Shikha

Writer and all-round comms person.

[Shikha @TheCommanist]

Both sets of my grandparents had to leave their homes, that fell on the Pakistan side of the border, during Partition. Only my nani is around now. It's why this story is so close to my heart. I spoke to @kavpuri on her heart-wrenching book for @Openthemag https://t.co/Xe85NsbbYW

[Kunal Purohit @kunalpurohit]

These photos truly capture Maharashtra's current development model.

Unprecedented heat levels forcing citizens to sleep on beaches. No State intervention. But in the backdrop, you can see a coastal road being constructed for 20,000 crores, after chopping off 45,000 mangroves.

[Shikha @TheCommanist]

@varungrover Despicable. Shouldn't have expected much given who MOJO was started by.

[Shikha @TheCommanist]

This tragedy is heartbreaking and infuriating, but also whatever happened to journalistic ethics? In which world is it ok for media companies to put up sensitive and private moments involving victims' family members?!

[Mojo Story @themojostory]

In an absolutely heartbreaking video the father of a young man - Abhigyan Gupta who was visiting Vrindavan for a darshan with his father got electrocuted by a cooler and died - can be seen amid unbearable grief, asking his son to wake up, saying "Uth Jao, Papa bula rahe hai"

[Shikha @TheCommanist]

@supurasensei Also the reason practically ANY soup + noodles variation in countries like Thailand tastes so much better than what we get at most places in India...the animal fat in the broth and just how long it's left to simmer.

[Shikha @TheCommanist]

@sandygrains Especially so if you are poor. The sheer number of accidents at construction sites in Mumbai that I've read of in the last year alone breaks my heart. Young migrant labourers working in conditions with minimal safety and accountability.

[Shikha @TheCommanist]

@LOLrakshak He also has a very visible concealer blending problem.

[Kaushik Basu @kaushikcbasu]

My calculation suggests India’s consumer price inflation will rise. The mid-east war is a factor, but also India’s economy is not being managed well—The rupee has lost value in a way it needn’t have. This is a reminder that policymaking needs professionals, not politicians.

[Shikha @TheCommanist]

@kavitharao Fair point, but I also feel (looking at friends/peers) that most parents enrolling their kids in IB/IGCSE schools today are already financially comfortable...so they would send their kids abroad for college regardless of what the economic circumstances would be.

[Manisha Pande @MnshaP]

Please remember: The DD News anchor who’s calling your children Pakistani is paid by YOUR TAX MONEY. His salary is paid for by the public — and he actively goes against this public every night with his communal-bigoted-braindead nationalism.

https://t.co/69WKFKP4HQ

[Divya Ravindranath @divyarrs]

There are many ways to read a city. Here’s a postcard mapping Mumbai through women’s writing (fiction) — stories that take us across trains, apartments, overbridges, memory, intimacy, labour, migration, ambition, and everyday life. 1.

[Parth MN @parthpunter]

.@abhijeet_dipke has answered more questions in a week than our prime minister has in the last 12 years :P

@CJP_2029

[Veena @veenavenugopal]

India’s “tradition” of not talking to the media is only 12 years old

[Tom Bacon @TomABacon]

I... genuinely don't understand Google's long-term strategy here. Let me run you through what the consequences of this kind of approach are. 🧵

[Pooja Prasanna @PoojaPrasanna4]

This country has been run like a reality show since 2014. Keep people busy with stunts, slogans and spectacles while crises burn in the background.

People were gasping for oxygen during Covid, the government told them to bang vessels.

Now the world is staring at a dangerous US-Israel-Iran escalation and instead of preparedness or transparency, citizens are being told to use public transport and post selfies.

Governance has been replaced by event management.

[Prem Panicker @prempanicker]

I like that PM Modi is flying around the country, holding roadshows with huge convoys, so he can convey the message that we should all stop using cars and conserve fuel. 🙏

[Abhinandan Sekhri @AbhinandanSekhr]

In case you have always wondered why the BJP/sangh types are always so angry & hateful and thats all they spread, imagine if this was your idea of - best food... would you be a happy person?

[Shikha @TheCommanist]

@sruthijith "Here's what stood out."

[Avery Edison @aedison]

the terrifying reality is that everyone on here is by definition at least a tiny bit interested and invested in reading and/or writing. this is where the people who enjoy text gather. this is where the most literate of us are massed. and it leads to constant arguments

[Abhijeet Dipke @abhijeet_dipke]

All the regional forces that kept Modi away from majority in 2024 will be erased systematically.

Have said this before, will say it again: there’s no point participating in a fixed game. You’re only helping legitimise a rigged election.

[Shrabonti Bagchi @Shrabonti]

This is why people should read more fiction.

How to make techbros understand that human happiness and fulfilment are not quantifiable concepts. You can't "name one upgrade" because you have not lived that life, you don't have that experience, and no two experiences within that are comparable. Each life is full and complete in itself, each choice unique and distinctive.

You can't measure these choices to see which one is an upgrade, like adding features to a new iphone. You make a choice and you live, as happily or unhappily as a thousand factors beyond your control and your own brain chemistry determine.