Cristiano Ronaldo's New World Record

Cristiano Ronaldo, a Portuguese football player and one of the best players in the world, has recently set a new world record. 

This one is not on the field but on social media platforms. He made history by becoming the first person to be followed by One Billion Followers.

The Numbers are here:

Instagram - 638 million followers

Facebook - 170 million followers 

X / Twitter - 113 million followers

Youtube - 60 million followers

He wrote on Instagram, thanking his fans, as follows:

“We’ve made history — 1 BILLION followers!” 

“This is more than just a number — it's a testament to our shared passion, drive, and love for the game and beyond. From the streets of Madeira to the biggest stages in the world, I've always played for my family and for you, and now 1 billion of us stand together.” 

Here is a link to the article published in Hindustan Times.

The Parody of A Caged Parrot vs Caesar's Wife

In the Supreme Court's judgment on the bail plea of Arvind Kejriwal, we came across a reference to the CBI being termed as "A Caged Parrot" and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan's remark asking the CBI to take steps to remove the perception of being a caged parrot. He said that "like Caesar's wife it should be above suspicion while conducting an investigation.

I wanted to know what was Caesar's wife's suspicious act. Why the term "Caesar's Wife" became a parable? I googled and found this article on Wikipedia which clarified my doubts.

When Caesar was elected to be the Chief Priest of the Roman State Religion, one of his wives, Pompeia hosted a festival of Good Goddess " Bona Dea in 62 BC. It was a festival for ladies and no men were allowed. But a male managed to enter there disguised as a woman and got caught. It was a disgrace and Caesar divorced Pompeia saying that his wife should be above suspicion.

This incident gave rise to the proverb "Caesar's wife should be above suspicion".

Here is the link to the story.

Arvind Kejriwal Gets Bail

After spending seven months in Jail, Arvind Kejriwal was granted bail by the Supreme Court on 13th September 2024 (Friday). He was sentenced in a Liquor Scam case and served jail terms from the Enforcement Directorate and CBI. The case is still pending.

Arvind Kejriwal has served as Asstt. Income Tax officer for more than 10 years from 1995- 2006 before resigning from the post. He is a political activist who campaigned against corruption and got the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2006 for his Parivartan movement.

As a Chief Minister, he implemented many good schemes and gained much popularity throughout the world for his abilities. He is the 7th CM of Delhi serving from February 2015 till date.  

Now, on bail, he is prohibited from attending his office or the Secretariat and signing files.

Here is the link to an article on NDTV giving full details of his release from jail, published on 13/09/2024.

Sitaram Yechuri, a Great Politician of India

 Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechuri passed away on 12/09/2024 at the age of 72 years and one month. He was one of the notable politicians of our country. He was always humble and polite with his opponents, respecting their feelings.

Here is a wonderful tribute to him from the Times Top 10 Newsletter that I received today. I admired the content and wanted to share it with you all. So, copy-pasting the text.

"Homage

• Sitaram Yechury, who died on September 12, was politically a committed communist but in political praxis — to use a term much favoured by Marxist pundits — he preferred pragmatism over dogma.
• Like many pragmatic politicians of his generation, he was courteous and amiable, qualities that didn’t depend on which side of the aisle his interlocutor belonged to.

Stands out

• He was among the few CPM leaders who didn’t ideologically over-analyse whether the party should ally with Congress to take on BJP when the latter became a governing party under Vajpayee’s leadership.
• During the 2024 campaign, he insisted Modi-led BJP should be taken on in state-by-state contests, via alliances. An analysis partly borne out by results.

Man of all times

• That Yechury, as a student politician, had forced Indira Gandhi to step down as JNU chancellor made his later pragmatism all the more noticeable.
• That he stayed away from Naxalites in the 1970s, because that offshoot of Marxist politics declared loyalty to China’s communists, was another indication of his practical political sense.
• As he said in 2014, when Modi took office for the first time: “Conditions have changed, so our analysis and alignment accordingly will change”.
• Engaging in debates was his style, and witty one-liners were his rhetorical signature.

