For India, the guiding principle should remain clear: Engage Bangladesh as a sovereign nation and society rather than through the prism of any individual leader or political party, suggests Manoj Mohanka.
For the foreseeable future, the most likely outcome remains continuation of the status quo. Taiwan will remain self-governing without formally declaring independence, while China continues to apply sustained pressure short of war, predict Krishnan Srinivasan and Manoj Mohanka.
The BJP must respect Bengal's pluralistic ethos and with this historic mandate give the state the constructive change it truly deserves, expects Kolkata native Payal Singh Mohanka.
'A genuine tribute to Dr Ambedkar does not lie in selective invocation. It lies in asking a harder question: Is the Constitution still doing its job -- restraining even assertive majorities?' asks Manoj Mohanka.
I learn that success isn't measured in metres gained but in how we handle the moment when plans dissolve. The mountain doesn't grade on completion -- only on presence and effort, discovers Manoj Mohanka.
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu assures a clean investigation into the Air India plane crash, dismissing concerns of manipulation. The statement follows calls for a judicial probe and criticism of selective leaks from the preliminary report.
France today increasingly resembles the Italy of the past, when governments fell with bewildering regularity, prime ministers came and went in rapid succession, and political instability became the norm rather than the exception, point out Krishnan Srinivasan and Manoj Mohanka.
'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.
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.
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.)'
'Rather than assuaging the feelings of the Hindus accommodated in schools and hospitals, she calls a meeting of imams and tries to assuage them.'
Embracing the past and the present, Mexico City pulsates with warmth and vibrancy, discovers Payal Singh Mohanka.
'The TMC can't go on forever taking advantage of the people's fright of the BJP.'
Law enforcement officials from the US Department of Homeland Security have started visiting gurdwaras in New York and New Jersey to check for the presence of illegal immigrants, drawing a sharp reaction from some Sikh organisations which see such actions as a threat to the sanctity of their faith. The Trump administration has rescinded the Biden administration's guidelines that protected places of worship from immigration enforcement actions, leading to concerns that gurdwaras are being targeted. Sikh organisations argue that gurdwaras are not just places of worship but also vital community centres and that surveillance and raids by armed law enforcement would burden religious exercise and limit the ability of Sikhs to gather and associate with one another.
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.
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.
'If she manages to throw out people, go for surgical operations, clean up her image, she will be victorious.'
'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.'
'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.'
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.
'I worked closely with Mother for decades, not once did she say become a Christian.'
'When one was with Mother, one realised you were with somebody who was the nearest person to God.' 'She must have been God incarnate.'
Twenty five years after her passing, Mother Teresa's congregation continues to work selflessly in the homes she set up for abandoned babies, leprosy victims and the dying destitute, reports Payal Singh Mohanka.
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.
While Prime Minister Modi grapples with serious matters of State so very successfully, may I urge that he focus just a bit of attention on the economy, says Manoj Mohanka.
The story of Iceland is the story of life, notes Payal Singh Mohanka after a recent journey to that fascinating land.
India is a passion with him. He is immersed in India. But he cannot help worrying about India too.
'The BJP's modus operandi is not just to be intolerant of dissent, it is to create mistrust and doubt between communities and the electoral process itself.'
'In Bengal it is a very sad way in which the party is faring. I don't have high hopes.'
Today, the two countries, ruthlessly divided by the Radcliffe line that pierced their very heart, grapple with the political challenges of the present. Yet, when friendships develop there are no borders, observes Payal Singh Mohanka.
'It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.' This is what Mother Teresa taught the nuns and her co-workers.
If the BJP wins Bengal, would Kishor's indiscretions have played a significant role in that victory? Victory for the TMC would be another badge of honour in his CV, but defeat would raise an unsavoury question: Which party was Kishor actually working for? asks Payal Singh Mohanka.
The MP from East Burdwan, who defected to the BJP last December, has been put on 'probation' by the TMC, which he wants to rejoin.
From our archives: Payal Singh Mohanka on the Indian hockey legend who passed into the ages on Thursday.
'She has just one objective. To win the next election. Nothing else matters.'
'What is being proposed today is completely draconian.' Payal Singh Mohanka on the I&B ministry's plan to amend the Cinematograph Act.
'Those who win indulge in shooting, looting, throwing bombs and burning houses.'
Wednesday's expansion shows that Modi still has a keen eye on Bengal. The BJP is gearing up for the panchayat elections in Bengal next May and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
'I have interacted with Muslim women in rural Bengal, they are scared of the BJP.'
