Star Wars
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Sanity Break #1
This 16th century beauty shows Radha as an abhisarika—a woman who fearlessly braves the terrors of the dark night to meet her lover. And the goblin wives who watch her marvel: “Wherefor have you learnt this yoga-like behavior? O abhisarika, how marvelous this trysting!" The exquisite details are best enjoyed over at the National Museum of Asian Art which has an excellent , and more on its poetic history. (h/t )
Headlines that matter
RUSSIAN CRACKDOWN GETS UGLY The arrest of Alexei Navalny—who has now been sentenced to two years in jail—has sparked unprecedented protests across Russia. And the crackdown has been exceptionally brutal—with the police beating even unarmed protesters who don’t offer resistance. Mass arrests are becoming the norm—so much so that detention facilities are running out of room. Some human rights activists the use of sexual abuse and humiliation: > “We have a very strange practice starting. After detention, in police departments, police officers force the girls to either > fully undress and do sit-downs naked, or force them to show their underwear, pull up their T-shirts, blouses, pull down their > trousers.” offers a good overview of the crackdown. looks at what’s next for the protests. In other news of dictatorships: In a strange move, Myanmar’s military—which ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup on Monday—filed its first charges against her. Her crime: illegally importing walkie-talkie radios. There is no mention of the claims of rampant election fraud the military invoked to seize power. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens are expressing their anger using a tactic familiar to all of us: clanging thaalis in the balconies. Watch that . () LOCKDOWNS MADE EARTH… WARMER?? New research shows that the shutdown in normal human activity for an extended period actually raised the temperature of the planet by 0.2-0.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.1-0.3 degrees Celsius): > "There was a big decline in emissions from the most polluting industries, and that had immediate, short-term effects on > temperatures. Pollution cools the planet, so it makes sense that pollution reductions would warm the planet.” The reason: airborne particles, or aerosols block incoming sunlight—so when emissions dropped, the temperatures went up, especially in heavily industrialized nations, such as the US and Russia. () In related environmental news: Australian bushfires are spreading… again! Residents have fled to evacuation centres—in the middle of a strict 4-day pandemic lockdown—to escape wildfires raging on the outskirts of Perth. The blaze is spread across 100 km, and has burnt through 9,000 hectares, destroying 71 homes. Point to note: The devastating bushfires last year occurred on the eastern side of the continent. This summer, Western Australia is burning up and is at the greatest risk. () THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * First the good news: According to a new study, the Oxford vaccine can of the virus by 67%. What this means: The vaccine doesn’t just protect a person from developing Covid symptoms, but it also blocks the spread. * Less impressed with the Oxford vaccine: followed Germany’s cue, and will not administer the vaccine to people over the age of 65 because there is no evidence it is effective with the elderly. agrees. AstraZeneca continues to insist it to the contrary. * Not so great news: The UK variant has acquired a key mutation similar to that of the South African version—which may make vaccines less effective. The virus appears to be evolving along a certain pathway in different regions, and that may be a good thing. An expert : “This gives us a sign that it has certain favored routes—and we can work to block those off with a vaccine.” * Meanwhile, South Africa is shipping containers into makeshift morgues as it struggles to bury the dead. * A group of doctors and social workers have launched a virtual memorial for Indians who have lost their life to the disease. It allows family members and friends of the victims to pay their tributes. Check it out . has the story. HAS THE GAMESTOP BUBBLE POPPED? Fave Reddit shares to below $90 from a high of $483 last week—as have others like AMC which fell 40% and Blackberry which is down 28%. But the stock market drama (explained ) is unlikely to end any time soon with big name entrepreneurs egging the Redditors on. First it was Elon Musk, now it’s Mark Cuban, who said: "I think now that they've recognized their power and now that they've learned some lessons, we're going to get more of it, not less of it." has more on the wild stock gyrations ahead. GOVERNMENT PLANS EIGHT NEW CITIES The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry plans to spend Rs 80 billion (Rs 8,000 crore) to “incubate” eight new cities over the next five years. The reason: “most of the existing cities are now saturated, and inadequate to cater to the growing urban population.” There is no information yet as to where these cities will be located. () KAMALA’S CLOSET IS UNDER SCRUTINY Women in politics have always been under great scrutiny for their fashion choices. But this time the pressure is coming not from fashion gurus, but woke liberals. The newly elected Veep is from Insta influencers for wearing Dolce & Gabbana (which has been in trouble for being ): > “They could and should be better, especially after the triumphs of last week. The timing of this so soon after her inaugural > choices championed lesser-known American designers of colour is awful no matter how you look at it.. I don’t think it’s a good > idea for Kamala to wear so many new expensive items during her first week in office.” More things change… JOHN TRAVOLTA’S MINI ‘GREASE’ REVIVAL The big brands roll out their cool new ads every year at US football’s big event, the Super Bowl. The one generating the most buzz in 2021: John Travolta recreating this with his daughter Ella—with Martha Stewart looking on. Our fave moment: when ‘Office’ alum Leslie David Baker yells: “Hey, Travoltas, don't be Tik-ity Tok-king on my grass!” Also a lot of fun: Michael B Jordan in this new ad titled ‘’ for Amazon. AMAZON UPGRADES ITS US HQ The company unveiled the design for its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia—and it’s an eye-popping campus. The 2.8 million square feet of offices—spread across three mid rise towers—includes a “spiraling mountain building” dubbed ‘the Helix’ “where employees can escape and experience the indoor gardens or outdoor terraces.” Btw, you can actually climb that sucker. ()
Sanity Break #2
This is a ‘just because’ pick… Just because it’s been that kind of day, week, month, and you deserve a good laugh: Eric Idle singing ‘’ in Monty Python’s ‘The Meaning of Life’. Happy ‘It’s almost Friday!’
