সোহিনী 🌻 | ஸோஹினி | Sohini
@sohinichat
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Sister to the 'Internet's Best Dog' | Writer | Editor | New India Foundation fellow | sohinichat @gmail .com
Calcutta
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Pinned Tweet
The beautiful Santhi Soundarajan, a woman of magnificent grace, who never ran a race for India after a ridiculous disqualification based on a dubious sex test. After 11 medals.
The kindest, most decent person I know. Possibly, shall know.
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In my next life, may I be reborn in Tamizh Nadu
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Ravan is a scholar and master warrior
He avenged his sister Surpanakha's humiliation
He understood consent and respected Sita
He did not trick anyone in Ram's family even though his brother Vibhisana was tricked and persuaded by the other side
#BijoyaDashami
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#MamataBanerjee
victory speech: "Please go home and bathe in hot water. Please maintain
#COVID19
protocol, we have many affected.
We will announce the victory parade later."
Remembering her 2011 victory speech ending 34 years of Left rule: "It's so hot. Go home and bathe!"
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"If this is the situation of Olympic champions, imagine what happens to ordinary citizens," one of them had said some months ago.
"I quit wrestling": Sakshee Malikkh after ex-chief Brij Bhushan's aide wins poll
🎥: ANI
#SakshiMalik
#BrijBhushan
#WFI
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Please can you help verify this video, where does it appear to be from and when was it shot?
@free_thinker
@zoo_bear
@Neurophysik
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Delhi media's
#AtalBehariVajpayee
coverage is so cute: He praised gajar halwa, he indulged me when I said I had never voted for him. He asked me for steak recommendations in New York.This is the nonsense that access journalism produces
At least,
#Modi
has no time for this tripe
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Transforming Kolkata...from UP
That's the Maa flyover, you can tell it is Kolkata by the giveaway blue and white pattern. And zoom in to see the yellow Ambassador cabs of Kolkata on the flyover
(Via
@SaketGokhale
and
@adilhossain
)
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#COVID19
has proved to me what I've suspected for long: Indians emphasise science to ace competitive exams and "professional" engineer-doctor jobs. Not to live by scientific principles
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The men are sitting down to eat, the women are serving and waiting
From ANI's image of the dinner for Amit Shah at Saurav Ganguly's home
(In high school and college, I adored Ganguly. I feel sas when I think of myself, sadder for him)
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Like all parties that have been in power for too long, the TMC needs to go. If this horrendous case is what makes the house of cards collapse, so be it.
They won't agree but they need to get a break from power. It's messed with them. Go, get rest, watch afresh with Oppn eyes.
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5 Sept is a good day to remember Prof Jadunath Sinha who filed a case of plagiarism against Prof Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in Aug 1929 for deriving substantive portions of his book Indian Philosophy Vol II from Sinha's Indian Psychology of Perception Vols 1 + II (image Wikipedia)
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Rio Olympic finalist LALITA BABAR: "My sister was named Nakusha. [Roughly translates to "unwanted girlchild".] In Satara district, Nakusha is perhaps the most common name for girls..."
These are the odds women face in the Indian sub-continent. Then, you have Brij Bhushan
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The Muslim in popular Hindi cinema is invariably a tall, rugged, Pathan-like or west Asian type figure. I believe the journalist Seema Chishti observed this and it is right.
In this light, I want to talk about Saudagar where Amitabh Bachchan plays a lungi-clad Bengali Muslim ++
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"When Modiji ordered the criminal law against Triple Talaq, then BJP called Muslim women their sisters. For one month your sisters have been sitting in the cold. You didn't come to meet them even once?" The incredible women of
#ShaheenBagh
to
@khanumarfa
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There is in Calcutta a restaurant called Burma Burma, which serves "pure veg" Burmese food!
As you travel east from West Bengal towards the far east, nothing is cooked without fish or seafood stock! How is this Burmese resturant possible?
Kindly rename it Sharma Sharma 🙏🙏
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19 years ago, the bellies of pregnant women were sliced in Gujarat. A frail elderly man's beard is now forcibly chopped off. In between, men were carved up in their own homes for having meat in their fridge they had bought
We've been in this carnival of sadism a long time
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In 1971, my grandfather the late Prof DP Chattopadhyaya steered the Medical
Termination of Pregnancy Bill through Parliament into an Act. It legalised abortion in
India. DPC described it as measure for the emancipation of women, not
population control
#RoeVsWade
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Question on Quora: "Why is Nirmala Sitharaman so rude with people who ask questions about the economy?"
