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Oh wait, the track is not alone. The track sleeps on the stone bed.   | Photo Credit: Unsplash Images Clinkety-clack. Clinkety clack. The train has left the station. What remains is the solitary railway track. Oh wait, the track is not alone. The track sleeps on the stone bed. Hello, Ballast I know where your mind went. No. The stones underneath the railway tracks are not simply ballast. They are part of it. The concept of ballast owes itself to the ships. The idea of stabilizing mammoth ships on oceans gave rise to ballast. When modern railways were underway in England,…

The recent India-US economic understanding has arrived at a moment when nerves were beginning to fray — quietly, not publicly. Growth remained resilient, markets fundamentally sound, yet the global environment was turning inhospitable. Geopolitically, India appeared to be facing pressure from multiple directions at once: an unsettled Europe, a grinding war in Ukraine, turbulence in West Asia, sharpening US-China competition, and a transactional turn in global diplomacy where leverage often preceded trust. India was perhaps perceiving a downslide in its strategic significance. In such circumstances, many countries panic, posture, or overreact. Fortunately, we did none of these. What India demonstrated…

With rising temperatures, longer heatwaves, and a rapidly growing urban economy, cooling in India is rapidly shifting from a lifestyle choice to a basic need, driving up air-conditioner use in homes and workplaces. This surge is now a major part of cities’ power demand, in turn raising concerns about blackouts and higher emissions and about keeping urban areas livable. In this context, planners and experts are looking at district cooling as a way to keep people comfortable while using less electricity and emitting less carbon.A central coolerDistrict cooling is a centralised system that supplies air-conditioning to a cluster of buildings,…

Two robotic elephants developed by the Voices for Asian Elephants Society, a non-profit organisation, were unveiled at temples in this district, members of the group said on Friday.A robotic elephant named Neelamkulangara Vishnudasan was ceremonially unveiled at the Panavally Neelamkulangara Sree Narayana Vilasam Sree Maha Vishnu Temple on Thursday, according to a release.On the same day, another robotic elephant, Omkareswaram Rama Senapathy, was unveiled at the Omkareswaram Sree Rama Subrahmanya Temple in Cherthala.“Both elephants entered their temples amid traditional music, rituals, and vibrant celebrations, preserving sacred pageantry and Kerala’s rich culture. This initiative offers a humane and culturally sensitive alternative…

Former Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala, contesting the upcoming Haryana Assembly election from his family bastion Uchana Kalan in Haryana’s Jind, speaks to The Hindu on a host of issues including the challenges before his party, his alliance with Azad Samaj Party and his learning from past experiences. These are challenging times for your party grappling with erosion of support base, and the workers and the MLAs quitting ahead of the election? How do you plan to deal with it? There are many instances in political history when a party has been through a rough…

The story so far: The Interim Agreement between India and the U.S. on trade has buoyed investor sentiment in India, especially because of the prospect of tariffs on Indian exports to the U.S. reducing to 18%. However, since the deal was announced through a joint statement on February 7, the contours of what it could include have been the source of much ambiguity. This is especially true in four broad areas: oil, agriculture, textiles, and the value of overall imports from the U.S.Also Read | U.S. removes references to pulses, changes tone on $500 billion investments from IndiaWhat does the joint statement say?The…

Oman’s players congratulate Australia’s captain Mitchell Marsh, centre, after winning the T20 World Cup cricket match between Australia and Oman in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. | Photo Credit: AP Wounded Australia concluded what has been a wretched campaign with a nine-wicket thrashing of Oman in their inconsequential final group league fixture of the T20 World Cup here on Friday (February 20, 2026).Entering the game with only pride at stake after their shocking group-stage exit following losses to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, seasoned leg-spinner Adam Zampa led the way with four wickets as Australia’s bowlers fired in…

Every four to six months, 32-year-old freelance graphic designer Salvita Rozario shuts her laptop in Delhi and takes off — not for adventure, but to move slower than the city allows. “When you freelance, time can feel elastic,” she says. “Slow travel helps me stretch it with intention.”Her first real experiment with this was Jaipur in 2022. She stayed for two weeks with a college friend in Civil Lines — cycling to cafés like Curious Life and Tapri Tea House, sketching the peeling façades along MI Road, and wandering through Johri Bazaar on languid afternoons. “Jaipur taught me that slowing…

Headlines may hide more than they reveal; but straws in the wind often warn us about the storm ahead.The expiry of a key bilateral nuclear arms control pact between the US and Russia on Wednesday almost went unnoticed.Why? Is there more to it than meets the eye?See how, after 18 years of on-and-off negotiations, India and the European Union (EU) quickly signed the “Mother of All Trade Deals” on January 27, 2026. Within a week, US President Donald Trump also rediscovered his “friend” in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, piped down his high-tariff horse, and announced a bilateral trade agreement (BTA)…

Every instinct tells you to lean back.You’re standing at the top of a slope that drops away beneath you like the edge of the world, and every fibre of your being screams to press your weight into the mountain behind you. To hold on. To stay safe.And that’s exactly how you fall.Something biggerSkiing is perhaps the most counterintuitive sport ever devised. The first lesson any instructor will drill into you is this: lean downhill. Commit your weight forward, into the void, into the very thing that terrifies you. Lean into the mountain, and you lose your edges, your skis slide…