Month: April 2022

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-17

About: the world this week, 24 April to 30 April 2022, War down a rabbit hole, Love in France, the musk is on Twitter, and India surround stories.

Everywhere

The War in Ukraine

We know that Russia has quietly retreated from the Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, three weeks ago, with its tail firmly between its legs-with only limited scope for wagging. And now it seems ferociously focussed, showing teeth, on capturing Eastern Ukraine-the whole of the Donbas region. Goals keep changing everyday- as do the goal posts-and I wonder where this dog-war is headed.

Reminds me of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ when Alice comes to a no-signs cross-road at which is perched, a Rabbit. Alice asks the Rabbit, “where do these roads go?” The Rabbit replies with a question, “where do you want to go?” Alice says, “I don’t know”. Then, any road will take you there – says the wise Rabbit.

Russia has fallen down a rabbit hole and Putin is in the Wonderland of War – any guesses on which road he is taking? Ask the rabbit, or the Russian bear, if you can find one?

Ukrainian forces have been holding the line in Donbas since 2014, against Russian-backed separatists. Now they are struggling and still holding a 500 km front, but what was sporadic fighting then has now turned into a full-blown war. They’ve already lost ground to the Russians and are likely to lose more in the days ahead.

Has Russia learnt from, what war-experts called, its early mistakes? It is a fact that they’re now fighting on fewer fronts, and under a more seemingly unified command.

Meanwhile, Russia claims to have conquered the port city of Mariupol, but The Azovstal Steel and Iron Works has become the scene of a desperate last stand against Russia’s invading forces.

Azovstal was a major player on the global stage, producing 4 million tons of steel annually and exporting the majority across the globe. Now, its residents are showing they too are made of steel. And for weeks now, the world has been gripped by the battle raging over the steelworks on the coast of the Sea of Azov. A pocket of Ukrainian fighters entrenched at the plant has become a symbol of the country’s unwavering resistance in the face of an enemy that far outnumbers them.

Germany had come under severe criticism, that despite making the right sounds in the beginning it has failed to follow through with measurable action in helping Ukraine. Over the previous weeks the drumbeats had grown louder. And this week, Germany made two big announcements: First, Germany is sending about 50 Gepard Air-Defense Tanks to help Ukraine repel Russian attacks. Second, they’ll be training Ukrainian soldiers on German soil.

The Gepard Tank is a favourite among military experts due to the ease of use of the two-cannon flak setup, mounted on a Leopard tank chassis. And especially when one is looking for a no-frills defence against drones.

Russia is breathing out fire and fury with endless ‘will attack’ threats to those supplying arms and other assistance to Ukraine. To show it means business, this week Russia turned off the gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. Russian energy giant Gazprom did it. In turn the European Union (EU) accused Russia of using energy to try to blackmail countries supporting Ukraine.

While this crazy war is being fought, ever thought about what’s happening to the refugees leaving Ukraine? The UN says that as of 25 April, more than 5.2 million people have left Ukraine. Refugees are also crossing to neighbouring countries to the west, mostly Poland which has taken in 2,922,978 refugees. Romania did 782,598 refugees, Hungary 496,914, Moldova 435,275, Slovakia 357,560, and the war-monger Russia itself has taken 614,318 refugees with its side-kick, Belarus doing 24,578.

At the end of the week, Putin had a ‘so-near, yet so far, ridiculously long table meeting’ with the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, where he continued to rationalise his actions and ‘showed the wrong way to a place you cannot go’. The UN Chief returned with little hope of any imminent end to the war. Later in the week he also visited Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, to see first-hand the destruction caused by Russia. In the background Russian missiles whizzed past in a fresh attack. Is that a sign of belligerence?Wonder what the impotent UN will do: can it ever find its Cannon Balls?

The Sound of Macron

This Sunday, France voted to elect a new President and it wisely decided to love-back the incumbent President, Emmanuel Macron. Five years ago, Macron, a Centrist beat Marine Le Pen, a far-rightist, with 66% of the vote. Then at 39, he became France’s youngest leader, since Napoleon.

This time Macron beat the same Le Pen with a narrower margin of 58.5 to 41.5% and became the first French leader to get re-elected in two decades. But over 13 million people in France still voted for the far-right. And 28% of voters decided to stay home, the highest percent to abstain in over 50 years. That’s not something to sing about.

Macron has been trying to attract foreign businesses, set up carbon taxes, and reform France’s social programs. But, hundreds of thousands of protesters disagreed. To compound France’s problems COVID19 and inflation wrecked havoc on the economy and it seemed that the French were prepared to do what they do best: kick out incumbents to the sidewalk. But, this time, for a change, it did not.

Le Pen’s party’s previous leader (Le Pen’s father) infamously dismissed the Holocaust as a ‘detail’ of history. Le Pen pitched voters on a platform that was, anti-immigrant, pro-tax cuts, targets Muslims, and weakens the EU. She has also cozied up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. With her loss, the EU is breathing a sigh of relief. Le Pen conceded but is calling her gains, a ‘shining victory.’ Meanwhile, Macron acknowledged the anger of those who voted against him: needs to write better music!

Let’s recall the stuff that Macron is made-up of.

Emmanuel Macron is married to Brigitte Trogneux, 24 years his senior, and his former High School teacher. They met during a theatre workshop that she was conducting when he was a 15 years old student and she a 39 years old teacher. And he was also a classmate of Brigitte’s daughter, sharing a bench with her. The student and Teacher fell in love with each other, but they only became a couple once Macron turned 18- as the law would allow. His parents initially attempted to separate the couple by sending him away to Paris to finish the final year of his schooling, considering the inappropriateness of the relationship. However, the couple reunited after Macron graduated, and were married in 2007. Brigitte has three children from a previous marriage to a Banker, who she divorced. Macron has no children of his own and has lovingly taken up the role of being a step-father to Brigitte’s three children. One of his sons is older than Macron himself.

