Creepy Crawlies Ahoy!
SANITY BREAK Salman Khan has a line of personal grooming products called FRSH. We leave him to offer a (perfectly nonsensical) explanation for the lack of vowels in his brand name of choice.
HEADLINES THAT MATTER GUJARAT IS OFFICIALLY A SHITSHOW Low testing: The state has 14,000 Covid-19 cases, 888 are dead. And yet it is only conducting between 4,800 and 5,500 tests a day. Worse, there are dangerous delays in testing patients: 66% of those who test positive have died within two days. The big reason: even patients who are critically ill—i.e. on ventilators—have to wait for approval for tests at a private lab. See scary charting the inverse relationship between the state’s Covid count and number of tests. The High Court case: The state government received a tongue-lashing from judges looking into the dismal state of affairs at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. They the hospital “as good as a dungeon, maybe even worse than a dungeon”—pointing to the acute shortage of PPE, ventilators and isolation wards. Point to note: 351 of the 570 deaths recorded in Gujarat as of May 20 occurred in this one hospital. has more details on the dire state of Civil Hospital. Fake ventilators: Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani rolled out his buddy Parakramsinh Jadeja’s cheap “ventilator” with great fanfare—touting Dhaman-1 as a “great achievement” that would “add a feather” in the PM’s ‘Make in India’ campaign. Awesome, except the damn things are actually Artificial manual breathing machines, or Ambu bags. Also: they require way too much oxygen and are near-useless, as hospitals in Ahmedabad are finding out. Now, the CM insists that he never claimed that the contraption was a ventilator. has more details on this sordid story of crony capitalism. AN UPDATE OF THE LATEST COVID GYAAN Bad news about a second peak: The World Health Organisation has that countries where coronavirus infections are declining could face an “immediate second peak” if they come out of a lockdown too soon. A senior official said: “[We are] right in the middle of the first wave, globally… We're still very much in a phase where the disease is actually on the way up." Good/bad news about minks: Dutch workers at mink farms may be the of direct animal-human transmission—i.e. the first instances of where infected animals spread the disease directly to humans. Point to note: we still don’t know exactly how the virus jumped from animals to humans in China. The WHO says it is “collecting and reviewing more data [about the Dutch cases] to understand if animals and pets can spread the disease." The minks and anti-fur activists said: serves you effing right! Good news about the vaccine: Monkeys with a prototype vaccine—i.e. Infected with the virus. Then 35 days later, doctors sprayed a dose of the virus under their noses. The monkeys showed signs of having developed immunity. Why is this good news? If the monkeys had not produced antibodies immediately, “the implication would be that the entire vaccine effort would fail… That would have been really, really bad news for 7 billion people.” Good news about mutations: A shows that not one of the 31 mutations of the virus have proved more deadly than the other. In fact, some of these changes to its DNA have been actively harmful to the virus and its ability to spread. Bad news about masks: According to Japanese experts, children under two should not because it increases the risk of choking. GOOGLE HAS A DELETE PROBLEM Google five million negative TikTok reviews from its Playstore after the app's rating fell from 4.5 to 1.2 stars overnight. The reason: Tik Tok star Faizal Siddiqui posted an offensive spoof of an acid attack—sparking outrage and an anti-Tik Tok backlash. Also fuelling the rage and one-star reviews: a growing anti-China sentiment in India, according to . Also hitting delete: Google-owned YouTube which has Chinese phrases that are critical of the Chinese Communist Party. The two phrases—“共匪” (“communist bandit”) and “五毛” (“50-cent party”)—were automatically deleted within 15 seconds of posting. YouTube’s response: “This appears to be an error in our enforcement systems and we are investigating.” RICHARD BRANSON’S NOT HAVING A GOOD YEAR First came his airline woes. Now his space company Virgin Orbit’s first attempt to launch a rocket from the wing of a Boeing 747 has failed miserably. Yes, you read that correctly. His company plans to use old Jumbo jets to launch satellites into space—making it way cheaper. Branson plans to try again in a few weeks. () SIGNS OF THE END OF LOCKDOWN Metro trains are getting to start their engines in Delhi within the next two days. JNU is that students in hostels take the next train home. And Akshay Kumar is a movie—ok, a public service ad campaign offering post-lockdown guidelines. And far, far away, Wall Street has the New York Stock Exchange trading floor—but with facemasks and plexiglass partitions. INDIAN ECONOMY: DOOM & GLOOM EDITION * One in four Indians of working age is unemployed. And the unemployment rate in cities (27%) than rural India. What this means: less than 25% of the urban working population is employed. * In related news: Economic growth between January and March was the slowest in eight years. Predictions in the of economists for the GDP growth rate in the first quarter of this financial year range all the way from a respectable 4.5% to an alarming -1.5%. Also, why people don’t like economists. * Adding to the doom and gloom: Uber India has 600 employees, which is a quarter of its workforce in the country.
