Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
The experience of being forced to drink a mixture of milk, clarified butter, curd, cow urine, and dung to purify him after touching a so-called 'lower-caste' woman's sari inspired Bindeshwar Pathak's lifelong commitment to improving sanitation
The Prophet’s grandson, Imam Hussain, opposed the undermining of basic Islamic values of egalitarianism, justice, and equity, triggering the Battle of Karbala that ended with his massacre along with 72 of his companions and family members in the month of Muharram
Once considered unsophisticated, hookah, whose origins are disputed with some claiming it originated in India, has become integral to the Middle East’s café culture, and gained popularity in the West, too
The inauguration of India's new parliament with Hindu symbolism has triggered murmurs of disapproval citing secular traditions although there is nothing new in the association of occupants of constitutional posts with such ceremonies since the republic was founded
Karbala symbolises for Muslims the foundational Islamic values—egalitarianism, justice, and equity— the Prophet’s Muhammad favourite grandson, Imam Hussain, laid down his life there in the seventh century resisting Umayyad ruler Yazid violating these ideals
Cyril Radcliffe drew the India-Pakistan border weeks after arriving in India for the first time in 1947 without knowing much about the regions he divided haphazardly leaving tens of thousands dead and uprooted
Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas wrote an article in 1971 detailing for the first time the scale of suppression in East Pakistan and helped shape the world's opinion in favour of India's intervention and Bangladesh's creation By Sameer Arshad Khatlani In 1970, Bengali nationalist Mujibur Rahman-led Awami League swept Pakistan’s general election in the country’s eastern … Continue reading Anthony Mascarenhas: Pakistani Who Turned Tide For India
Mutanabbi Street is named after poet Abu al-Tayyib al Mutanabbi, one of the leading lights of the Islamic Golden Age when a spirit of openness fostered the pursuit of knowledge and big science
The idea of 'Sufism', which in its present form has little to do with saints and their teachings, has long mutated with the association of those helming shrines purely by virtue of heredity with corrosive power, patronage, and vanity By Sameer Arshad Khatlani When Mardan Shah, better known as Pir Pagara, died in 2012 in … Continue reading How Association With Corrosive Power Mutated Idea Of Sufism
From Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor to Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, Indian film stars have ruled hearts in both India and Pakistan but only a handful enjoyed the level of adulation that Madhuri Dixit did across the divide
