A Big Dose of Chaos
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Sanity Break #1
We have no clue about the Malayalam film was taken from… Except that it’s called ‘Looking Eyes’. And claims it’s some soft porn flick. But it remains the best and worst shakedown ever! No, there is nothing sexual or sexy about this bit.
Headlines that matter
THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A LONGISH UPDATE First, the numbers: We reported and 3,535 deaths yesterday. The number of average daily deaths over the past seven days is the highest in the world. A very good related read: This interview with leading virologist Dr Jacob John—who offers a long view of the pandemic. (h/t founding member George Thomas) Undercounting deaths #1: This time, it’s the Delhi government that is undercounting its dead. The official number for the past 10 days: 3,049. The number of funerals that followed Covid protocol: 6,958. The number of ‘not-Covid’ funerals in the same time period: 5,111. Point to note: Funerals follow Covid protocols only when a hospital certifies that either person was infected, or was a “suspected” case. So anyone who dies at home falls outside that category. digs into the numbers. Undercounting deaths #2: Times of India reporter looked at Bangalore and found: For every Covid death reported in the city, at least 2 bodies are cremated. Also this: > “Crematoria staff from these places have cremated 3,104 bodies under Covid protocol in 57 days, while [the] official number of > deaths was only 1,422. The government is yet to report deaths of 1,682 patients, which makes the gap in reporting and cremations > more than double.” Read his thread . Speaking of deaths: has an excellent piece on how social media often makes the difference between life and death in the midst of a collapsing healthcare system. Also: this powerful on nurse Manjusha Mathew unsuccessfully trying to revive a patient in the ICU. Also moving: shows two sons taking their mother’s body to the crematorium on a motorbike because they couldn’t get any other kind of transportation. Speaking of variants: The government has now asked states to send 150 Covid-positive samples for genome sequencing every two weeks. Why this is mystifying: This is lower than the original requirement of 5% of all positive cases—which is much higher. As per the original requirement, Maharashtra would have sent 20,000 samples over the past week. Why this matters: We have zero usable data on the variant and its role in this terrible second wave. has more. Siddique Kappan update: The Supreme Court has that the journalist be moved to a big Delhi hospital like AIIMS. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) says he has tested positive—a claim refuted by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Trying to do good: Big IT firms that have set up to organise oxygen, beds and medicines. has a must-read on how dedicated school teachers are on the frontlines of ensuring that most urgent Covid cases in Mumbai receive emergency care. Also read: profile of a district collector who is expertly managing the Covid crisis in Nandurbar, Maharashtra. He has 150 vacant beds and two oxygen plants with a third one on the way (h/t founding member Sushma Joseph). Covidiot of the day: BJP MLA Manchan Kesari who invited at least 2000 guests to his son's wedding on April 26. See pic below: On the lighter side: That famous Hitler scene from ‘Downfall’ has now to trash the government’s handling of the second wave: DOING GOOD FOR A COVID CAUSE Subscriber Vishal Jain wrote in a request to highlight IndiaShield.in—which is dedicated to helping people in need of critical information about oxygen, beds and medicines. Right now, they are looking for volunteers to help add and verify information at the local level. You can get more information about the effort at . And you can sign up to become a . SRI LANKA SET TO BAN BURQAS The Sri Lankan cabinet has passed a proposal to ban full-face veils on grounds of national security. They had been temporarily banned after the Easter in 2019. If passed by the parliament, they will be made entirely illegal. This is part of on Muslims by the strongman government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Reminder: Muslims make up 9% of Sri Lanka’s population. () A BRILLIANT SOLUTION FOR MICROPLASTICS Microplastics are tiny plastic fragments that are released into the environment during production and breakdown of items like grocery bags—or during everyday activities like doing laundry or using personal care products with microbeads. They hang around forever, and enter into the wastewater—and ultimately, the oceans—endangering marine life. Now, scientists have found a way to eliminate them using bacteria—which will literally stick to the