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Friday, August 15, 2025
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Around Town

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.

‘Made in Heaven’ got Indian filmmakers talking caste in US, North-South cinema divide

Academic and filmmaker Vikrant Kishore wants to bring about a change by raising awareness about caste-based discrimination in cinema. But all he sees is Bollywood.

Top ministers talk India’s ‘techade’ at Delhi book launch — UPI to e-governance

Youth are ‘driven by a fire in the belly’, not for food but for the ‘finer things of life,’ said union minister Piyush Goyal at the launch of Nalin Mehta’s book, India’s Techade, in Delhi.

On Camera

How Saba Azad became the accidental voice of Bengal’s language protests

Bengalis are hurt over a statement by the Delhi police calling Bangla a ‘Bangladeshi language’ and the lines Azad sang have unwittingly become protest music in Kolkata now.

Slashing GST on waste can unlock Rs 1.8 lakh crore, high tax hurting circular economy goals—CSE

Centre for Science and Environment in new report makes case for rationalising GST on waste material, saying most informal operators can’t afford high tax & it also hinders recycling.

President awards 1st set of Sarvottam Yudh Seva medals since Kargil, 7 honoured for leading Op Sindoor

This year, the Indian Air Force received four of the seven awards, followed by the Indian Army with two medals, and the Indian Navy with one. 

Modi’s ready to risk it all for farmers. Farm reform can answer Trump with new Green Revolution

Standing up to America is usually not a personal risk for a leader in India. Any suggestions of foreign pressure unites India behind who they see as leading them in that fight.