History

Homai Vyarawalla, India's first woman photojournalist and the founder member of WNCA, turned 94 this year. Her camera has captured some of the defining moments in the country's political history.This black and white picture of Nehru lighting a cigarette for the then British high commissioner's wife is an absolute stunner.

PROFILE: THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING WRITER JOSE SARAMAGO UNIQUELY BLENDED THE SURREAL WITH THE PRAGMATIC, MANASH BHATTACHARJEE PAYS TRIBUTE TO THIS LEGEND

The death of José Saramago (1922-2010) doesn't escape its sombre irony. It is a final punctuation mark in the life of a writer who wrote in unpunctuated, seamless sentences. The man who designated the writer as an apprentice and his characters as masters, was ultimately forced to quit his training at the ripe age of eighty seven. Nevertheless, in tune with his working-class roots, Saramago kept his tryst with productivity as diligently as his respiratory illness worked against him.

First an apology: I am not going to write about the Wikileaks. I like gossip as much as the next (wo)man. The leaks provide a lot of it, interspersed with some real information. But there is nothing really new there. The information only confirms what any intelligent person could have worked out already. If there is anything new, it’s exactly this confirmation: the world is really managed the way we thought it was. How depressing.

Rabia Basri was a trailblazer in her time; she had no hesitation in declaring her intense love for the Divine, writes Sudhamahi Regunathan

Stories of remarkable women include those who demonstrate the courage to stand by their faith despite all odds. Rabia of Basra for instance was among the first ever Sufis. It is said that once, some men of learning and piety came to her and said, "The Most High has crowned His chosen saints with the gift of performing miracles, but such privileges have never been granted to a woman. How didst thou attain to such a high degree?"

The past has never been more popular as TV entertainment, but we should still value more serious studies

'Universal history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here," wrote the Victorian sage Thomas Carlyle. Well, not any more it isn't. Last week, the Observer reported that leading biographer Victoria Glendinning was having trouble finding a publisher for her new life of East Indies explorer and Singapore founder, Sir Stamford Raffles. Then came the news that the Costa book awards couldn't fill its biography shortlist.

A dinosaur which had a "crown of horns" and lived between 65 and 100 million years ago has been unearthed by scientists.