On the morning of August 17th most of India’s economic policymakers gathered in the prime minister’s house in Delhi. They were there to launch an official economic history of 1981-97, a period which included the balance-of-payments crisis of 1991. The mood was tense. India, said Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, faced “very difficult circumstances”. “Does history repeat itself?” asked Duvvuri Subbarao, the outgoing head of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). “As if we learn nothing from one crisis to another?”

From an armchair in Pakistan’s version of the Oval Office, Nawaz Sharif points towards the forested slopes of the Margalla Hills. “They are the foothills of the Himalayas,” says the man who reacquired the rights to this office — and to this view — when he returned for a third stint as prime minister in June. This comeback has given Mr Sharif arguably the toughest job in the world: governing a nuclear-armed nation of 180 million people, beset by terrorism, economic crisis and a perilous confrontation with India.

Kazi Hasan Arabi, a longtime Indian expatriate in Saudi Arabia, talks about his experience of the country, its development and what led him to find a home in the kingdom. “My education started late, because in our family, in those times, we were not allowed to go to school, rather, teachers used to come home and teach us.

Despite sweltering temperatures during the afternoon and near 90-degree heat well into the evening, thousands of people flocked to the grounds of Granada Hills Charter High School here in the San Fernando Valley Aug. 17 to celebrate India’s 67th Independence Day. Organized by the India Association of Los Angeles, the Independence Day celebration was peacefully festive and featured key leaders, including an ambassador, congressman, and district attorney, hailing India as a role model for democracy and growth.

Every day thousands of Indians leave their small towns and look for big cities to work in business outsourcing. Andrew Marantz spent a summer at call center in India and wrote about it for Mother Jones magazine. He details the reaction he got when he showed up, the accent that is encouraged - a neutral one, he says - and the classes offered to work at there.

For years the Indian security establishment has been excessively obsessed with Pakistan and the proxy war it has waged against India. Over the past half a dozen years, the focus has gradually shifted to meeting the rising challenge posed by China’s rising military capabilities in Tibet. Apart from two new army divisions now deployed in the country’s north-east after they were sanctioned in 2009, the Indian Cabinet has also a fortnight ago cleared a new mountain strike corps specifically meant for offensive operations against China.

An Indian Mufti has declared that posting photos on Facebook and other social media sites is “un-Islamic,” according to an interview with the Press Trust of India (PTI) on Sunday. Abul Irfan Naimul Halim Firagni Mahli, who helps to run two telephone helplines advising people Islam related issues, said that Muslims should avoid social media sites and women in particular should refrain from posting pictures of themselves online.

The world attention was focussed on the historic General Elections in Pakistan in May 2013, amidst an air of excitement and trepidation, as these signified transfer of civilian power, for the first time in the 67 years of its existence. There were also concerns over Army’s role and fears of likely disruption by the terrorist outfits. The return of General Musharraf to Pakistan, to join the election fray, added an element of drama.