'You are with each other 24x7, so how can you ignore someone crying next to you?' 'How can you not share a piece of chicken with someone who is sitting next to you and watching you eat it?' 'Of course, you will share.' 'And you become friends with the kind of people you never thought you'd even know.'
Here's a recap of all the events that shaped the world from the previous week.
We celebrate January 26 as Republic Day because that's the day on which we adopted the Constitution in 1950. Yet, in the days preceding and following Republic Day 2021, three different courts violated the Constitutional rights of citizens, observes Jyoti Punwani.
The bench said that non-acceptance of Hadiya's choice would simply mean creating discomfort to the Constitutional right by a Constitutional court which is meant to be the protector of fundamental rights.
The government said it had been evaluating the implementation of the decentralised model of vaccination since its launch on May 1 and that the decision to centralise it again was taken after detailed deliberations and following requests by some states, amid claims by the Opposition that the policy change was due to the Supreme Court's intervention.
With the November Congressional polls entering the crucial last 90 days, five Indian-origin candidates, including 25-year-old "young gun" Ranjit 'Rikky' Gill, and a Hindu-American woman remain in the race for the US House of Representatives.
Millions of people across India took to the streets to douse other people in coloured powder for the annual Holi celebrations. Revellers were seen partying in temples and throwing gulal over one another. The festival is one of the largest celebrations across India, which commemorates the start of spring and the end of winter. These amazing images capture people marking the joyous occasion by partying and having fun.
He was a member of Azamgarh (Sanjarmur) module of the IM and was based in Nepal where he was teaching at a school.
This time round, even 'petrol coupons' were reportedly distributed for those attending campaign rallies, especially those addressed by top leaders, cutting across party lines. If this owed to the rising cost of petrol and diesel -- which is a poll issue this time -- there were the customary coupons for 'quarter' (liquor bottle size) and non-vegetarian biryani. Some media reports claimed that some of these 'crowds' attended more than one political rally on the same day in the last week, and at times for rival political parties in adjoining constituencies or districts, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
As the clock struck 12, the protesting crowd burst into a cheer to greet the fellow protesters the new year, and moments later broke into the national anthem in unison which was followed by the slogan 'Inquilab Zindabad'.
When the highest court gave a decision on the Navtej Singh Johar case, it held that LGBT citizens have a right to not be discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. It was keeping this in mind that this same sex couple approached the Delhi high court.
Hundreds of millions of people follow the Hindu religion and it is difficult to imagine a worse way to welcome visitors from the Indian subcontinent to London than sacking a woman for wearing a Hindu nose stud, he said.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the 24-hour average concentration of lung-damaging fine particles known as PM2.5 in Delhi-NCR shot up from 243 micrograms per cubic metre at 6 pm on Thursday (Diwali day) to 410 micrograms per cubic metre at 9 am on Friday, around seven times the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre.
An Indian American woman is among 12 faith leaders to be honoured as "Champions of Change" by the White House for their efforts in protecting environment and communities from the effects of climate change.
'What the Sabarimala majority verdict has done is to elevate the principle of equality over all others, including the right to worship, and declared that this will be the litmus test of all practices, and re-emphasise that practices that are ultra vires will be junked,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Over the last decade, individual Muslims have started breaking from the tradition of sacrificing animals on Bakra Eid, motivated by the thought that the considerable amount spent on buying and sacrificing animals would be put to better use for the community's welfare, specially education.
Reacting to those criticising her for her comments made at the event in the morning, Irani said, "As far as those who jump the gun regarding women visiting friend's place with a sanitary napkin dipped in menstrual blood I am yet to find a person who takes a blood soaked napkin to offer to any one let alone a friend.
If the spouse is the guarantor of husband's business loans, banks can hold her liable for default. Here are ways to ring-fence her assets.
There have been at least 1,641 cases of the virus in the Gulf region. Dubai has postponed its March boat show until November and Abu Dhabi postponed the ITU World Triathlon event this month, after earlier cancelling a cycling event in which two riders were diagnosed with the virus.
Varanasi Commissioner submits a preliminary report to chief secretary, blames university administration for not handling the matter in a sensitive manner.
In her weekly QnA with Rediff readers, life coach and mental health guru Anu Krishna addresses issues relating to mental health and offers solutions.
This Haryana village believes it has 'found' the Saraswati river of the Vedas.
But the 'tantri family' will accept it, Sabarimala head priest Kandararu Rajeevarau said.
'The key factor, to my mind, is happiness.' 'If either party, for whatever reason, is not in it, they should have the choice to walk away as painlessly as possible,' points out Vasu Primlani.
If the Congress recovers some of its earlier influence among the Dalits, the BJP will be in a quandary since the Dalits were among the party's latest acquisitions. To lose them will be a disaster for the saffron camp not only in UP, but all over India, observes Amulya Ganguli.
The group will not just seek permission for women to offer prayers in the mosques, but also fight for appointing them as 'imams' (clerics).
Four more people belonging to the gay and lesbian community urged the Delhi high court on Thursday to declare that marriages between any two persons irrespective of their sex be solemnised under the Special Marriage Act (SMA).
'Why exclude those who are curious about our faith but not born into it, to experience the temple?'
The decision of the government to amend the Hindu Marriage Act has come under fire from men's rights organisations.
Other strong men have stopped Modi and his hordes in states before, but none of them with a footprint or battle cry to shake up New Delhi, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
On the lines of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, around 50 women along with children have been squatting near the Clock Tower in Lucknow's old quarters. The women protesters alleged that blankets provided to them by some organisations were taken away by police. The police dismissed the allegations.
As the situation went out of control, police first used water cannon and then burst tear gas shells to disperse the unruly crowd.
The BJP's embarrassing rout in Delhi may affect Modi in many ways.
'All of our lives are going to be changed in a permanent way...' 'We just have to ride out the tide right now and we will see a rainbow at the end of this.'
Braving freezing cold, the protesters also brought along sandals to give them to the Pakistani embassy officials.
The hypocrisies of high-caste Hindus have cost their followers very dear. Millions have left their dharma, their great religion which boasts of the loftiest philosophical ideas, says Tarun Vijay.
The Indian government today does not care what it does to Indians as long as it can continue on its path, observes Aakar Patel.
A decision on this could be taken before Christmas, which might not necessarily result in a formal announcement as that could be delayed till the next year, people familiar with her thinking process said.
'We will talk to Muslim, Christian organisations and form a broad alliance so that every temple, church and mosque will have freedom to manage their affairs and not to be intervened upon.'
The bench also observed that it would examine whether the Kerala high court was correct in annulling the marriage while hearing a habeas corpus petition.
