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1 month ago | 
nytimes.com | Mujib Mashal |Atul Loke
Nasir Shaikh, the sleeves of his suede jacket rolled up, used his phone camera as a pocket mirror to touch up his hair. Then he stepped onto the red carpet (it was blue, actually) and stood beneath banners dedicated to filmmaking giants like Chaplin, Scorsese and Spielberg. His own movies, exuberant do-it-yourself productions made with a simple camcorder and a ragtag cast, were about as far from big-budget blockbusters as could be.
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2 months ago | 
nytimes.com | Anupreeta Das |Hari Kumar |Atul Loke
Before she waded into the water to take a holy dip among the teeming throngs at the world's largest religious gathering, Draupadi Devi reached into her blouse and handed her husband a small pouch to safeguard. Inside was a slip of paper with his phone number scrawled on it, so she would have it if they got separated in the tangle of limbs and luggage that is the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival held every three years in one of four cities in India.
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2 months ago | 
nytimes.com | Anupreeta Das |Hari Kumar |Atul Loke
For Mr. Modi and his close ally Yogi Adityanath, the hard-line Hindu monk who is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the Maha Kumbh provides a marketing opportunity like no other. It is a platform to show off India's achievements - and therefore their own - before a rapt citizenry and a watching world. A giant poster of Mr. Modi and his close ally Yogi Adityanath in Prayagraj last month.
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2 months ago | 
nytimes.com | Suhasini Raj |Atul Loke
The family arrived at the ornately carved temple in western India bearing a special sweet of dried milk and clarified butter. It was a desperate offering for their son's safety: He had just crossed into the United States, only days before President Trump took office promising a fierce crackdown on illegal immigration. In their village in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the markers of migration are everywhere. Plaques on buildings trumpet donations from Indians in America.
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Dec 24, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Anupreeta Das |Saif Hasnat |Atul Loke
It is a daunting task for Bangladesh. But an unusual mix of young people and seasoned technocrats are determined to make the most of their opening. A defaced portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founding father, in the capital, Dhaka, in November. His daughter Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister this summer. It is a daunting task for Bangladesh. But an unusual mix of young people and seasoned technocrats are determined to make the most of their opening.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Mujib Mashal |Hari Kumar |Atul Loke
The call arrived - it was go time. The medical doctor rushed to the airport, bound for a midnight operation hundreds of miles away in western India. But this mission was not about saving lives. The doctor carried a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, a blade and a cellphone - tools for a heist. His target was something worth more than gold in India's cutthroat competition for government jobs and university placements: the question sheets for a police constable exam.
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Nov 23, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Mujib Mashal |Atul Loke
The lawmakers had finished a routine assembly vote and were scattering into the Mumbai night. Nitin Deshmukh, who represented a district 350 miles away, planned to take an overnight train. But first came an invitation to have dinner in the suburbs with a senior official from their party in the Indian state of Maharashtra. They would share a car ride, and Mr. Deshmukh could catch the train from there.
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Oct 17, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Mujib Mashal |Shayeza Walid |Atul Loke
When his jailers barged in before dawn, the captive thought it was the end. For eight years, he had been held in a windowless cell of an underground prison, dark night without end. Now, the guards ordered him to finish his prayer, then removed the thick blindfold and metal handcuffs he had almost always worn and tied his wrists with cloth - leaving nothing to incriminate them, he thought, if his body was later found floating in a river or lying in a ditch.
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Jul 23, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Jere Longman |Suhasini Raj |Atul Loke
The boy grew heavy on the milk, cream and butter of his grandmother's doting. By age 13, Neeraj Chopra weighed nearly 190 pounds, making him one of the biggest boys in his tiny farming village. His father and uncles urged him to join a gym to lose weight. By chance, he saw a javelin being thrown and noticed that, in flight, it seemed to shimmy like a fish through water. He was smitten. A decade after that improbable beginning, Chopra won the javelin competition at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
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Jun 5, 2024 | 
buffalonews.com | Atul Loke
**EMBARGO: No electronic distribution, Web posting or street sales before THURSDAY 12:01 A.M. ET, JUNE 6, 2024. No exceptions for any reasons. EMBARGO set by source.** Opposition supporters celebrate early election returns at the Indian National Congress headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. In Turkey, India and elsewhere, where some feared authoritarian leaders would consolidate power, democracy has proved surprisingly resilient.(Atul Loke/The New York Times)
