FREEWHEELING

About: A break free commentary on events on our Planet, anchored on the news of the world. Any comments beyond the storyline, are entirely mine, without prejudice -take it or leave it. This is a flight of events from 27 July 2025 to 14 August 2025: All kinds of wars; the great Cholas of India; the best of Chess, Football, and Cricket.

Wars: Tariff Included

US President Donald Trump continues his relentless one-minded drive on imposing tariffs on friends and foes alike, ostensibly to improve the US Economy by opening the flood gates of tonnes of cash flow into the country. This time it hit India when he signed an executive order slapping 25% additional tariff over the purchase of Russian oil. This is on top of the 25% tariff that Trump had previously imposed on India on 31st July, as part of the broader rollout of tariffs on more than 60 countries. This will come into effect on 27th August.With this, India faces at total of least 50 %-among the highest in the world. This will come into effect on 27th August. However, for goods shipped before 27th August previous tariff rates will apply until 17th September.

The tariff sledgehammer comes after days of Trump slamming India its purchase of Russian oil and accusing India of funding the Russian war on Ukraine. He said India remains the largest buyer of Russian oil along with China “at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine”. With such purchases, he said India does not care “how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian war machine”. Since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India has bought discounted Russian oil.

India hit back, exposing the hypocrisy and double-standards of the US and Europe. In a clear written statement, India pointed out that the Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron & steel and machinery, and transport equipment. The United States itself continues to import Russian uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers, as well as chemicals. India held that it began importing from Russia, in the first place, because traditional supplies from Europe were diverted to within Europe after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine War. And India works for the best interests of its people, just as the US does for its people.

On another front, India and the US are engaged in complex negotiations for a free trade agreement. As with trade deals with other countries such as the United Kingdom, India has sought to keep the politically sensitive agriculture and dairy sectors out of a deal, Trump has rejected the proposal and has pushed for their inclusion. He has also pushed for India to import genetically modified (GM) crops under the deal. India considers GM crops illegal.

In the ongoing physical wars, Israel is making plans to take complete control of Gaza City with its cabinet approving the intent. And the 50 hostages still remain in captivity. Meanwhile, Australia announced that it would recognise a Palestinian State in September.I would say that countries -including India -should announced that they would ‘de-recognise’ Palestine, if the 50 Israel hostages are not released by September.

Ukraine and Russia continue making fire and a Trump-Putin Summit scheduled to take place in Alaska on 15 August, hopes to break the ceasefire deadlock. Russia is expected to demand Ukrainian land for a peace deal, which Ukraine steadfastedly refuses. Trump would probably be ‘all ears’ on a listening exercise. And Putin is a tough customer.

The Great Cholas of South India

Indian history does not cut enough into the meat of the mighty Chola Dynasty of South India, which ruled for an unbelievable 1500 years, between 300 BCE and 1279 CE(AD)- one of the longest ruling dynasties in world history. They remain grudgingly unknown, and if at all in bits and pieces. The Cholas ruled Southern India in two stints as, the Early Cholas, and the Medieval or Imperial Cholas.

This is an attempt to shed bright sunlight, on the great Cholas, who considered themselves as descendants of the Sun.

Other names, in common use, for the Cholas are, Choda, Killi, Valavan, Sembiyan and Cenni.Killi comes from the Tamil ‘kil’ meaning dig or cleave- a digger or a tiller of the land. Valavan is connected with the Tamil ‘valam’ fertility and means owner or ruler of a fertile country. Sembiyan means a descendant of King Shibi – a legendary King whose self-sacrifice in saving a dove from the hot-pursuit of a falcon figures among the early Chola legends. The story flies like this, ‘As King Shibi sat in court one day, a sparrow sought refuge in his lap, while being chased by a falcon. The falcon demanded the King release the sparrow, as it constituted its means of subsistence. Accepting the falcon’s right, the King offered his own flesh in order to fulfil his sovereign duty of protecting his subjects’. The later Cholas claimed to have descended from King Shibi. The Tamil name for Shibi is Sembiyan, a name assumed by many Chola kings.

The Early Cholas ruled in Uraiyur (now Tiruchirapalli) and Kaveripattinam, Tamil Nadu, during the period 400 BCE to 200 AD. This includes the Sangam Period, which legendary literature reveals the first authentic evidence of the Chola dynasty. The Sangam is the literary gathering of Tamil poets and scholars who were first patronised by the Pandyan kings of Madurai. The Sangam era is significant in the development of early Tamil literature and provides valuable insights into the social, cultural, and political landscape of the period.

Going back in time, the earliest known Chola King was Kantaman, perhaps mythological, said to be a contemporary of the Hindu Sage Agastya, whose devotion is believed to have brought the River Kaveri into existence (from the water pot of Agastya). Then came the Chola King Dharmavarma who first developed the shrine of the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple– A Vaishnavite shrine dedicated to Lord Ranganatha (a form of Lord Vishnu and his consort Ranganayaki – a form of Goddess Lakshmi) near present day Tiruchi. The temple is a thriving place of Hindu worship of Vaishnavism. Flooding of the River Kaveri destroyed the temple, and later, his descendant, King Killivalavan rebuilt the temple complex. The Temple site is on an island bounded by the Rive Kaveri and River Kollidam. Later Chola Kings built upon and expanded the Temple structure. The Temple is nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest functioning religious complexes in the world.

In 190 AD Karikala Chola or, Karikala The Great, stands out, unsurpassed, along with another King Kocengannan. Karikala was the son of the great warrior Chola King Ilamcetcenni – of many beautiful chariots. Karaikala is mentioned as the descendant of a King who compelled the wind to serve his purposes when he sailed his ships on the great Oceans. ‘Karikala’ means ‘elephant feller’ or ‘charred leg’. He had charred his leg in a fire-accident while escaping when he was deposed and imprisoned. He then fought his way back to the throne to create History.

Karikala Cholan was one of the greatest kings during the Sangam Age in South India. He led the Chola empire successfully to unify the three South Indian kingdoms of Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas. Karikala gained immense wealth trading with the Roman Empire, which he used to fund his military campaigns and to build towns and cities. He is known for decorating his capital city of Kanchipuram with gold, but his legendary act of fame was building, ‘The Grand Anicut’ – Kallanai Dam – on the River Kaveri.

Kallanai Dam is a massive dam of un-hewn stone, 329m long, 20m wide, and 4.5m high built across the main stream of the River Kaveri. It is the oldest water-diversion or water-regulating structure in the world, which is still in use. The dam cleverly diverts the waters of the Kaveri River across the Thanjavur delta region for irrigation through a canal system which originally irrigated near about 69,000 acres. In the 18th century, the Kallanai Dam was modified with hydraulic structures and now, after such alterations, irrigates over one million acres.

Upon the end of the Sangam Era, in the period from 300 AD to 600 AD there is almost a total black-out of the history of Southern India, Tamil Nadu in particular. Elsewhere, during this time in India, the Gupta Empire was established and flourished, rising to great heights. Kalidasa, the author of Shakuntala, was a poet in the Gupta court. Mathematician Aryabhata lived in the period. Zero was invented. The ancient Gupta text Kamasutra by Indian scholar Vatsyayana, in Sanskrit, came into being. Nalanda University was established. Chess was developed during this time. Meanwhile, outside India, Islam came into being in the sixth century AD.

Then in the eight century, the Cholas rose from obscurity to hit the headlines, again. Vijayalaya Chola, a descendant of the Early Cholas founded the Imperial Chola Empire in 848 AD, finding his own ground in the then ongoing conflict between the Pandya and Pallava Empires. He captured Thanjavur and made it his capital. His son Aditya-I teamed-up with the Pallavas to defeat the Pandyas of Madurai in 885 AD, and later went-on to defeat the Pallavas themselves. In 925, Aditya’s son Parantaka-I conquered Sri Lanka. Then there was a mild set-back with Cholas’ heir apparent Rajaditya Chola killed in battle. Subsequently, the Cholas quickly found their feet, and recovered power during the reign of Parantaka II (Sundara Chola). Sundara Chola had three children, crown Prince Aditya Karikalan (Aditya -II), Princess Kundavai and Prince Arumozhivarman (the future Raja Raja Chola I) the youngest. The Cholas, under the command of fearsome Aditya-II, defeated the Pandyas and further expanded the kingdom. Aditya-II died under mysterious circumstances -he may have been assassinated. On the death of Sundara Chola, his brother’s son Madhurantakan was crowned King with the title Uttama Chola. Arumozhivarman ascended the throne in mid 985 AD and adopted the regal name Raja Raja, meaning ‘King among Kings’.

The story of Arumozhivarman is the plot of the famous novel Ponniyin Selvan by Tamil author Kalki, which to a great extent brought out and kept alive the story of the Cholas.The story ran through real historical sites and galvanised interest in the Cholas.

When Raja Raja Chola -I came to power, he inherited a small kingdom centred around the Thanjavur–Tiruchirappalli region, the heart of traditional Chola territory.

And under Raja Raja -I and his son Rajendra I, the Chola Empire reach its Imperial state. At its peak, the empire stretched from the northern parts of Sri Lanka northwards to the Godavari–Krishna river basin, up to the Konkan coast, the entire Malabar Coast, in addition to Lakshadweep and the Maldives islands. The Cholas wielded a formidable navy, securing extensive maritime routes and expanding their influence into South East Asia.

Rajaraja Chola I was a dynamic ruler who applied himself to the task of governance with the same diligence and zeal he had shown in waging wars. He integrated his empire into a tight, administrative grid under royal control and strengthened local self-government. In 1000 AD, Raja Raja conducted a land survey to effectively marshal his empire’s resources. He built the iconic Brihadeeswarar Temple, in Thanjavur, in 1010. Raja Raja Chola died of natural causes in 1014 AD, after ruling for 30 years, and was succeeded by his son Rajendra Chola-I.

Rajendra Chola-I took off from the strong shoulders of his illustrious father, scaling even greater heights and is easily the greatest Chola King who ever lived.

Rajendra conquered Odisha and his armies continued north into Bengal, and reached the Ganges river in northern India. Rajendra successfully invaded the Srivijaya kingdom in Southeast Asia, which led to the decline of that empire. This expedition left an indelible impression on the Malay people of the medieval period where his name is mentioned in the corrupted form as Raja Chulan. Rajendra’s territories included the Ganges–Hooghly–Damodar basin, as well as Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The kingdoms along the east coast of India up to the river Ganges acknowledged Chola suzerainty. Diplomatic missions were sent to China in 1016, 1033, and 1077. Rajendra Chola commanded the largest blue water navy in Indian history, which he used it effectively to subdue Srivijaya, a southeast Asian kingdom that lay 3000 km away.

Realising that the traditional Chola capital of Thanjavur was literally bursting at the seams, and could not hold his dreams, Rajendra built himself a new capital called Gangaikonda Cholapuram, which served as the Chola capital for the next 250 years. He built the Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple in 1025 AD, symbolising Chola victory over the northern kingdoms and the successful Gangetic conquest. To anoint his new capital city with water from the sacred River Ganga he sent his army on a long expedition from Thanjavur all the way to modern day Bangladesh. His army defeated many kingdoms en route, and brought back water from the Ganga. He poured this holy water into a lake he built, the Chola Gangam, one of the largest manmade lakes in India. Gangaikonda Cholan literally means the Chola king who conquered the (plains of) River Ganga. Born on 26 July 971 AD, Rajendra Chola died in 1044 AD at age 73.

Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple is a masterpiece of Chola architecture with unmatched architectural grandeur, embodying spiritual and cultural brilliance. It reflects Dravidian temple architecture with an emphasis on vertical elevation, axial symmetry, and Shaiva symbolism. It is inspired by the Brihadeeswara Temple at Thanjavur (built by Rajaraja Chola I), but with a shorter yet broader vimana (temple tower). Elaborate sculptural friezes, including depictions of Shiva in various forms, sophisticated hydraulic engineering in temple tank design, showcasing advanced water management techniques, subtle Tamil inscriptions in Grantha (script) and Tamil scripts, preserving Tamil heritage. That the temple is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a testament to the Chola dynasty’s power and architectural prowess.

Both Saivism (worship of Lord Shiva) and Vaishnavism (worship of Lord Vishnu) flourished during the Chola period. A number of temples were built with the patronage of Chola kings and queens, which remained centres of economic activity.

Much of Tamil classical literature and the greater Tamil architectural monuments belong to the Sangam period, which also saw a revival of Shaivism and the development of southern Vaishnavism.

During the reign of Rajendra Chola, the Chola Empire reached its zenith in the Indian subcontinent; it extended its reach via trade and conquest across the Indian Ocean, making Rajendra one of only a few Indian monarchs who conquered territory beyond South Asia.The Chola fleet represented the peak of ancient Indian maritime capacity. The 1,000-year legacy of the Bhakti movement, maritime diplomacy, and temple-based urban culture that flourished under the Chola Empire.

Around 1070, the Cholas began to lose almost all of their overseas territories but the later Cholas (1070–1279) continued to rule portions of southern India. The Chola empire went into decline at the beginning of the 13th century with the rise of the Pandya dynasty, which ultimately caused the Chola’s downfall.

Now, coming over to the present.

India celebrated, with gusto, the millennium birth anniversary of Rajendra Chola-I on 26 July along with the Aadi Thiruvathirai Festival held between 23rd July and 27th July 2025 at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, near Jayankondam, Ariyalur District, Tamil Nadu.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the celebrations and brought back focus and much deserved ‘attention to the matter’ on the great Cholas. He repeated the Rajendra Chola act of bringing holy water from the Ganges.

Here is a more detailed essay on the outstanding, mind-boggling contribution by the Cholas in art, architecture, and literature. Also to kindle your interest on the unforgettable Cholas. Sit back, and enjoy a time-machine return to India’s magnificent, ancient history.