microplastics, capture them and form “an easily disposable and recyclable blob.” has more on this exciting breakthrough. A BIG SOCIAL MEDIA BOYCOTT All British football, cricket and rugby teams all social media for four days, starting at 3 pm on Friday. The reason: They are taking a stand against racist trolling of black athletes. The : a series of high-profile attacks against Liverpool players Trent Alexander-Arnold, Naby Keïta and Sadio Mané after their club lost to Real Madrid. A good related read: on racism in English football. HONG KONG NEW NO-EXIT LAWS With a legislature stripped of all opposition, the city government passed a new law that gives unlimited powers to stop people from entering or exiting the city. > “Activists, lawyers and some business figures have sounded the alarm over provisions in the bill, including one allowing the > city’s immigration chief to bar people from boarding planes to and from the city. No court order is required and there is no > recourse to appeal.” Why this matters: “Exit bans” are often used in mainland China against activists and protesters. It can also be used to detain and deport refugees. () In other China-related news: Apparently, married Chinese women are drugging their husbands with a drug called diethylstilbestrol—“a synthetic estrogen which can prevent men from achieving an erection”—to prevent the men from cheating on them. It basically makes them impotent, which would be handy except WHO has labeled the drug as a carcinogen. () ZOMATO FILES FOR AN IPO In a highly anticipated move, the food delivery company has filed its papers to be listed on the stock exchange. Why this matters: > “Valued at $5.4 billion—higher than around the $5-billion valuation of its arch-rival Swiggy—Zomato would most likely turn > sentiments of investors and startups towards the local ecosystem of capital raising and exits if it pulls off a successful IPO.” In other words, it shows that the Indian ecosystem can foster big IPOs driven by Indian capital. Other IPOs in the pipeline: Policybazaar, Nykaa, Delhivery, and MobiKwik. If Zomato performs well, you can expect it to trigger a rush to be listed on the Indian stock market. () A DA VINCI DISAPPOINTMENT A gorgeous sculpture of Flora—the Roman goddess of flowering plants—has been revealed as a fake… sort of. The sculpture was claimed to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci, but new research shows that it is most certainly not. The giveaway clue: It’s made of ‘spermaceti’—a waxy material found in the heads of sperm whales and bottlenose whales, which was almost never used by Renaissance artists. Apparently, the real creator is some English guy called Richard Cockle Lucas in the 19th century—almost 300 years after da Vinci died. But, hey, she is still gorgeous! Check out for a full-length image. SAY HELLO TO SIX FUN THINGS Because we need it, damn it! Hello, Coldplay! The band appears to be a new album called ‘Alien Radio’. There’s a weird and equally weird in New York, London, Santiago and Seoul. Fans claimed to have the code, and we leave it to you to decipher the video: Hello, Lucy! We have the of Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz— directed by Aaron Sorkin. And they look pretty darn cool. Hello, BMW? Is this the ugliest Beamer of all time? The massive front grills on the latest M3 and M4 models has everyone talking about “double-coffin-shaped noses”—which is not exactly the you want when you roll out a new car. OTOH, really really likes it. Hello sexy grenade? A woman jogger spotted what looked like a grenade in Germany. It turned out to be a… sex toy! has the story. Hilarious photo is below: Hello, very tall hotel! In 2018, the 356-meter (1,168 feet) Gevora Hotel in Dubai became the tallest hotel in the world. Now, another hotel in Dubai is set to eclipse its claim to fame. The Ciel Tower will be 365 meters (1,200 feet) upon completion, and will have 1,000-plus rooms and suites spread across 82 floors. has more on the vision and the architect. Also, it will (very skinny and long): Hello, Tony Blair… really? The former UK Prime Minister is an iron-grey mullet. And the can’t get enough of it! Politicians in overly long gray hair… hmm, who does that remind us of?
Sanity Break #2
Supermoons occur when the full moon is at the closest point to Earth in its orbit. On April 26, the moon was 8% closer to the Earth than its average distance, and this supermoon was called the Pink Moon. Is it more special than the others? Not really, but the photos taken around the world are phenomenal! This one is the supermoon setting behind the Statue of Liberty. has a wonderful, totally worth-your-eyeballs collection.
Feel Good Place
The best runway show ever. Wear your helmet, dude! (h/t subscriber Sowmya Swaminathan) Copy cat!
