Crumbling Pillars of Ashoka
Read More
Sanity Break #1
This is one of the 2021 national winners of the Sony World Photography Awards—which honours a dizzying array of genres and photographers each year. Consider this installment #1:) Check out a gallery over at .
Headlines that matter
NEW SEXUAL ASSAULT DIRECTIVES In July 2020, the Madhya Pradesh High Court granted bail to a rape accused. The conditions of his bail: The victim had to tie a rakhi on him, and he had to pay her a certain sum of money. The Supreme Court has overturned that ruling: “Using rakhi-tying as a condition for bail transforms a molester into a brother by a judicial mandate.” And it issued a series of directives to lower courts—mainly aimed at preventing other such instances of gross misogyny. The following claims were deemed irrelevant to all future bail applications: * The survivor had in the past consented to such or similar acts. * She had behaved promiscuously. * She provoked the sexual assault by her acts or clothing. * She had behaved in a manner unbecoming of a chaste “Indian” woman. * She brought the situation upon herself by her behaviour. The Court also explicitly prohibited imposing conditions that implicitly condoned the actions of the accused. has those details. CADBURY INDIA IS CORRUPT? The Central Bureau of Investigation has accused Cadbury India of corruption and misrepresentation of facts to fraudulently avail tax benefits amounting to Rs 241 crore in Himachal Pradesh—where its unit manufactures 5 Star bars and Gems. > “For availing the same, some members of the executive board of the company, along with key managers, collectively decided to > manipulate records, engage intermediaries to route bribes and cover up all the evidence that had surfaced during the internal > investigation.” For some reason, our inner child feels betrayed. ( ‘PROFESSOR’ NITA AMBANI IS UNWELCOME Students at Banaras Hindu University are up in arms over news that Nita Ambani has been invited to become a visiting professor at the Centre for Women’s Studies and Development. A senior faculty member confirmed the invitation, but now the university insists there has been no official order issued on the matter. And Nita-bhabhi’s spokesperson denies receiving any such invite—calling it fake news. The most amusing part of this story: the faculty is also considering conferring similar honours on Priti Adani, and Usha Mittal (of Lakshmi Mittal fame). BHU, home to the world’s most exclusive First Billionaire Wives Club. () In other college-related news: has the must-read story on Rajendra College in Bihar which has been thrown into turmoil because a bunch of faculty members broke into an impromptu, innocent jig—when pressed by students at the end of a college dinner. Now, a number of them have been suspended, and the vice chancellor is under investigation. This is a fascinating story about politics, culture clash and corruption in small town India. You can see the that caused the controversy below: THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * India numbers are up. The daily new cases yesterday—the highest in ten months. The worst hit: Maharashtra with , the highest since the beginning of the pandemic! A distant second: Punjab (2,369). * Meanwhile, lack of planning is leading to across the country. The national average is 6.5%—but soaring way past that mark are Telangana (17.6%), Andhra Pradesh (11.6%) and Uttar Pradesh (9.4%). * The European Medicines Agency has reviewed the Oxford vaccine, and declared it . As a result, all EU nations will resume rolling out the vaccine. A related good read: magazine looks at the alarming and unusual blood clotting that raised alarm about the vaccine. PS: it's also been seen in people who received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. * Tanzania’s president John Magufuli has died after a mysterious two week absence from public life. And everyone’s convinced that the Covid-denying leaders finally succumbed to the disease. has this strange story. * A woman—who received the first jab of the Moderna vaccine during pregnancy—has to the first baby born with Covid antibodies. * In the US, the California and UK variants are in a race to determine which will emerge as . Needless to say, there are no real winners here, but if you’re placing bets, the local variant is 20% more transmissible. * Speaking of variants, in India have been infected so far with the three ‘variants of concern’—UK, South Africa and Brazil. * shows that the elderly are more prone to being infected a second time. People under age 65 are about 80% protected from reinfection, but that number drops to 47% for the 65-plus. Also: the big reason why they need to be vaccinated asap. * has encouraged his supporters to take the vaccine: “I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly. It's a great vaccine, it's a safe vaccine and it's something that works.” This marks a rare departure from the usual insanity. * Speaking of US politicians, American Airlines is investigating who temporarily without his mask. He’s calling it “momentary.” DOCTORS REPLICATE START OF LIFE In a breakthrough achievement, scientists have created “hollow balls of cells that closely resemble embryos at the stage when they usually implant in the womb.” The research will offer critical knowledge of early human development—which is usually hidden within a woman’s body—and help prevent birth defects, miscarriages and other fertility problems. And while these “first complete models of a human embryo” will never produce a viable foetus, it is expected to raise moral and ethical unease, experts say: > "This work is absolutely unnerving for many people because it really challenges our tidy categories of what life is and when > life begins. This is what I call