The towering face of Kailash reminded us that we were but insignificant participants in a pilgrimage ritual that has played out over millennia for people of four major religions -- Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Bon, notes Sonia Trikha Shukla.
At least 155 people have lost their lives and over 80 lakh people affected in fresh floods due to excessive rains in worst-affected Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Odisha.
Former World No 3 Paul Casey was among a trio of players sharing the lead and Tiger Woods trailed six shots off the pace when darkness fell in the rain-hit Turkish Airlines Open first round on Thursday.
A Chinese patrol ship searching the crashed Malaysian airliner on Saturday picked up a pulse signal from its black box detector in the southern Indian Ocean, China's official media reported, in a possible breakthrough in the nearly month-long multinational hunt for the jet.
Wheeling round, a look of utter shock on its face, a marmot jumps in fright after a young fox sneaks up behind it. The split-second encounter between prey and predator -- called the Moment -- has won the man who captured it the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. He was chosen from a longlist of various category winners, all of whom managed to record the oddities, rivalries and beauty of the natural world. Scroll down for some of the winners.
More than two weeks after a wall collapsed in suburban Mumbai, killing 30 people and injuring more than 100, Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore and Hitesh Harisinghani visit the area to know how the survivors devastated by the deluge are coping with their lives.
India has planned 14 strategic railway lines in areas bordering China, Pakistan and Nepal, but most of these projects are stuck for want of funds. Anusha Soni reports
States across America are beginning the process of digging their way out of record-breaking snowfall on Monday after Winter Storm Jonas battered the nation's East Coast, wreaking havoc on millions and turning major cities into ghost towns.
Here's your weekly digest of the craziest and funniest stories from around the world.
Saqib Mir left Kashmir when he was 18 to take his family business of handicrafts forward. He landed in Paris, where he was drawn to French cooking, particularly French breads.
Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar's devastating five-wicket haul after a late batting blitzkrieg put India firmly in command as they reduced a hapless New Zealand to 128 for 7 on the rain-hit second day of the second cricket Test, in Kolkata, on Saturday.
Here's your weekly dose of stories that are weird, true and funny!
Rains will continue to batter Tamil Nadu for the next seven days and the next 48 hours are "very crucial", the IMD has said.
Images from Day 7 of the 2019 French Open in Paris on Saturday.
'The Pakistan army feels it can inflict a similar defeat on India in Kashmir and make it "India's Bangladesh".' 'But comparing Bangladesh of 1971 with the Kashmir valley of 2017 is like equating chalk and cheese!'
Rupee is seen to remain in the range of 67.50-68.80 in the short-term
Six villages in Maharashtra that are within the drought affected area have remained water secure even in an extremely bad year.
Rescuers found 30 bodies with 5 of them still strapped to their seats as multi-national teams equipped with sophisticated equipment narrowed the search to a 5 sq km area of the choppy Java Sea where some debris of the ill-fated AirAsia jet have emerged.
There's something quite serene about an endless stretch of barren land discovers Abhishek Mande Bhot/Rediff.com
Quake after quake continue to jolt the Himalayan nation. Aid is arriving in Nepal, but its far flung villages remain cut off, two weeks after the April 25 horror
Shibani Gharat loves to run. So this September the 29-year-old decided to test her limits and ran 72 kilometres along the world's highest motorable path. This is her story.
There are lessons to be learnt from the Uttarakhand tragedy. Topping the list is the need to immediately stop mindless construction activity in the Himalayan hills, says Nitish Priyadarshi
Chris Gayle blasted a quickfire century to power West Indies to a comfortable six-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the opening match of the tri-nation series in Jamaica, on Friday.
Aseem Chhabra lists the top 10 films at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.
Progress on several parameters creates a tipping point situation.
The agrarian crisis must be met with similarly speedy responses.
Young, city-bred, successful, enthusiastic Indians are ditching their cars and cycling to work.
Meet Mona Patel, one of CNN's Top 10 Heroes of the Year.
'I would have loved to win a 50-over World Cup. We had two chances, but we didn't convert them.' 'There are regrets, but not regrets that I will be thinking about for years and years.'
The population in Gaza has, for almost a decade, been facing Israel-created 'blockage' from the rest of the world. The isolation has given rise to tunnel phenomenon, an underground route for the procurement of essentials, says Ajey Lele
'I would like to believe that out of this struggle (to effect climate change) will be born a generation that will be able to look upon the world with clearer eyes than those that preceded it; that they will be able to transcend the isolation in which humanity was entrapped in the time of its derangement; that they will rediscover their kinship with other beings, and that this vision, at once new and ancient, will find expression in a transformed and renewed art and literature.'
Meet the cleanliness warrior from Nagaland who is cleaning up the holy ghats of Varanasi...
'What gives hope is that Modi's own leadership is vitally linked to his capacity to deliver on the economic front. Indeed, if he succeeds, India's foreign policies will have changed beyond recognition,' feels Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The charm of Kolkata is still alive says Sumit Ganguli.
'Rahul Gandhi accuses the Modi government of being in thrall to corporate fat cats at the expense of farmers and other common folk. But the facts do not bear out this argument, as Indian farmers are relatively better off compared to the really wretched of the earth, the unfortunate landless, often itinerant, labourer. And since Rahul's ancestors are the ones who failed them, it is a little disingenuous of him to ignore them in his rhetorical flourishes,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
A drunken conversation tipped off Thane Crime Branch detectives to the unprecedented scam targeting unsuspecting Americans from call centres in Thane.
Malliga and Jayalalitha talk to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com about how millet farming changed their lives, their successful trip to Milan and how their 'murukku' was appreciated at Milan.
'Of the 32 captains who have led India in Test cricket, only four have been pure bowlers -- Ghulam Ahmed, Venkatraghavan, Bishan Bedi and myself.' 'The captain must lead with only one idea in mind -- to win the game. The draw mentality is partly because captains lacked confidence and partly because they want to protect their record. If you don't think winning is the point of the game, there is little point in even entering the field.' 'As the Monekygate controversy raged, I received a message from Bishen Bedi, no stranger to controversies himself. "As a captain," he wrote, "take a decision you will be proud of when you look back on history".' Anil Kumble, cricketing legend, on the Art of Captaincy.
Making their first appearance in the WTA Finals in Singapore, Sania Mirza and Cara Black outplayed Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in their opening match to book their semi-finals berth on Thursday.
