Tag: Olympics

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-33

About: the world this week, 11 August to 17 August 2024: Ukraine invades Russia; Israel holds; Trump and Musk on X; leaving New Zealand; a horrific rape and murder in India; India-events; mpox is here; Paris Olympics-goodbye.

Everywhere

Ukraine’s Invasion of Russia

Last week, Ukrainian soldiers smashed through the Russian border in a surprise attack aimed at improving future negotiation options, slowing the advance of Russian forces into Ukraine, and disorienting them.

This week, Ukraine’s forces captured the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region in the biggest foreign incursion into Russia since World War II, putting Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on the defensive. Ukraine, carving out a slice of Russian territory gives it a foothold for further advances, revealing the weakness of Russia’s border defences and prompting it to evacuate at least 200,000 people while it rushed in reserves and imposed a security lockdown. You just cannot go about bombing your own people, can you?

The Ukrainian assault on Russian has dramatically changed the narrative around the two-and-a-half-year-old war. Previously, it was Russia that had been advancing in eastern Ukraine since the failure of Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive.

Wonder on which side the dice is loaded?

Israel Holds On

Israeli forces pressed on with operations near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis amid an international push for a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and prevent a slide into a wider regional conflict with Iran and its proxies.

This week Hamas said it would not take part in a new round of ceasefire talks in Qatar, but mediators are expected to consult with Hamas, afterwards.

On another angle, there is a suspended animation on Iran’s revenge act on Israel, while Hezbollah and even Hamas keep pumping those rockets-a never-ending fire -into Israel. Will Iran dare attack Israel?

Trump and Musk: Birds of a Feather

This week, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump sat for a friendly two-hour interview with Elon Musk on social media platform X, after technical problems delayed the start of the event for more than 40 minutes. Musk, who has endorsed Trump, was quick to blame the difficulties on a Distributed Denial-Of-Service (DDOS) attack, in which a server or network is flooded with traffic in an attempt to shut it down.

Trump and Musk chatted on X for over two hours. Trump recapped his assassination attempt, promised the largest deportation effort in US history if re-elected, boasted about his relationship with foreign leaders like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and the kind. Musk often praised the former President and seemed to even pitch himself as a potential Trump administration official. Their ‘bird chat’ played out as 1.3 million people listened-in at one point, according to an X counter.

Leaving New Zealand

People are leaving New Zealand in record numbers as unemployment rises, interest rates remain high, and economic growth is anaemic, government statistics revealed.

Data released by Statistics New Zealand showed that 131,200 people departed New Zealand in the year ended June 2024, provisionally the highest on record for an annual period. Around a third of these were headed to Australia.

While net migration, the number of those arriving minus those leaving, remains at high levels, economists also expect this to wane as the number of foreign nationals wanting to move to New Zealand falls due to the softer economy. Data shows that of those departing, 80,174 were citizens, which was almost double the numbers seen leaving prior to the COVID19 pandemic.

New Zealand’s economy is struggling after the central bank hiked cash rates 521 basis points in its most aggressive tightening since the official cash rate was introduced in 1999. The economy had an annual growth of 0.2% in the first quarter, unemployment rose to 4.7% in the second quarter, and inflation remains high at 3.3%.

Furthermore, Australia has been recruiting and offering relocation packages in areas such as nursing, policing, and teaching where they have skill shortages attracting New Zealanders, who do not need visas to work there. And with the New Zealand government having undertaken a significant downsizing of its public services, it has left many skilled workers looking for jobs. Well, that’s available aplenty across the border.

India: A Rape and Murder Most Foul

A 31-year-old woman trainee post-graduate Doctor working on night duty, was found dead last Friday at the RG Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkatta – a 138 year old premier Medical Institution in the State of West Bengal. In the morning of 9th August, the mauled body was found in the seminar room on the fourth floor of the emergency department building: first spotted by a security guard. Her laptop, bag, and mobile were found nearby. On the fateful night, the Doctor a second-year chest medicine trainee had dinner with her colleagues and later retired to the seminar room for some much-needed rest: there being no separate ‘on-call’ room.

When the incident came to light, the Principal of the College, Dr Sandip Ghosh appeared to shamelessly indulge in victim blaming, calling the death a case of suicide, and attempted to brush aside the incident. The parents of the woman Doctor resisted, leading to the police to investigate and confirm that she had been raped and murdered. Subsequently, the Police arrested a suspect, a civic volunteer, Sanjoy Roy, 33, through electronic footprints at the scene and the Hospital premises. He is an outsider who had free access to the different departments of the Hospital.

Civic Volunteers are a band of about one lakh so-called do-gooders, put together by the State Government. Initially, they were deployed as Traffic Wardens, to manage traffic, during festivals. Over the years, this army of youngsters has been co-opted by the Police who use them liberally, such as to collect legitimate fines (and bribes too?) These Civic Volunteers gradually became a law unto themselves, pitching in with their services for the ruling party, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), whenever required. And this is not the first time a Civic Volunteer has been linked to an unnatural death in West Bengal.

The initial autopsy said the woman Doctor was murdered after being sexually assaulted, between 3 am and 6am. Her neck bone was found broken: she was first strangulated and then smothered to death. Her body was found in a half-naked condition with her spectacles broken. Further analysis, such as the amount of semen, suggested the involvement of multiple people. Her entire body bore marks of injury-not a single inch was spared-an examining doctor termed it as the most gruesome he has seen in his entire lifetime.

Doctors in India’s crowded and often squalid government hospitals have long complained of being overworked and underpaid, and say not enough is done to curb violence levelled at them by people angered over the medical care on offer.

Thousands of doctors marched on Monday in Kolkata and the surroundings to denounce the killing at the government-run hospital, demanding justice for the Doctor and better security measures. Hospital services were disrupted in several cities on Tuesday after the doctors’ protest spread nationwide. More than 8,000 government doctors in the western Maharashtra state, home to the financial capital of Mumbai, halted work in all hospital departments except emergency service.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the investigation hours after an order by the Calcutta High Court, which came down heavily on Dr Sandip Ghosh, saying it was ‘disheartening’ that he was not ‘proactive’. The court also flagged that the former Principal was given the same role in another college hours after he resigned and said he must be immediately relieved of duties and sent on leave.

The incident brought back memories of Aruna Shanbaug, a junior nurse at King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai who was brutally assaulted by a ward boy, in November, 1973. She was left blind, deaf, and paralysed, and lived on for 42 years on life-support at the Hospital. She was cared for by fellow nurses before she passed away in 2015. He death spurred important legislation on safety and euthanasia in India.

Also, recall the Nirbhaya Case when in December 2012 a 23-year-old woman- a physiotherapy intern-was brutally gang-raped and assaulted in a moving bus in New Delhi, while returning home. The savage brutality of the incident stirred and shook India to the core. The six men involved were caught and convicted, including one juvenile. Four were hanged to death, one died-apparently suicide-in jail. And the juvenile was released after a 3-year jail sentence in a reform facility- maximum for juveniles under law.

Back to Kolkatta. In a further aggravation of the situation, when doctors were peacefully protesting, vandals armed with sticks, bottles, and bricks, usurped the night unleashing about 40 minutes of mayhem. The mob coursed through the campus ransacking critical care units, turning the medicine store room upside down, throwing around life-saving drugs, injections and other supplies. Were they trying to wipe-out evidence? The protesting doctors were forced to run to safety, and the Police were found wanting, yet again. Special forces had to be called-in to quell the violence.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) called for a 24 hour nation wide stir -withdrawal of services-beginning on Saturday, in support of the woman Doctor and her family, and to highlight the shabby handling of the crime situation by the College Authorities and stalling of the Police investigation after the first day.

Calls for the ‘woman’ Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, who handles the health and home portfolios, to quit, grew shrill. Shockingly, she announced a protest march against ‘her own Government’ pressurising the CBI to ‘complete the investigation on the double and hang the culprit by Sunday!’ Unbelievable that a leader can indulge in politicking and act without empathy.

The incident will remain a devastating memory and a shameful blot on West Bengal. Violence is endemic to the State, long beset by insurgency, social upheaval, mass migration, and violent mobilisation for political control. It has a long, deadly history of political violence, which has persisted over many decades: deeply impacted life and stained the fabric of society in the State, in complex ways. Could this be a turning-point?

Bangladesh Flux

There is cautious optimism as Bangladesh grapples with the aftermath of its student-led protests and the cataclysmic events that led to the exit of former Prime Minister Sheik Hasina from the country. Attacks on Hindus and minorities appear to have climbed down. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus who lead the interim government used the opportunity to rid himself of most of the cases piled on him by the previous Government. And then began the return in kind. A murder investigation has been opened into Sheik Hasina over the police killing of a man during civil unrest. Six other top figures in the previous government are also being investigated.

Later in the week, Yunus called up India’s PM to assure him of safety of Hindus and minorities in Bangladesh.

India: Melange

India celebrated its 78th Independence Day on 15th August with India’s Prime Minister, in his usual vibrant, colourful head-gear, raising the national flag for the 11th time in a row. He laid down plans for the year in a long speech, from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi. This time, the PM sported a multi-coloured Rajasthani Leheriya print turban. And the theme of this year’s celebration was Viksit Bharat @ 2047 (a developed India by 2047).

India’s ISRO successfully launched its third developmental flight of Small Launch Vehicle (SSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Friday and successfully injected a Satellite it was carrying into its exact planned orbit. ISRO only gets better after each adventure into Space.

India’s Election Commission announced Elections in the State of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K)-the first Assembly elections in over a decade – and in Haryana State, which was ending a term. The J&K Elections will be held in three phases on 18th, 25th September, and 1st October, while the Haryana Elections will be on in a single phase on 1st October.

Mpox

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency – Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHIC)- with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries. And a new form of the virus, called ‘clade 1b’ is spreading mainly through sexual networks. Few vaccines are available for treating cases.

This PHIC determination is the second in two years relating to mpox. WHO said that the current upsurge along with the spread of a new sexually transmissible strain of the monkeypox virus is an emergency not only for Africa but for the entire globe. It is caused by an Orthopoxvirus and first detected in 1970 in Africa.

Mpox, previously known as monkeypox has been detected in 13 countries this year, and more than 96% cases and deaths are in Congo. Cases are up to 160% and deaths have swelled up to 19% compared to the same period last year. So far, there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths.

