Over the next 5 days Paperclip will look back at 50 stories of courage & inspiration from the subcontinent in 2021. We will publish 10 stories each day, in no particular order of ranking as we feel all these stories are equally powerful. Follow #Paperclip50
Sky is not the limit: Andhra Pradesh girl Jahnavi Dengeti became the first Indian to be a part of @NASA's International Space Program. bit.ly/3Ie7FEn#Paperclip50
Protector: ASHA health worked Suman Dhebe walked over 10 Kms everyday during the #secondwave to successfully protect 5 tribal villages around Pune from #COVID contamination #Paperclip50 bit.ly/3Kfowsp
*worker*
Saviour: @IASRajBharud, a visionary doctor turned district collector, installed oxygen plants to save a small tribal district in Maharashtra from #COVID during the 2nd wave bit.ly/3IekqPs#Paperclip50
Never Forget: @tusharlall02 composed a poignant musical piece as a heartfelt tribute to Asifa, the 8 year old victim of communal sexual violence in Kathua #Paperclip50
Ambulance on auto: Karnataka auto driver BV Prashanth Kumar ferried emergency patients for free without caring for his life after his mother tested positive bit.ly/3KkkL4Q#Paperclip50
Gritty Lady: Annie Siva became a Sub-Inspector fighting all odds having been abandoned by her husband and family at a young age bit.ly/3tGDnpN#Paperclip50
Fighting in exile: Women members of parliament from Afghanistan escape the Taliban to form a government in exile bit.ly/33lkYUV#Paperclip50
Cottage Industry: Women in drought hit Andhra village help sustain their families making bags, pickles and masks bit.ly/3fGmrr7#Paperclip50
Big Short Story: Sri Lankan author @KanyaDalmeida wins the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize with a curious tale of care giving and abandonement bit.ly/3FErcfm#Paperclip50
Together we can: Civilians, Celebrities, Volunteers join hands to fight the deadly Covid second wave. Together they all made a difference #Paperclip50
Art of writing: Young women calligraphy artists in Kashmir revive a lost art in the midst of the pandemic and internet shutdowns bit.ly/3A8iogR#Paperclip50
All that glitters: Indian olympians and paralympians gift the country a bagful of medals from Tokyo bit.ly/3rVGJTB#Paperclip50
United against hate: @imVkohli and @Neeraj_chopra1 stood up for fellow players Mohammad Shami and Arshad Nadeem in the face of online tirade and abuse based on their religion and nationality #Paperclip50
Rainbow spirit: Telengana gay couple Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang exchange marriage vows surrounded by friends and family bit.ly/33JVpg6#Paperclip50
Resilience: Unfazed by floods in Rapti, 15-year-old Sandhya Sahani rows boat in flood water to reach school daily in Gorakhpur bit.ly/3nBPdxI#Paperclip50
Indomitable: Couple from Delhi fighting cancer transported 200 dead bodies and 400 patients in their ambulance during #COVID 2nd wave bit.ly/3qBuJXB#Paperclip50
Reunited at last: Fucha Mahli, 70, was finally reunited with his family in Jharkhand after working as a bonded labour in the Andaman for 35 years bit.ly/3GI7Ffq#Paperclip50
Winning smile: They say your smile is a reflection of your soul. Sudha Bharadwaj shows exactly that on her way home after getting bail bit.ly/3nxvkHR#Paperclip50
Truth: Extensive ground reporting on gang rape of Dalit girl in Delhi by Dalit journalist @KotwalMeena caught our eye as the hard hitting and brave journalism the nation needs bit.ly/329zO05#Paperclip50
Empowering: Historic moment for Chhattisgarh as 13 transgenders recruited as police constables in 4 distrcts bit.ly/3GEKvXz#Paperclip50
Everyone is welcome: India's first transgender run salon, La Beaute & Style, creates history bit.ly/3I8Vo42#Paperclip50
No place for hate: Fearless Kerala nuns dissent against priest's alleged hate speech against Muslims in the church bit.ly/3A6QRME#Paperclip50
Leading lady: First female Chief Minister of Nepal, Astalaxmi Sakya, is in a league of her own bit.ly/3Klbjhv#Paperclip50
Wings to fly: Roya Mehboob, the New York and Kabul based techpreneur spent frantic hours making calls across the globe to get the all girl Afghan robotics team on a plane to Doha as the Taliban take control bit.ly/3rrEkj3#Paperclip50
Spreading joy: Namgay Tshering, a Bhutanese politician, spreads joy by giving toys bit.ly/328ORqR#Paperclip50
Health for free: Papinder Singh, a native of Husnar in Punjab, runs a free wheatgrass juice langar for all ages after his cancer stricken mother benefitted from the drink bit.ly/3FJWpOE#Paperclip50
Women at the forefront: First female police station in Quetta gives hope to women as they become first responders crushing cultural and bureaucratic barriers bit.ly/32bwstu#Paperclip50
Defeating COVID: Bhutan displays COVID commitment by vaccinating 93% of its adult population by July 2021, recording only 3 deaths bit.ly/3rtX29D#Paperclip50
Reaching higher: Dawa Yangzum Sherpa becomes the first female mountain guide from Nepal and also breaks the speed record on the way to the Manaslu summit bit.ly/3Ag2tNx#Paperclip50
Provide and protect: Senior IPS officer Shrikant Jadhav and his team not only chase dreaded criminals but also provide food and shelter to the needy bit.ly/327ingv#Paperclip50
Demand: Barred from work, Wahida Amiri, a 31 year old Law graduate in Kabul, takes the streets amidst guns and bombs asking for her basic rights bbc.in/33NmEX7#Paperclip50
The fourth pillar: @DainikBhaskar, the country's largest circulated daily, does relentless ground reporting durng the 2nd wave to bring the truth to us bit.ly/3rs10Qn#Paperclip50
Smashing barriers: Tashnuva Anan Shishir goes live on March 8th from a private news channel in #Bangladesh to become the first transgender anchor of the nation bit.ly/3qCJ6ew#Paperclip50
Removing stigma: A 16 year old from Kolkata battles circumstances, local resistance to help her mother recover from COVID and leads in spreading awareness bit.ly/3qA3wVs#Paperclip50
