Nagarjuna Rao

When sixty meant old age

There was a time when a man of sixty looked every inch of it – silver hair, sagging frame, and a face that told the story of ration queues, monsoon fevers and the price of kerosene. Today’s sexagenarian, however, turns up at the airport in jeans and a smartwatch, returning from a yoga retreat in…

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The boy who knew too much

Overconfidence, rudeness, and arrogance – that is how the internet has described 10-year-old Ishit Bhatt after his short stint on Kaun Banega Crorepati 17. What should have been a moment of delight on India’s favorite quiz show turned into a social media trial, with hashtags calling him ‘the most hated kid’ trending across platforms. Bhatt,…

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Trump and the peace prize pursuit

The Nobel season has begun. On Monday, the medicine prize opened the 2025 awards with scientists Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi honoured for their discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance. The prizes for physics, chemistry, literature and economics will follow soon. And then comes the big one still to be announced – the Nobel…

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From Bogota with despair: Democracy under attack, patriotism under retreat

‘Mera Bharat Mahan.’ Should this slogan not be our mantra as Indians, wherever we are – at home or abroad? Telugu poet Rayaprolu Subbarao reminded us long ago: Ae deshamegina, endu kalidina, ae peethamekkina, evvaremanina, pogadara nee talli bhoomi Bharati. [Whichever country you go to, wherever you may live, whichever throne you ascend, whatever others…

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Does India really need the Cup?

Does India need the Asia Cup trophy to prove to future generations that it won the tournament in Dubai? Really, is this some notarised affidavit to be produced before a sceptical grandson in 2075? ‘Look beta, here is the original Cup, hence your grandfather is telling the truth’. Absolute nonsense. Victories are written on the…

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