Unlike the previous mpox outbreaks, the new form causes milder symptoms making it harder to spot. People might also sicken others without knowing they are infected.

Paris Olympics 2024: Goodbye

Hollywood movie star Tom Cruise was chosen as the showstopper of the Closing Ceremony of the Paris Olympics, and he did not disappoint. Maybe it was also a stunt to establish a connection with the next Games. Known for performing all of those dangerous stunts in his movies, he did the same at the closing ceremony, giving it a Hollywood touch. Tom Cruise jumped off the roof of Strate De France, one of the largest stadiums and landed on stage, in a jaw-dropping moment. The audience welcomed him with cheers. And the ladies even manhandled him-landing tons of kisses!

Paris has set new standards for the Olympic Games by hosting most of their games at iconic landmarks such as Place de la Concorde, the Eiffel Tower, the Chateau de Versailles and the Grand Palais. They also brought top celebrities for the grand opening ceremony including Celine Dion and Lady Gaga.

The next Summer Olympics will be held in 2028 in Los Angeles, USA and then in Brisbane, Australia in 2032. India is considering bidding for the 2036 Olympic Games.

It will exciting to see how the Summer Games will be hosted in the City of Angels, LA: its Mayor Karen Bass, who was present said, “will really show the diversity and the international character of our city. And we do have Hollywood, so I expect a lot of magical opportunities, which might begin at the closing ceremony.”

In the final Medals Tally, the United States of America led with 40 Gold, 44 Silver, and 42 Bronze -Total of 126 medals; followed by China, 40 Gold, and 91 overall; Japan, 20 Gold and 45 overall; Australia 18 Gold and 53 overall. The hosts France won 16 Gold, 26 Silver, 22 Bronze, and overall 64.

India won a total of 6 medals: 1-Silver and 5-Bronze. Overall, one medal less than the previous Games.

More sensational stories cruising-in, in the weeks ahead. Stay alert and on stage with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-32

About: the world this week, 4 August 2024 to 10 August 2024: Britain’s riots; US Elections-running mate; Taylor Swift-not fearless; Bangladesh coup; war fronts; and the Paris Olympics – focus on India.

Everywhere

Britain: Rioting Right

Violent protests erupted in towns and cities across Britain following last week’s knife attack, which killed three children in Southport, north of Liverpool. The protests spread across the country, including Liverpool, Bristol, and Manchester, resulting in dozens of arrests as shops and businesses were vandalised and looted. Several police officers were injured in the line of duty.

The stabbing attack was seized on by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim groups as misinformation spread that the suspected attacker was an immigrant and a radical Islamist. This stoked further outrage. Police said the suspect was born in Britain and are not treating it as a terrorist incident.

On Sunday, hundreds of anti-immigration protesters gathered by a hotel near Rotherham, northern England, where Britain’s Interior Ministry was housing asylum seekers. The protesters, many wearing masks or balaclavas, threw bricks at police and broke several hotel windows, before setting a large bin close to the hotel on fire.

The new Government, fresh from a superb win at the hustings, scrambled to control the worst disorder in the United Kingdom in more than a decade. Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the protests and riots as “far-right thuggery” and said perpetrators would face the full force of the law. The target of the attacks were Muslim communities, mosques, and other minorities. With this crisis running on the streets of Britain, the honeymoon period of the new Government is all but over.

Who is behind the thuggery? Faceless. Plans to engage in violent gatherings have been spread on social media, encouraging attendees to shield their faces or use coded language that stirs up anger at immigration without explicitly calling for violence. Naturally, the Govt is looking at social media as an instigator. Mind that ‘misinformed’ tweet, you could get yourself arrested!

United States Elections: Running Mate

This week US Vice President Kamala Harris decided on her running-mate, choosing Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. Walz is currently in his second term as Governor and chairs the Democratic Governors Association. He previously served 12 years in Congress. And prior to that, Walz was a high school teacher and football coach and served in the Army National Guard, reaching the rank of Command Sergeant Major, one of the highest ranks an enlisted member can attain. As a first-time campaigner, he opposed a ban on same-sex marriage and supported abortion rights. Walz fell out of favour with the gun lobby over his support for gun safety actions as Governor. Walz supports In Vitro-Fertilization (IVF) having himself ‘become productive’ after struggling to become a parent along with his wife of three decades.

Taylor Swift: Not Fearless

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is in the Vienna, Austria leg of her blockbuster Eras tour scheduled to play three shows in the European city from Thursday to Saturday. But Organisers cancelled the shows over a possible terrorist attack after Austrian authorities said they foiled a terror plan in Vienna. The extraordinary decision-which came at significant cost to Vienna’s businesses-has devastated fans and renewed focus on the vulnerability of huge concerts as soft targets for terror networks and spree killers.

Police in Austria have questioned three teenagers suspected of plotting a suicide attack at the Taylor Swift show, sparking renewed concerns over the indoctrination of young people online. Foreign intelligence agencies helped authorities uncover the plot. That’s the world swiftly singing together on intelligence gathering.

The Bangladesh Drift: the Churning

Bangladesh is at a historic turning-point. Well, it has been in this place many times before, at about the same cross-roads. And they keep coming on the trot.

The student protests of the past weeks over reservations in government jobs, dangerously changed track and galvanised into a force that toppled the Government of Prime Minister (PM) Sheik Hasina, 76. In January this year, she won a landslide mandate for the fourth consecutive time in the General Elections. Her party, The Awami League won 224 seats, out of the 300 under direct elections. That’s about 15 years in continuous power and a total of 20 years as PM. Most Opposition Parties had boycotted the Elections, apparently making the win easier.

The seemingly harmless and peaceful demands by University students to abolish quotas in civil service jobs that began in July transformed beyond recognition. This despite the Supreme Court calling-off the strangulating quota system. However, the creeping death toll reaching over 300, due to the brutal crackdown on the protesters, turned the Government into an authoritarian one to preserve peace. Enough reason for people to spill on to the streets. And with most of the Opposition in various modes of arrest, this seemed the only outlet for anger against the Government. The PM repeatedly cut-off internet access in parts of the country, imposed a nation-wide curfew, and labeled the demonstrators as ‘terrorists seeking to destabilise the nation’. Well, they lived up to the label.

Sheikh Hasina blamed the Pakistan basedJamaat-e-Islami, its Islami Chhatra Shibir student wing, and other associate bodies for inciting the student violence. And in an official circular imposed a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami under an anti-terrorism law.

With protests spiralling out of control, the Army served a 45 minute ultimatum to Sheik Hasina to leave the country. She found a helicopter and flew into the safe-haven of India, landing at a military airfield, Hindon, near New Delhi, and was met by India’s National Security Advisor after which was taken to a safe location.

Meanwhile, protesters reached the PM’s house and raided all that was inside, dusting-up her blouses, bras, and what not? One even paraded her Sari and wore it.

It was awfully painful to see people climb up the statue of the Father of the Nation and try to hammer him down. Almost killing him a second time. Recall, Sheik Mujibur Rahman-the founding father of Bangladesh and the father of Sheik Hasina- was shot in point plank range by the same Army, which entered his home, and killed almost the entire family in a horrific turn of events in 1975. That was the first Army coup of Bangladesh. Hasina herself was in Germany at that time and after years of struggle lived to become PM one day. Her sister too escaped the carnage, at that time.

Bangladesh Army Chief, General Waqar-uz-Zaman quickly took control and announced the formation of an Interim Government. Meanwhile the President of Bangladesh Mohammed Shahabuddin, ordered the immediate release, from House-Arrest, former PM Khaleda Zia who was also Bangladesh’s first Woman PM and leader of the Opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Bangladesh’s unicameral parliament was also dissolved. What is the President’s role in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh has a unique system of transfer of power; at the end of the tenure of the government, power is handed over to members of a civil society for three months, who run the general elections and transfer power to elected representatives. The President as the ceremonial head of the state has limited powers. He can grant pardon to a man sentenced to death penalty or lessen the punishment. In certain instances, he also performs some legislative and judicial functions.

On another front, Hindu and other minority communities were ruthlessly attacked amounting to ethic-cleansing and heading towards genocide, showing another diabolical motive of the unfolding drama in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council said that about 200 to 300 Hindu homes and businesses have been vandalised since Hasina resigned. About 15 to 20 temples have been looted.

Towards the end of the week, the Protestors agreed to Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus becoming Leader of an Interim Government. Student Leaders of the so-called ‘Gen Z Revolution’ said they have not met all of their goals, and after Hasina’s resignation, the group wanted to ‘abolish fascist systems forever’. The leaders say they won’t accept a military-led or supported government.

Professor Muhammad Yunus, 84, who was in France over a minor medical procedure, flew in to Bangladesh’s capital Dacca, and was sworn-in on Thursday. Tucked inside his new cabinet are Nahid Islama and Asif Mahmud, students who led the anti-government protests. Yunus kept up to 27 critical portfolios with himself. One man show?

Muhammad Yunus known as the ‘banker to the poor’ aims to bring stability to Bangladesh. He answered the call of student protesters to temporarily lead the restive country following weeks of deadly anti-government demonstrations.

Yunus is a social entrepreneur and banker who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering microfinance work as founder of the Grameen Bank that helped alleviate poverty in Bangladesh and was widely adopted around the world.

He is also a longtime critic of Sheikh Hasina. Over the years, Yunus was embroiled in multiple legal cases said to be unfairly targeted by the authorities. They include a defamation suit, a food safety case, and allegations of tax irregularities. In January, a court in Bangladesh sentenced Yunus to six months in prison for labor law violations. In a separate case, he was indicted in June on embezzlement charges. All of which was denied by Yunus.

India’s Prime Minister, under pressure to protect persecuted Hindus, had this to say, “My best wishes to Professor Muhammad Yunus on the assumption of his new responsibilities. We hope for an early return to normalcy, ensuring the safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities. India remains committed to working with Bangladesh to fulfill the shared aspirations of both our peoples for peace, security and development”.

Yunus’ first speech acknowledged the attack on Hindus and minorities and appealed to the protesters to trust him to bring law and order under control. If not, he threatened to step-down as Interim Leader.

