Manoj Sharma

A Delhi village that celebrates Subhas Chandra Bose like no other

New Delhi: It is a balmy afternoon and Ran Singh is sitting in the courtyard of his house

‘Notorious’: Another tryst with infamy for Delhi’s Palika Bazar

By the mid-1980s, as the popularity of audio and video cassettes grew, many gifts and garments shops in the central hall of the market began selling electronics items.

Disabled face a job crisis in the post-Covid world

Rizwan Safi, 24, gets distressed every time his wife asks him about when he is returning to work

They have turned our lives upside down: Singhu village on farm laws, stir

The village is home to about 250 families. Being close to Delhi’s industrial areas such as Narela and Kundli, a rental economy has developed in the village over the years, but more than half of the families depend on agriculture.

Not making the cut: How coronavirus killed tailoring

These suave, English-speaking tailors, many of who learnt their craft in London, say they survived the ready-made revolution in the 1990s and the 2008 financial crisis—but the pandemic has pushed them to the brink.

India’s masala king, founder and face of MDH, dies at 97

Mahashay Dharampal Gulati, who died on Thursday at the age of 97 after a cardiac arrest, earned several sobriquets over the years: MDH Uncle, Dadaji and Masala King.

Final station: Pulp fiction on its last legs, say sellers

Long before the mobile phones came to the scene and water started selling in plastic bottles, these books were among the essential travel companions, especially on long train journeys.

Covid-19 pushes tourism in Delhi to the edge

Paharganj, once a bustling, thriving market whose entire economy depends on foreign tourists, is a microcosm of the devastation caused by the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the capital’s tourism sector.

Covid-19 warriors, survivors wield pen as pandemic inspires fiction

Dr Maheshwar Prasad Chaurasia always wanted to write a novel. In May, he attended a webinar on how to write and publish a book. At the workshop, his writing instructor suggested that he start his journey as an author with a non-fictional work. He decided to write a book on Delhi’s fight against the coronavirus disease pandemic.

Covid-19 warriors, survivors wield pen as pandemic inspires fiction

Dr Maheshwar Prasad Chaurasia always wanted to write a novel. In May, he attended a webinar on how to write and publish a book. At the workshop, his writing instructor suggested that he start his journey as an author with a non-fictional work. He decided to write a book on Delhi’s fight against the coronavirus disease pandemic.

Hit by pandemic, India’s circuses forced to walk financial tightrope

The Great Bombay Circus was to travel to Delhi where it has been regularly performing in places like Peeragarhi, Rajouri Garden and Karkardooma, in December.

‘Digital’ the buzzword for police in Covid-19 era

What started with Zoom calls for law-and-order meetings and WhatsApp for sending notices and summons to minimize touch and physical contact, has had a transformative effect on the Capital’s police, with many of its legacy processes and procedures going online.

Permissions, tests, masks, checks: How a Ramlila overcame the odds

The SBKK’s Ramlila has, over the years, seen the participation of some the biggest names in classical music and dance, and has figured prominently on the capital’s cultural calendar.

Domestic workers face Covid test, interviews as they return to work

Even five months after the easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions began, thousands of domestic workers — maids, cooks, nannies — have not been able to return to work since employers continue to see them as potential carriers of the coronavirus.

It’s a battle for survival for Delhi’s budget schools

Hundreds of Delhi’s budget schools in predominately migrant colonies and rural areas such as Hastal, Karawal Nagar, Sangam Vihar and Narela battle for survival as their fee collections drop by as much as 90% with thousands of students missing

Little bits of China all around us

Ashok Malhotra’s first-floor shop is a fascinating jewel in this crown. Almost all of the lights on display in his flickering shop, Malhotra informs us, are imported from the Guzhen, famous as China’s (and slowly the world’s) lighting capital.

A textbook problem: Schools shut, publishers count losses

A textbook problem: Schools shut, publishers count losses

The continued closure of schools and other educational institutions due to the Coronavirus pandemic has dealt a blow to the textbook industry, with booksellers and publishers experiencing an unprecedented decline in their business after decades of robust growth.

India’s first toy-making hub pins hopes on ‘vocal for local’

Planned in the late 1990s, the Toy City, where plots were allotted to over 100 toy makers, has wide, well- laid out, tree-lined roads and signage.

Last-mile lifeline for rickshaws with Delhi Metro set to resume

The fate of the humble rickshaw in the Capital has been closely tied to the Delhi Metro. With the Metro reopening from next week, rickshaw-pullers feel their lives too would be back on track

Sellers of school uniforms all dressed up but nowhere to go

Covid effect: As schools have remained shut since March 19 in the national capital, uniform sellers, manufacturers, and fabric suppliers have been hit hard; many of them have huge stocks that are yet to be picked up by vendors.

The making, unmaking and remaking of Mehar Chand Market

The story of the making and unmaking and the possibility of remaking of the Mehar Chand Market has been full of turns, both fortuitous and fateful.

How Covid-19 killed the economy of Delhi’s ‘coaching colonies’

Delhi has hundreds of institutes providing coaching for IAS, engineering, medical and a host of other competitive exams in places such as central Delhi’s Old Rajender Nagar, north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, and Jia Serai and Ber Serai in south Delhi, which together are home to about 1 lakh students.

Indian matchmaking hit hard in era of distancing and coronavirus

While a large number of them have had to permanently shut shop in the past three months, as business has nosedived like never before, those that have survived say finding a perfect match has never been so tough.

August 15 approaching, traders say tricolour sales lower than never before

With schools, colleges closed, and most government and private organisations deciding to keep their Independence Day celebrations low-key, the demand for the national flag, manufacturers and traders say, have dropped.

A lot of water has flown under this bridge: The Minto mark on Delhi’s history

Curiously, though Minto Bridge and Hardinge Bridge were renamed Shivaji Bridge and Tilak Bridge respectively, the first refused to shed its colonial name, unlike the latter, whose old name is known only to a few.

Scant space for social distance in Delhi’s congested walled city

Social distancing, a man living in Old Delhi says, is an oxymoron in old Delhi , which has a population of about 12 lakh crammed in an area of 6 square kilometres.

Hashtags replace placards as dharnas go online

Innovating and adapting, they now organise e- dharnas, e- strikes, e- memorandums and e- rallies—many of them on Zoom, their “Zantar Mantar.”

Bars that brought Connaught Place back to nightlife face closure

About a dozen restaurant, bars and cafes, have exited Connaught Place and industry sources say 50 others are on the verge of shut down because of high rents, new guidelines of reduced operating hours and ban on serving alcohol.

Bicycle sales ride on safety and health concerns

With Delhi’s gyms remaining closed and people avoiding public transport (even cabs) from fear of Covid-19, cycle sales are soaring in a city that used to swear by cars.