Smit Kothari

in the making

[THE SKIN DOCTOR @theskindoctor13]

My car broke down today, so I booked an auto home. It was a brand-new electric one. The driver, Vivek Singh, looked to be in his forties: quiet, focused, the kind of man who keeps to himself.

At a busy red light, a delivery boy pulled up beside us and, eyeing the auto, asked, “Ek charge mein kitna chal jaata hai?”

Vivek started replying in excitement, as if he’d been waiting for that question. “Company 210 bolti hai, lekin 190 hai. Ek charge me poora din nikal jaata hai, chalate jao, chalate jao. 20–25 ride ho jaati hain, charge khatam hi nahi hota.” The delivery boy asked about earnings. He shrugged: “Din ka 3–3.5 hazaar ho jaata hai. Koi ghate ka sauda nahi.”

Signal green. We moved ahead. But the delivery boy was still interested. He started driving next to us and asked, “Kitne me pada?” Vivek said, “Interest mila kar 6 lakh. 13–13 hazar ki 44 kisht hai. 70–80 mahina mai kama leta hu, usme se kisht aaram se nikal jaati hai. Kyu kisi ke yaha 15–20 ki naukri karna?”

The delivery boy laughed and rode off, but now I was curious. I asked, 20–25 ride matlab poora din hi bahar rehte honge. “Subah 8 nikalta hu, raat 10-11 wapas,” he said.

I said, fir aapki life kya rahi. He replied, “Agar kul ko gareebi se bahar nikalna hai to kisi ek peedhi ko apna sukh chhod kar ji-jan se mehnat karni padegi. Ek baar ghar ban jaaye, bachhe kuch ban jaayein, fir jiyenge apni zindagi.” He said that with the same excitement, without any complaint, no gareebi, majboori ka rona.

He dropped me at my stop. I watched him merge into traffic, a quiet man doing what’s expected from a man: providing. While mothers get due love, care, affection, and respect for what they sacrifice for the family, and rightly so, fathers’ sacrifice is generally downplayed as basic duty.

I hope his children grow up to make all this worth it for him. That, at least, is the bare minimum he deserves.

[The Kaipullai @thekaipullai]

For everyone who is disappointed that we didn’t finish Pakistan. I have only one question.

What exactly do you mean by “Finish Pakistan”? What do you expect to do?

Do you want to do a WW2 style Operation Sickle Cut, launch armored pincer movements, encircle Pakistani armies and annex Pakistan? Why on earth would you want to do that?

Do you want to add 300 million hostile people, some of whom already think blowing themselves up is their greatest purpose in life? How will you manage them?

Is that how you will finish Pakistan?

Or do you want to nuke them out of existence?

Because let me give you a reality check here. We won’t do that. We can’t do that. Indian citizens cannot morally contemplate, let alone sanction, nuking 300 million people. So that option is out.

Then Someone said, “Let’s split Pakistan into 5 countries”.

Now, Pakistan isn’t some Ikea Furniture that you can assemble or disassemble at your will. As hopeless they may be, they still have a functioning military and a working bureaucracy. They will do anything they can to keep the country together.

With all our might, with all our focus, we can exploit that Faultline, but it will take a lot of money and energy and 10-15 years. Are you ready to wait that long?

Some people said we should do a large-scale attack on all their air bases, military bases, Ports, Military HQ everything. Obliterate them out of existence.

Sounds nice if you are movie general.

In reality if we do that, Pakistan will launch nukes on Mumbai and Delhi. Simple. Because it will be their last resort and they will exercise it.

Obviously, we will retaliate and wipe them out of existence, but are ready to lose our 2 big cities and the lives of 20 million Indians as a price for taking out their military?

I don’t think so.

Finally, what is War? War is nothing but politics by other means. And War without objective is pointless.

Any battle launched should be with a purpose.

Our purpose in this strike was two-fold

1. Send a message to Pakistan that for every Indian your terrorist kills, we will kill 100 of your terrorists. We will take you out even if you are ensconced in the heart of your country. We will come after your terrorists like a wrath of God.
2. If Pakistan retaliates, not only can we handle them, but we will also hit and twist the knife if it comes to that.

We have achieved it. In fact, we have more than achieved it.

We have put the fear of God in the terrorists. Obviously, they will try again, but this time they know we will hit back.

And we have clearly shown Pakistan that we can penetrate wherever we want into Pakistan, while the maximum they can do is look up and shake their fists.

Some people also speak about India being diplomatically isolated.

In this entire exercise, if anyone has been isolated, it is Pakistan.

In the olden days, as soon as something bad from Pakistan happened, most countries used to descend on us, asking us to be restrained, calm, resilient etc.

This time not only did nobody speak, but they also allowed us three days of complete freedom of action where we stuck fear in the hearts of the Pakistani military.

