Himal Southasian

Since June, Pakistan has experienced yet another season of severe monsoon flooding, with particularly heavy impacts across the Punjab region. Flood waters and landslides have claimed many hundreds of… Daanish Mustafa on Pakistan’s recurring flood disasters: State of Southasia #33

🎙️ "We basically engineered away low-level floods and middle-level floods floods. But there is no system, no river engineering in the world that can control the high-level floods of the Indus," says Daanish Mustafa about #Pakistanfloods

📹 Watch Himal engagement editor Sushim Thapaliya as she recaps the story of #Nepal's Gen Z protests as they occurred over social media, then read the full timeline of events buff.ly/xmXhGmS

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The Taliban is here to stay in Afghanistan – and the world must start engaging with it Global isolation of the Taliban has contributed to a proliferation of terror groups endangering Afghanistan, Southasia and the world. Conditional engagement offers a better way forward.

As the Taliban rejects US President Trump attempt to retake Bagram Air Base in #Afghanistan, revisit Salman Rafi Sheikh's piece from August 2024

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the writer… Aatish Taseer on exile and the idea of return: Southasia Review of Books podcast #34

🎙️📚 “At every moment in the book, one is inching towards the discovery that this idea of a return has a kind of inbuilt violence to it. It’s not just a fiction, but it’s a dangerous fiction.”

A conversation with Aatish Taseer on 'A Return to Self':

Himal Southasian Himal Southasian – Southasia’s magazine of politics and culture, since 1987. Read more at http://www.himalmag.com

🎬 A new episode of Saffron Siege is released every Wednesday from September 17 to December 3. Subscribe to the Himal YouTube channel for more:
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Hosted by Harsh Mander, this *12-part series* examines the RSS's roots, its #Hindutva agenda, and its impact on #India's public and social life over a century.

📣 New podcast from Himal Southasian and Karwan e Mohabbat: As the #RSS celebrates 100 years this Dussehra, a series of conversations examining its roots, its ideology and its role in India's public… Trailer: Saffron Siege – The RSS at 100: a podcast with Harsh Mander

📣🔥 Saffron Siege 🔥📣 A new podcast series from Himal Southasian and Karwan-e-Mohabbat, marking the centenary of the RSS.
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Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka uprisings: Why and what next? Southasia’s Youthquakes – on Gen Z protests in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Pranaya Rana, Zyma Islam and Ambika Satkunanathan reflect on uprisings in #Nepal, #Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (#lka) in the past three years – and what comes next

‘We are here because you were there’ New York, 1980. An Irish American boy yells at writer Suketu Mehta and his Indian friend, "Fucking Ayatollahs!" When Mehta corrects the boy (they were Indians n

FROM THE ARCHIVE: The trend of global right-wing nationalist movements and anti-immigrant rhetoric encourages a re-read of Ambreen Agha's review of Suketu Mehta's 'This Land is Our Land: An Immigrant's Manifesto'

Twenty years later, Tamil broadcaster Relangi Selvarajah’s killers still remain unknown Twenty years later, Tamil broadcaster Relangi Selvarajah’s killers still remain unknown

12 August marked 20 years since the murder of popular Sri Lankan journalist Relangi Selvarajah. Even now, no proper investigations have been conducted into the shooting that led to her death.Ramkumar Ravichchandrasarma writes

All eyes have been on Nepal since last week when a large but loosely organised protest by young people in Kathmandu turned into a revolution that brought down the government. On September 8th, many… GenZ hopes for an inclusive new Nepal: State of Southasia #32

🎙️“In Southasia, inclusion doesn't come naturally because we love social hierarchies so much. In fact, all the historical sufferings in this region are because of social hierarchies to a great extent,” says climate activist Tashi Lhazom from #Nepal

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India’s friendly standing and moral status in Sri Lanka are at the mercy of Hindutva and hypernationalism New Delhi has earned goodwill in Colombo, but the end of Indian pluralism can embolden Sinhala extremists while Katchatheevu and fishing conflicts risk inflaming nationalist passions

Sri Lankan authorities’ recent arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen recalls Tisaranee Gunaseka’s May 2024 article about the tepid relationship between #lka and #India regarding international water boundaries

A social media timeline of Nepal’s Gen Z uprising THE CHARRED REMAINS of police stations, super markets, minister’s homes, the federal parliament, the Supreme Court and much else stand as stark reminders of fiv

“The charred remains of police stations, super markets, minister’s homes, the federal parliament, the Supreme Court and much else stand as stark reminders of five of the most dramatic and consequential days in #Nepal’s history,” writes engagement editor Sushim Thapaliya

Salil Tripathi’s portrait of Gujarati pride and contradictions INARGUABLY, these are Dickensian best-of-times to read a tome on the Gujaratis. If the opposition’s loud protests in India’s parliament are to be believed, a fo

"One realises that the much-touted concept of #Gujarati 'asmita', or pride, often serves as moral cover for the community’s self-deceiving pragmatism – the secret, shameful underside Salil Tripathi exposes."

