-kdzB-U102101791886U6-250x250%40HT-Web.jpg "Aarish Chhabra")
Aarish Chhabra is an assistant news editor at Chandigarh. He handles the regional online portal and social media team, besides reporting and writing primarily on politics and socio-cultural markers.
Articles by Aarish Chhabra
Jaspal Bhatti needs no recognition
There is this clothing and accessory brand called Happily Unmarried, most visibly available in Chandigarh at a mall in IT Park. For my EMI-affected salary, it’s overpriced, but the name and brand philosophy — its website says, “anti-established in 2003 with no vision and no business plans” — remind me of Jaspal Bhatti. Aarish Chhabra writes,
Updated on Oct 27, 2013 01:38 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
How to be a follower: A hurried man’s guide
Joy at Rs 4,000 a session. No, it’s not what it sounds like, you impure soul! I am talking about a readymade solution to all your agonies. Not necessarily involving bodily movements of the unseemly variety, this session is all about pure pleasure, an encounter with the guru in touch with the other side. Aarish Chhabra writes
Updated on Oct 20, 2013 03:49 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
Blowing away the message
What’s that guy’s name? The one in the anti-tobacco ad before the movie begins? Mukesh? He seems to have lived a miserable life - chewed gutkha, smoked away his lungs, suffered cancer and died a painful death. Even in death he hasn’t found peace, I am sure. Aarish Chhabra writes
Updated on Oct 13, 2013 11:33 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
PU the best in India, really?
It was my illegal shelter for over a year. My humble BA degree carries its logo. It has arguably the most beautiful university campus in India. It is also, as is well known, the alma mater of our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But I am sure I wasn’t the only one surprised at Panjab University suddenly becoming India’s best. Aarish Chhabra writes.
Updated on Oct 06, 2013 10:09 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
Papa, time to learn karate!
A couple of weeks ago, after an elderly woman was murdered when she was alone at home in Panchkula, HT ran a debate on whether the elderly are now more vulnerable to such crimes. Most people agreed that our senior citizens, particularly those whose kids don’t live with them, are soft targets indeed, but one reader emailed his response a day after the debate had already been published. Aarish Chhabra writes.
Updated on Sep 29, 2013 09:49 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
No place to do it
In the latest Irrfan Khan movie, The Lunchbox, the lead characters fall in love over snail mail but the movie ends before they can even meet. But the couple in the seat next to me more than made up for it, and the term tongue-lashing acquired a new meaning. Aarish Chhabra writes.
Updated on Sep 22, 2013 09:59 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
Can’t cope with his hotness
Cops can make your heart beat faster than usual, especially in a city where they actually work, like the helmet-loving Chandigarh. But it’s hard to find one who’d make you skip a beat. You won’t want to call this one a ‘thulla’ or ‘shapata’, certainly not ‘mama’ - meet sub-inspector Harinder Singh Sekhon. Aarish Chhabra writes
Updated on Sep 15, 2013 12:54 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
Poignant drama on 1984 riots wins short film award at Venice festival
Shubhashish Bhutiani’s 20-minute drama about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, ‘Kush’ has won the Best Short Film award at the 70th edition of the world’s oldest, Venice Film Festival in Italy.
Updated on Sep 12, 2013 11:08 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
Let’s play election-election
Creativity is the hallmark of DAV-10 students. No, I am not talking about Ayushmann Khurrana being a product of my alma mater. Don’t even mention Yuvraj Singh. This is about Amandeep Singh Bagria. Here are the basics if you’ve been living under a rock.
Updated on Sep 08, 2013 11:16 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
PU student polls, and why Chappal could not win
What ‘Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin’ did to Mona Singh’s character, the Panjab University student council elections did to our friend Chappal (real name with held due to security reasons). Aarish Chhabra writes.