The Chola reign marked a stupendous golden era in South India, blending religion, culture, and craftsmanship in monumental structures and intricate sculpture. The Cholas mastered metalworking techniques and perfected the art of bronze casting, producing precision detailed sculptures, particularly of deities. The iconic Nataraja sculpture of Lord Shiva, in the cosmic dance pose, is globally recognised for its depiction of motion and balance. Artisans realistically portrayed human figures, capturing physical beauty and emotional expression: the bronze figure of Sambandar – a child saint – is a testimony to this; the bronze figurines of Parvati (the consort of Lord Shiva) and Lord Vishnu showcase skill in representing ornate details such as garments and jewellery.

Art was deeply intertwined with religious themes, portraying complex symbolism in sculptures. The Ardhanareeshvara sculptures, which depict Shiva as half male and half female, symbolise the unity of opposites.

The Chola temples are adorned with magnificent sculptures that portray scenes from mythology and religious epics.The Brihadeeshwara Temple,Thanjavur, features numerous intricate carvings of gods, dancers, and animals. Chola art influenced classical Indian dance forms, particularly through depiction of divine dancers. The Nataraja in ‘Ananda-Tandava’ pose inspired traditional Bharatanatyam dance forms.

Chola art frequently depicted scenes from mythological texts, helping to preserve and propagate religious stories through visual art. Sculptures from the Airavatesvara Temple at Dharasuram, Kumbakonam, show scenes from the lives of saints and deities.

The Cholas perfected the Dravidian style of temple architecture, characterised by towering vimanas or gopurams (towering gateway structures at entrance of Hindu temples) The Brihadeeshwara Temple is a masterpiece of Chola temple architecture, standing as one of India’s largest temples.

The Cholas introduced gopurams – probably first thought of by the Pallavas but developed by the Cholas and later made better and bigger by the Vijayanagar Dynasty – that became an iconic feature of South Indian temples. Chola temples are known for their massive scale and advanced engineering techniques, especially in the construction of monoliths. The granite monolith of Nandi at Brihadeeshwara Temple weighs over 20 tons and is an engineering marvel. Cholas innovated by using both stone and brick in temple construction, allowing for more elaborate designs and stronger structures: again, the Airavatesvara Temple is a prime example.

Chola architecture extended its influence beyond India, particularly in Southeast Asia: The temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia portray features reminiscent of Chola architectural styles, reflecting their global influence. The Cholas incorporated water management systems like temple tanks and reservoirs into their temple complexes: the pushkarinis (a stepped temple tank) at Gangaikonda Cholapuram were essential for ritual purification and water conservation: The Chola architectural style laid the foundation for later South Indian dynasties, particularly the Vijayanagar Empire, which continued and expanded on Chola architectural innovations, especially the lofty gopuram style.

The Cholas, through their unparalleled contributions to art and architecture, left a legacy that continues to inspire admiration. Their innovations in bronze sculpture, religious iconography, and monumental temple architecture elevated the Dravidian style to its peak, influencing future generations. Although the Chola empire has faded, their artistic achievements remain immortal, showcasing the artistic and architectural brilliance of medieval South India.

The Cholas patronised and advanced Tamil literature, fostering distinguished poets like Kalladanar(Kalladar), Kamban, and Avvaiyar. Kalladanar’s Kalladam (of Lord Muruga) celebrated Lord Shiva, while Thiruttakkadevar’s Seevaka Cinthamani (one of 5 great Tamil Epics) introduced Jainism to Tamil audiences. The epic is the story of a Prince who is a perfect master of all arts, perfect warrior, and perfect lover.

Despite the Chola rulers’ support for Sanskrit, original Tamil works thrived, with Poet Kamban translating Valmiki’s Ramayana – as Kamba Ramayana- enriching Tamil literature’s evolution.

In the beginning of 10th century, a Nayanmar saint Nambi Aandar Nambi wrote the ’Tiruttoonar Tiruvandhadhi, which is a memoir on the lives of the 63 Nayanmars (Tamil Saivite Saints). In 11th century, Nambi Aandar Nambi as the court poet of Raja Raj Chola compiled the hymns of the Nayanmar saints in Tirumurai, which is considered to be one of the greatest text of Nayanmar saints. The Tamil ‘Naalayira Divya Prabandham’ – 4000 divine verses- was composed by Alvar Poigai during the Chola reign. Rajaraja I was instrumental in bringing back Thevaram (the first seven volumes of the Tirumurai, a collection of devotional poetry dedicated to Lord Shiva) in the Shaiva tradition.

Classical dances like Bharatnatyam flourished during the Chola period primarily due to the Devadasi system. Cholas also patronised the bamboo staff fencing marital art Silambam. The representation of Nataraja or Adal Vallan (king of dance) in the form of the idol was the motif of Tamil music, dance and drama with hymns composed by Nayanmars. e.g. Oduvars and Padikam Paduvars: They were appointed to sing in the temples to recite Thirumurai.

The Cholas decentralized administration, allowing local leaders and village assemblies (sabhas) to exercise autonomy. This allowed the empire to maintain control over vast territories while fostering strong local governance. The Kudavolai system was used for local elections. It involved writing names of eligible candidates on palm leaves, which where then dropped into a pot and drawn out by a young boy -selecting representatives.

On the commerce front, Ports like Nagapattinam became thriving centres of international trade, with the Cholas exporting textiles, spices, and jewels.

That’s a breathtaking history of the Great Cholas.

Flash Floods

A massive cloudburst triggered heavy rains and flash floods in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. A flood of water came down, swelling the Kheerganga river and sending tonnes of muddy waters gushing downwards on the hilly terrain, covering roads, buildings and shops in Dharali Village – a tourist spot populated with hotels, resorts and restaurants.

Sports

India’s Chess International Master (IM) Divya Deshmukh all of 19 years, won the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup beating fellow Indian Grand Master (GM) Humpy Koneru in the tiebreaks. Through this victory she also achieves GM status- and a new star is born. She is now the 44th woman to hold the GM title. It was a magnificent feat for the talented and mentally tough Divya.

Divya Deshmukh was born in Nagpur, Maharashtra and hails from a Marathi family. Her parents are both medical doctors.

England’s Women earned its place in women’s football history with a stunning penalty-shootout victory over Spain to retain their European title at Euro 2025, on 27 July. Chloe Kelly, who scored the iconic winner at UK’s Wembley Stadium in the final of Euro 2022, was the hero again as she converted the decisive spot-kick to seal victory after Spain had missed three in a row – England’s goal-keeper saved two of them. It is the first time an England team has won a major trophy on foreign soil – at St. Jakob-Park in Basel, Switzerland -and seals manager Sarina Wiegman’s status as one of the world’s greatest with her third successive European title – achieved with two countries.

England’s Men came close to the winning ways of the women but India stole their thunder. The enthralling 2-2 draw for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between England and India provided a dramatic start to the new cricket World Test Championship cycle. It was an epic contest, each of the five Tests going into the final day, four in fact into the final session, providing some of the best individual and collective performances the five-day format has seen in recent years.

Cricket pundits had predicted a clean sweep for England, what with the home advantage and India’s pre-series struggles. Whitewashed 0-3 at home by New Zealand, followed by a 3-1 drubbing by Australia down under in two preceding series, India looked vulnerable and wobbly.

The England-India Test series was a five Test one. And with the 4th Test at Old Trafford, Manchester ending in a draw India came to the Oval in London trailing England 1-2 in the series. But then India won by six runs to level the series 2-2 in one of the most dramatic conclusions in Test Cricket history. England were denied a record-breaking run chase by an irresistible India.

How India held their nerve under immense pressure – driven by willpower, ambition, and skill – culminating in a thrilling comeback to win and level the series, is one of Test cricket’s most riveting tales. It also marks this Indian young team’s transition from apprehension and misgivings one of rich promise fuelled by ambition and excellence. The future looks bright for this Indian team.

More captivating stories blending the past with the present, coming-up in the weeks ahead. Stay with Freewheeling.

FREEWHEELING

About: A footloose commentary on events on our Planet, anchored on the news of the world, garnished with humour. Any comments beyond the story, are entirely mine, without prejudice -take it or leave it. This is a run from January 2025 to 13 March 2025.

It looks like the New Year 2025 had just begun, and we are already in the middle of March, moving at the speed of light, trying to spy Einstein on the stands. It appears that Elon Musk (and his little son) is the only person living on the Planet, and at some distance is Trump trying to find his space. Suddenly, Elon’s Starlink is already rocketing into India, riding with Jio (Hello Reliance) and Airtel (Hello Bharti) linking up in mysterious ways to space the air waves in this part of the world.

The United States (US) President Donald Trump began his new term with a big-bang, giving an awfully blunt, straight-talking, commencement of presidency address. His disruptive ideas had everybody in a swoon-deeply shaken and stirred: deporting illegals in America to all parts of the world in handsome chains; throwing tariffs around like hitting balls of various shapes out of the ground; boxing with Ukraine’s President in the White House, pushing Ukraine to the red corner; and making love to Russia’s President Putin (who surely accepted the advances and smiled like a Cheshire cat). Trump’s Vice-President, Vance sent Europe scurrying to do things it thought it could never do-but is the best for it -and had it fuming through every available nostril.

Meanwhile, India’s Prime Minister earned a great negotiator medal in the US’ White House; hugged France’s Macron-too tight for Brigette-in France; and found a new winning streak in State Elections in India. Talk about the Modi magic rising-up again. The comeback of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in Delhi was after 27 years and people hope to see more stars in clearer skies, and breathe longer with cleaner air while imbibing the ‘spirits’ of Scotland & Ireland. Last heard, India’s PM was in Mauritius adorning himself with yet another Highest Award medal. I reckon, the 56-inch chest can hold…and perhaps is growing wider, to match India’s GDP.

Israel saw many of its hostages, held by the barbaric terrorists Hamas, released in bits and pieces in a ceasefire that kicked-in, in January and seems to be holding. The large-scale fighting is off the hook, while the small-scale surgical strikes keeps the fire burning. Trump issued yet another ultimatum to release all the hostages or face the wrath of Israel. The bad guys have been holding Israel to ransom for almost two years and Israel is pregnant with revenge. Rightfully so.

I say, one state of Israel is the best solution-from the River to the Sea-with its people digging their heels, living in the land that was always their homeland. Think about the biblical Moses-the promised land and the Ten Commandments; Samson- strength in the hair; David- sling-shot Goliath; Solomon -oozing wisdom…and many others. So much to look up to! I wish every country in the world would stand-up and scream, ‘Release the hostages now-bring them Home’ or forget we can do any kind of business with you.

After some spanking in America and hot desert talk in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine has agreed to a cool 30 days cease-fire with Russia. And Russia is still cogitating over it-eyeing more land and sea? Hope to see Ukraine’s President wearing a nice suit, soon. And America gleaming with rare-earth metals on its chest. Else, the laughs are on Ukraine?

With the United Nations loosing all its teeth (did it have any at all?) and becoming redundant in these war spring times, we need a make-over. If I were Russia, I would say, disband NATO and yell at Europe to find other means of safeguarding themselves: how about learning some self-defence. And we are always ’near-by’, across the Border, to lend a helping hand and offer a ‘Bear Hug’. Ask India if you have any doubts!

The world’s largest gathering of people in one place, the Maha Kumbh Mela happened in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, and other upstream and downstream places on the River Ganges between 13 January and 26 February 2025. The Mela was at the Triveni Sangam-the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers, after a gap of about 144 years due to a rare celestial alignment, making it a once-in-a-lifetime event for Hindus all over the world. Believers swelled the banks, and it was a sight of humanity, to behold, with visitors of one 660 million making the pilgrimage. The world is surely a cleaner place-in many dimensions-what with past mistakes and sins of life cleansed with a holy dip in the holy Ganges. Special cleansing bacteria took care of the rest, claimed some scientists.

In India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, a Russian name wearing Chief Minister created havoc on learning a third language. Never mind Russian, he thought in Tamil and fumbled in ecstasy in English. His Members of Parliament rocked Parliament, black & red, on a perceived insult and extracted an apology from the Centre’s Education Minister, while quietly worshipping (and building statues for) a man who called the Tamil language barbaric; unfit even to earn beggar wages; and encouraged everyone to talk to their maids in English. And advocated that at least Tamil Nadu remains forever a British State. Caught in the headlights are the kids who dream of learning three languages to improve their cognitive and learning abilities: says the New Education Policy of India. Early in the year, the Russian name Chief Minister claimed that the technology of smelting Iron was developed in Tamil Nadu about 5,300 years ago. The Iron Age just got older. Other claims have rusted. Wonder, who will come out with more shine!

The Oscars -the 97th Academy Awards- was staged in March 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, US. The film ‘Anora’ won a leading five awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included ‘The Brutalist’ with three awards; ‘Dune: Part Two’, ‘Emilia Perez’, and ‘Wicked’ with two awards each.

Adrien Brody, acting in The Brutalist, won the Best Actor Award; Mikey Madison, being Anora, dressed-up to become Best Actress. The Brutalist is about a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor who immigrates to the US to achieve the American Dream. Anora is about a stripper from New York marrying the wealthy son of a Russian Oligarch in a Cinderalla moment. The fairytale hits the ground when the Russian parents try to annul the marriage.

In Tennis sport, Australian Open 2025, Italy’s Jannik Sinner swept aside Russian Alexander Zverev to retain the men’s singles title. In the Women’s singles final, America’s Madison Keys beat Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka to get the keys to the Cup. Afterwards, Jannik found out he had sinned and accepted a three-month suspension after testing positive for dope-the banned substance clostebol- during the 2024 Indian Wells tournament. That seems a light punishment -until the next sin?

