Triumph of good over tear-gas: an extraordinary story of Hong Kong Bengali Association’s Durga Puja
‘Wherever you go, a bit of Calcutta will go with you. I know, because it’s happened to me. And every Puja, I am overcome by the magic of Bengal. It’s a feeling that’ll never go away.’ Vir Sanghvi ‘If you want a city with a soul: come to Kolkata’ True that! The Kolkata virus never quite goes away, and the infection...
Oli Khan decimates Guinness World Record for largest onion bhaji
Food is just one of the aspects of Indian culture that has been taken to the hearts of the British people. At one point, the most popular dish in the UK was a curry. However, in recent years the number of curry houses has been dropping, due to a variety of reasons. So what does internationally-recognised master chef Oli Khan...
Not Namaste Trump but Phir Milengey: H-1B visas suspended, what now?
It looked like things were getting as close as could be between US President Donald Trump and Narendra Modi but a worldwide pandemic and a scourge of resulting unemployment in the States has put a spanner in the works of ‘Namaste Trump’, as an executive order signed this past week will suspend new visas for foreign workers, including the...
Lockdown Diaries: Teenager Jai Aswani on a mission to feed the hungry in India by collecting 100 tonnes of food grains
Our initiative Mission 100 Tonnes was born out of distress calls we received from old age homes, orphanages, and pet shelters in Chennai, during the government-imposed lockdown in India three weeks back. Since then, there has been no looking back for us. The number of marginalised people requiring help during the unprecedented time of the COVID-19 outbreak has increased...
Lockdown Diaries: Migrants miseries multiply in India as government continues with its mum’s the word
The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the open secret of the Indian economy, and its inability and failure to support the backbone of the industrial prowess - the 114 million strong, ductile and undemanding work-force and migrant labourers that have been left in the lurch during the eight-week-long lockdown (as we go to print.) Mass exodus The workplaces are shut or denied...
Dalit organisations in the UK demand justice for Manisha Valmiki
The brutal gang rape and death of 19-year-old Manisha Valmiki, belonging to a lower caste from Hathras in the the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, and the police action thereafter has sent shock waves all over the world. This brutality committed by perpetrators from an upper caste, as caste motivated hate crimes, must be condemned in the strongest...
Sukhdeep Singh’s documentary Sab Rab De Bande on LGBTQ Sikhs reaches London
A novel documentary that brings forth the LGBTQ Sikh community's challenges and the different ways in which they reconcile their faith, gender, and sexual identities, Sab Rab De Bande, will be showcasing in the ongoing South Asian Heritage month in the UK this year. Making his debut as a filmmaker with this extraordinary documentary, Director Sukhdeep Singh, through interviews with LGBTQ Sikhs captures...
Lockdown diaries: Think local, think community, support small businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic
I live in London and have done all my life. It’s a bustling and busy City with a population of 8 million. You see people everywhere. Hustling. Shuffling. Rushing from here to there. This year, we became accustomed to phrases like lock down, self-isolate, global pandemic, social distancing, wash your hands, wear a mask, Zoom, ‘You’re on mute’, and...
KASHISH 2023 announces new Ismat Chughtai Award for best Indian woman filmmaker
The 14th KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ+ film festival, announced institution of a new award from this year - the Ismat Chughtai Award for Best Indian Woman Filmmaker, instituted in memory of eminent Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, liberal humanist and filmmaker Ismat Chughtai, by her grandson and filmmaker Ashish Sawhny. “I am delighted...
BAPS Charities unites community for annual “Spirit of Service: Walk-Run”
A wave of enthusiasm and commitment swept through Piedmont Triad on Saturday May 31, 2025, as BAPS Charities hosted its annual “Spirit of Service: Walk-Run.” With almost 300 participants stepping forward to support the Industry for the Blind, the event underscored the power of unity in making a lasting impact. Spanning over 100 cities across North America, the BAPS Charities...
