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From Hunting Ground to Safe Haven: Angelina Jolie's Gift to Cambodia There's a stretch of land in Cambodia—60,000 hectares of it—that used to echo with gunfire and the cries of hunted animals. Now it's quiet, safe, and full of life again. That change happened because Angelina Jolie bought the land and turned it into a sanctuary. This wasn't just a celebrity writing a cheque. Jolie saw what hunting had done to this place and decided to put it right. Where hunters once tracked elephants, those same elephants now roam freely. Where the forest was silent with fear, birds are singing again. She wanted to give back what had been taken. What was once a site of destruction is now a place of recovery. Jolie's purchase wasn't just about owning property—it was about making a promise. A promise that people can choose kindness over cruelty, protection over profit, and life over death. She also wanted to support the hunters who depended on hunting to earn a living. Instead ...

  R. Sreelekha – A Pioneer from Kerala R. Sreelekha’s story is about courage and determination. She was born in Thiruvananthapuram in 1960, at a time when very few women thought of joining the police. Still, she chose a bold path. In 1987, she became the first woman from Kerala to join the Indian Police Service. Her journey was not easy. Policing was, and still is, mostly male-dominated. She often had to work harder to prove herself. But she stayed strong and took on tough roles in investigations and leadership. Step by step, she earned respect through her honesty and hard work. In 2017, she made history by becoming the Director General of Police (DGP) of Kerala. She was the first woman to hold this post. For many young women, this was proof that barriers can be broken. She received several national honours, including the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service. These awards recognised her long and dedicated service. After retiri...

  A Life Given to Others Sunil was 25 when his father left his mother for another woman. From that day, it was just Sunil, his mother, and his two small brothers. His mother worked as a domestic helper, and Sunil did odd jobs to support the family. A year later, Sunil got married to Kavita, and money became even tighter. When his brothers were only five and six, Sunil left Allahabad for Mumbai to earn more. He worked as a daily labourer, but when his mother fell ill, he returned home. For the next 15 years, he drove a taxi in Allahabad. Sunil and Kavita never had children, so they raised his brothers as their own. They sent them to English-medium schools and paid for everything. Many nights, Sunil and Kavita went hungry so the boys could eat. Later, when one brother wanted to go to college, Sunil went back to Mumbai again. He drove a taxi during the day and slept on the pavement at night. He sent all his money home and even borrowed heavily for their education. For seven long yea...

  The Birthday Card: A Sister's Lesson in Compassion Tania and Subal grew up together in a small town. Tania was the elder sibling, with Subal nine years younger. From birth, Subal was deaf and couldn't speak, but Tania loved him dearly. She looked after him even more attentively than their mother did, always making sure he felt included and understood. When Tania turned older, she travelled to Mumbai by plane for an important job interview. Before she left, her mother fussed over her constantly. "You're getting so thin. Please eat properly and on time," she said. "And ring me the moment you reach the hotel, won't you?" Tania arrived at Mumbai airport and caught a taxi to her hotel. Halfway there, her mobile rang—it was her mother checking on her. "Almost there, Mum. I'm nearly at the hotel now," Tania reassured her. "I'll call you properly once I've checked in and freshened up, I promise." After checking into her...

 The Delivery Man’s Nightmare : Sunil had a terrible day yesterday. He'd missed his third food delivery, arriving over ten minutes late – the strict limit. The customer absolutely laid into him over the phone while he was still on the road. Sunil risked everything, speeding on his scooter and running red lights, but still showed up seven minutes late. Even then, the customer was incredibly rude when taking the food. Later, they slapped him with a one-star rating, which would seriously damage his performance and bonus. A Shadow of Doubt Today, Sunil was completely preoccupied with not letting it happen again. He adored his wife, Smita . She was loving, cooking his meals and making him tea and biscuits when he got home in the evening. They'd always talk about the little things that happened during his day. After a loving goodbye, Sunil started his scooter for work. His first job was quick,  run. He made it on time and felt a bit better. The second delivery also went smoothly....

From the Spotlight to the Shadows: Asha Sachdev 's Quiet Life Real happiness doesn't come from being famous, religious devotion or even love – it comes from being true to yourself, wherever life leads you. Back in the flashy world of 1970s and 80s Bollywood , a young girl called Zarina Khan was born into a Muslim family steeped in films. Pretty much everyone around her – mum, dad, uncles, cousins – worked in the movies, whether acting or working behind the scenes. Growing up with all the lights, makeup vans and film magazines everywhere, it seemed obvious she'd end up in that world too. When she got older, Zarina made a big personal decision: she converted to Hinduism and changed her stage name to Asha Sachdev. She didn't do it for attention or because anyone pushed her – it just felt right. With her new name and quiet confidence, she started landing roles. Sometimes she played the elegant leading lady, sometimes the bubbly best mate, often the memorable supporting c...