Israel and Ukraine: the fight is on

The two steadily ongoing war fronts are that of, Ukraine-Russia in Europe and Israel-Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Middle East.

In the first front, this week, in a surprise turn, Ukraine Forces pushed further into the Kursk region of Russia in a cross-border incursion with the intent of diverting Russian forces and to disrupt and demoralise them. Ukraine intends to hold-on to the territory as long as they possibly can.Will a tit-for-tat work?

In the second front, Iran mulls scrapping plans to take revenge on Israel for killing Hamas’ Political Head on its soil, in exchange for a Gaza ceasefire. In the background US, Qatar and Egypt hit the negotiation acceleration pedal urging Hamas to resume talks, after the killing in Iran.

Paris Olympics 2024: Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together

The Olympic Games is running on the Paris, France, stage from 26 July to 11 August.

In Tennis, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic struck gold in the Men’s Singles Tennis beating Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(3), 7-6(2), in an enthralling neck-and-neck final.

Novak Djokovic is the only player in tennis history to win every big event in the game of Tennis. This is the first time in his career that he has won an Olympic Gold, adding to his ever-expanding chest of 24 Grand Slam titles. Alcaraz missed out on a gold medal in his maiden Olympics appearance.

In Hockey, India beat Britain in penalty shoot-outs, 4-2 after a 1-1 tie in the regular game. Indian Goal-keeper Sreejesh became an overnight sensation over his heroics of the day-saving many goals on the field and blocking a crucial one in the shoot-out. The Great Wall of India-shouted fans, who then went treasure hunting into this Home Sate of Kerala and dug up stories of what went into building of the wall. India faced Germany in the semi-finals but despite a valiant fight succumbed 2-3. Then, bringing some cheer, India went on to beat Spain 2-1 to clinch the bronze medal. This is Indian’s second consecutive win having won the bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, beating Germany.

India’s gold medal winning hope Neeraj Chopra secured a Javelin final spot with a throw of 89.34m. His best throw was 89.94m at Stockholm in the Diamond League Games, last year. In the finals, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem threw a stunning 92.97m to win the Gold and break the Olympic Record of 90.57 established in Beijing 2008. Neeraj threw 89.45 to get the Silver. The Bronze Medal throw reached 88.45m.

This is a back-to-back Olympic Medal for Neeraj who had won the gold in Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.58m. In that competition Arshad Nadeem had finished fifth with 84.62m. This is Pakistan’s first ever medal in this event at the Olympics.

In Wrestling, India’s Vinesh Phogat defied huge odds to earn herself a sure chance of a medal in the 50kg event. She became the first Indian Woman to reach an Olympic final in Wrestling. Sakshi Malik is the only other wrestler, who had clinched a bronze medal in the Rio 2016 Olympics. In her opening match Phogat stunned reigning Olympic Champion, Japan’s Yui Susaki; then beat former European Champion, Ukraine’s Oksana Livach in the quarters, and Pan American Games Champion, Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman in the semi-finals to reach the finals. She was to take on USA’s Sarah Hildebrant for the Gold. But then, in a sudden twist and a heart-break, on the day of the finals, Phogat was disqualified for being overweight by a beggarly 100 grams in the 50 kg weight category. Competition rules say wrestlers must stay in their weight category on both days of the tournament. After Phogat’s disqualification, only the gold and bronze medals were awarded in the event. India has made a legal appeal and there could be yet another twist.

Now, a flashback. In May 2023, Vinesh Phogat was detained by police in New Delhi while attempting to march to India’s new parliament building, just as it was being inaugurated. This was during a protest against Brij Bhushan Singh, the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation. Phogat was later released.

In the run-up to the final, Phogat’s fellow wrestlers hailed her journey as both a personal and collective triumph for India’s wrestling community who have long complained that authorities failed to take their allegations seriously.

At the end of the week, Aman Sehrawat, 21, won the Bronze Medal in the Men’s Freestyle 57 kg bringing some cheer to India. He became the youngest Olympic medalist in Wrestling.

Vaulting to other events, Sweden’s Armand Mondo Duplantis broke the men’s Pole Vault world record for the 9th time with a jump of 6.25 m to cap a gold medal-winning streak. The 24-year-old has won every global men’s Pole Vault title since claiming his first Olympic gold in Tokyo.

In the Medals Tally, USA leads with 33 Gold and overall 111 medals, followed by China, Australia, and Japan. India had a total of 6 medals: 1-Silver and 5-Bronze. In the previous Olympics Tokyo Olympics, India had won 7 medals: 1-Gold, 2-Silver, and 4 Bronze.

More medal stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Run, jump, or swim to glory with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-31

About: the world this week, 28 July 2024 to 3 August 2024: Israel’s Golan; Britain’s stabbing; Venezuela’s turmoil; Prisoner swap; Wayanad landslip; Paris Olympics.

Everywhere

Israel’s Golan

The Golan Heights-Golan -is a 1200 square km rocky plateau, once a part of southwestern Syria, but now part of Israel. It overlooks Lebanon, borders Jordan, and is bound by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee, and Hula Valley in the west. The area’s water resources makes it one of the best in the land: a key source of water for an arid region. Rainwater from the Golan’s catchment feeds the Jordan River. The land is fertile and the rich volcanic soil is used to cultivate vineyards, orchards, and raise cattle. Golan is also home to Israel’s only ski resort.

Over 40,000 people live in Golan: more than half of them being Druze Arabs and the remaining Israeli settlers who make a living on farming and tourism.

Golan were part of Syria until 1967, when Israel captured most of it during the Six-Day War. This war came about as a result of years of increasing tension and vicious border skirmishes between Arabs and Israelis, following the creation of the State of Israel. The Six-Day War was a decisive victory for Israel during which it captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights; the status of these territories subsequently became a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israel occupied the captured territory of Golan fully, annexed it, and applied Israeli law to the area in 1981, making it its own. The unilateral annexation was not recognised internationally, and Syria has been demanding the return of Golan. After annexing Golan, Israel gave the people living in the region the option of citizenship, but most rejected it and still identify as Syrian.

During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Syria tried to regain Golan, but was thwarted by Israel, despite Syria inflicting heavy losses on Israeli forces. In 1974, Israel and Syria signed an Armistice and a UN observer force has been in place on the ceasefire line ever since. In 2019, the then US President Donald Trump officially recognised Israeli sovereignty over Golan. Israel argues the ongoing civil war in Syria underlines the need to keep the plateau as a buffer zone between Israeli towns and its unstable neighbour. It also says it fears Iran, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, is seeking to establish itself permanently on the Syrian side of the border, in order to launch attacks on Israel. In 2000, Israel and Syria held their highest-level talks over a possible return of Golan and a peace agreement, but the negotiations collapsed.

This week, the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, operating from Lebanon, launched an outrageous rocket attack on a football pitch in Majdal Shams in Golan killing, 12 children who were playing football. The attack was the deadliest against Israel since the Hamas massacre of 7th October that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.

Then in a swift, daring retaliation, Hamas’ Top Political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran in an unbelievable stealth operation on his residence – a Guest House he used to frequent – in Tehran within the control of the Iran Presidential Guard. He was killed by a rocket attack while sleeping in his bedroom. Reports said he was killed using a hidden explosive device- planted two months ago-detonated remotely. A bodyguard was also killed. Exact details are not know, and Israel was quick of issue a diplomatic, ‘we are not involved’ statement. Earlier, Ismael Haniyeh had attended the inauguration ceremony for Iran’s new president in Tehran. At the ceremony, the crowd chanted, “Death to Israel.” However, looks like the Angle of Death had other plans.

Iran was visibly rattled and embarrassed with the killing happening right under its nose. And and made noises about revenge and retaliation for ‘murdering a guest’ enjoying Iran’s hospitality.

In another raid in Beirut, Lebanon, Israel knocked-out Fuad Shukr ‘Sayyid Muhsan’, Hezbollah’s Most Senior Military Commander and its Chief, Hassan Nasrallah’s Right-Hand Man. He was responsible for the murder of the 12 children in Golan.

Then, in a third strike, Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), Hajj Habib Zadeh, was assassinated in Damascus, Syria. He is a top ranking military brigadier in the Iranian aerospace forces. And also one of the main figures in Iran who led and executed the 2024 Iranian strikes against Israel, known in Iran as ‘Operation True Promise’. One by one, Israeli’s enemies appear to be falling like dominos, in precision warfare.

In the short term, the three assassinations in Beirut, Tehran, and Damascus will halt ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas over release of the hostages, and keep the region on a knife’s edge.

This week, Israel also confirmed that Mohammad Deif, the military commander of Hamas and the mastermind of the 7 Oct 2023 barbaric attack on Israel, is indeed dead-killed along with other Hamas Terrorists in Gaza, in an air strike on 13 July 2024. This means, the among the Top Three of the Hamas leadership two are gone and only Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, remains alive.

Britain’s Stabbing

Three children aged, 6, 7, and 9 were killed and ten others injured in a shocking knife rampage targeting a Taylor Swift-themed yoga and dance class in Southport, north of Liverpool, England. Two children died on the spot, and a third in hospital. Of those hospitalised, 5 children and 2 adults are in critical condition.

The attacker just walked into the premises armed with a knife and started to attack the children.

The frenzied attack has stunned Britain, leaving the Police clueless on why an unusually devastating incident took place in a country where gun ownership is heavily restricted, but knife crime has been described as a national crisis.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and detectives are on the job of finding the motive. Later, the suspect was identified and named as Axel Muganwa Rudakubana. This was also done to dispel a mistaken belief, which spread on social media that the suspect was a Muslim and subsequent riots in Southport with rioters attacking a mosque.

Venezuela’s Turmoil

Venezuela is wracked by protests and election uncertainty following this Sunday’s Elections, which was the most consequential one in years. Thousands of people across Venezuela are protesting the results of the country’s presidential election.

The National Electoral Council declared Authoritarian Leader, President Nicolas Maduro the winner. It said Maduro had won 51.2% of the vote while Gonzalez received 44.2%. This means a third six-year term for Madura who has been in power since 2013. But the opposition said the 73% of vote tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had won by a landslide, with more than twice as many votes as Maduro.

The results came as a surprise to many Venezuelans (and world leaders) after polls showed challenger Edmundo Gonzalez winning the election by 25 points.

