'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.
Embracing the past and the present, Mexico City pulsates with warmth and vibrancy, discovers Payal Singh Mohanka.
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.
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.
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 The Trump administration has rescinded the Biden administration's guidelines that protected places of worship from immigration enforcement actions, leading to concerns that gurdwaras are being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.
'Rather than assuaging the feelings of the Hindus accommodated in schools and hospitals, she calls a meeting of imams and tries to assuage them.'
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.)'
'If she manages to throw out people, go for surgical operations, clean up her image, she will be victorious.'
From our archives: Payal Singh Mohanka on the Indian hockey legend who passed into the ages on Thursday.
'The TMC can't go on forever taking advantage of the people's fright of the BJP.'
'I worked closely with Mother for decades, not once did she say become a Christian.'
'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.'
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.
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.
The constitution of the Missionaries of Charity that declares, 'We shall not impose our Catholic faith on anyone, but have profound respect for all religions.'
'They were ahead of their times. We don't expect this from a civilisation of the first century AD.'
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.
'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.'
'When one was with Mother, one realised you were with somebody who was the nearest person to God.' 'She must have been God incarnate.'
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.
'In Bengal it is a very sad way in which the party is faring. I don't have high hopes.'
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.
It was truly heartening to see how the Sikh community had risen to the occasion during the Black Lives Matter peaceful protests and the coronavirus pandemic and selflessly served those looking for nourishment.
'Those who win indulge in shooting, looting, throwing bombs and burning houses.'
'I have interacted with Muslim women in rural Bengal, they are scared of the BJP.'
'What is being proposed today is completely draconian.' Payal Singh Mohanka on the I&B ministry's plan to amend the Cinematograph Act.
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.
'She has just one objective. To win the next election. Nothing else matters.'
Didi embarks on her new mission: To unite the Opposition to take on Modi in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, observes Payal Singh Mohanka.
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.
'It will be normal, regular, everyday politics whether you like it or not.' That's what this country needs,' a New Yorker tells Payal Singh Mohanka.
'For the first time one single party is getting 49% which is a record of its own.'
The story of Iceland is the story of life, notes Payal Singh Mohanka after a recent journey to that fascinating land.
What startles a visitor like me from India is how the 2020 US presidential election has divided families, husband and wife, parents and children, observes Payal Mohanka.
India is a passion with him. He is immersed in India. But he cannot help worrying about India too.
'The EC's role in this is questionable. What is the reason for this delay? Are they waiting for instructions?'
'I consider myself to be a 50 year old with a 16-year-young mind, ready to conquer more continents,' Dr Shuvendu Sen tells Payal Singh Mohanka.
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