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My sense of joy is dissipating. Looks like Chandrababu Naidu is settling for textile, Panchayati raj, social justice and such toothless ministries (these should be crucial but this establishment gives them zero power)
The defence, home bluster is over
Normal service is resuming
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My grandfather Prof Debi Prasad Chattopadhyaya, among the foremost scholars of philosophy of Indian science, passed aeound 1:30 pm. He served as former Union minister of Commerce in the 1970s.
Since Oct 2019, he was non-verbal, fed by PEG tube. We cared for him at home
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Took my mother for a bowel movement today, ultra smooth affair. For a country our size, diversities/ complexities, only a leader like
@narendramodi
could create this great sense of faith in bowel movements. Met many senior citizens, all having BMs coz PM has them too
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The only time I will be in the same frame as Rajinikanth saar 🙏
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Dear
@MumbaiPolice
a phone no. listed to the name of Umesh Ghule, Mumbai, is making video calls to my mother on whatsapp, waving an erect cock on video on accepting the call.
Twitter rules would suspend for giving out a number, but please act against 9594XX4428
Please help 🙏🙏
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Dear Hima Das, Dutee Chand, the women's cricket team in India, Dipa Karmakar, and all women kicking ass in India, please reserve the rights to your stories with a good lawyer before
#AkshayKumar
takes over your stories with a face bigger than all your achievements out together
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Dear
@Uber
your drivers in Kolkata are not switching on their ACs. There is an ongoing protest. This is a complaint against you, not them. Please address their longstanding concerns. Fuel prices are soaring. Please don't reduce this to an individual issue
@UberINSupport
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When I worked at the Times of India's desk, the unsaid rule was that only images of fair girls would be carried for students/exam stories. No boys. Are we doing the same with Asif Iqbal Tanha? Why only Natasha Narhwal and Devangana Kalita in most photos of dissent?
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(Today's a holiday for Muharram)"
"I know," the man said. "But she doesn't believe me, so I brought her."
The little girl, holding a chocolate, shyly looked away
What a day! I hope her family continues to indulge her enthusiasm for school. I hope she keeps going to school!
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This morning, I saw a tiny girl in a red school uniform dress riding pillion on an elderly man's bicycle, circling around the Begum Rokeya govt school behind us. "Kothai school?" (Show me the school?)", the man was saying aloud.
I pointed to the building and said "aaj chhuti" +
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Lata Bhagwankare ran her first marathon at 65 to fund her husband's treatment. At the National Awards, when she went up to get her citation for her biopic, the theatre gave her a standing ovation, something they did for only one other winner: Dadasaheb Phalke winner Rajinikanth
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The choice in
#Bengal
is between:
corruption as usual
and
a buffet of murder + lynching + hate + cultural hegemony + misogyny + a record of marvellous misgovernance
It is an easy choice, really
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Honestly, this man has such good taste.
@khanumarfa
has the same effect on me 💜
“Poora Gaon The Wire dekhta hai”
Meeting your viewers is one of the many rewards of field reporting.
( Love the way he pronounced my name)
*** Wait till the end
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Is
#Modi
Pakistan's ambassador?
@MamataOfficial
says it with panache
Why do you always compare our nation with
#Pakistan
? He talks about Pakistan all day. Why? Is he their ambassador? If someone says 'give me job, I have no work' he says 'go to Pakistan' :
@MamataOfficial
questions PM
@narendramodi
at
#NoCAANoNRC
rally in
#Siliguri
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Twitter India's top trends for two days since
#CycloneAmphan
don't include Bengal-Odisha in their list of 20. The "national media" is busy with
#RamMandir
and UP buses + Gandhi family politics
But, it's anti-national to say I get more relevant news from Bangladesh channels?
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#ArunJaitley
's statue is up at Kotla. I always think of him and Sushma Swaraj as the ministers who got kidneys for their transplants with the snap of their fingers. While my father suffered and suffered in ICUs till my ma donated
Their donors? No one knows
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A father tweeted about his 10-year-old girl who is in coma, needing an urgent
#LiverTransplant
. These are some of the responses she received. So ashamed
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Outstanding much-needed story on how Prime Minister Modi consulted no one in the states and the national disaster mgmt authority before imposing the world's strictest lockdown. The result: zero help to poor, raging infections, breakdown of basic services
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The only SRK film I can return to 🥂
All the late nights,early mornings,problems worked out bcoz of the gorgeous
@MadhuriDixit
,the stunning Aishwarya,ever cheerful
@bindasbhidu
, full of life
@KirronKherBJP
& the whole team slogging under the masterful Bhansali. Only issue-the dhoti kept falling off! Thx for the love
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Hindi films featuring domestic violence in the last 5 years
Secret Superstar, 2018 (Muslim household)
Thappad, 2019 (Hindu + "poor working class" household)
Gully Boy, 2019 (Muslim)
Darlings, 2022 (Muslim)
Laal Singh Chaddha, 2022 (mixed Christian + "poor working class")
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Why do heroines in Hindi film eat only phuchkas,
@vervemagazine
asked me. I did an empirical study and found they were half correct. Heroines also open their mouths wide for ice-cream. But mainly women don't eat. My essay on food and gendering
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That old question: have you lost friends over politics again post May 2019?
