Former India cricketer Suresh Raina and former Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya were felicitated with the prestigious Sports Icon award at the Maldives Sports Awards 2022 by the Maldives government
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
Mohenjo-daro’s ‘Dancing Girl’: The Silence Surrounding Women in Public History
Mohenjo-daro offers South Asia an opportunity to look backwards without dividing the past into national possessions, and to recognise that the region’s cultural memory is older and more interconnected than its modern inheritors.
How a Film by a Boston-Based Immigrant is Dismantling the Model-Minority Concept
Jam Boy represents a much-needed question for the South Asia diaspora, about why it takes a third aggressor for us to see the common struggles that we share, and why it is only in these situations that we remember that our ideas of home are the same.
More on Soft Power, Culture and Society
Jaipur 2.0: Keeping the flame of freedom alive
The Jaipur Literature Festival once again created that avenue where not only did the readers get a chance to listen to and interact with their favourite writers, but the writing fraternity too engaged in constructive conversations as opposed to destructive criticism, writes Saket Suman for South Asia Monitor
Sans music and female cast, Taliban controlled Afghan film company screens two documentaries
Afghan Film, Afghanistan’s state-run film production company, now controlled by a Taliban grandee, screened two documentaries as “entertainment programs” - but without featuring any female actor and music, a stark reminder of the tectonic cultural and social changes the country has gone through when the Islamists seized power in August last year
Pakistani girl evacuated by Indian embassy thanks PM Modi
If war brings out the worst in people, it also brings to the fore humanity's nobler instincts when India evacuated a stranded Pakistani girl along with Indian students from war-hit Ukraine resulting in the Pakistan girl publicly thanking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian Embassy
‘Lunana, A Yak in the Classroom”: Bhutan’s Oscar entry to encourage its small film industry
‘Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom’, a Bhutanese film, shot by just 35 local crew in a remote far western Bhutanese village, was among five films nominated for an Oscar award last month in the International Feature Film category—a first for the Himalayan country of 750,000 people
Tanzanian video blogger is 'inspired' by Modi's praise
Tanzanian video blogger and content creator Kili Paul, whose song and dance videos lip-syncing Indian hits with his sister Neema are a huge hit with Indian audiences, and have been praised by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has said he was thrilled to bits by the Prime Minister's compliment and it has "inspired me a million times"
Child marriages: A perennial social and legal challenge in Pakistan
Despite years of efforts by the government, child marriages in Pakistan continue to remain a major challenge for authorities
Heart to heart: Tamil Nadu man's heart bridges distance to save life of woman from Kashmir in India
A beating human heart travelled 350 km, from a man from Tamil Nadu in south India to a woman from the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, whose only hope of survival was early life-saving heart transplantation
Tanzania's Indian music lover, with huge social media following, is honored
The Indian High Commission in Tanzania honored internet sensation Kili Paul, the content creator from Tanzania in East Africa, who is famous on Instagram and other social platforms for lip-syncing and grooving to popular Indian hits
When a Pakistani fan wanted to see Kohli’s century in Pakistan
Love for cricket knows no boundaries. And when it comes to fan following, former Indian captain and star batsman Virat Kohli has plenty in Pakistan, despite the two nations sharing frosty relations
Poor Indian peanut seller, whose song went viral globally, finally gets some money from music label - but fans say is it enough?
His "Kacha Badam" (raw, crunchy peanut) song has become a global hit over the internet with people from Asia to Africa to Europe grooving to its peppy rhythm
Ten-year-old Indian from Dubai hailed as 'world's youngest yoga instructor'
At the age of nine years and 220 days, an Indian boy set a Guinness World Record by becoming the world's youngest certified yoga instructor
Fearing abusive father, Bangladesh girl flees to India; rescued by India's border guards
Amid recurring incidents of midnight cattle smuggling and border killings of illegal "inflitrators", there are also occasional tales of fellow-feeling and human warmth like that of a 15-year-old Bangladeshi girl, fleeing her abusive father, crossed the India-Bangla international border into India’s West Bengal and was rescued by the Border Security Force (BSF)
Bill Gates gets Pakistan's top civilian award; praises the country's polio eradication efforts
Pakistan awarded Bill Gates, billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder, one of its top civilian honors in recognition of his service in the field of poverty alleviation and diseases like polio and tuberculosis control
Helping Kashmiris become doctors: Indian Army's unusual non-combat role
Battling negative perceptions about its security role in Kashmir and its alleged involvement in human rights violations, the Indian Army has embarked on a series of measures that are earning the force the goodwill of the local population
