This is sheer brilliance - calm / composed & direct.
Jumping jacks on Indian News TV are not going to win us the information war with Pakistan - this sort of engagement with international media will.
India's High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami refocuses on the root cause of this conflict - Pakistan's Army continued backing of anti-India terrorists.
The Most Expensive Land in History: Bought with Gold, Sanctified by Sacrifice
Do you know where the most expensive land in Bharat is?
It's not in Mumbai or Gurugram. It's in a small town called Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab. Not because of property value, but because of what it cost—in faith, sacrifice, and pure gold.
Read the 🧵
The Story of Diwan Todar Mal's Unparalleled Sacrifice 👇
I was at the Kensington Oval for the WC finals & this is my version of what I saw at the stadium:
I was seated at long on, it was 14.4 when Klaasen hit Axar for another 6, & single handedly deflated India. By the end of the over India will have conceded 34 runs in 8 balls. Scoreboard read 30 off 30 with 6 wickets in hand.
Players shoulders had dropped. Intensity was gone. South African pavillion which was right besides me, was clapping and cheering, loudest of the day. Fans mostly Indians had gone quiet.
Onslaught from Miller & Klaasen was so brutal, you could feel the eerie uneasiness in the atmosphere. Fans had succumbed to lost cause, shocked at what had just happened, already talking about losing 3 finals in 12 months. Some promising never to go to another game ever. Resigning to weeks of depression and sadness that was going to ensue.
Ball was now given to by no means a lanky pacer. In land of Joel Garner, the big bird, this was a small bird at best. He ran in to complete the formalities, but he had other ideas. He still had 12 legal deliveries or 40% of game to make any sort of impact.
South African support staff just sat a little more upright now. Their plan to score runs off spinners had worked brilliantly, hard part of the job was already done.
Each ball was an event in that over, every delivery he bowled, it felt like electricity would run through entire stadium. All the deflated, undercharged fans and players were getting turbo charged by this genius, one ball at a time. That over did not bring any wicket, but it charged everyone in that ground, he instilled belief it's not fucking over yet. Dropping shoulders were more upright now, nervous energy was rushing through SA camp.
I will do injustice to describe how it felt, but best I can describe is he was the pied piper of Kensington oval, a true genius, a magician was at work that afternoon. It felt like SRK was giving his 70 minute Chak De speech or was listening Nawazuddin Siddique's Bajrangi bhaijaan news report or Vicky Kaushal's URI rally. That over was nothing but a rally cry for the stadium.
Some 70 year old's in first row were banging the barricade, not worrying about their weak bodies, younger ones shouting so loud, their vocal cords would fall off, clapping so hard their hands were on the verge of bleeding. Entire stadium was now turbo charged pro max.
Miller and Klaasen knew they will need to work around this magician. Their skills too pale today in front of his brilliance. In comes Hardik, India's only choice at the moment. They knew this is a golden chance to score runs off this over and game will be sealed shut. Klaasen goes after it and Hardik reaps rewards. Belief even stronger now. Hardik bowls a clutch over, manages to keep the momentum in India's favor.
The pied piper comes back for his last 6 balls. Stadium was already rallying behind him, it was the time to hit the hammer. Jansen who had a poor game until now was visibly under confident. First up to Miller and it was a peach. Jansen on non striker end dreading to face the magician. His turn came on ball 4. Ball flew one bounce to boundary past Rishab Pant, but only after taking one of the bails with it. Grandstand which was built only for this world cup and was a temporary fixture could collapse any minute by the sheer thumping it was taking by the fans jubilant. Dark clouds forming over with lightning in the distance. You could not tell if it was the weather system or our very own Thor's doing who was welding his hammer.
Maharaj coming in next had one job now, shield Miller from this Thor. He manages to do that but only to read 20 off 2 overs. India's best ever had 6 runs, 1 wicket coming off in his 2 overs, but more importantly he had rallied his teammates, electrified an entire stadium and made SA dressing room running firmly on nervous energy now
I witnessed magic, a leader, and a spell of pace bowling in the lands of Marshall and Garner which even they would be mighty proud of.
The magnitude of the Delhi liquor scam explained.
- via SM
The old liquor policy of Delhi.
750ML Wholesale Price ₹166.73
Excise Duty ₹223.88
VAT ₹106.00
Retailer commission ₹33.39
MRP ₹530.00
New liquor policy of Kejriwal implemented in March 2022.
750ML Wholesale Price ₹188.41
Excise Duty ₹1.88
VAT 1% ₹1.90
Retailer Margin ₹363.27
Additional excise ₹4.54
MRP ₹560.00
Thus, in the old liquor policy, the government's earnings on a bottle was ₹329.89 while in the new liquor policy it is only ₹8.32. That is, a loss to the government of ₹321.57 per bottle from the new policy.
In the old policy, the retailer's commission was ₹33.39 whereas in the new policy the retailer's commission was ₹363.27 for a few months , i.e. profit to the retailer of ₹330.12 per bottle.
Thus, it is clear that the retailer benefits almost as much as the government suffers per bottle.
Now how did this benefit reach the manufacturer in the new policy? The manufacturers were allowed to open retail shops (which was illegal as per the rules).
Now look at the sales figures. In the old policy where the sale of liquor was 132 lakh liters per month, in the new policy, the sale of liquor per month is 245 lakh liters. To achieve this, the drinking age has been reduced to 18 years and the liquor sale time has been increased till 3 AM. Dry days have been reduced from 31 to only 3 days so that alcohol consumption is maximised.
Now you must have understood how huge a scam this is and how much money the Susu-Keju Caucus has earned, due to which the Chief Secretary had to ask the LG for a CBI investigation.
This is the condition of the AAP party which came to power with a thumping majority, claiming to eradicate corruption from politics.
To those in I.N.D.I. Alliance who are unwilling to accept defeat gracefully & are busy propagating the North-South Divide, Pls meet Thiru Katipally Venkat Ramana Reddy garu.
BJP Candidate from Kamareddy constituency, Thiru Katipally Venkat Ramana Reddy garu, defeats the incumbent Chief Minister of Telangana, Thiru K Chandrashekar Rao and Telangana State Congress President, Thiru Revanth Reddy.
The first time I met you in the Indian dressing room, you were pranked by other teammates into touching my feet. I couldn’t stop laughing that day. But soon, you touched my heart with your passion and skill. I am so happy that that young boy has grown into a ‘Virat’ player.
I couldn’t be happier that an Indian broke my record. And to do it on the biggest stage - in the World Cup Semi-final - and at my home ground is the icing on the cake.
#INDvNZ
Not many are able to turn defeat into victory, even fewer are remembered for it. Like the man who first sanctioned import of Borlaug's seeds and kickstarted the Green Revolution. That one, single, solitary step saved India.
Lal Bahadur Shastri. Forever in our thoughts. Forever.
Few Canadians want to impose sanctions on India.
India's bilateral trade with Canada is $8 billion, which is even less than our trade with some African nations, e.g., $14 billion with Nigeria.
We ignored the possible threat of sanctions from the US and Europe by not stopping trade with Russia; in fact, we increased it, after Russia invaded Ukraine, and Canadians think we care about their sanctions!
The Prime minister of a nation that once boasted of the greatest empire known to man.
Show this to the lady who wants India of the future to be an India without Hinduism. Hinduism has outlasted great empires. It will outlast you, me, her - it will never die. Hinduism is eternal.