'In the 1971 War my battalion suffered 4 casualties after fighting for 14 days.' 'In Operation Blue Star, I lost 19 men in just one hour.'
'The government needs to think if a draconian, outdated and colonial law is needed in a democratic, multi religious, diverse country governed by a democratic government.'
Colonel Ajay Kothiyal, Kirti Chakra, Shaurya Chakra, is one of the most decorated soldiers to join politics. He still has two bullets lodged inside his body sustained in a gun battle with terrorists in J&K.
'In AAP, those who are in charge of a particular state provide information to Arvind Kejriwal. 'In the BJP, several organisations convey what is happening on the ground to the top leadership.' 'There are so many channels through which issues are being understood.'
Acclaimed writer Nayantara Sahgal, the niece of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, has returned the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award to protest against the "vicious assault" on India's diversity and the government's failure to protect cultural diversity.
As India's turns 70, a 70 year old -- one of India's finest poets -- decodes his relationship with her.
Mahendra Raj is a towering figure of 20th century Indian architecture.
'The police will give weightage to the socially strong.' 'The dominant caste is usually a powerful person, while the scheduled caste is normally powerless.' 'That is why FIRs are not registered.' 'Most of these complaints are by very poor people against very rich powerful people.'
There is a reason Jodie Underhill is called 'garbage girl'. She has been dirtying her hands in a crusade against filth for the last 5 years.
Captain Saurabh Kalia was captured, tortured and barbarically killed in the Kargil War. For 20 years, his father has waged a war of his own to get justice for his son. Captain Kalia is no more, but he lives on in the home he did not return to.
The NDA candidate tells the Election Commission that the Maoists plan to kidnap him.
In these pandemic stricken, music bereft times, what can be more joyous than a playlist of 25 golden melodies?
'The BJP would not have brought him into the party if they did not appreciate him.'
Vinita Bisht and Vinita Kamte lost their husbands -- one an NSG commando, the other an IPS officer -- in the 26/11 terror attack. Six years later, Archana Masih/Rediff.com meets them to discover that closure is one of the hardest things to find.
Irom Sharmila, the woman who was on a hunger strike for 16 years, leads a quiet life, and recently became a mother of twin girls.
'I like the thought that I am competing successfully with writers much younger than me,' says Ruskin Bond.
None of the political parties in UP has any effective plans to create jobs.
'Never lose your optimism. Never lose your aspiration and never -- even if India becomes a prosperous consumer society -- never ever lose that shining light in your eyes,' advises Dr Peter McLaughlin, headmaster of the Doon School.
'An unsung hero is fine, but an insulted one is not.'
Water actress Seema Biswas on Deepa Mehta, and going to the Oscars.
A high-level meeting of the Committee of Secretaries decided that the celebrations must be participated by at least 1,000 central paramilitary force personnel at each locations in ensuring the 'grandeur' of the event across the country.
'Wayanad has become famous because of Rahul Gandhi.'
Every year, for thousands of years, the Sonepur Mela, transforms a small rural town in north Bihar into a giant fair.
The border guarding force has the maximum confirmed cases of the disease among the Central Armed Police Forces, also known as paramilitary forces.
'I am a very personal writer. I write direct to the reader. I don't hold back,' says India's most loved writer, Ruskin Bond.
A modern day prince and princess are getting married in Bengaluru this weekend.
There are several other famous temples across India that disallow non-Hindus to enter their place of worship, Rediff.com lists some of them.
'They thought he can separate the Muslim votes and win, but the Kerala mind is completely different.' 'It is a secular mind because Hindus, Christians and Muslims live together.' 'We don't like somebody coming from outside, contesting in our state, winning and going and avoiding us.'
'Politics is about caste in Eastern UP and religion in Western UP.' Rediff.com's Archana Masih gets a sense of the fault lines in this election's most volatile region -- that can make or break the future of political parties in UP.
The best analysis of politics does not come out of air conditioned newsrooms, but from the voices on India's streets. Rakesh Kumar Singhal -- once an army jawan, then an ONGC employee, then a tea shopwallah -- reveals why he left the Congress for Modi.
'One big leader said you might get 3 lakh votes and still lose.' 'I said if I do I will make sure you are sleepless because it will be me and three lakh people.'
Saurabh Mahajan, a former Indian Army officer, is making history in medieval battles grounds. Rediff.com's Archana Masih meets the man who has supplied vintage armour and war props to Assassin's Creed, The Hobbit and knights in shining armour to the Tower of London.
The Alams saw the magical spot while on a drive to the hills. A few years later they set up home and a small hand woven shawl business, hiring local weavers, using local wool and natural colours made of root, stem and flower.
One of the best stories coming out of Bihar is about a place where Chandragupta Maurya, Buddha, Ashoka, Sher Shah Suri and India's Mona Lisa meet.
The priest said the Holy Bible and Catholic Church have not given permission to girls to wear jeans and T-shirts, which is the attire of boys.
'There is an effort of painting the entire problem as religious one.' 'That Jammu and Kashmir is the way it is because the valley has radicalised.' 'I would be the first person to accept that there is a greater element of radicalism today than it was 25 years ago, but to suggest the entire valley of Kashmir is radicalised and everything you see on the ground is because radical Islam has suddenly taken over is not true.' Omar Abdullah, former J&K chief minister, explains why 'the situation in J&K is very worrisome.'
'This has absolutely nothing to do with Kalburgi or anybody else, it only has to do with two words: Bihar elections. It's electioneering by other means, let's save the fig leaf of morality,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
The Mahindra Monastery Escape 2016 is a one-of-its-kind road trip through some of India's toughest and picturesque terrain.
Unlike the LDF and NDA nominees who are at ground zero and campaigning hard every day, the Congress candidate's campaign is undertaken in absentia, dependent on an army of local and imported from the rest of Kerala Congresswomen and men.
'This term -- "Nehru-Gandhi" family -- is a misnomer. Nehru was not a dynast; he did not even name his successor... The big mistake she made was to push forward Rahul Gandhi who is a dead loss as a leader,' says Nayantara Sahgal, whom Sonia Gandhi calls 'Tara Masi.'
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