Innholdsfortegnelse for 28 July 2025 i India Today

Kim Namjoon! Kim Seokjin! Min Yoongi! Jung Hoseok! Park Jimin! Kim Taehyung! Jeon Jungkook! These are not names one might expect to hear chanted in India, and would doubtless leave most of our population baffled. But there’s a swelling cohort in our midst for whom these names point to celestial bodies that form the very centre of their universe. Members of the Korean boy band BTS, with a crazed global following akin to Beatlemania, the ‘Bangtan Boys’ now command a massive desi fanbase. They attract tens of millions of hits from India on YouTube and Spotify, consistently among their top global numbers. But culturally speaking, they are no solo act. They lead what amounts to a full-fledged Korean wave in India. We are calling it The K-Craze. Music, or K-Pop, is…

Believe it or not, Bengaluru, with its public transport woes, has the second largest fleet of city buses in India after Delhi. Every day, 4.6 million commuters (some 30 per cent of the city’s population) ride nearly 7,000 buses of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). The BMTC aims to increase ridership by another million by next year. Expanding the fleet is one way—1,779 new electric buses will roll out by October. The other, more crucial one, involves data. For the first time, the BMTC, and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL), have published their transport data in a globally recognised open data standard called General Transit Feed Specification. This was part of a start-up challenge that pitted developers to build digital tools for urban mobility using this data.…

In 2021, Aria was Gauthami, a dorky teenager on a year-long break from studies. Then she decided to audition online to be a K-Pop idol. “When I first introduced my dream to my family over dinner, everybody laughed and felt it was one of my crazy obsessions,” she says. Today, she’s a member of the girl group X:IN and only the second such idol from India. After two years in Seoul, she’s leaner, speaks English with an accent, has blonde hair and, for some, looks fairer. For her, though, that’s just the process of growing up. Says Aria, “Being an idol comes with a lot of downsides, but I love what I’m doing. I cannot imagine myself doing anything else.” “YOU NEED DETERMINATION TO BE A K-POP IDOL. THEY CAN…

*Working president; #Mizo National Front THE OUTLIER STATES 1. UTTAR PRADESH Challenge: Balance aspirations of dominant non-Yadav OBCs, bridge organisation/govt gap X-factors: Yogi’s choice, PM Modi’s nod 2. MANIPUR Challenge: Security scenarios X-factor: State is in flux 3. KARNATAKA Challenge: Delhi backs B.Y. Vijayendra, rivals fuming X-factors: Lingayat legacy, BSY’s grip on caste matrix 4. JHARKHAND Challenge: Balancing tribal and OBC aspirations X-factor: Sangh diktat 5. GUJARAT Challenge: Patidar vs OBC vs Rajput equations X-factor: Modi’s choice 6. HARYANA Challenge: Khattar’s shadow is too obvious X-factor: Ex-CM’s pick may prevail, at least for now 7. DELHI Challenge: BJP is in power in Centre, state as well as MCD**. Need a candidate who can deliver X-factor: Modi-Shah vision has to align with Sangh’s **MCD: Municipal Corporation of Delhi…

Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C) Operating under the Union home ministry, it provides a framework to deal with cyber crime. During the recent attacks, it spear-headed-counter-hack operations. Under it, over 150 hostile command-and-control servers were taken down Data Security Council of India Set up by NASSCOM, it is an industry body on data protection. During the cyber attacks that erupted after April 22, it led a joint task force, coordinating with government, private and industry bodies. It red-flagged suspicious sites, blocked vulnerable Indian sites CERT-In Working under the ministry of information technology, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), is India’s nodal agency dealing with cyber threats. It sent out alerts, emergency response procedures NCIIPC Functioning under the PMO, the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) safeguards vital…

It’s fair to say that literature-in-translation from Indian languages is enjoying an extended phase of cultural prominence. Writers working in Hindi, Tami, Bangla, Kannada et al are increasingly being published around the world in translation, and winning awards (the latest being the 2025 International Booker Prize for Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq and her English translator Deepa Bhasthi). In another happy development in this space, the prolific translator Arunava Sinha has started a new publishing imprint called Chowringhee Press, specifically for Indian translations. The firstever Chowringhee Press title is Sinha’s own translation of The Laboratory, a short novel by Rabindranath Tagore that also happens to be the last novel he ever wrote. The first title will be Sinha’s translation of The Laboratory, a short novel by Rabindranath Tagore Talking about the…

