Month: February 2023

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2023-08

About-the world this week, 19 February to 25 February 2023: The US in Ukraine; a melting Thwaite Glacier; a canal dry Venice; Israel’s Supreme Court; Trains and Tunnels; Canada’s Super Pigs; Two leaves, and a Bow & Arrow; and Japan’s roll with an iron Ball.

Everywhere

This week United States (US) President Joe Biden made a surprise dash to Ukraine to walk with President Zelensky on the streets of Kyiv, hear the air-raid alarms, deliver bear-hugs, show solidarity, and announce additional support and aid. That should be morale boosting for Ukraine. This is Biden’s first visit since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago and it comes almost on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of 24th February. Biden said the US would stand with Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’ and praised the heroic fight-back. He then went on for a three-day visit to neighbouring Poland, where he declared that Russia will never be able to capture Ukraine.

Meanwhile, European Union (EU) foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss how to make sure Ukrainian forces are supplied with enough ammunition to keep the war going.

And in Russia, President Vladimir Putin made his state of the union address, where he recycled the same lines about his rationale for invading Ukraine; and he outlined no vision of how the so-called ‘special military operation’ he launched might end. But Putin did offer at least one headline, announcing that Russia is suspending its participation in the ‘New START’ (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), the US-Russia bilateral agreement on nuclear arms reduction. Putin repeated the same baseless claim that Russia had no choice but to use force against Ukraine. And he doubled down on blaming the West for the conflict. “I want to repeat: it was they who unleashed the war,” Putin said. “And we used and continue to use force to stop it.” Wow, what an inventive, foggy reason!

Doomsday could arrive sometime in the future and Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, also nicknamed the ‘Doomsday Glacier’, may drown many parts of the World on a probably irreversible path. Over the years, this unusually broad and vast Glacier, about the size of Great Britain, alone has contributed to 4% rise in global sea levels. Thwaites is melting rapidly and all the Oceans being connected, a full melt-down could result in a 1 to 3 metre rise in sea levels all across the World.

Presently a floating ice-shelf called the Thwaites Ice-Shelf braces and restrains the eastern portion of the Thwaites Glacier. In recent years, this ice sheet has been steadily disintegrating and Scientists predicated that it is likely to collapse within a decade from 2021. The Thwaites Glacier itself acts a natural dam for enormous ice lakes sitting behind it. They will slide down the mild slopes of continental Antarctica and into the sea once Thwaites collapses.

The Glacier is named after Fredrik T Thwaites, a glacial geologist and Professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

What would be the effects? Think, major cities such as New York, Miami, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Tokyo would be inundated. And low-lying Island nations such as Maldives (Indian Ocean), Kiribati (Central Pacific Ocean) and Tuvalu (South Pacific) may be swallowed up.What can we do? Some have suggested building of underwater walls with robots, and others have suggested enormous cooling tunnels under the ice to cool the slightly warmer water beneath the Glacier, which chips away at the ice.

Whatever, the impacts of melting glaciers can always be mitigated depending on how we humans respond in the coming decades. And there is no reason to panic. Maybe we should never use the word ‘Doomsday Glacier’ as it gives the inaccurate impression of something inevitable?

Meanwhile, in yonder Italy, the City of Venice would certainly do with lots of water. Its iconic canals are running dry, making it impossible for the city’s famous gondolas and water taxis to navigate the waterways.

This follows weeks of dry winter weather with the Alps having received less than normal snowfall. A combination of factors are to blame, including lack of rain and unusual low sea tides.

Imagine, Venice built on over 100 islands and crisscrossed by 177 canals, which was once at the risk of drowning, is now starving for water!

Israel has a problem. It’s about judicial reforms which aim to overhaul the country’s legal system. Its Supreme Court (SC) has remained supreme, may be too supreme and the Government brought in reforms to curb a ‘dictatorial streak’. The changes would limit the SC’s power to rule against the legislature and the executive, giving the Israeli Parliament – Knesset- the power to override the SC decisions with a simple majority of 61 votes out of the 120 seat Knesset. Another change proposes to do away with the SC’s authority to review the legality of Israel’s Basic Laws, which function as the country’s constitution.

Supporters agree with the changes. Opponents think it would threaten’s Israel’s democratic nature and may lead to majoritarian rule. People are out on the streets to protest the changes. Others say there is more than meets the eye, and the conflict is not about the role of judges; rather it is over different visions of Israel. May the best vision win?

We have often heard of stories of tunnels being made and to speed up the process -the digging erroneously begins are the two ends. And how they fail to connect due to a wrong alignment – and you either find a way to connect them, abandon them, or get two tunnels.

Now leaving the tunnel alone, there is a story in Spain of how new commuter trains were ordered that could not fit the non-standard tunnels in the northern regions of Spain’s Asturias and Cantabria. However, the mistake was spotted before the trains could be actually pushed into production.

