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Aarish Chhabra

Aarish Chhabra is an assistant news editor at Chandigarh. He handles the regional online portal and social media team, besides reporting and writing primarily on politics and socio-cultural markers.

Articles by Aarish Chhabra

Justice for Ruchika? 26-year ordeal shows system can’t be changed

SPS Rathore looked amused in most of the photographs published over the years in the media. That smirk seemed more like a permanent feature below his upturned moustache. It stood out, and made the former top cop from Haryana a much-reviled personality for the candle-lighting, justice-loving people who get most of their sense of activism from reacting to news reports.

Former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore whose conviction in a molestation case was upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday.(HT File)
Updated on Sep 26, 2016 06:31 PM IST
By, Chandigarh

Poll pitch: AAP names and shames ‘corrupt’ Akali ministers at Moga rally

Raising its anti-corruption rhetoric for the upcoming Punjab elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday promised to jail four Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ministers in the Parkash Singh Badal government if voted to power.

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal releasing the farmers’ manifesto during a rally at Baghapurana near Moga on Sunday. Also seen are Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann (centre) and party’s ‘Bolda Punjab’ initiative head Kanwar Sandhu (extreme right).(Ravi Kumar/HT)
Updated on Sep 12, 2016 09:55 AM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Baghapurana, Moga

Chandigarh: Sec 17, a bus from Lahore and the carnival that was

It was the September of 1965. The war with Pakistan was at its peak, and the Indian Army was marching in Pak territory towards Lahore when it came across a bus.

With the existing traders being desperate, newer business wary of the high rents, and people generally preferring malls, the admn and civic body too talk of “live entertainment” and “optimum use of the plaza”.(Sanjeev Sharma/HT Photo)
Updated on Sep 11, 2016 12:22 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

Who is Durgesh Pathak? AAP’s builder getting the bricks

Che Guevara is on a wall of the drawing room where he sits. The South American revolutionary is also the cover of his Twitter and Facebook accounts. Durgesh Pathak, at first impression, is more a 20-something wide-eyed activist than a politician. But a politician he is now, virtually calling the shots so far in Punjab for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), at a time when it has national ambitions too. Next to Che’s is a portrait of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. Pathak believes AAP is a “revolution”, and talks in a measured tone.

Durgesh Pathak, 28, once aspired to be a civil servant,(Keshav Singh/HT Photo)
Updated on Sep 05, 2016 06:22 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

This Punjabi song via UK goes into ‘forbidden’ territory — Homosexuality

The video of ‘Bapu sada kehnda’ (Father dear says) – a debut by No1Knows Productions, a record label and production company based out of the US and UK begins with a reporter talking about how a billionaire’s son is getting married. And how he calls him out on being gay

Aman100, aka Amanbir Singh Sangha, the producer who also features in the video and has co-written the lyrics.(HT Photo)
Updated on Sep 01, 2016 11:22 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

Story of Sector 17: Chandigarh’s heart has grown older than the city

BY THE WAY || The movie was Jahan Ara, the year 1964. There was only one set of ‘spools’, or movie reels, available for the city. But there were two theatres interested in playing it, both in Sector 17. Solution: Jagat Cinema started the movie half an hour after Neelam Theatre did, and the reels were shared.

Weekdays can be tough for markets anywhere, but the decline here is visible on the weekends, when roads outside the city’s marquee mall are choked, and Sector 17 is at best a stroller’s delight.(HT Photo)
Updated on Aug 29, 2016 06:33 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

By the way: When Balwan Singh had a birthday blast

You can’t blame the man for going a little bonkers. After all, who knows what exactly Balwan Singh was feeling about turning a year older? He is 55. I will turn 30 next year, and I’m already dreading the feeling. Give me a gun and I’ll shoot someone, trust me.

Head constable Balwan Singh (white shirt) in custody at the Sector-45 police post in Chandigarh.(Anil Dayal/HT File)
Updated on Aug 14, 2016 06:22 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

BY THE WAY | Forget Gurgaon, Assam: If not rain, give Chandigarh the headlines

Look, Assam can have its floods, and Gurgaon can get as jammed as it wants to. In Chandigarh, we get neither, and we couldn’t care less. But hey, Lord Indra, that does not mean we don’t need rain, man!

Monsoon has been here for a month now. Technically. But rain has hardly showed up, and that too mostly late at night.(HT File Photo)
Updated on Aug 01, 2016 09:30 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

Ginni Mahi: The new voice of ‘Chamar pop’, Dalit assertion via Punjabi music

She is the voice behind ‘Danger Chamar’, and has a story to tell about it. Amid slogans on the street and in Parliament, hers is a viral voice online of assertion by ‘lower’ castes through Punjabi music. ‘Chamar pop’ and ‘Ambedkar folk’ have a new star in 17-year-old Ginni Mahi.

Singer Ginni Mahi at her residence in Jalandhar.(Aarish Chhabra/HT Photo)
Updated on Jul 25, 2016 06:08 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Jalandhar

By the way: Curtains for Deepak Kumar, and the importance of ironed clothes

What do you call an officer who misuses public money to buy an iron that costs a mere Rs 1,800? Don’t say ‘cheap’, OK! After all, this officer also spent no less than Rs 1.5 lakh on curtains, cushions and their stitching. Who does that? The name is Kumar, SB Deepak Kumar, the since-ousted chief executive officer (CEO) of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB). His total expenditure on sprucing up the house, in the name of calling it a camp office, touched Rs 40 lakh.

