https://www.scmp.com/rss/505548/feed Natasha Khullar Relph, who previously wrote under the name Mridu Khullar Relph, is a full-time freelance journalist based in New Delhi and Brighton, UK. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com In her white sleeveless top, strappy silver sandals and long blue skirt, which is destined to be thrown off minutes into her set, dancer Tenzin Mariko stepped onto the stage tingling with nerves. She was convinced audience members would throw tomatoes at her, or worse, eggs and shoes. Mariko was just 17 at the time, and no ordinary dancer. She was about to reveal herself as a woman for the first time, rather than the boy she had been born as. Born in India but ethnically Tibetan, Mariko was nine... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3099748/first-openly-transgender-tibetan-and-lgbt-icon-tenzin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3099748/first-openly-transgender-tibetan-and-lgbt-icon-tenzin?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Sep 2020 01:15:06 +0000 The call came on a Wednesday afternoon in mid-March. It was a friend from one of the European embassies in New Delhi, where we lived. State governments were quietly planning to round up foreigners, he said, and put them in indefinite quarantine or on planes back home. Embassies were making arrangements to fly out citizens. You should make plans for your family, too. That same day, the Indian government cancelled all travel visas, including the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards. Coronavirus... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3083606/i-escaped-indias-lockdown-and-ended-behind-britains-closed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3083606/i-escaped-indias-lockdown-and-ended-behind-britains-closed?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 May 2020 11:00:14 +0000 On a balmy Tuesday afternoon in the city of Faridabad in the Indian state of Haryana, an orange and blue Municipal Corporation truck drives through a residential street, playing a loud recording reminding residents to wash their hands and not leave their homes during the country’s strict coronavirus lockdown. Ashok, a garbage collector who goes by only one name, jumps out and rings the doorbells of each house. Some people bring out their trash and hand it to him, while others stand on their... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3082355/coronavirus-time-bomb-waiting-explode-indias-4-million?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3082355/coronavirus-time-bomb-waiting-explode-indias-4-million?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 May 2020 02:00:23 +0000 When she arrived at the airport in Rome in mid-March, Indian citizen Janice Pariat was told she would no longer be permitted to board her flight home. The Indian government had issued a directive that anyone flying into the country from Italy, among other nations, would have to provide a health certificate saying they were Covid-19 negative. This was impossible for Pariat, because, as far as she knew, the only way to get tested was if you were showing symptoms. She tried reaching out to the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3079883/how-indias-coronavirus-border-closures-and-lockdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3079883/how-indias-coronavirus-border-closures-and-lockdown?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Apr 2020 11:01:11 +0000