Updated on Sep 01, 2013 01:17 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
Robbers in underpants, and a black undercurrent
On most days, black underpants are sexy. These days, you might receive a beating if you dare reveal them. Blame the kale kachhe wale robbers. For the uninitiated, these are robbers, real and imagined, dressed in nothing but black(kale) underpants (kachhe) roaming every corner of our towns and minds. Aarish Chhabra writes.
Updated on Aug 25, 2013 03:40 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
I've seen Lahore, I have been born
The cocooned Lahore we got to see through the bus windows was more of an impish young thing like Chandigarh than the self-assured grand old city of South Asia I'd read about. But I'm happy I am officially born now; as an old saying goes, "Jis Lahore ni dekhya, o jammya hi nai (One who has not seen Lahore has not been born)." Aarish Chhabra writes
Updated on Aug 18, 2013 09:32 AM IST
None | Aarish Chhabra
Vote for her, be free to say the F-word
I hereby demand that the Lok Sabha elections be held while the weather is still pleasant, not in May when they are due. Or, the polling booths should have ACs. Because this time, I actually want to cast my vote before I open my mouth to demand something. No, I am no AAP placard-holder or professional candle-lighter, and that's mainly because I don't like Arvind Kejriwal's dressing sense. Aarish Chhabra writes
Updated on Aug 11, 2013 04:45 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
HT Youth Forum honours the 'high fliers'
After a grand build-up through the month, and detailed reportage on their achievements, it was time again to honour 30 high fliers under the age of 30 from the northern region at the third annual HT Youth Forum in Chandigarh on Friday. Aarish Chhabra report.
Updated on Aug 11, 2013 01:08 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
Like at first sight, and that thing called friendship
We do not Like each other, but we like each other. For me and my favourite midnight pakoda-seller under the Zirakpur flyover, it's actually impossible to press that much-liked button on each other's Facebook profiles. Aarish Chhabra writes
Updated on Aug 04, 2013 10:53 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
Down with the teachers! Kids’ fantasy, ugly reality
Nostalgia isn’t as much fun when our unfiltered past is measured against possibilities that exist today. But there’s one possibility that has made me want to be in school again: the retrospective prospect of holding protest against my teachers. Aarish Chhabra writes.
Updated on Jul 28, 2013 10:28 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
Short film on '84 riots to premiere at Venice fest
A lone Sikh boy among a group of students, a school picnic, a protective teacher and the dark backdrop of the 1984 riots. That's the brief of Subhashish Bhutiani's 20-minute drama 'Kush', the only Indian movie to have made it to the 70th edition of the world's oldest film festival at Venice (Italy), to be held from August 28 to September 7.
Updated on Jul 27, 2013 03:54 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
Let's bash the govt, and read self-help in spare time
Three-legged race, lemon-and-spoon dash and, of course, antakshari - the leaflet has been delivered to each house, the focus areas are clear, the agenda is welfare. Whose agenda, and whose welfare, you wonder? I guess your area's Resident Welfare Association (RWA) isn't quite as pro-active as the one in my sector. Mine, in fact, uses the word 'active' in its name! Aarish Chhabra writes
Updated on Jul 21, 2013 03:51 PM IST
None | Aarish Chhabra
Ask yourself, do you love her the way you used to?
Ionce wrote on my Wall: ‘Delhi is like that wild party gal you’d kill to sleep with for a night, Bombay is the girl you’ll take to the movies for a one-off date, but Chandigarh is the first girlfriend whom you’d beg to take you back eventually, hopefully even marry.’ In my five-year, fulltime career as a Facebook user, this ‘status’ generated the most buzz. Reactions were extreme, always the case when you romance in public. Aarish Chhabra writes.
Updated on Jul 14, 2013 06:28 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra
4 days, 80 books: Scam out, schools told to check content
A judicial inquiry may have been ordered into the purchase scams in the Punjab education department, but minister Sikander Singh Maluka’s parallel cover-up is also underway. Aarish Chhabra reports
Updated on May 29, 2013 09:52 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
Maluka's tainted trio: Engine of the scam machine
In all recent scams exposed so far in the Punjab education department, senior Akali minister Sikander Singh Maluka has been carrying out his will through a three-member panel. The members remain the same, be it for the tenders and nomination of firms to supply practical notebooks, library books or lab kits, and even in map guides.
