The Daily Vanilla

When 26-year old Quality Assurance Analyst, Seema Jain sent out a group email celebrating the launch of her maiden project as a lead, she did not expect it to result in career suicide.

The PC culture within India has been growing at an alarming pace with people, in general, getting offended at the slightest of things. While many attribute this to the over sensitisation of Indian society, others believe that it is a sign that even marginalised communities are getting the courage to make their voices heard.

While the growing awareness of what is appropriate at the workplace and concentrated efforts to make the office a less volatile environment for women has to be applauded, many people question where the line needs to be drawn. What is a genuine mistake and what is an actual attempt at harassment?

HR departments are now playing things extremely safely to ensure that no complaint is overlooked and that no employee files a case against the company. In the case of Seema Jain, the HR department immediately pulled her up once the complaint was received, terminated her services and also added a note to her file saying that her homophobic comments made the workplace unsafe for the LGBTQ community.

Seema on the other hand still maintains that it was a genuine mistake and a typo.

“I was excited when I sent that email as I had just completed my first project as a lead. All I wanted to do was share the happiness and congratulate the team on a job well done. A stupid typo has just ruined my career.”

We gained access to the email that was sent to 5 employees of the US-based IT firm at 9.45 pm on Tuesday from Seema’s laptop. Unfortunately for her, 2 members of the team were gay and had not come out of the closet yet.

Hi gays!!
We finally closed the project and I am really happy that you were ready to spend late nights and drill each other till you finished. I have to say that I did not expect that leading you gays would be easy but you showed that you can not only take one for the team but also go hard for each other. Thank you for cumming together as a team and I look forward to a group session with you all soon.
Regards,
Seema Jain

The latest reports say that Seema has received a job offer from FOX News and will be moving to the USA soon.

Read more at - www.thedailyvanilla.com

Ever since the current President of the United States of America, Joe Biden has taken over control of the Oval Office in January 2021, he has had his hands full with one international incident after the other. Starting with the internal backlash over COVID19 policies to the current international debacle involving the pullout from Afghanistan, it has been a very intense 9 months.

Joe Biden detractors say that the incumbent president is not mentally or physically fit to handle the high-stress environment of being the leader of the free world. This is evident from how events have unfolded in the past year and the lack of clarity in his thoughts when addressing the public.

Throughout his political career, Joe Biden has had numerous instances where his verbal gaffes made bigger headlines than his actual work. The Republicans and more recently protestors against his policies have used that as a weapon to argue against his continuation in the role of President. The only reason that they haven’t been pushing for removal or impeachment is that they do not have high regard for Vice President Kamala Harris either.

The latest surveys conducted across America say that Joe Biden has a disapproval rating of 48.9%. The fact that he is only better off than former president Donald Trump speaks volumes of the kind of discontent the general public is going through. What makes things worse is that even George W Bush had a better rating than Joe Biden for the number of days he was in office.

Before the elections in 2020, rapper, businessman and millionaire Kanye West has done a series of conflicting tweets and statements about his relationship with former President Donald Trump. Starting with admiration, followed by contempt for the racial politics by the Democrats to finally admitting to a very public fallout with Trump.

Kanye West also went so far as to declare that he would be running for president in 2020 under an independent party called the Birthday Party. He then pulled out of the race citing that he did not want to go up against Donald Trump whom he respected. This declaration has fuelled rumours that he might be looking at seriously considering running for the office in 2024 and is using this time to prepare his launch into the world of politics.

The current disappointing run of the Biden-Harris team has prompted speculations on what a possible combination of Trump-West could have achieved in the same timeframe.

Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/29/kanye-west-could-be-the-game-changer-in-2024/

The nationwide Bharath Bandh announced by various political and trade unions in support of the protesting farmers in Punjab met with mixed reactions across the country. While almost all of the country ignored the call for a complete shutdown of the state, Punjab and Kerala wholeheartedly participated in the bandh.

The use of bandh and hartal to cause inconvenience to the general public while scoring a few imaginary political brownie points has been the norm in the country for a long time now. With the highly charged up political environment within the country, party workers express extra zeal and enthusiasm to ensure that the whims of the political bosses are followed to the tee. Current protest leader Rakesh Tikait went ahead to so far as saying that it is ok that the public was inconvenienced for a day.

The prevalence of archaic methods of protest like bandhs and hartals where public transport, business, shops and establishments are forced to shut down is very common in the states of Kerala and West Bengal where the communist party still has a very strong influence. Other small pockets within the country extend support to these calls, once again with a higher following for the red flag.

The communist parties are not solely to blame as almost all political parties have used this method to rile up some PR whenever they felt that they needed to get some television or media footage. The irony is when the ruling party of a state decides to announce a bandh to protest against something.

The Bharath Bandh that was announced yesterday was to mark the first anniversary of the protests by farmers in the states of Punjab and Haryana over the 3 Farm Laws that were brought into practice by the central government. The NDA government claims that these laws are meant to reform the current setup and to empower the farmers while the farmer unions and trade unions believe otherwise.

They have been protesting ever since the government brought these laws into practice with the opposition parties adding fuel to the fire by openly spreading their versions of the laws and also incentivising unions that are affiliated with the parties to actively rally the support of as many farmers as possible.

The protesting farmers braved cruel weather and multiple rounds of talks with the government but their idea of a complete victory where the government will unconditionally repeal the laws has met with a dead end as the government has refused to relent believing that this will set an unwanted precedent.

Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/28/bharath-bandh-gives-kerala-hope-of-return-to-normalcy-amidst-covid19/

Weddings are a huge market in India especially since the societal structure build up to marriage as being one of the cornerstones of an Indian man or woman’s life. Earlier generations considered the wedding ceremony to be a right of passage of sorts to enter what was considered as the most important phase of a person’s life.

With weddings getting grander and more intricate with every passing year, the traditional elements have taken a back seat. The whole wedding event is slowly turning into an entertainment extravaganza with an entry song and dance routine for the bride, groom and their entourage. This is usually followed by a few more songs and dance routines by the brothers, sisters, friends etc. The whole ceremony is now nothing less than an Indian movie wedding scene.

This evolution of the wedding event has been welcomed wholeheartedly by the younger population who otherwise found weddings to be an extremely boring affair. Added to this the pressures of being prodded on their careers, marriage, children by gossiping aunties and patronising uncles, it wasn’t something that they attended on free will. The whole monotony of the event followed the inevitable and inexplicable mad rush to the dining room and the excruciatingly long wait to get a photograph clicked with the bride and groom has now got a more bearable face to it.

There is a section of the population who turn their nose up at these “dilutions of our culture” but are already scheming and plotting to make their kid’s weddings an even bigger extravaganza – the hypocritical relative.

In between all these innovations and systemic change that is happening in society, one industry has been accelerating these changes by ushering in new concepts, ideas and ways to make every wedding unique. There are clear front runners who charge an exorbitant amount to make the 3-4 day event the most memorable part of a couple’s married life. This is the recently popular and formalised institution known as “Wedding Planners”.

Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/23/wedding-photographer-barely-escapes-lion-attack-during-pre-wedding-photoshoot/

Cryptocurrency is a topic that is still not clearly understood even today by a vast majority of the world population. In India, the financial knowledge of what cryptocurrency is, how is it traded or even how it came into existence is still a mystery for many. Today, many of us have heard the words bitcoin, dogecoin, ethereum, ripple etc from various TikTok videos from the USA and other parts of the world.

The volatility of the cryptocurrency market makes it an easy win when things go well but a huge financial risk when it crashes. Millionaires have been made overnight while many have been rendered penniless in a fraction of a second.

The website Investopedia describes cryptocurrency as  “a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology—a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers. A defining feature of cryptocurrencies is that they are generally not issued by any central authority, rendering them theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation.”

The whole craze for cryptocurrency started with the launch of Bitcoin. Interested people had to go through a process known as crypto mining to generate the coins which were then sold on an “exchange” which is similar to the stock market. Many hardcore fans of the stock market have stayed away from the crypto exchanges because of the volatility of the market along with the lack of maturity of the exchanges making transactions very expensive. Being a new exchange the processes will also take a while to get formalised.

In between all this uncertainty, India too has been producing crypto millionaires of late. One of the newest members in this exclusive group is 30 year old, Jitindrann Nair from Kochi.

Read the full article at - https://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/22/indian-cryptocurrency-millionaire-reveals-secret-behind-his-investing-system/

Pakistan has been castigated and greylisted in multiple international forums for its alleged role in harbouring terrorists responsible for terror attacks around the world. Although Pakistan has maintained its innocence and even tried to make amends for its actions, the international community is not convinced.

This was evident when the New Zealand cricket team pulled out of its tour to Pakistan hours before the first match was about to start citing intelligence reports of probable violence and terrorist attacks during the match. The same report prompted England to pull their men’s and women’s teams from their tour next month as well.

The whole international consensus is that Pakistan will also now use the help of the Taliban who have taken over the rule of Afghanistan to increase the terror activity in the region. Barring China, which directly benefits from the nefarious activities of a once prosperous state, and Turkey, Pakistan finds itself isolated in the international community. It is only the influence that China holds over countries that are struggling with Chinese debt and its veto power as a permanent member of the UNSC that has prevented sanctions and strict punishment from being handed down to Pakistan.

On the outside, Pakistan is making real efforts to shed the tag of being a terrorist state and has made great progress in checking off the conditions of the FATF Grey List. They have also managed to keep themselves away from the dreaded blacklist which will ultimately end up in severe sanctions which will have to be borne by the common Pakistani. Unfortunately, the freedom at which the UN-designated terrorists in Pakistan move about and make statements on live TV will always be a concern to the rest of the world.

To allay these concerns, our sources have informed us that Pakistan is planning to make a major announcement today on the occasion of the International Day of Peace.

The International Day of Peace or World Peace Day is celebrated on 21st September every year and is one of the United Nations declared holidays. First celebrated in 1981, the day is dedicated to world peace and the absence of war and violence. Some countries observe the day by declaring a temporary ceasefire or suspension of hostilities.

On a formal front, the UN observes debates, contests and discussions on a predetermined topic. The topic for this year is Recovering Better for an Equitable and Sustainable World. The day is inaugurated after the ringing of the United Nations Peace Bell at the UN Headquarters in New York. The bell is made from coins contributed by children from around the world and inscribed with the words “Long live absolute world peace”.

Our sources tell us that Pakistan is determined to make amends and convince the international community that its commitment to peace and stability in the region is second to none. The Imran Khan-led government is set to make an important announcement today to mark the celebrations of the International Day of Peace in the country.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/21/pakistan-to-celebrate-international-day-of-peace-with-unique-announcement/

The Punjab Congress conflict has finally turned the corner. While many were surprised at the end result, keen political observers and experts had expected this to happen. With his resignation as the Chief Minister on Saturday, he has now paved way for not only a new CM in the form of Charanjit Singh Channi, but also provided Navjot Singh Sidhu to take over the reins of the Punjab Congress.

