A Diwali ‘pass it forward’ special
Running out of ideas and time to buy Diwali gifts for friends and fam? No worries! Just get them a yearly subscription to splainer at our very special price ONLY for subscribers: Rs 600, which is a whopping 40% discount. Diwali, diyas, gift of knowledge… you know it’s perfect! Just head over to the subscribe page and hit ‘Gift a friend’. PS: We have several other special offers for both non-subscribers and subscribers right over here. Also, because we just can’t help ourselves...
The US election: A very quick update
- The good news: President Trump has not filed any new lawsuits or called for a mass uprising. But his administration hasn’t acknowledged he has lost the election either—and is refusing to hand over the White House keys to Joe Biden.
- Trump kept himself busy by firing his Defense Secretary Mark Esper—who refused to deploy the military to quell Black Lives Matter protests.
- In far better news: Joe Biden has appointed a Covid task force co-chaired by Dr Vivek Murthy—who was Barack Obama’s surgeon general and has family in Mysore (which is surely more important). The other Indian American on the panel: one of our fave authors, Atul Gawande.
- Also busy: the call centre workers manning his campaign’s voter fraud hotline—which has been inundated with prank calls from gleeful haters.
- Can anything make that Rudy Giuliani presser in a parking lot any sadder? Yes: The discovery that one of the star witnesses presented to the media is a sex offender.
- FYI: the tabloids are already gossiping about a Trump divorce.
- On a far more upbeat note, here’s a lovely clip featuring 13-year-old Brayden Harrington who has a stutter—and got some help from his fellow stutterer Joe Biden.
- Say hello to DOTUS, the first dogs of the United States, Major and Champ. They have their very own Twitter handle, which has now been suspended.
The tragic death of a college student
Aishwarya Reddy was a high-achieving second-year student studying mathematics at the prestigious Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi. She died of suicide. This is why:
- Aishwarya was the daughter of a mechanic and a tailor. She came second in her Class XII board exams in Telangana last year—and was the first from her family to go to college.
- She won an INSPIRE scholarship granted by the Ministry of Science and Technology—which paid Rs 5,000 per month toward her education.
- But her parents still had to take a Rs 2 lakh loan to pay her expenses.
- When the pandemic struck, it destroyed her parents’ livelihood.
- Then their troubles grew worse. LSR decided that it would no longer provide hostel accommodation to its second or third year students. This meant Aishwarya would have to find off-campus housing—which would cost an additional Rs 15,000 a month.
- Adding to her troubles: The money from the INSPIRE scholarship never came through.
- The final blow: Aishwarya did not have a laptop or a proper internet connection (which was already too expensive for her parents).
- This meant she could not attend her online classes regularly. More tragically, it has now allowed the college to claim it did not receive any documents from her for the scholarship.
- Her parents decided to pawn their gold and sell their house. That burden in the end proved to be unbearable.
- She died leaving behind a note that read: “My family has been spending a lot of money on me. I am a burden for them. My studies are a burden. But I cannot live without my studies. I have been contemplating this for days. I think that suicide is my only resort.”
- Huffington Post has the best reporting on this tragedy.
Big progressive reforms in UAE
The United Arab Emirates announced a major overhaul of its Islamic personal laws that will grant greater personal freedom to its citizens. The biggest change: honor killings—which were a justification for killing or assaulting women—are now a criminal offence. Other reforms: unmarried couples can live together; alcohol consumption is legal; attempted suicide is no longer a crime. (Associated Press)
Arnab stays in jail
The Bombay High Court has refused to grant the news anchor interim bail—so he will stay in custody:
“A two-member bench today said that ‘no case was made out in the present matter for the high court to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction.’ In its order, the High Court also said that the reopening of investigation by the state police ‘cannot be said to be irregular or illegal by any stretch of imagination.’”
The court also gave permission for Goswami and the other two co-accused to be questioned for three hours daily. A related read triggering strong reactions: Arfa Khanum Sherwani in The Wire argues Goswami is not a journalist—and doesn’t deserve the support of journalists like her.
In related news: The Narcotics Control Bureau raided Arjun Rampal's home. The reason: the brother of his girlfriend Gabriella Demetriades was recently arrested for drug possession. Both of them have been called in for questioning. Also arrested: producer Firoz Nadiadwala's wife for the possession of 10 grams of marijuana. Yes, all this is part of the same drug bust operation triggered by Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide. (Times of India)
An Apple solution for PTSD
US authorities have approved the sale of an Apple Watch app called NightWare to treat certain symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—specifically, nightmares:
“The system uses smartwatch motion and heart rate data to detect when you’re having a nightmare and vibrate the wristwear in response, arousing (but not waking) you to interrupt bad dreams and maintain sleep.”
It is a prescription-only treatment and should only be used as part of a broader treatment program. (Engadget)
Three feel-good things
One: Virat Kohli has been granted paternity leave so he can be present at his child’s birth. He will miss three out of four test matches in the Australia series. Scroll explains why this is an important precedent. ICC News explains what it means for the Indian team.
Two: Kerala will soon be home to the world’s largest elephant care facility at Kottoor, 25 km outside Cochin. Times of India has this story. Also see: Rescue baby ellie Sreekutty celebrated a grand first birthday at the shelter recently.
Three: Here is Kerala’s Health Minister K K Shailaja on Vogue India’s latest cover. Read the story here.
