The Daily Vanilla: Recent Episodes
NITTEN NAIR
Satire, Humour & Fun... The stuff mainstream media conveniently ignores.
Satire is a dying artform where creators are using it to deliver below the belt punches or promote a particular agenda. The Daily Vanilla aims to do something much more positive in a world that is currently going through some very tough times.
We cover the world of sports, entertainment, business and a little politics. Bringing you daily smiles in bite-sized "news reports" under 10 minutes.
With the release of the official remake of Forest Gump, Laal Singh Chadda round the corner, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan is facing a lot of backlash on social media for the statements he and his ex-wife Kiran Rao had made in the past. One of the trending hashtags #boycottlaalsinghchadda has put the makers of the film in a tight spot as it could adversely affect the performance of the film.
Aamir Khan’s reaction came after some Twitter users dug up Aamir’s controversial 2015 “India’s growing intolerance” statement and made it viral. Back in 2015, Aamir Khan had said that he and his wife Kiran Rao (now ex-wife) were feeling petrified of the rising intolerance in the country and were seriously considering migrating to some other country.
It may also be recalled that while speaking at an award function in 2015, Aamir Khan said, “When I chat with Kiran at home, she says ‘Should we move out of India?’ That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child (son Azad). She fears what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day.”
The Bollywood megastar further said, “That does indicate that there is this sense of growing disquiet, there is growing despondency apart from alarm. You feel why this is happening, you feel low. That sense does exist in me.”
These statements that are being circulated after almost 7 years were initially made after the BJP and Narendra Modi came to power in India. Although Aamir Khan seemed to have made peace with the new government and was even seen being cordial with the Prime Minister, these ghosts from the past have seriously affected the movie’s promotions which also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Mona Singh and Naga Chaitanya.
Past statements by the female lead Kareena Kapoor who asked audiences not to watch her films if they think she is a product of nepotism have also added fuel to the fire. However, if reports are to be believed, Aamir Khan seems to have found a way to make things right.
Read full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/08/02/aamir-khan-announces-biopic-on-arnab-goswami/
Self-Driving cars are slowly gaining prominence on our roads with many people opting for the AI-controlled journey experience than having to physically drive a car and brave the traffic and other drivers on the roads. This new-age luxury is currently being tested in various parts of the world and many governments have taken it upon themselves to draft legislation around it. Until they come into effect there is nothing to prevent these autonomous cars from taking passengers to their destination.
Various non-traditional car manufacturers have entered the race to perfect the self-driving car and are exploring all possible avenues to be the first one to make the perfect zero error truly automated vehicle. This includes tech companies like Google and Apple apart from other car manufacturers like BMW, Tesla and Audi. The technology being used varies between them and only time will tell which route will be the one that is later replicated at mass.
Elon Musk of Tesla has been making unfulfilled promises to develop self-driving Teslas since 2015 when he predicted that the technology would hit the roads in three years. Tesla already has an "Autopilot" feature that allows its cars to automatically adjust their speeds and steer within their lanes, though the function still requires driver supervision. This is a far cry from the truly autonomous function that we are all sold on.
He recently created a stir when he claimed that the true test of the longevity of the Tesla company would be reliant on how soon they can crack the autonomous code. This is because car manufacturers will realise that going forward, the margins on the sale of the car will be minimal compared to the cost of the high-end spare parts and after-sales service.
Google has been experimenting with cars with cameras loaded on top of them to somehow manage a way to integrate the data from the cars with the Google Maps function making it one of the front runners in this category. Apple has kept its project tightly under wraps as usual but we expect them to come up with something nothing less than mind-blowing.
Read full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/07/06/self-driving-car-takes-man-to-girlfriends-house/
The internet accessibility of the average Indian has prompted a major shift in not only the spending habits in the country but also opened up multiple avenues for knowledge creation and consumption like the Google-owned platform YouTube. With over 500 million internet users in India, it is only second to China in the world in how many people use the internet. This itself has led to the ushering in of technology from OTT platforms for entertainment to UPI-linked payment portals. Almost every Indian Kirana store and roadside vendor has some mode of digital payment.
This ease of access to the internet was further spurred on by the telecom giant Reliance Jio who practically gave away internet for free to allow users to experience the power of the internet on their phones. The rapid upgrading of technology within the mobile phone industry just propelled this phenomenon even quicker.
In 3-4 years, the Indian population of all ages have now accepted the mobile phone and the internet as an essential part of their lives. The pandemic and the resulting lockdown further established the need and importance of these technologies even more by becoming the only viable option in many cases.
The Internet and mobile phones have not only made us better consumers, but they have also made us self-reliant by giving creators multiple platforms like YouTube to create content and showcase their skills. Many of these platforms provide an opportunity to reach out to the world and reward them financially for their work. This has carved out a new section in society whose primary source of income is from creating content that others consume.
There are multiple platforms available today including YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook and many homegrown ones like Moj and Taka Tak as well. Content creators usually pick one platform and create the content that works best on it and slowly get more popularity as they expand over multiple platforms and genres. Some of the biggest names in the Indian scene like Carryminati and Bhuvan Bam have gained international acceptance for their content.
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/07/05/youtuber-says-she-never-paid-for-food-since-2021/
India has been divided on the recent bulldozer activity that has been carried out in the aftermath of the stone-pelting events across the country before the official visit of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Although the Supreme Court of India has issued a stay order on the demolition of unauthorised structures in various parts of the country, some reports say that this could be violated due to technicalities in the Supreme Court ruling.
The demolition of illegal structures in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and some other parts of the country has been branded as a retaliatory activity by the BJP governments in these states after Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanthi processions were pelted with stones by the Muslim community in these states. Although investigations on these incidents are still in progress, the local authorities have taken it upon themselves to dish out justice by using bulldozers to bring down so-called illegal structures to prevent miscreants from using them as a cover for such activities in the future.
Politician Brinda Karat was in the news recently as she tried to stop this activity by standing in front of a bulldozer until the SC stay order was implemented. Regarded as an opportunity to score a few political brownie points for the almost irrelevant Communist Party of India, she was the only politician from the opposition parties to hit the streets against the order.
With the Supreme Court stay order putting a stop to the activity, various other groups both religious and political have come out and started taking sides in this conflict that is set to be another one to give more fuel to the ongoing minority vs majority debate that has plagued the nation in recent times. Any activity that happens in the country is first analysed through this lens before looking into any other aspect or future potential.
Read full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/22/boris-johnson-disappointed-by-sc-stay-on-demolition-drive/
Street food in India has been a mainstay of tourism for a very long time. Almost all visitors to the country will at some point or the other indulge in the amazing variety of street food that is on offer. Not just international tourists, domestic travellers also ensure that no trip to a new city is completed without a food tour along the busy streets.
This phenomenon is not just confined to tourists. Street food vendors have their regular clientele who form part of the city’s workforce for whom this cheap, wholesome food is a blessing in their otherwise hectic lives. Whether it is a quick bite in the form of a vada pav or a treat in the form of a nice warm gulab jamun, the streets of India cater to one and all.
Many cities in India have dedicated areas for street food like Indore, Delhi and Bengaluru while others like Mumbai have a street food counter at every corner. While chaats are the most prevalent form of street food, this has now evolved into dosa counters, sandwich shops, ice cream stands and many many more. The choice for a person is endless and some budding entrepreneurs have built successful businesses around the street food phenomenon.
Another reason for the explosion in the consumption and proliferation of street food is social media. Almost every other person on Instagram is a food blogger now and they keep searching out new and unique vendors to showcase on their channels. They focus on the store, provide publicity and essentially do the marketing for the otherwise clueless vendor. In return, most of these bloggers do not take money but satisfy themselves with a free meal and a ton of likes and shares.
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/20/street-food-2-times-a-month-will-lead-to-insurance-trouble/
In a surprising turn of events, the Indian Olympic Association or the IOA has requested the Delhi Police to provide them with all the information they have gathered about the perpetrators of the stone pelting incident that happened in New Delhi during Hanuman Jayanthi. The Delhi Police has been trying their best to frame a case without upsetting either of the communities involved, unlike the UP and MP governments which decided to destroy the illegal settlements of the accused.
The Indian Olympic Association has been under pressure from the sports ministry to find new talent like Nikhil Chopra to win medals for them at the Olympics. Every medal that India wins at the Olympics will be an indicator of how the whole sports infrastructure in the country has improved under the NDA. The IOA has always had trouble finding world-class talent as even with the 2nd largest population in the world, the focus has never been sports.
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/19/outstanding-stone-pelting-performers-to-be-groomed-by-ioa/
In a startling revelation, our sources have claimed that the frequent clashes and issues that keep arising out of the JNU or Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi are not something new or in fact out of the ordinary. The problem stems from the fact that the JNU is not a University of Learning and the teaching element is just a sham to attract a certain type of student to the campus. The latest issue of clashes between 2 student unions over non-veg being served and a havan being conducted on the occasion of Ram Navami is just one of the many flashpoints on campus recently.
Our highly placed source within the management of JNU told us the details on the strict promise of anonymity. She claims that from the mid-1970 the purpose of the university was clearly defined and it was markedly different from the original intention when JNU was established in 1969. The JNU was established to keep noble ideas in mind and provide accessibility to students from weaker sections of society. Most of the students who study at the JNU are on scholarships and discounted fees which have further aggravated the section of society who believes that the students are wasting taxpayer money.
Despite having highly accomplished alumni, the university is facing an existential crisis where nothing noteworthy has come out of the campus for a very long time. Once an epicentre of thought and ideas, the whole campus is now just a breeding ground for unchecked political ideologies claim noted academics and teachers.
"See, when the JNU was established in 1969, the biggest internal issue that the country was facing was the growth of the militant left or what was known as Naxalites or Maoists. The influence they had on the youth at that time was uncanny. We as a nation are required to somehow contain this threat without resorting to detention centres or jails as this would put us on the same footing as Nazi Germany. The central government under Indira Gandhi who also held the Home Ministry portfolio took an important decision that changed JNU forever," said our source.
We asked her if she had proof for all this but she denied having any evidence for her statements. "These are all passed on from one office bearer to another and nothing can ever be written down or shared with an outsider. However, I am breaking this decades-old rule for the sake of my country."
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/12/jnu-surveillance-centre-for-youth/
R Ashwin continues to baffle not only the batsmen on the field but also cricket lovers and experts around the world. After being in the limelight of sorts for the famous “Mankading” incident from a few IPLs back, he is once again in the spotlight for the new “Retired Out” action that he took in yesterday’s match against the Lucknow Super Giants.
The IPL has had its share of drama this season but the one that will take the centre stage for the next couple of days will be this decision of R Ashwin. Although it is not unusual for a batsman to retire hurt and come back to bat, later on, being retired out means that the player is no longer available to bat for the rest of the match.
Commentators, experts and former players have expressed their views on this incident and surprisingly most of them were in support of the action, terming it a new strategic move that could change the way T20 cricket is played. This move allowed an in-form batsman to come in and help add runs that Ashwin might not have been able to do.
This was the first time that this tactic was used in the IPL and it left many viewers confused initially as to what was going on. Knowing that Ashwin probably has a good grasp on what he was doing, it was the turn of the commentators to then figure out what was being done and explain to the viewers how this concept of retired out works. With this now being finally done at the IPL, it is quite certain that the other leagues and players will soon adopt this as well.
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/11/ashwin-phd-in-cricket-from-iipm/
The Arnab Zelenskyy interview that was broadcast on Republic TV the other day was a coup of sorts as no other Indian media outlet has been able to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to appear on Indian television let alone agree to be part of a full-fledged one on one interview. He has appeared on various other international channels and poured his heart out on the condition of his people after the Russian invasion and military attack on the country.
Arnab Goswami, the Editor in Chief of Republic TV, had a 45-minute exclusive interview with the Ukrainian President and put forward questions in his style to get to the crux of the matter. He ended the interview wishing for President Zelenskyy's safety and demanded that the war would come to an end. Arnab took a different style during the Arnab Zelenskyy interview and appeared to be more receptive to what was being said. President Zelenskyy speaking via a translator said that he understood India's position but needed more concrete action.
This interview could be another turning point in Indian television after Rajdeep Sardesai was considered for the Bafta's last year. The Arnab Zelenskyy interview took all the other channels by surprise and everyone is waiting with bated breath to see what the TRP numbers looked like.
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/08/arnab-zelenskyy-interview/
Launching a pet day care was the last thing on the mind of 29-year-old Chennai resident Parthiban Suryakumar. When finally he could not take the frustration and stress associated with his tech support job at one of the largest IT firms in the city, he quit and decided that he will no longer continue with his society and family-approved “IT job”.
More and more employees today are demanding a better work-life balance over salary and perks as the quality of life in India has steadily gone down in recent years. Employees’ salaries and hikes have been on the rise but this has blurred the lines between professional life and personal life. The increased compensation has also increased the expectation that employees are now at the beck and call of the company and the client.
While this has always been the case, the older or more experienced workers also admit that they had it much easier when they were younger. The current generation has more options to enhance their lives but ends up frustrated when it is not possible to do so. Now managers are being told to be extra sensitive to the employee’s needs which results in an additional load on the middle management.
With the raging pandemic in the past couple of years, it has become difficult for the HR department of companies to try and arrange any activities that would help elevate the mood or give employees a glimmer of hope that things will get better.
In the case of Parthiban Suryakumar, things took a nasty turn when he was asked to come to the office or quit after the company ended the work from home option. He chose to quit as he was already frustrated with the amount of work, lack of social life and most importantly the inability to find a pet day care centre for his Shi Tzu, Peppa.
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/07/pet-day-care-business-makes-frustrated-techie-a-millionaire/
Work is stressful and often not very rewarding in a creative agency where clients expect you to deliver the world within a non-existent budget. The ones who face the wrath of these scenarios are the junior designers who not only have to go through a trial by fire internally but also at times have to face the music by interacting with clients directly.
Junior designers are generally freshers or graduates with limited experience who join an agency to gain experience so that they can then move up the ladder and become designers, conceptualisers, artists or even creative heads. It is usually considered to be a right of passage that has been earned as they put in the time in that role and showed the world that they can handle it.
Interns in creative agencies have it much easier than junior designers as they are dispensable and are paid a pittance when compared to a junior designer who also earns a minuscule amount when compared to a lead designer. Another factor that makes life for an intern much easier is that they are not expected to do anything and usually are made to work as personal assistants or lackeys to the senior staff who consider it an employee perk.
Creative agencies are notorious for being as big a killer of creative ideas as well as being their birthplace. Every single day some ideas are generated, conceptualised and then crumpled and thrown away never to see the light of day again. The rejections are not only made by the paying client but hundreds of ideas are discussed and thrown out before the selected few make it to the client meeting with the hope that at least one is approved.
Many experts have claimed that the environment within a creative agency in India is highly toxic and should undergo radical changes if the new generation of designers, copywriters or strategists are to sustain themselves. The easily offended and “woke” are at the greatest risk of missing out on the career of their dreams because they cannot adapt to the work environment.
All this changed for Sivananda Mhatre, a 23-year-old junior designer working for one of the most acclaimed boutique creative agencies in Bengaluru on Monday when he had to be hospitalised after collapsing in the middle of a creative meeting.
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/06/junior-designer-collapses-during-creative-meeting/
Gautam Adani has recently overtaken Mukesh Ambani to gain access to the title of Richest Man in India which was previously held by Mukesh Ambani for many many years. The closest he came to relinquishing the title before was when Sunil Mittal had a surge of fortune in the early 2000s. This development has not gone unnoticed and the layman has realised that The Adani Group is also a serious player in the sphere dominated by Reliance, Tata, Mahindra and others.
One of the factors that put Gautam Adani apart from the other people on the rich list is that he has gone all the way to the top in the least amount of time. Others inherited thriving family businesses and took them to the next level and are what some people call "family money". Adani on the other hand, started the business himself and the growth of the company in the past 20 years has been nothing less than phenomenal.
Focussing mainly on infrastructure and power, the latest acquisition by the Adani Group was buying 72% of the second busiest airport in India, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai. This fits nicely with the whole business as they already own multiple ports and highway projects. The Mukesh Ambani led Reliance on the other hand is a juggernaut with business interests in every possible industry in India.
Business experts and financial gurus believe that the sudden growth of Adani is mainly due to the growth in share prices of the group's business interests and this would not be sustainable. They feel that the multi-faceted Reliance group will fare better in the long run as even if one industry collapses, the other will hold up the overall performance of the group.
There is another school of thought among these experts who believe that the industries that Adani is involved in are a clear indicator that he is here to stay for the long haul. The various ports, airports, highways and power projects are industries that are essential to the growth of a developing country like India. They also believe that the Reliance Group is involved in too many things to make them a serious monopoly in any industry.
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/05/dream-11-to-launch-a-new-section-for-adani-vs-ambani-match/
The past few weeks have been one of extreme turmoil at the international level with the Ukraine war hogging the headlines. Xi Jinping, the Chinese Prime Minister and leader of the Communist Party have however used the issues that were plaguing the international community to silently continue with his work of fuelling China's imperialist aspirations in Asia. This has been extremely subtle to keep international sanctions and focus away until the whole operation is complete.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on the other hand has been at the receiving end of things with his incursion into Ukraine inviting condemnation and pressure from almost the entire world and the UN. Ukraine has fought back valiantly and the whole saga of the war continues to go on despite everyone predicting that it could be over in a matter of days with Russia steamrolling Ukraine into submission.
Many countries have imperialistic aspirations built into their psyche but have to downplay them due to international pressure and the cost of repercussions might not be worth it in the end. There are currently very few countries today that do not have border disputes that have emerged from either them being the victim or the aggressor. The history of the world also shows us that this want of acquiring another country and exploiting it for resources has been going on for years.
Countries like the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Germany, Japan and Spain have been replaced with a new set of countries like the United States of America, China and Russia who have taken up the mantle of being modern imperialistic powers.
While Russia adopts a more frontal and direct route to getting what they want, the USA moves into countries with the proclaimed intent of bringing democracy or discovering weapons of mass suicide. Xi Jinping however seems to have adopted a more indirect and effective approach to the whole issue. While China has border disputes with over 15 countries like India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore and others, it also has cordial ties with other countries to whom Xi Jinping's government is an economic lifesaver/timebomb.
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/04/04/xi-jinping-shows-putin-how-to-takeover-2-countries-without-bloodshed/
Ashneer Grover had become a household name after becoming the most talked-about judge on the entrepreneurial show Shark Tank which was based on the same concept as its American and Australian versions. He had become popular for his witty one-liners and his frank feedback to the participants which was a welcome relief from the otherwise one-dimensional personalities showcased by the other judges.
However, Shark Tank is not the only claim to fame that Ashneer Grover has. A former IIT and IIM pass out, he is the founder of one of the largest Fintech products to come out of India. He co-founded Bharat Pe, a payment solution for small merchants and Kirana stores which ushered in the digital revolution for the Indian consumer. Subsequent products after this put the company firmly in the centre of the Indian financial life cycle and paved the way for many other products to enter the market.
Despite success with the TV series Shark Tank and Bharat Pe being valued at USD 2.8 billion, the year 2022 has not been great personally for Ashneer Grover. With one controversy after the other, he was finally ousted from the very company he founded in a non-Steve Jobsesque way. Way too many things were written about him and his wife, accusations were flung on all sides and the end was bitter, to say the least.
This is not the first time he has been in the news. From his merciless trolling of participants in Shark Tank to the self-promotion of his lavish lifestyle, he has invited the wrath of both internet trolls and other entrepreneurs. His no-nonsense blunt style of communication did not sit well with the majority of the public who were quietly waiting for him to fail, and fail big. This happened when an audio clip of him abusing an employee of Kotak Mahindra Bank over the failed attempt to finance a round of IPO financing for Nykaa IPO.
Although Ashneer Grover maintains that this audio clip is fake, Kotak Mahindra has decided to press charges. People who have seen his demeanour on TV and who follow him on social media are however convinced this is real as the idiosyncrasies of a person’s style of communication tend to be unique. This just added to the hate that he had started getting over his condescending style on Shark tank. While the whole of India was obsessing over the shark and the show, there was trouble brewing around the corner.
An expletive riddled email surfaced which was written by Ashneer and forced him to go on voluntary leave at the beginning of the year. That is when things started heating up with multiple enquiries, audits and investigations being set up to cover his financial decisions and even personal finances. This led to a flurry of activity against him and his wife culminating in the unceremonious removal from the company.
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/31/ashneer-grover-autobiography-road-pe/
In a startling turn of events, the Taliban government in Afghanistan overturned its decision to allow female Afghani students to attend high school. This decision meant that girl Afghani students will not be able to attend school after 6th grade leaving many students teary-eyed.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan has been under scrutiny from all countries around the world to determine the kind of system they would follow, post the hostile takeover of the nation by the Islamic fundamentalist group. The existing democratically elected government was overthrown even before the US troops had left the country.
A comparatively less hostile takeover with minimal bloodshed also meant that the other countries around the world did not intervene in the process choosing to adopt a “wait and watch” approach. The Taliban demanded that other countries recognise them as the legitimate government of the war-torn country and promised to have a different approach from the earlier one. The Taliban had initially adopted a very staunch version of Islam and Sharia law which was considered to be very hard-line and backward by even other Islamic countries.
The Taliban had promised reform with the new government by allowing women to work in government and private organisations, opening up the school system to allow women to have access to education and a whole plethora of options that were not possible under the previous Taliban regime. The whole manifesto was looked at with suspicion by the world from day one with everyone welcoming the reforms but opting to see them in practice before making an official sign of support.
Very few nations openly recognised the government that replaced the one led by Ashraf Ghani, who has since fled the country fearing persecution. Along with him, the Taliban has lost most of the supporters of the previous government and those who openly opposed the designated terrorist organisation as well. This has led to a serious erosion of local talent and skilled workers from the country. The rebuilding exercise in Afghanistan has to start at the grass-root level as all the hard work of the previous governments have been razed to the ground or uprooted completely.
Following the strict rules of the Sharia, the system is considered to be very primitive by senior Islamic scholars who have called for a more nuanced approach to the interpretation of the laws in relation to modern times. However, many Islamic groups like the Taliban, ISIS and many terrorist groups in the region opt for a more literal implementation of these archaic laws. Even the epicentre of Islam, Saudi Arabia has softened their stand and is adopting a more liberal outlook that conforms with modern times.
The main issue being highlighted is the treatment of female Afghani students who now have no access to education pushing the whole nation back to the dark times of the initial rule. The official reason being touted by the Taliban officials is that there is a shortage of teachers to conduct classes prompting them to shut down classes for girls within hours of its opening last week.
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/30/afghani-students-see-some-relief-with-new-student-exchange-program-with-india/
The whole world and especially Hollywood was left stunned by the series of events that unfolded yesterday during the much-awaited Oscars 2022. Hollywood star Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock for a joke he cracked about Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. This was the first time in the history of the awards that such an incident had ever occurred and has left the whole industry shaken.
Chris Rock has refused to press charges against Will Smith after the incident where he made a joke about Jada’s shaved head and compared it to the movie G I Jane which also featured the lead character in a buzz cut. Jada is suffering from alopecia which causes hair fall and has forced her to shave her head. Will Smith did not take too kindly to the joke and walked up on stage and slapped Chris Rock.
He then walked back to his place and yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
This was not the first time Chris Rock had taken a dig at Jada Pinkett Smith. The last time he hosted the Oscars he had joked about the fact that Jada boycotting the Oscars was inconsequential. He said that she wasn’t invited anyways and in that case, it was similar to him not being invited into Rihanna’s panties. The joke wasn’t appreciated the last time around as well but this time things took an ugly turn.
Although Will Smith has issued a formal apology now to Chris Rock via social media, this incident has invoked sharp reactions from the Hollywood community. They have been supporters of both parties and many have expressed concerns over what this could mean for the future of awards, comedians, jokes etc. The biggest fear is that “Cancel Culture” would catch up and call for a complete stop to any kind of roasts or insult comedy in general. The woke audience has previously tried to cancel many things including Thanksgiving.
A nationwide strike or Bharat Bandh has been called from 6 am on Monday for 48 hours to protest against the economic policies of the government. The trade unions that have called the strike are the ones that are affiliated with the opposition parties in India like the Congress and the Left. This 48-hour bandh is not expected to harm the daily life of the citizens of the country and will only focus on establishments that are sympathetic to the trade unions that they are members of.
Banks in India have also extended their support to the strike and will remain closed for 48 hours against the move by the central government to privatise banks and for amendments to the Banking Laws Amendment Bill 2021. The other unions who have extended support to the Bharat Bandh include unions in the sectors such as coal, steel, oil, telecom, postal, income tax, copper and insurance. This is expected to spill over to the general merchants and retail establishments.
While there are states in India that tend to wholeheartedly participate in any nationwide bandh or strike like Kerala, some other states have an official policy against these disruptions to public life like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The Mamata Banerjee led government in West Bengal has issued a memo to all government employees barring them from participating or even taking a casual leave during these days. An official announcement states that employees who defy this order will be issued a show-cause notice.
Union representatives have often called the policies of the NDA government in the centre to be “anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-poor”. The recent hike in petrol, diesel and LPG have triggered this protest with the unions extending invitations to all trade unions in the country with most of them joining hands. Hospitals and Transport unions have refused to be part of the strike. The final list of participants will be known today once the bandh comes into practice.
For the unversed, a bandh is a form of civil disobedience where the community or political party declaring a bandh expects the general public to stay at home and not report for work. Shopkeepers are expected to keep their shops closed, and public transport operators are expected to stay off the road. The Supreme Court of India had banned this practice in 1998 but it continues to date. A Bharat Bandh means that it applies to the whole country.
While the general public in India who have no or limited political affiliations find this as a complete inconvenience, the politically inclined tend to either support by staying at home or defy it by stepping out for the silliest reasons.
The Bharat Bandh has received surprise support and thanks from across the border where the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has thanked the trade unions for supporting him and announcing the Bharat Bandh against the no-confidence motion being filed against him.
Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/28/48-hour-bharat-bandh-gives-hope-claims-imran-khan/
The K-Rail project proposed by the Pinarayi Vijayan led LDF government in Kerala has been going through some major opposition from various corners of Kerala. The Congress-led UDF coalition has been at the forefront of these protests and claims that such a project is not only unnecessary but also will render thousands of families homeless. Despite the opposition, the government has not stepped back and is trying to get all the stakeholders on the same page to implement this ambitious project.
K-Rail or Kerala Rail is a landmark project envisioned by the Kerala government to make travelling from the North of Kerala to the South a quick and painless affair. Also known as the Silverline project, this will reduce the total travel time from Kasarkode to Tiruvanathanpuram to only 4 hours when compared to the 14 hours it takes right now. The main argument that the protesters have put forward is that this project is not only impractical but also that it will have severe adverse effects on the ecological balance of the state.
The government has clarified that this project is being carefully studied by the relevant experts and has made claims that this project would eventually reduce carbon emissions every year by around 2.8 lakh tonnes. Expected to cost the state around INR 6000 crore, the project is said to have a deadline of 2025 for completion. However, many experts including “Metroman” E Sreedharan, is sceptical of the whole project in general.
The project will get implemented only on final approval by Indian Railways after it studies the final project plan including the environmental impact study that will need to be presented. Many experts believe that approval from Indian Railways will be difficult as the railway track is not interoperable. This means that only the Silverline or K-Rail trains will be able to use the tracks laid out.
While the political tug of war continues in the state between the ruling LDF and the opposition, many private groups have also started to take sides in the debate. They range from environmental groups and NGOs to privately funded support/protest groups and media channels. What caught our eye was that a new group has come out and openly pledged support for the project.
Our sources tell us that a group known as the KKFA or the Kerala K-Pop Fans Association has decided to voraciously support the proposed K-Rail project. The group consisting of females between the ages of 12 and 25 has members from all parts of the state and is looking to launch campaigns that will support the project on social media and digital platforms.
Read more at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/24/k-pop-fans-come-out-in-support-of-k-rail/
The central government announced one of the steepest hikes in petrol and diesel in recent times resulting in retailers from around the country raising their prices to unprecedented highs. The rise in petrol of around INR 0.80 will have a rippling effect with the retail prices crossing INR 106 in some states in the country.
The move to increase prices did not come as a surprise with the Ukraine crisis in the world with the danger of sanctions looming right around the corner due to India’s non-commitment to openly blame Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. However, Russia has been offering crude oil to buyers at heavily discounted prices to ensure support at the UN. India, whose Russian crude oil imports are below 1% of its total imports have slowly increased its purchase considering the reduced costs.
An interesting take on the rising fuel costs came from a company in Chennai that did not wish to be named fearing that its HR department will be bombarded with CVs. The company has decided to pay for the petrol costs if its employees decide to stop WFH and come back to the office.
The Managing Director of the IT firm said, “We have been requesting our employees to come back to the office for quite some time now. They refuse by claiming that they are more productive and happy working from home. This has created a huge issue for us as we are not able to do any office politics. There are so many aspects of work life that are getting affected.”
We had earlier reported that some companies were offering incentives to employees to come back to work but this seems to be an earnest attempt to maintain office culture.
“Our HR team is unable to organise pointless training and seminars making it difficult for them to socialise and show off as to how much better their work-life balance is. Our admin team is unable to point out errors and insist on mindless paperwork. Our finance team is unable to refuse payment of expense bills and our IT team has no one to talk to as no employee complains about the WiFi. This is affecting our office culture and we have decided to pay for a full tank of petrol every week for employees who will come to the office.”
Read more at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/23/employer-offers-to-pay-for-petrol-to-stop-wfh/
The current Pakistan – Australia test series which is taking place after over 20 years is a landmark achievement for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and a welcome relief to the cricket crazy nation. The Pakistani cricket fans have been deprived of watching their favourite stars live in action and were restricted to enjoying the game on television. With the other ICC nations slowly lifting their apprehensions of visiting Pakistan, the future looks good for the fans.
Almost all test playing nations had decided against touring Pakistan after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009 which killed one player and injured several others. The Pakistani cricket team were forced to use the UAE as their home ground and have test matches and bilateral series being played out on the pitches of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. This ensured that the players in the Pakistani team had to adapt to the new home conditions quickly and hone their skills.
With the introduction of the PSL or Pakistan Super League, the number of international players visiting Pakistan has increased. Although the initial tournaments were once again held in the UAE, the last couple of tournaments has been moved back to Pakistan much to the delight of the fans, players and officials. The myth that the Pakistani terrain was unsafe was finally burst when successive tournaments were held in Pakistan without incident.
Things seemed to have moved back to the earlier times when New Zealand and England teams pulled out of their scheduled series at the last minute citing security concerns. New Zealand was already in Pakistan and had completed one practice match before backing out just before the official start to the series.
This is when Australia confirmed that they will be going ahead with their tour with a full-strength squad.
The two tests that have been played so far has incited criticism from various quarters especially former cricketers and commentators who were following the test matches with great interest. From Pakistan’s defensive mentality, negative bowling lines, poor fielding and unimaginative captaincy to Australia’s shocking dropped catches, lack of urgency to push for a win, team selection and bizarre captaincy… everything was a talking point. The one factor that united the cricketing world was the quality of the pitches in both tests.
The pitches that were provided in both test matches were extremely flat and low on bounce, movement and spin. It had nothing for the fast or spin bowlers. The Rawalpindi pitch was finally declared poor by the ICC and the Karachi test match pitch looks to be headed in the same direction. The pitches in Pakistan were never a green top but it had plenty in it for everyone. A bit of bounce for the fast bowlers, spin during the middle days and reverse swing for the quickies as well. The batsmen too had their sessions and it was always a good contest between bat and ball.
After all the criticisms received, the PCB has decided to take action to ensure that the final test match to be held in Lahore will not face the same issues.
Read more at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/18/pcb-to-invite-cpec-engineers-to-curate-the-pitch-for-3rd-test/
The lastest drubbing in an election for the Indian National Congress was not a surprise but what did surprise even the strongest critic of the Grand Old Party was the level to which it was decimated. The party now has lost the only large state it had in power, Punjab and has been relegated to the smaller states. The relevance of the party at the national level has been on a decline in the past decade with many loyalists starting to speak up or switch camps.
After the recent debacle, the usual storyline continued to play out with every single news outlet predicting the outcome. Some even went on record to predict the step by step process that would be followed during the CWC (Congress Working Committee) meeting that was held earlier this week. The Gandhi family with other members of the CWC met and decided to work on finding out what the issues were that people have lost trust in them.
Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi offered to resign along with her children from the helm of the party. Before any member at the meeting could accept or even acknowledge the offer, an almost premeditated hue and cry started with members begging the Gandhi family to continue with their role and not give up on them. Some senior leaders even went on to say that it was the Gandhi family that held the party together and without them, the party would disintegrate.
What seems like an eternity ago, a group of senior Congress leaders had written to Sonia Gandhi for full-time leadership and sweeping changes in the organisational structure of the party. This group led by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Sashi Tharoor and a few others were branded as the G-23 by the media and as rebels by the Gandhi loyalists. A few members of this group were also part of the CWC meeting and it is said that they were not able to get much of a word in.
As the speculations rise over what the course of action would be taken, Sonia Gandhi has demanded the resignation of the party chiefs of all the 5 states where they lost the elections, putting the onus firmly on the shoulders of the state leaders and absolving Rahul and Priyanka of all accounts of the loss.
The Congress may have a new issue on their hands as the murmurs for a leadership change have increased to a rattle and more and more senior leaders are demanding action. While reports have said that the G-23 list has been growing, there have also been reports of a dinner meeting of these members being organised at the residence of Ghulam Nabi Azad the other day. They don’t seem to have taken Sonia Gandhi’s promise of introspection very seriously.
It did come as a surprise to most that Rahul Gandhi has not “voiced” his opinion on the matter. We launched a full investigation into the matter and we found out that the former Congress president and MLA from Wayanad is on his path to becoming ordained as a monk.
Read full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/17/rahul-gandhi-to-be-declared-an-honorary-buddhist-monk/
Shah Rukh Khan created ripples in the entertainment world after he posted a cryptic tweet on Twitter that said that something new was coming within the OTT space and also shared the presumed logo of SRK+. This had initially sent the SRK fans into a tissy who anticipated this to be a bare-all interview after the saga of his son, Aryan Khan, being arrested and jailed for the possession of marijuana and other banned drugs.
The whole situation soon reached a frenzy when the other Bollywood superstar Salman Khan responded to SRK’s tweet by congratulating him on the launch of the new OTT platform. This revelation was met with excitement among the fans and also sent the regular Twitter trolls into overdrive. They tried to point out that Salman Khan spoilt the whole hype and promotional strategy of SRK’s team who wanted to keep the whole world guessing on what this was all about.
Shortly after Salman Khan, another announcement that added to the euphoria that was developing in India came from Anurag Kashyap.
To the cinema purists, Anurag Kashyap and Shah Rukh Khan could not be further apart. SRK was the epitome of commercial, big-budget, production house backed cinema while Anurag Kashyap was the symbol of independent, low budget cinema that focussed on the craft. When Anurag Kashyap tweeted congratulating SRK on the new OTT platform and also announced his collaboration with King Khan, it threw everyone off their tracks and are now trying to wrap their heads around what could all this mean for the future of Hindi cinema.
Many of the Bollywood stars have tried their hands at moving to the OTT space with Saif Ali Khan and Ajay Devgn having a decent run with their series and many stars have had COVID fueled OTT releases. Even Bobby Deol and Abhishek Bachhan were able to restart their careers with the help of OTT content but the whole idea of launching their own OTT app is a master shot and if anyone could pull it off, it was SRK.
While the whole film fraternity was still trying to come to terms with the announcement and its implications, there was another major news that came out of Bollywood. Our sources tell us that Rakhi Sawant, who was inspired by this move, has decided to launch her own OTT channel as well.
Read more at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/16/after-srk-rakhi-sawant-announces-her-own-ott-app/
The whole world was finally letting its guard down and working towards establishing a new sense of ease and normalcy when news of a highly dangerous mutation of the COVID19 virus was discovered in South Africa. The Omicron variant also wrongly referred to as the “South African Variant” is considered to be far more easily transmittable than other existing versions.
New studies from South Africa also tell us that the newly discovered variant has been responsible for the increasing number of hospitalizations in the country. There have also been reports that the age group of those that are being affected by this virus is comparatively younger than previous versions.
The United Nations has tried to quell fears about the variant by putting out an official statement that read – There is currently no information to suggest that symptoms associated with Omicron are different from those from other variants. Initial reported infections were among university students—younger individuals who tend to have more mild disease—but understanding the level of severity of the Omicron variant will take days to several weeks. All variants of COVID-19, including the Delta variant that is dominant worldwide, can cause severe disease or death, in particular for the most vulnerable people, and thus prevention is always key.
With the lack of clarity in the symptoms or direct effects of getting affected by the new virus, speculations and rumours are running wild with misinformation being spread faster than the Omicron variant.
What had added to the fears among the general public has been reports that the current vaccines which a good chunk of the general population around the world have taken might not be effective against the new variant. While almost all major vaccine producers around the world had confidently claimed that their vaccine was effective against the earlier Delta variant, they do not seem too confident against the Omicron variant.
This has added to the argument being put forward by the anti-vaxxers that vaccines in general are ineffective and that no one should be forced to take them. The discussions around booster shots for those who have been fully vaccinated have also come to a standstill until governments receive a formal statement from the medical community on what the most effective way forward would be.
As of now, countries are beginning to close borders, restrict travel and have been doing contact tracing to identify travellers from high-risk countries. They have also been advising people to continue to wear masks, maintain social distancing and wash hands regularly or use sanitiser.
In between all this uncertainty, a group in the United States of America who call themselves the Proud Rednecks of America (PRA) have decided to take to the streets to demand an American version of the COVID19 virus.
We talked to the leader of the group of 15 people who had decided to step out into the street of Huntsville, Alabama in their Ford trucks and play Kid Rock songs at a disturbingly high volume.
“We love ‘Murica. We believe that we are the best country in the world but we have been slipping. It takes a lot of courage and love for your country to accept that we are not where we should be,” said 44-year-old Rodney Jackson who also refuses to wear a mask.
“What we have been doing does not make sense. The Chinese created the original virus and gave the world SARS. Saudi Arabia then launched their version called MERS. The Chinese then launched a better version called the Wuhan virus which we are all still suffering from 2 years later. Seeing the success of the Wuhan Virus, India launched their version and called it Delta. Guess what, now South Africa also has their version.”
Rodney told us that he was not racist but can’t help see a pattern. He used a few terms which we find highly derogatory to publish here even with ***’s to describe the various races who developed their virus before the Caucasians.
“We are busy wasting time creating vaccines while we should be focussed on making our version – the ‘Murican Variant. Then we should send our military around the world giving everyone the virus. That way we can once again be Number 1!!”
