News / Author / Manoj Sharma

Manoj Sharma

Manoj Sharma is Metro Features Editor at Hindustan Times. He likes to pursue stories that otherwise fall through the cracks.

Articles by Manoj Sharma

Toy industry’s Make in India moment

NCR has over 100 small and medium enterprises making toys. Most of these enterprises, which were struggling to survive until a couple of years ago, are now on an expansion drive, and they attribute the turnaround in their fortunes to a slew of government interventions in the past couple of years

Jitender Singh with his daughters at their toy manufacturing unit in Kundli. (HT Photo)

cities

Updated on Sep 05, 2022 01:03 PM IST

ByManoj Sharma

Remember Campa Cola? It is set to return this Diwali

The soft drink brand is back in the news with Reliance acquiring Campa from the Pure Drinks Group, and is planning to relaunch it nationally by Diwali in three flavours -- the iconic original, and lemon and orange variants

The company positioned Campa as a “Made in India” drink and said it had “Great Indian Taste”. (HT Photo)

cities

Published on Sep 01, 2022 07:48 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

An unprecedented scramble to meet record Tricolour demand

“Usually, in the build-up to August 15, I make around 5,000 national flags a day. But this year, I’m making over 100,000 every day. And even after that, the phone just doesn’t stop ringing,” says Ansari, who runs Bharat Handloom Cloth House in Delhi’s Sadar Bazar.

Among the recent orders he turned down was one for nine million flags.(HT PHOTO.)

cities

Updated on Jul 30, 2022 05:25 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

With all Afghanistan flights cut off, Delhi’s ‘Little Kabul’ takes a beating

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 15,559 Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in India, and most of them are in Delhi.

The area got the sobriquet because of the presence of a large number of Afghan establishments — restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies, and guest houses — most of which catered to Afghans, who travelled to Delhi for medical treatment, education, and business.(HT )

cities

Updated on Jul 12, 2022 10:23 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

Delhi: From a granary to creative business street

For the uninitiated, Dhan Mill Compound, a former granary and a cluster of warehouses, has morphed into the city’s modish food, fashion, design and lifestyle destination.

A view of Dhan Mill Compound at 100 Feet Road, Chhatarpur, in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, July 2, 2022. (Photo by Amal KS/Hindustan Times)

cities

Updated on Jul 05, 2022 07:46 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

Hindi novels turn a page after Booker fillip

Amod Maheshwari, the CEO of the family owned Rajkamal Prakashan, a well-known Hindi publishing house, which had published Ret Samadhi in Hindi, in 2018, sent out a message to his printers to print 15,000 copies of the book by the next day.

Copies of Reth Samadhi on display at Faqir Chand Bookstore, in Khan Market. (Sanchit Khanna/HT photo)

india news

Updated on Jun 13, 2022 11:29 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Growth is mushrooming: Delhi farmers harvest success at temp-controlled farms

In the last two years of the pandemic, over a hundred mushroom farms have come up in Delhi-NCR, especially in outer Delhi’s Najafgarh, Bawana, and Bakhtawar areas

Rakesh Kumar and Amit Bhatnagar at their mushroom farm in Tatesar village, New Delhi. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

cities

Updated on Jun 06, 2022 02:57 PM IST

ByManoj Sharma

Gramin Sewa autos chug on despite unchanged fare

Most drivers have operated the autos at a minimum fare of ₹5 for the first 3km for 12 years now, even amid the sharp increase in fuel prices

Gramin Sewa autorickshaw drivers wait for passengers at Shastri Park Metro station. (Raj K Raj/HT photo)

cities

Updated on May 23, 2022 01:02 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

Uncertainties of pandemic era build traction for the common man’s biographies

The Covid-19 pandemic shutdown when life came to a grinding halt led to common people writing their autobiographies, memoirs, or biographies of their family members, and publish them on their own.

Uncertainties of pandemic era build traction for biographies

cities

Updated on May 16, 2022 04:58 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

DU at 100: Schools of excellence made a varsity shine brighter

In early 1946, Dr BN Ganguly, who taught economics at Hindu College, invited his student PN Dhar and former colleague Prof VKRV Rao for dinner. It was a conversation that eventually led to the birth of the Delhi School of Economics (DSE).

