World leaders often have simple tastes when it comes to food.
'Many of the children I work with had never attended school before and had never been given the right environment or opportunity to learn.'
'When education became accessible -- through flexible learning spaces, creative methods and community-based classrooms -- these same children began to thrive.'
'Over time, many who had never stepped into a formal classroom not only entered the education system but continued their studies further, with some going on to university.'
'Workers are the people who create all the wealth in this country. How can you call them anti-national?'
From styling icons like M S Dhoni and Virat Kohli to launching India's first horror film festival, Sapna Bhavnani's journey stretches far beyond cricket and Bollywood -- into fearless self-expression, bold filmmaking and unapologetic reinvention.
Singer-rapper Badshah is reportedly married to Punjabi actress Isha Rikhi, with photos from what appears to be their wedding ceremony circulating widely on social media.
'The BJP is projected as a party that follows Hindu politics, talking about religion, gods and goddess all the time.'
'People of Tamil Nadu are not bothered about religion in politics.' 'That is why Tamil Nadu people do not encourage the BJP.'
'When you reach a good point in your life, you should never forget the struggle that got you there. I haven't. That is why I have not become swollen-headed.'
Karex, the Malaysian company that makes roughly one in five of the world's condoms -- about five billion a year, supplying Durex and Trojan among others -- announced this week that it is raising prices by up to 30 percent. The reason is the Strait of Hormuz.
'The entire party is centred around one man and that is Arvind Kejriwal.' 'Till the time you are in Kejriwal's good books you are powerful. The day you are not with him, you are no one in the party.'
'You cannot run Parliament with 800 MPs as nobody will get time (to speak in Parliament). And Parliament sits for barely 60 days in a year.' 'Look at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. They have 650 MPs and they sit for 150 days on an average in a year.'
'When I decided to be a cook I was ridiculed, heckled, bullied back home.'
'The reason why they rushed through the bill was they wanted to avoid using the 2026 Census because the 2026 Census by their own decision will be a caste census.' 'The BJP knows that a significant share of the OBCs who will get captured in the census, for the first time after the 1931 Census, are against the BJP. Only a segment of the OBCs are in their favour.' 'So they wanted to avoid the OBC reservation among women, which is a demand of a lot of Opposition parties.'
Shreekant Sambrani tells himself over and over again, don't lose heart in these dire times, there is asha (hope) still, in the divine voice of Asha Bhosle.
'Today, if 50 songs are composed, one or two work. In the 1970s, all 50 would work.'
'Gandhi was Thakur and Gabbar was Jinnah.'
'US and Iran have not annulled the ceasefire, and the possibility of continuing negotiations remains open.'
'The BJP is pouring in money so that only BJP candidates are visible everywhere.' 'If the Congress does not win this time, its survival itself will be a problem...'
'Never before has the Congress been part of a rainbow coalition, and the response from the people has been overwhelming.' 'Assam's diversity cannot be represented by a single voice -- it requires a collective effort, and that is what we are building.'
'EPS exposed all the traitors. The DMK has given them political asylum. They are political orphans.'
The Chhattisgarh government is shifting its focus to the development of the Bastar region after claiming the elimination of armed Naxalism. The plan includes preserving tribal culture, creating economic opportunities for youth, and strengthening the economy through forest produce and women-led self-help groups.
'Pakistan's is the only military-controlled nuclear weapons programme in the world.' 'As people get radicalised, the risk of a brigadier or pilot taking matters into their own hands is a real concern.'
The intriguing bit is that Trump is likely to attend the talks in Islamabad this weekend -- if he does, it will be the clearest signal yet that the US is ready to exit the war with some sort of win to show, since he cannot afford to go for the talks and return empty-handed, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War
Asha Bhosle's only daughter Varsha Bhosle, who died in 2012, had penned this beautiful ode to her mother.
'Our government is committed to addressing it firmly while protecting the rights of genuine citizens.'
'Many have contributed in terms of gold and silver. Ladies in big numbers have contributed their home belongings and gold.' 'Some have donated their cars too.'
'The AIADMK front comes second, and then the TVK.'
The logic of war plus the gathering storms in US politics as the midterms loom large leave him with no real alternative but to negotiate, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'All terrorists are a blot on humanity.' 'No religion in the world teaches you to take the life of an innocent person.' 'Kashmiris have always been known for their hospitality. One moment of darkness cannot erase Kashmiriyat.'
'The unregulated marketing has to stop. People are getting recommendations for this from gym trainers, from marriage counsellors -- that is simply unacceptable.' ''There are many ways to lose weight -- eat less, fast, exercise, eat healthy. That is how you lose weight.'
The cost of the war is being counted not in the corridors of power in Washington or Tehran, but in Firozabad's darkened furnace rooms, Howrah's idle casting sheds, and a barbershop in Kochi where the wait is suddenly, inexplicably, an hour long, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War.
'It is going to be a negative vote against the government rather than a positive vote for the UDF.'
'The March correction was clearly due to the war and with prospects of that coming to a conclusion, there is a natural rally.'
'People have lost hope of finding justice in this state ... I want to give these victims, their families, the people of this state, a voice.'
'Why can't we work towards a dignified end of the person when a cure is not possible and the end is inevitable?'
'The BJP must have decided to replace Nitish with a green signal from JD-U leaders close to him.'
The ceasefire is still technically holding, to the extent that no overt hostilities have been reported yet, but the rhetoric has hardened dangerously. The week ahead will also clarify whether the Islamabad failure was a negotiating tactic or whether Washington has genuinely locked itself into a position from which the only exits are climb-down, escalation, or the slow bleed of a new status quo that nobody chose and nobody controls. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
Nikkhil Advani, a master of long-form storytelling, reflects on Freedom At Midnight and what it was to make a two-part series on the most difficult period of India's history in these polarised times.
'My resignation is a larger governance and governance-plus kind of an issue, which the board of directors of the bank should be introspecting.'
Ajay Kela, CEO of Wadhwani Foundation, highlights India's significant opportunity to lead in the diffusion of technology, creating national-scale use cases that reach millions of end-users. He also discusses the role of deep-tech startups and SMEs in job creation and the importance of upskilling initiatives.
'He is not accessible even to his family, his wife or his mother or his father. No one.' 'He has created a barrier so that nobody can go and talk to him.' 'This kind of a mentality is a big question mark in politics.'
