Smeeta Basak

Believer in social equity, tolerance and inclusivity. Hopeful of such a world.

[Smeeta Basak @SmeetaBasak]

@DoT_India @BSNLCorporate Still no resolution and yet another bill received. My senior citizen mother is running from pillar to post to get a resolution.

[Smeeta Basak @SmeetaBasak]

My mother, 73, lives alone, is being harassed by BSNL for pymnt of a fiber connection, that was never installed & never applied for! She was a former employee for 30+ yrs, yet no resolution since 3 mnths. Official complaint attached
@BSNL_WB @CGM_WB_BSNL @MIB_India @BSNLCorporate

[Naila Ayad🇵🇸 @Naila_Ayad]

Ban lsrael from the Olympics.

Retweet this.

[P. Sainath @PSainath_org]

1/8. Most Indians see the Big Fat Indian Wedding as a national achievement and are not put off by it, according to TV commentary, including on BBC. Really? Did BBC, anyone, do a poll/survey of most Indians? People hit the streets for what they see as a national achievement – like to greet the returning T20 world cup winning team. Anyone seen Mumbaikars dancing on the streets to celebrate the Ambani wedding? #ambaniwedding #psainath

[shahid siddiqui @shahid_siddiqui]

THE PEDESTRIAN VULGARITY OF THE SUPER RICH.

Copied from the FB wall of Usha Pandit.
“There is a reason why the super rich Ambanis look so comic in their desperation to find an audience in the social media with their choice of over the top dresses, celebrations, milling around guests, the Ambani kids looking like officious guides about to put up a performance directing people, ridiculous dancing on which they probably spent hundreds of practice hours to coordinate their two left feet, their need to bring in western pop singers because they cost more, plaster their rates all over to get people gawping stupidly, get famous actors to serve food and entertain guests with tasteless jokes, a sorry predication of their unintelligent minds hidden behind their cosmetic masks. The list goes on. The waste stuns.

Money can’t buy class. They collectively appear to be needing the ostentation to confirm their happiness. The rich often live in their bubbles. These need to put the bubble on social media for the watch and swoon unwashed masses. The social cells are instructed to add hundreds of comments on these videos that go ‘ very nice’, ‘good dancing’, ‘adorable’ and so on basically asking all others to follow in the same vein.

Any dip in the horn of plenty is fixed by raising recharge fees and getting all the spectators pay for their entertainment. It makes you wonder what might their thoughts be… Mukesh is probably scheming about how to make more as soon as this is over. Nita is bemoaning she has no more sons to marry off in a serial wedding spree. The bahus must, by now, be bored with clothes, jewellery, travel, no? Perhaps when your cranial compartment is low in matter, it can’t process more than the baubles amd trinkets of life. Their everyday life seems dreadfully humdrum in the fecundity of just same ol’ riches.

What might someone as privileged, and with a lot more class have done? Add a dash of Hindi sanskaar they are so proud of. Created history ofcourse.

A modest classy wedding of 5 days, great Indian culture and music for the world to see, sound and light shows of our great ancient architecture as background to the family photographs making the world salivate over our incredible country and the first business family who can afford to frame it for personal shoots. Vanity satiated. Tourism promoted. Contrast this with Justin in chaddi pants and the other chick doing uncoordinated moves and a few hundred dancers gyrating un rhythmically that they chose instead. Vulgar display of mediocrity.
They, clearly, are fools.

Each Ambani could have done charity. What would 120 crore pedas cost for all the children in India? Just what they paid these imported entertainers who looked like they didn’t do a day’s work for that money. What is the legacy you create in feeding the poor? Fools they are.

Nita could have opened a few schools
In each state. The kids used their own expertise to give back to the people. Built toilets, dug wells, built animal sanctuaries, financed clinics, created maternal counselling - all as Anant Radhika Centres. What a wedding that would be!

Alas! We have this tasteless jumboorie of the Ambanis grinning around like a bunch of jack rabbits. I dread to think of the food wasted, the costs on lighting, transport, security, traffic snarls, inflation in hotels. Down the drain, adding nothing to the family but contempt. Sad. Very sad.”

[Motherland @Motherl28134473]

Pass it on

[Siddharth @DearthOfSid]

Here is the full video of @iamjohnoliver’s new episode on India, which JioCinema refused to air.

An absolute must-watch 👏

[Smeeta Basak @SmeetaBasak]

@Joydas 1. BJP short of 272 - there is hope for 2029
2. BJP losing Ayodhya - jingoism is short lived
3. Shock and awe in UP - Bulldozer politics will see the end of the day

[Smeeta Basak @SmeetaBasak]

Really bad after sales service from
@PanasonicIndia @panasonic for a brand new aircon. Been chasing the call center and the technician for weeks now, and still it hasn’t been fixed yet. Job cart number - R25052422456833

[Smeeta Basak @SmeetaBasak]

200+ families in Vatika City, Sec 49 have been suffering from multiple cycles of stomach infection since March. Independent water testing done shows Coliform bacteria in water. No concrete action by facilities office. Requesting attention from from
@DC_Gurugram @MunCorpGurugram

[Shridhar V @iimcomic]

The best way to live in India is inside a bubble.

Study well, work hard, make money, live in a gated community & pray the mobs don’t enter.

Because, hate doesn’t differentiate. It’s either Religion, Region or Language. Your only hope is you’re not caught on the wrong side. 🙏🏻

[Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis @DrLoupis]

Powerful message from Norwegian doctor @DrMadsGilbert in Shifa Hospital, Gaza.🇵🇸

“Joe Biden, can you hear the screams?” https://t.co/88xgEpeLJl

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

Read this, then read it again, then make sure everyone you know reads it, too.

[Smeeta Basak @SmeetaBasak]

@sardesairajdeep Ram ram comes from Hinduism and Jai Shri Ram comes from Hindutva. There lies the difference.

[Smeeta Basak @SmeetaBasak]

@Joydas Because it was Chennai, not Ahmedabad.

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

“Pure panic everywhere you look.”

Inside the Gaza siege - a resident’s eyewitness report by Yousef Hammash.

[Belal Aldabbour @Belalmd12]

Soon, the last sliver of electricity and connection will be exhausted. If I die, remember that I, we, were individuals, humans, we had names, dreams, and achievements, and our only fault was that we were just classified as inferior.

[Siddharth @DearthOfSid]

The Israel-Palestine story for beginners.

[Smeeta Basak @SmeetaBasak]

@priyashmita Journal square