Ritik Sinha

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

There are 196 tribes on Earth that still refuse all contact with outsiders. Brazil has 115 of them, more than any country, and its government flies planes over their villages on purpose.

The flyovers exist because of a brutal catch in how Brazil protects land. Forest only gets shielded as Indigenous territory if FUNAI, the Indigenous affairs agency, can prove isolated people actually live there. No proof, and loggers and miners move in. So agents photograph longhouses and gardens from the air, confirm the tribe exists, and never land.

The word "uncontacted" hides the real history. Most of these groups descend from people who met the outside world during the rubber boom a century ago, when enslavement and disease killed roughly 90% of western Amazonia's Indigenous population. Their ancestors ran deeper into the forest and never came back out.

The ones who did come out show why.

The Nahua in Peru were contacted in 1984 after oil exploration opened their land. Half of them were dead within a few years, mostly from colds and flu. The Matis in Brazil were contacted in 1978. Five years later, 87 of them were left. The Panará lost 80% of their people in the eight years after a highway was bulldozed through their forest.

A respiratory bug that costs you three days on the couch can erase half a village with no immunity to it.

So Brazil settled on the strangest conservation policy on Earth. Prove they exist. Guard the borders. Never say hello.

[Trains of India 🇮🇳 @trainwalebhaiya]

One of the rarest sights in Indian Railways: an electric locomotive-hauled train running without overhead electric wires!

This unusual operation is currently seen on two routes in India, the Ramanathapuram–Rameshwaram section in Tamil Nadu and the Mysuru–Chamarajanagar section in Karnataka.

But why is a small portion of these otherwise electrified routes still without overhead wires, while electric locomotives continue to operate on them? The core reason is airports and aviation operations.

On the Ramanathapuram–Rameshwaram route, the railway line passes close to a Naval air base, while on the Mysuru–Chamarajanagar route, it runs near Mysuru Airport. During electrification, concerns were raised about overhead equipment in the vicinity of active runways and its potential impact on flight operations.

As a result, while most of both routes were electrified, these small sections were left without overhead electric supply.

But Indian Railways still wanted to operate electric locomotives on the routes. So, a rather unusual solution is used: trains accelerate to their permissible speed before entering the non-electrified section and then roll through it using their momentum before reaching the electrified section again.

It sounds like a hack, but this is an actual operational practice, making it one of the most unusual electric-train operations you can spot in Indian Railways.

And yes, there have even been instances on these sections where a train reportedly got stuck after losing momentum in the non-electrified zone! :)

[Parveen Kaswan, IFS @ParveenKaswan]

What you are seeing is KGP-12. A #cheetah born in India in 2024 and has now given birth to four cubs.

You are seeing 2nd generation of #Indian born cheetahs !!

[Devamritasya Putra - देवामृतस्य पुत्र: 🇮🇳 @whiffofreshair]

The cheetahs that landed in Kuno in 2022 still thought June was winter. Because in Namibia, it is. Shorter days. Cooler nights. A thicker coat growing in, exactly as their bodies had been doing for generations south of the Equator.

India does the opposite. June is heat and monsoon. Same months, inverted world.

So some of them grew a winter coat in the middle of an Indian summer. The fur held the rain. Ticks moved in. Collars rubbed wet skin. They scratched. Wounds opened. Maggots followed. Three adults didn’t make it.

Nobody had a textbook for this. Not the Namibian team. Nor the Indian scientists. The pineal gland only reads night length.

The ones who lived through a full year began to reset. The cubs born here never had the old clock at all. Thirty-two of them opened their eyes under northern daylight. Their coats, their breeding, their sense of when winter arrives - already Indian.

That is the quiet part of the 52. Not just numbers. A species that crossed the Equator, paid for the mismatch in skin and blood, and then handed a correctly timed body to its young.

Nature is stubborn. It is also faster than we give it credit for.