Who he was

• Telugu was his mother tongue. In the party forum and in meetings, he preferred English because he felt that political formulation came more easily to him in that language. But he gave public speeches in Hindi.
• During his two-term stint in the Rajya Sabha from Bengal, he tried to speak in Bengali during his conversations with Bengali journalists..."

I am providing one more link to an article in the Times of India dated 12/09/2024 here

Politics and Lies

 I was browsing through the internet and read some discussions going on regarding the Trump-Harris debates and the resultant consequences of persistent lies by politicians.

Doing so, I came across a quote by Hannah Arendt, an influential political philosopher. I checked that quote from the Hannah Arendt Center website and found this quote which matches it. It is from an interview by political philosopher & writer, Roger Errera in 1974, who made the documentary "Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt".

This quote appealed to my mind. It portrays the present scary atmosphere of politics throughout the governments of the entire world. So, I am sharing this quote.

"The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end, you get not only one lie—a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days—but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please."

You can visit this link to look into the fact-checks of the quote.

TBA vs TBC vs TBD

 I was looking at the Agenda for SEMICON India 2024 which is being held from today, 11th September to 13th September 2024. While going through the details, I came across the abbreviations TBA, TBC, and TBD in the columns of Time and Venue, etc.

So, I had to google it out to find their meanings.

TBA stands for To be Announced (I was aware of this abbreviation already).

TBC stands for To be Confirmed and TBD stands for To be Decided or Determined.

Here is the link for the Semicon India Exhibition agenda

Regarding more information for TBA, TBC, and TBD, and other related details, here is the post from Wikipedia.

Paris Paralympics 2024 Medal Winners for India

Our Paralympic sports participants in Paris have grabbed as many as 29 medals this year. It is a great fete and a proud moment to celebrate.

Congratulations to the Winners and all Participants from India and abroad.

We bettered our 2019 Tokyo record of 19 medals by capturing 10 more medals.

In all, during this 2024 Paralympic Tournament, India got 29 medals with 7 Gold, 9 Silver, and 13 Bronze Medals.

The Gold Medal winners are as follows:

Avani Lekhara (Shooting)

Nitish Kumar (Badminton)

Sumit Antil (Javelin Throw F-64)

Harvinder Singh (Archery)

Dharambir (Club Throw)

Praveen Kumar (High Jump)

Navdeep Singh (Javelin F-41)

 

Here is the link to the full details of medal winners from Times Of India

Center-State Conflicts and Role of Governors

 This article from the Times of India discusses the importance of rethinking the process of the Appointment of Governors and settlement of disputes between Center-State governing agents.

In recent years, we have witnessed many conflicts between the Governors and the CMs of states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, etc. The state governments complain that their Governors are partial and non-cooperative. Many Bills get struck at the Rajbhavans as per their allegations.

So, it is time that the system gets changed by allowing the political parties (both ruling and opposition) of the state governments a say in appointing the Governors and other activities.

You can view the TOI's article at this link.

English is Strange and Confusing

 I was reading this article on the Medium platform and it kept me smiling throughout my read.

This author calls English a Cat's Pyjama". Though his mother tongue is English.

As per his article, it is illogically ridiculous, nonsensical, confusing, etc.. He provides too many examples to support and authenticate his arguments.

He illustrates the spelling and pronunciation maladies, and the confusing meanings of words and phrases. 

Here is the link to the article. Read and enjoy his perceptions.

Reliance Jio's Free Cloud Storage Offer

 I think this is a good news for Jio Subscribers.

Reliance Jio is going to offer 100 GB of Free Cloud Storage to its customers from Deepavali, this year.

If this happens, you can store all your media and files on the Cloud Storage. It is a welcome news for all of us who don't have enough storage facilities on our mobile phones.

People like me may be able to buy premium storage Microsoft Office Family packages. Now, this Jio offer will be a Messiah for the Common Man.

Here is an article from the Times of India which published this good news.