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Tuesday, November 18, 2025
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Book Excerpts

Romulus Whitaker’s colour blindness was an advantage. It helped him spot snakes easily

In ‘Snakes, Drugs And Rock ’N’ Roll’, Romulus Whitaker and his wife Janaki Lenin write about Whitaker’s childhood and his adventures before setting up the famed Chennai Snake Park.

One thing all education ministers under Nehru aimed to do—make Indians doubt ancient values

In 'Modian Consensus', Swadesh Singh talks about how the Nehruvian Consensus demolished the ideas of the Civilisational Consensus that had spiritualism at its core.

‘Bread, work, liberty’—when Chilean women sewed quilts with messages to oppose Gen Pinochet

In 'Audacious Hope', Indrajit Roy talks about how hope is expressed through ordinary people’s resistance in the face of brutal, unrelenting repression.

Sudha Murthy is a rebel disguised as a traditionalist

In 'An Uncommon Love', Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni tells the story of how Sudha and Narayana Murthy met and how their love changed each others lives.

Congress was once India’s Blackberry. And then both fell into an ‘overconfidence cycle’

In '2024', former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha argues that India is in a state of free fall, raising urgent issues before the country goes to polls this year.

Aurangzeb razed Gyanvapi temple to save a Hindu rani—scholars made up tales to justify bigotry

In ‘Waiting for Shiva’, Vikram Sampath looks at the historical significance of Kashi for Hindus and the legal aspects of the ongoing case.

How the Malayali Gulf migrant became the ‘suffering rich’

In ‘The Gulf Migrant Archives in Kerala’, Mohamed Shafeeq Karinkurayil explores the rumours and stereotypes associated with Malayalis who work in the Gulf.

Aurangzeb tossed his sister’s suitor off Red Fort wall–no man could pursue Mughal princesses

Anisha Shekhar Mukherji's architectural biography 'The Red Fort of Shahjahanabad' offers a rich and engaging narrative of the iconic Fort.

The Chandayana – an epic Awadhi love story with many illustrated adaptations

Individual folios of Chandayana manuscripts are also part of public and private collections and institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum, New York, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Marina Beach shoreline was garlanded with barbed wire & a ‘dummy fort’ to scare away Japanese bombers

In The Great Flap of 1942, Mukund Padmanabhan recalls the time between December 1941 to mid-1942 – when the Raj panicked over a Japanese non-invasion.

On Camera

India has to move on now. Engage with ‘Nooton Bangladesh’

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has, in a sense, tasted her own medicine. The International Crimes Tribunal, the special court she instituted for...

The day Dharmendra ‘died’

The Trump effect? India’s Russian goods imports fall 10.8%, US trade grows

Despite tariffs, US remains India’s largest export destination, with $52.12 billion worth of merchandise exports in the first seven months of this financial year.

Drone manufacturer ideaForge wins orders worth over Rs 100 crore from Army

ideaForge has formed a joint venture to manufacture and market UAVs in the US. Its Q6 UAV is now included in NATO and allied procurement systems.

INDIA has a Congress-sized hole. And the fix begins with a little humility

Without a Congress revival, there can be no challenge to the BJP pan-nationally. Modi’s party is growing, and almost entirely at the cost of the Congress.