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Saturday, December 13, 2025
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Book Excerpts

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.

When Mallikarjun Kharge did his magic to stop my transfer from labour ministry—Anil Swarup

In 'Encounters With Politicians', Anil Swarup writes how Mallikarjun Kharge, a visionary leader par excellence, had led the effort to make Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana a success.

Manoj Bajpayee learnt spoken English by befriending students from Kenya, Nigeria

In ‘Manoj Bajpayee: The Definitive Biography’, Piyush Pandey, who has worked with the the actor for over a decade, recounts unknown stories from his life.

‘Tirunelveli riots’ was a high point of the Swadeshi movement. A shipping rivalry caused it

In ‘Swadeshi Steam’, AR Venkatachalapathy traces the journey of India’s first indigenous shipping company Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company and its founder VO Chidambaram Pillai.

Why Manmohan Singh was late to his swearing-in ceremony in 1991

In ‘India’s Finance Ministers: Volume 2’, AK Bhattacharya looks at how the 12 finance ministers in the period between 1977 to 1998 took the country from a closed, agrarian economy to a liberal one.

MNCs know that global strategies don’t work in India. But they are still not ready to adapt

India’s mega consumption story is the most exciting in the world. Unlike most markets of its size, it is and for a long time will be, driven by lots and lots of small consumers.

Savarkar accepted intercaste marriages for one reason—it kept Hindus within the community.

In ‘Savarkar And The Making Of Hindutva’, Janaki Bakhle examines the full range of the Hindutva idealogue’s writings in Marathi—from politics and history to poetry.

Babur fell hopelessly in love with a boy called Baburi. Roamed love-sick like a madman

In 'Babur: The Chessboard King', Aabhas Maldahiyar brings to life the many faces of Mughal emperor Babur, challenging his typical depictions.

World’s first plague vaccine was made with ghee. It appalled high-caste Hindus, Parsis

In 'The Moral Contagion', Julia Hauser and Sarnath Banerjee document how civilisations over hundreds of years dealt with plagues.

India couldn’t afford an independent Hyderabad. It would’ve become a cancer in nation’s belly

In 'Conquering the Maharajas', Harrison Akins delves into the crucial history of princely India from the end of the British empire in South Asia to the intial years of India & Pakistan's independence.

On Camera

Faiz Hameed conviction is a message from Munir. He won’t tolerate sympathy for Imran Khan

The political trajectory is clear. Asim Munir is now prepared to convict and sentence Imran Khan for instigating a rebellion against the army chief, with no possibility of mercy.

Goa, Kerala lose sheen as more foreign tourists pick Maharashtra & Bengal, shows RBI data

RBI data shows 26 states and Union Territories couldn’t regain pre-pandemic foreign tourist footfalls in 2024, but domestic tourism surged 27 percent compared to 2019.

US clears $686-mn package to breathe fresh life into Pakistani F-16s

Of the total package, $649 million will be utilised for additional hardware, software, and support services, and the remaining for Major Defence Equipment (MDE).

Asim Munir & Pakistan’s Failed Marshal Doctrine

None of Pakistan’s PMs has lasted 5 years. That the current PM has given Asim Munir 5 years shows that of all military dictatorships history has seen, Pakistan’s is most creative.