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Tuesday, November 25, 2025
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Book Excerpts

How Julia Roberts and Pretty Woman inspired Manipuri trans activist to be herself

Santa Khurai was seventeen when she decided to start dressing like a woman. She had always believed herself to be female, and she claimed her feminine identity fiercely and openly.

Swami Vivekananda didn’t preach religious tolerance. But his secularism was beyond politics

In Eternal Religion, Karan Singh draws upon 70 years of his writing on aspects of Hinduism, to show why he believes that Hinduism is more egalitarian than perhaps any other concept known to man.

Maharashtra’s 1st female police chief was called Jhansi ki Rani. She exposed a corrupt DIG

In this candid account of her thirty-six years in Indian law enforcement, Meeran Chadha Borwankar details the sensational cases that defined her career.

‘Commonwealth, cricket, curry’—India & Australia should’ve been close friends. They aren’t

In 'Australia's Pivot to India', Andrew Charlton explores the commonalities between the two countries and the history of their ties.

Feroze wanted to divorce Indira Gandhi & marry another woman. Nehru put his foot down

In 'The Tatas, Freddie Mercury & Other Bawas', Coomi Kapoor talks about how marriage of Indira and Feroze was a mismatch from the start.

This is where Gandhi’s charkha revolution really came from. He didn’t invent it

In 'Gandhi: A Life in Three Campaigns', MJ Akbar takes a close look at the nationalist leader's activism.

‘I can’t have Gujarat? I’ll get Hindustan’- Bahadur Shah after fleeing murder maze in Delhi

In ‘Bahadur Shah of Gujarat’ Kalpish Ratna draws facts from Indian histories to recreate the obscure signposts of the life of Bahadur Khan, the king time forgot.

Neeraj Chopra entered sports to lose weight. Boys would tease him, call him ‘sarpanch’

In 'The Man Who Made History,' Norris Pritam tells the story of Neeraj Chopra, the ace javelin thrower who secured India's first track and field gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Nehru & Savarkar shared one thing – the use of sacred geography to build national identity

In 'Soul and Sword', Hindol Sengupta traces the history of political Hinduism in India and tries to understand the context and historical sources used to construct and promote it.

Akbar saw Allahabad as a city of Hindus. What was Yogi’s logic behind renaming it?

Ziya Us Salam's 'Being Muslim in Hindu India' is an impassioned cry for attention, an attempt to highlight just what has gone wrong with our polity and society in recent years.

On Camera

Worker exploitation powers the firework industry in Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi

For an industry globally classified as hazardous, protections such as health insurance and a provident fund for workers are necessities. In Sivakasi, they remain elusive.

172 countries & counting, India looks to hit new record in rice exports. But there’s a flip side

The industry forecasts exports are set to grow 16% in 2025-26, boosted by surplus domestic production and a drive to push into 26 underserved global markets with strong potential.

India and France to jointly manufacture HAMMER air-to-surface missile

Indigenisation level will progressively increase up to 60 percent with key sub-assemblies, electronics and mechanical parts being manufactured locally.

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.