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Duryodhana
Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, the arch enemies of the Pandavas Duryodhana, the warrior who stood up for Karna when he was insulted for the circumstance of his birth Duryodhana, the son of the king of Hastinapur and the prince who would have ascended the throne if not for his cousin Yudhisthira Duryodhana, the one who sought to undress Draupadi in the court of Hastinapura. Since the time the tale of the Mahabharata has been told, the world has unquestioningly seen Duryodhana as the man whose deviousness and greed for power brought on the battle of Kurukshetra. However, any war is fought with both the sides believing that they are justified in fighting it. So must have been the case with the Kauravas. In Duryodhana, V. Raghunathan explores the circumstances and motivations that prompted the Kaurava prince to take the path that he did and finds a man as sinned against as sinning.
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Beyond The Call Of Duty
The 200 year British presence in India left behind a mixed legacy. We think of the colonial rulers as people who plundered and impoverished our land. Lost in that narrative is the work of the scores of well-intentioned individuals who played a part in shaping modern India. Did you know, for instance, that as far back as the 1850s, a British engineer had chalked out a plan to link all the major rivers of India? Or that tea did not grow in Darjeeling until an English surgeon planted a smuggled Chinese plant in his backyard in the hills? Or that there was an East India Company polyglot who mastered Sanskrit, translated Kalidasa's works into English and then set up the Asiatic Society? Beyond the Call of Duty celebrates a dozen of these British gentlemen who far exceeded their job descriptions, devoting their lives to the greater good of an adopted country - men whose work continues to benet India. They may not have had history books eulogizing them, but they exemplify a work ethic that is rare and relevant today. And therein lies the need to revive these stories - so that we may draw lessons from every quarter of our past to sculpt a better fu
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Ganesha On The Dashboard
Take the way we go about buying a new car. We identify an auspicious date and time, then proceed to break a coconut, plonk a plastic deity of Ganesha on the dashboard, and zoom off at great speed, refusing to wear our seatbelts.