Are the Mother-Sister-Mother-in-Law promises valid after the CEO 'giving' those promise quits? It's a pity that Cars24 won't be able to run these ads just after 3 odd weeks of launching them considering this is the first time they featured the CEO himself!

"India, which holds the (BRICS) bloc's presidency this year, appeared to take the other side, favoring the United States and Israel by staying quiet about their bombardment, while criticizing Iran's retaliatory attacks in the region."

What a shameful exercise in performative religiosity and piety 😳

Landau *named* India (and China) specifically. Jaishankar did not name any country. And this is a "sharp rap"? 🤦‍♂️

"A "multi-polar" world needs a convening point. Dubai is the likeliest candidate. Even the most open of the major western cities have a foreign-born % of not much more than 40% (as does Singapore). In Dubai, the foreign-born are 90%. There is no competing with the Gulf's porousness to outsiders"

That such humiliation and conquest style messaging in cricket advertising is the new baseline that barely evoke any surprise is evident due to the far worse rivalry-based ads that even the official broadcaster has been releasing regularly (and withdrawing, when there's adequate backlash). 1/4

Didn't BJP discuss the move with its own allies before imposing this performative, superfluous showcase in nationalism and religiosity? This is a so-called "double-engine" state with no opposition, at that 🤷‍♂️

Why does BJP use unnamed, anonymous "sources" to talk about a more powerful USA? Do they fear that a named person may need to be fired if it annoys Trump and his flunkeys? This news seems like the anonymous handles on Twitter 🤷‍♂️

Very good read on Arijit and the state of Hindi film music. On the highlighted part, though, I have a counterpoint: S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, as a singer (and Ilayaraja, as a composer). Can easily fill many many days, many more moods, life stages, etc.

Milliblog Weeklies, Week 297 tinyurl.com/MAR08-2026 A solid list ft. Vaisakh and Nivas K Prasanna's impressive albums, Rahman's best in recen times, an Odia film song (!), good new music by Vijai Bulganin, Sai Abhyankkar, Shamir Tandon, Hiphop Tamizha, D.Imman & more.

What would have been BJP's reaction if this dire "conflict-zone" situation was in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Kerala or Telangana, or any non-BJP state and NOT in double-engine (triple-engine, including President's rule?) Manipur?

Only Indian Express reports that India had proactively offered safe harbor to IRIS Dena! All other papers are talking only about IRIS Lavan seeking docking in Kochi due to technical issues.

"All lawmakers will claim that they are [enacting age verification] to protect youth from some harm, but they fail to mention the convenient power it hands to government to control and chill speech they oppose, and even punish their critics".

What happened to the Mast Kalandar chain of restaurants that were so ubiquitous and popular at one point in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad? Why did it shut down? Wouldn't that food do well via home deliveries, these days?

An illuminating comment, in Financial Times: www.ft.com/content/8f1b...

"Hum thode khamosh kya huye, aap toh atyachari ho gaye!"

"Billionaires are amazing. You think your money gives you superpowers. You don't like traffic, you buy a helicopter. You don't like strangers, you buy an island. There's only one thing that can fix this. And it's the one thing even you can't buy - Time!" (Paradise S02E03)

Go ahead - crack more jokes about Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, and teach strangers on the internet about "international waters" like completely shameless stooges of BJP. The world doesn't see it that way.

We are good only for cracking "jokes" like "Just coz it’s named Indian Ocean, we don’t get to own it" and "Hope some Indian journalists don't think that Atlantic Ocean belongs to Hotel Atlantic, Juhu". That has become our aukaat.

New rule added by United Airlines on February 27, 2026: "UA shall have the right to refuse transport... Passengers who fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content"! Hope Indian airlines (and railways, Metro, public buses) follow suit.

Indian Ocean: "Mohe bhool gaye sanwariya, bhool gaye sanwariya...".

