Rahul Verma

2 weeks ago | tribuneindia.com | Rahul Verma

School kids are meant to ask questions — and they do so. What’s the speed of light? How many continents are there? Is there life on Mars? And so on. But the question, I think, that concerns them the most is a simple one: what’s for tiffin? If there is one word that instantly evokes nostalgia, it is tiffin. It is so much a part of everyone’s lexicon that it’s difficult to believe that it emerged from the old English word ‘tiffing’, which meant sipping.

1 month ago | tribuneindia.com | Rahul Verma

You don’t forget some food experiences. I vividly recall a dish my niece had ordered for us from an eatery popular with the young in the Delhi University area. This is a surprise, she announced — and then went on to unpack the dish she was drooling over: butter chicken pasta. I was a bit sceptical, but after my first forkful, I realised it wasn’t bad at all. Butter chicken, I later reasoned, comes in a gravy that has all the ingredients that a good pasta sauce revels in: butter, cream and tomatoes.

1 month ago | iadb.in | Rahul Verma

Cdr Rahul Verma (r)India’s military UAV doctrine is at a turning point. With the confirmed procurement of 31 MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones from General Atomics under a landmark $3.9 billion deal, New Delhi is signalling more than a mere capability upgrade, it’s suggesting a shift in strategic thinking. As the Indian Armed Forces induct more High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) RPAS, the traditional role of Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) UAVs appears increasingly redundant.

1 month ago | tribuneindia.com | Rahul Verma

When the temperature soars, I remember a refreshingly cold drink we drank in our village home. Buffalo milk was mixed with sugar and cold water from an earthenware pot. This, served in tall steel glasses, was our summer drink — simple, yet satiating. Milk is indeed versatile: it can lead to all kinds of sweets and savouries, from chhena and curd to paneer and cheese. Since humans domesticated animals some 10,000 years back, milk has been an essential part of our food regimen.

1 month ago | thequint.com | Rahul Verma

You can't fix the environment without fixing society. Otherwise, it's just not fair, writes Rahul Verma. You don't see it at first. You smell it. That chemical reek, hanging heavy in the air in Jajmau, a suburb of Kanpur It's the smell of injustice, plain and simple. This is where the tanneries are, where communities live and work, and where the cost of progress is measured in polluted water, sick lungs, and jobs that disappeared. Kanpur's story?