Macron is 44 going on 45 and Brigette is 68 going on 69 standing firm and rock solid behind her husband: needs someone older and wiser to tell him what to do for things beyond his ken… and to take care of him! That’s The Sound of Macron.

Tesla to Twitter

Elon Musk is one of the World’s best known Entrepreneur, investor, and business magnate. Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and OpenAI are some of the remarkable, innovative companies he has founded, or co-founded. He is almost always flying on the headlines. Perhaps reason why he decided to build a nest by buying micro-blogging site,Twitter. Oh, I tweet a lot!

This week, Elon Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc. for USD 44 billion in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world’s richest person.

Welcome to a not so boring Twitter SpaceT?

India: Harmony, Squirrels, and Troubled Neighbours

Last week India’s Jahangirpuri, in Delhi, saw violence break out between Muslims and Hindus during a procession on the occasion of Hindu God, Hanuman’s Birthday. At the beginning of the week, in a bid to set things right and spread a message of peace and communal harmony, around 200 residents of Jahangirpuri took out a ‘Tiranga Yatra’ (National Flag march) in the area, with shops and houses in the locality hoisting the tricolour to commemorate the event. India has a knack of getting back together in accordance with the hues of the national flag. And it always works!

In the South of India in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district, Kalimedu, eleven people including three children were electrocuted when a Temple Chariot-Car procession touched the overhead high-voltage power supply lines. Appears that the temple car -also carrying a mobile Electricity Generator-was negotiating a turn when it lost balance and touched the wires. The Temple car procession is an annual event and Authorities should know what’s ‘up ahead’. One of the reasons doing the rounds is the that the Temple car height always remaining the same, the height of the road was increased without scrapping the old one – a corrupt contractor at his worst. I call this gross negligence of the highest degree. Unforgivable.

Tamilnadu State is already reeling under unannounced power-cuts, when the Minister Incharge of Electricity spends time, wasting taxpayers money, singing hosannas to the Chief Minister’s Actor and Film Producer son in the Assembly. And at other times he blames ‘nutty’ Squirrels for eating the wires leading to power-cuts! Wow – it all depends on a Squirrel!

In Myanmar, the thuggish Military Junta is still busy plastering cases on deposed leader and Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi . Recall, she had led Myanmar for five years before being forced out of power in a military coup, in early 2021. This week a court sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail after finding her guilty in the first of 11 corruption cases against her. She has been charged with at least 18 offenses, which carry combined maximum jail terms of nearly 190 years, if found guilty.

In Sri Lanka people are on the streets calling for the Government to quit over the poor handling of the economy leading to the unprecedented crisis they are now facing. Trade Unions went on a strike asking the President to resign. However, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will go on, with 117 Members of Parliament pledging support to the Rajapaksa brothers. Last heard, the World Bank has agreed to provide Sri Lanka with USD 600 million to meet payment requirements for essential imports – with USD 400 million coming-in shortly!

More elected love stories will be squirrelled in the weeks to come. Teach well, vote for World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-16

About: the world this week, 17 April to 23 April 2022, a not-even-a-fly-can-escape kind of siege, the wind in the air, a champion of the Earth, and getting back your sleep.

Everywhere

I’ve tried to keep Ukraine off the headlines, but Russia’s abominable actions insist I keep it: no intimidation, though.

India struck a chord this week, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projecting that India is all set to bulldoze its way into becoming the fastest growing economy in 2022. IMF forecasts a GDP growth of 8.2% for India. India is a happening place. And despite all the noise there is a certain quietude in which you can go about your business.

The coronavirus is still around and cases are increasing in almost every state of United States and most parts of the world. Masking, physical distancing, and clever ventilation are the three mantras -in addition to the hand washing technique – we need to keep saying as often as possible.

The Last Man Standing

Near about 60 days of the Russia-Ukraine War and Russia is unable to gain control of any prominent city-primarily due to the fierce iron-resistance of the Ukrainians.

Last week Russia issued an ultimatum to surrender, to the last remaining Ukrainian troops holding out in the besieged port city of Mariupol, but it wasn’t heeded this week. The city has been facing a humanitarian catastrophe for weeks, as Russian tanks advanced pulverising everything in its path. The number of civilians killed is unknown.

Meanwhile, Russia’s President has ordered his troops to ‘put in place’ a ‘not-even-a-fly-can-escape siege of Mariupol.

The fall of Mariupol, the largest trading Port in the Azov Sea from which Ukraine exports grain, iron and steel, and heavy machinery, would be an economic blow to Ukraine and a strategic victory for Russia, connecting territory it holds in Donbas with Crimea it annexed in 2014: all stolen from Ukraine. Expect Russia to announce the ‘Liberation of Mariupol’, should they succeed.

In what is being called Phase-II of the Russian Invasion, an offensive in the eastern Donbas region is underway. The stated goal of the invader is to secure all of Ukraine’s eastern regions parts of which Russian-backed separatists have controlled since 2014. Another aim seems to be to crush the remaining resistance in Mariupol to consolidate a land bridge linking the Russian region of Rostov with Crimea.

The battle of Kyiv may be over, at least for now, but the battle of Donbas is becoming more intense and the West needs to keep pumping weapons into Ukraine to sustain the fight, while saluting the bravery of Ukrainians.

The Ukrainians have shown themselves to be canny tacticians in this conflict, ceding territory to preserve resources, but using their knowledge of the land and their mobility to inflict heavy losses on Russian units.