Rodney ended his statement and went back to drinking beer with his sister/wife after alleging a political conspiracy behind the whole thing.
“This clearly shows how behind the times our President Sleepy Joe Biden is. Other countries have overtaken ‘Murica in producing their versions of the virus and spreading it all over the world. We have not been able to make our version at least for the people in the country. Those pesky immigrant viruses are taking away our virus’s jobs. We need a ‘Murican Variant to Make ‘Murica Great Again. Donald Trump would have ensured it happened.”
Officials from the White House were unable for comment.
November 30th marked the end of the deadline where the existing 8 teams had to submit their list of players they would like to retain for the IPL 2022. With the addition of 2 new teams into the mix in the form of Lucknow and Ahmedabad in next year's tournament, there seems to be a new excitement going around on some major shake-ups in the team composition next year.
The Mega Auction is all set to happen next year with all teams being given a salary cap of 90 crores while teams who opt to retain 4 players use up 42 crores of the allotted amount. The new teams will go into the auction with the full amount and some predictions are already in place with regards to a changing of the guard at some of the teams.
While some of the retentions like Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni for CSK, Virat Kohli and Maxwell for RCB, Andre Russell and Sunil Naraine for KKR, Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler for Rajasthan Royals and Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah for Mumbai Indians were quite expected, there were a few surprises in the mix as well.
Sunrisers Hyderabad chose to release David Warner, Rashid Khan and Johnny Bairstow while choosing to retain Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad and Umran Malik. Delhi Daredevils also raised a few eyebrows when they chose to retain Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Andre Nortje and Axar Patel while letting Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin go. Even Punjab Kings let K L Rahul and Mohammed Shami go while choosing to retain Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh.
Fans have had a mixed reaction to these decisions but it is believed that most of the surprise non-retentions are because the players themselves wanted to be released in the hope of fetching a higher price in the auctions for a different team. It is also rumoured that players like KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have made the switch to cement their possible candidacy for team captaincy.
Apart from the fans, the players themselves have had a mixed reaction with some of them being extremely surprised by their exclusion from the retention list. We talked to many players who expressed their displeasure, shock and in some cases relief at the announcement. We have chosen not to report any specific names of the players to protect their identity and ensure that any comments they make do not affect their chances in the auction.
A player who had consistently topped the highest bids in recent IPL's at the complete bewilderment of the fans seemed disappointed when he told us, "This is madness. I was the highest-priced player a few years ago and now the team does not even want to retain me? In a way it is good, I am sure there will be other teams who will be fighting it out, as usual, to have me in the team. The pressure to live up to the price tag while playing less than half the games is massive and only I have been able to live up to the hype."
A sibling pair who played for the same team felt that this move was perhaps a test to ensure that their combination is broken and to be used as an excuse for the management to show that they need not be picked together for the Indian team. The younger of the two brothers told us, "I and my brother have always played for the same team and it became a good thing when we were both picked for the national team. Now that we are pushed to the open auction, it might be the end for one of us in the national team as they will understand that we can perform even if we are not in the same team."
"Who wants to work for peanuts man?" asked a senior cricketer who is currently one of the leading performers for India in terms of bowling statistics. "I prefer to work for pride, success and job satisfaction. If they want loyalty, they can hire a dog or you know who. I just want a team that will give me the freedom to revolutionise the game and maybe make me captain."
"I am just happy to be selected for the Mega Auction," said an international player who plays for multiple T20 teams around the world. "Half the time I do not know which team I am playing for. I am asked to go bat maybe once in 5 games and that is enough for me at this age. Any more than that I will be forced to retire."
Many other cricketers also expressed their concerns about the mega auction and were hopeful that the salary limit enforced by the BCCI will not affect their investment plans.
Black Friday is the popular term given in the United States of America for the Friday following Thanksgiving Thursday and usually marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. The day is marked by stores offering huge discounts and deals that prompt people to line up throughout the night to get their hands on the seasons top products.
While most stores open their doors at 6 am, the trend has been to open the doors for customers as early as 4 am and keep them open till late at night. This has contributed to the trend of people having an early Thanksgiving dinner so that they can camp outside stores like Sears, Target, Toys R Us etc. The discounts usually last only on Friday with some retailers trying to introduce what they are calling Black Saturday to extend the shopping spree.
Marketing for Black Friday begins right after Halloween and it precedes a period of a lull for most retailers as most people do not shop after Halloween as Christmas is around the corner. The concept of Black Friday is believed to have been introduced as Thanksgiving is not traditionally a gifting holiday. This ensures that retailers and sellers have 3 good months of sales before they close their books for the year.
The term Black Friday stuck despite attempts by multiple PR and marketing firms in the USA trying to give a more positive spin on the name. The name Black Friday was originally coined to commemorate the abnormally high pedestrian traffic on the day after Thanksgiving with people taking to the streets to celebrate the holiday. With so many people out of their homes, the retailers started having a special sale to entice them to shop and the rest is history.
In recent times, the term Black Friday has been used to refer to the various shopping rage-induced deaths that have been recorded in the USA. There have been instances of people being trampled, shot, attacked and even gruesome fights breaking out since 2000. In the last 10 years alone, there has been over 50 recorded Black Friday shopping induced deaths in the USA.
Many countries have their versions of Black Friday and are usually on different dates. The UK, Mexico, Canada, Romania, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, South Africa and many other countries have seen a growing trend of adopting this American tradition. This has mainly been fuelled by American retailers introducing the concept and other local sellers following suit.
China has a similar concept known as Singles Day which falls on the 11th of November or 11.11 signified by the single digit 1. This day which was introduced and popularised by the e-commerce giant Alibaba and its sub-brands is now the biggest shopping day of the year all around the world in terms of actual sales.
India has also been introduced to the concept of Black Friday in recent years but it has failed to catch on as the idea of a Black Day translates to being inauspicious according to the culture across religious beliefs. Online retailers like Amazon and Flipkart have tried emulating this online with mega discounts and offers but have been forced to rebrand the shopping occasion as Great Shopping Days or under some other moniker.
With the pandemic forcing people indoors for the past couple of years, more urban Indians have been exposed to American culture via sitcoms and TV series on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Hotstar. The concept of Black Friday is gaining popularity but although many retailers have been aware of it, they have decided to wait it out.
“I want to do some major shopping and get a lot of stuff at discount but can’t seem to find any place that offers a Black Friday sale,” said 28-year-old Sonam Puri from Mumbai. “It would have been fun to run into an H&M or Mango store and try and get the best deals while fighting other girls for it. It would have been such an exciting experience.”
20-year-old Joseph D’Silva also felt lost as he could not find any stores offering a discount on the new PS5. “I have searched everywhere but no luck. Looks like I will have to wait and pray that my uncle Robert gifts it to me for Christmas.”
We, however, have reports that another location in India is gearing up for a mad rush of people. Our reporters from Mumbai have informed us that preparations are in full swing at Chor Bazaar.
“Indians are bargain hunters by nature. We will keep looking for the best price even if it means that we will have to give up on buying something we need. We are sure that with the new interest in Black Friday shopping, the rush will not be at malls but at Chor Bazaar this year,” said Mustafa Sultan who runs an antique shop in Mumbai’s Chor Bazaar.
“We already had people asking us for the past couple of weeks whether we will be having a Black Friday sale and after discussing this, the committee has decided to do a trial run this year.” 62-year-old Mustafa also told us that they will be no actual reduction in prices.
“The prices will remain the same. What Indian’s are concerned about is not the actual price but how much they bargained and negotiated for it. So we have decided that as a team, we will bargain 60% less for the products. We will also open Chor Bazaar 1 hour early to give people the whole experience. Mumbai police have also extended support by deploying additional forces for security.”
In the USA, Black Friday has had frequent instances of people looting and stealing from stores. In India, the public is going to shop at a “Thieves Market”.
The irony is not lost on us.
Thanksgiving is one of the biggest holidays in the United States of America and is unofficially marked as the start of the Christmas Season. The standard procedure dictates that once the Thanksgiving decorations come down, the Christmas decorations will go up. The whole country then gets into the holiday season while also welcoming the winter months.
The traditionally family event where the whole extended family and friends get together to have a large meal while saying thanks for all the amazing stuff that happened in the past year, has been commercialised quite a bit in recent times. The modern Thanksgiving is more about shopping, mega deals and the Super Bowl.
Along with commercialisation comes the establishment of certain icons which generally have very little to do with the holiday in general. Just like the mistletoe has no place in the biblical sense behind Christmas or the Easter Bunny has for Easter, pumpkins and turkeys which are synonymous with Thanksgiving have no historical relevance whatsoever. The original Thanksgiving meal consisted of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, fishes like cod and bass and corn.
The history of the Thanksgiving meal itself is quite tragic. The Europeans who landed on the shores of America were invited to share a meal with the Native Americans. The White Europeans then went on to kill all the members of the Native American tribe and have a meal by themselves. They were thankful for the bounty that God had blessed them with. It is the tradition of this meal that is carried on even today. The context of the meal has changed over time and it’s more about coming together rather than the gruesome history it represented.
The “woke generation” or the proponents of “cancel culture” has other ideas about Thanksgiving. Despite being recognised as a national holiday and with heavy economic implications behind it, Thanksgiving’s existence is threatened.
Many people across the USA have taken offence to the gross misappropriation of a historical event and the significance it holds for the Native American people. They argue that this event should be a more sombre event where we pay homage to the fallen Native Americans on that fateful day rather than celebrate it with nauseating excess.
“It should no longer be called Thanksgiving Day, it should be called Apology Day. What we owe the Native American people is an actual apology for what transpired that day,” claims 22-year-old history student Marie Stevens. “I don’t understand what we are being thankful for on that day. This is a chance for us to repent our mistakes and observe a day of shame for what our ancestors did.”
20-year-old Nick Grahame also voiced similar concerns while saying, “What we are doing is rubbing salt on the wounds of the Native Americans. Why can’t we come together and accept the fact that we stole this country from them? We have enough celebrations that glorify us anyways. As a straight white male in America, I am sick of all the privilege that is being shoved down my throat.”
We spoke to the 24-year-old blogger and the leader of the protest that we were witnessing and she had some interesting observations. “First we loot them, then we sideline them, then we try to wipe them out. When nothing else succeeds, we throw ourselves a victory party. This is what the true meaning of Thanksgiving is. We are celebrating the genocide of a race of people. this should be stopped and we as a group are taking this nationwide this year.”
“We are going to occupy Wall Street and demand that the corporate honchos, the investment bankers and entrepreneurs who have made this holiday to become this pathetic commercial monstrosity stop what they are doing. We will mobilise the youth from all parts of the country. Wall Street must answer for the condition of the Native American people.”
We continued to probe why they were targetting Wall Street and not the White House or the Pentagon where actual decisions of this kind were made. Fortunately, she forgot to mention that what she told us next was off the record, so we were able to reproduce it in full.
“Well, we really cant go anywhere close to those locations due to the high security. Also Wall Street is in New York and we have always wanted to visit New York. We have started a Kickstarter campaign for people who believe in our cause to help send 10 of us to New York to protest. We also heard that Broadway will be doing a special Thanksgiving screening of Hamilton and we needed to pick a cause soon to allow us to get permission from our parents to make the trip.”
The investor market has been on the edge in recent weeks with strong signals coming from the government that the future of cryptocurrency is not safe. The RBI had made its stand a long time ago that cryptocurrency is not legal tender in India and cannot be used for any transaction. The latest reports were that steps were being put in place to ensure that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Dogecoin etc will not be an asset class either.
The main argument that the RBI was putting forward is that the deregulated nature of the market makes it difficult to monitor and ensure that the funds were not being used for illegal activities like funding terrorism or the purchase of illegal material. There is also the possibility of using cryptocurrency as a mode of diverting funds from India to abroad or vice versa without going through any of the regulatory procedures.
The advocates of cryptocurrency strongly counter the arguments of the RBI by stating that cryptocurrencies should be treated as stocks or bonds which are legal in India. As any kind of transaction is not allowed anyways, there is no danger of actually using crypto to “purchase” anything directly. The various apps out there that work as crypto exchanges also function only when linked to a bank account so once again, unregulated funds will not enter the market.
Many investors woke up to the news that the proposal to ban crypto will be placed in the parliament during the winter session which is scheduled to begin on Monday, 29th November 2021. The proposed ‘Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021’ that will be tabled next week will facilitate the launch and functioning of a digital currency that will be regulated by the RBI and will effectively ban all private cryptocurrency in India.
This news has triggered a series of panic selling on the various crypto exchanges with apps like WazirX showing an average fall of 15% in the prices across all cryptos at the time of this article going to press. Netizens have taken to Twitter to rant about both the Indian government, the RBI and also about the WazirX app which is suddenly not a hot platform to sell on. The future of apps like WazirX and crypto unicorns like CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX is unknown.
The smarter or seasoned investors are using this as an opportunity to either “buy the dip” and sell it on the international market with USDT or they are looking at using this uncertainty to boost their overall portfolios or even better still, looking for an arbitrage. The ones that are sure to end up losing money is the naive or beginner investor who was probably just testing out the market or slowly looking at diversifying their portfolios.
The whole “coolness” or the trend of everyone investing in crypto will take a big hit and almost everyone is in a scramble to get out with the least loss possible. International investors are looking at this as an opportunity to get their hands on sought after coins at a much cheaper rate as the market now will be flooded with Indians trying to sell.
One question that had propped up was that of what next? The investors who managed to exit with a decent profit margin are looking at the next big thing to invest in. The stock market is not an attractive option for many people as the amount of research and time that needs to be spent there is massive.
One of our sources who work closely with a lot of such investors told us that he has facilitated the investment requirements of over 35 investors in the past few days. The commodity that they are investing in at the moment is tomatoes.
The price of tomatoes has skyrocketed and have overtaken petrol. This is a seasonal high and many parts of India face the brunt as it is a crucial element in Indian cooking. Tomatoes, along with onions have regularly seen these seasonal price fluctuations for many decades.
“This is just like any other investment. What we are doing is looking out for products and commodities that have a propensity for extreme highs and extreme lows. This includes food items like tomatoes, onions, dal, ginger, garlic, spices etc which have a huge role to play in Indian cuisine. No meal is complete without these ingredients,” said our source.
“Investors can then invest in a pseudo market that will not deal with the actual purchase of these food items but will hedge on the supply and demand system of the capitalistic market. The same concept is applied where you buy low and sell high,” concluded our source and refused to divulge any more information unless we were ready to sell our crypto coins and invest in this new concept.
When we asked if this wasn’t similar to gambling and illegal, our source told us that the specifics need to be worked out. By the time the government decides to do something about it, the initial investors and early adopters would have made their money and the ones who are stuck with losses will only blame the government.
The Narendra Modi led BJP government has finally decided to repeal the progressive farm laws that were met with protests from farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Although most of the other parts of the country did not actively participate in the protests, there were numerous cases of political parties from around the country lending support to these protests rather than farmers themselves.
Many experts have claimed that the protests have long lost their organic composition and the whole current agitation seems to be more structured and organised with ulterior motives. Unfortunate incidents like the deaths of farmers during the protest and the running over of farmers by a BJP MLA’s son has only added fuel to the fires. The farmer’s representatives claim that over 700 farmers have died during the protest but have refused to substantiate their claims with any proof.
Despite multiple meetings and negotiations, the Central government was unable to convince the representatives of the farmers that the 3 farm laws that were passed were revolutionary and will ultimately benefit the farmers immensely. Although no official reasons were given on the individual laws, the farmers union stuck to their demand that all 3 laws have to be repealed unconditionally. This left very little room for negotiation as the whole protest had changed tones to become a threat rather than a request.
After trying to agree for over a year, the government finally relented. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a nationally televised broadcast confirmed that the 3 farm laws although very essential in reforming the farming sector and taking it into the future, will be repealed. The constitutional process of cancelling the laws will happen in the monsoon session of parliament.
While most pundits believed that this will signal the end of the 300 plus day protest, it was not to be the case. The farmers have now come up with a new list of 6 demands that include raising of the MSP (Minimum Standard price) of crops, compensation to families who lost a member during the protest, arrest of MoS Mishra, repeal of the new Electricity Act etc. The demands have been issued and the protest has now moved to Uttar Pradesh where the BJP will be fighting an election next year.
The list of now demands has not been officially acknowledged by the government but our sources within the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) have told us that there is a list of further demands as a backup. Many farmers are coming with their own set of demands which will be democratically added to the list.
He also told us that the most common demand that the farmers have been pushing internally is for the government to compensate the farmers for a years loss of crops.
“Many of them became so involved in the protests that they forgot to sow seeds or do any farming activity in the last year. So even if the farm laws are repealed, they will not be able to get any benefit as they don’t have any crops to sell. A group of over 150 farmers have demanded that the SKM and its leader Rakesh Tikait add this to the list of demands. The farmers are demanding compensation that is equivalent to a bumper crop year as a one-time settlement. The economists who are working behind the scenes to support the protest and the demands are working on the formula that will be used to calculate the exact amount that will need to be reimbursed.”
A few other demands are also being pushed by the protestors but have not managed to make it into the higher levels of the protesting management committee. Our source told us that these demands were already being proposed by the protestors once the government decided to negotiate and hold talks with the farmers but were kept back due to various reasons.
Our source continued by telling us, “Some of the other demands include:
BBC documentary narrated by Sir Richard Attenborough
Rent-free land for farmers whose ownership will be passed to them after 5 years
Fixed prices for crops regardless of market fluctuations,
The appointment of Yuvaraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh as BCCI President and Secretary,
The official appointment of Diljit Dosanj and The Great Khali as official ambassadors of the State of Punjab,
At least one yearly biopic of a Punjabi icon produced by Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions or Balaji Entertainment
Subsidised flight tickets to Canada to visit relatives.”
“Our demands have always been supported by Sri Rahul Gandhi and we are very sure that he will continue to support every new demand that we put forward. The Congress has always been supportive of Punjab and the Sikhs and has done so many things for us. We hope that they will come to power soon and help us in our quest to make farming the most profitable business in India.”
While the footballing world and especially the English Premier League is still reeling with the expected sacking of Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the hunt for the next person to take up the role is underway. Manchester United are currently 8th in the league and have lost 4 of their last 5 matches.
The sacking of the current coach was not a surprise to the Man United fans who were expecting this to happen and after the 4-1 defeat to Watford, it was considered to be just a formality. The club has struggled to find a long term solution even since the end of Sir Alex Fergusson’s 27-year stint at the helm. After the Fergusson era, the club has had 5 people in the position with the likes of Jose Mourino, Louis Van Gaal and even former player Ryan Giggs being shown the door.
Our sources tell us that of all the names who are being considered for the post, the most surprising one is that of former Indian cricket team coach Ravi Shastri.
Shastri is an avid football fan himself and is known to be a supporter of FC Barcelona in La Liga. His success with the Indian cricket team and the rapport he shared with his players was some of the reasons why his name was being considered. Our sources also told us that of all the candidates, Ravi Shastri has the most experience playing in England and his insane skill of not antagonising players or the management while miraculously leading the team to multiple wins puts him ahead in the race.
“He can easily fit in with the pub culture in England and connect with the fans as well. The only issue we foresee is if he insists that we sign Virat Kohli into the team as well.”
Mumbai, 19/11/2021
The most dreaded batting lineup of the 2000s was that of the Indian cricket team also known as the Fab 5. With Virendra Sehwag and Saurav Ganguly opening the batting, Rahul Dravid coming in at number 3, Sachin Tendulkar at number 4 and VVS Laxman at 5 every opposition bowling attack had their hands full. This was what many cricket purists believe to have been the golden period of Indian cricket.
This period was abruptly brought to an end with the appointment of Greg Chappel as the head coach of the Indian cricket team. A phase that many would like to forget and not all team members at that point in time like to talk about.
The baton of the famed batting lineup has been passed onto the younger generation with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane taking up the slots but don't seem as intimidating as the Fab 5, even on paper. They have achieved their own levels of success nevertheless and any comparison to some of world cricket's all-time greats might be a tad bit unfair.
The Fab 5 have since moved on from cricket to commentary and then within the framework of Indian cricket in various capacities. All of them had roles within the IPL with various teams and have recently given up the lucrative paying jobs for something more mainstream within the BCCI.
Rahul Dravid was the first to break the mould and give up his role with Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils take up the role of coach of the Indian A and India Under-19 team. He coached them to amazing success on the international level and helped in mentoring many of the new faces who are making their mark in the senior team. After his stint as coach with the junior teams, he took up the role of the Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy or the NCA where he focussed on nurturing talent for the various teams. He has now taken over as the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team from Ravi Shastri.
Saurav Ganguly is undoubtedly one of the most elegant left-handed batsmen to play the game and India's most successful captain. He is credited with the resurgence of Indian cricket and converting the team to an aggressive unit that went all out for wins. Also beginning his non-playing days as a mentor/coach with the IPL, he soon realised that the administrative skills he developed as captain could be put to better use and joined as the President of the Bengal Cricket Association. In 2019, he took over the top spot in Indian cricket as the President of the BCCI.
VVS Laxman was the mainstay of the Indian batting line up especially when the team played against Australia. After being heavily involved with the coaching unit with the Deccan Chargers and later with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, even VVS had decided to make a move into the BCCI structure by giving up his roles with the IPL to take over the post of Head of Cricket at the NCA vacated by his former teammate Rahul Dravid.
Sachin Tendulkar has been busy with the Mumbai Indians at the IPL and also with brief commentary and television stints while Virendra Sehwag has kept himself busy on similar lines with commentary and being part of the Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab. They have so far stayed away from any official role with Cricket India.
This is however set to change according to our source who has inside information on the wheels that are in motion. Our source tells us that although retirement life has been great both Sachin & Sehwag have been feeling lonely lately as their friends have moved onto jobs with the Indian team and have less time to hang out and chill like old times.
She told us, "Viru has been keeping himself busy with his Twitter account and the friendly banter with Shoaib Akhtar and other cricketers. He is using that as a medium to keep his mind fresh and sharp as usual. Sachin on the other hand has been focused on the Mumbai Indians and the empire that he has built over the years. Sachin has also been paying attention to his son's Arjun's cricketing career but with Arjun making a name for himself as a fast bowler, he has more time on his hands."
After seeing photos in the media of Rahul Dravid, VVS Lakshman and Saurav Ganguly hanging out and discussing cricket like old times, both Sehwag and Sachin have started feeling nostalgic and believe that they need to be contributing more to Indian cricket.
"They just want to hang out with their friends," our source told us. "If that requires them to play an active role in the development of Indian Cricket, they are extremely happy to do so. After all, their love for the game and the country is at the highest level."
Although she refused to tell us what exactly their plans are, we have gathered information from other sources that Sachin will be looking to apply for the post of President of the ICC while Sehwag will be looking at coaching the Under 19 India teams.
In that way, every youngster who plays ends up playing cricket for Team India will be taught the basics by Laxman at the NCA, fearlessness by Sehwag at the Under 19 level, maturity and dignity by Dravid at the senior level while having the support of Ganguly at the national level and Sachin at the international level. The plan to groom a batch of Super-Cricketers is underway.
The COVID19 pandemic forced many companies to shut down their offices and force their employees to work from home. This was seen by many members of the workforce to use the extra time on their hands to either develop their relationships with their families, look at pursuing their passions or learn new skills. Many employees also took it as an opportunity to just relax and use this new mode of working to finally be able to take some of the pressure off.
The lockdown was particularly harsh on people in mid to senior management who relied on the proximity to their bosses to ensure that they get noticed and move up the corporate ladder. Some industries like IT, Finance and management consulting were the ones where the employees suffered from the sudden lack of a workplace to “strut their stuff”.
One such employee was a 41-year-old management consultant for one of the Big 4 firms from Hyderabad, Vijay K.
“I got fired in between my presentation to one of our biggest clients,” he told us with tears in his eyes. “The only person responsible for this is Gary Vaynerchuk.”
During the lockdown, Vijay found himself getting addicted to YouTube motivational videos as he tried to keep his spirits up despite the intense loneliness that he experienced as he could not go to the office. Being stuck at home all day, he immediately was drawn to serial entrepreneur, multi-millionaire and owner of Vayner Media, Gary Vaynerchuk and his videos.
“Those videos were so inspiring and motivating. My performance at work was at an all-time high as I loved the whole hustle culture. I used to work harder than anyone I knew and kept pushing myself to the limit. I had no intention of being an entrepreneur but Gary used to say that being top management in a big company was not bad either. So all my efforts were put into climbing the corporate ladder at an unmatchable pace.”
Vijay used to consume almost every piece of content that Gary V put out on various social channels. At one point in time, he used to watch more than 3 hours of Gary V’s content every day. “The first thing I did after waking up was to play his videos for morning inspiration and I used to sleep listening to his interviews on various podcasts. He had become a part of my life.”
Little did Vijay realise that he had started incorporating his idols mannerisms and vocabulary unintentionally. His otherwise polished Tier-1 business school language was replaced with frequent expletives, crude examples and a certain uneasiness that his close co-workers had begun to notice. They attributed it to the pressures of working from home and his drive to reach the top of the game.
Things came to a crescendo when the doors of the office opened a few months ago. When he finally got a chance to go back to the office, Vijay walked in with a swagger and confidence that few of his colleagues could recognise. The otherwise calm and dignified demeanour was replaced with a brash, no-nonsense, in your face attitude that was unheard of in the management consulting circles.
“I had a very important client meeting a few weeks ago and it was probably the biggest one of my career till date. If I could clinch the deal I would have been promoted as a Director. So I went all out to impress them with my passion and commitment to the project,” said Vijay.
The scheduled 2-hour meeting was abruptly stopped after a 15-minute abuse filled, rambling tirade from Vijay on how the project would be handled. “I invoked my inner Gary V and kicked up a hornet’s nest by referring to our competition as ‘pieces of sht’ and how the whole industry is ‘fcked up’. I was on a roll and did not realise what I was saying. The next thing I knew, my boss was telling me that I am fired and asking security to remove me from the building. HR called me the next day and completed all formalities in an hour.”
“Gary Vaynerchuk got me fired. I am never listening to him again. I have decided to follow Sadhguru instead. Half of what he says doesn’t make sense but I feel much calmer when I listen to him. Also, that is the type of wishy-washy style and content that is needed in my industry.”
Vijay is currently on the lookout for a new job and firmly believes that his new role model will take him to new highs in life.
There has been a huge uproar among various sections of Indian society ever since the international star and stand up comic Vir Das published a new video on YouTube entitled “I come from 2 Indias“. This video was shot at the iconic Kennedy Center in Washington DC and from the video, it seemed to be a post-show session where Vir Das read out a poem to the audience.
The poem itself required great courage to recite as it spoke of things that people in India are aware of but afraid to admit. The 7-minute odd video has garnered over 6 lakh views in under 24 hours and has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
While one section of Indian society has wholeheartedly stood up and applauded Vir Das’s efforts to show the country a mirror while highlighting what makes us great, another section of society has taken offence and gone hammer and tongs against it. While many viewers watched the whole video and applauded the fact that we can openly admit where we are going wrong without looking down on our country, many viewers took offence at the fact that Vir Das went abroad and dissed India.
Very ironic as the poem itself talks about how there are 2 India’s within India today.
Vir Das has since stated how his intent was not to hurt anyone’s sentiments but we have to look more objectively at what is going around us. He said in his statement, “People cheer for India with hope, not hate. People clap for India with respect, not malice. You cannot sell tickets, earn applause, or represent great people with negativity, only with pride. I take pride in my country, and I carry that pride across the world. To me, a room full of people anywhere in the world, giving India an ovation is pure love.”
The line in his poem that has garnered the most negative reaction is the one where he speaks of rape culture. He goes on to say in the video, “I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang-rape them during the night.” This has offended a large number of people as they felt that he has generalised every Indian in the country and worse still, he spoke of this in the USA and defamed the country.
Another line that has irked a section of society is one where he speaks of the PM CARES fund. He says, “I come from an India where every time we get information, we are always available to care for the PM but we can’t seem to get any information on PM Cares.”
While allegations, FIRs, threats have been flung around with relative ease we have also noticed that the people who have an issue with it are running out of reasons to get offended.
Hindus have taken offence to Vir Das bringing up the worship of Goddesses and his mention of Indians bleeding orange after cricket matches. Fans of the NDA and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have taken offence at the reference to PM CARES. Fans of political leaders took offence at the reference to leaders not wearing masks. Conservative older generation took offence at his statement about scoffing sexuality but manage to reach a billion people. Fans of the Congress took offence to the jibe at Rahul Gandhi who cannot stop talking about his dead father but followed his ailing mother.
Almost every line in the poem has offended someone while equally opening our eyes to the kind of truth and reality that we don’t want to acknowledge in public.
In order not to be left out of the whole incident, serial offence taker and self-proclaimed public activist Advocate Jegan Surya Gowda spoke to us from Bengaluru. His reason for taking offence goes beyond the individual lines of the video which he feels has overtaken the real message behind the video.
“The message behind the whole video is being missed by everyone. People are so obsessed with woke culture and cancel culture that they are nitpicking all those individual lines of the video. Come on… I mean this is a poem, a form of artistic expression. You cannot take every line in the poem literally. Poems are written with a lot of subtexts and inner meaning. That is what people are failing to understand.”
“My issue with the whole poem and video is quite simple. Vir Das is attempting to divide the country all over again by promoting the 2 nation theory that was initially proposed by Mohammed Ali Jinnah to create Pakistan.”
“He keeps saying that there are two India’s throughout the video. He is telling people that we are not one and that we are 2 countries. This type of inciteful subliminal messaging is what is hurting the country. What if two people decide to take this message seriously and come to an agreement like Jinnah and Nehru? How are we going to prevent another partition?”
Jegan Surya Gowda or JSG as he is popularly known in his area, then proceeded to walk into the district court to file his complaint against Vir Das.
Editors note: We tried to put our usual satire spin on this incident as well but somehow the video by Vir Das itself explains everything that we are trying to do. Please continue doing what you are doing Vir, you have a much larger platform than we do to get our point across.
To quote our favourite line from the video which also best expresses what we do – “I come from an India that is going to watch this and say ‘This isn’t comedy, where is the goddamn joke’… yet I come from an India that will watch this and know that there is a gigantic joke, it just isn’t funny.”
The Delhi government has escaped the wrath of the Supreme Court so far as the premier judicial establishment has come down heavily on the central government for not taking enough measures to curb the pathetic air quality of the capital city. There have been numerous directives being issued by the Supreme Court of India to incite the central government to do something about the situation at hand.
The air quality and the level of pollution in the NCR region has always been a concern. The air quality according to the WHO is the worst in the world with Delhi beating out 1650 other cities to claim this dubious distinction. Air pollution-related diseases including chronic respiratory disorders and asthma are the fifth largest killer in India.
The quality of air usually tends to fluctuate in the city with it rarely reaching the “good” level. The main causes for this unacceptable level of pollution in the air including the perineal smog that seems to have engulfed the NCR region can be attributed to several factors. The main reason for the pollution is vehicular emissions which account for 41% of the source of air pollution in the state. This is compounded by the higher household income due to the growth of the IT sector. This ensures that almost every household has a car that is being used regularly to make trips across the Noida, Gurgaon belt where all the IT companies are.
Another main reason for the quality of air is the presence of coal-powered industries in the area. Moving these industries to the outskirts of the city might be an impossible task despite being responsible for almost 18% of the emissions. These industries and factories have been around for years and shutting them down or forcefully moving them can lead to huge losses both financially and economically. Not to mention the number of jobs that will be lost in the process.
Apart from these two causes, the usual culprits that are responsible for the low air quality at this time of the year are the Diwali celebrations across the state that contribute in a huge way to worsened air quality and the seasonal burning of crops by all the farmers in the region.
Unfortunately, the governments are not in a position to take action or prevent either of these activities as they are very closely tied to the religious beliefs and livelihood of various sections of society. The irony is that even in matters where the government could have helped, they are rendered powerless due to multiple sensitivities that need to be considered.
The Supreme Court of India has regularly made statements and issued directives to the central government to do something about the situation including asking them to announce work from home for all employees to counter the air pollution. The Arvind Kejriwal led AAP government has directed schools and government offices to shut down to prevent adding to the already bad situation.
While the central government has largely avoided the issue and not taken any concrete steps to either follow the Supreme Courts directives or implement any new policies, we have been active on the international scene advocating a carbon neutral/negative approach. In the recently concluded COP26 or United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, India chose to water down its statement to “phase down” usage of coal against the otherwise accepted “phase out” coal.
This move raised a lot of eyebrows as India has been an advocate of climate change, green energy and carbon emission control in various other forums. The fact that China, which is one of the worst offenders internationally in terms of carbon emissions and air pollution, came out in support of India, did not help our image at all.
Despite all these various permutations and combinations, the Kejriwal led government has decided to step up and do something about the situation.
Our source within the AAP core committee has told us that just like Kejriwal had promised and provided free water and electricity to the people of the state, the government has also identified two more items that will be given to the public free of cost to counter air pollution.
“The first item is a face mask that will help reduce the inhalation of the dangerous air by the public ensuring that all the residents of the NCR region will be safe from the issue,” said our source. “Every household will be eligible to receive four facemasks a year.”
She continued by telling us the other freebies that the Kejriwal government is shelling out.
“We will also provide every household with 1 litre of facewash free every month so that they can wash their faces every time they come back home. The effects of air pollution on the skin is not being taken into consideration.”
“We have also decided that to reduce the emissions from the government cars of politicians, all 62 MLA’s of the APP out of the 70 total in the state will be sent on indefinite paid leave. They will be allowed to come back and work only after the pollution levels have lowered.”
“Finally, the biggest step and sacrifice that the AAP is ready to do for its people. We have decided to become a catalyst for change and find a permanent solution to this problem. This cannot be something that we have to battle every year.”
“We have decided to send Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal on a fully financed fact-finding mission to Norway, Sweden, Finland and other EU states that have the best quality of air. They will return in time for the next election with their report.”
She concluded by saying that no other political party has done so much for its people and the country and it is high time that Arvind Kejriwal was handed over the responsibility of the country like Putin or Xi Jingping.
After the success of movies like Sardar Udhham Sing, Dangal, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Saina and Shakuntala Devi, the biopic fever continues to grip Bollywood which has been already been accused of being starved of original stories. The latest addition to the list is the proposed biopics around the lives and political careers of Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena and Nawab Malik of the NCP.
These biopics are said to be in the planning stages currently and a major announcement will happen before the end of the month at an event that is said to bring all the major names of Bollywood and Maharashtra politics under one roof. The details of the event and the guest list is currently under wraps but is believed to be going to be one of the biggest events post the COVID19 pandemic in the city of Mumbai.
Sanjay Raut is the main spokesperson for the Shiv Sena and regularly uses the in house publication Saamana to put forth his political views and also his opinions on the state of the country. His influence although limited to Maharashtra, his voice has only grown louder since the Shiv Sena assumed power in the state after breaking their alliance with the BJP. The coalition between the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress was believed to be the product of the genius of Sanjay Raut.
He has been especially critical of the BJP government at the centre and has never shied away from openly calling out BJP leaders personally and his devil may care attitude was what inspired the production house to explore the possibility of creating a biopic of the mercurial leader said our source at Red Chillies Entertainment.
She also told us that Red Chillies Entertainment will not stop at just a biopic of Sanjay Raut, they will also focus on a biopic of controversial NCP leader Nawab Malik. Nawab Malik has been in the news lately for taking a strong stand whenever he felt that a Muslim has been unfairly targetted by the establishment. His strong views and presence in the Shiv Sena – NCP – Congress government in Maharashtra is often used as a counterbalance to the otherwise hardline Hindu image that the Shiv Sena has.
“Nawab Malik does not fear anyone and will do anything to shine the light to the places where it is needed. We need to show the whole of India how fearless a politician should be,” said our source at Red Chillies Entertainment.
She also told us that the Shah Rukh Khan – Juhi Chawla owned production house was planning this for a long time and that the recent case involving SRK’s son Aryan Khan has nothing to do with the announcement.
“The fact that both Sanjay Raut and Nawab Malik came out in our support and managed to change the investigation team from the NCB, start an investigation into the officer who was in charge of this case, get bail for Aryan and appoint a local SIT to look into the case is a clear testament that they are the leaders that our youth need to look up to. Our decision to make movies on their lives now seems to be perfect.”
She also told us that these biopics were part of a parallel cinematic universe that Red Chillies Entertainment is building that will include movies based on politics, the judicial system and the Maharashtra Police force.
She refused to divulge more information on the cast and crew of the two films but our sources in the industry have confirmed that the casting for various roles has been completed. The movie about Sanjay Raut will be directed by Hansal Mehta and actor Sonu Sood is billed to play the title role. Other actors who are supposedly part of the project include, Swara Bhaskar, Aftab Shivdasani, Shatrughan Sinha and Raveena Tandon.
The movie on Nawab Malik is taking a bit longer to finalise according to our sources as one of the conditions of the politician to make a movie on his life was that it needed to be done by a 100% Muslim crew. This is proving to be difficult, not because of the lack of Muslim talent in the country, but because of the refusal of many technicians to participate in this kind of discriminatory behaviour. There is a speculation that Shah Rukh Khan himself might play the title role of Nawab Malik in the movie.
Both movies are set to start shooting before the end of the year and to release on Ganesh Chaturthi and Eid of next year.
Most countries where the travel restrictions have been lifted still require that passengers flying into the country have an RT-PCR negative report both while boarding as well as after landing in the destination country. While most travellers have accepted this as standard procedure, efforts are being put in by the various governments to get a validity for their vaccination programs to reduce the inconvenience to their citizens. Most countries have got into agreements where all those who are fully vaccinated do not need to undergo the otherwise mandatory quarantine.
Air travel is an industry that has still not recovered fully from the aftermath of the COVID19 virus and every country is struggling to ensure that a third or fourth wave of the pandemic does not occur. One of the ways that they can ensure this does not happen is by having strict controls on the people who enter the country so that any new variants can be contained.
Frequent fliers worldwide have now accepted the mandatory RT-PCR tests as a standard procedure, similar to the requirement to arrive at the airport a minimum of 4 hours in advance. However, a recent survey conducted is revealing some disturbing news.
There have been rumours that passengers are getting addicted to the repeated RT-PCR tests that they have to go through. A standard traveller would need to get an RT-PCR test done 72 hours before flying, another one at the airport, and then one after landing at the destination. Rather than trying to avoid taking these tests, creating a ruckus or faking the reports, travellers have been surprisingly cooperative and willingly complying with all the requirements. As this is not standard behaviour expected from regular travellers, it has triggered a debate whether the RT-PCR tests themselves have something to do with it.
There have been claims that the extremely sensitive nose has pleasure sensors that trigger dopamine release in the brain when stimulated by the nasal swab used for the tests. A team of academics at the Science Department of Lovely Professional University have been assembled to test this hypothesis and we await the results.