Many Venezuelans staged ‘cacerolazos’, a traditional Latin American protest where people bang pots and pans in anger. Some blocked roads, lit fires, and threw petrol bombs at police as protests proliferated around the nation, including near the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas.

The opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, a former Diplomat stepped into the role after the highly popular Maria Corina Machado was barred from running, following allegations she didn’t include some food vouchers in her asset declaration.

Once the fifth – largest economy in Latin America, Venezuela has experienced the worst economic collapse of a peacetime country in recent history. This was brought about by a crash in the price of oil-a key export-combined with chronic corruption and mismanagement at the hands of Government Officials.

Towards the end of the week the United States said it recognises Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election, discrediting the results announced by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council – said to be Govt controlled.

Prisoner Swap

In the biggest prisoner exchange of its kind since the end of the Cold War, Russia and the West agreed to swap prisoners held in respective countries, this week. The deal, negotiated in secrecy for more than a year, involved 24 prisoners, including 16 moving from Russia to the West and 8 prisoners held in the West and sent back to Russia. The United States said it had negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany, and three other countries. Also involved were Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Belarus. Turkey coordinated the exchange.

The last major exchange between the United States and Russia was in 2010 and involved 14 prisoners. The two countries also had a high-profile exchange in December 2022. When US Basketball star Brittney Griner, sentenced to nine years for vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage was swapped for arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25 year sentence in the US.

Prominent prisoners released on the Western side were Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.

Prominent on the Russian side was Roman Seleznev – a Russian hacker and Vadim Krasikov- an alleged hitman and assassin.

India: Wayanad Landslide

Wayanad is a district in the north-east of India’s State of Kerala and the only plateau in the State. It is a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, which is the southern part of the Deccan Plateau. It sits high in the Western Ghats with altitudes ranging from 700 to 2100 metres. Wayanad is derived from, ‘vayal nadu’, meaning the ‘land of paddy fields’.

Wayanad has increasingly been hit by flooding and is prone to landslides caused by irregular and intense rainfall during the monsoon seasons.

This week, over 300 people died and dozens more are feared trapped or missing after heavy rains trigged a series of landslides in Wayanad. The landslides surged down the hills of the Western Ghats in the early hours of Tuesday morning, when people were asleep in homes and were crushed as a river of mud, rocks, and uprooted trees swept down the steep terrain. Many migrant labourers working on nearby tea and cardamon plantations had been staying in temporary homes and tents that were easily swept away.

Rescue operations were hampered by the collapse of a crucial bridge connecting Chooralmala to Mundakkai and Attamala.

This brought back memories of severe flooding in Kerala in August 2018 when almost 500 people died in the floods caused by the unusually heavy rainfall, the worst floods to hit in a century.

Ecologist Madhav Gadgil who was the chairman of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) has termed the disaster a man-made tragedy attributing it to the Kerala Govt’s failure to implement crucial ecological recommendations. The panel had classified the region into three levels of sensitivity with the areas now struck by landslides being marked as highly sensitive. No development should have taken place in these highly sensitive areas. The areas have seen extensive development of constructions of resorts and artificial lakes. Stone quarries, operating a few kilometres from the disaster site, has exacerbated the situation.

The Indian Army was called to action for relief efforts and in a fantastic on-the double- job, built a temporary bridge-a Bailey Bridge-190 feet long, in a record time of 31 hours, to connect Chooralmala with Mundakkai over the Iruvanipzha River. The Bridge, which can take a weight of 24 tons, was promptly open to vehicle movement.

A Bailey bridge is a portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge developed by the British for military use during World War-II. It has the advantages of requiring no special tools or heavy equipment to assemble. The wood and steel bridge elements are small and light enough to be carried in trucks and lifted into place by hand, without the use of a crane. These bridges were strong enough to carry tanks.

Paris Olympics 2024

Once the Olympics got off the starting blocks, India reached the Podium quickly winning its first medal of the Summer Games. Manu Bhaker, 22, from Haryana State, is the first Indian shooter to win an Olympic medal since 2012 and also the first female athlete from country to win a medal in shooting. The last Olympic medallist for India in shooting was Gagan Narang who also won bronze in the London 2012 Games.

The medal was for the 10m Air Pistol category where South Korea’s Oh Ye Jin won Gold with 243.2 points -setting a new Olympic Record-and South Korea’s Kim Yezi won silver with 241.3 points, and India’s Manu Bhaker, the Bronze with 221.7 points. Vietnam finished fourth with 198.6 points. The Olympic record is 240.3 points and the World Record is 246.9 points.

Born in Jhajjar, Haryana, a state known for its boxers and wrestlers, Manu Bhaker took to tennis, skating, and boxing in school. And also trained in a form of martial arts called ‘Thang-Ta’ – originating from Manipur, which uses Swords and Spears-winning medals at the national level. Then, when just 14 years old, and soon after the 2016 Rio Olympics, she impulsively decided to try her hand at shooting, and loved it. Within a week, Manu Bhaker asked her father to get her a sports shooting pistol to begin training. At the 2017 national shooting championships, Manu Bhaker stunned Olympian and former world No. 1, Heena Sidhu scored 242.3 to erase Sidhu’s mark to win the 10m Air Pistol final. She then added a silver medal at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships. At 16, she won a gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and also became the youngest from India to win a Gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup.

In the middle of the week, Manu Bhaskar teamed-up with Sarabjot Singh to win the Bronze medal in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event. In doing so, she becomes the first Indian Woman, since Independence, to Win two medals in a single Olympics. And she is not done as yet… entering the finals of a 3rd event – the 25m Pistol Event.

Then is another shooting event, India’s Swapnil Kusale won the Bronze medal in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3-Positions Event. He is also the first Indian athlete to win a medal in this category.

In Hockey, India beat Australia 3-2 on Friday in its final Group Stage match to move to the second place in its Pool. And India has beaten Australia in the Olympics after 52 long years. Will India regain its past Olympic Hockey glory? The men’s team dominated the Olympics in the early years, winning six consecutive golds from 1928 to 1956 and added two more since.

In a superb comeback, US Gymnast Simone Biles won Gold in the all-around title. At 27, she is the oldest woman to take the title in more 70 years, the third to win two of them and the first to do it in Games that were not back-to-back.

With Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps gone, Biles is the last of the great Olympic stars of the 21st ­century who is still competing. She was the biggest draw at the Paris Olympics, the one athlete who can persuade people who do not much like or care for sport to switch on and watch the best to ever do it!

More inspiring and record-breaking stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Watch the world with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-33

About: the world this week, 8 August to 14 August 2021, irreversible changes, running out of Greek letters, the end of the Tokyo Olympics, New York, and India’s stuck Parliament.

Everywhere

My maid who helps with the cooking and house-keeping returned after a month long hiatus babysitting her just-born second grandson. After a few days with the pots and pans, she took a quick break to attend the Baby Shower of her close relative. It’s gonna be a boy she beamed, on returning. A customer dropped in to our store yesterday. Her daughter had married early this year-we had done the bridal dresses-and she is already in the family way. It’s gonna be a boy – I can guess from the ‘dark look’ of her face, she said, with bright knowledge lines written all over her own face.

A doctor friend dropped by for an evening chat, and we discussed, among other things, the booming baby boy-boom and wondered what could be the reason. Perhaps, Climate Change is to blame – easy? Wow! That’s my next story.

Irreversible

Over the past few months we have witnessed weird weather stories bursting around the world: the Americas, North Africa, and Europe saw deadly heat waves and wildfires – America met with a lot of hurricanes; Asia saw pluvial floods and landslides caused by extreme rainfall; Australia too saw lots of water and we read stories of snakes, mice, and spiders spreading all over dry land.

We have become clever enough to acknowledge that climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying. That’s exactly the key finding of the latest scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It finds changes in the Earth’s climate in every region and across the whole climate system. Many changes are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. Some, such as a continued sea-level rise, are irreversible. That’s a great word pregnant with meaning. More boys tumbling out?

What do we do? The only way is to do whatever is required for sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Benefits for air quality would come quickly, while global temperatures would take 20 to 30 years to stabilize.

The IPCC was created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as an organization of Governments that are members of the United Nations or WMO. It currently has 195 members. The IPCC has the objective of providing Governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. It’s reports are also a key input into international climate change negotiations.

That’s a code red alert on climate change. And ‘it promises’ that things will only get worse unless nations of the Earth get their heads out of the clouds and start on an action plan at the soonest.

More Greek

The Coronavirus is still as bold as ever and surging in the United States, especially in the Sunshine State of Florida. That thing called the Delta Variant is shining the most, but other variants are on the prowl and looking to grab a throat-hold on defenceless passers-by. Please Get Vaccinated.

India is doing good bringing down the cases to around 30,000 per day, but the State of Kerala is an outlier owning more than the 50% cases of all India. Once it was was on a different league altogether, a Model worth emulating across the country, but then they have swing to the other extreme end – not worth liking or sharing, at all!

Following up on his announcement, last month, to get people into the vaccination mode, French President Emmanuel Macron introduced a Health Pass in France. Starting on 9 August 2021, French citizens will have to show proof of vaccination, immunity, or negative COVID-19 test for outdoor activities such as, riding on trains, dining in restaurants, and going to various kinds of venues. While post-announcement the vaccination rates did rise up considerably, it in turn brought more than 230,000 people – anarchists, far-right activists, and anti-vaxxers – across France on to the streets to protest the Health Pass. It is now a fourth straight weekend of demonstrations. Many have decried the Health Pass as a violation of freedom and Government overreach.

France is not alone, with Italy and Germany also having faced similar protests. While health experts are driving themselves to bring the virus under control, many others are finding fault lines, to nudge open.

In these weekly posts, I often worried that variants of the coronavirus could outnumber the 24 letters of the Green Alphabet. Well, The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Technical Chief of COVID-19, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, seems to have heard me. The WHO is already looking at new names for mutations amid fears there will be more variants trying to get past out steadily improving defences. Star Constellations are the front runners to take over the baton in what is turning out to be a relay race. And we could see variants known as Aries, Gemini… Greeks Gods and Goddesses have also been lined-up, but they are being discussed with the Gods themselves – copyright issues!

