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Friday, August 15, 2025
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Book Excerpts

‘Turbaned strangers’ — British questioned, sorted and colour-coded Indian POWs after Dunkirk

In ‘The Indian Contingent’, Ghee Bowman writes about the 9,711 Indian soldiers —including from Bose’s INA — recovered after the world war and sent back to India.

The Gita is universal and still endorses caste inequality. But story of Ekalavya stands out

In ‘The Gita for a Global World’, Rohit Chopra uses the Gita as a lens to look at pressing questions of war, difference and uncertainty.

The art of conjuring realities – How the BJP gets Hindus to believe ‘love jihad’ story

In ‘The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities’, Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan write how political parties, godmen, nation-states manipulate our thoughts.

How British used Indian Railways, free cups, and targeted women to make Indians tea drinkers

In ‘Taste of Time’, Mohona Kanjilal writes that tea wasn’t widely drunk in India before the British came. Then the Opium Wars with China happened.

Military equipment to WTO push – How US aided China’s extraordinary rise

In an article in ‘A New Cold War’ edited by Sanjaya Baru and Rahul Sharma, Kanti Bajpai writes that the US’ fascination with China has been far greater than with India.

India’s textbooks were written with Nehru in mind. It rejected the past

In ‘The Great Hindu Civilisation’, former diplomat and Rajya Sabha MP Pavan Varma writes that India’s history books made little mention of great Hindu kings like Krishnadevaraya or of Raja Chola I.

The unusual friendship between Mithun Chakraborty and Balasaheb Thackeray

In 'Mithun Chakraborty: The Dada of Bollywood' journalist Ram Kamal Mukherjee traces the personal, professional and political story of the actor.

Nehru sent Indira as a ‘gift to the children of Japan’. She stayed in Tokyo’s Ueno zoo

In ‘Orienting: An Indian In Japan' journalist Pallavi Aiyar explores the various facets of Japanese culture and the common history between the two counties.

Will Muslim actors ever capture the Indian imagination as the Khans did? It’s unlikely

In 'The Three Khans: And the Emergence of New India', independent journalist Kaveree Bamzai explores the story of Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh from their emergence on the silver screen to the era following their legacy.

Lakshmibai drank, was promiscuous, British historians wrote. Then Savarkar changed it all

In 'A Begum & A Rani: Hazrat Mahal and Lakshmibai in 1857', historian Rudrangshu Mukherjee locates the stories of the prominent women in Indian history.

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.