On an August afternoon six years ago, I called my good friend Kumar Tiku, author and United Nations project developer who happened to be a displaced Kashmiri Pandit.
I have been to Murshidadab and Malda many many times as a reporter covering various issues, including communal feelings. I have invariably found that the common people do not differentiate between religions and prefer to live harmoniously with each other. In fact, I found that it comes so naturally to them that they don’t even think about it.
We who live in Calcutta are quite used to it. When we walk down the city roads, we perhaps discover that a little book store has popped up on a street corner or a small coffee shop has suddenly appeared on a neighborhood sidewalk.
Meet Nigerian-origin rapper – Yung Sammy. The singer, who has been living in India for more than 15 years now, is slowly and gradually creating a loyal fan base for himself.
Ghibli’s magic isn’t a template
As pundits, politicians and public commentators intensely debate the election results, I caution against hyperbole and overinterpretation of what was, in reality, a close race, though the margin of victory looks wider than it actually is, due to the special quirk of the electoral college system.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna assumed office as the 51st Chief Justice of India on Monday, following Justice DY Chandrachud’s tenure. The oath of office was administered by President Droupadi Murmu in a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The victorious Trump camp is touting its newfound “historic” mandate while the dejected Harris camp accuses the country of being “racist and sexist” for letting them down. Both are untrue. Trump won with 295 electoral votes to Harris’ 226. A solid victory, but hardly a landslide.
As the world focuses on the United Nations’ upcoming Conference of Parties (COP 29) which begins tomorrow, The Statesman looks at environmental issues closer home.
Readers that only know Shinie Antony for her witty, often whimsical, pieces in the national newspapers would be amazed at her expertise in the Old Testament, Septuagint, the Hebrew Bible, the Synoptic Gospels and Apocryphal, Jewish magical and Kabbalistic sources that did not find their way into the Biblical canon, apart from her striking eloquence for female assertion and empowerment. Her learning is combined here with an evocative and vigorous, even uncompromising, writing style.
