In June 2004, as a young student at what was then NITIE Mumbai (now IIM Mumbai), I stood on the streets of Mumbai with simple educational toys in my hand, a modest sales target, and a very unconventional assignment from one unconventional professor: Dr. T. Prasad, fondly known today as “Mandi Sir” was debuting the very first edition of Mandi. What looked like a freak, even frivolous, street‑selling exercise that day has since grown into a nationwide movement in entrepreneurial, Gandhian, hands‑on learning - the Mandi and Maha Mandi pedagogy. Two decades later, as Dr. T. Prasad retires from IIM Mumbai, it feels the right moment to pause, reflect, and celebrate the revolution he quietly sparked and the thousands of students and entrepreneurs he has shaped along the way. From tailor to “Mandi Sir” Dr. Prasad’s own journey adds extraordinary moral weight to his message. In various talks and interviews, he has openly shared how he funded his own education by doing tailoring work on we...

"The Maratha Military Landscapes of India have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as India's 44th World Heritage property." 🔴 BREAKING! New inscription on the @UNESCO #WorldHeritage List: Maratha Military Landscapes of India, #India 🇮🇳. ➡️ https://t.co/seTyyVu3sT #47WHC pic.twitter.com/mEpa6RWLRx — UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 (@UNESCO) July 11, 2025 That simple announcement from UNESCO filled me with immense pride. It is not every day that the world pauses to recognize a part of our collective history, and this recognition is long overdue. As someone who now lives in Mumbai, and proudly traces his roots to Maharashtra, these forts are not just monuments on a map. They are familiar silhouettes on the Sahyadri skyline, stories narrated by grandparents, and enduring symbols of courage and resilience. They have shaped the identity of this region for centuries. Yet, alongside that pride, I feel a sense of disappointment. Within hours o...

On a slightly long-haul flight last night, I found myself watching Superboys of Malegaon  - the film came recommended from interviews of many stalwarts such as Javed Akhtar, Farah Khan, and Siddhant Chaturvedi, reviewers like Anupama Chopra, media personalities like Saurabh Dwivedi, and endorsed by many guests on his show. So it had been on my watchlist for some time now - the long haul flight gave me a chance to clear up my list [ I also started watching an old Hollywood classic Fargo, which has been on my watchlist for years now! Will probably finish the remaining 40 minutes later tonight. ]  What was more of a clear-my-watchlist exercise ended up staying with me long after the screen went dark. The film refused to leave my mind, even though I had started watching another right after. Superboys of Malegaon is an easy film to like - rustic, warm, humorous, and deeply human - but where its stands out is on balancing emotion and inspiration without tipping into sentimentality. ...

I was watching the India-Australia ODI the other day when something curious caught my attention. The stadium façade - its arches, the rhythm of its windows, the quiet dignity of its design - looked oddly Victorian. This was the  Sydney Cricket Ground , which upon research I discovered was built in 1851, so aptly had a Victorian architecture . What was remarkable that while the stadium would have been upgraded and fitted with modern amenities and technology, its architecture was never tampered with, rather maintained to the original Victorian designs. That afternoon, I stepped into a branch of the State Bank of India after several years. Driving towards the branch I prepared myself for an experience I probably last had 30 years back in the 1990s - that soft, sepia-tinted decade with the pace of everything - slower. But as I stepped in the branch, the air felt far different. The air-conditioning hummed gently, queues were orderly, and staff went about their work with quie...

India’s Heaviest Communication Satellite # CMS03 successfully launched by LVM3-M4 from SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota . https://x.com/ISRO/status/1985027440645972189 — ISRO (@isro) October 31, 2025 India launched its yet heaviest satellite weighing close to 4.5 tons today - a monumental achievement in itself. But this achievement is more significant when seen in context of India’s aspiration to launch a Space Station within the next decade. Demonstrating the maturing strength of ISRO’s heavy-lift infrastructure, beyond symbolism, this capability directly relates to the next great frontier: deploying the homegrown space station. Artist’s illustration of India’s Bharatiya Antariksh Station . Credit: ISRO ISRO has already announced its intent to place a “Bharatiya Antariksh Station” in low-Earth orbit by the early 2030s . To do this, India will need to routinely lift large, pressurized modules, crew capsules, and cargo vehicles into orbit - much like what the ...