And in New York, two men were hospitalised with histoplasmosis (a lung infection) after growing weed using bat poop! Innovation is the real word, these days. Nothing artificial about it.

In cricket sport, Team India became Champions in the Champions One-Day Cricket Tournament held in Dubai, sending the Kiwis wingless to New Zealand. This is India’s third grasp of the Cup, and they won without losing a match. India’s iconic cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, now firmly bats in the commentary box, danced the game of his life-on the border of the field- and had Bollywood’s dancing stars looking bewildered. Even the costume was clever, with Gavaskar wearing pants of what could have been the better part of the mini-skirt of his fellow woman Anchor. How do they face this kind of competition?

More stories ahead. Wheel with ‘Freewheeling’.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-51

About: the world this week, 15 December to 21 December 2024: the wars; death of a tabla titan; Top Gun honours for Tom Cruise; India – State and Parliament; Test Cricket, and a fabulous Indian spinner retires.

Everywhere

The Wars

A top Russian General accused of using chemical weapons on the battlefields in Ukraine was killed in a bomb blast in Moscow early Tuesday-an attack swiftly claimed by Ukraine.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who headed Russia’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces was killed, along with an assistant, by a remotely detonated bomb planted in an electric scooter outside an apartment building. This came a day after Ukrainian prosecutors sentenced Kirillov, in absentia, for Russia’s use of banned chemical weapons in the ongoing war.

With Hamas down but not out, Hezbollah almost out, and Syria staring a grim possibility of returning to the Stone Age, Israel turned its sights on the Iran-backed Houthis of Yemen.

This week, the Houtis launched a ballistic missile into Israel’s Tel Aviv damaging a school, but no injuries were reported. The missile was intercepted by Israel. Within hours, in a quick response Israel completely paralyzed three Houthi-controlled Ports in Yemen during airstrikes, targeting capital Sanaa for the first time. Dozens of fighter jets, along with refuelling aircraft, hit targets up to 2,000 km from Israel.

Wonder how Israel plans to deal with the ‘Mother Ship’ – Iran.

On another front, news floats-in that hostage deal negotiations between Hamas and Israel are nearing conclusion. As part of the deal, Palestinian terrorists convicted of murder will be exiled to Turkey and Iran. Discussion is ongoing regarding the names and sentences of the Palestinian prisoners who will be freed as part of the deal. The deal being worked on would consist of three phases. The first phase, which would last 45 days, all Israeli civilians and female soldiers being held hostage in Gaza would be released and Israel’s troops would withdraw from the centre of cities, coastal roads, and an area along the Gaza-Egypt border. In addition, residents of northern Gaza would return to their homes. In the second phase, the remaining hostages would be freed, and the Israel would complete its withdrawal from Gaza. The third phase would be a permanent ceasefire and the end of the current war. Will it work out this time?

Wah Ustad!

This week Zakir Hussain Allarakha Qureshi the legendary tabla virtuoso and global ambassador of Indian classical music died, aged 73, in San Francisco, United States. His death was due to health complications. Besides being a percussionist, Zakir Hussain was a music composer, music producer, and film actor.

The tabla-a pair of drums used in Indian classical music-is historically viewed as an accompaniment to the main performance.

Think Tabla, and Zakir Hussain flashes across the mind with those trademark long curly locks of hair, which danced to his fingers that made music in the iconic Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea advertisement, of the 1980s. Taj Mahal Tea was a premium Indian tea brand launched in 1966.

The advertisement opens with Hussain seated against the backdrop of the beautiful Taj Mahal, effortlessly playing the tabla. Later, he sipped on a cup of Taj tea. When a voiceover praises him saying, “wah ustad, wah” (Wow Ustad – as skilled musician- Wow!) he responds, “Arre huzoor, wah Taj boliye!”( Come on-annoyingly- sir, praise the Taj). This exchange, though brief, became iconic, drumming itself in the collective memory of Indians. At a time when television was still a novelty in India, the advertisement resonated with viewers for its simple yet impactful message and Zakir’s humble charisma. The television commercial portrayed the perfection in playing the tabla as the result of hours of dedicated work, just like the work of a master tea blender. Wow indeed!

Zakir Hussain was the eldest son of tabla master Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi. Two of his brothers Taufiq Qureshi- a percussionist-and Fazal Qureshi-a tabla player-are also in Indian classical music. He spent his early days in Mumbai training, under his father; studied at St. Michael’s School Mahim, Mumbai; and graduated from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai. He moved to the United States in 1970, where he lived and ‘played’, up to his death. And kept the long hippie locks!

Zakir Hussain was a child prodigy and collaborated with Indian classical icons like Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, and Shivkumar Sharma and global musicians like John McLaughlin and George Harrison. His journey, from a child prodigy to an internationally celebrated percussionist, is a masterclass in balancing tradition and innovation.

Hussain played on George Harrison’s (lead guitarist of the famous Beatles) 1973 album ‘Living in the Material World’ and John Handy’s 1973 album ‘Hard Work’. He also performed on Van Morrison’s 1979 album ‘Into the Music’ and ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’s (an American Band) 1983 album ‘Powerlight’.

Hussain joined Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead(an American Rock Band) to create the special album ‘Planet Drum’, featuring drummers from different parts of the world including Vikku Vinayakram (known as the God of Ghatam) from India. The first Planet Drum album, released in 1991 and went on to win the 1992 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album – the first Grammy ever awarded in this category. In later years the same team came together to make the album ‘The Global Drum Project’, which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 51st Grammy Awards Ceremony in 2009.

Awards came by the beat to Zakir Hussain. He won a total of four Grammys over his career. India awarded him the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, the Padma Vibhushan besides the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for contributions to Hindustani Classical Music.

Hussain composed, performed, and acted as Indian music advisor for the Malayalam film ‘Vanaprastham’-a 1999 Cannes Film Festival entry, and won awards at the 2000 Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey; 2000 Mumbai International Film Festival in India, and 2000 National Film Awards, India.

He has composed soundtracks for several movies, most notably ‘In Custody’ and ‘The Mystic Masseur’ by Ismail Merchant. And has played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse Now’, Bernardo Bertolucci’s ‘Little Buddha’, among other films. He starred in several films specifically showcasing his musical performance both solo and with different bands, including the 1998 documentary ‘Zakir and His Friends’. Hussain co-starred as Inder Lal in the 1983 Merchant Ivory film ‘Heat and Dust’, for which he was an associate music director.

In 2016, Hussain was among many musicians invited by President Obama to the International Jazz Day 2016 All-Star Global Concert at the White House.

Eight years after Zakir Hussain moved to the US, he met, dated and married Antonia Minnecola, a Kathak dancer and teacher, who was also his Manager. They have two daughters, Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi. Anisa graduated from UCLA and is a film-maker. Isabella is studying dance in Manhattan. The story goes that Hussain married Antonia without telling his mother who had rigid views, and Hussain was the first to marry outside his community. But his father was there to marry him off. And took on the responsibility to explain to his mother to bring her on-board. In later years his mother met Antonia and grew to like her.

Hussain’s life revolved around rhythm from the very beginning. He leaves behind a timeless legacy that will inspire generations.

Top Gun Cruise

Tom Cruise, 62, was awarded the US Navy’s highest civilian honour for outstanding contributions to the military with his screen roles. The Distinguished Public Service Award was presented to Cruise during a ceremony this week at the Longcross Film Studios in Chertsey, Surrey. Tom Cruise expressed his gratitude for the ‘extraordinary acknowledgement’.

Cruise happened to be around in the neighbourhood, working on his next film, ‘Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning’, due for release in May 2025.

Tom Cruise’s lead role as a young naval aviator. Lieutenant Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, a in the 1986 smash hit ‘Top Gun’ shot him into celebrity status, and the film’s record-breaking success spiked military enlistment. The Navy thanked the action hero, who it said had “increased public awareness and appreciation for our highly trained personnel and the sacrifices they make while in uniform”. The movie Top Gun was so influential that the Navy even set up recruitment tables in theatres screening the movie.

Tom Cruise reprised his role as Lieutenant Pete Mitchell in the 2022 sequel ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, which the Navy said ‘reinvigorated’ military interest from younger audiences.

The prestigious civilian honour was previously awarded to Academy Award winners Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for their work in the World War II movie ‘Saving Private Ryan’.

Cricket, Rain, and Ashwin

The Third India versus Australia Cricket Test Match played at the Gabba, Brisbane, Australia, had a third force trying to get in to bowl, bat, keep, and howl. Rain wrecked havoc throughout the match, and ultimately had the final say. The Test ended in a draw, which saw India struggling at one point way behind Australia. And defeat was staring down on them. Thanks to the rain, ‘they escaped jail’.

Then there was a fourth force, well actually an announcement. India’s ace spinner Ashwin Ravichandran, 38 called it quits and announced retirement from International Cricket. Ashwin is widely regarded as one of the greatest spinners of all time. He represented the national team that won the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy-where he bowled the match-winning final over. He plays for Tamil Nadu and South Zone in domestic cricket and for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

First, some mind-boggling statistics.

Ashwin took 537 wickets in 106 tests with 37 five-wicket hauls; made 3,503 Test runs with six centuries and 14 half centuries. He Played 116 ODIs and took 156 wickets and 65 T20s with 72 wickets. He was the fastest bowler to reach 300 test wickets in terms of number of innings. He is one of the only three players to have scored 3,000 runs and taken 500 wickets in Tests. As of September 2024, he is the highest-ranked bowler in the ICC men’s player rankings and the highest rated Indian bowler ever in Test cricket.

He played as a right-arm off spin bowler and a handy lower order batsman. Ashwin started as an opening batsman but dropped down the order due to limited success and turned into an off-break bowler. He made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu in December 2006 and captained the team the following season. In 2011, Ashwin made his Test debut against the fiery West Indies and became the seventh Indian bowler to take a five-wicket haul on debut.

He had greater success with the turning tracks in the Indian subcontinent. He won the ICC Cricketer of the Year and ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year awards for 2016. He has been named five times to the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year and was named in the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Decade 2011–20. In 2015, he was awarded the Arjuna award by the Government of India.

In his bowling, Ashwin produces several variations and flights the ball, thereby giving it more chance to spin and dip on the batsman. In addition to his normal off-breaks, he produces an arm ball and the carrom ball, the latter of which he uses frequently in the shorter formats. In IPL 2013, he bowled leg-breaks and googly as well. He evolved his carrom ball from the soduku ball, a finger-flicked leg-break used in tennis ball cricket on the streets of Chennai. However, he refrains from bowling the doosra as it requires him to bend and straighten his arm, which he finds difficult to do.

Ashwin resides in Chennai Tamilnadu. He married his childhood sweet-heart, Prithi Narayanan in November 2011, and the couple have two daughters.

I get that creepy feeling that Ashwin has placed his himself above the country. He could have waited till the end of the India-Australia Test series to announce his retirement. His Dad said he was humiliated, but Ashwin quickly called for it to be ignored. Whatever, good luck to him.

India Melange

State

There was outrage in Tamil Nadu, which saw the funeral procession of a convicted terrorist S A Basha attended by a huge crowd, with 2000 to 5000 police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel being deployed in Coimbatore City! SA Basha was sentenced to life for the 1998 Coimbatore Bomb Blasts.

On 14 February 1998, bombs went off at 12 locations in Coimbatore city, just ahead of BJP leader LK Advani’s visit, killing 58 people and injuring another 200. Basha was found guilty by the Courts and was sentenced to life imprisonment along with 12 others in 2007. Fundamentalist organisations including the Al-Ummah founded by Basha, the All India Jihad Committee, and Islamic Defence Force, were all held responsible for the 1998 bombings.

Basha founded Al-Ummah after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on in December 1992. As ties between Muslims and Hindus in Coimbatore and elsewhere became increasingly strained, Al-Ummah was able to radicalise young Muslims.

Basha was granted parole recently for undergoing medical treatment for an illness and died when he failed to respond to treatment.

It was a shame to see political parties such as Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) an Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) Seeman, alongside many Muslim and Kongu leaders vying with each other to ‘condole the death’. These parties has earlier demanded the release of those sentenced for the 1998 blasts.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised the state government for granting permission to Basha’s funeral procession, accusing it of ‘minority appeasement’.

Centre

India’s Parliament is working its Winter Session and conducting business has become a heated job with the Opposition Parties shouting-down the Government and disrupting proceeding over finicky issues. The Government introduced the ambitious ‘One Nation One Election Bill’ and promptly sent it to a Parliament Committee for more discussions.

Journalist Tavleen Singh (who I follow on X) described a controversy over a supposed insult to Ambedkar-architect of India’s Constitution-as nothing to do with him, but a juvenile high jinx more suitable to a rowdy school yard.

Towards the end of the week it became bloody with the Leader of the Opposition – Rahul Gandhi-accused of pushing a senior BJP MP leading to this fall and admission to Hospital.

India’s Parliament is a place to watch when in session: guaranteed entertainment. They seem to discuss everything, except what matters for the country.

More top-gun stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Stay with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-50

About: the world this week, 8 December to 14 December 2024: Argentina’s chain-saw President; Shaken & stirred South Korea; a restored Cathedral; Syria’s President scoots; Israel-getting cleverer by the war; Chess euphoria in India; and Test Cricket Down Under.

Everywhere

Shining Stripes of Argentina

Argentina, under its maverick President Javier Milei, declared that for the first time in 123 years Argentina has no deficit and instead a sustained fiscal surplus, free of default.

When he took office in December 2023, Milei committed himself to transforming Argentina-and took it dead seriously. The foremost task he set himself was to eliminate the fiscal deficit-primarily through reducing public spending-and stopping the financing of the treasury by printing Central Bank Money with the goal of eradicating inflation. And he has delivered on that promise.

