School girls to Sunita Williams: Please never forget India

His love for the language, his grit to fight the odds, helped ad man Subramani Ramachandran realise his dream of publishing his book on Urdu poems. He recounts the valuable lessons he learnt that made this book possible. When Subramani Ramachandran, aka Subbu, as he is known in the advertising industry, was introduced to an audience from Mumbai's Muslim-dominated Bhendi Bazaar area as the next shayar (poet) who would recite Urdu shayri (poetry) there was a stunned silence. The moment he stood ...

Zindagi 50-50 makes a brave but half-hearted effort to depict the dark cruelty that surrounds ordinary lives of three women. It fails miserably as sleaze -- of language as well as skin -- overtakes the proceedings, writes Prasanna D Zore.The film revolves around three women Rupa (Supriya Kumari, brilliant as a housewife), Naina (Riya Sen as a struggling actor needs acting lessons) and Madhuri (Veena Malik, acts well as a prostitute) as they make compromises to achieve their dreams.The ...

'It's all about conviction and a burning desire inside you,' says Dr Ruveda Salam, the Kashmir valley's first Muslim woman to crack the UPSC exam. This has been a good year for women from Jammu and Kashmir. While Sehrish Asgar from Kishhtwar district in Jammu ranked 23rd in the Union Public Services Commission examination, Dr Ruveda Salam became the first Muslim woman from the Kashmir valley to pass the UPSC exam. Dr Salam, who hails from the border district of Kupwara, currently works as a ...

At around 2.26 pm on Thursday afternoon, residents of five buildings inside the Campa Cola Compound in Worli in central Mumbai heaved a collective sigh of relief. A few moments later they burst out into an impromptu gig -- mostly the elderly participated. India’s apex court, the Supreme Court, had ruled that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the local self governing authority for Mumbai, should give another five months to the residents to vacate some 140 residential units in these ...

Five social entrepreneurs are changing the way employment is generated in rural India Thengampudoor, Sonari, Chand Sausar, Pulla, Babrala, Jobner, Kanakpura... Have you ever heard of these places in India? Well, while you and I may not have heard of these non-descript villages/towns in rural India, Murali Vullaganti and five other good samaritans have worked tirelessly to establish rural BPOs at these and many more such unheard of places and have plans to set up more in the next three ...

The former Miss India on men, saris and 'jumping jhapak' You may probably recognise Rochelle Maria Rao, the sexy host of  Extraaa Innings during the sixth edition of IPL. The Chennai-based model and former Femina Miss India, gets chatty with Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore on Dhoni,  Kohli, wearing silk saris and her dressing and offers make-up tips to look hot. How did IPL happen to you? My life has been a whole set of miracles. Miss India was just something I tried out of the blue.