‘I stitch bags for big brands’

After a fire in an illegal Delhi factory kills 43 people, including five children, migrant workers struggle to carry on with their precarious lives but barely earn enough to eat’ On Monday, TV crews jostled for space under the archway that leads to Anaj Mandi, a few hundred meters from the congested Sadar Bazaar, the […]

Citizens unite against Citizenship Bill

The legislation ‘directly violates the secular ideals enshrined in our Constitution’, the protesters say On Monday night, the Lok Sabha passed the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019. The Bill, a promise made by the incumbent BJP in its election manifesto for last May’s general election, is an updated version of a similar legislation that was […]

Dhoti diplomacy

When Abhijit Banerjee wore a dhoti to receive a Nobel Prize in Economics, it was a cultural assertion of his motherland, where ethnic diversity is celebrated Abhijit Banerjee along with his wife French-American Esther Duflo received Nobel Prize in Economics for their ‘experimental approach to alleviating global poverty’ adorning a dhoti and kurta with a […]

Business unusual

Where did the spark come from that inspires a big business empire? What odds do entrepreneurs face in India’s challenging environment? This books tells us some of the stories First generation entrepreneurs are obviously intelligent fanatics, which is how this book as well as US-based publishing house gets its name. They are able to create […]

Courtroom drama

MJ Akbar’s lawyer complained about ‘personal comments’ in the news website’s dispatch on Tuesday’s hearing, prompting the judge to issue an advisory The latest hearing on the Bharatiya Janata Party leader MJ Akbar’s defamation suit against the journalist Priya Ramani on Wednesday was marked by courtroom drama. In her testimony before Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi, […]

How Noida was built

Jagdish Khattar, ex-CMD of Maruti Udyog, narrates how Noida was bulldozed into existence by Sanjay Gandhi in December 1975, during the Emergency Who says that the Emergency was an evil and Sanjay Gandhi a villain?  Yes, there was forced sterilisation, jailing of political leaders and press censorship. But trains ran on time and New Okhla […]

A fruitful trip

INA market is where an exotic variety of fruits is available — cherries from Australia, litchis from Thailand, blueberries from Latin America. Expats love this market Ask a chef in the making where to buy fresh provisions in the Capital city and they are quick to name INA market as the go-to place for anyone […]

Kids just wanna have snacks

Memories of childhood come flooding back when you see a couple of school kids pestering their parents for pocket money Growing up, my sister and I had a large group of friends — all confident, boisterous girls, ready to start a fight with the group of boys, our nemesis, at the slightest provocation. When you […]