Spain’s Rail Operator Renfe ordered the trains in 2020, but the following year the Manufacturer realised that the dimensions it had been given for the trains were inaccurate and ‘on a hunch’, stopped work.

The rail network in northern Spain was built in the 19th Century and has tunnels under the mountainous landscape that do not match standard modern tunnel dimensions.

The Government launched a joint investigation to find out how the error could have happened and fired a Renfe manager, and the head of track technology, over the blunder. The botched order cost nearly USD 275 million.

Looks like it’s the season of ambitious wide-bodied thinking failing to fit into our straight-jacket world.

Farmers in Canada wanted to breed large-bodied pigs that are far more resistant to cold so that they are able to survive and reproduce at temperatures that would have killed off other types of livestock. Hence, they came-up with and made a new hybrid species –The Canadian Super Pig-by mating domestic pigs and wild boars. Though they initially lived in captivity, a decline in the market for Pigs and Boars led to many of them being freed.

A group of these Super Pigs are now travelling down from Canada to the Northern US and pose a serious threat to native wildlife and humans alike, by spreading disease, and gobbling up crops. These Super Pigs are considered to be incredibly intelligent, learning as they eat and find their way around new places. The fear is that these pigs, swine, hogs, boars – whichever name you give them – these omnivores are poised to wreak havoc on the environment in both Canada and the United States.

In India, two State level political parties have been fighting over control of their parties after the death of their respective charismatic leaders and after a few years of ruling the State in their light and shine.

In the first, in the Western State of Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena founded by Bal Thackeray saw the majority of the party led by Eknath Shinde break away from the family-faction led by the son Uddhav Thackeray. And collaborate with the Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a Government, with Eknath Shinde becoming the Chief Minister. This week India’s Election Commission (EC) ruled that the faction led by Eknath Shinde is the real Shiv Sena and awarded it the Party Symbol – Bow & Arrow – and associated Offices. The decision was challenged in the the Supreme Court of India, but the Court sided with the EC’s decision. Later, the Election Commission awarded a ‘Cone Ice-cream’ Symbol to what was left of Uddhav’s party, which was anyway melting away into oblivion.

In the second, in the Southern State of Tamil Nadu, following the death of Supremo Jayalalithaa, two leaders Ottakarathevar Pannerselvam (OPS) and Edappadi Karuppa Gounder Palaniswami (EPS) teamed-up staying true to the ‘Two Leaves’ Symbol of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). And ruled as Deputy Chief Minister and Chief Minister respectively for a while, only to lose the last Assembly Elections to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). But the EPS led AIADMK gave a decent fight, and he went on to become the Opposition Leader. Then the bickering and fighting began and the dual-leadership model broke down, and it became awfully tough for the two leaves to stay on the same stem. Single Leadership seemed to be the best option to take on the ruling DMK and the growing-by-leaps-and-bounds BJP. After many a run to high and higher courts with, you-lose-some, I-win-some games, this week the SC ruled that bye-laws brought-in to make EPS the single leader are legal. This makes the way for EPS to be formally elected General Secretary and undisputed Leader of the AIADMK, graduating from being the ‘interim’ General Secretary.

Parties should choose symbols carefully: A bow cannot wait to dispatch an arrow. And two leaves on a stem cannot stem the growth of more leaves!

Oh Buoy!

This week Japan was rattled when a rusty metal sphere, about 1.5 metres wide, washed up on a beach in Hamamatsu. Could it be a Godzilla egg (the effect of watching too many movies), a Dragon Ball, something from outer space, a spy ball… a mooring buoy? This was in the background of the Chinese spy balloon saga, and a hostile North Korea pumping test missiles into the Sea of Japan.

The area was cordoned off and by the Police and even a bomb squad was sent to check out the object. Then it was X-rayed, declared safe and picked-up for disposal.

Turns out it was a hollow sphere, a steel mooring buoy, used to carry instruments or act as floating markers. The buoys can break free from their anchorage in the sea, either in a violent storm or from being pulled by a big fishing vessel. The objects can float in the ocean for decades, and can lose their markings and get rusty when they wash ashore.

Many Japanese were embarrassed that they could not recognise a buoy in a sea of thoughts.

More fighting, melting, wide-bodied stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Stay buoyed-up and afloat with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2023-07

About-the world this week, 12 February to 18 February 2023: new normal war and education; a chemical train derails; Cyclone Gabrielle acts tough; the First Minister of Scotland quits; a new illness; Super Bowl and pregnancies; and a famous, beautiful Hollywood Actress dies.

Everywhere

America is suddenly occupied with shooting down ‘Identified Flying Objects’ and also Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) strolling into its airspace, and ‘maybe’ calling them Aliens – it’s becoming a habit and a new trend.

The illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine and the fight-back by Ukraine in the War is growing normal. So is the fact that girls are shut-out of schools and colleges by the Taliban in Afghanistan: denied basic education only because of their gender, which is not done as policy in any other country on Earth-a war on Education. The World needs to do more to stop these two senseless wars.

The Earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, last week, bore stories of unbelievable grit of survival emerging from the ruins and the rubble; and, once life is extracted, washed-down, and fed food, displayed a beatific smile. Life lives and sustains in the worst of disasters. And goes on.

The contrast between killings in the Russian-Ukraine War – we need to count the dead – and saving lives in the Earthquake, is stunning. Life is precious. Why is the United Nations- strung-together by countries of the world-with the stated purpose of ‘preventing another (world) war, unable to do anything at all – in the War in Ukraine and in Education in Afghanistan? Thankfully its Health and Food programmes are success stories we can talk about in abundance. But the ‘Achilles heel’ is, failing to prevent war, or stop a war that has slipped through and started.

Staying with the United States, while it is fully focused on the sky, for the moment, the news of a deadly train derailment in Ohio State did not fire or climb much of the headlines.

Last week, a train carrying the chemical, vinyl chloride derailed and exploded near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. And a controlled burn of the toxic chemical had to be ignited to prevent a much more dangerous explosion. Thousands in East Palestine, a town of about 5000 people, were evacuated with a warning the controlled burn would create a phosgene and hydrogen chloride plume across the region. Phosgene is a highly toxic gas that can cause vomiting and breathing difficulties, and was used as a weapon in the First World War.

The Ohio derailment can be safely called a catastrophe. And it is a ‘wake-up call’ to the dangers of deadly train derailments. The next one could be cataclysmic. No one died in the accident, but the air is pregnant with danger.

‘Ineffective oversight and a largely self-monitoring industry that has cut the rail workforce to the bone in recent years as it puts record profits over safety’, is responsible for the wreck, said a Railroad Official.

About 4.5 million tons of toxic chemicals are shipped by rail each year and an average of 12,000 rail coaches carrying hazardous materials pass through cities and towns each day, according to the US Department of Transportation.

Going into another line of thinking, just 22 train tank coaches filled with LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) holds the same amount of energy as the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb. An LNG fire is extremely difficult to contain, and shipping it by rail can be extremely dangerous. While we are astonished by the effect that the spillage of five coaches of vinyl chloride has had at the Pennsylvania-Ohio border it would be nothing compared to the effects of a similar derailment of LNG.

The US is definitely heading ‘someplace’. What, with it being ‘attacked’ from the Air- UFO’s and Aliens; on Land – chemical derailments, and people using easily-available guns to primarily shoot down school going children.

Meanwhile, this week, a gunman, Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, killed three Michigan State University students and left five others in critical condition. He had no known ties to the University and opened fire on two parts of campus. And was later found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. There have been 12 school shootings so far this year, and the shooting at Michigan State marks the first at a college or university this year.

Over the past year we have heard of mighty winds, heavy and incessant rains, blazing heat, and other devilish Weather conditions ‘not seen or experienced in a generation or in decades’. Well, it’s back this year.

Cyclone Gabrielle – the kind not seen in a generation in New Zealand – pummelled much of the country’s North Island causing the Government to declare a National Emergency – only the third in New Zealand’s history.

About a third of the country’s population of five million people live in the affected areas. Many people were displaced from their homes and some were forced to swim to safety after rivers burst their banks and entered their houses. Others climbed to rooftops from where they were rescued . About a quarter of a million people are without power. Falling trees have smashed houses, and landslides have carried others away and blocked roads. The storm’s damage has been most extensive in coastal communities on the far north and east coast of the North Island – with areas like Hawke’s Bay, Coromandel, and Northland among the worst hit.

Down Under neighbour Australia has often gone under water and now the ‘disease’ has spread to New Zealand.

The United Kingdom (UK) consists of the lands of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. With England, Scotland, and Wales being referred to as Great Britain we have one title, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the Passport.

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have their own government or executive led by a First Minister and a devolved unicameral legislature. England, the largest of the constituents of the United Kingdom has no devolved executive or legislature and is administered directly by the UK Parliament, which also reigns supreme over Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The First Minister of Scotland is Nicola Sturgeon, 52, who is also the Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), a position she has held since 2014.

This week, in a shock announcement, Nicola Sturgeon ‘in a Jacinda Ardern moment’ called it quits as First Minister as well as Leader of the SNP, saying, “In my head and my heart, I know the time is now”.

This was a bombshell which send shockwaves through Scottish politics. Her Government was in a pivotal moment, in pursuit of SNP’s founding goal, of Scottish Independence in the light of the UK Government’s refusal to engage in plans for a referendum. And the UK Supreme Court has ruled against another referendum on Scottish freedom being held unilaterally, i.e., without the UK Government’s consent.

Nicola Sturgeon departs after facing mounting pressure over her tactics for independence and over transgender rights, though she said she was under no pressure whatsoever over these issues.

