Manoj Sharma is Metro Features Editor at Hindustan Times. He likes to pursue stories that otherwise fall through the cracks.
Articles by Manoj Sharma
Zamrudpur is cooking up a revolution in cloud kitchens
Md Shamim, a delivery executive with an online food aggregator, says that since the Delhi government banned dine-in at restaurants last week, the number of deliveries he makes every day has almost doubled
Updated on Jan 17, 2022 01:59 AM IST
Kathputli live: Musicians, puppeteers of Delhi colony to get digital viewers
- Hundreds of performing artistes and craftsmen in Kathputli Colony, perhaps the country’s biggest community of performing artistes, have taken to technology in a big way in the past two years of the pandemic.
Published on Jan 10, 2022 05:59 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
How Covid killed the calendar
Paper calendars survived the digital age, but their sales have suffered a massive drop in the past two years of the pandemic, what with unprecedented disruption in social, personal and professional lives, rendering calendaring not- so- necessary
Updated on Jan 03, 2022 07:07 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
For beggars in Delhi, a training drive may hold beacon of hope
Sanjay Kumar Kushwaha, 25, is listening intently to his trainer as he tells a class of 25 students, all beggars on the streets of Delhi until a month back, about various tools of painting a wall—brush, roller, sandpapers and their uses
Published on Dec 13, 2021 12:25 AM IST
Delhi: Mughlai hub Jama Masjid area getting a continental makeover
Jama Masjid area is undergoing a quiet, invisible transformation as a food destination, thanks to many upwardly mobile youngsters who are opening new fine dining restaurants and European-style cafés
Updated on Dec 06, 2021 06:46 AM IST
Key skills: Typewriter finds its place despite digital onslaught
Delhi has many typewriting institutes, where hundreds of aspirants for various government jobs requiring a typing speed test are trained on old Remingtons and Godrej typewriters, even as laptops and touch screens hold sway.
Updated on Nov 29, 2021 12:04 AM IST
For clockmakers in old Delhi, time is a friend and an enemy
Quartz and digital clocks, they say, are more accurate but they have depreciated the timepieces and their profession.
Updated on Nov 10, 2021 08:35 PM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Get savvy or go bust: Street food joints in Delhi reinvent after Covid shock
According to the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), Delhi had about 60,000 street food vendors before the pandemic , but now only about 30, 000 are left
Updated on Nov 01, 2021 02:02 AM IST
Taking stock of the market: Bull run boosts finance literacy programmes in Delhi
Kanika Bhaskar, a resident of Nirman Vihar in east Delhi, expounds stock market trading concepts such as risk management, position-sizing, and stop-loss, among others like a seasoned professional
Updated on Oct 25, 2021 01:31 AM IST
Are your home or office private security guards trained? Probably not
Unlicensed agencies and their reluctance to invest; RWAs and their desire to avoid paying minimum wages; and governments and their lack of oversight are contributory factors
Updated on Oct 12, 2021 11:40 AM IST
Unlikely Covid fillip boosts famous scissors market in Meerut
The Covid-19 pandemic has unexpectedly given a new lease of life to Meerut’s 350-year-old scissors industry, which faced a downward spiral in the past two decades due to the growing popularity of Chinese scissors.
Updated on Oct 11, 2021 05:52 AM IST
Mohammadpur village in Delhi debates its name and past
The village has been in the news after a local councillor sought to rename the change the name of the village from Mohammadpur to Madhavpuram
Updated on Oct 04, 2021 01:31 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Ramlila a non-starter in the land of Ravana worshippers
Bisrakh—a village in Gautam Budh Nagar, about 30 km from Connaught Place, does not organise Ramlila or celebrate Dussehra, which is in fact the day of mourning for villagers. Local legend has it that Bisrakh is the birthplace of Ravana, the demon king and the ruler of Lanka.
Updated on Sep 27, 2021 04:16 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Delhi’s revamped Chandni Chowk holds different meanings for its many residents
The redeveloped Chandni Chowk was inaugurated by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on September 12.
