When A Pakistani Hindu Visited Delhi’s Jama Masjid

By Shivam Vij

(This article first appeared in HuffingtonPost.in on 26 July 2016.)

 

Jama Masjid

On a hot summer afternoon in Delhi, my Pakistani Hindu friend was visiting the Jama Masjid. After all, he had come to tour Delhi. In the evening, we met in a restaurant in Connaught Place.

He was staying with a relative in Mehrauli, where the (Indian, Hindu) neighbour told him not to cross the road. “Muslims live there,” the neighbour warned. That was funny, because our visitor lived in Pakistan, where no roads could be crossed without meeting Muslims. Continue reading “When A Pakistani Hindu Visited Delhi’s Jama Masjid”

What India can learn from Nepal

By Shivam Vij

(This article by me first appeared in Scroll on 6 May 2015.)

With large parts of a small country flattened by an earthquake, Nepal again comes across in Indian eyes as a small country that can get by only with a little help from friends. Nepal is this conflict-ridden poor country that hasn’t been able to frame a new Constitution for eight years now, has ego issues with India, plays the China card before New Delhi, and so on. Nepal’s image as a country that can’t manage itself is reinforced by the constant political instability in Kathmandu, because the politics is too bitter. Continue reading “What India can learn from Nepal”