Sturgeon became First Minister in the aftermath of the September 2014 referendum, which saw Scots reject breaking away from the rest of the United Kingdom by more than 10 percentage points. However she has been doggedly pushing for another vote, especially in the background of Scotland voting against Brexit in 2016. She has overseen unprecedented electoral success for the SNP as she kept the ‘scent of Scottish Independence’ alive. “I firmly believe that my successor, whoever he or she may be, will lead Scotland to independence and I’ll be there cheering him or her on every single step of the way,” she said.

In less than a month, two prominent world leaders-New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, and Nicola Sturgeon -have resigned from political office. The similarity in the reasons both leaders have cited will find resonance in much of the world, especially among women in public life. Both have cited exhaustion, the need to step away from constant scrutiny and have a private life. They have also hinted at how dehumanising being a woman in public life can be. Lessons for the world!

Marburg

An illness, which has killed more than nine people in Equatorial Guinea has been identified as Marburg, a highly infectious and deadly Ebola-like virus for which there’s no vaccine, officials announced this Monday.

The outbreak was first detected last Tuesday, affecting people who went to a funeral ceremony in Kie-Ntem province, which borders Cameroon and Gabon. It prompted a local lockdown and restrictions along the border with Cameroon. One of the eight samples which were examined has since tested positive for Marburg virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. The other results are not yet known. Samples were negative for Ebola, Lassa, Dengue and Yellow Fever.

So far, Equatorial Guinea has reported 25 suspected cases, including 9 deaths. Their symptoms include nose bleeds, fever, fatigue, joint pain and blood-stained vomit and diarrhoea.

The Marburg virus disease is a highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever and has a case fatality ratio of up to 88%. It’s in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola. Human-to-human transmission is possible through direct contact with bodily fluids, surfaces and materials.

There are no approved vaccines or antiviral treatments to treat this virus.

Please Yourself

Super Bowl

In American Football, the Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season, since 1966.

The Super Bowl is played on the second Sunday in February of the year and is among the world’s most-watched single sporting event and frequently commands the largest audience among all American broadcasts during the year.

This year’s Super Bowl, the 57th, was played on 12th February at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Kansas City Chiefs won their second Super Bowl in four seasons, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35.

One of the most eagerly awaited events is the half-time of the Super Bowl when Superstar musicians treat the spectators to a spectacular performance. Remember, the 37th Super Bowl made famous by ‘Janetgate’, when Singer Janet Jackson’s breast—adorned with a nipple shield—was exposed by Actor-Singer Justin Timberlake to the viewing public for approximately half a second. The shield made us wonder whether Janet came prepared with a ‘shield’ expecting the ‘Justin’ attack? It went on to create a voluminous discourse over indecency in broadcasting.

This year, singer Rihanna performed live about a dozen of her hits, without controversy, at half-time. It was an epic music show featuring gravity-defying sets – mainly seven LED illuminated platforms that were hung up to 60 feet above the field. Some said it was the most technically advanced show ever, at the Super Bowl.

And once the music died down, Rihanna made an announcement of a second pregnancy with Rapper A$AP Rocky (he has a dollar in his name).

Not to be left behind, the already mother of three, Actress Blake Lively followed suit announcing ‘one more’ with husband Actor Ryan Reynolds.

I read about a couple in Poland who had seven kids and decided to go for one more, but were blessed with quintuplets – that’s a dozen in total! Suddenly it looks like it’s raining babies all over Plant Earth. The human population is surely exploding and may become the next Climate Change problem, will it? And we have a grown-up child activist leading an effort, from the front!

US actress Raquel Welch – a breath-taking natural beauty – who, some say, paved the way for modern-day action heroines in Hollywood films, died at the age of 82, after a brief illness.

Welch became an international sex symbol in the 1960s, widely remembered for playing a bikini-clad cavewoman in the 1966 film One Million Years B.C. She also won a Golden Globe for her role in 1974’s The Three Musketeers. In a career spanning over five decades, Welch appeared in more than 30 movies and 50 television shows.

In the year 1979, Raquel Welch posed for Playboy, but she never did a fully nude shoot. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner later said, “Raquel Welch, one of the last of the classic sex symbols, came from the era when you could be considered the sexiest woman in the world without taking your clothes off. She declined to do complete nudity, and I yielded gracefully. The pictures prove her point”.

Welch married her high school sweetheart, James Welch with whom she had two children, Damon Welch, and Latanne Tahnee Welch (who is an actress). James and Raquel Welch divorced in 1964: she retained James’ last name, Welch, until her death.

She married producer Patrick Curtis in 1967, and divorced him in 1972. In 1980, she married producer Andre Weinfeld, divorcing him in 1990. Welch wed Richard Palmer, owner of Mulberry Street Pizzeria (over 30 years in the business of making Pizzas; claims to be the World’s most famous Pizzeria) in 1999 but then separated in 2003. After this, Welch did not remarry.

She was my ‘Dream Woman’ in the High School and College days. RIP Raquel Welch.

More stories pregnant with life and meaning coming up in the weeks ahead. Deliver your best with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2023-06

About-the world this week, 5 February to 11 February 2023: a devastating earthquake; a balloon in the sky; an ex-Dictator dies; and the sound of the Grammys.