Javier Milei’s aggressive cost-cutting measures significantly brought down Argentina’s expenses. He inherited an economy battered by inflation so chronic that supermarkets adjusted the price of goods every day. But his famous ‘chain-saw’ no-nonsense, stay-lean, austerity approach-shutting down or merging various unnecessary Government departments-has brought stability to Argentina. Javier Milei is surely setting an example for Governments to follow. Already looking in this direction is the ‘under formation’ America’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. More chain-sawing in this part of the world?

Stirred and Shaken South Korea

Last week, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made a shocking and disastrous attempt at imposing martial law in the country. This would have given the military sweeping emergency powers to root out what he called ‘anti-state forces’ and overcome obstructionist political opponents. But, following Parliament’s-The National Assembly-rejection of the martial law, he did a quick U-turn and rescinded the Order.

This week the President spoke to South Koreans in a televised address, “I leave it up to my party to take steps to stabilise the political situation in the future, including the issue of my term in office,” he said, promising there would be no second attempt to impose martial law (if he is still President).

Last Saturday he survived an impeachment vote in Parliament, but the leader of his party said the President would eventually step down. Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the impeachment vote, put forward by the main opposition Democratic Party, and the motion was scrapped after not enough lawmakers participated. After the vote, however, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon said the party had decided that Yoon would resign, saying, “The declaration of martial law was a clear and serious violation of the law”.

The opposition needed at least eight votes from Yoon’s PPP to reach the two-thirds majority needed to impeach. But almost all PPP lawmakers departed after casting votes on a separate motion and only three from the party voted.

Restored Cathedral

Late last week on the 7th December, the Notre-Dame de Paris, a medieval iconic Catholic cathedral and a world-famous landmark in Paris, France, was reopened following the completion of restoration work. About five years ago, in April 2019, a fire destroyed the cathedral’s spire and roof and caused extensive damage to its interior. And French President Emmanuel Macron had promised to re-open, within 5 years, which he did.

The reopening ceremony was presided over by the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, in the presence of the French president, and other heads of state and government. This was followed by an inaugural mass on 8th December at which a new altar was consecrated, and a series of public services over the following days.

Uncertain Syria: Assad Scoots

After more than 50 years of Assad family rule, and 13 years of civil war, the Syrian capital of Damascus fell to rebels this Sunday, following a lightening offensive that began in Aleppo and ripped through the major cities of Hama, and Homs. The main rebel coalition, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led by Ahmad al-Sharaa – better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, declared Syria ‘free’ and pledged to establish a pluralistic government. Fireworks lit up the streets of Damascus as Syrians celebrated their newfound freedom. But the events left Syrians at home and millions of refugees abroad hopeful yet deeply uncertain about their country’s future.

Bashar al-Assad stepped down as President and left Syria hours after rebel forces took control of the capital Damascus. Assad confided in almost no one about his plans to decamp to Russia where he had been granted political asylum. Instead, aides, officials and even relatives were deceived or kept in the dark.

Assad fled Damascus by plane on Sunday, 8th December flying under the radar with the aircraft’s transponder switched off, escaping the clutches of rebels storming the capital. The exit was dramatic: deception, despair and flight ended his rule of 24 years and brought the civil war of 13 years to an abrupt halt. He flew to Russia’s Hmeimim airbase in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, and from there on to Moscow. Assad’s immediate family, wife and their three children, were already waiting for him in the Russian capital. Assad didn’t even make a last stand. He didn’t even rally his own troops. He let his supporters face their own fate. Remember, Syria ran one of the most oppressive police states in the Middle East during the Assad family rule.

The next day, Assad’s Prime Minister said he had agreed to hand power to the rebel-led Salvation Government. Assad has not been seen in public since he met the Iranian foreign minister in Damascus a week ago. That day, he vowed to ‘crush’ the rebels seizing territory, with dizzying speed. Turns out he left with speed.

Later, during the week, Mohammad al-Bashir was installed by Al-Golani to lead an interim administration- the Syrian Transitional Government. He said his aim is to bring back millions of refugees, create unity, and provide basic services. But rebuilding would be daunting with little funding on hand.

Mohammad al-Bashir is a Syrian politician and engineer and served as the 5th prime minister of the Syrian Salvation Government, the civilian administration of HTS , between his election on 13 January 2024 and appointment to the current role.

In a televised statement, Al-Bashir announced that officials from the Salvation Government met with representatives of the previous government to facilitate the handover of power. And that his cabinet from the Salvation Government would assume their corresponding roles in the transitional government.

On his part, Al-Golani said that he would dissolve the security forces of the former regime, close its notorious prisons and hunt down anyone involved in the torture or killing of detainees.

Meanwhile, the world is carefully watching to see if Syria’s new rulers can stabilise the country and avoid unleashing violent revenge.

Israel: Cleverer By The War

Pouncing upon the opportunity of Syria’s chaos, Israeli unleashed mayhem on weapons and military facilities in Syria. Its warplanes carried out a wave of over 350 strikes across the country, including in the capital Damascus wiping out the Syria Air Force, strategic weapons stockpiles, and much more, rendering Syria’s fighting capability toothless. A research centre with suspected links to chemical weapon production was among the sites hit. Israel’s said the attacks were meant to stop weapons falling into the hands of extremists following the overthrow of the Assad regime. Israel has also sent troops into a buffer zone on its border with Syria in order to impose a ‘sterile defence zone’ in southern Syria.

Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel for almost 60 years, will remain part of Israel ‘for eternity’. This is amid a growing criticism of an Israeli takeover of a previously demilitarised buffer zone in Syrian-controlled territory.

Israel’s soldiers also took control of Syrian army positions on Mount Hermon – the highest point in Syria- and in Quneitra province after the Assad troops abandoned their posts. The Israeli military intends to use deterrent fire against any attempts to breach the border fence, ordering residents of five Druze Syrian villages to stay at home until further notice.

Meanwhile, Leaders and Representatives of many South-western towns and villages in Syria, which have large Druze populations, the biggest being the town of As Suweida, are demanding to be annexed by Israel and to become Israeli citizens.

The Druze faith is one of the major religious groups in the Levant (Middle East to the East) with between 800,000 and a million adherents. They are primarily located in Lebanon – 5.5% (of the population) Syria – 3%, and Israel- 1.6%, with smaller communities in Jordan.

The Druze who call themselves Al-Muwahhidun are an Arab esoteric religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and syncretic religion whose main tenets assert the unity of God, reincarnation, and the eternity of the soul. Although the Druze faith developed from Islam, Druze do not identify as Muslims. They maintain Arabic language and culture as integral parts of their identity, with Arabic being their primary language. Most Druze religious practices are kept secret, and conversion to their religion is strictly not permitted for outsiders.

Australia Down India, Down Under

After a thumping 295 run win-hammering Australia-in the first Cricket Test Match at Perth, it was a sobering defeat for India in the second test at Adelaide-the City of Churches. The Aussies prayed hard?

India’s skipper Rohit Sharma who missed the first Test, to be present at the birth of his second child, returned to captain the side in the second test, a Day-Night Test using Pink Balls. He won the toss and decided to bat first, to make best use of the pitch at the Adelaide Oval, but India were rattled out for 180 thanks to some top-class bowling by Mitchell Starc. He claimed a career-best Test figure of 6 wickets giving 48 runs, as Australia seized the initiative on day one.

In its first innings reply, Australia made 337 for the loss of 10 wickets with Travis Head smashing 140 runs in 141 balls including three sixes and ten boundaries. This is Travis’ hometown and he bludgeoned his way to a third century at the iconic venue, in just 111 deliveries. They say he has a love-affair with the Adelaide Oval, and he went level with the great Donald Bradman’s three hundreds at the same venue. India’s Jasprit Bumrah took 4 wickets for 61 runs and Mohammad Siraj took 4 wickets for 98.

Australia then dismissed India for 175 in their second innings, thanks to a Pat Cummins blitzkrieg, taking five wickets for 57 runs. The Aussies then comfortably chased down the 19-run target to win the Pink-Ball Test by 10 wickets, levelling the five-match series 1-1.

It took less than two and a half days, not even a third night – under seven sessions – for Australia’s bowlers to take apart India either side of Travis Head’s hundred. It was bowling so venomous that it made up for a consistent weakness of team’s, which is relying on one player’s big score to rescue an otherwise floundering innings.

The Third India vs Australia Test match will begin on 14th December, Saturday, in Brisbane.

Chess Euphoria Strikes India

This week, India erupted in euphoria over 18-years-old Indian Chess Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju winning the World Chess Championship, beating the reigning world champion, China’s Ding Liren. He is the youngest ever, in the history of Classic Chess Championship to win the title. The Championship tournament was held in Singapore between 25 November and 12 December 2024. It was played to a best of 14 games, with tiebreaks as required, and Gukesh won by 7.5 to Ding’s 6.5. Gukesh won three games and Ding won two games. He takes home prize money of about INR 11.45crore.

The previous youngest was Russia’s Garry Kasparov at age 22 and 210 days and quickly behind is Norway’s Magnus Carlsen at 22 years, 357 days. Gukesh has also broken the 39 years old record of the youngest World Chess Champion, held by Garry Kasparov.

The first World Chess Championship match was held in the year 1886 and won by Wilhelm Steinitz – a Bohemian-Austrian and later American -who defended his title again in 1889, 1890 and 1892. Gukesh is only the second Indian to win the title after Vishwanathan Anand held the title in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012. India becomes only the second nation besides the old Soviet Union to produce multiple world Champions. The Next Championship Title is after two years.

There are many who feel that as along as Norway’s Magnus Carlsen remains the most dominant player in the game the title carries little weight. And in the opinion of Chess great Gary Kasparov, “It’s an official title, which in my opinion has no historical relevance”.

This places in perspective the fact that Gukesh has to work even harder to become the best player in the world. And this is a first, steady, strong move to get to position.

Gukesh is the third-youngest grandmaster in history, the third-youngest to reach a chess rating of 2700, the youngest to reach a rating of 2750, and is the eighteenth-highest rated player in history with a peak rating of 2794.

Gukesh was born in Chennai and lives in Tamil Nadu. His family hails from Andhra Pradesh. For more on Gukesh’s background and his climb to the top, read:

https://kumargovindan.com/2024/04/27/world-inthavaaram-2024-17/

Said the Godfather of Indian Chess, Vishwanathan Anand, “Gukesh’s win will go a long way for Chess in India”. No truer words!

It’s generally believed that the game of chess originated in India about 1,500 years ago. Its earliest known predecessor was called ‘chaturanga’, which translates to ‘four divisions (of the military)’: infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry. These forms are represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern-day pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. In a sense, Chess has come back home – young again.

More classic stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Stay for the long haul, with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-48

About: the world this week, 24 November to 30 November 2024: a belligerent Russia; Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire; rowdy Bangladesh; Australia under-16; India State Elections; Earth’s tilt; small in Argentina; and India’s cricket, down under.

Everywhere

Russia Ups The Ante

The Russia-Ukraine war moves on fiercely, with the threat of escalation and spill-over in the region a dangerous possibility.

Last week, Russia demonstrated its Oreshnik (hazel tree) hypersonic weapon system-without a warhead-to checkmate NATO and the United States, and also issue a warning to the West. It is a devastating, unstoppable surgical strike weapon that basically drops metal lightning out of the sky like Thor’s Hammer or the comets of God. The Oreshnik missile is capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 10 and currently lacks any known countermeasure in missile defense systems.

This week, Russia escalated the conflict in Ukraine with more lethal weaponry and deploying troops from Yemen to bolster its front-lines.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘opened a door’ to end the conflict, praising US President-elect Donald Trump as ‘intelligent and experienced’ and capable of finding solutions. Trump had pledged, during his campaign, to end the war in Ukraine ‘within 24 hours’. Of course, without saying how!

It’s absolutely clear that this war cannot end in a victory by either side. Talks and negotiations are the only means of stopping the madness-before it engulfs the world.

Israel and Hezbollah Ceasefire

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah-operating out of Lebanon-took effect this Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the United States and France. Israel’s security cabinet approved the deal in a 10-1 vote.

The deal stipulates a 60-day halt in hostilities, and hopefully lays the foundation for lasting truce in the region. It requires Israeli ground troops to withdraw from south Lebanon, and, on its turn Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River and retreat 40 kilometers away from the Lebanon-Israel border. The vacated spaces will be filled by Lebanon’s Army, which will be deployed in the region-originally a Hezbollah stronghold-within 60 days.

The agreement will maintain Israel’s freedom of operation to act in defence to remove threats posed by Hezbollah and enable displaced Israeli residents to return safely to their homes in northern Israel. On its part, Lebanon would implement a more rigorous supervision of Hezbollah’s movements in the border areas and south of the Litani River to prevent Hezbollah militants from regrouping. Will the ceasefire hold?

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he was ready to implement the ceasefire and would respond forcefully to any violation by Hezbollah. And added that the ceasefire would allow Israel to focus on the threat from Iran, replenish depleted arms supplies and give the army a rest; and to isolate Hamas, and focus more on war in Gaza and release of the hostages.

Netanyahu said, “We have successfully killed approximately 20,000 Hamas terrorists in Gaza since the war began”.

On the other side, it’s estimated that Israel lost 806 IDF soldiers in the process.

Rowdy Bangladesh

The boil in Bangladesh ever since the widespread political violence, which led to the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, continues. And tensions over minority rights and deadly violence against Hindus in particular, bludgeons the headlines. The new military-backed interim government led by Nobel Prize Winner Mohammed Yunus has faced criticism for failing to curb a spike in violence against minorities. In recent months, Hindu businesses, homes, and temples have been vandalised, with the unrest worsening every day.

Hindus comprise about 8% of Bangladesh’s 170 million people.

This week, Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, a Hindu priest, an ISKCON monk, and a religious minority leader in Bangladesh, was arrested in Dhaka when he staged a peaceful protest against attacks on Hindus by radical Muslim outfits.

