People From New Delhi

"The faithful Gabriel carried the tidings to the dwellers in heaven, From the record of victories of the Sulṭan of the age Shams ud-Din, Saying — Oh ye holy angels raise upon the heavens, Hearing this good tidings, the canopy of adornment. That from the land of the heretics the Shahanshah of Islam Has conquered a second time the fort resembling the sky; The Shah, holy warrior and Ghazi, whose hand and sword The soul of the lion of repeated attacks praises."

"Shamsuddin Iltutmish who succeeded Aibak at Delhi invaded Malwa in 1234 AD. He destroyed an ancient temple at Vidisha. Badauni reports: “Having destroyed the idol temple of Ujjain which had been built six hundred years previously, and was called Mahakal, he levelled it to its foundations, and threw down the image of Rai Vikramajit from whom the Hindus reckon their era, and brought certain images of cast molten brass and placed them on the ground in front of the doors of mosques of old Delhi, and ordered the people of trample them under foot.”"

"“Iltutmish did not forget that he was a Muslim conqueror. He showed himself to be very pious, never forgetting to do his five devotional daily….He likewise showed himself totally intolerant vis-à-vis the Hindus who refused to convert, destroying their temples and annihilating Brahmin communities.”"

"Cunningham's observations made in 1871/72 should be taken even more seriously because his impartiality would be beyond doubt. There would be no bias as between the Hindu and Muslim viewpoints . In the ASI report of those years he has written that the tomb of Sultan Chari, with its domes of overlapping courses, appears to be pre-Muhammadan, but when to this feature we add the other Hindu features, both of construction and ornamentation, the stones set without cement in the walls, the appearance of wear or weathering of the stones, greater even than in the Kutb, though similar in material, and the fact that the inner cell was originally finished in granite, but afterwards cased with marble, it becomes extremely probable that this is, like the Kutb, a Hindu building appropriated by the Muhammandans, and the probability is rendered almost a certainty by the existence of the central cell, which is a construction adapted to some Hindu forms of worship, the Saivic, but which is an anomaly in Muhammadan architecture."

"After he had reached the capital he sent, in A.H. 632 (1234 A.D.), the army of Islam towards Malwa and took the fort and city of Bhilsa. There was a temple there which was three hundred years in building. It was about one hundred and five gaz high. He demolished it. From thence he proceeded to Ujjain, where there was a temple of Maha-kal, which he destroyed."

"I don’t know where I am, what am I doing, where will life take me, how will things go, whom to talk to, what to share, what to cook, how to eat, when to sleep, what to wear, what to do and how to live. All of my known are busy making their CVs look professional and substantial. And I am figuring out the way to make my life normal and less bumpy. Forget about building strong resume. Rest assured, I am okay…I will be alright. Cheers to my life!"

"Grandma asked me to confirm if I had landed in Canada and not any other country. I just pointed my camera towards the different direction where grandma could see some Sardar roaming here and there. ‘Aa ta Kanedda hi lagda hai.’ (it is Canada, indeed) grandma said in joy. We all laughed like anything."

"We middle class people are all same from inside. First things first, I logged into my Facebook account and checked-in there as well. You know what, it is more important to check-in on Facebook than it is to check-in for real at the airport. Let the world which gives zero fucks to what you are doing with your life, know you can afford a plane ticket for economy class. Right?"

"Gaurav is a man, man is a social being and Gaurav is not social at all. From statements one two and three we get ‘Gaurav is just a being.’ Hence proved, he mere exists."

"The only thing appeared to be fine in most of the rooms was blackboard. It seemed black; and fine too."

"Either I had to get my admission in grade ninth again or else I had to do some work-around to seek for a ‘jugaad’ (hack). I chose the latter."

"He (night-guard) was wearing an underwear and a torn vest which said ‘yeh aram ka maamla hai.’ He implemented that statement literally in his life, I could see that."

"Stealing is really an art, a dangerous, risky art, though."

"If Bihari version of ‘Harry Potter’ would have been shot in Sitamarhi, I am sure that school (St. Joseph) would have been pictured as Hogwarts."

"The moment I stood there I saw people from houses to my right, left and front were already on their balcony’s and they stared at me all at once as if I was from Jupiter. Their interrogative expression was asking me ‘who the hell are you?’ repeatedly. I did not give a damn, though."

