By Spriha Srivastava

As my car came to a halt at a traffic signal on the way to south Delhi, a bunch of children dressed in the shabbiest of clothes came running towards me. One of them tried to sell me a box of tissues while a teenage girl held an infant in her arms and begged for money for his food. I was baffled to see the same thing happen at every traffic signal until I reached my destination.

By Dina Begum

The People’s Republic of Bangladesh has been sinking for as long as I can remember watching the BBC broadcasting yet another flood, cyclone and disaster in my country of birth. After a while you become desensitised to the women in cotton saris wading through chin-high water with a metal box or water carrier in hand, and the weeping old men who cry with their heads in their hands.

Slums are headline news — again. From Stewart Brand’s über-optimistic take in his book Whole Earth Discipline to the murk and violence of Slumdog Millionaire, slums are portrayed alternately as miracles of innovation and the ultimate trainwreck. Barbara Kiser finds the truth lies somewhere between.

By Stephanie King

On Tuesday 2nd March The xx played a gorgeous, accomplished gig at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, building an atmosphere of hushed intimacy in which their debut album was joined by some of their Youtube-friendly cover versions. Do You Mind was the spine-tingling highlight.

In 2003, two people were stopped and searched outside London’s Excel Centre and prevented from attending a peaceful protest against the arms fair taking place inside. Journalist Pennie Quinton was forced to stop filming despite showing her press card, and Kevin Gillian was stopped for 20 minutes when riding his bike.

Bangladesh has been rocked by the recent flaring up of decades old ethnic tensions, as Bengali settlers set fire to hundreds of indigenous homes. Pinaki Roy reports from Dhaka on the latest developments and explores the background to the violence.