Many old timers today recall fond memories of being drawn to the streets by snake charmers and madaaris (conjurers) and being told stories - alas, what is now a lost practice. But for renowned theatre artist Kamal Pruthi, "a storytelling movement (of the kind he has started) was necessary to fight the advent of technology, which has been dumbing the children down".


Reviving the lost culture of telling tales (Social Feature)


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After a quarter century of turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir, a section of the new generation is taking to music, writing and other art forms to tell their stories.


Kashmir's Gen New talks of anguish through rap, graffiti and writing (Feature)


With 975 million mobile phone connections in India and penetration at 140 percent in urban areas, many e-commerce firms see apps as the way forward to push sales, with some even planning to make it their exclusive delivery platform. Is it feasible?


Can mobile apps emerge sole driver of India's e-commerce?


Expect out of the ordinaire when you enter this restaurant. The chef here wears protective glasses and wields a blow torch, while gases fume through the kitchen doors. For Kolkata-born chef Gaggan Anand - whose restaurant 'Gaggan' in Bangkok has been ranked the best in Asia and 10th best in the world by a ratings website - "a progressive path was necessary to change the face of Indian cuisine globally".


We're changing the face of Indian cuisine globally: Chef Gaggan Anand (Foodie-Trail)


Kigali, June 6 (IANS/EFE) The streets which were empty two decades ago, unless for those who carried machetes, today witness young people walking around with laptops, smartphones and all sorts of gadgets: the new weapons with which the Rwandans want to rewrite their history.


Rwanda: From genocides to Africa's technology paradise


An Indian-American digital artist and educator has produced an interactive multimedia installation to explore the problem of killings in police gunbattles in the US which result in at least two deaths every day according to a media estimate.


Indian American's digital art explores police gunbattle deaths in US (Art Feature) 


Year after year in the peak of summer, a charitable activity provides a soothing relief all over Punjab. Hundreds of 'chhabeels' dot highways where people are offered sweetened water to quench their thirst in the scorching heat.


Punjab's do-gooders: Quenching people's thirst with sweetened water (Feature, With Images)


San Francisco, May 26 (IANS/EFE) A world without bosses is possible, or at least that is the firm belief of companies like Zappos, the online shoes-and-more marketing firm that last April eliminated all managerial positions and handed over the reins of the business to its employees.


Zappos, the company that believes in a world without bosses


After hitting the right notes with audiences, Bollywood singers like Sonu Nigam, Lucky Ali and Himesh Reshammiya decided to give a new direction to their careers by taking the plunge into acting. Though most of them got their fingers burnt, names like Shekhar Ravjiani and Zubeen Garg are now looking at exploring the world of lights, camera and action.


Singers' role reversal: From behind the mic to facing arclights (Cinema Feature, With Images)


New delhi, May 25 (IANS/IndiaSpend) Some interventions in day-to-day living have led to a 15 percent increase in assets, 26 percent growth in consumption and 96 percent rise in savings among the ultra-poor, or those with no assets, in India, according to a new six-country study that followed the lives of 21,000 of the world's poorest people.


How goats, chicken have lifted households out of poverty (Special to IANS)


International burgers eating into India's spicy street food market have bulged over the past decade. But the global chains, reluctant to pick bones with local laws and beliefs in the world's second most populous nation, are staying off beef and pork as they clash for a larger slice of the country's succulent fast-food industry.


Global burger joints want no beef with India (Business Feature)


"It is time to study in Russia." That is the message for students and others visiting the Russian Educational Fair which just ended in the Indian capital.


Russian universities woo Indian students


When 23-year-old Shalendar Lama of this village located in the western valley of Kathmandu found his way out of debris after the April 25 earthquake, little did he realize that his only source of livelihood had perished.


They survived Nepal's quake but lost livelihood


Be it a train journey in "Chennai Express", the National Highway journeys in "Highway" and "NH10", a father-daughter journey from Delhi to Kolkata in latest entertainer "Piku" or a cruise trip in the forthcoming "Dil Dhadakne Do" - Bollywood filmmakers are telling fresh tales set around journeys, mode notwithstanding.

Telling tales via journeys: Bollywood's latest route

When cine veteran Hema Malini won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Mathura-Vrindavan, the first commitment she made was to provide safe and adequate quantity of water for every home and a Yamuna fully rejuvenated and filled with water. As she completes one year as MP from the land of Sri Krishna's legend, voters are asking what happened to the commitment.


Once a land of ponds, Sri Krishna Bhoomi crying out for water today


It was bonding time for Bollywood fashionista Sonam Kapoor and Hollywood star Andie MacDowell at the 68th Cannes International Film Festival here. The Indian actress gave a special gift to MacDowell to celebrate her association with a beauty brand.


With love from India: Sonam's special gift to Andie MacDowell


Old characters become 'older', new characters add a fresh charm and a twist in the storyline refreshes viewers' interest - the small screen's time-tested 'leap' formula has returned with shows like "Comedy Nights With Kapil", "Bharat Ka Veer Mahaputra - Maharana Pratap" and "Diya Aur Baati Hum".


Indian TV shows 'leap' ahead for freshness (Trend Feature)


Inspired by internationally-known Kashmiri artist Masood Hussain, a group of students is painting murals on the walls of Srinagar to bring alive the region's culture and splash colours on the local environment.


Splash of colour, culture brightens Srinagar's walls


Dusk has begun to fall and Thakurnath Nepal,  puffing on a beedi, sits opposite a funeral pyre. The pyre makes a crackling sound when he tries to stoke it with a thick wooden stick so that the body is burnt completely.


Pyres give Pashupati Nath Temple an eerie glow


The colour blue stands for women's empowerment here in Rajasthan, a sign that they have been pulled out of a life once condemned to manual scavenging.


Here, blue stands for women's empowerment (Social Feature)


As it attempts to drive growth and innovation, India lags the developed and emerging world in a key area, research and development, as a recent imbroglio over stipends reveals­.

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