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Book Excerpts

How Mughal India celebrated Diwali — from ‘Akash diya’ to Red Fort

In ‘Shahjahanabad’, Rana Safvi writes about how the ‘Rang Mahal’ in Delhi’s Red Fort was lit up to celebrate Diwali.

A British scientist’s quest to scientifically explain the ‘mythical powers of the Ganges’

In 'Invisible Empire: The Natural History of Viruses’, Pranay Lal tells the story of viruses as major actors across human civilisation.

Despite Tatva, municipality’s promises, Mumbai’s Deonar hills diseased the city for decades

In 'Mountain Tales', Saumya Roy narrates the stories of rag-pickers and Mumbai's Deonar dwellers in shocking detail.

‘Please smoke to keep me company’ – What a tired Mao told Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit in China

In ‘The Fractured Himalaya’, former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao writes how in the India-China relationship, the past shadows the present.

From Kamala Harris to Kal Penn: How racists mispronounced names as a deliberate tactic

In 'Kamala Harris: Phenomenal Woman', columnist Chidanand Rajghatta outlines the US Vice President's life and legacy.

‘If you can’t beat them, join them’ can’t be our response to Hindu Rashtra: Salman Khurshid

In ‘Sunrise Over Ayodhya’, Congress’ Salman Khurshid writes that on Hindu Rashtra, the BJP must know what it intends, but its leaders skirt issue to secure world recognition.

There was a premonition surrounding Sanjeev Kumar’s death. His friends and family knew

'An Actor’s Actor' by Hanif Zaveri and Sumant Batra provides a glimpse of Sanjeev Kumar's personal and professional life from his birth to death.

How McKinsey & Co. created ‘The War for Talent’ in 1998 to propagate a ‘myth of brilliance’

In 'Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time', anthropologist James Suzman traces a new history of humankind through the prism of work.

Choose 1, Congress or conscience said Savarkar. 50 years on, congress’s bias still showing

In 'Veer Savarkar', Mahurkar and Pandit say Savarkar's unalloyed nationalism could prevent Partition. Sadly, no one knows.

Nehru called Kolkata ‘nightmare city’. Now, Bengal worships freedom with inter-party violence

From Gandhi to Jyoti Basu to Didi, Bengal's back is broken by political violence, says Sugato Hazra in 'Losing the Plot'.

On Camera

In Tejas Dubai crash, the harm goes beyond the loss of an aircraft and pilot

Airshows are thrilling spectacles of aviation skill and engineering marvels. But they carry inherent risks as the crew is pushing the aircraft, and themselves, to perform at the edges of the envelope.

At Charcha 2025: Local entrepreneurship, not just big IT, will drive next wave of distributed AI work

While global corporations setting up GCCs in India continue to express confidence in availability of skilled AI engineers, the panel argued that India’s real challenge lies elsewhere.

From a small Kangra village to Tejas cockpit: IAF fighter pilot Namansh Syal’s journey cut short

Wing Commander Namansh Syal is survived by his wife, their 6-year-old daughter and his mother. Back in his native village, relatives and neighbours wait for his remains for last rites.

A tribute to Tejas. India’s delay culture is the real enemy in the skies

It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.