Kolkata's creme de la creme turned up at the launch of Bandhan, The Making of a Bank, but the evening nevertheless had an informal touch typical of the young bank with CMD Chandra Shekhar Ghosh personally welcoming the dignitaries, reports Indrani Roy/Rediff.com.
Soon after the BJP lost the 2004 election, the stockmarkets went into unprecedented free fall. Then SEBI Chairman G N Bajpai reveals how his firm handling of the situation restored confidence and soon the markets were back to doing what they do best -- make money. A revealing excerpt from his book, A Game Changer's Memoir.
'In the course of my interactions with him, Modi insisted that he does not believe charisma alone can sustain people's trust for long.' 'That is why Modi consistently refers to Mahatma Gandhi to contextualise his politics.' 'He believes in taking his ideas to the masses and getting their acceptance as an index of approval.'
A revealing excerpt from Ajay Singh's The Architect of the New BJP: How Narendra Modi Transformed the Party.
You may eat great food, exercise enough and yet not lose fat because you are sleep-deprived. Most of the magic takes place when you sleep well.
'I got an offer to do a cameo in Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin.' 'I did it just to get out of my house, and so that my parents would not see me so depressed.'
Shuma Raha finds out how writers are using social media to produce bestsellers.
As Raazi hit theatres, Harinder Sikka -- author of Calling Sehmat, the book on which the film is based -- reveals the thrilling real life story of an Indian spy named Sehmat.
'Amitabh practised Rang Barse well; the singing, movements, everything. And he got the inflections perfectly.'
By framing the right question, Satya Nadella directed his team's attention to searching for the right answer, which opened up a treasure trove of new business opportunities, which would have remained undiscovered but for framing the right question.
A must-read excerpt from former RBI governor and former Rajya Sabha member Bimal Jalan's India: Priorities For The Future.
Nearly 490 million people of working age are outside the bounds of India's unemployment assessments. A decrease in the unemployment rate could signal economic growth, but could just as well mean that people have given up looking for work. A revealing excerpt from Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran and Tata Chief Economist Roopa Purushothaman's Bridgital Nation: Solving Technology's People Problem.
'Constitutional narratives are forged both inside and outside courtrooms,' says Rohit De.
Chidambaram has been magnanimous in endorsing my book, says the former RBI Governor D Subbarao.
This property has all the hallmarks of being owned and occupied by Vijay Mallya. A fleet of supercars making their way down the drive, hordes of people descending to party all night long and a constant delivery of goods and services.
'Always have two (not more) things you want badly in life -- really badly -- and it will bring such focus, such hard work and such sacrifice that you never knew existed inside you.' 'This is the secret sauce to success today and most days.' A must-read excerpt from Ronnie Screwvala's Skill It, Kill It: Up Your Game.
Each region in India has its own culinary narrative that speaks through its distinct dishes. Each cuisine packs within itself, textures, layers, ideas and historical nuggets so that all of Indian food cannot be pigeonholed together to say that there is one Indian cuisine. A fascinating extract from Sonal Ved's Whose Samosa Is It Anyway?.
How did a superstar provoke the break-up? 50 years later, the truth can finally be told. A revealing excerpt from Hanif Zaveri and Sumant Batra's An Actor's Actor: An Authorized Biography of Sanjeev Kumar.
Count among The Light of Asia's many, many admirers over 132 years: Gandhi, Tagore, Vivekananda, Nehru and Ambedkar, Tolstoy and Kipling, Yeats and Eliot, Alfred Nobel, Dmitri Mendeleev and C V Raman. Jairam Ramesh reveals why he decided to write a book on Edwin Arnold, who wrote The Light of Asia.
The list of corporations publishing biographies has lengthened steadily as companies have realised the effectiveness of story telling as a brand building tool. Kanika Datta investigates the rising trend.
Here are various roles that a bigot can play, disproving that s/he is one-note and uni-dimensional, and is in fact a versatile, multitasking person.
Seeing Durgamasura ready for a war, the goddess appeared in her warrior form. Let's celebrate the beginning of Navratri with this lovely excerpt from Nava Durga.
