The state of Madhya Pradesh in the centre of Incredible India, has a lot to offer any visitor. From history and wildlife to culture and adventure sports, this is a state waking up to its full potential as a tourism destination. Visit the citadels and palaces of Mandu, soak in its culture and history, before you move on to try the varied adventure sports on offer at the invigorating Indira Sagar Lake in Hanuwantiya. Come, find Madhya Pradesh and revel in its diversity. Text and photos: Rangan Datta Mandu “I know of no other place that is as pleasant in…
Author: oiop
Can honesty be passed on, like we pass on our other qualities to the next generation? Yes, says E. Vijayalakshmi Rajan, as she talks about what her father, an honest policeman, passed on to his children. She also attempts to deconstruct the honest mind. IMy father was an honest cop. The dyed-in-the-wool incorrupt type. He wore his honesty like a medal, like an invisible cape which always fluttered in my conscience if I ever contemplated doing a wrong when I was growing up. There was no room in his professional life for any kind of compromise or corruption. When he…
The Man Who Knew Infinity is a biopic on renowned mathematician S. Ramanujan. Srinivasa Ramanujan, undoubtedly one of the greatest mathematical minds of the last century, is not quite a household name in India. Not many of us know the inspiring life story of this great man, whose mathematical genius is helping fields as varied as computer science, astronomy and economics, a good century later. The British movie The Man Who Knew Infinity is a fitting tribute to the Indian mathematician. It portrays the unusual relationship between two beautiful minds — S. Ramanujan who saw divinity in mathematics and G.…
When the Sun beats down on us mercilessly, we curse it and talk about rains. But everything can be traced back to this powerhouse of energy, says G. Venkatesh. He gives us a succinct account of the philosophical-scientific basis of solar energy. The first word in the headline is Spanish and the second is French. They, taken together, simply mean, ‘Only the Sun’. The Earth is just a fragment of the Sun, a tiny one, which was formed after the Big Bang, and which subsequently over millennia, contracted gravitationally, went through several cycles of heating and cooling, to reach the…
‘Abhinaya’ was her forte (1928-2016) Kalanidhi Narayanan embarked on a career as a classical dancer at the age of seven, and was recognised as the first non-devadasi girl to perform in front of audiences in the 1930s. However, after an early marriage which was de rigeur in those days, she became a part of a conservative family and bid adieu to dance in the 1940s, although she had by then gained a lot of popularity in the field. A good three decades later she returned in 1973 as a dance teacher, and thereafter blazed a golden trail that ended only…
The little-discussed, but much neglected aspect of the police force – police housing – plays a huge role in determining the morale and efficacy of the junior levels of the force. Prabhat Sharan visited some of their dwellings and came away very disturbed. Circa 1989 (Behind City Police HQ, Crawford Market, Mumbai): Waves of fetid squalor steamed out, piercing the nostrils. Gashes of light glistened on the puddles and congealed blue vapour crawled along the peeled cement of walls housing sodden, skeletal rooms with families of police constables. People hopped on the muck filled paths seeping with rancid gutter black…
When the Uttarakhand High Court quashed the Centre’s decision to impose President’s Rule in that state, it brought Article 356 back in focus. Prof. Avinash Kolhe gives us the background to this controversial Article and the busy use it’s been put to since Independence. IIn the last week of April 2016, the Uttarakhand High Court quashed the Centre’s decision to impose Presidents’ rule in the state. Not only this, the High court observed that such decisions amount to undermining the foundation of federalism in our country. Though India has been practising the democratic model of governance, we are yet to…
Courageous soldier (1933-1972) Padamnabha Gautam (Bob) was the youngest of the three brothers who joined the Indian Air Force (IAF). He was born on 23 July 1933, and was commissioned on 1 April 1953. Flt. Lt. Gautam was serving in No. 5 Squadron, known as Tuskers, when the six Canberra planes of the unit moved to Congo in October 1961 to support the operations of the UN (United Nations) Forces. Wing Commander Suares was the commanding officer. The squadron reached Congo on 12 October and were immediately rushed into operations. Four F 86 fighters of Ethiopia also joined the UN…
What does our current Union Budget say about the health sector? What are the important allocations? Where does it lack? Dr. Sanjay Oak takes us through the health part of the budget. Come 1st March, and all of us sit glued to the TV screens, listening with rapt attention to the Finance Minister’s (FM) budget speech and the various fiscal wizards’ analytical views and opinions about the annual budget. Treat the present article as the humble rambling of a surgeon administrator who has been struggling for the past 32 years to take healthcare to the doorsteps of millions of Indians…
Did you know that while 78 percent of India’s population resides in the rural areas, only two percent of medical professionals are available there? Such statistics must not take away, though, from organisations like the Rural Health Care Foundation which are doing exemplary work there. Kinkini Chakravorty tells us what the problems are and how her organisation helps deal with them. Healthcare is the right of every individual, but lack of proper infrastructure, inadequate and expensive medical facilities, under qualified medical practitioners, inaccessible medical assistance have contributed towards the deplorable health care condition of the 600 million rural population in…