As we continue our climb, I meet 59-year-old Pushpa Devi from Banaras. I stare at her in wonderment when she tells me this is her 45th visit to the temple. She is equally bewildered to hear this is my first visit!What is it that draws her here each year? 'Bas ek shabd hai. Shraddha. (There is just one word. Faith.)'
'The TMC can't go on forever taking advantage of the people's fright of the BJP.'
'Rather than assuaging the feelings of the Hindus accommodated in schools and hospitals, she calls a meeting of imams and tries to assuage them.'
Hugely creative with a very evolved aesthetic sense, he made the Illustrated Weekly of India every young reporter's dream. Payal Singh Mohanka remembers Pritish Nandy who passed into the ages on January 8, 2025.
'The security guards at the stadium did not recognise him. He kept saying he was Zakir Hussain but they did not permit him to enter.' 'Zakir bhai was calm and told me it is not their fault. They were doing their job.'
'Accusations would be flung about his votes being stolen. He'll say dead people were voting from the grave.' Payal Singh Mohanka reports on the mood ahead of the US presidential election.
'She could have sat down with the students and taken a list of their grievances including their allegations and suspicions.' 'Not all suspicions are true, but you have to listen, you have to let the steam come out.'
'If she manages to throw out people, go for surgical operations, clean up her image, she will be victorious.'
'My primary point was where is the Mamata Banerjee who jumps and reaches out, starts talking directly and starts solving over the heads of the bureaucracy.'
'They were ahead of their times. We don't expect this from a civilisation of the first century AD.'
The anger and the anguish are on the rise. News of a botched-up post mortem, tampering of evidence, a hurried cremation has gone global, reports Payal Singh Mohanka from London.
Kolkata hangs its head in shame as the hope of a government with a moral compass and a heart in the right place recedes into the distance, notes Payal Singh Mohanka.
With over 3,000 species of plants, 26 interconnected lakes and the 250-year-old Great Banyan Tree -- the largest in the world -- the Indian Botanic Garden is a veritable treasure, discovers Payal Singh Mohanka.
Embracing the past and the present, Mexico City pulsates with warmth and vibrancy, discovers Payal Singh Mohanka.
'India and Canada have almost 200 years of shared history and migrations. This won't be the last of our partnership.'
'When one was with Mother, one realised you were with somebody who was the nearest person to God.' 'She must have been God incarnate.'
Three mentees pay homage to Sherna Gandhy, the legendary journalist and editor who passed into the ages on April 28 after a long battle with cancer.
India is a passion with him. He is immersed in India. But he cannot help worrying about India too.
The story of Iceland is the story of life, notes Payal Singh Mohanka after a recent journey to that fascinating land.
'I worked closely with Mother for decades, not once did she say become a Christian.'
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