Innholdsfortegnelse for 29 December 2025 i India Today

₹ 5,000 CRORE Projected budget for Amdavad 2030; it’s Rs 1,800 cr. for scaled-down Glasgow 2026 ₹ 521 CRORE Gujarat’s sports outlay in FY26, up from Rs 2.5 cr. in 2002 IN the vast hall of the Commonwealth Sport General Assembly in Glasgow in late November, beats of the dhol suddenly filled the air and garba dancers swept across the floor—an exuberant flourish after Ahmedabad was officially declared host of the 2030 Commonwealth Games. For Gujarat’s deputy chief minister Harsh Sanghavi, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief P.T. Usha and other officials present, the moment carried little surprise. What it sharpened instead was the sheer scale of the task ahead. That sense had been building for weeks. Once the Executive Board of Commonwealth Sport recommended Ahmedabad in mid-October, the Glasgow ratification…

Tubelight (2017) Kabir Khan’s drama strips Salman Khan of his machismo and has him essay a mentally-challenged man who comes to the rescue of a Chinese motherson duo in danger during the Indo-China conflict. Haqeeqat (1964) One of Indian cinema’s finest war dramas, this Dharmendra-starrer shows the toll of war on soldiers. Its track ‘Ab Tumhare Hawaale Watan Saathiyon’ ranks as one of the most memorable anthems to date. Paltan (2018) J.P. Dutta, the godfather of war dramas in Hindi cinema, brought to life the 1967 Nathu La and Cho La clashes along the Sikkim border, one of the less-documented battles between the two nations. Subedar Joginder Singh (2018) Gippy Grewal stars in this Punjabi film, a biopic of Joginder Singh who was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra for…

The WhatsApp group of Bani J, Maanvi Gagroo, Sayani Gupta and Kirti Kulhari, the famous quartet of Amazon Prime’s Four More Shots Please!, is called ‘Dasu’. “At one point it was called udaas,” quips Bani. “I wish it was more active,” says Maanvi, one of its more engaged members. “We try to do lunches and dinners but it’s impossible to get the four of us together [after the show’s shoot],” says Sayani. “Conversations will happen depending on who’s in what mood,” says Kirti, dwelling on its future. The girls are now quickly talking over each other, resulting in a scene that could be straight out of the show. It’s been seven years since Umang (Bani), Siddhi (Maanvi), Damini (Sayani) and Anjana (Kirti) first sent shockwaves as they expressed their ambition…

The fifth edition of DAG’s annual Iconic: Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art is underway at the New Delhi gallery. It explores the evolution of Indian art as it transitioned from the pre-modern era into modernity. The oldest work on display is from 1798 while the latest is from 2011. Iconic includes the works of Anglo-Indian artists like Thomas Daniell, Charles D’Oyly and Marius Mauer, alongside ‘Company painting’ artists like Sita Ram. Amrita Sher-Gil is one of the nine ‘National Treasure’ artists showcased, and the only extant sculpture she ever created is there too. Dozens of major Indian artists are on display, including S.H. Raza, M.F. Husain, Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, Satish Gujral, Shanti Dave, et al. One of the crown jewels is a late 18th-early 19th century scroll of the Bhagavata Purana, comprised…

Paul”, the author bio tells us, “fell in love with India when he fell in love with his wife. He’s from Belfast. She’s from Delhi.” The real life love story gives this novel, the first of a new literary crime fiction series: ‘A Haveli Hotel Mystery’, a unique Indo-Irish inflection. Sister Agatha Murphy bumps into Avtar Mehta, the owner of a hotel, in a back alley of Old Delhi, while they are both taking an “ad break”, euphemism for a quick smoke. Within minutes, a wild sequence of events unfolds: they are witness to a street robbery involving an item of lingerie; the body of an academic from Jharkhand, accused of sexual harassment by a student, is found in Avtar’s hotel: the offending weapon used in the murder—a miniature of the…

For as long as Kamya Gupta can remember she scrapbooked and collected coffee table books that cost more than her pocket money. That quiet obsession nudged her towards photography, an internship with fashion designer Rahul Mishra, a degree in fashion media and a stint at a PR agency. By August 2024, though, something else began to whisper. One afternoon, while flipping through old wedding albums, it struck her, the memories were beautiful, the albums were not; bulky, dated and hidden away. What if they could be transformed into coffee table books that you would actually want to display? Why stop there, anything that holds memories could be reimagined as an object that lives proudly in your space. So, in January 2025, she launched Kam & Kalm. “I wanted to build…