The arrest follows protests led by Hindus in the city of Rangpur, about 300 km north of the capital Dhaka, demanding stronger legal protections and a ministry dedicated to minority affairs.

Chinmoy Brahmachari was detained at Dhaka airport and his arrest comes after a sedition case was filed against him earlier this month – said to be for his outspoken stance against violence targeting Hindus. Earlier this month, sedition charges were filed against 19 people who participated in a minority rights rally in Chittagong.

Later in the week, the Government prosecutor argued that the ISKCON – International Society for Krishna Consciousness – is a ‘religious fundamentalist organisation’ and should be banned. That’s a horrible thing to say given the global nature of ISKCON and its humanitarian services in Bangladesh itself – during the recent floods – and the world over. Bangladesh’s High Court rightfully refused to go into the ban and volleyed the case back to the Government.

Australia’s New Under-16 Law

This week, Australia’s Parliament after an intense, emotive debate, approved and brought into law a Social Media Ban for children under the age of 16 years. This is now one of the World’s strictest laws of the kind.

The Law forces Tech Giants such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and X to stop minors from logging in to their platforms, or face fines up to USD 32 million. Gaming and messaging platforms are exempt, as are sites that can be accessed without an account, say YouTube. A trial of enforcement methods will start in January 2025, with the ban kicking-in within a year.

‘We are making sure that Mums and Dads can have that different conversation today and in future days’, said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

India’s State Elections

It’s awfully stale and tiring, these elections in India: some people, somewhere are forever voting and the political class is dashing all over the country to make speeches and attend rallies. And makes one wonder whether all this voting works and the people get what they vote for. Or, is democracy only about elections and voting? The Air Quality Index in the New Delhi, for example, flirts above the danger mark ever so often while political parties sound the election bugle-adding noise to the already heavily polluted air-and blame each other.

Late last week, the results of Elections in the State of Maharashtra, which holds Mumbai the commercial capital of India, were declared. And it was a thumping landslide for the ruling The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance, which secured an overwhelming mandate. The BJP won 132 out for the 149 seats it contested – an impressive strike rate of 89% – and partners, the Shiv Sena won 57 and the Nationalist Congress Party, 41.

The Opposition MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) Alliance bit the dust, getting a paltry 49 seats. India’s Grand Old Party, the Congress, part of the MVA, won just 16 and was decimated. The House has a total of 288 seats and the majority mark is 145.

This is a shocking turnaround for the Devendra Fadnavis led BJP in the State after an underwhelming performance in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. Maharashtra becomes the 6th state in India where the BJP has won back-to-back three elections. Others being Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, and Haryana.

However, in the State of Jharkand the BJP was pushed to second place with 21 seats and the local Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) winning 34 seats, and along with its Alliance partner, the Congress’ 16 seats (another 16 for the Congress!) will form a coalition Government. It was a mighty comeback for the JMM after its leader Hemant Soren was arrested and jailed by the Enforcement Directorate in January in a land scam case, which caused his resignation as Chief Minister. However, he obtained bail from the Jharkhand High Court and returned as Chief Minister to lead the INDI Alliance to victory. 2024 has become Soren’s comeback year.

The Jharkhand Assembly has a total of 81 seats with 41 being the majority mark.

The JMM in particular stressed on adivasi asmita (tribal pride) and showcased its Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana Scheme, which provides Rs 1,000 per month to eligible women. The turnout of women-4% higher this time-seems to have put the JMM over the top. Credit must also go to Kalpana Soren, who entered politics after her husband was sent to prison. Though the BJP derisively dubbed the power couple ‘Bunty aur Babli’ ahead of the polls, she is credited with revitalising the party and keeping the cadres ‘warmed-up’, in Soren’s absence.

In the bye-elections of various States, it was a wonderful comeback victory for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh State winning 7 out 9 seats in the Assembly. This, after a surprise loss in the Lok Sabha Elections, which was responsible for the BJP falling short of a majority on its own at the Centre.

The Earth’s Tilt

When an object the size of Mars, named Theia is thought to have crashed into the newly formed planet Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, it knocked our planet over and left it (dazed and) tilted at an angle. Ever since this impact, Earth has been orbiting the Sun at a slant. This slant is the axial tilt, also called obliquity and is measured as 23.4 Degrees.

Since Earth orbits the Sun at an angle, solar energy reaching different parts of Earth is not constant, but varies during the course of the year. This is the reason we have different seasons, and why they are opposite in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Now Scientists have found that the Earth has tilted 80.01 centimetres (31.5 inches) over the last two decades. But the tilt had nothing to do with weird space phenomena, mysterious asteroids, the sun’s gravity, or solar flares, and everything to do with how people are pumping groundwater and shipping it across the planet, a study found. The findings of a study from June 2023 are making headlines over a year after it was published. The planet continuing to tilt is because humans are pumping and moving an obscene amount of groundwater across the planet and redistributing it, according to the study’s press release. This pumping contributed to about 6 centimetres rise in global sea levels. The water was pumped for drinking, agriculture, and industrial use. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Everything you do on the Planet counts, mind it!

While the current shift in Earth’s tilt is not ‘great enough’ to affect weather patterns or seasons immediately, researchers caution that continued groundwater depletion could have long-term climatic impacts.

Oh Deer!

Argentina is celebrating in a small way, of things small.

A rare Pudu fawn was born in a Biopark in Argentina earlier this month, giving scientists and conservationists a unique chance to study and collect data on the tiny deer. We are learning about this after almost a month – giving time for the tiny fawn to get on its feet.

Weighing just 1.21 kilograms the delicate, fragile, and white-spotted male pudu fawn was named Lenga after a tree species endemic to the Andean Patagonian forest of Chile and Argentina.

Pudus are one of the smallest deer species in the world, growing up to 50 centimetres tall and reaching a weight of about 12 kg. They are enigmatic, elusive, hard to see, and flee in zig-zags when chased by predators. The tiny deer face threats from wild dogs and species introduced into southern Argentina and Chile. There are only about 10,000 Pudus living in the world and are classified as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Lenga is spending his days exploring the park with his mother Chalten and father Nicolino. He will be breast-fed for the first two months until he can handle a herbivorous diet. After that, Lenga will lose his white spots and grow the mottled colour that helps Pudus camouflage themselves in their environment from both daytime and nighttime predators. After about one year, hopefully, Lenga will develop antlers that typically- for Pudus- reach up to 10 cm.

Oh India!

India’s cricket team is touring Australia from November 2024 to January 2025. The plan is to play five Test matches and three first-class warm-up matches against the Australia’s cricket team. The Test matches form part of the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship.

The 1st Test was played at Perth between 22nd November and 26th November and India hammered Australia, down under, in a historic test win. This was Australia’s first loss in a Test match at the Perth Stadium, with India became the first visiting team to win a Test match at the ground. This was also India’s biggest victory in terms of runs in Australia. Records are made every day in cricket!

With the absence of skipper Rohit Sharma and star batsman Shubman Gill, the popular belief was that Team India would face a torrid time in the first test. However, star pacer Jasprit Bumrah stepped in as Captain and did a swashbuckling job.

India won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 150 runs in the first innings and blowing out Australia for 104 runs. With a 46 run lead, India went into the 2nd innings to score 487 runs, declaring with 6 wickets down. And giving the Aussies a run-chase of 533 to win.

In the chase, Australia kept losing wickets at regular intervals as India bundled them out for 238. For India, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah scalped three wickets each, while Washington Sundar took two wickets. Centuries by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli, followed by Jasprit Bumrah’s magnificent bowling helped India thrash Australia by 295 runs.

India’s Jaiswal scored 161 while Kohli brought up his memorable 30th Test ton breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most test centuries (7) for India in Australia. India’s KL Rahul scored his 3,000th run in Tests.

With this win, India takes an early 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

More hitting stories – small and big – coming-up in the weeks ahead. Watch and grow with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-45

About: the world this week, 3 November to 9 November 2024: Israel infighting; USA’s new old President; Amsterdam street-hunt; Cricket-Kiwis make ants of India; and Quincy Jones departs.

Everywhere

Israel: Infighting

This week, Israel’s Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu fired his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, 14 months into the Gaza War, and the attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran.

Netanyahu said there has been too many ‘significant gaps’ between them over the management of Israel’s wars. He added, “In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the PM and the defence minister. Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister”.

The two have regularly been at odds over the handling of the Gaza war. A previous attempt to fire Gallant, in March last year, led to widespread street agitations against Netanyahu, with opposition groups calling for mass protests.

This time, the ‘gallant’ sacking comes amid a backdrop of disagreements over drafting of ultra-orthodox students into the IDF, with Gallant deciding to send out thousands of draft notices. Leaders of ultra-orthodox Haredi parties in Netanyahu’s coalition Government have called for a law exempting full-time religious seminary students from service.

Religious young men are exempt from military service, which is compulsory for most Jews in the country. Many Israelis are annoyed the ultra-orthodox remain exempt from national service when so many of the country’s young men and women are fighting.

Yoav Gallant was replaced by Israel Katz, was previously foreign minister. Katz has nowhere near the military command experience of Gallant-who is so well regarded within Israel that when he spoke about the direction of the war, often in opposition to Netanyahu, people listened.

Amsterdam Hunt

Late this week Jewish soccer fans were ‘attacked and hunted like animals’ by Islamists, Pro-Palestinian mobs, and antisemitic hit-and-run squads who went on a rampage in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Israelis were abused and pelted with fireworks around the city, and riot police had to be called-in to protect them and escort them to hotels. At least five people were treated in hospital. Israel despatched its aeroplanes to the rescue and said it would fly many fans home. However at the end of the day all missing people were accounted for and Israel sighed in relief.

Dutch police said they had launched a major investigation into multiple incidents following the Europa League soccer game this Thursday night between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch side Ajax.

Later, the King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander said: ‘We failed the Jewish community during World War II, and last night we failed again’.

United States (US): a New Old President

The US has a peculiar, long-drawn process of electing its President and Vice-President, beginning from the nomination of candidates through Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, Conventions, and ending on Election Day. They are not chosen by a direct popular vote. The US Constitution requires that a process known as the Electoral College ultimately decides who wins the Presidential election. In all other US elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote.

Each state gets as many Electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate). Each state’s political parties choose their own slate of potential Electors. Who is chosen to be an Elector, how, and when varies from State to State.

After a voter casts his ballot for President and Vice-President, his vote goes to a statewide tally. In 48 states and Washington, DC., the winner gets all the electoral votes for that State. The States of Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system. A candidate needs the vote of at least 270 Electors—more than half of all Electors out of a total of 538—to win the presidential election. In most cases, a projected winner is announced on election night in November after voting is completed. But the actual Electoral College vote takes place in mid-December when the electors meet in their States.

Electoral votes are awarded on the basis of the popular vote in each State. The Electoral College is not a physical place. It is a process which includes: the selection of Electors; meeting of Electors who cast votes for the President and Vice-President; and counting of the Electors’ votes by Congress.

This week on 3rd November, Tuesday, America voted to elect a new President and Vice-President for the next four years. Counting of votes begins on Election night and typically proceeds in a specific order: election day votes first, followed by early and mail-in ballots. Local election officials are tasked with verifying and counting votes, a process that is meticulously regulated to ensure accuracy and transparency.

In this year’s Presidential Elections, former President Donald Trump of the Republican Party trounced Vice-President Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party to become the 47th President(Elect) of the United States. Trump won the Electoral and the Popular Vote: 295 Electoral votes and 50.8% of the Popular vote, to Kamala Harris’ 226, and 47.5% respectively. The vote for the Vice-President-the running mate- runs alongside that President. And J D Vance becomes Vice President-elect.

Donald Trump made history in many ways: he is the oldest President, at 78, to be elected; the first convicted felon; and the first Republican to win the popular vote in over two decades.

Trump’s strategy of courting a coalition of less engaged voters and minority groups, especially Black and Hispanic men, paid off. His messaging on immigration and the economy resonated with voters, giving him an edge, as many expressed dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden’s administration-baggage Kamala Harris struggled to shrug off.

Trump has proven to be political Teflon: no matter the scandal or issue, he has outmanoeuvred it and garnered support. Voters chose Trump despite the litany of offensive or racist remarks at rallies, concerns about his age, questions about his mental acuity, the fallout from the 6 January 2020 insurrection, and a colourful trial that ended with a criminal conviction.

In his first speech, Trump said the nation delivered “an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” while JD Vance called the election “the greatest political comeback” in US history.

How did Trump pull it off?

He had the fortune of running when Americans were frustrated by inflation, high prices and, to a lesser extent, illegal immigration across the US southern border. On the campaign trail, Trump said he opposed a federal abortion ban but that states are free to pass laws as restricted or unrestricted as they choose. He also became a vocal advocate for having insurers cover the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments.

Trump’s emphatic win seems to be a revenge of the normal working class and a message by the ordinary man on the street to get the job done of making their lives easier, and better. And doing what he said he will do.

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk lent his entrepreneurial, start-up muscle techniques and his dollars, to the win, especially with the social media platform ‘X’. He endorsed Trump and set a winning narrative. Maybe, America has reached a fork in its destiny, worked, after all. Microsoft’s Bill Gates and a galaxy of Hollywood stars in turn endorsed Kamala, but they acted to a wrong script, ‘divorced from the mega reality’ and it was a flop show.

Those were the Trump’s signature issues, ones that proved to be anvils that weighed down Vice President Harris’ candidacy. The result was a quicker-than-expected set of returns that secured Trump an unbelievable, landslide victory.

India was not let down in ‘trying to place its person’ in the White House, or at least in the neighbourhood. If Indian origin Kamala Harris lost the Presidency, Indian origin Usha Chilukuri won the job of the Second Lady as wife of Vice-President J D Vance – that’s a family vote. Usha becomes the first Indian American, Telugu American, and Hindu Brahim American to reach the position. An elated Chief Minister of the Indian State of Andra Pradesh was quick to give a ‘shout out’, welcoming them home, sometime.

