IT LEFT ME shaken, just like it must have left you. The December 16 attack on school children in Peshawar was one of the most ghastly attacks against humanity that I can recall in recent times. What else can you call it? The lives of 145 children and teachers of Army Public School, Peshawar, were s...
THE WAY GAJ SINGH II OF JODHPUR HAS LIVED HIS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE GO ON TO SHOW WHAT IT TAKES TO BE THE REAL KING WHO PROTECTS HIS PEOPLE AND HIS LEGACY When I first met the Maharaja of Jodhpur, I had read his full title as Maharaja was: His Highness Raj Rajeshwar Saramad-i-Raja-i-Hind Maharaja...
Brutal attack in Peshawar school
terrorism// December 16 saw a dark day in human history. Eleven militants of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. They entered the school and opened fire on school staff and children, killing 150 people, includi...
allocation// The government has ordered a cut of nearly 20 percent in its 2014/15 healthcare budget due to fiscal strains, putting at risk key disease control initiatives in a country whose public spending on health is already among the lowest in the world. Two health ministry officials told Reuter...
Bharat ratna for Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya and atal Bihari Vajpayee
honoUr// The President’s Office announced the Bharat Ratna award to Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya (posthumously) and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The announcement was made on the eve of Vajpayee’s 90th birthday and the 153rd birth anniversary of Pandit Malviya. The BJP has been dem...
Indian E-Commerce Growth Shakes Up Retail Industry in 2014
economy// It is still a small component of India’s Rs. 38 trillion ($600 billion, roughly Rs. 38,08,200 crores) overall retail trade industry. Yet, the e-commerce format with sales of Rs. 1 trillion ($16 billion, roughly Rs. 1,01,552 crores) managed to create a buzz in 2014 like never before - not...
Attack at popular café in Australia
violence// An armed man took people hostage at a popular café in Sydney and displayed an Islamic flag with Arabic script in the window, sparking a security alert in Australia. Australian authorities stormed the café where a self-styled Muslim cleric had been holding hostages killing the gunman. T...
weather// The government has announced an SMS-based warning system which will provide alerts on cyclones, tsunami and other weather-related natural calamities. Inaugurating the system on the occasion of Good Governance Day, Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Earth Sciences said information on warnin...
religion// Hindu nationalists claim that Muslims and Christians have been forcing Hindus to convert to their religions for centuries. So there is deep sensitivity to proselytizing by non- Hindus, particularly foreigners. Visas for religious professionals are strictly limited, some missionaries are i...
The more things change, the more they remain constant WHAT IS it like being abroad, living in New York, living in the greatest city in the world, the pinpoint centre of the known world? What’s it like to actually live here and not just come visit for a whirlwind tour of the happy-hour pubs, the t...
HOW TO STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGES
Given the ever-changing and updated face of social media, how marketers or even individuals can navigate these choppy waters and keep up with the buzz Social media is always awake and in that sense, there is always something happening or trending or changing in its realm. Whether it be new features...
Yes, women need to speak up against any violation of their freedom or personal space. At the same time their is an urgent need to bring about a social change so that the population at large learns to respect women INDIA IS IN the grip of an image crisis over the frequent crimes against women — ca...
Life has a way of finding its own course. For Amish Tripathi, it has also brought love, luck, success and spirituality From being arrogant, aggressive and an atheist, he is now more patient and has faith in god. A lot has changed with, and within, bestselling author Amish Tripathi. To me, however, ...
The media is replete with reportage of politicians making comments that are in bad taste. Have our politicians lost their flair for language? Or is it the media that is covering such comments more than usual in its quest for more visibility and TRPs? SIDHARTH MISHRA // Remember the time when Sharad...
The war by Maoists and Naxalites
Despite the understanding that actions by the Maoists and Naxalite go beyond acts of insurgency and border on war on state, the governments tread wearily on this subject THE REGIMES IN post-independent India have consumed themselves in trying to understand the subtlety of differences between Maoist...
A 2014, Platt Award winner for CSR, TPDDL knows what it means to enlighten lives of people at the grassroots It is one thing to do one’s job well, and quite another to live that job in the literal sense. For Tata Power Delhi Distribution, TPDDL (a joint venture (JV) between Tata Power, India’s ...
Of marriage, murder and mystery
Happily Murdered, a debut novel by Rasleen Syal’s has all the ingredients of an edge-of-the-seat crime thriller A debut book in fiction? Brave. A debut book in crime fiction? Even braver. Despite the fact that this is the first time Rasleen Syal attempts writing, and because her beginner’s styl...
The world of cricket: A comic’s take
In the book How Sachin Destroyed My Life, Vikram Sathaye, MTV executive-turned-stand-up comedianturned- TV humourist rattles off anecdote after anecdote from his career which fatefully, got intertwined with cricket. Odd as it may look besides other books on the legendary cricketer, this one will sta...
...because the whole world goes there, because here we party in a haunted vault, because here we lose all sense of perspective. From the time I reached London, I was in two minds — to take a train, or fly to Edinburgh. A ride through the spectacular English countryside with its cottages, rolling ...
Bickram Ghosh’s nomination to the Oscar award for best original score forJal is another feather in the percussionist’s cap, who has already won wide acclaim for his work in pure Hindustani music as well as the new-age fusion beats Bickram Ghosh is a busy man. First it was shuttling between his ...