Fireworks illuminated the evening sky, earthen lamps dotted houses and lights decked up buildings as people exchanged sweets and gifts on Diwali which also witnessed bonhomie between Indian and Pakistani guards at border posts.
'You made me realise that it is great to be brown, even if we are currently living under Donald Trump's false definition of America.' 'In my 36 years in America there have been few instances where I have laughed and cried so much watching a show about brown people.'
'Politicians have always dealt in lies and propaganda.'
'But the scale of the propaganda and the impunity with which it is being unleashed now is stunning,'
'Anandiben is a strict taskmaster. She is accepted much less among the party cadres, but the bureaucrats in Gujarat bow to her dictates. In charisma, she is not a patch on Modi, and her acceptance among the masses will never become a reality.' Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reveals what Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel is really like.
'I can snap my fingers and get 1,000 people overnight, but I can't guarantee that they will develop because there has been zero change in education in the country in the last nine years.'
'Modi, focused on youth and their aspirations, has articulated a truly disruptive change: One of hope, of duties rather than rights, of standing up to the world instead of being bullied by it,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
10 achievers who made the cut in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list.
'Both India and Japan can find themselves in a win-win situation if they draw some lessons from each other's strengths,' says Dr Rajaram Panda.
Kailash Satyarthi, co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, in front of packed crowd made a rousing speech asking every person to come together and set our children free. He honoured those who came before him and also said that he accepted this honour on behalf of all the martyrs and activists in India. Here's the transcript of his moving acceptance speech.
'Our biggest problem has been keeping this country together.' 'Nation building is never easy. It is a very difficult task.' 'Even 70 years is not too long a time.'
Harish Kapadia is the only Indian to win mountaineering's most prestigious award.
The Indian-American was one of the real sheroes at the awards.
'He cooked chicken curry and so because of him, curries entered the British royal kitchens.' 'Eventually, he became a political advisor to the queen.' 'This guy was disrupting the royal household. It sent shockwaves...' Ali Fazal on his character Abdul Karim and working with acting legend Judi Dench.
The three years at the Reserve Bank have mostly been a string of success stories for Rajan, gaining him common man's adulation even as the free-thinker in him made a few foes who matter more in the corridors of power
These institutes, while expensive, are a viable alternative to studying abroad.
VG Siddhartha's story 'will be a good case study and not a deterrent to those who want to be entrepreneurs. I don't think it will scare young entrepreneurs. I think these cases will make them sensible. They will understand that they have to be very careful about certain things, otherwise, they will have to pay a heavy price.'
Lessons Nestle must learn from its big mistakes
The people who know Tibet will continue to fight the good fight. Long, hard, less than hopeful, but always peaceful.
Every day when Akhilesh returns after a joust with political adversaries to his Camelot, which is Lucknow's 5, Kalidas Marg, it is time to hold court with advisors and loyalists.
Princess Shivranjani of Jodhpur is breathing new life into dead forts and quietly changing the house of Marwar.
Civil rights activist Deepa Iyer, former executive director, South Asian Americans Leading Together, a social justice organisation thought after a visit to the minority businesses hit in recent weeks that the tragic story in Ferguson, Missouri, offers Indian Americans an opportunity to stand up and decry police brutality and show sympathy and support for African Americans in the beleaguered city
'That is what Gauri was, in her essence -- the principle of free, open, forthright words, made flesh.' 'And that is what was gunned down -- her words, and with them our freedom to fashion our own opinions, to frame our own thoughts, to articulate them without fear of reprisal.'
"When you feel you can't fight it, just go with it." said Robert De Niro's commencement speech to students graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts!
Women behind the wheel, movie theatres and now snowmen! Everyday things in the outside world are prohibited in Saudi Arabia's incredibly conservative society. Rediff.com compiles a list
'Love Sonia is a motion picture with the ambitions of a novel.' 'When I walked out of Love Sonia this Monday night, I walked out with a hushed audience that seemed too overcome by the raw power of the film to even pause for applause,' notes Sreehari Nair.
Donald Trump's executive order prohibiting the entry of people from seven Muslim-majority nations widened the rift between the Trump administration and several leading American companies.
You may have played them as a child (or not) but Abhijit Masih surely seems to miss some of these wonderfully games he played growing up.
He loves horses and fast cars. He can ride well and brandish a sword as expertly as he does a bat. Yet he is down to earth and religious, and has just agreed to an arranged marriage... The unknown side of the star all-rounder from his sister Naina Jadeja.
Preetisheel Singh lets us into some star secrets.
Sakina Jaffrey looks back at her parents, Saeed and Madhur Jaffrey's acting journey, to map the changing Hollywood landscape for desi artists.
Now, the world over, policymakers are dusting off their copies of Keynes' classic, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, and figuring out whether there are any answers there to our own challenges of growing our economies.
Like many such cases, this case too would have remained under wraps had the survivor not exposed the villains and the crime they had commited.
This Budget signals a shift from a hand-out to a hand-up economy.
Atul Kasbekar on the making of the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar 2018.
Rediff.com presents the gist of the speech delivered by Mr. Kailash Satyarthi on the Foundation Day of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh.
A monsoon holiday can be cheaper because of discounts.
Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Obama's daughters and Joshua Wong, the face of the Hong Kong protests against China have been named by Time magazine among its list of the 25 most influential teenagers of 2014.
US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, newly elected co-chair of the influential Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, discusses her vision for US-India ties with Rediff.com's Monali Sarkar.
In what is his final on-camera interview during his eight year stay at Washington's most famous address, US President Obama tells CBS that his family will be happy to be out of the White House come next weekend.
Indian Americans speak up about the daunting challenges on the 16th anniversary of the tragedy.