Walls of Fame Add style and sophistication indoors with UDC Homes’ new Soie Lumière, a fabric-based wallpaper collection that combines hand-embellished textiles with refined craftsmanship. Hand-painted chinoiserie, 3D embroidery, pearls, and a range of artisanal surface treatments come together on lush backdrops of mulberry silk, slub linen and soft metallics. That’s not all, you have the option to customise any piece. PRICE ₹2,500 per sq ft AT www.udc-homes.com Weaving Magic Here’s a design rule to follow—good design starts ground up. This is why the carpets you choose are very important to the overall design scheme. Obeetee’s latest launch Silk Route, falls in this category. Drawing inspiration from the centuries-old Silk Route the carpets bring to life the spirit of exploration, innovation, and craftsmanship that thrived along these routes. Adding another…

Picture a child with a sweet tooth, let loose in a candy store. That’s exactly how visitors felt when they walked into this new design show. One that proved to be perfect for those dreaming of building their dream home or simply seeking a dose of design inspiration. Late June, just as monsoon tiptoed across the city’s rooftops, Design POV introduced a new world with flair at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre. This immersive showcase, curated by Totality Solutions and powered by Tabu, Elite Building Materials, and Birla Opus, Aditya Birla Group (design partner), brought together some of the country’s most exciting architects, designers, and homeware brands for a weekend that was equal parts style and substance. At the centre of it all was The Core—a dedicated space where 18…

Those who know Elad Yifrach can vouch for his creative expression, his love for craft and his quiet but extremely sharp wit. The same translates onto decor. His luxury design and fragrance house, L’OBJET, has become the unofficial custodian of good design. The good news is that it’s found a new home in Delhi’s The Chanakya Mall. For Yifrach there’s something about India—the warmth, the chaos, the ceremony—that just fits with the way he designs. “It’s not just the cuisine I love (though I do), but the ritual around dining. The setting of a table, the sharing of stories, the beauty in the details—it all mirrors what my brand is about. Celebrating life with objects that matter,” he explains. The store’s split personality—half white, half a deep terracotta, which he…

On June 17, when the Jharkhand Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested former IAS officer Amit Prakash, he joined the ignominious ranks of two others who were arrested the previous month: serving IAS officer Vinay Kumar Choubey and former excise commissioner Gajendra Singh. All are now cooling their heels in judicial custody. So, what’s brewing? A full-blown excise scam—vatfuls of it, in fact. And net losses are pegged at Rs 38 crore. Prakash, who retired last December after serving as excise commissioner and managing director of the Jharkhand State Beverage Corporation Ltd (JSBCL), stands accused of authorising payments totalling approximately Rs 11 crore to two liquor wholesalers, despite directives to withhold those funds. But the ramifications extend far beyond Prakash. It all began to unfold through murmurings of a similar scam in…

“Saranghaeyo” (I love you) is not an alien expression to Subhashree, and she has K-Dramas to thank for that. It was in 2019 that the Odisha native chanced on a photograph of BTS member V on an app in her phone. One press of her thumb later, she was immersed in a world of 16-hour-long seasons of TV shows she would spend “whole nights watching” on her days off from work in NCR. “I wouldn’t even know how time would pass,” she says. She has watched at least 35 such shows, with Netflix, Viki and HiTV being her hunting grounds. Her affinity is for the classical historical genre, with shows like Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth, Empress Ki and Mr Queen, which “show (Korea’s) culture, dresses and food”. She adds,…

Thanks to his K-Pop-crazy elder sisters, Arunachal Pradesh’s Aku Bengia was introduced to bands like BigBang, BTS and Super Junior. Inspired by their YouTube videos and those of Stray Kids and Seventeen, he formed a dance group called The Trend with the sole purpose of winning the annual All-India K-Pop contest organised by the Korean Cultural Centre India. The Trend follows the stylish, spirited and synchronised choreography synonymous with the genre. “K-Pop dancing is a complete package of entertainment—there’s drama and each member gets to be in spotlight,” says Likha Tatam, one of its seven members. After finishing runner-up in two back-to-back editions of the contest, The Trend finally accomplished their dream last year of winning the title in the dance category with a routine set to Stray Kids’s ‘God’s…

Twenty-first century warfare isn’t limited to ground, air and naval forces. With vital domains like defence, finance and communications dependent on sets of interconnected information systems on the internet, attacking these can grievously impair a nation’s warmaking capabilities. Cyber warfare has thus emerged as a low-cost weapon of modern conflict and cyber security is now an important factor in the national security matrix of every state. As in Russia’s war on Ukraine and the recent Israel-Iran war, this whole spectrum played out during the recent face-off between India and Pakistan. Starting from the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 and continuing through Operation Sindoor and the four-day conflict between the two neighbours (May 7-10), India faced an unrelenting wave of cyberattacks, primarily by Pakistani groups backed by Islamabad and Beijing,…

