During Ram Navami procession (Photo: Youtube)

When festivals become tools of hatred not harmony

What needs to be understood for prevention is that most of the time these processions, which are well armed, deliberately decide to pass through Muslim majority areas, with loud music and provocative and abusive slogans. It has become a pattern that someone will climb over the mosque and replace the green flag with saffron flag and the crowds down below dance and give a big applause.

'Blasphemy' fears threaten centuries-old interfaith harmony in historic Pakistan district on India border

"Hindus and Muslims are one Sindhi nation. No extremist can divide us. We Hindus do not show disrespect towards the Kaaba," said Hindu teacher Khushal Premee. “We do not even sleep with our feet pointed in that direction,” he said, listing other ways in which his community shows respect to their Muslim neighbours in Umerkot

Ratan Tata: Business with a gentlemanly grace

Minus any of the JRD charisma, and in fact distinctly uncharismatic as he was, Ratan Tata still stood out as a gentlemanly leader who kept a sense of grace and an understated manner in a business world that has gotten all too loud and flamboyant

Ratan Tata: A business legend who set an example in humility and altruism

To my mind Ratan Tata’s greatest gift to the group was that he consolidated all the Tata companies under one umbrella with tighter control and mandated them to do more social work.

More on Medley

First-of-its-kind museum to conserve sacred trees of Sikhism

Punjab Governor V.P. Singh Badnore on Monday virtually inaugurated the first-of-its-kind Museum of Trees -- a unique environmental project here for conservation of sacred trees of Sikhism after which many Sikh gurudwaras are named

‘World’s loneliest elephant’ in Pakistan finds a new life

For years no one cared for his fate; he lived a lonely life, much in chains, for 35 years in a Pakistani zoo, where he had come as a gift from Sri Lanka

Google doodle marks Munier Chowdhury's 95th birth anniversary

Search giant Google has created a new doodle on its homepage in Bangladesh, celebrating the life of Bangladeshi playwright Munier Chowdhury to mark the 95th anniversary of his birth

A Maldives getaway for Bollywood stars

The Maldives has become the new haunt of Bollywood actors. From Katrina Kaif, Disha Patani, Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, Aadar Jain, Varun Dhawan, Tapsee Pannu to Rakul Preet Singh, Angad Bedi and Neha Dhupia, Sonakshi Sinha, well the list is endless, all have visited the Indian Ocean paradise recently

Kashmir's Tibet Baqaal family says they are tortured for keeping Sufi tradition alive

Aadil Tibet Baqaal, 40, teaches music in the Kashmir University's Institute of Music and Fine Arts, keeping up the tradition of his legendary grandfather, Mohammad Abdullah Tibet Baqaal whose voice still continues to stir hearts and minds of Kashmiris cutting across religious barriers

Rajasthan's Champa Ram beats all odds to get into IIT Madras

Resident of a remote village in Rajasthan's Jodhpur district, Champa Ram recently secured admission in IIT Madras - Civil Engineering department after beating all odds, including losing his mother and father while he was preparing for the IIT

OTT wave takes flavors of India into global showbiz space

Slowly but surely, India and Indianness are foraying the world of showbiz in the West, and much of it has to do with the country's growing presence in the OTT space

Former Nepal cricket captain Khadka nominated for ICC’s associate player of decade

Former Nepalese cricket team captain Paras Khadka was nominated by the International Cricket Council for the ICC men’s Associate Player of the decade on Tuesday

'Delhi Crime' wins International Emmy for Best Drama Series

The acclaimed Indian web series "Delhi Crime" has won the Best Drama Series award at the 48th International Emmy Awards, held virtually this year owing to the ongoing Covid pandemic

British social worker braves dengue, Covid, Cobra-bite in Rajasthan

A Briton social worker who has been coming to India to help local artisans through his charity organisation combated dengue, malaria and corona but came out of all the challenges unscathed

Nepal's museums reopen after eight months

Since March, Nepal’s museum curators have been in deep despair due to the extended Covid-19 lockdown, and the ban on public gatherings

Religious fellow feeling at Chhat: When a Muslim man helped in a Hindu festival

The Chhat festival is largely celebrated in Bihar, in eastern India, where women pay tributes to the sun god in thanksgiving for the bounty of nature

'Hyderabad's Nizam never discriminated against people on basis of religion'

Seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last ruler of erstwhile Hyderabad State and the architect of THE modern city of Hyderabad, was a visionary who never discriminated against people on the basis of religion, says his grandson Nawab Mir Najaf Ali Khan

Theatres have reopened in India but trade looks for 'one pan-India film' to change fortunes

Ever since cinemas reopened in parts of India as part of the unlock process, a few new releases -- including Hollywood films -- have hit the big screen. Trade experts say regular Hollywood popcorn flicks will not help bring the crowds back to theatres, nor will small Bollywood releases

Spreading the message of Sufism through Urdu hip hop

Hip hop and Urdu may make strange bedfellows as also hip hop and Sufism, but an Urdu hip-hop band has come out with an album with a strange fusion of rap music with a Sufi message and mostly Urdu lyrics