SANITY BREAK Here are seven of migrants who refused to abandon their pets… unlike a lot of bade log we all know.
SMART & CURIOUS A LIST OF GOOD READS * Facial recognition tools are having a real hard time thanks to that pesky virus. looks at the latest solution: training AI to read faces using facemask selfies. * mulls the human side of face masks and standing metres apart from each other. How will it affect humans who depend heavily on visual cues and body language to communicate? * This older piece is still an intriguing read: What will be the best places to live in 2100—after the world has experienced severe climate change? How about Iqaluit, Canada? * Forget about dinosaurs. Did you know that human beings co-existed 20-40,000 years ago? Those would be three-tonne kangaroos and lizards as long as cars! * has a brilliant read on how Mumbai’s poorest neighbourhood, Shivaji Nagar, is keeping the virus at bay. * asks: What is mega purple and what is it doing in my wine? Ha, wouldn’t you like to know! DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DOCTOR This is a beautifully animated video that captures a single day in the life of Dr. Craig Spencer. He fought Ebola in West Africa as a part of Doctors Without Borders. Now he’s an ER physician in New York City. This is both beautiful and incredibly moving. We wish someone would do the same for our doctors—who are likely fighting the same battle but with far fewer resources.
LIFE ADVISORY SO YOU WANNA JUMP IN A POOL... Surprisingly, swimming isn’t a particularly risky activity. The reason: “[B]ecause chlorine and other common disinfectants, like bromine, ozone, or UV sanitizers, likely kill SARS-CoV-2 in treated water.” But sadly we don’t spend all our time in the water. And that’s when you have to be super careful. () SO YOU WANT TO GO OUT TO EAT… After the lockdown ends. Here’s a sensible guide that answers any questions you may have about staying safe at a restaurant. () SO YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT THAT EXPIRING DL… Good news: All documents related to vehicle registration, permits and driver’s licences that expired on or after February 1 can now be renewed by July 31. () SO YOU’RE CRAVING A TRULY EXOTIC COCKTAIL… Sure the bars are still closed, but liquor stores are open. So stop yearning and start mixing. Here are 11 recipes for famous cocktails from around the world. For example, Panther’s Milk from Barcelona that is a worryingly pink concoction of gin and condensed milk. Don’t worry, the others are far more palatable 😊 ()
THE FEEL GOOD PLACE at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is having a baby—right here in this clip! : This tigress at the Sariska Reserve in Rajasthan recently had three little babies—taking the total count up to 20! = pure joy! And that’s what we felt watching this clip. has been caught red-handed -winged (literally) by the Kashmir police. They are now working overtime to decipher the coded message attached to its leg with a ring—which was also red in colour!
