A former US military lieutenant travels to India to fight a battle of another kind. Archana Masih/Rediff.com met Robin Chaurasiya and the girls whose lives she is changing -- one day at a time.
We look back at some of the most inspirational stories featured on Rediff Get Ahead in 2014.
'Because I am the first official transgender candidate of a political party and fighting against Jayalalithaa, I got a lot of publicity.' 'Till now, nobody knew me. Now, the entire Tamil Nadu knows me.' 'The transgender community here wanted me to withdraw my candidature, saying Jayalalithaa had provided them with houses.' 'They feel Jayalalithaa would be angry with all transgender people because I am standing against her.'
Over the last four days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the heads of over 50 African nations, some of whom have extremely unsavoury reputations. Meet the 10 most controversial leaders who visited Delhi this week.
A group of retired civil servants also called upon the PM to reach out to the families of the victims in Unnao and Kathua and "seek their forgiveness on behalf of all of us".
Two people can be reasonably happy if they tried sincerely, says Love Guru.
In analysing census data from 2007-2011, researchers found that the at-birth sex ratios of Asian Americans are the same as white Americans. Arthur J Pais reports
Aseem Chhabra picks the scenes that left him impressed this year.
From the Aadhaar verdict to #MeToo's arrival in the country to the entry into the Sabarimala temple -- India had a newsworthy 2018. As we step into 2019, these are the top moments from the year gone by.
Kangana Ranaut's guts, Amitabh Bachchan's venomous threat and dark TV serials occupied Sukanya Verma's super-filmi week.
G Sreedathan interviews Dinanath Batra, president of Siksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas and national convener of Siksha Bacho Andolan, who shot to fame after he was instrumental in getting American scholar Wendy Doniger's book on Hinduism pulped.
'You can't take your eyes off him.'
Sukanya Verma recaps all the action at this year's MAMI.
A young Mumbai artist brings the city alive.
RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka thinks aloud about what Vijay Mallya could or should do to get out of the current mess.
'It's a humiliating time to be a human being.' It's a pity that the magnificent 17-year-old gorilla is dead. But it's not enough to hang our heads in shame or comfort ourselves with clicktivism, observes Bijoy Venugopal.
'One wonders why there is so much outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian national accused of perpetrating these acts, but precious little outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian victim and her spouse?' The statement issued by Preet Bharara, the US Attorney, whose office is prosecuting Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat arrested in New York last week.
In an online chat with readers, every Thursday, Love Guru addresses queries on relationship issues and shares solutions.
Right actions might help reduce this trust deficit. But what we have today is over- enthusiastic vigilante groups targeting minorities over beef or 'love jihad', against whom the government does little apart from meek condemnation, says Utkarsh Misgra.
'You might hate him, but it will be an honest portrayal.'
They say new rules that make over-billing by private hospitals a criminal offence will hurt their ability to treat patients properly, says Subir Roy.
The rankings were prepared after examining the volume of terrorist and rebel alerts, messaging traffic, videos, photos, incidents and the number of killed and injured in a country over the past 30 days.
The World Before Her is a remarkable film, if for no other reason than that it tells the story of India's women centred on them alone.
Binita Singh talks about why monogamy is dying a slow death today.
Sonam Kapoor is exceptional as Neerja Bhanot, says Raja Sen.
'In being dismissive of Naveen, his colleagues showed incredible naivety.' 'On the few occasions that he put his foot down, the overconfident party leaders, who believed they were using him and not the other way around, failed to read the signs of what was to come.'
Satyajit Ray. Films from Italy, Iceland and Albania feature on Aseem Chhabra's list.
The year 2014 has been an eventful one for India. The country got a new government and a new state, broke new frontiers in various fields and of course its share of controversies.
There is something about Anurag Kashyap that puts the cinema watchdogs on alert, says Veenu Sandhu.
Mumbai-origin Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, who migrated to Britain with little funds and went on to found several Indian food companies that made him known as Britain's first 'Curry King', died on Tuesday at the age of 79 after he surrendered in his battle against liver cancer.
Vat Vrikshya -- banyan tree in Sanskrit -- helps tribal women, with absolutely zero formal education, set up businesses.
'I am the undiscovered Julia Roberts of India. They haven't figured it out yet.' Kalki Koechlin gets talking.
Peter said he needed a broom to sweep his cell because, he joked, there are no vacuum cleaners in jail.
'There is no remorse over the Dadri lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq or of Pehlu Khan by cow vigilante groups.' 'But should you not have remorse for those who came to kill them?' 'They were Hindus. Do you accept that?' 'That to kill one Pehlu, 20 Hindus have become murderers.' Rajdeep Sardesai in conversation with Ravish Kumar.
'It used to sound very strange.' 'That the same child who used to sing Jana Gana Mana the loudest in class, who celebrated August 15 and 26th January with such fervour and who has always nurtured the desire to make India a better nation being called desh drohi.' 'It was very painful.'
'While India's 'secularism' is a matter of cultural values rooted in Hinduism, the Western concept became one of rights rooted in legal rights. India would be secular with or without Article 25 of the Constitution,' says T V R Shenoy.
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The president called for tax reform that eliminates corporate-friendly loopholes, highlighted his earlier proposal for free community college.
'We need all the people who support Jallikattu to empathise with a poor, frightened, animal. Like racism and casteism, this is speciesism; discrimination based on species.' 'Human beings consider themselves superior and they consider it their right to exploit non-human beings, the animals.'
Gerson da Cunha lists his favourite films from the recently concluded Cannes International Film Festival.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
