Love Letter

Sanity Break #1

This Brazilian short film ‘’—which is on the Oscar shortlist—is only eight minutes long and doesn’t have a single line of dialogue. But you don’t need words to grasp its message about love, loss and memory. We may have teared up a little…

Headlines that matter

THE FOG AROUND THE INDIA-CHINA DÉTENTE The two sides recently signed a much-touted agreement to pull back troops from Lake Pangong—one of the key flashpoints on the Ladakh border. One would expect Beijing to adopt an accordingly conciliatory rhetoric, but instead it has become more hostile. The Galwan video: On Friday, China casualties in the Galwan encounter (explained ) for the very first time—and honoured four officers and soldiers who were killed. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) the announcement was aimed at “setting the record straight”, accusing India of “distorting the truth” and “slandering the Chinese border troops.” Within hours, the state media put out that claimed to show Indian troops “trespassing” into Chinese territory: The government’s move was followed by a —as angry Chinese citizens and celebrities praised the ‘martyrs’ and attacked the Indian government almost on cue. The government also four Chinese bloggers who questioned its account of the Galwan encounter. Talk flounder, again: Lake Pangong is only one of the points of Chinese incursion on the Ladakh border. The PLA, for example, has moved 18 km into the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control in the Depsang plains. Also still a flashpoint: Gogra and Hot Springs. The 10th round of talks to resolve these outstanding issues—held over the weekend—lasted for 16 hours and ended in a stalemate. A defence ministry official told : > “Disengagement from the Depsang Plains may take time as the Chinese look very rigid about retreating from there. Right now, > disengagement from Depsang is a big challenge for us.” And military experts say that accepting a piecemeal disengagement process is in itself a significant concession: > “I’m not very sure that this (phased withdrawal) represents going back to status quo ante [restoring the status quo as of April, > 2019], which has been, in fact, a constant demand made by us. It would appear that we are more focusing on the restoration of > peace and tranquillity at the border, rather than saying that we should go back to what the situation was around April last > year.” report on the talks has the unofficial government view, while focuses on the critics. Also intriguing: This morning, the Chinese government spokesperson unleashed a making nice with the United States, which included statements like : “The #Chinese and #American peoples enjoy a long-standing friendship, which should stay immune to the ups and downs in the political dimension of the relations.” THE TOOLKIT CONSPIRACY: A QUICK UPDATE * A Delhi court for Disha Ravi’s request for bail—and appeared unconvinced by the police’s evidence. It will issue its ruling on Tuesday. * Fifty former judges and police officers wrote a letter to the President “so-called intellectuals [who] are trying to paint the incident of arrest of Disha as violation of the fundamental right of freedom of speech.” * A Delhi High Court to News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), News 18, and Times Now to stop airing leaked evidence in Ravi’s case. * Poetic Justice Foundation Mo Dhaliwal finally spoke to Canadian publication about his role: “This turned into a convoluted conspiracy theory that was spun out of thin air by pro-government media. A day later, I learned that we paid Rihanna $2.5 million. That was an utter invention. I think they picked a reasonable number and added a decimal, and many people believed it.” RISING CASES AND NEW VARIANTS India reported 13,919 new Covid cases over the weekend—sparking fears of a new wave. The —the percentage of tests that turn up positive—have been surging in Maharashtra (8%) and Kerala (10.7%). And Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir have all reported spikes. New variants: There are at least of the virus across India—and these are home-grown mutations. Maharashtra health some of these may be responsible for the rising numbers: "The new strain(variant) of the virus is also causing pneumonia in patients in the early stages of the disease. The death rate has not increased so far but we cannot say the situation will remain the same. Doctors have to take care of it.” At least two new variants have been detected in Amravati—which is now in a one-week . Pune has schools and colleges. AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria told these variants may be “highly transmissible and dangerous” and even cause re-infections. The government has issued to the states—which include increasing testing, containment and genome sequencing. In other pandemic-related news: * Our Health Minister was for enthusiastically endorsing Baba Ramdev’s Coronil—a herbal cocktail that claims (without any evidence) to cure Covid. * In a secret deal, Israel paid $1.2 million to buy doses of the Sputnik vaccine from Russia—and gave them to Syria in exchange for the release of an Israeli woman held captive in Damascus. has this bizarre story. * shows that the Oxford vaccine is actually more effective if there is a three-month gap between the two doses. Another suggests that those who have recovered from Covid may need just one jab. * According to a new report, an estimated life years have been lost due to the pandemic across 81 countries—with an average of 16 years for every person. The years of life lost (YLL) is the difference between a person’s age at the actual time of death and his or her life expectancy. * A related good read:looks back at India's troubled history of smallpox vaccination in colonial India and what it says about our faith in vaccines. In related virus news: Russia has reported the first case of bird flu being passed from animals to humans—in this case, seven workers at a poultry farm. The good news: all of them are “feeling well.” has more. THE UNNAO KILLINGS: A QUICK UPDATE Two Dalit males have been arrested over the weekend. The that the 28-year-old was in love with the 17-year-old girl, and was angry because she rejected him. With the help of another male (who may or may not ), he offered her a water bottle laced with pesticide—but the other two children also drank the water. They died almost instantly, but she is still battling for her life. Both the accused are also poor Dalits from a nearby village, and their families that they are being framed. Meanwhile, the UP police has against Barkha Dutt’s Mojo Story for reporting that the police rushed the last rites of the two girls. Dutt called it “a blatant case of harassment and intimidation”—and presented as evidence. A VERY SCARY FLIGHT A United Airlines flight—with 241 passengers and crew— engine failure shortly after takeoff from Denver. It managed to double back and land safely—but dropped debris on homes below. has details of the story. See of the engine on fire below. Having a much better flight: NASA’s Perseverance which sent back this of the Mars rover dangling just above the surface of the Red Planet moments before touchdown. has the story. AUSTRALIAN OPEN’S BIZARRE ENDING Fans at the men’s final Tennis Australia chair Jayne Hrdlicka on Sunday after she made a speech that praised the roll-out of Covid vaccines around the world. Yes, you read that right. One possible reason: They may have been fans of the notorious anti-vaxxer winner Novak Djokovic—who won the title for the ninth time, and made this emotional don’t-hate-me speech (see clip ). On a happier note: Naomi Osaka won the women’s final and made a . Also: The Australian Open handle shared this adorable “How it started ➡️ How it's going” : BEHOLD THE BILLIONAIRE CARBON FOOTPRINT Everyone knows that high net worth individuals aren’t exactly eco-friendly—given all those private jets, multiple mansions and insane shopping habits. But the worst-offending trophy of the billionaire lifestyle is the superyacht. With a permanent crew, helicopter pad, submarines and pools, it emits about 7,020 tons of CO2 a year. A new study looked at 20 well-known billionaires—whose assets are available in public databases—and came up with an enviro hall-of-shame. The worst of that lot: Roman Abramovich—who owns a $19 billion fortune in oil and gas (surprise!)—and best known for owning Chelsea. has the others—which includes some tech titans who have lofty plans to move to Mars. TWO VERY ADORABLE THINGS A cloned ferret: Elizabeth Ann is just 21 days old but she’s already made history as the first native endangered species to be cloned in the United States. She was created from skin biopsies banked back in 1988: > “Cloned siblings are on the way, and potential (cloned) mates are already being lined up. If successful, the project could bring > needed genetic diversity to the endangered species. And it marks another promising advance in the wider effort to use cloning to > retrieve an ever-growing number of species from the brink of extinction. “ New York Times has a long read and the predictably is below. A farting robot: This awesome mechanical creature is a “companionship” robot called Nicobo created by Panasonic. It’s sort of like a cat, and doesn’t do much other than… well, fart. No, you can’t buy it. The $360 munchkin has already sold out. ()

