When will south superstar Rajinikanth enter the poll fray? The wait is likely to be over soon if one were to go by the signals coming out of the Rajini camp. The 68-year-old actor has been terribly busy lately, ostensibly adding the finishing touches to most of his projects. His Rajini Makkal Mandram (Rajini People's Organisation) has been up and running for two years now, though he has said time and again that he would not contest election in 2019, but would be ready to take the plunge during the next Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. In Trichy some days back, Rajini's brother Sathyanarayana Rao Gaikwad said, after inaugurating their parents' memorial, that the actor will make an announcement after May 23. So there you are...

India’s soft power is mostly gauged in terms of the global popularity of yoga, Bollywood films and cuisine. One less acknowledged trend is the enduring popularity of Rabindranath Tagore. Ironically, nowhere is this more visible than in China. Not only have Tagore's works been translated into Mandarin, a selection of his poetry, essays and short stories is part of the national school syllabus. Even more improbably, Tagore appears to be revered in Kazakhstan too. Recently, a visiting delegation of the National Cadet Corps to this Central Asian republic attended a memorial programme on the occasion of the poet's birth anniversary and reported a surprisingly high turnout.