Mother nature: A group of women fight to protect the Sundarbans from the effect of cyclones bit.ly/33JRuzC#Paperclip50
Feeding the weak: Zoeb Bhutia, an entrepreneur from Gangtok, helps feed the ailing during the pandemic bit.ly/3fPKEM5#Paperclip50
Keep the faith: Residents of Lakhimpur district of Bangladesh across religion come together to protect Durga puja pandals and temples after Comilla violence bit.ly/3AaHuLS#Paperclip50
Matching frequency: HAM radio operators in Bengal reunite woman in Bakkhali with her family in Jharkhand after 37 years bit.ly/3Kn84WU#Paperclip50
Changing uniform: Assam police officer dons the white coat during the pandemic running the local COVID care centre bit.ly/3qLpPaV#Paperclip50
Vaccinate all: Health care officials take the boat and truck to vaccinate people in the remote Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh bit.ly/3A8E6kM#Paperclip50
Big Cat and Thunder Dragon: The UNEP is working closely with the Bhutan government to revive the nation's tiger count amidst constant struggle between man and wild bit.ly/3qASO0K#Paperclip50
Nick of time: Men in green come to the rescue of more than a thousand tourists stuck near the Indo-China border at Nathu La due to snowfall bit.ly/3Ij1Y8l
Cleaning the mess: Everester Jamling Tenzing Norgay and his team of sherpas clean up the Everest trail bit.ly/3qGN59P#Paperclip50
@leomessisite is in India on a three-day tour, visiting Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi. It’s the perfect moment to revisit how a Pakistani man born in Bhopal helped Argentina win their first World Cup. If you happen to meet Messi, you tell him this story. Thread. 1/18
To unearth the personal accounts for this immensely interesting story, we spoke to Ijaz Chaudhry, an eminent sports journalist with roots in both Pakistan and the UK who has written, reported and spoken in several prestigious sports newspapers and on TV/Radio channels. (2/18)
1978. Argentina was politically turbulent. Democracy was in tatters, the country was in the grip of a dictatorship. That year, Argentina hosted both the hockey and football World Cups. The hockey event was held in March, and the football extravaganza followed in June. (3/18)
The newly-reignited debate over Vande Mataram fanned by opportunistic political actors has again dragged a century-old cultural conversation into a culture war. But long before today’s noise, Rabindranath Tagore had already thought deeply about the song.
Thread. 1/20
Vande Mataram began as a poem in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel Anandamath (1882). Its early life was literary and regional, an invocation to a mother-figure rooted in Bengal, but it quickly became a political war-cry in the anti-colonial movement. 2/20
There should be no debate about the historic impact of Vande Mataram. It played an undeniably gigantic role in the freedom movement. It was an inspiration heard in protest marches, and used as a rallying cry by revolutionaries, students, and volunteers across the country. 3/20
If only it was this angry when millions of migrants were walking home on foot.
Thread. 1/18
For a country that prides itself on moving fast, India was strangely unprepared for the week in 2025 when IndiGo—the airline that had become shorthand for middle-class mobility—simply stopped working. 2/18
Aviation in India has always been a performance—a stage where the country acts out its idea of arrival. If the railways carry everyone, aviation is meant to carry those who imagine they have moved beyond the crowds of railway platforms.
Simone Tata, the visionary who transformed Lakmé into India's leading cosmetic brand, passed away yesterday in Mumbai. She was 95. We recount the remarkable story of how Goddess Lakshmi inspired the most well-known cosmetic brand of India. 1/16
Photo by Bikramjit Bose.
The story begins in India in the 1950s, a nascent democracy that was unavoidably going through growth pains. Reportedly, the Nehru administration had realised that Indian women were spending a lot of money on imported cosmetics. 2/16
According to M.O. Mathai’s acclaimed book “My days with Nehru,” Indian urban women were furious when the Union Finance Minister halted all imports of foreign cosmetics due to a lack of foreign currency. Telegrams and letters poured into the PM’s office. 3/16
This is one of the most significant pieces of furniture in India’s modern history. If furniture could speak, this one would tell the story of a hero’s last stand.
A short thread. 1/11
This sofa set was recovered from the ill-fated Palm Lounge at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai, during the 26/11 terrorist attack, bearing a total of 13 bullet marks.
2/11
It witnessed the valiant fight between Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and four terrorists during the operation. Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan was an officer of the Indian Army’s elite National Security Guard (NSG), renowned for his exceptional bravery.
Legendary actor Dharmendra passed away yesterday after a brave battle. He had been receiving treatment at Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital.
Did you know that the tune of this song from 'Anupama' (1966) was actually composed 4 years earlier for another film? #DharmendraDeol 1/9
Hrishikesh Mukherjee drew from his cousin's real-life story for the titular character in 'Anupama'. In an interview with The Indian Express, he shared, "My aunt died during childbirth, my uncle turned to alcohol, and he couldn't bear his daughter. " 2/9
"For Anupama’s relationship with the poet who rescues her, I used my imagination." he remarked.
Dharmendra played Ashok, an author sensitive to the world's sorrows, who sees the same melancholy in Anupama and helps her discover herself. 3/9