On the first day that Dutch history student Ruben Schalk dug into the West Frisian archives in Hoorn, a city about 28 miles north of Amsterdam, he struck gold. By sheer accident he had stumbled upon what appears to be the world&rsquo;s oldest share.

Rembrandt of shares

Business Standard

One of his books got the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. He has done about 60 sting operations for various television channels, the most infamous of these was Operation West End. His latest book, The Emissary, will be out next weekend.

Under the covers

Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy talks to Suveen K Sinha about the steps Infosys has taken to guard against and deal with sexual harassment issues.

Positive measures

Bad news comes in threes, they say. In the last few days a friend&rsquo;s mother has been diagnosed with cancer, another friend has lost her father, and a family has tragically lost a child. If this sort of thing is not actually happening to you, there&rsquo;s nothing quite like a personal connection to bring it home with the full force of fear, tragedy or loss. There you are, living a perfectly happy life, and suddenly your insides are liquefied by shock, your mouth is dry, and your heart physically hurts. Your throat and eyes fill with tears, your head with questions.

Ways of saving the planet

He&rsquo;s a vegetarian, and likes watching TV serials. He&rsquo;s disciplined and down to earth. Prasoon Kumar meets Sushil Kumar, who has just won gold at the World Wrestling Championships It was a defining moment at the Olympic stadium in Moscow. As Sushil Kumar raised his arms and ran towards his coaches with the elation of a child, his defeated opponent Alan Gogaev covered his face with his hands and remained on the floor.

A day in the life of a champion

The Singapore Grand Prix is more than a race. It is a ten-day carnival which reaches its climax on the race weekend.

Live at the Grand Prix

The GStar RAW Chess Challenge demonstrated that marketable stars can generate both money and positive publicity. Magnus Carlsen is young, First World, and personable enough to be the face of a clothings brand. The sporting result was not too surprising &mdash; Carlsen won in 44 moves.

CHESS #644

A career grand slam was the Holy Grail for tennis players. Not anymore Rod Laver was the last man to have won all four grand slams in his career for 30 years, until Andre Agassi won the French Open in 1999. Agassi had already won the other three &mdash; Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon &mdash; and thus completed a career grand slam with his only win in Paris.

What's the big deal?

Maritime navigation during the early years must have been a risky business &mdash; brave souls arbitrarily setting out to a distant land with the faintest of ideas about where they were in this &lsquo;flat world&rsquo;.

Sweet 17

I am presently driving a Honda City and want to upgrade. My budget is a maximum of Rs 16 lakh. I test drove the Skoda Laura Elegance, Toyota Corolla Altis, Honda Civic, Chevrolet Cruze and VW Jetta and I shortlisted the Laura and Jetta. What&rsquo;s your advice? We live in Dehradun, where our local running is approximately 30 km, but we definitely need a big sedan for our trips to Delhi and so on. My brother-in-law has recently bought a Laura Ambient and he is extremely happy with it.

Hill climb

Despite several high-profile cases of sexual harassment, corporate India seems largely silent or in denial.

Did he? Did she?

Kyle Pereira drives the new Skoda Rapid and comes away impressed.

Rapid fire

On October 18, in the morning, Niira Radia called her top executives to her Taj Wellington Mews residence in Mumbai. As they trooped into a room, the central attraction of which is a large Ganesha, most of them sensed she wanted to get out of the daily grind of business: public relations agencies Vaishnavi and Nucom, and government affairs consultancy Noesis.

Down turn

Bajaj makes good performance bikes. KTM makes top-notch hooligan bikes.

Duke Nukem

With elections nearing, BJP brings back B C Khanduri as CM of Uttarakhand.

A soldier's return

I have a monthly commute of 1,800 km with a budget of Rs 6.2 lakh. My need is mileage above everything else and I require a diesel powered car. I&rsquo;m considering the Tata Indigo eCS, Ford Figo EXI, Volkswagen Polo Trendline and the Maruti Swift Dzire.

Frugal sipper

Ambavade, B R Ambedkar&rsquo;s native village, has seen very little development. Its residents believe that what they need is a college to bring in education and jobs &mdash; and they are offering their own land to make it possible.

A village waits

Animator Darcy Prendergast breathes life into the screen characters he makes from clay. He tells Priyanka Sharma about his art.

Fame by frame

Two men give up their US jobs to offer fitness solutions the military way.

'One more rep!'

I ask this as I watch my generation grapple with the question of ethics and what constitutes right and wrong.

Crusaders, not paragons

Drinking wine is simple: tilt the glass and swallow (and keep repeating till satiated or under the table!). This approach works for those who equate wine with spirits and with &ldquo;getting a kick&rdquo;, and couldn&rsquo;t care less if they were quaffing plonk or something sublime.

Sip to savour

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