Thus far, 11 mutations have been named: four ‘variants of concern’, including the infamous Delta, and Beta; four ‘variants of interest’, such as Eta and Lambda; some which have since been downgraded, on losing the spike momentum and fizzling out, such as Epsilon, Zeta, and Theta.

I reckon that by the time the pandemic turns endemic we could all be full of the Greek Alphabet and the Stars in our heads! And surely we don’t want to think beyond the Greek, should we?

Curtains on The Tokyo Olympics 2020

The Olympic Fire is out in the cauldron, with the Games coming to an end on 8 August 2021. The United States (US) won the most number of medals, 113 (and most gold, 39), followed by China, Britain, Japan.

Tokyo 2020 saw world records broken in 24 events, with swimmers and rowers making the most breakthroughs, shattering six world records each. Four world records were broken in weightlifting and three in athletics and cycling track events.

With no spectators being allowed in the vast majority of the venues, the Organisers resorted to digital engagement to create an atmosphere which made athletes feel they were not alone. A cheer wall was established in the stadiums with more than 250 million videos coming from different corners of the world, supporting athletes from their National Olympic Committees.

Tokyo 2020 social posts have generated more than 4.7 billion engagements, with the majority of them happening during the Games time.

Twenty-seven year old Australian swimmer Emma McKeon’s seven medals (4 gold and 3 bronze) win, stood-up as the most among all athletes in the Tokyo Olympics.

Some US highlights are: track star Allyson Felix is now the most decorated US track and field athlete in Olympic history; Caeleb Dressel took home the most gold medals with five victories from men’s 50m and 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle and medley relay. He is the most successful male swimmer in the pool in Tokyo; the US women’s basketball team won its seventh gold medal in a row.

After decades of trying, India finally won a Gold medal in Athletics with Neeraj Chopra throwing a winning distance of 87.58 metres, in the Javelin event. Neeraj is only the second Indian athlete ever to win individual Olympic gold. Indians are traditional javelin/spear throwers and finally it’s showing, why not?

India ended the Olympics with its best ever haul of 7 medals and while Indians were enthralled, it rained cash and goodies on the medal winners.

On COVID-19, it’s not clear that the Games served as the super-spreader event as many in Japan had feared.

The Summer Paralympics will be held between 24 August and 5 September 2021, 16 days after the completion of the Olympics.

Up next: The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, kicking off in February.

I would give a huge Gold Medal to Japan for fearlessly conducting the Games. Keep it up Japan.

See you in Paris 2024.

New York and America

With the Olympics having concluded and the weightlifting events having different winners, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo gave up lifting weights on the sexual harassment charges. Of course, he thought about this three daughters and their future and said he will resign in two weeks. A new Governor – in a first, a woman – New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, is getting ready to pick-up the broom and clean-up the toxic environment. Good luck to her.

Keeping the story running on the United States, its decision to quit Afghanistan is turning out to be disastrous, as the very Taliban they sought to annihilate are making a ferocious comeback. The Afghanistan Army that America nurtured and trained for over a decade is unable to offer resistance and Towns and Cities are being flooded with the Taliban. Another Climate Change effect?

India’s Parliament

While climate change induced fires engulfed many countries, India’s Upper House-Rajya Sabha, and Lower House-Lok Sabha, of Parliament, saw Opposition Party fire freeze serious business leading to a lock-jam for most of this Monsoon season. This was to protest alleged snooping by the Government on its citizens and a demand to repeal already passed laws. The Chairman of the Upper House tried to douse the fire with his tears – but such clouded thinking didn’t work. He should have called for Hercules to divert River Yamuna to fight the fires – and clean-up as well.

More herculean and fighting stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Stay locked to World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-32

About: the world this week, 1 August to 7 August 2021, a Governor’s fight for his reputation, blazing fires, and fabulous stories from the Olympics.

Everywhere

With the Olympic Games now showing in Tokyo, Japan, drawing to a close on 8 August 2021, it was sporting news that galloped through the week, overwhelming and submerging most other events in the World.

New York

In New York, USA, Governor Andrew Cuomo could not lift the weights on sexual harassment, misconduct, and toxic environment creation allegations – of touching, groping, kissing, and hugging women without their consent – against him. The charges were laid on the table by New York’s Attorney General (AG) – on concluding an investigation in to the allegations. The AG said the Governor had violated State and Federal Laws.

In response, Cuomo denied doing anything out of the ordinary – whatever he did, was part of the job of being in public life, which has been misconstrued, and vowed to stay on in office. Occupational hazard?

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and the political class, added more weight, lit the fires to turn the heat on, and called for his resignation.

The great fall comes after Andrew Cuomo’s popularity reached dizzying heights in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of Americans tuned in to his daily no-nonsense TV briefings, when New York was the epicentre of the virus spread. I too, from faraway India, religiously watched his daily sermons, to learn about the pandemic and enjoyed the camaraderie that he brought to such talk, with stories of his daughters, one of his daughter’s boyfriend, and the family dog. I trusted his words more than the India’s honchos – who hardly dished out anything at all in the early days – and I believed Andrew Cuomo led by example.

I particularly admired Cuomo’s Secretary, Melissa DeRosa, who was seemingly always by his side, working her smartphone, shuffling paperwork, and offering responses to any questions passed to her by her boss. She brought a brilliant, unruffled diligence to the job and I confess I sometimes used to watch the briefings more for Melissa than Andrew Cuomo. Like her boss, DeRosa’s developed a national reputation as an avatar of competence and calm and steered the Governor’s ship awfully well, over troubled waters.

Before the sexual harassment allegations climbed-up the headlines (and down their backs), the dream team of the Governor and his Secretary were whiplashed on allegations of tampering with the data on COVID-19 cases in private hospitals. These were about under-counting COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents in New York State.

Melissa has not been affected by the sexual harassment allegations on her boss and has stood steadfastly by his side, defending him.

A skimpy brief on Andrew Cuomo: He has previously served as Attorney General of New York State and is a two-time Governor of the State. He married Kerry Kennedy, one of the seven daughters of Robert F Kennedy, and has three daughters with her. The couple first separated and then divorced in 2005. Cuomo’s brother, Chris Cuomo, is a CNN News Anchor.

Now, I am devastated that such a solid public life person could do so much harm and am left clueless on what to believe. But I still cling on to the good in Andrew Cuomo…and the brilliance of Melissa DeRosa.

Israel Strikes Again

Lebanon has multiple problems of its own making, and despite that dared to launch rockets into Israel this week. And in a first, after seven years, the Israeli Air Force carried out retaliatory air strikes on its neighbour following a second of rocket fire from across the border. Lebanon’s militant group, Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks and said it fired the rockets into ‘open areas’ of Israel. There were no casualties on both sides, but this is provocation enough to trigger ‘open’ retaliation, isn’t it?

Why do they keep doing this? This is such a fragile region that even the snap sound of a gun is enough to invite return fire!

Blazing Turkey

After stories of getting wet in the rain, swept away by floods, and carried away by landslides, it’s the turn of getting dry by fire – wildfires, turning into towering infernos.

Most than 100 blazes have erupted in the Southern parts of Turkey over the week, many of which have been watered down. The blazing fires in Manavgat, Marmaris and the inland town of Milas, prompted the evacuation of some residential areas and hotels.

Wildfires in forest in Turkey are common in summer in the Mediterranean and Aegean regions, but May 2021 was the hottest May for over 50 years and followed a drought in Turkey. There were earlier fires in Kas, Tarsus and Marmaris on 26 and 27 June, and the maximum temperature for 60 years occurred in Cizre at over 49 degrees Centigrade,

You just need to look beyond the tip of your nose to find the reason: climate change, of course. These fires follow other extreme weather conditions recently reported around the world.

The Tokyo Olympics 2020

Once upon a time, the only gold medal guaranteed for India in the Olympic Games was the Men’s Hockey Event, winning as much as eight gold medals, over the years. That was when the game was played on natural grass and stick-work mattered the most. Then astro-turf was invented, the game became faster, India could not keep pace with the change and ended up losing to smarter countries, especially Australia and Germany. This Olympics, India finally got the closest to winning gold, reaching the semi-finals and going down to Belgium. However, they got their sticks together to beat Germany 5-4, and to win the bronze medal. This is the first medal win for the Indian Hockey Team after a 41 year Olympic medal drought. Well done India.

Indian Women are known to bring Home the gold – a great Indian Family tradition – and true to nature they almost did it but ending up losing in the semi-finals to Argentina. And then the fight for the Bronze, to Britain. Whatever, the fact that they made it this far is testimony to their new-found capabilities, and are a bellwether of better outcomes in the future. Leave alone the gold medal, the women won our hearts – that’s real gold!

Wondering how India’s hockey fortunes are suddenly looking bright again? Behind the success lies the ravishing support of the Odisha State Government, who has since 2018 sponsored both the men’s and women’s national hockey teams, stepping in as sponsor when business group Sahara withdrew. Naveen Patnaik, 74, who has been the Chief Minister of Odisha for the past 21 years, without a break, is the invisible force keeping the goal – He was a hockey goalie during his school days!

This is truly a ‘high jump’ in sportsmanship. Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim, 30, and and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, 29, both cleared the highest bar of 2.37 meters (m), but when it came to deciding a winner, the two Olympic high jumpers opted not to take it to a tie-breaker. Instead, they asked to share the gold medal, prompting cheers beyond their home countries of Qatar and Italy.

After both jumpers cleared the highest bar, they attempted to match the Olympic record of 2.39 meters for sole ownership of the title. However, after three attempts, neither succeeded. The two athletes then approached a Games Official. “Can we have two golds?” Barshim asked. The Official nodded in agreement, and the rest is Olympic History.

Australian swimmer Emma McKeon won seven medals in the Tokyo Olympics. And adding to her previous medal stock of four, she now has a total of eleven Olympic medals – five gold, two silver, and four bronze – making her the most successful Australian Olympian at the singles Game events.

Amazing stories of grit, perseverance, and fortitude on display at the Olympics beginning with the determination of Japan to go ahead with the Games. Shows how much we are capable of if we lend a shoulder to ourselves. Never underestimate yourself, we are capable of doing more than we think we can.

