The Latest Breaking News from Chanakya

Vishwakarma Puja and the Tool Maintenance Habit Every Indian Home Keeps Ignoring

The god of tools had a maintenance scheduleVishwakarma Puja falls on the last day of Bhadra, and in factories, garages, construction sites, and printing presses across Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha, workers stop everything. Machines are cleaned. Tools are arranged. Flowers are offered. The ritual is precise: no machine runs on…

Times Life · Sep 17

7 Fridge and Pantry Storage Rules That Slash Food Waste in Every Indian Household

1. The Two-Hour Rule for Cooked Dal and SabziCooked dal left at room temperature for more than two hours enters the bacterial growth zone, between 5°C and 60°C, where pathogens like Bacillus cereus multiply fast. The FSSAI recommends refrigerating cooked food within two hours of preparation. Most Indian kitchens let…

Times Life · Sep 16

How to Cut Your Electricity Bill This Indian Summer Without Giving Up Your AC

The 24°C Rule That the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Has Been Saying for YearsEvery degree below 24°C on your AC thermostat adds roughly 6% to your electricity consumption, according to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), which operates under India's Ministry of Power. Most people set their AC to 18°C…

Times Life · Sep 16

How to Ask for a Raise in an Indian Workplace Without Making It Awkward for Everyone

Know Your Number Before You Open Your MouthThe single reason most salary conversations go sideways is that the person asking hasn't settled on a specific number before they begin. "I feel I deserve more" is not a negotiation. It's an invitation for a manager to agree in principle and do…

Times Life · Sep 13

Chanakya Niti's 5 Rules on Lending Money to Relatives That Prevent Permanent Damage

Treat It as a Gift in Your Mind Before You Hand It OverChanakya wrote in the Arthashastra that a man who lends to a friend should consider the money already spent. This is not pessimism, it is the only mental position that keeps a lending relationship from curdling into resentment.…

Times Life · Sep 13

Home Loan Prepayment: Should You Cut the EMI or the Tenure to Save More Interest?

Why the choice matters more than the prepayment itselfMaking a lump-sum prepayment on a home loan is one of the highest-return financial moves available to a salaried Indian borrower. On a ₹50 lakh loan at 8.5% over 20 years, the total interest outgo is roughly ₹58 lakh, more than the…

Times Life · Sep 13

The Credit Card Minimum Payment Trap: How Debt and Interest Quietly Double Your Balance

Chanakya Knew About This Trap, He Just Called It a Different NameChanakya wrote in the Arthashastra that a debt left unresolved does not stay still. It grows. The minimum payment button on your credit card app is the modern version of that warning. It looks like relief. It is the…

Times Life · Sep 12

How Your CIBIL Credit Score Is Actually Calculated and 5 Habits That Quietly Lift It

What Chanakya Knew About Borrowed MoneyChanakya wrote in the Arthashastra that a person who cannot account for what leaves their treasury cannot protect what enters it. The principle maps almost exactly onto how TransUnion CIBIL scores a borrower today. Your score, a number between 300 and 900, is not a…

Times Life · Sep 11

SMS OTP Is the Weakest Authentication Method: Safer Verification Apps to Use Instead

Why SMS OTP Fails Before the Hacker Even Tries HardThe attack is called SIM swapping, and it does not require any technical skill. A criminal calls your mobile carrier, claims to be you, says the phone was lost, and asks for the number to be transferred to a new SIM.…

Times Life · Sep 11

Chanakya's Rules for Guarding Secrets Map Perfectly Onto Password and OTP Security

The secret's existence is the first secretChanakya's most repeated warning in the Arthashastra isn't about enemies. It's about the person who already knows your plans. He wrote that a king must conceal not just his decisions, but the fact that a decision is being made at all. The information that…

Times Life · Sep 10