Delhi is a year-round health hazard that visitors shun like the plague, says Sunil Sethi.
The great pity is that Mr Siddiqui has a remarkable, even inspiring, story to tell, feels Sunil Sethi.
With her various overtures and right noises at the right time, Mamata is once again trying to reshape her image from being a regional leader to one with national appeal and acceptability. After all, the charge of building a Federal Front may also bring to the fore Mamata's chances to become prime minister in 2019.
Bestselling author Dan Brown spoke at the Penguin Annual Lecture in Mumbai on November 12. Snapshots from the evening
Generations of Indians don't quite grasp that there would barely be an India had it not been for the Sardar whose steadfastness and guile stitched together that which had been united only in philosophy and spirituality and sometimes not even then -- for thousands of years. A fascinating excerpt from Hindol Sengupta's The Man Who Saved India, Sardar Patel and His Idea of India.
"A true nationalist must have a "sense of shame" for the crimes his government commits and accept that his country is not perfect," said the eminent historian.
'Galbraith had a powerful ally in Washington -- not as blunt and direct as the ambassador -- but committed to see Krishna Menon go.' 'This was President Kennedy himself.'
Several titbits related to the Arushi-Hemraj murder mystery that shook the nation find mention in a new book 'Aarushi' by Avirook Sen.
Mallya understood, astutely, that the Dhingras were very keen to acquire Berger Paints. He upped his asking price. The figure Vijay asked for was found to be much more than what Kuldip and Gurbachan had anticipated. A fascinating excerpt from Sonu Bhasin's Unstoppable: Kuldip Singh Dhingra And The Rise Of Berger Paints.
Indira Kannan picks Made in Bangladesh, Greed, Moothon.
The Indian economy was on an impressive growth path through the first decade of this century till it was brought to an abrupt halt by the policy inertia during UPA2 and the Modi government's inability to restore economic and financial momentum. Fascinating glimpses of what went wrong from Puja Mehra's must-read book The Lost Decade: How India's Growth Story Devolved Into Growth Without A Story.
One cricketer made all the difference when the first All India cricket team toured England in 1911. Baloo Palwankar startled the English with his guile and genius.
As Raazi hit theatres, Harinder Sikka -- author of Calling Sehmat, the book on which the film is based -- reveals the thrilling real life story of an Indian spy named Sehmat.
Former RBI Governor Subbarao blamed Chidambaram for undermining the autonomy of RBI and putting pressure on him to cut interest rates.
'It was the Mughals who first established standard units of measurement and maintained offices of meticulous record keepers and auditors, departing from the more haphazard methods of earlier regimes.' 'By the end of the 16th century, their revenue and judicial administrations exhibited an obsessive preoccupation with order, the efficient management of time, and a spirit of rational self-control -- all of them characteristics of early modernity,' point out Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Ellman.
In Yogi Adityanath's Uttar Pradesh wayward Romeos would all be in the lock-up, says Sunil Sethi.
'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.'
Junaid was my son. He was son and brother also to the people on the train compartment of his last journey. He was son or brother also of those at the railway station where he breathed his last breath. This moving excerpt from Harsh Mander's Partitions Of The Heart: Unmaking The Idea Of India reveals why we must immediately end the hatred surging across north India before it consumes us all.
'There is hardly any boy who thinks he can jump from a high rise building and bash up 50 people. I really wanted people to believe it. That was the starting of my ****up.'
'Ambedkar's ideas have their own teeth -- if you don't have an appetite for them, you can't swallow them.'
'Nehru once told JRD, "I hate the mention of the very word profit".' '"Jawaharlal, I am talking about the need of the public sector making a profit!" JRD replied.' 'Nehru reiterated, "Never talk to me about the word profit, it is a dirty word".' A fascinating excerpt from Shashank Shah's The Tata Group: From Torchbearers To Trailblazers.
'Will it lead to a full-scale war? I doubt it.' 'But I do think there will be some kind of limited conflict.'
At the age of 28 he's perhaps the only one in the country who's making cartoons on natural history.
Mayura Janwalkar travels to Kedambe, a tiny village in Maharashtra's Satara district, now better known as 26/11 hero Tukaram Omble's home. An excerpt from 26/11 Stories Of Strength by The Indian Express.
The Indians felt that if they acceded to Chinese claims in Ladakh, Beijing would simply be emboldened to press for further concessions in the future. A revealing excerpt from India And The Cold War.
'Everything they read on social media, they believe, is the truth.' 'One of the biggest challenges in the country today is how to counter fake news and propaganda.'
The Indian Institute of Science topped the HRD ministry's 2017 national rankings. In 2016, the IISc was ranked among the world's top 15 universities in the Times Higher Education University Rankings. In his book The Creation of Wealth: The Tatas from the 19th to the 21st Century, R M Lala recounted how Jamsetji Tata's grand vision and immense personal contribution laid the edifice of arguably India's finest educational institution.
For former President A P J Abdul Kalam, the greatest regret in life was not being able to provide facilities like 24-hour electricity to his parents during their lifetime.
'A robust electoral democracy provides the institutional basis for the generation and regeneration of political hope.'
'We, the audience, listen to stories that have nothing to do with us and we cry, just from the truth of those stories.' 'And Anvita is one of those people who makes this happen.'
India would have responded differently to "Pakistan-sponsored" Mumbai terror attacks had there been a different "mix of people" at the helm, according to former foreign secretary and national security advisor Shivshankar Menon.
A brief class by his teacher on the Rameswaram seashore on how birds fly and the locomotive force behind their flight gave former President A P J Abdul Kalam his aim in life and helped him in understanding physics better.
'There is no harm in children studying the Vedas; it is part of Indian culture and history... The aim is not to saffronise education,' Shiksha Bachao Andolan chief Dinanath Batra tells Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com
'Gandhi was ambivalent about the RSS; the Sangh, for their part, actively distrusted him.'
A lot of people only associate him with his music. And, obviously, he's a great musician. But Rahman, above all else, is a living example of spiritual equilibrium and intrinsic human goodness. A fascinating excerpt from Krishna Trilok's Notes Of A Dream: The Authorized Biography Of A R Rahman.
'Fear is not created by those who are defending minorities and Dalits.' 'Fear is being created by the actions of political leaders like Yogi Adityanath and police forces.' 'The kind of hate statements that are being made to which there is silence from the prime minister's side.'
The amount saved in a PPF account is actually saving for a rainy day.
God forbid, if bad days fall upon someone and debts pile up. A fascinating excerpt from Anil Lamba's Financial Affairs Of The Common Man: Master The Art Of Personal Finance Management.
Don't try to be a super woman. You must listen to your body, says Dr Mahima Bakshi.
Amitabh Bachchan's birthday bash. Don 3's movie details. Mahesh Babu's Bollywood debut. The latest Bollywood masala...
A must-read excerpt from former RBI governor and former Rajya Sabha member Bimal Jalan's India: Priorities For The Future.