Everywhere

Turkey is Shaken

Long before it struck, the birds seemed to know it would come, behaving strangely as only nature can trigger, to announce an impending disaster in its own mysterious and unique way.

In the early hours of this Monday an Earthquake measuring 7.8 magnitude (moment magnitude scale) hit Turkey and Syria causing deadly devastation. More than 20,000 people have died, close to 80,000 injured and tens of thousands rendered homeless. While that’s the count at this time, an earthquake expert estimates that 180,000 people or more may be trapped under the rubble, nearly all of them dead!

A video of a multi-storey building on a busy Turkey street showed it crumble like a pack of cards leaving behind nothing but dust and rubble. In another, a photograph, a man could be seen holding on to ‘only the hand’ of his 15 year daughter crushed to death under the rubble – it was heart-wrenching.

The main earthquake was followed by about 60 aftershocks and another quake measuring 7.5 and yet another at 5.9. The epicentre is estimated to be 23 kilometres (km) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep Province, at a depth of 24.1 km.

Monday’s earthquake is the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939, when a similar one killed 30,000 people. Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare, with fewer than five occurring each year on average, anywhere in the world. Seven quakes with magnitude 7 or greater have struck Turkey in the past 25 years. Why Turkey?

Turkey lies in one of the World’s most active earthquake zones, being at the intersection of three tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s crust: the Anatolian, Arabian, and the African plates. Arabia is moving northwards into Europe, causing the Anatolian plate -which Turkey sits on-to be pushed out westwards. The movement of the tectonic plates builds up pressure on fault zones at their boundaries. And a sudden release of this pressure causes earthquakes. Monday’s earthquake is likely to have happened on one of the major fault lines that marks the boundaries between the Anatolian and Arabian plates: either the East Anatolian fault or the Dead Sea Transform fault. These are both ‘strike-slip faults’ -meaning they accommodate some motion of plates moving past each other – without creating much of a fuss.

Modern seismologists use the ‘moment magnitude scale’, which represents the amount of energy released by an earthquake. The Richter scale-that we often hear-is outdated and is sometimes wrongly quoted. This moment magnitude scale is non-linear: each step-up represents 32 times more energy released. A magnitude 7.8 actually releases around 6,000 times more energy than the more moderate magnitude 5 earthquakes, that usually happen in the region.

The World has quickly rushed aid to Turkey and Syria and I hope they climb out of this disaster at the best possible pace.

China’s Balloon Eyes

William Wordsworth would have been excited to see a Chinese Balloon ‘wander lonely as a cloud, floating on high over vales and hills’ when all at once it looked down the United States (US) of America, beside the lake, up above the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

The balloon, about 60 metres tall, with a solar panel array, started its journey from over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and wandered through Canada before appearing over the city of Billings in Montana, US, last Wednesday. Montana is home to some of the US’s nuclear missile silos.

The United States believes that the balloon, seen above sensitive areas, was in fact a high-altitude surveillance device. But China said it was a Weather Balloon mainly used for meteorological purposes and regretted the unintended entry of the balloon into US airspace and that it had been blown off-course by unexpected winds. That’s a brilliant filling of air in the balloon!

Initially, the US decided not to shoot down the balloon because of the danger posed by falling debris, and the limited use of any intelligence the device could gather.

To add perspective: a surveillance balloon usually flies in the sky range between 24 and 36 km, Fighter Aircraft at 20 km, and Commercial Airlines at 12 km.

When the balloon was near the Carolinas above the Atlantic Ocean, the mighty US finally woke up and dispatched its revolutionary Fighter Jet F-22 Raptor to fire a single AIM-9X Sidewinder heat-seeking missile to take down the balloon- while another F-22 watched the proceedings. The accuracy was pin-point and China cried fowl on the ‘excessive reaction’. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken’s upcoming diplomatic visit to China bursted with the balloon. Last heard America was fishing for the remnants to determine what it could have done, or not done.

China – US relations now enter a ‘cold stage’ to complement the freezing weather in many parts of America.

Pakistan’s ex-Dictator

Pakistan’s ex-Dictator General Pervez Musharraf died in exile in Dubai at the age of 79 after a prolonged illness. He was know to be a smooth-operator mixing State Terrorism with Politics and tried to get the better of India over its Jammu & Kashmir State, and failed. He is known as the architect of the Kargil War, fought between May and July 1999, which saw India hand out a humiliating defeat to Pakistan when Nawaz Sharif was Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan and Pervez Musharraf was the Chief of Army.

Kargil is one of the two districts of India’s Union Territory of Ladakh and is the second largest town in Ladakh, about 200 km from Srinagar.

Pakistan Troops had infiltrated into India crossing the Line Of Control (LOC) in Kargil, Kashmir, and the Kargil War saw them driven out by a resolute and clinical India. Infamously, Musharraf did not bother to recover or accept the bodies of Pakistani soldiers killed in the fighting, and it was left to India to do the job of giving them a decent burial!

