People

The spiraldown from Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's trusted pointsman in New Delhi to party outcast took Dinesh Trivedi but some months as Railway Minister and a bold rail budget.

Mamata Banerjee's trusted Lieutenant has been with the Trinamool Congress since its founding, particularly during the party's movements against land acquisition at Singur and Nandigram, but has always preferred keeping a low profile.

No one knew this Kingfisher Calendar model until Poonam Pandey announced on Twitter that she would strip naked in the stadium if India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Soumitra Chatterjee, debonair actor and screen idol of the 60s and 70s, was introduced by the venerable Satyajit Ray in Apur Sansar, the final film of the Apu Trilogy. The first film of that trilogy, Pather Panchali, is counted among the best films ever made.

From a small-time businessman to a formidable political leader, YS Jaganmohan Reddy - better known as Jagan -- had a rather smooth ride for over a decade before hitting one bump after another and finally finding himself in the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) custody.

Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, red-haired, 61 and India's most-wanted, now rubs shoulders with the likes of Taliban founder Mullah Omar and Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri as one of the five most-wanted terrorists in the world, featuring on an American rogue's list with a bounty of 10 million dollars on his head.

He is a top-order Mumbai batsman who is quite comfortable opening the innings. He in fact has played as an opener for India in the limited chances he has got in the national team. He made his India debut in an ODI against England during the team's disastrous tour there last year. Even though Team India had an abysmal outing in England, Rahane impressed with his clam and mature batting there.

He is 24 years old, a black belt in Taekwondo, Oxford-educated and the Chairman of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is to the manor born. The oldest child of Asif Ali Zardari and Benazir Bhutto was three months old when his mother first became Prime Minister. He has seen life in political exile; he was 19 years old when his mother was gruesomely assassinated. Bilawal's appointment as a very young Chairman of the party was seen as a tactical move; to consolidate the party in the absence of Benazir using the Bhutto legacy. Mr Zardari also added Bhutto to his son's name.

In April 1992, Dr Khalil Chishty, a virologist from Karachi visited his ailing mother in Ajmer. Dr Chishty did not know that he would not return home to Pakistan for the next two decades.

When wife Benazir Bhutto was the Prime Minister of Pakistan, first spouse Asif Ali Zardari was unfortunately nicknamed "Mr 10 percent" - his detractors accused him of being corrupt and demanding kickbacks on government deals. In 1996, Pakistani courts saw merit in those accusations and Mr Zardari was arrested on corruption charges. He spent eight years in jail and then joined Benazir in self-imposed exile. The Pakistan President's post would've seemed a very distant dream from there. But then that is politics. And quirk of fate.

Salman Bashir, who has been part of the post-26/11 Indo-Pak dialogue process, is the new High Commissioner to India. Mr Bashir, 60, will replace Shahid Malik as the Pakistan envoy to India.

The World Bank on Monday selected Jim Yong Kim as its new president. Mr Kim, president of Dartmouth College, will assume his new post on July 1 this year. Here is a look at the life of the new World Bank president.

Mamata Banerjee has given birth to a new term this year - "Didigiri." In this avatar, the fiery West Bengal Chief Minister is acquiring a reputation for what detractors call extreme intolerance. In the past few days, Ms Banerjee has been in the news more for controversial moves like the arrest of a protesting scientist or a college professor who shared a cartoon that made fun of her; for enforcing a read list in public libraries in her state; for attempting to reduce emphasis on Marx and Engels in history books. At a national level, she is seen as the chief architect of reform policy rollbacks, using her political clout to arm-twist the government she partners.

In December 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Nancy Jo Powell to become the US Ambassador to India. She arrives in New Delhi this week and is America's first woman ambassador to India .

Who is Pippa Middleton? In early 2011, the answer to that question would have been: nobody. Now, she's a tabloid darling, style icon and a Royal relative. What a difference a year makes.