In January 2021 Ratan Tata, who had led the Tata group for many years, traveled from his home in Mumbai to Friends Society in Pune. He went to see a former employee who had been “suffering from ill-health over the past two years,” Business Today reported. The visit became known through a post on LinkedIn.
The Chamber Left Empty
On September 29, 2014, O. Panneerselvam was sworn in as chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Two days earlier, the leader of his party, J. Jayalalithaa, had been jailed. Panneerselvam “choked and looked crestfallen as he read the oath of office and secrecy,” IANS reported. “He wiped away his tears.” Some legislators broke down as well.
At the secretariat, “He did not assume office at the chamber allotted to the Chief Minister,” Deccan Chronicle reported.
The Coin on the Stumps
When Sachin Tendulkar was a boy, his coach Ramakant Achrekar ran a test at practice. “Achrekar would put a Re 1 coin on top of the stump,” the news agency PTI reported. If Sachin did not get out, the coin was his.
In November 2013, as Tendulkar retired, he spoke of what he valued most: “the coins that I have got from my coach Achrekar sir, those are the most important ones.”
When a Friend Comes First
In 3 Idiots (2009), the engineering student Farhan Qureshi, played by R. Madhavan, states a rule about friendship. The film is in Hindi. In English the line is quoted as: “It feels bad when a friend fails, but it feels even worse when he comes first.”
Neighbor’s Envy, Owner’s Pride
In the 1980s the television maker Onida advertised with the slogan “Neighbour’s envy. Owner’s pride.” Its mascot was a devil, designed by the artist Gopi Kukde for the agency Avenues. The campaign made Onida a household name, ThePrint wrote. The company retired the devil in 2009 and brought him back in 2018.
The Padma Bhushan Snub
On January 2, 2015, the badminton player Saina Nehwal learned that the sports ministry had not recommended her for the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honors. She was told that a rule required her to wait five years. “I felt bad about it,” she told PTI. Three days later she said: “I just wanted to know why my name was not recommended for the Padma Bhushan.”
On January 5 the ministry decided to recommend her. In March 2016 she received the award from President Pranab Mukherjee. “It is a great moment for me,” she said.
Tears on the BBC
In May 2000 Kapil Dev, the captain who had won the 1983 World Cup for India, gave an interview to Karan Thapar on BBC World. His former teammate Manoj Prabhakar had made match-fixing allegations against him. When Thapar asked about the allegations, Kapil “broke down and wept bitterly,” ESPNcricinfo recalled a year later.
He was later cleared. Looking back, he said: “It can’t erase the pain and anguish I went through those days.”
Honorary Captain
India’s armed forces grant honorary ranks, such as Honorary Lieutenant and Honorary Captain, to serving and retired personnel. “The Honorary Commission is specially granted on Independence Day and Republic Day every year,” Republic World reported.
In August 2025 the government conferred 14,001 honorary ranks. A report by Hindusthan Samachar described them as “not merely ceremonial titles.”
Equal Shares
In 2018 India won the Under-19 Cricket World Cup. The BCCI announced Rs 50 lakh for the coach, Rahul Dravid, Rs 30 lakh for each player and Rs 20 lakh for each member of the support staff. Dravid asked for a change. “He said you can reduce my [reward] but pay the players and other people, too,” said Vinod Rai, who headed the board’s administrators. Under the revised list, Dravid and the staff were each to receive Rs 25 lakh.
In July 2024, after India won the T20 World Cup, Dravid was due Rs 5 crore and the other coaches Rs 2.5 crore each. “Rahul wished to receive the same bonus amount of Rs 2.5 crore as the rest of his support staff,” Business Today reported.
The Five Beloved
In 1699, at Anandpur, Guru Gobind Singh called on the assembled Sikhs for a man who would give his head. Daya Ram came forward first, and four more followed. They came from places as far apart as Hastinapur, Puri and Bidar, and from different castes, among them a Khatri shopkeeper, a Jat farmer and a Chhimba calico printer. They became the Panj Pyare, the five beloved, the first members of the Khalsa.
Then, in the words of SikhiWiki, “the Guru asked the first five Khalsa Sikhs to baptise him, in the same manner.”