'Gone too soon, Astad, but I know whenever we meet in that world beyond, I will watch you dance.' Swarupa Dutt remembers a remarkable human being and a magnificent performer who left the world poorer when he passed into the ages on Thursday.
'At this moment, the Trinamool has an edge.'
'Our honourable CM is so shameless that she will say the state is among the safest for women.'
'Who are these people on the streets?' 'They are youth and students who were hoodwinked, bluffed by Modi for the last seven years, with a promise of 2 crore jobs every year.' 'And Mamata sings the same tune.' 'But the youth can see that as long as there is Mamata or Modi, there is no hope.'
'My passion is dancing and music. What is wrong with that?'
Will the political heat amid this election season draw a wedge between two dear friends?
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
'When Priyankaji's candidature wasn't announced, where is the question of her backing out?'
'There are different reasons for brain involvement depending on how the virus has entered the body.' 'If the virus enters the brain from the nose, the impairment will be different as opposed to if the virus impairs other organs which in turn impair the brain.' 'If it affects the lungs or heart, there can still be brain changes from secondary effects of reduction in oxygen delivery, or reduction in blood supply to the brain.'
'I never do anything half-hearted.' 'So, if I've taken the plunge in politics I'm in it for good, for the long run and I will definitely do a world of good.'
'The worst case scenario is a rebound of the virus.' 'Life is not going to be what it was.' 'Life as we know it has changed forever.' 'The new normal therefore is test, trace and treat.'
'Why didn't the CBI ask for the evidence earlier?' 'Why has it suddenly becoming imminent.'
'Local support is very important, without it the terror attack couldn't have taken place.' 'Explosives were secured, the IED was manufactured, the boy was brainwashed and converted into a suicide bomber... it takes a lot of planning and hard work.'
'He has terror charges against him. And for an army officer, it's just terrible.'
'People had said it will explode and everyone will die. Nothing of that sort has happened.' 'Our government has done a splendid job so far.'
'These things are not forgotten, it will haunt the Supreme Court for a long time.'
With the CBI ruling out bus conductor Ashok Kumar's involvement in Ryan International School student Pradhyumn Thakur's murder, his wife Mamata is hopeful of him getting bail on November 16. 'I just want my man to come home, I don't want anything else,' she tells Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt.
Just 20 years old, Inderlal Kamalsingh Dhurve is a migrant labourer, a part-time farmer, a sole breadwinner and one of four survivors from the group that was mowed down by a goods train near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, 10 days ago, claiming 16 lives.
'This letter is not a complaint, it's more indignation, because we do not like being used as political tools by people of various parties.'
'I have to fight to ensure something like this doesn't happen to any other child, that no other parent faces what we are going through.' 'That is how I will find strength.'
Dr Kalam, The Dalai Lama, M F Husain. Mrinalini Sarabhai. Dancer Astad Deboo lists his favourite Indian treasures.
Bharati Dutt witnessed life-changing events that shaped India on the threshold of freedom. Her memories are an account of how ordinary Indians saw India change.
'You've got to be a doer to be re-elected.' 'You don't have to be a great communicator or an orator any more because voters want to see action and development on the ground.' 'And they want a doer rather than just an orator.'
'This health emergency has brought a lot of people together with the common purpose of getting Feluda to play detective as quickly as possible.' 'As a scientist, if we can make a small difference in people's lives, we are happy'
'Don't forget the BJP in the last election almost doubled its vote.' 'Even if they were not traditional BJP supporters, they were convinced about Mr Modi.' 'If the voter perceives that Mr Modi has performed well and he reinforces it, they will vote for him.' 'Otherwise, they won't.'
'Passive euthanasia is actually more important in the sense that the need to administer it arises every day in some hospital or the other. And it can be administered without a living will,' Vipul Mudgal, director of the NGO Common Cause -- which had filed a plea to declare 'right to die with dignity' as a Fundamental Right flowing from Article 21 or the Right to Life, -- tells Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt.
As the NDA government completes two years in office, there are more questions on Swarupa Dutt's mind than answers.
'I toh don't even understand making crores because I have never done such a commercially hit film in my life.' 'It's unbelievable for me.'
'We realised that the government and police were shielding the Dera chief.' 'From 2002 to now, irrespective of which political party, the Dera has always been protected.'
'Why doesn't the prime minister wake up to these social issues?' 'This government is basically saying rape is all right.'
'No right thinking student of politics can name one state where the BJP gains in double digits.'
104 years after it was first written, and 76 years after the poet's clarification, the controversy surrounding Rabindranath Tagore's Jana Gana Mana refuses to go away.
'My husband will never forget the torture nor forgive those responsible for it.'
'She was just a little girl. She didn't understand religion. Who is Hindu, who is Muslim.' 'She was just 8! Why punish her?' The family of the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and murdered in Jammu's Kathua district say everything has changed since that horrific crime.
Ten days after it came to light that a four-and-a-half-year-old boy inserted his finger and a sharpened pencil in the private parts of his classmate in a Delhi school, the girl's mother says the biggest hurdle in getting justice for her daughter is to battle the disbelief that she faces since the accused is so young.
'To be good at the heptathlon takes at least seven years; to compete internationally and win medals takes 10 years.' 'Swapna became Asia's best heptathlete in just five years!' 'Nobody would have believed it. but she did it.'
'I was at a very senior position in the CBI and what happens is, hints are dropped for you to act upon. But then it depends upon your conscience, to do it or otherwise.' 'I know the rank and file of the CBI, they will bounce back; it is the leadership which has failed.'
'I live in a privileged city, I have a privileged life, I was in a car.' 'If it can happen here, then there is literally no hope for women in rural India or smaller cities.' 'If more women think we can help ourselves, we can survive, and men would be a lot more hesitant to try something like this.'
'Because of the impact the movement has had, people will think twice before misbehaving because you don't know who will turn out to be another Tanushree Dutta.'
'I'm a rascal, I'm going to play a paramahansa?!'
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