History recorded him as the Butcher of Amritsar. On April 13, 1919, General Reginald Dyer ordered his men to open indiscriminate fire at a crowd of peaceful protesters in Jallianwala Bagh killing over a thousand right away. While this happened in Amritsar, a young Urdu poet in Aligarh dreamed of what would come to be known as purna swaraj or complete independence. This is the story of how the two men crossed paths to cost the British Empire its crowning jewel.

Mahatma Gandhi sought India's independence, as did B.R. Ambedkar. Gandhi sought the emancipation of the oppressed, Ambedkar wanted that too. And yet, the two keystones of the monument called India couldn't be more antithetical to each other's principles. They held immense respect for each other and together, offered great solidarity to the greater good. So it's easy to lose sight of just how deeply opposed they were to each other in the fundamentals of their politics. Many are probably not...

The time has come, water is scarce everywhere in Mumbai, it's as expensive as diamond. An old lady staying alone realises there is a thief in the house! What has he come to steal?

The Golden Temple of Amritsar has always been more than just a holy site. Throughout its chequered history, the complex has served as the undeniable seat of Sikh power, both theological as well as political. So when it was desecrated in 1984, it's only natural the entirety of North India burst into flames. But that wasn't the first time its sanctum sanctorum was invaded. Nor was Indira Gandhi its first antagonist. This is the story of one such raid that predates Operation Bluestar by three...

Joby was a simple guy with small aspirations and all he wanted was to reach the peak of the Himalayas like hundreds of others before him so that he'd have done at least one exciting thing in the entirety of his boring life. But he'd never, ever, in his wildest dreams, dreamed of running into a larger than life, mythical monster during a snowstorm. YETIS! Worse, the monsters were planning to wipe out the human race for reasons of their own. Joby is DOOMED in all capital letters, as is the f...

Anand Thappar's Dead Bride: A dangerous secret made savvy politician, Anand Thappar, murder his beloved wife? Was it a matter of the heart or was there another, more sinister reason? Find out in 'Anand Thappar's Dead Bride'.

On February 22, 1937, the Time magazine featured him on its cover as the wealthiest individual on the planet, a position he's believed to have held his entire life. At his peak, his net worth was the equivalent of $77 billion in today's money. He used a 184-carat diamond worth over $70 million as a paperweight. And yet, he once refused to buy himself a new blanket because even the cheapest exceeded his budget by a mere ten rupees. This is the story of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of H...

In the context of Christianity in India, few conversations ever invoke Agra; even fewer invoke the Mughals. Yet, one of the oldest churches on the subcontinent not only belongs to this city but only came about with enthusiastic Mughal patronage. Patronage that was neither political, nor commercial. Instead, it was an honest expression of intrigue, respect, and acceptance of a religion alien to the land. In and of itself, this was a rarity in Mughal India. This story explores the journey of...

Mahatma Gandhi's assassination was a culmination of many events and many actors that never enjoyed the centerstage in the broader discourse. Yes, Nathuram Godse pulled that trigger, but a lot more went into the project than just that. There was a disgraced barrister, a former Air Force officer, and an Indian army officer returning from Ethiopia after chasing out Mussolini's armies. Here, we'll take a roller-coaster ride along the chain of events that came together to equip the assassinatio...

Today, the American dollar is legal tender in as many as seven sovereign nations besides the United States of America. But there was a time, not too long ago, when another currency enjoyed a similar influence far from home. It was legal tender in half a dozen countries besides its own, all of them in a region that influences the global economy more than any other on the planet today. It's the Indian rupee. This is the rarely-told story of how a currency from a nation as impoverished as our...

Two years after the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Poland, the exiled Polish army put 700 Polish women and children on a ship to virtually nowhere. "If we live, we'll meet again," is the last thing they heard from their families. After being denied by every country it touched, the ship finally reached Bombay where it was again rejected by the British. With nowhere left to go, help came from one Indian king. This is the story of Maharaja Jam Sahib, India's own Oskar Schindler.

She was born to a nautch girl from the dingy alleys of Old Delhi, raised in a tiny hamlet in Haryana, abused as a kid, orphaned before she was ten, and bought to be a concubine before entering her teens. And yet, she beat every odd Providence threw her way and went on to become a queen who would rule one of the wealthiest territories in the Mughal realm for over five decades. This is the story of Begum Samru, the biggest success story that history almost forgot.