'I have never seen anybody disliked more as prime minister than Modi.' 'What is interesting is in his prime ministership, no matter whatever happens in any corner of India, Modi is blamed for it.' 'Modi has not suspended any Constitutional liberties. No Opposition leader has been put in jail... Modi is not Hitler.'
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan welcomed the apex court's order and urged people to abide by the SC guidelines and 'give green Diwali and our environment a chance'
How about topping your meal with a sweet wine? Here is a beginner's guide to dessert wines.
'My friends were so embarrassed (about rumours of trouble in her marriage). I think some of them were having a party and they were scared to call Raj (Kundra) and me. I kept quiet but suddenly I saw it snowballing. So I called up my PR and said, what's happening, you have to stop this!' Shilpa Shetty gets candid.
For starters, Mad Max: Fury Road is gloriously nuts, says Raja Sen.
The 18 year old from a small town of Rajasthan has been signed on by the agency that manages supermodels like Gigi Hadid and Miranda Kerr.
'As each week brings fresh tales of the woes of Rio on the eve of the Olympics, I wonder whether my friends had a foreboding that the Gods of the Olympics will bring only misfortunes to their country.' 'For, surely, Brazil is now getting ready to host the Games with a joyless spirit, says B S Prakash, formerly India's ambassador to Brazil.
These models have inherited their celebrity parents' good looks and genes.
'If Modi arrived like a juggernaut, he left like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces were being dismantled bit by bit. It was as if India had seceded quietly from him.' Shiv Viswanathan's social science fiction about what India would be like in 2020.
Manavi Kapur and Avantika Bhuyan speak with leading designers about trends that will sparkle in the new year.
Australian model Ilana Davies gets candid with Rediff.com's Tista Sengupta.
'Professor C Y Bayly was undoubtedly the tallest of his generation. For so many of his students who were privileged to be taught by him he was much more than the rarest of rare scholar.' Professor Seema Alavi remembers a teacher who left an indelible imprint on India history.
"Although we are kind of open Muslims, I don't want to show my body."
The veshti controversy in Tamil Nadu is not about the dress -- but a dress-code, which seems permissible in private homes and offices, but not in private clubs that are open only to well-heeled, and well-paying private members, observes N Sathiya Moorthy
'Imagine for a moment that the Coast Guard was unable to stop the vessel and it reached Porbandar with its cargo/personnel and targeted the event at which the prime minister was present,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Once, when I was standing around on the set one day, whining about something -- you know we were gonna work through supper or the long hours or whatever, Tommy Lee Jones said to me, 'Isn't it such a privilege, Meryl, just to be an actor? Yeah, it is, and we have to remind each other of the privilege and the responsibility of the act of empathy. We should all be very proud of the work Hollywood honours here tonight.'
You'll see that there's more to the state than just its forts and havelis!
Tista Sengupta/Rediff.com speaks to aspiring plus size models who, for the first time, will walk at Lakme Fashion Week.
They broke free yet failed to evade the clutches of law.
Why is the BJP playing 'competitive politics' where there is scope or room for none? The release of 5 Indian fishermen on death row in Sri Lanka was a victory for India's quiet diplomacy of long years in the matter -- and not for loud politics by parties in the country.
'The thin line is a permanent dilemma with soldiers. You have to appreciate that in that dilemma and chaos there are officers who stand and lead their men.
Deepta Roy Chakraverti talks to Chandrima Pal about her book that chronicles her psychic investigations into what she says are unnatural occurrences in familiar places.
In an interview to HarmonyIndia.org, the artist, who had famously said that he lived to paint and painted to live, spoke of what the 'bindu' meant to him, about his friend M F Husain and the legacy that he will leave behind.
Pakistan's dismal public health system is rife with mismanagement and a paucity of resources. Amidst this shambolic system, one hospital in Karachi has been providing specialised healthcare to millions. Free of charge. As the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation celebrated 40 years of successful service, Dr Sanjay Nagral visited the facility and met the man who helms it, armed with the simple philosophy that 'No person should die only because they are unable to afford medical expenses.'
No-Punchline humour reminds us how in our daily lives, we all are by turns 'The Corrupt Politician we criticise,' 'The Chauvinist Male we frown upon,' 'The Rule Breaker we deride through our Facebook posts,' 'The Communal Virus we so easily lampoon' and 'The Bad Artist we spoof.' In a land where the aforesaid prototypes are our major sources of 'funny,' is there an audience for the NPL kind of humour, asks Sreehari Nair.
Indian billionaires do not believe in sitting on their wealth.
'Not allowing people to speak or listen is the biggest act of anti-nationalism,' says Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, one of India's finest poets.
Samuel Stokes made India his home and participated in the freedom struggle. He was the only American to be imprisoned for sedition; the British CID maintained a special file on him.
'If fame, money and comfort are the only factors that drive us, then we are playing cricket for entirely the wrong reasons.'
The full text of the speech delivered by VVS Laxman at the Pataudi Memorial Lecture in Kolkata.