I realise I am actively shedding friends now. I turn down invites to people's homes, who I know are supporters of the BJP's "tough stance and business pragmatism"
I wasn't like this before.
You?
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One of the main things the new govt should do in
#Bengal
is to educate citizens to debunk fake news. Do the tougher thing: hold workshops and hand out notes at the ward level to citizens
Don't only keep a fake news busting cell in your media dept.
Do BOTH
@derekobrienmp
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A South Korean citizen went to a govt hospital in India for emergency treatment and was shocked. She tweeted her thoughts. You know what happened next. Yes, you guessed right: she was abused and told to go back to South Korea.
What makes us so resistant to criticism?
Epic of my India trip - I went to emergency. And I saw a hell.
Hundreds of sick people couldn't even enter the building so they were lying outside. Inside the hospital is almost like a temporary medic cube near refugee center. Beds were dirty, patients had to stand hours,
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This happened back in 2006-07 in secular haven West Bengal
Rizwanur. Remember Rizwanur? His girlfriend was the daughter of the Lux Cozi brand empire. He was found dead near a railway track
(To the credit of Calcutta society and media, it was BIG news for months.)
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Is this person former Chattisgarh CM Raman Singh's son,
@AltNews
? Would you please check?
पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री रमन सिंह के बेटे अभिषेक सिंह की यात्रा निकल रही है। विडियो में 24 सेकेंड के बाद क्या बोला जा रहा है।खुद ही सुन लीजिए।
मैं ऐसे शब्द नहीं लिख पाऊँगा
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In Delhi, you may be beaten up for your work. In Kolkata, we welcome all
#journalists
reporting on Bengal election 2021 with a 15% discount on tariff
Aircooled rooms beginning Rs 1650 | Ensuite bathrooms | Free breakfast | Wifi | meals on order
More on
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#Bollywood
at its best--all we see is money 👏👏👏👏
Blind to injustice, deaf to injustice, mute to injustice
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In a tangail sari from Tangail, one of my late grandma's two heirlooms for me, for the National Awards. She came away from the other Bengal before Partition
I am wearing you to the national capital at the Vice-President of India's invitation. We've come a long way, Tabba
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अरे भक्तों, कहांँ सोये हो? फटाफट बुर्का फोटोशॉप करो!
(आई•टी सेल ने ट्वीट का देढ़ रुपया कर दिया तो क्या! कौरोना का बाज़ार है, काम करो!)
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My word! How different Thalapathy looks. Look at the posters for Beast or Master and then come back to this
A poster for popular
#Tamil
romance drama
#KadhalukkuMariyadhai
(1997), starring
#Vijay
and
#Shalini
in the leading roles. A love story of a couple from different backgrounds and beliefs was a remake of
#Fazil
's own
#Malayalam
hit
#Aniyathipraavu
(1997).
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It was 1940. The Olympics, initially meant to be in Tokyo, became the first edition of the modern Olympics to be cancelled; WWII was imminent. A 15-year-old Calcutta girl Ila Mitra missed being the first Indian woman at the Games. This is her story +
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"You are earning because of us. The reason you collect faeces is because we have come here. You earn by doing that,” Brahmin man in Chennai tells sanitation worker
My ICSE syllabus had nothing on caste except untouchability is abolished. Your school board?
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Congratulations
@SaketGokhale
please push for West Bengal to have online RTI request portal, and insist on a system where queries are returned with responses within 30 days
Make Bengal the model for RTI as well
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Deep respect for Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and her succinct philosophy: "That's not my problem."
No surprise that it has inspired the Modi government, which is abiding by it faithfully
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Has any other political leader hit the streets?
#CAAProtests
#CAAAgainstConstitution
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The postergirl of feminism in India (at this moment) approves of sexism if it comes from Anglophones with the right tonality
Didi-o-didi, however...
