The Vedas and the Puranas originally gave equal rights to women. In Gaya, Bihar, there is a site where it is believed that Sita Mata did the Pind Daan for her father-in-law, King Dasharatha, on the bank of the river Phalgu. Women could also wear the Yagnopavits (sacred thread) in ancient times. Devi Parvati and…
American journalist Karen Elliott House has been going to Saudi Arabia for nearly 50 years. She has had a firsthand view of the kingdom’s evolution, plus conversations with different kings, Jamal Khashoggi, Jared Kushner, Saudi religious police, businesswomen…and of course Crown Prince MBS. Her book The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed Bin Salman and the Transformation of…
Festivity has always been in the air at Perumbalam. Nestled between the Vembanad and Kaithapuzha backwaters, this small island in Alappuzha district is known as the village of temples— and for good reason. Spread across just 16.14 square kilometres, it is home to 72 sacred groves, more than 40 temples, 800 ponds and 76 canals…
Six kilometres inside Indian territory from the international boundary at Nathu La in Sikkim, a cluster of green-and-white buildings stands quietly on a windswept slope. The Indo-China border trade mart appears ready for activity. The structures are orderly, with steep sloping roofs and clean geometric lines. Yet the complex remains deserted. Built in an architectural…
The war unfolding between the United States, Israel and Iran has crossed a dangerous threshold. Within a matter of days, three events have dramatically escalated the crisis: the reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, during the opening wave of strikes; the missile attack on a girls’ school in the southern Iranian town of…
Andhra has proposed ₹25k as incentive for couples to produce a third child. Couples are smiling – not about making Baby No. 3, but at CM Naidu’s touching faith that ₹25k is incentive at all. Everyone knows, making a baby is one thing, raising a child quite another. It takes a village. A child needs…
Iran war will end when Trump chooses. Question is when? Some say he’ll stop when petrol gets too pricey in US, others say when US casualties rise. All are counting on US midterms in Nov. They reckon Trump can’t alienate voters and risk a Democrat takeover of Congress. Perhaps, they haven’t listened to him carefully….
A week since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s assassination in joint US-Israeli strikes, Gulf is at a dangerous turn facing an unprecedented spillover of the US-Israel-Iran war into Arab monarchies and neighbouring nations. Such a spillover was rarely seriously anticipated. Is it, however, surprising? Not really. What has been reported as a footnote was in reality a…
When perfectly sober houses start to tack on ugly extensions or split one room into three, you know the kids are home – for good! They dart out now and then to collect mysterious packages left on the doorstep that have come from the outside world but at all other times their silent presence can…
It is a fact that history of post – Independence India cannot be complete without mentioning the Role of Public Sector Enterprises – the majority shareholding of these Enterprises being held by the Central / State Governments (mainly separately but in certain cases joint holdings of centre and states). What was planned at the second…