More gold, silver, and bronze stories coming up in the weeks ahead.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-31

About: the world this week, 25 July 2021 to 31 July 2021; stories of unrest, of change, and the thrilling Olympic Games testing our skills and resilience in various dimensions.

Everywhere

It started with the former South African President, Jacob Zuma pleading ‘not guilty’ to various kinds of corruption and fraud charges, during the period he was Deputy President, and President as well. He refused to appear before a Commission investigating the charges and questioned the integrity of the country’s top judges, accusing them of political bias against him. He was then arrested for contempt of court.

The arrest sparked unrest and protests leading to frenzied looting, arson, riots, and catastrophic violence – one of the worst and never before seen in South Africa, since the advent of democracy in 1994. The past weeks have been engulfed in ruthless anarchy, with the Police struggling to control the situation. Some blamed the poverty situation of the people, others said it was orchestrated, having an element of undermining the State, the Rule of Law – an Insurrection. Adding fuel to fire, racial fault lines became awfully exposed, while the mayhem ‘speared ahead’ in South Africa.

The positive outcome was that communities ended up coalescing together to protect themselves – with their spears sharpened and ready to use. And I’m confident that normalcy will return, in the coming weeks.

In India, a Mechanical Engineer who once worked for the iconic Tata Group was chosen to become Chief Minister (CM) of the State of Karnataka. This, after an old indefatigable war-horse made way for him after ‘wearing himself thin’, bringing his Party to rule the State. Basavaraj Bommai appears to be a ‘picture’ perfect choice and took oath as CM on 28 July 2021. His father, S R Bommai, too was once the CM of the State. He may thank the stars, but it’s also time to thank Dad – more real.

Meanwhile, in North-Eastern India, two States, Assam and Mizoram came to blows over their hazy looking borders killing six Police personnel in the process, and injuring many others. I wonder how people can descend to such a border level. India is one huge country, the State Boundary lines are for administrative convenience and can be drawn tight, can’t they? Why not declare such disputed territory as belonging to the Government of India and allow equal visiting rights to the fighting States?

Mizoram was carved out of the State of Assam, first as a Union Territory in 1972 and then as a full-fledged State in 1987. Could it not be handled on friendlier terms? After all, the States are not different countries. And trespassers can always be warned to mind ‘some’ line. But shooting to kill is unacceptable.

Olympics, Tokyo 2020

India was off to a quick medal-winning start on Day 1 of the Olympics, lifting the Silver Medal in the 49 kilogram (kg) Women’s Weightlifting Category. Mirabhai Chanu from the State of Manipur, heaved a total weight of 202 kg, to be placed second. The gold in the event was won by China’s Hou Zhihui, with a combined weight total of 210 kg.

Mirabhai picked a total of 87 kg in the Snatch part of the event and ended with a lift of 115 kg in Clean & Jerk (totalling 202 kg). She is the second Indian weightlifter, after Karnam Malleswari, to win an Olympic medal.

The win may be attributed to her ‘Olympic Earrings’ which she wore brightly. It was a gift from her mother who had lifted her to this stage, from ‘carrying-the-firewood-days’! The story goes that when she was 12 years old, she helped her brother carry firewood, which they had gathered from the forest: she did it so easily, that it was noticed as unusual for a woman, and someone said she must get into weightlifting. Ever since, her mother ensured she trained hard to become the one who lifted the weights!

The Govt of India had arranged a training stint for her, in the United States, ahead of the Olympics, and this was one of the main reasons for her weighty performance.

This time it was tears of joy, five years after the 2016 Olympics when she left the same platform in tears of sorrow following a disastrous debut. That’s heavy work done. Way to go, Mirabhai Chanu.

While a new hero was ‘biting’ her Silver Medal, a boxing legend of India, Mary Kom, 38, gave her absolute best before going down to the reigning Olympic Bronze medalist, Columbia’s Ingrit Valencia, by a split verdict 2-3 in the second round of the 51 kg category. Mary Kom was at her sporting high when she welcomed the decision with a smile and hugged her opponent. Mary’s story will ring for years to come.

With the USA, China, Japan, and other large countries leading the medals tally, tiny Bermuda, with a population of about 63,000 sneaked-in with its 33 years old Flora Duffy decisively winning the triathlon, securing a historic gold for her country – the smallest country to win gold in the Olympics. Tokyo 2020 is Duffy’s fourth Olympics.

A triathlon is an endurance multi-sport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially, with the time transitioning between the disciplines included.

Duffy battled a near career-ending injury, anaemia and depression to reach Tokyo 2020. She did not finish her race at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing after crashing her bike, and even quit the sport for a short time. Her preparations for Tokyo were hampered by a foot injury that prevented her from competing for a year.

Duffy was coached by her husband, South African triathlete Dan Hugo, who was there to see it all happen. And she gave him the medal!

Condoms come in handy and can be ingeniously useful-depending on the user. And women seem to be discovering better ways of putting them to work than men. Ask Australian Slalom Canoeist Jessica Fox, 27, who recently won a bronze and a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics – and she has a condom to thank for it. Earlier this week – before Fox won her first Olympic gold medal in the women’s C1 Canoe Slalom and bronze in the Canoe Slalom K1 final – she was filmed fixing her kayak with a condom. A video shared by the athlete shows her carefully sliding the condom over the front of her kayak after applying a carbon mixture to the area – to secure it. We learn something new every day! Condoms can be an inspiration.

She is called GOAT (Greatest Of All Time): US Gymnast Simone Biles, 24 years old, withdrew from the Gymnastics Event, saying, “I have to focus on my mental health.” After scoring 13.766 – her lowest Olympic vault score – Biles left the arena, but returned to support and cheer her team-mates as they took the silver medal.

Biles is a 30-time Olympic and World Championship medallist, and needed four podium finishes in Tokyo 2020 to become the most decorated gymnast – male or female – in history.

Sportspersons across the spectrum praised her decision for prioritising mental wellness over everything else. It was a courageous decision given that Simone Biles has reached all five individual finals in the Tokyo Olympics.

We live with ‘that thing between our ears’ and we need to give it the respect it deserves. Sometimes stepping back for a while may actually be a great leap forward.

Please Yourself

After months of COVID-19 lockdown induced strangulating travel restrictions, I took a drive to the small Town of Tiruchengode near Salem, Tamil Nadu, for checking out a new Fabric Supplier. And to get back into the groove, as they would call it.

Tiruchengode is famous for the ancient hill-top Ardhanareeswarar (man-woman) Temple, mentioned in one of the five Great Tamil Epics, Silappadikaram, as Neduvelkunru. Ardhanareeswarar is a manifestation of one of the Hindu Trinity Gods, Lord Shiva, representing the unity of Shiva and his consort, Parvati. The equally famous Chenkottu Velavar Temple, dedicated to Lord Murugan (son of Lord Shiva), is situated on the same hill.

Tiruchengode is also home to the Rig (bore well digging) Business and Truck Body Builders, which is a thriving business – blessed from the hill above.

With the Gods watching over me from their Rocky residence, I took the road from Ariyanur, going through Attayampatti, Mallasamudram to Tiruchengode. On the way I stopped by at Attayampatti to grab the famous ‘murukku’ ( a rice flour fried snack wearing a twisted shape)- bought a ton – and cracked upon it, through the drive.

There is also the famous Kalipatti Temple, on this route, which is run by a classmate of mine from Boarding School. He is the high priest of the Temple, owned by his family, for generations. He succeeded his ‘also high priest’ father who used to come over to the School, in Yercaud, driving a Fiat Car with an Apache-feathered head on the bonnet. I guess, Apaches are closer to the Gods-they talk to Him in mysterious ways.

The two-lane route was verdant, having some of the best stately trees growing on either side, forming a natural umbrella. And the undulating profile of the hilly area probably kept the roads naturally clean. The Mahendra Educational Institutions are planted on the sides, beyond the trees, and it seems an ideal location for learning and study, with the stillness of the nearby hills and the quietness of the neighbourhood permeating the soul.

On reaching Tiruchengode, I was stunned to see well-laid, clear roads, marvellous shops and business establishments, and the Paramathi Vellore Road even had a wide pavement (a rarity in these parts) on one side looking like a movie set. I almost expected an Actress to jump out dancing and singing, and grab a pole. The place I was visiting was a large mansion on one of the by-streets and the location was a delightful place to be in. The Owner besides showing us Fabric (and her 11 years old precocious kid) also showed-off a great roof-garden with plants hanging out their stems and leaves, banana, pomegranate, lime, and orange ‘trees’ crowded the terrace.

It was near about five years since my last visit and I must give credit to the previous Government, that ruled Tamil Nadu for the past ten years, for the stupendous development. They have done a fabulous job. It speaks on its own. And I caught the story, didn’t I?

On the return, after lots of munching, my stock of murukkus was down by a few kilograms and I chose to replenish it on my next drive, which I must make. I’m sure the Gods will approve.

More road and ‘murukku’ stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Stay flexible and keep pace with the Olympics.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-30

About: the world this week, 18th July to 24th July 2021. Floods of water, fish, spying, flying into Space; Faster, Higher, Stronger.

Everywhere

A ‘Deluge of Floods’

Over the years we have heard of innumerable Weather Satellites launched by various countries, to endlessly circle the Earth and send back tons of data, from up above the clouds, that enable us make humble weather forecasts and foresee potential natural disasters.

It is over 60 years since the first Weather Satellite, TIROS-1 (Television Infra Red Observational Satellite), was launched by the United States’, NASA, and surely mankind has made great leaps of faith – breaking into the clouds and beyond – in predicting the weather, using Satellites, among other things. But, now I wonder if all of this is actually working. Or am I missing something? Have the Weather Satellites become Aliens of a kind?

Over the past weeks, Europe – especially Germany and Belgium – has been devastated by unprecedented flash floods generated by torrential rains. Rivers, in turn, receiving the copious run-offs, became dissatisfied with the fixed deposits and bursted their Banks sending the water dashing into precious Homes. This is being touted as Germany’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century. Over 140 people died. Particularly hard hit were the German States of Rhineland Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, and Eastern Belgium. Around 700 residents were evacuated after a dam broke in the Town of Wassenberg, near Cologne.