"‘Be in line and then see what’s going on!’ a fat lady shouted at me. ‘Hell yeah! you greasy piece of flesh.’ I cursed her in my mind. But ‘Yes I am going back in line!’ I shouted at her."

"It (reading) not only opens up one’s mind to a wider array of things as well, but is also a welcome relief from the monotony of the mundane world."

"I think reading is an effective way of introspecting how you perceive reality and imagination. As an author, you get to know what other authors have done better and it helps hone skills."

"I dedicate this book to all my readers, irrespective of whether they purchased my book, illegally obtained a copy, downloaded it or borrowed it from someone else. Some went ahead and directly asked me to send them a soft-copy of my book. Special salute to them as well."

"As I continued to walk step by step, the lie of life freed me from its clutches, and the universal truth of death swept over breath by breath."

"I picked the stardust you left behind and made phantoms of you in my head. I ran after the echoes of your soul—too swift for my feeble legs to catch up to. Even my shadow yearns for your lips to say my name. You steady me like an anchor in the vastness of my dark waters, yet you crumble me like a delicate flower under a roaring cloudburst. I close my eyes and dance with the memory of you. And for that moment, I am home."

"Books give us the ability to see things from different perspectives. They educate us, entertain us, force us to think upon certain issues. And reading a book or reading, in general, is an excuse for those who are less sociable like me for not socialising much. And guess what, it works most of the times."

"Excuse me pal! This is IELTS; you understand? This is International English Language Testing System…not a Bihar Board exam where candidates are accompanied by their friends, neighbours and relatives until they finish writing the test."

"I mean did we take the law, the ‘LAW’ in our hands by playing in college? What were they going to do, put a charge on us under Indian Penal Code?!"

"The ocean of love, though vast and magnanimous in its beauty, is a treacherous place. It is riddled with strong currents pulling you towards them as you helplessly give in to their force. Drowning under them was my destiny, but floating around to admire the mesmerizing beauty of the corals underwater was my choice, for those depths felt like home—the depths of unrequited love."

"I tried my hand at a novel around college romance, but soon figured out I was no good at it."

"Get along with me as I don't wait for anybody. I am time , and I welcome you to the world of Kali where nothing is as it seems."

"Sincere thanks to all the publishers who rejected my manuscripts. Rejection is the reason behind the creation of this book."

"Dedicated to all non-award winning, non-bestselling and self-published authors."

"Vyas was no less than a Purushottam. A Purushottam of the dark epoch, an era where sinners judge and punish sinners for sinning differently."

"Whoever said, he/she is a proud non-reader of books is living in oblivion."

"I too had some of the ‘Indian’ things in my bags. A pressure cooker, Parle-G, Maggi, desi ghee, underwear (a lot of them), some more Maggi, shirts, pants, socks, thermal wear, jackets, chappals, soap, some more Parle-G and the list goes on and on."

"As they say in Hindi ‘Chalti ka naam zindagi.’ Anybody who is just sitting (even on the right track) will be run over (by the train) at some point in life."

"Nobody tells me what to do in my book. I can do whatever I wish and to whomever I want. It is fun for me. It calms the chaos inside my mind. That is why I write."

"Apple is repeating the mistakes it made in China. It is relying on its brand recognition to build a market and failing to understand the needs of its customers. By marketing inferior products, it may also be insulting Indian consumers."

"By picking this particular fight [with the FBI], Apple is doing the technology industry a big disservice. ... Apple will very likely lose this case in the courts and suffer a public relations disaster."

"Bitcoin did have great potential, but it is damaged beyond repair. ... Bitcoin was born with serious flaws. ... it has been compared to a Ponzi scheme. ... It's time to admit that the current Bitcoin needs to be scrapped ... bear in mind what it is that makes some venture capitalists Bitcoin zealots: pure greed. That is the reason clearest to me for Bitcoin's failure."

"Steve Jobs was a true visionary who refused to listen to customers — believing that he knew better than they did about what they needed. He ruled with an iron fist and did not tolerate dissent of any type. ... Apple may have peaked. ... its last major innovation — the iPhone — was released in June 2007."

