'We spoke of everything but politics.' 'She was well-versed in the Eng. Lit. canon of Dickens and Austen, but had also read Oscar Wilde's famous epistolary tract from jail, De Profundis.' Sunil Sethi recalls his memorable encounters with Jayalalithaa.

Kanika Datta reflects on Indians and our relationship with snaking queues from the license raj to demonetisation.

By jettisoning the seniority principle, the government has sent a strong signal that only merit and suitability will count in occupying posts in the higher echelons of the military, writes national security expert Nitin Gokhale.

Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits the latest pilgrimage site in Chennai: J Jayalalitha's final resting place.

From Feroz Khan-Danny Denzongpa's bare skin to Ranbir Kapoor-Ranveer Singh bare soul, Sukanya Verma's super filmi week saw it all!

It was another Ranji Trophy match at Bansi Lal Stadium that turned out to be farcical contest as Baroda beat Bengal by 21 runs with 40 wickets falling well inside two days.

The Indian cricket team is not losing sleep over the introduction of the Decision Review System (DRS) in the five-Test series against England commencing in Rajkot on Wednesday with captain Virat Kohli saying the referral process is not rocket science. "Well there is no rocket science on DRS. As a cricketer you understand, you have a fair idea of where the ball has hit the pad, whether it has pitched in line or hit in line. "Those are pretty basic things in cricket. You don't have to necessarily go through a course for DRS," said the home team captain on the eve of the series opener at the SCA stadium in Rajkot.

Sukanya Verma shares her exciting filmi week with us!

'Nikkhil Advani's POW shows a director's deft touch and is a promising start of a great story, top notch acting talent and great behind the scenes production team,' says film director Suparn Verma.

'Will people who buy iPhones stop buying iPhones to help swadeshi models?' 'There should be some advantage for the consumer to make them buy a Made in India product.' 'Patriotism and nationalism are good words, but in business, it won't work.'

The 70-year-old ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal committed suicide by consuming poison at a park in New Delhi area on Tuesday evening.

The author wins for The Sellout, a satire of US racial politics.

'When Nawazuddin Siddiqui -- one of India's finest actors -- was told not to perform in a Ramleela, I realised how much Hinduism has been hijacked by Hindutva forces in the last 30 years,' says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.

In villages in Palghar district -- in Mumbai's backyard -- more than 254 children have died from malnutrition.

For the moment, Siwan is once again Shahabuddin's home.

'The era of conventional wars is almost over in the Indian context.' 'In such a scenario, special forces could play a decisive strategic role in the spectrum of conflict.'

'The book has immense value because it reveals the inner workings of the think-tank which appears to provide facts and insights to Modi, though he himself takes the final decisions and articulates them in his characteristic rhetorical style,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.

'It was a mission undertaken in darkness in every sense -- literally, because Afghanistan had no electricity at that time; and, metaphorically because Delhi historically dealt only with the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and the foreign ministry's vast archives had nothing to offer on the culture and politics of the northern tribes in the Hindu Kush.'

Maintaining that the situation is peaceful, police said stringent action would be taken against miscreants or vandals.

Year after year, floods cause mayhem in Bihar but the government is not paying adequate attention to water management.

'Politics and religion is a dangerous mix in India and anybody even remotely seen crossing the line is taken to task.'

The outspoken singer gave up politics following Following the controversy over the address by a nude Jain monk in the Haryana assembly.

The central government has drafted a law to restrict wombs for hire, and there is much to be said on all sides.

'I love Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. I grew up watching it and find it very funny. I am a huge Kishore Kumar fan.' Zoya Akhtar discusses the one thing she loves -- movies!

Meet Forbes' highest paid actors.

'Cultural property crimes have been linked, by the United Nations and others, to terrorism.' 'These links show the perpetrators to be associated with major criminal and terrorist networks like ISIS.

'The starting point of the Udta Punjab casting was that we didn't think stars would do a film like this, so we'd take non-stars. As the names kept rolling in and we had Kareena Kapoor and Shahid and Alia Bhatt, I was like yaar yeh ho kya raha hai?'

Drysdale wins close single sculls gold Also, check out late gold medal winners from Day 7...

Say hello to Zhu Zhu.

On the occasion of her breaking the world's longest hunger strike, Rediff.com reproduces this 2011 feature on the activist and her life.

The worn-out plot, excessive violence and the loud dramatic music make director Ramnath's Thirunaal a dark and gloomy tale.

Critics said parts of her speech were lifted verbatim from remarks First Lady Michelle Obama made in 2008

The 58-page Republican manifesto released by the party after its formal approval said that Indian ancestry had made notable contributions to the US.

Five months after he was assaulted by a mob and forced to chant 'Jai Bhawani, Jai Shivaji,' Assistant Sub Inspector of Police Yunus Shaikh will return to the police force on July 21. Shaikh relives the assault and its aftermath in this interview with Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.

'The BJP should know that simple caste arithmetic may have ceased to follow the basic law of addition.' 'Adding up seemingly distinct vote banks can even cause overall reduction in numbers,' says Sudhir Bisht.

Sleuths of security forces and secret service agents have converged on the city and huge make-shift iron walls have come up several blocks around the convention's location.

Have you heard of the Burning Man festival? Or the Monkey Buffet festival?

A cow that speaks, a question on patriarchy and the story of a 17th-century poet - Sanskrit filmmakers are finding new ways to revive the 'dying' language.

Civil War II sees Tony Stark hang up his boots, to be replaced by Riri Williams.

Apart from Smriti, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ananth Kumar took over as law and parliamentary affairs ministers respectively.