Fireworks light up the night sky above the Maracana as some 50,000 spectators present, and some 3 billion people tuned in around the world as Brazil lifted the curtain on its second major sporting event in two years, after the 2014 soccer World Cup.
'India missed the software products revolution (and now is in danger of missing the platform revolution), complacent that we are the software experts of the world based on IT services prowess,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
The ancient Jordanian city and its immense faades were lost for almost 1,000 years!
Thirty-four years after he traveled to space, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih that he looks forward to Gaganyan, India's first manned space mission in 2022.
Dominic Jose understood that luxury has a new definition. It's not ostentation, but the experience that matters.
How much do you know about Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal and the Taj Mahal?
'Notwithstanding the physical distance, the two countries historically had a convergence of approach and outlook to many international issues.' 'The relationship between the two countries cannot develop or flourish in a vacuum. There should be initiatives at various levels -- at the level of government, Parliament and the people.'
In bilateral interfaces relations with China have also to be given due weight, opines Premvir Das
It's been 100 years since Lenin and the Bolsheviks overthrew the government, and its legacy remains visible even today in the buildings and monuments scattered throughout St Petersburg.
'Antony and I have been friends for over half a century, and I know the man does not tell lies. The problem is that what he believes to be the truth might not actually be true. He may believe that India needs the Congress, and that the Congress in turn needs the Nehru-Gandhi family, but that does not mean that India shares those articles of faith,' says T V R Shenoy.
The most popular list among the shutterbugs this year.
The perception about JNU being 'radical' is one that is as old as JNU itself. But the university is more than just that. At its heart, its campus is a mosaic of ideologies that allow its students to breathe politically.
'Serious crimes of this sort cannot be excused merely because he has a family.' P Rajendran/Rediff.com was in the courtroom last week when Mathew Martoma was sentenced to nine years in prison for insider trading.
Aseem Chhabra gives us the top films that enriched his year.
How has the Indian State, in principle and practice, given shape to the essential ingredients of the secular principle and composite culture?
November 12 marks 25 years of the beginning of the World Wide Web. Shivanand Kanavi gives us the story of how it all began.
'If the State does want to come after you, in India, it can do pretty much anything. And often it isn't as though the orders are coming from the President or prime minister, no, the systems have been built in a way -- or we have allowed them to be built in a way -- that almost encourages crushing of liberties.'