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Here’s a perfectly silly to mark the departure of Donald—the man who inspired a million memes. Yes, that’s Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and our own PM shaking a leg with him.
GOVERNMENT BLINKS ON FARM LAWS The government has made its first big concession in the confrontation with farmer unions: We will give a sworn affidavit that will suspend the three laws for 1.5 years, and will form a committee to consider your demands. The committee—unlike the one created by the Supreme Court—will include union leaders. The Agriculture minister also promised to halt the National Intelligence Agency’s investigation into farm groups. And the farmers are taking this one seriously: > “For a change, today’s meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere… we hardly had a confrontation with the Union Ministers… I would > call this meeting a very important meeting for all. Finally, the government is in a mood to resolve the issue.” The likely reason for bending: The planned tractor parade on Republic Day. The Supreme Court has refused to intervene. And the government doesn’t want to engage in a violent confrontation to stop them. and have the most details. In related news: Perhaps heartened by the farmers’ success, 10 national trade unions are now demanding that the new labour laws be repealed (we explained these ). has more. JACK MA IS BACK! The Alibaba founder has resurfaced after he hadn’t been seen in public for months. He ‘disappeared’ soon after he criticised the Chinese government and earned its displeasure. Naturally, everyone was a bit worried. But now he’s reemerged at an online conference for rural teachers—which is a pet cause of President Xi. Watch him . notes: > “Ma’s reappearance at a charity event could be a careful calculation to make the mogul look humble and win points with the > government, since it’s likely that his earlier high profile and critical remarks played a role in his landing in hot water in > China, where the Party has been pushing the private sector to show ever greater loyalty.” TANDAV MESS GETS EVEN MESSIER Both Amazon Prime and the series’ creators have deleted the two allegedly offensive scenes—after a meeting with the Information & Broadcasting ministry. : This is the first intervention by the ministry since OTT platforms and digital news came under its purview in November. But their troubles are far from over. The UP police has arrived in Mumbai armed with an FIR—forcing them to get a three-week from the High Court. Other than the three FIRs in UP, the Mumbai police has filed one of its own, and there in Madhya Pradesh. Point to note: The Mumbai FIR Saif Ali Khan. A related good read: Nikhil Pahwa in explains why the new digital media laws will choke independent journalism. A NEW STUDY ON VIRUS MUTATIONS New research out of South Africa found that people who already had Covid may still be vulnerable to some of the new variants. More worryingly, it could make vaccines at least somewhat less effective—but we don’t know by how much. The study looked at blood samples of previously infected people—and checked if the antibodies could fight off the South African strain. The bad news: “For about half of the 44 people, their antibodies were powerless against the new version. For the other half, the antibody response was weakened, but not totally knocked out.” has more on this alarming study. On a lighter related note: 52-year-old Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was to hottie status after he took off part of his shirt to get the vaccine—and below went viral. Other leaders who stripped: Russian president Vladimir Putin who OTOH at the slightest pretext. Dressed in a pair of blue swimming trunks, he in freezing water to mark an Orthodox Christian feast. It was supposed to divert attention from the arrest of his biggest critic Alexei Navalny. Sadly, the trunks reminded everyone of Navalny’s blue underwear—which was sprayed with a deadly nerve agent to kill him (we explained that ). A LIST OF OFFENSIVE THINGS Dragon fruit: Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani is so deeply offended by its Chinese name that they have Kamalam—which is Sanskrit for ‘lotus’, which is the BJP’s symbol. QED. Rupani’s comeback: > "Even though the fruit is known as dragon fruit, it doesn't sound appropriate. The word Kamalam is a Sanskrit word and the fruit > does have the shape of the lotus, so we have decided to call it Kamalam, and there's nothing political about it.” Jokes inevitably ensued—including speculation as to whether the government plans to rename to better match its, er, shape. Other memes , and. Risque pastries: A baker in Egypt has for baking —for a birthday party for a group of women. Those who enjoyed eating the desserts—and shared them on their social media handles—are being tracked down as well. The reason: These items are an “assault on the value system, and a crude abuse of [an Islamic] society”: This one isn’t funny at all. And we wouldn’t be surprised if our netas started moral policing food items next. A Chinese actress: Zheng Shuang has been dropped by Prada as its brand ambassador for abandoning two children born to surrogate mothers in the US. Apparently, she later developed cold feet and now refuses to take the children—and the fact leaked after her husband went public. Point to note: surrogacy is illegal in China. has more on this unhappy story. A podcast: A 63-year old Thai woman has been sentenced to 43 years in prison for sharing clips from a podcast that criticised the Thai king (who is a lousy one at that, as we explained in our on the Thai protests). Why this : > "That someone accused only of uploading these clips to social media should be given such a harsh sentence, so long after the > original arrests, suggests the authorities want to send a warning to other dissidents to stop talking about the monarchy." TWO CURIOUS CASES OF DISCRIMINATION One: A UK worker at a curry-making factory has won a racial discrimination suit against his Asian manager—who told him to go work in a “English firm.” The reason: He did not understand how to manufacture the recipes because he was white. () Two: A Thai origin customer in Dublin won a lawsuit against her local Starbucks because an employee drew ‘slanty eyes’ along with a smile—instead of writing her name on the cup. Here’s : > “The employee, who is from Brazil and gave evidence through an interpreter, said she had drawn a smiley face on the cup ‘as she > thought the complainant was glamorous’. She had been working at the branch for about a month when the incident happened and said > she had been ‘trained to be nice’.” PINK SEE-SAWS ARE A WINNER A see-saw installation on the US-Mexico border has won the 2020 Beazley Design of the Year award. The see-saws were placed through the sections of Donald Trump’s ‘beautiful’ wall, and allowed people on either side of the border to “play together.” The Teeter Totter Wall stayed in place for only 20 minutes, but of people using them went instantly viral. has more photos.