This was at a time when India’s then PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, with the intent of improving bilateral ties and resolving the Kashmir problem, undertook a path-breaking Bus Journey to Lahore, for talks and engagement with Pakistan.

Nawaz Sharif blamed the Kargil infiltration and misadventure on Musharraf and a few of his cronies: only four Pakistani Army Generals, including Musharraf, knew of the plan and he claimed that he himself was kept in the dark. Musharraf, however, asserted that Sharif had been briefed on the Kargil operation 15 days ahead of Vajpayee’s famous bus-ride to Lahore. Took India for a ride?

Later, with calls of a court-martial against General Musharraf growing louder, he staged a bloodless coup ousting PM Nawaz Sharif and went on to establish military rule in Pakistan, as President between June 2001 and August 2008.

Musharraf resigned in 2008 to avoid impeachment and emigrated to London in a self-imposed exile and thereafter to UAE’s Dubai.

Charges of high treason were brought upon Musharraf for implementing emergency rule and suspending the constitution in Pakistan. And he was declared an ‘absconder’ in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case by virtue of moving to Dubai. In 2019, Musharraf, in absentia, was sentenced to death for the treason charges but the death sentence was later annulled by the Lahore High Court. It is debatable whether the General left Pakistan for better or the worse. Whatever, Pakistan finds itself in a ‘general’ mess today.

Please Yourself

The Grammys

The 65th Annual Grammy Awards 2023 took place in the Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, United States, this week. This Sunday night was a history-making show, filled with dynamic performances from iconic music artists. And the sound of music could be heard in all parts of the world.

English singer, songwriter, and actor, Harry Styles, who once swiftly dated singer Taylor Swift, picked up the coveted Album of the Year for ‘Harry’s House’. Others in the run were Abba’s ‘Voyage’, Adele’s ’30’, Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’, Cold Play’s ‘Music of the Spheres’, Bad Bunny’s ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’, Brandi Carlile’s ‘In These Silent Days’, Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & the Big Steppes’, Lizzo’s ‘Special’, and Mary J Blige’s ‘Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe)’.

The Best New Artist Grammy went to 23 years old, jazz singer, American, Samara Joy who also lingered on to win best jazz vocal album for her album ‘Linger Awhile’. Joy was an outlier in this category and the win was considered an upset and a jaw-dropping moment when last year’s winner Olivia Rodrigo announced her successor.

The Record of the Year went to American Singer and Rapper, Lizzo for ‘About Damn Time’. She dedicated the award win to Prince, explaining, “when we lost Prince I decided to dedicate my life to making positive music”. The song has a theme of allowing us to take a moment and celebrate our survival, and celebrate how far we have come.

Song of the Year and Best American Roots Song went to 73 years old American Blues Singer and Guitarist Bonnie Raitt’s, ‘Just Like That’. And it ‘went easy’ on Adele who won Best Solo Performance for ‘Easy on Me’; and almost ‘broke the soul’ of Beyonce who danced back with Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for Renaissance.

Though it wasn’t all too well, Taylor Swift easily carried away the Grammy for best Music Video for ‘All Too Well: The Short Film’.

American Actor, Viola Davis, 57, won a Grammy for Best Audiobook – her audiobook recording of her memoir, ‘Finding Me’. With this she achieved EGOT Status joining an elite group of 18 artists. Known as US Entertainment’s Grand Slam, the acronym EGOT stands for the recipient of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award. She joined the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Andrew Lloyd Webber, John Legend, John Gielgud, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jennifer Hudson.

‘Finding Me’ is about racist bullying that Viola endured while growing up in Rhode Island. And her journey from being an admired actor stuck in small roles to being cast as the lead in ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ – the Television Show that made her name.

Beyonce became the most decorated artist in Grammy history picking up a record breaking 32nd trophy. From her self-titled visual album in 2013, and the confessional masterpiece that was 2016’s Lemonade to last year’s Disco Fantasia Renaissance she has change the way pop music is written, produced, released, presented, and promoted. Beyonce is surely deserving.

Indian musician Annette Philip rocked the Grammy Red Carpet with a Kanjivaram silk sari and bindi. And completed her look with a golden choker set. Annette Philip founded the massive Berkeley Indian Ensemble’s first album, titled ‘Shuruaat’, which was nominated under the Best Global Music Album Category.

India’s Bengaluru based Music composer, and environmentalist Ricky Kej won his third Grammy along with the iconic ‘Police’ Drummer, rock-legend Steward Copeland for ‘Divine Tides’ in the Best Immersive Audio Album category. That was a divine collaboration between one of India’s best and the World’s.

Divine Tides featuring Artists from around the world is a tribute to the magnificence of our natural world. Contains nine songs and eight music videos from the exquisite beauty if the Indian Himalayas to the cold Forests of Spain and is about co-existence.