The aftermath of the Afghanistan pullout by the US troops has been a messy affair with the Taliban, whom they had been fighting against, taking control of the country even before the US had a chance to fully evacuate its citizens. This had led to a bitter taste in everyone's mouth as this was the 2nd major unsuccessful campaign in recent times.
A section of the public also believes that the US, despite claiming to bring peace and stability to a country, has never won a military campaign. Even the Iraq conflict did not yield any Weapons of Mass Destruction or WMDs. If you add this to the Vietnam fiasco, there has hardly been an all-out victory since World War 2. This is despite many short and long term conflicts that the US has entered uninvited.
Statistics say that the loss of American lives in these conflicts and the financial loss to the American economy has been so big that there is an active campaign afoot to hide those numbers.
Experts in the field claim that the US has no option but to look for a new "hunting ground" or international conflict that they need to get involved in militarily at the earliest. The gap between Afghanistan and the next issue cannot be too long or they risk endangering some very important things.
Our source in the Pentagon told us that although the potential downside of entering a new conflict is huge, they do not have a way around it.
"We need to find a new geopolitical situation to exploit. It has become an essential factor in the way we operate. These conflicts that we enter is the only way that we can justify the ridiculous amount of money that we spend on our armed forces. The majority of this goes onto producing modern weapons that we use and experiment with in real-life scenarios so that we can sell them to others."
He also explained how the budget allocation would work if there was no conflict and how in reality, these extended "war on terror" operations were profitable to the US, contrary to what the general public thinks.
Unfortunately, we cannot publish that part of the conversation as it was said strictly off the record.
"Fortunately for us, we will be getting into a new war zone quite quickly by mid-2022," he said. The discussions are underway and we should be hearing from the concerned sources in due course of time. We are looking at a minimum 15 year period this time around."
"The Pentagon is where we come to these decisions. What we decided halfway through the Afghan crisis is that these operations were great in many things:
They helped cover up other ways we have fished out money from the economy.
It helped us test new weapons in real-life scenarios.
It provided a showcase to the rest of the world of our weaponry and to attract buyers.
Installing a puppet government who would stand by us on any issue.
Divert the attention of the American public the moment they manage to focus their attention on real issues in the country."
Our source went on to explain how the Afghan operation was made the official reason for the huge amount of debt that the US government has amassed over the years. A write off on that debt was justified as the country was at war during the past 20 odd years.
"The selection process for the new country we will invade is not easy. What we do first is put out an RFP or a Request For Proposal inviting countries to put forward their proposal on what kind of resources that their country has that can be exploited by the US in exchange for the installation of a dummy government and the deployment of forces."
"Then we evaluate the long-term and short-term pros and cons and vet each application thoroughly before we shortlist a couple of them. This process in itself takes at least 6 months to a year and we have some of the best minds in the world working on this."
"This is followed by the easiest part where we manufacture a situation and our PR mechanism takes over to generate public sentiment. We then go into the selected country as saviours. The length of the operation will depend on the requirements and we usually have a tentative date for pull out scheduled in even before we officially enter the country."
"Currently we are in the process of shortlisting viable options and the entries for our next campaign have been overwhelming, to say the least. The success we had in Afghanistan has prompted so many countries to invite us over that we did not even have to announce that we were looking for our next target."
"After spending so much time in Asia and the Middle East, we are looking at a change of environment and applicants from Africa and South America have a distinct advantage. Some of the strongest contenders this time around are Zimbabwe, Sudan and Venezuela."
Unfortunately, despite repeated questioning, our source refused to divulge the name of the country which was most likely to extend hospitality to the US Armed forces.
Elon Musk has been in the news a lot more than usual lately. He has not only experienced professional highs like becoming the first man in history to be worth over $300 billion but also personal highs like the birth of his son X Æ A-12 last year. This period was not only about these extreme highs, but he also had to go through a divorce and was also being criticised for picking a Twitter spat with the head of the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP).
His sometimes erratic and sometimes bizarre antics have always been of interest to the business community as he can be quite influential in determining the course of the human race in the next decade. Unlike other billionaires like Jeff Bezos, who maintains a relatively low profile and Bill Gates, who has effectively retired from Microsoft, Elon Musk is very much at the forefront of the latest technology. His extremely strong opinions on various matters have influenced public opinion and he has succeeded in becoming a role model for many people.
His first venture was the company Zip2 which was acquired by Compaq in 1999. This was followed by the company that made Elon Musk a household name – X.com and PayPal. After tasting huge success with the sale of PayPal, Elon continued to enter various new domains and start new companies like SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City, Tesla Energy, Neuralink and The Boring Company. He is also associated with companies like Hyperloop and OpenAI.
Elon Musk is an active Twitter user and his sometimes cryptic tweets have left people both puzzled and inspired. Not being known as someone who would hold back from expressing his opinion, his tweets have been known to create massive ripples in the business world.
His tweets supporting the cryptocurrency Dogecoin and Shiba Inu has seen the value of the currencies rise exponentially in a very short period. His tweets and statements against AI and Mark Zukerberg had created panic amongst investors. Most recently he got into a Twitter spat with World Food Program director David Beasley where he offered to sell $6 billion worth of Tesla stock if Beasley could explain how that would end world hunger. This was met with some serious backlash as well.
The one recent incident that has caused SETI or the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Institute to sit up and put Elon Musk under their scanner was his recent Twitter poll asking if he should sell his stock in his companies. The real reason was claimed to be the proposal by the US government to tax the wealthy using the concept of unrealised gains, where he could stand to lose a substantial amount of money if he continues to remain invested in the company. Elon Musk has repeatedly claimed that he does not receive a salary so cannot be taxed but will be taxed on capital gains when he sells his stock.
SETI does not believe that this is the case and they suspect something more sinister.
SETI has been at the forefront of research into extraterrestrial life in the universe and hopes to establish communication with an alien race at some point. They have already had many promising leads but nothing has materialised in the many decades that can explicitly prove the existence of alien life forms. Our source at SETI had some very disturbing hypotheses.
“Elon Musk knows something. He is making plans to leave our planet as it might be doomed.” While sensationalism has never been our forte, we did listen to our highly placed source at SETI out.
“There has always been speculation that Elon Musk was not human and is what we would call an alien in layman’s terms. He has once remarked that people believe that he is one without contradicting or denying the statement. If you take a look at all that he has achieved in the past 10 years, it is nothing short of being superhuman.”
“This is where things get interesting. His recent activities where he has now successfully launched and tested SpaceX but has not opened it up fully for commercial flight in itself has thrown up several questions. His obsession with solar energy and electricity also adds to the suspicions we started having when he launched The Boring Company where the whole objective was to drill massive holes on the surface of Earth.”
“All these activities clearly show that he is operating under some kind of alien knowledge that we are unaware of. It is almost as if he is perfecting technology that can be used on other planets because all this is not required on Earth anyways.”
“Now he is talking about selling his shares and encashing his massive wealth. We believe that he is going to use this to make the final leap in perfecting his technology to get back to his home planet after repairing his mothership which is stationed exactly 575 kilometres above the earth. This is the height that the SpaceX rockets are designed to travel and come back.”
“This can only mean that there is some major calamity that is about to hit the earth and that Elon Musk is planning his exit. We have diverted all our resources to monitoring his activities to prove our hypothesis as no other government agency would cooperate with us.”
The BCCI and the Indian team have decided that they have to take major corrective action after failing to qualify for the semifinals at the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup despite entering the tournaments as favourites. One of the main reasons attributed to the loss was the fact that the Indian team lost all but one of their tosses so far in the tournament immediately putting the team in the backseat.
Skipper Virat Kohli has been very unlucky with the toss ever since he took over and his horrendous form carried forward into this tournament as well. Losing the toss in the initial 2 games ensured that India had to play both the games against Pakistan and New Zealand at a disadvantage. The dew factor in the second innings made the game feel like two different conditions in both halves with a strong bias against the team batting first.
Pakistan beat India for the first time in 12 matches in the World Cup and that too with a comprehensive 10 wicket victory. This was the first time India ever lost a T20 match by 10 wickets. This was followed by an 8 wicket loss to New Zealand with literally put India’s qualification for the semifinal at the mercy of the other teams in the group.
Unfortunately, despite comprehensive wins against Afghanistan and Scotland, the Indian team did not qualify for the semifinal even with a match to spare as New Zealand and Pakistan cruised into the semis with wins of their own.
The famed Indian batting lineup of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, K L Rahul, Rishabh Pant and others failed to shine against quality opposition. The otherwise clinical bowling lineup of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvaneswar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja managed to just pick 2 wickets from the initial 2 matches.
Many theories have been put forward for the poor performance of the team in the marquee tournament of the year. This included workload management issues like coming off the IPL directly into the tournament and bubble fatigue to team selection issues like not playing your best spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and changing the batting order against New Zealand.
However, our sources at the BCCI have told us that they have identified what the core issue for these losses was and have already taken steps to address it.
“We lost the matches because we cannot seem to win the toss, ” she told us. “The match starts at the toss. It decides what the strategy and the game plan is. If we cant win the toss, we have to play according to the other teams’ plan. This is why we completely lost the plot against Pakistan and New Zealand.”
She also told us that to help us win the toss, the BCCI is on the lookout for 2 more mentors for the Indian team.
“The presence of Dhoni in the locker room was highly appreciated by our sponsors. The team and the fans also seemed to like it very much. What we decided is that we need two more mentors to help specifically with the toss. We have already shortlisted a close up magician who was a former participant at America’s Got Talent to help in tossing the coin and predicting how it will land. We are just working out the final details.”
“We are still on the lookout for an astrologer to help the Indian captain and the coach decide on calling the toss based on the day and horoscope of the rival captain, selection of players based on their stars and also for taking key decisions on the field like which bowler to target while batting and who would field at what position. Dhoni will continue to focus on the mentoring for DRS decisions”
We asked our source whether this was a suggestion of the current captain and coach and why these changes were being implemented now. She was quite surprised at the question but still was happy to tell us why.
“Kohli had announced his retirement before the start of the tournament and coach Ravi Shastri is also not being retained after the tournament. This meant that it was the right time for implementing major changes in the team without upsetting the apple cart too much and the transition would all occur in a single phase from which the team can rebuild itself.”
“These changes include the appointment of a new captain for which Rohit Sharma, K L Rahul and Stuart Binny are front runners based on their current planetary positions. The appointment of the new head coach Rahul Dravid has already taken place. Although he is not a big fan of the new idea, he is a true team player and will always adapt himself to any scenario.”
When 26-year old Quality Assurance Analyst, Seema Jain sent out a group email celebrating the launch of her maiden project as a lead, she did not expect it to result in career suicide.
The PC culture within India has been growing at an alarming pace with people, in general, getting offended at the slightest of things. While many attribute this to the over sensitisation of Indian society, others believe that it is a sign that even marginalised communities are getting the courage to make their voices heard.
While the growing awareness of what is appropriate at the workplace and concentrated efforts to make the office a less volatile environment for women has to be applauded, many people question where the line needs to be drawn. What is a genuine mistake and what is an actual attempt at harassment?
HR departments are now playing things extremely safely to ensure that no complaint is overlooked and that no employee files a case against the company. In the case of Seema Jain, the HR department immediately pulled her up once the complaint was received, terminated her services and also added a note to her file saying that her homophobic comments made the workplace unsafe for the LGBTQ community.
Seema on the other hand still maintains that it was a genuine mistake and a typo.
“I was excited when I sent that email as I had just completed my first project as a lead. All I wanted to do was share the happiness and congratulate the team on a job well done. A stupid typo has just ruined my career.”
We gained access to the email that was sent to 5 employees of the US-based IT firm at 9.45 pm on Tuesday from Seema’s laptop. Unfortunately for her, 2 members of the team were gay and had not come out of the closet yet.
Hi gays!!
We finally closed the project and I am really happy that you were ready to spend late nights and drill each other till you finished. I have to say that I did not expect that leading you gays would be easy but you showed that you can not only take one for the team but also go hard for each other. Thank you for cumming together as a team and I look forward to a group session with you all soon.
Regards,
Seema Jain
The latest reports say that Seema has received a job offer from FOX News and will be moving to the USA soon.
Read more at - www.thedailyvanilla.com
Ever since the current President of the United States of America, Joe Biden has taken over control of the Oval Office in January 2021, he has had his hands full with one international incident after the other. Starting with the internal backlash over COVID19 policies to the current international debacle involving the pullout from Afghanistan, it has been a very intense 9 months.
Joe Biden detractors say that the incumbent president is not mentally or physically fit to handle the high-stress environment of being the leader of the free world. This is evident from how events have unfolded in the past year and the lack of clarity in his thoughts when addressing the public.
Throughout his political career, Joe Biden has had numerous instances where his verbal gaffes made bigger headlines than his actual work. The Republicans and more recently protestors against his policies have used that as a weapon to argue against his continuation in the role of President. The only reason that they haven’t been pushing for removal or impeachment is that they do not have high regard for Vice President Kamala Harris either.
The latest surveys conducted across America say that Joe Biden has a disapproval rating of 48.9%. The fact that he is only better off than former president Donald Trump speaks volumes of the kind of discontent the general public is going through. What makes things worse is that even George W Bush had a better rating than Joe Biden for the number of days he was in office.
Before the elections in 2020, rapper, businessman and millionaire Kanye West has done a series of conflicting tweets and statements about his relationship with former President Donald Trump. Starting with admiration, followed by contempt for the racial politics by the Democrats to finally admitting to a very public fallout with Trump.
Kanye West also went so far as to declare that he would be running for president in 2020 under an independent party called the Birthday Party. He then pulled out of the race citing that he did not want to go up against Donald Trump whom he respected. This declaration has fuelled rumours that he might be looking at seriously considering running for the office in 2024 and is using this time to prepare his launch into the world of politics.
The current disappointing run of the Biden-Harris team has prompted speculations on what a possible combination of Trump-West could have achieved in the same timeframe.
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/29/kanye-west-could-be-the-game-changer-in-2024/
The nationwide Bharath Bandh announced by various political and trade unions in support of the protesting farmers in Punjab met with mixed reactions across the country. While almost all of the country ignored the call for a complete shutdown of the state, Punjab and Kerala wholeheartedly participated in the bandh.
The use of bandh and hartal to cause inconvenience to the general public while scoring a few imaginary political brownie points has been the norm in the country for a long time now. With the highly charged up political environment within the country, party workers express extra zeal and enthusiasm to ensure that the whims of the political bosses are followed to the tee. Current protest leader Rakesh Tikait went ahead to so far as saying that it is ok that the public was inconvenienced for a day.
The prevalence of archaic methods of protest like bandhs and hartals where public transport, business, shops and establishments are forced to shut down is very common in the states of Kerala and West Bengal where the communist party still has a very strong influence. Other small pockets within the country extend support to these calls, once again with a higher following for the red flag.
The communist parties are not solely to blame as almost all political parties have used this method to rile up some PR whenever they felt that they needed to get some television or media footage. The irony is when the ruling party of a state decides to announce a bandh to protest against something.
The Bharath Bandh that was announced yesterday was to mark the first anniversary of the protests by farmers in the states of Punjab and Haryana over the 3 Farm Laws that were brought into practice by the central government. The NDA government claims that these laws are meant to reform the current setup and to empower the farmers while the farmer unions and trade unions believe otherwise.
They have been protesting ever since the government brought these laws into practice with the opposition parties adding fuel to the fire by openly spreading their versions of the laws and also incentivising unions that are affiliated with the parties to actively rally the support of as many farmers as possible.
The protesting farmers braved cruel weather and multiple rounds of talks with the government but their idea of a complete victory where the government will unconditionally repeal the laws has met with a dead end as the government has refused to relent believing that this will set an unwanted precedent.
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/28/bharath-bandh-gives-kerala-hope-of-return-to-normalcy-amidst-covid19/
Weddings are a huge market in India especially since the societal structure build up to marriage as being one of the cornerstones of an Indian man or woman’s life. Earlier generations considered the wedding ceremony to be a right of passage of sorts to enter what was considered as the most important phase of a person’s life.
With weddings getting grander and more intricate with every passing year, the traditional elements have taken a back seat. The whole wedding event is slowly turning into an entertainment extravaganza with an entry song and dance routine for the bride, groom and their entourage. This is usually followed by a few more songs and dance routines by the brothers, sisters, friends etc. The whole ceremony is now nothing less than an Indian movie wedding scene.
This evolution of the wedding event has been welcomed wholeheartedly by the younger population who otherwise found weddings to be an extremely boring affair. Added to this the pressures of being prodded on their careers, marriage, children by gossiping aunties and patronising uncles, it wasn’t something that they attended on free will. The whole monotony of the event followed the inevitable and inexplicable mad rush to the dining room and the excruciatingly long wait to get a photograph clicked with the bride and groom has now got a more bearable face to it.
There is a section of the population who turn their nose up at these “dilutions of our culture” but are already scheming and plotting to make their kid’s weddings an even bigger extravaganza – the hypocritical relative.
In between all these innovations and systemic change that is happening in society, one industry has been accelerating these changes by ushering in new concepts, ideas and ways to make every wedding unique. There are clear front runners who charge an exorbitant amount to make the 3-4 day event the most memorable part of a couple’s married life. This is the recently popular and formalised institution known as “Wedding Planners”.
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/23/wedding-photographer-barely-escapes-lion-attack-during-pre-wedding-photoshoot/
Cryptocurrency is a topic that is still not clearly understood even today by a vast majority of the world population. In India, the financial knowledge of what cryptocurrency is, how is it traded or even how it came into existence is still a mystery for many. Today, many of us have heard the words bitcoin, dogecoin, ethereum, ripple etc from various TikTok videos from the USA and other parts of the world.
The volatility of the cryptocurrency market makes it an easy win when things go well but a huge financial risk when it crashes. Millionaires have been made overnight while many have been rendered penniless in a fraction of a second.
The website Investopedia describes cryptocurrency as “a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology—a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers. A defining feature of cryptocurrencies is that they are generally not issued by any central authority, rendering them theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation.”
The whole craze for cryptocurrency started with the launch of Bitcoin. Interested people had to go through a process known as crypto mining to generate the coins which were then sold on an “exchange” which is similar to the stock market. Many hardcore fans of the stock market have stayed away from the crypto exchanges because of the volatility of the market along with the lack of maturity of the exchanges making transactions very expensive. Being a new exchange the processes will also take a while to get formalised.
In between all this uncertainty, India too has been producing crypto millionaires of late. One of the newest members in this exclusive group is 30 year old, Jitindrann Nair from Kochi.
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/22/indian-cryptocurrency-millionaire-reveals-secret-behind-his-investing-system/
Pakistan has been castigated and greylisted in multiple international forums for its alleged role in harbouring terrorists responsible for terror attacks around the world. Although Pakistan has maintained its innocence and even tried to make amends for its actions, the international community is not convinced.
This was evident when the New Zealand cricket team pulled out of its tour to Pakistan hours before the first match was about to start citing intelligence reports of probable violence and terrorist attacks during the match. The same report prompted England to pull their men’s and women’s teams from their tour next month as well.
The whole international consensus is that Pakistan will also now use the help of the Taliban who have taken over the rule of Afghanistan to increase the terror activity in the region. Barring China, which directly benefits from the nefarious activities of a once prosperous state, and Turkey, Pakistan finds itself isolated in the international community. It is only the influence that China holds over countries that are struggling with Chinese debt and its veto power as a permanent member of the UNSC that has prevented sanctions and strict punishment from being handed down to Pakistan.
On the outside, Pakistan is making real efforts to shed the tag of being a terrorist state and has made great progress in checking off the conditions of the FATF Grey List. They have also managed to keep themselves away from the dreaded blacklist which will ultimately end up in severe sanctions which will have to be borne by the common Pakistani. Unfortunately, the freedom at which the UN-designated terrorists in Pakistan move about and make statements on live TV will always be a concern to the rest of the world.
To allay these concerns, our sources have informed us that Pakistan is planning to make a major announcement today on the occasion of the International Day of Peace.
The International Day of Peace or World Peace Day is celebrated on 21st September every year and is one of the United Nations declared holidays. First celebrated in 1981, the day is dedicated to world peace and the absence of war and violence. Some countries observe the day by declaring a temporary ceasefire or suspension of hostilities.
On a formal front, the UN observes debates, contests and discussions on a predetermined topic. The topic for this year is Recovering Better for an Equitable and Sustainable World. The day is inaugurated after the ringing of the United Nations Peace Bell at the UN Headquarters in New York. The bell is made from coins contributed by children from around the world and inscribed with the words “Long live absolute world peace”.
Our sources tell us that Pakistan is determined to make amends and convince the international community that its commitment to peace and stability in the region is second to none. The Imran Khan-led government is set to make an important announcement today to mark the celebrations of the International Day of Peace in the country.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/21/pakistan-to-celebrate-international-day-of-peace-with-unique-announcement/
The Punjab Congress conflict has finally turned the corner. While many were surprised at the end result, keen political observers and experts had expected this to happen. With his resignation as the Chief Minister on Saturday, he has now paved way for not only a new CM in the form of Charanjit Singh Channi, but also provided Navjot Singh Sidhu to take over the reins of the Punjab Congress.
The rumblings between the two have been going on for a while with Sidhu labelling the former Chief Minister as nonchalant while Amarinder Singh has repeatedly referred to Sidhu as incompetent. The battle was thrown out in the open after Sidhu, a former BJP MLA, was asked to take over the leadership of the Punjab Congress a few months ago.
While having bad blood with another politician from another party or even within the same party is not uncommon, what surprised everyone was that the former Indian cricketer did not even wait to get acclimatised with his new environment before going on the offensive against his own Chief Minister. Amarinder Singh had always warned everyone that Sidhu was not to be trusted and that he had ulterior motives.
Our sources who had privy of the information flow within each camp told us that at the root of it, the issues were quite silly. The one person they both believed would play the role of a neutral mediator, Rahul Gandhi, had already picked sides and was busy consolidating his position within the Indian National Congress.
“The issue is so childish,” said our source. “If you remember, Sidhu always had issues playing under captains during his career as a cricketer. He had even walked out of a series midway after an argument with the then captain Mohammed Azharuddin. Amarinder Singh used to be a captain in the Indian Army. He preferred to be called Captain as well. This did not sit well with Sidhu who had built an aversion to that word and the person holding the position… Rest is history.”
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/20/sources-reveal-real-reason-behind-sidhu-amarinder-singh-conflict/
Virat Kohli announced his resignation as captain of the Indian T20 cricket team yesterday. This decision did not come as a surprise as rumours of Virat Kohli being replaced by Rohit Sharma in white-ball cricket had been doing the rounds for a couple of days now. While Kohli will continue to lead the Indian cricket team in One Day Internationals, he will relegate himself to the role of a batsman in the T20s. Rohit Sharma, who is one of the most successful captains in the IPL is said to take charge after the end of the T20 World Cup this year.
In his message on social media, Virat Kohli mentioned the workload that he had to manage as the main reason for this decision but our sources tell us that he was most concerned about captaincy affecting his batting. This decision will allow him to dedicate a bit of time away from the pressure of captaincy to work on his batting in the shortest format.
Our sources tell us that this brave decision by Virat has deeply affected Bollywood star kid Arjun Kapoor. Son of producer Boney Kapoor and nephew of actors Anil Kapoor & Sanjay Kapoor, half brother of actress Jhanvi Kapoor and cousin of actress and socialite Sonam Kapoor, Arjun made his debut in Bollywood in 2012.
According to our sources, he has reportedly decided to quit acting once he wraps up his current commitments as he believes that it is draining a lot of his time that he should probably be investing in his real dream – to be a celebrity.
To plunge fully into the dream and to be the best at it, he is receiving tips from the best in the business – cousin Sonam Kapoor. As part of the training, he has been asked to binge-watch all seasons of Keeping Up with the Kardashians as his first lesson.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/17/virat-kohli-inspires-arjun-kapoor-to-quit-acting/
The central government had announced the merger of Lok Sabha Tv and Rajya Sabha TV in March 2021. The new channel Sansad TV was officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla yesterday.
This new channel is expected to have programming in both English and Hindi on the functioning of Parliament and democratic institutions, governance and implementation of schemes/policies, history and culture of India and issues/interests/concerns of contemporary nature. Parliamentary sessions will also be telecast live from both houses.
Veteran IAS Officer Ravi Capoor was appointed the CEO of Sansad TV in February along with IRS Officer Manoj K Arora who was appointed as interim Editor in Chief. They will head a team of over 200 employees whose job will be to keep the channel and its programming up to standard. There is slated to be shows and programs on various topics which will be covered by a variety of anchors.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will host interviews with personalities from all spheres of life in his show “To The Point”. Principal Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Sanjeev Sanyal, also launched his show on economic policies called “Economic Sutra”. Apart from them, it is also said that leaders like Karan Singh (Congress), Bibek Debroy (Economist), Amitabh Kant (NITI Ayog Chairman) and Hemant Batra (Advocate) will also be hosting their own shows on the channel.
The new channel and a more professional way of working were put in place for the central government to incite interest in government functioning. There is also the objective of explaining new bills, laws and policies to the public to counter the menace of fake news and WhatsApp forwards. Our sources told us that there was also the intent to stop the manipulation of policies by the opposition leaders as the public will now have access to experts directly.
The new channel was welcomed by people from all spheres of life until the announcement that the channel will be mainstream and will also be available on OTT was made public. This triggered a series of muted protests from the television fraternity and many actors and production houses expressed reservations on the matter.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/16/tv-actors-protest-launch-of-sansad-tv/
The MET Gala or the Costume Institute Gala was conducted yesterday after a year off due to the COVID19 pandemic. The event was graced by some of the top celebrities from the world of entertainment, fashion, politics and media. The much-awaited event did not disappoint with some stunning outfits from the attendees all night.
The MET Gala is an annual fundraising event for the Metropolitan Art Museum’s Costume Institute and marks the opening of the Institute’s annual art exhibit. Every year there is a theme for the exhibit and the attendees tend to match their outfits with the theme. Established in 1948, the Gala currently requires a rumoured USD 40,000 donation to the Institute to be allowed to attend the event. The event this year is expected to raise more than USD 200 million.
The itinerary for the event includes a cocktail hour and a formal dinner. The guests arrive and grace the red carpet, interact with media and mingle during the cocktail hour. After this, the guest sits down for a formal dinner with the rest of the attendees who have paid to be a part of the event. Before the start of the dinner, there is entertainment in the form of performances and displays that also tend to follow the theme of the year.
This year’s theme for the event was In America: A Lexicon of Fashion. The chairs for the event included Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman and Naomi Osaka. The prestigious honorary chair position was shared between Tom Ford, Adam Mosseri and Anna Wintour. Every year there is the main sponsor for the event who can choose to sponsor individually or as part of an ensemble. This year the sponsor for the event was Instagram. Justin Bieber was the headline performer at the event.
The outfits on display this year were stunning and as provocative as the ones in the previous years. The horse face dress worn by Kim Petras and the Grandma’s Quilt worn by A$AP Rocky were among the highlights. Some of the attendees chose to use this opportunity to express their political opinion while some just used the event as an opportunity to be out in public. Jennifer Lopez proved that she was an ageless icon when she walked down wearing what one can only describe as a power statement while Grimes showcased her better half Elon Musk’s space dreams (and the upcoming movie Dune) with her space/alien inspired outfit.
These costumes triggered a series of tweets and responses in India where the netizens claimed that our very own Ranveer Singh would have truly rocked the MET Gala or even put it to shame.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/15/ranveer-singh-not-fit-for-met-gala-says-top-international-fashion-expert/
The VMAs or MTV Video Music Awards were held in New York at a night filled with surprises both in the wardrobe selection of some of the attendees and also in the final results. It had all the usual drama, fashion, glitz, glamour, music and frenzy that has come to be associated with this yearly event.
The event, which was hosted by rapper Doja Cat, had performances and appearances by some of the biggest names in international music. It was no surprise that Lil Nas X walked away with the most number of awards after his sensational video and song Montero (Call be by your Name). Another big winner was Olivia Rodrigo who not only matched Lil Nas X with 3 awards on the night but also took home the Song of the Year award and Best New Artist for her song Driver’s License.
Justin Bieber had the most number of nominations (9) on the night and took home the coveted Artist of the Year Award. Along with Justin Bieber, another legend who firmly established her mark in the history books was “Queen Bee” Beyonce who collected her 29th award in the history of the awards. Korean Pop or K-Pop sensation BTS also collected 3 awards on the night.
Apart from the awards and the music, another major talking point at these events is the wardrobe or elaborate costumes that the celebrities get decked in for the red carpet. They were often used to spread a message like Cindy Crawford’s black Versace creation that she teamed up with a red ribbon to spread the awareness of AIDS/HIV back in 1992. Most of it was for pure shock value like Lil Kim’s one-shoulder dress with matching nipple pasties in 1999 or Rose McGowen’s sheer dress in 1998.
Other artists have used the red carpet to further their on-screen image like Lady Gaga’s dress made of meat in 2010 or Cher who recreated her iconic look from the ’80s in the same year. Miley Cyrus also turned up the shock value in 2016 with a dress that did not even attempt to do what a dress is supposed to. In 2011 Nikki Minaj appeared on the red carpet in what could not be described as a dress by any stretch of the imagination.
Another well-deserved entrant into the list with another transparent creation this year was Megan Fox. The 35-year-old model/actress and mother of 3, is famous for gracing the covers of almost every major magazine in the world and for her role in the Transformers franchise. She walked the red carpet hand in hand with her boyfriend and rapper Machine Gun Kelly.
The sheer transparent dress left nothing to the imagination and Megan Fox quickly became the toast of the town with the confidence and sheer elegance with which she carried herself in front of the photographers and media. The sparkly thong that she wore along with the dress barely managed to keep the pictures from being too racy to be shared on mainstream media.T
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/14/megan-foxs-dress-at-vma-2021-was-actually-a-statement-against-the-taliban/
Known for making controversial statements regularly on his YouTube channel, Shoaib has never shied away from making his point or even pointing fingers at Pakistani legends like Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad, Misbah Ul Haq or even at current players like Sarfaraz Ahmed and many others. He has also gone on record multiple times claiming that he is ready to take up any role that the Pakistan Cricket Board had to offer. He was particularly interested the in posts of Head Coach, Bowling Coach, Chief Selector, Head of PCB and even Chief Talent Scout.
While appearing for one of the cricket-based talk shows on Pakistani television, the topic for discussion had shifted to the current situation of the Pakistani team which was left without a head and bowling coach after the resignation of Misbah ul Haq and Waqar Younis. During a break in the shoot, Shoaib was heard saying that he can easily coach the team. All they have to do was subscribe to his YouTube channel and listen to the words of wisdom and analysis that he provides.
Our sources tell us that Shoaib Akhtar has devised a process where he will release a video every day which the team will need to watch. On match days, there will be 2 videos, one before the match about the strategy and team selection and one after the match providing analysis.
He also said that as the newly appointed Head of the PCB, Ramiz Raja is also an avid YouTuber, he will provide tips for him as well on YouTube. He claims that he does not need to be paid and this will be his contribution to the future of Pakistan cricket.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/13/shoaib-akhtar-offers-to-coach-pakistani-cricket-team-via-his-youtube-channel/
Devotees across the country and especially in the Indian state of Maharashtra have much reason to celebrate other than then fall in cases of COVID19 and the relaxed restrictions that come with it. The most popular festival in the state, Ganesh Chaturthi, will be celebrated this week and the city of Mumbai is already buzzing with excitement.
Ganesh Chaturthi, or Vinayaka Chaturthi as it’s known in many parts of the country, is a celebration of the god Ganesha, Ganpati or Vinayaka. Lord Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and Parvathi who lost his head during a fit of anger from his father and had to have it replaced with that of an elephant. Lord Ganesha is highly revered in Indian and Hindu culture and is credited to be the “Remover of Obstacles” and is the first recipient of any offerings during puja or worship.
Ganesha also happens to be the most recognisable of all Indian Gods to an international audience with many referring to him as the “Indian Elephant God”.
This 10-day festival which culminates in the “visarjan” or immersion of the idol in water, is very important to the cultures of the people of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa and the southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha. This festival is celebrated to symbolise the arrival of Lord Ganesh and his mother Parvati on earth from their heavenly abode on Mount Kailash.
Across homes and communities, huge “pandals” or enclosures are erected which house the idol and various pujas are performed. Visiting pandals and taking the blessings of the deity during these 10 days is a tradition being followed for decades. On the 10th day, to symbolise the return of God with his mother back to Mount Kailash, the idols are taken to the nearest water body and immersed. The beaches of Mumbai turn into a mass congregation of people and idols and is a sight to behold. After immersion, the clay idols will then dissolve and settle at the bottom signifying the end of the festival.
Ganesh Chaturthi did have a political tone in the 1880s when it was used every year by freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak as a forum to unite the public and for discourse on opposing the British rule in the city of Mumbai. The practice of erecting pandals to display the idols and for the congregation of people probably started there. Celebrations outside Maharashtra tend to not include mega pandals or grand visarjan rallies.
The toxic offence/cancel culture is rapidly spreading across the world with almost everyone finding a reason to get offended at something. One of the organisations at the forefront of this is PETA or People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. With having their finances being monitored and protests not being taken seriously, they are in a spot of bother internationally. This, however, does not put a dampener on the number of causes they lend their voice to.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/10/peta-claims-ganesh-chaturthi-promotes-violence-against-elephants/
The newly appointed government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been taking control of all matters of state policy ever since formally announcing the structure and composition of its administrative mechanism. The new government, which is filled with members of the Taliban and its affiliates, have promised a better future for the Afghan people without compromising on core Islamic beliefs and traditions.
The last time the Taliban headed the government in Afghanistan, the citizens were subjected to harsh punishments that coincided with archaic teachings of the Islamic religion and a biased interpretation of the Quran. This along with the affinity for terrorist activities against other countries of the world including the USA prompted a 20-year-old war that ended in August 2021.
The new administration has promised to ensure the inclusion of women, and other minorities in its functioning but has not lived up to its promise so far. They have also promised to avoid a witch-hunt against people who supported the previous government and also ensured the safety of journalists and artists in the country. Universities and schools have opened but in a manner that has become a mockery around the world when pictures of segregated classrooms for boys and girls were released.
The Taliban government has gone on record to say that they will be freedom for the citizens but this freedom will be within the purview and confines of the strict teachings of the Deobandi faction of the Islamic religion. Deobandi Islam professes strict adherence to the Sharia law which is extremely oppressive towards other religions and to women and children. They believe in going back to the life that was lived during the time of Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century.
The new government has been looking at ways to legitimise the world’s view of the administration and is in an accelerated attempt to bring all major public sector industries under its control. One of the main objectives of the government is to operate and reopen air routes to and from the country. This is to ensure that travel, trade and humanitarian operations can continue unabated.
Afghanistan currently has the domestic operator Kam Air, which resumed services on September 5th and the international flagship airline Ariana Afghan Airlines which started operations in 1955. Ariana, unfortunately, is on the list of banned airlines in the EU and does not fly to countries other than a handful including India, UAE, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. One of the main objectives of the government would be to start operating in more countries.
Our sources within the upper levels of the Taliban tell us that the government is seriously considering placing a bid on the sale of Air India by the Indian government. The sale of India’s flagship carrier to the private sector is the pet project of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and the bids are set to close on September 15th. This is being done to modernise and turn the carrier into a profit-making business.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/09/taliban-considering-bid-for-air-india-before-the-september-15th-deadline/
Formerly one of the richest men in Asia, Jack Ma has been rarely seen in public post his retirement from the company that he built and took to dizzying heights. He not only became an inspiration for a generation but also proved what ambition and relentless pursuit can achieve. He had become an international celebrity and was frequently invited to impart his wisdom to students and professionals around the world.
Born into a poor family in Hangzhou, China in 1964, Ma Yun or Jack Ma always had the entrepreneurial bug within him. His stories of having to face rejection multiple times in his life are now part of the legends associated with one of China’s biggest global companies. Starting as a teacher and then the owner of a translation company, Jack Ma was fascinated by the internet. He launched Alibaba, an online marketplace in 1994 which at its height had overtaken eBay and Amazon as the world’s largest online marketplace.
He overtook Wang Jialing of the Dalian Wanda Group to become the richest man in China in 2016 when Alibaba was clocking in over USD 460 billion in revenue. In addition to the marketplace, the Alibaba Group also owns one of the largest cloud computing businesses and also one of the largest logistics firms in the world. In the space of 2 decades, Jack Ma had become the most recognisable face internationally to emerge from China. His business ventures did not stop here and he also founded some of the most popular online companies in China including Ali Pay, Taobao, Lynx and Ali Mama which were consolidated under the Ant Group.
Things hit a rough patch for Jack Ma in October 2020 when he stepped down as the head of Ali Baba and decided to focus on making Ant Group the largest fintech company in the world by digitising banking. After making a highly controversial speech where he criticised the state-run banks in communist China, he suddenly disappeared from public view.
The proposed IPO for the Ant Group was scrapped by the Chinese government and it has begun selling off parts of the company to its preferred partners. Reports say that Jack Ma’s wealth has been stripped in half since his disappearance almost a year ago. Amidst rumours that he may not be alive, he made a surprise appearance at a charity event early this year and was also spotted playing golf at an island in China. It is believed that he became too big too soon and that too without the support of the communist party or the government who decided to reign in his influence and make an example for future billionaires.
Our source within the communist party in China told us that Jack Ma did not expect that the government would hit back like this. “He believed that he could not be touched as he has done so much in contributing to the Chinese economy by helping local businesses, creating employment and building a positive opinion about Chinese companies internationally. He forgot that in China, no one is bigger than Xi Jinping. That brought about his downfall,” she said.
The systematic shutting down or disinvestment of the Ant group has been shaving off the presence of the company and the personal wealth of Jack Ma at an alarming pace. Even ventures like the innovative Human Business School is now being disbanded.
Our sources tell us that Jack Ma is laying low after conceding his entire empire to the Chinese government. Although he has not made a public appearance in over 6 months, he is safe and sound.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/08/jack-ma-finally-makes-his-real-dream-come-true/
Schools and other educational institutions have been given the green signal to open and operate in many parts of the country. While many parents have expressed concerns about sending their children to school due to the pandemic, many parents have welcomed the idea as social interaction is essential in character building.
Different states have different plans to ease the students into the normal way of life and have set up protocols and safety measures to ensure that the children remain safe during this transition process. School managements have been working closely with government health officials and medical experts to ensure that all students are monitored and even the slightest doubt of infection is swiftly handled.