At this stage, Ukraine has its tails up. And I wish they capture a big victory in this senseless, inhuman war started by Russia.

Hanuman and Jahangirpuri

Hanuman is introduced to us in the Epic Ramayana. He is a wholesome devotee of Lord Rama and is his constant companion in the Epic; is a central character first befriending Rama, realising his divinity, and then helping Rama find and rescue Sita. In those days without GPS and Google how does one find a missing person? Hanuman did it with his special powers. And could have grabbed Sita and brought her back to Rama, but Sita insisted Rama do it.

Rama, we know, was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu who lived on Earth to show and set an example of how to rule righteously and teach people to voluntarily follow rules.

Hanuman, elevated to God Status also appears in the Mahabharata-as a retired Ram Bakth – where Rama returns to Earth in the avatar of Krishna. He can be seen in a miniature form nonchalantly perched on the flagstaff of Arjuna’s chariot, driven by Krishna, during the great Mahabharata war. It was a promise he made to his half-brother Bhima-to watch over Arjuna. Krishna and Hanuman do not fight in the war using any kind of weapons and remain mostly neutral watching the ultimate triumph of good over evil, first-hand, in close quarters. Hanuman is also the brother of Bhima-both being sons of the Wind God, Vayu.

Over the years, Hanuman’s stature has reached great heights in India – with many statues coming up all over the country, close to the wind of his father.

Hanuman is a divine Vanara (monkey) with supernatural powers which even Lord Rama does not have: He has immeasurable strength, cannot be burnt by fire, cannot be harmed by water, can shrink his size or hulk it at will, can move to any place he wishes to without restraint, and can fly like the wind. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Iron-Man, Hulk…all in one. He has a special weapon called Gada, a mace – a round end mounted on a shaft made of wood or metal. Typically, wrestlers use the Gada and worship Hanuman for wrestling strength.

Legend says that Hanuman-the son of the Wind God Vayu and Anjana, a nymph-as a child when hungry sees the moon red in the sky, and thinking it to be a ripe fruit leaps up to grab and eat it. Indra, the Kings of Gods seeing the danger to the Moon, strikes him down with his thunderbolt and child Hanuman falls dead on Earth with a broken jaw. Angry on what happened to his dear son, Vayu withdraws all the air on Earth forcing Lord Shiva to step in and resuscitate Hanuman to life, to save mankind. The Gods then rush to pacify Vayu, loading Hanuman with various supernatural boons in the process. The best part is with all his mind-boggling powers Hanuman is always subdued and plays the ultimate devotee to Lord Ram. Due to a curse, earned during his child prankster years on Sadhus and Sages, he forgets and has to be reminded of his superpowers to be able to use them.

Two childhood images occupy the central space in my mind. One of Hanuman flying in the air, carrying a whole dug-up mountain when he cannot find Sanjeevani, a life-giving herb to cure a fatally wounded Lakshmana. And two, of him carrying Rama and Lakshmana on his shoulders while the two brothers shoot arrows in the war against Ravan’s evil.

The 16th April of every year is celebrated as the Birthday/Jayanti of Hanuman and worshipped to attain victory against evil and provide protection in the vicissitudes of life. It is typical to take out a procession on this day, which has been a practice over the years.

Jahangirpuri is a very dense and mixed, middle and low-income population locality situated in the North West District of (old) Delhi. It mainly holds Hindus and Muslims and some Punjabi and Sindhi communities living in harmony. There is also a considerable number of Rohingya Refugee Muslims settled here, over the years since the Rohingya crisis began in Myanmar. Jahangirpur is near Azadpur Mandi said to one of Asia’s largest fruit and vegetable wholesale market.

On 16th April in Jahangirpuri, a Hanuman Jayanti Procession was being taken out and when it passed a mosque, where Muslims were holding Ramadan prayers, trouble broke out this time. Stones were pelted and gun shots fired, triggering a violence in which nine people including a Police officer was injured. Both sides blame the other. The marchers say they came under an organised attack by Muslims, who threw stones and other objects from rooftops. Muslims say that Hindus yelled provocative slogans near the mosque, leading to an argument. The first stone, they said, came from the other side. However, some videos of the incident show that the, until then, peaceful procession was attacked from the rear, cascading to the violence. Many of us know how these begin and who starts the fire: over to the investigators to get to the bottom of the stone.

Delhi Police have arrested 23 people, mostly Muslims, including two juveniles. Five of the accused-including a the key conspirator- a Muslim, and another person who was seen on video firing a pistol during the clashes -face charges under the strict National Security Act.

A few days later on 19 April 2022 prompted by a complaint from a Party State President, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) issued a late-night order to demolish houses and shops on the street where the incident had occurred, claiming them to be encroachments into public areas. Bulldozers were called-in for the job and a rush approach to the Supreme Court resulted in a Stay to halt the proceedings: the court ordered the parties to cool their heels for two weeks- to consult with Lord Hanuman?

At Home in China

Carrying on from the previous infectious weeks, Shanghai continues to face the wrath of the coronavirus and is still reeling under a strict lockdown-fourth week running. Shanghai has recorded about 400,000 cases during this outbreak.

This week China adopted a strategy of moving COVID19 ‘tested negative’ (that’s awfully clever – the positives stay positive in their Homes) people to quarantine centres over 150 km away – relocating whole communities. They have done this before, moving entire populations, and they are hoping it works this time too. Residents were told to pack their belongings, leave their wardrobe doors open and also keep open the front door of their homes. Pets were disallowed from going with their owners: Authorities say they will be taken care of. Well, China sure is one helluva of a positive place to live in!