The convocation of the Delhi School of Economics in 1950-51. (DU Archives)

cities

Updated on May 03, 2022 12:15 PM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

DU at 100: The judge who envisioned DU as a miniature Oxbridge

Born in London on 25 April 1878, Maurice Gwyer was appointed the vice-chancellor of the Delhi University in 1938. In fact, he had been also appointed the first chief justice of the Federal Court of India, a year earlier in 1937

Sir Maurice Gwyer, a former chief justice, who served as DU vice-chancellor between 1938 and 1950. (Amal KS/HT/Courtesy: DU archives)

cities

Updated on May 02, 2022 05:39 PM IST

ByManoj Sharma

DU at 100: Delhi and its university: How an institution helped shape a city

The first three universities in India were established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1854. A 1917 commission set up to suggest improvements in Calcutta University paved the way for an independent varsity for the new imperial capital

Delhi University was established as a unitary, teaching and residential university with three constituent colleges -- St Stephen’s, Hindu, and Ramjas -- on May 1, 1992. (Amal KS/HT)

cities

Updated on May 02, 2022 05:35 PM IST

ByManoj Sharma

Samosa to kulfi, tea to pakoras, street food in Delhi gets pricier

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year, prices of crude oil and edible oils have been on the rise. India’s annual retail inflation shot up to a 17-month high in March.

Street food vendors at Laxmi Nagar metro station. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

cities

Published on May 01, 2022 11:43 PM IST

ByManoj Sharma

The judge who envisioned Delhi University as a miniature Oxbridge

Maurice Gwyer, was appointed the vice-chancellor of the Delhi University in 1938, is widely credited with single-handedly transforming it.

A file photo of Delhi University’s St Stephen's college. (Rishi Ballabh/HT Photo)

cities

Published on Apr 30, 2022 03:19 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

Delhi and its university: How an institution helped shape a city

The first three universities in India were established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1854. Delhi just had three colleges — Ramjas, Hindu and St Stephen’s. A 1917 commission set up to suggest improvements in Calcutta University paved the way for an independent varsity for the new imperial capital.

The Delhi University will complete 100 years on Sunday. (Amal KS/HT file photo)

cities

Updated on Apr 30, 2022 04:52 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

Landless in Bakkargarh: A village suffers for its role in Revolt of 1857

Bakkargarh is perhaps the only village in Delhi where almost 90% of the land is owned by people outside the village.

Dharampal Singh( in white kurta) in Bakkargarh village in Delhi(HT)

cities

Updated on Apr 25, 2022 01:20 PM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

‘It’s Greek to us’: Sectors in G Noida to get fresh names

Narain wanted it to have better infrastructure than Noida, and one of his concerns, as he set about planning the brand new city, was to find a nomenclature for its neighbourhoods that would suit a futuristic city.

Greater Noida’s Greek sector names are often a source of humour and confusion for its residents. HT photo

cities

Published on Apr 18, 2022 05:51 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

At Delhi’s Daryaganj, bibliophiles can weigh their options — literally

Daryaganj may no longer be home to the iconic Sunday Book Bazar, a 50-year old popular weekly books market that was shifted to the nearby Mahila Haat about two years ago, but over a dozen permanent bookshops have come up in the central Delhi market in the past few years.

Most of these bookshops in Daryaganj used to be garment and shoe shops until a few years back. Today, there is a huge demand for space for bookshops in the market, and some of those looking to open bookshops are those who used to sell books in the Sunday Book Bazar. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

cities

Updated on Mar 21, 2022 10:41 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

Said-ul-Ajaib village carves its niche as unlikely start-up hub in south Delhi

Over 100 early-stage startups have made the south Delhi area their home, operating out of its multi-storey buildings and several co-working spaces.

Said-ul-Ajaib village is home to many employees working in its startups.(HT Photo)

cities

Updated on Mar 14, 2022 12:38 PM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

Café culture a whiff of fresh air for Delhi’s Najafgarh

A café culture is brewing in Najafgarh, with several trendy cafes and restaurants coming up in the past two years of the pandemic.

Even as the pandemic put paid to several eateries across the city, Najafgarh drifted towards European-style cafés. (HT Photo)

cities

Updated on Feb 28, 2022 05:21 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

Saving the written word from the pandemic’s assault

Educators, handwriting experts and occupational therapists say that two years of online classes have taken a severe toll on children’s handwriting. A survey published last year also said that the handwriting of around 75% of the students in the country had been adversely affected.