THE ATTACKS Website defacements Getting unauthorised access to websites and altering content, often with political/nationalistic messages Data breaches Attempts to steal sensitive information from government agencies, businesses and individuals Denial of Service (DoS) & Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) These attacks network with traffic, putting it out of use Malware distribution The use of viruses to infect systems and gain control, usually for data theft Phishing The use of deceptive emails/messages to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information APT Advanced Persistent an undetected presence in tar geted networks THE DEFENCE Hardening critical infrastructure India ramped up cyber audits and real-time monitoring of power grids, defence networks, telecom etc. Sector-specific computer emergency response teams (CERTs) were activated Offensive cyber-readiness This involves pre-emptive and retaliatory cyber operations targeting known Pakistani hacker groups…

Madhvi Parekh’s acrylic-oncanvas painting ‘Travelling Circus in My Village’ (80 x 240 inches, 2024) is one of those large-scale works that simply have to be seen in the flesh. The pixels on your screen cannot come close to reproducing its ambition, its grandeur, its irresistible strangeness. A messianic figure lies at the centre of the triptych, holding a snake aloft like a canopy above his head, the faithful gathering around him slowly. An array of human-animal hybrids fills every corner, the chimeras ranging from a biped cow to a snake with a human head, to a horse that has a human face nestled close to its heart. All the while, a determined-looking man carries a temple on his back. Like the triptychs of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, ‘Travelling Circus in…

SECESSION OF THE SUCCESSFUL By Sanjaya Baru PENGUIN/VIKING PAGES: 320; PRICE: ₹ 799 Flight of Talent The term ‘brain drain’ has been used in the context of NRIs (non-resident Indians) since the 1990s, referring to highly-qualified individuals leaving the country in search of better prospects in America, the UK et al. In his new book, Sanjaya Baru (author of The Accidental PM) investigates why this phenomenon has accelerated in 21st century India, and evaluates the idea of ‘soft power’ versus the prospect of losing our precious human capital. Baru analyses macro-trends from the last decade and traces the evolution of the non-resident Indian into the ‘non-returning Indian’. A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT Saraswati is the ambitious debut novel by 27-year-old British writer Gurnaik Johal. His protagonist, a Londoner called Satnam,…

If you ask me, the simple act of not misplacing house keys deserves its own Nobel Prize. After all, forget aesthetics and architectural elegance—home security often boils down to thick doors, a series of locks, and iron bars. So naturally, when I got the chance to upgrade from fumbling keys to a smart lock, I leaped at the opportunity. Here’s my hands-on experience with the Godrej Advantis IoT9. Smart Features, Smarter Living The Advantis IoT9 isn’t your ordinary lock, it opens remotely from practically anywhere on the planet. It speaks multiple languages—English, Hindi, and regional dialects—making it both smart and culturally inclusive. Integration with Alexa and Google Home means you can boss your lock around with your voice. Need to let someone in temporarily? Generate one-time passwords via the app.…

Don’t judge a book by its cover, but definitely judge a showroom by its location. In the heart of Delhi, RK Ashram Marg lies STRROT, a decor and design showroom that comes with a legacy. The founder Sidhant Lamba—an interior designer turned into a furniture and decor manufacturer, and curator and purveyor of good design—inherited his design sense from his father, the founder of The Continental Group. The later has been customising furniture for over six decades. It was post Covid that Lamba realised that the brand couldn’t just stay a furniture store. It now proudly displays bespoke lines from some of the top global brands including Driade, Seletti, Ebano and Lotus Arts de Vivre. With over 20,000 sq ft at his disposal, giving each brand it’s own space is…

Even with 20 mattresses and 20 feather beds, the princess in Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale Princess and the Pea, could not get a good night’s rest. Perhaps if she had the right pillow she would have been whisked off to dreamland in no time. Experts believe that the right pillow might be more important than the right mattress. It should align your head, neck, and spine, while supporting the natural curvature of your spine. This not only alleviates neck pain but also relieves pressure throughout your body. Of course, like walking, even while sleeping, posture is everything. Those sleeping on their back need pillows that have a medium firmness and a medium loft (height or thickness when the pillow is lying flat) and the filling should be made of…

In a world of mass-produced chaos, Masaya feels like a lullaby, soft, intentional, and unforgettable. The name Masaya means “happy” in Filipino, and true to its name, happiness is quite literally woven into every piece. Based in Mumbai, this thoughtfully crafted label has quietly become a favourite among parents across India. Founded by designer Rajashvi Jajodia, Masaya is less a brand and more a philosophy. One that places comfort, craftsmanship, and conscious living at the heart of every creation. As a mother to a spirited toddler, I’ve learned that children remember how things feel not how they look. Masaya understands this deeply. Their organic bedding sets doesn’t just look charming, it feels like home. The textures are gentle enough for newborn skin, the colours are muted and calming, and every…