You can call him corrupt, if you insist, but the man sure has taste. Do you, the unwashed masses, even know that there is something called ‘Masai’ armchairs, or ‘Williams’ side-tables, ‘Lyon’ end-tables, and furniture of the ‘Stanford’ collection?(HT File Photo)
Updated on Jul 17, 2016 12:30 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

By the way: When a scholar of Persian fights in rhyme

Let me take some liberty since we share a surname and native district. Why does Pardeep Chhabra, Chandigarh’s former mayor, always look so angry in the House? It’s like someone ate his share of cake, and it was the last piece of cake on the face of our planet. He gets able backing from another former mayor, Subhash Chawla. Let’s call them the Bearded Bros.

(HT File)
Updated on Jul 03, 2016 10:30 AM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

The Great Khali’s final move: Desi-style WWE via a village in Punjab

Social media is having a field day over a video of Punjabi-style WWE, in which a woman in salwar-kameez rules the ring. It’s not come out of nowhere. And she’s not alone. The place is a village in Jalandhar, and the man behind it is Dalip Singh Rana, better known as The Great Khali.

Dalip Singh Rana, or The Great Khali, and trainees at the home of CWE at Kangniwal in Jalandhar.(Anil Dayal/HT Photo)
Updated on Jun 26, 2016 05:10 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Kangniwal (jalandhar)

By the way: ‘Udta Punjab’ is scared of deeper reality

Near the climax of ‘Udta Punjab’, Tommy Singh is looking for a girl. He bumps into a couple of fellow junkies at the corner of a village. The junkies think he’s looking for ‘stuff’. “Supply down hai… Mere ton le le veere (Take some from me, bro)!” goes one of them, extending his arm to offer an injection of pure high. That’s true Punjabi culture. We are willing to care and share, even in times of shortage. I wonder why there was such fuss about the movie vilifying us.

“The standout character is the outsider-insider, a nameless Biharan who curses herself for having come to Punjab and being stuck with the drug mafia as a sex slave. “
Updated on Jun 22, 2016 05:38 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

Drugs killed my nephew; save your kids: Punjabi NRI tycoon on drug menace

“I don’t want to hide the truth. My nephew has died of drug addiction,” says NRI business tycoon Darshan Singh Sahsi. It is a day after his public acknowledgement of truth in a poignant speech at the gurdwara in Rajgarh near Doraha, 20km from Ludhiana, where on Sunday he addressed the collective grief of a village, and a community’s grave denial.

(Left) Darshan Singh Sahsi’s nephew Jagjit Singh Sahsi (right) died with a packet of ‘chitta’ (smack or heroin) in his hand.(HT Photos)
Updated on Jun 14, 2016 11:37 AM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

Udta Punjab: Facts, figures and falsehoods of state’s drug problem

As Udta Punjab, the movie about the drug problem in Punjab, faces the dreadful situation of having to delete all mentions of ‘Punjab’ — or even reshoot the movie to place it in a ‘fictitious location’ — the censor board would do well to first look at the social reality that the movie aims to underline. It is a reality that the state government too has repeatedly tried to hide at best, deny at worst.

It is a reality that the state government too has repeatedly tried to hide at best, deny at worst.(HT Representative Images)
Updated on Jun 08, 2016 10:46 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

By the way: Dying for Swachh Bharat

Of all of the Messiah’s gimmicks, the one that has caught our everyday attention the most is the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Clean our beloved India, says he, Supreme Leader of the Satvik Republic.

A uniform, gas mask, protective jacket, and proper tools will make them stand out; and everyone else will think Swachh Bharat is only those guys’ duty. In a democracy, that is just not done.(Gurminder Singh/HT Photo)
Updated on Jun 05, 2016 11:43 AM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

Swaraj Abhiyan key meet this Sunday, party launch on table in Punjab

The breakaway group of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) working under the banner of Swaraj Abhiyan, or Swaraj Lehar in Punjab, is set for a key state convention on Sunday, May 29, at which its plans to launch a political party would be put up for a formal discussion. With the immediate target being the Punjab assembly polls due early next year, after the intention is made public at the convention, a formal announcement would be made in another month after that, sources in the group’s think tank told HT.

From right: Yogendra Yadav, Manjit Singh and other leaders and activists of Swaraj Lehar, known nationally as Swaraj Abhiyan, in Ludhiana last November.(JS Grewal/HT File Photo)
Updated on May 24, 2016 11:05 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

By the way: Her name is Naveen, and she is their son

No matter that she’s actually a daughter, she is their son. Look, they wanted a son, and took the risk of the mother’s life to have her. She, therefore, has to be a son. And that’s how you use one of the most modern scientific procedures — in-vitro fertilisation or IVF — to satisfy the most regressive of your desires.