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Fortis is charging Rs 1050 for a dose of Covidshield which costs Rs 600. That is a mark-up of 75%
Woodlands is charging Rs 900, a mark up of 50%
And Apollo is charging Rs 850, a mark up of 41.66%
Truly, free market offers such a bouquet of choices 🥂
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The last guardian of Nehruvian India has passed: my absolute favourite
#DilipKumar
. Look at the clip below to see how contemporary his work remains
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There is a vast India outside Hindi-Urdu India
In that India, the choices are not Rahul Gandhi versus Modi
There are a plethora of choices for a federal union of leadership. If you step out of Hindi-Urdu India in your mind, you'll step out of this binary quicksand
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When I wrote a piece on marital rape for Film Companion, my main criticism was the balatkaar monologue in 3 Idiots
Everyone knows the relationship between the film and the ownership of FC
It stayed as it was, barring minor edits
Respect to FC. They stand by their writers
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The one moment in history that Modi was not present in is Gujarat 2002
-- courtesy
@aryaman89
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Went to the Crossword Bombay store at Kemp's corner, found my book languishing in one corner. Told the manager that I have blurbs from Ram Guha and Shobha De, why am I not on the "hot off the press" table. He obliged.
Wanted to tell women writers esp., do not be shy! Please 🙏
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"I did not think that a book on sportswomen would engross me so much."
-- Romila Thapar, Emeritus Professor of History, JNU
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As someone who failed to get any scholarship in my 20s-- not Inlaks, not Felix, not Rhodes-- though I applied for everything, and only developed a better record with small fellowships in my 30s, I can't be happier to see the crowdfunding campaigns for students
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I delegated my paperwork and writing to my brother for the evening
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One short story. And three men who wore its heart
Chhabi Biswas, 1957, Bengali
Balraj Sahni, 1961, Hindi
Danny Denzongpa, 2017, English
(And all three are sensational, believe me)
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"As someone who has spent two decades in audio-visual journalism, I have conducted hundreds of TV debates and can say with some authority that what Goswami does on TV debates is not journalism..." Sharp argument on press freedom by
@khanumarfa
on
#Arnab
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The Bengal famine of 1943-45 was extensively, meticulously documented by a tabloid-sized weekly called People’s Age, named People’s War during the years of WWII. It was published by the Communist Party of India and cost two annas. My story +
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I've stopped using the term freelancer precisely because most people are like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who thinks freelancer means your work comes for free plus you have a lot of free time
I insist on the term independent
Ever heard a doctor or architect say they are freelancers?
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A huge sweep by independent journalists at the Redink awards already, pointing hopefully to something I know at least since 2014: the finest, bravest, most complex journalism is being done by those who are paid peanuts and get the least support and protection.
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Dear
@PMOIndia
when I call any of the numbers mentioned on your website, it disconnects immediately.
No email addresses mentioned either
How does one reach you?
Reporters, please RT to help me get the message across 🙏
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A person with a camera who works for the District Magistrate's office is not a photo journalist. Camera person is correct
(Not saying journalists wouldn't do this. I dare not because we do far worse. Only making an analytical distinction: Bijay Bonia is not a journalist)
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The handsomest, longest chair I have seen. Flagstaff House, Barrackpore, formerly a part of the weekend estate of the Governor General of British India, now the Governor of Bengal's residence by the Hooghly (Ganga)
Do you know what this chair is called?
Hint: nice, raunchy name
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Taapsee Pannu should lock the
#DeepikaKumari
biopic before Akshay Kumar signs up to perform "in and as" Deepika Kumari + her coach + her father + her bow + her quiver + and the marksboard?
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"Many of Calcutta's most loved hotels have been built by Armenians — the Grand Hotel, the Kenilworth, the Astoria and the late Shashi Kapoor’s favourite hotel, the Fairlawn."
Calcutta was born on 24 Aug 1690. On her b'day, my ode to my grandfather's city
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The
#Covid_19
test kits designed by biochemist Nadeem Rahman and his wife Afeefa cost Rs 500
The Indian govt is purchasing kits from them. The price cap fixed by them for private labs is *Rs 4500*
Superb story
@khanumarfa
Nadeem Rahman a biochemist,his pharmacist wife Afeefa along with a dedicated team of scientists are making rapid Corona kits.
Cost Rs 500,result in 15 mins.
Approved by NIV.
The Govt will be buying the kits from them through ICMR.
I interviewed them here-
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RAVISH. READ. MY. BOOK!!!
