As much as I love Ronaldo for all the incredible memories and inspiration he’s given us, these past four years have been tough to watch. The issue isn't his drop in form—it's his narcissist attitude.
PS: Portugal's poor performances fall squarely on the manager, not the squad.
Tengo la teoría de que no es que no hay vibes de mundial, simplemente estamos más grandes y tenemos otras preocupaciones. Los mas pibitos deben estar re emocionados
The pre-Covid peak of 2019 was 1.09 crore foreign tourists. We are not even able to reach that level again till now. This is despite the rupee sitting at historic lows against the dollar, which should make India a bargain for foreign visitors. But alas, foreign tourists are going elsewhere - despite more airports being built, more flight routes opening, better connectivity than ever. Despite all the "Incredible India" campaigns.
So what's going wrong? Basically everything that actually matters to a tourist.
Start with the e-visa portal. Just google search reviews of the Indian government's online visa process and you will find hundreds of travellers sharing their own nightmares: forms crashing mid-application, payments failing repeatedly, data not being saved, the site randomly displaying a list of India's tallest mountains in the middle of a visa form. You will see that some tourists just gave up and booked somewhere else.
Then when the foreign tourists actually arrive. Good luck getting a local SIM card without jumping through hoops. UPI, which Indians love to flex about, is practically unusable for foreign visitors. Hotels across India are required by law to report the arrival of foreign guests to the police, adding another layer of babu-raj hassle. Scams are rampant at every tourist spot from Agra to Rishikesh, harassment is common, and the less said about public hygiene in most cities the better.
And the hotels in Indian tourist destinations like Goa are completely overpriced compared to equivalent properties in Bangkok, Hanoi, or Colombo.
The irony is, Indians themselves have figured this out. Outbound travel hit a record 3.3 crore trips in 2025, up 21.5% from pre-Covid. The Indian middle class now finds it cheaper to holiday in Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, or the UAE than in Goa or Kerala.
We keep building airports and announcing new routes, but nobody wants to visit a country where the first interaction with the state is a government website that looks like it was coded in 2003 and the last interaction is an overpriced hotel room with subpar service.
India can be infuriating at times because we have two completely contrasting case studies in infrastructure. World-class success and shambolic execution.
The Delhi Metro shows what is possible.
Mass transit in a developing country doesn’t have to be expensive to work at global scale.
Network: 416 km, 303 stations
Minimum fare: $0.13( the lowest among the world’s top 10 metro systems)
Compare that with:
• Shanghai / Beijing at $0.42
• Seoul at $1.01
• New York at $3
• London at $4.68 via @bsindia
8.45 am - Peak Rush Hour - people rushing to work, airports. There’s a sprawling four lane coastal road which can easily handle all the traffic including a ministers convoy. But NO!! It must blocked out and left empty - Cause of protocols. Seriously!!!!
Can we raise bills for damage caused by unadvertised VIP movement? Flights, penalties, challans? Only fair ….
This is Magarpatta City, Pune. Built and managed entirely by 120 farmer families of Magar clan - beats every UPSC babu managed municipality out there in comparison.
Welcome to Kalyanpur metro station, Kanpur, UP
Mayor - BJP
MLA - BJP
MP - BJP
State Govt - BJP
Central Govt - BJP
Fun part is, this is the 13th Cleanest city according to the national ranking of Central Govt 😭
Kanpur: Ganga 🙏
TDS: 900, OD :0
This sewage water is flowing directly into the Ganga without any treatment.
There was a time such videos would create pressure on BJP.
Now after 12 yrs, they do not even bother.
40K crore gone down the drain.
This is an experience you can find in every single Indian city. All local level politicians, bureaucrats, contractors are running the biggest Money Heist in independent India while Saheb preaches nashunalism for the gullible masses.