1 by 9: Finding Nimu
Life’s full of surprises. Narendra Modi’s “surprise” visit to Ladakh at dawn today was only as surprising as his “surprise” visit to Lahore at dusk to wish his Paksitani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday, in 2015.
In other words, a day without a carefully choreographed photo opportunity is the real surprise. And, as India counts the chips of China’s military and microbial incursions, the spectacle services to distract attention for another night.
The sudden trip without prior announcement, the curated pictures with the troops, the cries of Bharat Mata ki Jai, the co-ordinated tweeting by ministers, are all intended to induce shock and awe, and add to the iconography of the “strong man”.
Especially after the cringe-worthy claim that “no one has intruded”.
The only real surprise is in calling Nimu (or Nimmoo) a “forward area” as the government’s megaphones did: Doordarshan, ANI and assorted BJP folk.
Truth is:
Nimu is a large military base 34 km south of Leh on the road to Kargil/Srinagar.
Nimu is 249 km and seven hours from Galwan Valley, the theatre of action.
The nearest “forward position” from Nimu is Chushul, 231 km away.
Aamir Khan went closer to the border to shoot a film than Modi.
Indeed, Nimu is such a “forward position” that this is where white water rafting expeditions are flagged off, i.e. it is a tourist spot.
So, while you cannot quibble about a “surprise visit” that seeks to showcase leadership, you could just put down the categorisation of Nimu as a “forward position” to exaggeration: if anything it’s a “WhatsApp forward position”.
But as Lance Klusener said after a different defeat: “So what, no one died.
Jo hyper bole, so nihal.
2 by 9: Money can’t buy zoom
The COVID months have been a write-off for most humans. Not for Mukesh Ambani. In 11 deals over 58 days, he raised Rs 115,693 crore by selling bits Jio Platforms. He even decided to become one of the 10 richest people on Earth during the lockdown.
But for all his wealth and enterprise, can’t the Reliance chief find original engineers?
Superb digging by S.G. Shrinivas shows that Ambani’s Jio Meet is a carbon copy of Zoom. The landing page, meetings page, start a meeting page, join a meeting page, schedule meeting page, contacts page, my profile page, meeting settings page, its about page, are the same.
SG’s demolition in 10 tweets over 12 minutes is so thorough, it prompts a fine quip.
Either this imitation is flattery of a monumental scale, or Mukesh Ambani secretly owns Zoom without the world knowing.
“Zoom’s CEO needs to answer for this,” quips Rohin Dharmakumar, CEO of The Ken, tongue firmly in cheek.
Ashish K. Mishra, editor-in-chief of the Morning Context, provides perspective on why Indian companies have not been able to build social media apps: because they haven’t developed tech or machine learning; because there is hardly any innovation; and because despite a potential audience of 1.3 billion, there is very little scope of monetisation.
3 by 9: Tigers at home, tigers abroad
A couple of quick questions:
1) To which Indian ruler did Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, send a copy of the ‘Declaration of Independence’ before America’s independence in 1776?”
2) In honour of whom did Pennsylvania name a warship as “Hyder-Ally”?
Answer: Hyder Ali, the father of Tipu Sultan.
250 years ago, Tipu and his father were not just fighting the British in India, they were also inspiring America’s independence movement. Their exploits against the British East India Company encouraged the American Revolutionaries in their War of Independence (1776-83).
Tomorrow, July 4, the American Institute of Islamic History and Culture in California has arranged a podcast conference (9.30 pm IST; 12 noon EST) to highlight these and other unknown facets of the much-reviled “Tiger of Mysore”.
Read this 2016 piece by Blake Smith on Aeon: Revolutionary heroes
“If the sultan of Mysore had had a bit more luck, George Washington might be known as the Haider Ali of North America”
Listen to a brief excerpt above
4 by 9: Note ban di
In 2020, ₹100 is worth ₹1.2 of 1958. So, if you earn ₹70,000 per month today, you are basically taking home as much as someone who earned ₹840 back then.
That’s ancient? OK.
As stock markets fluctuate, as bank interest rates dip, as rupee value goes down, India in Pixels shows what Rs 100 is worth today compared to 10 years ago.
Here’s Prof Kaushik Basu of Cornell University, the former chief economic advisor to prime minister Manmohan Singh, on how 2020 has been for India.
“In January this year, IMF’s forecast for India’s GDP growth in 2020 was 5.8%. In April the forecast was 1.9%. In June it was -4.5%.
“In the Economist magazine’s weekly chart of 43 major economies in the world, for a long time, India was among the top-three fastest growing economies. It has now been demoted to 23rd rank for 2020.”
5 by 9: Take my trip.com
Are things looking up after 100 days of lockdown? Are people beginning to overcome their fears of COVID and venture out? Are they ready to fly and visit places and eat and drink with the rest?
An infographic in the Financial Times, London, shows a small uptick in online searches for flight bookings, but it is mostly restricted to European destinations.
China, India and Japan are very much a no-go, as of June 20.
6 by 9: Nation wants to ‘no’
Arnab Goswami’s monologue on India’s ban of #TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps has spawned a million memes—and impossibly “united” India and Pakistan.
Jose Covaco’s spoof on electricity bills is rocking. But radio jockey Fahad Hussain gives it a good shot, too—after recording it on TikTok for good measure.
Talking of a million memes, did you know that the first number with the letter ‘b’ in it is “billion’? Of course, you did.
7 by 9: Loss of gravity
Not suitable for working at home.
8 by 9: Salman, Sushmita and K-Pop
BTS, the seven-member South Korean boy band, groove to the voice of Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Anuradha Sriram from Biwi No.1 in a YouTube mashup.
Today I learned
Rajat Sharma, the founder of India TV and the former chairman of the Delhi & districts cricket association (DDCA), is a director on the board of Ruchi Soya, the edible oil company picked up by Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali.
Ruchi Soya’s stock has risen 8,400 per cent in 104 days, from Rs 16.9 to Rs 1,431.
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Screenshots: courtesy @paritoshZero via Twitter; Financial Times
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