Best of Hardnews: Offbeat stories

2004: Reality, subverted
The movie, clearly based on the post-Godhra bloodbath, is a gutless, botched-up take on actual events
Mukul Sinha Ahmedabad

2005: The business of avoiding babies
Population control is ensconced in ideology, technology, industry and, of course, health, but at the cost of women's well-being
Bela Malik Delhi

Reflections: LESSONS FROM FREUD

2007: Partition of tongues
Urdu has a rich tradition among non-Muslims in North India. It is only in recent years that the language is getting confined to Muslims alone
Hasan Syed Kamaal Delhi

Busboys, Poets and Little Rock Nine
Let America be America again, let it be the dream it used to be...
Sanjay Kapoor Washington

2008: Freedom in deep-freeze
I was headed for a small dot on the map called Levi, 350km deep into the Arctic Circle in Lapland. The captain cheerily announced a day of good skiing with the outside temperature a pleasant -14°C
Mohan Guruswamy Lapland (Finland)

A Country of Dream
As it reaches the pinnacle of economic boom with the Great Olympic Games, will Superpower China change?
Amit Sengupta Beijing

2009: 'Birmingham' on the Brink
Hit by the slowdown, Small and medium enterprises are bleeding in Punjab's steel hub
Akash Bisht Mandi Gobindgarh (Punjab)

Fabric of Hunger
In Punjab's once flourishing textile sector, thousands have lost their jobs
Akash Bisht Ludhiana

Glass doesn't Gleam
In Firozabad where people breathe not air, but glass, pessimism stalks
Samarth Pathak Firozabad (UP)

This Shoe Pinches
The world class hub of the footwear industry in agra has hit the dust
Samarth Pathak Agra