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This is the Black Eyed Peas’ love letter to Bollywood titled—what else—‘Action’. The accompanying : “From Asha Bhosle to A.R Rahman, Indian music has influenced our songs on more than one occasion…This video for ACTION shows our LOVE and appreciation for BOLLYWOOD and the imagination and awesomeness it brings to the screen.” We agree!
TIKTOK AUR TWITTER KI JODI Twitter has emerged as an unexpected—and still unlikely—buyer of TikTok’s US operations. The talks are at an early stage, but most experts are skeptical. : Twitter is just too small and doesn’t have the money: “Twitter will have a hard time putting together enough financing to acquire even the U.S. operations of TikTok. It doesn’t have enough borrowing capacity.” OTOH, TikTok’s most likely buyer, Microsoft, is already under scrutiny for being too large. Point to note: TikTok plans to file a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s order banning the app if it does not find a buyer by September 15. Courts take their time to make decisions… and Trump may not be in office after November 2. has the most details. The story via Indian Express is here. Meanwhile, over at Facebook…: Its own employees are leaking information to make it look very bad. Internal documents show that Facebook allowed conservative and rightwing outlets and personalities to spread fake news—without facing any penalties. In fact, the a senior engineer who collected evidence of this double-standard. has the details. THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE The India numbers: Total number of cases: 2,215,074. Total deaths: 44,386. Total recoveries: 1,535,743. The worrying news: After days of declining numbers, the capital reported 1,404 new cases on Sunday. OTOH: The number of tests conducted were also the highest since July 1. () Far more worrying: 600,000 ASHA or Accredited Social Health Activists—who are frontline workers in the battle in rural India—went on a strike on Friday. Their reason: “For working from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. we get only 2,000 rupees ($27) a month and no masks or sanitizer.” And many have not been paid for more than four months. Point to note: These women are harassed and ostracised for their Covid work in their own communities. () Cats and Covid: New research shows that cats can easily spread the disease to fellow felines. The good news: it is rare for them to develop symptoms or become ill. But it raises questions about cats as carriers: “The ease of transmission between domestic cats indicates a significant public health need to investigate the potential chain of human-cat-human transmission.” () Wildlife and Covid: In the Chinese city of Chongqing at least 135 animals across 17 species—including wild boars, Siberian weasels, and blackbirds—died due to widespread spraying of disinfectants. Point to note: A number of countries—including South Korea, France, and Spain—use trucks, drones, and even robots to douse streets, parks etc with chemicals. () Two good reads: reports on how Delhi’s red light areas are staying Covid-safe. explains why the pandemic marks the end of the American era—and is pretty darn convincing. ZOOM VS MICROSOFT TEAMS Zoom introduced a whole slew of new features that makes video conferencing more fun—think fun filters—and easier to use for individuals. Example: controls that add noise cancellation and improve lighting. Microsoft is targeting companies with its Advanced Communications plan that comes with a 60-day free trial. Now, management can hold meetings with up to 20,000 employees in ‘view only’ mode—and add more branding to these mega-meets. has details on Teams. For Zoom, either watch the vid below or check out . DEFENCE MINISTRY EMBRACES ATMA NIRBHAR BHARAT The government has banned the import of 101 items of defence equipment—which will be sourced from domestic manufacturers instead. But the announcement sounds more impressive than it is. explains why. In key atma nirbharta news: The government’s push for self-reliance is very bad news for India’s forests. Latest plans call for 40 new coalfields in India’s most ecologically sensitive areas. For example: four huge blocks of 420,000 acres of forest in Chhattisgarh, which sit above an estimated 5 billion tonnes of coal. Also this: > "At least seven of the coal blocks up for auction were previously deemed ‘no go’ areas for mining due to their environmentally > valuable status and about 80% of the blocks are home to indigenous communities and thick forest cover. Four state > governments—West Bengal, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh—have written to Modi in opposition or raised legal objections > to the auction, and one coal block, which overlapped with the Tadoba tiger reserve in Maharashtra, has already been removed." has a must-read on why the government’s energy plan comes at a terrible price. ZOMATO OFFERS ‘PERIOD LEAVE’ The company’s women employees can take up 10 days off for menstruation-related reasons—a big step in a country where periods are still taboo. But there are restrictions: they can only take one day off per cycle. Since periods from hell can last for days, that stipulation may not be helpful. But we loved the spirit of CEO Deepinder Goyal’s : > “You should feel free to tell people on internal groups, or emails that you are on your period leave for the day.. In case you > face any unnecessary harassment, or distasteful comments from men or women about the fact that you applied for a period leave, > or that you are vocal about it, please report them to speakup@zomato.com—our prevention of sexual harassment (POSH) team will > quickly spring into action.” CANADA’S LAST ARCTIC SHELF IS NO MORE The Milne Ice Shelf—which was the last intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic—has broken apart into large iceberg islands due to a hot summer and global warming. According to satellite photos, 43% of the shelf broke apart on July 30 or 31. Why this matters: “There aren’t very many ice shelves around the Arctic anymore… It seems we’ve lost pretty much all of them from northern Greenland and the Russian Arctic. There may be a few in a few protected fjords.” the shelf break apart below. () RAJPUT ON A CALIFORNIA BILLBOARD First it was Lord Ram looming large in Times Square. Now, it's Sushant Singh Rajput on a California highway billboard—the image of which was shared by his sister on Instagram (see below). She also shared a video of the same set to a Chhichore soundtrack . All-India dramas: paying advertiser bills everywhere.
A pair of Gen Z twins ’ ‘In The Air’ for the first time ever—and were totally blown away. The video went viral and now the song is jostling for the number one spot . If you don’t want to watch the entire thing, jump to the 4:50 mark—right before that legendary drum break—and watch the kids lose it.
A LONG LIST OF GOOD READS * Jyoti Yadav in offers a feminist (and likely unpopular) take on why Sushant Singh Rajput’s family is angry at Rhea Chakraborthy. * Shaving blades are made of one of the toughest materials in the world. So why do they get dull so quickly? investigates a new breakthrough in shaving tech by a group of MIT researchers. * takes us inside the hidden natural history museum in Mumbai. * spotlights a strange new YouTube fad: Chore TV—“land porn for wistful cubicle dwellers.” Some American farmers now make more money from videotaping footage of their rural life than from farming. * has a great personal essay on the decline of the American passport—once a sign of great privilege. * explains how Ellen DeGeneres’ facade of kindness crumbled. * A must read: on why Twitter may be far worse than other social media platforms—and why it is built to bring out the worst in us. * tracks the politicisation of the utterly, butterly Amul girl. * Not new, but still worth your time: dissection of the wildly popular self-help books that have f**k in their title—but are astonishingly tame in the advice they dole out.
to resilience. Also, useful reminder to self: Stop whining! Yes, she has cerebral palsy. Yes, she climbed up a flight of stairs. to shoplifting. to grand laptop theft—which sadly failed due to a very determined German nudist. has this funny story. to life travels. Happy Monday, and thank you for keeping us excellent company:)
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