Third Slip - Issue 17: We have no filter.
A roundup of all that happened last week. With some humour. Maybe.
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When you live in a country that operates on the credo “Taking offence is the best form of defence” it’s not easy to be comedians. AIB found out the hard way again this week when a throwaway joke involving Narendra Modi and a Snapchat filter ended up with an FIR being filed against them. There was also some delicious irony on display as some members of the Congress party tried to school AIB on concepts such as bravery, Freedom of Speech etc before being reminded that they came up with 66A in the first place. Like England invents (all) sports which other countries then continually beat them at, the ruling party has just taken over from the starting point and invented the IPL of shutting down jokes that offend them. What a time to be alive.
There are so many things wrong with what happened, but this tweet sums it up best.
Militancy in Kashmir took another bleak turn: Amarnath pilgrims (whom even Muslim locals help out, a point of pride for them) were attacked by militants. In a recurring theme, Rajnath Singh had to face the brunt of right wing trolls because he tweeted like a decent human being, which is not acceptable to the fringe that seems to dominate our public discourse today.
Partially related - the legal system doesn’t give too much of a damn about dispensing lynch-based justice. The SC stayed the ban on cattle for slaughter, but the damage has been done: Buffalo markets are deserted because everyone’s scared of mobs.
Times are good for FMCG: But only if you’re Patanjali. Which now enjoys tax-free status.
And you might remember from last week’s issue that Beijing is trying to muscle in, via Sikkim. India’s defiance clearly has rattled Beijing, if reactions from Chinese propaganda newspapers are anything to go by.
Air India, under the guise of cutting costs, said they’d serve only vegetarian food on domestic flights. The usual outrage and funny tweets followed, none more so than Omar Abdullah who said this move should nurse the ailing airline to health in 5000 years.
In a charming throwback to the 90s, an FIR has been filed against Lalu. Some corruption thing. On the political menu, you either have bigotry with a side of mob violence or slow roasted multi-crore scams. Choose wisely.
It’s now illegal to dump waste into the Ganga. Do dead bodies still count?
And if you still retain some happiness after reading all this, here’s more: A cartoon led to communal violence in West Bengal. But cheer up: Here’s how Calibri (yes, the font) has hilariously busted Pakistan’s PM, leading to jokes like ‘Sans Sharif’.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi met with the Chinese envoy but even his party was not aware of it, it seems. They flipped, then flopped, and then scored yet another spectacular own goal.
In other flip flop news, Ravi Shastri was finally announced as the new coach of the Indian cricket team, and then unannounced as the coach, and the reannounced as coach again. The CAC also added Zaheer Khan and Rahul Dravid as bowling and batting consultants to the team.
WTF of the week
International Indians Outrage For No Reason News: There was social media outrage and walkouts from AR Rahman’s concert at Wembley because apparently, this musician from Chennai performed some Tamil songs and only a few Hindi songs. The concert titled “Netru, Indru, Naalai” which (based on our limited Hindi vocabulary) translates to “Hindi, Songs, Only” disappointed the Hindi speakers in the audience because false advertising. Facepalm.
How is this not the WTF of the week
In normal times, a story where the censor board has asked for the words “Gujarat”, “Hindu India”, and “Cow” to be cut out from a documentary on Amartya Sen would be the top candidate for the WTF section. But hey, there are only so many times you can facepalm about the same thing.
TL;DR on the sickening story from Mollywood
If you are unfamiliar with the Malayalam movie industry, here’s the brief lay of the land - for the most part, it is extremely patriarchal, and also casteist. In February of this year when an actress was abducted and molested in a car, there were suspicions that it was an attack orchestrated by some forces within the industry. The saga finally reached a fever pitched frenzy this week with popular actor Dileep being arrested in connection with the case. He had earlier blamed the survivor for keeping “bad company”.
Predictably, some idiots decided to damage Dileep’s property upon his arrest. The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists which had earlier stood firmly by Dileep has now expelled him, but the PR machinery is deployed in full force with actors crying out against a trial by media that they claim has been unleashed against Dileep.
That’s most of what you need to know, the only silver lining from this despicable incident is the formation of a Women in Cinema Collective to address gender issues in the industry.
WORLD
Tip of the iceberg
While sane people and Trump supporters argue over climate change, a massive iceberg broke away from Antarctica. We recommend taking scuba lessons soon.
Iraq’s PM declared victory over ISIS in Mosul - but that’s hardly cause for celebration. The battered city needs to be rebuilt, and the militants are present in other parts of Iraq. Long story short - keep that country out of your honeymoon plans.
