Mainstream Weekly

Hindi and Urdu | B S Chauhan

B. S. Chauhan — 2022-01-07T21:32:27Z

The politics in the country was not as divisive and toxic in the sixties, when I was a child in Dehradun, as it is now. Urdu, for we siblings, was a secular language and not associated with a community or religion. Could be because, being rooted firmly in Uttar Pradesh for generations, we were spared the horrors of partition.
Our father would write his notes and his shopping lists in Urdu only though he knew English and Hindi quite well. His Urdu jottings were beyond us. Father, born in a (…)

- 2022

Recollections from visit to the CeBIT fair in Hannover, Germany in 1997 | B S Chauhan

B. S. Chauhan — 2021-08-13T20:01:09Z

CeBIT used to be an annual fair in the city of Hannover, Germany. It was last held in 2018 and then discontinued due to declining footfalls. CeBIT is German acronym for Centrum für Büroautomation, Informationstechnologie und Telekommunikation, which translates to “Centre for Office Automation, Information Technology and Telecommunications” in English. The name says it all about the fair. The annual fair was devoted to advances in these areas of electronics. It was held on the Hannover Fair (…)

- 2021

Romance and reality of farming over the years | B S Chauhan

B. S. Chauhan — 2021-02-20T19:37:48Z

The ongoing farmers' agitation in India is generating more heat than light. Suicides by farmers failed to get public attention. Protesting farmers are keeping the TV anchors, politicians, activists and official agencies on their toes. Everyone has an opinion, even those who have never seen a rice field in their life. Some got introduced to farming by films such as Mother India and Do Bigha Zameen. All tend to view this complex issue through the prism of political leanings or beliefs. (…)

- 2021