Champion of The Earth

Sir David Attenborough is a broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author, famous for writing and presenting, in conjunction with BBC’s The Natural History documentary series, the ‘Life Collection’, a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on Earth.

He is not to be confused with his bother Richard Attenborough best known for directing and producing the movie ‘Gandhi’ and also as the builder of ‘Jurassic Park’ in the movie of that name.

This week Sir David Attenborough was named a Champion of The Earth by the United Nations’ Environment Programme. The prestigious award recognises the 95 years old’s commitment to telling stories about the natural world and climate change.

Accepting the award, Sir David said the world must take action now to protect nature and the planet.

His celebrated documentaries including ‘The Green Planet’ and ‘A Plastic Ocean’.

Sir David said that environmental success stories should give us hope that change is possible. “Fifty years ago, whales were on the very edge of extinction worldwide. Then people got together and now there are more whales in the sea than any living human being has ever seen. We know what the problems are, and we know how to solve them. All we lack is unified action.” That’s well said.

Please Yourself

Netflix, which remains the world’s leading streaming service with more than 220 million subscribers has enjoyed uninterrupted quarterly growth in subscribers since October 2011. However this week, it admitted it was losing customers to rivals, while struggling to expand due to password sharing. Shares of Netflix have slumped by 35% after it revealed a sharp drop in subscribers and warned millions more are set to quit the streaming service.

It also said a decision to raise prices in key markets had cost it 600,000 subscribers in North America alone, while its exit from Russia over Ukraine lost it 700,000. This wiped more than USD 50billion off the firm’s market value as experts warned it faced a struggle to get back on track.

With rising inflation and household budgets becoming tighter, people are finding ways of reducing expenses including ‘fixing the net’. Or perhaps sleep being the only competitor to Netflix, people are re-discovering the benefits of sleeping?

More procession of stories marching up in the weeks ahead. Don’t pelt stones – the bulldozers may come after you. It’s safe to drive with World Inthavaaram. Sleep well and wake up to read.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-15

About: the world this week, 10 April to 16 April 2022, of course Ukraine, a shooting in the USA, the virus in China, India flies a new plane and shows off its foreign policy, and the festivals we celebrate.

Everywhere

Ukraine

Surely, the hunger for Ukraine to survive and chase out the invader is much more than Russia trying to find nazis in Ukraine or blindly obey the orders of its maniac Boss. Whoever has the best reason and the passion to win the war will ultimately prevail. But the damage and destruction to man and material is monstrous. Will it be possible to resettle and rebuild again?

Russia has probably discovered that it is better to search for nazis in Russia itself. Russian troops seem to be gradually vacating areas cleverly made impregnable by a rock-solid and determined Ukraine. Russia is moving to the Eastern part where they think the chances of hatching some kind of a victory, besides finding hidden nazis, is better than an egg on the face!

Towards the end of the week one of Russia’s most important warships – the guided missile cruiser Moskva- the flag ship of its Black Sea Fleet was abandoned, and sank to settle down at the bottom of the Black Sea. It was destroyed by a cruise missile attack by Ukraine. This is a massive blow to Russia, which will be hard for it to accept. Ukraine said it effectively used the Neptune cruise missiles to attack Moskva and destroy the ship. And of course, Russia says an on-board ammunition explosion caused a fire, which ‘killed the ship’. Either way Russia has a serious problem.

Ukraine is trying to get control of the skies and believes it may decide the outcome of the war. History tells us that in the David versus Goliath Battle, David won. And there is nothing more powerful on Earth than a group of determined people fighting to stay alive. Every day, the stories of strength, heroism, and conviction coming out of Ukraine is overwhelming.

Despite all the noises the war rages on, and maybe it will stop when Russia decides – after being whacked by Ukraine, on land, sea, and the air. And never capable of admitting it.

United States of America

The shootings are back with a bang. At least 16 people were injured – five in critical condition- in a shooting at a subway station in Brooklyn, New York. The shooting happened this Tuesday during the morning rush hour. The attacker showed a clean pair of heels, fleeing the crime scene immediately after the attack.

Police say, the incident is not being investigated as an act of terrorism. And a motive is yet to be established.

Later in the week, Police arrested a Frank R James, 62, accused of the shooting carnage. James had set off smoke grenades in a commuter packed sub-way car and then fired 33 shots with a 9 mm handgun.

Police found him – on a tip-off – at a McDonald’s outlet in Manhattan’s East Village neighbourhood. James was gone when police arrived, but they soon spotted him at a busy corner nearby, when Police cars zoomed-in, Officers leapt out, and soon had him ‘peacefully’ handcuffed.

In recent months, James has railed in online videos about racism and violence in the US and about his experience with mental health care in New York City. Some pointers there, and the reasons need to be unravelled.

Pakistan

This week, Pakistan’s Parliament elected Shehbaz Sharif as its new Prime Minister (PM) following the ouster of PM Imran Khan, in a vote of no confidence. Earlier Imran Khan fended-off every kind of fast, swing, and spin bowling before being declared out due to a decision by the Third Umpire who went strictly by the Rule Book aka The Constitution. Team Imran – Members of Parliament of Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party – resigned en masse, boycotting the election of the new PM.

Shebaz Sharif is the younger brother of three-time PM Nawaz Sharif. He is the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) – ’N’ for Nawaz Sherif the founder- party. Previously, he served as the Chief Minister of Punjab three times, making him the longest-serving Chief Minister of Punjab.

The Government will hopefully stay in place until August 2023, when general elections are due. Until then, anything can happen. And no PM had ever completed a full five-year term in Pakistan’s 75 years history. Maybe a handful more of PMs lying up ahead?

