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Saturday, November 2, 2024
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Book Excerpts

Shiv Kumar Sharma was first musician to play santoor on lap. It wasn’t a background instrument

Shiv Kumar Sharma’s biographer Ina Puri writes that few know he provided tabla accompaniment to Ravi Shankar, Begum Akhtar before turning to the santoor.

‘We are more, we are equal’: Story of Syed Mahmood, colonial India’s first Muslim HC judge

In ‘Syed Mahmood: Colonial India’s Dissenting Judge’, Mohammad Nasir and Samreen Ahmed chronicle how India’s first Muslim judge left an Eastern mark on the Western world.

‘Not all inheritances from Partition are traumatic.’ Some stories are ‘celebrations’ too

Author-historian Aanchal Malhotra's 'In the Language of Remembering' explores the legacy of Partition within Indian families today.

Senior watching, Kargil hero Anuj Nayyar stuffed his bag with grenades and said ‘thoda aur’

In 'The Tiger of Drass', Meena Nayyar and Himmat Singh Shekhawat chronicle the story of Kargil hero and Maha Vir Chakra winner Capt. Anuj Nayyar.

Akbar’s Rajput wife was Harkha, not Jodha Bai. But chronicles say nothing about ‘love’

In ‘Akbar of Hindustan’, Parvati Sharma writes that the fact of a Rajput bride entering the Mughal dynasty is remarkable perhaps only in retrospect.

How Xi Jinping’s ‘mole hunt’ led to CIA losing dozens of Chinese informants

In ‘Chinese Spies’, Roger Faligot writes about Chinese intelligence services that now rival CIA, Mossad, R&AW, DGSE, and MI6.

Even Usain Bolt can’t match the speed of Army cadets’ daily duties at Indian Military Academy

In 'The Force Behind the Forces', Swapnil Pandey shows why she thinks the Indian military is the best in the world.

‘Hullabol’ movement that liberated Azad Nagar’s Kol tribe from modern slavery in UP

In ‘Azad Nagar’, Laura T. Murphy embarks on a retelling of a complex murder story that captures why slavery continues to exist in the 21st century.

Corporate wars are common in India’s oil sector. But it all started with govt, ONGC, OIL

In ‘Unfilled Barrels’, journalist Richa Mishra recounts India's upstream journey in the oil sector from KD Malaviya to ONGC.

Bombay was microcosm of post-Partition India. Now it’s for ‘Mumbaikars’, rest are outsiders

In 'A Clown for God, A Clown for Others: Recollections of an Indian Jesuit', Rudolf Heredia talks about how Mumbai changed through his eyes.

On Camera

Are flight bomb threats pranks or conspiracy? Cost of ‘hoax’ to Indian aviation is real

Over 510 flights have been hit by hoax bomb threats in the past couple of weeks. Despite arrests and suspicions of Sikh radical links, authorities still have no clear answers.

Watch CutTheClutter: Flattening INR-USD rate, and debate on pros and cons of a ‘strong’ rupee

In Episode 1544 of CutTheClutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta looks at some top economists pointing to the pitfalls of ‘currency nationalism’ with data from 1991 to 2004.

All about Major Bob Khathing, whose daring expedition & diplomatic parleys secured Tawang for India

The decorated Naga officer from Manipur also served as envoy to Myanmar & Nagaland chief secy. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a museum dedicated to the Tawang hero Thursday.

From 2004 to 2024, bad news has come wrapped as good news for Congress

Congress is silently acknowledging it over-read verdict of last general election. You can see it in easy concession to SP. It will likely be more reasonable in Maharashtra & Jharkhand.