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Sonia Paul

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Covers:  digital culture, gender, india, sexuality, media, politics, international affairs, south asia, human rights, religion
reporting / writing / producing @99piorg @MotherJones @bbcworldservice @WIRED, etc. teaching / editing @weareuncuffed. @PeriplusCollect alum. she/her 🐾🚀✌🏾
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Narendra Modi's US visit elicits mixed reactions from Indian-Americans | Al Jazeera America

Narendra Modi's US visit elicits mixed reactions from Indian-Americans | Al Jazeera America

Al Jazeera — If Indians living in the United States had been allowed to vote in this year's Indian elections, says Bharat Barai, "Narendra Modi probably would've gotten an 85-to-90-percent vote - far better than he got in India." Barai is the chief organizer of a reception for the new prime minister, to be held at New York's Madison Square Garden on Sept. 28; the free tickets were snapped up in a matter of weeks. This will be Modi's first visit to the United States since the U.S.
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An Unspectacular Day in the Life of a Narendra Modi Look-alike

An Unspectacular Day in the Life of a Narendra Modi Look-alike

The Caravan — On the morning of 3 April, Abhinandan Pathak stepped off his sleeper compartment at Lucknow's Charbagh Station. A posse of five men, including his 14-year-old son, Shivam, accompanied him. He wore white trousers and a white kurta, a gold Nehru vest, and a turban and neck sash coloured saffron and green-the colours of the Bharatiya Janata Party. His silver hair and beard, and a pair of rimless spectacles, rounded off Pathak's imitation of the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. Pathak is a physical education teacher from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, who has taken three months off from work to travel around India and campaign in support of the man he resembles, and whom he thinks should lead the country.
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Tying the knot in the time of India riots

Tying the knot in the time of India riots

Al Jazeera — The setting was unusual for marital bliss, but it was no deterrent for the dozen-odd couples who tied the knot last week in a mass wedding at a relief camp for riot victims in Muzaffarnagar. Having fled communal violence that recently swept parts of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and left scores dead and thousands homeless, the newly married couples of Malakpur relief camp held hands together and vowed to make a fresh beginning. Mass weddings are not uncommon in India, where community and religious leaders sometimes host them for poorer communities to help ease their financial burden. But a spurt of mass weddings at relief camps sheltering thousands displaced by the riots is evoking contrasting emotions. Some hail them as efforts to rebuild lives. Local authorities, however, see them as unnecessary distractions.
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CNN —
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Hindu Nationalism in the Age of Modi

Hindu Nationalism in the Age of Modi

Vice — It was barely 6 AM, but the vast park in the center of Lucknow, the capital of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, was already bustling with people taking advantage of the early morning cool before the stifling May heat set in. Children were playing on the trim grass, swings, and miniature rock walls. Adults dressed in tracksuits and salwar kameezes were walking briskly on the cement path. And secluded in a corner of the morning hustle, in plain sight to anyone who cared to cast a glance, a group of five men were performing their morning drills.
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Requiem for India's Congress Party: A Loser's Diary

Requiem for India's Congress Party: A Loser's Diary

Vice — Gulseer, who goes by one name, is about 34 or 35 years old. His exact age has escaped him. He's been married to his wife, Ayesha, for the past 10 to 15 years. The exact duration of their marriage has escaped him too. But as he woke up from a nap on the dusty veranda outside his family's modest home in Barowalia village in the state of Uttar Pradesh last week, he told me one thing he is sure of - his unwavering support for Rahul Gandhi and India's National Congress Party, which has governed India for 55 of the last 67 years.
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The Politics of Gift Giving in India

The Politics of Gift Giving in India

New York Times — LUCKNOW, India - Every time second-year undergraduate law students at Lucknow University open up their 14-inch Hewlett-Packard laptops, they are reminded of the generous benefactors who gave them their computers. Sitting in a hot classroom at Lucknow University, Ankita Singh, 19, turned on a laptop and signed in. As she waited for the desktop to load, the screen flashed red. It lasted for all of two seconds, but the two faces that appeared on the screen were unmistakable: Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is the Samajwadi Party president and also a candidate for prime minister.
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BJP banks on ex-PM's legacy in Lucknow

BJP banks on ex-PM's legacy in Lucknow

Al Jazeera — Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh - "If you have to change the fortunes of India, it must begin in Lucknow," Narendra Modi, the opposition prime ministerial candidate, said at an election rally early in March. His statement reaffirmed a popular saying in Indian politics: The road to New Delhi passes via Lucknow, the capital of India's most populous and politically most important state - Uttar Pradesh. As the city goes to polls on April 30, the attention is on the constituency's Muslims, who comprise about 22 percent of the 1.9 million voting population here.
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Rajnath Singh's bid to woo the Brahmins of Lucknow