Sanity Break #2

Comedian Shyam Rangeela is best known for his excellent parodies of the Prime Minister. The takes on the escalating petrol prices which have recently hit —primarily due to equally stratospheric .

Smart & Curious

A LOOONG LIST OF GOOD READS * takes a closer look at why child malnutrition is rising across India. * Economist’s has a brilliant long read on Monowara Begum—who was trafficked into Bangladesh’s oldest brothel as a child, and now runs it! * We all think that the human community started out as groups of wandering egalitarian hunter-gatherers, wired for small groups and sharing. And it explains how our brains are wired. explains why that widely accepted origin myth is actually false. * reports on the new psychological disease birthed by the pandemic: Coronaphobia. Sound depressing? Ok, how about the on Corona porn? * has a must read on the great fall of a great football club Barcelona. * Looking for a bit of insider goss? spoke to employees of Trump’s hotel in Washington DC—who had to wait on him and his friends for the past four years. * Speaking of US presidents, has a delightful illustrated guide to presidential pets in the White House—which included Thomas Jefferson’s bear cubs! * argues that it’s time to start cold-calling your friends. * What was it like eating with Anthony Bourdain? Laurie Woolever offers a surprising peek in . * Vinay Aravind’s essay in on Indian cinema theatres' transition from old-fashioned film reels to digital projection is highly recommended lunchtime reading. * interview with Priya Ramani and her lawyer Rebecca John offers a personal account of the MJ Akbar ordeal. * pays tribute to the National Cricket Academy which has incubated many of our greatest players.