I recommend
I RECOMMEND EDITOR’S NOTE Rashmee and Anant are highly talented travel photographers from Mumbai and they run a travel blogging page on Instagram called . Their knowledge and passion for off-the-beaten path destinations—especially the underwater kind—is impressive. And we’re delighted they’ve chosen to share their wisdom with us. OVER TO RASHMEE AND ANANT... We seek adventure travel and love to push our mental boundaries. We’ve explored some of the best underwater destinations and unique unseen paths that have led us to have the best experiences of our lives. We wanted to share some of the things that we’ve learnt and some things we wish we knew more about when we started traveling and blogging. THE CAMERA QUESTION There are so many cameras out there that choosing the right camera can be a real pain. We have a list of the best kinds of cameras we use, which are also budget friendly and can capture an overall travel blogging experience. DSLR: Our go-to camera for all our photography for the past two years has been Canon 80 D, though it has been replaced by better models now. With the option of changing lenses, DSLR cameras come in very handy when you want to photograph different perspectives. Some of the lenses we use are 50mm, 10-18 mm and recently purchased a 24mm. This kit helps us capture just about anything. To understand the effect different lenses have on your photography check out this . Good options for DSLR and Mirrorless cameras: ; ; (budget-friendly). Point & shoot cameras: While we love our DSLR, the camera can get really big and bulky. And it can get a little invasive when we want to Vlog. So we got ourselves a Canon G7x MkII camera with a fixed zoomable lens. This is a small camera that fits in our pocket. Good options include and . Action Cameras: They are the smallest and the lightest type of cameras. Our GoPro Hero 7 action camera was extremely useful until we lost it in Morjim, Goa. All our have been clicked with this camera and it also captures great . The best feature: in-built stabilisation that makes all the footage super smooth. Good options include ; ; and . Pros and cons: DSLR cameras provide the best quality, and with interchangeable lenses you can shoot with different perspectives (wide, portrait and telephoto). But they are really bulky and can be expensive, especially when you factor in the cost of buying different types of lenses. Point and shoot cameras are great if you just want to keep it simple. Action Cameras are perfect for shooting POV style videos, underwater shots and can be used for normal vlogging. The downside: they shoot only wide angle shots—which restricts your story telling. UNDERWATER EXPERIENCES! From swimming with turtles in Gili Trawangan to picking up coloured pebbles underwater in Hon Mun, Vietnam, we’ve swum the most beautiful parts of the seas in Asia. Here are some destinations to put on your post-pandemic bucket list: The Nest, Gili Air: Located off the coast of Gili Meno, Indonesia, The Nest features 48 life-size casts of real people—created by a famous sculptor, Jason deCaires Taylor. The first time we saw these statues, it was a very eerie but beautiful feeling. In Jason's words “Nest is a bridge between the human and marine worlds. I hope people will visit it both as a piece of art and as an entrance point to the underwater world." The best bit: The underwater sculptures are just a short swim from a public beach. Anse Lazio, Seychelles: With turquoise blue waters, white sand beaches and a tropical jungle, Anse Lazio is one of the most beautiful beaches we’ve visited during our many travels. Located in Praslin, Seychelles, this beach is a great spot for snorkeling and swimming—and great for beginners who want to explore snorkeling. You can also cliff-dive off the boulders at the end of the beach. Shark Bay, Koh Tao: Koh Tao is a beautiful island, and we would spend our days visiting the equally beautiful destinations close by, including Shark Bay. It is made up of multiple huge boulders in the middle of the ocean, and offers a look at the extremely colourful underwater life, including black tip sharks who left us speechless. Note: These sharks are not dangerous and are quite friendly but it’s always better to witness wildlife from a distance. TRAVEL HACKS! And lastly, some travel wisdom we’ve learned kind of the hard way: One: When you have to choose between your home currency (INR) or the local currency while making a card payment, always choose the local currency. While it is good to know how much it costs in Indian rupees, the information carries an extra fee. The reason: payment gateways charge you extra to convert your payment into your home currency. Two: Before choosing an airline or making a seat selection, we check out for the most comfortable seats. It gives you a seat map of each airline, letting you know which is the seat with the best leg room, greatest width, or is least noisy. It also helps to know if you will be able to charge your phone, laptop etc at your seat—which makes a world of difference on long haul flights. Three: This hack is kind of obvious but we don’t see many people use it. Whenever we travel someplace new, we save all our trips and itinerary on a . We then download it so we can use it even when we don’t have connectivity. Google lets you pin all your destinations and map your entire itinerary. We did an epic 10-day trip to Sri Lanka this way and were just fine even when there was sketchy or no internet. Note: This is NOT sponsored content. We use this section to spotlight the recommendations of people we trust and admire. The best runway show ever. Wear your helmet, dude! (h/t subscriber Sowmya Swaminathan) Copy cat!
