Hearing others

Active listening is the key to communication. Yet most people just listen to others without appropriate response. Elayne Clift explains why people need to be heard, validated and appreciated

Kalam's artist

Artist Manav Gupta, who was invited to Rashtrapati Bhavan during weekends and asked to interpret A P J Abdul Kalam’s poems into paintings, tells us why the former President’s death is a loss

Maternal bond

SOS Children's villages around the world have been bringing up orphaned children without them missing on mother's love and homely atmosphere. Shilpa Raina explains the family-based care model

Homes for girls

Collectors in Rajasthan have been asked to adopt at least one girl by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Rakesh Kumar tells us how the adoption process has helped girls get a better home

Luv's an enigma

What women wished they knew about love? Juhi Pande seeks an answer to the question through her book, Things Your Mother Never Told You About Love. An excerpt that concludes love as ‘strange'

Get not in knots

Slip ups in networking sites can prove costly. So 'keep real life and virtual life separate', as some one tweeted, and be aware that wrong handling can lead to complete chaos, says Krishna

One gift fits all

If you want to make sure that your gift is useful to whom you present it, whatever be the occasion, go pick up a ‘gift voucher’ says Azera Parveen Rahman. It will not be dumped into the attic

Bird's view

E-mailers exhibit bird-like behaviour and can be grouped into 12 avian categories, says a new study. Popular categories include the ‘compulsive woodpecker,’ and the ‘hibernating poorwill’ 

Friends in need

Colleagues of a taxi driver, who is in a coma, are helping his family of three get a steady income by driving his cab, with 50 of them taking turns. Well, those kindhearted men live in China

Customizing babies

India is a baby factory. The rich can now afford designer babies. Half the surrogate babies are for foreigners. So says Kishwar Desai, author of ‘Origins of Love’, to Madhusree Chatterjee  

Super sense

Shah Rukh Khan admits he is no role-model and says he was ashamed of the Wankhede stadium incident after his wife and children pointed out he shouldn’t have behaved the way he did

Triumph of love

Just like any Hollywood movie, a graduation ceremony in the US turned unforgettable for a young girl when her boyfriend of four years proposed marriage on stage as she collected her degree

Homecoming

The homecoming of their sons after years with militants has made Kashmiri couples thank god and the government. For, in Omar Abdullah’s rule many youth are returning home, says Sheikh Qayoom

A love story

The marriage of Lila Poonawala, a celebrated corporate honcho, to Firoz is an ideal Valentine’s Day story. ‘If you commit to a relationship, give it your everything,’ she tells Sudha Menon

Baby boomer

Chennai-based Kamala Selvaraj has helped many childless couple have babies through her fertility techniques. In an interview to Marie Banu, she speaks about her life, profession and mission

Better news sense

TV channels restrained from ‘breaking news’ coverage of Aishwarya Rai’s baby girl, a welcome decision that was made possible through a diktat from the Broadcast Editors Association

Wise woman

Does a windfall blow people off their feet? No, says the lone woman winner of KBC, Rahat Taslim when Shahnawaz Akhtar met her after a year. Taking Big B’s advice seriously, she is content

All for love

Kanchana is a well-known social worker in Kozhikode, whose social mission is fulfilment of a vow she made to the mother of the man she loved, Moideen, who died young before they could marry

They dare

As more and more single women go for adoption in India now, Amrita Nandy tracks the trend that bucks the traditional norm set for family and praises the bold women for redefining motherhood

Identify the ‘enemy’

Wondered who ditched you on Facebook? Find out, now. FB has launched a new feature that will allow users to know who does not like them and has thus removed them from their friend list

Date this app

Love is Not Abuse is an iPhone app that helps parents make interventions when children face dating violence or digital dating abuse. It even has tips on combating the menace, says Jane Randel

A hopeful search

An Australian couple’s search for their son, who went missing in Rishikesh six years ago, is a testament of their enduring hope, against odds. Vishal Gulati, who met the parents, says that many foreigners have simply vanished from the area