At his farewell speech in Parliament on Sunday on the completion of his five-year term, President Pranab Mukherjee emphasised the value of debate, discussion and dissent. Noting that he had first become a member of the national legislature in 1969, aged just 34, he spoke of Indira Gandhi had been his mentor, and of the lessons she had learned from the Emergency, when she clamped down on dissent. He recalled […]

When considering higher studies abroad, financing your education may be one of the first concerns that come to your mind. The cost of an education at a top institute abroad can be a deterrent for students. However, with proper planning and information, hopefully no aspirant will face this predicament and have to compromise on their plans to study aboard. There are multiple types of scholarships available for international students based […]

Emoticons have become a way of expressing feelings on social media. Not just the basic smileys, the bag of emojis on social media platforms brings a variety of expressions — from food to animals and nature! As the world celebrated World Emoji Day on July 17, the co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, shared an insight on the world’s top 10 most used emojis on Facebook. Revealing the countries that use […]

If technology can increase asset utilisation then there is a definite business model. — Naganand Doraswamy, IdeaSpring Capital Don’t get stuck with any of the experiments. If the timeline expires, mark it as a ‘failure’ or ‘success’ and move on. — Pardeep Goyal, Startup Karma There is growing adoption of the cloud services in the country. Growth is especially coming from SMBs, e-commerce players and startups. — Mitesh Aggarwal, Oracle […]

While India has always been sitting on the lid of terrorism, with tremendous amount of steam building under it from different avenues, there are certain people who have always been an eye-sore to the country. One such older foe has once again created quite a hysteria back home with the surfacing of his latest photographs. While the Indian government wears a new, harsher face towards terrorism under the inspired leadership […]

How did Subhas Chandra Bose die? To find the answer, the Indian government had appointed three commissions. The Shah Nawaz Committee (1956) and Khosla Commission (1970) said that Bose died in an air crash on August 18, 1945 at Taihoku airport in Japanese-occupied Taipei, while the Mukherjee Commission (1999) concluded that he did not die in an air-crash. The government, however, rejected the findings of the Mukherjee Commission. But that […]

What is karma? Even though karma is intricately woven into our everyday existence, shaping our lives and directing our evolution, it remains largely misunderstood. Only by raising our karma consciousness, can we hope to improve our lives and create a more compassionate and loving environment around us.Here are some myths about karma.  Myth 1 – Karma is vengeful: As a universal law designed to maintain harmony and balance through divine […]

Regarded as one of China’s most prominent human rights activist, Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo died following a short battle with liver cancer. He died while in custody at a hospital in China, despite appeals to the state to permit him to travel aboard for medical treatment. A university professor-turned-rights campaigner, the 61-year-old activist was transferred from prison to a heavily-guarded hospital on medical parole, after he was diagnosed with terminal […]

Choices made in unawareness are compulsions. Let us say you get angry right now. It is actually your choice to be angry. Somewhere, you believe that is the way to handle the situation, but the choice has been made in such unawareness that it is a compulsion – it is happening compulsively on a certain level. You are living by choice, but choices are made without awareness – unconscious choices. […]

Mansoor Peerbhoy had had a rather privileged upbringing. He went to an English medium school and later graduated as an engineer from the Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (Pune). He was one of the most well-read and polished members of the Indian Mujahideen. His residence was in an upmarket Pune locality, and he was a software engineer employed with Yahoo India. An academically bright, suave and soft-spoken man, he never exhibited […]