'Indian apathy towards our historical heritage is indeed amazing,' says military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).

'It is entirely possible that there are many treasures of our history and our faith buried deep underground,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.

Following is the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 73rd Independence Day.

'The Chinese mindset and approach to India is far different from that in Pakistan.' 'This reality makes it possible for us to follow an engagement policy with one, while militating against engagement with the other.'

'ISRO provides a very positive atmosphere. What matters here is your talent, not your gender,' says Ritu Karidhal, Deputy Operations Director, India's Mars orbital mission, Mangalyaan. A fascinating excerpt from Minnie Vaid's Those Magnificent Women And Their Flying Machines, Isro's Mission To Mars.

'If Mr Modi continues growing as a Hindu Hriday Samrat, better that it is done by restoring ancient temples than demolishing medieval mosques,' says Shekhar Gupta.

In the light of the efforts being made to forge electoral unity between scheduled castes and Muslims, Mohammad Sajjad examines what the architect of our Constitution, B R Ambedkar, had to say about the Muslim community.

MUST READ: The speech Nayantara Sahgal was not allowed to give.

Ram V Sutar, 89, has already created more than 200 distinct statues, many of them massive. Now, he is a leading contender for the commission to produce the world's largest statue: A 597-foot tall rendering of Sardar Patel, an independence leader who played a crucial role in uniting India's fractious states.

Arundhuti Dasgupta finds herself surrounded by Greek legends and fables in the mythical centre of the world.

'People beat their chests when the Babri Masjid was brought down, not realising that it was just one event in a chain going back centuries; to look at the last link or two in isolation is absurd.'

Why Dalit leaders cross over to the BJP

Arsh Ali's work is about getting reliable evidence about the ancient Buddhist link between India and Egypt, discovers Veenu Sandhu.

Pavan K Varma, diplomat, writer and politician, embarks on a quest about Hinduism's great thinker's stay in Varanasi.

The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation.

'If the RSS should be saluted for choosing such a scholarly statesman to address its highly trained cadre, one must also praise Pranab Da's sagacity for having gracefully accepting the invitation, thus disapproving any ideological apartheid,' says former BJP MP Tarun Vijay.

There's never a bad time to visit Japan.

'In the end, investing is about people.' 'If you get the right people, they make things happen,' Mengistu Alemayehu tells Shyamal Majumdar.

'A dangerous and false binary is now surfacing in Indian political discourse, which must be firmly rejected.' 'It is that we have to choose between freedom and development.' 'For us freedom is neither merely an instrument for development nor to be subordinated to development.' 'It is, as our founding fathers proclaimed early in our freedom struggle, 'our birthright' on which we shall never compromise.' 'Growth, wealth and development are fruits of democracy, not substitutes.' Dr Manmohan Singh's thoughts on democracy: A Must Read!

One way to begin would be to access the material of our own culture, meaning the literature of India, recommends Aakar Patel.

Union minister Satya Pal Singh on Wednesday called for inculcating scientific temper and curiosity among students.

'Those who have followed politics even when there was no Twitter know what the word 'jumlebaaz' means,' says Utkarsh Mishra.

One of the best stories coming out of Bihar is about a place where Chandragupta Maurya, Buddha, Ashoka, Sher Shah Suri and India's Mona Lisa meet.

Uncorking the business of vintage wines and spirits.

An insistence on only one language will inevitably be resented as a form of imperialism and resisted.

Religion is but one trait where intolerance manifests itself. We come across 'chosen' races, communities, political ideologies, economic systems, all lending themselves to discriminatory arrangements, which trample the rights of those considered beyond the pale of whatever is the favoured calling.

What drove Ravana, a good king, and Duryodhana, who could match Bhima on strength and valour to ruin?

'You have to separate the concept of India as a nation State which is very young and the Upanishadic wisdom which is timeless.'

'Hindus are proud of what the Dharmashastras symbolise, but they don't want to do any work to preserve it!,' Sanskrit scholar Donald Davis tells Kanika Dutta.

'That has always been my ambition -- to take the reader behind the scenes, to the places he was not allowed to visit, but which I had the privilege of entering.' Haresh Pandya remembers Ted Corbett, sports journalist extraordinaire, who passed into the ages on August 9.

While they have never faced any form of discrimination, Indian Jews say a minority status for Jews is among their foremost expectations from the prime minister's visit to Israel.

'As the longest-lasting action hero, Cruise doesn't go down without a fight.' 'He throws in a quip here and there, runs like he's only ran in his last 20 movies, takes a whole lot of pounding from beauties and beasts, but The Mummy's garbled mythology and recycled imagery doesn't have the wits to complement his popping-from-the-veins enthusiasm,' says Sukanya Verma.

Many scholars have suggested that the importance of the cow and her association with the pantheon grew with the growing influence of the cult of Krishna,' says Arundhuti Dasgupta.

The decision to introduce vastu shastra as a part of the architecture curriculum at IIT-Kharagpur has polarised architects in the country. Nikita Puri reports.

'LinkedIn is supposed to be this super-connected social media network for professionals that I reluctantly joined at the persistence of a former colleague appalled at my lack of self-promotion.' 'Well, I'm out there and I don't know who knows me, but I do know that LinkedIn's algorithm definitely doesn't,' says Kanika Datta.

Both the separatists in the Valley and the Indian establishment have failed to fathom that the world's alignments have changed, writes Col Dr Anil Athale (retired).

Here are Aseem Chhabra's picks -- 'films that mattered to me, entertained me and will stay with me through the year.'

In four years, Rekhta has become the largest online repository for Urdu poetry and literature in the world, says Veenu Sandhu.

In four years, Rekhta has become the largest online repository for Urdu poetry and literature in the world, says Veenu Sandhu.

Sudha Murty worries that India has still not learnt its lessons from history.