(ok, turned off all caps now)
पढ़ते हुए लगा कि मैं क्यों पढ़ रहा हूँ , दौड़ क्यों नहीं रहा हूँ ? किताब ऐसा असर करती है कि आप पढ़ने से पहले दौड़ना चाहते हैं और पढ़ते हुए उन तमाम अनुभवों के साथ दौड़ने लगते हैं जो एक लड़की दौड़ते हुए हासिल करती है। अच्छा और बुरा दोनों। शोहिनी चट्टोपाध्याय की यह किताब अद्भुत है।
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I really enjoyed, and learnt a lot from this essay on SRK.
Couple of quibbles:
1) SRK tweeted in praise of notebandi within hours of the declaration by PM Modi in 2016. Have linked to the tweet below
2) He participated in a celebration to mark MK Gandhi's 150 years with the PM +
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Congratulations to
@rohini_mohan
for winning the Donald Robinson award for investigative journalism for her story on the
#NRC
tribunals in Assam
Well done, sista!
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For Satyajit Ray's 103rd birth anniversary, I wrote about a topic that no editor has commissioned me to write (so I commissioned myself): the pathological absence of women in his marvellous, addictive young adult books
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Shabana. Aparna Sen. And Naseer's recommendation
That's a list of readers I didn't expect!
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Eight plus years in the making. Or was it more?
Finally. Finally!
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Dear north indian media orgs calling me to file an
#Amphan
report, I appreciate your concern about Bengal. A couple of things
1) I've not had power for 20 hours since y'day
2) no internet
3) phone network mostly out
4) been cleaning rainwater for hours
5) looking after my dadu >>
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Forget Swapan and Khokon and Chandan and Noton m. The main thing is that if you see a haraamjaada in India today, there is a 50 per cent or so chance that they are from La Martiniere in Calcutta
(I would know.)
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If anyone can crowdfund an Oxbridge degree, then what is the point of being a Chatterjee, Subramaniam or Sardesai?
This is the problem with India: no one values ✨merit✨ 😡😡
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Haldiram's owner dies in Singapore of liver ailment. Family writes to Indian govt to fly them home before
#lockdown
there because their business is "orphaned". A flight is reportedly bringing back Indians stranded in Singapore. If you're rich India 💜s you
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Thank you
@bhupeshbaghel
for apologising on behalf of the slap-man IAS officer, and removing him from duty
Now please facilitate Jean Dreze + Bela Bhatia's visit to Sukma where three Adivasi protesters were killed by the CRPF. I know it's tricky to tread near the Centre, but...
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"I will not go anywhere else
I will stay right here."
Goosebumps. Cried a bit. Outstanding song. Thank you Bengali artists. You make this a land worth living in.
#NoVoteToBJP
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"I used to run with PT Usha when I was a child: holding aloft a plastic mace, round and round our drawing room, and she on the screen, flanked by bounding deer. I think this marked the genesis of my book Runner.
2024 marks the 100th year of India's participation at the Olympics
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Can
@KolkataPolice
please check if this person is really a student at Don Bosco Park Circus as his handle suggests he is?
Death and rape threats are serious, it merits a complaint to the school, if this person is a student. And it merits their future being jeopardised
Dear
@DelhiPolice
this man is repeatedly sending me explicit death and rape threats the last 2 months. I am happy to provide all the evidence. Can i expect any justice
@NCWIndia
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A 28-year-old journalist died of
#COVID19
Media offices, stop calling people to office. You know who you are
He wrote about film, and is likely to be considered a "soft reporter" in the eyes of state press accreditation bureaux. Don't do this. We're not even getting vaccines
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For Prof Rosie Thomas: you remind me to trust my eye for "unimportant things"
Chidananda Dasgupta: your writing guides me to see anew, still
And all my editors: you've let me have so much fun!
Thrilled
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Only five women *ever* have accomplished the Prudonova vault. The legend Simon Biles, winner of 9 Olympic medals, is quoted to have said that she does not wish to die when asked why she does not do the Prudonova
5 July I shall be in conversation with Dipa Karmakar.
Link below +
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Filmmaker + poet Buddhadeb Dasgupta, who has 37 credits on IMDb and at least 7 National Awards, passed today. His film Grihajuddho, where a sister (Mamata Shankar) looks for her elder brother's murderer in the Calcutta of the Naxal years, is a precursor to Kahaani to my mind ++
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Sharjeel and Umar and Gulfisha are not the 1%
They are the 99%
We are the 99%
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