Apart from controversy, it was cricket that seized control of the fest on Day 3, says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports on the twists and turns of the high speed, crazy literature festival
'The young middle-class Indian is more concerned with Birkins and bikes and the EMIs on a new home and travelling abroad than politics,' novelist Shobhaa De tells Rediff.com's Savera R Someshwar and Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Unfortunately for India's politicians, Shobhaa De has trained her sights on them in her 18th book, Sethji, whose protagonist is a wily, old-world, Delhi politician. She discussed the murky world of Indian politics with Rediff.com's Savera R Someshwar and Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
On a recent visit to India, writer Ved Mehta gave Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel a rare glimpse into his current state of mind and what he thinks of the changes he encounters in his motherland.
A teenager painstakingly builds a new life after a freak tragedy that may have befallen any Mumbaikar. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel profiles Monica More who has captured Mumbai's hearts with her extraordinary courage.
'We live in India and anything can happen. Every day you read about stuff happening to girls, a child, women.' Vaihayasi Pande Daniel's daughters discuss the year that has gone by as their mother listens in.
This Sunday morning the American President will find himself in Mumbai. Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel visits the Mumbai churches where America's leader and First Lady can pray.
The Titanic had an India connection. Allen Becker's family journeyed from Guntur to London and boarded the Titanic on April 10, 1912.
'The day after the attack, people were roaming this area, dressed like they were going to a party!" says an angry man who lost his brother that day.
India's prime minister Narendra Modi arrived in New Delhi on Saturday morning to a grand welcome ahead of a meet with the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership.
When was the last time you noticed a sparrow in your window? Why are sparrows endangered in modern India? You can help prevent their decline.
Is the Gujarat model of development in evidence all across Vadodara? Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com and Patrick Ward meet five different communities in the district. Are they all on the road to affluence? Or is prosperity a distant mirage for some of them?
'I would like to vote for Kejriwal. He is an aam aadmi like us. He has good middle class values. Corruption is the most important issue of this election. I don't like Modi because of his past.' Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel and photographer Uttam Ghosh travel to Nagpur, Maharashtra's third most populous city, to assess the mood among young voters.
Mumbaikars jumped out of vehicles to take a closer look at the 'aam aadmi' hero. They WhatsApped images of him, requested selfies. Arvind Kejriwal swept Mumbai off its feet on Wednesday, and how! Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports on the metropolis's response to the man of the masses.
'I don't think any politician now can kill growth for the next couple of decades,' Gurcharan Das tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel. 'We will continue to have these very slow, incremental, reforms. Then we will hit a wall. That's the wall of bad governance. Unless we fix our governance, we won't become a great country.'
'If the navy was part of the ministry of defence then, of course, the defence minister would have been jointly responsible for everything that happened. But that is not so. The defence minister can shrug his shoulders and say, "Look I don't know what is going on in the navy, so let the chief handle it". The politician is free to do what he feels. If his conscience hurts him, he is welcome to quit,' former naval chief Admiral Arun Prakash tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Balasaheb Thackeray would have been so happy if Kasab was hanged during his lifetime, 26/11 survivor and Shiv Sainik Vijay Surve tells Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Kashmir was the place I knew it would be. Delightful. Unforgettable. It is also a place all of us Indians need to experience, says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel after a recent visit to Srinagar.
'The whole time we were talking, we were holding hands and he looked right in my eyes. It was very moving.'
The Air Force One carrying Obama and his wife Michelle touched down at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 12:50 pm.
The seven trucks, which all belong to GeeTee carrier service of Saki Naka, Andheri East, are said to contain some of the tonnes of technical equipment required for the US Presidential trip. And from the Mercedes bus, also a GeeTee vehicle, the 20-25 American team members disembarked and poured into the hotel that is now surrounded by a fresh set of seven-feet-high iron barricades
The film has its cinematic moments but is too simplistic story-wise.
A journey to the Sri Harmandir Sahib, also called the Golden Temple, in Amritsar can evoke purity and peace in even the faithless, writes Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
A journey to the Sri Harmandir Sahib, also called the Golden Temple, in Amritsar can evoke purity and peace in even the faithless, writes Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
Rediff.com journalists Vaihayasi Pande Daniel and Rajesh Karkera attend an emotionally-charged ceremony marking the killing of Jewish Rabbi Gavriel and his wife Rivka Holtzberg in the attack on Chabad House during the 26/11 carnage. They also attend a parallel ceremony, mourning slain NSG commando Gajendra Singh.
RGV'S version of 26/11 was truly more gory than even the real events that occurred.
'I don't think his influence over his company will just suddenly eradicate. I am sure he will be a sort of holy ghost over the whole company.' Zubin Mehta recalls his more than five decade association with Ratan Tata in an exclusive conversation with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
It doesn't matter how they did it. The end result is what matters, says Sharan Arasa, reacting to the news of 26/11 Mumbai terror convict Ajmal Kasab's execution. He spoke to Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
I have never seen such a vast ocean of humanity. And probably never will. It was unforgettable, says Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Kanan Shah, who lost her husband in the July 13 blast in Mumbai last year, tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel that no one out there really understands what it is to be the closest kin of a blast victim.
The legend, who will be 97 next year, says this is his last book.
Last year's commemorations of 26/11 terror attacks, across Mumbai, on its first anniversary were often painfully sad. The ceremonies held all over the city brought one quickly to tears. Or they were full of anger. But the second anniversary of 26/11 seems to represent a more positive spirit.
Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg lost their lives on 26/11. Freida Holtzberg, Gavriel's mother, feels the spirit of her son is alive in Mumbai.
The students of Holy Name High School may have been welcoming the most powerful man on earth, but they were not short on humour.
The importance of sex in a relationship, especially a few years after marriage, is underrated and most couples have no clue as to just why and when it happens.
It's still not too late to save one of nature's marvels, photographer Peter Caton tells Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
A simple, poignant ceremony marked the third anniversary of the 26/11 attacks at CST, says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
India is ranked number 17 in terms of visitor numbers to London. The top 5 visitor markets to London are USA, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
Now the pain is back and it is unbearable. It sort of chews mercilessly at you as you chug through your day. It pulsates as you drive past knots of dead-bored cops. Or bump over pot-holed roads. Or past a drawing of a happy face that says India Smiling. It pricks sharply as you read articles on what politicians have to say. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel on every Mumbaikar's agony
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