China

The strangulating lockdown in China’s City of Shanghai continues from the beginning of last week. Shanghai is battling one of China’s biggest outbreaks since the coronavirus first came into being in the city of Wuhan about 800 km to the west. This week, on Thursday, cases touched a new high of 27,000 nos.

With the strictest ever curbs, millions in the city are increasingly frustrated, confined inside their homes, struggling to get daily supplies, with reports of shortage of essential items including medical supplies, doing the rounds. For many, their patience has worn thin and is likely to burst, spilling contents all over China.

Meanwhile, the World better keep a watch on what China eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

India

India Flies

This week, the first ever ‘Made in India’ civil Dornier aircraft took to the air and successfully kept its flight path: the plan is that it will provide connectivity to remote towns of northeast India. This is being described as a significant landmark in India’s aviation history.

The 17 seat, Dornier 228 Aircraft undertook the commercial flight from Assam’s Dibugarh to Arunachal Pradesh’s Pasighat on 12th April, taking the Ministers in the Government for a safe ride in the path-breaking flight.

The Dornier is manufactured by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited with technology transfer from Germany, which owns the original Dornier.

India’s New James Bond

India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) is doing his Job with flying colours taking India’s Foreign Policy to new independent heights and connectivity. He even earned praise from Pakistan’s now ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan who said that India has a strong, independent Foreign Policy. And nobody can dictate to India.

On India’s ‘warm energy’ relationship with Russia, EAM Jaishankar said that those who are looking at India’s energy purchases from Russia would be better served if they turned their attention to Europe. He said, “We do buy energy that is necessary of your energy security. But I suspect, looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon. So, you may want to think about that”.

With that kind of energy levels, later in the week, though a wee bit slow on the draw, Jaishankar came out with all guns firing. When United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said that the US is worried about India’s Human Rights Record, Jaishankar slightly lifted-up his cowboy hat and said that India too is concerned about US’s human rights record. ‘I would tell you that we also take our views on other people’s human rights situation, including that of the United States”.

In the South of India, in the dirt trails of the olden days, when movie Superstars such as M G Ramachandaran (MGR) and Shivaji Ganesan ruled the silver screen of Tamil Nadu cinema, there was another contemporary, a handsome actor called Jaishankar, who, though could not compete with the two big stars, did soft romantic and action movies and earned his badge as the ‘James Bond of Tamil cinema’. Jaishankar even did Western type cowboy-horse-gun movies and grew his spurs.

Now, I know the name Jaishankar can make a big punch and fire a gun –It has a history, mind it!

Please Yourself

This week a cornucopia of Festivals are being celebrated or were celebrated in India and across the World, and as a friend of mine who works in NASA said in a forwarded message, listing the many festivals: ‘divided by race / religion, but let’s stay united as one mankind’.

We have: Ramadan fasting underway; Ram Navami – Lord Rama’s Birthday, Good Friday – commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice for our sins; Cheti Chand- arrival of spring and harvest and new year for Sindhi Hindus; Vaisakhi/Baisakhi – harvest, again; Puthandu-Tamil New Year’s Day; Chaitra Navratri Parana-the day following which new beginnings can be undertaken…Festivals remind us of the goodness in each one of us: let’s put it to great use by shrinking our differences and expanding our agreements.

More festivals and tales shooting up in the weeks ahead. Shield yourself with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-14

About: the world this week,3 April 2022 to 9 April 2022, India all the way-beginning to the end, a massacre in Ukraine, the Genetic Code, the virus-again, and the Grammy Awards.

Everywhere

India Musings

It suddenly dawns upon you that India is living in a mighty dangerous neighbourhood – in an ocean infested with sharks of every kind, as if it were, but with ‘one pod of happy dolphins’ in one small corner. And thanks to the great Himalayas in the north and the oceans in the south, India has some height and depth of protection, at least in some dimensions.

Pakistan split decades ago into the present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, and they predominantly occupy the west and the east of India. While Pakistan tries its best to constantly be at war with India, Bangladesh is only slightly better -almost a friend- but both countries have shaky Governments of various degrees and leaders who rarely last an elected term.

Look at the present political turmoil spinning in Pakistan: the Deputy Speaker threw out a non-confidence motion, brought up by the opposition parties, as illegal, and the Prime Minister rushed to advise the President to dissolve the National Assembly and quickly announce fresh elections. It almost worked, but Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled the Deputy Speaker’s action as a no-ball -unconstitutional-and restored the status quo. And now the sitting Prime Minister, Imran Khan, will have to face a no-confidence motion; may be sent back to the pavilion and replaced with a new one, until the next twist, at the next bend. I was awfully surprised that rules are being applied in Pakistan. And the Courts are beginning to see and read them well. Hail the Constitution!

In the Himalayan north, years ago, Nepal took a painful, tumultuous, tortuous path to its present Federal Democratic Republic status. This was after the massacre in the Royal family which killed King Birendra and the Crown Prince leading to his ‘unfit’ brother Gyanendra inheriting the throne in the 2000’s. During the 1990s dozens of short-lived governments walked in and out. And Nepal is infamous for perennial instability primarily- a signature tune- because of personal disputes among its leaders rather than policy disputes. ‘Nepali Politics is disgusting’ said a Nepali.

Nearby Bhutan looks steady, having changed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck transferred most of his administrative powers to a Council of Ministers and allowed impeachment of the King himself by a two-thirds majority vote in parliament. In recent times, Bhutan has been continually ranked as the happiest country in all of Asia.

Myanmar is under bloody military rule, for over a year now, with the Junta having over-thrown a democratically elected government. It generated and fuelled the Rohingya crisis and seems to have forgotten how to hand back power to the people. It keeps piling up cases on its famous Nobel Peace Prize winning prisoner-who failed to make best of an opportunity, when it mattered.