Rajnath Singh's bid to woo the Brahmins of Lucknow

The Caravan — On the night of 23 April, over dinner at a friend’s place in Lucknow, I was invited by Anshuman Dwivedi, a teacher at a local coaching institute, to attend a gathering at Kudia Ghat in Old Lucknow. The aim, Dwivedi said, was to pledge to protect the Gomti, the river that bisects the city. But Dwivedi, who was the event’s main organiser, soon admitted that the meeting had another, hidden motive. “We’ve invited Rajnath Singh,” he said. He paused, presumably to allow the words to sink in. “We can’t put it because of the Model Code of Conduct that it’s a gathering by caste. But it’s basically a gathering of Brahmins.”
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Living in fear: LGBTs in India

Living in fear: LGBTs in India

Al Jazeera — LUCKNOW, India - On April 15, India's Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling allowing transgender people to identify as a third gender. The judgment directs the central and state governments to give them full legal recognition, including allotting them similar educational and job quotas as other minorities categorized as socially or economically disadvantaged. To date, transgender Indians - also known as hijras - were forced to select either "male" or "female" on all government forms and routinely faced ostracization due to their gender identity. While gay rights activists and the LGBT community welcomed the decision, it flies in the face of a December 2013 Supreme Court ruling that recriminalized homosexuality.
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Indian sexual freedom grows, despite 'moral policing'

Indian sexual freedom grows, despite 'moral policing'

Guardian — The crisp lawns, water fountain and new walking path of Lohia Park attract people of all ages. Middle-aged women wearing tracksuit trousers paired with traditional Indian tops walk the trails with strollers in tow. Frisbees and kites fly in the air. And almost every day, couples embrace under a tree or on the grass, oblivious to all around them. Priyanka Shivharee, 22, and Rohit Chaudhary, 25, are here because the park, in the northern Indian city of Lucknow, is one of the few places where they can get some privacy.
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How to Woo Muslim Voters in Uttar Pradesh

How to Woo Muslim Voters in Uttar Pradesh

New York Times — LUCKNOW, India - As Narendra Modi gains momentum as the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate for prime minister, attention is turning to Muslim voters in the politically important state of Uttar Pradesh, who have been regarding him warily because of ties to right-wing Hindu groups that have attacked Muslims. Uttar Pradesh has 80 seats in the lower house of the Indian Parliament at stake in the national elections, the most of any state in India. Muslims make up around 18 percent of the nearly 200 million people in the state and have historically provided support for the governing party in New Delhi, the Indian National Congress, and the regional Samajwadi Party, which is currently running the government in Uttar Pradesh.
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Uttar Pradesh Festival Honors Unsung Feminists from Region's Past

Uttar Pradesh Festival Honors Unsung Feminists from Region's Past

New York Times — LUCKNOW, Uttar Pradesh - Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, was buzzing with activity in recent days as Sanatkada, a well-known nonprofit in the city for women has been hosting its annual handicrafts festival, where vendors from across India come to sell their goods. Aside from shopping, the festival, which began in 2010, offers musical and theater performances, panel discussions on literature and music, carnival rides for children and food from some of Lucknow's most popular eateries. This year, however, the festival organizers decided to use this popular event to talk about one of the biggest topics in India today - feminism.
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A Conversation With: Graphic Novelist Vishwajyoti Ghosh

A Conversation With: Graphic Novelist Vishwajyoti Ghosh

New York Times — Vishwajyoti Ghosh, a graphic novelist and artist based in Delhi, is curator of the book "This Side That Side: Restorying Partition," an anthology of graphic narratives from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. His first graphic novel, "Delhi Calm," was published in 2010. At the Jaipur Literature Festival, Mr. Ghosh spoke with India Ink about the significance of collaborating with 48 different contributors, and what it means for younger generations to retell the history of Partition in a graphic format.
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A Conversation With: Anthropologist Mukulika Banerjee

A Conversation With: Anthropologist Mukulika Banerjee

New York Times — "Voting in elections is considered sacrosanct by a large majority of Indians," Mukulika Banerjee writes in the introduction to her new book, "Why India Votes." That observation forms the backbone of the anthropology professor's work, an ethnographic study of 12 sites in India during the 2009 general elections, which explores the motivations and opinions of Indian voters on a range of issues related to the electoral process. As part of the Jaipur Literature Festival's theme "Democracy Dialogues," Dr. Banerjee, who is the associate professor of social anthropology at the London School of Economics, participated in several discussions on India's social and political evolution.
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A diplomat's arrested; from there, the take varies

