“Hitch your wagon to a star”, the idiom from an 1862-Ralph Waldo Emerson essay, has made a permanent place in my heart and mind. I believe that it is only when we dream high and aspire higher that we get the courage to stick our heads out and fight for it. It is also important to hang on to you...
Gutsy, hardworking and extremely focused. World Number One woman badminton player Saina Nehwal is a source of inspiration for India’s youth Saina Nehwal says badminton is her first love. Given her dedication, diligence and sheer hard work, however, one can hazard a guess that she would have excel...
OVER 2,500 FEARED KILLED; ANOTHER 4,500 INJURED MANY TRAPPED IN DEBRIS; MORE THAN 60 DEAD IN INDIA CALAMITY// A massive earthquake of magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale hit large parts of Nepal on Saturday, April 25 2015. It was strong enough to be felt all across northern and eastern parts of Indi...
EVACUATION// India breathed a sigh of relief as the total number of Indian evacuees from war-ravaged Yemen touched 4,000. They were rescued in three air sorties and naval ships before the government decided to end the air evacuation operation. The smooth opeartion has won praise from many for the Mo...
RAMALINGA RAJU GETS 7 YEARS IN JAIL
SCAM// Former chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. B Ramalinga Raju and nine others, two of them family members, were sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment on April 9 in the country’s largest-ever corporate fraud. Although Raju cited social service in plea for leniency, the special c...
BCCI WANTS TENDULKAR, DRAVID AND GANGULY AS CRICKET ADVISORS
APPOINTMENT// In its working committee meet in Kolkata on April 26, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has expressed its desire to appoint the legendary trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid as advisors on all cricketrelated matters. The BCCI decided to seek the app...
USL directors tell Vijay Mallya to resign from board
RESIGNATION// The board of directors at United Spirits Ltd has asked promoter and chairman Vijay Mallya to resign from the board after an internal probe alleged the liquor baron may have been involved in financial irregularities at India’s largest liquor company. Anand Kripalu, who led the interna...
FARMER KILLS HIMSELF AT DELHI AAP RALLY
DEATH// An Indian farmer, Gajendra Singh from Dausa, Rajasthan, died after hanging from a tree before a huge crowd at a rally being addressed by the chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal. He was rushed to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had stag...
Hundreds feared dead after migrant boat capsizes in Mediterranean Sea
TRAGEDY// A migrant ship carrying as many as 950 people capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, north of Libya and south of the Italian island of Lampedusa on April 19. Italian prosecutors said a Bangladeshi survivor flown to Sicily for treatment told them 950 people were aboard, including hundreds who h...
Sania Mirza: On top of the world
TENNIS// Indian tennis player Sania Mirza made history by becoming the first Indian woman to become the No 1 doubles player in the world. She, along with partner, Martina Hingis (herself a former world no 1 in singles) won the WTA Family Circle Cup in the United States and this win gave Sania the po...
As if studying in a world-class university isn’t an experience enriching enough, that it is in Ireland, the country that reminds you of your roots and also opens itself up to discovery, makes it priceless many more popular European countries, might seem a little strange. I mean, why go to a count...
Right here! Right now! Live and Breaking! We may be tired of hearing these words on primetime news programming with each passing day, but the lure of the real-time is undeniable. Be it a live stage performance or a cricket match, everyone loves being right there, in the moment, as it happens. So it...
Why we ignored our contribution in WWI
Sepoys and sowars fighting and dying for the alien colonial regime do not go well with the dominant discourse, which emphasises the anti-colonial struggle Amongst A body of cinema buffs there is a view that of the films made after World War I, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), adapted from a n...
Author and scriptwriter Advaita Kala tell us what it takes to keep her creative juice flowing Her debut novel Almost Single may have won her rave reviews and got her a big fan base, but that didn’t make Advaita Kala sit back and take it easy. In fact, she decided to take up all the challenges tha...
Maharashtra government’s decision to screen Marathi movies in multiplexes during peak hours may have been shot down by most, but it does raise a crucial point – how can regional cinema ever compete with big-budget, high-decibel publicity campaigns by Bollywood and English movies? Shouldn’t suc...
Modi's diplomacy focus is at the right place - in the neighbourhood IndIa’s foreIgn policy priorities under Prime Minister Narendra Modi are at the right place. They are where it should have been all along — in its neighbourhood. The ties are dictated by economic benefits, and rightly so. In t...
SIP Academy India endeavours to make a difference to children’s lives not only through its programmes but its unique CSR initiatives as well Children are the future. If you invest or empower them, you are working towards a better tomorrow. This enrichment and empowerment of kids with essential li...
In addition to explicitly chronicling the experiences of women and children in times of armed conflict, The Seasons of Trouble is a testimony to what —and who — is left out of most reportage on war Rohini Mohan’s new book, The Seasons of Trouble: Life amid the Ruins of Sri Lanka’s Civil War...
The secret HAPPINESS getaway to
A ten-day trip to Bhutan offers a peek into what it takes to make the heart sing Iam fascinated by the idea of happiness. I have read every article in Opinionator (NY Times), watched several episodes of TED Talks and analysed many a book written on the theme. Happiness is the one thing all of us wa...
American blues singer Big Bill Morganfiled famously said, “My guitar is my torch, my soul carries the flame. Make no mistake, I’m a true blues man.” He might as well be speaking about Jayanta Dasgupta Wearing a nondescript shirt over I-sleep-in-them jeans, sporting heavy stubble bordering on ...