By Vikas Meshram*  Irrfan Khan was not merely an actor; he expanded the possibilities of performance in both Indian and world cinema, becoming a rare bridge between Hollywood and Bollywood. With an understated style and a deeply internalised craft, he brought global recognition to a distinctly Indian sensibility.

By Raqif Makhdoomi*  It is often said that no story is ever told exactly as it was lived. Every narrator adds or omits according to preference, shaping the account to suit their own lens. The same distortion has touched the legacy of Muhammad Iqbal, widely known as Allama Iqbal .  

By N.S. Venkataraman*  When India became independent in 1947, its population stood at around 360 million, with a density of 117 persons per square kilometre. Since then, the numbers have risen steadily. Alarmed by this growth, experts once warned of a “ population explosion ” that could trigger severe socio-economic challenges. In response, governments launched campaigns such as “Next child not now, and no child after two.” While these slogans caught public attention, the population continued to rise, albeit at a slower pace.  

By Ravi Ranjan*  Leeladhar Mandloi , one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Hindi literature, has long been celebrated for his ability to weave socio-cultural reflection with lyrical depth. His oeuvre spans poetry, prose, and aesthetic criticism, consistently engaging with displacement, marginal lives, and the fragile intersections of heritage and modernity. Collections such as “Ghara-ghara ghūmā”, “Rāta-birāta”, “Magara eka āvāja”, and “Dekha-adekhā” testify to his mastery of evocative language, while “Jalāvatana” stands as a thematic cornerstone, embodying exile and loss as metaphors for the human condition. 

By Moin Qazi*  “Money was intended to be a means of exchange, not to breed money.” — Aristotle Across civilizations, few economic practices have provoked as much moral unease as usury —the extraction of gain from another’s need. It is not merely a financial device; it reflects how a society understands justice, obligation, and human worth. When money begins to multiply without labour, without risk, and without accountability, it ceases to serve life and instead reshapes it in its own image. What appears efficient on the surface often conceals a deeper imbalance—one in which gain is detached from responsibility, and accumulation from contribution. This unease is neither incidental nor confined to any one tradition. Within the moral universe of the Qur’an , the prohibition of usury is framed not as a technical restriction but as an ethical boundary—one that protects the vulnerable from exploitation disguised as transaction. The gravity of this prohibition is further under...

By Harsh Thakor*  In the vast and brutal canvas of the Battle of Stalingrad, few individual acts of courage have acquired the near-mythic status of Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov’s defence of a single apartment block. A Red Army sergeant of modest origins, Pavlov became one of the most celebrated heroes of the Soviet Union, not merely for his bravery, but for transforming an ordinary structure into a symbol of resistance that echoed across the course of World War II.