Em

Communications soldier, differentiation matters, tokenism is our undoing. Freedom, books, whisky & red meat make life worthwhile. Empathy will save us.

[Em @driftwood23]

Why do we expect so much from our Pvt sector? We want hospitals to provide free testing & treatment, we blame cos when they launch a Rs1L car & question the congestion on our roads,we opinion-lynch them if they don't donate to charity. We let our politicians get away with murder

[Em @driftwood23]

@arunbothra Just goes on to show that UP has a peculiar law and order issue which needs to be sorted.

[Sarayu Pani @sarayupani]

Please CJP do not ask people to do things or undertake tasks when you do not understand the risks they face and have no ability to protect them from it.

Organise, protect the vulnerable. Assign these tasks to people with the most social capital who cannot be touched.

[Em @driftwood23]

@Atul_Gawande @RefugeesIntl @priyalisur @elonmusk you lied on the recent Economist interview. @TheEconomist

[Em @driftwood23]

@RnaudBertrand Have loved the notes from ur RV adventure and learnt so much abt China from the TL. Thanks !

[The Protagonist @protagonist_xi]

I get a lot of dms calling me “biased” “congressi” because I post about Rahul Gandhi so much.

And honestly, I’m not particularly interested in pretending otherwise just to appear “neutral.”

Rahul Gandhi already has an entire ecosystem dedicated to dissecting, mocking and attacking everything he does.

He doesn’t need another fence-sitter desperately trying to find an equal number of faults on both sides so nobody can accuse them of bias.

If we genuinely want a political change in 2029, someone has to actually build the alternative. That means talking about what Rahul Gandhi gets right, defending him when the criticism is dishonest, and yes, openly supporting him when I believe he deserves it.

I don’t think political engagement means standing permanently in the middle and being ashamed of having a side.

I know I want to see change in this country. And right now, Rahul Gandhi is the only viable political alternative I see capable of making that change happen.

So yes, you’re going to see me talk about him. A lot.

I’d rather be unapologetically on the side of the alternative than proudly neutral while another five years pass us by.

[Rahul Gandhi @RahulGandhi]

रिजिजू जी, संसदीय कार्य मंत्री होने के नाते आपसे बेहतर यह कौन जानता होगा - महिला आरक्षण विधेयक 2023 में ही सर्वसम्मति से पारित हो चुका है, कांग्रेस के पूर्ण समर्थन के साथ।

सवाल यह है कि तीन साल बाद भी वह लागू क्यों नहीं हुआ और अब आप उसे परिसीमन से बेवजह क्यों जोड़ना चाहते हैं?

2023 का क़ानून लागू कीजिए। बिना किसी शर्त के।

[Em @driftwood23]

@waitmaya 31

[Em @driftwood23]

@bhataktakavi Sending prayers and strength for all of u.

[Em @driftwood23]

@SauravDassss How is this allowed? @Wangchuk66 @GitanjaliAngmo @INCIndia @ArvindKejriwal pls help.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Another great example of everyday Chinese efficiency we just experienced.

We got the RV stuck (again, see quoted post below 👇) but this time it's completely not our fault: at the end of a one-way road a height restriction barrier had collapsed. It was meant to block trucks over 3m in height but, due to it collapsing, it was standing at maybe 2m50 and our RV is 2m80 so 🤷‍♂️ And since it was a one way road we couldn't turn around and drive against traffic: forbidden and too dangerous.

So we called the police. They arrived in exactly 3 minutes which they told us is actually their official KPI for time to intervention. I repeat: the official KPI for the police here in China is that when someone calls, they need to be on-site within a maximum of 3 minutes 🤯

They did two things: first, they immediately called the local village chief, which in the Chinese system is the person accountable to get the height restriction barrier fixed. The guy arrived in less than 2 minutes!

Second, they escorted us to drive back on our one-way road, so we could pass by the bike lane on the side which was large enough for our RV and wasn't affected by the barrier (see 3rd video).

To summarize: in the space of a mere 5 minutes after calling them, the police had arrived, the guy in charge of fixing the barrier was on-site, and we were safely escorted back on the road. Problem identified, accountability assigned, solution executed. Five minutes.

[Em @driftwood23]

@Sujata1978 💎

[Em @driftwood23]

@Benarasiyaa What r they celebrating? Reminds me of Lord of the Flies.

[🇨🇦 dronefishing 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 @dronefishing1]

@KobeissiLetter Blatant corruption at the highest levels of US government.

Martha Stewart went to prison for a handful of insider trades and now the president of the United States is selling insider trading tips for $100,000 a month

[Gautam S. Mengle @NotMengele]

A public screen in Gurugram is broadcasting your vehicle number and exact fine amount to everyone at the intersection. Here's why this is a cybercriminal's delight and a security and data privacy nightmare:

1. The screen displays, in real time, your vehicle registration number linked to a specific financial liability. That is personal financial data being broadcast publicly, without consent, to everyone present, including anyone with a phone and five seconds of patience.

