'I can feel the master's pain, because he must be sitting there and cursing and saying, 'Why was I born?''
Each bottle of pickle that leaves FarmDidi, headed to a consumer, has a little kahani behind it -- it's linked to the tale of a life, the life of a simple, striving village woman who created it, and that's what gives Manjari Sharma satisfaction and happiness.
As we celebrate women achievers who are excelling in their careers, here are incredible tales of hard work and perseverance to inspire you this week.
Supporters of late Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray turned up in large numbers early Sunday morning to pay their last tributes to the leader.
'Indians are basically liked because they are educated, they are intelligent.'
In view of rising COVID-19 cases, the Jharkhand government on Tuesday announced a lockdown in the state from April 22 to April 29 with some exemptions.
Scoop seems like they conclude he is but Vaihayasi Pande Daniel recommends that you watch the film to find out for yourselves.
On the second anniversary of the 26/11 attacks, Vaihaysi Pande Daniel takes a look at the activity around the Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba, Mumbai, one of the prominent sites of the horrific terror strikes.
One of the high points of the proceedings was when Indrani Mukerjea's lawyer smartly utilised Dr Zeba Khan's expert status to pose her A Most Curious Question. He asked her if a skull can grow new teeth, even after the person, who it belonged to, had died, three years before. We can be sure that the discrepancy between the number of teeth discovered in the skull unearthed in 2012 and the skull shown in court in September 2019 will come up soon in Courtroom No 51. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports from the Sheena Bora Murder Trial.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
It should have been much easier to find this farsan maker's premises given the number of two-wheelers that stream up to this address the day before Ganesh Chaturthi to collect armfuls of bags of laddus, chuda and other kind of chatpata namkeen stuff.
'Certainly it is a fascinating election, even if he becomes prime minister. What is fascinating is how, suddenly -- with the feeling that Modi may win -- perfectly intelligent people with integrity jumped ship.' 'Already, the great intellectuals are saying: "Yes, yes, it doesn't matter. A few thousand Muslims are killed. It is immaterial. Ultimately there will be development." What development?' Girish Karnad, one of modern India's finest playwrights, tells Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com why he is concerned about Narendra Modi coming to power.
'I always say you really cannot own a recipe.' 'In India, where, we have been cooking for thousands of years, how can you put a finger and say, 'This is mine'?'
'If they come to power, they will try to change the Constitution. They are destroying Babasaheb's name. They are fundamentalist people,' says Surai Sasai, the Buddhist monk who has issued an edict that Nagpur's Buddhists not vote for the BJP or its candidate Nitin Gadkari. The Buddhist areas in Nagpur, Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel discovers, have a special identity and a firm thinking of its own. Additional reportage and Photographs: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com
Medha Patkar's makeover is a professional one. She has switched jobs. The brave grassroots activist -- who has devoted her life to protests for innumerable causes that affect or strengthen the poor, attracting national, as well as global attention -- has always doggedly fought for support. Today, Vaihayasi Pande Daniel discovers, she is fighting for a commodity far more tricky and slippery. Votes.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel, who attended Zubin Mehta's mesmerizing concert at the picturesque Shalimar Bagh in Srinagar, describes those enigmatic moments when harmony returned to the heaven on earth, Kashmir.
'Will the Crimean peninsula's flavour change again as even more Russians come stomping through? Will the Russian bear be content with lunching on Crimea? Or will he eventually bumble into Kiev's Independence Square to squat for good?' Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel looks back on a trip to Crimea, the setting for Tennyson's famous poem, Charge of the Light Brigade.
Bollywood, and the high drama that invariably accompanies it, totally overtook the Jaipur Literature Festival on its second day, reports Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
A teenager painstakingly builds a new life after a freak tragedy that may have befallen any Mumbaikar. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel profiles Monica More who has captured Mumbai's hearts with her extraordinary courage.