The one group that feels neglected in the grand scheme of things are the teachers. Our sources tell us that teachers across the country are banding together to collectively put together a list of demands to be presented to the Ministry of Education to ensure that their requirements are also met. This group of teachers call themselves the Teachers and Educators of Distressed India or TEDI are currently performing outreach campaigns within the teaching community for more members.
One member of TEDI spoke to us and told us that the list of demands was not that big. "It is mainly to ensure that the safety of the teachers and their family." Although the list is not finalised, she did allow us a glance at the 5 demands that have been added so far.
Teachers to sit in a separate broadcasting room with CCTV cameras like Bigg Boss while teaching the kids.
Students will not be allowed to wear masks to be identifiable at all times.
Punishments for not completing homework or tasks can include helping the teacher with household tasks.
Smarter students will have to help the teacher's children attend their online classes.
Lab and computer classes will be conducted open-air to negate the effects of AC spreading the disease.
This podcast can also be read at www.thedailyvanilla.com
39-year-old Chartered Accountant, Abdul Shaheen, first felt that something was wrong when he started seeing AC ads on Facebook and Instagram during the monsoons. It was highly illogical for any company to be spending money on ads for an AC when it was not the season for it not would it make any sense to buy one at the height of the monsoons. It was even more strange that he was having a chat with his friends about how it would be smart to buy the AC before the onset of the Chennai summer rather than during it.
This was followed by similar incidents like seeing ads for a new TV when he talked to the local repair guy about fixing the audio output on his current TV, ads for sports equipment when he was talking to his family about subscribing to a family membership at the local gym and even ads for enhancing his penis size after a particularly raunchy lovemaking session.
Now Abdul isn’t the only one who has been facing this. We have had multiple cases worldwide where companies like Facebook, Apple and Google have had to come out in court and provide statements that they were not listening in on people. Despite this, there have been cases where products like Apple’s Siri, Google’s Ok Google and Amazon’s Alexa have been caught recording conversations happening in peoples homes.
The blame cannot be fully placed on the companies or app developers either. They are providing a free service which we use and in return, they take the liberty of running ads to us by using our behaviour on mobile or the internet to accurately predict what kind of ads we might be interested in. This is the main, or in many cases, the only source of income for these companies and we gladly sign off our right to privacy when we agree to the terms and conditions without reading them.
All phones today come with the option of individually providing access to various apps without having to provide blanket access to everyone. The biggest mistake we all do is clicking yes to all the permissions that a newly downloaded app asks for without actually thinking why it needs that. For example, ever wondered why that new football game you downloaded needs access to your phone calls?
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/06/man-learns-sign-language-suspecting-his-mobile-phone-is-listening-to-everything-he-says/
The benefits of the cow have been a huge matter in the public domain for a while now. While many advocates of the preservation of cows and the non-consumption of beef have been coming up with various reasons why cows should not be killed, the opposing section has had very little going in their favour apart from the fact that it tastes good.
In 2019, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat made claims that the cow is the only animal to exhale oxygen and so is a very important part of our ecosystem. This vital link in maintaining the balance of nature needs to be sustained and hence cow slaughter should be banned across the country. He also went on to equate the cow to be like a mother and so needs to be addressed as mata. The Uttarakhand government went ahead and also declared that the cow should be awarded the title of mother of the nation.
This was not a one-off incident of politicians making scientific claims. Trivendra Singh Rawat, in the same speech, had gone ahead and also claimed that cow dung and cow urine (gomuthra) are also capable of curing ailments of the heart and kidney. The mere presence of a cow was also deemed to help cure Tuberculosis and improve general health by the Chief Minister. Trivendra Singh Rawat was not the first to claim that cows exhale oxygen. In 2017, the BJP education minister for Rajasthan had also made similar claims.
Other politicians who have made similar claims include BJP MP from Nainital, Ajay Bhatt, claiming that women can avoid cesarean delivery if they drink water from a particular river. Another BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur had claimed that cow urine helped her cure her cancer and that rubbing a cow in a particular way helped keep her blood pressure under control.
The whole debate of the actual scientific benefits of the cow has been pulled into the limelight once again by the Allahabad High Court.
Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court, yesterday, in a 12 page ruling against the bail application of a person accused of cow slaughter repeated the claim that cows exhale oxygen. The judge who had previously ruled that the cow should be the national animal of India also remarked that the use of ghee in yagnas were used to give special powers to the sun rays during a pooja, which ultimately causes rain.
He also put forward the medical benefits of panchgavya (a five-part mixture of cow urine, dung, ghee, milk and curd) for the cure of most incurable diseases. In his judgement, he also quoted Jesus Christ as saying that killing a cow is equivalent to killing a human being. He ended the judgement by saying that the Right to Life precedes the Right to Kill and the right to eat beef cannot be considered a fundamental right.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/03/cow-tears-can-trigger-nuclear-reaction-better-than-plutonium-claims-bovine-expert/
The promised date of the much-hyped Indian National Congress internal elections have come and gone. The initial date promised was then shifted to June 2021 which was once again postponed due to the severity of COVID 19 across the country. Rumours have been rife about another tentative date being announced in September which will once again be postponed till early 2022.
There have been murmurs of this being a deliberate ploy of the Congress Working Committee or the CWC to keep the elections at bay and appease the detractors until Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi agrees to lead the party once again.
Our sources tell us that this will not be an easy task as the game plan includes portraying that Rahul Gandhi is reluctant to take up the post. He will also be denying the offer multiple times until eventually bowing down to the wishes of the party workers and taking up the huge burden on his shoulders. The whole scenario has been carefully crafted and a full-fledged marketing plan is underplaying.
As part of the whole plan to position Rahul Gandhi as the only saviour of the country, a huge campaign is set to be put in motion in September which is the 7th anniversary of the launch of the Make in India program. Our sources tell us that the main focus would be to project Rahul Gandhi as the only successful Make in India product and that too executed by the Congress and not the BJP.
“Name one other instance of a successful completion of a project under the Make in India program launched by Narendra Modi?” our source questioned. “The first and only time an international supplier produced in India for the good of India was when Italian Soniaji married Rajivji and gave India our only hope and saviour – Rahul baba. It is just that we did not give it fancy names.”
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/02/congress-party-claims-that-rahul-gandhi-is-the-only-successful-make-in-india-product/
The government has launched a new look and feel to the popular tourist spot of the location of one of the gruesome remnants of British colonial rule, the Jallianwala Bagh. The renovated location has garnered mixed reactions from different sections of society. While some believe that this will generate more interest in our history, some like Indian National Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi claims that it is an insult to martyrs and their families.
The memorial site is a reminder of the atrocities committed upon the Indian population by the British. The site was the location where British Army Colonel Reginald Dyer opened fire upon peaceful protesters in Amritsar on the 13th of April 1919.
In April 1919, the areas of Lahore and Amritsar had been placed under martial law, to counter the numerous protests against the Rowlatt Act, which allowed the army to arrest, detain and jail people without a warrant or a trial. The order had not arrived yet in Amritsar where the people were out on the street to celebrate the Punjabi festival of Baisakhi. Most of them were making their way to the Golden Temple which was a huge part of their traditions.
By evening, many of the attendees had moved onto what we now know as Jallianwala Bagh where a meeting was being held to protest the arrest of Dr Satyapal and Dr Saifudeen Kitchlew. This garden or park had a narrow entrance/exit and was flanked by tall buildings on every side making it a semi-enclosed structure. Colonel Dyer on hearing of this gathering of people reached the location with his contingent of armed soldiers and blocked out the main entrance. He then gave the orders to start firing at the people, which the soldiers obliged by emptying all of the 1650 rounds of ammunition that they carried with them.
The British pegged the deaths at 300 while historians say that the actual numbers are more than 1000. The dead included men, women and children between the ages of 9 and 80. The whole international community was horrified by the event and even the pro-colonist rule British Prime Minister Winston Churchill remarked that this event was a “monstrosity”. Colonel Reginald Dyer was removed from his position in India and given a plush office job in England after a committee absolved him of all charges.
The committee that looks after the upkeep of the memorial was awarded 20 crore Indian rupees in 2019 to renovate the structure on the 100th anniversary of the gruesome day. The new structure has added facilities for visitors like drinking water and toilets. Apart from this, the entry into the garden has been repositioned and decorated with figures symbolising the people who were martyred. The main shrine has now been enclosed within a lotus pond and the Martyr’s Well, where people jumped to escape the bullets has now been enclosed in a glass frame. There has also been an addition of a 20 minute light and sound show telling the story of the massacre and a mini-museum showcasing the life of the people of the area.
Our sources within the Ministry of Culture tells us that the government is quite pleased with the way the project has unfolded despite strong protests from various quarters of the country who believed that these new renovations are demeaning the sanctity of the place and its sad history.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/01/after-jallianwala-bagh-renovation-kalapani-jail-to-be-converted-into-theme-park/
Karan Johar is one of the most instantly recognisable faces on Indian television. He has hosted his talk show Koffee with Karan and also appeared on numerous shows as a judge; apart from directing some of the biggest hits that Bollywood has ever seen. His latest venture was to make his debut on the OTT platform as the host of the popular show Bigg Boss on the channel Voot.
Bigg Boss was originally introduced to the Indian viewers as a television show in 2006 but gained immense popularity once the host of the show was changed to Salman Khan in 2010. Salman Khan hosts the show on the Colours channel and the OTT version is billed to be a prequel to it. The producers of the show were very clear in letting the public know that Salman Khan was not being replaced in any manner.
The OTT version of the show is supposed to have a lot more for the viewers in terms of 24/7 live broadcast, the ability to actively participate in the proceeding via votes or nominations and a few more powers that are yet to be introduced to the show. The “family-friendly” nature of the content that the TV channel tried to provide is no longer relevant as anything goes on the OTT platforms.
This has led to a mindset, language and actions on the show which host Salman Khan would have disapproved but host Karan Johar revels in. Like the promo of the show… Over the Top (Karan Johar) meets Over the Top (OTT).
This year’s contestants include Raqesh Bapat, Zeeshan Khan, Millind Gaba, Nishant Bhat, Karan Nath, Pratik Sehajpal, Shamita Shetty, Urfi Javed, Neha Bhasin, Muskan Jattana, Akshara Singh, Divya Agarwal and Ridhima Pandit. Many of them are serial reality show participants with them having participated in shows like MTV Splitsvilla, Ace of Spades etc while some others are known faces on Indian television.
Karan Johan appears during the weekend shows and does what Salman Khan was famous for in the television version of the show which is to act as an observer and question the motives and actions of the participants. Karan Johar has received a lot of flak for being biased from current and former participants of the show. His mannerisms and tone seemed far too bitchy rather than judgemental to the audiences in general.
The whole show depends on the impact that the host has during the “weekend ka vaar” episodes which usually sets the tone for the next week and also breaks and forges new partnerships. It is also during the weekend that contestants are eliminated, nominated or ejected based on their performance so far.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/31/karan-johar-might-not-return-to-host-bigg-boss-ott-season-2/
The Indian team has had a very mixed tour of England so far. The first test was washed out, the second test was another triumphant win for the all-conquering Indian team but the 3rd test brought the team down to reality when they were soundly beaten by the English.
The form of James Anderson, Ollie Richardson and the magnificent Joe Root has been consistent throughout the series while their counterparts on the Indian side had to use the help of the not-so-big names to make an impact. The form of stalwarts Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli has been a point of concern as well for the visitors.
One of the things that have been talked about quite a bit has been team selection. Star Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been dropped for all the matches so far and India has played the lone spinner in Ravindra Jadeja mainly due to his batting capabilities. With the bowling attack barring Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami failing to make an impact, there has been mounting pressure on the team management to bring him back into the mix. This could be at the account of Ishant Sharma is what we hear.
Our sources within the Indian camp have told us that after the ECB, ICC and even the BCCI rejected Ravi Shastri’s appeal to select the English prankster Jarvo who turned up to bat and field in the Indian uniform, he seemed to be at a complete loss of ideas. Ravi Shastri was seen relentlessly googling during the team practice sessions for excuses to not select Ashwin in the playing XI.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/30/ravi-shastri-spotted-using-google-during-indian-team-practice-sessions/
The last couple of years have been tough on all of us and many industries are having to shut down or reinvent the way that they work. This is true for the most intimate of industries as well. The adult movie industry has gone through some major upheavals in the past and has ushered in a new era of safe and quality content.
We had reported earlier how the whole industry had decided to change after the whole Raj Kundra incident in India. Now there is a bigger risk that is looming over the industry that had benefitted the most from the free time and social isolation that was expected from the consumers.
Studies reveal that the world population, in general, is entering into a state known as “porn fatigue”. This is a state characterised by the lack of enthusiasm from the viewer towards the various videos available on the many porn sites out there. They spend more time browsing through the available content than actually watching it.
An employee at XHamster.com, a very popular adult website, told us that the traffic has been steady after the exponential increase since February 2020 but the user behaviour has changed drastically.
“Our algorithms are the best in the world. The cookie policy that everyone allows when they visit the site helps us understand what a particular visitor likes and then share the relevant content to them even if they do not log in or create an account.”
“Earlier a person tended to stick to a particular genre that they liked and usually mixed and matched with something different once a week. For example, if a person liked videos under the “foot fetish” category, they might watch “massage” videos occasionally. We used to capture this pattern and deliver content accordingly.”
“Now, things are different. The visitors to our website are aimlessly browsing the website like they are trying to select a movie on Netflix. They only watch the autoplay that happens when you hover over the thumbnail and then move on. The main reason is that they have watched every single video we have during the lockdown and quarantine. Now they just hope to stumble on something new by accident. Our algorithm can no longer predict their behaviour.”
Other adult websites also reported similar findings from across the world.
An interesting development was that the traffic and time spent on the websites has suddenly catapulted on live adult webcam sites. These sites provide users with the availability to watch the live webcam of models from around the world who will do what you require on cam at a price. The parallel economy that works on these websites ensures that both the websites and the models make money ensuring that the “performance” on cam is always top-notch.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/27/cam-models-in-demand-as-world-population-exhausts-online-porn-supply/
The crisis in Afghanistan is getting worse with thousands of people trying to access the limited options available to leave the country with their families. Many have chosen to risk everything and stay back in their home country in the hope that things will not be as bad as it’s being predicted.
The Taliban has assured its citizens that there will be no witch hunt for protestors, dissenters or any people who have acted against the Taliban in the past. Those who wish to stay back will need to adhere to the law of the land which will be based on the Islamic Sharia law. People staying back is what would be the best for Afghanistan as they look to rebuild the country from the ground up and skilled manpower like doctors and engineers will be crucial.
The US troops are said to be sticking to their deadline of August 31st to pull out of the country. This decision has lead to the fall of the government, desertion of the army and the takeover by the Taliban who were kept at bay for almost 20 years. US President Joe Biden has made it very clear that there will be no extension in this date as the war in Afghanistan has been going on for far too long.
One of the highlights of this takeover was that there was very little bloodshed, mass murders, rapes or rioting when compared to other parts of the world. There is the argument that these incidents are going unreported due to the limited number of independent journalists left in the country to report on these issues.
Some experts believe that this was achieved through a very meticulous monitoring and location-based mapping down by the Taliban in every city in Afghanistan. This ensured that the supporters of the regime were duly spared the ordeal while the non-supporters were publicly allowed to escape the country or conform to its new rules.
Our sources within the top rungs of the Taliban tell us that they had developed a whole new way of taking the count of the population or the census. This was important for the think tanks in the organisation to formulate policies that would essentially harass the non-believers while keeping everyone else safe. This census is so intricate that it not only breaks down the population by geography but also by the various subsects of the Islamic faith. Another key demographic that this census provided was the preferred country that the Afghani citizen would prefer to escape to.
The way this whole exercise was conducted remains a secret and a large chunk of the Afghan population has only this to thank for their safe passage into a country of their choice. This also helped in identifying government sympathisers, professionals and protestors who were detained by the Taliban. They were permitted to continue in the country provided that they agreed to comply with the teachings of the Quran and strict compliance to the Sharia law. Actors, artists and musicians were asked to change their profession or leave the country.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/26/taliban-to-assist-india-with-data-collection-and-analysis-of-population/
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan stated in an interview yesterday that he is not waiting for anyone’s call. This was about the Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mohammed Qureshi’s statement earlier this week in which he claimed that Imran Khan is still waiting for a call from US President Joe Biden.
While this whole situation has blown up into a massive meme/troll fest on Twitter and Facebook, the situation in Afghanistan is looking bleaker. The Taliban has been growing in strength every day and it needs real intent from neighbours like India and Pakistan to help diffuse the volatile solution.
While the US Army is sticking to its plans to pull out, the direct snub by the Biden administration has surely hurt the Pakistani Prime Minister. His reference to the USA having chosen India as their strategic partner in the region is a clear indicator.
Our sources within the Pakistani government tell us that what added more fuel to the fire was a prank call made by former US President Donald Trump. He has reportedly called up Imran Khan yesterday and claimed that it was the official call from the US President as he was the one who won the election. He also told Imran Khan that as the REAL President of the USA, he wants to build an open relationship with Pakistan as long they will break up with China. He ended the call by inviting Imran Khan to the USA for a friendly visit.
Pakistan government has refrained from lodging an official protest at this call after Jared Kushner called to apologise and inform them it was not a prank call. Donald Trump still thinks he is the US President and is under medication and close medical supervision.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/13/donald-trump-prank-calls-pakistan-pm-imran-khan-claiming-to-be-real-us-president/
One of the biggest news in the world of business was that Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was overtaken by Bernard Arnault of LVMH as the world’s richest man. As of today, Bernard Arnault sits at a comfortable 8 billion USD lead over Jeff Bezos as Amazon share prices have taken a further hit.
72-year-old Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault is a French businessman and art collector who owns the largest luxury brand in the world – Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, founded in 1987. This holding company in turn owns some of the most iconic brands of modern times in various verticals like
Wines & Spirits – Belvedere Vodka, Cloudy Bay Wines, Moet & Chandon Champagne, Dom Perignon, Champagne, Krug Champagne, Veuve Clicquot Champagne and Hennessy Cognac.
Fashion – Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and Stella McCartney
Watches & Jewellery – Bulgari, Fred, Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Tiffany & Co.
LVMH is one of the largest companies in the world in terms of market cap, with reported sales of over USD 20 billion last year. this phenomenal growth was fuelled by smart acquisitions and focussing solely on the luxury brand segment. Bernard Arnault is also a patron of the arts in France and has the reputation of being a successful art collector.
By becoming the richest man in the world, he has overtaken Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Page. He along with Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, who is also French and owns L’Oréal, are the only non-Americans in the top 10 richest people on the list. He is also the only non-American to have a net worth of over USD 100 billion.
This growth to the top has not been free of controversy and that included allegations of him applying for Belgian citizenship to avoid French taxes. The latest turmoil being faced by the corporate giant, however, is one from his customers.
Our sources tell us that a group of over 45 American men who call themselves Jilted Boyfriends Association of America (JBAA) have filed a petition to have LVMH and Bernard Arnault openly acknowledge their contribution to the growth of their revenue. The spokesperson of JBAA, who wished to remain anonymous, told us that without them, Bernard would have never got the title of the richest man in the world and they need to be given the credit that is due.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/12/jilted-boyfriends-take-credit-for-bernard-arnaults-rise-to-the-title-of-richest-man/
The COVID19 enforced lockdowns, social distancing, and other “new normal” practices have ensured that a majority of the Indian workforce has been working from home for the better part of a year now. In many companies, the employees have been working from home since April 2020 and the current situation does not show any signs of that changing any time soon.
Many companies have started slowly opening up with staff coming to the office on a rotational basis and some have even made it a voluntary option where staff can come in of their own accord a few times a week. On the other end of the spectrum, we have companies who have wholeheartedly adopted the work-from-home culture and have informed their staff that that will be the norm going forward.
This scenario is similar to what the employees have to say as well. There are 2 distinct factions in all companies. One side feels that they need to come to the office to ensure that they get their dose of social interaction and also increase their productivity. The other side believes that working from home has helped them focus better without being stressed by external and environmental factors like traffic, public transportation, and unnecessary workplace gossip.
Personal preferences aside, HR departments of all major companies are busy working on plans for both scenarios. Many activities like training, team building, and corporate certifications have taken a back seat and it is very important to reintroduce it back to the standard workplace. This is regardless of whether it is offline or online.
We had reported earlier that major tech companies like Wipro, TCS, HCL, and Infosys were lining up perks to entice their employees to come back to work. We also have reports that major consulting firms like Accenture and Deloitte are also looking at providing their staff with additional benefits during these uncertain times.
India is home to all the major consulting firms and boasts of employing the creme de la creme of the management pass-outs every year. They throng the placement windows of top institutes like IIM, IIT ISB, etc to ensure that they get their pick of talent before the others.
Our sources at Accenture and Deloitte who together employ over 10,000 people in India told us that they have identified a very disturbing trend. The employees at the two firms have gotten progressively unhealthy since Q2 of 2020. Currently, more than 75% of the staff have either developed physical issues or have gained weight in this period. This trend was first identified by the HR departments of the two companies while doing random catchups with the employees.
“The staff have been confined to their office desks since the start of the Work from Home policy implementation. Although this was the case even before the lockdown where employees used to sit at their desks all day, they at least had some kind of physical activity when they had to come to the office. This included going to the cafeteria for meals, walking for coffee and smoke breaks, and the occasional meeting that they had to go to. All of this is nonexistent now as they work from home and in many cases, even meals are had in front of the laptop.”
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/11/accenture-and-deloitte-looking-to-hire-pt-teachers-for-their-offices-in-india/
It was just another day for Srinivas Mahadevan, a Chennai-based interior designer but little did he know that one wrong click of a button and his life would get so convoluted that even murder would not be out of the question.
As he was surfing YouTube to look for inspiration for the latest project he was working on, he came across an ad for a brand of coffee. The ad seemed interesting enough as he was a coffee lover and if he did not have to make them himself, his whole day would be peppered with shots of coffee until it was time for bed. The simplicity by which he could brew his coffee like how they make tea with a teabag was quite intriguing.
The brand in question was Sleepy Owl Coffee, a relatively new entrant into the beverage market founded by Armaan Sood, Ajai Thandi, and Ashwajeet Singh. This new model of selling cold-pressed coffee was something Ajai Thandi picked up while studying in the USA and the trio decided to replicate the model in India which had a huge base of coffee drinkers but only tea-based products.
Sleepy Owl Coffee was launched in 2016 and did close to INR 30 lakh in its first year. They have been in a growth space ever since moving from a 2 BHK flat in Dwarka Delhi to a swanky new office in Shahpur Jat. The team has also expanded from the initial 3 founders to over 70 employees. Their sales too have skyrocketed with revenues touching close to the INR 10 crore mark.
They also received funding from DSG Consumer Partners for around INR 3.5 crore and have more than 1000 touchpoints across the whole of Northern India. The product line has also expanded from selling black coffee powder that can be brewed at home to now selling ready-to-drink coffee in pre-packaged bottles.
With this growth in revenue and funding, it was inevitable for the next thing to happen. The marketing department finally gets its hands on the budgets that it was starved of for the initial years. This leads to an indulgence in digital ads and all the latest methods of marketing that can be possibly done.
Our source at Sleepy Owl told us under the promise of secrecy that the marketing department was first shocked that they were finally given a proper budget to use. Once they recovered from the shock it was madness. The whole atmosphere within the department was similar to what an obese man would feel once he comes off the keto diet after 6 months. They wanted anything and everything.
Ads were purchased, keywords were bid on, videos were shot and every possible platform was targeted to run the ads. This led to an avalanche of Sleepy Owl ads everywhere. With modern digital marketing techniques like remarketing and lookalike audiences, it became impossible for someone to ignore the ads, especially if you visited the website even once to understand what all the fuss was about.
This was what finally broke the camel’s back.
After seeing these ads multiple times on YouTube, Srinivas clicked on the ad instead of skipping it and ended up on the website. The pixel and cookies got triggered sending him down face-first into the rabbit hole called the “sales funnel”. There was no looking back.
Every time Srinivas logged onto Facebook, all he could see were more ads for Sleepy Owl. He couldn’t watch more than 2 YouTube videos without being forced through more ads. Sometimes for cold coffee and sometimes for hot. There seemed to be no escape.
“Finally I lost it,” Srinivas told us.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/10/man-threatens-to-kill-owls-if-he-sees-another-sleepy-owl-coffee-ad/
Pakistan failed to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics stretching its medal drought which began in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics but had a glimmer of hope this time around. 24-year-old Arshad Nadeem had become the first-ever track and field athlete from Pakistan to qualify directly for the Olympics and also the first Pakistani to qualify for the final round at a track and field event.
The javelin thrower ended up 5th in the standings despite, throwing an impressive 84.62 m, while all the thunder and glory was taken away by 23-year-old Neeraj Chopra from India who won the gold. Neeraj Chopra is a soldier in the Indian Army and is set to be felicitated by multiple organizations upon return to India.
Arshad’s heroics did not go unnoticed in Pakistan with the whole nation backing him up during the event. A fake viral tweet of him congratulating Neeraj Chopra also brought him some of the limelight. All this grabbed the attention of the Pakistani Army as well who is known to be the most powerful administrative body in the country.
Our sources tell us that the Pakistani Army has decided to appoint Arshad Nadeem as a Captain in the Army. This move is said to ensure that Arshad gets all the training and diet required to ensure victory in the next Olympics. Captain Arshad’s first posting will be along the LOC where he will use his skills to launch projectile drones and explosives across the border and also provide enough distractions for insurgents to cross over.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/09/javelinist-arshad-nadeem-recruited-by-pak-army-to-oversee-loc/
Prashant Kishor has been looking at a national-level role in Indian politics and has been in multiple discussions with opposition leaders for a while now. The former JDU member started his career in Indian politics as a political strategist helping the BJP win its first elections under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
Ever since his services have been up for sale to the highest bidder in multiple state elections and have the backing of a full-fledged team who works to ensure the victory of their clients. He has an almost perfect record with victories in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, and other northern states as well. One huge miscalculation was when he went up against Yogi Adityanath in the UP elections where he lost badly.
Our sources within the UPA tell us that the first piece of free advice that Prashant Kishor has given the opposition leaders is to think of the Lok Sabha as Bigg Boss house and the speaker as Salman Khan. The invisible Bigg Boss is watching them at all times and they need to get as much TV footage as possible. Every action they do in the house has to be only for TRP. This will ensure that all the news channels will focus on these MLA’s from various parties and not on any actual laws or bills. This is important when the opposition bends facts about the bills being presented in parliament.
Our sources also tell us that the best performers during the monsoon session of parliament will be sent to Barry John Acting Studio in Mumbai for a course in acting which will be part of the second phase of the plan.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/06/prashant-kishor-advices-opposition-to-think-of-parliament-as-bigg-boss-house/
Indian baby care brand First Cry seems to have gotten itself into a bit of a bother as reports are coming in that they are being forced to apologise for a case of fat-shaming at one of their stores in Bengaluru.
This comes on the heels of the incident where a social media influencer Tanya Narendra, who goes by the name of Dr Cuterus, called out the sickening behaviour from some of the staff members at the Tarun Tahiliani store in Delhi. She claims that she was subjected to ridiculous questions like why she was not on a diet or statements like her belly was showing in her lehenga. Disgusted with the whole experience, she then went to another designer who happily had the wedding dress done and fitted perfectly within the 3 weeks deadline.
Dr Cuterus has then posted a photo of her radiant self during her wedding celebrations on Instagram with the comment stating the ordeal she had to go through with one of India’s most sought after brands in the wedding fashion space. A Tarun Tahiliani wedding lehenga can cost anywhere between INR 5,00,000 to INR 10,00,000 and along with Manish Malhotra’s designs, it’s what millennial girls have dreamed of wearing on their wedding day.
Tarun Tahiliani, whose father was the Chief of Staff of the Navy, attended FIT in New York before breaking out on his own as a fashion designer. Before that, he and his wife Sal Tahiliani opened the first multi-designer boutique in India, called Ensemble, which featured designs by 5 designers in 1987. This was followed by the Tarun Tahiliani Studio in 1990.
He gained international fame when Jemima Khan, former wife of current Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, wore one of his creations for her wedding.
Tarun Tahiliani issued a public statement after the accusations were levelled stating that due to the pandemic, there was a shortage of sizes for various designs at the store and it was not possible to meet the requirements of the customer in the 3-week timeframe that was required. He also clarified that the brand and its employees would never fat shame a person as they prided themselves on helping women be at their beautiful best on their special day.
“If our communication of stock availability, timelines needed for production and customisation had made the clients feel even the slightest not welcome and acknowledged, then we are truly sorry because that is not and will never be the intent,” read a part of the statement.
Our sources tell us that right on the heels of this unfortunate incident, another similar story has cropped up. This time involving the popular baby care brand First Cry, founded by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha. The brand focuses mainly on the 0-5 year segment and has a very strong e-commerce platform to complement over 350 brick and mortar stores it has across the country. Founded in 2010, it is one of India’s top startups and is currently in its E stage of funding. It acquired another baby care brand BabyOye in 2019.
Our source told us that a woman started accusing the staff of the Bangalore JP Nagar store of fat-shaming her child yesterday afternoon when they went to the store to purchase a new set of clothes.
Read the full episode at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/05/after-tarun-tahiliani-baby-care-brand-first-cry-forced-to-apologise/
Google announced its much-hyped flagship phone the Google Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro yesterday amidst great fanfare. Android fans have been waiting for Google’s answer to the iPhone which keeps introducing new phones into the market with regularity.
The wait was worth it with Google’s new phones having a strikingly bold design and a host of new features that are bound to titillate the core Android fanbase that the Pixel phones enjoy.
The most prominent feature is that of the camera bar at the back. This design feature breaks the mould of the flat front and back designs that all phones have been sporting. One of the reasons that Google gave for this protrusion is that it was simply impossible to accommodate all the features of the camera into the standard design. Android geeks are excited as if there was too much to pack in, it must be way better than the iPhone.
Another fun feature was the ability to set the colour tone of your phone’s display. This means that every Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro phone will look different from each other once the phones are switched on. This also plays nicely into the individualistic characteristic that android users enjoy when compared to the homogeneous iPhone users.
For the first time, Google has also announced that they will be using their own processor called Tensor chipset following the footsteps of Apple, Huawei and other major brands. What the capability of this processor is and how it will stack up against the other in the market is yet to be seen. Additionally, there is an extra security chip that will also be part of the new phones.
India, unfortunately, has missed out on the flagship phone launches for a while now. Even Googles previous phones like Pixel 4 and Pixel 5 were not launched along with the rest of the world in India. India on the other hand got the cheaper, budget version which was the A series like Google Pixel 5A.
Our sources at the Google HQ in Hyderabad told us that it is very highly unlikely that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6Pro will get an early launch in India. The cheaper version might also not reach the market to coincide with the global launch.
“The Indian market is huge and we understand that. However, there are too many players in the market, especially Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Redmi, One Plus, Huawei etc who compete for the mass market. To be honest there is no fight at the top. The top end of the market is dominated by Apple and Samsung.”
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/04/google-assures-that-pixel-6-and-pixel-6-pro-will-not-cost-buyers-a-kidney/
Unable to bear the constant trolling by the rest of the world over the poor performance of the American shooters at the Olympics, the NRA (National Rifle Association) has demanded a probe into why substandard participants were sent to Tokyo in the first place.
We had initially reported that the NRA was unhappy with the poster of the Vijay starrer Tamil movie Beast which they believed portrayed American gun owners in a bad light. The NRA has now taken it upon themselves to be the unofficial representatives of gun owners and aficionados worldwide.
In a surprising turn of events, the American shooters displayed a below-par performance at Tokyo 2020/21 Olympics. They are 2nd in the medal tally with China amassing almost twice the number of medals and even the ROC or neutral athletes have a higher count of overall medals.
The USA managed to get 3 Golds, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze so far. They did not even feature in the top 3 in events like 10m and 25m air pistols. The events where they did end up with medals include Men's Skeet (Gold), Men's 10m air rifle (Gold), Women's Skeet (Gold), Women's Trap (Silver), Team 10m Air Rifle (Silver) and Team Trap (Bronze).
The not so surprising rise of China in the field of sports was compounded with them putting up a stellar performance in events like shooting and archery which are not technically domains that they are known for. Other countries too have grabbed their first medals in the discipline while some like India (who sent a large contingent for the shooting events) came back empty-handed.
Shooting is considered to be among the more expensive sports to take up. The cost of equipment, transportation costs, training facilities required etc make it a popular sport only among those who can afford it or who find the necessary sponsorships. Some countries also have extremely strict gun laws which make it even more difficult for someone to take it up casually as a hobby.
The USA on the other hand has one of the most relaxed gun laws in the world. It is often stated that in some states, a 12-year-old could walk into a shop and come out with a gun in his pocket. No verification or background check is needed. Any document to prove his or her identity is more than enough for them to get their hands on any gun of their choice.
It is this laxity in gun laws that became the crux of all the jokes and memes on the internet after the poor performance. With such a large population with access to guns, the team should have a better pool of participants resulting in better results.
Our sources within the NRA told us that the top level of the organisation was extremely agitated and was sure that this is a ploy by the Democrats to discredit the NRA and gun users as pure hobbyists who should not be allowed to have weapons.
"This is a conspiracy," our source told us. "It is not possible that our athletes are so bad. Just look at the events and see the pattern. It is evident that there has been a deep-rooted conspiracy led by the soft Biden government to use this as an opportunity to put stricter rules and regulations on us."
Read full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/03/nra-demands-probe-after-dismal-performance-of-american-olympic-shooters/
India has now won 2 individual medals at the Olympics, and both of them have been won by women. On one hand, Mirabai Chanu was relatively unknown to the Indian population, while PV Sindhu has been the poster child of Indian badminton along with Saina Nehwal for quite a few years now.
Mirabai, who hails from the North-Eastern state of Manipur, won the silver medal in the 49 kg weightlifting category. She became the 2nd Indian woman to win a medal in weightlifting after Karnam Malleshwari’s bronze medal almost 2 decades ago in the Sydney Olympics.
PV Sindhu from the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana), has been in the limelight ever since she won the silver medal at the last Olympics. She also had an ongoing professional rivalry with Carolina Marin which garnered a fair bit of attention. By winning the bronze this year she has now become the first Indian to win consecutive medals at the Olympics.
Our sources say that all major production houses in Bollywood including Dharma Productions, Yash Raj Films, Balaji Telefilms, UTV, Eros and Anurag Kashyap films are scrambling to get the rights to make the biopics of these athletes. Our sources also tell us that Dharma Productions is close to signing the deal with both and that Ananya Pandey is the first choice to play Mirabai Chanu. They are still on the lookout for a dusky actress to play PV Sindhu as Radhika Apte declined the offer.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/02/bollywood-scrambling-for-biopic-rights-of-pv-sindhu-and-mirabai-chanu/
A meeting of the top pornographic film producers from around the world in Las Vegas, Nevada triggered a series of discussions that included how to tackle the subject of child pornography and revenge porn. These were serious issues plaguing the industry and all the participants unanimously agreed that as responsible members of a bonafide industry, they need to be at the forefront of fighting such illegal content.
Both the makers of the content and distributors believed that if they can display an earnest attempt at weeding out or tackling the menace of child porn, the governments of various countries would be more receptive to them being allowed in the country.
Various countries around the world have declared pornography illegal. Creating, distributing and even watching porn is illegal in a few countries. Over 40 countries around the world including India, UAE, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have declared pornography illegal. Consumption of the content on pornographic websites via the use of VPN is quite prevalent in these societies and the government decision has not put a damper on the lives of those who seek these thrills.
The ambition to become a self-regulating industry that is accepted around the world is the overall mission for the meeting and the association. The USA and Japan are the largest producers of pornographic films and they both have strict rules in place for both production and distribution of this content. In Japan, for instance, the videos are called Japanese Adult Videos or JAV and they hide the sexual organs by pixelation. They however circumvent the need to show the actual act of penetration by producing anime or hentai.
In the USA, the actors sign off consent forms and are heavily regulated with strict action being taken if there are signs that a particular actor is underage. This leads us to the ultimate oxymoron in the world of American porn. Although pornography is legal, prostitution is not. So many people get away with prostitution by simply having a video camera in the room. Even if they are caught by the police, they can get away with claiming that they were shooting porn.
Both these loopholes were exploited and put in practice after a similar meeting years ago.
One of the biggest markets for pornographic content is India, mainly due to its huge population, relatively relaxed cyber laws and the penetration of the English language. China is not a potential market for most content creators as it is on the other end of the spectrum on these parameters.
Our sources at the event told us that the discussion on India was an important segment of the meeting. All the parties involved agreed that India was a potential cash cow and there needed to be some way to enter and operate in the market. The introduction of apps like Kooku, Ullu and others who have pornographic content has completely flummoxed the members. They were trying to figure out how this was possible when all the major pornographic sites were banned in the country.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/30/raj-kundra-inspires-adult-sites-to-comply-with-indian-laws/
The Indian team currently on tour in Sri Lanka have been going through a series of ups and downs throughout the series. First, they were accused of being a second-string team by former World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga but were elated when they won the ODI series.
Now with the T20 series tied at 1 – 1, the Indian team is in a desperate situation. It is not about having to win the tiebreaker to claim the series anymore, it is about being able to field a full team for the final match. With Krunal Pandya testing positive for COVID19, he along with 8 other members of the squad have been placed in isolation.
Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shikhar Dhawan are the players who have been isolated. This also means that Suryakumar Yadav and Prithvi Shah will not be able to travel to England to join the team for the England series as well. In the 2nd T20, the Indian team went into the match with 6 bowlers as they did not have any batsmen left in the squad.
Our sources tell us that Stuart Binny is getting ready to make a comeback to the Indian team as a full-fledged all-rounder for the last match. Stuart Binny last played for India in 2015 and was not picked in the IPL draw this year. However, he still holds the record for the best bowling performance by an Indian.
Our sources also tell us that Stuart Binny has been in isolation since the start of the IPL hoping that he will be called up when the BCCI runs out of players due to COVID19 protocol. His father Roger Binny has already started making the required calls to make this official.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/29/stuart-binny-hopeful-of-making-comeback-to-indian-t20-squad-in-sri-lanka/
Dubai is undoubtedly one of the true examples of how human capabilities when combined with wholehearted support from the government can result in remarkable results. The city, which boasts of the most diverse and multicultural experiences in the world, has been the beacon of progressive light in an otherwise conservative region.
Dubai is the 2nd largest city or emirate of the United Arab Emirates and is currently ruled by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum who is widely considered to be the inspiration behind the rapid change that the city has experienced over the past 25 years. He inherited the throne from his elder brother Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum who in turn inherited it from the founding father of Dubai and the UAE, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al Maktoum.
