'The biggest advantage for India was its seasoned and experienced political leadership who had spent decades struggling against the Raj and had spent years behind bars.' 'Not a single prominent leader of the Muslim League spent one day in jail.' 'Gandhiji, Nehru and Sardar Patel were intelligent, shrewd men with their hands on the popular pulse.'
Advait Chandan decodes Aamir Khan.
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The war of words that has broken out between Vikram Bakshi and McDonald's Corporation is the latest in the long list of ugly spats between Indian businessmen and their overseas collaborators.
'They don't just kill their enemies, they chop off limbs, sever heads.' 'How can anyone kill a teacher in front of small children and a son in front of his parents?'
None of James Bond movies are complete without beautiful women, hi-tech gadgets and of course gorgeous four wheels.
'We had not seen any fighting, but we could hear guns and bombs exploding.' A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com and Reuben N V/Rediff.com traveled to Kerala to meet some of the nurses who have returned from civil-war ravaged Libya.
He had even proposed marriage to Madhubala. When she had giggled it off, he was said to have gone home and cried in front of his mother.
The charm of Kolkata is still alive says Sumit Ganguli.
'My grandmother taking me to the jamatkhana was like a different world.' 'Like I had a key to a door which no one else seemed to have.' 'She doesn't take me anymore because she says I'm an embarrassment!'
Ever heard of 'gosht ka halwa' or 'dal ki dulhan'? Avantika Bhuyan profiles a battery of food enthusiasts who are out to make sure that you do.
Shubir Rishi/Rediff.com narrates the morning safari that he took on day two at the Pench National Park. He was on a road trip to the Pench-Kanha-Tadoba national parks.
'Not allowing people to speak or listen is the biggest act of anti-nationalism,' says Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, one of India's finest poets.
'The tiger is the epitome of evolution.' 'Every tiger has a stripe pattern that is unique. Each tiger is unique.' 'Tigers are very elusive. It is said a tiger sees you nine times when you see it once.'
'Of the 32 captains who have led India in Test cricket, only four have been pure bowlers -- Ghulam Ahmed, Venkatraghavan, Bishan Bedi and myself.' 'The captain must lead with only one idea in mind -- to win the game. The draw mentality is partly because captains lacked confidence and partly because they want to protect their record. If you don't think winning is the point of the game, there is little point in even entering the field.' 'As the Monekygate controversy raged, I received a message from Bishen Bedi, no stranger to controversies himself. "As a captain," he wrote, "take a decision you will be proud of when you look back on history".' Anil Kumble, cricketing legend, on the Art of Captaincy.
'This is not a Sanjay Baru or Natwar Singh type of book. It's not a memoir. It's not a book to reveal conversations, real or imaginary. This is not a book to position myself at the centre of the world.' Jairam Ramesh on his stint as environment minister.
'Koi Sardar hai? Goli se maar dalenge...' 'The only sardars who were spared in the train were the six with us. And the credit goes to the innate goodness of the passengers in our coach.' Payal Singh Mohanka remembers that horrifying train journey in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination.
'If fame, money and comfort are the only factors that drive us, then we are playing cricket for entirely the wrong reasons.'
'It is obvious within these two months that in many ways Narendra Modi has a great degree of resemblance with Indira Gandhi.' 'The same style of management of power. The same kind of attempt to reduce a large section of the political leadership into, if not spectators, bureaucrats. His leaders are taking orders from him and executing those orders.' 'This is the model that has worked in Gujarat. And he is hoping that it will work in India.'
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has to deal with 3 powerful enemies: the media, the political establishment, and business houses.
How do you translate a first love into a profession? How do you become a writer once you set your heart on it? Susmita Bhattacharya, who once worked as a graphic designer in Mumbai, now teaches the basics of English to newcomers to Britain and is also a creative writing tutor. Her first novel The Normal State of Mind was published earlier this year after a grim battle with cancer.
The year threw up quite a few shockers, some rather rude one. Below are Rediff.com's 12 picks that made us sit back and think, 'Did that really happen?'
Judge Srikanth 'Sri' Srinivasan is the front-runner to replace the late Justice Anthony Scalia on the US Supreme Court.
'When it comes to India-Pakistan relations, seminal moments of progress invariably bring out saboteurs of peace -- whether we're talking about fresh provocations along the LoC, or even a terror attack in India.'
'He deserved to be field marshal because he carried the air force and navy with him in '71. Remember we were fighting on two fronts -- east and west. He stood out.'
Transcript of the political resolution adopted by the Bharatiya Janata Party in its national executive meeting in Panaji, Goa on Sunday.
'There was an overt campaign and there was a covert campaign. The overt campaign may be development, government, and all this nonsense. But the covert campaign, which Mr Amit Shah was doing, was far more important with the help of RSS cadres. This has been an RSS election. From day one I have been saying, this is not Congress versus the BJP, this is Congress versus the RSS,' says Jairam Ramesh, one of the key strategists of the Congress party.
'He was believed to finish his own work in an hour and spend the remainder of the time walking from one office to another, sitting down with the harried junior staff and helping them sort out the problems they were working on.'
'In her insecurity, she destroyed the institutions of democracy,' says Khushwant Singh.
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