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Saturday, November 22, 2025
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Book Excerpts

Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg are exception not rule — not all startup founders should be CEOs

In ‘Everything Started as Nothing’, Bhaskar Majumdar writes on how to build and sustain startups and scalable businesses in today’s ruthless marketplace.

After 1857 rebellion, Delhi properties of ‘disloyal’ Indians were confiscated

In ‘The (Un)governable City’, Raghav Kishore writes about the transformation of Delhi into a cantonment in the aftermath of the Great Rebellion of 1857.

Why Indian leopards switched from ‘healthy salad’ to ‘risky junk’

In ‘Leopard Diaries’, Sanjay Gubbi writes that unlike the tiger, the leopard is not a choosy eater — but what it eats usually is fast running out where it lives in India.

Here’s how Xi Jinping wants China to build its own Silicon Valley

In ‘A new silk road’, Kingshuk Nag writes about the Chinese President’s ambitious plans & how different India and China’s political and economic strategies are.

Bollywood is fascinated with Mughals — from Akbar to Saleem to Bahadur Shah Zafar

In ‘Bollygeek’, Diptakirti Chaudhuri puts together an extensive range of trivia on India’s film industry.

Indian innovation begins in small towns and IITs. Covid ventilators were no different

In ‘The Ventilator Project’, Srikant Sastri and Amitabha Bandyopadhyay write about how IIT-K’s Nocca Robotics built an ICU ventilator to save Covid patients.

How car racing took off in Calcutta — with Maharajas, makeshift airfield, and Alfa from Italy

In ‘The Automobile’, Gautam Sen chronicles India’s love for cars and Calcutta’s own Grand Prix.

Kennedy’s assassination had an unexpected impact on India-China relations

In ‘Life in American Politics & Diplomatic Years in India’, former diplomat Richard Celeste writes that there was a proposal to increase US military aid to India after 1962.

Baywatch, racy music videos and VJs — how Rupert Murdoch ‘corrupted’ India through Star TV

In ‘Starstruck’, Peter Mukerjea writes about foreign-owned Star TV’s journey to becoming one of the leading entertainment channels in India.

How Sultans of Gujarat and 3 Sufis gave Ahmedabad a written history

In ‘Narrative Pasts’, Jyoti Gulati Balachandran writes that when Le Corbusier visited Sarkhej he remarked, ‘Why do you need to visit the Acropolis in Athens when you have this here?’

On Camera

Trump’s 28 points for Ukraine add up to a no-go at peace

Two questions are pertinent: Why does the Trump administration keep making the same mistakes on the peace proposal? And what does a hurried peace plan mean on the ground?

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.

Tejas fighter aircraft crashes at Dubai Air Show, IAF confirms pilot’s death

This is the second such incident after a Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas had crashed into a hostel on the outskirts of Jaisalmer in March last year.

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.