Previously Ricky Kej had won Best New Age Album for ‘Winds of Samara’ in 2015, and again Best New Age Album for Divine Tides in 2022. He is the only Indian to win three Grammys.

Ricky Kej schooled in Bengaluru’s Bishop Cotton School before studying at Oxford Dental College to become a ‘non-practicing’ Dental Surgeon. His Dad is a General Physician, Dr Gyan Kej, working in the US. His Grandfather from Mom Pammi Kej’s side is Janaki Das, Olympic Cyclist and Freedom Fighter. His wife Varsha Gowda, who he married in 2014, manages his music activities including public relations. His life and journey as a musician is taught in the 7th grade in India as part of ICSE syllabus English Text books. He is a Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

Kej is credited with over 3500 placements for radio and TV jingles. He composed the music for the 2011 Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony. Wonder why we never heard much of him, or did we?

While the Gramophones were changing hands during the presentation ceremony actor-filmmaker Ben Affleck looked miserable and like a fish out of water. Cameras repeatedly caught Affleck, known for his grimace and his penchant for looking morose while smoking cigarettes, glumly sitting next to his beautiful wife Jennifer Lopez during the show. Many Grammy watchers noted how Affleck seemingly wanted to be anywhere but the Crypto.com Arena. Others gave him a thumbs-up for being stoic in the face of the music buzz around him. Meanwhile, we kept our eyes on Jennifer. Could Ben Affleck have been disappointed that Jennifer did not wear that iconic green tropical-print silk chiffon Versace dress with a ‘never-ending’ plunging neckline that travelled beyond her bellybutton – of Grammys 2000 fame?

‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head’, remember that classic song? This week, legendary music composer and song-writer Burt Bacharach died aged 94, of natural causes. He was the brain behind ‘raindrops’ and dozens of hits throughout his over 70 years career. And ‘I Say a Little Prayer’. His songs will live forever.

More singing stories and raindrop songs coming up in the weeks ahead. Plunge into World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2023-05

About-the world this week, 29 January to 4 February 2023: a documentary and a research report create heat and dust in India; America’s police brutality is tiring; Iran continues acting tough; India’s Amrit Kaal Budget; and the Australian Open Tennis closes.

Everywhere

Over the past week India was boiling and it continued into this week with two hot items causing lots of steam release. One, a BBC Documentary on India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, conducting its own ‘un-Sherlock Holmes’ like investigation into the 2002 Godhra riots in India’s Gujarat when Modi was the Chief Minister of the State, and without credible evidence, blaming him as directly responsible and tacitly supportive of the assault on muslims.

The riots started when Hindu pilgrims returning by train from the Ram Janmaboomi Site in Ayodhya were attacked by a Muslim mob who set ablaze their coach at Godhra Station, resulting in 59 Hindus-including 27 women ad 10 children-being burnt alive. This triggered a spontaneous outbreak of retaliatory violence resulting in one of the worst communal clashes in post-independence India.

The BBC Documentary was based on ‘false truths walking on water’ and does not stand the test of India’s Supreme Court, which set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to thoroughly investigate allegations on Narendra Modi – at a time when the now ruling Party was in the opposition. The SIT gave Modi and 64 others a clean chit. A challenge to the verdict was also thrown out by the Supreme Court in July 2022, as ‘devoid of merit, and which intent was to keep the pot billing for ulterior design’. Well, the BBC is doing just that and has no business in casting aspersions and trying to be smarter than the highest Court of our Land, that too when deep investigations have been done into the matter.

Two, The Hindenburg Report by short-seller Hindenburg Research, which in a two year investigation claimed that India’s Adani Group led by the World’s third richest person Gautam Adani was involved in massive and brazen stock manipulation and an accounting fraud scheme. The report questioned how the Adani Group uses entities in offshore tax havens such as Mauritius and Caribbean Islands and said key Adani companies had substantial debt, which put the entire group in precarious financial footing. The cause a melt down in Adani stocks causing unbelievable chaos in the financial markets.

Short-selling or shorting is a trading strategy where an Investor or Trader buys a stock or security and sells it on the open market planning to buy it back for less money. Short Sellers bet on and profit from a drop in a stock’s price. Traders usually short stock by selling shares they have borrowed -they don’t buy them- from others through brokerages. When the prices of the shares fall to expected levels the Trader would purchase the shares at the lower price and return them to the owner, booking a profit in the process. However, if the price of the share appreciates instead of falling the Trader will be forced to buy shares at higher prices to return to the owner, thereby booking a loss.

Last year in May 2022, a Judge in New York said that investors in a sports betting company called Draft Kings Inc., cannot rely on short seller reports to prove fraud. Short Sellers are not unbiased narrators, the Judge said, in a ruling in a securities fraud class action against Draft Kings. When they publish damning revelations about publicly traded companies, it’s usually because they are hoping to drive down the Company’s share price so they can cover their bets. The Judge dismissed action against Draft Kings, concluding that shareholders’ case was fatally flawed because it relied almost entirely on assertions from a 2019 Hindenburg Research report that pushed Draft Kings’ share price down about 4.2%. I guess we can figure out what’s happening in the Adani case?