Usha Chilukuri, 38, is the daughter of Indian immigrants. Her father is a mechanical engineer from IIT Chennai and a lecturer at San Diego State University; her mother is a molecular biologist and provost at the University of California, San Diego.

Her parents’ ancestral village is Vadluru in West Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh, though Usha grew up in a San Diego suburb.

Usha graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in history and from Yale Law School with a Juris Doctor degree. After law school, Usha served as a law clerk for multiple federal judges, including Chief Justice John Roberts, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and Judge Amul Thapar. Usha married Vance in 2014, and in 2019 she was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar and subsequently worked for a leading law firm handling civil litigation and appeals in cases involving higher education, local government, entertainment, and technology. She resigned from her law firm job in July 2024 to help her husband in the Vice-Presidential campaign. The Second Couple boast three children – two boys and a girl.

Cricket

The New Zealand cricket team’s tour of India ended with a perfect white-wash, topping-up with frothy white cream, to the already won 2 test matches, in the 3 Test Match Series. Words such as historic win, first-ever… etc., were hit to the boundary.

Indians expected their team to salvage some pride by winning the Third Test match played at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, starting on the 1st November, but it was a huge disappointment. Set to chase 146 runs for a win, India disastrously floundered and lost by 25 runs. They left the stadium with their tails firmly between their legs while the Kiwis, who had no tail to wag, or wings to fly, sturdily walked home with the Victory Trophy. Feet firmly pitched on the ground.

‘Q’: You Were The World

This week, American record producer, songwriter, composer, and film and television producer, Quincy Jones, the man known simply as ‘Q’ died on Sunday at age 91. With reasons not being disclosed, we can assume that old age kicked-in.

Q worked with musicians ranging from Count Basie to Frank Sinatra and reshaped pop music with his collaborations with Michael Jackson in a music career spanning more than 65 years. There was little Jones did not do in his career. He was a trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, composer, producer and winner of 28 Grammy Awards.

Quincy Jones was a studio workaholic and a virtuoso at handling delicate egos. He shaped recordings by jazz greats such as Miles Davis, produced for Frank Sinatra, and put together the superstar ensemble that recorded the 1985 fundraiser, ‘We Are the World’, the biggest hit song of its time. That was to raise money for fighting famine in Ethiopia. Jones organised ‘We are the World’ along with Jackson and singer Lionel Richie. The huge all-star chorus featured Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen and Smokey Robinson. Q set the tone for the recording session with a sign that said, ‘Leave your ego at the door’.

Quincy was also a prolific writer of movie scores and co-produced the film, ‘The Color Purple’, as well as the 1990s television show ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’, which launched the career of Actor Will Smith.

Jones’ most lasting achievements were in collaboration with Michael Jackson. They made three landmark albums – ‘Off the Wall’ in 1979, ‘Thriller’ in 1982, and ‘Bad’ in 1987 – that changed the landscape of American popular music. ‘Thriller’ sold as many as 70 million copies, with six of the nine songs on the album becoming top 10 singles.

Hits like ‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’ and the title song made ‘Thriller’ the biggest-selling album of all time. It won three Grammys for Quincy Jones and seven for Michael Jackson. They followed that in 1987 with ‘Bad,’ which had five No. 1 hits, including, ‘Smooth Criminal’ and ‘Man in the Mirror’. Over to their music in Heaven!

More thrilling stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Listen to the music of World Inthavaaram (wish Q was here to make a recording).

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-44

About: the world this week, 27 October to 2 November 2024: Israel & Iran; Afghanistan-voice ban; America-the Menendez brothers; Spain-Biblical floods; Cricket, Chess; and Deepavali – why burst firecrackers?

Everywhere

Israel

Israel kept its promise to whack Iran for daring to attack it over a third-party problem. And late last week, Israel executed a large-scale, three-wave airstrike on about 20 Iranian military sites, targeting critical infrastructure including air defense systems, missile manufacturing facilities, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) development centres. It was a calibrated attack and at first seemed ‘not loud enough’ in keeping with Israel’s standards, of such responses. However, from the looks of it, and given the grave-dead silence on the Iran side, Israel appears to have achieved its goals: significantly weakening Iran’s military capacity, publicly exposing the regime’s vulnerability, and preventing a larger, drawn-out conflict. Iran was left ‘naked’-for Israel to strike at will, when it decides.

Iran’s air defense, despite years of boasting, proved insufficient, as Israel penetrated deep inside and danced unchallenged in Iran’s air-space. Israel seems to have chosen the least escalatory option, of the various available, and refrained from hitting financial, regime, or nuclear targets.

Back in the Gaza, Israel’s IDF is surrounding and rounding-up remaining terrorists in north Gaza resulting in the surrender of hundreds of operatives, and the process continues in a seemingly never-ending operation. Meanwhile, 101 hostages still remain captive-held by the terrorist Hamas- and are unreachable for over 395 days. Ceasefire talks are doing the rounds, but nothing concrete as emerged, as yet.

Afghanistan: Voice Over

The Taliban continues its antediluvian thought process in Afghanistan and this week, in a bizarre rule, banned women from ‘hearing each other’s voices’. This is a fundamental tactic of misogynist authoritarianism to prevent communication between women who may otherwise organise and resist. The Taliban only backslides Afghanistan, every week.

The Taliban Minister responsible for the ‘propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice’, declared that women must refrain from reciting the Quran aloud in the presence of other women. “When women are not permitted to call Takbir or Azan (Islamic call to prayer), they certainly cannot sing songs or music,” he said. “Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear. How could they be allowed to sing if they aren’t even permitted to hear voices while praying, let alone for anything else,” A woman’s voice is considered ‘awrah’, meaning that which must be covered, and shouldn’t be heard in public, even by other women, the minister said. The black-veiling only gets darker.

The Menendez Brothers

In the United States, Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers convicted of murdering their parents more than three decades ago, are one step closer to being released from prison. The brothers are currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole, in California. This is a significant development in a case that has gripped America, since it hit the headlines in the year 1989.

The Los Angeles County district attorney formally recommended their re-sentencing in a court filing, arguing for a lesser sentence for the pair. If approved, the request would make the brothers eligible for parole, and the first step on what could be a long road to freedom.

The brothers fatally shot their parents, entertainment company executive Jose Menendez and Kitty Menendez, with shotguns in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Jose was shot six times, and Kitty ten times, including a shot to her face after Erik reloaded. The brothers were 21 and 18 years old at the time.

The brothers alleged sexual abuse by their father at their first trial. And claimed they killed their parents in self-defense, following years of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. That trial resulted in a mistrial after the juries deadlocked- a hung jury. Prosecutors argued that the brothers committed the crime out of greed (their parents were worth USD 14 million). They were tried a second time, and packed-off to jail.

Nearly 30 years later, new evidence has emerged: a letter Erik wrote in 1988 detailing the sexual abuse, and another person has alleged that the brothers’ father abused him.

Earlier this month, more than two dozen members of the Menendez family issued a public plea for Erik and Lyle to be released, saying the boys endured horrific sexual abuse at the hands of their father and are not a threat to society. Kitty Menendez’s sister said, “the whole world wasn’t ready to believe that the boys could be raped, or that young men could be victims of sexual violence”. She said that now “we know better” and “a jury today would never deliver such a harsh sentence”. But the family is not in complete agreement. A lawyer for Kitty Menendez’s brother called the brothers “cold-blooded” and said their “actions shattered their family and left a trail of grief that has persisted for decades.” The brother believes his nephews should stay in prison for their “heinous act”, according to his lawyer.

The release of a Netflix docudrama and documentary has renewed interest in the case, with a new generation taking to social media to advocate for the brothers’ freedom.

If the hearing results in a judge approving the new sentence, attention will shift to the California Parole Board. The Board will examine the case, and whether the Menendez brothers are indeed a threat to society if they are released. Even if the Board approves their release, the Governor of California could decide to halt proceedings.

Spain: Super Floods

Imagine a year’s worth of rain-cats & dogs-falling in just under eight hours. That’s what happened in Spain’s eastern region of Valencia this week. Over 95 people have been killed in possibly the deadliest flash flooding to hit Spain in its modern history. Torrential rain battered Valencia, sweeping away bridges and buildings, causing pile-ups on highways and submerging farmland in a region that produces two-thirds of the citrus fruit grown in Spain, a leading global exporter.

Residents in the worst-hit places described seeing people clambering onto the roofs of their cars. As a churning tide of brown water gushed through the streets, uprooting trees and dragging away chunks of masonry from buildings and the water itself standing tall at over 2 metres. It left its mark on the walls of the buildings, in many residential areas. In narrow streets, it was cars ‘flowing over one another’.

Trains to the cities of Madrid and Barcelona were cancelled, and schools and other essential services were suspended in the worst-hit areas. Near about 150,000 users in Valencia were left without electricity.

The scale of the flooding that unfolded in Valencia is truly Biblical and unfathomable. And this is definitely not normal weather or even the ‘normal’ abnormal. There is a footage in Chiva, where a jaw-dropping 343 mm of rain was recorded in just 4 hours between 4:30pm and 8:30pm on a particular day. So severe was the extent of the damage that Spain declared a three-day national mourning.

Sports

Cricket

The New Zealand cricket team is touring India, during October and November 2024, on a three Test Match Series against India’s Cricket Team. The Test Series forms part of the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship.

The Kiwis were off to a strong-legged start, winning the First Test in Bengaluru-played between 16th and 20th October-by 8 wickets. And in a stunning ‘flightless walk’ kept the momentum to win the Second Test – played in Pune between 24th and 28th October – by 113 runs. They have climbed to a muscular, unassailable 2-0 lead in the Series.

It was a historic first Test Series victory for New Zealand against India, in India, ending the hosts’ 12-year unbeaten streak. This also ends India’s remarkable run of 18 consecutive home series wins, since Alastair Cook’s England clinched a famous 2-1 triumph in December 2012. We can safely say that the Kiwis white-washed India in an outstanding series win, their first in India in almost 70 years! To draw a comparison, this is as significant as India beating Australia in Australia in 2018, after 70 years.

Pushed to a corner like never before, India face their biggest challenge at home when they clash with New Zealand in the must-win third Test as they are left to salvage pride and fight a perception about their diminishing ability to negotiate quality spin attack. The Third Test match will be played at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai between 1st and 5th November. And India need to win, to remain in contention for a slot in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in June 2025.

Chess

This week Indian Chess Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, 21, crossed the venerated 2800 Elo rating mark in live chess ratings – a phenomenal feat. He is only the 16th player in the world and the second Indian to do so after the legendary Viswanathan Anand.

Arjun crossed the mark in the live chess rating by beating Russian chess grandmaster Dmitry Andreikin in Round 5 of the European Chess Club Cup. Arjun is currently on 2802.1 points and holds the world No.3 ranking in the live rating.

Arjun is also the third youngest player to cross the 2800 points mark. The youngest is French GM Alireza Firouzja who achieved the feat at the age of 18 in 2001. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen is the second youngest. He got to 2800 Elo points in 2009, also at the age of 18. At that time Carlsen was the fifth player to cross the 2800 barrier.

Currently, he leads the list in live rating with 2831 Elo points followed by USA’s Fabiano Caruana (2805.2).

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or e-sports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. Elo ratings are comparative and are valid only within the rating pool in which they were calculated, rather than being an absolute measure of a player’s strength.

Deepavali: Why Firecrackers?

Hindus in India and the World over celebrated Deepavali-typically called the Festival of Lights-this week on 31st October, by lighting oil lamps, mostly earthen-diyas- exchanging gifts, devouring sweets, and bursting firecrackers, among other practices.

Often there is a case to prevent or altogether stop the bursting of firecrackers in the name of noise and smoke pollution. And the Courts are challenged, to step-in.

A ‘lack of fundamental understanding’ on crackers affects the Hindu faith. Bursting firecrackers on Deepavali is not a mere celebratory or merry-making activity, but a ritual integral to Hindutva and laid down in the ancient Hindu texts, of over 1000 years. And at best the Government can regulate or control, but never ban or disallow. Here is an explanation.

There are many variants of the ancient Deepavali festival, and it’s no coincidence that Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Hindus all celebrate on the same day-in about the same period-in one way or the other.

Generally, Deepavali is the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance; Lord Rama returning to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana (evil-who kidnapped Sita) and welcomed back with an array of lighted diyas and firecrackers; Lord Krishna killing the demon Narakasura-evil; honouring Goddess Lakshmi’s marriage to Lord Vishnu…and a string of many other stories.

The ways of celebrating are also as varied, from buying gold jewellery and ornaments, making and trading sweets, wearing new clothes after an oil-on-the-head bath, exchanging gifts, tightening family bonds-especially brother-sister, lighting diyas… to bursting firecrackers. But, why do we burst firecrackers? This story has not been highlighted much and deserves sparkling attention this Deepavali.

A month before Deepavali, is about a fortnight (a period called mahalaya) dedicated to worshipping our ancestors: we invite them to abide among us-the living on Earth, and receive their attention. The understanding is that your ancestors having come down to Earth from their world, you are supposed to host and feed them. Well, they came, you fed them, and now they -weighed down by the food, and drunk with your hospitality-have to return to where they came from. On the day of Deepavali the ancestors are shown the way to leave, with firecrackers and lights to illuminate their path in the skies above. It’s also a celebration of the spiritual advancement of our ancestors to higher and greater realms.

In summary, the core of Deepavali festivities is to illuminate and resonate the path of our deceased ancestors to the skies above, with firecrackers and and array of lights. This is a fact corroborated in the Ananda Ramayana.