Feel Good Place
When the grandkids tried to surprise grandma at the airport… and she surprised them right back! Panda + snow = it never, ever grows old. Gwadar, Balochistan. The world’s most beautiful cricket ground. Watch to fully grasp its spectacular location.
Reading Habit
READING HABIT EDITOR’S NOTE Thank you to everyone who’s written in about the Reading Habit, and the books you’ve been reading and enjoying. Conversations with fellow readers always enriches me, and I want to do more of it. Please the best book you’ve read this year, and why you loved it. I will be happy to feature some of them and/or talk to you more about them. A LIST OF GOOD LITERARY READS * The great John le Carré passed away late last year, but people’s recollections of meeting him—all impactful, lovely memories—continue to pour in. In , author Kate Weinberg writes about meeting her hero and vowing not to bring up her own unfinished novel. When it inevitably came up, his advice to her: “You need to remember this. The cat sat on the mat. That’s not a story. But the cat sat on a dog’s mat. Now that’s a story.” * Alexander Chee writes in about the show , an adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s beloved memoir-trilogy, and how it made him think of the trope of the “male bumbler”, a character quite common in literature of a certain genre and era. The “mumbler” is innocent, in his own eyes and in others’, and not quite self-aware as he holds more power than he knows, and is astounded when things and people around him are affected by it. Chee writes about this and the show in general with clarity and beauty, like he . * Offering a small piece of bookish history, talks about book piracy in 18th century France, a necessity considering the laws of the time. “Here we are back with the publishers, plotting strategies to outwit the Parisian oligarchs and the institutions of state. For these Neuchâtel publishers were pirates, seeking to insinuate their books into the market in defiance of the laws governing the trade.” * To celebrate ’s birthday last Friday, did us all a service and put together 10 photos of a young Chekhov looking extra fine. Something to tide us over until the weekend. * For the word-nerds among us who all own a copy of or one of its many variations, here are untranslatable words from languages around the world to add to your collection, along with links to their etymological origins. This is one to bookmark for repeated readings. * ‘’ by Deepa Anappara has been nominated for an Edgar Allen Poe Award, in the Best Novel category. The awards, which honour the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television, always round-up the best and latest in the genre, and you can see their full 2020 nominations list . QUICK FIXES, AKA A FEW VARIED RECOMMENDATIONS What I’m reading: I think I’m enormously late to the party, but I began listening to '' by Siddhartha Mukherjee on audio this week, and the luminous prose and extraordinary presentation of information is feeling quite life-changing at the moment. He amalgamates the science with personal history fascinatingly, making this a wholly unique experience. A childhood fave: '' by Garth Nix, and his Keys to the Kingdom series as a whole, was a right novelty for 12-year-old me. With super high stakes, inter-dimensional magic, and antagonists named after the seven days of the week, this series lit in me a spark for SFF that refuses to go out. Book-adjacent rec of the week: SparkNotes, the website that’s famously helped students understand classic literature for over two decades, has the most wonderful that arguably ends up teaching you more than your classes ever will. Want to best understand ? Or maybe ? How about , in case it was too hard to keep track of the specifics? SparkNotes has got you. Underrated author of the week: Sherlock Holmes is almost always on my mind. Who is not on my mind as much is his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law, , who created gentleman-thief and his sidekick, Bunny Manders. The characters and the stories, which are quite ingenious in themselves, were inspired by AND served as opposites/counterparts to the canon of Holmes and Watson. While they didn’t end up gaining the popularity the latter has garnered over time, they’re still entirely entertaining and manage to hold their own. Bookish adaptation to watch out for: I had been looking for something gripping to binge, perhaps of the horror-mystery variety, and '', available on Disney+ Hotstar, did not let me down. Based on by Stephen King, it is suspenseful and terrifying and gives you some real solid protagonists to root for. TW: violence and gore. Note: Reading Habit is curated by our books editor Anushree Kaushal. Want to send along recommendations, feedback or just say hi? Email her at When the grandkids tried to surprise grandma at the airport… and she surprised them right back! Panda + snow = it never, ever grows old. Gwadar, Balochistan. The world’s most beautiful cricket ground. Watch to fully grasp its spectacular location.
