-The Economic Times Extension of life is priceless. Simply priceless." These were the words of Venkat Krishnan (name changed) to Novartis after receiving treatment with Glivec for about two years. Following his diagnosis with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), Venkat married his college sweetheart against the wishes of her family. After all, the prognosis in those days for people suffering from CML was not promising. Taking interferon, a powerful immune therapy, was the...

-Tehelka A public issue is not truly public unless Markandey Katju has passed judgement. Rahul Kotiyal and Ajachi Chakrabarti stand downwind "Journalists" writes Markandey Katju, with little sense of irony, "comment on everything under the sun." He goes on to say that when the shoe is on the other foot, when someone comments on journalism, it is misconstrued as an attack on press freedom. That when he announces he is appointing a...

-DNA Dharmenddra Pawar, 35, could regain his mental balance only after he saw his answer paper procured through an RTI. For, only then he saw the examiners' apathy and not the failure of his hard work that led to absolute distress and him repeating the year. "I could not understand that in the first attempt I scored 27 marks and 0 in the second when I had put in more effort," said...

-The Telegraph Sualkuchi: The sound of wood striking wood was missing, as was the sight of intricate and colourful patterns on silk taking shape on the loom. This silk town, around 35km from Guwahati and on the North Bank of the Brahmaputa, seemed to have lost its raison d'etre - producing silk products of fame - after the invasion of similar products bearing the name of another town on the bank of...

-The Telegraph Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will not know Pushpa Tudu. Neither will state election commissioner Mira Pande. Such an assertion can be made because Pushpa Tudu does not want her real name to be published - a wish that tells the human story behind the stand-off between the Bengal government and the state election commission. Early last week, Pushpa Tudu (name changed), a probable CPM gram panchayat candidate, was addressing a small...