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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Book Excerpts

Calcutta changed Ghalib forever — from humiliation and grammar errors to his pension plea

In ‘Ghalib’, Mehr Afshan Farooqi writes that the Calcutta chapter in Ghalib’s life planted the seeds for his prolonged clashes with critics.

Sindhis are not a caste-free society. My interviews show it is just a false claim

A new collection of 60 essays on the Sindhis, edited by Saaz Aggarwal, traces the complex Sindhi identity.

Better than a ‘proper’ ambulance — how Karimul Hak’s free bike service won him a Padma Shri

In ‘Bike Ambulance Dada’, Biswajit Jha writes about how Karimul Hak saved 4,000 lives with his free bike-ambulance service.

India’s diplomatic corps is understaffed, busy with bureaucratic work. That’s a problem

In ‘Flying Blind’, Mohamed Zeeshan writes on how foreign policy is considered a 'luxury' & why India needs a coherent strategy for its relations with the world.

How Tamil Nadu aced board exam scores for years by manipulating results

In ‘Despite the State’, M. Rajshekhar writes on democratic failures in India, as part of a thirty-three month reporting project across six states.

How ‘Muslim zones’ and ‘mini-Pakistans’ came about in Delhi

In ‘Contested Homelands’, Nazima Parveen chronicles how Patel and Nehru disagreed on Delhi’s post-Partition areas with ‘Hamare log’ and Muslims.

India’s native horses disappeared by 8000 BC. But Rig Veda mentions them more than the cow

In ‘The Tale Of The Horse’, Yashaswini Chandra writes the story of horses in India — from the Vedas to wars.

When Soumitra Chatterjee punched director Ritwik Ghatak in the face

Authors Arjun Sengupta and Partha Mukherjee write Soumitra Chatterjee regretted not being able to work with Ritwik Ghatak even once.

Dilip Kumar as ‘Pyaasa’ hero is what Guru Dutt wanted. But first day of shoot changed it all

In ‘Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story’, Yasser Usman writes how Guru Dutt ended up playing Pyaasa’s Vijay, even though Dilip Kumar was supposed to portray him.

Britain had become paranoid of India-US friendship. Nehru’s letter to Roosevelt didn’t help

In ‘A Matter Of Trust’, Meenakshi Ahamed writes that Nehru had reached out to US President Roosevelt for American help in the lead up to World War-II

On Camera

Social media has made news more graphic. Torture by Russian military is latest example

Before social media, depiction of violence on news was the exception—graphic visuals were either not shown on TV or in newspapers or the images were blurred. This is no longer the case.

Profit margins in lottery industry are tiny. Here’s how Future Gaming paid for its electoral bonds

Neither state govts nor companies earn large profits from lotteries. However, a look at the system shows there’s ample evidence of murky dealings and financial irregularities. 

BRO connects new axis to Ladakh, to be shortest route

The all-weather Nimmu-Padam-Darcha Road will connect Manali to Leh through Darcha and Nimmu on Kargil-Leh Highway.

For BJP, Kejriwal is an idea whose time has come to be destroyed

The ‘idea’ Kejriwal's politics grew around was a no-holds-barred fight against corruption. That is the reason Modi govt has now tarred him and his entire party with the same paint.