The rumblings between the two have been going on for a while with Sidhu labelling the former Chief Minister as nonchalant while Amarinder Singh has repeatedly referred to Sidhu as incompetent.  The battle was thrown out in the open after Sidhu, a former BJP MLA, was asked to take over the leadership of the Punjab Congress a few months ago.

While having bad blood with another politician from another party or even within the same party is not uncommon, what surprised everyone was that the former Indian cricketer did not even wait to get acclimatised with his new environment before going on the offensive against his own Chief Minister. Amarinder Singh had always warned everyone that Sidhu was not to be trusted and that he had ulterior motives.

Our sources who had privy of the information flow within each camp told us that at the root of it, the issues were quite silly. The one person they both believed would play the role of a neutral mediator, Rahul Gandhi, had already picked sides and was busy consolidating his position within the Indian National Congress.

“The issue is so childish,” said our source. “If you remember, Sidhu always had issues playing under captains during his career as a cricketer. He had even walked out of a series midway after an argument with the then captain Mohammed Azharuddin. Amarinder Singh used to be a captain in the Indian Army. He preferred to be called Captain as well. This did not sit well with Sidhu who had built an aversion to that word and the person holding the position… Rest is history.”

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/20/sources-reveal-real-reason-behind-sidhu-amarinder-singh-conflict/

Virat Kohli announced his resignation as captain of the Indian T20 cricket team yesterday. This decision did not come as a surprise as rumours of Virat Kohli being replaced by Rohit Sharma in white-ball cricket had been doing the rounds for a couple of days now. While Kohli will continue to lead the Indian cricket team in One Day Internationals, he will relegate himself to the role of a batsman in the T20s. Rohit Sharma, who is one of the most successful captains in the IPL is said to take charge after the end of the T20 World Cup this year.

In his message on social media, Virat Kohli mentioned the workload that he had to manage as the main reason for this decision but our sources tell us that he was most concerned about captaincy affecting his batting. This decision will allow him to dedicate a bit of time away from the pressure of captaincy to work on his batting in the shortest format.

Our sources tell us that this brave decision by Virat has deeply affected Bollywood star kid Arjun Kapoor. Son of producer Boney Kapoor and nephew of actors Anil Kapoor & Sanjay Kapoor, half brother of actress Jhanvi Kapoor and cousin of actress and socialite Sonam Kapoor, Arjun made his debut in Bollywood in 2012.

According to our sources, he has reportedly decided to quit acting once he wraps up his current commitments as he believes that it is draining a lot of his time that he should probably be investing in his real dream – to be a celebrity.

To plunge fully into the dream and to be the best at it, he is receiving tips from the best in the business – cousin Sonam Kapoor. As part of the training, he has been asked to binge-watch all seasons of Keeping Up with the Kardashians as his first lesson.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/17/virat-kohli-inspires-arjun-kapoor-to-quit-acting/

The central government had announced the merger of Lok Sabha Tv and Rajya Sabha TV in March 2021. The new channel Sansad TV was officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla yesterday.

This new channel is expected to have programming in both English and Hindi on the functioning of Parliament and democratic institutions, governance and implementation of schemes/policies, history and culture of India and issues/interests/concerns of contemporary nature. Parliamentary sessions will also be telecast live from both houses.

Veteran IAS Officer Ravi Capoor was appointed the CEO of Sansad TV in February along with IRS Officer Manoj K Arora who was appointed as interim Editor in Chief. They will head a team of over 200 employees whose job will be to keep the channel and its programming up to standard. There is slated to be shows and programs on various topics which will be covered by a variety of anchors.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will host interviews with personalities from all spheres of life in his show “To The Point”. Principal Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Sanjeev Sanyal, also launched his show on economic policies called “Economic Sutra”. Apart from them, it is also said that leaders like Karan Singh (Congress), Bibek Debroy (Economist), Amitabh Kant (NITI Ayog Chairman) and Hemant Batra (Advocate) will also be hosting their own shows on the channel.

The new channel and a more professional way of working were put in place for the central government to incite interest in government functioning. There is also the objective of explaining new bills, laws and policies to the public to counter the menace of fake news and WhatsApp forwards. Our sources told us that there was also the intent to stop the manipulation of policies by the opposition leaders as the public will now have access to experts directly.

The new channel was welcomed by people from all spheres of life until the announcement that the channel will be mainstream and will also be available on OTT was made public. This triggered a series of muted protests from the television fraternity and many actors and production houses expressed reservations on the matter.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/16/tv-actors-protest-launch-of-sansad-tv/

The MET Gala or the Costume Institute Gala was conducted yesterday after a year off due to the COVID19 pandemic. The event was graced by some of the top celebrities from the world of entertainment, fashion, politics and media. The much-awaited event did not disappoint with some stunning outfits from the attendees all night.

The MET Gala is an annual fundraising event for the Metropolitan Art Museum’s Costume Institute and marks the opening of the Institute’s annual art exhibit. Every year there is a theme for the exhibit and the attendees tend to match their outfits with the theme. Established in 1948, the Gala currently requires a rumoured USD 40,000 donation to the Institute to be allowed to attend the event. The event this year is expected to raise more than USD 200 million.

The itinerary for the event includes a cocktail hour and a formal dinner. The guests arrive and grace the red carpet, interact with media and mingle during the cocktail hour. After this, the guest sits down for a formal dinner with the rest of the attendees who have paid to be a part of the event.  Before the start of the dinner, there is entertainment in the form of performances and displays that also tend to follow the theme of the year.

This year’s theme for the event was In America: A Lexicon of Fashion. The chairs for the event included Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman and Naomi Osaka. The prestigious honorary chair position was shared between Tom Ford, Adam Mosseri and Anna Wintour. Every year there is the main sponsor for the event who can choose to sponsor individually or as part of an ensemble. This year the sponsor for the event was Instagram. Justin Bieber was the headline performer at the event.

The outfits on display this year were stunning and as provocative as the ones in the previous years. The horse face dress worn by Kim Petras and the Grandma’s Quilt worn by A$AP Rocky were among the highlights. Some of the attendees chose to use this opportunity to express their political opinion while some just used the event as an opportunity to be out in public. Jennifer Lopez proved that she was an ageless icon when she walked down wearing what one can only describe as a power statement while Grimes showcased her better half Elon Musk’s space dreams (and the upcoming movie Dune) with her space/alien inspired outfit.

These costumes triggered a series of tweets and responses in India where the netizens claimed that our very own Ranveer Singh would have truly rocked the MET Gala or even put it to shame.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/15/ranveer-singh-not-fit-for-met-gala-says-top-international-fashion-expert/

The VMAs or MTV Video Music Awards were held in New York at a night filled with surprises both in the wardrobe selection of some of the attendees and also in the final results. It had all the usual drama, fashion, glitz, glamour, music and frenzy that has come to be associated with this yearly event.

The event, which was hosted by rapper Doja Cat, had performances and appearances by some of the biggest names in international music. It was no surprise that Lil Nas X walked away with the most number of awards after his sensational video and song Montero (Call be by your Name). Another big winner was Olivia Rodrigo who not only matched Lil Nas X with 3 awards on the night but also took home the Song of the Year award and Best New Artist for her song Driver’s License.

Justin Bieber had the most number of nominations (9) on the night and took home the coveted Artist of the Year Award. Along with Justin Bieber, another legend who firmly established her mark in the history books was “Queen Bee” Beyonce who collected her 29th award in the history of the awards. Korean Pop or K-Pop sensation BTS also collected 3 awards on the night.

Apart from the awards and the music, another major talking point at these events is the wardrobe or elaborate costumes that the celebrities get decked in for the red carpet. They were often used to spread a message like Cindy Crawford’s black Versace creation that she teamed up with a red ribbon to spread the awareness of AIDS/HIV back in 1992. Most of it was for pure shock value like Lil Kim’s one-shoulder dress with matching nipple pasties in 1999 or Rose McGowen’s sheer dress in 1998.

Other artists have used the red carpet to further their on-screen image like Lady Gaga’s dress made of meat in 2010 or Cher who recreated her iconic look from the ’80s in the same year. Miley Cyrus also turned up the shock value in 2016 with a dress that did not even attempt to do what a dress is supposed to. In 2011 Nikki Minaj appeared on the red carpet in what could not be described as a dress by any stretch of the imagination.

Another well-deserved entrant into the list with another transparent creation this year was Megan Fox. The 35-year-old model/actress and mother of 3, is famous for gracing the covers of almost every major magazine in the world and for her role in the Transformers franchise. She walked the red carpet hand in hand with her boyfriend and rapper Machine Gun Kelly.

The sheer transparent dress left nothing to the imagination and Megan Fox quickly became the toast of the town with the confidence and sheer elegance with which she carried herself in front of the photographers and media. The sparkly thong that she wore along with the dress barely managed to keep the pictures from being too racy to be shared on mainstream media.T

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/14/megan-foxs-dress-at-vma-2021-was-actually-a-statement-against-the-taliban/

Known for making controversial statements regularly on his YouTube channel, Shoaib has never shied away from making his point or even pointing fingers at Pakistani legends like Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad, Misbah Ul Haq or even at current players like Sarfaraz Ahmed and many others. He has also gone on record multiple times claiming that he is ready to take up any role that the Pakistan Cricket Board had to offer. He was particularly interested the in posts of Head Coach, Bowling Coach, Chief Selector, Head of PCB and even Chief Talent Scout.

While appearing for one of the cricket-based talk shows on Pakistani television, the topic for discussion had shifted to the current situation of the Pakistani team which was left without a head and bowling coach after the resignation of Misbah ul Haq and Waqar Younis. During a break in the shoot, Shoaib was heard saying that he can easily coach the team. All they have to do was subscribe to his YouTube channel and listen to the words of wisdom and analysis that he provides.

Our sources tell us that Shoaib Akhtar has devised a process where he will release a video every day which the team will need to watch. On match days, there will be 2 videos, one before the match about the strategy and team selection and one after the match providing analysis.

He also said that as the newly appointed Head of the PCB, Ramiz Raja is also an avid YouTuber, he will provide tips for him as well on YouTube. He claims that he does not need to be paid and this will be his contribution to the future of Pakistan cricket.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/13/shoaib-akhtar-offers-to-coach-pakistani-cricket-team-via-his-youtube-channel/

Devotees across the country and especially in the Indian state of Maharashtra have much reason to celebrate other than then fall in cases of COVID19 and the relaxed restrictions that come with it. The most popular festival in the state, Ganesh Chaturthi, will be celebrated this week and the city of Mumbai is already buzzing with excitement.

Ganesh Chaturthi, or Vinayaka Chaturthi as it’s known in many parts of the country, is a celebration of the god Ganesha, Ganpati or Vinayaka. Lord Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and Parvathi who lost his head during a fit of anger from his father and had to have it replaced with that of an elephant. Lord Ganesha is highly revered in Indian and Hindu culture and is credited to be the “Remover of Obstacles” and is the first recipient of any offerings during puja or worship.