You know how they say people unite over a common enemy? That’s another good thing Trump has done: Fractious Europe seems to agree on one thing: Trump is a bad thing. For one, they’re moving ahead honouring the Paris climate change agreement without the US: Which is a massive symbolic victory for a gasping planet. This didn’t stop Macron from inviting Trump for the Bastille Day celebrations, though. Anyway, here’s a scathing report card on Trump’s performance at G20 by the Australian media - a 2-minute clip that’s gone viral. And it’s not like the US needs the world’s snubbing to decline in importance: Trump is doing a pretty good job of that himself. His latest effort: Cancelling ‘startup visas’ that allow foreign founders to stay in the US. And with other Silicon Vallies sprouting around the world (conveniently, Hong Kong just hosted Asia’s biggest tech conference - its American participation doubled!)
In sad news, the Chinese dissident who kept vigil at Tiananmen Square in 1989 passed away while in custody, of cancer. He remains the only person to have won the Nobel Peace Prize while locked away and was represented by an empty chair.
L’ORANGE CORNER
Russia connections are like an annoying mosquito that won’t go away: Just days after Putin assured Trump he didn’t interfere in the elections, there’s now proof that his son met with Russians who could provide him dirt on Clinton. Add to this the fact that the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant was the setting for this to happen, and you have all the ingredients for a cheap paperback thriller. Oh, but the FBI chief pledged neutrality. Spoilsport.
Most Americans think he’s done something immoral/illegal with respect to Russia (but 72% Republican users think he did nothing wrong. Oh well).
Remember Trump’s epic “I thought this job would be easier” statement a few months ago? Well, he’s not the only person from the administration thinking that. Former Exxon Mobil CEO and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pines for his easy oil days after failed middle east diplomacy.
You must be tired of hearing about the Obamacare repeal, so here’s the gist of the week: new version, still looks doomed.
Trump has good intentions in one area, though - trying to rein in missile-obsessed North Korea, and he desperately needs China’s help for that. China’s not cooperating, so he might impose sanctions. And that won’t make China happy - which is a frightening prospect.
OUTER SPACE
Juno took pics of Jupiter’s Great Red spot. Wow.
TECH
Huge news: The FDA has approved gene-editing for fighting cancer. It’s basically a ‘living drug’ that harnesses the immune system.
Hyperloop One - one of the companies that hopes to revolutionize the way we travel - had a successful test run. It went at a fraction of the eventual 700 mph goal, but what’s important is - all the elements are in principle working together.
A battery-free phone? It might happen.
It’s like the startup world is competing with the Trump administration to see who can put The Onion out of business first. A Chinese umbrella-sharing startup (yes) loses most of its 300,000 umbrellas in 3 months. Well, on the bright side, that 3 months would have been 3 days if they were based out of India.
Ads are coming to FB Messenger, ostensibly because the main app is running out of space.
There’s an iPod Shuffle for Spotify. It’s called Mighty.
BIZ
Get over yourselves: Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others are actually fighting over your kids. Speaking of which, a massive challenge a lot of American brands have with respect to India is the country’s conservative nature - from censoring ads to not having adult products. (This year’s Prime Day, by the way, was Amazon’s biggest ever sales day)
HOW TO SPEAK MBA: This week presented by Faraday Future
The electric car company is a little f***ed, to say the least. Of course, they chose to state that a little more eloquently:
““We at Faraday Future are significantly shifting our business strategy to position the company as the leader in user-ship personal mobility — a vehicle usage model that reimagines the way users access mobility. As a result of this shift in direction, we are in the final stages of confirming a new manufacturing facility that presents a faster path to start-of-production and aligns with future strategic options.”
LINKEDOUT - The best things we read this week
Remember Srinivas Kuchibhotla? The Garmin techie who was shot in a hate crime in Kansas? Here’s the incredibly touching story of his widow.
Amazon Prime Day happened in India for the first time on 11 July and you probably ordered a ton of stuff you didn’t need. For the supply chain geeks among you, here’s how it all happens - a massive chain of humans.
Why Trump’s presidency (and your engineering course) seems like a lifetime: Lots of news changes our perception of time.
Meet the golden retriever that’s been trained to remove plastic bottles from China’s rivers!
Thejaswi Udupa explores how the north and south treat each other in their movies.
That’s it for this week. If you like The Third Slip, why not tell a friend about us? And if you hate it, why not sign up that guy from HR whom you dislike to the mailing list? Would you like to tell us something? Reach us on Twitter (Tony, Chuck) or email us. Till next Sunday, the mass mail has ended. Go in peace.