READING HABIT THE WORLD OF CLASSIC BENGALI LITERATURE Editor’s note: Amitav Ghosh. Jhumpa Lahiri... Bengali authors who write in English loom large on the landscape of contemporary Indian literature. But the best Bengali writers wrote in their mother-tongue. This week, The Curious Reader opens the door to the rarely explored world of classic Bengali literature. Here are their favourites. The Adventures Of Feluda (Vols. & ): While this one seems rather obvious, I absolutely loved both volumes of Satyajit Ray’s ‘The Adventures Of Feluda’. Even though the books seem voluminous, the simple writing and inventive plots make these short stories a breeze to get through. If you love Sherlock Holmes, these stories of an intrepid sleuth and his trusty sidekick will be the perfect next step. —Devanshi Jain, TCR Co-Founder Curious about the Naxalite revolution in the 70's, I set my sights on Mahasweta Devi's ‘Mother Of 1084’ and boy, did I get my money’s worth! This short read was instrumental in making me aware of my privilege and showed me that the truth is hidden behind the mainstream stories that circulate today. —Rhea Pereira, TCR Community Manager While Sankar is more popular for his novel Chowringhee, I’ve always been more intrigued by ‘The Middleman’. The author’s stark description of a teeming city ready to swallow the weak made it a haunting read. Whenever I am in doubt about my ability to survive in a metropolis, this book is my go-to guide on the choices to make (or not to make). —Oishani Mitra, TCR Editor Want more options? Here’s an entire list of to add to your TBR. BOOKS RELEASES THIS WEEK * : Nikita Lalwani’s moving novel is a beautifully heart-breaking story of undocumented immigrants working at a pizza parlour in London. (June 1 | Hardcover) * : The death of a rich clan leader, the reading of a will, and so, the murders begin. Seishi Yokomizo, one of Japan’s foremost classic mystery writers, brings us a book that is bound to satisfy all our mystery cravings. (June 1 | Paperback) * : Imagine working in a manner that allows us to predict potential problems and directly eradicate them from the root. Dan Heath’s book teaches us this and much more. (June 1 | Paperback) * : Audur Ava Olafsdottir’s novel comes from the very heart of Iceland where a female writer is looking to carve a space from herself in a world that would rather have her become a wife and a mother. (June 1 | Paperback) Brought to you by SMART & CURIOUS A LIST OF GOOD READS * Facial recognition tools are having a real hard time thanks to that pesky virus. looks at the latest solution: training AI to read faces using facemask selfies. * mulls the human side of face masks and standing metres apart from each other. How will it affect humans who depend heavily on visual cues and body language to communicate? * This older piece is still an intriguing read: What will be the best places to live in 2100—after the world has experienced severe climate change? How about Iqaluit, Canada? * Forget about dinosaurs. Did you know that human beings co-existed 20-40,000 years ago? Those would be three-tonne kangaroos and lizards as long as cars! * has a brilliant read on how Mumbai’s poorest neighbourhood, Shivaji Nagar, is keeping the virus at bay. * asks: What is mega purple and what is it doing in my wine? Ha, wouldn’t you like to know! DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DOCTOR This is a beautifully animated video that captures a single day in the life of Dr. Craig Spencer. He fought Ebola in West Africa as a part of Doctors Without Borders. Now he’s an ER physician in New York City. This is both beautiful and incredibly moving. We wish someone would do the same for our doctors—who are likely fighting the same battle but with far fewer resources. LIFE ADVISORY SO YOU WANNA JUMP IN A POOL... Surprisingly, swimming isn’t a particularly risky activity. The reason: “[B]ecause chlorine and other common disinfectants, like bromine, ozone, or UV sanitizers, likely kill SARS-CoV-2 in treated water.” But sadly we don’t spend all our time in the water. And that’s when you have to be super careful. () SO YOU WANT TO GO OUT TO EAT… After the lockdown ends. Here’s a sensible guide that answers any questions you may have about staying safe at a restaurant. () SO YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT THAT EXPIRING DL… Good news: All documents related to vehicle registration, permits and driver’s licences that expired on or after February 1 can now be renewed by July 31. () SO YOU’RE CRAVING A TRULY EXOTIC COCKTAIL… Sure the bars are still closed, but liquor stores are open. So stop yearning and start mixing. Here are 11 recipes for famous cocktails from around the world. For example, Panther’s Milk from Barcelona that is a worryingly pink concoction of gin and condensed milk. Don’t worry, the others are far more palatable 😊 () THE FEEL GOOD PLACE at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is having a baby—right here in this clip! : This tigress at the Sariska Reserve in Rajasthan recently had three little babies—taking the total count up to 20! = pure joy! And that’s what we felt watching this clip. has been caught red-handed -winged (literally) by the Kashmir police. They are now working overtime to decipher the coded message attached to its leg with a ring—which was also red in colour!
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