The ‘peacemongers’ vowed to not only continue talking to each other, but to continue talking until they achieve their dream, their Sapan, of a South Asia with soft borders, or at least, ease of visas.
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.
Goals Beyond Borders: Can Bangladesh Leverage its Football Craze as a Soft-power Tool?
Beyond the ambassadors of Brazil, Argentina, and Norway, the ambassadors of France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Morocco, and Egypt have also been drawing on their countries' football heritage to deepen cultural engagement with the football-crazy people of Bangladesh.
Name Change and Memory Archives: Striking Divergence Between India and Pakistan
Ironically, while India continues to rename roads and institutions associated with its medieval and colonial past, Pakistan’s Punjab province has begun moving in the opposite direction.
More on Soft Power, Culture and Society
Bollywood films building up majoritarian narratives with an eye on elections?
The common theme is a tilting of truth and in most cases glorification of Hindu nationalist icons. The clever undermining of truth and building up of ‘fiction as fact’ is the underlying theme of most of these films.
Bangladesh's future will depend in many ways on the foreign policy choices it makes
Attention must also be paid to the changing structural dynamics within South Asia where countries (including Bangladesh) are increasingly working with each other, moving away from a primarily India-driven engagement within the neighbourhood.
Unraveling "Gandi Baat": Popular Bollywood culture needs to embrace responsible storytelling, eschew misogyny
"Gandi Baat" serves as a microcosm of a larger issue within popular culture, normalizing the silencing of female voices and perpetuating harmful behaviors.
What the Jamnagar 'pre-wedding' gala tells us about Indian society
The postcards from Jamnagar frame some other stories that have emerged as a theme in the 'New India'. These are stories of unrivalled pomp and power, of material riches beyond compare, of an elite space where forces work differently from the way they work elsewhere on the planet.
A Sri Lanka-Pakistan people-to-people journey: An island man’s mountain quest with a larger cause
Everywhere I went I was greeted with great warmth and hospitality. It is a symbol of the decades-long ‘Enduring Friendship’ between the peoples of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh, SAARC and a chequered history
My passion was to strengthen SAARC, and I strongly felt that Rao’s decision was not appropriate.
Ghazal king Pankaj Udhas: A soft, reassuring emblem of diaspora yearning
For diaspora Indians around the world, Udhas became an emblem of their pining for their home back in India with his 1986 raging hit “Chitthi Aayi Hai” from the movie ‘Naam’, written by Anand Bakshi and composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal.
Nationalism a dominant frame in global media narratives; India no exception
The mainstream Indian media, a section of which has mostly been a subject of the nationalist government’s monopolistic control, has often served the ends of the dominant elite
Macbeth on the banks of the Sabarmati
Sharply directed by Massimiliano Troiani, Sarabhai’s ‘Macbeth’ is an allegorical musical interpretation of this Shakespearean classic about power at any cost.
Who is afraid of AI? It will always be a slave rather than a master
There is no feeling or empathy in AI. It can churn huge numbers and will be able to analyze, “think” and react to external inputs but has no wisdom and feelings. Till that happens humans will always have an upper hand.
Ameen Sayani: The father of radio entertainment in the Indian subcontinent
Since his was the only hit parade of its kind for at least two and half decades, Sayani became a formidable name within the Hindi cinema industry.
Ekushey February: Embodying a nation's zeal for its culture and heritage
The whole world now recognizes the spirit and zeal for our culture and heritage. Bangladesh's people's sacrifices will be truly appreciated and commemorated when every nation imbibes the sense to pay proper homage to their linguistic heritage.
The ubiquitous influence of social media and rise of unsocial beings
Facebook has become a tool for spreading hatred, sexual perversion and extremism. When people comment on sensitive topics like religion and gender, many cross the line of decency.
Studying the science of migratory birds - and what they tell us about the state of the environment
Keeping track of the migratory birds visiting the university campus, and how the impact of climate change would impact the migration of migratory birds, are among the subjects being promoted for research in universities across the globe. These include Beijing University, Royal University of Bhutan, University of SJP in Sri Lanka, HNB Garhwal University in India which are in the network of the Green TERRE Foundation.
