Word embeddings in NLP

We will discuss word embeddings this week. Word embeddings represent a fundamental shift in natural language processing (NLP), transforming words into dense vector representations that capture semantic and syntactic meaning. Moving beyond sparse, context-agnostic methods such as bag-of-words and one-hot encoding, modern embedding techniques (from Word2Vec to transformers) enable machines to capture linguistic relationships and…

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Top 10 best films of 2025

As the Artistic Director of the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), I had the fortune of watching over a thousand films from nearly a hundred countries over the year that is now coming to an end. We eventually selected 160 of them for screening in Goa. But India is a vast country and…

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TOI Bharat Abroad: New year, new mayor

  As 2026 begins, the Indian diaspora is already setting the tone abroad. In New York, Zohran Mamdani rang in the year by taking oath as mayor, marking a historic first for an Indian-African-Muslim immigrant in America’s largest city. In Washington, Indian-Americans continued to punch far above their weight, shaping the ideological battles of Donald…

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Scalpels and soft power

When tariffs threaten manufacturing and tighter H-1B rules squeeze IT exports, India’s next big growth engine might lie not infactories or code but in surgery rooms. Medical value tourism (MVT) – foreign patients coming to India for advanced, affordable and reliable treatment – could become the country’s next great services success. The $40bn global medical…

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Pilot Project

What would you say to a Rs 50L signing bonus? If you’re an IndiGo or Air India captain eyeing juicy offers and better work conditions abroad, you might scoff. But airlines, left shamefaced after last month’s FDTL – flight duty time limitations – mess, have no choice but to poach captains from rivals at any…

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A measure of us

American football coach Lombardi’s words “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have” will ring true throughout 2026. It’s the year of measurements – Census’s houselisting April to Sept most important count, after a gap of 15 years. It’ll show us the new urban-rural divide, true story of migration,…

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