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A walk up to Five Benches, Jakhu, Shimla
The Five Benches are no longer here. These forests had been my ‘study’ during my childhood. Dad used to pack my and his books and walk me to the jungle on Saturday, Sunday or a holiday and find a nice shade and place for me...
All my media writings (well almost)
Here are some of my published articles. Others which are not here, couldn’t be secured as they are from Print era. Will try someday to scan my articles from Internship days at Indian Express. TECHSEEN http://techseen.com/author/dhaleta/ e27 http://www.afaqs.com/news/reporter/index.html?reporter=Dhaleta-Surender-Kumar PITCH 2009 December 2009 Cover Story: Dabur:...
Sequel wanted for Jagga Jasoos
Jagga Jasoos is not a perfect movie, but still worth a watch for the effort and experiment in a musical. It’s colourful, and edgy, but mysteries often end abruptly without much explanations. Confusing in parts. But kudos to the makers for the effort. It deserves...
Lynch mob social media raping Gudiya everyday
The Kothai rape and murder case in Shimla district in Himachal Pradesh, is getting messier by the day. If the incident itself was not appalling, the way the government and the police have acted, has allowed the lynch mob in real life and on social...
Is Himachal really open defecation free?
Here’s a news that claims that Himachal is open-defecation free. What a big lie. It’s a big eyewash. Don’t believe this. Who actually approves these announcements? They have no clue about on-ground realities. A recent trip to my village: 1. The poor still don’t have...
मादक हुआ आज विषाद है
ज़माना हो गया पैमाना तोड़े आज पानी में भी क्या उन्माद है। चाँदनी भी चाकू चुभो रही है मादक हुआ आज विषाद है।।
क्या हिन्दू धर्म सचमुच खतरे में है?
प्रतीत होता है कि कुछ दिनों में, इस देश में, बढ़ती असहिष्णुता के खिलाफ भी आवाज़ उठाना शायद कठिन हो जाएगा। मैं सदैव धर्म पर टिप्पणी करने से कतराता हूँ , परन्तु देश में बढ़ती असहिष्णुता से अछूता व अनभिज्ञ भी नहीं हूँ। मेरे विचार...
Rape: Societal problem – 2
Uber case, Nirbhaya case… We as a society have always barked up the wrong tree. We wanted to ban Uber. Of course Uber cannot be absolved. Now we ban the documentary. I have always said in the past too that the problem is much deeper...
My interpretation of Qissa: A story of displacement?
Can we ever get displaced? You get displaced from land. But has your mind really uprooted? You are displaced mentally from your body. But physiologically can you displace from the body? What if you died? And became a ghost? You are stranded between the ether...
Badlapur: So who was the villain?
Nawazuddin Siddiqui or Varun Dhawan? Or the retiring police officer? Or death? Fate? Who becomes who or what? Is destiny the villain? Or are our obsessions the villain? Let’s blame destiny for a moment. I think the movie actually starts in the end. I really...
Advice to startups approaching media
My 2 cents worth of advice to startups when they approach media through email or Contact Form: Try not to send a mass mail. ‘Hi’, ‘Hey there’, ‘Hello’ look so dumb. Try and find out name of the journalist you are trying to approach. Personal...
Rape: A societal problem, not just of Uber – 1
The problem is much deeper than Uber not doing a background check. It should have done those checks. But by pinning the responsibility just on to Uber, we are offloading and limiting our collective responsibility on to one brand, because we have to find that...
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