On the other side of the World, parts of the United States have also felt the wetness of water. On 19th July, flash flooding occurred in Birmingham and the surrounding Jefferson County, Alabama, following heavy rains, disrupting otherwise dry lives. Cars could not become boats and people lost their legs, below the knees, to the water.

Jumping to Asia, on 21st July torrential rain pounded the Central Chinese province of Henan, bursting the banks of major rivers and flooding the streets of a dozen cities, including Zhengzhou. The sudden flooding inundated and trapped people in shopping malls, schools and even subway trains, leaving locals in a perilous situation. The region has seen the heaviest rain since record-keeping began 60 years ago. Zhengzhou experienced the equivalent of a year’s average rainfall in just 3 days!

In early July, a landslide hit the popular resort of Atami, in Central Japan: a torrent of black-mud crashed through the city. Several houses were swept away by the mudslide, which followed torrential rain. Atami has had more rainfall in the first three days of July than it usually sees in the whole month!

As communities devastated by the catastrophic flooding swam out and started drying themselves, they are wondering how it all went so wrong, so fast. Europe, for example, has a world-leading warning system that issued regular alerts for days before floods engulfed entire villages. The Copernicus Emergency Management Service sent more than 25 warnings, for specific regions, of the Rhine and Maas river basins in the days leading up to the flooding, through its European Flood Awareness System (EFAS), well before heavy rains triggered the flash flooding.

But few of these early warnings appear to have been passed on to residents early and clearly enough, catching them completely off-guard. Now questions are being raised over whether the chain of communication from the Central European level to regions is working. This is one example, in a modern developed country loaded with fabulous surveillance systems.

If we keep our heads above the water and look up to The Netherlands, just across its borders with Germany’s and Belgium’s flood-devastated areas, the picture is entirely different. The Netherlands too experienced extreme rainfall, maybe not be quite as heavy as in Germany and Belgium. And it has not escaped unscathed. But its towns are not entirely submerged and not a single person has died. Officials were better prepared and were able to communicate with people quickly.

The Netherlands’ water strength lies largely in its organisation. The country’s infrastructure is managed by a Branch of the Government devoted solely to water, the Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management, which looks after some 1,500 km of man-made defenses. And they are doing a damn good job of it.

Moving closer to home, in several States of India, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka – to name a few – the story is about the same, with the rains battering cities, towns and villages and sending people scurrying to elevated dry land.

In one of the smaller Towns, in the State of Telangana, the nearby River, tired of sleeping on its bed, got up and started running on the streets. In a revenge mode, the people descended and flooded the streets armed with nothing but fishing nets: many caught giant fish, in the Indian Stream, that could put ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ to shame-of the Gulf Stream. Who said The Planet of the Apes is up ahead? Welcome to The Planet of the Fish!

Even while we are sinking in the floods there are several parts of the World, say, Western North America and Canada, being fried by a flood of heat waves. These places boiled this week in all-time high temperatures that have caused dozens of deaths.

Hold on… we have been flooded with stories of such breaking of records, frequently these days: worst ever, first time in a century, never-before seen, goes on…and of course that dreaded word, ’Climate Change’ and its good friend, ‘Global Warming’ as being the ubiquitous villain responsible for all of this.

We need to think beyond hurting each other with guns and nuclear weapons and instead build weapons against nature to prevent and avoid the mass destructions we are witnessing. With a gun in my hand, can I shoot down a wave, a flood, a hurricane? Are we up to the task of being responsible and making meaningful change? Only the ‘rise of the water levels’ will tell?

How about getting a Noah’s Ark ready! Ship ourselves to another Planet?

Snooping

Pegasus, in Greek mythology, is a divine winged horse, an offspring of the Olympian God Poseidon, usually depicted as pure white in colour. It is a mysterious creature capable of everything symbolizing the divine inspiration or the journey to heaven: in modern times it has been regarded as a symbol of poetic inspiration.

Leave alone being a poetic, I am inspired by the ‘mysterious aspect’.

In the real world, Pegasus is a spyware developed by Israeli cyber-arms firm NSO that can be covertly installed on mobile phones running on iOS and Android.

The NSO (named after Niv, Shalev, Omri – The founders) Group develops best-in-class technology to help government Agencies detect and prevent terrorism and crime.

Simply put, Pegasus hacks computers and smartphones, in order to gather data and serve it to a third party. It is malicious because it gathers such data without the consent or the knowledge of the person owing the device.

Once installed, the Pegasus spyware can turn the Android or iOS phones into surveillance devices. The earliest version of the hacking software Pegasus would infect phones through text messages or emails containing a malicious link that the target would click on. However, the technology has grown more discreet and dangerous since then. And now, Pegasus could infect a phone without any user interaction or with ‘zero-click’ – vulnerabilities, flaws and bugs in a phone’s operating system – that the phone’s manufacturer is unaware of, or has been unable to fix.

India was rocked by a deluge of reports, that a flood of people were on the Pegasus list of ‘Persons of Interest’ without any evidence whosoever on what was found, or not found, and whether it had any effect on the political or safety climate of India. Some even considered it an honour to be on the List!

However, with the mystery and the secrecy involved, this will be a very hard nut to crack unless we hunt down another offspring of Poseidon to ‘talk to and infect Pegasus’, or should we, at all?

Amazon adds Space

This week, Amazon founder, Billionaire Jeff Bezos, flying on the generous bounty of Amazon Staff and Buyers, lifted off in his Blue Origin, New Shepard Space Craft to Space. He was keeping one eye on the Virgin trail left by fellow Billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, who did a similar feat in the week gone by. He was accompanied by his brother, Mark Bezos, an 82 years old Space Race pioneer, Wally Funk, and an 18 years old student, Oliver Daemen. The flight lasted 10 minutes and 10 seconds.

Two minutes into the flight, the capsule carrying the Space travellers, separated from its rocket – at a height of about 76 km-continued its upwards trajectory towards the Karman Line, crossed it – going up to about 106 km – and curved back to achieve a safe, parachuted landing on the West Texas Desert floor in the United States. Jeff Bezos stepped out wearing a Texas Cowboy hat, and I almost expected him to grab a horse, hit the trail, and ride into Town. Meanwhile, unnoticed, the launch vehicle-booster return-landed at about 3 km away from the launch pad.

Looks awfully easy. Maybe there is a message out there that the Earth is unsafe and we better start flying up to grab a better place to settle…and escape the ‘water spills of Earth? Overall, the signal I get is we all need to lift ourselves (with or without rockets). Let’s say, move up in life.

The Olympics

The COVID-19 pandemic stumped and badly bruised Tokyo Olympics 2020, rescheduled to start on 23 July 2021, is itself a testimony to the spirit of sport, having weathered a great deal to get the Games started. I salute the persistence of the Organisers and Japan for leaving no stone unturned – as they say – to get the Games going.

The easiest and the most sensible way to face the pandemic would be to just cancel the Olympic Games. And it requires mind-boggling effort to carry on with the COVID-19 prevention protocols. On our part, we should encourage a safe Olympics, pressuring infected Athletes to quarantine and go home, and the others to blossom. Support our teams remotely, watching on Television or any other physically-distanced media.

Finally, this Friday, the Tokyo Olympics was officially declared open by Japan’s Emperor Naruhito. Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron to mark the formal start of Tokyo Olympics 2020. The opening ceremony took place in an almost empty Stadium, witnessed by about 1000 spectators, without the glitz and glam normally associated with such ceremonies. It was celebrated as a moment of global hope – we need every ounce of it to make the Games a success.

Citius, Altius, Fortius.

Please Yourself

Over the past year I went to war with the Vikings, fought to save The Last Kingdom, Resurrected myself with Ertugrul, played the Queen’s Gambit, and went on to wear The Crown. In the process, my body received a pounding, and the wounds of battle were hurting. It’s then, I decided to see ‘The Good Doctor’ on Netflix. It’s been great healing ever since. And I’m fighting fit again.

The Good Doctor is an American Television Series, about Dr. Shaun Murphy, a young autistic, savant, surgical resident at the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, California. Dr. Shaun’s brilliant savant abilities include near-photographic recall and the ability to note minute details and changes. It’s about how he finds acceptance in the Hospital and goes on to contribute to life-saving decisions and surgeries…and making wonderful friends on the way. I was inspired.

More savant stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Stay inspired and keep your head above the water.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-11

About: The story of what we did this week in our World. Last week, among other things, I talked about Old Birds, this week there is a story of Old Humans, Meteorites, and Music. Read on…

Everywhere

Meteorites from Outer Space – Aliens throwing them?

On the night of 28th February the Wilcocks family living in Winchcombe, a market Town in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, heard a dull thud outside their house. One of them stood up and looked out through the window, but it being awfully dark – couldn’t see a thing.

The next morning on coming out of the house, they saw a lump of ‘a coal kind of thing, a kind of splatter’, on their drive. Could someone have been driving around lobbing lumps of coal into people’s gardens? Or could it be an upturned barbecue tray?

Meanwhile, Scientists-they are always watching-knew fragments of a meteorite must have landed in the Gloucestershire area, as their tracking cameras had recorded a rock coming through the atmosphere, that Sunday night, creating a huge fireball. And they made an appeal for people to come forward with any finds.

When Planetary Scientists saw the pictures sent by the Wilcocks, they were blown away, and almost instantaneously thought it must be a meteorite from outer space.

It was indeed a meteorite, the first find of its kind in the UK in 30 years. It was a carbonaceous, dark stony material that retained unaltered chemistry from the formation of our Solar System 4.6 billion years ago, and hence could give fresh insights on how planets came into being.

This would keep Scientists busy for years to come in trying to unravel the mysteries of the Universe. Let’s hope they, ‘lift the veil’ on just about everything we know about our Solar System and the origin of life.

Lifting the Veil

In a Referendum, results of which were declared this week, over 51% of people in Switzerland voted to ban women from wearing the burqa or niqab in public spaces. The argument by the Swiss Government was that religious veils are a symbol of oppression of women and aren’t suitable to modern society. Full facial veils will be allowed inside places of prayer and for native customs, such as carnivals. Exceptions to the law will include face coverings for reasons of security, climate, or health, which means protective masks worn against Covid-19 are acceptable.

The initiative behind the referendum was launched in 2016 by the Egerkingen Committee, an Association that also successfully pushed for a vote to ban the building of new Minarets, in 2009.

