IAF pilots and crew dodged low hanging clouds, mist covered hills, steep valleys and landed on broken landing grounds to rescue civilians in Wayanad. In one mission, they had to descend vertically to get close to the survivors. IAF flew over 80 missions, saving lives and giving hope. This is how they did it.

'The odds were stacked against us.' 'Through it all, we were determined to overcome and prevail we did!' Wing Commander Shailesh Singh on the high-risk flying mission for which he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra.

'General Paddy was amongst the last line of generals who stood by his convictions and brooked no interference in matters which were his domain.' Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah (retd) salutes his former chief who passed away on August 19.

'The terrorists are using better technology to secure their communication.' 'It does appear that excessive reliance on technology led to a weakening of human intelligence.'

'UPSC is a very tough exam. I am trying my best to make a success out of it.'

'It was a war-like situation, but instead of enemy fire, we fought against the vagaries of nature,' says Major Seeta Shelke.

'My father died in the liberation struggle. Bangladesh is our Motherland. This is home,' says Monindra Kumar Nath, a Hindu who has lived his 74 years in Dhaka.

'Bangladesh has become unstable and this instability will impact India.'

'In the interim, India will be confronted with anti-India feeling because Sheikh Hasina had India's support.' 'We will have to deal with it, but it will not be a permanent phenomenon.' 'There is substantial goodwill towards India which will stand us in good stead.'

'Except that the population was much less.' 'I remember my uncle and family moving away from the base of a hill whenever it rained for more than a couple of days without a dry day in between.' 'Perhaps the older generations knew if it rained for more than a certain time, they must pack up to a camp or to a relative.' 'As some of the interviews of the survivors on the Malayalam television channels show, the elderly people had a premonition a tragedy would happen, and those who acted on those premonitions survived.'

'Since there is no photo-op, or quick fix solutions, politicians do not want to address climate change. It is very unfashionable.'

'People were asleep when they heard a loud noise and then a huge deluge of water accompanied with boulders and trees hit their homes.' 'Locals say around 400 houses have totally vanished in the landslide and floods.'

One of the world's oldest seats of learning, the ruins of Nalanda University are a true wonder!

'Nobody accepted me when I was a boy, but now people ask me to bless them.'

'The jungles of Doda covers about 250 km.' 'Sleeper cells are providing active help to the terrorists.' 'The terrain and situation is such that it is not possible to keep track of every inch.'

'The Galwan clash in 2020 resulted in a large number of troops being moved from J&K to Eastern Ladakh which caused a thinning of deployment in the Jammu area.'

'He fulfilled his farz to his country,' a grieving mother says of Major Mustafa Bohara who was awarded the Shaurya Chakra, the nation's third-highest medal for gallantry in peacetime. 'He fulfilled his farz to his country,' said his proud mother of her soldier son.

'On October 12-13, he started shivering from fear in his tent.' 'That was the time he wrote a letter to my mother to conduct Ganeshji's Atharvashirsha.' 'The moment he finished writing that letter, he told us, he felt serene calmness.'

'China will do everything to hamper our ability to be a competitor.' 'China wants every country in the region to be subservient and we are the biggest stumbling block.'

'They were very vocal on the defence of the Constitution, reservation, SC/ST Act and democratic rights.'