Later in the week, a Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) following its Initial Public Offer (IPO)-selling of securities to the public in the primary market- by the Adani Group, which was fully subscribed, was called-off by Adani and the money is to be returned to investors. The reason cited was volatility in the market and the Adani Board strongly felt that it would not be morally correct to proceed with the FPO. Under the circumstances, a bold thing to do!

It is a signature-tune in America, if not guns shooting down people, it is Police high-handedness and abuse of the law, killing one at a time. And this time it’s black and black.

Tyre Nicholas, a 29 years old Afro-American motorist, was pulled over by a Team of Afro-American Police Officers, on 7 January at a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee State, for what police said was reckless driving. While attempting to flee on foot, Nicholas was struck with a taser, kicked, punched, pepper-sprayed, brutally hit with a baton, and left reeling under the assault. It took more than 20 minutes for him to receive medical attention. Three days later, Tyre Nicholas died in hospital. A video of the incident shows Nicholas, at one point shouting, “Mom, Mom, Mom.” His mother’s home was only about 73 metres away. The five officers involved have been fired and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and other crimes.

US President Biden spoke to Nicholas’ mother and committed to supporting legislation to help prevent police abuse. He said he was “outraged and deeply pained.” Protestors gathered in cities like New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Memphis to protest the brutality.

The protests in Iran against wearing the headscarf and ruthless implementation of the Islamic Dress Code for women rages on, but in quiet defiance. This follows the deadly crackdown that led to thousands of arrests and at least four executions. Many women are boldly venturing out in public without the mandated headscarf and small groups of demonstrators are still gathering to make noises that can be heard. Now, we learn that an Iranian couple, Astiyazh Haghighi and Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, in their 20s, were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for dancing in the street. The couple have a large social media following, and were arrested in November last year, after posting a video dancing in front of Tehran’s Azadi Tower. Haghighi was not wearing a headscarf, a move which appeared to show solidarity with the headscarf protesters. Now, the Iranian regime has convicted the pair of corruption, prostitution, and national security charges. That’s brutal.

India’s Budget – an Amrit Kaal

The Annual ritual of presenting the Budget for India happened on 1st February and the Government termed it an ‘Amrit Kaal’ Budget giving a big push for capital expenditure in building infrastructure, fiscal consolidation, and unleashing personal income tax-reforms for the ‘much ignored’ salaried, middle class.

‘Amrit Kaal’ is a term pulled out from Vedic Astrology and refers to an auspicious period when the portals of great pleasure open for humans and other living beings.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman is easily the most consequential Finance Minister India has ever had. She has done a commendable job by navigating the economy through a tough pandemic and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, and nurturing it as a lone bright spot when the world braces for a recession.

Indian Industrialist Harsh Goenka (I follow him on Twitter) Chairman of RPG Enterprises best summed it up as, “M’bap’pe of a budget, not ‘Messi’ at all. A budget that puts India on the path to become the world champion- all set to score goals on infra development, consumption and inclusion. A big boost for domestic manufacturing, job creation and ease of doing business”. Glad he brought-in Mbappe: he is a top scorer, is young, and can kick us into the future – will lots of ‘goals’.

He did not stop with that, but when further, roped-in an Indian movie scorching the world screens, and said, “we at RPG love this budget because it’s RRR once again: Railways; Renewables; and Reforms. A ‘Naatu Naatu’ budget for the whole country putting us on track to conquer the golden globe”-alluding to the Indian film RRR winning a Golden Globe Award for best original song of ’Naatu Naatu’.

We can dance to that!

Sports

Australian Open

Last Saturday, Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka, the 5th seed, came from a set down to beat Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, the 22nd seed, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Australian Open women’s singles event at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. This is Sabalenaka’s maiden singles Grand Slam. The reigning Wimbledon champion Rybakina seemed to be in control after winning the first set, but was completely outplayed in the second set by Sabalenka, who then fought her way to claim the decider, despite squandering three championship points.

In the Men’s finals played this Sunday, as widely expected, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic coolly beat Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 to win his 10th Australian Open title and level with Spain’s Rafael Nadal on 22 Grand Slams. That was a pretty straight win. The others behind in Grand Slam Title wins, but retired, are Roger Federer with 20 and Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slams. That leaves two ‘fit’ horses in the race to the next Slam level: Djokovic and Nadal.

Cricket

India has a knack of throwing up great cricketers and this week a precious find could well be 23 year old Shubman Gill, from Punjab State, who smashed the highest-ever score by an Indian in T20 Cricket. He hit 126, not-out, off 63 deliveries in his maiden hundred in a T20 match against New Zealand. Shubam Gill beat the previous record held by Virat Kohli who did a 122 of 61 balls against Afghanistan in September 2022.

More smashing stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Plan your budget after reading World Inthavaaram.