Delhi Gymkhana

Erasing Colonial Symbols Won't Feed India's Families: A Call for Economic Pragmatism

But tearing down a clubhouse will not lower a family's grocery bill or write a line of exportable code. India's chance to close the gap with the economies that outran it will not wait for a hearing date in September, and neither should the country's attention.

Taslima Nasrin’s Return and the Politics of Selective Protection

Taslima Nasrin’s homecoming deserves to be welcomed. A writer should be able to return to a city she considers home without fearing violence. The harder test will come when the symbolism fades. Will the government protect her if her criticism becomes inconvenient to the people now celebrating her return?

Jewish Footprints and Connections that Shaped Sri Lanka’s History

Today, the Chabad Houses in Colombo and on Sri Lanka's southern coast have attracted considerable attention amid a rise in anti-Semitic incidents and rhetoric. It is noteworthy that Colombo once had an active synagogue, which served as a regular place of worship for British Jewish servicemen World War II

Repositioning India as the Capital of Buddhist Tourism: A Blueprint for a Global Destination

Buddhist tourism as an important tool of India’s soft power. The shared Buddhist heritage can help develop cultural ties with Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia, South Korea, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, and several other Buddhist-majority nations through cooperation in archaeology, monk-to-monk dialogues, youth programs, academic exchanges, and cultural festivals

More on Soft Power, Culture and Society

Music without borders: Dama Dam Mast Qalandar and a qawwali night at Boston

“Between the first Pakistani win at the Grammys, the first Pakistani film to be selected at the Cannes Film Festival, a Pakistani song topping the most-searched list on Google, local actors featured in international series, and the highest-grossing film in the history of Pakistani cinema, 2022 has been a banner year for Pakistani art,’ observes Surbhi Gupta, South Asia Editor at New Lines magazine.

Traditional Chinese medicine demand fuels illegal orchid trade in Nepal

According to a policy brief prepared by the Kathmandu-based NGO Greenhood Nepal, which is spearheading a project focused on illegal trade and sustainable use of medicinal orchids in Nepal, the decline in their numbers has been attributed to unsustainable harvesting and international trade of the plants used in ayurvedic as well as traditional Chinese medicine.

Literary festivals are flourishing in Pakistan; interest in native literature waning

Pakistani writers are not only writing about love and romance, but also on feminism, religion, culture, socio-political, ethnic, and identity issues.

Hockey, friendship, Partition, and the pangs of separation: Old Lahore remembered through a documentary

Every scene in this intimately filmed documentary tugs at the heartstrings. The pain of separation felt so palpable to me that I wept with the characters.

Millets in gastronomic glory at five-course UN luncheon to promote 'humble foodgrain'

Jaishankar told reporters before the luncheon that he hoped to “familiarise the members of the Security Council” with “all the virtues of millets”.

Illuminating forgotten pasts: English translations of Ghalib’s Chirag-e-Dair

The rediscovery of Ghalib in the English translation of Chirag-e-Dair as a modern cosmopolitan man who can appreciate the port town of Calcutta, find spirituality in the Hindu temple town of Banaras, and firmly situate himself in Persianate traditions of West Asia opens up a history of cultural exchange to the contemporary South Asian reader

India, Bangladesh bolstering ties through Silchar-Sylhet Festival

The Silchar-Sylhet festival aimed at strengthening the longstanding bonds of friendship between the two neighboring nations, which share a wide range of complementary traditions, cultures, and other things.  The festival once again demonstrated the closeness between India and Bangladesh, and improved mutual understanding.

Colombo's iconic Lighthouse Clock Tower is a silent sentinel of time

This is the story of the beginning of the oldest clock tower in Asia and the only lighthouse clock tower in the world.

'Made like a Gun':Romancing the Royal Enfield Bullet in the service of the Indian Armed Forces

The record-breaking Tornadoes display team of the Army Service Corps was formed in 1982, debuting at the 9th Asian Games in New Delhi. It has since participated in more than 1,000 major international and national events, always riding Royal Enfield Bullets. 

US returns looted antiquities to India, Pakistan

The network supplied the international art market with stolen antiquities from countries including, but not limited to, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, the prosecutor's office said.

The amazing adventures of a Lithuanian scholar in the Indian subcontinent

The re-connection with Poska, in many ways, underlines the deep-rooted connectivity between the Indian sub-continent and Eurasia along with the eastern and central parts of Europe, much of which remains forgotten or ignored.

Humorous ghost stories in Bengali literature: Connecting oral literature tradition to the modern digital age

Over the years, these relate to representations of various regions of eastern India and, at times, the extended and larger region of erstwhile Bengal, including the present country of Bangladesh. Many of these stories also help to understand how identities are constructed across time and space in folklore and in written literature.

Bollywood’s first faltering steps abroad: The challenges of shooting of Africa mein Hind(1939-1940)

Seth Govind Das invited Basu to direct a movie based on Indian connectivity with Africa.

A light-hearted film with pan-South Asian resonance

Though these themes are presented to us in an Indian setting, they resonate with the larger South Asian context where middle-class women often find themselves similarly weighed down within domesticity, doing unacknowledged and unpaid physical and emotional work in their homes.

Rare cross-border bonding: Indian, Pakistani journalists in Nepal break misinformation barriers

“The most important legacy of the gathering is the lifelong relationships formed by journalists from Pakistan and India. Those relationships will translate into fact-based reporting on issues important to the future of both countries.”