iPad, the arguable most-awaited computing product has been launched, to rave reviews and derision from some quarters. What will iPad mean for the common user, how will it impact our lives? Here is my take.

Billy Arjan Singh was a legend in his lifetime, and one of the foremost conservationists that India ever had. It was through my friend, Shaminder Boparai, that I re-connected with him, his life and his accomplishments. Shaminder had just finished a coffee table book on him and Billy was immensely pleased to see the way the way it turned out. The book celebrates his success of a person the likes of which we seldom see. His was a life lived to the full.

Lakhs of Indians loved listening to Worldspace, but that will end with the end of the year. The company has pulled the plug on its service in India, and we feel cheated, since we had subscribed to the service, but instead of music, there will be an eerie silence on the specially manufactured sets that we bought. Anyway, I always focus on more positive things and Worldspace did enrich our lives as we had it, therefore, I chose to remember that in my middle that was published today.

“Darpan,” an autobiography of the late Risaldar Sunder Singh, which portrayed both the society and history of his times (1895-1990), came alive as my mother spoke at the release of the book in Chandigarh. It is, indeed, an honest account of a person who lived his life by values that were far higher than those we see in our times. He risked a lot for the freedom of the country from the British Raj, lost a lot, and never asked for anything, much like his illustrious uncle, Baba Kharak Singh.

The Infosys Science Foundation is a not-for-profit trust set up by Infosys Technologies in February 2009 to promote research in sciences in India. Under the aegis of the foundation, Infosys will honour outstanding contributions and achievements by Indians across various sciences. The annual award for each category is Rs. 50 lakh.
A co-winner of the Infosys Prize in Social Sciences: History, this year is the Amritsar-born Upinder Singh, an outstanding historian of ancient and early medieval India. She was selected by a jury headed by the Nobel Laureate Prof. Amartya Sen. Her scholarship and dedication to her students is well know, even then, I was surprised at the work that she has accomplished and the academic recognition that she has got.