the biological-metaphysical time machine." has this must-read story. Also, the model looks like this: FOUR COOL ANIMAL THINGS Gamestop redditors ❤️ gorillas: The crazy folks who drove up the stock of an offline games retailer (explained ) are in the news for a very sane and lovely reason: saving gorillas. It all started when one user posted an “adoption certificate”—the kind you get when you donate money to an NGO to help pay expenses for an animal—for a gorilla named Urungano, and listed GameStop as its sponsor. It inspired a flood of similar donations, and wildlife organisations have since received $350,000. FYI: Below is baby Urungano who kicked off the goodness. () Get ready for Brood X: The United States is bracing for a tsunami of cicadas—who have been living underground for 17 years: “They're in the dark, they're feeding on roots, just living their best lives until the time is right.” Billions of these insects—last seen in 2004—will emerge in a few weeks. So what are cicadas like? Fairfax County Parks : “They are harmless. They are loud. They are high in protein, if you're into that. They don't social distance.” has more. FYI: if you’re into that kind of thing and in the neighbourhood, you can even take a . Also, it looks like this: Seaweed for bovines: A new study shows that adding small quantities of seaweed to a cow’s diet actually reduces its methane emissions (burps and farts) by 82%! Why this matters: methane is a major greenhouse gas that is 30X more effective than carbon dioxide in trapping heat—and hence a big cause of climate change. () Hello, Salmon! Ok, this isn’t really an animal thing but still very fun: Several Taiwanese people have changed their names to include the Chinese characters for “salmon” (鮭魚). The reason: it will get them free khana at a well-known conveyor belt sushi restaurant. The promotion also sparked alarm in some quarters: > “The incident prompted the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) to remind the public on Wednesday (March 17) that a person can only > change their name three times and that a miscalculation will result in the name becoming permanent.” Maybe someone should tell the college student who changed her name to “Salmon Donburi Guo” (郭鮭魚丼飯). ()
Sanity Break #2
Since it’s Friday, here’s a lovely retro 1950s version of Chainsmokers’ ‘’ to end the work week. Enjoy! (h/t subscriber Sowmya Swaminathan)
Weekend advisory
SO YOU WANNA WATCH SOMETHING... : This K-drama is nothing like its trailer which promised a sober legal thriller. The very hot Song Joong-Ki stars as a Korean-Italian lawyer in Seoul on a hunt for gold—a quest continually foiled by a cast of odd characters: “a bumbling Italian chef, an aspiring actor with a fondness for zombies, monks, a rogue school student, and even an under-cover detective.” calls it “slick and gloriously over-the-top.” Eight episodes are available on Netflix. : This highly anticipated and hyped Marvel Studios production drops on Disney+ Hotstar today. The focus of this spin off is Sam and Bucky, and picks up on their life after the loss of their common BFF Avenger—Captain America. Expect a lot of kickass MCU action along with existential angst. take on the first episode: It’s no ‘WandaVision’, “but its charismatic leads, espionage action and grounded approach suggest we're in for a fun ride over the show's six-episode run.” : This is a behind-the-scenes documentary on the biggest college scandal in the United States—which ended with two beloved Hollywood actors, Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin in jail. What’s not to like? Well, isn’t impressed with the heavy use of dramatic recreations, which “leaves this Netflix production somewhere between Lifetime movie and documentary.” But the thinks the focus on the man behind the scam—Ricky Singer—as opposed to the celebs makes it “gripping” and worth your time. : This one is for all ‘Money Heist’ fans. The creators of the wildly popular series are back with a crime drama that features three prostitutes who break out of a lavish brothel and go on the run—while being hunted by their pimp and his henchmen. Sound serious? Actually, this is a pulpy, bright and fast-paced series that promises to be a lot of fun. Read an interview with the creators in , and a review in . It drops today on Netflix just in time for a weekend binge. : This is a 4-hour director’s cut of the 2017 ‘Justice League’ movie—in other words, for the truly die-hard fans of Zack Snyder. He was the original director of the movie, but left at the last stage due to a personal tragedy. The movie was completed by Joss Whedon. Ever since, fans have been clamouring for a ‘Snyder’s cut’. isn’t impressed, but you may still want to check it out. lists the platforms where it’s available. SO YOU WANNA LISTEN TO SOMETHING… * Amit Varma’s conversation with author Ghazala Wahab on her book ‘Born a Muslim’. Varma’s famous for his long, in-depth and thoughtful engagement with his guests on his podcast ‘The Seen and the Unseen’—and this one titled ‘’ is totally timely and worth your time. * Pastry chef and restaurateur Pooja Dhingra is back with season 2 of her podcast . We greatly enjoyed the first episode where she talks to celebrity wedding photographers Joseph Radhik and Joshua Karthik. * is a must for true crime fans—more so because it pairs a former New York City homicide prosecutor Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi with Emmy award-winning investigative journalist, and former Deputy Sheriff Scott Weinberger. Together, they take a look at murder cases that have baffled investigators.
Feel Good Place
The very first time a father of four hears… silence 😭 ❤️ Peekaboo champion, 2021. Best way to store a kitty. ‘Green’ social distancing. (h/t subscriber Sowmya Swaminathan)
