The man in the Mumbai suburban train was carrying the latest iPhone XR but I was completely taken by his home screen. It was a deity I recognised from a childhood in Kerala-Ayyappan, the handsome Hindu god of growth. My uncles used to talk of making

No one with internet access- that is anyone in India who does not live in Kashmir-can be unaware of the eerie disconnect between what our government (and much of our media) is telling us is happening in Kashmir and what is being reported in the forei

When it comes to ambition and performance, there's no stopping Uttar Pradesh's Yogi Adityanath, adjudged the 'Best Performing Chief Minister' in the country in the latest India Today Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll. Adityanath, who secured 20 per cent

With Adityanath at the helm, UP has topped all states in creating affordable housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), pushing Andhra Pradesh to the second spot in 2018-19. The State Urban Development Agency (SUDA) facilitated the creation

S Ghosh and Architects (SGA) dates back to 1973; when a young and energetic husband-wife duo, Sumit and Suchitra Ghosh wanted to make their mark in Indian architecture. Sumit worked with Joseph Allen Stein after his masters at Kahn's Studio at the Un

The MOTN polls conducted over the past five years have regularly showed jobsor the lack of themtopping the list of Indian concerns. This time around as well, unemployment remains a pressing concern, with 35 per cent of those polled rating it as the o

Centre of Attention Location Parsik Hill, Belapur, Navi Mumbai Area 710 sq ft Special Features The central courtyard is flanked by scrap rusted metal plates riveted together. The other side has metal pipe leftovers pieced together like bamboo forming

The findings about the conditions of the religious minorities and Dalits since Modi assumed office in 2014, are similar to that in extending facilities to the poor - a matter of positive perception. Almost half of the people feel that the condition o

A serious lapse in a guide to a city is the inability of its author to submit to the travails of its culture and living routines. For the most part, historic remains appear as static testimonials to a forgotten time, their importance gauged by the fo

Even though Mission Mangal might be proof of a fast-changing Bollywood, its actor Vidya Balan has remained constant and reliable. Q. How difficult is it to be yourself in an industry which celebrates artifice? People keep telling me that over the yea

Shilpi Dasgupta's Khandaani Shafakhana opens with the very word "sex"-pronounced "sheksh"-drawing shudders from small-town medical representatives who want nothing to do with a clinic that brings such "chhee-chhee" things into the open. From this the

The second season of Sacred Games only confirms what the first had signalled-Pankaj Tripathi's Guruji is the glue that will now hold much of the web show together. As more and more people stream the web show, Tripathi says he is "excited" and "anxiou

The Thiruvananthapuram air­port was started as a flying club in 1932 by the Travancore royal family. The Tata Airlines' maiden flight to the airport in 1935 used a DH-83 Fox Moth aircraft, and it came carrying birthday wishes for Maharaja Chithira T

I do solemnly swear I will never consume liquor in my lifetime. I shall be liable for stern action if I am ever found involved in any activity involving liquor," reads the oath Bihar government's over 0.5 million employees were made to take in the la

In a first for the country, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has mandated that 75 per cent of all jobs in the state should be reserved for locals. On July 24, the state assembly passed the Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candid

Many things changed with a stroke of the president's pen on August 5, not only in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) but in India as well. The die is cast, the Rubicon has been crossed and there is no going back, even if the legality of the government's moves a

This 5,000 sq ft, four-bedroom home located in Gurgaon, is designed for a family of foura couple and their two daughters. They gave us a very clear brief. Since they were already designing a tropical Indian home with traditional colours in Bangalore,

As droplets of water gently skim the body, fatigue simply disappears. There's something about a shower that can rejuvenate and refresh you in a matter of minutes. Clearly, no bathroom is complete without it. But one step into the market, and you are

Dripping faucets Problem 1 Dripping at the junction of tile and faucet Solution This is caused due to improper installation of the faucet with the wrong thread, or inadequate usage of Teflon tape while mounting. It is important for homeowners to ensu

Antara Ashra, 29 Performing Artist; Entrepreneur, Founder, Future School of Performing Arts, Mumbai Working with students at a school in Mumbai's Lalbaug where she spent two years as part of the Teach for India programme, Antara discovered scores of

The year is 1948. ROBERT REID, the ex-governor of the Northeast provin­ces, travels to the then Naga hills (now Naga­land) as India is newly independent, where the events surrounding partition, and the turmoil and trauma it brought about, are quickly

On August 2, Parliament passed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, (UAPA) 2019. The amendment introduces, in an earlier incarnation of the law-the UAPA 1967-a small but venomous change, allowing for the notification of individuals as

PATRIOTISM, LIKE RELIGION, IS a personal emotion. It lends itself to very intimate interpretations, and thus means different things to different people, much like religion does. And like religion, it can get inflammatory too. Patriotism is a delicate

On August 3, thousands of people from Assam whose names had been included in the state's draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) published last year received notices asking them to appear before designated authorities for re-verification- in some c

We live in the age of reborn nationalism even as old dreams of an enlightened world government fade. The United Nat­ions Organization (UN) just about survives, though it is difficult to imagine our world without it. The wars that scorched the globe a

The Prime Minister's Office, in Modi 2.0, is tightening its grip on the ministries. The buzz is that the PMO is rejecting ministers' recommendations for office staff, be it for personal secretaries or officers on special duty (OSDs). Even recommendat

Technology is taking away many low-skilled jobs. But it is also creating opportunities in the form of new-age roles. Research shows 65 per cent of the jobs that today's school students will take up may not exist in the future. Due to technological ch

In 1999, Sushma Swaraj contested from Bellary, Karnataka- this was when the Bharatiya Janata Party was not well known in the state and no one had heard of either the BJP or Sushma Swaraj. The battle was a tough one. She was taking on Sonia Gandhi of