So much so, they had to beg to us to stop.

In international diplomacy, no country will come out and say “Please attack someone else. We are with you” .

They will support you only when you are being attacked. The fact that nobody said anything when we attacked, is a diplomatic success in itself. Just that we don’t see it.

To summarize, as far as Operation Sindoor is concerned

1. We sent 200 jihadis to where they belong.
2. Took out 9 terrorist locations deep inside Pakistan
3. Attacked all major Pakistani Air bases, made a complete mockery of their air defence system.
4. Made them beg for us to stop. I mean if it is a wrestling match, the person who taps out first is the one who loses. Pakistan tapped out. Ergo, they lost.
5. Ensured Indus Water Treaty is now firmly in the dustbin.
6. Have given ourselves the freedom to attack Pakistan as soon as a Terrorist incident takes place.

If this is not a win for us, then I don’t know what is.

P:S: India wants to be an advanced country and has to provide for 80 crore people who are below the age of 30.

We have to focus on industrialization, technological self-sufficiency and agricultural modernization.

We have higher priorities than fighting pointless wars against a country who has nothing and can give nothing.

[Sidhant Sibal @sidhant]

Guyana's strong India link
-Almost 50% of Guyanese population traces ancestry to India
-Both Prez Irfaan Ali, & Vice Prez Bharrat Jagdeo are Indian Origin. Both been to India in last 14 months
-India is importing energy from Guyana
-Guyana getting defence assets with Indian help

[Parsh Kothari @parsh_kothari]

Saregama was about to face DEATH LIKE KODAK.

But then they launched an OLD BOX WITH JUST OLD MUSIC.

Little did they know this box would increase their share price by 100 TIMES -

THREAD: How Saregama Caravan made India dance on its tunes:

[Gia Macool @GiaMMacool]

5 years old - Dad knows everything!

7 years old - Dad knows.

10 years old - Maybe dad doesn’t know?!

12 years old - Dad doesn’t know.

14 years old - Dads gone crazy!

16 years old - Can’t take dad seriously.

18 years old - What does dad know?!

22 years old - Dads talking rubbish!

24 years old - I know more than dad!

26 years old - Dad seems to know some things after all.

30 years old - Think I should ask dad about this?!

40 years old - It’s amazing how dad went through all this!

45 years old - Dads been right all along.

50 years old - If dad was here, I could have learned a lot.

[Rahul | Data & Tech @yesrahulkr]

Thrilled to share an incredible opportunity! 🏏 Delved into the illustrious career data of legendary cricketer @ashwinravi99 , focusing on his remarkable achievement of 500 wickets in just 98 test matches. An absolute honor to be a part of this milestone in cricket history! 🎉 Diving deep into the data, I meticulously analyzed every aspect of his journey to 500 wickets. From varied conditions to opposition teams and wicket trends, the insights were fascinating, highlighting Ashwin's unmatched skill and determination.
#INDvENG #INDvsENGTest #yashasvi

[The Paperclip @Paperclip_In]

In 1975, when an elderly British man stepped onto the streets of Calcutta, a few old-timers recognized him, approaching him with gratitude. "Thank you for what you did for Bengal." Today we remember a hero, one who defied propaganda and fearlessly questioned those in power. 1/17

[Anand Ranganathan @ARanganathan72]

Man of the tournament: Hardik Pandya.

[anand mahindra @anandmahindra]

I will never,EVER again complain about petty problems in my life. #SheetalDevi you are a teacher to us all. Please pick any car from our range & we will award it to you & customise it for your use.

[Abhijit Iyer-Mitra @Iyervval]

Saving Trudeau’s political career or the bilateral relationship with India. Sitting in D.C. your view would be quite simple - an individual of depreciating value vs a state of appreciating value. Let’s be clear - pulling the rug from Trudeau does not affect US-Canada state ties

[NobleInsights @NobleInsightss]

Exciting news from the Indian Institute of Science! 🧪🔬

The groundbreaking research from the IISc introduces a new method to detect and eliminate cancer cells within solid tumor masses.

This innovation has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment globally. 🌍🩺 #CancerResearch

Contd.

Video Credit: DD News

[Ravisutanjani @Ravisutanjani]

🚨 What an Innovative Product from Paytm

One Tap UPI & Card Payments with Instant Payment Notification, This is Card Soundbox

[Parsh Kothari @parsh_kothari]

10 Mega Projects that can turn India into a developed economy by 2030

(Indians! You'd be proud of it!)

[vishal dayama @VishalDayama]

I am sitting in a quiet coffee shop, just outside Leh. Alone. I order a black coffee. I have been drinking black coffee for seventeen years now. It’s good for weight loss, they say. I am 45 now. And I weigh almost the same as I used to weigh seventeen years ago. It’s the caffeinated hope that I am addicted to. Will someone be joining you, the waiter asks. I hope not, I reply. I chuckle sadly before going back to the book that I had been reading. Nowadays, I can’t leave myself alone with my thoughts. Things could go terribly wrong. I need my mind to be distracted. Always.

