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Book Excerpts

That moment when I started questioning my support of PM Modi: Tavleen Singh

In her new book, Tavleen Singh writes about PM Modi's "disheartening response" to her questions during a private conversation when he was in his first term.

Dara Shikoh had a dream. And it was about Ram

This dream was prompted by something the prince had recently read. Its author was Dara Shukoh’s contemporary Shaikh Sufi, a mystic Mughal official.

How VSNL launched internet services in India in 1995 when even China hadn’t

India's 'Telecom Man' Brijendra K. Syngal, under whose guidance internet was introduced, recounts in a new book the pains VSNL went through to set up the system.

Rashpal Singh Chandra: Why Hindus of Punjab’s Katani Kalan village hailed this Sikh militant

The anti-Hindu and anti-Congress narrative do not completely define Punjab's militancy movement. This anecdote shows why the sage of militancy is layered.

China never had to learn English like India because its economy relied on manufacturing

Contrary to China, whose post-1993 growth acceleration was concentrated on the manufacturing sector, India’s growth was service driven.

I may be the only lady doing the skin-beating job: What mrdangam-maker Geetha told me

Mrdangam-making has always been a male-controlled territory. But Geetha has nailed, cleaned and dried skins for years, TM Krishna writes in his new book.

Hate is hot in India. Colder ideas like constitutional patriotism must work harder to win

Constitutional patriotism is a modern concept anchored in the idea of the nation-state. The problem is that it depends upon imaginings as fuzzy as nationalism itself.

Mountbatten planned to partition India into many countries. Then VP Menon stepped in

India’s future had been decided in a matter of 3 hours, between 7 am and 10.30 am, by Nehru and Mountbatten. And it was VP Menon who drew up a draft.

For India’s revolutionaries in freedom struggle, gyms & akharas were a cover for politics

The Jugantar movement started by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh used the guise of a fitness club to take in young teenagers and turn them into revolutionaries.

OYO was the big disruptor in India’s hotel industry, forcing even Tata to take note

OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal was just 18 when he came up with the idea. Within just a few years, OYO surpassed the valuation of India’s oldest hotel company.

On Camera

Pakistani accomplices, shootouts, sealed chargesheet—how the 7/11 blasts case fell apart

After 19 years, the Bombay High Court finally held what governments and intelligence services have long known: The men sentenced for their role in the bombings had nothing to do with it.

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.

Indian firm sets up titanium, superalloy plants to meet global need. Safran, Dassault, BAE line up

PTC Industries is investing Rs 1,000 cr in 4 manufacturing plants in UP, has already started supplying titanium parts to BAE Systems for its M-777 howitzers that India also uses.

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.