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Monday, November 24, 2025
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Book Excerpts

Ageing people are difficult, but they deserve to be: Romila Thapar

In ‘A Portrait of Ageing’, professor Romila Thapar writes about holding onto life in the 'last stages'.

Knee deep sewage, sea of documents—the story of two families escaping the war in Kabul

With 'August in Kabul', Walkley-award winning journalist Andrew Quilty offers a remarkable record of the US exit from Afghanistan, and the return of the Taliban.

What is Kalaripayattu? Ancient Indian martial art that has come to define Kerala

Kalaripayattu has traditionally been passed on to students through ‘vaythari’ or oral commands. It was only in 1936 that these instructions were published.

Vivekananda rejected image worship and the guru cults of contemporary Indian spirituality

In Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda, Ruth Harris shows how Swami Vivekananda’s thought became a touchstone of Hindu nationalist politics.

The great Indian jugaad is not a skill. It is how we work with impractical corporate policies

In 'The Company We Keep' Divya Khanna gives her insights on the corporate culture of India through her experiences, which are doubled down by expert comments and responses from other corporate employees.

A republic can be undemocratic, but Nehru and Ambedkar’s India wasn’t one of them

The essays in ‘Between Hope and Despair’ force us to think about our public, private and political life and question the current state of our political institutions.

When Javed Akhtar met Faiz by pretending to be his friend. It was a close shave

In 'Talking Life' Javed Akhtar speaks to Nasreen Munni Kabir with refreshing honesty about the ups and downs of his extraordinary life.

Gyanvapi in Varanasi to mosque in Mathura—IAS officer’s first-hand account post-Babri riots

In 'Of Giants and Windmills', former IAS officer Moosa Raza reveals about the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, in his capacity as Advisor to the Governor of Uttar Pradesh.

What is Pachisi? Ancient Indian board game Mughal emperor Akbar enjoyed

Meant to be played by two or four people, Pachisi is a cross and circle board game that originated in India. While the game...

Gujarat model was development on steroids—Free land, large loans, nearly zero interest rates

A furious Modi dismissed his critics as “pseudo-secularists.” He recast himself as a friend of business and began marketing Gujarat as a prime business location.

On Camera

New HAL CMD doesn’t have to be an ‘insider’. Let merit decide

India’s premier defence public sector undertaking, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, will have a new Chairman and Managing Director in May 2026. The selection process has...

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.

US pilot says his team pulled out of Dubai Air Show after Tejas crash out of respect for IAF pilot

Taylor ‘Fema’ Hiester, commander of USAF F-16 Viper Demo Team, hit out at air show organisers for continuing with the show after Wing Commander Namansh Syal lost his life in the incident.

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.