Playing Chicken

Sanity Break #1

Ireland’s Foreign Ministry made a very important and serious in Parliament. It is an absolute must-watch for everyone. That’s all we’re going to say. (courtesy founding member Resham Gupta)

Headlines that matter

RAJINIKANTH HAS ENTERED POLITICS, FINALLY! After years of procrastination, Thalaivar announced that he is ready to launch his political party in January. He’d announced his intention back in 2017 after the death of Jayalalithaa, but did very little about it. More recently, he said that doctors were worried about him campaigning in the midst of a pandemic. But he’s now taking the leap irrespective. Source of great speculation: His relationship with the BJP. Rajini’s appeared to distance himself from its Hindutva politics: > “In the coming Assembly elections, with the people’s support, we will usher in a transparent, corruption-free, secular > government, beyond caste, religion. It will be the birth of spiritual politics.” But he’s also picked a local BJP leader as “chief coordinator” of the new party. Also: The state BJP leaders seem excessively excited about Rajini’s entry into politics. See that clip . has more on that angle. TRUMP GOES OFF THE RAILS The US President delivered a long address attacking the election results—in front of no audience and released solely on social media. This is how the Associated Press reported the event: > “Increasingly detached from reality, President Donald Trump stood before a White House lectern and delivered a 46-minute > diatribe against the election results that produced a win for Democrat Joe Biden, unspooling one misstatement after another to > back his baseless claim that he really won.” You can choose to watch the insanity . THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * Three former US presidents—Barack Obama, George Bush Jr, and Bill Clinton—will get their vaccines to reassure everyone it is perfectly safe. * The UK’s decision to quickly okay the Pfizer vaccine for wide use is not winning any friends. Now, the United States’ top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci : “The U.K. did not do it as carefully. If you go quickly and you do it superficially, people are not going to want to get vaccinated.” * India has pre-booked the most number of doses—a whopping —in deals with various vaccine makers. EU is #2, followed by the US. * Airlines in India will post of Rs 210 billion this fiscal year. RBI CALLS OUT HDFC’S DIGITAL DISASTER The Reserve Bank of India has forbidden HDFC from launching new digital products and services—and from taking on new credit card customers. The reason: ongoing outages in its internet and mobile banking. The bank suffered a big power outage on November 21 that knocked out its online services for 12 hours. Why : > “This is the first time that the RBI is cracking down on any bank for lapses in service and it does raise questions about > whether the severity of the penalty is proportionate to the magnitude of the deficiency. One must wait to see whether this is a > veiled warning to other banks that have also witnessed similar outages.” A related must-read: explains why there are increasing outages—which are affecting all digital financial services, especially unified payments interface (UPI). For a more nerdy policy take, check out report. [Trigger warning: this item contains a very graphic description of sexual violence.] A CRIME THAT DESERVES OUR ATTENTION Brutal acts of sexual violence in the major metros—and more recently, in Hathras—occasionally receive national attention. But no one is talking about a horrific crime in Kashmir. A 21-year old was kidnapped, raped and mutilated. She struggled for her life for over a month at a hospital—and finally died on November 27. And yet, the case did not receive any attention in the national media—or even in the Valley. Her sister told : > “We don’t know why the entire valley is silent over this issue. If today it was my sister tomorrow it can be anyone’s mother, > daughter, sister or wife. A month has passed when this incident happened but the culprits are still enjoying a good meal inside > the jail. Why is the government not punishing them?” We offer her aunt’s description of the crime so the enormity of this indifference is painfully clear: > “They did not just rape her, she was also tortured and the torture marks were visible on her body. The skin around her eyes was > cut down. Her eyes were bruised and bulged out. Blood was oozing from her eyes. She had ligature marks around her neck which > means that they had tried to choke her breath. Her tongue was cut down. She was hit on her head. Her body was tortured black and > blue.” AN IPL TEAM FOR ADANI? The BCCI is considering a proposal to add two more IPL teams to the league at its next big meeting. The likely owners: Sanjiv Goenka and Gautam Adani—and one will definitely be based in Ahmedabad (Modi Super Emperors, perhaps?). Also on the agenda: picking the BCCI’s rep at global cricketing bodies like the ICC. The likely pick: Jay Shah. Move along, folks, nothing unexpected to see here. () Speaking of fat cats: Roshni Nadar is India’s wealthiest woman with a net worth of Rs 54,850 crore. Right behind her: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw who is the richest self-made multi-crorepati on the Kotak Wealth Hurun Wealthy Women 2020 list. Also notable: the presence of six startup founders including Nykaa’s Falguni Nayar and Byju’s Divya Gokulnath. () A beloved fat cat: MDH Spices owner Mahashay Dharampal Gulati passed away yesterday. He was 97-years old and leaves behind a Rs 20 billion empire. and have the best profiles of the Masala King. TIME MAGAZINE PICKS NRI KID Gitanjali Rao—a 15-year old scientist and inventor—is Time magazine’s first ever Kid of the Year. She’s been honoured for “her astonishing work using technology to tackle issues ranging from contaminated drinking water to opioid addiction and cyberbullying .” Read the transcript of her convo with Angelina Jolie over at . TWO STUDIES OF NOTE One: A new study used bottles marked with GPS and satellite tags to show just how far plastic pollution can spread. The maximum distance traveled by one such bottle: 2,845 kilometres in 94 days. has more. Two: Another study found that vegans are at greater risk of broken bones—and 43% more likely to suffer fractures than meat eaters. reports. ABOUT THAT MOON LANDING... Earlier this week, China successfully landed its unmanned spacecraft on the moon. The plan: to collect and send a sample of moon rocks back to Earth. Beijing has now released of its pitch-perfect landing. Good read: explains how a robotic explorer is bringing home moon rocks and why the mission will ramp up pressure on the US to follow suit. SIX FUN THINGS The great giraffe rescue: The population of giraffes in Africa is steadily declining—of these the Rothschild’s giraffe is the most threatened. Now, eight of them are stranded on an island that is shrinking. So a team of conservationists is executing a daring rescue plan that involves custom-made barges. has this awesome story. See the barge below: A koala-sized Christmas surprise: What if Goldilocks was a young female koala who took a fancy to your family’s Christmas tree? This is of the McCormicks who found an unexpected guest when they returned home one day. And it has a happy ending—though a less-than-happy koala who didn’t really want to give up her tree. Not another monolith! The has popped up on a mountain in California. This one is 9-foot tall, made of stainless steel and is hollow on top. But it isn’t dug into the ground. () The perfect mango dress! Jessica Collins made a gown out 1,400 mangoes. Her aim: to highlight the amount of fruit that is just thrown away on her parents’ farm. An amazing landing: A single-engine plane on a highway in Minnesota and into an SUV in the process. Miraculously no one was hurt! Match.com just with this perfect '' ad—set to Taylor Swift's 'Love Story'. Satan and 2020 as lovebirds? Hell yeah!