Spread across 5,000 square feet in the heart of Hiranandani, Powai, this space is more than a home. It is an ode to quiet luxury and enduring grace. Created for a multi-generational joint family, it captures the delicate balance between time, temperament and tradition. This is a space where wisdom meets vitality, and where every corner feels alive, listening and evolving with those who inhabit it. Layered Living The journey begins in a spacious living area that feels open and warm. Seating is divided into formal and informal clusters, allowing both conversation and reflection to flow naturally. A double-layered fluted wall panel anchors the room, setting the stage for a 98-inch television. It is a mix of grandeur and restraint, perfectly balanced. White Statuario marble, with its luminous veins and…

ON THE EVENING OF DECEMBER 14, a short message from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national media office announced Nitin Nabin, the low-key minister for public works in the new government in Bihar, as the party’s ‘working president’, a preliminary step before taking over the top post nationally. At just 46, he’ll be the youngest BJP president in history (breaking Nitin Gadkari’s record, who was 52 when he took over) when he takes over as the party’s national chief next year. Born after the BJP was formally constituted in 1980, Nabin will also be the first millennial leader to enter/head the party’s national organisational core. For many outside the party (and inside it too), the name had little recall. Inside the BJP, though, the appointment brought clarity, as it had…

INDIA IS FACING A QUIET DIETARY SHIFT—one reshaping the country’s metabolic health. The latest ICMR-INDIAB (Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes) dietary study, published recently in Nature Medicine, maps what Indians are eating today and how it is linked to rising diabetes, obesity and prediabetes. Drawing on large, nationally representative data, the study shows that while calorie intake may be adequate, macronutrient balance is not. Indian diets remain heavily tilted towards carbohydrates, with insufficient protein and poor-quality fats. Simply replacing rice or wheat with millets or whole grains, the researchers note, does not meaningfully lower metabolic risk unless overall carbohydrate intake is reduced. Instead, even modest shifts—such as replacing a small proportion of carbs with protein—show measurable health benefits. The findings point towards a deeper reset of the Indian plate:…

IT’S NOT JUST A SNOW-WHITE LANDSCAPE that joins Kashmir with countries in the northern latitudes during Christmas season. There’s always been a buzzing trail of commerce—conveying sledfuls of Kashmiri handicrafts to Christmas markets out West. But this centuriesold romance has hit its bleakest chapter this year. As festive demand peaks across the US and Europe, that flow of goodies—from tiny papier-mâché trinkets to exquisite carpets and pashmina—has slowed to a trickle. The culprit? Think of an antonym for Santa Claus, the giver of gifts. Yes, it’s Donald Trump and his 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, which compounded the damage already inflicted by the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars. For Kashmir’s artisans, the twin shocks amount to what one craftsman calls “a doomsday scenario”. “There’s an 80 per cent slump…

Since he took over as Reserve Bank of India Governor a year back, SANJAY MALHOTRA has walked the fine line between sus tai ning growth and safeguarding stability. At the RBI’s headquarters in Mumbai, he spoke to Group Editorial Director RAJ CHENGAPPA and Managing Editor M.G. ARUN on a range of economic issues, like why he considers the economy to be in a Goldilocks phase, how the repo rate cuts will push demand, whether the RBI has any plans to shore up the weakening Indian rupee, and more. Excerpts: Q. You have had an unusually eventful term so far. Donald Trump’s tariffs, whose weight India has felt unfairly, have shaken global trade. The rupee has fallen sharply. So has inflation, to a multi-year low. Yet India clocked 8.2 per cent GDP…

2019 Pro Kabaddi League final; league matches held regularly 2022 National Games, with over 8,000 athletes across 36 disciplines 2023 Cricket World Cup final; three IPL finals since 2022 and other big-ticket fixtures 2025 May-June Ultimate Table Tennis (full season) August Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships September Asian Aquatics Championships 2026 Asian Weightlifting Championships 2029 World Police and Fire Games PUBLIC BUILD-UP ↘ Countdown milestones Planned at 1,500, 1,000, 500 and 100 days to the Games, marked by festivals of art, music, fashion and cuisine ↘ City as a stage: Streets, public spaces and sports venues to host performances, exhibitions and mass-engagement events, designed to sustain public excitement GLOBAL OUTREACH ↘ Commonwealth Dialogue City to host a proposed highprofile series of ministerial meetings, business summits and cultural exchanges of member nations ↘ Grand…