Ganesha also happens to be the most recognisable of all Indian Gods to an international audience with many referring to him as the “Indian Elephant God”.

This 10-day festival which culminates in the “visarjan” or immersion of the idol in water, is very important to the cultures of the people of  Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa and the southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha. This festival is celebrated to symbolise the arrival of Lord Ganesh and his mother Parvati on earth from their heavenly abode on Mount Kailash.

Across homes and communities, huge “pandals” or enclosures are erected which house the idol and various pujas are performed. Visiting pandals and taking the blessings of the deity during these 10 days is a tradition being followed for decades. On the 10th day, to symbolise the return of God with his mother back to Mount Kailash, the idols are taken to the nearest water body and immersed. The beaches of Mumbai turn into a mass congregation of people and idols and is a sight to behold. After immersion, the clay idols will then dissolve and settle at the bottom signifying the end of the festival.

Ganesh Chaturthi did have a political tone in the 1880s when it was used every year by freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak as a forum to unite the public and for discourse on opposing the British rule in the city of Mumbai. The practice of erecting pandals to display the idols and for the congregation of people probably started there. Celebrations outside Maharashtra tend to not include mega pandals or grand visarjan rallies.

The toxic offence/cancel culture is rapidly spreading across the world with almost everyone finding a reason to get offended at something. One of the organisations at the forefront of this is PETA or People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. With having their finances being monitored and protests not being taken seriously, they are in a spot of bother internationally. This, however, does not put a dampener on the number of causes they lend their voice to.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/10/peta-claims-ganesh-chaturthi-promotes-violence-against-elephants/

The newly appointed government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been taking control of all matters of state policy ever since formally announcing the structure and composition of its administrative mechanism. The new government, which is filled with members of the Taliban and its affiliates, have promised a better future for the Afghan people without compromising on core Islamic beliefs and traditions.

The last time the Taliban headed the government in Afghanistan, the citizens were subjected to harsh punishments that coincided with archaic teachings of the Islamic religion and a biased interpretation of the Quran. This along with the affinity for terrorist activities against other countries of the world including the USA prompted a 20-year-old war that ended in August 2021.

The new administration has promised to ensure the inclusion of women, and other minorities in its functioning but has not lived up to its promise so far. They have also promised to avoid a witch-hunt against people who supported the previous government and also ensured the safety of journalists and artists in the country. Universities and schools have opened but in a manner that has become a mockery around the world when pictures of segregated classrooms for boys and girls were released.

The Taliban government has gone on record to say that they will be freedom for the citizens but this freedom will be within the purview and confines of the strict teachings of the Deobandi faction of the Islamic religion. Deobandi Islam professes strict adherence to the Sharia law which is extremely oppressive towards other religions and to women and children. They believe in going back to the life that was lived during the time of Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century.

The new government has been looking at ways to legitimise the world’s view of the administration and is in an accelerated attempt to bring all major public sector industries under its control. One of the main objectives of the government is to operate and reopen air routes to and from the country. This is to ensure that travel, trade and humanitarian operations can continue unabated.

Afghanistan currently has the domestic operator Kam Air, which resumed services on September 5th and the international flagship airline Ariana Afghan Airlines which started operations in 1955. Ariana, unfortunately, is on the list of banned airlines in the EU and does not fly to countries other than a handful including India, UAE, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. One of the main objectives of the government would be to start operating in more countries.

Our sources within the upper levels of the Taliban tell us that the government is seriously considering placing a bid on the sale of Air India by the Indian government. The sale of India’s flagship carrier to the private sector is the pet project of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and the bids are set to close on September 15th. This is being done to modernise and turn the carrier into a profit-making business.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/09/taliban-considering-bid-for-air-india-before-the-september-15th-deadline/

Formerly one of the richest men in Asia, Jack Ma has been rarely seen in public post his retirement from the company that he built and took to dizzying heights. He not only became an inspiration for a generation but also proved what ambition and relentless pursuit can achieve. He had become an international celebrity and was frequently invited to impart his wisdom to students and professionals around the world.

Born into a poor family in Hangzhou, China in 1964, Ma Yun or Jack Ma always had the entrepreneurial bug within him. His stories of having to face rejection multiple times in his life are now part of the legends associated with one of China’s biggest global companies. Starting as a teacher and then the owner of a translation company, Jack Ma was fascinated by the internet. He launched Alibaba, an online marketplace in 1994 which at its height had overtaken eBay and Amazon as the world’s largest online marketplace.

He overtook Wang Jialing of the Dalian Wanda Group to become the richest man in China in 2016 when Alibaba was clocking in over USD 460 billion in revenue. In addition to the marketplace, the Alibaba Group also owns one of the largest cloud computing businesses and also one of the largest logistics firms in the world. In the space of 2 decades, Jack Ma had become the most recognisable face internationally to emerge from China. His business ventures did not stop here and he also founded some of the most popular online companies in China including Ali Pay, Taobao, Lynx and Ali Mama which were consolidated under the Ant Group.

Things hit a rough patch for Jack Ma in October 2020 when he stepped down as the head of Ali Baba and decided to focus on making Ant Group the largest fintech company in the world by digitising banking. After making a highly controversial speech where he criticised the state-run banks in communist China, he suddenly disappeared from public view.

The proposed IPO for the Ant Group was scrapped by the Chinese government and it has begun selling off parts of the company to its preferred partners. Reports say that Jack Ma’s wealth has been stripped in half since his disappearance almost a year ago. Amidst rumours that he may not be alive, he made a surprise appearance at a charity event early this year and was also spotted playing golf at an island in China. It is believed that he became too big too soon and that too without the support of the communist party or the government who decided to reign in his influence and make an example for future billionaires.

Our source within the communist party in China told us that Jack Ma did not expect that the government would hit back like this. “He believed that he could not be touched as he has done so much in contributing to the Chinese economy by helping local businesses, creating employment and building a positive opinion about Chinese companies internationally. He forgot that in China, no one is bigger than Xi Jinping. That brought about his downfall,” she said.

The systematic shutting down or disinvestment of the Ant group has been shaving off the presence of the company and the personal wealth of Jack Ma at an alarming pace. Even ventures like the innovative Human Business School is now being disbanded.

Our sources tell us that Jack Ma is laying low after conceding his entire empire to the Chinese government. Although he has not made a public appearance in over 6 months, he is safe and sound.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/08/jack-ma-finally-makes-his-real-dream-come-true/

Schools and other educational institutions have been given the green signal to open and operate in many parts of the country. While many parents have expressed concerns about sending their children to school due to the pandemic, many parents have welcomed the idea as social interaction is essential in character building.

Different states have different plans to ease the students into the normal way of life and have set up protocols and safety measures to ensure that the children remain safe during this transition process. School managements have been working closely with government health officials and medical experts to ensure that all students are monitored and even the slightest doubt of infection is swiftly handled.

The one group that feels neglected in the grand scheme of things are the teachers. Our sources tell us that teachers across the country are banding together to collectively put together a list of demands to be presented to the Ministry of Education to ensure that their requirements are also met. This group of teachers call themselves the Teachers and Educators of Distressed India or TEDI are currently performing outreach campaigns within the teaching community for more members.

One member of TEDI spoke to us and told us that the list of demands was not that big. "It is mainly to ensure that the safety of the teachers and their family." Although the list is not finalised, she did allow us a glance at the 5 demands that have been added so far.

• Teachers to sit in a separate broadcasting room with CCTV cameras like Bigg Boss while teaching the kids.
• Students will not be allowed to wear masks to be identifiable at all times.
• Punishments for not completing homework or tasks can include helping the teacher with household tasks.
• Smarter students will have to help the teacher's children attend their online classes.
• Lab and computer classes will be conducted open-air to negate the effects of AC spreading the disease.

This podcast can also be read at www.thedailyvanilla.com

39-year-old Chartered Accountant, Abdul Shaheen, first felt that something was wrong when he started seeing AC ads on Facebook and Instagram during the monsoons. It was highly illogical for any company to be spending money on ads for an AC when it was not the season for it not would it make any sense to buy one at the height of the monsoons. It was even more strange that he was having a chat with his friends about how it would be smart to buy the AC before the onset of the Chennai summer rather than during it.

This was followed by similar incidents like seeing ads for a new TV when he talked to the local repair guy about fixing the audio output on his current TV, ads for sports equipment when he was talking to his family about subscribing to a family membership at the local gym and even ads for enhancing his penis size after a particularly raunchy lovemaking session.

Now Abdul isn’t the only one who has been facing this. We have had multiple cases worldwide where companies like Facebook, Apple and Google have had to come out in court and provide statements that they were not listening in on people. Despite this, there have been cases where products like Apple’s Siri, Google’s Ok Google and Amazon’s Alexa have been caught recording conversations happening in peoples homes.

The blame cannot be fully placed on the companies or app developers either. They are providing a free service which we use and in return, they take the liberty of running ads to us by using our behaviour on mobile or the internet to accurately predict what kind of ads we might be interested in. This is the main, or in many cases, the only source of income for these companies and we gladly sign off our right to privacy when we agree to the terms and conditions without reading them.

All phones today come with the option of individually providing access to various apps without having to provide blanket access to everyone. The biggest mistake we all do is clicking yes to all the permissions that a newly downloaded app asks for without actually thinking why it needs that. For example, ever wondered why that new football game you downloaded needs access to your phone calls?

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/06/man-learns-sign-language-suspecting-his-mobile-phone-is-listening-to-everything-he-says/

The benefits of the cow have been a huge matter in the public domain for a while now. While many advocates of the preservation of cows and the non-consumption of beef have been coming up with various reasons why cows should not be killed, the opposing section has had very little going in their favour apart from the fact that it tastes good.

In 2019, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat made claims that the cow is the only animal to exhale oxygen and so is a very important part of our ecosystem. This vital link in maintaining the balance of nature needs to be sustained and hence cow slaughter should be banned across the country. He also went on to equate the cow to be like a mother and so needs to be addressed as mata. The Uttarakhand government went ahead and also declared that the cow should be awarded the title of mother of the nation.

This was not a one-off incident of politicians making scientific claims. Trivendra  Singh Rawat, in the same speech, had gone ahead and also claimed that cow dung and cow urine (gomuthra) are also capable of curing ailments of the heart and kidney. The mere presence of a cow was also deemed to help cure Tuberculosis and improve general health by the Chief Minister. Trivendra Singh Rawat was not the first to claim that cows exhale oxygen. In 2017, the BJP education minister for Rajasthan had also made similar claims.

Other politicians who have made similar claims include BJP MP from Nainital, Ajay Bhatt, claiming that women can avoid cesarean delivery if they drink water from a particular river. Another BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur had claimed that cow urine helped her cure her cancer and that rubbing a cow in a particular way helped keep her blood pressure under control.

The whole debate of the actual scientific benefits of the cow has been pulled into the limelight once again by the Allahabad High Court.

Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court, yesterday, in a 12 page ruling against the bail application of a person accused of cow slaughter repeated the claim that cows exhale oxygen. The judge who had previously ruled that the cow should be the national animal of India also remarked that the use of ghee in yagnas were used to give special powers to the sun rays during a pooja, which ultimately causes rain.

He also put forward the medical benefits of panchgavya (a five-part mixture of cow urine, dung, ghee, milk and curd) for the cure of most incurable diseases. In his judgement, he also quoted Jesus Christ as saying that killing a cow is equivalent to killing a human being. He ended the judgement by saying that the Right to Life precedes the Right to Kill and the right to eat beef cannot be considered a fundamental right.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/03/cow-tears-can-trigger-nuclear-reaction-better-than-plutonium-claims-bovine-expert/

The promised date of the much-hyped Indian National Congress internal elections have come and gone. The initial date promised was then shifted to June 2021 which was once again postponed due to the severity of COVID 19 across the country. Rumours have been rife about another tentative date being announced in September which will once again be postponed till early 2022.

There have been murmurs of this being a deliberate ploy of the Congress Working Committee or the CWC to keep the elections at bay and appease the detractors until Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi agrees to lead the party once again.

Our sources tell us that this will not be an easy task as the game plan includes portraying that Rahul Gandhi is reluctant to take up the post. He will also be denying the offer multiple times until eventually bowing down to the wishes of the party workers and taking up the huge burden on his shoulders. The whole scenario has been carefully crafted and a full-fledged marketing plan is underplaying.

As part of the whole plan to position Rahul Gandhi as the only saviour of the country, a huge campaign is set to be put in motion in September which is the 7th anniversary of the launch of the Make in India program. Our sources tell us that the main focus would be to project Rahul Gandhi as the only successful Make in India product and that too executed by the Congress and not the BJP.

“Name one other instance of a successful completion of a project under the Make in India program launched by Narendra Modi?” our source questioned. “The first and only time an international supplier produced in India for the good of India was when Italian Soniaji married Rajivji and gave India our only hope and saviour – Rahul baba. It is just that we did not give it fancy names.”

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/02/congress-party-claims-that-rahul-gandhi-is-the-only-successful-make-in-india-product/

The government has launched a new look and feel to the popular tourist spot of the location of one of the gruesome remnants of British colonial rule, the Jallianwala Bagh. The renovated location has garnered mixed reactions from different sections of society. While some believe that this will generate more interest in our history, some like Indian National Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi claims that it is an insult to martyrs and their families.

The memorial site is a reminder of the atrocities committed upon the Indian population by the British. The site was the location where British Army Colonel Reginald Dyer opened fire upon peaceful protesters in Amritsar on the 13th of April 1919.

In April 1919, the areas of Lahore and Amritsar had been placed under martial law, to counter the numerous protests against the Rowlatt Act, which allowed the army to arrest, detain and jail people without a warrant or a trial. The order had not arrived yet in Amritsar where the people were out on the street to celebrate the Punjabi festival of Baisakhi. Most of them were making their way to the Golden Temple which was a huge part of their traditions.

By evening, many of the attendees had moved onto what we now know as Jallianwala Bagh where a meeting was being held to protest the arrest of Dr Satyapal and Dr Saifudeen Kitchlew. This garden or park had a narrow entrance/exit and was flanked by tall buildings on every side making it a semi-enclosed structure. Colonel Dyer on hearing of this gathering of people reached the location with his contingent of armed soldiers and blocked out the main entrance. He then gave the orders to start firing at the people, which the soldiers obliged by emptying all of the 1650 rounds of ammunition that they carried with them.

The British pegged the deaths at 300 while historians say that the actual numbers are more than 1000. The dead included men, women and children between the ages of 9 and 80. The whole international community was horrified by the event and even the pro-colonist rule British Prime Minister Winston Churchill remarked that this event was a “monstrosity”. Colonel Reginald Dyer was removed from his position in India and given a plush office job in England after a committee absolved him of all charges.

The committee that looks after the upkeep of the memorial was awarded 20 crore Indian rupees in 2019 to renovate the structure on the 100th anniversary of the gruesome day.  The new structure has added facilities for visitors like drinking water and toilets. Apart from this, the entry into the garden has been repositioned and decorated with figures symbolising the people who were martyred. The main shrine has now been enclosed within a lotus pond and the Martyr’s Well, where people jumped to escape the bullets has now been enclosed in a glass frame. There has also been an addition of a 20 minute light and sound show telling the story of the massacre and a mini-museum showcasing the life of the people of the area.

Our sources within the Ministry of Culture tells us that the government is quite pleased with the way the project has unfolded despite strong protests from various quarters of the country who believed that these new renovations are demeaning the sanctity of the place and its sad history.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/09/01/after-jallianwala-bagh-renovation-kalapani-jail-to-be-converted-into-theme-park/

Karan Johar is one of the most instantly recognisable faces on Indian television. He has hosted his talk show Koffee with Karan and also appeared on numerous shows as a judge; apart from directing some of the biggest hits that Bollywood has ever seen. His latest venture was to make his debut on the OTT platform as the host of the popular show Bigg Boss on the channel Voot.

Bigg Boss was originally introduced to the Indian viewers as a television show in 2006 but gained immense popularity once the host of the show was changed to Salman Khan in 2010. Salman Khan hosts the show on the Colours channel and the OTT version is billed to be a prequel to it. The producers of the show were very clear in letting the public know that Salman Khan was not being replaced in any manner.

The OTT version of the show is supposed to have a lot more for the viewers in terms of 24/7 live broadcast, the ability to actively participate in the proceeding via votes or nominations and a few more powers that are yet to be introduced to the show. The “family-friendly” nature of the content that the TV channel tried to provide is no longer relevant as anything goes on the OTT platforms.

This has led to a mindset, language and actions on the show which host Salman Khan would have disapproved but host Karan Johar revels in. Like the promo of the show… Over the Top (Karan Johar) meets Over the Top (OTT).

This year’s contestants include Raqesh Bapat, Zeeshan Khan, Millind Gaba, Nishant Bhat, Karan Nath, Pratik Sehajpal, Shamita Shetty, Urfi Javed, Neha Bhasin, Muskan Jattana, Akshara Singh, Divya Agarwal and Ridhima Pandit. Many of them are serial reality show participants with them having participated in shows like MTV Splitsvilla, Ace of Spades etc while some others are known faces on Indian television.

Karan Johan appears during the weekend shows and does what Salman Khan was famous for in the television version of the show which is to act as an observer and question the motives and actions of the participants. Karan Johar has received a lot of flak for being biased from current and former participants of the show. His mannerisms and tone seemed far too bitchy rather than judgemental to the audiences in general.

The whole show depends on the impact that the host has during the “weekend ka vaar” episodes which usually sets the tone for the next week and also breaks and forges new partnerships. It is also during the weekend that contestants are eliminated, nominated or ejected based on their performance so far.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/31/karan-johar-might-not-return-to-host-bigg-boss-ott-season-2/

The Indian team has had a very mixed tour of England so far. The first test was washed out, the second test was another triumphant win for the all-conquering Indian team but the 3rd test brought the team down to reality when they were soundly beaten by the English.

The form of James Anderson, Ollie Richardson and the magnificent Joe Root has been consistent throughout the series while their counterparts on the Indian side had to use the help of the not-so-big names to make an impact. The form of stalwarts Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli has been a point of concern as well for the visitors.

One of the things that have been talked about quite a bit has been team selection. Star Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been dropped for all the matches so far and India has played the lone spinner in Ravindra Jadeja mainly due to his batting capabilities. With the bowling attack barring Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami failing to make an impact, there has been mounting pressure on the team management to bring him back into the mix. This could be at the account of Ishant Sharma is what we hear.

Our sources within the Indian camp have told us that after the ECB, ICC and even the BCCI rejected Ravi Shastri’s appeal to select the English prankster Jarvo who turned up to bat and field in the Indian uniform, he seemed to be at a complete loss of ideas. Ravi Shastri was seen relentlessly googling during the team practice sessions for excuses to not select Ashwin in the playing XI.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/30/ravi-shastri-spotted-using-google-during-indian-team-practice-sessions/

The crisis in Afghanistan is getting worse with thousands of people trying to access the limited options available to leave the country with their families. Many have chosen to risk everything and stay back in their home country in the hope that things will not be as bad as it’s being predicted.

The Taliban has assured its citizens that there will be no witch hunt for protestors, dissenters or any people who have acted against the Taliban in the past. Those who wish to stay back will need to adhere to the law of the land which will be based on the Islamic Sharia law. People staying back is what would be the best for Afghanistan as they look to rebuild the country from the ground up and skilled manpower like doctors and engineers will be crucial.

The US troops are said to be sticking to their deadline of August 31st to pull out of the country. This decision has lead to the fall of the government, desertion of the army and the takeover by the Taliban who were kept at bay for almost 20 years. US President Joe Biden has made it very clear that there will be no extension in this date as the war in Afghanistan has been going on for far too long.

One of the highlights of this takeover was that there was very little bloodshed, mass murders, rapes or rioting when compared to other parts of the world. There is the argument that these incidents are going unreported due to the limited number of independent journalists left in the country to report on these issues.

Some experts believe that this was achieved through a very meticulous monitoring and location-based mapping down by the Taliban in every city in Afghanistan. This ensured that the supporters of the regime were duly spared the ordeal while the non-supporters were publicly allowed to escape the country or conform to its new rules.

Our sources within the top rungs of the Taliban tell us that they had developed a whole new way of taking the count of the population or the census. This was important for the think tanks in the organisation to formulate policies that would essentially harass the non-believers while keeping everyone else safe. This census is so intricate that it not only breaks down the population by geography but also by the various subsects of the Islamic faith. Another key demographic that this census provided was the preferred country that the Afghani citizen would prefer to escape to.

The way this whole exercise was conducted remains a secret and a large chunk of the Afghan population has only this to thank for their safe passage into a country of their choice. This also helped in identifying government sympathisers, professionals and protestors who were detained by the Taliban. They were permitted to continue in the country provided that they agreed to comply with the teachings of the Quran and strict compliance to the Sharia law. Actors, artists and musicians were asked to change their profession or leave the country.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/26/taliban-to-assist-india-with-data-collection-and-analysis-of-population/

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan stated in an interview yesterday that he is not waiting for anyone’s call. This was about the Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mohammed Qureshi’s statement earlier this week in which he claimed that Imran Khan is still waiting for a call from US President Joe Biden.

While this whole situation has blown up into a massive meme/troll fest on Twitter and Facebook, the situation in Afghanistan is looking bleaker. The Taliban has been growing in strength every day and it needs real intent from neighbours like India and Pakistan to help diffuse the volatile solution.

While the US Army is sticking to its plans to pull out, the direct snub by the Biden administration has surely hurt the Pakistani Prime Minister. His reference to the USA having chosen India as their strategic partner in the region is a clear indicator.