Dubai is also home to some of the most amazing wonders of the modern world. This includes the tallest building, Burj Khalifa and the only 7-star hotel in the world, the Burj al Arab. Tourists from around the world flock in the millions every year to see these wonders and Dubai has also popularised the concept of “staycations” where the residents of the city decide to stay back and indulge themselves in some pampering and sightseeing of their own during holidays.
Dubai also boasts of some of the most amazing feats of human ingenuity. From creating a man-made replica of the world in the sea to the longest driverless metro system, Dubai proudly holds over 30 records in the Guinness Book of World Records. For tourists visiting this city, it takes them to a place of fantasy while residents always have new things to explore all year round.
Even the latest attraction in the city, the deepest swimming pool called Deep Dive Dubai is mind-blowing. The pool is 196 ft deep and is themed around a sunken city. The pool holds 14 million litres of water and even had Hollywood star Will Smith fly down to check out the place. While most of these attractions are not a cheap affair, it is not too pricey considering the once in a lifetime experience that they all deliver.
Dubai relies mostly on tourism for its income unlike the capital city of Abu Dhabi which has over 95% of the oil and natural gas reserves in the country. This non-reliance on oil has allowed Dubai to flourish into a major tourism and financial hub of the region. With the delayed World Expo to start in a couple of months, Dubai is gearing up to shake off the slump due to the COVID19 pandemic.
However, this magnificent city has hit a roadblock.
Our sources within the Dubai halls of power tell us that they are running out of ideas.
Over the past many years the true essence of the growth of the city has been its ability to come up with new ideas that could capture the imagination of the world. The moment they announced the twisted tower in Dubai Marina, every investor wanted to invest in property there. This was the same for the Dubai Eye, Dubai Frame, Dubai Croc and a whole lot of things that everyone dreamt of. What one could dream of, Dubai made it a reality.
Read full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/28/dubai-running-out-of-innovative-tourism-ideas/
When 26 year old investment banker Subodh Shah quit his job in 2020 just before the pandemic took over the country, he had no idea that the next year and a half would be such an eventful one for him.
The firm Subodh was working for had started feeling the pinch of the vice-like grip the COVID19 pandemic had taken over the American and British economy. With lockdowns and stringent measures like social distancing and mask-wearing becoming the norm, he was forced to work from home by the overzealous HR department.
While working from home he was forced to face certain realities. The biggest thing was that as a bachelor, it was far better to just come home to sleep rather than having to live in a house full time. Although, there was a maid who would come to clean the house, do the laundry, cook food and do the dishes every day, the work at home never seemed to end.
Subodh was also a dog parent to an extremely active 2-year-old male Labrador named Jinx as well. Subodh had engaged the services of a dog walker to come home twice a day and take Jinx for a walk and feed him. Little did Subodh know that Jinx would pave the way for a multi-million dollar business in a matter of months.
One of the things that started getting on his nerves while working from home was the constant humping Jinx was indulging in. He would hump the cushions, pillows and sofas. Subodh finally lost in when during an important business meeting Jinx started humping his leg.
Frustrated with these antics Subodh did some research and realised that the only solution available to stop this habit was to neuter Jinx. However, the very thought of neutering the dog seemed to be cruel. After all, Jinx was just being a horny teenager. That started the journey to find a solution for this common problem. Subodh realised that he must not be the only person going through this.
He figured that the most obvious solution to the problem is to find Jinx a mate. However, the housekeeper refused to continue working if another dog was added to the household. She claimed that she was having trouble as it is with one dog and cannot manage another one as well. With that out of the question, the next option seemed to be to use Jinx as a stud. Not a single breeder was interested as Jinx did not have the required KCI papers making his reproductive skills worthless.
It was around this time that a close friend of his came with a request. Subodh lived in a 1 BHK apartment in Lower Parel which was close to his office. With the imminent lockdown around the corner, his friend Joseph who was a stockbroker at the Bombay Stock Exchange requested him to switch residences as he had to go to work every day despite the lockdown. Joseph lived all alone in a 2 bedroom house with a garden in Juhu as his parents and sister were stuck in the US as flights were cancelled.
As Subodh only had to work from home, he agreed and shifted over the weekend. This is when the business idea began to grow. The garden ensured that Jinx had plenty of space to run around but he kept sitting near the gate as there were plenty of other dogs in the locality who used to exchange lonely looks with him.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/27/investment-banker-turned-dog-escort-business-owner-now-earns-inr-1-2-crore-a-year/
Acclaimed filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma or RGV will be directing a boxing movie next, which will be completely different from the ones that we have seen so far. The style of the movie is also touted to be the first in the history of all sporting films.
Ram Gopal Varma who recently moved his official residence and office from Mumbai to Goa has been busy promoting his latest film Dangerous and dealing with Twitter trolls. The trailer for the movie that explores lesbianism starring Naina Ganguly and Apsara Rani was released 2 months ago and had created quite a bit of controversy due to the sexually explicit scenes in the trailer.
The last few movies that came from the RGV stables were all labelled as borderline erotica including Climax with Mia Malkova, a popular adult movie star with whom he had directed a nude short film called God, Sex and Truth. Other movies awaiting release include Ladki – Enter the Girl Dragon, another highly sexualised martial arts film starring Pooja Bhalekar.
Ram Gopal Varma shot to national and international acclaim with technically brilliant gangster films like Sathya, Company, Sarkar and Sarkar Raj. He also was known for having a knack for thrillers like Shool and Kaun while executing road movies like Daud, Jungle and many more. He was also adept at taking on the horror genre and did amazing jobs with Bhoot and Darna Zaroori Hai.
Apart from these Bollywood films, RGV was churning out hits in the Telugu industry as well making him one of the hottest talents of the 90s and early 2000s. It is widely accepted that after the huge backlash he received for his attempt to remake Sholay, which was released as Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag, his career had taken a drastic downward plunge. The movie despite having some of the biggest names in the industry like Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal, Ajay Devgn and Sushmita Sen, flopped badly at the box office and was panned by the public and critics alike.
Ramu is now quite happy away from the limelight and using Twitter to promote his upcoming releases. He also regularly courts controversy with his views on various subjects and remains one of the most trolled celebrities on the micro-blogging platform.
Our sources reveal that Ram Gopal Verma is an avid movie buff and watches almost all the movies launched. With the pandemic and being stuck at home, he has taken a liking to the digital platform. This was the reason behind the launch of his own OTT platform called RGV World Theatre which is focused on the 18+ A-rated films that he is now exploring.
Read full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/26/ram-gopal-varma-to-shoot-female-boxing-film-with-real-fights/
Jeff Bezos recently completed the first space travel by his new company Blue Origin onboard the New Shepard rocket. The successful 10-minute flight which took them to the Karman line, higher than what Richard Branson accomplished a few weeks ago, triggered a bonafide space race among billionaires.
Our sources tell us that during the 4 minutes of weightlessness experienced by Bezos and his crew comprising of his brother and the oldest and youngest person to travel in space, a new business vertical for Amazon was born.
The Blue Origin space tourism missions will now have an additional objective. They will also be collecting ‘space air’ from these trips which will be packaged and sold on Amazon Pantry. This product line will be expanded to include ‘space dust’, ‘space light’, ‘space sound’ and ‘space smell’.
Our sources tell us that this is Amazon’s way of letting people who do not have the money for actual space travel experience space. These products will only be available for Amazon Space Prime members who need to pay a subscription fee of USD 149 a year.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/23/amazon-pantry-to-sell-space-air-collected-from-its-space-missions/
Despite the COVID19 pandemic putting a damper on things, one industry that still manages to keep its head above water is the wedding industry. There have been almost the same number of weddings happening across the country when compared to pre-COVID times. The only difference is that the weddings are considerably smaller due to the insistence of the state governments that social distancing and COVID protocols should be followed.
Restrictions on the number of people who can attend a wedding vary from state to state. The TPR or Test Positivity Rate and the total number of active cases also play a major role in determining how many people can gather at an event like weddings or funerals. Any other kind of public gathering is not allowed. This was strictly implemented post-election after people started blaming the political parties for the spread of the disease via mega rallies.
These relaxations have allowed the other industries who are dependant on the wedding industry like hotels, event management, caterers, decorators, jewellers, textile shops and beauty parlours to sustain themselves. Although not at a highly profitable level, these industries are now showing signs of recovery after having to close shop during both waves.
The wedding formalities have also changed. In a society that is still heavily dependent on the arranged marriage system where the parents of the bride and groom meet and arrange for their children to get married, it has had drastic effects.
In the recent pre-COVID era, the bride and groom to be, formally meet a few times and even do a lot of video calls before getting married. This allows the couples to interact and get to know one another before tying the knot. This phase is very important and it is now becoming commonplace in urban India. However, in rural India, it is still the classic case of having seen your spouse just once before the wedding and the next time you see or interact with them, you are getting married.
With the multiple lockdowns, the closing of bars and restaurants and most offices also forcing employees to work from home, it had become extremely difficult to meet someone and fall in love. Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, Aisle etc are also require paid subscriptions which Indians abhor.
This lead to a marked increase in the arranged marriages in urban India as well. With lockdowns and restrictions on movement in place, even physically meeting them in person has now become difficult. With fewer preparations to worry about and guests to invite, wedding planning is now becoming a smooth and easy process for the parents.
This smooth process was rattled by a petition filed in the Madras High Court this week with over 50 signatories.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/22/husbands-can-now-sue-beauty-parlours-under-ipc-420/
With the West Bengal 10th standard board exam results also being announced yesterday most of the state boards have announced the results of the non-existent board exams this year. With schools and state education boards using previous years results to formulate the final result of students, the general idea has been that everyone has passed with similar results.
With CBSE also set to announce results in the next couple of days, all eyes are eagerly waiting to see what kind of results are expected for the students.
There has been a call to pull the plug on the highly stressful board exams for the 10th and 12th standard with a few state boards seriously looking at getting rid of the 10th standard board exams. The criteria to pick streams like science or commerce could be made based on the results of previous years performance, just like what the different boards were forced to do this year.
Psychologists have claimed that the stress levels of students before these board exams are extremely high and the pressure from parents, teachers and society to perform well really pushes the adolescent mind to the brink. Many students even resort to suicide as they cannot take the pressure of the board exams or the dreaded results day.
A noted child psychologist in the city told us, “Students who go through the pressure of exams develop coping mechanisms that may take years to manifest. That usually happens during adulthood when they go through other stressful situations at work or in relationships. The ones who can cope with the pressure have easier adulthood as they tend to take things much more lightly. We all have that friend whose standard response to any situation is ‘Relax’ or ‘Chill'”.
This year’s 10th standard board exam results have thrown the whole educational system in India into a major quandary. Teachers, students, parents and neighbours of the students are not sure how to respond to this scenario.
Almost all the different state boards across the country have been dishing out pass results and that too with very similar grades. This has lead to almost all states recording all-time highs in the number of passing students. This on one hand is a very good sign as the students were saved from the mind-numbing, soul-crushing exercise known as board exams.
However, this is an issue. No one has an answer to the question – Who are the nerds, cool kids, jocks and ‘gone cases’?
A principal of a reputed CBSE school in the country with over 30 years of teaching experience spoke to us after we promised to not reveal her identity.
Read full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/21/10th-standard-board-exam-results-destroy-decades-old-social-construct-of-schools/
With parliament being disrupted over the newly released list of opposition leaders, journalists and union ministers who were targeted by the Pegasus spyware, the Delhi Chief Minister is reported to have thrown a fit in his private chambers.
Pegasus is spyware built by the Israeli cyber arms company NSO which is designed to monitor and share information like messages, emails, passwords and even Whatsapp messages. Considered to be one of the most sophisticated spyware of its kind, Pegasus is capable of infecting all latest and currently used versions of Android and iOS up to version 14.6. The virus is named after the Greek mythical creature Pegasus, who was a flying horse.
Although the company itself has denied any wrongdoing, they have stated that they provide their product to governments for internal surveillance and national security. The Indian government including Home Minister Amit Shah has vehemently denied the use of the Pegasus spyware by his government to spy on Indian citizens.
The list of Indians whose phones were part of the cyberattack includes Indian National Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Abhishek Banerjee who is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, political strategist Prashant Kishor, former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, Jagdeep Chhokhar, founder of the transparency non-profit Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), virologist Dr Gagandeep Kang, and Hari Menon, the India head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Indian government has repeatedly stated that it had nothing to do with these attacks and had not planned or initiated the espionage on its citizens.
Internationally the main target of the spyware were Arab royalty, over 600 political leaders and government officials along with their close aides, journalists, human rights activists and approximately 200 business leaders. The Pakistan government was one of the most severely hacked organisations with even Prime Minister Imran Khan and his close aides being monitored.
The Pegasus malware can enter your phone and be installed via SMS, iMessage, Direct download and WhatsApp. The malware can then take access to many areas of your phone and can harvest data and information from it without much difficulty. Some of the data it can harvest include SMS, Emails, photos and contacts. It can also record calls, read WhatsApp chats, access your calendar, activate your microphone or camera and get access to your GPS data or location.
There were multiple allegations levelled against NSO from 2018, these latest allegations and the new list of disclosed numbers was part of the efforts of the international human rights group Amnesty International. The first time this was brought to international attention was in August 2016 when an Arab activist received a message with a link claiming to be proof about torture in UAE jails. The iPhone penetration of the virus was the main reason for the spyware to gain international notoriety.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/20/arvind-kejriwal-miffed-that-he-was-not-spied-upon-by-pegasus-malware/
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has been under fire for the new population control bill that it plans to pass in the parliament soon. To give a more concrete look to the whole proposal, the UP government has decided to present the bill in parliament with a full-fledged campaign plan including the appointment of Sunny Leone as the brand ambassador.
The government which is facing elections next year has embarked on a journey to announce a whole bunch of new initiatives and projects including the bill designed to control the population of India’s most populous state. The opposition parties are terming this as a deliberate ploy to divert the attention of the public from the failure of the government.
The new bill which will be presented in the parliament during the next session has both incentives for people who follow the new rule and also has deterrents for flouting it. This is not the first time that a state in India has announced a 2 child policy to curb population growth. This has earlier been implemented by the Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand at various points in time. Some governments also rolled back the policy after pushback from the citizens themselves.
Some of the incentives for adhering to the new policy include a preference for single children in government jobs, free health insurance and coverage for a single child until the age of 20, subsidy towards buying a plot or house from the Housing Board or Development Authority, preference to single children in admission to all educational institutions and rebate on electricity and water bills.
Some disincentives for not following the policy include no promotion in government jobs, restriction of ration card holders per household to 4, bar on receiving any kind of government subsidy and also being barred from contesting local body elections.
Experts believe that India does not require a 2 child policy as the TFR or Total Fertility Rate has been steadily falling and in the next few decades, India would not have a population problem on its hands. The “young population” that we are so proud of today would transition itself to an ageing population if such policies are implemented.
Political leaders of various parties were quick to jump and criticise the move as anti-Muslim, as the Muslim community is associated with large families with more than 2 children in each household. Further fuel was added to the fire when another section of the society claimed that the Hindu community should not come under this policy so that they can combat the rising Muslim population in the state.
Our sources tell us that in an attempt to get mass acceptance to the proposal, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to enlist former adult movie actress and Bollywood star Sunny Leone as the brand ambassador.
Sunny Leone rose to popularity in the country when she transitioned from an adult movie star in the USA to a Bollywood actress. She also appeared in the TV reality show, Bigg Boss where she was approached by Mahesh Bhatt to play a role in his film Jism 2. She has since acted in multiple languages in full-fledged roles and also in item songs. She lives in both Mumbai and the USA with her husband and 3 children.
The usual Brand Ambassador for almost all of UP’s government programs has been Amitabh Bachchan but for this initiative, a more relatable face was required says our source.
Read the full article at2: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/19/sunny-leone-to-be-appointed-brand-ambassador-for-uttar-pradeshs-population-control-program/
Gurugram, 16/07/2021
A group of millennials have filed a petition with the Delhi High Court to restrict the number of “uncles” in a residents association as they are making the lives of other younger residents difficult with their rules and regulations.
The term “uncle” is being used by the petitioners to describe retired men over the age of 55 who are usually homeowners within the same residential complex. By restricting the number of uncles in the association, a more objective association can function taking into consideration the issues faced by the younger generation.
One of the petitioners told us, “It is a classic case of feeling irrelevant. Most of these uncles had highly respectable careers and were at the top of their companies. Once they retire, they have nothing to do. So they join the association in the hope to have some kind of social life.”
“The decisions they take are purely based on what they think is right. For example, returning after 11 pm is not allowed only because they go to sleep before that. They think that no one else needs to be awake after that. This is a kind of moral policing in a way. What makes them different from VHP or Bajrang Dal members?”
Another petitioner felt that it was more of an emotional issue. “All these uncles have sons and daughters who do not live with them. They are no longer able to enforce rules and control their lives. So, they take it out on us and try and control ours.”
The court is yet to decide whether they will hear the petition.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/16/petition-filed-to-restrict-number-of-uncles-in-resident-and-housing-associations/
An aspiring Indian actress, on the promise of anonymity, has claimed that the “casting couch” system is still very much active in the Indian movie industry. She asserts that it’s not just mid-level directors and actors who try to take advantage of an actress but even top directors, actors and other professionals are in on it.
Casting couch is the term given to the process whereby a director, actor or technician working in the industry promises to give an aspiring actor or actress a role in a film in exchange for sexual favours. The promises are usually fake and the actor or actress is then strung along for months in the promise of that role which rarely happens.
Industry insiders say that many of these actors and actresses go on to become familiar faces on the big screen while some even reach the pinnacle of their craft. The ones that do not make it despite agreeing to the proposition either go back home with their dreams shattered or end up in one of the high-end escort services in the city.
Many actors and actresses like Surveen Chawla, Kalki Koechlin, Ranveer Singh, Ayushmann Khurrana, Kangana Ranaut, Tisca Chopra, Mamta Kulkarni, Sameera Reddy and Prachi Desai have spoken out about the experiences they had in the industry with many of them refusing to toe the line. There have been cases of actresses like Payal Rohtagi accusing director Dipankar Banerjee and the infamous case where Preeti Jain took Madhur Bhandarkar to court over casting couch allegations.
This phenomenon is not exclusive to Bollywood. There have been plenty of similar instances and allegations levelled against directors, producers and actors in the southern film industries as well.
Even Hollywood is not immune to this system. When the whole Harvey Weinstein scandal broke in the USA, many actresses revealed the kind of forced sexual gratification and “compromises” that they were subjected to. Charlize Theron, Thandie Newton, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lawrence etc are just a few of the actresses who have come forward with their stories.
The actress who is now making these claims had landed in Mumbai from Coorg to fulfil her dream of becoming an actress and working opposite Hrithik Roshan. Being a former model and a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, she believed that she had both the looks and the skills to make an impact in the industry.
She went about the usual route – dropping of her portfolio at various production houses, studios and even tried dropping by film shoots in the attempt to talk to the director. Despite being dedicated to her approach and trying everything possible in her arsenal, she was not able to get an audience with anyone. Five months into her struggle, she finally received a call from a reputed film director who had seen her portfolio.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/15/casting-couch-is-a-very-real-thing-in-bollywood-claims-aspiring-actress/
Pakistan has been working hard to contain the spread of the COVID19 virus in the country with government and health officials trying desperately to get the bulk of rural Pakistan to ditch the dogmas and superstitions and vaccinate themselves. These efforts are being done against the backdrop of multiple political tensions both externally and internally.
A series of bomb blasts outside the house of international terrorist Hafiz Saeed had left 3 people dead and over 20 people injured near the Board of Revenue Housing Colony in Lahore. This is just the latest of the various similar incidents around Pakistan for which the country had repeatedly tried to implicate India on the international scene. These allegations were made by Pak’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf last week.
This is not the first time that Pakistan has claimed that India or its citizens were behind such terrorist activities within the country. Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian citizen accused of being a RAW agent is still lying in Pakistani jails despite the support received from the international community and the International Court of Justice for his freedom. Pakistan also claims to have other RAW operatives in its custody but has not furnished any further details.
These accusations are generally brushed under the carpet by both Indian and international authorities as Pakistan’s handling of terrorism has always been circumspect. Pakistan however, seems to be determined that this time around, the noise they make in international circles will be loud enough to make everyone sit up and take notice.
India has been on the receiving end of terrorism originating from Pakistani soil with the attacks on Pathankot and multiple cases of attacks in J&K in the recent past. India has also maintained that unless Pakistan addresses the issue of its borders being used to propagate and promote terrorism, there cannot be any talks between the two countries. This affiliation of the political parties and the army with recognised terrorists has been one of the main reasons that Pakistan continues to remain on the FATF greylist.
The Pakistani establishment has now come forward with proof that the Indian influence on Pakistani soil is increasing by the day and that India is responsible for the series of suspicious activities across the country.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/14/indian-influence-inside-pakistan-at-an-all-time-high-claim-pakistani-officials/
Bengaluru police were forced to arrest 4 people after getting complaints of a drunken brawl at one of the hottest bars in Indiranagar yesterday. All four detainees were in their late 20s and according to the bar had consumed an insane amount of beer.
Eyewitness accounts say that everything was going normal until the main accused, Sajith K, a native of Pattambi in Kerala, started arguing with another table about the Euro Cup football final between Italy and England. Very soon, the arguments spiralled and ended up in a full-blown fistfight.
It is believed that the main point of the argument was about the performance of both Italy and England in the final. While Sajith, who was wearing a stained England jersey, the others were wearing blue and were out to celebrate the victory of their team. Indistinct chatter about "Home" and "Rome" were heard throughout the argument.
Although outnumbered 3:1, Sajith kept fighting back until the police arrived to break up the fight. All 4 perpetrators were taken to the Indiranagar police station where all of them confessed to being drunk. Sajith was charged with unruly behaviour and creating a nuisance in a public place while the other three were let off on a personal guarantee.
Sub Inspector of Indiranagar police station told us, "We had no choice but to arrest him and charge him. Normally we will just ask them to apologise to each other and let them off with a warning. However, this fellow not only refused to apologise, but he also kept shouting that he is an England football team fan and this kind of behaviour is his birthright."
Sajith will be produced before the District Magistrate today to see if he had any changes in his statement after sobering up.
After Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced the dates for NEET 2021, there was a huge sigh of relief from students across the country who were uncertain how their further education would pan out. With the announcement of the dates, format and the assurance that the number of centres would be increased to ensure the following of social distancing, both parents and students have got back to their preparations.
This announcement however came as a shock to the students from Bihar who were quite perturbed by the government’s insistence that social distancing would be strictly followed. They believe that it is unfair and would lead to the decimation of Bihar’s most profitable industry.
A student from Patna said, “This is against our cultural norms and traditions. Social distancing would mean that it would be impossible to copy during the exam. How can our Chief Minister Nitish Kumar allow this to happen? He should threaten to pull out of the NDA.”
The exam copying industry is rampant in the state of Bihar and is known to go to great lengths to ensure that its customers are satisfied. However, this year they are not too certain. One of the key lynchpins of the so-called “exam mafia” spoke to us on the promise of anonymity.
“We will need to recruit more manpower which would mean lower profits. We are still not sure what the government meant by social distancing. The increase in the number of centres would mean that we will have to spread our resources quite thin. This may result in us not delivering on our promises and parents refusing to pay us. In a year, the whole industry would collapse.”
Parents we spoke to also echoed the same opinion that the copying experts need to figure out how they will tackle this situation.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/13/bihar-neet-2021-aspirants-claim-social-distancing-will-destroy-its-most-profitable-industry/
Maverick billionaire Sir Richard Branson kicked off the space tourism industry yesterday by becoming the first person to fly into space on his winged rocket yesterday. He along with 5 crewmates from the Virgin Galactic division of the Virgin Group achieved this feat when they soared to 55 miles above the New Mexico desert.
The richest man in the world and founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos is also scheduled to go into space with the first official flight of Blue Origin, his own space company. The flight is scheduled to happen on July 20th. It is widely speculated that the main reason Sir Richard preponed his flight by 3 weeks so that he can beat Bezos.
The trips being provided by Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Bezos’s Blue Origin and Musk’s SpaceX are also different. While Virgin Galactic takes passengers up to a height of 80 kilometres, which is the line accepted by the USA as the start of space, Blue Origin will take passengers further past 100 kilometres or what is known as the Karman line. Both these trips are suborbital trips that are meant to provide the travellers with a few minutes of weightlessness followed by a sighting of the curvature of the earth.
The SpaceX flights on the other hand are orbital flights meant to take the passengers around the world in orbit and meant to last a few days, unlike the trips that are being provided by both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. The SpaceX trips will also be much more expensive and are set to start operations next year.
Many experts including Neil DeGrasse Tyson have contented that these trips cannot be considered “Space Travel” in their true sense and is more of the novelty of being in space for a few minutes. In essence, this is more like a joy ride at an amusement park rather than a full-blown trip to space. These trips last approximately 20 minutes with the “astronauts” experiencing almost 8 minutes of weightlessness.
The whole experience is not cheap with each passenger having to shell out between $200,000 to $250,000 per trip. Despite the price of the trip, Virgin Galactic has claimed that over 600 tickets have already been sold to celebrities and millionaires from over 60 countries.
This whole billionaire space race is not just limited to the Western Hemisphere. Billionaires in India are also warming up to the whole concept and have been closely following the developments around the world.
Our sources at Reliance Industries, home of the richest man in Asia, Mukesh Ambani is looking at options to enter the space race himself. With ISRO still in its nascent stages in terms of space travel, it has become obvious that there would need to be a fair bit of outside help bought in to help with JioSpace.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/12/after-sir-richard-branson-jeff-bezos-elon-musk-indian-billionaires-show-interest-in-space/
After receiving a mixed response to the trailer of Hungama 2, veteran film director Priyadarshan is reportedly gearing up to remake Nadodikattu, the classic Malayalam film starring Mohanlal and Srinivasan.
The moment the trailer of Hungama 2 dropped, there were clamours from Malayalam movie fans that this was a scene by scene remake of the super hit 1994 film Minnaram. The Mohanlal, Shobana, Jagathy and Thilakan starrer was a comedy masterpiece and is still revered among fans as one of Priyadarshan’s best works.
The original 2003 film Hungama starring Akshaye Khanna, Aftab Shivdasani and Paresh Rawal was also based on the Priyadarshan directed Malayalam movie Poochakkoru Mookuthi starring Mohanlal, Shankar and Nedumudi Venu. This however has no relation to the yet to be released Hungama 2 in terms of storylines or characters.
We had reported earlier that Priyadarshan was planning to release a music album with 99 jokes but that project seems to have been put aside while this project takes precedence.
The movie Nadodikattu is the story of 2 unemployed men constantly trying to come up in life and the series of misadventures that lead up to them becoming CID officers. The main characters Dasan and Vijayan are deeply entrenched in the minds of the average Malayali and has inspired memes galore.
Our sources within the team behind the project have told us that the main reason Nadodikattu was chosen for remaking was that the original film had 2 sequels as well. This means that the production house and Priyadarshan has a trilogy on their hands.
Our sources say that the initial cast would include Varun Dhawan and Rajpal Yadav in the main roles with Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher and Dilip Joshi reprising other important roles.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/09/after-minnaram-priyadarshan-has-eyes-firmly-set-on-nadodikattu-remake/
After an unprecedented run of good form, England has finally reached the finals of a major tournament since the World Cup of 1966. The perennial underachievers of international football have finally given their fans something to cheer about.
We had earlier reported that there was a prevalent discontent about the fact that 3 countries of the UK were participating in the Euro Cup despite voting to leave the European Union. The general sentiment was that England, Scotland and Wales should choose not to participate in solidarity with the referendum passed by the people.
This whole episode would have been forgotten but the performance of the English football team this year has created quite a bit of intrigue as logically speaking they do have a 50 – 50 chance of winning this tournament. This is turning out to be an ideological battle that poses the question, is victory in a sports tournament more important than the moral and political stand taken by a nation?
This discussion has had a far-reaching impact with more EU nations tending to agree with the British public. They believe that the wishes of the British public should be taken into consideration and are also looking at ways to appease them.
Many experts believe that kicking the English Premier League out of the UEFA might not be the right decision but with the rising influence of English teams in the Champions League and for airtime on TV, other leagues around Europe are feeling the pinch.
While this conundrum is threatening to overshadow all the celebration that might accompany an English victory in the finals, our sources within the FA had some very shocking news.
It is rumoured that the English football team will be moving its affiliation to the CONMEBOL or the South American version of the UEFA. If England does win the Euro Cup 2021, they will prove that you do not need to be part of a political union to participate and win a tournament. This will also save them the embarrassment if they are asked to officially leave the UEFA.
The CONMEBOL is the world’s oldest continental confederation. It only fits that the worlds oldest football association becomes a part of it. With Messi all set to retire in the next couple of years, the English stars will need to contend with the likes of Vargas, di Maria and Neymar Jr.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/08/england-to-switch-participation-to-copa-america-after-euro-2021-finals/
On a day that is considered to be a tribute to the most basic expressions of love, International Kissing Day, a new social activist group called Progressive People or PP has launched a campaign to dissuade people from Public Display of Affection or PDA.
International Kissing Day is celebrated on the 6th of July every year and is said to pay homage to the simplest expressions of love rather than use it as a prelude for other activities. It has been observed that on average 5% of people over the age of 45 lock lips over 31 times a week.
Progressive People or PP was launched as a social activist group that believed that the one thing holding back the Indian society is our outlook that is riddled with superstition and blind adherence to faith. They believe that to accelerate our growth into the next decade we should become more prudent as a nation and look within our history for clues rather than aping the west.
PDA or Public Displays of Affection is a term used to describe the expression of love like hugging, kissing, holding hands etc in public. The liberalization of Indian society has witnessed such instances becoming much more common today where people are not afraid to show their affection in front of others. Traditionally any show of intimacy outside the confines of your bedroom was frowned upon.
The PP has launched their campaign against PDA because they believe that people are losing focus on parampara (tradition), pratishta (prestige) and anushasan (discipline). Using the hundreds of couples in the background at Marine Drive as an example, the spokesperson for the PP, Kanya Kumari, made her point to us.
“Look at all these shameless couples here sitting so close to each other, hugging and kissing in public. It is a shame that they have completely forgotten what we as a culture stand for. By copying the west we do not become progressive. It is proof that from the USA to Germany, all western countries have gone through regression in their societal values. This has resulted in the degradation of their moral and cultural values as well.”
“We believe that social distancing should be the norm while in public. No two people should be allowed to stand within 2 feet of each other while outside the privacy of the four walls of a home. This will help us post corona as well.”
When we pressed Ms Kumaree on how this movement was any different from the moral policing done by fringe outfits like Bajrang Dal or the Shiv Sena. The 33-year-old resident of South Mumbai responded by saying that, unlike the others, the PP is not politically motivated nor does it have a regressive mindset.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/07/pp-releases-pdf-against-pda-on-international-kissing-day/
We have received reports from our sources who say that an 83-year-old grandmother from Maharashtra has written to Bollywood actor Sonu Sood to help her from the mental and physical torture she is currently going through.
Actor Sonu Sood, who is known for the portrayal of villainous characters across multiple Indian languages, had emerged as a messiah of sorts during the migrant worker crisis which rocked the country in 2020. The first lockdown prompted workers to leave for their hometown on foot, at which point Sonu Sood jumped in and helped ensure that migrant workers were safely transported.
The 83-year-old woman was being pressured by her grandchildren to start a Village Cooking style YouTube channel. She wrote to Sonu after she could not take the constant bickering of her grandchildren after she refused.
The letter said – “I have cooked my whole life and have finally retired. I want to live the rest of my life peacefully but my grandchildren will not allow it. They want me to cook for them without a proper gas stove or a mixie. Please save me from this torture.”
Sonu Sood is yet to respond.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/06/woman-writes-to-sonu-sood-to-save-her-from-own-grandchildren/
Bengaluru is known as the software or IT hub of India with a large number of companies within the Information Technology space calling it home. The city is also known to have the highest number of software professionals living in it and also boasts of one of the highest per capita incomes in the country.
The city has always lured some of the best talents in the country with its modern lifestyle and very international nightlife. The vibrant city also has pockets of serene living that attracts retirees and people who have decided to call Bengaluru home for good. The number of people choosing the city as a retirement home has come down over the years with the hustle and bustle of the city becoming too much for this demographic.
Known earlier as Bangalore, the wonderful weather and quaint lifestyle had attracted people from all over the country as a retirement home This, however, changed in the last 20 years with the advent of the IT boom that propelled the city and India onto the world map. The city is now filled with working professionals in various fields making the city bulge and strain at the edges.
The city of Bengaluru is also known for the large number of start-ups that are registered every year. This is predominantly due to a large number of IT professionals within the city. Recent studies however have shown that the number of start-ups being registered has gone down drastically.
This trend was witnessed once the country went into lockdown and most companies decided to ask their employees to work from home. Experts believed that this was a temporary situation with the entrepreneurial spirit expected to kick back once the uncertainty and paranoia over the pandemic fizzled out.
However, this was not the case. The declining trend in the number of registered start-ups continued from early 2020 and until June 2021 marking more than 14 months of continued negative growth in the number of start-ups. This is a worrying factor for all developmental and financial indices as the growth of start-ups in an economy is considered to be vital in ensuring that the economy and the ecosystem is still alive.
We uncovered that the reduction in start-ups also coincided with the reduction in traffic jams in Bengaluru.
The city is under constant renovation. Construction for roads, flyovers and underpasses are a common sight and has become one of the trademarks of the city. It is often said that if 5 minutes pass and you haven’t seen a road construction, you have left Bengaluru city limits.
This strain on the city’s infrastructure had lead to the rise of the now world-famous, Bangalore Traffic. Officially acknowledged as the city with the worst traffic in the world, the average commuter tends to spend an additional 71% more time travelling than the global average.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/05/start-up-culture-dying-in-bengaluru-due-to-lockdown-and-work-from-home/
International sensation Mia Khalifa has announced that she would like to help the Pakistani community accelerate its foray into robotics and artificial intelligence by identifying robots within Pakistani society.
This comes after Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan made controversial statements in an interview with Jonathan Swan for ‘Axios on HBO’, HBO’s documentary-news series, Khan said, “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they are robots. It’s just common sense.”
Imran Khan during his younger days was known as a playboy of sorts using his international appeal as one of the top cricketers in the world to full effect. One of the best all-rounders to play the game of cricket, he also led Pakistan to their only Cricket World Cup title in 1992. After retiring from an impressive cricketing career, he spent a few years indulging in philanthropy via his foundation Shaukat Khanum Foundation for Cancer Research.
He founded the political party Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf in 1996 and entered active politics by winning his first election in 2002. He became the Prime Mister of Pakistan in 2018 after his party won an allegedly rigged election and is also known to have the blessings of the powerful Pakistan army. From the time of election to the top post, he had tried to prevent the economic devastation that has plagued Pakistan over the years and has managed to bring some semblance of hope to the Pakistani population.
Imran Khan has constantly been under fire for his controversial and hypocritical actions at home and internationally. From refusing to condemn China for the atrocities against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang to trying to interfere in the operation of the Pakistan Cricket Board, he has managed to alienate a certain section of the Pakistani society.
With his latest statement on the HBO show, Imran Khan has been officially called out as a “rape apologist” by large sections of the Pakistani society and other international human rights groups. Blaming the rape or sexual abuse victim for the crime is not something new nor is Imran Khan the first politician to play that card.
Equating decent Pakistani men to robots has hurt the sentiments of the conservative society in Pakistan and many experts believe that this could be contrived as an open challenge by the Prime Minister to prove that one is not a robot leading to increased sexual crimes against women by the poorly educated society.
One of the people we talked to in Karachi said, “This is stupidity. I am a decent man who upholds a certain sense of morality that is given to me by my parents. I have never assaulted a woman because of these values and not because I am a robot.”
A female college student remarked, “If only robots do not get tempted by women, then how do I marry once my studies are over? Do I need to try and seduce my future husband to see if he is tempted? How will I ensure that the person I am going to marry is a robot or not? This is all very confusing.”
After hearing the statements of Imran Khan, porn star Mia Khalifa who has a huge fan following in Pakistan has offered to help identify the robots who are living in Pakistani society. We spoke to a person close to her and was told that Mia Khalifa believes that the future is all about robots and artificial intelligence.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/25/mia-khalifa-offers-help-to-identify-robots-in-pakistan-society/
A popular Indian matrimonial website is rumoured to be experimenting with Tinder-like features where profiles can be swiped right or left to encourage the younger population to start using the app rather than leave it with their parents to manage.
A large section of the population is now familiar with swipe-based dating apps like Tinder, Aisle, Bumble etc where you can like or dislike a profile by just swiping right or left. This quick and easy approach allows people to skim through profiles and only interact with people that grab their attention. Early adopters of these apps have now given way to regular users and the user base is getting younger by the day.
The introduction of theme-specific swiping apps like Grindr or Bumble makes it easier for a person to find someone with similar interests or sexual orientation. India, although slow to get warmed up to the concept of casual dating, has wholeheartedly accepted the apps in the past 5-6 years.
With the additional security features to verify real profiles and the control over the visibility of your profile, it has not become a platform with only men and fake female profiles. The convenience and lack of judgement that is passed is an additional bonus.
The biggest reason for the younger Indian population to jump on the bandwagon is that the profile is free from older relatives like parents and nosy uncles and aunties. The platforms are filled with people looking for roughly the same things.
Dating apps do have a bad rep as it is considered to be a place for casual hookups and one night stands but once again, it is purely in the hands of the user as to what to entertain. The fact that you can only start a conversation if both parties match is a blessing in disguise to the time-starved Indian youth. The paywall for various functions to see who likes you etc. is an added deterrent to spam.
It is for these many reasons that matrimonial websites across India have been seeing a decline in active users. Add to it the incessant and rude phone calls from the customer service trying to upsell you their paid subscriptions is another reason that people are slowly getting disenchanted with the whole concept.
Today, matrimonial websites are being used by parents of the prospective bride or groom. This leads to a long drawn out process of matchmaking as parents and children rarely see eye to eye at this juncture. Parents spend most of their time finding a profile that they like rather than what would be the perfect match for their son or daughter.
Our source at one of the largest matrimonial websites in the country told us that all this was going to change. The company had finally cracked the code on how to bring back the zing to their websites and also appease both the bride/groom and their parents.
Read the full article: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/24/indian-matrimonial-site-set-to-launch-tinder-like-features/
The final of the much-hyped World Test Championship is finally concluding with the final 2 sessions left to play. Both teams have been hampered by delays due to rain and bad light interrupting play multiple times across the past 6 days.
The ICC has been receiving a lot of flak for hosting the final at a location where the weather is so circumspect at this time of the year. With multiple other locations clambering to host the final it would have made more sense to host it in a venue that would have had better weather conditions.
There have been multiple sessions of the test match completely washed out due to rain and bad light. Other sessions of play were interrupted by incessant showers which ensured that neither team got a chance to showcase their skills at the biggest stage of them all.