Updated on May 28, 2013 12:57 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
Badal orders judicial probe into Maluka's misdeeds
A day after Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Maluka said he was open to any investigation into the recent scams exposed so far in his department, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal ordered an inquiry by justice AN Jindal, a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court. However, no time frame has been fixed for the inquiry.
Updated on May 28, 2013 12:29 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra & Vishal Rambani, Chandigarh
Maluka whipped up scam for science kits too
Not rules but whims and fancies of minister Sikandar Singh Maluka seem to be the writ in the Punjab education department. In modus operandi similar to the scandal in purchase of library books, the minister ordered questionable tendering that set off a scam in the purchase of science laboratory kits for 754 schools worth R7.5 crore. Friend's friend was in competition to steal | Bajwa asks CM to remove Maluka | Poll:Should there be a CBI or judicial probe into the purchase scams in Punjab education department?
Updated on May 26, 2013 05:17 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
Maluka at the heart of library book scam
As the lid comes off a scam in purchase of library books for Punjab government schools, education minister Sikander Singh Maluka has emerged at the heart of the Rs 9.28-crore scandal. Maluka ignored all procedures and authorised director, public instructions, elementary, (DPI-E) to finalise the purchase, whereas it was actually to be done as per Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) authority’s norms. Aarish Chhabra and Vishal Rambani reports
Updated on May 25, 2013 01:04 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Vishal Rambani and Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
Minister acts over 'vulgar' books, mum on supply
Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Maluka on Wednesday suspended Surjit Singh Khuram, district education officer (DEO), Bathinda, for showing laxity in the matter of allegedly vulgar content of books supplied to schools.
Updated on May 23, 2013 02:15 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
Firm pocketing R9-cr SSA grant for books in Punjab
For two years, Punjab failed to use the grant for library books under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), and now when Rs 9.28 crore is being used, it's going into the pockets of an obscure supplier forced upon schools in violation of rules.
Updated on May 20, 2013 11:47 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra/Harpreet Kaur, Chandigarh/hoshiarpur
Caste words in books: publisher, editor get clean chit
A Barnala court on Thursday discharged publisher Amit Mittar and poet-editor Jagjeet Singh Sahoke, who had been jailed for several days in September last year for reprinting works of legendary kavishari writer Babu Rajab Ali (1894-1979) that carried caste-denoting words.
Updated on May 17, 2013 11:35 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh
Sister courage?
There’s something unsettling about Dalbir as she doesn’t look the stereotype of a small-town schoolteacher -- she is smarter, as she entered politics to make her brother’s case heard and managed to get the media and the VIP on her side. Aarish Chhabra reports. A long battle
Updated on May 10, 2013 01:58 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Bhikhiwind (tarn Taran)
Her brother's keeper? The story of Sarabjit's sister
Dalbir Kaur is the tragic heroine who fought for two decades for her brother Sarabjit Singh only to see him return in a coffin. Then there's the other Dalbir Kaur who's politically motivated and publicity-hungry feeding off his misfortune. Aarish Chhabra writes.
Updated on May 08, 2013 10:29 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Bhikhiwind (tarn Taran)
Pak girls' band shining light for Pragaash
If ever there was an example of how stereotypes are mere figments of an imagination stuck in time, this music band from Pakistan stands out. It is in this culture that Haniya suggests refuge for Pragaash, the first all-Kashmiri girl rock band of three from Srinagar (Kashmir) that has decided to stop performing after rape threats online and a fatwa over their allegedly un-Islamic vocation.
Updated on Feb 13, 2013 11:52 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Aarish Chhabra, Chandigarh