Our sources within the Pakistani government tell us that what added more fuel to the fire was a prank call made by former US President Donald Trump. He has reportedly called up Imran Khan yesterday and claimed that it was the official call from the US President as he was the one who won the election. He also told Imran Khan that as the REAL President of the USA, he wants to build an open relationship with Pakistan as long they will break up with China. He ended the call by inviting Imran Khan to the USA for a friendly visit.

Pakistan government has refrained from lodging an official protest at this call after Jared Kushner called to apologise and inform them it was not a prank call. Donald Trump still thinks he is the US President and is under medication and close medical supervision.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/13/donald-trump-prank-calls-pakistan-pm-imran-khan-claiming-to-be-real-us-president/

One of the biggest news in the world of business was that Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was overtaken by Bernard Arnault of LVMH as the world’s richest man. As of today, Bernard Arnault sits at a comfortable 8 billion USD lead over Jeff Bezos as Amazon share prices have taken a further hit.

72-year-old Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault is a French businessman and art collector who owns the largest luxury brand in the world – Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, founded in 1987. This holding company in turn owns some of the most iconic brands of modern times in various verticals like

Wines & Spirits – Belvedere Vodka, Cloudy Bay Wines, Moet & Chandon Champagne, Dom Perignon, Champagne, Krug Champagne, Veuve Clicquot Champagne and Hennessy Cognac.

Fashion – Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and Stella McCartney

Watches & Jewellery – Bulgari, Fred, Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Tiffany & Co.

LVMH is one of the largest companies in the world in terms of market cap, with reported sales of over USD 20 billion last year. this phenomenal growth was fuelled by smart acquisitions and focussing solely on the luxury brand segment. Bernard Arnault is also a patron of the arts in France and has the reputation of being a successful art collector.

By becoming the richest man in the world, he has overtaken Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Page. He along with Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, who is also French and owns L’Oréal, are the only non-Americans in the top 10 richest people on the list. He is also the only non-American to have a net worth of over USD 100 billion.

This growth to the top has not been free of controversy and that included allegations of him applying for Belgian citizenship to avoid French taxes. The latest turmoil being faced by the corporate giant, however, is one from his customers.

Our sources tell us that a group of over 45 American men who call themselves Jilted Boyfriends Association of America (JBAA) have filed a petition to have LVMH and Bernard Arnault openly acknowledge their contribution to the growth of their revenue. The spokesperson of JBAA, who wished to remain anonymous, told us that without them, Bernard would have never got the title of the richest man in the world and they need to be given the credit that is due.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/12/jilted-boyfriends-take-credit-for-bernard-arnaults-rise-to-the-title-of-richest-man/

It was just another day for Srinivas Mahadevan, a Chennai-based interior designer but little did he know that one wrong click of a button and his life would get so convoluted that even murder would not be out of the question.

As he was surfing YouTube to look for inspiration for the latest project he was working on, he came across an ad for a brand of coffee. The ad seemed interesting enough as he was a coffee lover and if he did not have to make them himself, his whole day would be peppered with shots of coffee until it was time for bed. The simplicity by which he could brew his coffee like how they make tea with a teabag was quite intriguing.

The brand in question was Sleepy Owl Coffee, a relatively new entrant into the beverage market founded by  Armaan Sood, Ajai Thandi, and Ashwajeet Singh. This new model of selling cold-pressed coffee was something Ajai Thandi picked up while studying in the USA and the trio decided to replicate the model in India which had a huge base of coffee drinkers but only tea-based products.

Sleepy Owl Coffee was launched in 2016 and did close to INR 30 lakh in its first year. They have been in a growth space ever since moving from a 2 BHK flat in Dwarka Delhi to a swanky new office in Shahpur Jat. The team has also expanded from the initial 3 founders to over 70 employees.  Their sales too have skyrocketed with revenues touching close to the INR 10 crore mark.

They also received funding from DSG Consumer Partners for around INR 3.5 crore and have more than 1000 touchpoints across the whole of Northern India. The product line has also expanded from selling black coffee powder that can be brewed at home to now selling ready-to-drink coffee in pre-packaged bottles.

With this growth in revenue and funding, it was inevitable for the next thing to happen. The marketing department finally gets its hands on the budgets that it was starved of for the initial years. This leads to an indulgence in digital ads and all the latest methods of marketing that can be possibly done.

Our source at Sleepy Owl told us under the promise of secrecy that the marketing department was first shocked that they were finally given a proper budget to use. Once they recovered from the shock it was madness. The whole atmosphere within the department was similar to what an obese man would feel once he comes off the keto diet after 6 months. They wanted anything and everything.

Ads were purchased, keywords were bid on, videos were shot and every possible platform was targeted to run the ads.  This led to an avalanche of Sleepy Owl ads everywhere. With modern digital marketing techniques like remarketing and lookalike audiences, it became impossible for someone to ignore the ads, especially if you visited the website even once to understand what all the fuss was about.

This was what finally broke the camel’s back.

After seeing these ads multiple times on YouTube, Srinivas clicked on the ad instead of skipping it and ended up on the website. The pixel and cookies got triggered sending him down face-first into the rabbit hole called the “sales funnel”. There was no looking back.

Every time Srinivas logged onto Facebook, all he could see were more ads for Sleepy Owl. He couldn’t watch more than 2 YouTube videos without being forced through more ads. Sometimes for cold coffee and sometimes for hot. There seemed to be no escape.

“Finally I lost it,” Srinivas told us.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/10/man-threatens-to-kill-owls-if-he-sees-another-sleepy-owl-coffee-ad/

Pakistan failed to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics stretching its medal drought which began in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics but had a glimmer of hope this time around. 24-year-old Arshad Nadeem had become the first-ever track and field athlete from Pakistan to qualify directly for the Olympics and also the first Pakistani to qualify for the final round at a track and field event.

The javelin thrower ended up 5th in the standings despite, throwing an impressive 84.62 m, while all the thunder and glory was taken away by 23-year-old Neeraj Chopra from India who won the gold. Neeraj Chopra is a soldier in the Indian Army and is set to be felicitated by multiple organizations upon return to India.

Arshad’s heroics did not go unnoticed in Pakistan with the whole nation backing him up during the event. A fake viral tweet of him congratulating Neeraj Chopra also brought him some of the limelight. All this grabbed the attention of the Pakistani Army as well who is known to be the most powerful administrative body in the country.

Our sources tell us that the Pakistani Army has decided to appoint Arshad Nadeem as a Captain in the Army. This move is said to ensure that Arshad gets all the training and diet required to ensure victory in the next Olympics. Captain Arshad’s first posting will be along the LOC where he will use his skills to launch projectile drones and explosives across the border and also provide enough distractions for insurgents to cross over.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/09/javelinist-arshad-nadeem-recruited-by-pak-army-to-oversee-loc/

Prashant Kishor has been looking at a national-level role in Indian politics and has been in multiple discussions with opposition leaders for a while now. The former JDU member started his career in Indian politics as a political strategist helping the BJP win its first elections under the leadership of Narendra Modi.

Ever since his services have been up for sale to the highest bidder in multiple state elections and have the backing of a full-fledged team who works to ensure the victory of their clients. He has an almost perfect record with victories in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, and other northern states as well. One huge miscalculation was when he went up against Yogi Adityanath in the UP elections where he lost badly.

Our sources within the UPA tell us that the first piece of free advice that Prashant Kishor has given the opposition leaders is to think of the Lok Sabha as Bigg Boss house and the speaker as Salman Khan. The invisible Bigg Boss is watching them at all times and they need to get as much TV footage as possible. Every action they do in the house has to be only for TRP. This will ensure that all the news channels will focus on these MLA’s from various parties and not on any actual laws or bills. This is important when the opposition bends facts about the bills being presented in parliament.

Our sources also tell us that the best performers during the monsoon session of parliament will be sent to Barry John Acting Studio in Mumbai for a course in acting which will be part of the second phase of the plan.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/06/prashant-kishor-advices-opposition-to-think-of-parliament-as-bigg-boss-house/

Indian baby care brand First Cry seems to have gotten itself into a bit of a bother as reports are coming in that they are being forced to apologise for a case of fat-shaming at one of their stores in Bengaluru.

This comes on the heels of the incident where a social media influencer Tanya Narendra, who goes by the name of Dr Cuterus, called out the sickening behaviour from some of the staff members at the Tarun Tahiliani store in Delhi. She claims that she was subjected to ridiculous questions like why she was not on a diet or statements like her belly was showing in her lehenga. Disgusted with the whole experience, she then went to another designer who happily had the wedding dress done and fitted perfectly within the 3 weeks deadline.

Dr Cuterus has then posted a photo of her radiant self during her wedding celebrations on Instagram with the comment stating the ordeal she had to go through with one of India’s most sought after brands in the wedding fashion space. A Tarun Tahiliani wedding lehenga can cost anywhere between INR 5,00,000 to INR 10,00,000 and along with Manish Malhotra’s designs, it’s what millennial girls have dreamed of wearing on their wedding day.

Tarun Tahiliani, whose father was the Chief of Staff of the Navy, attended FIT in New York before breaking out on his own as a fashion designer. Before that, he and his wife Sal Tahiliani opened the first multi-designer boutique in India, called Ensemble, which featured designs by 5 designers in 1987. This was followed by the Tarun Tahiliani Studio in 1990.

He gained international fame when Jemima Khan, former wife of current Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, wore one of his creations for her wedding.

Tarun Tahiliani issued a public statement after the accusations were levelled stating that due to the pandemic, there was a  shortage of sizes for various designs at the store and it was not possible to meet the requirements of the customer in the 3-week timeframe that was required. He also clarified that the brand and its employees would never fat shame a person as they prided themselves on helping women be at their beautiful best on their special day.

“If our communication of stock availability, timelines needed for production and customisation had made the clients feel even the slightest not welcome and acknowledged, then we are truly sorry because that is not and will never be the intent,” read a part of the statement.

Our sources tell us that right on the heels of this unfortunate incident, another similar story has cropped up. This time involving the popular baby care brand First Cry, founded by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha. The brand focuses mainly on the 0-5 year segment and has a very strong e-commerce platform to complement over 350 brick and mortar stores it has across the country. Founded in 2010, it is one of India’s top startups and is currently in its E stage of funding. It acquired another baby care brand BabyOye in 2019.

Our source told us that a woman started accusing the staff of the Bangalore JP Nagar store of fat-shaming her child yesterday afternoon when they went to the store to purchase a new set of clothes.

Read the full episode at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/05/after-tarun-tahiliani-baby-care-brand-first-cry-forced-to-apologise/

Google announced its much-hyped flagship phone the Google Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro yesterday amidst great fanfare. Android fans have been waiting for Google’s answer to the iPhone which keeps introducing new phones into the market with regularity.

The wait was worth it with Google’s new phones having a strikingly bold design and a host of new features that are bound to titillate the core Android fanbase that the Pixel phones enjoy.