With test cricket audiences dwindling across the globe, this was the one chance that the ICC or International Cricket Council had to bring back the interest in the game but have floundered a golden opportunity.
The New Zealand team bowled first and despite steady knocks from Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli, the Indian team never looked to be in a position for their famed batting lineup to take the game away from the Kiwis. The average performance continued when the Kiwis batted with Day 4 being completely washed out as well.
The bowling lineup of both teams looked good with the 5 man Kiwi pace attack performing as well as the pace-spin combination from India. Almost all bowlers on both sides were among the wickets and it would have been an entertaining bowling performance if not for the constant interruptions in play.
Fans and experts around the world are livid.
What was hyped to be the biggest showcase for Test cricket has now become a farce. Requests are coming in from all corners to just cancel the test match as even if there was a winner, it would be the result of a slam-bang type of cricket that will be played on the final day. This is the one time where purists and modern fans seem to agree.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/23/icc-formulating-tie-breaker-options-in-case-the-world-test-championship-ends-in-a-draw/
The National Rifle Association or the NRA, one of the largest gun advocacy groups in the world has decided to lodge an official protest over the newly released poster for Tamil superstar Vijay’s latest film Beast.
Vijay or Thalapathi as he is fondly referred to by his millions of fans across south India has a tradition of releasing the poster for his upcoming film on his birthday. Keeping with the tradition, the poster for his 65th film Beast directed by Nelson and produced by Sun Pictures was released yesterday.
It is speculated that Vijay might be playing a cop or an army man based on the smoke explosion background and the gun he is seen holding in the poster. This would be only among the very few times that Vijay has played the role of law enforcement with the most memorable ones being Thuppaki and Pokiri.
The 47-year-old actor was born Joseph Vijay Chandrashekhar and began his career as a child actor before transitioning to the leading man. He is now the most highly paid actor in Tamil cinema and also holds the distinction for being the most searched Tamil actor on Google. His die-hard fan base spreads across all southern Indian states and is known for the philanthropic work that is carried out under the social welfare organisation Vijay Makkal Iyakkam.
The popularity of the actor outside India has only grown in the past decade with some of his films becoming international hits. This is probably why the NRA stood up and took offence against the poster.
The NRA is an organisation that has easily divided the American public. It is also a major player in the Presidential elections with the candidates stand on the organisation and its policies having a direct effect on the votes. The NRA has Republican leanings and is a relentless advocate for the right of every American to carry guns.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/22/nra-launch-official-protest-against-vijays-new-release-beast/
The city of Kochi in the Ernakulam district of Kerala was in the news lately due to the discovery of a bean-shaped formation that was visible on Google Maps. Speculations were rife as to what the island was and the reasons for it to appear suddenly off the Kochi coast.
This formation was brought to the attention of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Study or KUFOS by K. X. Julappan, president of Chellanam Karshika Tourism Development Society. Highlighting his discovery via a Facebook post on the 5th of June, he requested KUFOS to investigate this phenomenon as it could lead to new findings on erosion and ocean currents of the region.
KUFOS has announced that it will be investigating the matter although they claim that this formation has been on its radar for over 4 years but chose to ignore it as it wasn’t growing in size or affecting the geological implications of the region.
New islands being formed and some islands disappearing are a common occurrence nowadays. Most islands formed are peaks of underwater mountains and many of the clusters are all part of tall submerged mountain ranges. Changes in sea level, erosion, movement of the tectonic plates and underwater volcanic eruptions are all known to have an impact on the topography of the ocean floor and islands.
There have been instances of islands disappearing in Lakshwadeep and new ones temporarily forming in the Lakshwadeep – Maldives belt also known as the Chagos – Laccadive ridge. Most experts believe that this is a natural phenomenon and not something that needs extensive study and research. Even if there was the formation of an island, it would be one among many present all over the world.
Another section of experts believes that there is no actual landmass at the location and it is a technical glitch on Google maps. The high-resolution satellite images on Google Maps and Google Earth are restricted to land and the oceans tend to be generalised with a blue colour. This aberration could just be a glitch in the system. They compound their theory by citing examples of ship-tracking websites that show ships passing over the so-called island.
With the international scientific community focussing attention on this formation, the local authorities seem to be in a fix. This unwanted attention is sure to disrupt the functioning of the city which has just come out of a 2-month lockdown. A senior bureaucrat in the Cochin Mayor’s office was quite disturbed when we talked to her.
“Why can’t you people just leave this alone. We have so many important things to do like fighting the COVID19 virus. Do you know that Kerala is at the top of the country in the number of cases? Ernakulam district is at number 3 in Kerala. The cases are not coming down as we expected and this stress is getting to all of us. In between all that, you come to us with your new island.”
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/21/mysterious-island-off-the-coast-of-kochi-not-actually-an-island-claim-locals/
With International Yoga Day around the corner, celebrations around the world are muted this year owing to the pandemic situation in most of the countries including its birthplace, India. With no mass gatherings allowed and most people around the world entering into Zoom fatigue, many organizations are looking at innovative methods to celebrate the international event.
Yoga originated in India as a form of physical exercise in early 3000 BC as a form of mental and physical union. The practise of yoga was first mentioned in the Rigveda and also finds mention in the Upanishads. This practice has evolved over the years and has led to modern variations like prenatal yoga and hot yoga.
Yoga was introduced to the west in the 1900s and has gained popularity as a form of physical exercise and spirituality with a focus on asanas. It is a variant of the Hatha Yoga form and is now considered to be the foremost style recognized the world over. The traditional style focuses more on flowing movements and breathing when compared to the asana-centric format which is more about postures and holding still.
Yoga has been gaining popularity across the world with celebrities like Robert Downey Jr, Jennifer Aniston, Mathew McConaughey, Madonna, Shilpa Shetty, Russell Brand, David Beckham, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Ryan Gosling, Jessica Alba, Sting, and Beyonce attributing their physical fitness to yoga.
Yoga is practised in many variations including Bikram yoga, Hatha yoga, Ashtanga yoga, Vinyasa yoga, Iyengar yoga, Kundalini yoga, Power yoga, and Jeevamukhti yoga. Each form has its advocates, schools, and gurus associated with it.
The Canada and Cyprus based website, PornHub has decided to play its part in promoting Yoga around the world by dedicating the entire day to yoga-based content.
PornHub is the world’s 10th most popular website and the 3rd most popular pornographic website on the internet. They recently purged all content from nonverified users on the website in an attempt to fight child pornography, non-consensual, and revenge porn.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/19/pornhub-to-pay-tribute-to-yoga-on-international-day-of-yoga/
India is home to over 75% of the worlds wild tiger population and if experts are to be believed, this number will be shooting up drastically at the time of the new population census in India scheduled to happen in 2022.
As per the last count, India had a wild tiger population of 2967. This count itself was almost double the population levels in 2010 and India had made a commitment to double its tiger population by 2022. Not only has India hit that target 4 years ahead of schedule, but it also gained the distinction of putting in practice the largest camera trap animal survey recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Unlike lions, tigers are solitary animals and males and females only meet to reproduce. The cubs then spend the next year or so with their mother before branching out on their own. Tigers are not overtly territorial and have been known to have complex relationships between individuals. They are not averse to sharing food with other tigers and do not mind if territories overlap.
Being at the top of the food chain in its natural habitat in India, the tigers kill and feast on mainly the various types of deer available like barasingha, wapiti, sambar deer while also killing and eating wild boars. They also prey on smaller animals like monkeys from time to time. If they live near human beings, tigers have been known to attack livestock like cows, buffaloes and goats.
A male tiger can reproduce all year round and usually reach sexual maturity at around 4 – 5 years. A female tiger is ready to reproduce by the age of 3 and has a gestation period of around 105 days. The females however are in heat only for 5-6 days with the pregnancy, gestation period and the rearing of children making her unavailable to reproduce for another 2 years.
On average, each tiger pregnancy will have 2 -3 cubs. The father is usually absent in the whole child-rearing process. The tiger births usually happen between March and June with another season in September. This is mainly governed by the weather conditions.
India has over 50 tiger reserves spread across the country with most of the reserves being set up between 1973 and 1974 which was the first time that India decided to take a serious look at its dwindling tiger population.
The largest reserve based on the number of tigers is Jim Corbett National Park in Uttrakhand followed by Bandipur National Park in Karnataka. Other tiger reserves with a considerable tiger population include Kaziranga in Assam, Nagarhole in Karnataka, Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu and Sunderbans in West Bengal. Madhya Pradesh leads with the most number of reserves at 7 with Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka following close behind with 5 each.
These reserves are major tourist attractions and boast impressive numbers throughout the year. Tiger spotting treks are one of the major activities that tourists indulge in. Experts and resorts work together to ensure that the safety of the tourists and the tigers are equally taken care of.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/18/tiger-population-in-india-expected-to-explode-due-to-lockdown-privacy/
After almost 2 months of being denied alcohol, the residents of the southern state of Kerala are finally rejoicing. The bars and beverage outlets across the state are set to now open up today without the need for an app or any kind of booking required. They can just walk into a bar or a government outlet and purchase their choice of liquor.
The government had multiple rounds of discussion with social and medical experts before deciding that the best way forward was to open up the sale of alcohol. This was also necessary keeping in mind the fact that alcohol sales account for a major portion of Kerala’s income. It wasn’t a surprise that the government once again turned to the drinkers in the state to take on the burden of reviving the economy that was already reeling from all the freebies being supplied in the market.
Kerala has one of the highest taxes on alcohol in the country. After the last tax hike following the first wave of the COVID19 pandemic, the state had increased the tax collected from alcohol sales to INR 855 crore for the 6 months from June to December 2020.
The government had hiked the tax on IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) by 35% and on beer by 10% taking the overall tax to a mind-blowing 247%. In other words, a bottle of 750ml Signature Whiskey that has an MRP of INR 760 and is available for INR 900 in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu is sold for over INR 1710 in Kerala.
A further 7% hike in tax, effective from February 2021, means that the government is set to generate over INR 3,500 crore for the year 2021 alone. This also means addition of INR 10 – INR 90 in the prices of various brands resulting in pushing the taxation to exceed 250% in many cases.
The population however does not seem to have an issue with the rising tax rates in the state as long as the supply is maintained. We talked to a few people after the announcement made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday to get their views on the decision.
“This is awesome machane!”, said Clifton Britto a 46-year-old tour guide from Fort Kochi. “People come here to chill but what kind of vibe can we generate if there is no booze man. We have been struggling to get high and all the weed was also finished. We were going to try and smoke up some kaatupullu (wild weed) when the announcement came. Now we will have a blast!”
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/17/bars-in-kerala-open-in-time-for-fathers-day/
Cristiano Ronaldo is showing no signs of slowing down in his attempt to be unanimously declared the G.O.A.T or Greatest Of All Time. His performance in Portugal’s opening match against Hungary was a classic example of top-class performance, aggression and the never-ending quest to be the best.
The 36-year-old, also known as CR7 to his fans, set multiple records during the match against Hungary yesterday. By taking to the pitch, he has now become the first player to ever play in 5 European Championships or Euro Cups. By scoring in the match he has now become the only player in UEFA European Cup history to score in 5 tournaments. He is already the most capped player in the Euro Cup with 22 appearances for Portugal.
Another Euro Cup record that he shattered was the most number of goals in the tournament. Before the start of this years edition, he was tied in the top spot with Michel Platini at 9 goals. With 2 goals in the last match, he is now officially at the top of the list (11 goals) with only Antoine Griezmann among current players on the list with 6 goals. The only point of contention here is that Platini scored all of his 9 goals in a single tournament, the only one he played.
With the discussion of the best European player ever almost closed shut, it’s time to shift the focus to the international stage. Cristiano Ronaldo is now at 106 goals for Portugal with only Iranian legend Ali Daei ahead of him with 109 goals. Going by Ronaldo’s current form and goal-scoring rate of 0.6 goals per match, he should be equalling the record before the end of the tournament; if not overtaking it.
His fans believe that this should finally put an end to the debate about who is better, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi; who is quite far behind in terms of international goals scored or tournaments won.
Our sources within the Portuguese government has informed us that the whole country is desperately waiting for Ronaldo to achieve this feat. The pride that the Portuguese population takes in Ronaldo far surpasses any other individual who has hails from there and gone on to represent Portugal at the highest level possible. This has led to an interesting development within the parliament or Assembly of the Republic.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/16/substituting-cristiano-ronaldo-to-be-declared-a-crime-punishable-by-death-in-portugal/
International ice cream giant Baskin Robbins has decided to launch a new unique flavour in memory of the toughest year faced by mankind since the Black Death. The new flavour is set to hit stores around the world in July with the US markets getting a sneak peek a week earlier. The new flavour is said to be the Flavour of The Month for July 2021.
Baskin Robbins is known around the world for some iconic flavours of ice cream like Pralines n Cream, Mississippi Mud, Honey Nut Crunch, World Class Chocolate and loads of others. They are also known for the fact that they have 31 flavours in their stores at all times ensuring that you can eat a different flavour of ice cream every single day of the year. What makes the Baskin Robbins experience truly memorable is that you can ask for as many samples as you like until you find your preferred flavour.
Founded in 1945 by army veterans and brothers in law, Burk Baskin and Irv Robbins by merging their existing ice cream shops in California, they soon pioneered the extensive menus and also the use of tropical fruits in their ice creams. Baskin Robbins currently operate in 50 countries and have over 7500 stores worldwide.
Keeping with their USP of introducing new flavours as the “Flavour of the Month” they have launched over 1500 flavours since 1945. This includes non-dairy and vegan flavours that were introduced in 2019.
The parent company of Baskin Robbins has gone through multiple acquisitions over the years since the death of Burt Baskin in 1967. Baskin Robbins had a revival of sorts in the 2000s when it was learnt that former US President, Barak Obama had spent time working at Baskin Robbins in the summer of 1978. The brand is now much stronger after weathering the storm of frozen yoghurt and sorbets that threatened to upturn the ice cream market in the 2000s.
Our source within the Baskin Robbins R&D lab which introduces new flavours into the market has informed us that the brand was all set to launch a new flavour into the market to raise funds for COVID19 research. All sales of the brand across all the countries will go towards developing vaccines for countries that do not have a Baskin Robbins brand.
Read the full article here: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/15/baskin-robbins-to-launch-new-flavour-in-memory-of-covid19/
The Central government is looking to invest a massive amount that was not part of the 2021 budget in preschools or daycare centres across the country. This was after a closed-door meeting that took place after each ministry was ordered by the PMO to plan for any and all contingencies in the years to come.
The lack of preparedness for the second wave of the COVID19 virus with many hospitals running out of beds and oxygen cylinders across the country had seriously dented the credibility of the government. The central government had to take most of the heat but the public soon realised that the state governments had to be held accountable as well.
While experts across the world warned of a second wave and countries like the UK and parts of Europe experiencing the second wave almost like clockwork, the government’s decision to not react had drawn sharp criticism from the opposition and also from the general public. We were more concerned with holding elections, political rallies and as many religious festivals as possible.
The false sense of victory over the COVID19 virus ensured that the laxity with which we approached the whole severity of the situation resulted in deaths, economic stagnation and a sense of despair. The constant infighting between the central and state government only made matters worse. This proved that the life of the common man was always the least priority when compared to mudslinging and one-upmanship between the central and state governments.
In a surprising move, our sources within the PMO has told us that the HRD ministry was all set to announce a mega nationwide wide project that looks to establishing preschool/daycare centres across the country.
Tentatively titled Pradhan Mantri Balak Aur Balika Yojna or PMBABY, the new scheme plans to provide subsidised but high-quality preschool services for working parents in both urban and rural areas. These centres will be set up by the central government and will look to have a student-teacher ratio of 25:1.
Although not free, the central government will foot 30% of the fees at these centres and the remaining 70% will be Tax-exempt under the 80C provision of the Income Tax laws of the country. This facility will be open for both private and public sector employees.
The PMBABY scheme will also be an employment program where 50% of the staff will be retired teachers and the rest being comprised of UPS aspirants. It is also rumoured that all IAS selected candidates will have to spend 1-year teaching at these centres.
Our source elaborated on the PMBABY scheme by saying that this was the need of the hour.
“Our experts told us about the huge baby boom that is happening across the country. With couples being locked down and families working from home, they are reconnecting on an emotional and physical level much more than usual. This had led to a surge in births during the year and there is a projection that it would only increase in the next 2 years. This means that there will be a large number of couples who will have major issues once they need to go back to the office.”
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/14/indian-government-to-build-day-care-centres-across-the-country-via-pmbaby/
In a heartwarming story of grit, determination and plain desperation, a Maharashtra based man ended up travelling almost 10,000 kilometres across the whole of southern India in a quest to find a medical facility and vaccinate himself.
Mukund Deshpande, a 29-year-old IT executive currently working from home in the Latur district of Maharashtra, was overjoyed when the central government announced that all Indian citizens above the age of 18 can now get their vaccinations done at government and private hospitals. He was waiting anxiously for the day when the CoWIN app would open up and allow registrations for the jabs.
Once the registrations opened up, Mukund was one of the first to register on the platform on April 28th. This is when the wait began. Even after 2 weeks of waiting there was no indication that the slots for the 18+ category would open up anytime soon. Checking the COWIN website every 15 minutes started to take a toll on both his mental health and work.
“I initially thought that our efficient state and central governments would be able to complete all formalities and start the vaccination drive earlier than promised. Unfortunately, the proposed date of May 1st passed by and every passing day was making me more and more anxious.”
“By the 15th of May, I had already pissed off my boss, my girlfriend and my parents. The stress of not being vaccinated made me lash out at my parents who had managed to get their 1st dose a week earlier. I even asked them why they needed the vaccine as they have lived long enough. That is when I realised that I cannot sit and wait for the government to help me.”
After hearing that Mumbai was rolling out the vaccines for the age group, Mukund was tempted to drive over to Mumbai where he was based before the work from home concept was introduced. However, the high number of cases being registered made him uncomfortable making the trip.
Reading about how the southern states were performing much better in vaccinating their population, he decided to drive down to Belgaum where a friend told him that the hospital his sister worked for will be rolling out the vaccines in 2 days. Mukund promptly did a quick service of his trusted Tata Tigor and set out on the 450km journey. His biggest asset was the CoWIN app which told him about all the vaccine centres on his route.
“I figured that it will be a 10-hour drive which I can accomplish easily. I also got information that Solapur was going to be vaccinating in my age group so that was going to be my first stop on the way to Belgaum. However, I reached there too late as they had stopped the drive for the 18+ age group and was now just doing it for 45+. I finally reached Belgaum where I was told that walk-ins are not allowed and that I should have scheduled an appointment. This was a huge setback as I figured that just the registration was fine. The appointments had all been completed and it was also the last day so I had to make a quick decision.”
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/12/man-covers-almost-10000-kms-in-search-for-vaccine-on-co-win-app/
The biggest sporting spectacle of the year, the Euro 2021 is set to kick off in less than 24 hours with the participation of the English, Welsh and Scottish teams coming under the scanner from within their own countries. The general public opinion seems to be swinging towards the fact that the teams should not be participating in the first place.
One of the biggest drawn-out diplomatic events of the past few years was the much talked about “Brexit” or the British exit from the European Union. A spirited campaign led by politician Nigel Farage and current Prime Minister Boris Johnson ensured that the British population chose to leave the EU to pursue their economic growth. Interestingly, Scotland, which is also part of the United Kingdom, had voted to stay back in the EU but to no avail.
The exit was formally in place in February 2020 despite the long drawn out drama that took place and multiple rounds of discussions and “deals” that were proposed to the British parliament and rejected. Boris Johnson rose to power after multiple leaders tried to broker a deal but were unable to do so.
New tensions have risen where the EU claims that the UK is not respecting the terms of its agreement whereby the border between the Republic of Ireland (Part of the EU) and Northern Ireland (part of the UK) is not being used to check the imports from the EU. This could result in economic sanctions being put in place on the UK by the EU.
These political tensions and standoffs seem to have rolled over into the football field as well. Keeping in lines with the general public opinion, the England, Wales and Scotland football teams may have to drop out of the Euro 2021 on the eve of the tournament kick-off. Although no one from the sports fraternity has asked for this, the general word on the streets is that post Brexit, the UK is not part of the EU and should not participate in the Euro 2021. England, Scotland and Wales should be treated like Brazil, the USA or China who are not allowed to participate on account of them being non-European.
The qualification for the Euro 2021 is not a direct qualification purely based on the country’s affiliation to the European Union. 20 teams have to go through a qualification process in a group stage format while 4 countries qualify from the UEFA Nations League. The arguments that the 3 teams should not have been eligible for even participating in the qualifying rounds are gaining momentum.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/11/rules-of-brexit-should-apply-to-euro-2021-as-well-demand-british-public/
After almost 18 months of lockdown and the IT industry in India working from home, the urge to bring things back into the office has been gaining ground. All major IT companies in India have been providing their staff with the option to work from home which the employees have gleefully accepted and moved back to their native towns to escape the massive living expenses in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi.
The staff were provided with allowances to set up their own mini office and they have jumped right in to ensure that productivity is not affected. It is “business as usual”. The comfort of working from home was far superseded by the fact that they did not have to commute long distances to get to work nor worry about meals or clothes. They could finally do the one thing that they were being paid for – work.
With the 2nd wave declining fast and more vaccination drives happening across the country, the whole landscape is set to change all over again. Many corporate houses are now actively organising vaccination drives for their employees as a way to ensure that their talent pool does not get further affected by the virus. Companies are also trying to safeguard their employees by providing the vaccine free of cost and at times even for the whole family.
Companies are now trying to get the employees back to the office to ensure that the whole work from home concept does not become a permanent fixture and that the work culture of these companies can be protected.
With the powerful nature of Social Media at play, no company wants to be in the limelight for the wrong reasons. Many companies have used their bereavement packages for employees who have passed away due to the virus for some positive PR. This includes paying for the children’s education, full salary for 2 more years and even offering the spouse a job at the company. They believe that the “Back to Work” incentive plans can also help in making them the most preferred employer for the best talent in the country.
We spoke to HR and People managers of the top 4 IT companies in India who gave us a rundown of the various schemes and policies that are in planning to get the employees back in the office by the end of Q3. Apart from providing vaccinations, the companies have all drawn up different incentives to all those who will voluntarily start coming back to the office.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/10/tcs-infosys-hcl-and-wipro-offer-incentives-for-employees-to-return-to-office/
Within days after the Pakistan foreign ministry expressed displeasure at the decision of the Saudi Arabian government to not recognise China made Sinopharm vaccine and restrict entry to all who have taken the vaccine, the Chinese government has said that Pakistanis can travel visa-free to Xinjiang province to look for work.
Saudi Arabia had announced just a couple of days ago that it will not be allowing entry to people who have been vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine citing its low efficacy against the virus as found by various studies. In a rare admission of low quality, the China Centre for Disease Control also admitted that the vaccine is showing very poor results in fighting the virus.
Pakistan has been heavily reliant on the China-made vaccine to vaccinate its population due to the lack of supply of other brands and the economic condition of the country making it difficult to place bulk orders. The “all-weather allies” have been supporting each other through these difficult times and this decision by another long time partner has thrown a spanner in the works.
Pakistan has over 2.7 million of its citizens working in Saudi Arabia and is one of the largest expatriate population in the Middle Eastern country. They also account for the largest contribution to fund inflow in Pakistan. Many of the expatriates have been stuck in Pakistan since the travel ban had been imposed by Saudi and have been struggling to get back to their place of work.
Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid has promised the Pakistani population that Prime Minister Imran Khan will personally look into this matter and find a solution. He also announced that Pakistan will now be administering the Pfizer vaccine to those who need to travel out of the country for work or studies. Pakistan has also recently started manufacturing the Chinese vaccine under the name of PakVac recently.
Pakistan has been extremely dependent on China in the past decade with many within Pakistan getting angsty over the level of influence that China has on the country, its infrastructure, government and army. Some within the international circles have even gone on to claim that Pakistan is a step away from being declared a colony of China. This has been categorically denied by both countries who labelled their friendship as being based on trust and mutual benefit.
The two countries have also had each others back in diplomatic circles and it was no surprise when Pakistan decided to go with the Chinese vaccine when it was launched into the open market. China also provided a large number of free doses to the Pakistani population. China has also helped Pakistan with upgrading its medical infrastructure keeping in mind the large number of Chinese who work in Pakistan for the Belt and Road Initiative.
With the prospect of thousands of Pakistani’s losing their jobs in Saudi Arabia due to the inability to get back, China has decided to step in once again. China has opened up visa-free travel and job opportunities for Pakistani’s who were based in Saudi Arabia to the Muslim majority region of Xinjiang.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/09/china-invites-pakistanis-to-xinjiang-after-saudi-restriction-on-entry-to-chinese-vaccine-takers/
Amidst all the crisis and criticism at home, the United Nations has passed a closed-door resolution claiming that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is setting the best example for how to maintain and practise social distancing during the COVID19 pandemic. This includes completely random TV announcements that are also carefully choreographed to avoid interaction of any kind.
The United Nations which is now closed for regular business has been conducting a regular closed-door meeting to discuss various issues that keep coming up about the current situation around the world. With the WHO blustering its way during both the first and second waves, the UN is keeping close tabs on all the major happenings around the world.
The international vaccine cooperation model or COVAX that is being promoted to ensure that poor countries who do not have the resources or infrastructure also get the vaccine has not had great success of late. Many countries have not received enough vaccines to vaccinate even 5% of their populations.
The UN is also keeping tabs on the Vaccine diplomacy being practised by countries like India, China and the USA where the UN tries to ensure that countries with vaccine producing capabilities do not take undue advantage of others. This has lead to the curbing of forced SinoPharm vaccinations being required by various countries for entry.
Amidst all this madness, the UN has been doing its job contrary to popular belief. Our sources claim that the UN has been devoted to releasing resolutions, awards and recognitions for all the regular stuff that they usually announce every year like Best National Anthem, Best Prime Minister etc. They have not shied away from their real job.
The UN met behind closed doors yesterday to discuss among other things a new series of recognitions to be doled out to the worlds and also the plan for sending the customary satellite into space to click the Diwali photos of India. The idea to make this year Diwali photo a timelapse instead of a single image was floated by top scientists at NASA last year and final deliberations and discussions were scheduled for the day.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/08/modi-setting-perfect-example-for-social-distancing-claim-un/
The greatest pound for pound fighter in boxing history, Floyd Mayweather has announced that his next opponent for an exhibition match after the one with YouTube sensation Logan Paul today will be one of India’s biggest internet stars, KRK or Kamaal Rashid Khan.
With the Mayweather – Paul fight only hours away as this article goes live, we have received information from our sources close to KRK that both teams have agreed to the bout in principle but will need to iron out the details once Floyd Mayweather is done with this match. KRK is said to be excited and is planning to take his training quite seriously.
KRK burst into the scene in 2008 with his movie Deshdrohi which he wrote, produced, directed and also starred in. The movie was banned in Maharashtra on accounts of it inciting violence among the people in the state. Following the release of Deshdrohi, KRK proclaimed himself as a superstar and placed himself at the same level as SRK.
KRK then moved into reviewing movies 8 years ago and has claimed to be one of the most influential reviewers in India with the ability to bring down or promote a movie with his review alone. Courting controversy and getting into public spats with film stars is one of the many strategies that KRK has used to stay relevant. Recently his scathing reviews of Salman Khan movie Radhe has invited legal action from Salman Khan’s team.
Legal action has also been taken by Dhanush for derogatory casteist remarks that KRK used on him and the list is endless. KRK has openly claimed that multiple producers from Bollywood have offered him money in exchange for good reviews. He claims to be connected to a shady crowd and makes all these opinions on his YouTube channel which has over 800k subscribers.
Fighting Floyd Mayweather could just be a publicity stunt, similar to what is being done by Logan Paul. With both Mayweather and KRK open to doing anything for money, the reason to do this can be purely financial as well. KRK has reportedly approached his favourite boxers Priyanka Chopra (who played Mary Kom), Farhan Akthar (who played a boxer in Toofan) and R Madhavan (who played a boxing coach on Saala Khadoos) to help him train for the fight.
Our sources within the Mayweather camp have told us that the fight is a possibility but the legal matters and promotion of the fight could mean that it would only happen early next year. Also, the COVID19 situation around the world needs to be under control and huge crowds should be able to attend the event. The Pay-per-View rights for television networks also need to be worked out.
This fight will be extremely looked forward to in India due to the polarising personality of KRK who has fans who would die for him and also haters who would do anything to see him hurt. The elite from Bollywood is already placing booking orders for front row tickets and the event is expected to be a sold-out affair.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/07/after-logan-paul-mayweather-set-to-meet-krk-in-the-ring/
The internet has been buzzing in the past few days with multiple reports of alien and UFO sightings coming in from different parts of the world, including India. The viral video of the alien from Jharkhand and the UFO videos that are being recirculated on the internet has again fanned the discussion around extraterrestrial life.
We have had reports coming in from major cities in Tamil Nadu and Kerala like Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Thrissur, Coimbatore, Chennai and Madurai of seemingly healthy people exhibiting zombie-like symptoms.
The video of the alien on the roads of Jharkhand in Northern India was later proved to be the video of a naked woman walking down a deserted road while the US Government was forced to make a statement about the UFO sightings in the past decade.
The quest for extraterrestrial or alien life forms has always been met with scepticism and ridiculed by the majority of the population but there are specific top-secret government agencies in most countries who are actively trying to discover alien life. Numerous private organisations and individuals have also dedicated their lives to this field of study.
At the other end of the spectrum are Zombies. Zombie is the term given to a being that has risen from the dead. Technically the zombie is dead but exhibits animations like walking and running. They have been depicted in various forms in pop culture with numerous movies and TV shows being based on this phenomenon.
A Zombie state according to a renowned Psychologist from Coimbatore who agreed to speak with us, is a state in which we become fixated on a particular object or thought and become oblivious to all other external stimuli. This can be a temporary state ranging from a few minutes to a permanent state where the person’s brain becomes locked.
There have been multiple reports of people across Kerala and Tamil Nadu showing these symptoms. These cases are usually brushed off as an aberration and people do not attach any sort of importance to it. The actual victims have no recollection of this happening and go on with their lives as normal.
The medical team we consulted has told us that this state in itself is usually harmless unless there is interference from external events or objects. A person who is in the state tends to be very slow-moving and completely oblivious to his or her surroundings. These symptoms are very much the classical Zombie behaviour; hence the term Zombie State.
The point at which this Zombie State becomes dangerous is when the victim has to interact with external factors like moving traffic, stairs, ledges, holes and construction work. Also if the person falls into the state while operating machinery or any other equipment, the results could be disastrous.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/05/after-aliens-zombies-being-spotted-in-kerala-and-tamil-nadu/
The historical, anthropological and scientific communities are abuzz with each side staking claim to what they believe is the correct genetic or genealogical makeup of Lord Hanuman, a character from the Hindu epic Ramayana. All sides have been putting their opinions across after a 2-year long study but sources claim that they are far from reaching a consensus.
Hanuman is one of the principal characters in the Hindu book and occupies a very high status in the minds of the followers of the Hindu religion. Hanuman is believed to be the son of the wind god Vayu and is also worshipped as a God in his own right. In the Ramayana, Hanuman is described as a vanar (monkey) and is an ardent devotee of Lord Ram. It is his devotion to Lord Ram that has since become the gold standard for all Hindus to look up to.
Hanuman, also known by various other names like Bajrang Bali, Anjaneya, Pavanputra and Kapeeshwara, is one of the Chiranjeevis or immortals of Indian mythology. His abilities include superhuman strength, the ability to jump far distances/fly and also heal disease. Hanuman is also portrayed as a highly intelligent individual with knowledge of the Vedas but is also cursed with never being able to understand the true potential of his abilities. He is also a brahmachari or a celibate.
Hanuman Jayanthi or the birthday of Lord Hanuman was celebrated across the country on 27th April 2021. Certain states like Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Karnataka will celebrate it on the 4th of June. As the birthday is based on the lunar calendar, there is no fixed day every year when this celebration will take place. Different parts of India have different customs and traditions associated with the event including fasts being observed and special poojas being conducted.
Hanuman is not only important in Indian folklore. Hanuman plays an important role in the legends and mythology of other South-East Asian countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.
The main topic of debate within the international circles is the classification of Lord Hanuman within a scientific parameter. Although described as a Vanar or a Monkey in the Ramayana, Hanuman depicts characteristics that are far advanced than what you would expect from a monkey. This includes the ability to speak, think rationally, make decisions and also being physically a far superior being to humans.
Our source who is a member of the committee which was given the responsibility of researching and coming to a final decision revealed to us that no decision has been taken so far. The various groups within the committee have their own opinions and are not relenting to accept a different point of view.
The experts who include scientists, anthropologists, archaeologists, historians and biologists claim that Hanuman was part of the Vanars which were a race of their own in the Ramayana. This proves that the vanars, including Hanuman, is what all archaeologists, scientists and researchers of the human race called the “missing link” in the theory of evolution.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/04/experts-clash-over-scientific-classification-of-lord-hanuman/
June is Gay Pride Month and the celebrations in various countries have just started. This is usually a month that is peppered with celebrations and marches across the world to take pride in your sexuality. This is a huge relief for people who live a closeted life and even for those who are looking to come put in public.
The Gay Pride month has hit a dampener the past 2 years but there have been online versions of the event happening across the internet. The marches and demonstrations are not only intended to be an event where one can be who they are without being judged by their peers but also a social event to meet people who are going through the same things in life.
In India, the celebrations are a little more subdued with only major cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru having open parades. Even in these cities, the parades are more symbolic and not extravagant events like in the USA or Europe.
With the Supreme Court decriminalising homosexuality in 2018, it brought an end to a draconian law set by the British in 1861. The British were appalled by the free-spirited Indian society and passed laws that appealed to their “refined and cultured sensibilities” and branded the progressive Indian society as backward and primitive.
Tearing down Article 377 was one of the most progressive acts of the Supreme Court and we need to credit the government for not opposing it. The cancellation of this law meant that Indian citizens are no longer criminals for “indulging in sexual behaviour against the order of nature.” A gay man or a lesbian has the same rights as any other Indian citizen and their sexual orientation is no longer “illegal”.
All was not smooth after the Supreme Court verdict though. Multiple sections of society were up in arms against this decision as they wrongly believed that it was meant to tear up the very fabric that binds the Indian society together. Some opposed it on religious grounds while others on the grounds of morality. With the government and the courts turning a blind eye to these protests, they have died out over time.
Religious groups like the Muslims and Christians have opposed this rule from day one as it goes against the fundamentals of their religious beliefs and believes that a legal justification can be used by its believers to indulge in these practices.
An upcoming politician from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has claimed that the abrogation of Article 377 was an attempt to convert Muslims and Christians back to Hinduism, similar to the whole Ghar Wapsi campaign that had gained steam a few years ago.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/03/muslims-are-a-victim-of-gay-jihad-in-india-claim-up-politician/
After months of dilly-dallying over whether the all-important 12th Standard CBSE board exams will be conducted this year, the government of India has finally issued a notice saying that the examinations this year are cancelled. This ended months of anxiety, stress and uncertainty among both the students and the parents.
The government will be announcing the criteria for college admissions soon, as the 12th standard marks are usually the benchmark for getting admission to various colleges and also for eligibility for competitive entrance examinations. Engineering and medical entrance exams have a 50% cut off in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics to be considered eligible for admission for these courses.
Earlier this year the government had already cancelled the board exams for the other important milestone in an Indian child’s education, the 10th standard board exam. The CBSE board places a lot of importance on the 10th standard exams and it is considered to be the first time that a child will compete on a national level in terms of academics.
The CBSE board had decided that a mixture of previous years results, performance in online tests and other results from pre boards and midterms etc will be used to award the student his or her 10th standard marks. A similar system is said to be being formulated for the 12th standard students as well. If this system is extended for another year, we could have the first-ever batch of students who have started college without the horrors of writing 2 board exams.
Following the decision by the CBSE board, the CISE board has also announced that they are also cancelling the ICSE and ISC examinations for the academic year 2021. This leaves only the state boards left to take a call on their examinations which we believe will also be cancelled. We haven’t received any official notification from International boards about the O, A and AS level examinations for the year 2021.
The general emotion amongst the students across the country is one of relief and happiness. They are among the very few generations who have managed to escape the clutches of the most overrated and pointless examinations in the world. The results from the exam tend to be something that the student will carry for the rest of his or her life but is also extremely skewed towards those who have a predisposition towards science and maths.
We talked to a few students from across the country and they all were very excited by the announcement and felt that this was something they earned after going through all the crap that the universe has been throwing at them for the past couple of years. There is still a little apprehension on how the admission to colleges will be decided but the students are taking it one day at a time.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/02/parents-left-disappointed-after-cbse-cancels-12th-standard-board-exams/
In a move to make the world forget and forgive the past atrocities conducted by the British monarchy over the centuries, the UK government will be announcing a new yearly apology. This apology will be made on the day of the summer solstice i.e. June 21st every year.
The Apology of the Year will be a statement that is read out from the front of Buckingham Palace and will be added to the official archives by the official record-keeper of the British monarchy. This statement would not only apologise for unleashing the event/person upon the world and will also include a firm commitment to never let this happen again.
This statement will include official apologies for the colonial rule, plunder of natural resources from the colonies, mass murder, genocide and for anything that the Crown and the British people feel remorseful about. The official statement will be read out by the British Prime Minister on behalf of the Queen and will also be a Bank Holiday in the UK.
Our sources within the inner circles of the British Monarchy have told us that the first-ever Apology of the Year will be issued about former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan. This is in recognition of his consistent displays of senseless banter and Twitter feuds that he picks up with commentators, cricketers and sports fans.
Born in Manchester, Michael Vaughan made his debut for England in November 1999 against South Africa and had played in predominantly Test Cricket moving on to captain the side from 2003. He retired from all forms of cricket in 2009. His crowning glory remains leading England to victory in the 2005 Ashes which was the first time England had won the series in 18 years. He was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for this achievement.
Michael Vaughan has been quite vocal about his opinions on things that happen on the cricket field and outside it as well. Most of the time the argument is silly and it is of the general opinion that it is just out there to see who will latch onto the bait that can keep him in the news for a few more days. Recently he has got into online battles with Shane Warne, Wasim Jaffer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Virendra Sehwag and Salman Butt.
According to our sources, it is this quality of his, the ability to stir up controversy and fights at the drop of a hat that propelled him to the top of the list this year. The committee that takes a decision on this Apology felt that it was far more important for the image of the UK to address current mistakes first before reverting to historical situations and people. It is believed that Michael Vaughan and his silly Twitter feuds have more capacity to damage the image of the UK than the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh.