"[BitCoin]'s the greatest scam of modern times. ... the poor, the average mom-and-pop, the truck driver and the barber, who put their life savings into this, are going to lose their money, and be told to keep holding on, trust us, the value will go up. And they're gonna go bankrupt. They're gonna lose their life savings. ... This is what happened with the dot-com boom, the grandma and grandpa lost their life savings. History is repeating itself. ... We have these scamsters, basically, hyping the heck out of it, while all it's being used for is illegal money laundering. ... It's simply gonna implode before you know it. And regular people who trust you are gonna lose their shirts. ... Would you put your life savings into digital currency? You lose a password and you've lost everything. ... They know it's gonna crash and burn. ... it crashes and it goes to zero, and people lose their life savings. Don't do it. Get out of it, rather than losing everything you have. Yes, the price might increase, but more likely than not it's gonna be zero before you know it."

"With the technology advances that are presently on the horizon, not only low-skilled jobs are at risk; so are the jobs of knowledge workers. Too much is happening too fast. It will shake up entire industries and eliminate professions. Some new jobs will surely be created, but they will be few. And we won’t be able to retrain the people who lose their jobs, because, as I said to Andreessen, you can train an Andreessen to drive a cab, but you can’t retrain a laid-off cab driver to become an Andreessen. The jobs that will be created will require very specialized skills and higher levels of education — which most people don’t have."

"The last big thing [Apple] did was nine years ago with the iPhone. And since then they made it bigger with the iPad; they made it smaller with the Watch. All they keep doing is playing with the size. ... [Apple] needs an Elon Musk or a Zuckerberg running it. ... [iPhone] is a ten-year-old device. They've done everything they can with it. And Samsung, and even BlackBerry, have similar or even better ratings than the iPhone does. That's the biggest slap in the face you could possibly have: BlackBerry almost ranking the same as an iPhone? Time to move on."

"The numbers make it clear that the future of [Apple] is no longer in its consumer products. The fix? Apple should release a version of iOS for non-Apple devices. This suggestion will seem like heresy to the brand's loyalists, but it may be necessary for the success of the company. ... Without expanding its operating system, the future looks bleak for Apple."

"“It's a joy to watch Virat Kohli bat. He can break my records”."

"As captain, I think, he is still not at his best. The Indian cricket system has to feed off Virat Kohli. Going from MS Dhoni to Kohli has been a drastic change. Dhoni is so calm and Kohli is the complete opposite. He can be intimidating the dressing room and sometimes his teammates can wonder who Kohli really is. There can be a fear factor in the dressing room and you don't want that with so many youngsters coming into the side. Indian cricket, thus, has to find people who can help and influence Kohli into ways of improving and becoming an even better leader."

"When he sees a bowler not say things, he will get bored. He needs action in the middle to be at his best. When he doesn’t get it, he will find it boring and that’s when he can make a mistake. With players like him you need to be smart and not do the things that you will do with other batters. So when you bowl to him try and stay silent and make him feel bored. That’s your best chance of getting him out,"

"When he (Virat Kohli) fielded, he said something to me, and I said to myself, 'I'm going to show you you're not the only good batsman.' That's the way he is. He's very arrogant, he's very aggressive when he fields, and when he bats as well. He's just a very aggressive person. Those things motivate our players and it certainly motivated me. That really urged me to bat the way I did - to show him that he's not the only one who can do it. That played a big role."

"He has a lot of ability. The team depends on him. He is a star. He is going to emerge as an all-time great in the future. I see that much potential in him. It is very difficult to spot his weakness. He plays on both sides of the wicket. He plays both on the front and the back foot. He has a good temperament, technique."

"When I look at Virat, I think he needs someone in the support staff who can constructively challenge him and help him grow. I think if he had a really constructive person in his environment, who could talk to him, make him think, maybe even challenge him with some different ideas, in a constructive way, not an angry or aggressive way, but make him think, open his eyes to other possibilities, that would make him a really good leader. I don't know, when I look at him, if he is a long-term captaincy option for India."

"I think that the Virat Kohli era has dawned over the last year or so. It's been there ever since he took over the Test captaincy and because he is now going to create a completely different niche as far as Indian cricket is concerned. I think this era of India cricket is going to be a highly entertaining era."

"Sachin Tendulkar was obviously one of those rare players that the world has seen. If Virat continues to work hard and do the things that he has been doing now in the years to come, then he could be the next Sachin Tendulkar. It will be a proud moment for me if that happens because we were backing a young Kohli since his early days. It is so good to see him flourish and express himself and I am happy for him. Hats off!"