The residence unfolds as four vertically stacked layers, dynamically interacting through bridges spanning a sundrenched void that elegantly divides the living quarters from the adjoining office. These layers artfully intertwine, crafting moments of captivating surprise and emotional intensity. Carefully sculpted voids and perforated metal floors ensure an immersive experience, continuously heightening one’s sense of awareness and connection. Inside, the spaces exhibit grandeur yet reveal intricate, delicate details. In the living room Contrasting textures and contrasting textures materials form a rich tapestry of intrigue, captivating visitors at every turn. suspended connecting Polished elegance meets bridge (right) raw authenticity: luxurious tiger’s eye marble set in a striking checkerboard pattern harmonises vividly with rugged concrete surfaces. Glossy marble floors counterbalance exposed metallic ceilings, while crisp modern lines provide a minimalist backdrop to the…

Welcome to Pune, a city where tradition flirts with modern flair and every corner hums with life. Nestled in this vibrant urban tapestry is Jade, a home as bold as its name. It isn’t merely a building; it’s an exuberant burst of colour, a playground for design rebels. Meet the residents: a spirited couple in their seventies and their charming 90-year-old mother, who collectively decided that plain white and ivory were simply too bland for their taste. So they tossed the old rulebook out the window and embraced a daring, monochromatic palette with splashes of vivid hues. The result? Each room tells its own lively story. Take the matriarch’s bedroom—a cosy cottage-inspired retreat with elegant mouldings and a soft yellow canvas that sings of warmth. Here, bold prints meet subtle…

CONTROL OVER TEMPLES—and, more to the point, temple funds—has been historically an emotive point of contention between traditionalists and rationalists in the South. The former prefer autonomy for the religious sphere and see any apparent overreach by the latter as a transgression—it’s also an easy way to raise public passions. The latest shot across the bow came in a campaign remark by AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS). Speaking during a statewide tour, he accused the ruling DMK of misusing temple funds for purposes unrelated to religion. That has escalated into a wider clash involving electoral strategies, the law, and the legacy of Dravidian politics. “Even seeing temples irritates the DMK,” EPS told crowds in Coimbatore. “They are taking all the temple money and building colleges. People like you, with…

During Saiyami Kher’s first Ironman 70.3 in September 2024, she went 2 km off course on the bike route and had to retrace her steps. She missed out on adequate hydration, resulting in painful shin splints. But she pushed on to the finish, the last legitimate finisher. “The biggest muscle you train in a triathlon is your mind. I learned that no amount of fitness matters if you lose heart halfway,” says Kher, 33. She worked towards her goals and in early July, lined up for her second Ironman 70.3 in Jönköping, Sweden. She finished in 7 hours 29 minutes, improving on her best by over 30 minutes. KHER WAS UP AGAINST WIND, RAIN AND FRIGID WEATHER IN SWEDEN, BUT IMPROVED HER PERSONAL BEST The 10 months between the races…

Q. In Sarzameen, you have worked with two newcomers—one behind the camera (Kayoze Irani) and one in front (Ibrahim Ali Khan). What was the energy on set like? Ibrahim is on the quieter side. He was into the character, given it is intense. I loved how Kayoze commanded the ship. We had long conversations about what the film should be saying and the subtext of its scenes. Q. Do you think newcomers now have it easier than you did when you made your debut in 1992? I think it is easier for this generation, at least in the beginning. We were just thrown into the water, so it was sink or swim. That I feel is our strong point. Now, they have months of preparation—be it a dialogue coach or…

Ready to grab a slice of design history? The Dezza armchair isn’t just any chair—it’s a timeless legend in Poltrona Frau’s storybook. Crafted by the iconic Gio Ponti back in 1965, Dezza marked a fresh chapter for the brand after they settled in Tolentino (they still call it home). Sixty years later, Poltrona Frau is celebrating Dezza’s anniversary with a limited edition of just 60 exclusive pieces. Each one is draped in sustainable Pelle Frau® ColorSphere impact less leather, in dreamy shades inspired by Ponti’s famed Sorrento hotel interiors. But here’s the kicker—the upholstery flaunts a playful, previously unseen Ponti illustration featuring 26 unique stylised hands like “the gloved hand” and “the fortune teller’s hand”. It’s a nod to the craftsmanship and ‘intelligence of the hands’. These numbered beauties come…