With this outcome Switzerland joins France, which banned wearing a full face veil in public in 2011. Full or partial bans on wearing face coverings in public are also ‘off the face’ in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

The face is the index of the mind. If I cannot see a face-and the many lines formed and un-formed, crooked or straight, how do I read a person? I believe religion should be veiled inside one’s heart, mind or home. And-I’m assuming-the best results better be visible on the outside.

Oprah Winfrey, Big-Bang

Do meteorites striking the United Kingdom have mysterious big-bang effects elsewhere and echo in the Kingdom?

When it comes to interviewing people on Television there is none better in the World than Oprah Winfrey. She pulls it off skilfully, as smooth as silk, always making the interviewee feel safe and protected, cleverly nudging them to opening up about themselves and uncover shocking, hidden secrets. She talked to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who quit their royal duties in England, to build their own life outside the control of the Royal Family.

The revelations, about animosity, deep-rooted racism, double standards, and a dearth of support from the Royal Family were like carpet bombs raining down on the Crown – the monarchy. It will be remembered as one of the most brutally explosive royal interviews in history.

The Royal family had concerns and conversations on about how dark Harry & Meghan’s son, Archie’s skin might be when he’s born. Archie was not made a Prince and hence not given the kind of security that other younger royals enjoyed as an entitlement. Meghan spoke of suicidal thoughts she experienced and the lack of support from the Royals-you have to deal with it yourself she was told. She felt trapped and alone, unable to venture out freely.

It was also striking that Harry was absolutely open about his own mental and emotional struggles, speaking frankly about the pain in family relationships.

Someone remarked that Harry’s emotional intelligence could be used as a springboard for ‘enhancing the emotional wellness of our men and boys’.

We get to see the picture of the British monarchy being a family that gives little support to those who marry into it, where a woman of colour finds the ensuing abuse simply unmanageable. And there is this ‘Institution’ or ‘The Firm’ or ‘The Preservers’ that straight-jackets the Royal Family, coming in-between the Royals and all others.

Oprah concluded the interview by telling Meghan that her story with the Prince “does have a happy ending-because you made it so”.

Let me tell you a true story-doing an ‘Oprah Winfrey Selfie’:

In the days when I was hunting for a bride-in the South Indian arranged marriage system-I went to ‘formally see’ a girl, with the family in tow. I saw her, talked to her, and liked what I saw and heard, in the one-to-one brief meeting. And decided to take the chance-given the options-and say, yes. But the family found many shades of colour-the girl was slightly dark-and some surface defects, and asked me to reconsider. I overruled them and asked for a more valid reason beyond the ‘physical aspects’. And I said, I saw inner beauty-I found her likeable in my own way. I was firm and the issue remained in suspended animation for almost a year with me ‘launching a me-only protest’ and declaring, ‘I won’t see any other girl’. Meanwhile, a truckload of the family made another visit to ‘look again’. And did not change their mind.

We were building a new House at that time and Dad and I disagreed on the colour of the wash basins and water closets, with me insisting that they should be sparkling white and Dad saying they should be chocolate-brown. Then, he comes over and says, ‘You want everything white in the bathrooms and yet you are okay with a dark girl?’ This, in the early 1990’s-an India obsessed with the fair & lovely skin!

I had to move on as I had not means of furthering the relationship with the person I met only once. Later, I married another ‘slightly fair’ brown girl, after another formal seeing.

Some memories stay with us for a lifetime and I hope to meet ‘this first girl’, one day, and take stock of how the colours have faded and how we got here!

The Torch of the Tokyo Olympics 2021

I read about oldest living persons so often that I’m getting old with who is really old. This is an attempt to get young with the old, and set the age records straight – of the verified longevity claims.

Japan’s Kane Tanaka, at 118 years of age, is the world’s oldest living person and she is preparing herself to carry the Olympic Torch this May when it passes through Shime, in her home prefecture of Fukuoka, Japan. She will be doing a 100 metre run-in her leg of torch carrying-which means Tanaka’s family will push her in a wheel-chair for most of the distance. And she is determined to walk the final few steps to pass the torch on to the next runner. That’s definitely the sporting spirit which is the fuel of the Olympic flame.

When Kane Tanaka indeed does it, she would be the oldest person to ever carry an Olympic Torch and ‘run a leg’ of the journey to the inaugural of the Games.

Tanaka was born in the year the Wright Brothers made history by successfully completing the world’s first powered air-borne flight. She has twice survived cancer, lived through two World Wars, two global pandemics (The 1918 Spanish Flu and this Covid-19) and loves fizzy (Coca-Cola included) drinks. She married a rice shop owner at the age of 19, went on to cook four children, and worked in the family store until she was 103. Tanaka has five grandchildren and eight great-grand children. One of her grandson’s said of her,’ I don’t remember her talking much about the past, she’s very forward thinking, she really enjoys living in the present’.

She now lives in a nursing home and plays math games-the board game called Othello-every day. So, we now know her secret of longevity. Lessons for us? Other secrets of people who have lived beyond 100 are: family unity under the rules of love, mutual respect, honest work, and proper education based on family values. Japan is home to some of the oldest of people and we would do well to learn the way they live, and adapt.

She is not done, as yet. The record for the oldest person to ever live is held by a French Woman, Jeanne Louise Calment who died at the age of 122 years and 164 days. And Kane Tanaka has her sights on beating this milestone. Will She? See you – and her – in 2025. This will be after the next Summer Olympics, which incidentally is, Paris 2024. And the French have an ‘old age’ competition. Welcome to France.

Tennis at the Qatar Open

The ATP Qatar Open underway in Doha is Swiss, Roger Federer’s first comeback Tournament since returning to playing from knee injury-two back-to-back arthroscopic surgeries. He made a good start and almost made it to the quarter-finals when he was beaten in three sets by Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Roger has decided to return to training, and has exited the upcoming ATP 500 event in Dubai.

The nearing 40, Tennis superstar showed class and some vintage ‘Roger Federer shots’, making us want more of them, from him. It’s worth the wait. Hope to see him back on court, soon. Welcome back Roger.

On the COVID-19 Trail

Brazil plunges into a crisis.

A second wave of COVID-19-believed to be caused by a deadly new variant of the coronavirus-is whiplashing through Brazil pushing Hospitals and Intensive Care Units towards the brink of collapse and claiming a record number of daily deaths.

This Wednesday, Brazil’s Health Ministry registered a devastating new high of 2,286 lives lost to the virus. In total, more than 270,000 people are known to have died due to COVID-19.

What is the cause? Health-Care workers blame the recent surge in cases on large parties and gatherings that began around New Year’s Eve and continued through the Mardi Gras carnival holiday and into the present. Many of these were held in defiance of local city and state restrictions.

On the Vaccination front, more than 345 million doses have been administered across 121 countries at about 8.74 million doses per day.

Israel has reached a milestone of 100 doses per 100 people; about 56.5% of the population has received at least one shot, and 45.2% are fully vaccinated. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has given 60 doses per 100 people, The United States (US) has given 30 doses, and the United Kingdom has done 37 doses per 100.

India has given about 2.82 crore vaccine doses till date, at 2 doses per 100, with 1.7% receiving at least one shot and 0.4% fully vaccinated. There appears to be a murmur of a second wave in India with over 20,000 positive cases and with the States of Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu seeing an uptick. We are still in the thick of the fight with the virus and should hold-on with our guard-not lowering it down, until the vaccination, and better times, reach us. I’m sure the Government is working to a plan.

The Sound of Music

The Storm over Saranga Dhariya

The Telangana folk song ‘Saranga Dhariya’ (meaning, musical instrument Sarangi – a bowed short necked stringed instrument – worn as an ornament) featured in the Sai Pallavi movie, ‘Love Story’, has become an internet dance sensation garnering over 31 million views on You Tube, over 10 days. The song is sung by popular folk singer Mangli and the lyrics are by Suddala Ashok Teja, an award-winning lyricist. In the yet-to-be-released movie, Actress Sai Pallavi dances to the beat of the song in the way, only she can. Remember, ‘Rowdy Baby’?

However, there is now a brewing controversy on Tollywood’s (Telugu Film World) appropriation of Telangana Folk Music.

Ten years ago, Komala, a folk singer, from Telangana’s Warangal District auditioned for a talent show-in which Lyricist Suddala was a judge – with the song aired on the TV Show ‘Real Re’, which brought her fame and recognition. Kamala says she heard her grandmother sing Saranga Dhariya while working in the fields from where she plucked out the song and strung the music to it.

Komala learnt about the appropriation only when the promotions of the film were released and was dissatisfied with the adaption and not being given due credit for ‘her song’, first rendered in the competition. And later she had even released an album of the song.

In the film, the song is about a woman – her beauty, her strong mindedness, one who is not easy to attain and who adorns the sarangi instrument. Komala’s version is more about righteousness and virtue of a woman, than her beauty. The film version has taken the song to greater heights than Komala, and her grandmother, could even imagine.

Meanwhile, let the music play on. It’s irresistible to keep your body parts immobile to such an earthy beat – righteousness, virtue, and beauty, all dancing in unison.

The Grammys – up ahead.

Every year, March is definitely the month of ‘reaping the fruits’ in showbiz, of the seeds sowed in drama and music in the year gone by. What, with the Oscars and the Grammys showing.

The 63rd Grammy Awards Show – The Grammys 2021 – will take place in Los Angeles, United States, this Sunday and winners of the nominated 83 categories of music will be announced.

Look forward to live performances by some of the best music Artists in the World, coming together to play music for each other as a community, and celebrate music that unites people across civilisations.

Black Pumas, Billie Eilish, Mickey Guyton, Brittany Howard, Miranda Lambert, Cardi B, Brandi Carlile, Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, Chris Martin, Thee Stallion, Taylor Swift, and more are lined up to sing and dance.

Beyonce leads with nine nominations, while Taylor Swift is favourite to pick up the coveted Album of the Year Award. If she wins, Swift will become the first woman to scoop the Best Album prize three times. Only three others have done it before: Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.

Someone said, ‘music is the soundtrack of life’. We all have our own unique soundtracks and let’s play it well -to be heard.

More music and stories landing on your drive in the weeks ahead. Try looking out of the Window to see what you can find.