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Sunday, July 27, 2025
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Book Excerpts

Getting princely states into the Constituent Assembly was a Patel and Menon masterstroke

In ‘We, The People of the States of Bharat,' Sanjeev Chopra talks about the formation of Indian states prior to 1956 as a result of historical accidents and circumstances.

Who truly owns the biryani? Experts say Dharmasastras, Mahabharata mention it

In 'Don't Forward That Text', Amit Schandillia traces the roots of biryani—ancient India, Macedonia to Persia.

Mughal and Rajput art, Western-style—Company paintings, the lovechild of India & British Raj

Company painting emerged out of a sustained interaction between Indian and European culture after the East India Company gained control over Bengal in 1757.

Before 1996 World Cup final, Ranatunga called Warne ‘average’, took pressure off the Lankans

The ultimate cornerstone of great captaincy is selfbelief. In the lead-up to the final, there was uncertainty in the Sri Lankan camp.

When YV Chandrachud said he had ‘lofty faith’ in Indira Gandhi govt during Emergency

In 'The Speaking Constitution', translated by Kalpana Kannabiran, K.G. Kannabiran gives anecdotes on challenging the Emergency in the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The woman who cooked her way into the story of India’s freedom movement

In 'The Last Heroes', P. Sainath tells the stories of millions of ordinary people—farmers, homemakers, artisans, labourers—who stood up to the British.

For Tulu community in India, ‘Bhuta’ masks are charged with magic, meaning and myth

Scholars have identified a complex interplay between indigenous traditions and castes— elements of which can be seen in bhuta masks.

Predator pornography is a thing. It was born out of shikaar writing on man-eating leopards

In ‘Leopard Diaries,’ Sanjay Gubbi gives us a 360-degree view of the leopard, its ecological context and its fraught relationship with the human world.

Bengal Partition stories aren’t like Punjab. You won’t find violence, but a world was lost

In 'The Bleeding Border', editors Joyjit Ghosh and Mir Ahammad Ali give a rare insight into the nature of Bengal partition.

‘God chose me for sports’—How MC Mary Kom fought sceptics to punch her way to the top

In 'Iconic Indians', authors Sanjeev Sanyal and Rajesh Singh chronicle the lives of 75 remarkable people who played an important role in transforming India.

On Camera

Maharashtra’s language war reaches West Bengal. Actor Prosenjit Chatterjee is the first victim

While the language war in other states is targeting those who can't speak the local language, in Bengal, even those whose mother tongue is Bengali have to constantly prove their Bengali-ness.

India-US set to ink mini trade deal soon, reach understanding on agricultural & dairy products

Mini deal will likely see no cut in 10% baseline tariff on Indian exports announced by Trump on 2 April, it is learnt, but additional 26% tariffs are set to be reduced.

DRDO successfully tests latest version of UAV-launched precision missile, ULPGM-V3

Capable of being fired in plain and high-altitude areas, it has day-and-night capability and two-way data link to support post-launch target, aim-point update.

Modi’s Bharat vs Indira’s India: 11-yr report card of politics, diplomacy, economy, nationalism

As Narendra Modi becomes India’s second-longest consecutively serving Prime Minister, we look at how he compares with Indira Gandhi across four key dimensions.