"Even If I am in the back seat of a car and a puppy (kutte ka bachcha) comes under the wheels, isn't it painful? It is. Whether I am a prime minister or not, I am a human being - I will be sad if something bad happens anywhere."

The individual flower is tiny and unassuming, but together, the many flowers of Petrea volubilis (Queen's Wreath) really put up a spectacularly colorful show!

Truly terrible :(

Was India aware that an Iranian ship that was returning to Iran after being India's guest for an official event was sunk by an American submarine in our own backyard? I hope India musters courage at least now to speak up, and protest against US, the bully.

The Prime Minister of Spain teaching Raj Dharma to many countries, including the Mother of All Democracies - India, even when it is deeply inconvenient to speak the truth to a powerful, notorious bully.

Well, what else would one expect? US (and Israel) is still inventing excuses to why they bombed and killed their leader, making it a massive ego problem for the country. Iran was already treating its own people poorly. Now, they have nothing to lose by going berserk in response.

Reminds me of the many reasons BJP kept on inventing for justifying demonetisation.

😂

Page 1 of today's Deccan Herald. The entire bottom half is an ad for Vantara with more photos of Modi than animals. And no mention by Deccan Herald that it is a paid-for advertisement made to look like news. Or is it actually news? I'm confused. The headline also says, 'Vanatra'! 😳

BJP can keep putting up expensive shows like this for a long time, thanks to us all. It has Rs. 6,769 Crores, thanks to us all.

This.

What's also particularly disturbing is that no country is willing to call out US and Israel's bluff openly, including the 'Mother of All Democracies' - India. Everyone hides in fancy words. India doesn't owe it to any country to say the right thing as per Dharma - it owes it to itself.

"If “love jihad” is not a real thing and the government accepts that it is not a real thing and the data on conversions shows it is not a real thing, then why is it being discussed at all, let alone at the frenzy levels we associate it with?"

As the saying goes, "India is not beginners".

🙄 "The cabinet adopted the Seva resolution to “enhance India’s pride as the Mother of Democracy.” With the sacred confluence of duty, service, and dedication, this workplace is envisioned to be as sacred as a pilgrimage, this is its fundamental spirit."

"The problem arises when diet becomes a measure of human worth. Violence is not limited to the slaughterhouse. It can hide in boardrooms, policy decisions, and financial deals. Kindness is not guaranteed by what we refuse to eat. It is revealed by how we exercise power".

Where was ANI's cameraperson standing?

Brilliant idea and beautifully worded! Though I have very little hope from our species - we may escape to Mars and Moon before trying to undo the damage we have (and continue to) selfishly wrought on the only planet we call home. #advertising

Amit Shah's pose from Mathurapur yesterday reminded me of Oprah's famous, now-memed 'You get a car" pose from 2004 🤭

Everything points to a monumentally pointless war started by the US. And yet, India has no (a) courage and (b) moral clarity to call out US and Israel's actions. So much for BJP chanting Lord Ram's name day in and day out in the name of bhakti and morality.

America truly and fully deserves this shape-shifting, dual-tongued charlatan as their next President.

"Netflix could become streaming media's most victorious loser" and "All the ways Netflix won by losing".

"As pressure mounts - economically, geopolitically - a man is seen as a 'safer' choice." This often means women get given an even harder time, both in recruitment and when in the role".

"As former US presidents found out, it's easy to start a war in the Middle East but much harder to end it. This campaign has been dubbed "Operation Epic Fury." Epic Gamble would be more appropriate."

But the corrupt BJP that can misuse and abuse central institutions to target rival parties openly and shamelessly, while also insulting every Hindu God with its dishonest, immoral and unscrupulous deeds, has the right to stay in power? Yeah, right.

Today may not be the best day to publish this, no?

I recall reading this in Reader's Digest years ago. A mother comes home to find her kids, Jack and John fighting. She separates them and asks who started it. Jack says, "It all started when John hit me back".

Brilliantly accurate.

The timing of this interview (yesterday) cannot be random or incidental, right? #IYKYK