it must.' 'It's obvious that this is a science-driven campaign (fight), a science-driven situation.' 'We cannot afford to ignore the science.'
The Congress leader was brought to the jail on Thursday evening and he has got no special facilities, except a separate cell and a Western toilet as specified by the court, prison officials said. Like other inmates, he will also have access to the prison's library and can watch television for a specified period.
'Vaccination is the only safe way to get immunity.'