Generations of Indians don't quite grasp that there would barely be an India had it not been for the Sardar whose steadfastness and guile stitched together that which had been united only in philosophy and spirituality and sometimes not even then -- for thousands of years. A fascinating excerpt from Hindol Sengupta's The Man Who Saved India, Sardar Patel and His Idea of India.
Kamal Nath argued that Modi had 'overexposed himself': By constantly pushing his own image on social media and on TV, attaching his name to multiple promises, Modi had become the face rivals could easily blame for India's chronic dysfunction.
'His contributions in setting up transparent precedents of governance are still basically intact despite the cynicism of several of his successors,' notes Jamini Bhagwati.
His recent walkout from Chief Justice Dipak Misra's court earned him critics in courts. 'Yet, even the senior-most judges give him the respect that he deserves.'
'It is advisable for Indian interlocutors to follow the Chinese tactic of repeating the Indian position, both for the record and to test the Chinese negotiator's resolve and intentions.' A riveting excerpt from former foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale's The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate With India.
The deal did not include the FT Group's 50 per cent stake in The Economist magazine.
'He destroyed many of our tanks, and finally, it was just the two of us left facing each other with our tanks just 200 m apart.' A tale of valour excerpted from Rachna Bisht Rawat's 1971: Charge Of The Gorkhas And Other Stories.
'We, the audience, listen to stories that have nothing to do with us and we cry, just from the truth of those stories.' 'And Anvita is one of those people who makes this happen.'
There were Vedic mantras engraved along with prayer songs for Lord Shiva, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. Neither the government nor the people of Faisalabad demanded that the carvings be removed. I felt very happy to see Sanskrit shloka
The British home secretary has granted permission for jeweller Nirav Modi's extradition to India. During their arguments in a London court, his lawyers claimed Modi suffers from mental illness and is a suicide risk if he was sent to Mumbai's Arthur Road jail. A fascinating excerpt from Danish Khan and Ruhi Khan's Escaped: True Stories Of Indian Fugitives In London.
Don't try to be a super woman. You must listen to your body, says Dr Mahima Bakshi.
Sir Mark Tully on the magic of Indian elections. A fascinating excerpt from The Great March of Democracy: Seven Decades of India's Elections.
'He totally gets the Gandhis...' 'If anything, he pays too much attention to the Gandhis.' 'I feel that in places like UP, where the Congress doesn't matter, he often spends time blasting the Gandhis.'
With her various overtures and right noises at the right time, Mamata is once again trying to reshape her image from being a regional leader to one with national appeal and acceptability. After all, the charge of building a Federal Front may also bring to the fore Mamata's chances to become prime minister in 2019.
I kept insisting that Rs 100 notes were in short supply and there was an urgent need to augment the supply of 100 rupee notes while also rapidly bringing into circulation the proposed new Rs 500 notes. But this was easier said than done because all the note printing machines of the RBI were programmed for printing Rs 2,000 notes and required at least three weeks before the machines could print the new Rs 500 currency notes. The availability of currency paper posed another major bottleneck, and it had to be imported. It was decided to immediately start printing the Rs 500 notes. It was only when the supply of the new Rs 500 notes started improving and the process of change of cassettes at the ATMs gathered momentum that the situation began limping back to normal. A fascinating excerpt from former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar's The Custodian of Trust: A Banker's Memoir, five years after demonetisation, November 8.
'It was the Mughals who first established standard units of measurement and maintained offices of meticulous record keepers and auditors, departing from the more haphazard methods of earlier regimes.' 'By the end of the 16th century, their revenue and judicial administrations exhibited an obsessive preoccupation with order, the efficient management of time, and a spirit of rational self-control -- all of them characteristics of early modernity,' point out Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Ellman.
Love has made me a poet, Rahul thought. He could think about her all day long. Sometimes, she entertained his dreams. He did not wish to wait until after Ganesh Visarjan to see her again.
'Nehru once told JRD, "I hate the mention of the very word profit".' '"Jawaharlal, I am talking about the need of the public sector making a profit!" JRD replied.' 'Nehru reiterated, "Never talk to me about the word profit, it is a dirty word".' A fascinating excerpt from Shashank Shah's The Tata Group: From Torchbearers To Trailblazers.