Sugar is poisoning diets the world over, says Dr Robert H Lustig, a paediatric endocrinologist, and author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq discusses the difference between peace and normalcy and his vision for Kashmir, in an interview with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Two months after he retired, Ratan Tata remains a personal enigma despite the millions of words written about him. In this exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel, architect Ratan Batliboi reveals Ratan Tata the caring, honest, funny, simple, man behind the legend.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel, who is in Srinagar for the Zubin Mehta concert, gets a feel of the emotions at play on ground zero
'There are dark sheep all over. But can we have any other form of governance other than democracy?'... 'There cannot be two sets of rules -- one for the common man and one for the privileged political person.' Digvijaya Singh in a candid interaction with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
On a recent visit to India, writer Ved Mehta gave Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel a rare glimpse into his current state of mind and what he thinks of the changes he encounters in his motherland.
A teenager painstakingly builds a new life after a freak tragedy that may have befallen any Mumbaikar. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel profiles Monica More who has captured Mumbai's hearts with her extraordinary courage.
'We live in India and anything can happen. Every day you read about stuff happening to girls, a child, women.' Vaihayasi Pande Daniel's daughters discuss the year that has gone by as their mother listens in.
Starbucks opened its coffee shop, ever, with locally sourced and roasted beans, in Mumbai. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel and Rajesh Karkera were there when the American coffee chain commenced operations.
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs' biographer, reveals his most memorable interactions with the Apple founder and international legend, in a fascinating chat with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Women, says Milind Soman, will finally make the world a better place.
'Some fear that Gujarat's tourism potential will be lost. That's wrong. Gujarat has such wonderful places. And they have developed such a wonderful system of tourism for the Asiatic lion. That will continue.' Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel discusses the April 15 Supreme Court order -- where a pride or two of lions will move from the Gir forest in Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh, with Dr Asad R Rahmani, director, Bombay Natural History Society.
India's prime minister Narendra Modi arrived in New Delhi on Saturday morning to a grand welcome ahead of a meet with the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership.
'The cruelty to animals only reflects the modern, urban Indian contempt for any creatures -- animal or human -- who are voiceless and powerless and unable to fight back,' novelist Nilanjana Roy says, discussing her first book, the well-reviewed The Wildings, with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Is the Gujarat model of development in evidence all across Vadodara? Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com and Patrick Ward meet five different communities in the district. Are they all on the road to affluence? Or is prosperity a distant mirage for some of them?
Asia Society-organised a Q-and-A session between Nancy Jo Powell, America's first woman ambassador to India, and society president Vishakha Desai. Vaihayasi Pande-Daniel, who attended the interaction in Mumbai, presents an excerpt from the hour-long interaction
For Vaihayasi Pande Daniel, the granddaughter of a freedom-fighter, Jallianwala Bagh is the most important pilgrimage. The spot where 94 years ago more than 1,000 people were killed in cold blood, was a must-do on her life's itinerary, she writes after a recent visit to the hallowed garden
'I would like to vote for Kejriwal. He is an aam aadmi like us. He has good middle class values. Corruption is the most important issue of this election. I don't like Modi because of his past.' Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel and photographer Uttam Ghosh travel to Nagpur, Maharashtra's third most populous city, to assess the mood among young voters.
Mumbaikars jumped out of vehicles to take a closer look at the 'aam aadmi' hero. They WhatsApped images of him, requested selfies. Arvind Kejriwal swept Mumbai off its feet on Wednesday, and how! Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports on the metropolis's response to the man of the masses.
'If the navy was part of the ministry of defence then, of course, the defence minister would have been jointly responsible for everything that happened. But that is not so. The defence minister can shrug his shoulders and say, "Look I don't know what is going on in the navy, so let the chief handle it". The politician is free to do what he feels. If his conscience hurts him, he is welcome to quit,' former naval chief Admiral Arun Prakash tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
Jaipur festival had hundreds of celebrities in attendance. But for a first-timer reporting on this literary event, the most important celebrity is the audience, says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
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