Updated on Sep 20, 2021 12:49 AM IST
At Signature Bridge, lifts that didn’t lift off
A colonial-era law's definition of a lift has blocked a ticketed ride for tourists to the glass viewing gallery atop the Signature Bridge in national capital Delhi
Updated on Sep 13, 2021 04:23 PM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
From cargo to classrooms: Containers triggering ideas and opportunities
Experts say they are slowly gaining popularity as an eco-friendly, rapidly deployable, scalable, portable plug-and-play building solution.
Updated on Sep 06, 2021 10:18 AM IST
Khari Baoli dry fruit market has centuries-old ties with Kabul
Afghanistan has been driving the dry fruit business in Khari Baoli, which is India’s biggest dry fruit market and home to some of the oldest dry fruit importers in the country.
Updated on Aug 30, 2021 04:39 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Kabuli Gurdwara: A sanctuary in Delhi for Afghan violence victims
On Sunday, an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 Globemaster aircraft landed at the Hindan airbase in Ghaziabad with 168 travellers, including 107 Indians, from Kabul.
Updated on Aug 23, 2021 12:50 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
With new world-class sports facilities, Najafgarh capital’s major sports hub
There are over a hundred others playing football on the new synthetic turf, and practising long jump and running around a 400-metre new synthetic track.
Updated on Aug 23, 2021 12:37 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
The uniform serves even after duty ends
- ‘Sepoi’ -- a name from the word ‘sipahi’ meaning soldier--- is another such initiative. Founded in 2019 by Mumbai-based couple Siddharth and Suchi Jaiswal, it turns old defence uniforms into products such as backpacks, tote bags, and laptop bags.
Published on Aug 16, 2021 06:13 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
High on glory, monumental flags take huge effort to install, retain
- In the past few years, from Delhi-NCR to Guwahati, India has had some of the world’s tallest and largest national flags installed in public parks, at railway stations, airports, educational campuses, corporate houses, among others.
Published on Aug 02, 2021 03:24 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Silent culinary revolution brews at south Delhi’s Humayunpur village
- The village, near Safdarjung Enclave, has witnessed a slow and silent culinary revolution with over 60 trendy, budget-friendly restaurants and cafes offering Chinese, Korean, Nepalese and North-east Indian cuisine coming up in the last three years, putting Humayunpur on the city’s ever-expanding culinary map.
Published on Jul 26, 2021 05:26 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Villages set up own libraries with a little help from friends
- A rural library movement is sweeping across the country.
Updated on Jul 20, 2021 07:11 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
OTT platforms give new lease of life to regional language authors
- The OTT platforms’ search for content has also given rise to ‘book story agents’, who act as intermediaries between publishing houses, writers and OTT platforms and production houses.
Published on Jul 12, 2021 01:39 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
A haircut above the rest: Outdoor allure a win for roadside barbers
While the business of salons and hairdressers has suffered since the pandemic began last year, Delhi/ NCR’s ubiquitous roadside barbers are getting new clients who desperately need a haircut but are fearful of walking into the air-conditioned salons for fear of contracting the Sars-Cov-2 that causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Updated on Jun 28, 2021 04:15 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Pangs of displacement in Jewar
- Villagers in Jewar, whose houses are being demolished for the development of an airport, say their displacement is an emotionally distressing experience and will forever alter their cherished rural lives
Updated on Jun 14, 2021 02:30 PM IST
People with disabilities suffer as Covid limits access to care
The pandemic, people with disabilities say, has brought to the fore the inadequacies of the healthcare system in responding to their needs.
Updated on May 31, 2021 06:12 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi:
Sharing meds and pain during pandemic
Medicine Banks—where people can donate their unused medicine and those who require them can receive them free of cost-- are coming up across the country.
Updated on May 24, 2021 02:03 PM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi
Future of migrant kids uncertain amid spike
There has been limited assessment of the pandemic’s wider effects on the children of migrants. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court, in response to a petition filed by NGO Child Rights Trust, asked for data from all states and Union Territories on children of migrant workers.
Published on Apr 19, 2021 04:51 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Fear of 2020 rerun grips Delhi's migrants amid Covid-19 infection spike
There is fear and anxiety among the thousands of migrant workers in villages such as Shahpur Garhi, Tikri Khurd, Bhor Garh, and Singhola.
Updated on Apr 12, 2021 10:52 AM IST
Manoj Sharma, New Delhi