A nju Dodiya has an ongoing solo show at Chemould Prescott Road that comprises largescaled colour infused fabric panels as well as a few works on paper. The Geometry of Ash touches upon the tragic legacies of disappearing trees while creating narratives around ancestral logs and stoic women who march on with resilience. Watercolour and charcoal are the primary mediums through which she weaves storytelling in her works. On the subject of storytelling, it must be said that it is a powerful tool in her visuals and it is important to her. “Staining the fabric and the construct of the figures with charcoal, the harshness of the line… Narratives are imagined, constructed, stumbled upon. They are a take-off point for imagining, for the viewer and me, rather than stories carved…

IT ALL BEGAN WITH A RECURRING. RESTLESS DREAM. On a warm March night in 2008, Sumana Chandrashekar woke up to find her fingers moving on her belly, with the sounds of the ghatam—the clay pot used as a percussion instrument in Carnatic music—ringing in her ears. The dream kept pulling her back in, until Chandrashekar, an accomplished Carnatic vocalist, realised that it was a calling she couldn’t ignore. In Song of the Clay Pot, this summons is the starting point for an exploration of this ancient instrument, and the histories—cultural, political, personal—that live inside its resonant body. The ghatam bec omes both subject and lens through which Chandrashekar interrogates ideas about who gets to make music, who gets to be seen, and how sound itself can carry the weight of social…

Can a brand carry German DNA and still feel unmistakably desi in its swagger? Chirag Parekh, founder and Managing Director of luxury bathware label, Sternhagen, shows it is possible and profitable. Known for a taste that leans unapologetically luxe, Parekh had already tested the waters with Carysil, his kitchen sinks company built with a German collaboration. Sternhagen is his next act, takes that German engineering playbook and pairs it with sharp design talent to serve one clear audience: the high-end bathroom buyer. “Luxury is relationship selling and great design that never compromises on quality,” Parekh says. His first Sternhagen experience centre has opened in Delhi NCR, in Gurgaon, with more metros on the horizon. The store is styled like a gallery, not a shop, with statement collections including lines co-created…

Set along the Chapora River in Siolim, Villa Rosa is where old Goa and modern calm sit together and actually get along. Sloping roofs, laterite textures, airy proportions, all the familiar cues are here. However, they are reinterpreted with a quieter, more meditative confidence. This was never meant to be a “house on a river”. It is a sensorial journey, where light and texture do the guiding and every detail feels intentional. Soft-Spoken Architecture Restraint is the headline act. The silhouette stays recognisably Goan with tall columns and a laterite-clad exterior, yet nothing feels stuck in the past. Courtyards and openings pull daylight deep inside, so the mood shifts gently through the day. The palette stays coastal and hushed: whites, beiges, sand. That neutrality lets the materials shine in their…

On December 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted National Democratic Alliance MPs for dinner at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence, where he played mentor to the younger lot, stressing the need for discipline in public life. He doesn’t carry a mobile phone, the PM said, but remains plugged in while consciously limiting screen time. On health, he stressed routine and sleep, arguing that quality matters more than quantity and that he sleeps just three and a half hours a day. There were anger management tips, too: put down on paper the incident, the persons involved and the trigger, reread it, and then tear it up, an exercise, he said, that helps defuse heatofthemoment reactions. A book recommendation followed: read the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, to learn about the American…

JUST BEFORE THE CALENDAR TURNED to November, Gujarat was lashed by a very heavy burst of unseasonal rains. Not a code-red climate emergency of the sort in vogue these days, but bad enough. For one, it washed out 4.2 million hectares of standing kharif crop across the state—in as many as 16,000-odd villages, strewn across over 90 per cent of the state’s talukas. Two weeks later, 42-year-old Shailesh Devjibhai Savaliya walked through his devastated groundnut crop with trembling hands. What followed next is not something usually associated with Gujarat: he consumed pesticide, the farmer’s hemlock, and died. He left behind two children, a farmland of 6.7 hectares in Junagadh, a mountain of debt and a piece of statistic. He was the fifth farmer in the state who had died by…