An instructor tends to a student during a cursive writing session at Likhavat Academy, in Kamla Nagar, New Delhi. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

cities

Updated on Feb 14, 2022 06:41 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

In Jewar resettlement town, new homes, life bring new challenges

Developed by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida), the township will house over 3,500 families from the acquired villages. Over 600 families have moved in, some with their buffaloes as well as new cars bought with compensation money.

Vijay Pal Chauhan (65), a former resident of Rohi who shifted to the resettlement town in November last year, is one of several people struggling to navigate life away from the village. (HT)

cities

Updated on Jan 31, 2022 12:11 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, New Delhi

Bleak times for an ecosystem amid Delhi Metro's stop-start Covid journey

Many Delhi Metro stations such as Barakhamba Road, which, before the pandemic witnessed swarms of people, today look jarringly empty

A near vacant fast food joint in Kashmere Gate Metro station. (HT)

cities

Updated on Jan 24, 2022 02:10 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Zamrudpur is cooking up a revolution in cloud kitchens

Md Shamim, a delivery executive with an online food aggregator, says that since the Delhi government banned dine-in at restaurants last week, the number of deliveries he makes every day has almost doubled

A delivery executive waits for the order outside a cloud kitchen in Zamrudpur (HT)

cities

Updated on Jan 17, 2022 01:59 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

Kathputli live: Musicians, puppeteers of Delhi colony to get digital viewers

Hundreds of performing artistes and craftsmen in Kathputli Colony, perhaps the country’s biggest community of performing artistes, have taken to technology in a big way in the past two years of the pandemic.

The artistes are rehearsing for Kathputli Utsav, an online art festival to be hosted in February by the University of Manchester in the UK for the artistes of the colony.

india news

Published on Jan 10, 2022 05:59 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

How Covid killed the calendar

Paper calendars survived the digital age, but their sales have suffered a massive drop in the past two years of the pandemic, what with unprecedented disruption in social, personal and professional lives, rendering calendaring not- so- necessary

A calendar seller at Nai Sarak in old Delhi, which is home to some of India’s biggest calendar companies. (HT Photo)

cities

Updated on Jan 03, 2022 07:07 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

For beggars in Delhi, a training drive may hold beacon of hope

Sanjay Kumar Kushwaha, 25, is listening intently to his trainer as he tells a class of 25 students, all beggars on the streets of Delhi until a month back, about various tools of painting a wall—brush, roller, sandpapers and their uses

New Delhi, India - Dec. 6, 2021: Homeless people participate in a vocational training program by the Delhi Government, at Ashray Griha, Katra Maula Bux, Roshanara Road, in New Delhi , India, on Monday, December 6, 2021. (Photo by Amal KS / Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

cities

Published on Dec 13, 2021 12:25 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

Delhi: Mughlai hub Jama Masjid area getting a continental makeover

Jama Masjid area is undergoing a quiet, invisible transformation as a food destination, thanks to many upwardly mobile youngsters who are opening new fine dining restaurants and European-style cafés

The Ebony cafe has emerged as a popular hangout in Jama Masjid area. (Amal KS/Hindustan Times)

cities

Updated on Dec 06, 2021 06:46 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

Key skills: Typewriter finds its place despite digital onslaught

Delhi has many typewriting institutes, where hundreds of aspirants for various government jobs requiring a typing speed test are trained on old Remingtons and Godrej typewriters, even as laptops and touch screens hold sway.

Students at the Ashoka Typing College in Laxmi Nagar. (Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times)

cities

Updated on Nov 29, 2021 12:04 AM IST

ByManoj Sharma

For clockmakers in old Delhi, time is a friend and an enemy

Quartz and digital clocks, they say, are more accurate but they have depreciated the timepieces and their profession.

Suhail Akhtar, a clockmaker at his shop near Jama Masjid, is considered an encyclopedia on mechanical clocks.(Ht Photo/Sanchit Khanna)

cities

Updated on Nov 10, 2021 08:35 PM IST

ByManoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Copy

Whatsapp Twitter Facebook Linkedin

Manoj Sharma

Manoj Sharma is Metro Features Editor at Hindustan Times. He likes to pursue stories that otherwise fall through the cracks.

NCR has over 100 small and medium enterprises making toys. Most of these enterprises, which were struggling to survive until a couple of years ago, are now on an expansion drive, and they attribute the turnaround in their fortunes to a slew of government interventions in the past couple of years

The soft drink brand is back in the news with Reliance acquiring Campa from the Pure Drinks Group, and is planning to relaunch it nationally by Diwali in three flavours -- the iconic original, and lemon and orange variants

“Usually, in the build-up to August 15, I make around 5,000 national flags a day. But this year, I’m making over 100,000 every day. And even after that, the phone just doesn’t stop ringing,” says Ansari, who runs Bharat Handloom Cloth House in Delhi’s Sadar Bazar.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 15,559 Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in India, and most of them are in Delhi.

