'I had to convince myself that I was steely enough to operate on a cold-blooded killer.' 'For all my medical experience, this was something I had never done!' 'If something happened to Charles, I knew my fate was sealed for me.' 'I would be called Doctor Death until I breathed my last.' 'Success was my only hope of escaping that fate.' A fascinating excerpt from heart surgeon Dr Raamesh Koirala's Charles Sobhraj, Inside The Heart Of The Bikini Killer.
'it looks like India wants to follow Pakistan on the slippery slope of stupidity masquerading as religion.'
'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.'
FIFA president Sepp Blatter and its secretary general Jerome Valcke have both hired high-powered US lawyers to represent them as a corruption probe roils soccer's global governing body.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
I fear for our collective inability to wrestle the plague of rape in this nation, says Prathmesh Kher.
Peter's lawyer paints Indrani as a master manipulator, looking to waste the court's time and use the media to manipulate public perception about his client. 'She is "trying to exonerate herself," the lawyer argues, and accuses Indrani of "trying to lay a trap" for Peter "and attempting to malign his reputation"...'
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'Our experience in Nagaland and Kashmir for the last 60 years has shown our insanity, defined by Albert Einstein as doing the same thing again and again and yet expecting different results,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
In Muthuvel Karunanidhi's passing, Tamil Nadu has lost the last of its Titans.
'If chutzpah nationalists brought the Babri Masjid down, chutzpah secularists did precious little to stop it from being torn down.' 'If chutzpah nationalists ensured carnage in Gujarat, chutzpah secularists allowed Muzaffarnagar to become their next hunting ground.' 'Chutzpah secularists readily banned SIMI, but dragged their feet when it came to banning the Bajrang Dal.'
'Today the Chinese think they can slap India, and there will be no consequences.' 'They must be made to feel the consequences through any and all means,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
Here's your weekly collection of stories that prove it's a crazy, funny world out there!
'I felt like a used and discarded rag.' 'The pro-dialogue constituency has shrunk in the valley.' Academician and author Dr Radha Kumar was among the three interlocutors which the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government appointed on Kashmir in October 2010, speaks of how the panel report was never acted upon.
MUST READ: The speech Nayantara Sahgal was not allowed to give.
'I don't prepare (for a character), I become it. I don't have to think about a character too much, I become it. I give a lot of attention to detailing. Once I become the character, I go and deliver the scene.' Aishwarya Rai Bachchan gives us an insight into her life.
'Castro's huge appeal lies in the fact that he stood up to the Americans.' 'However, it becomes difficult to be judgmental about his legacy, because there are huge uncertainties about the future of the Cuba that he built,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Cuban government has announced nine days of mourning and has set Castro's funeral for December 4.
'That is what Gauri was, in her essence -- the principle of free, open, forthright words, made flesh.' 'And that is what was gunned down -- her words, and with them our freedom to fashion our own opinions, to frame our own thoughts, to articulate them without fear of reprisal.'
Experts trace the reasons for the 26/11 attacks to the Pakistan's military interest in three key areas: Kashmir, Afghanistan and nuclear armaments.
'We have won our political freedom, we have liberalised our economy and now it's time to liberate our minds also. That is why this film.' Director Ketan Mehta lists his reasons for making Rang Rasiya.
'Badlapur,' says Sreehari Nair, 'proves that sometimes there are more personal truths to be discovered in our trash cans than in our neatly arranged book-shelves.'
'It is impossible to get any of the top five movie stars in Bollywood for an honest one-on-one interview, which spans beyond seven minutes unless your media house has a marketing tie-up with the movie they are part of. Even then, they will rarely ever want to go outside their comfort zone and open up.'
'We have 200 million families. Parents have the responsibility to make their children righteous -- where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character.' 'Only three people can give a good citizen before s/he turns 17. Father, mother, the spiritual environment and the primary school teacher.' President A P J Kalam on India becoming a developed country by 2020-2022, the heroes he admired; how 90 per cent of India's space programme is intended for the people and the individual's potential to become unique.
Following is the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 73rd Independence Day.
'The Russians? had risen to great heights of sacrifice and heroism and won a victory against Hitler and Nazism at such a tremendous cost in spite of being weighed down by the tyranny and oppression of Stalin.'
'Over one million people served in various battlefronts during World War I. And yet, even today, we know so very little about them.' 'It is absolutely essential to acknowledge this part of India's colonial history,' Santanu Das tells Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com
Bestselling author Ashwin Sanghi says that it is indeed possible to 'attract' good luck!
'It is a retrogressive Act. It actually criminalises a child who needs care and protection.' 'I am sure the Delhi teenage rapist, if given the right process and input, would have reformed himself. Even now, if he is supported he will evolve himself.'
Purvi Patel is the first woman in America to be sentenced to prison for foeticide. Chaya Babu/Rediff.com reports on the verdict and the ripples of shock and fear it set off.
'The more I lived in India, the more I realised that America was my home too.'
OPS is just now friendless in the party's second-line, but the situation could change as and when Governor Rao arrives in the state capital, and sets the constitutional ball rolling, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The origins of the model of planned economic development adopted by independent India was a direct consequence of the war.' 'The war provided an opportunity for groups at the margins of Indian society to find new avenues for mobility.' 'The war also led to the emergence of India as a major Asian power and set the stage for it to play a wider role in international politics.'
Elana Meyer looks back on the disappointment of missing out on competing internationally because of the sporting boycott of South Africa in conversation with Rediff.com's Laxmi Negi.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan introduced their daughter Maxima to the world with a beautiful and thoughtful letter.
To mark his 50th death anniversary, rediff.com has launched a special series to evaluate Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy.
Veteran journalist Coomi Kapoor, whose book came out recently, speaks to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com about Independent India's darkest phase.
'I kept photographs of everyone. Because I was working for them.' 'Madam, Saab...' Shyamvar Rai, the approver in the case, said in a tone that tried to suggest that that would be a routine practice for a driver.