A review essay by Hemang Ashwinkumar:

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the writer… Aatish Taseer on exile and the idea of return: Southasia Review of Books podcast #34

“🎙️📚 The symmetries between Spain and #India are astounding. These are the two ends of the Arab outpouring of religion, of empire, of conquest, and they have these strangely parallel histories that carry on.”

A conversation with Aatish Taseer:

The 2025 Women’s World Cup could be India’s biggest cricketing moment in over 50 years Indian women’s cricket’s long struggle for equality and World Cup glory

Sri Lanka is hosting a women’s World Cup for the first time. There and in #India, the tournament promises to bring more attention to women’s cricket than ever before. Tanushree Bhasin writes
#icc2025 #womenscricket

The growing dangers of Sri Lanka’s Israel nexus MOHAMED SUHAIL, a 21-year-old student, was searching for lodgings in the Colombo suburb of Dehiwala on 23 October 2024 when a mobile police unit arrested him ne

“Israel is hoping to help Sri Lanka counter an imagined Muslim enemy. It is but natural that it would turn to Sinhala Buddhist extremists in general, and hardline Buddhist monks in particular, in its search for allies,” writes Tisaranee Gunasekara (#lka)

The massive failures of India’s drug regulatory system This story is part of “Pills, Perils, Profits”, a Himal investigative series on Southasian pharmaceutical manufacturing and exports. Reporting for this sto

As an investigation of cough syrup deaths among children ensues, revisit Vidya Krishnan and Arshu John's investigation of the CDSCO, #India's central drug regulator, which "acts like a spokesperson for the industry and not the people,” a global health expert said.

Salil Tripathi’s portrait of Gujarati pride and contradictions INARGUABLY, these are Dickensian best-of-times to read a tome on the Gujaratis. If the opposition’s loud protests in India’s parliament are to be believed, a fo

“'Compartmentalising' is a euphemism for plain hypocrisy, as captured perfectly in the recipe for “Jain chicken”, a dish eaten on the sly by Jains in Ahmedabad.”

Hemang Ashwinkumar reviews Salil Tripathi’s ‘The Gujaratis’:

Since June, Pakistan has experienced yet another season of severe monsoon flooding, with particularly heavy impacts across the Punjab region. Flood waters and landslides have claimed many hundreds of… Daanish Mustafa on Pakistan’s recurring flood disasters: State of Southasia #33

🎙️ #StateofSouthasia "We’ve only thought about water as a hazard or as a resource. But it's also a locus of spiritual life. There's a certain experience of water, which includes aesthetics, spirituality, sociability, history, identity," says Daanish Mustafa

India’s Taliban gambit exposes Pakistan’s Afghanistan strategy IN EARLY JANUARY, India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, met Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan’s Taliban government, in Dubai. Thi

As #Pakistan and #Afghanistan clash at the border, revisit Salman Rafi Sheikh's piece from February about the countries' escalating tensions in the wake of #India's attempt to normalize relations with the Taliban

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the writer… Aatish Taseer on exile and the idea of return: Southasia Review of Books podcast #34

🎙️📚 “To go to the grand mosque in Córdoba, and to be of an Indian background, you can't help but think of the Babri Masjid and of the monstrosity that they’re putting up there now at Ayodhya.”

A conversation with Aatish Taseer:

Support independent journalism and help produce crucial analysis of Southasia.
Click on the link to become a paying Patron.
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The overlapping factors behind Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka’s uprisings ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO, three Southasian nations underwent political transitions. In 2008, Nepal became a federal republic, ending 250 years of monarchy. Bangladesh

“Three established parties continued to strike deals to share power, but no government completed a full term in office since #Nepal’s return to democracy in 2008,” write Anupam Debashis Roy and Rishija Singh about parallels in Southasian youth protests

The growing dangers of Sri Lanka’s Israel nexus MOHAMED SUHAIL, a 21-year-old student, was searching for lodgings in the Colombo suburb of Dehiwala on 23 October 2024 when a mobile police unit arrested him ne

The ripple effects of #Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which followed the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, have reached Sri Lankan shores – and not just with the targeting of Sri Lankan Muslims who oppose Israel’s actions. A piece by Tisaranee Gunasekara

SOUTHASIA NEWS ROUNDUP | October 10

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Vidyan Ravinthiran’s bold take on otherness and “Asian” diaspora identity ON PAPER, Vidyan Ravinthiran and I are strikingly similar. We are both British Southasian writers, of Tamil descent, who immigrated to the United States. We bot

"Vidyan Ravinthiran illuminates the emotional labour required of non-white voices to be acknowledged in environments that claim to be anti-racist yet remain unprepared to listen."

Meena Venkataramanan on the Sri Lankan-British poet's memoir ‘Asian/Other’

The 2025 Women’s World Cup could be India’s biggest cricketing moment in over 50 years Indian women’s cricket’s long struggle for equality and World Cup glory

In 1983, a World Cup triumph transformed cricket’s fortunes in India. This tournament is an opportunity to do that again for women's cricket. A piece by Tanushree Bhasin
#icc2025 #womenscricket #india