It&rsquo;s a classic David versus Goliath duel. On the one hand are the minnows; on the other, giants. But the tiny ones are beginning to challenge the big boys on their turf, making them squirm in their seats.

Little masters of the market

Business Standard

On November 1, a 33-year-old man will set off from Mumbai on a lone journey to circumnavigate the world, non-stop. Ajai Shukla steps aboard the sailboat which will take Abhilash Tomy on this hazardous voyage and gets a taste of the adventure that lies ahead.

Sailing solo around the world

The sounds of battle were still audible, echoing through the valleys. The previous two days had been nightmarish for nine-year-old Phurpa Lhamu, with an eruption of artillery and machine gun fire in the hills around the idyllic Sangti valley. Chinese columns were converging here, pushing back the Indian army frontally. Simultaneously they were rounding up Indians, ambushing them from the rear and converting every bottleneck into a bloody killing ground.

How China lost the battle for hearts

Only six months since it launched, Pernia's Pop-Up Shop has become an immensely popular online destination for designer togs. Priyanka Sharma chats up its founder Pernia Qureshi.

Luxury online

National Election Watch has dedicated itself to running down criminals in politics, naming and shaming them on the basis of fact.

Came in Kejriwal's line of fire

On the cover of Decoding Rahul Gandhi the book&rsquo;s subject is shown holding up a piece of paper while speaking into twin microphones. The sheet of paper has nothing written on it. Your eyes shift from Rahul Gandhi&rsquo;s name to the blank piece of paper pictured next to it, and you get the point.

The blank page

At one of many moments in John Grisham&rsquo;s new novel that find Malcolm Bannister, its main character, taunting federal investigators, he announces: &ldquo;There is simply no section of your vast federal code that you can possibly use against me.&rdquo; Grisham more typically writes about victims or escapees from the law, not about anyone with the nerve to flout authority this brazenly.

Malpractice

A map to accompany the key card, a captive mine in Italy to supply 10 lakh sq ft of travertine marble, a parikrama around the Chola-era inspired building before you enter its portals, a grand staircase that, if not the largest, is certainly the widest in any hotel in the country and which, when not serving as a background for giddy tourists posing for photographs, is meant to awe.

A many-pillared storey

Singapore Airlines recently hosted a unique event: a tasting of 10 Grand Cru Burgundies for 35 journalists and wine writers from around the world, tutored by three masters of wine (MWs): Steven Spurrier, Jeannie Cho Lee, and Michael Hill Smith.

Drinking with the masters

Veenu Sandhu on a unique Ramlila that has been an annual fixture on the Delhi stage for the past 56 years.

Shri Ram, then and now

Priyanka Sharma checks out a new eatery that pegs itself on the &ldquo;Indo-Pak&rdquo; connection &mdash; but does not quite get it right.

Mixed flavours

One of the great perks of tuning into the news, recently, was watching anchors try to say &ldquo;Pussy Riot&rdquo;. I remember, two years ago, tuning in to watch them try to say &ldquo;Eyjafjallaj&ouml;kull&rdquo;, but &ldquo;Pussy Riot&rdquo; is way more fun. They can&rsquo;t repurpose their snigger instincts into indulgent smiles about young punk-rocker collectives with weird names (wotchergonnado), since it&rsquo;s a story about hot young women getting tossed into one of Russia&rsquo;s very serious clinks. So they struggle with all kinds of syllable stress tricks to help them keep a straight face. Puh-SEE-RYE-t. POO-see Write. PuZY Right. And (from NDTV) Pussy-uh, Riot-uh. No, there&rsquo;s just no good way to say it without sounding idiotic.

The Internet laugh riot

Well, it&rsquo;s been 14 years since the original Tata Safari, billed as India&rsquo;s first SUV, was introduced. Since then we have become a legitimate nuclear power, built an enormous network of highways, grown into a trillion-dollar economy, successfully hosted the Commonwealth Games, passed and implemented legislation for rural health, employment, education and information, become one of the top automotive producers in the world, become the fourth country to place its flag on the moon, got the heads of all powerful countries to come visiting, built a nuclear submarine, discovered (and still keep discovering) spectacular world-class scams and more. Phew.

Deja view

The new allegation of Lance Armstrong&rsquo;s serial and unrepentent doping has put a question mark on the credibility of sportsmen. Aabhas Sharma speaks to a tainted athlete, a sports-medicine expert and an Olympian for insights into the murky underside of Indian sport.

The dope on cheating

Magnus Carlsen&rsquo;s comeback in the second half at the Sao Paulo-Bilbao Masters would have been astonishing if he hadn&rsquo;t made a habit of late surges. A splendid win against Anand &mdash; his first in classical chess &mdash; ensured Carlsen would tie Caruana at the least. Caruana managed the equally impressive feat of beating Aronyan to stay neck and neck. The two tied with scorelines of +4,-1, =5 after trading wins with each other.

Chess (#987)

Sure, the post-2000 era of Formula 1 was dominated by Michael Schumacher, and then the young guns &mdash; Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel.

F1 Greats

I am planning to buy a car for my monthly commute of 300 km within a budget of Rs 5 lakh. I would like the car to be low on maintenance costs, fuel efficient and good value for money. I will keep the car for the next ten years.

Perfect 10

Before he finally gave in a fortnight ago by entering into an out-of-court settlement with Kishore Chhabria over the ownership of Officer&rsquo;s Choice (OC) brand of whisky, Vijay Mallya had fought hard. The agreement, under which Chhabria&rsquo;s Allied Blenders &amp; Distillers (ABD) paid United Spirits Rs 8 crore in return for the latter withdrawing all court cases claiming rights over the brand, thus, came as a big surprise.

Officer's Choice on a high

After almost 20 years of being in the industry, there are so many campaigns one has worked with that it becomes difficult to pick the best one. But there are always some campaigns or categories that become close to your heart for some reason or another.

'Establishing the imagery of the car is more important than the features'

FROM VALUES TO ACTION by Kraemer, Harry M.

The top 10 business bestsellers

    The founder of this company launched this brand in the 1890s in the northwest of UK. He wanted to make it affordable for people living in the overcrowded slums of Liverpool to protect themselves from the spread of cholera.

The Strategist Quiz (#276)

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