The most prominent feature is that of the camera bar at the back. This design feature breaks the mould of the flat front and back designs that all phones have been sporting. One of the reasons that Google gave for this protrusion is that it was simply impossible to accommodate all the features of the camera into the standard design. Android geeks are excited as if there was too much to pack in, it must be way better than the iPhone.

Another fun feature was the ability to set the colour tone of your phone’s display. This means that every Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro phone will look different from each other once the phones are switched on. This also plays nicely into the individualistic characteristic that android users enjoy when compared to the homogeneous iPhone users.

For the first time, Google has also announced that they will be using their own processor called Tensor chipset following the footsteps of Apple, Huawei and other major brands. What the capability of this processor is and how it will stack up against the other in the market is yet to be seen. Additionally, there is an extra security chip that will also be part of the new phones.

India, unfortunately, has missed out on the flagship phone launches for a while now. Even Googles previous phones like Pixel 4 and Pixel 5 were not launched along with the rest of the world in India. India on the other hand got the cheaper, budget version which was the A series like Google Pixel 5A.

Our sources at the Google HQ in Hyderabad told us that it is very highly unlikely that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6Pro will get an early launch in India. The cheaper version might also not reach the market to coincide with the global launch.

“The Indian market is huge and we understand that. However, there are too many players in the market, especially Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Redmi, One Plus, Huawei etc who compete for the mass market. To be honest there is no fight at the top. The top end of the market is dominated by Apple and Samsung.”

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/04/google-assures-that-pixel-6-and-pixel-6-pro-will-not-cost-buyers-a-kidney/

India has now won 2 individual medals at the Olympics, and both of them have been won by women. On one hand, Mirabai Chanu was relatively unknown to the Indian population, while PV Sindhu has been the poster child of Indian badminton along with Saina Nehwal for quite a few years now.

Mirabai, who hails from the North-Eastern state of Manipur, won the silver medal in the 49 kg weightlifting category. She became the 2nd Indian woman to win a medal in weightlifting after Karnam Malleshwari’s bronze medal almost 2 decades ago in the Sydney Olympics.

PV Sindhu from the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana), has been in the limelight ever since she won the silver medal at the last Olympics. She also had an ongoing professional rivalry with Carolina Marin which garnered a fair bit of attention. By winning the bronze this year she has now become the first Indian to win consecutive medals at the Olympics.

Our sources say that all major production houses in Bollywood including Dharma Productions, Yash Raj Films, Balaji Telefilms, UTV, Eros and Anurag Kashyap films are scrambling to get the rights to make the biopics of these athletes. Our sources also tell us that Dharma Productions is close to signing the deal with both and that Ananya Pandey is the first choice to play Mirabai Chanu. They are still on the lookout for a dusky actress to play PV Sindhu as Radhika Apte declined the offer.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/08/02/bollywood-scrambling-for-biopic-rights-of-pv-sindhu-and-mirabai-chanu/

A meeting of the top pornographic film producers from around the world in Las Vegas, Nevada triggered a series of discussions that included how to tackle the subject of child pornography and revenge porn. These were serious issues plaguing the industry and all the participants unanimously agreed that as responsible members of a bonafide industry, they need to be at the forefront of fighting such illegal content.

Both the makers of the content and distributors believed that if they can display an earnest attempt at weeding out or tackling the menace of child porn, the governments of various countries would be more receptive to them being allowed in the country.

Various countries around the world have declared pornography illegal. Creating, distributing and even watching porn is illegal in a few countries. Over 40 countries around the world including India, UAE, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have declared pornography illegal. Consumption of the content on pornographic websites via the use of VPN is quite prevalent in these societies and the government decision has not put a damper on the lives of those who seek these thrills.

The ambition to become a self-regulating industry that is accepted around the world is the overall mission for the meeting and the association. The USA and Japan are the largest producers of pornographic films and they both have strict rules in place for both production and distribution of this content. In Japan, for instance, the videos are called Japanese Adult Videos or JAV and they hide the sexual organs by pixelation. They however circumvent the need to show the actual act of penetration by producing anime or hentai.

In the USA, the actors sign off consent forms and are heavily regulated with strict action being taken if there are signs that a particular actor is underage. This leads us to the ultimate oxymoron in the world of American porn. Although pornography is legal, prostitution is not. So many people get away with prostitution by simply having a video camera in the room. Even if they are caught by the police, they can get away with claiming that they were shooting porn.

Both these loopholes were exploited and put in practice after a similar meeting years ago.

One of the biggest markets for pornographic content is India, mainly due to its huge population, relatively relaxed cyber laws and the penetration of the English language. China is not a potential market for most content creators as it is on the other end of the spectrum on these parameters.

Our sources at the event told us that the discussion on India was an important segment of the meeting. All the parties involved agreed that India was a potential cash cow and there needed to be some way to enter and operate in the market. The introduction of apps like Kooku, Ullu and others who have pornographic content has completely flummoxed the members. They were trying to figure out how this was possible when all the major pornographic sites were banned in the country.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/30/raj-kundra-inspires-adult-sites-to-comply-with-indian-laws/

The Indian team currently on tour in Sri Lanka have been going through a series of ups and downs throughout the series. First, they were accused of being a second-string team by former World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga but were elated when they won the ODI series.

Now with the T20 series tied at 1 – 1, the Indian team is in a desperate situation. It is not about having to win the tiebreaker to claim the series anymore, it is about being able to field a full team for the final match. With Krunal Pandya testing positive for COVID19, he along with 8 other members of the squad have been placed in isolation.

Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shikhar Dhawan are the players who have been isolated. This also means that Suryakumar Yadav and Prithvi Shah will not be able to travel to England to join the team for the England series as well. In the 2nd T20, the Indian team went into the match with 6 bowlers as they did not have any batsmen left in the squad.

Our sources tell us that Stuart Binny is getting ready to make a comeback to the Indian team as a full-fledged all-rounder for the last match. Stuart Binny last played for India in 2015 and was not picked in the IPL draw this year. However, he still holds the record for the best bowling performance by an Indian.

Our sources also tell us that Stuart Binny has been in isolation since the start of the IPL hoping that he will be called up when the BCCI runs out of players due to COVID19 protocol. His father Roger Binny has already started making the required calls to make this official.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/29/stuart-binny-hopeful-of-making-comeback-to-indian-t20-squad-in-sri-lanka/

Dubai is undoubtedly one of the true examples of how human capabilities when combined with wholehearted support from the government can result in remarkable results. The city, which boasts of the most diverse and multicultural experiences in the world, has been the beacon of progressive light in an otherwise conservative region.

Dubai is the 2nd largest city or emirate of the United Arab Emirates and is currently ruled by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum who is widely considered to be the inspiration behind the rapid change that the city has experienced over the past 25 years. He inherited the throne from his elder brother Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum who in turn inherited it from the founding father of Dubai and the UAE, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al Maktoum.

Dubai is also home to some of the most amazing wonders of the modern world. This includes the tallest building, Burj Khalifa and the only 7-star hotel in the world, the Burj al Arab. Tourists from around the world flock in the millions every year to see these wonders and Dubai has also popularised the concept of “staycations” where the residents of the city decide to stay back and indulge themselves in some pampering and sightseeing of their own during holidays.

Dubai also boasts of some of the most amazing feats of human ingenuity. From creating a man-made replica of the world in the sea to the longest driverless metro system, Dubai proudly holds over 30 records in the Guinness Book of World Records. For tourists visiting this city, it takes them to a place of fantasy while residents always have new things to explore all year round.

Even the latest attraction in the city, the deepest swimming pool called Deep Dive Dubai is mind-blowing. The pool is 196 ft deep and is themed around a sunken city. The pool holds 14 million litres of water and even had Hollywood star Will Smith fly down to check out the place. While most of these attractions are not a cheap affair, it is not too pricey considering the once in a lifetime experience that they all deliver.

Dubai relies mostly on tourism for its income unlike the capital city of Abu Dhabi which has over 95% of the oil and natural gas reserves in the country. This non-reliance on oil has allowed Dubai to flourish into a major tourism and financial hub of the region. With the delayed World Expo to start in a couple of months, Dubai is gearing up to shake off the slump due to the COVID19 pandemic.

However, this magnificent city has hit a roadblock.

Our sources within the Dubai halls of power tell us that they are running out of ideas.

Over the past many years the true essence of the growth of the city has been its ability to come up with new ideas that could capture the imagination of the world. The moment they announced the twisted tower in Dubai Marina, every investor wanted to invest in property there. This was the same for the Dubai Eye, Dubai Frame, Dubai Croc and a whole lot of things that everyone dreamt of. What one could dream of, Dubai made it a reality.

Read full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/28/dubai-running-out-of-innovative-tourism-ideas/

When 26 year old investment banker Subodh Shah quit his job in 2020 just before the pandemic took over the country, he had no idea that the next year and a half would be such an eventful one for him.

The firm Subodh was working for had started feeling the pinch of the vice-like grip the COVID19 pandemic had taken over the American and British economy. With lockdowns and stringent measures like social distancing and mask-wearing becoming the norm, he was forced to work from home by the overzealous HR department.

While working from home he was forced to face certain realities. The biggest thing was that as a bachelor, it was far better to just come home to sleep rather than having to live in a house full time. Although, there was a maid who would come to clean the house, do the laundry, cook food and do the dishes every day, the work at home never seemed to end.

Subodh was also a dog parent to an extremely active 2-year-old male Labrador named Jinx as well. Subodh had engaged the services of a dog walker to come home twice a day and take Jinx for a walk and feed him. Little did Subodh know that Jinx would pave the way for a multi-million dollar business in a matter of months.

One of the things that started getting on his nerves while working from home was the constant humping Jinx was indulging in. He would hump the cushions, pillows and sofas. Subodh finally lost in when during an important business meeting Jinx started humping his leg.

Frustrated with these antics Subodh did some research and realised that the only solution available to stop this habit was to neuter Jinx. However, the very thought of neutering the dog seemed to be cruel. After all, Jinx was just being a horny teenager. That started the journey to find a solution for this common problem. Subodh realised that he must not be the only person going through this.

He figured that the most obvious solution to the problem is to find Jinx a mate. However, the housekeeper refused to continue working if another dog was added to the household. She claimed that she was having trouble as it is with one dog and cannot manage another one as well. With that out of the question, the next option seemed to be to use Jinx as a stud. Not a single breeder was interested as Jinx did not have the required KCI papers making his reproductive skills worthless.

It was around this time that a close friend of his came with a request. Subodh lived in a 1 BHK apartment in Lower Parel which was close to his office. With the imminent lockdown around the corner, his friend Joseph who was a stockbroker at the Bombay Stock Exchange requested him to switch residences as he had to go to work every day despite the lockdown. Joseph lived all alone in a 2 bedroom house with a garden in Juhu as his parents and sister were stuck in the US as flights were cancelled.

