The year saw some standout performances from lesser known actors.
'When I was younger, 15 years or 20 years seemed like a really long time. But, as you journey though life, you don't realise where the years disappear...'
How much money the Modi government has already spent and is going to spend on all those foreign trips, muses Sunita Iyer
'No, that is not an abbreviation for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha,' says T V R Shenoy, 'but for J Jayalalithaa-Mamata Banerjee-Mayawati-Mulayam Singh Yadav... If the AIADMK, the Trinamool Congress, and other regional forces do extremely well, we could be heading for a repetion of the 9th Lok Sabha (1989 to 1991) and the 11th Lok Sabha (1996 to 1998), each of which saw multiple prime ministers and neither of which lasted even half of its five-year term.'
It is too early to say if we have seen the "final" bottom to these stocks in August 2013 or if another attempt to test them will be made before or just after elections, says Sonali Ranade.
A Muslim man taking a PhD in a dance form is not unusual, but it becomes interesting when the dance happens to be Mohiniyattam, says Shobha Warrier
In India, however, the Nifty continues to climb a wall of worry as general elections loom, fiscal deficit surges and the current account deficit is barely under control following subdued gold and crude prices, says Sonali Ranade.
Taki in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district is the last Indian outpost on the border with Bangladesh. It is one of hotspots for Bangladeshi infiltration into India. While most poor Bangladeshis cross over to look for work, terror groups take advantage to ferry their men and material into India. Indrani Roy/Rediff.com reports.
The dollar's preliminary moves after the low 80.90 are supportive of a like dollar rally back to 85.50. We should see confirmation of that in the early part of next week, says Sonali Ranade
Rediff.com columnist Yoginder Sikand recounts his near-death experience during a recent trip to Tabo, a small town on the banks of the Spiti river in Himachal Pradesh.
Waiting for capitulation in commodity markets is the better route to profits, says Sonali Ranade.
A lot will depend on how the equity markets in the US play out in April-May this year. A correction there, long overdue, could change all the variables in the current equations, says Sonali Ranade
Music composer-singer Bappi Lahiri offers a sneak peek into what to expect in his US concerts this month.
'His son had become a composer after all, and one now chased by producers. But while finding peace in one quarter, he had lost it in another. Jet was not a home any more. The room across his was empty, there were no sounds floating through the door.' The world, in the eyes of the Burmans.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee would seek to placate the hawks in the RSS by stating that the writing of history should not be one-sided. At the same time, he would project a moderate 'Nehruvian' image of himself as the archetypal liberal politician who would strive to attain a balance between conflicting viewpoints. A fascinating profile of the former prime minister and Bharat Ratna by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Shankar Raghuraman.
'The starting point of the Udta Punjab casting was that we didn't think stars would do a film like this, so we'd take non-stars. As the names kept rolling in and we had Kareena Kapoor and Shahid and Alia Bhatt, I was like yaar yeh ho kya raha hai?'
Hoard cash. There will be plenty of time and opportunity at far lower levels, warns Sonali Ranade in her weekly Market Notes
The dollar is king in an intermediate correction, says Sonali Ranade
It was the RBI which destroyed our $-job economy. It is for the RBI to resurrect it by instituting news ways of managing the INR, says Sonali Ranade
Don't catch falling knives or chase bear rallies no matter how enticing those eight pc green blips look. They may be mouse traps, warns Sonali Ranade
Time to take profits and move to the sidelines in an euphoria, says Sonali Ranade
Keep exit plans handy, D-day could be the second week of August, writes Sonali Ranade in Market Notes.
Is your love life under pressure? Are you troubled by your relationship? Get Ahead's Love Guru hosted a chat with readers on August 13 to help them deal with love problems. For those of you who missed it, here's the transcript.
