'For people who are fed on nothing else but the media, what were prejudices become facts of life.' 'What my neighbour may see as just news, for me is a source of fear, living as I do, surrounded by non-Muslims.' 'So I would say it is important to talk to a Muslim, be it your neighbour or your colleague.' 'Have that conversation about what's happening to Muslims.'
We have let a woman of Italian origin rule us through a clever divide of administrative power centres, but far too many of us have not accepted her Indianness. We have every right to reject her politics and her corrupt government, but shouldn't her living most of her life here make her Indian enough?
Launches and sales of house property have seen a continuous drop.
'The mandals and politicians are trying to project that this is against somebody. We are not against anybody. We do not want the celebrations to stop. It has to happen, but do it in a civilized way.'
U R Ananthamurthy on the importance of keeping alive our regional languages.
Mahesh Rangarajan, director of the historic Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi, tells Sheela Bhatt how the first prime minister will always remain relevant, and the efforts being made to keep his legacy alive.
Here's how a simple game theory and a sense of nostalgia has led to the success of Pokemon Go across the globe.
'From the beginning (I have told her) "Whatever it may be -- you are losing or winning -- on the ground you're not going to cry!" She never cried.' '"I don't want you to project that you are a loser. You are a winner".' Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com speaks to Leela Raj about her famous daughter, now in the West Indies for the women's T20 World Cup.
'The BJP is spreading slow poison in India. The effect will not be seen now, but after 10 years you will see it for sure.'
Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg spoke about success, surviving loss and failure to the graduating class of 2016 at UC Berkeley.
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We present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's full speech as he addressed the country on the occasion of 66th Independence Day, from Red Fort, Delhi.
They are shaken by the mass molestation in the city on New Year's Eve. But they are not waiting to be rescued. Nikita Puri reports.
With the images of Rajendra Babu, Radhakrishnan, K R Narayanan, V V Giri and Kalam in my mind, the image of my beloved hero dancing ungainly to 'Merey angney main tumharra kya kaam hai', doesn't make a smooth transition, says Sudhir Bisht.
'Nitish Kumar wouldn't have won Bihar without Lalu. He needed a voter base and Lalu has a much bigger voter base than Nitish.'
'People don't like me wearing saris. But I am an Indian drag queen. I will wear a sari.'
Nargis Fakhri is really fun to be around, discovers Patcy N/Rediff.com.
A documentary on football and a biography of Jesus make Roopa Unnikrishnan mull over the lessons organisations can learn from honest outsiders.
65,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees still live in Tamil Nadu. Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar discovers the challenges for the refugees to return home.
Simanta Roy Buck finds out why Indian-American singer-songwriter Zoya Mohan bought a one-way ticket to Mumbai.
'I'm a rascal, I'm going to play a paramahansa?!'
She is changing India one village at a time.
Claude Arpi gives a fascinating firsthand account of the Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang in March 1959 and explains why he will once again receive a grand welcome, whether Beijing likes it or not.
'This uniqueness of Jammu and Kashmir has to be respected by New Delhi. If it is not done, then it puts question-mark on the very basis of the relationship,' Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference chairman Sajjad Gani Lone tells Pervez Majeed.
Brilliant movies from China, Ethiopia, Austria and India line up for Mumbai.
The band's trip to Rishikesh delayed their split till 1970! This & other unheard stories...
Incoming US President Donald Trump has assembled a core team that is -- not surprisingly -- overwhelmingly white and male.
Advisors and agents known to you personally can also sell wrong policies.
Menstruation is not a disease. Yet, in villages, women die due to poor hygiene during their periods.
'I am here to look after people's needs.' 'I am not bothered about who is a Maoist or who is not.'
'Mary just stopped talking to me. Maybe she did not like the fact that she was the gold medallist, but it was me (Sarita), not her, who was getting all the attention.'
'Think about how he would have handled Hyderabad, and JNU. He would have been very cross if he found two of his Cabinet ministers weighing in on the side of the ABVP.' 'And if Rohith Vemula still killed himself, he would have been the first to speak out in anguish and empathy rather than deny he was a Dalit.' 'And JNU, he would have simply said something like, 'let the boys speak, then they will grow up and join the IAS).' 'A good idea, when in crisis, is to apply the 'Vajpayee test' to your actions,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Singer Kavita Seth tells us what kind of songs she loves to sing -- and then even sings them!
'I do not call the BJP or RSS as extremist groups, but some small groups all over India have started behaving aggressively after the BJP came to power.' 'These groups think they have the authority to attack anyone and impose their ideas on people.'
When Rajni Kothari pointed towards a new democratic alignment in India.
Irrfan Khan's fascinating interview with Savera R Someshwar/Rediff.com.
Nowhere on the planet, nowhere in mankind's history has such an idea taken the concrete shape in form of a law. The National Food Security Bill, which will come via ordinance and not after the debate in Parliament, is an incredible economic tool to tackle the hunger of poor Indians. Also, it has already been condemned widely as a political gimmick.
Varun Dhawan tells us what an actor's life is really like.
'Why can't we make it mandatory for all IAS and IPS officers to serve in the armed forces for a year before joining service? What stops us from making it compulsory for every Member of Parliament to spend three months, immediately after taking oath, in military barracks/maybe a few nights in the bunkers on the borders, to learn and understand the life of a fauji?' wonders Tarun Vijay, MP.
They have been entertaining throughout the year!
'America's withdrawal from Vietnam was an inspiring moment for all of us. We believed that it was a glorious victory of ideology and spirit and as historic as the defeat of the Nazis exactly 30 years ago,' remembers Kumar Ketkar 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War.
