Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is among the more active opposition leaders at the national level who are trying to form an alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)....
It was what a film director would have described as a perfect take. "You are a beginner," he said, grinding his teeth in simulated anger. "These are your days to learn." A measured pause; he then emoted. "And you are insulting a former Prime Minister, a senior-most leader?"...
The cities of Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) and Calcutta (Kolkata) had deep cultural roots and urbanised commerce and industry even during the colonial period, possibly because a diversified and robust economy is important for the growth of cultural activities, beyond the purely traditional forms. Delhi has had the cultural inst...
Welcoming the Supreme Court's concern over discolouring of the Taj Mahal, the 17th century monument to love in Agra, historian Prof R. Nath, an authority on Mughal architecture, said "mud-pack treatment with 'Multani Mitti' was the chief cause (of its browning) and this should be stopped forthwith"....
There has been, in recent times, a great churning in what can be called India's "cultural space". Public institutions, hitherto custodians of all things "cultural", have been eclipsed by the rise of new-age festivals and events. Indeed, the involvement of the state in promoting culture is fast diminishing, with private event management companies ...
Ireland's Indian-origin Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said that he thought a tweet by a House of Lords peer calling him a "typical Indian" was from a parody account....
Out of 1,100 submissions, Rohena Gera's debut feature "Sir" is one of the seven films from across the world to make the cut for the Cannes Critics' Week. In telling the love story of a servant and the son of her upper-class employer, the director wants the voice of independent cinema to resonate with the "hungry" Indian audie...
It was past 10 in the night. Four pyres were aflame at Manikarnika Ghat on the banks of the Ganga here. Gagan Choudhary, a corpse burner, was shifting from one pyre to another as the air reeked of burning flesh and wood -- tinged with alcohol, tobacco and cannabis....
If not the outcome of the Second World War, the Berlin Wall's fall seemed to pave the way for democracy's triumph -- but nearly three decades later, we may be forced to rethink this comforting thought. The recent growth of authoritarianism, emphasising "tradition" and conformity and villifying globalisation, immigration and dissent a...
The Indians were denied visa after they were recruited as part of a long-running scheme in north-west England which supplies junior doctors to more than 30 NHS trusts. Such doctors have been coming to Britain from India to do their post-graduation courses at their own expense but they are also allowed to work and earn. ...
