Outstanding Freedom Fighter & Great Urdu Poet: Maulana Hasrat Mohani
*Chupke chupke raat din aansoo bahaana yaad hai* (I remember shedding tears silently, day and night)* Maulana Hasrat Mohani, born Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan on January 1, 1875, in Mohan, Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, embodied the rare fusion of lyrical grace and unyielding rebellion. On his birth anniversary, we honor this pioneer who first thundered “Inquilab Zindabad” (Long […]
A Legacy Beyond the Screen
The Genesis of a Giant Main Hoon Jahan, Kal Koi Aur Tha; Yeh Bhi Ek Daur Hai, Woh Bhi Ek Daur Tha!(Where I stand today, another stood yesterday; this is but an era, as was that!)~Sahir Ludhianvi (Daag) On December 29, the Indian film fraternity and millions of fans worldwide pause to mark the 83rd […]
The Birth of the Indian National Congress and the Making of India’s Freedom Movement
On this day, December 28, 2025, we look back exactly fourteen decades to a crisp winter morning in Bombay. The setting was the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College and Boarding House at Gwalia Tank. There, 72 individuals—lawyers, journalists, and scholars—gathered to birth an organization that would eventually dismantle the most formidable empire in human history.As noted […]
The Architect of Quiet Transformation
vo aasmaan tha magar sar jhuka ke chalta tha”! “He was the skyBut he walked with his head bowed down”! The Architect of Quiet Transformation:A Tribute to Dr. Manmohan Singh One year ago, on December 26, India lost more than a former Prime Minister; it lost the personification of intellectual integrity and dignified statesmanship. Dr. […]
A Modernist Titan of Urdu Letters: Remembering Shamsur Rahman Faruqi
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi (1935–2020), the towering Indian Urdu poet, author, critic, and theorist, reshaped Urdu literature by infusing it with modernism. On this fifth anniversary of his passing on December 25, his legacy endures as a bridge between tradition and innovation. Pioneering Criticism and Literary Revival Faruqi formulated fresh models of literary appreciation, blending Western […]
A Shared Devotion: Why Jesus and Mary Hold a Sacred Place in Islam
As the world marks the birth of Jesus this December, the festive lights and carols often mask a profound theological reality: the story of Christ is not exclusive to Christendom. For nearly two billion Muslims globally, Jesus (Isa) and his mother Mary (Maryam) are not peripheral figures; they are central to the Islamic faith, serving […]
An Eternal Voice: A Tribute to Mohammed Rafi on His 101st Birth Anniversary
“Hazaron saal Nargis apni be-noori pe roti hai, Badi mushkil se hota hai chaman mein Didawar paida.”As Mirza Ghalib’s couplet reminds us, true genius blooms rarely. On December 24, 2025, we celebrate the 101st birth anniversary of Mohammed Rafi, born in 1924 in Kotla Sultan Singh, Punjab—a voice that transformed Indian music and touched the nation’s […]
Shyam Benegal: The Enduring Light of Parallel Cinema
“Vo gaya to saath hi le gaya sabhi rang utaar ke shehar kaKoi shakhs tha mere shehar me kisi door-paar ke shehar ka Kisi aur des ki aur ko suna hai, ‘Faraz’ chala gayaSabhi dukh samait ke shehar ka, sabhi qarz utaar ke shehar ka” Shyam Benegal: The Enduring Light of Parallel Cinema On the […]
Textbooks as Battlegrounds: The Perils of NCERT’s New Portrait of Mahmud of Ghazni
A quiet rewrite of the past risks hardening the present A quiet but seismic change has slipped into India’s classrooms. The new Class 7 NCERT social science textbook, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, devotes six pages to the “Ghaznavid Invasions,” recasting Mahmud of Ghazni as a fanatical iconoclast bent on forcing his version of Islam […]
Centralising Control, Offloading Costs: Why the New Higher Education Regulator Imperils Universities and States Alike
A Central Regulator With Shrinking Accountability The new higher education regulator Bill promises rationalisation but in practice concentrates unprecedented power in a single umbrella body while eroding mechanisms that once tied regulation to public funding and academic judgment. By abolishing the UGC, AICTE and NCTE and replacing them with the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan and […]