If an Aeroplane needs a lighted runway to land on Earth, so do our ancestors, who require a ‘runway of lights in the sky’ to return to, say, the Heavens above. Hence, it’s important that people burst crackers and fulfil this ritual. That’s the nexus.

The word ‘Deepavali’ is derived from Sanskrit and means ‘row or series of lights’ Though the English version word, ‘Diwali’ is often used, it’s best to use the original Deepavali.

More spiritual stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Burst firecrackers and light up the skies with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-8

About: the world this week, 18 February 2024 to 24 February 2024; Israel in Rafah; Gone Alexei Navalny; Pakistan Government combine; Sandeshkhali; Indian Cricket – Ashwin and Jaiswal; Indian Women’s Badminton -Anmol.

Everywhere

Israel is preparing to mount a ground invasion of Rafah – the last place of relative safety – in Southern Gaza. It hopes to significantly damage Hamas’ remaining capabilities by continuing its full-scale military operations in the Gaza Strip, and making it safe for start of the ground operation. And rescue of 130 hostages.

Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports that, as a contingency move, Egypt is preparing, an area at the Gaza border, which could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier.

Israel has served an ultimatum to Hamas to release all hostages before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan to avert an attack on Rafah. That’s about five weeks away.

This week, the United Nations (UN) Security Council failed to adopt a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East. The United States vetoed calls for an immediate ceasefire. Amid intense fighting, the UN says, people in Gaza face starvation, disease, and death as the humanitarian situation nears total collapse.

The situation is grim but then, all that is required is for Hamas to release all the hostages – held since 7 October 2023 – which should bring the war to an end.

On the other war, this week marks the second year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Two years have passed since Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The military stalemate between the countries appears to be continuing without any end in sight. And the mind-boggling, unimaginable hardship of people of Ukraine continues.

Late last week, in Russia, Alexei Navalny, 47, former lawyer and President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable domestic opponent, fell unconscious and died after a walk at the ‘Polar Wolf’ Arctic Penal Colony where he was serving a 19 year prison sentence. The icy ICK-3 Prison in the Siberian region of Yamal-Nenets, 2000 kilometres from Moscow is where Navalny spent the last few weeks of his life.

The death of Navalny robs the Russian opposition of its most prominent leader as Putin prepares for an election, which would keep him in power until at least the year 2030.

Last year, a Russian court convicted Alexei Navalny on charges of extremism, handing him a sentence of 19 years in prison. Navalny was at that time already serving a 9 year jail term, on varieties of charges, that he says were politically motivated. The extremism charges are related to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. It was his fifth criminal conviction and his third and longest prison term – all of which his supporters say are a deliberate Russian strategy to silence Navalny.

Alexi Navalny rose to prominence as a fierce critic of President Putin more than a decade ago. He documented and publicly spoke about what he said was the vast corruption and opulence among the ‘crooks and thieves’ running Russia. He skilfully combined the use of social media with traditional campaigning, political organising and personal charisma to build a network of offices, and a political media machine. Subsequently, his movement was outlawed, members arrested, and most of his team now lives, in exile, in Europe.

Navalny earned admiration from Russia’s Opposition for voluntarily returning to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated for what Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent. Navalny said he was poisoned in Siberia in August 2020, which Russia denies. Navalny was also physically attacked at least two times: a suspected poisoning attempt when he was in jail in 2019, and an assault in 2017 in which a green liquid was thrown in his face that nearly blinded him. Despite the harsh prison conditions he maintained a presence online and his team continued to publish investigations into Russia’s corrupt elite, from exile.

In Moscow, at a memorial to the victims of Russia’s political repression in the shadow of the former KGB headquarters, some people laid roses and carnations.

One note read: “Alexei Navalny – we remember you.”

People were warned not to take part in any mass meetings in Moscow. Supporters arranged meetings to honour Navalny in London, Paris, Oslo, Rome, Brussels, Berlin, Geneva, Prague, Yerevan, Tbilisi, and Vilnius.

Navalny is married to Yulia Abrosimova, and had two children, daughter Darya and son Zakhar. His last word to his wife Yulia on Valentine’s Day was, “Baby, you and I have everything, just like in the song: cities, airfield lights, blue snowstorms and thousands of kilometres between us. But I feel that you are near me every second, and I love you more and more”- A popular Soviet-era tune.

Yulia has vowed to carry-on the fight against Putin’s Russia. “In killing Alexei, Putin has killed half of me. Half of my heart and half of my soul. But there is another half of me, and it tells me that I have no right to give in. I will continue Alexei Navalny’s work, I will continue the struggle for our country,” she said.

After weeks of wrangling, Pakistan’s two dynastic parties, the army-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), have reached a power-sharing agreement. Shehbaz Sharif, the brother of former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, will be Prime Minister – he carries on with the job – and Asif Ali Zardari – he returns to the job, he once held – the husband of assassinated former PM Benazir Bhutto will be President. All this, while another former PM Imran Khan cools his heels in jail, and whose Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) backed independents won the majority of seats but were unable to cobble together a Government.

If elections in Pakistan are a step forward, what transpires during the elections and after the results are declared, is often many steps backward. With the same kind of people getting together in various permutations and combinations, Pakistan does not seem to be moving in the right direction at all.

Over the past week, the word Sandeshkhali was on the lips of most of India. Sandeshkhali is a village in the Sundarbans, North 24 Parganas District of West Bengal State. Why is it in the news?

Sandeshkhali has been on the edge and ‘boiling’ over allegations of harassment and sexual exploitation by local Trinamool Congress (TMC) Party – the ruling Party in West Bengal – leaders, especially a TMC leader called Shahjahan Sheik. He was seen to be wielding great power, popularity, and influence in the village, even more than the Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) or the Member of Parliament (MP), or even the Police, of the area.

The ‘can of worms’ began emerging last month, when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reached Shahjahan’s residence to interrogate him in connection with a probe into a Ration scam. A mob that had gathered at the place thrashed and chased away the ED Officials following which Shahjahan absconded – going into hiding. Using the ‘breakthrough opportunity’ villagers, especially women, of Sandeshkhali have found courage to speak out against the many horrific crimes of Shahjahan and his aides — Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar. The allegations are that women were sexually assaulted in Sandeshkhali, often at gun point, and his men had usurped their lands to set up prawn farms. And that tribal people were forcibly made to transfer their lands, by the TMC leader.

Women came out in the streets, in large numbers, saying, “In Sandeshkhali, TMC workers have been raping women for months now – Sheikh Shahjahan, Shibu Hajra, and Uttam Sardar are raping them. We had come to the Police peacefully with the demand to arrest them. If they do not arrest them in Sandeshkhali, how will the women in Sandeshkhali gain confidence?”

Shahjahan, also known as Bhai, has had an incredible journey. He started off in the year 1999 as a trekker driver, who doubled as a conductor at times, and also worked as a vegetable vendor at the local market. Not much is known of his family or his education. It was thanks to his uncle, Moslem Sheikh, a local Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader, that Shahjahan got a break in politics, getting himself elected as a Panchayat Pradhan. After Sheikh gave Shahjahan his first breakthrough, he started looking after the local fish trade.

Later in 2013 he switched his political affiliation, aligning with the ruling TMC. And built his own faction within the party, in which role he carried various tasks in the party hierarchy including, ‘doing all that is required’ to win elections.

As the years passed by Shahjahan accumulated wealth of untold proportions, such as three palatial houses. Allegations of land grabbing; collecting a cut from every fish trader in the area; forcing villagers to give up their wages and welfare payments; running an illegal cross-border trade, and the kind, are doing the rounds. Shahjahan’s rise to the top saw him embroiled in criminal cases with the police having registered several cases against him – from extortion to assault to even murder. In 2020, he was accused of double-murder of two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.

The National Commission for Women (NCW), whose team visited the area, in a damning report, has highlighted widespread fear and systematic abuse in Sandeshkhali, implicating both police officers and the TMC.

Late last week, India’s cricket off-spinner Ashwin Ravichandran became only the second Indian bowler, after another Indian spinner, Anil Kumble (619 wickets) to take 500 Test wickets. This, when he got rid of England’s opening batsman, Zak Crawley, on the 2nd day of the third India-England Test Match at Rajkot, India.

In the 500 wicket league, Ashwin is the 9th bowler and 2nd fastest (98 Tests) to reach the milestone, behind Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan who did it in 87 Tests. Ashwin is also the third all-rounder and first Indian with 500 test wickets & 3,000 runs ‘under his cricket cap’.

In the game of cricket, records keep tumbling every time a match is played – at every turn of the ball and heave of the bat!

Then came along another star. This time in batting, in the same Rajkot Test.

Newcomer, 22 year old Yashasvi Jaiswal made an unbeaten, scintillating 214 runs (off 236 balls) along with Safaraz Khan’s unbeaten 68, in a 172-run fifth wicket partnership to take India to 430 for 4 wickets-declared. Chasing an improbable target of 557 England collapsed to 122 – All Out on day 4, due to a fiery spell of bowling by Ravindra Jadeja who took 5 wickets giving away only 41 runs. India leads the 5 match series, 2-1. Now some statistics.

Yashasvi Jaiswal became the first player to smash 22 sixes in a cricket test series – a hat-rick of sixes too. He becomes the first Indian to hit maximum sixes in a test innings and to get to his 3rd 150 runs in just seven Test Matches. He is the third youngest player to score two Test double-centuries behind Vinod Kambli and the great Don Bradman. He is the first Indian batsman (and third overall ) to convert his first 3 tons into 150 plus scores. He is the third Indian after Kambli and Virat Kholi to hit 200s in two successive tests…that’s a breathtaking list of records, already!

Jaiswal’s success story is amazing and truly inspirational.

The son of a small shop-keeper in Suriyawan, Bhadohi Village, Uttar Pradesh State, Yashasvi Jaiswal moved to Mumbai at the age of 10, on the advice of his seniors who detected his cricket talent. Jaiswal’s uncle put him up in a Dairy shop where he worked in the morning and was also allowed to stay. Unable to work in the evening, after cricket practice, the Owner kicked him out. Jaiswal then found shelter in Azad Maidan – a sports ground formerly known as Bombay Gymkhana Maidan, which has about 22 cricket pitches – in a Muslim United Sport Club Tent. Here it was a tremendous struggle, without bathroom facilities or electricity, and being forced to cook for others in the Tent. He used to sell pani puri outside Azad Maidan to earn money at night besides playing matches at the club. His life changed when Jwala Singh, a well-known local coach in Mumbai, found him and took responsibility for providing him with shelter, coaching, and mentoring.

Jaiswal’s fortunes looked-up when he was selected for the Under-19 World Cup in 2020, which was a turning-point. He dominated the Under-19 World Cup, smashing five 50s and finishing as the highest run-getter. He translated his World Cup success into an Indian Premier League (IPL) bid of INR 2.40 Crore, then thrived with 625 runs in 14 matches for the Rajasthan Royals.

“In India, when growing up you work hard for everything… I have done that since my childhood. And I know how important every innings is and that’s why I really work hard in the practice sessions”. Great wisdom on young shoulders!

Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Indian Women scaled a historic peak by winning the Badminton Asia Team Championship (BATC) with a 3-2 victory against Thailand in the final in Shah Alam. India’s ace player P V Sindhi gave a winning start to the team, but the teams played-on to tie at 2-2. Then, 17 year old teen shuttler Anmol Kharb clinched the deciding match for India with a 21-14, 21-9 convincing win over World No. 45, Pornpicha Choeikeewong. Anmol was on her first international tour and ranked 472 in the world. She displayed the proverbial nerves of steel and played like a seasoned campaigner. The rest, they say, is history.

Anmol Kharb is the 2023 Indian National Badminton Champion – Women’s Singles. She hails from Faridabad in Haryana State and initially played for the Dayanand Public School, Faridabad, before shifting bases to Noida at the Sunrise Shuttlers Academy under coach Kusumm Singh, a former national-level peer of Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal and Ashwini Ponnappa.

India is in safe ‘young hands’ – working awfully hard all the time.

More heart-warming success stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Leave your tent, work hard, play the game of your life, and stay with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2023-41

About: the world this week, 8 October to 14 October 2023; Unfathomable terror unleashed on Israel; Afghanistan’s Earthquake; Nobel Prizes; Asian Games close and Cricket World Cup begins.

Everywhere

Israel Under Attack

Last Saturday, 7th October it was the Jewish Sabbah in Israel and also a holy festival day-the Sukkot. Families usually gather to spend time together, at home or in a synagogue, and friends just meet over for a chat. This year, excited music-lovers were looking forward to the Supernova Music Festival, held in the desert, in Southern Israel to coincide with the Sukkot. It was billed as ‘a journey of unity and love’ with ‘mind-blowing and breath-taking content’ in a place of stunning beauty. Thousands of young people signed up for the party but were not told of the exact location until a few hours before. It was Kibbutz Re’im, about 5 kilometres (km) from the Israel-Gaza border.

But out of the dawn sky, a hail of rockets signalled the start of an attack that, as it unfolded, was unprecedented in its scale and coordination. Shortly thereafter a steady stream of rockets began to rain on Israel. For years, Israel has fortified the border between itself and the small Palestinian enclave of Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas-the Islamist militant organisation. But within hours, its impenetrability was exposed as flawed.

As the rockets rained, about 5000 of them, Hamas- designated as a terrorist group by the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), European Union, among others – was gathering terrorists where they had planned to penetrate the heavily fortified Gaza-Israel barrier. And within hours, the barrier had been breached again and again in several coordinated, direct assaults on barrier crossing points. And Hamas tried to bypass the barrier completely, including by flying over it on paragliders in the air, and also by boat in the sea.

Hamas terrorists swept out of Gaza in all directions into Israel, assaulted 27 different locations, apparently with orders to kill on sight. The furthest Hamas penetrated was to the town of Ofakim, which lies about 22 km east of Gaza.

