Khushwant Singh was a courageous writer. He was a superb mentor of young talent, had great generosity of spirit, was extremely tolerant and was, on many levels, a true secular Indian, says Shobhaa De in a moving tribute.
'Today, everybody is on the computer, everybody on the mobile.' 'There is very less physical activity.' 'The treatment most effective in reducing heart disease is exercise.' 'It is very, very, important.'
Can we make high speed 4G Internet available at 10 cents per GB, and make all voice calls free of cost -- that too in a large and diverse country like India? Can we make high-quality but simple breast cancer screening available to every woman, that too at the extremely affordable cost of $1 per scan? Can we make a portable, high-tech ECG machine which can provide reports immediately and that too at the cost of 8 cents a test? Can we make an eye imaging device that is portable, non-invasive and costs 3 times less that conventional devices? Can we make a robust test for mosquito-borne dengue, which can detect the disease on day 1, and that too at the cost of $2 per test? Amazingly, says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, all this has been achieved in India, not only by using technological innovation but also non-technological innovation.
'I like the thought that I am competing successfully with writers much younger than me,' says Ruskin Bond.
'A person should not be caught in the pursuit of enjoyment alone, he should experience enlightenment too. I mean, there should be action and motion. We must enjoy the action, not the motion,' BKS Iyengar told Rediff.com in September 2000.
'There could be some aberrations here and there. This has nothing to do with the government or the ruling party. The government machinery is put in action when atrocities take place. They are not sitting silent.' 'Beyond making sensational news, what purpose does returning the awards serve?'
The year 2014 has been an eventful one for India. The country got a new government and a new state, broke new frontiers in various fields and of course its share of controversies.