I have been living one day at a time for as long as I can remember. Just focus on the present, things will be fine. Things never turned out to be fine. They were far from fine. They still are so, so far from fine. But now I don’t complain. I have complained enough and I am tired now. It doesn’t solve anything. When you fall into the abyss for long enough, you realise that there is no point in screaming. The book I am reading is about this girl who traveled to a small island in Italy in her early 20s and then never returned. Nobody knows where she is, but she keeps sending letters to let everyone know that she is alive. She has no explanation for why she planned to settle there. It just felt like the right thing to do, she said in one of her letters. I think towards the end of the book she will stop sending these letters. I hope she does.

Have you ever felt that your whole life has passed by right in front of your eyes? Like you remember every second, every minute, every day, of the years that have gone by? And you are tired and you don’t want to watch it but you can’t help it so you just keep on watching. And some days your eyes are so wide open that you start seeing the future. The things that are gonna happen. All the unexciting events that are gonna unravel. And you know that it’s all gonna be true and you are already tired of them without actually living them. So all you gotta do is wait. Wait till all of it passes.

I am in a meeting now. It’s a posh office in Bandra. The kind of office where they value their plants more than their interns. I had a very bad morning. I woke up feeling breathless, so I just sat on my bed for two hours. Doing nothing. I have been having these kinds of mornings for quite a while. I should consult with a doctor. I am 36 now. My colleague called and told me that I was late for the meeting. He sounded kind of pissed. I didn’t care. I made my coffee and headed for the meeting. “What do you think about this?”, someone asks me. I stare at them for a while. “Do you like this?”, they ask back. Suddenly it strikes me. I don’t like this. I don’t like any of this. I walk out of the meeting. And then the city. And then the country. I am done, I tell myself, knowing perfectly well that I am not. I am far from done. I live in a different country for a couple of years. I come back, an unchanged man. Who was I running away from, anyway?

What’s the meaning of it all? I ask a friend at 3 a.m. We are both in our twenties. He smiles and goes to pee. I continue watching the TV. He comes back and tells me that I shouldn’t worry about the meaning of it all. Maybe the answer is in the search. I nod. Or maybe the meaning is so simple that we are unable to grasp it, he continues. You are drunk, I tell him. Or maybe, there is no meaning. We continue living till we die. Maybe we are too small to comprehend all of this. Or too insignificant. Okay, you definitely need to sleep. He nods off. I go to the kitchen to make myself some coffee. There is no milk. So I make myself a cup of black coffee for the first time.

It’s 6 pm and the sun is about to set. The waiter comes back with another coffee. I am almost done with my book. The girl indeed stops sending the letters. I hope she is happy. I finish my book and start walking towards my room. It’s unusually quiet today. I buy some apples on my way. Black coffee and red apples. That’s my diet nowadays. I haven’t felt breathless in more than five years. It cured itself. I enter my hotel room. I shut the door. I watch some more of this life pass by.

[anand mahindra @anandmahindra]

What? When? Where? An Indian men’s 4x400 relay team qualifying for the finals in the World Athletics Championship? Looks like everyone is shooting for the moon now… Look at them run…Our Cheetahs…. https://t.co/K0Il2UEXpR

[Sidhant Sibal @sidhant]

Big BREAKING: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE to become full members of BRICS from 1st January 2024 announces South African President

[NobleInsights @NobleInsightss]

UK is making laughing stock out of itself.

India denied the “so-called” aid from UK, saying it was Peanuts for it.

One more interesting fact is, during its colonisation era, UK looted a wealth equivalent to 48 Trillion Sterling Pounds from India.

Not only this, UK also caused millions of deaths in India eg Bengal Famine.

[anand mahindra @anandmahindra]

Really?? The truth is that, in large part, our poverty was a result of decades of colonial rule which systematically plundered the wealth of an entire subcontinent. Yet the most valuable possession we were robbed of was not the Kohinoor Diamond but our pride & belief in our own capabilities. Because the goal of colonisation—its most insidious impact—is to convince its victims of their inferiority. Which is why investing in BOTH toilets AND space exploration is not a contradiction. Sir, what going to the moon does for us is that it helps restore our pride & self-confidence. It creates belief in progress through science. It gives us the aspiration to lift ourselves out of poverty. The greatest poverty is the poverty of aspiration…

[Wasim Jaffer @WasimJaffer14]

Definitely a bat first surface. I'd go with 3 spinners, one genuine seamer along with an all rounder 😛😉
📸: Chandrayaan3 #Chandrayaan3Landing