WHEN VISHVARAJ SINGH, BJP MLA AND SCION OF THE MAHARANA PRATAP DYNASTY, expressed shock last week at “plans to build luxurious structures along the proposed Maharana Pratap tourist circuit in Rajasthan instead of conserving, restoring and developing sites associated with the revered Mewar ruler”, he blew the lid of the state’s failure to preserve its monuments. Vishvaraj’s concern follows multiple reports that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), in its last two meetings, warned the state it could withdraw Jaipur’s Pink City heritage tag over failures in conservation and protection in development plans, with havelis being demolished either to make way for modern complexes or to prevent their collapse. The government needs to submit a status report by December 1, 2026, to be reviewed at Unesco’s 47th…

Rajneesh Ghai grew up in the quaint little town of Wellington in Tamil Nadu listening to stories of inspiring battles from his father, Lieutenant Colonel L.T. Ghai. One tale particularly, from the 1962 Indo-Sino War, blew him away. It recounted the heroics of the 13th battalion of the Kumaon regiment in which 120 soldiers, led by Major Shaitaan Singh, faced 3,000 Chinese soldiers and killed more than a third. It came to be known as the Battle of Rezang La, part of a war in which India lost lives, territory and morale, but demonstrated the valour of its jawans. 120 Bahadur, the recent David-vs-Goliathesque film starring Farhan Akhtar as Major Singh, is the result of Ghai’s lifelong fascination. “The sacrifice and bravery of these men,” says Ghai, director of the…

Cast Madhuri Dixit-Nene in anything and you hope to see that pearly, perfect smile that’s melted many a heart. Only, in the latest JioHotstar series, Mrs Deshpande, Dixit plays a serial killer, and there’s minimal deployment of that much-vaunted smile; when it does emerge, its motive is under scrutiny. For filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor, it was pertinent that the actress didn’t “fall back on stuff she’s used in the past” as he went about creating an “iconic, likeable villainess for the ages and to root for”. In fact, a common cue Kukunoor gave to Dixit to get the desired result was—“I want less MD, more Mrs D.” “I wanted her to be this person who moves slowly and deliberately; there’s complete economy to her movement,” adds Kukunoor. On Madhuri’s part, she…

Undoubtedly, the climate crisis is the conversation of the hour. It’s the subject that’s driving dialogues not only in parliaments and think tanks, but also in the arts, as artists respond to the uncertainties of our times. In Kochi, Ishara Art Foundation marks the opening of Ishara House with Amphibian Aes thetics, an exhibition that emerges from the urgencies of precarity in the Anthropocene—climate collapse, displacement, extinction and hyper-capital. Curated by the House’s artistic director Riyas Komu—also the co-founder of Aazhi Archives, ideator of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and cofounder of the Kochi Biennale Foundation—the show brings together 12 artists and collectives from South Asia, West Asia and Europe, reflecting on the urgencies afflicting the planet, suggesting multiple modes of being. “[The exhibition] was an attempt to reverse the gaze and…

This festive season, Taj Agra is rolling out an invitation that’s hard to resist. Spread across 4.5 acres of manicured gardens, the hotel blends Mughal charm with modern polish, creating a picture-perfect setting for sparkling soirées, indulgent feasts and memories. Just a breezy ten-minute walk from the Taj’s eastern gate, it sits where history loves to mingle with festivity. Guests can take their pick from 239 elegant rooms, including 13 suites and a Presidential Suite that adds its own brand of quiet grandeur. Think contemporary comfort with gentle nods to tradition, all wrapped in Taj’s signature warmth. Step inside and the decor does the talking, twinkling lights, floral touches and curated experiences that turn every space into a little pocket of India’s cultural richness. As part of the Taj Hotels…

The project began with a long distance phone call from our clients in Hong Kong. They wanted their Mumbai home designed by us, end to end, with the keys handed over only when everything was complete. After one detailed meeting to fix the design direction, they simply placed their trust in us and stepped away. We had very little interaction after that. The first time we actually met them in person was on the day we revealed the finished home. Reworking the Floor Plan Their brief was simple but bold. They wanted to add a den to the original three-bedroom layout, even if it meant reducing the size of the living area and the master bedroom. On the aesthetic front, they were very clear. They left the entire visual direction…