Read the full article here: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/06/01/michael-vaughan-pips-10-other-contenders-to-become-the-uks-first-apology-of-the-year/
Johnny Sins has been one of the most popular names in one of the very few female-dominated industries in the world and has never shied away from expressing his opinions to the media. During his recent hiatus from the screen, he has been heavily promoting his YouTube Channel and also advising all his fans around the world.
The bald, muscular porn actor was born Steven Wolfe in Pennsylvania and had worked as a construction worker before transitioning onto the screen. He has since performed in over 2300 pornographic videos to date and was also in contention to film the first-ever sex video shot in space. The crowd-funded project failed to “take off” but the uniqueness of the project was enough to make Johnny Sins contemplate coming out of his retirement.
In a candid chat with this publication, we talked about his life, career and his message to the future generations of adult film actors
TDV: How does it feel to not go to work every day and spend most of your time with clothes on?
JS: It is different. The lockdown that was imposed and the whole pandemic have made things worse but I believe that even if I wasn’t retired, I would have preferred to wait out the pandemic before getting to a shoot. It is impossible to maintain social distancing and to follow the standard protocol in my line of work. At least I have an excuse, what I don’t understand is the number of people who can stay at home but choose to go out and challenge the pandemic.
TDV: In your long and illustrious career, you have worked with a lot of female pornstars. Who was the most fun to work with?
JS: All of them were extremely professional and lovely to work with. There have been times when I couldn’t get along with someone but I used that anger and emotions into my scene and it got the best performance out of me. I really cannot single out any particular co-star as all of them are special to me.
TDV: What do you attribute your longevity to in this female-dominated industry?
JS: It all boils down to taking care of yourself and being adventurous to try out new things. There are a few things that are a definite no for me but otherwise, I am pretty open to experimenting with new things on the screen. I eat healthy, get plenty of exercise and stay away from cigarettes and drugs. I enjoy a beer now and then but otherwise, I lead a very healthy life.
TDV: Why do you give so much importance to a healthy lifestyle?
JS: We must realise that what I do is a proper job. It is not a flash in the pan or something that you feel like doing on a weekend. As with any job, it has its requirements. In our industry, these requirements are more physical than others. Just like a model needs to look after his/her looks and a sportsperson needs to constantly train. We porn stars need to focus on both, making our job a lot more difficult.
Read the full article on: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/31/exclusive-smoking-main-cause-for-lack-of-indian-male-porn-stars-reveals-johnny-sins/
The Indian government had introduced a new set of operational guidelines including the appointment of a Chief Compliance office who will liaise with the IT Ministry to help the government track down the origin of objectionable posts on the social media platforms. This ordinance has led to a mixed response from the companies that it was targeted against.
Major players like Google, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram have complied with the changes and informed the government that they are accepting the new norms. Whatsapp although initially defiant and filing a suit at the Delhi High Court, has now relented and informed the government of their acceptance. The only major player still to comply or give an acceptable response is Twitter.
We had reported earlier this week that to gather public support to overturn the government rules, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had created an account on the Indian equivalent Koo. However, this did not seem to work out as the government has stood firm on its decision.
Business analysts around the world agree that the companies who complied have taken the right decision as India is the largest market for all of them. Most of their revenue and expansion plans are hinged on the Indian market especially since China is off-limits for all of them. Not only revenues, but they also provide jobs to more than 100,000 people in India alone. A restriction in operating in India would mean heavy losses and layoffs.
While a few Indian netizens have stood steadfastly with the stand taken by Twitter, a vast majority of Twitter users have decided to look for other options. Twitter users are more concerned with having a platform to express their outrage at the establishment rather than contributing to the movement. The hashtag #SaveTwitter too stopped trending after 1 hour.
Although there are plenty of Twitter alternatives in the market that enjoy both a cult and an exclusive feel to their operations, there has not been a surge in downloads on either Google Play or the Apple App Store. For the interested, here are a few apps you could explore instead of Twitter – Mastodon, Care2, Ello and Plurk. Then there is the all-time favourite of Twitter haters, Reddit and Tumblr. These apps can provide you with the much-needed microblogging experience that you need.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/29/indian-netizens-confused-between-koo-and-kooku-apps/
On the occasion of World Hamburger Day, it is rumoured that McDonald’s has filed the patent for a burger that can be safely consumed while driving any vehicle. The new burger is set to be launched in the latter half of the year once the patent has been issued.
McDonald’s is one of the largest fast-food chains in the world with close to 40,000 outlets worldwide serving over 70 million customers daily across 100 countries. They are also the second-largest private employer in the world after Walmart, employing over 1.7 million people in its stores. They are known for being the food of choice for people looking for a quick meal and also for families worldwide.
The McDonald corporation was founded in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald in California before being brought out by its first franchisee Ray Kroc. The global HQ shifted from Illinois to Chicago in 2018 and they currently boast annual revenue of 2.9 billion USD making it one of the largest fast-food chains by revenue as well.
The style of restaurant varies around the world, with McDonald’s operating on various models. Apart from the classic sit down and eat style they are also heavily into the Drive-Thru, Walk Thru and McCafe style concept. They are also connected to gas stations and other stores via the McExpress brand. McDonald’s Playground is an indoor/outdoor open concept with prominent play areas for children attached to the restaurant and they also introduced the “Create Your Own Table” concept in 2015. They also briefly flirted with the concept of a gourmet burger which is served at the table before shelving it in favour of the Signature Burger menu.
McDonald’s is also known for introducing various innovative concepts in its menu and also for adapting to the market that they operate in. They have multiple kosher restaurants around the world and also operate halal stores in the Middle East. In India, they do not serve beef while in Europe they serve beer. They also take into consideration the local palette and have introduced rice dishes in Indonesia, Prawn burgers in Japan and the Aloo Tikki in India.
It is this innovative streak within the culture that has propelled McDonald’s into the forefront of fast food service restaurants around the world.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/28/mcdonalds-launches-the-drive-easy-burger-on-world-hamburger-day-2021/
The cast of the longest-running show on television with 1,545 episodes, CID, has demanded that they have a reunion show 3 years after going off the air. This was prompted by the release of the FRIENDS reunion episode where the cast got together and reminisced with their co-stars and special guests on set. The show was hosted by James Corden.
CID was initially aired on 21st January 1998 on Sony Entertainment Television and chronicled the cases investigated by Mumbai’s Crime Investigation Department. It focussed mainly on the characters ACP Pradhyuman (played by Shivaji Satam), Senior Inspectors Daya (Dayanand Shetty) and Abhijeet (Aditya Srivastava), Inspector Freddy (Dinesh Phadnis) and Forensic experts Dr Salunke (Narendra Gupta) and Dr Tarika (Shraddha Musale).
The show was a major hit on television and ran for 1524 episodes before going off the air in 2018. The show was a mainstay of the Indian household and was the first introduction the Indian population had to forensic science. The show followed the trend created by Byomkesh Bakshi and the comedy sitcom Karamchand on Doordarshan where these shows revolved around non-conventional investigations and police work.
CID boasted of many accolades during its broadcast including a 111-minute uncut episode which still has a place in the Guinness Book of World records. The show also had plenty of crossovers from various other shows and a huge lineup of guest stars including Sunny Leone, Om Puri, Kapil Dev, R Madhavan, Kareena Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and the late Sushant Singh Rajput which was quite reminiscent of the guest appearances on FRIENDS.
HBO Max finally premiering the FRIENDS Reunion after years of teasing the fans. The FRIENDS reunion show was not a reboot of the show or an actual episode. It was just the main cast members coming back on the sets of the show once again with guest stars who appeared on the show and exchanging stories.
This was a major disappointment to the millions of fans worldwide who expected it to be an actual episode where Ross, Chandler, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe and Joey discuss their lives since the end of the series rather than the actors David Schwimmer, Mathew Perry, Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc discuss their roles and their experience on the show. It was even more disappointing to fans who subscribed to HBO Max expecting to see a whole new season.
Our sources within Sony Entertainment Television have informed us that there has been a series of requests from the cast of CID, to have a similar reunion episode in October 2021. The office of Sony Entertainment has also been flooded with Tweets and mail from fans who want to see their beloved cast on screen again.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/27/cid-cast-demand-reunion-show-similar-to-friends-reunion-episode/
With Twitter facing the heat recently from the Government of India over flagging of tweets from members of the ruling party, the controversial CEO Jack Dorsey is rumoured to have joined the Indian microblogging platform Koo.
Former fashion model Jack Dorsey co-founded Twitter with Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass in 2006 and was CEO of Twitter in phases when he was removed from the position multiple times. This speculation was finally put to rest in October 2015 when he was appointed permanent CEO of Twitter after taking over as CEO for the 3rd time in June that year.
Jack Dorsey has always courted controversy especially on matters relating to political alliance with Twitter, as a company, aligning more closely with his policies and biases on issues rather than with the rule of the land or a neutral position. There have been accusations of Twitter fuelling the Iran revolution in 2009, facilitating the Muslim Brotherhood revolution in the Middle East in 2011, meddling with the US election in 2016, and more recently interfering with the political unrest in India.
Jack Dorsey also has the distinction of losing control over his own Twitter handle twice in the past few years when his account was temporarily suspended in 2016 and also in 2019 where a cyber collective known as the Chuckling Squad hacked his account and posted white supremacist content.
Twitter has also been repeatedly accused of manipulating its algorithm to amplify or hide the impact any particular point of view is having on the platform. With the latest introduction of flagging tweets for being short on facts or considered inflammatory, they are facing a lot of flak for being one-sided. This is said to be the main point of friction in India where tweets from BJP leaders and their accounts have been flagged recently. This was only compounded by the freehand the leaders had on Koo.
Koo is the Indian version of Twitter with almost identical features including the logo which happens to be a yellow bird instead of Twitter’s blue. The Bengaluru based app was launched in 2020 after winning the Prime Ministers Atmanirbhar Challenge and boasts of native capability in Kannada, Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and English. The general tone of the app tends to be right-wing in nature with a lot of pro-establishment ideology being shared. This could be attributed to the early adopters being ministers and people associated with the Government of India and the BJP.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/26/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-joins-koo-to-rally-support-against-banning-of-twitter/
Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has clarified to the US Senate at a closed-door hearing that the black, white and yellow fungus being found in India is not a race issue and has to be treated differently due to the different pathological implications. He also did not rule out the fact that these post COVID complications could arise in the US as well and that they needed to be prepared against it.
Mucormycosis or Black Fungus is a very rare infection. It is caused by exposure to mucor mould which is commonly found in soil, plants, manure, and decaying fruits and vegetables. It affects the sinuses, the brain and the lungs and can be life-threatening in diabetic or severely immunocompromised individuals, such as cancer patients or people with HIV/AIDS.
White Fungus infection is caused due to fungi moulds present in the environment. The disease isn’t contagious, but a person is said to be vulnerable to the infection since these moulds can be easily inhaled by a patient. After inhalation, the moulds can spread to vital organs and cause complications thereafter. White Fungus infection affects the lungs as well as other parts of the body including nails, skin, stomach, kidney, brain, private parts and the mouth. White fungus is curable with commonly available medicines and does not need expensive injections unlike in the case of mucormycosis, nor is it as deadly
The newly discovered Yellow Fungus infection, much like other fungal infection spreads via contaminated environments, or when a suspected patient inhales moulds (mycometes) which grow in the environment.
What makes this infection different from white and black fungus infection is the manner of its spread. While black fungus starts with distinct facial disfiguration, the yellow fungus infection starts to cause symptoms by launching an attack on the body’s internal organs and disturbing vital bodily processes.
It is important to note that none of these infections is contagious and the best way to prevent getting infected is to maintain hygiene, cleanliness and basic sanitization protocol.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/25/anthony-fauci-clarifies-that-black-white-and-yellow-fungus-is-not-racist-classification/
Fresh after dominating the Billboard Countdown Awards 2021, the international South Korean sensation BTS is set to engage the services of legendary Indian rapper Baba Sehgal to enhance the band’s appeal across the whole of the world to dominate every music awards show from the Grammys to the Mirchi Music Awards.
The 7 member boy band who hail from South Korea have taken the international music scene by storm since their debut in 2013. Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook write and produce most of their songs making them, even more, relatable to the target audience. Although initially targeted towards teenage South East Asian girls, the K-Pop explosion around the world after the success of Gangnam Style by PSY propelled them into the hearts of fans worldwide. Going with the trend of die-hard fans calling themselves Beliebers or Little Monsters, the BTS fanbase is known as the ARMY.
BTS or Bangtan Sonyeondan or Bangtan Boys was initially conceptualised as a hip hop collective like the Wu-Tang Klan but then adopted a more generic style with a strong hip hop influence over the years. Hit songs include Dynamite, Butter and DNA. They have received 6 American Music Awards, 9 Billboard Music Awards and 24 Golden Disk Awards, and nominations for a Grammy Award and a Brit Award. They were also the first non-English speaking act to sell out Wembley Stadium and have also featured in Time magazine’s list of most influential people on the internet.
BTS is very active on social media and regularly drops messages to the fans, behind the scenes footage and promos to their new songs. They also recently sent a message to all fans in Indian asking them to remain calm and strong amidst the pandemic. They are also all set to announce their anniversary concert which will be online considering the current situation worldwide.
For the uninitiated, Baba Sehgal was the revolutionary musician who introduced India and the world to Hindi Rap or Desi Hip Hop. Although they will not admit it in public, some of India’s greatest rappers like Ace, Raftaar, Yo Yo Honey Singh etc has been inspired by the musical genius of Baba Sehgal. While being huge in the 90s with every 90s kid having grooved to either Aaja Meri Gaadi Mein Bait Ja, Thanda Thanda Paani or Manjula. Baba Sehgal has not left the music scene and still releases independent singles on his YouTube Channel like Kela Kaho, Aloo Ka Paratha, Jalebi Aur Samosa, Biriyani Khao and Return of Corona.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/24/baba-sehgal-to-join-bts-to-help-win-the-elusive-grammy/
Filipino national treasure and arguably one of the greatest boxers to have ever graced the boxing ring, Manny Pacquiao, is all set to return to the boxing ring for a match against the current unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. This would be his first match since his victory in 2019 against Keith Thurman when he became the oldest welterweight champion in boxing history. He later vacated the title.
His opponent is considered to be the 4th best pound for pound fighter in the division today and is also set to take home his biggest paycheck even if he loses this fight. He boasts of a 27 – 0 professional record and this seems to be the first step towards going head to head with Terrence Crawford.
Manny Pacquiao, or Pac Man as he is fondly called by fans all around the world, is a living legend in his home country of the Philippines. He has not only elevated the country’s global presence in the field of boxing but has also dabbled in multiple sports, entertainment and is also currently a Senator in the Philippines government. He is also a full colonel in the reserve army.
Manny has sung over 16 songs, released 2 music albums, featured in 7 video games, over 27 documentaries, hosted 6 TV shows and appeared in 8 movies. He is also a professional basketball player making him one of the most diversely talented people on the planet. He is also heavily into philanthropic work and has coordinated with international charities for relief work in the Philippines after major natural calamities.
The southpaw has stayed away from the boxing arena for over a year and also maintained a low profile after his loss in the much-acclaimed fight with Floyd Mayweather in 2015 before his victory over Garcia. He was in the news for his political stand against homosexuality and his pro capital punishment agenda.
Our sources within his entourage told us that Manny was not used to the easy life of a politician and desperately wanted to feel alive again. Although he still trained like usual, he was also being constantly reminded of his age and being ridiculed by the opposition. This fight against the current champion was an attempt to regain his lost glory and standing in the eyes of the world.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/22/manny-pacquiao-to-fight-errol-spence-jr-to-get-over-stress-of-political-career/
As Mohanlal, or the Complete Actor as he is known to fans, celebrates his 61st birthday today, the lockdown has put a damper into the usual high-intensity celebrations by his fans all over Kerala. Wishes have started pouring in from all quarters of the film industry and YouTube is already filled with fan-made tributes as this article goes into publication.
Mohanlal, who prefers to act in mainly Malayalam cinema, has also appeared in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films in a career spanning 40 years and 360 films. He is the recipient of 5 National Awards and 9 Kerala State Awards. He was also awarded the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma Bhushan in 2019. He was also the first actor to be awarded the honorary title of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army.
Although starting his career in a negative role, he moved on and established himself as a bankable leading actor in the mid-1980s. Mohanlal then moved onto film production, distribution, playback singing and also dabbled with Television where he is the host of the Malayalam version of Bigg Boss. He also recently announced his foray into the world of film direction with the movie Barroz.
Lalettan, as he is fondly referred to by his fans, is constantly compared to the other giant of the Malayalam film industry, Mammootty and with whom he is known to share a great friendship off-screen. More than political, ideological or religious differences between the people of Kerala, the question that truly divides the Malayali into two camps is the question, “Are you a Mohanlal or Mammootty fan?”
On his birthday today, the All Kerala Mohanlal Fans Association is set to issue an international challenge to all aspiring and existing filmmakers around the world. Although this announcement is set to happen in the evening once the official website is live, our source who also happens to be an office-bearer in the association let us know more details of this contest.
This is an open invitation to anyone who thinks that they have a script or a character that they believe that Mohanlal cannot play.
Our source told us that every year they plan grand celebrations and throw amazing parties in major cities, but this year they decided to keep in mind the lockdown protocol in place and have a subdued celebration. “We are not politicians who can openly flout the very rules that they put in place”, he said referring to the completely mismanaged swearing-in ceremony of the new LDF government.
“We decided to restrict our celebrations to online platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype, Google Teams and Zoom. We started getting people from all over the world of various nationalities to join our discussion forums and saying how much they love our Lalettan. One of the discussions got a little heated when an American claimed that Daniel Day-Lewis was better than Lalettan. As per latest reports, there were over 42 laptops that were destroyed during that debate.”
“To put to rest any doubt that Lalettan was the best actor in the world, we are launching this platform where people can submit scripts for movies which they think that Lalettan will not be able to do justice to. We will pick 10 movies and start with the pre-production work to shoot and release the movies next year. The deadline for submissions is 30th June 2021.”
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/21/fans-launch-an-international-contest-on-mohanlals-birthday-to-find-movie-scripts/
With the euphoria of the elections dying down and both sides finally taking a break from the constant verbal war of words of social media, the overall confusion of the population in the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have now come to the fore.
The states have had a different path to where they are now. Tamil Nadu ushered in a new government and a first time Chief Minister while Kerala broke the 40-year-old trend of anti-incumbency and re-elected the only communist government in India. Both these results were a field day for the media who launched various analysis and assessments on the developments.
The DMK leader M K Stalin has taken up the Chief Ministerial spot after waiting in the wings for over 30 years. His father the late former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, was a 3 time Chief Minister and considered to be Jayalalitha’s greatest adversary. Stalin has assumed office and taken a grip on the functioning of the state.
The Pinarayi Vijayan led LDF government on the other hand managed to keep their party in power by easily brushing off a spirited BJP and also a concentrated effort by the Rahul Gandhi led UDF. The government is set to conduct the oath-taking ceremony this week. The preparations including inviting 500 guests for the swearing-in ceremony when the district of Thiruvananthapuram is under “Triple Lockdown” is inviting a lot of criticism.
The trend where the Indian voter feels immediately betrayed after voting for an election has not changed. There are usually 3 reactions to this.
Die-hard supporters of the winning party are extremely vocal and try to justify the government’s decision by creating as much noise as possible and putting forward justifications even when not asked.
Many who supported the winning party tend to hide their emotion as the policy that the government has implemented was not what they voted for.
The non-supporters of the government usually launch into an “I told you so” tirade. This is usually followed by demonstrations and protests disturbing the law and order situation of the state.
However, this time around, all voters seem to have stepped back from adopting any of these usual options and have been exhibiting a different behaviour according to a top clinical psychiatrist in the city, Dr Nair.
Read the full article at - http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/20/kerala-and-tamil-nadu-voters-in-a-devastating-stage-of-mental-befuddlement-say-top-psychiatrist/
A popular Islamic cleric and social media influencer has claimed that there is a master plan being put in place by forces against Islam to discredit the contributions of Muslims in society and especially in the field of entertainment. He gave examples of the biggest releases that happened on Eid, Salman Khan’s Radhe and Emiway Bantai’s Machaayenge 3.
Both Salman Khan and Emiway Bantai, whose real name is Bilal Shaikh, are Muslims by birth but have repeatedly stood by their secular and liberal outlook towards life. They are also among the biggest names in the world of film and desi hip hop. The absolute disasters of their releases on Eid have been very much talked about.
Emiway Bantai burst onto the desi hip hop scene with the much-debated beef with Raftaar and has not looked back since. Although there is a lack of respect for his craft within the hip hop industry, as most people believe that lyricism or penmanship is not his forte, he is nevertheless very popular with the masses and has over 8 million subscribers on YouTube.
Machaayenge 3 was a reboot of his biggest hit Machaayenge which came out 2 years ago and he has dropped a version every year since. The song is in all essence a slightly altered version of the original with new over-simplified lyrics that Emiway Bantai is known for.
Salman Khan on the other hand is an industry veteran with him claiming the Eid release spot for over 15 years. His biggest release of the year is always slated for release on Eid and he often breaks the fourth wall to wish his fans Eid Mubarak in his films. All his previous films apart from Race 3 have been massive hits but he has been on the receiving end of trolls with his newer releases.
Our source from Nairobi in Kenya, who is also the Islamic cleric who has made these claims tells us that both these artists are not foolish enough to know that their releases were below par and not of the quality that is expected from an Eid release. This clearly shows that there are forces at play, making their moves behind the scene, to ruin Eid celebrations for Muslims around the world.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/19/emiway-bantai-and-salman-khan-are-part-of-a-plot-to-spoil-eid-claims-top-islamic-cleric/
Tata Motors has made a startling announcement to help in India’s fight against the COVID19 virus by offering to convert all Tata Nanos newer than 2009 into a portable ICU bed with Oxygen and other medical equipment. This modification is planned to be undertaken at the Sanand plant which currently builds the Tata Tigor and Tiago.
The Tata Nano was a much talked about car at launch with its purchase price of INR 1,00,000 making it one of the cheapest cars in the world. The car ran into issues early in its lifetime when the factory had to be shifted from Singur in West Bengal to the current location in Gujrat. This delayed the launch and hurt its prospects for advance bookings.
This was followed by a negative perception among the Indian public that the car is unsafe due to its low cost and innovative cost-cutting tactics. This was not helped by multiple reports of the car catching fire across the country. It also became the symbol of cheapness on the Indian roads for no fault of its own. The car was a pretty decent one at that price and the fact is that even the first car, Ford Model T, was far more expensive than a Nano.
The Nano production was officially stopped in August 2018 after repeated poor sales and the company producing only 1 car in June 2018. Tata Motors continues to enjoy great success through its other models on the market and has also built the reputation for having some of the safest cars on Indian roads.
The Tatas have always been known for their philanthropic nature and have contributed to society every time it was needed for someone to step up. They are known to be extremely employee-friendly and are usually a part of or behind powerful CSR initiatives within the country. Ratan Tata, the current Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Group is a well known and highly respected businessman by young and old alike.
There was even a Twitter campaign in the recent past which was to convince the government to confer Ratan Tata with the highest civilian award in the country, the Bharat Ratna. Ratan Tata himself appealed on social media to discontinue the campaign as he was happy to contribute to society without any formal award.
Taking a cue from Anand Mahindra to convert Mahindra Boleros into mini ambulances, our sources within the Tata motors executive committee has informed us that there are plans to buy back old Tata Nanos to convert them into portable ICU’s with oxygen. The cars will be modified at the facility in Sanand, Gujrat and the buyback is expected to begin next week.
Read the full article at - http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/18/tata-nano-to-be-converted-to-mini-icus-across-india/
Arguably one of the best players the game of football has ever seen, Lionel Messi has been a mainstay at the Spanish football club Barcelona for over 16 years. After a rough phase last year where Messi was forced to honour his contract, he is now all set to leave the club as FC Barcelona seems to be more focused on figuring out what the future without Messi will be.
The Argentinian has won a record six Ballon d’Or awards, a record six European Golden Shoes, and in 2020 was named to the Ballon d’Or Dream Team. He has spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he has won a club-record 35 trophies, including ten La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and four UEFA Champions Leagues. Messi also holds the records for most goals in La Liga (474), a La Liga and European league season (50), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (8), and most assists in La Liga (192), a La Liga and European league season (21) and the Copa América (12). He has scored over 750 senior career goals for club and country and has the most goals ever by a player for a single club.
Despite this amazing success, Lionel Messi was at loggerheads with the management of the club last year which led to the player putting down a request to be transferred and be relieved of his contract. The management managed to persuade him to stay on for one more year and complete his contractual obligations.
Often compared with another modern-day legend Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi has a solid fan base all around the world and clubs are currently lining up all their finances to try and be the one who can offer Messi the best financial offer to join the club.
Our sources who are close to Lionel Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, have claimed that apart from the usual suspects like PSG, Inter Milan, Borrusia Dortmund, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, there have been reports of an enquiry coming in from the Indian Super League or ISL. The ISL is India’s answer to the football leagues around the world and is not the preferred place for players of this calibre. The league is usually preferred by players who are no longer impactful on the international scene.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/17/messi-to-join-kerala-blasters-fc-to-ease-himself-into-retired-life/
he International Day of Families was first observed in 1993 after the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to observe the 15th of May every year as a tribute to families around the world. Every year, a theme is decided by the general body and the theme for 2021 is Families and Technology.
The last couple of years in particular have been tough on families the world over with many of us losing a family member to the COVID19 pandemic. We believe that it has brought families closer to a certain extent with the regular lockdowns and Work from Home concept. Families that were restricted to contact via technology has now ditched the phone and spend time with each other.
Doctors and psychiatrists around the world have stressed the importance of family at such an important juncture in the lifecycle of the human race. The presence of family around us help people fight depression and loneliness and to a very large extent prevent suicides as well. Experts believe that the comforting presence of a loved one automatically blocks out negative thoughts and give us hope. It also contributes to a generally positive outlook despite the gloom and death all around.
Following our last expose on the Indian cricketers demanding to not allow wives on tour, our source had reported that there were multiple meetings held to try and resolve the situation. The BCCI and the Union Sports Ministry was set to make an official statement on May 15th, which coincided with the International Day of Families. While the announcement has not happened yet, our source within the Sports Ministry and also part of the inner circles of power told us that Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju was upset.
Our source states that the Minister was disappointed with the talent pool available in the country for various sports. The only sport where there is no dearth of talent is cricket but even then, the expanse of the country is making it difficult to identify and groom the talent.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/15/sports-defies-the-spirit-of-the-family-system-claims-kiren-rijiju-on-international-day-of-families-2021/
Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR which is India’s top governing medical body has stated that the latest Salman Khan starrer Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai is more effective against the mutant variant of the virus than most homemade hacks for immunity building currently practised in India.
India has been the source of numerous traditional recipes for homemade solutions for almost all ailments, the COVID19 pandemic being no exception. People all over India, regardless of caste or religion have been using some Ayurveda, Siddha or Naturopathy inspired formulas for protecting them against the virus. The trust placed in these recipes is more than what the general population has in the vaccines.
The recipes range from absurd solutions like drinking gomuthra or cow’s urine to stuff with some basic scientific backing like drinking boiled water with neem, lemon, cloves and fenugreek. There are recipes available that can be drunk, inhaled, consumed and even applied to the body.
The premier Indian medical body has previously released statements that these hacks are not the answer to the virus. The population of India needs to get themselves vaccinated to have any assurance whatsoever that they can be even slightly protected. However, with the falling number of vaccines available, the ICMR is more than happy to let the placebo effect take control to reduce any kind of panic like situation in the country.
With the much-awaited Eid release of Salman Khan’s Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, the ICMR have data from the last 24 hours to show that the movie may be able to provide a safety net from the attack of the virus and is more effective than any of the current hacks practised in the country.
Salman Khan is inarguably the most polarising man in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A section of society hates him to the core while the other half would gladly lay down their lives for him. The movie Radhe was supposed to be released last year but was pushed forward due to the pandemic and is Salman Khan’s first release since Dabangg 3 in 2019.
Our sources within ICMR have said that this particular scenario was first observed by doctors of a die-hard Bhai fan who was hospitalised with severe oxygen depletion in New Delhi. The patient had subscribed to the Zee OTT platform to watch the movie as his last action in this lifetime. However, within 15 mins of watching the movie, the patient’s oxygen levels started increasing and stabilised after the end of the movie. Although still not out of complete danger, the patient’s condition has vastly improved.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/14/salman-khans-radhe-more-effective-against-virus-than-homemade-hacks-claims-icmr/
The Israel-Palestine conflict has been the talking point across all major news channels around the world with various sections of the public taking sides and putting forward their views and opinions on the matter. Social Media is also ablaze with various hashtags trending and the 2 sides desperately trying to justify the atrocities and bombings being conducted by either side.
The situation has worsened over the past couple of days and most countries have put out restrained statements on the issue. What started as a protest against forced evictions, now has the full potential to escalate into a long drawn out conflict with increasing fatalities on both sides.
The focal point of the conflict in recent days has been the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem where Palestinians are being forced to evacuate by the Israelis.
On Monday, Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa compound, where thousands of worshippers had gathered to defend themselves from encroachment by Israeli settlers. Three hundred Palestinians and twenty-one Israeli officers were wounded. Hamas responded by firing hundreds of rockets from Gaza into Israel, some of which struck in Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, and other cities. Israel retaliated with a hundred and thirty airstrikes in Gaza.
Many countries have expressed their concern over the happenings at Jerusalem while also refusing to take a stand, as a political or diplomatic leaning towards either side could result in an internal upheaving within their respective countries.
The whole situation is being portrayed both as a Muslim vs Jew issue while some quarters prefer to position this as a property dispute. The evacuation of long time Muslims from Sheikh Jarrah has become an intense battle on social media as well with the call to stand in solidarity with both sides gaining momentum. Despite having formal diplomatic ties with Israel, India has also not issued a formal statement apart from expressing concern about the situation there.
The happenings in the most volatile region in the Middle East has dominated newspaper reports around the world pushing the COVID19 crisis in India to the backseat. The lack of international focus on the issue in India is hurting the attack by the Opposition parties on the NDA government.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/13/israel-palestine-conflict-manufactured-by-bjp-to-divert-attention-from-covid19-cases-in-india-claim-rahul-gandhi/
In a move that was not surprising to people who are closely following the political developments in the Indo-Pacific region, China has announced that it is launching an initiative to counter the India, USA, Japan and Australia alliance known as the Quad.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad is an informal strategic dialogue between the United States, Japan, Australia and India that is maintained by talks between member countries. The grouping was initiated in 2007 by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, with the support of Vice President Dick Cheney of the US, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.
The dialogue followed increased maritime activity in the Indo Pacific and mainly in the South China Sea in what was considered as an open message to China to curtail their illegal expansionist policy in the South China Sea. The Chinese government had initially responded by lodging a formal complaint with all the participant nations. They have also issued a decree to countries dependant on China to stay away from the Quad and resist all inclinations to participate.
Most recently, China had issued an open threat to Bangladesh to not engage with the Quad in any way to which Bangladesh responded saying that China should not interfere in Bangladesh’s internal matters and that being a free and sovereign country they will take their own decisions.
This has led to what many experts believe is a knee jerk response from China to save face and there is a consensus that it is not only ill-timed but also ill-fated. China has been open about its expansionist policies on land and sea. China is currently locked in territorial disputes with all its neighbours and has influenced countries to part with land in exchange for economic or political aid.
Being an alliance of countries who are not culturally or socio-politically similar have always failed and any alliance with China is destined to deliver the same result.
Our sources within the Chinese Communist Party or the CCP have told us that China cannot risk losing face again after the aftermath of the Bangladesh incident. He also let us know that the South China Sea is very important for the growth of China and that they will resort to any means to ensure that it is fully in their control.
We pressed on further to know more about the PENTA grouping. Our source told us that this will be an informal alliance whose core objective will be to safeguard the interests of the 5 member nations within the South China Sea. There will be a quarterly dialogue and joint military and navy exercises planned to counter the “offensive” tactics of the Quad.
Our source has also revealed that the 5 member nations who comprise the PENTA are Pakistan, Turkey, Cambodia, North Korea and Azerbaijan.
The grouping of the countries seemed completely random to us, which led to us digging for more information within the airtight chambers of the Communist Party. The reason we did not believe that this was an amalgamation of a group of like-minded countries was
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/12/china-launches-penta-alliance-to-counter-the-quad-after-bangladesh-rebuke/
Megastar Mammootty has been an icon in the Malayalam film industry for the past 50 years and has graced the screen in multiple languages in his long and illustrious career. He is widely regarded as one of the best actors in the country and the world.
The 69-year-old actor, born Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail made his debut in 1971 and has since gone on to garner 3 National Film Awards, 7 Kerala State Awards and 13 Filmfare Awards South. He was also awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award by the Government of India in 1988. He has acted in over 6 languages and also has one of the largest fan followings in the country.
Known for his fitness and good looks, Mammootty has constantly experimented with his looks on screen and is also known for taking up projects that kept challenging him over the years. He has acted as characters with definite shades of grey while also portraying the conventional hero with aplomb. He is known for easily switching between the stylish urban and the macho rural male with equal ease. The only heel in his armour is probably dancing, for which he has poked fun at himself in multiple movies.
A lawyer by qualification, Mammootty practised law for a few years before quitting to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. His son Dulquer Salmaan or DQ is a popular actor in the Malayalam and Tamil film industries while his brother Ibrahim Kutty is a well-known face in Malayalam television. His nephew Maqbool Salmaan is also an actor in Malayalam cinema.
Our sources in the Malayalam industry had told us a while ago that there were plans to begin work on a mega-budget biopic of the actor to commemorate Mammootty’s 50th year in cinema in 2021. The film was set to go on floors last year but was pushed forward after the first wave of the pandemic. The second wave has now threatened to push the start of the schedule even further.
The film’s story was set to chronicle the actors’ early life, entry into films, meteoric rise and relationships within the industry. Mammootty is also rumoured to have worked closely with the scriptwriters to ensure that no key moments in his life are missed out. Our source tells us that a high profile team was also set in place by the production house Friday Film House helmed by Vijay Babu. Mani Ratnam was to direct the film with Santosh Sivan, A R Rahman, Resul Pookutty, Peter Hein and Sabu Cyril set to join the project as well.
However, the whole project has hit a snag. The veteran actor is now claimed to have backed out of playing himself in the much-awaited biopic. This would have been an extremely rare scenario where an actor got to play himself in a movie about his life and Mammootty would have gone down in history as the only actor to do so in Indian cinema. Other notable personalities who have done this include Muhammed Ali and Howard Stern.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/11/megastar-mammootty-refuses-the-chance-to-play-himself-in-his-biopic/
The BCCI had announced a 20 man team that is set to travel to England for the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand followed by the test series against the England Team. Although there were no surprises in the composition of the Indian team, the duration of the tour and the amount of time that the players would have to remain in a bio bubble had certainly raised a few eyebrows.
The BCCI announced a 3-month tour itinerary, where the Indian team would start with an 8-day quarantine in India following which they will fly to England in a chartered flight and then remain in quarantine for another 10 days. This will be followed by a strict bio bubble that cannot be breached until the end of the tour. The players will be allowed to train once they reach England as they will technically have been in isolation for the past 10 days. No training will be allowed during the initial quarantine in India.
Keeping in mind the extended period that the players will be in the bio bubble, the BCCI has also announced that the players will be allowed to take their wives along for the tour, provided the wives also consent to follow the strict protocol that will be in place. This seemed to be a compassionate decision on the part of the BCCI who are usually accused of putting their players through a heavy workload and a packed international schedule every year.
Although some sports fans have alluded to the fact that as professional sportsmen, staying away from their families is part of the job, there has been no major voices raised from either the host country or the opposition team.
However, our sources within the BCCI have informed us that a group of players have written a letter requesting the BCCI to revoke the decision to allow players to bring their family along.
It is believed that out of the 20 players who have been selected to travel to England, 9 players have written to the BCCI to reconsider the rule that allows cricketers to take their wives along with them on the tour. Interestingly, only 3 players out of the 20 selected are unmarried. This means that only Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Shardul Thakur will be travelling without their significant other during this tour.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/10/indian-cricketers-talk-to-bcci-to-disallow-wives-in-the-bio-bubble-for-world-test-championship/
Indian households run the risk of running out of household or food resources faster than any country in the world during lockdown warn socio-cultural experts in the country. The lockdown restricts the replenishment of the food resources in the house leading to an unplanned shortage of daily supplies leading to a crisis, according to recent studies.
With various state governments across India implementing lockdowns due to the growing number of COVID19 cases, residents have been queueing up and planning out their shopping and purchase of basic requirements to last the lockdown period. Different states have different periods of lockdown which makes it difficult for us to draw a direct comparison among the states.
For example, Maharashtra implemented a 15-day lockdown, Kerala a 10 day one and Tamil Nadu was at 14 days. What is open and available although similar in most parts of the country, there are slight variations as well, which means things are available in some states whereas it might not be available in another.
The biggest mistake Indians do when preparing for a lockdown is that they only take into consideration the consumption of the food items and not the actual usage. Indians are notorious for using hacks or “jugaad” to get things done at a cheaper cost around the house. This is most true in the case of beauty hacks or secrets passed down from generations.
Every family in India has their recipes and top-secret concoctions that their grandmother used to swear by. This beauty tip is then passed down from mother to daughter becoming an essential part of our self-care routine.
This is not a phenomenon that is intrinsic to rural India where the reach of branded cosmetics is limited. The urban area and people from all walks of life also indulge in this practice. Even list celebrities like Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra have come forward and shared beauty tips that were passed on from their mothers. The number of beauty centric DIY channels on YouTube is another testament to the popularity of this form of beauty treatment.
Our sources within the Niti Aayog have informed us that the committee is concerned that this behaviour, which is culturally prominent in the subcontinent, is never taken into consideration in the various data modelling mechanisms around the world. This will lead to a miscalculation of how much food the average Indian household needs for a month resulting in the benefits rolled out by the government becoming insufficient.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/09/experts-warn-of-depletion-of-homemade-supplies-during-lockdown/
One of the shining stars of the startup scene in India, BYJU’s has decided to expand its market by venturing into a new segment of the population. This expansion was set to be officially announced this week, but the lockdown like situation in Bengaluru has prompted the company to delay the announcement by a few weeks to express solidarity with the country.
Despite a concentrated effort by a certain section of the society who claim that the whole operation including the subsidiaries and recent acquisition is extremely unethical and education is not their primary concern, BYJU’s have managed to continue showing growth and resilience.
What started as a regular tuition centre in the Indian city of Bengaluru in 2006, the growth to the most valuable edutech company in the world worth 13 billion USD has been spectacular, to say the least. The parent company Think and Learn Pvt Ltd was established in 2011 and they have been on an acquisition spree of late.
