Sumukh K Bharadwaj

[Kamal Haasan @ikamalhaasan]

Mr. Musk, yes, no billionaire should dictate a nation’s policy - Indian or American.

India must welcome competition in satellite internet, from Indian and global providers, whoever offers the most practical and affordable last-mile solution for those in remote regions. In countries with lower per-capita incomes, satellite internet must be affordable too. High subscription fees and equipment costs risk putting it beyond the reach of ordinary households. Connectivity must bridge the digital divide, not create a new one.

India knows our networks and spectrum are strategic infrastructure, not merely commercial assets. India’s national security safeguards are non-negotiable.

Every country makes choices based on its own interests. Those in the West cannot preach free markets while practicing protectionism at home. USA imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to protect its domestic industry, just as India takes measures to protect its own domestic manufacturers. Both India and the US have restricted Huawei over security concerns. One cannot demand a level playing field from others only when it suits its own agenda.

Indians will internally debate, question and address our strengths and shortcomings as a democratic country.

Take BharatNet, India’s programme to bring broadband to village-level local bodies. We will question why, as the CAG’s 2026 audit report found, the programme is struggling to meet its original objectives. Why were only 33.2% of service-ready Gram Panchayats operational, despite ₹39,888 crore being spent? At the same time, we know to appreciate our telecom sector and regulations, which has made internet data among the world’s most affordable, bringing millions online.

India is a democracy, not a colony. We welcome the world, but we, the Indian people, will decide our own future - not Western vested interests, their double standards or any billionaire - Indian or American.

[Aravind @aravind]

Elon Musk's recent thread calling Ambani as PM looks written by a "South Asian", and definitely not like his usual posting style.

Excessive politeness, explanatory style with "so", starting a para with "Also". They are all a give away. Just read them for yourself.

So it seems like a coordinated operation run by the same DS which attacks India's companies and capitalists, but now it's using Elon to make it political.

I am at a loss to understand why Elon is getting influenced this way and letting himself be used to generate animosity with 1.4 billion people.

Especially at a time when his companies are gaining acceptance and good traction in India. If he thinks half the Indians may support him due to politics, he's mistaken.

For the small number of Indians getting carried away politically, and taking side with these foreigners interfering in India's sovereignty:

Do understand Starlink is not being unjustifiably stopped. They are in the same regulatory approval status as India's Jio and Airtel.

They have already got required licenses, setup required infra on the ground, and the distributorship to start operations once the final approval is given. Which is also expected soon along with Jio and Airtel.

But Elon seems to be very frustrated that Starlink wasn't approved two years ago when he clearly could have monopolized Satellite internet in India. Now, with Jio and Airtel competing in parallel for satellite net, it is super tough for Starlink.

So, as an Indian, it is important to understand while getting access to newer tech shouldn't be banned by GoI like pre-1990s India, it is also important to have a choice, competition, and clarity on security implications.

The politicians who have suddenly done a 180 degree in taking sides with Elon are the same who were, two years ago, questioning India even considering allowing Starlink claiming "Modi sold out to Elon."

We need to understand these sudden attacks on PM and India's companies are being done in tandem with other, on the ground, operations in India to destabilize and delegitimize the govt - which too has been completely organized via American social media.

The same Elon talking about how India will benefit with Starlink, when it is actually being considered for approval, doesn't say a word about how China - which bans most American companies in strategic sectors and never even considered Starlink - will benefit from it.

From this alone you can understand the agenda. India has enough services, network, the NDRF, and the Army, who can setup communication anywhere, to save our men women and children during a disaster.

Beware of such white savior syndrome. Need to remind ourselves, East India Company came in saying "Indians will benefit from western trade."

[The Fire Cow 🔥🐮 @Batflake]

How comes no one says Pakistan, formed in 1947, is Indian and the Muslims took a section of India by force and colonised it, like they say about Israel and Palestine? Unless...we always side with the Muslim expansion? 🤷

[Aravind @aravind]

It is not some "ancient civilizations." It is the one and only continuous, still existing Indian civilization that has done extraordinary work like this in every field. Also, as someone pointed out, it looks more like a flagellar motor than a turbine.

[Andrew Fleischman @ASFleischman]

It's remarkable that a woman can complain about free speech in Britain while supporting execution for blasphemy in Saudi Arabia.

This might be one of those paradox of tolerance situations.

[Sātavāhana @SatavahanasIN]

Indian goldsmiths, 2,000 years ago !

[Sātavāhana @SatavahanasIN]

India

[GemsOfINDOLOGY @GemsOfINDOLOGY]

A dimpled thali, dug out of Harappa. 4,000+ years old.

No credit. No label. No mention.

Today the same design sells for ₹4,500 as a dimpled copper thali. Artisanal. Hand-hammered. Premium. Where's the word Harappa?

In 1960 the same dimpled brass thali cost ₹50 and was called backwards. Primitive. Uneven. Same dents. Same thermal physics. We were taught to be ashamed first, then to pay 90x more.

Factory steel arrived. Flat. Uniform. Cheap. Modern. The thatheras lost their work, the craft ecosystem collapsed, and we called machine-pressed dishes progress.

Then a metro design studio discovered thermal efficiency. 🔥

Dimpling increases surface area, spreads heat better, and gives a firmer grip. Harappans figured that out millennia ago. Now it's on Instagram, part of a ₹850+ crore premium kitchenware market, sold as a brand's original idea.

