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Monday, July 28, 2025
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Book Excerpts

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.

Queen who fought Akbar, married out of caste—Rani Durgawati exercised choice 450 years ago

In 'Rani Durgawati: The Forgotten Life of a Warrior Queen’, Nandini Sengupta tells story of the Gond queen who has become footnote in India's history.

‘He used our rage against us’—How Dawood Ibrahim destroyed Bombay in 1993 serial blasts

In ‘Bombay After Ayodhya,’ Jitendra Dixit chronicles how the past three decades have been a period of unprecedented flux in Mumbai.

How an NRI’s attempt to take over 2 Indian firms led to LIC turning invincible

In 'Fifteen Judgments', Saurabh Kirpal talks about the events leading up to the LIC judgment that made the company a pillar of the Indian economy.

Earliest Ramayana paintings were in Persian, commissioned by Mughal king Akbar

In 'Origins of Orchha Painting', Konrad Seitz mentions how Akbar translated Ramayana and Mahabharata into Persian to spread awareness of Hindu culture.

Aurangzeb almost drank wine to prove his love for a courtesan

In ‘The World: A Family History’, British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore tells the story of humanity through the one thing we all have in common: families.

The idea of Dandakaranya as a breeding zone of Maoists took birth at a dinner table

The thirst for land among landless peasants and tribals was at its peak in Andhra Pradesh. It was Indira Gandhi, say veteran Maoist idealogues, who created the thirst.

A Mumbai trip changed Ram Gidoomal’s life, an Indian from a family of silk traders

In 'My Silk Road – The Adventures and Struggles of a British Asian Refugee’, Ram Gidoomal tells story of coming full circle to succeed in ways beyond his imagination.

Nehru read Ramayana every morning for pure joy. He also turned to religion in his old-age

In 'Nehru's India', Nayantara Sahgal presents a collection of essays written about the former Prime Minister of India, personality and his legacy.

On Camera

Dhankhar’s resignation: How Modi-Shah’s ‘capable’ BJP has served another strong message to RSS

One has to be incredibly credulous to buy BJP spin masters’ argument that the government got rid of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for harmonious relationship with the judiciary.

Unclaimed deposits worth Rs 67,000 crore lying in banks, 87% in public sector banks alone, Parliament told

SBI holds Rs 19,239 crore in unclaimed deposits, or 26% of the abandoned money in public banking system. PNB, Canara Bank follow.

India wanted a stable, prosperous Pakistan but our peace efforts were mistaken for weakness: Rajnath

Modi government had also made numerous efforts to establish peace with Pakistan but has now adopted a different path, militarily, to establish peace, adds defence minister.

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.