We are super-excited about ‘Space Sweepers’—a wild action-packed sci-fi epic out of South Korea that promises to be a whole lot of fun. TBH, we’re getting a little tired of angst-ridden space dramas that Hollywood has been dishing out lately. This one drops on Netflix on February 5. The above is the with more of the plot. The more action-packed version is
When you’re out with your fam and bump into your pals. Nobody doesn’t love Bhojpuri pop—in this case, ‘Lollypop Lagelu’. Yet she persisted… Ziyah Holman who is on the University of Michigan track team. When you’re lost for words…
READING HABIT EDITOR’S NOTE It’s only been three weeks since the year began and it’s already been...a lot. It’s difficult to look away from the rapidly changing news cycle. Thankfully, I get to read books—and read about books—as part of my job, which is almost always a hopeful and tranquil exercise. Here is some of what I’ve been reading these past few days. A LIST OF LITERARY READS * profiles 22-year old Amanda Gorman, who is the youngest poet to recite one of her works at a President’s inauguration ceremony. She is also wise beyond her years: “Poetry is typically the touchstone that we go back to when we have to remind ourselves of the history that we stand on, and the future that we stand for.” * Akash Poyam in has a necessary and educational list of Adivasi literature from around the country. His introduction to the list is especially informative and eye-opening. * 2021 has made a rather unique dream come true for many authors, both established and aspiring: beloved classic ‘’ finally made the leap into public domain, and the adaptations, spin-offs, unofficial prequels, sequels and what-have-you have already started rolling out. has a handy round-up. I also love this fantastic about the news. A related watch: This titled ‘Nick Ain’t Straight’. * Somak Ghoshal interviews Amitav Ghosh in to mark the publication of ‘’ in Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam. It’s enlightening and insightful, and a beautiful homage to language and translation. * The formidable Roxane Gay has a new newsletter, called , which is absolutely worth subscribing to. The bestselling author of ‘’ and ‘’ is eloquent, scathing and hopeful in equal measure, talking about books, Hollywood, politics, identity and more. * When we are not reading, I guess we are all watching stuff based on books...right? Here’s of all the books that are being turned into movies/series this year. Also watch: these excellent looking trailers of ‘’ and ‘.’ QUICK FIXES, AKA A FEW VARIED RECOMMENDATIONS What I’m reading: This week I’m immersed in a le Carré-esque spy novel called ‘’ by Joseph Kanon, set during the peak of the Cold War. It stars two American brothers, one of whom defected to Moscow years ago and is now writing his memoir, and the other a publisher, visiting him to discuss and edit his manuscript. As expected, subtle, tense intrigue ensues. A childhood fave: A young adult classic, ‘’ by Jonathan Stroud starring a snarky 5000-year-old jinn and a conflicted 12-year-old magician’s apprentice is perfect for readers both young and old. Book-adjacent rec of the week: , a website which rounds up the five best books from leading experts on virtually every topic under the sun, from to . Underrated author of the week: writes intelligent, thought-provoking genre-bending fiction, the latest of which is ‘’, a retelling of the legend of King Arthur. Bookish adaptation to watch out for: ‘’ on Netflix has stolen my heart. It is the most wholesome, charming, lovely show, based on ‘’ by LM Montgomery. Note: Reading Habit is curated by our books editor Anushree Kaushal. Want to send along recommendations, feedback or just say hi? Email her at kaushalanushree@gmail.com When you’re out with your fam and bump into your pals. Nobody doesn’t love Bhojpuri pop—in this case, ‘Lollypop Lagelu’. Yet she persisted… Ziyah Holman who is on the University of Michigan track team. When you’re lost for words…
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