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He Taught India How to Laugh at Itself: Reflections on Johnny Walker's Birth Centenary

Impressed by Kazi’s mimicry and raw acting skills, Dutt took a gamble on the bus conductor, cast him, and renamed him after his favourite Scotch — Johnny Walker.

Empowering Grandmothers in India and Africa: Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy, a Life of Relentless Rural Empowerment

Between 2005 and 2011, 140 African women, most of them grandmothers, traveled to Tilonia from villages in Africa to be trained as solar engineers. None of the women could read or write, nor could speak Hindi. So, they were taught using sign language and colour codes during their six-month-long training. By the time they finished the course and returned to their African villages they were qualified to install, maintain, and operate household, solar-powered lighting systems

Monetizing Folklore in Bangladesh's Modern Cultural Economy

Today, Bangladesh's young game designers and animators are going back to their roots. They are creating immersive gaming worlds that are based upon the mud, magic and monsoon of the Bengal Delta. By transforming their oral storytelling traditions into structured digital intellectual property rights, these studios are developing cross-media franchises. 

Revisiting a Bend in the Ganges: Ancient Indian City Offers an Eternal Lesson

Eventually, Kashi became a civilisational capital of India. Poets, saints, scholars, musicians, artisans, and even ordinary citizens helped shape the city. For millennia, seekers and scholars travelled from far and wide in search of knowledge, learning, and even emancipation. Its modern institutions carry that legacy forward. 

More on Culture, Literature, Society and Gender

Indian cricketer Suresh Raina, Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya get Sports Icon award from the Maldives

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

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

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