Mrigank Warrier reports on life -- beyond masks and PPE suits -- of frontline medical personnel at vaccination centres.

'Sonam is my lucky charm.' 'Because of her, 2018 went well for me, as I got four big weddings.' 'It started with Sonam's in November, then Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh's in December, Kapil Sharma's wedding and then Isha Ambani's wedding.'

'Chinese experts estimate that the new US administration is 'at the crossroads of how to re-manage and control' Sino-American differences and strategic divergences and Biden's bottom line is that the US would have 'extreme competition with China, but won't allow competition to develop into conflict',' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

It was truly heartening to see how the Sikh community had risen to the occasion during the Black Lives Matter peaceful protests and the coronavirus pandemic and selflessly served those looking for nourishment.

In this moment there has to be honest acknowledgement of how so many in our community willingly voted for another four years of Trump, based on the morally flimsiest of reasons, points out Suleman Din.

'The norm will be even less public accountability, even less transparency, tweets instead of press conferences, TV lectures rather than parliamentary debate, and greater political authoritarianism,' predicts Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'You cannot drop to the ground, however many bullets hit you.' 'Because if you are weak, this is not the place for you.'

In India, many players are in the throes of chaos and pain but at least one partnership -- Air Asia India -- that was fraying even before the pandemic now finds itself at breaking point, says Anjuli Bhargava.

These games of skill with a large social component have managed the transition to a new online avatar.

What was meant to be a toast to life and its many gifts suddenly became Sushant Singh Rajput's last hurrah, a this-is-it, a tearful goodbye, feels Sukanya Verma.

As India prepares for a calibrated exit from the lockdown by easing more restrictions, 'Unlock-1 -- the first of the three-phase plan for reopening of prohibited activities in non-containment zones with a stringent set of Standard Operating Procedures(SOPs) -- kicks in at a time when the country recorded a daily jump of COVID-19 cases by over 9,000 for the fifth straight day on Sunday.

Industry estimates over 30 tonnes of gold were sold on Akshaya Tritiya this time.

'We all live very intense lives. S*** goes down all the time.' 'This 'eureka moment' doesn't really happen.' 'The discipline of writing and polishing a song is way harder,' Prateek Kuhad, the singing sensation, tells Veer Arjun Singh.

'All of us wear multiple faces, multiple masks. but who are we really?', J J Valaya, designer and photographer, asks K S Shekhawat.

Listing out his rationale for the companies he has invested in or advising on, Tata said the promoters' fire in the belly, ideas and the solutions they offer are the drivers for his investment decision.

A keen understanding of the way our brain functions is essential to building sustainable routines and habits that set us up for success, says Jay Kumar Hariharan.

One cricketer made all the difference when the first All India cricket team toured England in 1911. Baloo Palwankar startled the English with his guile and genius.

Apart from the Google team led by AI scientist Manish Gupta, the company will also partner with the research community across the country to focus on tackling challenges in fields like healthcare, agriculture, and education.

Anupriya Goenka's humble abode!

Rediff readers tell us what their first salaries meant to them.

It's best to avoid deals that sound too good to be true.

A summary of Day 2 at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Women are great team players and collaborators, 'but they don't put themselves forward,' Dr Gagandeep Kang, the first Indian woman scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, tells Veenu Sandhu.

'One big leader said you might get 3 lakh votes and still lose.' 'I said if I do I will make sure you are sleepless because it will be me and three lakh people.'

It is not the most innovative in style, but it is most comfortable, says Veer Arjun Singh.

'The affection and love and blessings of the audience is all that matters.' 'That is most important for me, nothing else.'

The Defence Minister said it has been decided to give women permanent commission in the Army, Navy and the Air Force like their male counterparts.

"The country has suffered a lot due to selfish interests earlier and now politics over Rafale," he said.

Funny how a woman can fall in love with another woman and still need a man to ensure she gets her happy ending, notes Sukanya Verma.

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday

'The emotion of love is the same, but we have made it a math calculation, messed up and complicated.'

Favourite movie homes, comparing Amitabh-Shashi's beds in Kabhi Kabhie and discovering the truth about Salman Khan's 1990s chartbuster... All in Sukanya Verma's Super Filmi Week.

So many films have been made with Muslim characters. But how many have actually got them right?

Karenjit Kaur: The Untold Story of Sunny Leoneis too boring to celebrate her, too dull to criticise, says Sukanya Verma.

A series of bypoll losses has pushed the Modi government into panic mode. Uncharacteristically, it's letting events dictate its actions, says Shekhar Gupta.

'A key trend that one should expect to see is tonnes of failures.' 'Several blockchain-focused companies will fail.'

When Russia and Saudi Arabia meet on Thursday form will be irrelevant as the world's biggest sporting festival explodes into life in Moscow.

'One provision in the Act -- immediate arrest (of those accused under the Act), made this act different from all other sections of the IPC.' 'With that provision snatched, the Dalit Act has become toothless because caste criminals feared this provision of immediate arrest the most.'

One of the finest minds on foreign exchange management, monetary and fiscal policies, on debt and currency markets, on bank management and governance, and indeed on almost every aspect of modern finance and banking passes into the ages.

One of the reasons for the failure, say industry experts and financial analysts, is that Emami strayed too far from its core with sanitary napkins.