The Day I Chose to Forgive Olivia   It all began in a doctor’s waiting room. The doctor looked at me and said, “You’ve actually been infertile your whole life.” The words hit me like a punch. I just sat there staring at the wall, thinking about our two blond boys, Barnaby and Rhodes . Their cheeky smiles suddenly felt… too familiar, in a way that made my stomach twist. By the time I got home, the truth had settled in my chest. Olivia, my wife of twelve years, had been with someone else. And not just anyone— Dr Smith , the friendly obstetrician who delivered our boys and still dropped by with pastries and silly jokes. For weeks I carried that pain around like a heavy stone. Watching Olivia laugh with the boys, tuck them into bed, or sing terribly in the shower made my heart ache. I almost left her so many times. The Night Everything Came Out One rainy Tuesday, the boys were staying at my mum’s. I laid our old photo albums on the kitchen table and waited for Olivia to come in. S...

Story of Rehana  shows that justice must be human, and love can survive even the hardest trials. Rehana Khatun thirty-two, mother of two little girls, and spoke Bengali in the soft, quick way women from Murshidabad do – a sound that sometimes feels strange to Delhi ears. On a normal Tuesday in 2024, she went to the market in Seelampur. She wore a faded red salwar-kameez and carried her youngest child on her hip. She asked the price of potatoes in Bengali. Someone overheard. Someone whispered. Within hours the police arrived. She showed her Aadhaar card, voter card, ration card – everything she had – but the officers said the papers looked “suspicious.” That was enough. They pushed her into a van. Her daughters screamed as it drove away. At the border, they told her she was Bangladeshi. Rehana begged and cried. She showed her children’s school certificates, her husband’s electricity bill, even a photo of her wedding in a small Delhi mosque. No one listened. At night they forced ...

The Man Who Sat Next to a Star and Felt Nothing Dreams of Deutschland Karthik was twenty-four when he left Chennai for Germany in 2019. His father, a retired railway clerk in Tambaram, had sold his wife's gold bangles to pay for the flight and first semester fees. His mother packed him three boxes of murukku and cried at the airport like he was going to war. "Study well, get a good job, send for us when you can," she whispered, adjusting his collar one last time. Karthik studied mechanical engineering at Technical University of Munich. He worked part-time washing dishes at an Indian restaurant in Schwabing, lived in a shared flat with five other students where the heating never worked properly, and survived on pasta and the occasional dosa he'd make himself, crying a bit because it never tasted like his amma's. He passed his exams. He got his degree. He thought the hard part was over. He was wrong. When the Dream Became a Nightmare Month after month, Karthik a...

  The Dream That Cost Everything Arjun was thirty-one, a software engineer in Bengaluru who wrote code for a payments app in Bellandur. He wasn't wealthy, but he earned enough to send money home to his village near Mandya and still save a bit each month. His only dream was simple: a small house of his own, two rooms, a little garden, a place where his ageing parents could sit in the sun and his younger sister could study without noise. For six years he worked twelve-hour days, skipped going to the cinema, ate instant noodles in the office to save on lunch, and put every bonus into a fixed deposit. He even took night shifts for extra pay. The plot of land he found was in a housing development on the edge of the city, cheap because the road wasn't built yet. He paid in instalments, smiling each time his bank balance dropped, because the balance sheet of his life was finally moving forward.  When Everything Fell Apart Then came 2024. The company made half the team redundant. ...

The Reckoning: Two Salford Lads, Twenty Years of Silence, and Nine Days of Grace Imagine two young lads, Tom and Mick, growing up side-by-side on the rough-and-tumble streets of Salford.  From five years old, they were inseparable—partners in crime, sharing secrets, cheap fags behind the bike sheds, and the glorious moment of their first legal pint down the Red Lion. They were soulmates, the kind of bond you think nothing can ever break. But at twenty-three, Mick did the unthinkable: he slept with Tom’s girlfriend, Lisa. Tom found out the cruel way these things always unfold—a mutual friend, drunk and loose-tongued, dropped the devastating truth in the pub. Tom didn’t rage or yell. He simply went stone-cold silent, drained his glass, and walked out of Mick’s life. The next day, he delivered his sentence: never come near me again.  For two decades, that silence held firm. Twenty years without a phone call, a birthday wish, or a shared memory. Tom built a new life, married...

  The Assassination and the Call for Mercy: This concerns the tragic killing of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the moral and legal choices faced by his widow, Sonia Gandhi.   Key Facts   - The Assassination: Rajiv Gandhi was killed on 21 May 1991 in Sriperumbudur, near Madras (now Chennai), by a suicide bomber linked to the LTTE during an election rally.   - The Trial: After years of investigation, several conspirators were convicted. In 1998, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence for four of them.   - Nalini’s Case: Nalini Sriharan, part of the conspiracy, was arrested while pregnant and gave birth in prison. Her role as a mother became central in later appeals for mercy.   - Sonia Gandhi’s Stand: Despite her grief, Sonia Gandhi and her children, Rahul and Priyanka, asked that the death sentences be reduced to life imprisonment. They believed forgiveness was better than answering violence with more viole...