We didn't just abandon the craft. We abandoned the knowledge of where it came from, then bought it back with a barcode and a story about tradition.

The metal didn't change. The physics didn't change. The credit did.

Your great-grandfather wasn't using primitive dishes. He was using Harappan design we were taught to be embarrassed by.

Who profits when the origin goes unnamed and the product gets a price tag? 💰

[Ram @ramprasad_c]

What is actually extraordinary is how the British nearly wiped out lions in India.

British viceroys, colonial officers, and visiting nobles turned lion hunting into a sport. A rite of passage. A photo opportunity. They organized grand hunting expeditions.

By 1884, a dozen lions remained in all of India, thanks to the Brits.

Nawab of Junagadh banned all lion hunting in his territory without special permission. He declared that anyone caught poaching a lion would face jail time and fines.

The British did not cooperate. The Nawab petitioned the colonial government to extend protections. They refused. British colonial officials saw lion hunting as their birthright.

After independence, the Indian Forest Department took over in 1965, designated Gir as a National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, and built one of the most successful large predator conservation programs in the world.

Today there are 891 Asiatic lions in India. From 12 to 891.

So when The Economist expresses astonishment that a "poor country" can protect animals, perhaps they should ask who nearly exterminated them in the first place.

[Vertigo_Warrior @VertigoWarrior]

An incredible rendition of Silamban - a 3000-year-old ancient Indian Martial Art effectively combining grace, speed, power, and fluid technique.

[yajnadevam @yajnadevam]

Christianity is peaceful today because their past genocides were successful

[Shiv Aroor @ShivAroor]

⚠️ IF THAT FLYDUBAI PLANE HAD CRASHED…

1️⃣ The Indian pilot would have been blamed instantly.

2️⃣ Racists would have flooded social media with “Indian pilots” narratives before investigators even reached the wreckage.

3️⃣ Pakistani troll accounts would have amplified it, turning a tragedy into another India-bashing opportunity.

4️⃣ AI171 and the Phuket incidents would have been dragged in as evidence of a “pattern of behaviour” of Indian pilots.

5️⃣ Every unrelated Indian aviation incident would suddenly have become part of a narrative about supposedly “unsafe Indian pilots”.

6️⃣ Meanwhile, Oman’s lack of any meaningful history of aviation terrorism would have been used to bolster the India pilot angle.

7️⃣ If Indian pilot Capt Smit hadn’t survived & fought back to save the plane, the world would have got an entirely different story.

[Nick Collins @nickcollins1953]

The Roman Empire funded up to half its empire from tax on trade with India.

At the height of Rome’s power, the richest city in the western world ran a long, unbalanced trade account with a land its armies never reached. That was the Indian subcontinent. Pliny the Elder, who had governed provinces and knew what the mint produced, put the annual outflow at 50 million sesterces in bullion. The emperor Tiberius complained Roman wealth was passing to foreigners. Domitian built dedicated warehouses for pepper in the heart of the city. A single shipload, recorded in a surviving papyrus, was valued at close to 9 million sesterces. The historian @RaoulMcLaughlin has reckoned, on those numbers, that customs duties on Indian cargoes produced close to half the revenue needed to finance the whole empire. Two legions in Egypt held the customs house that made it work.

India sent pepper, ivory, gems, perfumes and medicines. Rome paid in bullion. The taxes on imports and exports produced the revenue that transformed the Roman elite and the empire itself.

Rome called the Mediterranean Our Sea. The Indian Ocean was economically far more consequential.

The fuller story is on my Substack, with the shipping records, the Tamil poems that describe Roman vessels from the Indian side, and the hoards of Roman gold still surfacing in southern India (link in replies below).

[Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו @netanyahu]

My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery.

Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster.

He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.

I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery.

He is a true hero.

[Yadu @Yaduvam]

Indian influence on art across Asia.

[Aravind @aravind]

Arabs and the world when they realize "Arabic numerals" are Hindu numerals.

[Nupur J Sharma @UnSubtleDesi]

There’s an interesting story about what happened after this article was published.

Dhanya and Chitra, both messaged me separately, telling me that their reporter had cancer and the morning they wrote this copy, they had chemo. The reporter wrote the “real name” in the copy. The editor, who was also unwell, changed without “thinking much” since the editor was also unwell.

Both of them asked me, “imagine how she feels now. She has cancer”.

I asked then how cancer had anything to do with giving a Hindu name to a Muslim rapist - no answer. Just attempts to guilt trip.

I told them to get lost, of course.

[Tamil Labs 2.0 @labstamil]

When dubbing for Sriramajayam, she felt Ram was the worst husband. While singing Jai Jai Ram to Rahman's tunes, what'd be on her mind?

Sri Ram would accept sincere songs from a devotee even if sung poorly, than insincere studio renditions that merely mouth off words for money.

[True Indology @TrueIndology]

In 1835:

British recorded 41 lakh students in traditional Indian education systems. These students studied Science, Maths, art, Sanskrit and Urdu.

52% of the students were from communities that are identified as OBC today.

Only 16% were Brahmins.

STOP peddling the myth of 100% Brahmin reservation. That never happened.

[Shiv Aroor @ShivAroor]

Terrible.
Just terrible.
No words. 💔