A diplomat's arrested; from there, the take varies

Columbia Journalism Review — The US treatment of Indian official Devyani Khobragade has received very different coverage in the two countries In the days since the United States arrested Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, 39, for allegedly lying on her Indian housekeeper's visa application, underpaying and forcing her to work longer hours than specified, the case has made a splash in both the US and India, whose media are covering the incident with very different emphases. In India, initial coverage focused on US mistreatment of a senior diplomat, while American media spilled more ink over the allegation that Khobragade was underpaying her maid.
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The Two Lucknows During Muslim Holy Month

The Two Lucknows During Muslim Holy Month

New York Times — The raised sign for Avadh Point on Victoria Road in Old Lucknow is missing two letters, the "O" and the "I." The "D" in Avadh also hangs precariously, as if it is ready to become the third. The three-story building was constructed in 2005, but it stands dilapidated, walls thinning and paint peeling, as if it is as old as the Awadh culture it's named after. Since Nov. 6, the start of Muharram, which is the first month of the Islamic calendar and the period of mourning observed mostly by Shia Muslims, several figures are making their presence known at Avadh Point and other areas deemed sensitive in Lucknow for the next two and a half months: police officers.
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The New Global Journalism

The New Global Journalism

newglobaljournalism.com — The foreign correspondent has traditionally been your window into the world. But the citizen is redefining our understanding of news. All content © 2014 by The New Global Journalism
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Latino Evangelicals Reshape Immigration Views

Latino Evangelicals Reshape Immigration Views

Uptown Radio — HOST INTRO: Some Evangelical Christians have embraced comprehensive immigration reform in recent months. It's a huge shift for the group, usually conservative in its politics. An influx of Latino congregants has pushed the church into changing its stance. Sonia Paul reports. Report originally featured on the April 26, 2013, episode of UptownRadio.org. http://uptownradio.org/2013/04/26/latino-evangelicals-reshape-immigration-views/
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How Not To Travel In Mongolia

How Not To Travel In Mongolia

Uptown Radio — HOST INTRO: Traveling has its ups and downs. When commentator Sonia Paul took a three-week trip to Mongolia to discover the country's natural beauty, she found that sometimes all you can do is count on the kindness of strangers - even if it leads you astray.
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More Than A Million State Department Files Released By WikiLeaks

More Than A Million State Department Files Released By WikiLeaks

Uptown Radio — HOST INTRO: WikiLeaks has announced its latest release of information. It's a collection of more than a million State Department files from the 1970s. WikiLeaks calls it the "Public Library of U.S. Diplomacy," or Plus D. Sonia Paul spoke with Jeff Stein. He's a national security reporter and founder of the blog SpyTalk. He says this new collection of documents marks a new direction for Wikileaks. SpyTalk Blog: http://spytalkblog.blogspot.com/ WikiLeaks "Plus D" Project: http://wikileaks.org/plusd/
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Bronx Muslim Leaders Aim to End "Destructive Talk"

Bronx Muslim Leaders Aim to End "Destructive Talk"

Bronx Ink — The president of the Parkchester mosque on White Plains Road spoke gently and firmly one September morning from his office behind the spacious third-floor prayer room. "Now people are trying to explain it a different way," said Mohammed Mayeez Uddin, referring to the incendiary, anti-Islam movie trailer that had rocked YouTube two weeks earlier. "We are not a modern Muslim. We are just Muslim," said Uddin, of his fellow worshipers in the James Masjid. Next to his office stood a row of blue-tiled fountains where members cleanse their hands before prayer. The clumsy video called "Innocence of Muslims" had mocked the Prophet Muhammed as a fool and a womanizer.
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Drive-by Wi-Fi Coming to a Project Near You

Drive-by Wi-Fi Coming to a Project Near You

Bronx Ink — A black van marked "Going Digital" in bold orange letters parked conspicuously in front of the James Monroe housing project in Soundview one October morning. The rare passerby who dared to knock on the door discovered a computer lab on wheels inside, with eight new laptops, broadband access, printers, and instructors at the ready to teach digital literacy. This van and one other like it are part of a pilot project launched by the Housing Authority in February to help bring digital access to low-income New Yorkers. The truck drivers travel to different neighborhoods in New York, including nine housing projects in the Bronx, offering free Wi-Fi and computer use from 10 a.m.
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City Seeks Bronx Residents' Views on Greenways

City Seeks Bronx Residents' Views on Greenways

Bronx Ink — Groups of cyclists aren't a common sight in the South Bronx, especially on a blistering, late-summer day. But on Aug. 26, community advocates from the Bronx River Alliance, Transportation Alternatives, Bronx Health Reach and other local organizations gathered on the corner of Whitlock Avenue and Westchester Avenue with helmets on their heads and their bicycles by their sides. Their mission was to document the conditions on the roads linking Hunts Point Riverside Park, Concrete Plant Park and the soon-to-be-opened Starlight Park. For years, these groups have been asking the city's Departments of Transportation and City Planning to improve the greenways within the parks.
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