2. Someone standing at that intersection with a camera could systematically photograph every vehicle that passes, building a database of registration numbers, pending fine amounts, and the exact time and location the vehicle was seen. That is a surveillance and profiling operation requiring zero technical skill.

3. Now consider what a fraudster can do with this. They know your registration number. They know you have Rs 48,500 in pending challans. They know you were at Sohna Chowk at 11:43 AM. That is enough to craft a highly convincing call or message offering to "clear" your challans for a fee, and you would have no reason to doubt they know exactly who you are.

4. This is textbook social engineering bait. The victim is already anxious about the fine. The fraudster appears informed and specific. The request feels urgent. Every psychological condition for a successful scam has been created by the screen itself.

5. India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 has specific provisions about the collection, processing and public display of personal financial data. Broadcasting a citizen's registration number alongside their financial liability to an uncontrolled public audience raises serious questions about whether this system is compliant.

Good intentions and good implementation are not the same thing. This is a system designed for correctness, not adversarial reality, and in cybersecurity, that gap is where the damage happens.

[Vaibhav Bodana @VaibhavSpace]

Meet Arundhati Choudhary, a boxer from Kota who spent a month in hospital after being deliberately fouled in training by a boy who couldn't stand losing to a girl.

She was 18, fresh off a Khelo India gold, when the head injury nearly ended things. Instead of fighting back at the boys who resented her win, she trained through blackouts at 4:30 am sessions and still won bronze at the Asian Youth Championship in Mongolia soon after. In 2021 she won gold at the AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships.

After wrist surgery in 2024, she came back to win the BFI Cup in Chennai and the 70 kg title at the World Boxing Cup Finals in 2025. Today she beat England's Chantelle Reid 5-0 to win Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow 2026.

Her father Suresh Choudhary spent money most fathers in her neighborhood save for a daughter's wedding on building her a boxing ring instead.

"I knock out my opponents in a game and my family does it in the real world." ~ Arundhati

Motivating for anyone how the comeback from surgery mattered less to her than the comeback from being told she didn't belong in the sport at all.

[Em @driftwood23]

@Nithin0dha Congratulations to @virenrasquinha and the @OGQ_India team!

[Naveen Patnaik @Naveen_Odisha]

I am deeply anguished to know that the legendary colour of the Indian hockey team’s jersey has been changed to saffron. The iconic shade of blue of the Indian hockey team is not just a colour. It is an emotion associated with the nation’s sporting heritage.

For decades, this colour united us in hope, in victory, in defeat and in the pursuit of sporting excellence. We have cried, laughed, celebrated and stood proudly with our men and women in blue. Wearing the blue jersey our teams have won Olympic medals with the national anthem playing on the world stage. #Blue is derived from the blue chakra in our national flag. It is a symbol of our national pride and identity. The colour blue belongs to every Indian.

When the national hockey teams were struggling for sponsors, #Odisha created history by being the first and only state to support our national teams and our beloved game. Every Odia across the globe was proud of the state’s gift to national hockey. After 41 long years, our men’s team won an Olympic medal. Just because the government changed in Odisha, it should not change our national team colours. This is petty politics of the worst kind.

Our blue jersey is to us what the iconic stripes are to Argentina and the yellow jersey is to Brazil. It is etched in our collective memory. Any change in this colour, is a crass attempt to erase our priceless sporting legacy. National symbols are meant to unite us not divide.

I am given to understand that this step was taken under pressure from the BJP Government in Odisha. Those in authority may deny it, but the fact is that for the last two years, everybody in Odisha has seen the obsession of this government with changing colours of buildings, buses and even bridges. It is the only work that is happening in Odisha today. But now the same government has changed the colours of our national team. I strongly condemn this attempt by BJP Odisha to politicise a national game like hockey. It has deeply hurt the sentiments of lakhs of sports lovers across the country and the pride with which Odisha has supported the national hockey.

#Hockey
#MenInBlue
#WomenInBlue

[Em @driftwood23]

Every time some fence-sitter asks "what is the alternative", pls share this.

[Rahul Gandhi @RahulGandhi]

I stand with the last person in the line. The exploited, marginalised and the persecuted. Their religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me.

I seek out those in pain and embrace them. I erase hatred and fear.

I love all living beings.

I am the Congress.

[Em @driftwood23]

@noheeriye You have a Heera! God bless.

[Em @driftwood23]

The reason why @AltNews @free_thinker @zoo_bear need all our support. Found this clip extremely problematic.

[Pratik Sinha @free_thinker]

I have compiled multiple clips from a programme on Subramanian Swamy's YouTube channel featuring Gitanjali Angmo — co-founder of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh. In it, she calls for removing "secular" from the Constitution, wants Sanskrit as the national language, endorses the Ram Mandir and a "Hindu Rashtra" and rejects the Aryan Invasion Theory.