Sanity Break #2

This is one of the 25 images on the shortlisted for the People’s Choice Award for Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Head over to the National History Museum and enjoy them in their true full-screen glory. And then vote for your favourite photo. (smartphone viewing is not recommended at all)

Weekend advisory

SO YOU WANT TO WATCH SOMETHING… Well, this is the right weekend for it. Netflix is dropping a ton of new releases on December 4. A is here, but these are our faves: : This gorgeously animated film—six years in the making—traces the love story of Kamala and Salim in the hustle-bustle of the maximum city. Check out NDTV’s glowing review . : An antique manuscript, a toxic love triangle and a husband out to kill his wife—who refuses to die! Need we say more? This quirky dark comedy has no reviews so far, but we ❤️ the trailer. : An easy and light binge, this web series stars Swara Bhaskar, Varun Thakur and Dolly Singh. It follows the protagonist Beanie Bhatnagar pursuing her dreams of becoming a stand up comic. The trailer promises lots of laughs—which we all need this year. Here is the cast talking to about the movie’s not-so-subtle inspo. : Another quick Netflix binge: this ET-themed docuseries—which claims to “put the science back in science-fiction”—looks at what life on distant planets may be like. offers a mixed review—but the trailer looks fascinating. Also: it’s only four episodes. : We plugged this one before. Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and James Corden in a high school musical. What’s not to like? Ok, so this could go terribly wrong, but hey it’s totally worth the risk. For something very different: ‘’ is a 2011 BBC co-production that features real-life conversations from couples counselling—via animation to protect the identities of the real people who share the anguish of broken relationships and lost intimacy. Yes, it’s 50 minutes long, but this unique film is totally worth your time. A LIST OF WEEKEND READS * The most prestigious scientific journals are also absurdly expensive—exposing a global divide between researchers who can afford the price of access, and those who can not. Madhukar Pai pens a scathing piece in on the hypocritical talk of diversity in West-centric research and publishing. * Joan Smith in reminds us how domestic violence is often glossed over in our tributes to great men. The most recent example: Diego Maradona. * did an excellent profile of filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. * Soutwik Biswas over at decodes the science of the BJP’s success. * We may have moved on, but India’s TikTok stars are struggling in its absence—as are the Indian apps which want to fill the vacuum. has this story. * offers a lovely piece on the pleasures of graphic novels in a time of great anxiety—and handy recommendations for the newbie reader as well. * How can you not want to read this essay titled: ‘The Unbearable Banality of Romance Novel Décor’? * critics ‘best of 2020’ recommendations make for a very handy shopping list. * has a must-read on the #SaveMollem movement in Goa—and how it is a very different kind of activism led by young people.