As India celebrates its 70th Independence day, Rediff.com pays homage to millions who laid their lives for the country's freedom.
'My age? It keeps changing every year. I can't remember it. I don't like ageing at all,' dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, who passed into the ages on Thursday, told Jasmine Shah Verma in October 2004. Reproduced with kind permission from Harmony - Celebrate Age magazine.
'Those days, none of the leaders thought of amassing wealth.' 'All of them wanted to sacrifice their all for the country.' 'There are many who didn't have any money, but sacrificed their lives for the country.' 'There are many who spent their own money and worked for the country.' 'There are many more about whom we do not even know what they had done; they did everything so silently and selflessly.'
Putting together a play about the Father of the Nation is no easy task. But when that play is a musical, the challenges increase.
From small retailers' experiences with e-wallets to digital transaction numbers post demonetisation, Geetanjali Krishna and Karan Choudhury find out where the truth lies.
'I believe in giving my opinions and standing up for what's right but in the past two-three years, I thought it was scary to say anything because everything is twisted and a lot of it was damaging my career. People are just nasty.' Sonam Kapoor puts on a brave front for Neerja.
Shopkeepers are losing buyers in droves to e-tailers for everything from fashion to smartphones, and are struggling to find solutions.
'I like the thought that I am competing successfully with writers much younger than me,' says Ruskin Bond.