Over the past few years, they have acquired almost all the major edutech companies emerging in the Indian market and have consolidated themselves as the true market leader in the education obsessed country. The acquisitions include White Hat Jr, Osmo, Scholr, TutorVista and most recently Akash Educational services. The major backers of the company include Sequoia Capital, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), Tencent and a host of others. They were officially listed as a Unicorn (a company with a valuation of USD 1 billion) in 2018.
This growth has not been free of controversies. There have been multiple claims of BYJU’s forcibly shutting down negative reviews, taking down videos and blocking Twitter and Facebook accounts of people who had raised issues with the way the company operates. There have been multiple claims of harassment from parents who were no longer interested in continuing subscriptions and also reports of extreme work pressure being piled up on their own sales staff to hit targets.
While speaking to our source at the BYJU’s HQ in Bengaluru, we were told that the company has grand designs for the future and plans to dominate the education market in India before taking over the world. They already have products for children at a pre KG level to the 12th standard. Future roadmaps of the company include providing services and products for children with their entrance exams as well.
What caught our attention was the attempt by BYJUS’s to target the result obsessed parents of children who are waiting for their children to turn 3 so that they can take a subscription to the app. Our source claims that there is a product ready to be launched that will target children between the ages of 1 – 3. This app will take away all the parenting requirements in terms of basic knowledge building that comes from a nurturing environment and place the toddlers in the safe hands of the company.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/08/byjus-to-launch-course-material-for-prenatal-babies/
In a startling move that goes in open defiance of the Telecoms Ministry’s porn ban which came into full effect in 2018, India’s most popular mobile internet provider is rumoured to be contemplating lifting the ban on over 800 pornographic websites. This will be done after carefully analysing the websites and will not be applicable on sites that indulge in child pornography.
The porn ban was put in place in 2 phases by the Indian government first in 2015 and then in 2018. This was considered to be a way to combat sexual abuse and crimes against women by restricting the influence porn seemed to have on the Indian population. Despite widespread protest against this ban, internet providers across the country implemented this ruling.
The ban however has not managed in curbing the violence against women and had only helped the general population understand the existence of VPNs (Virtual Private Network). This in turn had led to the increase of cases of internet fraud and phishing attacks on the Indian consumer. This is mainly because of the unrestricted downloads of fake and malicious VPNs from the app store. Many Chinese companies are also rumoured to have created apps just to collect information from Indian users.
With almost pan India coverage and competitive pricing, Reliance Jio has had a meteoric rise in the mobile data space. This has also led to other players in the market having to either consolidate and merge like Idea-Vodafone or completely exit the space. The extremely cheap pricing has also led companies like Airtel and BSNL to reduce their prices to stay competitive in the market.
At launch, Reliance Jio had almost rock bottom prices which led to easy adoption among the Indian population. The concept of offering phone calls and SMS for free while you only pay for the data was a crucial factor in both the product penetration into the market and also the accessibility to cheap mobile data contributed to the unprecedented growth of mobile-based apps and services in the country.
Our sources within Reliance Jio have told us that this open defiance of the government rules has been prompted by a couple of things.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/07/reliance-jio-to-lift-porn-ban-to-encourage-people-to-stay-indoors/
With IPL suspending its 2021 season due to the outbreak of the COVID19 virus within the various IPL camps, the new focus is on getting the international players safely home. The BCCI has started its plans to safely evacuate the players keeping in mind the international safety protocols and restrictions. This massive exercise is being coordinated by the BCCI with the support of the IPL team management.
Australia had announced stricter rules and a complete ban of visitors and Australian citizens from India sparking outrage among its population demanding that the Australians should be allowed to come back home. The Australian government had compounded these restrictions with fines and jail terms to those who return from India. The restrictions also include a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all entrants into the island country.
The Australian Prime Minister has been under a lot of fire recently for these decisions and has reluctantly rolled back the jail term included with this plan. The justification given is that Australia does not want to be engulfed by the third wave among its largely unvaccinated population. In a country with only a population of 25 million people, the vaccine rollout has been very slow drawing criticism from various sections of society.
Although almost all countries have implemented a travel ban against travellers from India, these were by far the strictest by any nation. Countries like the UAE, UK and a host of others have suspended flights indefinitely from India.
With the IPL no longer taking place, the BCCI is now under pressure to ensure that the player and support staff reach home safely. The largest contingent of players is from Australia, with Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson and Andrew Tye having already left earlier before the travel restrictions were put in place. Players from England, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, West Indies and Bangladesh have also been in touch with their respective boards to facilitate the travel back.
The BCCI has also announced that to facilitate the return of the Australian players, they will be routed through the Maldives where they will complete a mini quarantine before catching a chartered flight back to Australia.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/06/international-ipl-players-protest-preferential-treatment-given-to-aussies/
With the COVID19 virus showing no signs of slowing down and the heavy toll on the medical infrastructure of the country, many states are looking at offbeat methods to combat the virus. The central government is doing its best to meet the requirements of the different states but it has been obvious for a while that the states cannot be fully reliant on the Centre if they are to survive the pandemic.
This has lead to the states incorporating people from various walks of life in the committees’ setup up to counter the spread of the virus. This includes international design thinkers, policymakers and the general public.
The state of Maharashtra has been the worst hit among all the states in India across both waves and the impact it has had on the economic and functional elements of the government has been far-reaching. From being the epicentre for the migrant labour migration crisis to the struggles with providing basic amenities like hospital beds, the Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress alliance has had its hands full in recent times.
The handling of the crisis has been quite callous at times with almost no restrictions in place once the first wave had died down. This laid the foundations for the even deadlier second wave to take a firm grip on the lives of the residents of the state. The opening up of places like malls, movie theatres, gyms etc was essential to restore the economic condition of the state, but it was very much believed that the complete easing of the restrictions was not the best idea.
Currently, the state is facing a two-fold crisis. The first one is to contain the spread of the virus to reduce the load on the hospitals and the second one is to accelerate the vaccination drive. Both these measures have to be looked at with the same level of intensity to ensure that Maharashtra can overcome the virus and return to some semblance of normalcy.
With the Central government helping out by providing a fair share of the vaccine requirements via a quota, it is now the responsibility of the state governments across the country to purchase the remaining doses directly from the vaccine manufacturer. This along with the applied lockdown is set to bring the count of active cases and deaths in the state down in the following weeks.
Our sources within the higher ranks of the Shiv Sena has informed us that the government is looking for and new and improved delivery systems for the vaccine across the state. While plenty of options were discussed the government feels that they now have a perfect solution to get the whole state vaccinated in under 3 days.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/05/maharashtra-requests-sii-for-vaccine-in-chutney-form/
Days after not being able to win a single seat in the Kerala state elections, the BJP think tank has finally conceded that they got the whole approach completely wrong. The party leadership at the state level is not up to the mark and the consistently poor results despite the party investing a fair amount of time and effort from top leaders from the North has lead to the introspection.
The incessant trolling on social media has completely rattled the well-oiled election machinery and the emergence of the fact that they do not have one Kerala centric face for the campaigns lead to the decision to focus on developing leaders from within the state rather than importing leaders at election times from across the country.
The current Kerala BJP leadership is lacklustre, to say the least. Party President K Surendran, former MLA O Rajagopal, current MP V Muraleedharan and former State President Kummanam Rajashekaran have not managed to capture the imagination of the Kerala public. Even the introduction of “Metroman” E Sreedharan as the CM candidate and superstar Suresh Gopi as the star campaigner have failed to produce results.
A PR oriented campaign was proposed as the initial suggestion to counter this scenario but the absolute failure of Wayanad MP and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s antics like jumping in the sea to swim with fishermen, doing pushups and demonstrating Aikido have proven that the Kerala public is too smart to fall for such gimmicks.
Our source within the BJP headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road in New Delhi has confirmed that the religious, nationalistic vegetarian was not the ideal representation of Kerala. The new face of the party needed to be a modern, beef-eating, middle-aged man who regardless of educational qualifications is known to be suave and sinister at the same time.
A look at the recent Chief Ministers of the state seems to follow a similar trend which completely induces intrigue. The most literate state in the country and whose parental ideals are firmly set in education seem to forego that qualification when it comes to politics. This was displayed by the dismal showing of independent candidates and the V for Kerala initiative.
All the party needs to do is project a person with the following characteristics and the BJP IT cell combined with the financial muscle that the party has will be enough to deliver better results in the next election. They need to be slightly worried about the highly sophisticated Kerala troll army which practically destroyed any credibility that former party faces like Alphonse Kannandanam, Suresh Gopi and Kummanam Rajashekaran had.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/04/bjp-announces-hunger-games-like-format-to-select-kerala-face-for-next-election/
In a bid to stop the world from becoming complacent in the fight against the COVID19 virus, industry giants, Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios are set to have prepared a joint statement urging their fanbase to not get swayed by rumours and stay vigilant in the fight against the virus.
The company which started in 1939 under Martin Goodman as Timely Comics, is one of the largest players in the comic book and superhero genre. Their comics have sold billions of copies to date and after venturing into the movie space have repeatedly broken box office records year after year. The parent company Marvel Entertainment was bought by Disney in 2009.
The Marvel stable boasts of popular superheroes like Iron Man, Captain America, Spiderman, members of the Avengers and the X Men. Their main competition in this space, DC Comics who own Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman among others have slowly ceded the number one spot to Marvel over the years.
Our sources within both Disney and Marvel Entertainment have confirmed that the management is highly disturbed by rumours floating around the various fan channels that the so-called double and triple mutant variety of the COVID19 virus that is being reported in India, Brazil and the rest of the world, is a hoax. Various conspiracy theorists have claimed that the reports of the various new mutant variants are just an elaborate PR stunt to promote the delayed X Men movies.
The production house is being accused of using the worldwide pandemic to promote their movie franchise which has been rudderless since the last Wolverine movie, Logan, which killed off the much-loved character player by actor Hugh Jackman. The constant buzz about a mutant variety of the virus is set to get the tongues blazing and the production house is set to capitalise on the buzz and promote their movie about mutants on earth.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/03/marvel-comics-denies-double-mutant-corona-virus-being-part-of-x-men/
The BAFTA or the British Academy of Film and Television Arts is one of the most acclaimed awards in the world following the Oscars. They convene every year to award the very best of British TV and Film and also have a category for international work apart from the usual awards given in multiple categories. The BAFTA’s were in the spotlight this year when Indian actor Adarsh Gourav was nominated for the movie The White Tiger, an adaptation of the Arvind Adiga novel of the same name.
The BAFTAs were established in 1949 with the Television Awards being introduced in 1955. This year’s awards ceremony are set to be conducted in June and the nominees were originally announced 4 days ago on the 28th of April. The event is set to be hosted for the 2nd year in a row by British comedian Richard Ayoade.
The nominee list for the 2021 Awards cannot be changed as the cut off date for the program to be aired was January 8th 2021 whereas Rajdeep’s performance was on the 2nd of May 2021. Although not for 2021, he is considered to be the frontrunner for the 2022 Awards. According to our source, it seems that the performance displayed by the Indian TV News anchor was just too good to be ignored in any scenario. This would also be the first time that a non-British performance is being entered into the race as a Wild Card entry.
Rajdeep Sardesai is a 55-year-old veteran of Indian journalism and has worked with Times of India, NDTV, CNN-IBN and India Today in his 33-year long career. His father Dilip Sardesai was a former test cricketer and Rajdeep is married to fellow senior journalist Sagarika Ghose. He was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award by India in 2008.
His editorial views have always come under the radar with Rajdeep shifting between pro-establishment and anti-establishment based on the current trends within the country. He is also the favourite of meme makers in India whenever they want to emphasise the failure of the Indian media. He has been overtaken by the editor of Republic TV and the loudest voice in Indian television, Arnab Goswami, of late.
Rajdeep has also been controversial, with him being taken off air multiple times and also having numerous FIRs filed against him by police departments of various Indian states for propagating unverified news leading to a collapse in the law and order situation in those states. He has also been on the receiving end of physical assault like public slappings and also rebukes from the people whom he interviews.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/02/rajdeep-sardesai-to-be-nominated-for-bafta-for-his-coverage-of-indian-elections/
The Parliament of World’s Religions is one of the frontrunners for advocating peace and cooperation between religious sects around the world. The famous speech by Swami Vivekananda which started with “Brothers and Sisters of America” was delivered at this conference in 1893. This platform has been used to address the issues faced by indigenous groups around the world and also promote brotherhood and a better understanding of each other.
After the 1893 conference, it took almost a century to host the next one in 1993. This was followed by events in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2015 and 2018. The 8th Parliament is to be convened in 2021 in a virtual format due to the pandemic.
Various international personalities have graced and spoken at this conference like the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Former US President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr Shirin Ebadi, Queen Noor of Jordan, Dr Jane Goodall, Rabbi David Saperstein, Margaret Atwood, Bishop William Barber, Dr Hans Kung, and Amma the Hugging Saint.
Although an unofficial organisation holding little to no influence over the activities of any formal religious organisation, this conference has been essential in bringing to light the fact that there can always be a civilised dialogue between ideologically diverse groups.
Major religious groups including the Catholic Church have refused to accept the legitimacy of the organisation and consider it to be a purely decorative organisation with no legislative or decision making jurisdiction over any religion. Similar views have been expressed by the Church of England and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). This leads the gathering to be highly ineffective in changing the discourse or effecting any lasting change within their communities.
The presence of notable public figures at the conference, however, lend some credibility to the conference and has the power of creating change at an individual level around the world. This could snowball into a mass movement where humans would look beyond religion and work towards helping each other and not look for ways to harm based on religion.
Our source within the organisation has claimed that an unofficial meeting has taken place between the various organisers and top religious leaders across the world. The original agenda of the meeting was to discuss the plan and topics for the virtual conference this year but it diverted into being one about the COVID19 virus and its devastating effects.
In a never before series of events, the meeting was also attended by some of the official heads of major world religions. Despite multiple attempts to reveal the names, our source refused but did say that the names were as big as they could get.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/05/01/parliament-of-the-worlds-religions-admits-that-religion-has-lost-the-fight-against-covid19/
It is rumoured that WWE owner, CEO and Chairman the legendary Vince McMahon has announced that they will be conducting a Divas match to raise funds and awareness for the COVID19 situation around the world. The main beneficiaries for the event will be the Indian subcontinent who form one of the biggest audience for the network outside the USA.
Divas matches have always attracted major crowds and were a smash hit among the fans. The matches were popularised by the initial mega superstars Stacy Kiebler, Victoria, Sable, Trish Stratus, Lita and Torrie Wilson. Any 90s boy would testify that he would have had a crush on one of these beauties at some point in his life.
Diva matches have always been more about the glitz, glamour and spectacle in the early days, unlike today where all the female athletes can give the male superstars a serious run for their money with their athleticism and ring presence. Current stars like Beth Pheonix, Kelly Kelly, Layla and Eve Torres have not only kept the audience attention with their looks but also shown that they are equally at ease in the ring executing complicated moves to entertain the audience.
The Divas had their share of matches which did nothing more than titillate the male viewership. Some of the more memorable ones were
Bra and Panties match – The first diva to be stripped down to her bra and panties loses
Pillow Fight – Regular match wearing pyjamas and pillows as props
Spanking match – You guessed it
Mud match – Match in a pool of mud
Topless rope match – Diva strips a piece of clothing every time the male partner gets thrown off the top rope
Fulfil your Fantasy Match – You get to decide what the Divas will be wearing in the match
Our sources at the newly opened headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut have let us know that the planning for this match has been in motion for the past week or so. The finer details like the location, financial aspects and the participants are yet to be decided. It is also claimed that the match would be conducted at the earliest considering the high number of COVID19 cases in India.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/30/wwe-announces-ppe-kit-match-to-promote-covid19-awareness/
Indo-US relations have blown hot and cold over the past few decades ever since both countries established diplomatic relations. In an attempt to take the friendship between the two countries one step further than his predecessors, the Biden administration is claimed to have appointed Rick Segal and Korbin Miles of the popular YouTube reaction channel Our Stupid Reactions as Cultural Ambassadors to India.
This is an earnest attempt to hold India close to the US during the growing animosity with China in various spheres of influence on the international stage. From trade to diplomacy, the USA and China have increasingly been at loggerheads ever since the claims that the COVID19 virus was man-made in a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan have emerged.
Reaction channels are a trend that has blown up over the past couple of years where the creators record their reactions to videos that they haven’t see earlier. There any many versions of this trend like Jaby Koay, who reacts to all kinds of videos, to the REACT channel who have elders and children react to various videos. Very few channels pick and stick to a genre and prefer to keep the content on their channel as wide and mainstream as possible for maximum reach.
Our Stupid Reactions is an India specific reaction channel that showcases the reactions of the two main creators Rick & Korbin. They have carved a niche for themselves by keeping their focus on Indian content. The thing that puts them apart from the others is that they do not restrict themselves to Hindi content and frequently explore the other film industries like Malayalam, Assamese and Gujarati to name a few.
There are frequent cameos by 52-year-old Rick’s children Ashley, Alexis and Mica and Korbin’s wife Stephanie and their adorable 1-year-old son Leeland. The stars of the show, however, are Rick and Korbin who have managed to capture the hearts of the Indian population. They have close to a million subscribers on YouTube.
Apart from reacting to movie trailers and music videos, they regularly react to informational videos on India, tourism videos and stand up comedy. They also review movies in various Indian languages and frequently interview artists from the Indian movie industry like Anurag Kashyap, Pankaj Tripathi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shreya Ghoshal.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/29/youtube-channel-our-stupid-reactions-appointed-us-cultural-ambassadors-to-india/
Priyadarshan is no doubt one of the most successful pan India film directors of modern times. Having delivered numerous hits in multiple languages, he has created a niche among movie lovers of being able to execute on-screen madcap comedy laughathons flawlessly.
Primarily based in the Malayalam film industry, he was a major player in the 80s and 90s which were considered to be the Golden Era of the Malayalam industry. His combinations with Mohanlal have delivered cult classics that every Malayali swears by like Chitram, Thalavattom and many more. He has also partnered with every major actor of that era and his hit ratio was much higher than the rest of his peers.
In the 2000s he ventured into the Hindi film industry by remaking some of the super hit films of the duo Siddique-Lal. He then went on to remake some of his films which were met with a mixed response. He is still credited with reinventing the image of Akshay Kumar from an action hero into a comic star. Films like Hera Pheri (A remake of Ramjirao Speaking) and Garam Masala (A remake of Boeing Boeing) firmly established Priyadarshan as the ultimate director for comedy movies replacing David Dhawan.
On the personal front, the director is the proud father of upcoming actress Kalyani Priyadarshan who is slowly making her mark in the South Indian film industry with notable performances in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films.
Recent announcements on social media have claimed that Priyadarshan has opened his state-of-the-art audio studio in Chennai built by industry experts Awedible. The Chennai based Awedible has also executed projects for musicians like Raghu Dixit and Rex Vijayan (Avial) and also music composers like Shaan Rahman and Govind Vasantha.
The question arose as to why would a noted film director suddenly open an audio studio.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/28/priyadarshan-launches-new-studio-to-make-a-music-album-with-99-jokes/
The latest claimant of the highly coveted unicorn tag within the Indian startup scene is the Bengaluru based CRED. A mobile-based rewards platform that allows you to pay using the CRED app is one of the most exciting players in the fintech world.
Founded in 2018 by Kunal Shah, the company is currently valued at USD 2.2 million and has raised money in four rounds of funding to date backed by DST Global, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Capital. Just like most of the unicorns within the Indian startup scene, they are yet to make a profit and have registered losses of above INR 350 crores last year. This could have a lot to do with the marketing expenditure and the sponsorship deal with the IPL.
One of the main reasons that CRED has suddenly become the talk of the town is its very creative ads that immediately catch the attention of the viewer and divide them into two – the ones who get it and the ones who don’t. Unfortunately, their target audience is spread out in both.
The ads that hit your TV screen last year during the IPL was memorable because of the willingness of legends like Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik and the amazing Bappi Lahri to poke fun at themselves. The unique spin on the ads was truly attention-grabbing but it did not provide information to the public on what this is all about.
They took it up a notch this year by having the always impressive Jim Sarbh, explain the features of the ad before cutting to the celebrity doing something that we least expect. The fact that #Indranagarkagunda was trending was just because we haven’t seen Rahul Dravid in this avatar earlier. In the latest ad, we see Kumar Sanu selling insurance as well.
The ads have truly captivated the nation and have lead to a very distinct uptick in the number of users who have downloaded the app and not to mention the share of voice across all the digital platforms that they had over the past couple of months.
Read the full article at http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/27/90-of-cred-users-dont-have-a-credit-card/
International electric car maker Tesla has finally formally announced opening up its India operations. They are scheduled to open their first showroom in the Lower Parel area of Mumbai and also its India headquarters in the same vicinity. They also announced the appointment of Chitra Thomas as their Head of Human Resources which also indicates that hiring could be intensified in the coming months.
Tesla will also begin the work on its manufacturing unit in Bengaluru where the initial rollout will be for only the Tesla Model 3. Initially, the cars will be imported from China in the CBU (Completely Build Up) route and are then set to move over to the CKD (Completely Knocked Down) route once the factory is complete. This will then help in reducing the prices even further.
With Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Ministers Yediyurappa and Uddhav Thackeray welcoming Tesla with open arms, it seems to be a rather easy ride for the international company. This could lead to a revolution of sorts in the country with more people ditching the trend of buying the diesel guzzling SUV. Needless to say, this will lead to large scale employment both on the technical backend and also on the marketing and operations side of things.
Tesla is already showing signs of tapping into the talent pool within India by hiring ex IIM executives for major roles within the India operations.
Tesla cars have been in the news lately for multiple cases of hackers hacking into the system and drivers losing control of their cars. In some cases, losing their cars completely. The AI-powered system in cars has now been upgraded to prevent this from happening in the future. The AI system used by Tesla is predominantly used for its autopilot mode functionality while also helping in various other elements like traffic density detection and intelligent driving.
Before the launch in any country, car manufacturers run test drives in various cities to judge the road readiness of any car. This is extremely useful to the car manufacturer for considering the finer adjustments to be made while building out the car. This includes stuff like the hardness of the suspension, air pressure needed in the tires etc.
Our sources tell us that this is where Tesla has now hit a snag.
Read the full article at http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/26/tesla-cars-refuse-to-drive-on-indian-roads/
The Maldives has always been a popular tourist destination but during the 1st and 2nd wave of the pandemic, the country has welcomed tourists with open arms.
One of the major countries whose citizens have been making a beeline for this tropical paradise is India. With Bollywood stars and the page 3 regulars frequently posting their “vacay mode” pictures, it also prompted the urban middle class to follow suit. This had lead to a major boost in Maldives’ economy during the pandemic and they would like to keep it that way.
Some of the celebrities who not only made the trip but also chose to make us go green with envy were Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Tapsee Pannu, Tiger Shroff, Disha Patani, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Kiara Advani, Mouni Roy, Jhanvi Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan.
It is not just visitors from North India who have thronged the crystal blue waters of the island. South India too isn’t far behind. Celebrities from the Telugu, Kannada and Tamil film industries have been sharing their images from their amazing trips. They include Samantha Akkikeni, Naga Chaitanya, Rakul Preet Singh, Kajal Agarwal and Pranita Subhash.
These Instagram pics have fuelled a few things. One is the rush to visit the Maldives the moment restrictions are put in place by the privileged few in India and the other in the growing number of saner celebrities calling out the vacationers for being insensitive to the situation around the country.
Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/25/maldives-to-provide-personal-photographer-and-unlimited-data-to-indians-on-arrival/
The Indian Premier League 2021 is underway amidst strict protocols and bio bubbles due to the raging COVID19 pandemic that has firmly gripped the nation. Although playing to empty stands and fake crowd noises to mimic the enthusiasm of the crowd, the excitement among the fans has not died down a bit. The players too have been putting up an impressive display of skill that has truly justified the price tag that the franchises have doled out.
One of the most popular and successful teams in the league, Chennai Super Kings, has just been dealt with a double blow and a serious handicap in their pursuit of the famed trophy for the fourth time. Their enigmatic captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and their highest all-time run-getter Suresh Raina have been reported to be leaving the Chennai camp.
Chennai Super Kings or CSK are currently 2nd on the IPL table having lost only their opening match. They are also the highest in terms of Net Run Rate (NRR) which can give a good indication they are far more prepared and hungry than last season where they barely managed to keep themselves off the bottom of the table.
Apart from Faf Du Plessis and Suresh Raina, most other players have chipped in with handy contributions with Curran, Bravo, Rayudu and Jadeja being exemplary in the roles they do. Dhoni, although, not performing as well as he would have liked with the bat, has been a pillar of strength for the team with his shrewd captaincy and glovework behind the stumps.
However, this performance is set to take a hit if the information that we are getting from our sources within the CSK dugout is to be believed. The CSK team has been through quite a bit of turmoil in the past few seasons including finishing in the bottom 3 last season and being banned for 2 seasons on corruption charges before that. This was projected to be their season for redemption.
Read full article at : https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/24/dhoni-and-raina-to-miss-remaining-part-of-ipl-2021-due-to-lockdown/
It is an accepted fact that your average household is one of the most accident-prone environments for a child to grow up in. From sharp edges to open flames, every imaginable horror is traversed with ease inside the confines of an apartment or a home. Researches have attributed it to the nature vs nurture debate, whereby the natural risk aversive nature of human beings is slowly replaced by the familiarity of the environment they grew up in.
This is complemented by studies that reveal that people tend to be more accident-prone in the initial 6 months of moving into a new house. This includes leaving electric devices switched on to slipping in the bathroom. The lack of familiarity tends to drive a certain level of laxity when it should be logically otherwise.
The Indian household is no exception.
What makes the Indian household an even more dangerous environment for growing children are driven by a few factors that is unique to the Indian way of life:
The huge variety of artefacts that a family collects over time - Every Indian house has knick-knacks of various sizes, shapes and emotional appeal scattered all over the house.The tendency to use every available space in the house - Indians are experts at utilising every available inch of space within the house. Very rarely would you find a house or apartment that has plenty of open space and empty walls. Multi-generational families - Multiple generations of a family live within the same roof in what is known as the joint family system. From a social and experiential perspective, this appears to be the ideal nurturing environment for growing up, but it brings with it possessions of all the generations leading to the clutter.Hoarding tendencies - Indians are inadvertently among the most prolific hoarders in the world. There are things at home that date back to the childhood of the grandparents and a plethora of stuff that is kept "just in case". This ranges from the ashes of the ancestors to plastic bags.Lack of babyproofing or child-friendly furniture - This is still a very foreign concept to the average Indian household where the most widely accepted solution for baby proofing is to move the breakable item onto a place that the baby cannot reach.The ability of Indian mothers to convert any item into a weapon - Without any formal training in the art of warfare, this skill seems to be something that all Indian moms develop over the years, mainly by observing their mothers. If the item can be picked up, it can be used as a weapon to discipline your child.
We dwelt a little more into the last point and came up with a list of 4 common household items that are most likely to be used as the weapon of choice by an Indian mother.
Read full article at : http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/23/4-household-items-that-indian-kids-need-to-be-careful-off/
Starbucks is a name that is now synonymous with coffee worldwide much to the chagrin of coffee purists who would recoil at the thought. You cannot, however, deny the role that Starbucks has played in popularizing the concept of "Coffee on the Go". Thereby helping a large percentage of the world's population satisfy their caffeine requirements on a daily basis.
Headquartered in Seattle, this American chain has over 30,000 stores worldwide and at one point in time was opening 2 stores per day. Under CEO Howard Schultz, the company went from strength to strength. Starting off as a corner store selling coffee beans, it is now the global standard of the erstwhile coffee shop.
Innovation is nothing new to the Starbucks team. They have not only introduced localised products in whichever market they venture into, they have also introduced the international customer to specialities from all around the world. Some of their products have achieved iconic status, especially within the American population. The USA continues to be its primary market with Manhattan alone having almost 250 stores.
Drinks like the Pumpkin Spice Latte, usually re-launched every year around Labour Day, is an unofficial declaration of the arrival of the Fall season. They have also introduced the Western audience to the sweet milk tea intrinsic to the Indian subcontinent via the incorrectly named "Chai Tea". Chai literally means Tea. So in essence, the product is called Tea Tea.
Our sources have informed us that after a high-level Zoom meeting, keeping with the norms during the pandemic, Starbucks has decided to expand its Summer menu by adding a new drink called the Cumin Cooler. This new drink is claimed to have anti-oxidant and immunity-boosting properties and is being positioned as an effective deterrent to the COVID19 virus. Also taking into mind the high levels of obesity within the USA and the role of Starbucks in contributing to the increasing consumption of sugar the world over, this new drink is also expected to bank on the weight loss attributes of cumin seeds to put a positive CSR angle on the whole product line.
Read full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/22/new-addition-to-the-starbucks-menu-cumin-cooler/
Disgruntled Indian National Congress leader and one of the most respected politicians of the country Ghulam Nabi Azad has always been upfront on his views on what is going wrong with the Indian National Congress. He was one of the G-23, a name given to the 23 senior members of the party who had written a letter to the Indian National Congress High Command over having elections within the party and electing a formal president.
The other members include popular leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Kapil Sibal who have now been side-lined by their own party and replaced in some of the key positions they occupied. It was seen as a direct consequence of questioning the way the party functions at the top level and even more so as a challenge to the stranglehold that the Gandhi family has had over the party for the past 25 years.
This development had not gone down too well with the dissenters as they are now caught between a rock and a hard place. More criticism would lead to them being portrayed as power-hungry and even to the extent of being a BJP agent. While on the other hand, not saying anything would show them as weak leaders who had to succumb to the fancies of the Gandhi family. Both options are not something that would extend the longevity of their illustrious careers.
While Kapil Sibal completely shut himself off from public appearances and Shashi Tharoor focussed on the Kerala elections, the other stalwart from the G-23, Ghulam Nabi Azad has been in the news recently. First he was both praised and slammed by different sections of the country for his gracious acceptance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's praise during his retirement speech. Then, he was slammed by party workers for his comments on the VIP culture within his party. A concentrated effort was put in by certain sections of the media to discredit every statement he made.
Despite all this, Ghulam Nabi Azad maintained the decency and decorum he has been known for all throughout his career.
With rising COVID19 cases, he has been reluctant to provide interviews or to interact with the media in any way. However, we have information from sources close to the leader who has claimed that the true inner circle of the Congress Party will now be exposed.
Read full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/21/inner-circle-of-congress-party-will-be-exposed-soon-claims-ghulam-nabi-azad/
In an unprecedented move, the World Health Organisation has demanded answers from one of its member countries. The WHO which is known to be soft on major players within the organisation has now openly come out and demanded explanations from India, one of the largest vaccine suppliers in the world.
Despite international pressure, the WHO has remained soft on China, the country that many within the international community believe to have artificially engineered the virus that has cost over 3 million deaths worldwide. The dummy investigation team and the carefully choreographed site visit had irked the member nations who have accused the WHO of being biased due to the economic muscle that China flexes whenever it suits their needs.
Another instance of the WHO remaining indifferent was with the USA and its appalling handling of the pandemic during the first wave of the virus. They seemed to be preoccupied by trying to make sense of what was happening by putting out contradicting statements every week. This prompted many countries to take matters into their own hands and rely on the medical experts within their countries to pull them out of the situation they found themselves in.
However, the WHO raised eyebrows this week by openly declaring that one of its biggest supporters, India, was holding back information that could lead to the eradication of the pandemic worldwide.
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/20/who-declares-india-hiding-crucial-covid19-information-from-rest-of-the-world/
Industry sources have confirmed that popular Bollywood Producer-Director Karan Johar has acquired the movie rights for the 3 movie franchise - Look Who's Talking. This is some refreshing news amidst all the gloom associated with the COVID19 pandemic that has gripped the industry. Dharma Productions, the production house that was started by Karan Johar's father, late industry icon Yash Johar is set to get the project rolling in the middle of the year.
The original Amy Heckerling directed 1989 release starring John Travolta (who was making a comeback), Kirstie Alley and a surprising role by Bruce Willis as the voice of the baby Mikey. The film chronicled the initial years of baby Mickey and his mother while going through life and relationships, especially with his babysitter James, played by Travolta.
The film inspired 2 sequels, Look Who is Talking Too where Mickey has a baby sister who can talk as well and Look Who is Talking Now which brings in their pet dog into the world of unlikely conversations. All three movies were well received and it begs the question, why would someone buy the rights of a 31-year-old movie?
Karan Johar and Dharma Productions is known for making lavish, larger than life movies that appeal to the aspirational Indian while also ensuring that the NRI can connect with the movie. It is this skill to find that magic mix that has propelled him into the A-list of the Bollywood fraternity. If the production house and the team want to stay true to the original, it actually goes against everything that the brand is known for. The original movies were extremely simple and set in a lower middle-class atmosphere. This is not exactly Karan Johar's core strength.
This publication wanted to find the truth behind this move.
Undisclosed sources have confirmed that this was mainly driven by the intrinsic drive of Karan Johar to launch star kids. With the huge clamour and buzz around the son of Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan, Taimur, Karan wanted to be the first person to launch the star kid. He was on the lookout for the perfect script for this and after hitting a dead-end decided to purchase the rights to a movie instead.
The fact that the whole nepotism debate raging in Bollywood has not died down, it is quite clear that Karan Johar has decided to embrace the allegations than fight it. The movie selection seems to be a perfect one with the whole family getting to play a part in the remake. It is speculated that both Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor will play the roles of John Travolta and Kirstie Alley.
Ranveer Singh is said to be the first choice for the voice of Taimur, reprising the role played by Bruce Willis.
The fact that Taimur has a younger brother in real life may require slight edits to the overall story of the original where Mickey had a baby sister who shared screen space in the sequel but it seems to be the reason why the decision was made to purchase rights to the whole franchise.
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/15/karan-johar-buys-movie-rights-to-the-look-whos-talking-franchise/
The West Bengal elections have been nothing less that a potboiler. With twists and turns happening everyday, it is no surprise that the IPL has not managed to take attention away from this classic Indian masala event.
Even before the election campaigning was underway, this was the election that the whole country was looking forward to. This is despite major battles happening in other parts of the country like Tamil Nadu where this would be the first time an election is held without K Karunanidhi or J Jayalalitha leading their respective parties from the front. Or even in Kerala where the Congress and the Communist party fight for relevance, the losing party could just be forgotten in the grander scheme of things.
This focus was mainly on the high drama that is usually associated with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. The incumbent CM is a hard working self styled, self made politician who fought hard to wrest West Bengal from the clutches of the Left and has literally ruled over the state for the past 10 years. This drama was to surely be intensified with the laser focussed efforts of BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah who had decided that the time for the lotus to bloom in West Bengal had come.
The 2021 election could have easily gone ignored with the usual rhetoric but the way events unfolded has truly changed perception across the country. Some of the events that transpired were
Almost half of TMC's sitting MP's jump ship
Multiple accusations of poll booth capturing even before polling had started
Mamata Banerjee injures herself and accuses BJP of an assassination attempt
Mamata Banerjee hold election rallies while on a wheelchair
PM Narendra Modi goes to Bangladesh to campaign
Clubhouse chats are made public
TMC encourages public to gherao CRPF officials resulting in shootings and death of 5 people
We wish to remind the readers that this is just phase 5 of and 8 phase election. There is plenty more where this came from.
The whole country is keenly observing the happenings as this could determine how fast the BJP juggernaut will take over the country.
What surprised this publication was the news of a special team being constituted by Ekta Kapoor of the OTT platform Alt Balaji to closely monitor the election. It was speculated that Balaji Telefilms was contemplating starting a news channel to compete with the high octane drama provided by Republic TV and the monotony of NDTV. The unabashed genius of the Ekta Kapoor and the maverick moves she has pulled off in the past clearly indicated that this is a direction the premier TV production house could be exploring.
We managed to get in touch with one of the senior creative producers at Alt Balaji who was shocked at our question. She agreed to respond to our queries under the promise of annonymity.
"It is a preposterous suggestion that we are getting into the news channel space. We are weavers of dreams and fantasy not manipulators of facts. We at Alt Balaji have a responsibility towards the 3 sections of the society and we will not divert our attention from ensuring that they are always our number one priority."
When pushed to elaborate on what those sections of society was, she explained.
"We focus our attention on the 3 H's - Housewives, Hopeless Romantics and Horny Teens. Our TV serials cater the first and second category while...
Read full story at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/13/alt-balaji-creative-team-closely-monitoring-west-bengal-elections/
With the Olympic committee holding steadfast to their decision of conducting the 2021 Summer Olympics in July, the call for including sporting events with more relevance to the current situation has been gaining ground.
The COVID19 pandemic is not showing signs of slowing down and with multiple countries experiencing 2nd and 3rd waves of the virus, there has been speculation that the worlds biggest sports event, the Olympics might not happen. This is not the first time that the event has been cancelled or postponed, but it surely would be the first time that a pandemic is forcing the event to call it off.
What has been reassuring for fans and sportspersons worldwide has been the fact that the Olympic committee has refused to let the pandemic bog them down. Multiple press releases over the past few weeks have reaffirmed that the event will take place as planned. This has now opened up a new can of worms.
Several people have come forward to demand that the events in the Olympics have to be relooked at. Irrelevant events like Synchronised Swimming and Equestrian sports are being labelled as archaic and not in sync with modern times.
The biggest noise however has been from software and IT professionals from India.
Known popularly as "techies", they constitute the biggest chuck of India's qualified working population. They are the biggest contributor to the national tax programme while also being considered the most aloof from the overall nation building exercise. They are desperate to make a change.
Citing the example of Anil Kumble, former Indian cricket team captain and the countries highest wicket taker in the sport, they believe that they can contribute more to the development of India on the world stage rather than just executing projects for companies around the world.
Under the promise of anonymity, a current employee of one of the largest IT companies in the country said, "This has been going on for too long. We are a bunch of nameless, faceless citizens who have contributed so much to the development of the country without any recognition whatsoever. It is now our time to really make an impact. When the whole country was shutting down during the pandemic, we kept the whole world running. It is now time for us to compete with the rest of the world and truly stake our claim as the best."
While actually competing in the sports events are out of the question, almost 3/4th of the techie population is woefully physically incapable of anything outside sedentary work, there seems to be a few things on which there could be a global parity.
Virtual meetings...
"Zoom calls and Google Teams meetings are a common practice across the globe," says Sitara Unnikrishnan, a long term employee of Wipro. "We spend an average of 4-5 hours of our day virtually on meetings that have absolutely no significance to the work we are expected to do."
Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/04/07/indian-techies-demand-addition-of-marathon-zoom-calls-to-tokyo-olympics/