Nearby Sri Lanka is falling apart economically. Years ago it was devastated by a fight for freedom by the minority Tamil population, with a ‘militant beast division’ hijacking the cause and having to be militarily eliminated. This time it’s bad governance and ‘militant’ mismanagement of the economy.

Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, appears to be riding a good wave ever since the current President, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was sworn into Office in November 2018, for a five-year term, on the strength of a massive election victory. And it looks like he is upto the task of holding and keeping the Government afloat.

For many years Maldives surfed in political turmoil with everybody trying to overthrow everybody else, including mercenaries from far away lands. And even the water is trying to overthrow the Government.India was called to help flush out the dirt many a time-talk about draining the sump! A paradise lost: a paradise regained?

In contrast to all its neighbours India is standing tall, splendidly, with a thriving noisy democracy, despite parochial State Chieftains (trumpeting their stock origins) looking for every opportunity to widen fault lines for their selfish gains. Ever wondered how India does it? Staying fit with yoga?

Ukraine: The Bucha Massacre

This week the gruesome killings in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha traumatised the world to the very depth of its soul. The murder of scores of civilians, as much as 300, was uncovered after Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv suburb.

On the grounds of a church was an open mass grave with the dead still inside and some in body bags, poking out in the loose graveyard sand. Houses have been bombed and found caved in by Russian shelling with the driveways ploughed over by tanks. The streets were littered with bodies with hands tied behind and obviously tortured and shot dead. It was a horrific sight.

The Pope stepped in, condemning the massacre in Bucha. He kissed a Ukrainian flag and cried for the war to be stopped, the weapons to fall silent and to stop the sowing of death and destruction. He also called the helpless situation as ‘Impotency of the United Nations’. Rightfully so.

After the failure of the League of Nations in preventing World War II, the United Nations (UN) came into being with the sole lofty aim of ‘preventing wars’. Sadly wars have only been increasing while various other arms of the UN are winning Nobel Prizes and awards in doing many other jobs extremely well-except preventing war! A snake which never had fangs at all? What next, we disband the UN and start a brand new ‘Union of Countries’ with super poisonous fangs and an ability to act as true deterrent to war?

Whatever, late this week, finally, in a small step, Russia was suspended from the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) due to its unjust invasion of Ukraine and colossal human rights violations. This happened with a two-thirds majority voting and the usual countries, including India, abstaining.

The only other country suspended from the HRC was Libya in March 2011.

Towards the end of the week, a Russian strike in Kramatorsk Railway station killed many civilians including children: thousands of people were waiting for evacuation at the railway station when the Russians attacked. The Russian barbarism continues and something has to be done about it. What about the millions of refugees fleeing war-torn areas? How and where will they be accommodated? That’s a gargantuan challenge in itself (a friend of mine-a monk on a Parikrama, who bought a Maruthi Suzuki Baleno car to ride-called me a few days ago, from Shimla, to remind me).

The capital Kyiv is gathering its feet after the exit of the Russians. And that brings some hope.

The Genetic Code

This week, Scientists announced they have finally finished mapping the human genome – what is called, the genetic code. Mapping first started in 1990, and by the early 2000s researching scientists had sequenced a whopping 92%. Now, the last bit of 8% is done. With such an in-depth look into our very insides, we should be able to better understand human biology. It could also pave the way to greater medical discoveries. And even ‘leave the door to be pushed open’ to individualised medicine.

‘We are’ the World!

The Circulating Virus

This week America’s Centre of Disease Control (CDC) announced that ‘BA.2’, the highly transmissible Omicron variant is now dominant in the United States, making up nearly 55% of new cases. Globally too, this is the dominant variant in circulation. The announcement came as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized an optional second booster shot for people 50 years and above. The CDC is yet to officially recommend it, but is telling anyone who qualifies for such a dose, to consider getting shot with it.

Back to the country where it all started. This week Chinese authorities enforced a lockdown in China’s largest city, Shanghai: the partial lockdown of the previous week was extended to cover all areas of the financial centre. This despite growing anger over quarantine rules where latest test results show only about 268 symptomatic daily COVID19 cases. The broader lockdown came after testing saw asymptomatic COVID19 cases surge to more than 13,000.

This means more than 26 million residents will stay put indoors. Chinese officials described the outbreak as ‘extremely grim’ and sent tens of thousands of healthcare workers to help contain infections in the city, including military personnel.

Overall, some 23 Chinese cities are under total or partial lockdown. And we thought we saw the end of COVID19? Hang on!

Sri Lanka Woes

This week, the island country’s economic crisis only got worse and an emergency was declared to curtail violent protests against the hapless condition. The entire cabinet of the Government resigned, and a newly appointed Finance Minister quit after just one day in office. I reckon he had no food for thought? And perhaps he wisely decided he is incapable of finding food for others. This was just ahead of crucial talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan programme.

Towards the end of the week President Gotabaya Rajapaksa revoked the emergency but the real emergency of life continues. The Government is working on patching together a crack team-good with the finance numbers-to find a way out. Better late than never?

The Grammys Song

Time for some music, to shake a leg, at the end of a barbaric week.

The 64th Grammy Awards Function was held on 3rd April, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, United States, hosted by Trevor Noah-the South African Comedian, Television Host, Actor, and Political Commentator.

The Grammy for the Best Album was won by Jon Batiste for ‘We Are’. The best Pop Duo/ Group Performance was won by Deja Cat for ‘Kiss Me More’ – go ahead and kiss the cat more!