#ProjectCheetah #KunoNationalPark #CheetahsOfIndia #WildlifeIndia #Conservation

[Yadu @Yaduvam]

The ornate foot jewellery of a Hindu bride in Sri Lanka, 1885.

[ꜱʀ ᴇᴅɪᴛꜱ @Soundar_Cuts]

Two eras. Two icons. One emotion.❤️‍🔥

#Thala #Thalapathy

[Sagar @sagarcasm]

That one non-alcoholic friend who eats all the chakna

[The Khel India @TheKhelIndia]

THE BOYS FINALLY DID IT!!!!!! 🏆🥹

- Defeated the Chinese pair at home and won the China Masters for the first time ever!

WHAT A MOMENT!!! 🇮🇳❤️

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[Gaurav Munjal @gauravmunjal]

Six years ago today, Unacademy became a unicorn. Today, Unacademy has closed its acquisition by UpGrad for just over $200M. We raised at a peak, but sold at a fraction of that. I'm not going to dress these facts up. But I am proud of what this team did between those two numbers.

When @RomanSaini and I started Unacademy with @hemezh and @sumjain, the mission was to democratise education. We didn't end up capturing all the economic value of that mission. But we changed what online education looks like in this country, and the products we built became the template for the entire sector.

Unacademy's free platform created a generation of celebrity educators. Educators are a cornerstone of any economy, and they should be celebrated, and our platform enabled that in our country. Their YouTube videos crossed 10 billion views. That's a milestone I am proud of. Airlearn, in under two years, became one of the top 3 most downloaded language learning apps in the world. We always wanted to build a global consumer product out of India. We did.

With a topline of around 400 crores, most businesses profitable or near-profitable, and 900 crores in the bank, we had every option to keep going independently. Nobody was forcing this. But sometimes, you are drawn towards a path that is more exciting than the one that makes you more money.

After meeting Ronnie over the years, understanding what he's built with UpGrad in higher education, and getting inspired by his vision for education in India (and more), I always walked away with the thought that it would be fantastic to work with him. And because there was no pressure of running out of money, we could take the time to actually think it through. The more we did, the clearer it got: this is a better path for the ecosystem, not just for us.

I'm looking forward to the path ahead, and I am very sure that our shareholders will create immense value from the merger hereon. My heartfelt thanks to every employee who stayed when it would have been easier to leave. To everyone who worked with us in the past. To our educators. To our investors. To my co-founders. We did four ESOP buybacks that created real value for our employees, even though the founders and investors didn't create much for themselves in the process.

A special note to a few people without whom I would have personally given up when things got really hard: Shailendra Singh, Deepinder Goyal, Bhavin Turakhia, Sujeet Kumar, Bhavish Aggarwal, Aakrit Vaish, Mukul Arora, Shantanu Rastogi and Karthik Reddy.

Also a huge shoutout to family and friends. And most importantly, my wife Reema, and my co-founder and close friend of almost 20 years, Roman. Thanks for sticking around during my lowest and my cockiest moments. You two make me better 🌞

[Ritik Sinha @ritikdon10]

@imkaushalPatel Nanda devi

[Ritik Sinha @ritikdon10]

@padhai_upsc Abanindranath Tagore

[Klvan @Nat_cfc]

Thank you for the memories Leo❤️

[Ritik Sinha @ritikdon10]

@padhai_upsc D

[Portal RBR Brasil 🇦🇹🇧🇷 @PortalRBRBrasil]

Interlagos 2023 ❤️

[Criterion Collection @Criterion]

✨Matthew McConaughey’s Closet Picks! ✨

[Claus @I_Am_Steve_Ok]

The way KK could just lie on a couch and casually outsing 95% of the industry without even trying…

unreal levels of talent…🛐

[MV33Racing🏎 @MV33Racing]

Max Verstappen's storm lap

[clara @leclercsletters]

years will pass and this edit will still be iconic

[just Wallpapers @_justWallpaprs]

Fernando Alonso’s F1 career has survived three Spider-Man eras 🕸️🤯