As Subodh only had to work from home, he agreed and shifted over the weekend. This is when the business idea began to grow. The garden ensured that Jinx had plenty of space to run around but he kept sitting near the gate as there were plenty of other dogs in the locality who used to exchange lonely looks with him.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/27/investment-banker-turned-dog-escort-business-owner-now-earns-inr-1-2-crore-a-year/

Acclaimed filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma or RGV will be directing a boxing movie next, which will be completely different from the ones that we have seen so far. The style of the movie is also touted to be the first in the history of all sporting films.

Ram Gopal Varma who recently moved his official residence and office from Mumbai to Goa has been busy promoting his latest film Dangerous and dealing with Twitter trolls. The trailer for the movie that explores lesbianism starring Naina Ganguly and Apsara Rani was released 2 months ago and had created quite a bit of controversy due to the sexually explicit scenes in the trailer.

The last few movies that came from the RGV stables were all labelled as borderline erotica including Climax with Mia Malkova, a popular adult movie star with whom he had directed a nude short film called God, Sex and Truth. Other movies awaiting release include Ladki – Enter the Girl Dragon, another highly sexualised martial arts film starring Pooja Bhalekar.

Ram Gopal Varma shot to national and international acclaim with technically brilliant gangster films like Sathya, Company, Sarkar and Sarkar Raj. He also was known for having a knack for thrillers like Shool and Kaun while executing road movies like Daud, Jungle and many more. He was also adept at taking on the horror genre and did amazing jobs with Bhoot and Darna Zaroori Hai.

Apart from these Bollywood films, RGV was churning out hits in the Telugu industry as well making him one of the hottest talents of the 90s and early 2000s. It is widely accepted that after the huge backlash he received for his attempt to remake Sholay, which was released as Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag, his career had taken a drastic downward plunge. The movie despite having some of the biggest names in the industry like Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal, Ajay Devgn and Sushmita Sen, flopped badly at the box office and was panned by the public and critics alike.

Ramu is now quite happy away from the limelight and using Twitter to promote his upcoming releases. He also regularly courts controversy with his views on various subjects and remains one of the most trolled celebrities on the micro-blogging platform.

Our sources reveal that Ram Gopal Verma is an avid movie buff and watches almost all the movies launched. With the pandemic and being stuck at home, he has taken a liking to the digital platform. This was the reason behind the launch of his own OTT platform called RGV World Theatre which is focused on the 18+ A-rated films that he is now exploring.

Read full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/26/ram-gopal-varma-to-shoot-female-boxing-film-with-real-fights/

Jeff Bezos recently completed the first space travel by his new company Blue Origin onboard the New Shepard rocket. The successful 10-minute flight which took them to the Karman line, higher than what Richard Branson accomplished a few weeks ago, triggered a bonafide space race among billionaires.

Our sources tell us that during the 4 minutes of weightlessness experienced by Bezos and his crew comprising of his brother and the oldest and youngest person to travel in space, a new business vertical for Amazon was born.

The Blue Origin space tourism missions will now have an additional objective. They will also be collecting ‘space air’ from these trips which will be packaged and sold on Amazon Pantry. This product line will be expanded to include ‘space dust’, ‘space light’, ‘space sound’ and ‘space smell’.

Our sources tell us that this is Amazon’s way of letting people who do not have the money for actual space travel experience space. These products will only be available for Amazon Space Prime members who need to pay a subscription fee of USD 149 a year.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/23/amazon-pantry-to-sell-space-air-collected-from-its-space-missions/

Despite the COVID19 pandemic putting a damper on things, one industry that still manages to keep its head above water is the wedding industry. There have been almost the same number of weddings happening across the country when compared to pre-COVID times. The only difference is that the weddings are considerably smaller due to the insistence of the state governments that social distancing and COVID protocols should be followed.

Restrictions on the number of people who can attend a wedding vary from state to state. The TPR or Test Positivity Rate and the total number of active cases also play a major role in determining how many people can gather at an event like weddings or funerals. Any other kind of public gathering is not allowed. This was strictly implemented post-election after people started blaming the political parties for the spread of the disease via mega rallies.

These relaxations have allowed the other industries who are dependant on the wedding industry like hotels, event management, caterers, decorators, jewellers, textile shops and beauty parlours to sustain themselves. Although not at a highly profitable level, these industries are now showing signs of recovery after having to close shop during both waves.

The wedding formalities have also changed. In a society that is still heavily dependent on the arranged marriage system where the parents of the bride and groom meet and arrange for their children to get married, it has had drastic effects.

In the recent pre-COVID era, the bride and groom to be, formally meet a few times and even do a lot of video calls before getting married. This allows the couples to interact and get to know one another before tying the knot. This phase is very important and it is now becoming commonplace in urban India. However, in rural India, it is still the classic case of having seen your spouse just once before the wedding and the next time you see or interact with them, you are getting married.

With the multiple lockdowns, the closing of bars and restaurants and most offices also forcing employees to work from home, it had become extremely difficult to meet someone and fall in love. Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, Aisle etc are also require paid subscriptions which Indians abhor.

This lead to a marked increase in the arranged marriages in urban India as well. With lockdowns and restrictions on movement in place, even physically meeting them in person has now become difficult. With fewer preparations to worry about and guests to invite, wedding planning is now becoming a smooth and easy process for the parents.

This smooth process was rattled by a petition filed in the Madras High Court this week with over 50 signatories.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/22/husbands-can-now-sue-beauty-parlours-under-ipc-420/

With the West Bengal 10th standard board exam results also being announced yesterday most of the state boards have announced the results of the non-existent board exams this year. With schools and state education boards using previous years results to formulate the final result of students, the general idea has been that everyone has passed with similar results.

With CBSE also set to announce results in the next couple of days, all eyes are eagerly waiting to see what kind of results are expected for the students.

There has been a call to pull the plug on the highly stressful board exams for the 10th and 12th standard with a few state boards seriously looking at getting rid of the 10th standard board exams. The criteria to pick streams like science or commerce could be made based on the results of previous years performance, just like what the different boards were forced to do this year.

Psychologists have claimed that the stress levels of students before these board exams are extremely high and the pressure from parents, teachers and society to perform well really pushes the adolescent mind to the brink. Many students even resort to suicide as they cannot take the pressure of the board exams or the dreaded results day.

A noted child psychologist in the city told us, “Students who go through the pressure of exams develop coping mechanisms that may take years to manifest. That usually happens during adulthood when they go through other stressful situations at work or in relationships. The ones who can cope with the pressure have easier adulthood as they tend to take things much more lightly. We all have that friend whose standard response to any situation is ‘Relax’ or ‘Chill'”.

This year’s 10th standard board exam results have thrown the whole educational system in India into a major quandary. Teachers, students, parents and neighbours of the students are not sure how to respond to this scenario.

Almost all the different state boards across the country have been dishing out pass results and that too with very similar grades. This has lead to almost all states recording all-time highs in the number of passing students. This on one hand is a very good sign as the students were saved from the mind-numbing, soul-crushing exercise known as board exams.

However, this is an issue. No one has an answer to the question – Who are the nerds, cool kids, jocks and ‘gone cases’?

A principal of a reputed CBSE school in the country with over 30 years of teaching experience spoke to us after we promised to not reveal her identity.

Read full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/21/10th-standard-board-exam-results-destroy-decades-old-social-construct-of-schools/

With parliament being disrupted over the newly released list of opposition leaders, journalists and union ministers who were targeted by the Pegasus spyware, the Delhi Chief Minister is reported to have thrown a fit in his private chambers.

Pegasus is spyware built by the Israeli cyber arms company NSO which is designed to monitor and share information like messages, emails, passwords and even Whatsapp messages. Considered to be one of the most sophisticated spyware of its kind, Pegasus is capable of infecting all latest and currently used versions of Android and iOS up to version 14.6. The virus is named after the Greek mythical creature Pegasus, who was a flying horse.

Although the company itself has denied any wrongdoing, they have stated that they provide their product to governments for internal surveillance and national security. The Indian government including Home Minister Amit Shah has vehemently denied the use of the Pegasus spyware by his government to spy on Indian citizens.

The list of Indians whose phones were part of the cyberattack includes Indian National Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi,  Abhishek Banerjee who is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, political strategist Prashant Kishor, former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, Jagdeep Chhokhar, founder of the transparency non-profit Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), virologist Dr Gagandeep Kang, and Hari Menon, the India head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Indian government has repeatedly stated that it had nothing to do with these attacks and had not planned or initiated the espionage on its citizens.

Internationally the main target of the spyware were Arab royalty, over 600 political leaders and government officials along with their close aides, journalists, human rights activists and approximately 200 business leaders. The Pakistan government was one of the most severely hacked organisations with even Prime Minister Imran Khan and his close aides being monitored.

The Pegasus malware can enter your phone and be installed via SMS, iMessage, Direct download and WhatsApp. The malware can then take access to many areas of your phone and can harvest data and information from it without much difficulty. Some of the data it can harvest include SMS, Emails, photos and contacts. It can also record calls, read WhatsApp chats, access your calendar, activate your microphone or camera and get access to your GPS data or location.

There were multiple allegations levelled against NSO from 2018, these latest allegations and the new list of disclosed numbers was part of the efforts of the international human rights group Amnesty International. The first time this was brought to international attention was in August 2016 when an Arab activist received a message with a link claiming to be proof about torture in UAE jails. The iPhone penetration of the virus was the main reason for the spyware to gain international notoriety.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/20/arvind-kejriwal-miffed-that-he-was-not-spied-upon-by-pegasus-malware/

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has been under fire for the new population control bill that it plans to pass in the parliament soon. To give a more concrete look to the whole proposal, the UP government has decided to present the bill in parliament with a full-fledged campaign plan including the appointment of Sunny Leone as the brand ambassador.

The government which is facing elections next year has embarked on a journey to announce a whole bunch of new initiatives and projects including the bill designed to control the population of India’s most populous state. The opposition parties are terming this as a deliberate ploy to divert the attention of the public from the failure of the government.

The new bill which will be presented in the parliament during the next session has both incentives for people who follow the new rule and also has deterrents for flouting it. This is not the first time that a state in India has announced a 2 child policy to curb population growth. This has earlier been implemented by the  Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand at various points in time. Some governments also rolled back the policy after pushback from the citizens themselves.

Some of the incentives for adhering to the new policy include a preference for single children in government jobs, free health insurance and coverage for a single child until the age of 20, subsidy towards buying a plot or house from the Housing Board or Development Authority, preference to single children in admission to all educational institutions and rebate on electricity and water bills.

Some disincentives for not following the policy include no promotion in government jobs, restriction of ration card holders per household to 4, bar on receiving any kind of government subsidy and also being barred from contesting local body elections.

Experts believe that India does not require a 2 child policy as the TFR or Total Fertility Rate has been steadily falling and in the next few decades, India would not have a population problem on its hands. The “young population” that we are so proud of today would transition itself to an ageing population if such policies are implemented.

Political leaders of various parties were quick to jump and criticise the move as anti-Muslim, as the Muslim community is associated with large families with more than  2 children in each household. Further fuel was added to the fire when another section of the society claimed that the Hindu community should not come under this policy so that they can combat the rising Muslim population in the state.

