Santhosh Murali

The only easy day was yesterday 🔱

[anand mahindra @anandmahindra]

I binge-watched Operation Safed Sagar over the weekend.

And I want to say thank you to everyone who had a hand in making this series & to Netflix for commissioning it.

For many reasons…

Because, despite some reviewers cribbing about inconsistent CGI & performances that could have been better, I found the actors competent and credible. More importantly, I was moved and inspired by the story & the emotions underlying it.

Because I wish that, when I was growing up, we had had more films like this, recording the feats of our armed forces in the many conflicts we have experienced, in a gritty and convincingly realistic manner.

Instead, we grew up on a diet of Hollywood war movies which, despite often taking enormous liberties with historical accuracy, helped build American pride & self-belief while we watched as envious bystanders.

Because, even though I knew a great amount about the courage of soldiers like Vikram Batra and the role of the Bofors gun in Kargil, I confess I knew far too little about the critical role played by the Indian Air Force.

And I certainly didn’t know that, apart from extraordinary valour, Operation Safed Sagar showcased the ingenuity & rapid improvisation that we now celebrate as a hallmark of Indian innovation.

The IAF acquired handheld GPS receivers, put them into MiGs & used them to calculate release points for ordinary “dumb” bombs. They conducted hurried trials, initially got disappointing results, refined the technique within a handful of sorties & took it into combat almost immediately.

The Mirage story, dealt with more briefly in the series, was equally remarkable. The IAF had Mirage 2000s, Israeli Litening laser-designation pods and Paveway II guidance kits, but had not yet turned that combination into an established combat capability. When a required component could not be obtained from abroad due to the 1998 sanctions, IAF technicians displayed what I call ‘denial-driven innovation’ & engineered the solution themselves!

So at a time when we are debating whether human intelligence will increasingly become a slave to machine intelligence, it’s incredibly valuable to be reminded that even in battle, where decisions are made in seconds & lives depend upon them, it’s ultimately the humans behind the machines who make the difference.

I hope as many people as possible watch this series.

Because when the men and women of our armed forces know that we know their stories & remember their sacrifices, they also know that their courage will not be forgotten.

The heroes of Operation Safed Sagar are my #MondayMotivation.

With a special salute to Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja. 🇮🇳

[Skyroot Aerospace @SkyrootA]

We’ll be watching this ignition on loop all day.

Kalam-1200 — Vikram-1's first stage, named for Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam — roaring to life and lifting Vikram-1 off the pad, on a flight that reached orbit.

#Vikram1 #MissionAagaman

[Mama @SriniMaama16]

3-0-22-3 & Purple Cap Holder now. Holding the Indians Cements office as a single man in the death overs. Absolutely expectional to see him nailing yorkers from around the wicket. The beauty is he's executing 5-6 yorkers in 6 balls. Just top drawer stuff!

[Reid Wiseman @astro_reid]

On the helicopter leaving the ship right now. This planet is impossibly beautiful from every altitude I’ve seen it…surface to 250,000 miles

[NASA @NASA]

Hello, Moon. It’s great to be back.

Here’s a taste of what the Artemis II astronauts photographed during their flight around the Moon. Check out more photos from the mission: https://t.co/rzM1P0QbOl

[NASA @NASA]

1972 ➡️2026
Apollo 17 ➡️ Artemis II

[Joy Bhattacharjya @joybhattacharj]

NASA just released a stunning picture of earth taken by the Artemis astronauts. And someone said it was our latest group photo.
It was, all of us, that's all of us other than the 4 in Artemis and 10 in the International Space Station. Iranians and Americans, Arabs and Jews, mothers and daughters, dog lovers and cat fanciers. Musicians and mechanics, microbiologists and merchandisers...
That's all we have together.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Everyone’s sleeping on ISRO’s actual business model.

A US company just paid India to launch the heaviest satellite ever lifted from Indian soil: 6,100 kg into low Earth orbit. AST SpaceMobile, building the first direct-to-smartphone satellite network, chose ISRO over SpaceX.

The math tells you why. ISRO’s LVM3 costs about $54 million per launch. SpaceX Falcon 9 runs $62 million for a new rocket. That’s a 15% discount for comparable capability. And this was ISRO’s 9th consecutive LVM3 success. 100% reliability on the vehicle.

But the real story is budget efficiency that borders on absurd.

ISRO operates on $1.5 billion annually. NASA’s budget sits at $27 billion. That’s 18x more funding. Yet India landed near the lunar south pole first, reached Mars orbit on their first attempt for $74 million (NASA’s Curiosity cost over a billion), and now they’re winning commercial contracts from American companies.

Chandrayaan-3 soft-landed on the Moon. Then ISRO launched a solar probe to the L1 Lagrange point. Then they just completed a spacecraft docking demonstration in December 2024 , proving rendezvous capability for their upcoming crewed Gaganyaan mission.

Three major milestones in 18 months. On a shoestring.

ISRO has launched 177 foreign satellites from 19 countries over the past five years. The agency isn’t just doing science. They’ve built a profitable launch services business that competes with SpaceX while operating on 6% of NASA’s budget.

This is what happens when cost discipline becomes engineering culture.

[Narendra Modi @narendramodi]

A significant stride in India’s space sector…

The successful LVM3-M6 launch, placing the heaviest satellite ever launched from Indian soil, the spacecraft of USA, BlueBird Block-2, into its intended orbit, marks a proud milestone in India’s space journey.

It strengthens India’s heavy-lift launch capability and reinforces our growing role in the global commercial launch market.

This is also reflective of our efforts towards an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Congratulations to our hardworking space scientists and engineers.

India continues to soar higher in the world of space!

@isro

[Santhosh Murali @warrior__monk]

8 more Root failures away from Big Dos running naked around the G! #Ashes2025

[Chennai Super Kings @ChennaiIPL]

Varavendiya nerathula correct ah varuven 😎
Presenting Sanju Samson in 💛

#WhistlePodu #Yellove 🦁💛

[TNCA @TNCACricket]

Evergreen 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗽𝗮𝘂𝗸 reaches its final fruition. All the action coming your way soon. 🏟️ 🏏

#TamilNaduCricket #TNCA #TNCricket

[Bastien Fachan @BastienFachan]

After today, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have played 3,302 points over the course of their rivalry.

Alcaraz has won 1,651.

Sinner has won 1,651.

[Be Like Sagala 😎 @belikesagala]

Key life lessons from Vaaranam Aayiram

Thread 🧵 Swipe 👉🏽

[Mama @SriniMaama16]

Team'a thirumba jeikkara kudhirai ya maathanum na, sila tough decisions edukka vendi varum. See you all in 2026. Yours faithfully, Chepauk Cheenu.

[anand mahindra @anandmahindra]

Two weeks ago, President Droupadi Murmu, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, took a 30-minute sortie in a Rafale fighter jet from the Ambala Air Force Station.

That was a short flight, but her longer journey, from a small tribal village in Odisha to Rashtrapati Bhavan is awe-inspiring.

She faced poverty, social barriers, and unimaginable personal loss. Yet she never let adversity define her. Through education, service, and an unshakeable spirit, she rose quietly to become the first tribal woman to hold the nation’s highest constitutional office.

Leadership isn’t about privilege; it’s about perseverance.

Which is why she’s my #MondayMotivation

[Muna @Munalozy]

I love friendships that influence me to be a better person. The one that will make me to be smarter, healthier and kinder. I love it when people have a positive impact on me.

[Harsha Bhogle @bhogleharsha]

This is the greatest day in the history of Indian women's cricket.