The Grammy for the Best New Artiste went to Olivia Rodrigo who had a ‘good 4 u’ music start this year. She also won Grammys for Best Pop Solo performance for her song, ‘Drivers License’, and Best Pop Vocal Album for ‘Sour’. Her on-stage driving was put to a real test, when racing about she dropped a Grammy Gramophone causing it to break, but before the incident could ‘sour’, it was tinkered and repaired – hope she’s ok?

Silk Sonic won Record of the Year and Best Song of the Year for ‘Leave the Door Open’. Yes, it’s better we do that, otherwise who gets to hear the song if the doors are closed.

The Grammy for the Best Country Song went to Chris Stapleton for ‘Cold’ and also best Album for ‘Starting Over’. The Best Rock Song, and Album went to Foo Fighters for ‘Waiting on a War’-I wonder whether they meant the Russia-Ukraine war was coming. Best rap song went to Kanye West for ‘Jail’-most of us know who to ‘put-in jail’ don’t we?

Indian-American singer Falguni Shah, aka Falu, won best Children’s Music Album for ‘A Colourful World’. A Child’s world is indeed colourful – including the black & white!

Falu is known for her modern inventive style with a formidable Indian classical shaped vocal talent. She had trained in Hindustani Classical in the Jaipur Gharana musical tradition and in the Benares style of Thumri under Kaumudi Munshi and semi-classical from Uday Mazumdar. She also studied under the legendary Indian classical vocalist, Kishori Amonkar and must have rubbed off a lot from her. It showed!

More musical stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Play the Gramophone with World Inthavaaram. And don’t break it.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-13

About: the world this week, 27 March to 2 April 2022, the Butcher, an Economy in the doldrums, reverse swing in politics, and the power of the slap.

Everywhere

The Butcher

Russian President Vladimir Putin is accumulating various degrees of notorious names for his mad ‘loose gun’ adventure war in Ukraine, and over the week he came to be called ‘Butcher’. What next, ‘Terminator’, or perhaps ‘Loser’ in the end?

Reports of another Russian General-in quite a forceful list-being killed in Ukraine came in late last week, making me wonder whether Russia has only Generals in its Army?

Meanwhile, the President of the United States (US), Joe Biden, wrapped up his visit to Europe and meetings with fellow NATO Heads, deciding that it’s time for Vladimir Putin to go: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power”, he thundered. This was in Poland’s capital, in front of Warsaw’s Royal Castle where he opened with words from the Polish Pope John Paul II, “Be not afraid”.

Biden also met Ukrainian refugees in Poland and lifted a few kids into the air-to feel the weight of their suffering.

Soon after the Regime Change comment, the equivocating battle began with the White House clarifying, “The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change”. Wow, we learn something new each day! Twist, bend, cut and paste words and lines-until it doesn’t make any sense?

Ukraine is fighting on, defending their land against the Russian invasion, and there seems to be no let-up in the proceedings or progress in the ongoing peace talks. Russia is definitely faltering in its battle plans and its fighting machine appears to have messed up big time in underestimating the resolve of the people of Ukraine.

Could Ukraine win the war? They better!

Sri Lanka: It’s the Economy, Stupid.

Once upon a time, India was flooded by refugees fleeing the deadly Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) generated internecine war in Sri Lanka. Now, long after that menace was killed and buried in unmarked graves, a new kind of refugee influx into India is happening. Sri Lankans are fleeing a burgeoning economic crisis in their country.

Typically, in the capital Colombo, for a middle-class family, there is no cooking gas; there is a 10 hour power outage every day; people mainly eat frozen bread, using the hot plate occasionally whenever the ‘power visits’; the fuel supply to the Fuel Stations has come down to a trickle, resulting in long queues and even fist-fighting, with the Army having to be called-in to keep the ‘people-fire’ down in ‘Fuel Less Stations’.

How did all this come to be in the island country?

To serve it in one line, Sri Lanka has, no great manufacturing, no high-end services, is heavily dependent on a tourism-led economy-which was killed and masked by the pandemic, imports even essential food items, and has a huge debt with remittance dependency.

Tourism contributes 10% of the country’s GDP and Sri Lanka is highly dependent on imports for essential items.

Digging deeper: The present Government had announced huge tax breaks, a number of tax cuts such as, no capital gains, VAT cut from 15% to 8%, half tax for construction companies etc. This ensured that hardly any cash flowed in to the Government coffers. Even before the pandemic, spending by the government was on the rise. As a percentage of GDP, government spending, which was 18.8% rose to 21.9%. Due to lack of tourism, which is one of the largest forex generators for the country, forex reserves nose-dived. There was just USD 1.6 billion dollars in November. Sri Lanka has to repay over USD 7 billion in the next 12 months in loans alone.

Sri Lanka is deep in Debt – owes over USD 80 billion to various lenders. It owes USD 5 billion dollars to China alone and took an additional loan of 1 billion last year from China to help with the financial crisis. And is struggling to repay these debts.

Due to money printing, Inflation has risen to above 14%. People are finding it difficult to afford even the basic necessities, food, water, rent, electricity, etc. And is using credit lines to buy these and medicines, and fuel from neighbouring countries. There is also a growing Agricultural Crisis. Due to the low forex reserves, the government banned the import of chemicals and fertilisers and announced that it would make agriculture 100% organic, which decision had a negative impact on the economy. Farmers who were reliant on these fertilisers found it difficult to produce healthy crops. Many didn’t plant at all, fearing a bad produce.

Late this week protests heated up after hundreds of protestors tried to storm the home of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa demanding his resignation over handling of country’s worst economic crisis, since independence.

India is out on the Island lending a helping hand, extending an USD 1 billion line of credit and is actively finding ways and means of helping its now ‘poor’ neighbour.