For the uninitiated, Dhan Mill Compound, a former granary and a cluster of warehouses, has morphed into the city’s modish food, fashion, design and lifestyle destination.

Amod Maheshwari, the CEO of the family owned Rajkamal Prakashan, a well-known Hindi publishing house, which had published Ret Samadhi in Hindi, in 2018, sent out a message to his printers to print 15,000 copies of the book by the next day.

In the last two years of the pandemic, over a hundred mushroom farms have come up in Delhi-NCR, especially in outer Delhi’s Najafgarh, Bawana, and Bakhtawar areas

Most drivers have operated the autos at a minimum fare of ₹5 for the first 3km for 12 years now, even amid the sharp increase in fuel prices

The Covid-19 pandemic shutdown when life came to a grinding halt led to common people writing their autobiographies, memoirs, or biographies of their family members, and publish them on their own.

In early 1946, Dr BN Ganguly, who taught economics at Hindu College, invited his student PN Dhar and former colleague Prof VKRV Rao for dinner. It was a conversation that eventually led to the birth of the Delhi School of Economics (DSE).

Born in London on 25 April 1878, Maurice Gwyer was appointed the vice-chancellor of the Delhi University in 1938. In fact, he had been also appointed the first chief justice of the Federal Court of India, a year earlier in 1937

The first three universities in India were established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1854. A 1917 commission set up to suggest improvements in Calcutta University paved the way for an independent varsity for the new imperial capital

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year, prices of crude oil and edible oils have been on the rise. India’s annual retail inflation shot up to a 17-month high in March.

Maurice Gwyer, was appointed the vice-chancellor of the Delhi University in 1938, is widely credited with single-handedly transforming it.

Bakkargarh is perhaps the only village in Delhi where almost 90% of the land is owned by people outside the village.

Narain wanted it to have better infrastructure than Noida, and one of his concerns, as he set about planning the brand new city, was to find a nomenclature for its neighbourhoods that would suit a futuristic city.

Daryaganj may no longer be home to the iconic Sunday Book Bazar, a 50-year old popular weekly books market that was shifted to the nearby Mahila Haat about two years ago, but over a dozen permanent bookshops have come up in the central Delhi market in the past few years.

Over 100 early-stage startups have made the south Delhi area their home, operating out of its multi-storey buildings and several co-working spaces.

A café culture is brewing in Najafgarh, with several trendy cafes and restaurants coming up in the past two years of the pandemic.

Educators, handwriting experts and occupational therapists say that two years of online classes have taken a severe toll on children’s handwriting. A survey published last year also said that the handwriting of around 75% of the students in the country had been adversely affected.

Developed by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida), the township will house over 3,500 families from the acquired villages. Over 600 families have moved in, some with their buffaloes as well as new cars bought with compensation money.

Many Delhi Metro stations such as Barakhamba Road, which, before the pandemic witnessed swarms of people, today look jarringly empty

Md Shamim, a delivery executive with an online food aggregator, says that since the Delhi government banned dine-in at restaurants last week, the number of deliveries he makes every day has almost doubled

Hundreds of performing artistes and craftsmen in Kathputli Colony, perhaps the country’s biggest community of performing artistes, have taken to technology in a big way in the past two years of the pandemic.

Paper calendars survived the digital age, but their sales have suffered a massive drop in the past two years of the pandemic, what with unprecedented disruption in social, personal and professional lives, rendering calendaring not- so- necessary

Sanjay Kumar Kushwaha, 25, is listening intently to his trainer as he tells a class of 25 students, all beggars on the streets of Delhi until a month back, about various tools of painting a wall—brush, roller, sandpapers and their uses

Jama Masjid area is undergoing a quiet, invisible transformation as a food destination, thanks to many upwardly mobile youngsters who are opening new fine dining restaurants and European-style cafés

Delhi has many typewriting institutes, where hundreds of aspirants for various government jobs requiring a typing speed test are trained on old Remingtons and Godrej typewriters, even as laptops and touch screens hold sway.

Quartz and digital clocks, they say, are more accurate but they have depreciated the timepieces and their profession.

Join Hindustan Times

Create free account and unlock exciting features like