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Around Town

Lalbaugcha Raja had a VIP-sized problem this year. SRK to Amit Shah edged out common devotees

Lalbaugcha Raja received about Rs 3 crore in donations this year in just five days. Over 50 lakh devotees visit here every year.

You Know I Can’t Say More—letters from the death row humanises prisoners in an exhibition

The letters are part of a new online exhibition curated by Project 39A and ReFrame. It is an attempt to bridge some of the differences between ‘ordinary people’ and ‘prisoners’.

Mewar-style Mahabharata painted by Muslim—what 2 art enthusiasts found buried in Udaipur fort

A trunk in a dingy room in Udaipur’s City Palace had been sheltering thousands of miniature paintings of the Mahabharata, painted by Allah Baksh between 1680 and 1698.

Maharashtra’s Deccan Odyssey luxury train gets whole new look. Carpets, cutlery, colours

Deccan Odyssey 2.0 has 21 coaches, 40 deluxe cabins and four presidential suites.

26/11, Sri Lanka insurgency, Gulf War—this Oberoi hotelier recounts his adventures in memoir

The title of Rattan Keswani's maiden book Check In Never Check Out was inspired by the 'only one hoteliers know' — The Eagles' Hotel California.

Akbar’s Persian Mahabharata—foreign languages took Indian manuscripts around the world

Thirty-forty printed versions of these now-digitised manuscripts can be seen till 28 September at Delhi’s ‘Evam Vadati Pustakam’ exhibition.

Kathak, Odissi meets academia and India’s courtesan history is rescued from footnotes

Courtesans were more than objects of desire — one donated all her wealth to a Buddhist sangha, another commanded an army, and one more composed music for several Bollywood films.

Naveen Patnaik is greening Odisha. And it has nothing to do with the environment

In March this year, BJP’s Jayanarayan Mishra said that many schools in Odisha do not have adequate teachers & students can't identify Odia alphabets, but the govt is busy painting school buildings in Pakistani colours.

‘Hindi ko fark padta hai!’—Literature alone can’t save the language

Though the Modi government has actively advocated for the Hindi cause, language experts said there are many challenges that are not visible.

The Vivekananda story: ‘India’s secular liberals run away from everything the Sangh touches’

Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy was antithetical to Hindutva—he was a ‘victim’ of appropriation.

On Camera

Bihar mimics 19th-century American South. Citizenship is now weaponised to exclude voters

Disenfranchisement by institutional fiat is profoundly undemocratic. The effect of the ECI's new documentary process in Bihar will tilt the scales in favour of the BJP.

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.

Not just AK-203, India & Russia to jointly manufacture AK-19 and PPK-20 for domestic use and export 

India-Russia JV is also racing to deliver 7,000 more AK-203 assault rifles by 15 Aug. These are currently being made with 50% indigenisation and this will surge to 100% by 31 December.

Strategic partner one day, tactical nightmare the next: India’s learning Trumplomacy the hard way

Public, loud, upfront, filled with impropriety and high praise sometimes laced with insults. This is what we call Trumplomacy. But the larger objective is the same: American supremacy.