Rajo Devi and Bala Ram with their daughter Naveen.(HT File)
Updated on May 22, 2016 11:22 AM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

By the way: Love in the times of Kota suicide

He was the younger brother of a classmate of ours. He walked with a slight limp, and thus was bullied by fellow students who knew no better. But he found solace in the company of physics, which he loved as much as I loved our physics teacher.

The Little Brother had been sent off to Kota. From the haloed town in Rajasthan which produces students for elite engineering colleges, he was destined to go to IIT, and then run the world.(HT File)
Updated on May 08, 2016 12:15 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

By the way: The long and short of Chandigarh #shortskirtban

It’s addictive, and it’s beautiful, and it’s dangerous. It is also the future — actually, very much the present — of journalism.

An English newspaper/website — which competes with the one that I work for — reported with much passion and compassion earlier this week that short skirts had been banned in Chandigarh’s discotheques by the UT’s administration.(Photo for representation)
Updated on Apr 26, 2016 02:08 PM IST

Sanjay targets Majithia on drug menace in Punjab ‘despite case’

While addressing a gathering at Talwandi Sabo during the party’s Baisakhi mela rally, Punjab Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh again alleged that Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) minister Bikram Singh Majithia was behind the drug menace in the state.

AAP affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh(HT File Photo)
Updated on Apr 13, 2016 11:00 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Talwandi Sabo (bathinda)

Bhagwant is the boss on stage in absence of Kejriwal at AAP rally

In what was billed as a test for the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) state leaders in the absence of national convener Arvind Kejriwal, the Baisakhi mela rally here on Wednesday underlined that comedian-turned-MP Bhagwant Mann is the party’s most popular leader in Punjab by a significant distance. At his witty best, Mann trained his guns squarely at the Badals and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), pitching it as a battle between the ruling elite class and the man on the street.

Aam Aadmi Party members during Baisakhi mela in Talwandi Sabo on Wednesday.(Sanjeev Kumar/HT Photo)
Updated on Apr 15, 2016 09:33 AM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Talwandi Sabo (bathinda)

By the way: MSG is back, packaged and ready to eat

Why don’t you use kerosene instead of petrol in your car? Why not in your bike at least? These are questions no other baba will ever be able to ask with such conviction. But Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan is no ordinary baba, as you may have noticed by now if you have been able to see through all that bling.

“He is not selling kerosene. He is ‘sau-par-sent’, 100%, pure, after all, only selling the ‘MSG’ brand of food products in an advertisement made with all the finesse of Bollywood from the ’80s.”(Youtube)
Updated on Apr 17, 2016 08:28 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

By the way: What you learn at a Punjabi wedding

What’s the single most important thing you gain by attending a Punjabi wedding? Perspective.

For the groom, it is even more important to know which fingers of which hand to use when holding the dupatta of the bride. For the bride, it is important to know how much to smile and at which angle to tilt the lips while doing it.(HT Illustration)
Updated on Mar 27, 2016 09:59 AM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

By The Way: How Vijay Dev walked a thin line as UT adviser, and slipped

It is one thing to like running, quite another to not know when to stop. It is one thing to like attention, quite another to be a victim of vanity. It is one thing to be a glib, quite another to fall in love with your own words. On these matters, Vijay Kumar Dev and I are on the same side of the divide. But this article is not about me, at least not this fortnight.

The since-ousted UT adviser, Vijay Kumar Dev.(Ravi Kumar/HT File Photo)
Updated on Mar 14, 2016 05:43 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

Aam Aadmi Party to carpet-bomb Badal’s Lambi with 1,000 volunteers

In a virtual carpetbombing of the chief minister’s bastion, Lambi in Bathinda district, with its volunteer strength, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will on Sunday send teams to each of the 72 major villages in the assembly constituency. It is hoping to take “at least 20,000” families in its fold under its Parivar Jodo campaign.

Deepak Bansal(HT Photo)
Updated on Mar 13, 2016 10:16 AM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

‘Outsider’ Kejriwal talks of AAP’s good intentions in Punjab

Like a non-judgmental outsider, AAP’s Kejriwal embraces traditional ways in Punjab, yet talks of “good intentions” overriding all else, even the near-absence of a home-grown, grassroots leadership.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal delivers a speech at Dhilwan in Punjab.(PTI Photo)
Updated on Mar 03, 2016 07:55 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

Five key words to define Arvind Kejriwal’s Punjab tour

Outsider: That’s the word rivals in Punjab use most to describe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, certainly not as a compliment.

The traditional political paradigm sticks out in hoardings welcoming, thanking, backing Kejriwal/AAP. These have his photo and of sundry local aspirants in large size.(HT Photo)
Updated on Mar 02, 2016 10:11 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh

HT ANALYSIS The Kejriwal question: Is Punjab that simple, really?

Outsider—that’s the word rivals in Punjab use most to describe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, certainly not as a compliment. Being an outsider, however, is one of the activist-turned-politician’s positive pitches, one that’s largely unstated but hardly unheard in his campaign

Santokh Singh, a retired state government employee who uses his scooter as AAP’s propaganda vehicle, at Jalandhar.(Photo: Ravi Kumar/HT)
Updated on Mar 02, 2016 10:30 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By
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