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Sanity Break #1
are here to make your hump day all better! This is an oldie but very goodie from way back in 2010. Btw, we have a theme today with our sanity breaks: Folks from the West doing cool stuff with Indian culture.
Headlines that matter
THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * Maharashtra is going into a ‘mini lockdown’ for 15 days starting 8 pm today. Except for specified essential services, all establishments, public places, activities and services will be closed. The government also announced a relief package of Rs 5,400 crore to help those most affected. The Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray : “I am not happy while announcing these restrictions… The only aim is to save lives. We can revive the economy if we survive.” * France is moving toward the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine for a mRNA vaccine—either Pfizer or Moderna. Again: the move is prompted by concern over blood clots. * Bangalore is suffering a severe —as demand has shot up 5X since January. Meanwhile, hospitals in Lahore are running . * Bhutan has vaccinated 93% of its adult population in just 16 days. has more on this success story. * Indian millionaires are of the country during the pandemic. We were top of the list in 2020 in terms of relocating abroad—using visa programs that offer residency or citizenship in exchange for investments. A recent report shows that nearly 5,000 millionaires, or 2% of the total number of high net-worth individuals in India left the country in 2020 alone. A KEY RULING ON DIVORCE The Kerala High Court protected Muslim women’s rights to divorce their spouses by overturning a 1972 ruling. The past judgement declared that a woman can only apply for a divorce through the courts—or some kind of judicial proceeding. But it continued to protect men’s rights to apply for divorce under the Muslim personal law. Now, women can do the same, and seek any of the four types of divorces stipulated as : * Talaq-e-tafwiz, where the wife can dissolve the marriage if her husband fails to keep his end of the marriage contract. * Khula, where a wife can unilaterally divorce her husband by returning his dower. * Mubara’at, dissolution by mutual consent. * Faskh, dissolution with the intervention of a third person such as a qazi. has more details. RESTORATION OF A 700-YEAR OLD MOSQUE The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has painstakingly restored the Jamat Khana Masjid—which is also called Khilji mosque—in the Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah complex in Delhi. The five year project is the first ever conservation of a “living and unprotected mosque”—one that is used by 4 million pilgrims who visit the dargah each year. A great part of the restoration work has focused on removing layers of cement and paint to reveal the beautifully inscribed red sandstone below. has the story. You can learn more over at the . THREE KEY ENVIRONMENTAL STORIES One: A new report shows that the very wealthy have a gargantuan eco-footprint. The world's richest 1% produce double the combined carbon emissions of the poorest 50%. Also this: “The wealthiest 5% alone—the so-called ‘polluter elite’—contributed 37% of emissions growth between 1990 and 2015.” () Two: Scientists are raising the alarm about forest fires in India and Nepal. The reason: Uttarakhand's fires have emitted nearly 0.2 mega tonnes of carbon in the past one month—which is the highest since 2003. During the same time, Nepal emitted nearly 18 mega tonnes of carbon. Also read: on India’s forest fire problem. () Three: Mongabay accessed an internal government document that shows plans to kick off development projects on the Little Andaman Island—which will threaten a significant refuge for leatherback turtles. The turtles are the largest of all living turtles and India and Sri Lanka are the only places in South Asia with large nesting populations. The document argues for the need to “open” Little Andaman, which is “as big as Singapore” and “release the area for deployment of strategic assets.” () BBC RAPPED FOR ROYAL OBSESSION Here’s a good sign of the mental wellness of the British people. When news broke of Prince Phillip’s death, the BBC TV channels suspended all normal programming—and started airing non-stop, wall-to-wall coverage of his passing. Their viewers were not happy, and people filed a complaint—making it the single most complained-about moment in BBC’s history. See? This is what happens when you cancel the ‘MasterChef’ season finale! () THE EARTH IS VERY ‘DUSTY’ Kinda like an Indian home. A new study shows that the planet receives 14 tons of extraterrestrial dust (5,200 tons a year!)—from passing comets and asteroids that either burn up in our atmosphere, or shoot right by. No, none of it is harmful to humans. () A ‘BITCHE’ OF A PROBLEM Facebook took down of a town in France “without any warning or apparent reason.” Well, there was an apparent if incorrect reason, i.e the name of the town: Bitche. The news of the suspension went viral, the page was restored, and now all is Bitche-ing good! Later, the mayor said in a post: “The name of our town seems to suffer from a bad interpretation.” () Nearby in Malta: The tiny nation plans to pay tourists to come explore its attractions. Starting June, a visitor booking a three-night stay at select three-to-five-star hotels in Malta can earn between €100 to €200. () DINE WITH DATA: ALL ABOUT SUPERGAMING 🎮 Editor’s Note: Here is DWD’s weekly installment of one cool, innovative or just plain quirky startup from around the world. Company: Supergaming 🎮 About: Supergaming is a social gaming platform that wants to take the camaraderie and fun of a board game night with friends, and recreate it online. ♟️ The leadership says "Globally, games like Fortnite are becoming the new social network. They are a much more fun and authentic way of hanging out with friends than commenting on photos. However, they are restricted to a more hard-core gaming audience. What we are building is a party hub around casual games, which are played by a much larger audience to the tune of billions." The company raised a $1.3M seed round in Nov 2019 from Japanese giant Dream Incubator, AET Fund, and Better Capital. Food For Thought: They recently introduced Bored, a suite of Slack-based games which can be played inside the popular work chat-app. From quizzes to roasting your colleagues, the game sounds like a super break from work. 🤹🏻♂ DWD Take: We're placing our bets on gaming being the next big social activity, and companies like Supergaming are taking a shot at the largest parts of the pie. This is going to be a fun growth curve to track! URL: About DWD: 🍴sends you a short summary on one new startup every day, delivered straight to your WhatsApp inbox!
Sanity Break #2
So the big viral story is that singer Mary Millben had sent out a very sweet to all Indians on the occasion of Baisakhi, Gudi Padwa, Ramadan Kareem, Chaitra Navratri, Ugadi… ok, so you get the picture. We then stumbled on of ‘Om Jai Jagadish Hare’ that she released last Diwali. We totally love the way she leans all the way in!
Smart & Curious
A LIST OF INTRIGUING THINGS One: The New York Police Department a robotic police dog, known as —that’s creeping out intriguing residents. Two: Far less creepy: Singapore’s pair of robots called Camello that and milk. Three: Far more dog-like: Ragdolls, which are cats bred to have puppy-like personalities: “This is a cat that greets you at the door and follows you from room to room, providing something like unconditional love.” Cat lovers everywhere are undoubtedly horrified. More on its genetic history . Such ‘unnatural’ sweetness aside, they are ! Four: Disney its characters to let you know exactly how you should feel about them. Five: The VieVision Between Legs is something you put between your thighs to take a look at your lady bits. The reason it isn’t just a mirror—because it “cute mid-century modern lines” and costs $66! 😂
Feel Good Place
In a sudden flurry of action, the government approved Sputnik V—and opened the nation’s door to a wide range of vaccines. But the actual number of vaccines we Indians can choose from remains to be determined.