Hamas posted the first images from the ground, taken at Kerem Shalom – the most southern of Gaza’s crossings: Terrorists overrunning a check point and the bloodied bodies of two Israeli soldiers on the ground; at least five motorbikes, each carrying two Terrorists armed with rifles, passing through a hole which had been cut in the wire fence section of the barrier; Israeli soldiers being pulled-out of a destroyed tank; one very disturbing video of a woman, whose lifeless and undressed body, face-down – later identified as German citizen Shani Louk- dumped on the back of a pick-up truck and human savages sprawled around her; another of a blood-soaked woman being dragged and pushed into a car.

At the music festival near Re’im, gunmen were firing at will at the large group of young people who had gathered to party and dance. The terrorists had a van loaded with weapons and spent hours searching the area for other Israelis. Hostages were taken from the festival and other locations and transported back into Gaza. Israel says more than 150 Israelis have been abducted and are being kept as hostages. Within just a few hours of the attack, hundreds of Israelis were dead. And it happened in a way no one thought was even possible.

Help was beginning to arrive to the stricken southern region of Israel within a few hours, but Hamas was in effective control of a large swathe of territory.

The speed and deadliness of the surprise attack stunned Israel. Questions over how it was able to happen will be asked for years.

It is completely unprecedented that a terrorist organisation would have the capacity or the wherewithal to mount coordinated, simultaneous assaults from the air, sea, and land. In addition, Hamas possessing the ability to keep its preparations unknown from a country like Israel that has among the most sophisticated intelligence services in the world strongly suggests that it had external state support, advice, and guidance in the planning and execution of the attack on Israel. Iran, accordingly, will be strongly suspected of being behind this.

Israel acknowledged it was ‘surprised’, but quickly got into the act of defending itself and began ferociously attacking the Gaza Strip. It declared it was at War with Hamas and called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists. And vowed a deadly retaliation under ‘Operation Iron Swords’. Hamas in turn threatened to execute an Israeli captive for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a military operation that will be both massive and decisive, with the intention of permanently destroying and disabling Hamas’ ability to attack Israel again.

By the end of the week, after Israel regained control of areas invaded by Hamas, the horrors of Hamas’ attack on border communities and Kibbutz Beeri began emerging. And they are beyond human comprehension.

Children were found butchered, decapitated in a kibbutz, people were mercilessly burnt alive in cars, or hounded into bomb shelters and just blasted with grenades thrown-in. Our eyes see but our hearts refuse to believe that human beings can be capable of such savage cruelty – an inconceivable slaughter of hundreds of civilians in their own homes and at the scene of a party, the abduction of civilians, children, and the elderly, and sadistic psychological abuse of families.

Israel said, and at least 1300 civilians and soldiers were killed during the heinous terrorist attack. A further 3000 people were injured. This was the most harrowing murder of jews since the Holocaust – genocide of 6 million jews during World War-II by Hitler’s Nazi’s.

Then began the strike-back on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, with Israel vowing to eliminate every Hamas terrorist. Israel pounded the Gaza with precision air-strikes taking down known Hamas hideouts, buildings and facilities. Israel cut-off water, power, and fuel supplies to Gaza, and its only power plant ran out of fuel plunging Gaza City into darkness. Israel has amassed its troops on the border with Gaza and is preparing for, possibly the deadliest assault on a terrorist group. And this Friday it issued a warning to civilians of Gaza City to evacuate – within 24 hours- to the southern part of the Gaza, south of Wadi Gaza, beyond the Gaza river so that civilians are not trapped in the War. That’s about 1.1 million people to move out.

Gaza has a population of about 2.3 million living in five areas called: North Gaza, Gaza City, Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah. The Gaza Strip is an area of 365 sq.km – about 41km long and 10km wide. There are actually two layers of Gaza, one- on the surface is the civilian community and two- below the surface in a maze of tunnels, forbidden to civilians where live the Hamas from where they carry our their nefarious activities and launch attacks on Israel. Hamas has deliberately embedded itself in every aspect of civilian life in homes with the tunnels running below mosques, schools, and markets, making them vulnerable military targets. They use civilians as shield and pawns in their fight against Israel – as a standard practice.

The US was quick to announce support sending arms and ammunition – especially refills for for Israel’s famous Iron Dome, which destroys incoming Hamas Rockets. The USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group, which is the largest warship in the world was despatched to the Mediterranean Sea. The UK is also sending two Royal Navy ships and surveillance aircraft to the eastern Mediterranean in plans to bolster security. Support for Israel poured in from many countries, including India, unequivocally condemning the ravenous killing by Hamas as an inadmissible act of terror. Even Afghanistan’s ‘deadly and unforgiving’ Taliban has condemned the terrorist act of Hamas.

Hamas too got its share of ‘uncivilised’ support, around the world-more on that next week.

What and who are Hamas, how did they come to be? But first, a bit about Islam to understand the fundamentals.

After the death of Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, in the year 632, a group of Muslims, who would come to be known as Sunnis, believed that Muhammad’s successor as Caliph of the Islamic community should be Abu Bakr, whereas a second group of Muslims, who would come to be known as the Shias, believed that his successor should be Ali.

Abu Bakr is the father-in-law of the Prophet through his daughter Aisha. He is known as the first Caliph – Al-Siddiq – of the Rashidun (rightly guided, perfect) Caliphate (an institution), which is the successor state to the Prophet’s domains. Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law of the Prophet, was the last Caliph of the Caliphate. He was also a senior companion of the Prophet and considered to be the first Imam, the rightful political and religious successor to Muhammed. The Rashidun Caliphate was successively ruled by Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali – the last.

The vast majority of Muslims in various counties are Sunni Muslims with the Shia’s being about 10% of the Muslim community. Typical Shia majority countries are Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Bharain. All others are predominantly Sunni.

The Quran is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believed it represents the words of God revealed by archangel Gabriel to Muhammad. Angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Archangels are the second level angels in the hierarchy of Angels. Gabriel is an archangel with the power to announced God’s will to men. That’s the religious background.

Now, about Hamas.

Hamas, officially the Islamic Resistance Movement was founded in 1987 by Palestinian politician, Ahmed Yassin. Its name is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya and is primarily a Sunni Islamist political and militant organization. It emerged out of the Mujama al-Islamiya (also founded by Yassin), which had been established in Gaza in 1973 as a religious charity involved with the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood. This was shortly after the first intifada – uprising, rebellion- against Israel. Yassin also created the Islamic University of Gaza, which is considered a hotbed of radicalism. This has since been destroyed and raised to the ground in the Israeli air-strikes, early this week.

The Hamas Covenant or Hamas Charter was originally issued in August 1988 and outlines the founding identity, stand, and aims of Hamas. A new charter was issued by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in May 2017.

The original Charter identified Hamas as the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine and declares its members to be Muslims who ‘fear God and raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors’. The charter states, among other extremist things, the following: ‘our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious’ and calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel; there is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad; Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavours; Hamas is humanistic, and tolerant of other religions as long as they ‘stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region’. The Charter adds that, ‘renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion of Islam’. The original charter was criticised for its violent language against all Jews, and an incitement to genocide.

Mahmoud Zahar, co-founder of Hamas, said in 2006 that Hamas “will not change a single word in its covenant.” In 2010, he reaffirmed a major commitment of the covenant saying, “Our ultimate plan is to have Palestine in its entirety. I say this loud and clear so that nobody will accuse me of employing political tactics. We will not recognise the Israeli enemy.” In summary, Hamas rejects Israel’s right to exist.

Hamas became increasingly involved in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict by the late 1990s; it opposed the Israel–Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Letters of Mutual Recognition as well as the Oslo Accords, which saw Hamas’ secular rival Fatah renounce ‘the use of terrorism and other acts of violence’ and recognise Israel in pursuit of a two-state solution. Hamas continued to advocate Palestinian armed resistance to end what it calls ‘Israeli occupation’. Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, gaining a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council, and subsequently took control of Gaza Strip from Fatah in 2007.

Since 2007, Hamas has fought several wars with Israel. The Hamas government has pushed through changes that gave greater influence to Islamic law in the Gaza Strip. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. It has spent its entire time and money in building an arsenal to fight Israel.

Many Western countries and their allies have designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation, citing their usage of human shields; methods of hostage-taking of civilians; and history of violence against non-combatants, including massacres of civilian populations, suicide bombings, and indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli population centres. However, a 2018 attempt to condemn Hamas for ‘acts of terror’ at the United Nations failed.

Hamas is currently governing the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories. While it is headquartered in Gaza City, it also has a presence in the West Bank (the larger of the two Palestinian territories), in which Fatah exercises control. It is widely considered to be the ‘dominant political force’ within the Palestinian territories. Its main political rivals are Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah.

On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched a major armed campaign dubbed ‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ against Israel, which resulted in the present barbaric terrorist outrage on Israel.

Going back into history.

The region of Palestine or the land of Israel was among the earliest civilisations in the world. During the Iron Age, 1200 BCE to 600 BCE, two related Kingdoms ruled much of Palestine-the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. A third called the Philistines occupied its southern coast. For a deeper understanding and the genesis of Israel-Palestine Conflict read:

https://kumargovindan.com/2021/05/15/world-inthavaaram-2021-20/

The inhumane, merciless killings of Jews by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists is akin to the mobile killing units of the Nazi Einsatzgruppen, which also went into villages to exterminate Jews during the Holocaust, and the ‘pogroms’ waged against Jews in the Russian Empire. Israel appears to be in no mood to be magnanimous about the murderers of innocents, including children and the elderly. And has vowed to finish the War on its terms. Israel have even right to defend itself living in close proximity to Hamas whose sole objective is Israel’s destruction.

Afghanistan’s Earthquake

Last Saturday was deadly in other ways.

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday 40 km west of the oasis City of Herat – the third largest in Afghanistan, and the capital of the western Herat Province.

More than 2,000 people have died as the nation reels from another quake at a time of deep economic crisis. The number killed is about 2400 people, with more 1300 hurt and 1,320 houses completely or partially destroyed. The toll could rise further.

The initial quake was also felt in neighbouring provinces of Badghis and Farah and was followed by multiple aftershocks.

Afghanistan has suffered significant damage from a series of recent earthquakes amid an ongoing dire economic and hunger crises, killing and displacing tens of thousands. The country has long been one of Asia’s poorest and has been ravaged by conflict for decades. But its ability to respond to natural disasters has been further hampered since the Taliban seized power in 2021 following the chaotic US withdrawal, an event that saw many international aid groups pull out.

It also led to Washington and its allies freezing about USD seven billion of the country’s foreign reserves and cutting off international funding. The situation has crippled an economy already heavily dependent on aid.

Noble Prizes

Last week the winners of Nobel Prize in Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace were announced.

This week, the Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 was awarded to Norwegian author Jon Fosse, ‘for his innovative plays and prose, which give voice to the unsayable’. His immense oeuvre written in the language Norwegian Nynorsk and spanning a variety of genres consists of a wealth of plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children’s books and translations. While he is today one of the most widely performed playwrights in the world, he has also become increasingly recognised for his prose.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023 was awarded to America’s Claudia Goldin ‘for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes’.

Claudia Goldin, provided the first comprehensive account of women’s earnings and labour market participation through the centuries, presenting new and often surprising facts. Women’s choices have often been, and remain, limited by marriage and responsibility for the home and family is at the heart of her analyses and explanatory models. She uncovered key drivers of gender differences in the labour market.

Over the past century, the proportion of women in paid work has tripled in many high-income countries. This is one of the biggest societal and economic changes in the labour market in modern times, but significant gender differences remain. It was first in the 1980s that a researcher adopted a comprehensive approach to explaining the source of these differences.

Sports

Asian Games

The Asian Games came to a close this Sunday and India finished fourth in the overall medals tally with its best ever performance of 107 medals Gold-28; Silver-38; Bronze-41. Indian athletes were honoured and warmly received all over the country in various moments of celebrations.

China won 383 medals, Japan-188, and South Korea -190. Uzbekistan finished fifth, after India, with 71 medals.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

The 13th edition of the Men’s Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) is underway in India. It is the first men’s Cricket World Cup, which India is hosting solely. The tournament started on 5th October and is scheduled to conclude on 19th November. England are the defending champions.

Ten national teams are participating: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe. West Indies missing out on qualification for the first time in its history.

The tournament is taking place in ten different stadiums, in ten cities across India. The first and second semi-finals will be held at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and Eden Gardens in Kolkata respectively, while the final will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.

More good and bad stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Heal with World Inthavaaram.

This is my Blog where I essay stories on life about and around me, on subjects that stir and shake me up, as I turn, and make life's pages count: hoping to inspire you to live your own story!

Wars: Tariff Included

The Great Cholas of South India

Flash Floods

Sports

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The Wars

Wah Ustad!

Top Gun Cruise

Cricket, Rain, and Ashwin

India Melange

State

Centre

Everywhere

Shining Stripes of Argentina

Stirred and Shaken South Korea

Restored Cathedral

Uncertain Syria: Assad Scoots

Israel: Cleverer By The War

Australia Down India, Down Under

Chess Euphoria Strikes India

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Russia Ups The Ante

Israel and Hezbollah Ceasefire

Rowdy Bangladesh

Australia’s New Under-16 Law

India’s State Elections

The Earth’s Tilt

Oh Deer!

Oh India!

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Israel: Infighting

Amsterdam Hunt

United States (US): a New Old President

Cricket

‘Q’: You Were The World

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Israel

Afghanistan: Voice Over

The Menendez Brothers

Spain: Super Floods

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Cricket

Chess

Deepavali: Why Firecrackers?

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Israel Under Attack

Afghanistan’s Earthquake

Noble Prizes

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