Pakistan: Reverse Swing and The Islamabad Drift

Pakistan’s Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan once led Pakistan to a fabulous first Cricket World Cup victory in 1992. He pioneered the reverse swing bowling technique in cricket fast bowling, and developed all-round skills to emerge as one of the best cricketeers Pakistan has produced. Now in his new innings as PM, since 2018-far away from the world of cricket-he will have to counter every kind of treacherous swing to continue batting as PM. And Pakistan’s infamous Army does the umpiring (and maybe someone remote doing the third umpiring?)

A quick flash back: Imran Khan is the son of a civil engineer in Pakistan. He and his four sisters had a privileged upbringing in Lahore where he was schooled, before studying at London’s Oxford University and finding place and pace in cricket. He went on to join the Pakistan Cricket team and later become its Captain. He had ‘killer’ debonair looks and is said to have a way with women. And it’s a long list of broken hearts! Recall the famous yesteryears ‘Thumbs Up’ advertisement with India’s Sunil Gavaskar: nobody saw Gavaskar or the Thumbs Up cola drink-they only saw Imran Khan.

Imran Khan retired from cricket after the World Cup win and went on to raise millions of dollars to fund a cancer hospital in his mother’s memory. In 1995, at 43, he married British heiress, Jemima Goldsmith, 21-the daughter of one of the world’s richest man at the time, Sir James Goldsmith. The marriage delivered two boys but the match ran-out in 2004. The pitch changed.

About this time, Imran Khan’s foray into philanthropy spawned a career in politics and in April 1996 he founded a Political Party called, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) (Pakistan movement for Justice).

A second marriage in 2015, to journalist Reham Khan, lasted less than a year. The former BBC Weather News Presenter found the climate in the marriage unfavourable -it rained almost every day-and stormed out.

Imran Khan married again, in a low-profile ceremony in 2018. His third wife Bushra Bibi, a mother of five, was and is his spiritual adviser, and the match played well with the public to show his devotion to Islam – a political reverse swing. And the weather always looked good for bowling (and batting). Never mind the pitch.

In July 2018, in the Pakistan General Elections that year, Imran Khan became the first person in the history of Pakistan general elections to win in all five constituencies that he contested. This surpassed former PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s record -he contested in four and won in three constituencies in 1970.

In the 2018 General Elections the PTI won 116 seats of the 270 it contested and won a plurality in the National Assembly. Later with a coalition of parties coming together Imran Khan became the choice of PM of Pakistan. Khan secured 176 votes and became 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan taking oath of office on 18 August 2018 promising to take Pakistan to victory over corruption and make it a humanitarian state based on principles of the first Islamic state of Medina. He has been slogging on in power for over four years now – running between the wickets, but not scoring too well.

During March 2022 a key ally and the main coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM), bowled a googly, struck a deal with the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the ball slipped out of Imran’s Khan’s hands – not that he is a bad fielder!

With the PTI government losing majority a no-confidence motion was called and is being put to vote. The math is against Imran Khan, but will be able to swing it in his favour and continue as PM? He refuses to step down. And I have a story to finish!

The Oscars: The Power Of The Slap

This year the best Actor Winner stole the show in the The Annual Academy Awards with some real action and not the slightest hint of acting. Award presenter Chris Rock was on stage and made fun of Best Actor nominee Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, over her shaven head (with hair lost due to a rare hair-loss disease called alopecia areata). Rock compared Pinkett’s shaved head to Demi Moore’s look in ‘GI Jane’, saying he couldn’t wait to see her in ‘GI Jane 2’.

This caused Will Smith to suddenly walk on to the stage, slap Chris Rock on the cheek and walk back to sit beside his wife (I did it for you, honey) in an apparent case of ‘losing one’s marbles’. Once firmly settled in his chair he shouted out, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f- – – – – g mouth”.

Meanwhile, Chris Rock lived up to the Rock in his name and stood unfazed, brushing it off. On his part, after the incident, when Will Smith was asked by the Academy to leave the Oscars Ceremony, he refused.

I’m awfully disappointed and stunned with Will Smith’s behaviour. After all these years in Hollywood he is unable to shake-off a joke and maybe return it with interest? He has been such a motivational example, but this one incident had brought him down to the depths of rowdiness. Has some pent-up anger found a seam to discharge? Is it the tightness of the pandemic, or the absurdity of the Russia-Ukraine war? We are living in slapping times!

The moment took away the glory of the movies, the actors, the technicians… levelling it down to a slap in the face of the Oscars!

Moving over to the Winners of this year’s Oscars:

The movie, CODA won the best picture award; Will Smith won Best Actor for King Richard; Jessica Chastain – Best Actress for The Eyes of Tammy Faye; Troy Kotsur – Best Supporting Actor for CODA; Ariana DeBose-Best Supporting Actress for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story; Jane Campion-Best Director for The Power of the Dog. Bille Eilish and Finneas – best original song for James Bond’s, No Time to Die; Greig Fraser – Best Cinematography for the film Dune.

‘Drive My Car’ drove well to be declared best international feature film; ‘Summer of the Soul’ had real soul to win the Best Documentary Feature; Belfast won Best Original Screenplay; CODA won Best Adapted Screen Play.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling went to The Eyes of Tammy Faye; Best Visual effects, and Best Original Score went to Dune. Best Costume Design dressed-up Cruella.

CODA became the first movie from a streaming service-Apple TV-to win film industry’s biggest price. It’s a heartwarming film that tells the story of an aspiring singer who is the only hearing member for a deaf family. CODA is also an acronym of Child Of Deaf Adults.

This year’s Awards -The 94th Annual Academy Awards- was held in the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States, and was hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes. It is marked forever by the Power of the Slap.

More hearing stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Play and swing with World Inthavaaram. And mind the slap.