Durga Puja evolved from an elite religious ritual into Bengal’s inclusive cultural festival through caste struggles, Partition, refugee resettlement and agrarian change. This article explores how a shared celebration challenged social hierarchies and became an expression of Bengali identity and pluralism.
Yemen’s fragile post-2022 calm is collapsing as Houthi forces expand along the Red Sea coast and seize strategically important territory near Bab al-Mandab. But the story goes far beyond Iran and the Houthis. It is rooted in Yemen’s religious and political history, shaped by Saudi-Iranian rivalry and now linked to Gaza, global shipping, energy security and the future of Yemen itself.
Workers of Hantapara, Dhumchipara and Garganda tea gardens, along with land-affected residents of Torsa Tea Garden, took out peaceful padayatras on September 22, seeking to place their long-pending demands before Chief Minister Shubhendu Adhikari. While tea workers demanded unpaid wages and other dues, Torsa protesters sought protection of land, homes and livelihood rights amid the proposed land-port project.
A Christian family in Howrah’s Bhatora has alleged attacks, threats and intimidation by neighbours over their religious faith. The family claims they were assaulted, locked inside their home and threatened with expulsion from the village and India. Police have deployed civic personnel outside their house. The allegations have renewed questions over religious freedom and the safety of Christians in West Bengal.
Isabella Hammad’s Enter Ghost places Shakespeare’s Hamlet against the realities of Palestinian life under occupation. Through Sonia Nasir, a British-Palestinian actress returning to Haifa and joining an Arabic production in Ramallah, the novel explores exile, memory, identity and resistance. Theatre becomes neither salvation nor spectacle, but a fragile act of solidarity in a world shaped by surveillance, checkpoints and uncertainty.
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