A Ninety Percent Solution
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Sanity Break #1
The above is a painting by Ghanaian artist Betty Acquah perfectly titled ‘Dance Girls’. We happened to stumble upon this painting on and it filled us with immediate joy. All we know about Acquah after great googling is —which mostly tells us she is a Ghanaian feminist, and showcases a wonderful collection of her work. (Laptop viewing only)
Headlines that matter
A DIWALI ‘PASS IT FORWARD’ SPECIAL Running out of ideas and time to buy Diwali gifts for friends and fam? No worries! Just get them a yearly subscription to splainer at our very special price ONLY for subscribers: Rs 600, which is a whopping 40% discount. Diwali, diyas, gift of knowledge… you know it’s perfect! Just head over to the and hit ‘Gift a friend’. PS: We have several other special offers for both non-subscribers and subscribers right over . Also, because we just can’t help ourselves... THE US ELECTION: A VERY QUICK UPDATE * The good news: President Trump has not filed any new lawsuits or called for a mass uprising. But his administration hasn’t he has lost the election either—and is refusing to hand over the White House keys to Joe Biden. * Trump kept himself busy by his Defense Secretary Mark Esper—who refused to deploy the military to quell Black Lives Matter protests. * In far better news: Joe Biden has a Covid task force co-chaired by Dr Vivek Murthy—who was Barack Obama’s surgeon general and has family (which is surely more important). The other Indian American on the panel: one of our fave authors, Atul Gawande. * Also busy: the call centre workers manning his campaign’s voter fraud hotline—which has been with prank calls from gleeful haters. * Can anything make that Rudy Giuliani presser in a parking lot any sadder? Yes: The discovery that one of the star witnesses presented to the media is a . * FYI: the tabloids are already gossiping about a . * On a far more upbeat note, here’s a featuring 13-year-old Brayden Harrington who has a stutter—and got some help from his fellow stutterer Joe Biden. * Say hello , the first dogs of the United States, Major and Champ. They have their very own , which has now been suspended. THE TRAGIC DEATH OF A COLLEGE STUDENT Aishwarya Reddy was a high-achieving second-year student studying mathematics at the prestigious Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi. She died of suicide. This is why: * Aishwarya was the daughter of a mechanic and a tailor. She came second in her Class XII board exams in Telangana last year—and was the first from her family to go to college. * She won an INSPIRE scholarship by the Ministry of Science and Technology—which paid Rs 5,000 per month toward her education. * But her parents still had to take a Rs 2 lakh loan to pay her expenses. * When the pandemic struck, it destroyed her parents’ livelihood. * Then their troubles grew worse. LSR decided that it would no longer provide hostel accommodation to its second or third year students. This meant Aishwarya would have to find off-campus housing—which would cost an additional Rs 15,000 a month. * Adding to her troubles: The money from the INSPIRE scholarship never came through. * The final blow: Aishwarya did not have a laptop or a proper internet connection (which was already too expensive for her parents). * This meant she could not attend her online classes regularly. More tragically, it has now allowed the college to claim it did not receive any documents from her for the scholarship. * Her parents decided to pawn their gold and sell their house. That burden in the end proved to be unbearable. * She died leaving behind a note that read: “My family has been spending a lot of money on me. I am a burden for them. My studies are a burden. But I cannot live without my studies. I have been contemplating this for days. I think that suicide is my only resort.” * has the best reporting on this tragedy. GOOGLE FACES YET ANOTHER PROBE Indian authorities have launched a third investigation into the company’s anti-competitive practices. The main point of contention: Google Pay. The company requires users to use its payment platform for Play Store purchases—and excludes its rivals. Translation: why so mean to hamara Paytm… or is it WhatsApp Pay, which is now a Jio partner. () BIG PROGRESSIVE REFORMS IN UAE The United Arab Emirates announced a major overhaul of its Islamic personal laws that will grant greater personal freedom to its citizens. The biggest change: honor killings—which were a justification for killing or assaulting women—are now a criminal offence. Other reforms: unmarried couples can live together; alcohol consumption is legal; attempted suicide is no longer a crime. () ARNAB STAYS IN JAIL The Bombay High Court has to grant the news anchor interim bail—so he will stay in custody: > “A two-member bench today said that ‘no case was made out in the present matter for the high court to exercise its extraordinary > jurisdiction.’ In its order, the High Court also said that the reopening of investigation by the state police ‘cannot be said to > be irregular or illegal by any stretch of imagination.’” The court also gave permission for Goswami and the other two co-accused to for three hours daily. A related read triggering strong reactions: Arfa Khanum Sherwani in argues Goswami is not a journalist—and doesn’t deserve the support of journalists like her. In related news: The Narcotics Control Bureau raided Arjun Rampal's home. The reason: the brother of his girlfriend Gabriella Demetriades was recently arrested for drug possession. Both of them have been called in for questioning. Also arrested: producer Firoz Nadiadwala's wife for the possession of 10 grams of marijuana. Yes, all this is part of the same drug bust operation triggered by Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide. () AN APPLE SOLUTION FOR PTSD US authorities have approved the sale of an Apple Watch app called NightWare to treat certain symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—specifically, nightmares: > “The system uses smartwatch motion and heart rate data to detect when you’re having a nightmare and vibrate the wristwear in > response, arousing (but not waking) you to interrupt bad dreams and maintain sleep.” It is a prescription-only treatment and should only be used as part of a broader treatment program. () THREE FEEL-GOOD THINGS One: Virat Kohli has been granted paternity leave so he can be present at his child’s birth. He will miss three out of four test matches in the Australia series. explains why this is an important precedent. explains what it means for the Indian team. Two: Kerala will soon be home to the world’s largest elephant care facility at Kottoor, 25 km outside Cochin. has this story. Also see: Rescue baby ellie Sreekutty a grand first birthday at the shelter recently. Three: Here is Kerala’s Health Minister K K Shailaja on Vogue India’s latest cover. Read the story .
Sanity Break #2
Fiction or fact? Which do you prefer? put together a delightful collection of real locations that inspired 13 famous paintings—by the likes of Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. The above: ‘Mont Sainte-Victoire’ by Paul Cézanne. As far as we are concerned, art is totally kicking the ass out of life.
Smart & Curious
A LIST OF CURIOUS FACTS One: Did you know that you can buy a plane that matches your car? That’s if you’ve $11 million to buy one of 10 pairs of matching Embraer Phenom 300E aircraft and Porsche 911 Turbo S cars. has this eye-roll inducing story. Two: The ridiculously cuddly-looking great glider of Australia is actually . Yeah, you probably don’t care but we needed an excuse to share this! Three: The end of the Trump administration has given us all a new term: glee-freshing, i.e. the opposite of doom-scrolling. has more. Four: In Taiwan, falling birth rates have spawned the oddest phenomenon: dogs in prams! Also: the number of pets has overtaken the number of children aged under 15. has this story. Five: In Hokkaido City, Japan, they use monster to keep bears at bay! Please note: It can roar and flash its eyes red—because otherwise it wouldn’t be scary enough?
Feel Good Place
Take one hot topic. Say, Delhi Capitals beating out Sunrisers Hyderabad. Pick one nonsensical unrelated theme like… all the states won by Trump? The result: just plain silly fun. What is the difference between a dog and a hot dog? A short lesson in media criticism by Sidin Vakutt. When you just want to say hello… A good Vice-President knows how to follow another person’s lead… especially on the dance floor.