Our sources tell us that in an attempt to get mass acceptance to the proposal, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to enlist former adult movie actress and Bollywood star Sunny Leone as the brand ambassador.

Sunny Leone rose to popularity in the country when she transitioned from an adult movie star in the USA to a Bollywood actress. She also appeared in the TV reality show, Bigg Boss where she was approached by Mahesh Bhatt to play a role in his film Jism 2. She has since acted in multiple languages in full-fledged roles and also in item songs. She lives in both Mumbai and the USA with her husband and 3 children.

The usual Brand Ambassador for almost all of UP’s government programs has been Amitabh Bachchan but for this initiative, a more relatable face was required says our source.

Read the full article at2: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/19/sunny-leone-to-be-appointed-brand-ambassador-for-uttar-pradeshs-population-control-program/

Gurugram, 16/07/2021

A group of millennials have filed a petition with the Delhi High Court to restrict the number of “uncles” in a residents association as they are making the lives of other younger residents difficult with their rules and regulations.

The term “uncle” is being used by the petitioners to describe retired men over the age of 55 who are usually homeowners within the same residential complex. By restricting the number of uncles in the association, a more objective association can function taking into consideration the issues faced by the younger generation.

One of the petitioners told us, “It is a classic case of feeling irrelevant. Most of these uncles had highly respectable careers and were at the top of their companies. Once they retire, they have nothing to do. So they join the association in the hope to have some kind of social life.”

“The decisions they take are purely based on what they think is right. For example, returning after 11 pm is not allowed only because they go to sleep before that. They think that no one else needs to be awake after that. This is a kind of moral policing in a way. What makes them different from VHP or Bajrang Dal members?”

Another petitioner felt that it was more of an emotional issue. “All these uncles have sons and daughters who do not live with them. They are no longer able to enforce rules and control their lives. So, they take it out on us and try and control ours.”

The court is yet to decide whether they will hear the petition.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/16/petition-filed-to-restrict-number-of-uncles-in-resident-and-housing-associations/

An aspiring Indian actress, on the promise of anonymity, has claimed that the “casting couch” system is still very much active in the Indian movie industry. She asserts that it’s not just mid-level directors and actors who try to take advantage of an actress but even top directors, actors and other professionals are in on it.

Casting couch is the term given to the process whereby a director, actor or technician working in the industry promises to give an aspiring actor or actress a role in a film in exchange for sexual favours. The promises are usually fake and the actor or actress is then strung along for months in the promise of that role which rarely happens.

Industry insiders say that many of these actors and actresses go on to become familiar faces on the big screen while some even reach the pinnacle of their craft. The ones that do not make it despite agreeing to the proposition either go back home with their dreams shattered or end up in one of the high-end escort services in the city.

Many actors and actresses like Surveen Chawla, Kalki Koechlin, Ranveer Singh, Ayushmann Khurrana, Kangana Ranaut, Tisca Chopra, Mamta Kulkarni, Sameera Reddy and Prachi Desai have spoken out about the experiences they had in the industry with many of them refusing to toe the line. There have been cases of actresses like Payal Rohtagi accusing director Dipankar Banerjee and the infamous case where Preeti Jain took Madhur Bhandarkar to court over casting couch allegations.

This phenomenon is not exclusive to Bollywood. There have been plenty of similar instances and allegations levelled against directors, producers and actors in the southern film industries as well.

Even Hollywood is not immune to this system. When the whole Harvey Weinstein scandal broke in the USA, many actresses revealed the kind of forced sexual gratification and “compromises” that they were subjected to. Charlize Theron, Thandie Newton, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lawrence etc are just a few of the actresses who have come forward with their stories.

The actress who is now making these claims had landed in Mumbai from Coorg to fulfil her dream of becoming an actress and working opposite Hrithik Roshan. Being a former model and a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, she believed that she had both the looks and the skills to make an impact in the industry.

She went about the usual route – dropping of her portfolio at various production houses, studios and even tried dropping by film shoots in the attempt to talk to the director. Despite being dedicated to her approach and trying everything possible in her arsenal, she was not able to get an audience with anyone. Five months into her struggle, she finally received a call from a reputed film director who had seen her portfolio.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/15/casting-couch-is-a-very-real-thing-in-bollywood-claims-aspiring-actress/

Pakistan has been working hard to contain the spread of the COVID19 virus in the country with government and health officials trying desperately to get the bulk of rural Pakistan to ditch the dogmas and superstitions and vaccinate themselves. These efforts are being done against the backdrop of multiple political tensions both externally and internally.

A series of bomb blasts outside the house of international terrorist Hafiz Saeed had left 3 people dead and over 20 people injured near the Board of Revenue Housing Colony in Lahore. This is just the latest of the various similar incidents around Pakistan for which the country had repeatedly tried to implicate India on the international scene. These allegations were made by Pak’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf last week.

This is not the first time that Pakistan has claimed that India or its citizens were behind such terrorist activities within the country. Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian citizen accused of being a RAW agent is still lying in Pakistani jails despite the support received from the international community and the International Court of Justice for his freedom. Pakistan also claims to have other RAW operatives in its custody but has not furnished any further details.

These accusations are generally brushed under the carpet by both Indian and international authorities as Pakistan’s handling of terrorism has always been circumspect. Pakistan however, seems to be determined that this time around, the noise they make in international circles will be loud enough to make everyone sit up and take notice.

India has been on the receiving end of terrorism originating from Pakistani soil with the attacks on Pathankot and multiple cases of attacks in J&K in the recent past. India has also maintained that unless Pakistan addresses the issue of its borders being used to propagate and promote terrorism, there cannot be any talks between the two countries. This affiliation of the political parties and the army with recognised terrorists has been one of the main reasons that Pakistan continues to remain on the FATF greylist.

The Pakistani establishment has now come forward with proof that the Indian influence on Pakistani soil is increasing by the day and that India is responsible for the series of suspicious activities across the country.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/14/indian-influence-inside-pakistan-at-an-all-time-high-claim-pakistani-officials/

Bengaluru police were forced to arrest 4 people after getting complaints of a drunken brawl at one of the hottest bars in Indiranagar yesterday. All four detainees were in their late 20s and according to the bar had consumed an insane amount of beer.

Eyewitness accounts say that everything was going normal until the main accused, Sajith K, a native of Pattambi in Kerala, started arguing with another table about the Euro Cup football final between Italy and England.  Very soon, the arguments spiralled and ended up in a full-blown fistfight.

It is believed that the main point of the argument was about the performance of both Italy and England in the final. While Sajith, who was wearing a stained England jersey, the others were wearing blue and were out to celebrate the victory of their team. Indistinct chatter about "Home" and "Rome" were heard throughout the argument.

Although outnumbered 3:1, Sajith kept fighting back until the police arrived to break up the fight. All 4 perpetrators were taken to the Indiranagar police station where all of them confessed to being drunk. Sajith was charged with unruly behaviour and creating a nuisance in a public place while the other three were let off on a personal guarantee.

Sub Inspector of Indiranagar police station told us, "We had no choice but to arrest him and charge him. Normally we will just ask them to apologise to each other and let them off with a warning. However, this fellow not only refused to apologise, but he also kept shouting that he is an England football team fan and this kind of behaviour is his birthright."

Sajith will be produced before the District Magistrate today to see if he had any changes in his statement after sobering up.

After Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced the dates for NEET 2021, there was a huge sigh of relief from students across the country who were uncertain how their further education would pan out. With the announcement of the dates, format and the assurance that the number of centres would be increased to ensure the following of social distancing, both parents and students have got back to their preparations.

This announcement however came as a shock to the students from Bihar who were quite perturbed by the government’s insistence that social distancing would be strictly followed.  They believe that it is unfair and would lead to the decimation of Bihar’s most profitable industry.

A student from Patna said, “This is against our cultural norms and traditions. Social distancing would mean that it would be impossible to copy during the exam. How can our Chief Minister Nitish Kumar allow this to happen? He should threaten to pull out of the NDA.”

The exam copying industry is rampant in the state of Bihar and is known to go to great lengths to ensure that its customers are satisfied. However, this year they are not too certain. One of the key lynchpins of the so-called “exam mafia” spoke to us on the promise of anonymity.

“We will need to recruit more manpower which would mean lower profits. We are still not sure what the government meant by social distancing. The increase in the number of centres would mean that we will have to spread our resources quite thin. This may result in us not delivering on our promises and parents refusing to pay us. In a year, the whole industry would collapse.”

Parents we spoke to also echoed the same opinion that the copying experts need to figure out how they will tackle this situation.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/13/bihar-neet-2021-aspirants-claim-social-distancing-will-destroy-its-most-profitable-industry/

Maverick billionaire Sir Richard Branson kicked off the space tourism industry yesterday by becoming the first person to fly into space on his winged rocket yesterday. He along with 5 crewmates from the Virgin Galactic division of the Virgin Group achieved this feat when they soared to 55 miles above the New Mexico desert.

The richest man in the world and founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos is also scheduled to go into space with the first official flight of Blue Origin, his own space company. The flight is scheduled to happen on July 20th. It is widely speculated that the main reason Sir Richard preponed his flight by 3 weeks so that he can beat Bezos.

The trips being provided by Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Bezos’s Blue Origin and Musk’s SpaceX are also different. While Virgin Galactic takes passengers up to a height of 80 kilometres, which is the line accepted by the USA as the start of space, Blue Origin will take passengers further past 100 kilometres or what is known as the Karman line. Both these trips are suborbital trips that are meant to provide the travellers with a few minutes of weightlessness followed by a sighting of the curvature of the earth.

The SpaceX flights on the other hand are orbital flights meant to take the passengers around the world in orbit and meant to last a few days, unlike the trips that are being provided by both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. The SpaceX trips will also be much more expensive and are set to start operations next year.

Many experts including Neil DeGrasse Tyson have contented that these trips cannot be considered “Space Travel” in their true sense and is more of the novelty of being in space for a few minutes. In essence, this is more like a joy ride at an amusement park rather than a full-blown trip to space. These trips last approximately 20 minutes with the “astronauts” experiencing almost 8 minutes of weightlessness.

The whole experience is not cheap with each passenger having to shell out between $200,000 to $250,000 per trip. Despite the price of the trip, Virgin Galactic has claimed that over 600 tickets have already been sold to celebrities and millionaires from over 60 countries.

This whole billionaire space race is not just limited to the Western Hemisphere. Billionaires in India are also warming up to the whole concept and have been closely following the developments around the world.

Our sources at Reliance Industries, home of the richest man in Asia, Mukesh Ambani is looking at options to enter the space race himself. With ISRO still in its nascent stages in terms of space travel, it has become obvious that there would need to be a fair bit of outside help bought in to help with JioSpace.

Read the full article at: http://thedailyvanilla.com/2021/07/12/after-sir-richard-branson-jeff-bezos-elon-musk-indian-billionaires-show-interest-in-space/