9 by 9: Don't you love Modi's new look?
Social media stories that won't appear in your newspaper or news channel
1 by 9
In the middle of the COVID pandemic, in the middle of an incursion by China, in the middle of a skirmish with Nepal, there is a new biography out of Narendra Modi, launched by the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, K.G. Balakrishnan.
@GorwayGlobal discovers the book is as shady comes: it is not listed on Amazon, and it is written by a lawyer who is actually director of a company, who has written an earlier biography of Modi.
2 by 9
“Na khaoonga na khaane doonga”
Remember the legendary promise? Jayaram Venkatesan weaves a thread of what smells of the good old days, in which IAS officers in Tamil Nadu work their way around to avoid liability in a manner which might please the IAS Association.
3 by 9
Trinamool Congress MP and quiz master Derek O’Brien says 70 days after the lockdown began—70 days!—the first 10 railway coaches to be turned into isolation wards were launched today after a column he wrote on NDTV.
Promised: 5000. Delivered: 10. Difference: 4990.
Saket Gokhale points out the difference is even larger: 5311
4 by 9
As Indian soldiers stand eyeball to eyeball with their Chinese counterparts in Ladakh once again, the biggest threat facing BJP folk is, well, premature articulation.
5 by 9
Feeling chuffed about your CTC, cost to company, if you still hold a job that is?
India in Pixels tells you that if you are earning, let’s say, Rs 70,000 per month in 2020, it is actually what Rs 840 was worth in 1958.
Seems like a story that your grandfather used to say?
Well, here’s another way of looking understanding that number. Today’s Rs 1.20 was worth nearly double that when Narendra Modi took over in 2014.
6 by 9
Like his father Rahul Bajaj who articulated India Inc’s fears at an Economic Times event last year with the fearsome Amit Shah in the room, Bajaj Auto chief Rajiv Bajaj has emerged as that rare commodity who can speak his mind.
Bajaj junior questioned #Demonetisation, questioned the delays for Made-in-India quadricycle, questioned the lockdown, and now is bravely questioning @rahulgandhi.
From San Francisco, Rahul Fernandes doffs his hat.
7 by 9
Is it OK for a columnist to be obsessed with Narendra Modi’s looks? Maybe, but to show it so publicly, and so often?
@vanillaessence looks at TV presenter Zainab Sikander’s public display of approval of the prime moustache.
It takes two to tango.
Narendra Modi (or his social media handlers) had artfully chosen the “writer, columnist, political observer” to join the #MainBhiChowkidar movement before the 2019 general elections.
8 by 9
Summer’s here. So how do you pick the second-best summer fruit?
Chef Kunal Kapoor says this is how.
And finally: Today I learned
Chennai-based techie, musician and food science enthusiast @krishashok learned that 80% of all Bydagi chillies grown in Karnataka is used for making nail polishes and lipsticks.
@Arunaurs says a variety called Laxmi 414 that is grown exclusively in Byadgi for capsaicin extraction is also known as “Zandu Balm chilli”.
And one final number: Kunal Kamra’s ‘Aaja beta carry teko roast sikhaye!’ has had 3.53 lakh upvotes, and 20 lakh thumbs down.
Check out: J-POD with Alan Rusbridger, the former Editor of The Guardian.